Anne walked down the street to Pats workshop. She had become somewhat good friends with the tomboyish girl, as she was one of only 2 people near her age, the other being Jen who had also taken to hanging out with them. Anne had just finished her morning training, but didn't really have much else to do at the moment since her class with Finch didn't start until the afternoon anyways, and Johan was always busy all day long between magic and physical training.

Anne knocked at the door, and called out.

"Pat! I'm here!" Anne didn't hear anything, so she started opening the door and called out again. "I'm coming in!"

Inside she saw the device that she and Johan had brought back from their hunt, it was sitting on the table in the middle of the room. It was currently half assembled, and many parts were being cleaned it looked like. There was a bunch of dirt in the device, seemingly from where there were once hinges to hold everything together. On the other side of the room was the engine of the car Johan had driven them into town in.

Anne heard some shuffling from the back of the building and went to go see if it was Pat. Entering the room, she found Pat snuggled into some pelt blankets, still sleeping. She was cute when she was sleeping, Anne had to admit, but she still woke her up without remorse.

"Hah, wuh?" Pat looked up at Anne, "Oh? Hey, Anneee. Wanna snuggle up?" Pat lifted her blanket a bit.

"Pft. As good as a nap sounds right about now, I'm not really into you like that Pat." Anne replied. "Now get up. Jen'll be here soon."

"Augh. I guess so." Pat pulled the blankets off, then got dressed, not really paying attention to Anne while she did so. Anne, once she saw that Pat was actually up, left the small bedroom and returned to the front, shortly after Pat came out of her room, grabbed a steak that she had cooked at some point from her small metal storage box that she had put into the ground and started to gnaw on it. While Anne watched as Pat ate her breakfast, Jen walked in.

"Whua nout evn a knck?" Pat complained with a full mouth.

"I saw Anne, figured you were likely awake." Jen answered without shame.

"Well, I had to wake her up, but she is awake now." Anne smiled.

"Ah, that explains a lot. I know that Pat usually has trouble waking up at a good time." Jen responded a smile also appearing on her face.

Pat swallowed a mouthful of food before responding. "You two make me sound like I'm a mess. I've been working hard recently ya know!" Pats face contorted in mock anger.

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"Yeah, yeah. I know, as much as I rag on you, from what has happened to that thing I can tell you've been up to some stuff." Anne gestured to the open box like device that sat on the table.

"Speaking of, any idea what it does yet?" Jen asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"No, not sure what it does yet, still scraping dirt out of it. I definitely believe that this thing was buried in the ground, I tell ya." Pat said, folding her arms over herself as she glared a bit at the device. "As much as I hate having to clean out the thing, I am looking forward to getting it to work. It's pretty complicated from what I can tell. Heck it may even be magitech."

"You and your magitech obsession, you're like my brother with magic. Just always looking for it." Anne sighed.

"Oh yeah, how is that going anyways?" Pat asked

"Johan has been doing a lot of work trying to make a ball out of mana, or so he says, I can't really tell truth be told, but I'm sure he isn't doing nothing." Anne said.

"Oh, that kinda sucks. I kinda always wanted to know how magic works yeah? Wonder if Johan would be willing to teach me a bit about it." Pat said

"Oh, that'd be cool. I always think it's really amazing that Nath can just make all that water suddenly appear. I'd love to be able to do that myself." Jen added

"Ugh... Don't tell me you two are interested in him now." Anne said, half jokingly.

"Don't worry Anne, I only have eyes for you..." Pat joked "I am serious though, I want to learn about magic. After all I *do* want to become a *magic* engineer."

Jen however blushed a bit rather than answering.

"Wait, really?" Anne looked at her incredulously.

"Well, he's kinda cool. I also think he looks good..." Jen muttered, getting even more red now that it was pointed out.

"Haha, Good for you Jen!" Pat said happily.

"Mm, I'm not sure I like it that much, but if it goes well, then good for you I guess." Anne said, "It's not that I don't like you, but it's just a bit weird when a friend has feelings for my brother. It's not the first time I've had this happen either."

"Sorry..." Jen replied apologetically.

"Naw, it's nothing to apologize for. People can't help who they like, it's just how it is. chances are that you'll fall out of it once you get to know him better anyways." Anne shrugged it off.

"I mean, I get where Jen is coming from though." Pat interjected, "Johan is pretty good looking, even more so with him exercising like he has been."

"Ugh. Can we change the topic, please, I don't want to listen to you two gush about how hot my brother is." Anne groaned.

"Hehe, Yeah, I was mostly teasing you." Pat laughed a bit.

"The mostly bothers me there." Anne said, as Pat shrugged.

"So, how is training going for you Anne?" Jen asked, decisively changing the subject.

"It's going well, I'm able to kick Johans butt when it comes to technique. I'm getting good at redirecting attacks as well. The shield really helps with parrying and moving blows away from my body. What about you, what have you been up to Jen?"

"I've mostly just been doing some work to find out some stuff. Nothing major unfortunately."

"That sucks." Pat said.

"That's the nature of it sometimes." Jen sighed. "Well, I should get going."

"Same here." Anne replied, "More training, yay!" She gave a false cheer.

"Alright, have fun you two. You both know where to find me." Pat waved them off before getting started on her own work.