Can you fix it? (Matt)

[Arlene Baines]

Arlene had arrived at the cafe a few minutes to five to secure a table and order drinks. She recalled what Matt had said on the phone about tea and ordered a glass of iced tea for what she assumed was a student. She ordered a cup of coffee for herself and took out one of the smaller objects she had in her purse, the other items being in the back of her car. She wasn't sure what his specialty might be but his advertisement had said "anything". She'd taken a chance to bring him mostly electronic devices at the moment, but those were the trickiest to find a good craftsman to restore. She laid the pocket watch on the table and frowned at it. It wasn't particularly old or rare, but it had been owned by someone rather important (a former president no less) and she'd like to see it restored before she contacted a museum and discussed the possibility of them buying it off of her for their collection.

She looked at her phone and noticed she had a message from her mother regarding another acquisition she was trying to make elsewhere and quickly sent off a few questions to her mother. It looked as if she would be able to view the painting she wanted but the owner was reluctant to sell. She looked up when the small bell on the door made a merry little sound and watched another customer walk in. She'd been expecting someone a bit younger...and male as she watched the blonde woman walk into the shop and order something to take away. Since the person she was meeting still a minute left before he would be 'late' Arlene looked down at her phone and summoned a game to play while she waited.

[Matt Davis]

Matt stopped beside of the bike rack not too far from the door and slid the ride into one of the slots. He threw the chain around the base and locked it down while bobbing his head to the song blaring in his earbuds. He was playing some music from his ‘lifes awesome’ track. He was pretty happy with the idea of getting some legitimate business. If he -was- going to be doing business though, he didn’t want to do his normal entrance into a store. Head bobbing to music and going right to his target. After all, he didn’t even know who his target was.

He popped the buds out and wrapped them around his fingers before stashing them and the zune into his pocket just before ‘One week’ got to the part where she’ll forgive him, and he waits until she’s sorry… A bit of a cliffhanger, but he knew how it’d end.

Matt took a breath before he walked through the door. The action rang the little alarm bell over the door and Matt looked up to it. He was half expecting people to do that loud welcoming sound some restaurants do, or for someone to sing a thank you song that the people at Long Johns Silver does.

The young man had left the backpack in home, so his pockets were stuffed with his wallet, phone, and Zune. A key hung about his neck on a lanyard and was tucked into the plain white t-shirt that stopped just before a hint of his plaid boxers poked out of the faded blue jeans.

[Arlene Baines]

Arlene looked up after winning another level of her phone game and spied a young man with a mop of unruly blond hair. Since she was expecting someone about his age, chances were that this was the boy she had called. She looked up as that moment a waitress chose to deliver their drinks and after the other woman had retreated, Arlene stood and approached the boy. "Excuse me, are you Matt Davis?" she asked politely, her heels not quite taking her up to his height but at letting her look comfortably into his eyes without having to keep her chin up too much. She extended a hand to shake his own. "I'm Arlene Baines. We spoke on the phone? It's nice to meet you," she smiled as she let his hand go and gestured to the table.

"I ordered you some ice tea, I hope that wasn't too forward of me. Please come and have a seat," she invited with a polite, friendly smile.

[Matt Davis]

Matt looked over the woman as she approached. Man, if Vermont had anything to be worthy of it was that it had a lot of lookers… He met her hand with his own and offered her look with a beaming smile down at her.

“Yes I’m Matt Davis, ma’am… A’course I know where I metchya, only reason I’m here.”

He looked around her to the table and smiled as he saw some tea set out for him. “That wasn’t forward at all, ma’am. I appreciate it… Any chance it’s sweet? Isn’t easy to find sweet tea this far north I’ve found.”

Matt moved to where she pointed him to and stood behind of her chair, only willing to take the seat when she sat herself down. “S’what can I help you with, Ma’am?”

[Arlene Baines]

A gentleman, Arlene could appreciate that in someone so young. She hoped he would continue this behavior as he grew older. She sat down as he held her seat out for her and used her foot to assist in moving it just the way she wanted when he stepped away. "There's some liquid sweetener here," she said as she indicated a simple, but no less beautiful bottle sitting on the table next to packets of cream and a small container of sugar cubes. After smoothing the wrinkles out of her pants she smiled at him and folded her hands on the table in a non-threatening way.

"Well, actually I have a few things in my car, but I wanted to see if you could fix this first," she said, getting right to business and picking up the pocket watch only to set it gently down in front of him. "It's broken but I'm not sure how to fix it myself, I was hoping you would be able to take care of that for me?" she asked curiously, wondering what sort of display she might see.

[Matt Davis]

Matt grabbed the liquid sweetener and looked over the bottle for a few seconds. Liquid sweetener… it wasn’t something he was used to. He made his own liquid sweetener sometimes by pouring some tea into a bunch of sugar and mixing it well before putting in the rest of the tea into it… but that probably wasn’t what this was.

He poured some of the sweetener to his finger before licking it off. It tasted good! Kind of like the stuff you feed a hummingbird. Which he had tasted multiple times… After a few seconds the woman started to talk and he peaked a brow while giving her attention. He started to pour some of the sweetener into the tea before his eyes found the watch. His hand quivered for a second… Normally, Matt would’ve just dropped the sweetener… but something strange happened to Matt, and it was the first time this had happened.

Matt, while his mind was analyzing and seeing the working mechanations of the clock, exuded some control. His hand quivered, but he -sat- the sweetener down. He didn’t abandon where he was or what he was doing right off the bat. He had barely enough self control to keep from making a massive mess. The bottle hit hard against the table before his hand shot out. He didn’t show the manners he had before as he snatched the small device from her hand.

He popped open the device with quick, almost chaotic hands. To the young antique dealer in front of him it may have looked scary. His fingers tore apart the device like a hungry hyena would tear apart a carcass, however each part that was removed was removed cleanly. Nothing was broken as he opened it up and dove into the heart.

Matt didn’t even need to know what was wrong before his finger worked through the cogs and springs to repair whatever ailments it would’ve had. It wouldn’t take but a minute, maybe two, before he closed the pocket watch and wound it up. He sat it down in front of her before sitting back up.

He grabbed his tea and took a sip before his face contorted. “Ahh! Not sweet!” He cried before picking up the sweetener and adding more into it.