[PRP] In Good Repair

[Kadota-banchou]

insidiousEnigma

It felt good to be working. Jobs hadn't been exactly dry lately, but they'd all been small ones, little ten-minute fixes that Kadota almost felt bad about charging his standard rates for. Almost. He and his Pokémon still had to eat, after all.

So when he'd gotten a phone call from one Andre Dubois that sounded like a heftier gig than usual, he agreed to show up promptly the next morning, tools in tow. The name seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't identify it immediately in conjunction with the voice. The place was off his normal range — out in one of the prettier, high-end areas of Camphoreon, surrounded by lush trees and in a quiet neighborhood. The house was large, too, and meticulously detailed in a Victorian style, with a garden to match. Nice.

Kadota retrieved his toolbox from the back of his truck, and strode up the steps to the front door. It was graced with a heavy brass knocker well in keeping with the rest of the place, and no immediately-visible doorbell. So he put the knocker to the use it was intended, then took a small step back, and waited for Andre (or maybe his wife, or even his staff, this place was nice enough that he might actually have someone on call, Kadota guessed) to come to the door.  

[insidiousEnigma]

With Vincent's health becoming more and more precarious, Andre was coming to realize just how much the blond did in regards to the up-keeping up their new home. He had been able to ignore the leaky sink in the downstairs bathroom, he'd been mildly irritated that the back door stuck, the day the garage door decided to give up had left him in a bad mood for the rest of the day, but he drew the line at a broken hot water heater. He refused to take cold showers and he didn't have the time to relight the damned thing every time he needed some hot water.

Now Andre Dubois was a clever man. He could pick up most things from simply reading thorough instructions and he didn't mind getting his hands dirty every once and a while but...there was a lot to be done and he really just didn't have the time (or inclination) to do it. And so he had gone to one of his least favourite places...the hardware store. After some light research on the list of repair men that he'd been given, he'd decided on one Kyohei Kadota. Someone that he had gone to school with, someone who he could vaguely remember hanging around Izaya Orihara.

Not only would he get his home fixed up...it would be mildly entertaining to see an old schoolmate.

At the knock on the door, the purple haired man glanced up from where he'd been idly petting the Leafeon that Zacharie had given him. "Leeeafeon." Anise leaped off of the couch and darted to the front door as Andre slowly rose and straightened out his clothes. "Coming." He called as he made his way to the door. "Anise, get away from the door." He scooted the pokemon away with his foot as he opened the door to greet the repair man with a charming smile. "Hello, you must be Kadota. Thank you for arriving so promptly."  

[Kadota-banchou]

"That's me. Thanks for calling me. Andre, right?" There was something decidedly familiar about this guy, Kadota thought. That purple hair ... He offered him a genuine smile and a handshake in return, as he tried to recall where he'd seen him before.

"Sounded like you had a long list of things you needed taken care of. You want to show me where it all is? I can figure out what'll take the longest, run you an estimate, and we can talk about what you want done first." He shifted the toolbox to tuck it securely under his arm, and nodded down at the Leafeon. "All right if I make friends?" he asked. It would be easier if the Pokémon got a feel for him, since he'd probably be in and out of the house several times while he worked. Depending on what actually needed to be fixed, he might need an extra set of hands from one of his own Pokémon, but he'd deal with that when he had a better idea of what needed doing.  

[insidiousEnigma]

It was a shame that he couldn't remember much about Kadota from their days at school, it would have been fun to really see how he had much he had changed. Though sticking around and observing the man could easily fix that problem. "Yes, I'm Andre." He confirmed, taking the hand offered to him and giving it a shake. "I really don't think that I can thank you enough for coming all the way out here. This house is lovely but it requires so much maintenance." Sighing softly, he bent down to scoop up the antsy Leafeon trying to squirm his way out of the front door. "But yes, come in please. I'll be happy to show you around the house." He gave the wiggling pokemon a firm frown until he calmed down before smiling lightly. "This is Anise. He's a bit of a brat but he's very friendly, just can't let him outside own his own yet. My Slyveon is around here somewhere...she'll be keeping an eye on Anise while you come in and out so he doesn't disturb you." He most definitely would not be chasing Anise around if he managed to get out, Tepsichore had better do her job.  

[Kadota-banchou]

Andre would find that Kadota's grip was firm and confident, though not crushing, and also that he was heavily calloused across the palm, most likely from the work he did. "All the best places are like that. It takes a lot of work to keep them nice, but it's worth the effort." The handyman squatted to offer a hand to the Leafeon, before reaching to pet him if he seemed amenable. "It's nice to meet you, Anise."

Straightening up, Kadota nodded once, and made sure to check that his shoes were clean before stepping inside. "That'd be great. After you." He got a small pad of paper and a pencil out of one of his cargo pockets, ready to take notes as they went.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Firm handshake: Confidence, security, trustworthiness.
Calloused hand: Hardworking, practice in his skill set.

Andre shook Kadota's hand in an equally firm grip before releasing his hand and watching him talk to his pokemon. "Leeeeeeafeon?~" Anise daintily sniffed the hand coming towards him before allowing it to pat him on the head. Though the pokemon huffed and quickly darted off into the house when the door was shut and his chance of escape was taken away. "I doubt you'll see much of him anymore." The purple haired man said over his shoulder as he too fully entered the house. "The sink in the downstairs bathroom is leaking." He started, opening a door on his left and gesturing into the bathroom. Motioning for Kadota to continue to follow him, he trailed through the living room and to the back door. "The back door sticks to the point that it's nearly impossible to open it from the outside." He peeked through the blinds and gave a soft sigh when he noticed Velencia lounging carelessly on the back porch in a sunny spot. "...Please let me know when you decide to work on the back door. My Espeon is outside and she..." He paused, thinking of a good way to word it. "She has a very sour temperament and does not take well to strangers."  

[Kadota-banchou]

((*tips your post for Sherlockisms* ^_^ ))

Kadota peered into the bathroom as they went by. Sure enough, there was a slow and steady drip from the faucet. "That's probably just an old O-ring. Should be quick to fix as long as it's a standard size. I'll check the taps too. You're not getting any leaking from the pipes underneath, are you?" He scribbled that down as they went toward the back door and his employer stopped to check the back yard.

"Not a problem. Some Pokémon are like that. I can do this last, if that will be easiest for you." He looked the door over, seeking the spot on the door frame where the door rubbed, and made a quick sketch and a note. "Mind if I take pictures? That way I have before-and-after to show you. I think it's a little misaligned from the house settling. Could be a little fussy to fix, depends on how weathered the door and the frame are. How old is this house, do you know?" A lot of questions, but there always were. Kadota wanted to make sure the job was done right.  

[insidiousEnigma]

((Ah gosh, thank you! <3))

"No leaking from the pipes, thank God." Andre sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "That was the first thing I checked for after I noticed the dripping. I am not the handiest of men but at least I knew to look for that." He laughed lightly as he watched Kadota examine the back door. He'd hate having repair people running in and out of his house while they fixed up any damaged pipes. Who knew how long that'd take and he would really rather not have strangers poking about in his basement. "Hmmn? Oh, be my guest." He motioned towards the door. "I believe this house was built about fifty years ago...I believe that's what I was told when I took a tour of the house."  

[Kadota-banchou]

Kadota nodded, changing out his notepad for his cell phone, and snapping photographs at both close range and at a distance. "Fifty years ... hm. Well, I'll take a look and see later. If we're lucky it just needs to be realigned, but you may need to have the frame replaced." He filed away the age of the house; it wouldn't surprise him if Andre had some small electrical problems as well, if there had been any additions made to the place.

"You said the garage door and the hot water heater on the phone, right? Is the water heater in the garage?" That would certainly make it quicker to evaluate. He began running figures for the back door as he followed Andre onward.  

[insidiousEnigma]

"Mmn." Andre hummed, absently watching the other.
A whole new frame? That sounded like it'd be a pain in the a**. If that were the case he'd have to clean up, lock up, and keep an eye on whoever would be wandering through his house. "...Would you be able to replace the frame or would I need to find someone else?" He asked finally, eyeing the frame with mild distaste.

"Ah, yes." He nodded slowly as he turned on his heel and started making his way to the garage. "Lucky for the both of us, the water heater is in fact located in the garage. It seemed a bit odd to me at first, but I suppose this works out for the best." He unlocked the door to the garage before swinging it open. "You can pull the garage door open easily enough, if you'd rather come in and out through there...but please wipe your feet before coming into the house." A slender finger pointed down at the floor mat that sat just inside the doorway.  

[Kadota-banchou]

"I can do that. It'd take, mmm, maybe half a day? But you may not need it, so let's worry about that if a shim doesn't do the job." Kadota waved it off, jotting down notes.

"Eh, usually they put them there when the place doesn't have a basement. And sure, that's not a problem. Don't want to track dust into your place." He blinked, grasping the nature of one of the requests. "So the garage door works manually, but the automatic door opener doesn't work, then? Well, that's good. As long as there's nothing really weird in the electrical, that should be a pretty quick fix."

He moseyed over to take a look at the water heater, then knelt down and fiddled with the controls, listening. "Sounds like the spark for the pilot light isn't working. I'll take a look — might just need to be tinkered with, might need to be replaced. If it needs to be replaced, I'll have to go get the parts, so maybe a couple of hours there." Standing back up, he finished the last of his notes, then tore off the sheet and handed it to Andre.

Everything was listed, broken down in detail, with a range of potential prices on the things that would take more work. If Andre did the math, it would be a fair price for Kadota's labor, with the parts priced at expected cost. "You say the word and I'll get started."  

[insidiousEnigma]

Kadota-banchou

Andre scanned the list once, twice, and a third time to be certain that he understood what it was that Kadota was planning on doing. The estimated total of the others labor was rather high, but he had been expecting as much what with the amount of work that needed to be done. "If you need to buy new parts for anything, please buy the best that you can get your hands on." He requested, eyes flickering over the paper once more before holding it back out for the other in case he needed it. "Don't worry about the price. I'd rather spend a lot of money to fix it once than repeatedly have you coming to fix things." Andre cocked his head slightly and smiled lightly, "As enjoyable as your company is."