Jace and Riley headed back to the apartment building. They were making small talk along the way, realizing how much they had in common. They climb the stairs, arriving at Jace's door.
Jace: "Give me a second, this lock likes to stick. I need to fix it later, maintenance seems to be refusing to."
Riley: "I'm good, I'm just happy to be with you!"
Patchwork: If I had eyes, they would be rolling out of my non-existent head right now.
Jace: "I think it's cute!"
Patchwork: Oh, wanting to defend your woman now, huh? Be her knight in shining armor?
Jace: "Shining denim at least."
Jace was able to force the door to cooperate and open. "Come on in if you like. If you want to grab a seat on the couch. I need to go grab that toaster for you.
Riley came into the living room, the nervousness showing on her face.
Riley: "You have a nice place. I can tell your a guy though..."
Patchwork: She means you live like a slob!"
Jace: "What do you mean?"
Patchwork: That it felt cleaner outside.
Riley: "Just the posters of cars, the game systems, lots of tools. It's not bad, it just tells someone that a guy lives here. There are no feminine touches."
Jace: A look of shock on his face "Whoa, we just started dating! That's moving too fast for me!"
Riley: "Oh, God, that's not what I meant at all! Agreed, that is way too fast! I meant I can tell you don't have a woman staying here that I didn't know about."
Jace: "Glad we cleared that up! That would have been awkward!" He grabs something from the table. "Here it is, I'd set it to the side for you.
Jace pulled out what looked like a normal toaster. It was stainless steel, with two slots, a lever, and a dial.
Jace: With a grin on his face: "Shall I make us some toast, my girlfriend?"
Riley: Giggling: "Sure, my boyfriend!"
Jace plugs in the toaster on the table near the couch, wanting her to be able to get the full effect. He walks to the kitchen to grab some bread.
Riley: "You know, it would have made more sense to plug it in in the kitchen."
Jace: "Just wait, you'll see why I plugged it in there." He comes back over with two slices of bread and starts them in the toaster. "See, even though I'm a guy, I can still make food! I don't think I've poisoned anyone yet."
Riley rolls her eyes. "This doesn't quite count as cooking, you know."
Jace: "I know, but it got your attention!"
Soon the toaster finishes and pops up the toast. "Toasty!"
Riley: "Did that seriously just say toasty like on Mortal Kombat?
Jace: "Told you it was special! There's another surprise with it though. Look closely at your toast."
Riley looks at her toast and reads: "What was a more important invention that the first telephone? The second one." It takes her a minute before Riley snorts and laughs. "It seriously printed a dad joke on my toast! I love it! Thank you! What does yours say?
Jace looks at his toast: "A man got hit in the head with a can of Coke, but he was alright because it was a soft drink." Jace rolls his eyes. "Not a great one, but I've seen worse!
Riley looks closely at the toaster. "How did you do that? Is there something inside that prints a message on it?"
Jace looks at Riley seriously. "Can promise that you won't laugh at me and think I'm crazy, and that you won't tell ANYONE else what I'm about to tell you?
Riley: "My lips are sealed. I won't laugh, and I won't tell anyone."
Jace: "Ok, because I'm serious. If this gets too big before I can protect myself I could be in danger.
Patchwork: You mean more than you normally are a danger to yourself?
Jace: "I'm only telling you this because I trust you. I've known you for a bit just as your neighbor, and I feel you are trustworthy.
Riley: "I'm really glad you think so. I try to do everything where I can be trusted."
Jace: Takes a breath. "Have you ever read online novels?"
Riley: "I've read a few of them."
Jace: "Do you know how a lot of them talk about systems that are in peoples' heads?"
Riley: "Yeah, I've read a few of them."
Jace: "Well as weird as it sounds, I now have a system. It's call Patchwork. Even though it's a sarcastic pain in the butt, I'm starting to like it. That and the whole dying thing."
Riley: "DYING?!"
Jace: "Oh yeah, I forgot that part."
Patchwork: Oh, naturally. Expecting you to explain sensitive information with grace and tact is like asking a brick to perform ballet. Of course you'd mess it up—subtlety requires nuance, and you operate with all the finesse of a foghorn in a library. You're so dense, light bends around your thought process.
Jace: "Remember that microwave you gave me? I was trying to repair it and apparently I was getting sloppy. According to Patchwork, had it not bound to me when it did I would be dead and gone now. Apparently I forgot to discharge the capacitor before working on it and shocked myself. The benefit though is now I have a system that let's me repair anything. Although currently I can only do mechanical items until I repair enough things to upgrade."
Riley is looking at him with her jaw dropped. He can see the shock, anger, and concern fighting for control on her face. Riley speaks very deliberately: "You mean to tell me that you almost died yesterday, you basically did die. And now you're telling me you just forgot about it like it WAS NO BIG DEAL!!!!"
Jace jumps back a little. "I'm sorry Riley, I didn't think that much about it. In my line of work, I'm a hair away from death pretty often, so I don't think of it as that serious anymore. Tell you what, if I have any more close calls, I'll make sure to tell you."
Riley huffs: "You better if you know what's good for you."
Jace: "So anyway, that flicker that happened yesterday was from when I tested the microwave. Turns out it's now an EMP device."
Riley: "That will be helpful when the robots attack us..."
Jace: "Plus there are the toasters. We have matching toasters."
Riley: "Aww!" She grins with sweetness
Jace: "Actually, I fixed Emma's walk-in cooler at 'The Cup and Crumble' too. It should have had an additional feature, but I didn't notice anything different."
Jace's phone rings. It's from a number he hasn't saved. "Hello, this is Jace."
On the phone: "Hi Jace, it's Emma, from the Cup and Crumble."
Jace: "Oh, high Emma, we were just talking about your cooler. Everything ok?"
Emma on the phone: "Ok isn't the word for it, more like amazing!"
Jace: "So I take it the cooler is still working good."
Emma: "Oh even better! I went to go put my order in for my next truck. I'm counting things and seeing what I need, and I noticed there is now a tablet inside the cooler that didn't used to be there. It had the order already ready on the screen, with a button to send to the supplier. I still did my counts, then checked the screen and it had everything I was about to order already on it. So I decided to test it and took a case of whipped cream out and looked at it again. IT UPDATED THE LIST TO INCLUDE IT!!!! I can't thank you enough! I'm serious, your money is no good here, but I expect to see you here often! Thank you so much!"
Jace: "You're very welcome. I'm glad it helped!"
Emma: "Do you mind if I tell a couple other cafe owners about you? It would be such a life saver for them as well!"
Jace: "I can't promise it will be exactly the same, but I'm willing to try."
Emma: "Of course, I can't expect you to do it for free. How much would you want to charge them for it?"
Directive: repair or upgrade 5 units for local businesses
Technician: Jace Thorn
Repair point: 400
Current repair points: 100
Jace: "How about $400 each?"
Emma: "No good, at least $500 or you're cheating yourself!"
Jace: "Ok , $500 it is!"
Emma: "Great! I'll start making calls! Talk to you soon!" Emma hangs up the phone.
Jace sets his phone down. "Well that was a surprise! That was Emma."
Riley: "I could tell, she sounded excited!"
Jace: "Apparently her cooler now creates her order for her. She was asking me if I could set that up for a couple other business owners she knows."
Riley: "That would be a great idea! That'll bring in some good money too!"
Jace: "I need to do one thing before I leave from here again. That lock is irritating me, I need to fix it so I don't get locked out of my apartment. Want to watch?"
Riley: "Absolutely!"
Jace grabs a screwdriver and start looking at the lock.
Directive: Repair the lock for your apartment
Technician: Jace Thorn
RP: 20
Current RP Points: 100
Notes: It's dangerous to not be able to get in and out of your apartment. Let's fix that!
Jace started adjusting the lock, and saw a spark shoot out. He put it back together and tested it. As he shut the door the lock morphed in front of him. He noticed the door frames get thicker like they were being reinforced. A steel bar mechanism formed into the door as a part of the latch. A thumb print reader and retinal scanner grew out of the frame.
Jace: "That was unexpected! I fix the lock, and suddenly I have an increased security system!"
Riley: "That's so cool!"
Directive: Repair the lock on your apartment is complete.
Current RP points: 120
Riley: "Unfortunately I need to get going though. Thank you for the toaster and trusting me with this secret. I won't make you regret it!"
Jace: "I know you won't. That's why I trust you. Although you said your lips were sealed, I do feel like I need to ensure they're sealed."
Riley: "What do you me--"
As Riley was speaking, Jace moved close to her and kissed her gently on the lips.
Jace backed up a step. "There, now you really can't say anything. The secret is sealed with our first kiss."
Wow, color me shocked. I'm impressed—reluctantly. Apparently, even a malfunctioning blender can occasionally whip up something smooth. Don't get cocky, though. That was probably a fluke, like a solar eclipse or you remembering to wear deodorant.
Riley blushes a deep red. "There is no way I'm breaking that!" Riley gets up and heads to the door. "Until next time?"
Jace: "For sure!"
Riley leaves to go home. Jace flops down on the couch.
Jace: "It's been a great day, and it's not even half over yet!"