From atop the workbench that he stood to practice greeting customers, Quill once again stood, surveying the workshop and the contents, all of which were - mostly, he hoped - stowed away in their correct places. Each of the boxes was now labeled, the cardboard tubes were stacked up, the springs remained arranged by their size and flavour and, Qulll proudly noted, nothing was on fire, melted in to slag or left rolling around on the floor to trip anyone up. All that was left out of place was the large crate of ominously rattling bits and his suitcase.

"My name is Quill, Tik-tok-bird and Bearington," the young dragon proclaimed dramatically, "look at my tidying, friends, and be impressed!"

Clambering back down from the workbench, Quill went over to retrieve the ledger that had given him such a headache earlier that afternoon. Just as he was about to open it again, he paused. His hands hovering over the first page, Quill gave Bearington a glance.

"I'll.. just, just one more look, okay? Or, um, I could, well, that's.. there's bound to be a book on this number problem, and, I do deserve a break, sort of. Okay, Bearington, Tik-Tok, I need you two to watch the shop. I'll be back in a bit!"

Scooping up the ledger book with one hand, he gave Bearington a little nudge, such that the stuffed toy could properly see the front door of the workshop with his single button eye. A moment later, the young dragon was out the door, ledger in his hands, on the way to the library. The number mystery would be solved.


[Exit to... Ponyville Residential District - Books and Branches Library]

[From... Ponyville Residential District - Books and Branches Library]

Pushing the door to the workshop open, Quill set the books down in a small stack by the front door, before re-arranging the stack so the largest of the books was on the bottom. Then he re-arranged them in alphabetical order, top to bottom, before going back to sorting them by size.

"Widget? Starcrasher?" he called out, just in case, before adding as an afterthought, "Customers?"

Finding the workshop to be quiet, save for the occasional chirping of Tik-Tok, Quill clambered up on to the workbench and sat himself down next to the stuffed bear, which had - the dragon hoped - been keeping an eye on the shop while he was out. After offering a brief explanation of where he'd been (the library), the books he borrowed (one novel, one non-fiction) and the number problem (remains unsolved) to the ever-sympathetic Bearington, Quill laid back on the workbench and closed his eyes. Just to rest them, of course.

Rolling over, Quill opened an eye and peered around the workshop. Seeing that everything was in order and, happily, he'd not accidentally set anything on fire, he rolled back over and closed his eyes. Yes, he thought, nothing to worry about.

A few moments later, the dragon opened an eye and looked around the workshop a second time. Finally, his gaze came to rest upon the window and, noting that it was getting darker and... was that rain? Where was everyone? They were outside. In the rain!

"Bearington, wait here, if, um, any.. customers, just, improvise," Quill stammered out as he clambered down from his spot upon the workbench and, after rummaging around in some of the boxes - thank goodness they were sorted through! - he had assembled a pile of parts. Paper. Tape. A cardboard tube containing some blueprints. All the ingredients for a perfect umbrella. After a few minutes of work, Quill stepped back and tried to admire his work. It was made rather difficult because his umbrella-like-device was presently taped to his claws. Turning around, he held the contraption up so his bear could see it.

"The, um, well, at least you can't drop it..."

<-- Merriweather enters from Summer Song Cafe

It wasn't too far from the cafe to get to Widget's shop, thankfully.  Ponyville looked like a very different place under the cover of both night and rainfall... not bad, but just different.  Everypony was tucked away in their homes all cozy and safe while the rain pattered against the roofs to slide away into the gutters and barrels.  Every now and then the trio of ladies would pass somepony hurrying along to get home or do one last errand before it was time to turn in, but otherwise it was just them trotting along the slick cobblestones.

"Here we are.  Do you have a key?" Merriweather asked of Starcrasher once they arrived at the shop.  There was a light on inside, so it was a relief to the Unicorn to know that someone was home -- be it Widget, Quill, or both.

--> From: Ponyville Business District - Summer Song Cafe  -->

Starcrasher looked at the workshop from outside, wondering if there was anyone in, and if there was, whether they'd be asleep. There was a light on, and she tried to guess which room it belonged to, for all she knew it could be Quill wanting to have a light on while he slept. She turned to answer Merriweather's question.

- "Umm... No, unfortunately. Lemme knock."

She turned her back to the door, and bucked it with one hoof, gently. Though she wanted to apply enough force to be heard over the rain, the last thing she wanted to do was break the door down. She just hoped they weren't wearing those earplug headphone type things that she'd seen around the workshop while cleaning.

[From Summer Song Cafe]

Silva watched as Starcrasher knocked on the door, waiting patiently for things to be resolved.  A little bit more of waiting wouldn't kill her.

Dragging along behind him a string of vaguely umbrella like objects, attached with sticky tape, string and more tape (you could never have enough tape), the young dragon finally managed to make it to the door. Pulling it open with his one free hand, he offered a bright smile, beginning his prepared speech in case of customers.

"Welcome to Widget's Wondrous Whatchamaca- Starcrasher! You're, um, I was going to make you an umbrella, and then... um, you, best come in, all of you! Ignore the, err, prototypes, okay?"

Holding the door open, he stood aside to allow the three of them in, gently nudging the tangled mess of umbrella-ish stuff behind him with a foot.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:28, Tue 21 Aug 2012.

"Thank you." Silva wanted to step in, though she decided to follow Merriweather's lead here.  She decided to not comment on the state of the 'prototypes' or what went on in here.  Getting out of the rain was worth not asking questions.  This dragon might be one of her future clients, after all, even if she seriously doubted that this place had any use of her talents.

- "Thanks Quill, sorry if i woke you up."

She chuckled, and walked into the workshop like she lived there -- which she essentially did -- though she did look over her shoulder a couple of times before finally turning around to see if Merriweather was following her in. Normally she'd offer them something to drink as thanks for bringing her home and sharing dinner and such, but Widget was the one actually paying for the food supplies. She didn't really know what to do aside from an overarching desire to not be considered rude.

- "Eh, you want to come in as well? I'll try and find someplace where you can sit..."

She looked around the workshop, trying to find a place not covered with prototypes and stashes of materials that she knew better than to touch, preferably one the two of them could actually reach without tripping over anything.

"No, no, I wasn't asleep," Quill laughed nervously, his gaze flicking across to the makeshift bed he'd assembled on one of the workbenches, next to his recently returned stuffed bear, "I was working, on the umbrellas! I thought it'd, be, um..."

Quill waited politely by the door for them all to come out from the rain.

"...and I can make toast, did, um, the three of you have dinner yet? I've got the toast thing right down, I think, we can have toast and, um.. is.. Widget not with you three?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:56, Tue 21 Aug 2012.

"While the kindness is appreciated, Ms Merriweather was kind enough to let us eat there," Silva explained.  She had to fight off another yawn, but she maintained the best aura of politeness she could.

"As far as your fellow, it is just us three here."

Starcrasher glanced at the makeshift bed and decided not to comment on it, it was fairly late after all. As for the reason Quill was still up, that quickly became clear to her when he asked them about Widget's whereabouts.

- "Uh, no, i thought he'd be here. He didn't go out to look for me, did he?"

She couldn't help but feel more than a little anxious about that. Though the forest had calmed down, there were still Reptans and Timberwolves and Thunderbirds out there, and it had been bad enough during the day to know that she wouldn't want to be anywhere near the forest during the night.

"It's sweet of you to offer, Quill, but it's late.  Best we not spend any time dallying around."  Merriweather's lead was to remain outside.  Unlike her guests, she had to get up early for work, not to mention getting into a jogging regimen with Fung Shui.  The Unicorn couldn't help but smile fondly at the mention of Widget though.

"Widget and Twilight were at the cafe earlier on a date.  I imagine they're still together somewhere.  He's a big colt.  He can take care of himself." she assured Quill and Starcrasher.  The last thing Widget needed was the two of them getting it into their heads to go looking for him when he was off with a marefriend.  She looked to Silva.  "Shall we get going?"

"Of course." Silva nodded, turning her gaze back towards the dragon and younger pony. "Have a pleasant evening, Quill, Starcrasher."

She didn't want to sound too eager to go along with it, but sleep was calling far too loudly to be ignored.

Quill tried to hide his nervousness around the three of them though, without thinking, he went to rub the back of his neck, sticking his prototype umbrella to the back of his neck. Frowning slightly, he tried to free his hand, but finding the sticky tape still rather, well, sticky, he decided it'd draw less attention to remain standing in this fairly awkward looking pose.

"He went out for lunch," Quill began, trying to think of what happened during the day, "well, it was a date, really. With Twilight. We've had the whole shop to ourselves! I signed for a package, and made toast, and did some, well, there's no need to, um, bore you, details, things. Stuff. Yep."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:16, Tue 21 Aug 2012.

- "Have a pleasant night, mrs. Merriweather, i'll repay that favor someday. Good night Silva, hope to meet you again."

Starcrasher smiled as the two stated their intent to move on to the Inn. She could understand Silva being tired, she had been able to catch some sleep while the griffon had carried her back from the ruins all the way to Ponyville after all. She looked at Quill.

- "Well, my day's been interesting too. I went out for a walk, and met Silva -- the griffon that was with me just now -- and a jungle pony called Natra. We ended up fighting Reptans, returning the cub of a pack of Timberwolves and i also made friends with a Thunderbird. The Everfree Forest sure is a busy place."

She smiled at her recollection of the events, her mind already busy filtering out the bad parts of the memory, like how exhausted she was after the fight, or being chased by Reptans through anti-magic fog. Having literally only arrived in Ponyville yesterday, much of the urban legends and facts surrounding the Everfree Forest were not known to her: It was just a forest like any other to her, though she had found out firsthand that it was busier than the other ones she had been to. Then again, those had had walking paths with benches alongside it.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:30, Tue 21 Aug 2012.

Despite herself, Merriweather flinched a bit at Starcrasher's farewell.  "It's 'Miss'." she corrected quietly as she turned to leave.  "Goodnight Starcrasher, Quill."

With that she trotted along with Silva at her side, still keeping the both of them dry under her telekinetic umbrella as she led the way for Town Square.

--> Merriweather exits to Ponyville Town Square

Quill stared up in disbelief at Starcrasher as she recounted the events of the day. While he was pretty excited by the events of the afternoon, it all rather paled in comparison to her story. Leaving his post at the door, he started making his way towards the kitchen, trailing the mess of tape and tubes behind him as he went.

"What were the Timberwolves like? I read a book about them, once, well, it, um, didn't really say much about them, and I think the pony who wrote it might've been making some stuff of the up, but there were pictures, with big teeth, and... um, I'm going to make some toast for Bearington and I, do you want any? I think I saw some marmalade in one of the cupboards."

Silva turned and followed Merriweather to the square.

[Exit to the Town Square]

Starcrasher winced visibly at being corrected, not because of being wrong, but of suddenly having the idea she had touched upon something Merriweather did not like to be reminded of. She made a mental note to definitely get it right next time, and moments after that Quill asked her a question.

- "Wha? Oh, the Timberwolves? Well, they were pretty large, with lots of teeth. I mean, the cub was only a baby and it was already almost as tall as me. Its parents were, like, three to four times as tall as i am, and when i saw them there were a couple dozen of them. I think they hunt in packs."

She watched Quill heading for the kitchen before shouting after him.

- "No toast for me, thanks! I just had dinner."

"Did you get to count the teeth?" Quill called out from the kitchen as he began the process of extracting a slice of bread from the bread-box atop the counter. Having settled upon a system involving climbing up with the help of a chair, he fetched himself two slices of toast, finding that the sticky tape also worked wonders for holding bread.

"It's just that, um," the dragon poked his head out of the kitchen a moment later, looking over at Starcrasher, the slices of bread stuck to one of his claws, "the book, I thought I could write to the author, um, and let them know how many teeth they have. I can ask Widget, to, um... do, do you think he's okay out there? In the rain?"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:58, Wed 22 Aug 2012.

- "Well, it's kind of hard to tell what's tooth and what's bark... You could pretty much say Timberwolves are all bark and bite."

Starcrasher looked out the window again, wondering whether she should go out to see if Widget was okay. The rain didn't bother her as much, compared to the deluge from earlier this was just a light rain in comparison.

- "Want me to go out and look for him?"

One quick breath of fire later, and Quill was holding a slice of toast, which he brought out from the kitchen and over to Starcrasher. Looking up at the window, he frowned a little, before taking a large bite out of his plain, rather burnt toast.

"The umbrella, um, thing could do with it's first field test," another chunk of toast disappeared with a satisfying crunch, "and Bearington could look after the shop while we, um, oh, I, well, sort of hired another assistant, so you'd have time to do the magic-things with Widget, and... um, maybe you could go and look for him, while I work out how to explain that we've got a new employee."

Starcrasher chuckled despite herself, though she felt a little shaken that they had found a replacement for her at first it had quickly become apparent that Widget, once again, knew nothing of it.

- "Well, i'm off to find Widget then. Where'd that girlfriend of his -- Twilight, right? -- live again?"

Truth was, she didn't really know a lot about Twilight aside from what she looked like, she had only met her once after all.

"The library, it's pretty easy, um, to find, just turn right at the door, keep going until you find the library," Quill offered the tangled mess of tape and paper attached to a cardboard tube up to Starcrasher, "and you'll probably want this, um, it might keep the rain off."

"It's an umbrella," he added quickly, sensing that there might be some confusion as to it's purpose, "and, um, remember, not a word about the new assistant, okay?"