"Greetings, lass," the man behind the counter said. He was large, far more muscular than Leo was, but his hand was clearly a prosthetic, and the burn wounds on his wrist left heavy scarring. His voice only held a hint of the Scottish accent of his family, but his vocabulary reflected it. "Is there something I can be of service to?"
Raine pht on a smile and walked up to the desk. He was intimidating, but Leo had said he was a good man. "I'm here to see Leo," she explained.
The man gave her a large, toothy grin. "Ah, so you're the lass he'd been telling me about. Boy'll be out in a minute, he's working on a project of mine. Can't just walk away from our line of work. Make yourself at home. Can't offer much to keep you cool, but a wee bit of heat'll do the body good."
Raine smiled and nodded, stepping away from the counter and taking a seat on a bench. The big man, Rex, disappeared into the back.
Raine took some time to look around the shop. A great many metal objects adorned the walls. Historic recreations, modern farm tools, home decoration pieces, and even a small section of jewelry. After a minute or two of waiting, Raine decided she might as well take the time to have a closer look at that last collection.
It was clear that, while not a particularly large part of the shop, they did not skimp on the attention to detail when it came to these works. While some were quite plain and simple, others were surprisingly elaborate, and they were all beautiful. A great number of them were custom orders that they had been permitted to leave up for display, so as to potentially attract further customers. Raine wondered just how heavy a role Leo played in this silversmithing side of things.
Raine hardly noticed as the sound of hammering came to a stop from the back room, with Leo coming to the front shortly afterwards. She lifted her eyes from the jewelry to see him coming through the back door, still in the process of removing his lightly burnt and ash covered leather apron and gloves. He smiled at her briefly before hanging the items, and swinging himself up and over the counter on to her side.
"You said you wanted to see my place of work," he said. His voice was once more rough and low, dried out as it had been the first time they had met. Raine had to admit, there was something oddly pleasing about the way he sounded. And the way he looked. He was nowhere near as big as Rex, but he was solidly built, now more visible than ever thanks to the sweat from the hard work. "What do you think so far?" he asked.
"It's really something," she responded. "You make all of these."
Leo gave a hoarsy chuckle. "I work in all the areas," he said. "But everything you see here isn't necessarily my work. But I have helped in some way on most."
Raine nodded, taking another look around, trying not to eyeball anything too hard, and especially not Leo. "What are the chances I can take a look in the back?"
"Well, most customers aren't allowed in back," Leo said, leaning against the counter. His finger began to tap away on the wood, and had Raine been paying enough attention, she might have noticed it was to the same rhythym to which he had been hammering away only moments prior in back. Raine frowned and nodded, but the smile did not falter from Leo's face. "You, however, are a friend of the workman, and thus get special privledges, already agreed upon by the big man. As long as you promise to be careful and follow all instructions exactly, of course. Sound fair?"
Raine beamed and nodded. "Of course!" she exclaimed, perhaps a bit more enthusiastically then she had intended.
Leo chuckled and nodded. "Very well then. Let's get you some protective gear, and let the tour begin."
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