Money is forever - Poverty Quest (continued from old forum)

[Lt Colonel Summers]

//This is the continuation of the same CYOA that I left in a hiatus back in the old forum. You can check it out here (beware of the site's certificate error, though).

Let's continue from where we left off in the original forum...

>"No you hadn't! ...Did the tree survive?"

//LOL

>Nitori can't help but giggle at your stupid question.
>"No idea. She just said she tried to do that."

>Did she survive that at least?

>"She wouldn't have come here if she didn't."

>The end of the short break is then signalled by a car approaching the workshop.
>"Well, that was a short break. We haven't even have lunch yet. So let's deal with our next customer before we head for lunch. What do you say?"

[It's Purvis!]

>"Yeah, we can bump lunch back so we don't leave this one waiting."

[Lt Colonel Summers]

>"Yeah, we can bump lunch back so we don't leave this one waiting."

>"Right. Lunch can wait for now."
>The car then pulls over right in front of the workshop.

>The driver side window opened, and out poked a lady with golden blonde hair and a pair of sunglasses.
>"Is this where cars get fixed?" The lady asked with a seemingly disinterested tone.

[It's Purvis!]

>"Sure, bring it on it!"
>Go to open a garage door for her. Take care to keep out of the way so she can enter easily.

[Lt Colonel Summers]

>"Sure, bring it on it!"
>Go to open a garage door for her. Take care to keep out of the way so she can enter easily.

>The garage door is already open, but you and Nitori open it all the way, and then prop it up with a long pole just in case.
>The lady went back inside her car, and slowly drove it all the way into the workshop.
>The lady stepped out of her car after that is done. "It's got a faulty AC and radio. See if you can do something about it." She told the two of you. "Now if you excuse me, I have something else to do..."
>And she just left the workshop after that...
>Nitori waited for the lady to disappear from sight before remarking "Wow, she is rude."

[It's Purvis!]

>Take note of her appearance, so we can see her coming before she returns.
>"Shame the sukeban don't rob her. They'd be local heroes."
>"So, what do we do about a faulty AC and Radio?"

[Lt Colonel Summers]

>Take note of her appearance, so we can see her coming before she returns.
>"Shame the sukeban don't rob her. They'd be local heroes."
>"So, what do we do about a faulty AC and Radio?"

>"We fix them, of course." Nitori tells you. "Even if that lady's a _jerk." She said the last word very softly so as to ensure the lady doesn't hear it (even though she's no longer within earshot).

>You then take note of the lady's appearance.
>Somehow, you could sense an air of familiarity about that lady, despite the fact that nothing about her is recognizable to you...

[It's Purvis!]

>"Well, yeah. But I meant how? What do you need me to do?"

[Lt Colonel Summers]

>"Well, yeah. But I meant how? What do you need me to do?"

>"To be honest, a broken radio isn't my expertise. I'll have to take it off the car and bring it to the electronics repair shop down the street, see if they can help me about it." Nitori tells you. "For now, let's focus on the AC..."

>Nitori then climbs into the car, and attempts to pry the dashboard open like she did with some of the cars earlier... with no success.
>"Okay, the dash in this one isn't snapped into place, and I'm not seeing any screws, so I guess it's glued in..." She remarked as she climbed out of the car. "Let's reach the AC from the other direction instead..."
>Nitori then walked to the front of the car, and popped the hood open.
>"Check that out..."

[It's Purvis!]

>"Hm?"
>Go check that out.

[Lt Colonel Summers]

>"Hm?"
>Go check that out.

>You go check out what Nitori saw under the hood of the car.

>It's... a whole bunch of really fancy-looking stuff that your lack of knowledge in car mechanics prevented you from identifying beyond the obvious engine block.

>"I don't know how much the car itself cost, but everything in here must've cost that lady a fortune." Nitori remarked. "Which means it's going to be a challenge to not mess up anything else..."
>With that said, Nitori rolled her sleeves up, as she went to bring her toolbox over.
>"This one's going to need some delicate hands" The Kappa tells you. "so leave all the fixing to me, while you just shine the flashlight on where I tell you to."

[It's Purvis!]

>Grab the flashlight!
>"You got it, Nitori!"

[Lt Colonel Summers]

>Grab the flashlight!
>"You got it, Nitori!"

>You do exactly as told.

x-x-x

>It took Nitori an hour just to uncouple that broken AC unit from its place, and then carefully get it out of there. All in order to avoid causing any unnecessary damages to the fancy parts that sat around the AC unit.
>"Whew. That took a while..." Nitori remarks as she set the broken AC unit on a nearby desk. "So much for lunchtime..."

[It's Purvis!]

>"You'd think something so expensive would be designed well enough to be easy to repair..."
>"Anything I can do about this AC unit?"

[Lt Colonel Summers]

>"You'd think something so expensive would be designed well enough to be easy to repair..."
>"Anything I can do about this AC unit?"

>That's the funny thing about mechanical stuff: the fancier they are, the harder they are to fix." Nitori says.
>She then takes the flashlight off your hand and shines it around the insides and outside of the AC unit.
>She quickly spots the problem.
>"Huh. I guess whoever repaired that lady's car before me had a slip up..." Nitori remarks. "Well, that just means I have to fix their mess and finish their job... Stay here, Shion, I'll be right back..."
>With that, the Kappa took the AC unit with her and went to the storage shed at the back of the workshop.

[It's Purvis!]

>Stay right there. Maybe look out the window idly until she gets back.

[Lt Colonel Summers]

>Stay right there. Maybe look out the window idly until she gets back.

>There's no window in the workshop, so you look out the garage door while you wait for Nitori.
>Nothing worthy of your attention at the moment. So far, so good...

[It's Purvis!]

>Not much else to do til she gets back. Not like we're going to run off or start messing with her stuff.

[Lt Colonel Summers]

>Not much else to do til she gets back. Not like we're going to run off or start messing with her stuff.

>You keep on waiting...

x-x-x

>It was a pretty boring 10 minutes. You'd think that something interesting or exciting would've happened in the interim to spice up the dullness for at least a tiny bit. But no dice...
>Luckily, that is when Nitori finished what she is doing, as she exited the storage shed with the AC unit in her hands.
>Well, fixing it wasn't so hard..." Nitori says. "Now we just have to spend another hour putting it back where it was..."

[It's Purvis!]

>"I'll get the flashlight..."

[Lt Colonel Summers]

>"I'll get the flashlight..."

>You go grab the flashlight.
>And so you are prepared to spend the next one hour giving Nitori some light as you watched her reinstall the AC unit.

x-x-x

>Actually, make that 15 minutes. Funny how taking the AC unit out took a whole hour while putting it back in took only 15 minutes...
>"Well, that went a whole lot faster than I thought it would." Nitori hung a figurative lampshade on that. "Funny how things turn out, huh? Almost like our lives are a text adventure where the gamemaster is cutting corners..."

//Yes, I did just lean on the 4th wall there.

[It's Purvis!]

>"So what are we going to do about the radio?"

[Lt Colonel Summers]

>"So what are we going to do about the radio?"

>"I'll have to find out what's wrong with it first..."
>Nitori then goes to take a closer look at the radio. Unable to see from the outside what is wrong with it, she decided to remove it from the dash.
>Removing the radio turned out to be a lot easier than the AC unit. It is out of the dash in the blink of an eye.
>"I'm no electronics expert, but I can tell this one's beyond fixing..." Nitori says. "Good thing I know the model, and has a spare one lying around, so I can just replace it..."

>And so the Kappa went to the storage shed again...
>She came back out in less than a minute, with an identical second radio in hand.
>"Alright, once we're done with this, we can finally have our lunch break. You okay with that?" Nitori says to you.

[It's Purvis!]

>Nod.
>"Think we can salvage that broke one for parts?"

[Lt Colonel Summers]

>Nod.
>"Think we can salvage that broke one for parts?"

>"Only the mechanic can answer that." Nitori answers your question.
>With that said, she then goes to put the replacement radio in, and is done in the blink of an eye.
>"Well, that's it. Job's done." Nitori says as she steps away from the car to sit down on a nearby chair.

[It's Purvis!]

>Have a seat nearby.
>"So, any idea who that lady is? She seems kind of familiar."

[Lt Colonel Summers]

>Have a seat nearby.
>"So, any idea who that lady is? She seems kind of familiar."

>"Nope. Never seen her before..." Nitori answers.
>Well, speaks of the demon goddess*¹. The lady has just returned. She came back with a briefcase that she doesn't have when she left...
>"You are done with fixing my car, no?" The lady asked with the same rude tone from before.

//*¹That's Gensokyo's equivalent of "Speaks of the devil", which is simply a saying.

[It's Purvis!]

>"It's ready to go!"

[Lt Colonel Summers]

>"It's ready to go!"

>The lady glanced at her car, eyeing it for a bit.
>Then, she gets into her car, starts up the engine, and tested the AC and radio.
>Both appliances work. She seems to be satisfied.
>"Thank you for your services." She says as she fished out a few bank notes and... rudely dropped them on the floor. "So long..."
>With that, the lady reversed her car out of the workshop, and left the scene.

>"I said it before, and I'll say it again: she's pretty rude..." Nitori remarks.

[It's Purvis!]

>"Better have paid enough..."
>Quick! Memorize that license plate!