Loggerson

[waitingmechanic]

Who: Vash and Winry
Where: His Pipe Home
When: A little after V-day
What: Winry goes to upgrade Vash's arm and the two catch up.



Winry had to admit she had some slight mixed feelings regarding Vash's unexpected request. Though she knew the theory, and had more confidence than was probably necessary when it came to the construction and handling of weapons, and automail with arsenals of sorts she had actually never done it.

To say she had a violent nature would be an understatement, but it was a part of her that she openly disliked, and even within that she would never, ever kill or even permanently harm anyone (well...at least not physically). However, though she disliked them, Winry wasn't naive. She had grown up in a time of war and its repercussions and knew that there were times when it was necessary, and that it was wise to always be properly equipped.

In the end, what had made her mind up to go with this was the trust that she felt for Vash. She knew he would only use it for good, and so she arrived at his home, ready and pepped to work.

"Vash?" she called from outside, staring down the pipe.

Vash didn't like having to add another weapon to his arm. He didn't like the one that was already in his arm, to be honest. But without an added weapon he would be defensless against whatever may come against him and those he cared about. It was better to be safe than sorry.

He scrambled up the pipe to meet Winry, arriving to the surface with that famous echoing sound warp pipes make. "Hey, Winry. We gonna do this here or go to your workshop?"

She still wasn't quite use to it. No matter how hard she thought about it, Winry couldn't quite grasp how the pipes worked but that would be a mystery best solved later.

"I've got everything I'll be needing." she said patting the large trunk that she always with her when working outside her shop or the Strahl. It'd be a bit of a walk to her workshop anyway. Before she settled down into working though she wanted to know how Vash was...they hadn't talked in a while, when she thought of it which was a pity.

"How have you been Vash?"

"I've been doing fine. Thanks for asking,* Vash smiled. Despite the fact that Vash had a slight crush on the mechanic he felt very comfortable around her. He found that odd, though. Idle chat with the girl that would work on his arm was like holding a conversation with your dentist as he was drilling your teeth.

"How've you been? Did Vaan get you something nice for Valentine's day?"

Good, that was good to hear. Winry was glad that there wasn't an awkward air to their meeting, she was determined to make is clear that she still cared for Vash and thought him a great friend, and that his confession hadn't changed anything. She gently laid the trunk down so she could rest from carrying it a little.

"I've been doing really well! Still a little nervous about Gran leaving me the shop but we've been talking about it and working out details so I think things will go well. She won't be leaving till late April."

She shook her head a little at his second question, her cheeks tinging slightly. "He took me to Rabanastre though which was..." Well. She wasn't quite sure what to call it. The city itself was absolutely amazing, she had loved it, but outside the city...well she had come to learn that she had a long way to go till she could really call herself a fighter, even with all of Kazuki's training. She still had some bruises to prove it.

"Great." she ended diplomatically, with a bit of a shrewed grin.

The gunman sensed there was more to the story than Winry was telling. He decided it probably wasn't important anyway.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. Mine was kinda wierd. All the chocolate I made for friends came to life and started trying to eat me! I manage to salvage a few boxes, but I don't think my donut shop will be making Valentine's chocolates again." Vash laughed at that incident as he stepped out of the pipe to pickup Winry's trunk. "Well, shall we get started?"

Winry laughed. Yea...they had been lucky, since they had gone to Vaan's world they had missed out on that, but she had read what everyone had been saying and what had happened to them. It had been quite alarming and concerning but things had worked out, thankfully.

She gave a tiny shrug "Here it seems things will happen no matter what you do. For a while I tried to watch everything I ate since a lot of strange things sprung from that but then I'd be effected by other odd occurences anyway. I'm not sure if it'll make too much of a difference in the end."

She smiled at the gentlemanly action and nodded "Yea! The same place we worked in last time would be great."

"Okay. Follow me." Vash went ahead with her trunk down the warp pipe to the small workshop where Vash first got his arm fixed by Winry. He turned around to make sure that Winry made it down safely.

She glanced one last time down the pipe before carefully. She was more prepared, knew what to expect this time so she didn't fall flat on her but like she had previously but she still stumbled a little. It still needed some getting use to.

"Thanks." she said, grateful that Vash had stood watch. She straightened up and took a sweat at the work table. She liked this area, it wasn't similar to her usual place but just as good.

"Alright, so do you have the sword you wanted to insert?"

Vash picked up the blade of a short sword laying on the worktable. "This is it," he said. "I just hope it's sturdy. I'm not used to using a sword. That's more my brother's thing."

She opened up her trunk and slipped on her work gloves before taking the blade gingerly and examining it. She ran her hands up it carefully before nodding. "It's a good blade." she said setting it aside, a little curious about his brother but she was a little hesitant to ask. It had been made clear to her that the subject of his brother wasn't exactly a good one. 'Murdering Psycho' weren't exactly words one associated with a happy temperment.

"It'll be easy to do." she assured, looking up at him. "Out of curiosity, where did you get this?"

"Oh I bought it from Captain Basch," he replied. "I think it was Zach who suggested I go to him." Vash began to undo the leather straps that bound his mechanical arm. "Will you need to remove my arm for this?"

Oh really? That was a slight surprise. Basch was a good choice to go to for such things but it really went to show how small their world was that everyone was somehow connected to another person in some way.

Winry nodded "Yea, it'd make it a lot easier." She leaned a little to him, gently grasping his arm and looking at him for a go signal. She new most people were rather sensitive about getting their arms taken off...no wonder why.

Vash had completely undid his leather cover and nodded to Winry. He turned away has she began to remove everything below his left shoulder. No matter how many times he had to have it upgraded, the process of removing his arm was unnerving. "Let me know when it's off."

Winry nodded and drew herself up a little more as she worked on detatching his arm.

"So are you and Zack good friends?" she asked, wishing to distract him from the process. "We've shared a couple words but I don't really know him all that well...mostly through Penelo." Winry paused a little at that, a tiny smile almost forming on her face. She had a vague suspicion that the pigtailed girl liked Zack, but hadn't said anything since it was just a hunch.

"Not really," Vash replied. "He just mentioned that Basch made swords at low prices on my journal. I haven't heard from him since." He was grateful for the distraction, however trivial it seemed. "What I need now is someone to teach me how to use a sword."

"Oh that shouldn't be too hard to find." Definitely not here. "Basch would probably lend you a hand with that, or Fran, or really almost anyone on the Strahl." Even some of the moogles knew some basic weaponry.

The arm came off smoothly "There." she maneuvered around to set it on the table and got to work straight away. "I've too have been trying to find someone else to help continue my training, martial arts training, now that Kazuki left. I'd ask Ed or Al but I know they'd go easy on me." she said with a small frown.

"I could hook you up with a martial arts teacher," Vash said. "I'd been training on and off with a college student named Trowa. He's been helping be to stay in shape. He's really good and patient. I could talk to him for you and see if he'll take you, too."

Winry smiled "That'd be very helpful! Thanks a lot!" she said gratefully. The name sounded rather familiar but she wasn't sure if she had seen him at all. She was a little concerned about slowing Vash's progress if they decided to train together but her stubborness and determine made her pass over that idea quickly.

"I'll go and ask Fran if she'd be up to taking a student in return." Chances were a little bit slim, but if she wasn't up to it there was always Basch.

"Thanks a lot. I have this feeling I'm gonna need it soon." Vash kept a smile on his face. He didn't like his friends seeing him troubled. "I asked Himura Kenshin to train me, but he said he wasn't taking any more students. Actually, talking to him helped me to get over a few things."

He did? She frowned a little in concern "What makes you think that?" she questioned, worried he was planning on doing something potentially dangerous.

"It's just a feeling," Vash said. "I really hope I'm wrong about it, though. I don't wanna fight or hurt anyone. But I will if I must. That's why I need this sword ready. Just in case."

She relaxed a little bit. So it was just a precaution. That ebbed her worry and she nodded, understanding. For the most part the things that happened here at Flamingo Heights were just weird or annoying, but the previous event on Valentines and the Dark World had proven that danger could come when least expected. There was no telling who might just pop up here either, so far they're less-well-intentioned characters hadn't cause any serious trouble but who knew when that would changed, or who else might appear.

"Yea. Hopefully it won't, but there are a lot of capable people here." Most of them were, thankfully. "And those not use to fighting have good friends like you to help them out." she said giving him a small wink.

"Heh. Yeah, that's what I'm kinda hoping," Vash blushed. "I wanna try to protect as many of the people here as I can. They're like my family. I love them all. Being here, I can almost forget about my past..."

Winry's eyes warmed up to him...she felt very much the same. For all the arguments and drama that often happened here she could still say she cared very much for many of the people here, even those she didn't usually talk to.

"It's...difficult to do." she began hesitantly, hoping to not bring up difficult emotions, "I know it's not my place to say, since I don't really know what happened, or have probably experienced anything like it but sometimes trying to force or ignore something makes it all the more palpable. I feel the best way to overcome the past is to just accept it. What happened, happened, but what matters is what you make of now."

"I know," Vash said. "I'm trying to. I mean, I've fallen in love. Twice. I've made friends. I've got my own donut shop! But at the end of the day I still have a lot of blood on my hands. That's another reason why I wanna try to help as many people as I can. To make up for all the lives my batte with Knives cost."

She blushed a little at the mention of that and nodded vaguely. She wished she knew more about his ordeal, so she could help him more, but at the same time she didn't want to ask and put him through the difficulty of retelling it all.

"Alllllllmost done." she said, now in the process of fitting things back on. "There!" she finished and examined it a bit before turning to Vash to begin the reattachment. "Speaking of which, I have yet to visit you at your shop. Where is it?" she questioned, deciding it was probably best to change the direction of their conversation.

"Oh, my shop is across the street from the mall," he answered. "It's got the giant donut on the roof. You can't miss it." Vash was amazed at how quickly it took Winry to add the blade and the mechanism for using it. He inwardly joked about he he had become some sort of cyborg. "That reminds me, I still have to give your your chocolates."

Winry made a mental note to stop by and visit him some time. She had to admit she had a bit of a soft spot for sweets herself.

"Well Lina and I will come sometime and clean you out." Winry said with a grin. They probably would, too, considering the last time they had had one of their movie marathons and indulged a little too much. She had gotten so sick afterwards but it had been sooo worth it.

"Aw, thanks Vash!" she said, feeling a little guilty. He had gone and made her some chocolates and yet she hadn't thought to do anything for him. She screwed in the last bolt and clapped her hands free, crossing them in satisfaction.

"How's it feel?"

Vash bent and swivelled his arm around, occasionally switching between the semi-machine that was already in his arm and the newly installed sword. He watched as the blade would extend from his forearm. The base of it would rest at his wrist and the blade passed over the back of his hand, adding an extra foot and a hlf to his reach. With a thought, it retracted back . "It's perfect. But what else should I have expected. Now lemme get you those chocolates."

Winry's ego when it came to mechanics did not need to be inflated any more and she let out a chortle glad to see it working well. She was proud of it for her first time adding weaponry to an arm.

"Best keep this a secret between us though." she said with a small nervous wink "I dunno how much Granny would approve." she said, sitting back down as she waited patiently for him.

"Don't worry," Vash winked back, "I won't tell anyone you did this." Quickly Vash walked to his room and brought back a large, heart-shaped box. He handed it to Winry and blushed a little. "I hope you enjoy them. I was really ahppy with the way these turned out. Now I just need to give the other box to my first friend..."

The mechanic laughed and gave an appreciative grin. People thought she was scary...they outta see Pinako when she was angry!

Winry took the box gingerly "Thank you very much, Vash." she said, genuinely touched that he had thought of her.

She opened up the box, careful to keep it intact and took a piece popping it in her mind. Instantly her mouth tingled and she closed her eyes, relishing the taste. "Oh it's wonderful!" she said, then lightly put her hand over her mouth a little embarassed at having talked with her mouth full.

Vash smiled. "Great! I'll sell these more often at the shop, then. And you can have as many as you like." Vash began to cover his arm with the leather straps again. "You know, I really wish there was a way I could repay you for this."

...oh dear. He probably didn't want to make that offer. If she had another emotional crisis like that last time she would take advantage of that much too much.

"This is payment enough, really." she said closing the Valentines box. Y'know I love working with anything tech, so it's a pleasure really, and I always enjoy a challenge."

"If you say so," the gunman replied. "Whenever you're ready, I'll lead you back up to the surface."