Nevin groaned and stretched out his back. The last few days had been rather tense for him - not because of any problem in particular, but rather because of his current 'employee'. Of the last five days, Ezra had come in twice to work, or rather to study and observe Nevin interacting with his customers, dealing with some of the hassles that they tried to throw at him. As the town's only Alchemist Nevin got away with a bit of heavy-handed dealings with them, as they would try to push for something or another that they wanted but didn't need - and the Alchemist would handily put them back down, not quite rudely but most definitely firmly. He had warned the white-haired construct that she might not be able to get away with the same kind of attitude towards the customers, but Nevin didn't know if the warning had taken root or not. But it had been.. strange to have someone observing him throughout the day - even in the aftermath of the Goblin assault, the people who had come in to watch him work had only stayed half an hour or so before changing out. Ezra however, had been watching him with those strange, fascinating purple eyes through the entire working hours.
If he hadn't been knowledgeable about Ezra's true state, it might have gotten awkward for him to be the subject of such intense scrutiny. He also hadn't asked what it was she was thinking while she observed him, the 'woman' still hadn't gotten a hang of social niceties so sometimes she would come out with the most unsettling (for a chaste man such as himself at least) statements, always said in the most innocuous manner. Worse, he knew she didn't mean any thing by the double entendres, but that didn't stop them from happening. At least she usually kept the statements to herself while there were customers - though she had developed the unfortunate habit of barraging him with questions and comments as soon as the shop was empty of guests.
He had already had to defuse a couple of rumors about the young woman suddenly working in his shop - at least three different people in the space of half an hour had come in, asking if there was anything more going on between them, and why had he suddenly taken on an employee when before he had seemed rather adamant against it. Careful, quick explanations of an alchemical oddity that the white-haired girl had brought to his attention had served to pacify these questions, though the townsfolk had gotten disappointed when he refused to tell them what that oddity was, saying that as the girl's discovery it was not his place to share it.
But now, six days after starting her part-time employment, today would be the first day that Nevin let her interact with customers, and vice versa. Again he had warned her that if they asked her too much, or got to be too rambunctious, she was to send them to him immediately. He knew she was probably already waiting outside of his shop, ready to begin - she always seemed to be an earlier riser than he was. He drained the last of his tea and rinsed the cup out, leaving it in the sink before he stood up, pulling on his coat and gloves, then headed towards the front. The sign was flipped around and he unlocked the door. A deep inhale, and exhale - and he opened the door.
