video; un: reiner

[hometown]

[ The video begins with Reiner (tall, blond, handsome, serious-looking) standing in front of a small curio shop with various stone and wood sculptures on display in the window. The sculptures are all well-made and unique, clearly created by hand. ]

Hey, everyone. For those who don't know me, I'm Reiner Braun. I've been here for a long time. And I'm here to announce the grand opening of my shop.

[ He pans up to show the sign: BraunSphere. ]

I'm selling little trinkets and stuff. I'm also selling amulets with defensive properties. Only defensive; don't ask me about offensive enchantments.

[ He pans the camera back down, showing off the merchandise in the window. It's quite an impressive display! ]

If you find something you like but it doesn't quite suit, I do take custom orders. And if you like Amberfall and you'd wanna work at a place like this, let me know. I'm hiring. Full or part-time, your choice.

Thanks.

Comments

[abnormalizes]

Oh, yeah, definitely! I'll be right over, I have just the thing in mind.

> action

[hometown]

Perfect. Just come right inside.

[ When she arrives she'll find that the shop's door jingles when it opens. Inside, the shop is quiet and tranquil, smelling faintly of crushed leaves. It has a very Autumn-y vibe, though whether that's because it's in Amberfall or because of Reiner's seasonal power permeating the place is hard to say.

Reiner straightens from some sort of paperwork when Evangeline enters, giving a big smile. ]

Welcome to my shop.

[ He's so proud. ]

[abnormalizes]

[Evangeline enters, carrying a piece of paper in her hand, and looks around.]

You've definitely been putting a lot of work in, I can tell. I'll have to think of something I want to buy for myself later, but first...

[She hands Reiner a colored pencil drawing.]

Can the amulet look like this?

[hometown]

[ Reiner takes the drawing, giving it a look. ]

Yeah, that's no problem. I can either etch this design into something, or I can basically recreate this drawing. The lines would be wood, stone, or metal. The iris, [ he points at it, ] would be connected by something transparent.

I could probably enchant the iris to float independently to make it kinda flashy, but honestly, it wouldn't be as sturdy.

[abnormalizes]

Sturdy's better. He's kind of the type who gets into trouble a lot...

[Hmmm.]

Recreating the drawing sounds good, if it isn't too much trouble.

[hometown]

[ Reiner runs a hand over the drawing, already imagining how it will feel to create it. ]

No trouble at all. How about materials? I can use stone, wood, or metal. Or a mix.

[abnormalizes]

I think he'd like metal best. He does mechanical work himself, so that's his wheelhouse.

[hometown]

[ Reiner smiles. ]

Consider it done. … Well, in about a week. I'll have to experiment a little with the enchantment, but it shouldn't take me longer than that.

[abnormalizes]

Thank you so much! I'm excited to see it! How much will it be?

[hometown]

[ Reiner names a reasonable price! It's basically just the cost of materials (since enchantments require them, and this will take some experimenting) plus a little extra to help keep the shop in the black. ]

Do you know Amaterasu, the big white Otherworlder dog? [ Wolf. She's a wolf. ] I just hired her earlier. She said she can do deliveries.

[abnormalizes]

[Pulling out her wallet...]

I don't, but I'm excited to meet her! Just send it over when it's done.

[hometown]

[ Transaction noises! ]

You'll love her. She's big, fluffy, and very polite.

[ All of which contributed to Reiner's decision to hire her. ]

[abnormalizes]

[Exchange of money for goods successful!]

Oh, those are all excellent qualities. The perfect employee.

[hometown]

I thought so, too! I'm glad she agreed to work here.

[ Now he just needs to figure out she's a wolf, not a dog. ]

[abnormalizes]

Did you hire anyone else?

[Probably sadly not as fluffy as Ammy is.]

[hometown]

Not yet. [ Reiner sobers. ] One person was interested, but they were adamant about doing offensive enchantments. I thought I was pretty clear on that.

[ What with the whole "don't ask me about offensive enchantments" line. ]

[abnormalizes]

What was their problem? [Judging.] I mean, I get that they might not automatically be used for something bad, you can use them to fight monsters and stuff - but if you don't want your business to sell them, you don't want your business to sell them, end of story.

[hometown]

They wanted to do some kinda "strictly regulated sale" thing. [ Reiner shakes his head. ] Someone can be trustworthy and still not be trusted with a loaded weapon. It'd be like distributing guns to untrained civilians and hoping no one gets shot.

Can you imagine how much worse it could've made that blackout? People were panicking. If they'd had the power to, let's say, burn anyone they punched—they would've been burning each other.

[ Reiner realizes he's scowling and tries to stop. ]

But, you're right. Bottom line, I don't want to sell them.

[abnormalizes]

…I don’t really get it, to be honest? Like at home, everyone has weapons in the Backstreets because it’s dangerous and you need a way to defend yourself. The concept of most people not being armed by default doesn’t really make sense to me.

But also - because people at home know they might have to use those weapons at any time, they’ve trained and practiced. Is that the difference? Or is it something else?

[hometown]

That's the difference, [ Reiner says, nodding. ] If someone is practiced and trained, then there's no problem giving them a weapon. But if they don't know what they're doing, they're more likely to hurt themselves or someone else than a monster.

The civilians here don't know what they're doing. They rely on others for protection. Arming them without training is asking for accidents.

[abnormalizes]

That makes sense.

[Evangeline hums thoughtfully.] There are a bunch of people who offer combat training to otherworlders. What would you think of opening that up to natives who want to learn, too?

[A slight difference of terminology, native versus civilian.]

[hometown]

That's not a bad idea. It'd be up to the people offering it, though.

[ Reiner can't very well make that decision for them. ]

[abnormalizes]

If I had more free time I'd offer... Oh, Rinku says my training is really hard, though, so maybe that wouldn't be a good idea?

[hometown]

Well, you'd quickly weed out the dedicated from the casual.

[ He's only half-joking. ]

[abnormalizes]

That's true, but I'd rather not traumatize anybody even if they are only casually interested.