early morning saw the first train pull into the Rush Valley station.
Winry opened her eyes to the sound of the train’s brakes echoing off the surrounding mountains. She was in the room she had been given for her stay, which was on the second floor of Atelier Garfiel.
Despite the morning gloom lingering outside, Winry sprang out of her bed to open the window. She then headed to the small sink in the corner of the room and scrubbed briskly at her face to rid herself of any remaining drowsiness. She took out a cropped tank top and pulled it over her head before slipping into a jumpsuit whose sleeves she tied snugly at her waist. To complete her work outfit, she pulled her hair up into a ponytail, then topped off the look with a bandanna wrapped around her head.
After getting dressed, Winry raced down the stairs and straight through the deserted studio. The place would fill with people once the business opened, but at the moment, it was silent.
She walked up to the shutters facing the main road and placed her hand on their handle.
“Up we go!” She heaved up the heavy shutters with a grunt. This had become one of her daily duties since coming to live at Atelier Garfiel.
A rush of refreshing morning air swept into the studio as the shutters rose. Though the city was sweltering during the day, the heat would fade at night so that dawn was accompanied by a cool breeze.
“Mmm, looks like it’ll be clear skies again today.” Winry stretched and took a deep breath before she dove into preparing for the day.
She dusted off the various electric machines, then swept and wiped down the floors. Next, she took the smaller tools used for more delicate components and arranged them by size for use on the table off to the side. She took blueprints out of an oblong box by the wall so that they would be ready for the clients coming that day, and placed some automail pieces, still wrapped in cloth, on the workbench in preparation for fixing them first thing that morning.
Setup alone made Winry’s forehead break out into a light sweat because there was so much to do, given their many clients and the large assortment of tools they worked with.
“Now all that’s left is to light the furnace.”
Wiping her sweat away using the sleeve of her jumpsuit, Winry sat in front of the furnace in the studio’s corner and lit it with a match. The furnace was an indispensable tool for crafting automail—it was used to soften the metal plates used as the exterior for automail, and for welding. Winry monitored the flames until they began to dance on the stacked logs before bringing several metal plates over to the furnace.
Just as the studio was finally prepared so they could dive into work, Garfiel peeked inside.
“Morning, Winry dear. Why don’t we have breakfast soon?”
“Good morning, Mr. Garfiel!”
Garfiel stepped into the studio after his cheerful greeting, but paused to stare intently at Winry’s face. He then let out a deep sigh. “Your skin’s so lovely today, as always. It’s positively radiant, my dear. It must be nice to be young.”
“Mr. Garfiel, you always look beautiful too,” Winry replied.
“My, you certainly know how to charm. But even if it’s just empty flattery, it’s still nice to hear.” At this point, Winry was used to Garfiel’s mannerism of placing his hand daintily on his cheek.
Garfiel would insist she had just been flattering him, but Winry meant every word. He would never appear unshaven in public after having overslept, nor would he allow any poor health decisions to affect his skin. He was immaculate when it came to both his health and his clothes, and he likewise kept his work area free of needless clutter. Despite that, he didn’t shirk from getting his hands dirty, and when he was busy, he would become more grease-stained than anyone.
From her place at his side, Winry found she admired Garfiel’s ability to maintain a lifestyle that balanced hard work with taking care of himself and his appearance.
They had a simple breakfast of coffee that Garfiel prepared along with soup and bread. As they ate, the sun’s rays began streaming through the window. Smoke rose from the chimneys of businesses in the distance, and they could hear the scattered sounds of shutters and windows opening. They even heard some metal beginning to clang.
“Now then, why don’t we begin as well? Let’s make the most of today, my dear!”
“Let’s!”
Winry gulped down the rest of her coffee, savoring the joy of being here, where she could immerse herself in tinkering with her beloved automail to her heart’s content.
clients started pouring into Atelier Garfiel as soon as it opened. They didn’t go out of their way to attract clients, but people were drawn to the shop anyway, apparently attracted by the reputation of the proprietor.
“Excuse me, I heard this store does custom automail?”
“Could you take a look at my shoulder? The place that made it is taking a holiday.”
There were all kinds of customers: those coming in for their first automail, those requesting designs for upgrades, and those looking to adjust the automail they already had.
As the clients’ voices filled the store, Winry flitted around on light feet, following Garfiel’s orders.
“Winry, darling, can you screw in this outer plate? And then if you could handle the repair for that customer over there?”
“Got it.”
“We still have some of that metal plating we got in the other day, don’t we? If you could be a dear and cut those into shape number fifty-eight from this blueprint. Oh, and Mr. Kaas came by, so do make sure to take his requests!”
“Got it, working on it!”
There was no break in the stream of clients, with several always waiting on standby on the bench or on chairs to the side of the studio.
Despite the studio’s popularity, Garfiel and Winry were the only ones working there. Winry heard that Garfiel had managed by himself for a long time and occasionally had local mechanic friends come by to help. But the work had recently become too overwhelming for him to manage alone, and he had confessed to Dominic that he could use some help.
That was how Winry came to be volunteered as another hand who could hit the ground running.