The girl cocked her head before giving a little nod. “Uh, um. Now that you mention it, it feels weirdly light when I move, and I think that might have been bothering me too.”
Winry’s explanation had been easy to understand and gave Milia a possible culprit for her discomfort.
“If there isn’t anything for me to fiddle with, my taking off your foot will just hurt a lot. I’d like to keep an eye on things for a little bit longer. If things are still bad afterward, we’ll remove it and take a proper look at it then.”
Winry placed a comforting hand on Milia’s knee. The gentleness of her touch and voice eased Milia’s fears that her automail was broken, and the girl relaxed.
“Yeah, I see. I think I might have been too paranoid,” Milia said. “I’m sorry I keep bugging you about it. I know you’re busy.”
“Don’t worry about it. I don’t want you to feel you need to hold anything back. You can come to me with anything. Be careful on your way back!”
Milia looked apologetic at taking up Winry’s time when she hadn’t even needed any maintenance, but Winry saw the girl off with a reassuring smile to show she didn’t mind.
From behind her, she heard another customer call out, “Winry, could you take a look at this for me?”
“Yes, I’m coming!”
Winry didn’t even have time to catch her breath, but she never voiced a single complaint. She spoke to clients with a smile on her face, handling repairs and maintenance jobs alike. Garfiel appreciated Winry’s work ethic, and in return he found the time to teach her new skills.
“Winry, darling, if you could come over here?” Garfiel delicately beckoned Winry over as he repaired the automail arm of one of his regulars. “You’ve never seen this shape before, have you? We don’t get to see it often nowadays, but it was invented by a mechanic from West City in the 1890s. We have other regulars who wear this style, so make sure you remember it. Something to look out for when working with it is that it has slightly thicker supports. That makes it easier for them to rub against other parts and wear down. When that happens … look here.”
Winry came and stood next to Garfiel; he shifted his body back and to the side to allow her a clear view of what he was doing. He then opened the outer plating on the customer’s upper arm and used a screwdriver to point at one of the components that was creaking loudly.
“You can file down this part here or replace it with another thinner but sturdy component. It’s important to be generous with the oil too,” Garfiel explained while inserting a tool between the machine parts with confident hands, swapping out what he needed to. He then used an eyedropper to apply oil. The client flexed their fingers, and the cylinders moved smoothly and soundlessly.
“You can do this on other automail joints too, when they malfunction,” Garfiel added.
“Got it!”
Winry focused all of her attention on Garfiel’s hands as he shared his wisdom freely. Winry felt her chest swell with so much joy she could almost burst.
Every day since coming to Rush Valley, she’d had the opportunity to touch protheses she’d never seen before and was taught new skills and given more knowledge. Everything she gained was reflected in how she worked with clients and in the blueprints for Edward’s automail up in her room.
She wanted to learn more—she wanted to improve her skills. With those desires in mind, these busy days—which could have been exhausting for Winry—were instead filled with joy.
winry never forgot her love of learning while she worked, which helped her rapidly improve. It still wasn’t enough, and whenever she had a spare moment she continued to study, further polishing her skills.
Later on the same day she’d looked at Milia’s foot, Winry snatched some downtime between clients to practice cutting metal sheets.
“Let’s see. When using this tool to cut metals with a higher ratio of chrome, I need to use the guide rail to keep it from curving … like this.”
Winry sat in front of the power tool and placed a scrap of metal against its teeth. This kind of machinery was essential for making automail, and Winry had experience with a different model. The machine at the studio was larger and more precise, which also meant that it was more sensitive to even the subtlest movements made by its user, making it harder to control.
If she let up pressure even in the slightest, the teeth would grind to a halt. But pushing too hard would mean it wouldn’t cut evenly along the curve, leaving jagged edges. Winry was having a hard time getting the machine to work with her.
“Concentrate, concentrate,” Winry murmured and took a deep breath. She was surrounded by stacks of crates filled with their latest shipment of materials, which created an isolated space perfect for sharpening her focus.
When she switched on the machine, the low drone of its motor accompanied vibrations she felt through her hand while holding the metal plate steady. Careful not to let the vibrations overwhelm her, she held her breath and focused on her fingertips as she rotated the sheet. The blade and the metal ground harshly as they met, even as a graceful arc appeared on the sheet.
Winry pushed the sheet until she could no longer feel resistance from the blade, then she carefully removed it from the machine table. The machine had responded to her. With anticipation, she lifted the piece she had cut out. She was thrilled when she saw the shape she had intended.
“Yes!” She gave a little fist pump.
“Oh my, well done!”
Winry didn’t know how long he had been there, but Garfiel was peeking at her from between the stacked crates.
“You did an excellent job handling that machine. Now, let’s see it.” Garfiel accepted the plate and took a good look at it before sliding his finger along the curved edge. “Lovely, my finger doesn’t even snag on the edge. It’s perfect.”
“Really? Yes! Thank you!”
Winry clutched her hands together at her chest, openly overjoyed, and Garfiel stared, not bothering to hide how impressed he was.