Wrong Place, Right Time

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Once you find your light, I'm sure it will lead you back here.

This. Was. Heaven.

Cordelia had only truly started to learn more about Fiore upon arriving in the country and, even then, it was minimal. Her focus had been mainly on getting to know her fellow guild members of Meliora Vitae and partaking in jobs that helped broaden her horizons. Plus there was the fact that she had to spend some time taking care of Bowzer before he was large enough to fend for himself. It had only been the other day that someone had mentioned Motor City in passing and Cordelia, being the curious explorer that she was, inquired about it.

And she nearly exploded with excitement when they told her about it! There was an entire town filled with engineers and tinkerers?! Somewhere back in Ca-Elum, her father would most likely feel his ears burning. This was the kind of place that her and her father had dreamed of going to and exploring! Cordelia had been raised around engineering her entire life, her father an expert blacksmith on her home island. Unlike the other girls around her age, the Meliora Vitae ace had found excitement and thrill in helping her parents, getting covered in grease and taking complicated machines apart, only to put them back together. Her father’s passion had become her own and while others may have rebelled against their parent’s culture, Cordelia embraced it and made it a part of herself.

The smell of oil, grease and magical components permeated through the air as she reached the outskirts of the town. Her smile, almost always bright and shining, seemed to widen even more as the familiar smells and tastes reached her senses. “Oh Bowzer, this is going to be amazing!” she told her nearly-grown bear friend, the woman bending down to scratch the bear’s head from her place upon his back. She held up her purse with pride and looked over at it. “Maybe I’ll be able to learn some tips and tricks to better improve my purse!” It was certainly an odd statement for anyone to hear -- stating that tinkerers in an engineering town could improve upon a purse. But Cordelia was caught up in her own world, even as they strode into the limits of the city.

It was bustling; lacbikes and cars zipping around while people moved across pavement to their numerous destinations. It was the closest thing to a real city that Cordelia had ever been to and she stood in awe as she looked around at the tall, makeshift structures around her. “There is so much going on!” she told Bowzer with glee, turning to him and giggling. “We need to find their market. No doubt a place like this has a market!”

She stepped slightly into the path of a woman walking by. She was a woman just about Cordelia’s height, with wild blue hair and thick red-tinted goggles on her forehead. She wore a beaten white tank top over a black singlet, the words ‘I’m tinkersexual’ written in bold black words on the front of her shirt. She was sporting a pair of leather gloves with the fingers cut off and pieces of scrap cloth wrapped around her biceps on both arms. A pronounced number 8 was tattooed on her left shoulder. Dark blue jeans, stained with grease and oil, covered her legs and equally dirty boots met the ground with purpose. At least they did until Cordelia stepped in the way.

“Can I help ya, pink?” the woman asked irritably.

“Hi there! My name is Cordelia. I was wondering if you knew where the market was. I’m looking to chat up some of the local engineers and see what I can learn,” the Meliora Vitae ace announced proudly.

The woman looked her up and down. “You want to talk to engineers, huh?” Her focus turned to the purse briefly before she lifted her gaze back up to Cordelia, a wry smirk tugging at her lips. “Sure, kid. I know the way. In fact, I was headin’ there myself. How ‘bout I take there? I got some friends at the market that would love to chat wit’ ya.”

“Oh my Earthland, that would be amazing!” Cordelia practically squealed.

“Yeah, amazin’. Let’s head down that alley over there. I know a shortcut,” the woman said, gesturing to the passage between buildings across the street. As Cordelia nodded and started moving to cross the street, the woman shot a glance around her, just to see if anyone had overheard the conversation. Then she swiftly followed after her.