Batteries Not Included

Ethan Wright sat at the front desk, staring intently at the backside of a portable radio. A Hogwarts student had brought it in - in pieces, no less - and claimed they would be by to pick it up the next weekend or as soon as they could get a chance to sneak off. Remembering the latter part of this comment made the wizard smirk. To be a child again...

The radio had come along nicely despite its initially gross state of disrepair. It needed to be completely remade, and thankfully his client had drawn up an approximate idea of what they wanted. Ethan personally thought it probably would've been better if the student had simply purchased a different radio. But who was he to complain? Business was business, after all. Plastic was still easy to come by, and he had extra wiring stockpiled almost ceiling-high. The back room of Dervish and Banges very much resembled a scrap yard, by Ethan's design. Such places were often frequented for spare parts and other bits of interest.

The wizard would have preferred to work on the radio with one of his "gadget-hands", but the fact of the matter was that those devices tended to scare some of the younger clientele that frequented the shop. Ergo he had to put the remaining touches on the radio with a good, old-fashioned set of tools and genuine elbow grease. No big deal. Ethan enjoyed his work to the point that he could, and often did, tinker with and invent gadgets all day.

Elizabeth walked along, window shopping and musing as she drank her coffee, she was thinking about her lesson plan her next class of 7th years for the next day, it was also ravenclaw and slytherins.. ah the smart ones and the smart alecs.. She smirked and shook her head she needed something that would challange all the students. Even her more advanced ones like Lainey Harper who was already well on her way to becoming an animagus, she was impressed with the speed of wich she was getting it. She was certainly working at it with a passion. She wondered it is was the Ravenclaw passion on something else driving her actions.

As she walked along a store caught her eye, Dervish & Banges and there all sorts of interesting looking things in it. She decided to take a break from lesson planning add see if browsing would help the answer come to her.

So she walked in to have a look around, she spotted the clerk seeming to be hard at work fixing what appeared to be a radio. She decided not to disturbe him and simply looked around looking some of the interest. Many of the things looked interesting, half of them she wasn't sure what they were, even though she had seen a great many things in her life and travels.

She looked around not spotting a 'Don't touch' sign and ended up pushing a button on one thing, and a whole domino effect started. Something popped opened which casued something else to fall over and knock something else off the shelf. Liz scrambled to catch it and by some luck she did.. However she missed another thing the fell and it went down with a loud crash.

Liz looked over at the clerk... a gulty expression all over her face... " I swear, casueing mayhem was not my intent" she insisted. However right then whatever she had saved poped opened to, giving her a start.

She looked at it for a moment and back at the Clerk.. "I swear I didn't mean it" she said blushing.. Apparently the store didn't like her.. she scratched the back of her head hoping the clerk had a sence of humor.

Ethan caught the sight of his visitor from the corner of his eye as he placed the final touch on repairing the radio. A nearly-silent sigh of contentment at completing a job well done left his lips. The wizard placed the radio under the counter and turned the tag around so he could properly see the name of its owner: Alonso, Jaina.

While crouched as he was behind the counter, Ethan heard a strange series of noises. Things fell over, some things gave the boing! sound of a metal spring sprung loose, and other such noises of mechanical chaos. A brown eyebrow quirked and slowly Ethan stood. He watched, wide-eyed, at the last few moments of the spectacle, when the witch caught one of the items before it crashed to the floor. Despite the mess, Ethan himself had to smirk and chuckle a little as the device in Elizabeth's clutches snapped open. Inside, a miniature "troop" of mechanical toy soldiers promptly leapt up onto the rim of their container. From there some began to sing, while others danced or performed other acrobatic acts.

"Not to worry," Ethan murmured, gently taking the box of toy soldiers from Liz. He momentarily addressed the mechanical soldiers, "Alright, you lot, get back in there before I put you in the back room. And for Merlin's sake, please stay out of trouble!"

Once they were all in the box Ethan closed the lid and turned again to his visitor. "I assure you, Miss: if this chaos isn't just the tip of the iceberg, then I wouldn't rightly know what to do with meself. And if something breaks..." the wizard gave a little shrug and grinned, "... well, this is a repair shop, after all."

"I'm Ethan Wright, by the way," the wizard smiled, offering his left hand to shake instead of his right.

Elizabeth blinked at the singing and dancing soldiers, that she was not expecting, thought she sheepishly told herself she should have.

Her eyebrows rose and an amused smile came to her face as The clerk told the toys to go back the there room and stay out of trouble. It actually sounded as if he was talking to a bunch of kids really and she found it funny.

She laughed, "Well that was a unexpected surprise" she said relieved she had not ticked annyone off. wouldn't had been for the first time. " Addmitedly now a very welcome one" she said with a chuckle.

At his comment about the repair shop she had to laugh again " That is a good point, thank you" she said one again greatful he seemed to have a easy going sence of humor.

"Elizabeth Melborne, though most call me Liz, or Lizzie depending on how chipper your feeling. Pleasure to meet you Ethan Wright" she said shaking his hand. " And I apolpgize again I seem to attract choas where ever I go" she said meaning her apology but one could not miss the mischious look on her face, the part of her that liked the chaos.

"This place I am sure is not shot of any of it" she said looking aorund again her hand on her hip and smirk on her face.

"Likewise... Lizzie," Ethan beamed. Although he'd only just met the witch, she certainly seemed like an 'Elizabeth' to him. "An enchanting name, if I may say so. And, please: simply 'Ethan' would suffice."

The wizard made a noise somewhere between a scoff and a laugh, waving off the apology. "I assure you: it's no trouble. A little chaos now and then actually makes my day considerably more interesting. I've been known to attract a bit of it myself, from time to time," Ethan returned, a mischievous look on his face. He was nearly startled, then delighted, to see a similar countenance come over his visitor as well.

"Not short on that at all. A repair shop without chaos would be rather boring, indeed," Ethan agreed, taking a moment to grin and look around the place. Precarious piles of contraptions that were actually haphazardly stocked upon shelves were nearly everywhere one looked. "If there's anything I can do to help, or if you have questions, I'm at your service."

Elizabeth giggled quirking her eyes at the man, "Why thank you Good Sir" she said with a wink and bow for true old "elizabethian" fashion.

"Pleasure to meet you Ethan" she said raising from her bow with a smirk on her face. She beamed at his comment over chaos. "Well then I am glad I made your day more interesting then" she chirped.

She tilted her head glancing round trying to remember why it was exactly she entered the shop. " Curious thing really.. I think I just entered cause it looked interesting" she said sheepishly. "And hoped it would give me a idea for my transfigurations class.. yeah thats is I think.. hoping for a idea to jump out at me" she said then being silly looked around the walls of gagets as if expecting something to jump out at her.

Ethan chuckled at his new friend's antics and mimicked the bow. "Likewise," he beamed, straightening once again. Although he had only just met this woman, he liked her. Easygoing, playful, and not too serious... ah, yes. Elizabeth was a delightful change of pace from other witches he'd met and observed recently.

He listened, and smiled in delight at her sheepish response. Not many found his little shop interesting unless there was a genuine need for something to be fixed or modified. Fewer still held an interest in items that had a muggle origin - nearly three-quarters or more of his shop's overall contents! "Well, there's plenty here to choose from. But if I might make a personal suggestion...?"

Without waiting for a response, Ethan dug out a vintage-looking box and proceeded to fling open the four latches securing the lid, and lifted the hinged covering. "These little buggers are inexpensive, probably simple enough for transfiguring lessons, and could use a home, if they interest you," he finished. Inside, beyond the dry scent of dust and vague hint of sandalwood, was a large assortment of muggle wind-up toys: fruits and vegetables with faces, almost any animal that could be imagined, several ladybugs, and a few that looked like fake sets of human teeth (some with little feet on the bottom, and some without). It was clear that none of these little toys were brand new - from the occasional peeling eye sticker to splotches of fresh paint and novelty turnkey handles from repeated repairs.

(Reference Pics
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http://www.monsterproducts.co.uk/Jpeg/wind-up-fruit.jpg )