Whir whir whir. The noise that Alex heard throughout most of his life began to play over and over as he turned the drill again and again, digging into the wall of rock in front of him, searching for little gemstones. He was surprised to find that underneath Death City there was a huge expansion of caves and tunnels, but only a few people in the area actually knew about mining. So he ended up working for a man that called himself Gramps and nothing else. Lucy got a job selling the actual jewelry sold at 'Death's Jewels.' Gramps himself did the forging, while Alex dug up the gemstones.
This was day two, leaving only three days until the actual classes started. Alex used this time to think: About his own grandfather, about the other half of the family that deserted him, and Lucy. He would notice that at random times during the day, she would just stare out into space, with an overwhelming sadness that would honestly hurt Alex to watch. So to distract her, and himself from watching her, he decided that they should get jobs to help with the bills. She seemed so much happier the last two days, especially since she found a way to distract herself. Not to mention her smiles were beautiful…
CLACHINK! Alex sighed as the drill stopped, pulling him from his little reverie. Wait… The drill STOPPED?! Digging around the area in which it stopped, he just about exploded from happiness. There, amidst all the rubble and useless rock, there was a ruby the size of his fist! But it seemed jammed from the other side… He'd need a jackhammer to get it out… Or a special, enchanted cleaver used like a chisel.
"Hey Whitmore!" Alex called up this partner from his mineshaft. He had discovered that with his mix of British and Russian accents, her last name sounded pleasurable to everyone's ears, while her first sounded like a garbled mess to her, judging by the way she wouldn't even look at him when he said it.
Lucy popped her head into the little shaft, barely big enough to fit a large man inside. "Did you find another one?" Her eyes sparkled at the thought of being wielded again. It was a beautiful thing, how she could feel their souls meshing together, and she enjoyed the feeling immensely. Although she hated being wielded for such a tedious purpose, this was the only thing they could do at the moment because the board was closed to them until they gained ID cards.
"Yup and the freaking thing is huge!" Alex was shaking with excitement. This was another thing about Alex that she liked; even though he was serious most of the time, contrary to her bubbly personality, he had these childlike moments when he was underground.
"Alright I'm coming down! You better catch me this time, or you're on your own for dinner!" Lucy called back as she transformed into a two foot long meat cleaver.
Not even bothering to look up, he caught her, spun the blade over his hand once, and then began to chisel the gemstone out. "So, do we have a lot of people up there?" Alex asked, trying to keep up a conversation. Even if he exuded social normalcy above ground, the moment he went subterranean, he became his true slightly awkward self. "I mean, Gramps would usually stop by to check on me, right?"
"Well you know Gramps", Lucy sighed as Alex wedged her in between a rock and the back side of the gem. "He likes to take things slow. Doesn't exactly help that there's at least five people up there waiting on him. But, I think it's worth the wait." Alex hadn't really seen Gramps at work, seeing as he was just the digger. But he was okay with that; even if it left a few things unanswered.
As the gemstone rolled slightly forward, Alex picked it up and put it to his left. He had waited until Lucy transformed and started climbing up before handing it to her. Being stuck in this small shaft was extremely uncomfortable, and they had both learned this from experience on the first day of work. Being forced to be a few inches from his partner, unable to move his head so that he was forced to be forehead bumping with her until she got over her initial shock and she transformed, and it left thoughts he didn't want to think about in his head. Little did he know it bothered Lucy and she would often wake up to 'what if?' situations that made her very unsociable in the morning.
"Thinking about it now, we don't have much time until school starts." Alex mused but made sure, Lucy could hear him. "Do you think the old man is going to be fine without us once it starts up?" Gramps had reminded him greatly of his own grandfather, so Alex worried a bit more than your average person about to old craftsman.
"He's handled it before right? Just don't worry you goober, things'll be fine." Lucy rolled her eyes at how concerned he got about people. It was cute… Did she just think that? Nope, no she didn't. Keep climbing and control your blush. These were the thoughts that had filled her head recently. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine herself living with a sharp-toothed attractive guy her age. She had to wonder if that girl, Maka, felt the same way about living with her partner. The next time they crossed paths she'd be sure to ask her that.
"Shift's over, kiddies! Good job!" A rather gruff voice called from up the shaft. As he wiped the sweat off his brow, Alex wondered if every day would be as exciting as this, or maybe even more exciting than this. A smirk appeared on his face as he climbed up the ladder, thinking about it and what he was going to have for dinner tonight. 'Yup, life's looking pretty cool for me right now.' Was his only thought as he headed to the locker room to change.