Just another morning
A teenaged boy named Richard woke up from his bed by his alarm clock, he languidly stretched and collected his thoughts in his bed a moment. He hit the big red button on top of his alarm clock adjacent to his bed which turned off his alarm but simultaneously made his bed catapult him across his room into a soft netting.
When he got on his feet he quickly walked over to his closet and looks through his wardrobe. He then settled on wearing a white collared long sleeved work shirt and a pair of khaki's that were slightly to big for him. This didn't seem to bother him though, he just grabbed a pair of suspenders to ensure they didn't drop any. Once he adjusted them he put the last last article of clothing he'd need for the the day, his work boots.
He then walked over to his desk and sifted through all his requisition forms until he found his pair of goggles. They were designed to magnify and sense thermal and electrical energies, as well as be an inner monitor when connected to a computer. Once upon a time they were just a piece of trash he found while sifting through the Greyman District. Richard replaced the broken rubber strap with a leather one and got rid of the plastic frame around the eyes and shaped a pair of brass ones. Along with some electrical work and a little care he was able to make himself a set of work goggles that he was never seen without. Afterwards, he made sure to grab a small copper metallic orb and slid it underneath his sleeve.
With that found, he placed the goggles on his forehead and gathered his vertical gun holster, which housed his eight chamber rail gun revolver that was beautifully engraved; yet still had a rugged brass look to it. Once he put the holster on he then took his brass computerized headphones from his rack adjacent to his door. It was a discarded hat rack that the boy found while scavenging, a coat of stain and varnish brought it back to life. The boy didn't own any hats but he found a way to have it serve a purpose for him.
Upon entering the hallway the teenager whistled sharply to a white orb shaped construct that was placed next to the entrance to his doorway. The orb then mechanically opened up and stretched into the shape of a small white plastic covered robotic dog that resembled that of a yorkie. "Hey Buddy! Who's a good boy"?! The small robot dog wagged its small tail to and fro and eventually got so excited it started to bounce, bark and chase it's tail.
This was one of Richard's robots that he designed. Richard smiled, happy to see the personality shine through his created robot. He then opened the door to his room and told the robot to go play, to which the robot happily and hastily replied.
When it ventured into Richard's room, it began to eat the trash lying on his floor. Richard then proceeded to the small bathroom that was behind one of the doors within the hallway. He went in front of the sink and medicine cabinet and turned on his headphones while he yawned. Moments later a feminine voice within his headphones greeted him "Good morning Master Charles". Richard was quick to think of a response within his mind and thought "Good morning Kyrarra, please begin Morning Routine".
His headphone's artificial intelligence acknowledged him and small robotic arms came out of ports within the walls and took care of brushing his teeth, shaving his facial hair, and combing his brown hair. He thought out loud "Kyrarra, how many times do I have to tell you, leave my hair alone". Richard didn't like fussing over his hair, he thought he looked better with it messed up a little. Kyrarra rebuked and said that it's master should reconsider, he can't be taken seriously if he looked homeless. Richard disagreed with Kyrarra though as he got a good look at himself in the mirror.
He was lean and could be considered thin. He looked relatively professional for being an engineer. He took his hands through his hair and messed it up a little before walking out and down the hallway. As he passed his friend's room, he could hear his metal music through his door. The base of the music was visibly shaking it.
This didn't alarm Richard in the slightest, it just meant that his friend and co-worker Jake was already awake. He didn't want to bother him in case he was in the middle of something so Richard just proceeded to the end of the hall and entered a room that both served as the house's kitchen and the company's break room. A tall thin woman with long straight brunette hair greeted Richard and handed him a cup of coffee that she had already prepared.
Richard took the cup of coffee and sipped it while hopping on the counter to sit down. "Thanks Elisa, sometimes this is the only thing that makes it worth getting up in the morning". Elisa was Richard's assistant, she was around his age but since she was quiet in nature most people assumed her slow; making it difficult for her to find work.
Nevertheless, Richard was kind hearted and a good judge of character. Hiring Elisa was one of his better decisions he's made as an entrepreneur, when Richard started letting her manage his finances and triaging workflow for him the business as a whole profited from it.
Once Richard finished his coffee he set it down in the sink adjacent to where he was sitting. "By chance did you get my business pass approved so I can enter the Harlington District?" Elisa took out a slip of paper from her small purse that had a stamp approved by the Allied Broker Association granting him a three day work pass to enter the District for a fee of five hundred credits. Richard was impressed usually it took a thousand credit investment to gather supplies in the district for the day when non-locals were asking for the permit.
"Very nice!" Richard exclaimed as he swiped the permit from her. He asked her how she was able to get this at such a cheap cost, to which she hesitantly responded "Well you see... I uh, was able to ask the ABA for; ah... a cheaper cost... Because of recent issues within the District". Richard didn't understand what she was talking about. But it didn't bother him, he was excited to go to the Harlington district.
Even though the district was not loved by most, often called Junk Town and Trashville by the locals, it was the perfect place for Richard to gather materials. The Harlington district was, for the most part, a town that was built within a crater. Most of the surrounding towns made a deal with the broker representative that ran the outskirt town.
They payed a kick back for the privilege of dumping their non hazardous waste like scrapped materials and biodegradable garbage like discarded food and animal carcasses into the town's massive landfills.
Richard made most of his inventions and prototypes out of that discarded scrap metal and plastic. He also felt he was on the brink of finding a profitable way to make use of the discarded food by processing it down to its more basic components.
Richard wanted to leave right now but then he remembered about his requisition forms, they had a lot of work to do still and he voiced his concerns to Elisa. Soon after Jake walked into the room shirtless, wearing a pair of jeans, and using a towel to dry off his short black hair. "Don't worry about it man, I looked at the forms. Most of them are weapon orders anyways".
Jake tossed his towel to the ground but Buddy came out of no where and jumped up and grabbed it. He then shook it side to side like a ragdoll before he sat down and swallowed it up whole. Afterwards, it was content and panted happily to portray that to be the case.
Richard was a gifted inventor and craftsman but he refused to make any more guns due to a traumatic experience he had. Jake was a master when it came to weapons and could make anything from authentic medieval blades to high powered laser beam guns. It was the reason of their partnership and the foundation of their friendship. Together they were equal partners to "Gears in Motion" a business they started together through Jake's house in Jacobstown.
Jake assured Richard to go ahead and he'll hold down the fort at Jacobstown. Richard thanked Jake and told him he'll pay him back somehow. "How about you show me how you made Lorentz there" Jake mentioned. That was the name of Richard's last created and personally owned weapon. It wasn't surprising that Jake was interested in it, rail gun technology hadn't been touched in over a couple decades, leaving the market completely open. Richard smiled and told a half lie "We'll see..."
Jake knew that Richard wasn't going to show him but he enjoyed giving Richard a hard time about it. As Richard walked on ahead and went to venture out of town Elisa stopped him. She held onto his hand and Richard asked what it was. She took something out of her purse and handed Richard a stack of business cards that read "Gears in Motion" and below that had their contact information.
She then looked over to the front desk in the buildings lobby area. Richard couldn't help but look to see what she was looking at. He saw a black vest and a tie folded up neatly on the end of the desk for him.
Richard didn't like dressing formally, it made him feel fake; like he was pretending to be someone whom he was not. Richard went to voice his concerns to Elisa but Kyrarra spoke it's mind "Master Charles, please reconsider what your about to say. Your business has grown influence and financial prowess over the years. It is not the same as when you started it seven years ago, you are now a known figure to many in the surrounding districts according to online forums. You've a reputation to represent and uphold now".
Richard didn't know about it though, is a suit and tie really what he wanted to represent to the outside world? Kyrarra then pressed on and reminded Richard "Besides... It took quite a bit of work for Elisa to find this for you, if you refuse you'll hurt her feelings". Richard was powerless to refuse now, Kyrarra knew him to well. He thanked Elisa for her hard work and put on the vest and the tie. Although typically worn with a dress shirt, his collared work shirt did not distract from it's appeal. With that done, Richard said his final goodbyes and walked out the front door.
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