"You're just so shy and it is so the opposite of a big deal for me that I'm tempted to just. Demonstrate."

"I kind of... I already told you my society's all messed up about it, I guess." Sigh.

He looks around the room. Anyone else here?

Cocoa's off in a corner talking to a blue-haired girl he doesn't recognize. 

Clematis is cleaning up in the kitchen.

There's another table of three off on the other side of the room. One of them might be Rosalie? Red-haired, anyway. 

Yeah that's too many people for what he was originally going to say.

"I'd get teased like 'the only way a girl'd kiss you is if you paid her', or, 'you must be gay since you never flirt', stupid stuff like that. Er, being gay was stigmatized too. And- yeah." Shrug. "Hard to get it through my skull that this isn't high school. I don't know what I need to - stop thinking like that, except time and reassurance."

"Yeah. See what I said about not being a patient person." She sighs. 

"For what it's worth, I think it'd be good for you to get out a little. And we should be able to free up a room for you soon."

"I think I'll go find this kitchen that needs their stuff redone and do it for them, then. It should be one or two core draw, right?"

"Sounds right, one for the stove one for the oven."

"Right, thanks." He reads the thread one more time for any indication of how one is supposed to get paid.

In good silver, of course. Standard charge for work like this is about two silver, haggle if you have the skill, if you don't just stick to three. Per item, of course.

"Okay, one last question before I'm off, how much is one silver worth? Like, a couple examples of something you can buy with it. And how many - copper, is it copper?"

"About a week's groceries, two nice pieces of clothing, a backpack... It's copper, twenty to a silver, twenty silver to a gold."

"Not bad. Okay, thanks for all the help Hannah. I'll be back soon."

He heads out of the user collective and mutters a scry for the address which needs new kitchen appliances.

It's near the central park with the statue, a bit towards the waterfront. It's a nice house with rose bushes in front. 

He knocks on the door with a smile.

An older gentleman with a grey mustache answers the door. "Hello! Who are you, precisely?"

"Hello. I'm a new rel'he in town, call me, uh, Theo. I'm here about your kitchen, I saw that you were requesting someone to come fix the oven and stove?"

"Oh yes, they're about due. Let me show you the kitchen." He steps back from the door and gestures for Theo to come in.

He nods politely and goes in.

"I was told that three silver per item is a fair enough price."

"Yes, so it is, Let me just find my funds here... aha." He holds up a palmful of octagonal pieces of silver. "This should be enough. The heat-stones for the stove are over here, and the oven is right over here. How long will the incantations take?"

"Should be just a few minutes."

He investigates the oven first. Right, there's the oven, there's the stove stones.

"I'm not enchanting yet, just double-checking-"

And he sings up the relevant thread in terminal instead of in GUI, and reviews the standard enchantments again despite having memorized them already.

The man waits patiently with a watchful eye.

What, is he afraid he's going to steal something? ...Well, he is a stranger to this man. And his dad would totally watch the stove repairman.

He focuses on the relevant items and sings. It's surprisingly nice to just let it flow like this. His voice is better than it used to be.

Yes, confirm, he can use one core draw. Yes, confirm, he can use a second core draw. All to the standard shown in the thread.

The man applauds Theo when he's done. Then he hands over the silver. Six gleaming pieces, just as promised.

"Good luck with your mage business," says the old man. "I'll see you out the door."