Since arriving Chariot had enjoyed the village greatly and had gotten acquainted with multiple of the local blacksmiths to learn from them, yet her greatest interest was always the fireworks shop. Every day she dropped by the small shop to take a look at the old man's work. Especially since she had little idea how it all worked she watched him prepare rockets and bomb like things with great interest.
No surprise when the old man needed help with his work, the Mink just happened to be in his shop. Without proper explanations he started putting multiple boxes onto the Mink's strong arms. “We need to set these up.” Followed once he had grabbed some boxes as well.
Chariot was actually excited about helping the man, even when it was just carrying boxes around she got to see how a professional firework display was set up. Their goal was near the ocean where the old man set his box down and started unpacking it. His help followed the example. “Good now run back to the shop and get two more such boxes!” That upset her a bit, since she wanted to see the man do his work, but it only meant that she had to do it fast, which also pleased the man, when he saw the girl back with all his boxes within only a few minutes.
Yet he gave her no time to catch her breath and began to order her to spread the rockets along the shore, in the order described on the boxes. First was getting every of the pretty explosives in the right spot. Multiple times the man yelled at her that she placed them just a bit too far to the right or left. He was a perfectionist, much like Chariot herself and at the same time he was terribly annoying with his nagging, much unlike Chariot. Whenever she demanded perfection and extra work it was only of herself, not others.
Either way soon all the firework was spread out along the shore and it was time to set it up properly. The only work he let the clueless Mink do was to make sure that the Rocket's were set up in the right arc. Which was mostly upwards but slightly leaning towards the ocean. Over and over he commented on the big Mink, asking if her giant body was missing any sense of delicacy, or if she had even the slightest clue that eighty-four degree was clearly different from eighty-six and similar things. As a blacksmith Chariot had done only very little accurate work. She had made a necklace or pendant once, maybe twice, but her speciality was clearly the brute work a weapon or armour piece required. Placing a rocket at the exact arc was therefore not her strong suit.
Somehow she managed to set up most of the rockets in the end, while the expert set up the batteries and already started laying out gunpowder strings. Each time Chariot had the chance she glanced over at him and watched how the wire layout progressed. It seemed like some of the strings were intentionally longer, others shorter, most likely to start things with different timing, while saving the man from lighting them one by one. She thought about all the planing and especially difficult calculations that had to go into it and was happy to be a simple craftswoman instead.
As the sun started to slowly set the two of them were finally finished and Chariot took a deep breath, looking at her work with satisfaction, but the old man obviously had to double check every single rocket, made sure that they were stuck into the ground stable enough, that they would not accidentally light any other firework and what else. In the end he came back to his helper and actually offered her a smile. “For a first timer, it was not bad, but keep your day job.” He even laughed a bit and then pointed past her to one of the tallest buildings in the town. “From there you will have the best view, just tell them you are my guest.” He even gave her his card to make sure there would be no problem and then sent her away.
On her way Chariot noticed a poster, it displayed a great firework explosion as she looked at it closer she let out a loud sigh. The work she had done was not to flourish in the sky for another week and she did not even know if she would be there by then, but it made her slightly currious how the firework would stay dry that long.
782 Words
No surprise when the old man needed help with his work, the Mink just happened to be in his shop. Without proper explanations he started putting multiple boxes onto the Mink's strong arms. “We need to set these up.” Followed once he had grabbed some boxes as well.
Chariot was actually excited about helping the man, even when it was just carrying boxes around she got to see how a professional firework display was set up. Their goal was near the ocean where the old man set his box down and started unpacking it. His help followed the example. “Good now run back to the shop and get two more such boxes!” That upset her a bit, since she wanted to see the man do his work, but it only meant that she had to do it fast, which also pleased the man, when he saw the girl back with all his boxes within only a few minutes.
Yet he gave her no time to catch her breath and began to order her to spread the rockets along the shore, in the order described on the boxes. First was getting every of the pretty explosives in the right spot. Multiple times the man yelled at her that she placed them just a bit too far to the right or left. He was a perfectionist, much like Chariot herself and at the same time he was terribly annoying with his nagging, much unlike Chariot. Whenever she demanded perfection and extra work it was only of herself, not others.
Either way soon all the firework was spread out along the shore and it was time to set it up properly. The only work he let the clueless Mink do was to make sure that the Rocket's were set up in the right arc. Which was mostly upwards but slightly leaning towards the ocean. Over and over he commented on the big Mink, asking if her giant body was missing any sense of delicacy, or if she had even the slightest clue that eighty-four degree was clearly different from eighty-six and similar things. As a blacksmith Chariot had done only very little accurate work. She had made a necklace or pendant once, maybe twice, but her speciality was clearly the brute work a weapon or armour piece required. Placing a rocket at the exact arc was therefore not her strong suit.
Somehow she managed to set up most of the rockets in the end, while the expert set up the batteries and already started laying out gunpowder strings. Each time Chariot had the chance she glanced over at him and watched how the wire layout progressed. It seemed like some of the strings were intentionally longer, others shorter, most likely to start things with different timing, while saving the man from lighting them one by one. She thought about all the planing and especially difficult calculations that had to go into it and was happy to be a simple craftswoman instead.
As the sun started to slowly set the two of them were finally finished and Chariot took a deep breath, looking at her work with satisfaction, but the old man obviously had to double check every single rocket, made sure that they were stuck into the ground stable enough, that they would not accidentally light any other firework and what else. In the end he came back to his helper and actually offered her a smile. “For a first timer, it was not bad, but keep your day job.” He even laughed a bit and then pointed past her to one of the tallest buildings in the town. “From there you will have the best view, just tell them you are my guest.” He even gave her his card to make sure there would be no problem and then sent her away.
On her way Chariot noticed a poster, it displayed a great firework explosion as she looked at it closer she let out a loud sigh. The work she had done was not to flourish in the sky for another week and she did not even know if she would be there by then, but it made her slightly currious how the firework would stay dry that long.
782 Words