In Fear and Faith

[King of Cats]

It was a windy day in Sunagakure and the sun was shining brightly down on the village. As the people of the village were enjoying themselves there was a very frustrated, very confused young man in his workshop. The Sunlit Workshop was a medium sized building in the residential district of Sunagakure. Many years ago it had been converted from a home into a storefront and behind it, in the back yard, was a large barn where the master craftsman of the shop worked.

Standing in front of the furnace Hiroshi was holding a wrench in his hand. Something had certainly gone wrong with the furnace but he had yet to figure it out. The master craftsman didn't have a clue in hell what he was doing but he had been tweaking on the furnace with his wrench for hours. Hiroshi wasn't mad but he was absolutely puzzled as to why he couldn't get it to light. He knew the specifications for the fuuinjutsu that worked the furnace, they were fine. Nothing was smudged on the seals so he was completely baffled. The ninja had assumed it was a hardware malfunction and got to wrenching.

While Hiroshi was hard at work looking stupid in front of a furnace that wasn't working, his shop had been open to the public for a long time. The Sunlit Workshop was where he crafted lots of tools for the ninja's of Sunagakure, but most people didn't know where it actually was. Due to the shop being located in a residential district it didn't get much attention, but people who were in the know knew where to go. Hiroshi had recently completed an order for 6 animal puppets for the academy.

The shop had a big open front door and inside there was a red carpet floor. The former house had been owned by very rich puppeteers who worked for Sunagakure and their son turned it into a place for people to revel in the love for puppets and weapons. There were puppets of all shapes and sizes pinned to the wall and configured in various positions. The former house looked like a real shop, a real fancy one. But Hiroshi was nowhere to be seen. Instead by the cash register there was a sign that said, "Check the back."

No one had checked with Hiroshi in a few hours and he forgot that the shop was open. He couldn't figure out why his furnace was malfunctioning and he had a lot of work to do. The artisan was tasked with building puppets for a show at his local church. He needed a certain type of aluminum to be casted for the puppets, and with his furnace shut off there was no way that would happen. Standing there in his dark blue robes Hiroshi was sweating with frustration.

With a heavy sigh he tossed his wrench in the furnace, it wasn't lit so he said fuck it. Hiroshi had enough of the aggravation and decided he was going to take a break. He stepped back and began turning to the door of his workshop to go back to his shop and get a drink of refreshing milk.

[Ace Trainer]

Wind or no wind, when the sun was out, Indra found himself outside. Sunagakure was one of the longest standing societies in mankind’s history, and the people who called it home did not find blistering heats to be a deterrent. In fact, for people like Indra with a strong faith in The Light, a day like this was better than most. It indicated and represented security, peace, and being wrapped in her Light. So today, Indra was doing not quite training but something training adjacent. After the choice to become a puppeteer came to him, Indra had began to go through the process of learning how to build his puppets. While world-wide, many people used puppetry and skills similar to it, Sunagakure was the home of puppetry, and many puppeteers learned at least minimum maintenance for their own puppets. But when you were someone like Indra, chosen by the village to host the Soul Genma, well…you didn’t get the choice to be like everyone else. You had to be exemplary, which meant Indra couldn’t just do basic maintenance, he needed to build his own puppets.

So, since the decision Indra had been visiting puppeteers who had shops and provided puppets for village and other Shinobi. Today, he was brought to the Sunlit Workshop. Walking in to the shop, Indra looked around at the various frames and parts that were littered about the shop. They were all immaculate, quite well built, they all looked expensive. Whoever did them was quite talented, which is why Indra was there. ”Hmm. Quite nice.”, he said to himself. Looking around, his eyes would land on the small sign instructing him to check the back.

”Alrighty…”

Pushing into the back and to the barn, Indra got to where the furnace was at, opening the door and peering in. This was not nearly as immaculate as the shop he’d just walked through. There were partial frames, arms and legs, oddly shaped puppets hanging from hooks. It was all quite dark and daunting. Long shadows danced along the various nooks and crannies from the furnace the craftsman was working from. ”Uh…hello?”, he called out. He would cross his arms, partially showing his discomfort, waiting for the man working at the furnace to answer him. The shadows would dance around him, causing him to lock his eyes on the man working instead, trying to force them out of his peripheries.

[King of Cats]

To his surprise Hiroshi found himself eye to eye with what appeared to be a customer. Hiroshi had completely forgotten his shop was open so he was a little startled, not by the fact someone was there but by the idea that he would have to refocus his attention from his broken, piece of shit forge to his most valued customer. Hiroshi gave the man a cheerful smile. His eyes squinted and his crows eyes showed, Hiroshi had a weathered face from spending so much time in the Sun. His smile was friendly and he gave a respectful bow to the person before him. Hiroshi usually had a schtick for customers but his mind was somewhere else and he was instead caught with his pants down, so to speak.

All around Hiroshi there were puppets. Aquatic puppets, humanoid puppets, dwarf puppets, giant puppets and flying puppets too. Hiroshi had created most of them. Some were inventions of his parents but there was no doubt that the skill had been passed down into their son. His work was incredible and Hiroshi was incredibly proud of himself. To have a customer in his dungeon was unfortunate. It was a bit ominous to a normal person. All the puppet body parts were strewn around and of cours eHiroshi had various weapons he had forged in the once working furnace. It was a craftsman's heaven. Indra could see all sorts of different tools and weapons and puppets.

"Hello. Welcome to The Sunlit Workshop." Hiroshi was still smiling but the way his brow was still curled up showed he had other things on his mind. Trying to look past his emotional baggage Hiroshi said to Indra, "You caught me in my playground, haha." His laugh was not at all in a funny way. "How can I help you sir? You looking for a weapon, or a puppet?" Hiroshi held his arms up in a "look at this" pose to show off his work.

[Ace Trainer]

If Indra had looked around, he probably would have been absorbed by all the different types of puppets and weapons about the area. But, the shadows were getting to him. For Hiroshi, the shadows were just normal reflections of the various things he had hanging in the shop, stretching away from the flames that created them. But for Indra, each little flame had a sound behind it. He could hear the shadows calling for him. Normally, Indra could already hear souls, and so he was used to hearing all sorts of random sounds. But, for some reason as he had walked into the shop those shadows were seemingly possessed. The soul genma had been playing with his head, he could feel it. The shadows were aching. He couldn’t tell the sound of souls apart from the sounds the soul genma was making in his head.

So he focused just on what was in front of him. Ignoring everything else.

”Thank you!”, he said, forcing himself to smile. ”Neither…if that is okay. I’m actually just here to talk to you. About what you do. About puppets I guess.”, he said with a shrug. He took a few steps forward, the fires from the furnace better illuminating his face. Here, Hiroshi would be able to see Indra better, more specifically, the black eyes Indra had indicative of the host of the Soul Genma. This was not common information, not everyone would be able to place the eyes to the soul genma - but they would be able tell Indra was not…normal. Not normal people stood out in Sunagakure.

”I have recently taken the title puppeteer. And I am trying to learn as much as I can. My goal is to be able to build my own puppets. I don’t think I want a shop like this..but I don’t want to have to rely on anyone else.”, as he spoke, Indra’s eyes would drift off from Hiroshi, instead falling on a puppet hanging behind him. Slowly, the arm of the puppet appeared to be reaching out from the hook it was hanging on, its teeth chattering as it did.

chchchchchchchch

It’s not real. It’s not real.

Indra had to remember it wasn’t real. Even a puppeteer knew that puppets couldn’t move on their own, this was just the soul genma messing with him when there was darkness he could abuse. Even a small place like this, they were away from the light, and the soul genma took every chance he could.

[King of Cats]

Looking at the boy Hiroshi saw the boy was not well. He was clearly suffering from an illness. Hiroshi wondered what it was and the soft hearted man quickly forget about the frustration with the furnace. The young boy was nervous from the looks of it and Hiroshi wondered if he was in fact capable of puppeteers. Besides incredible chakra control it also took great stamina to handle most puppets. The boy looked physically fit, but he had a pallor aura about him and Hiroshi couldn't picture him puppeteering. Of course Hiroshi didn't know what the jinchuriki was capable of, who he was casually conversating with. If he had Hiroshi would have entered into the conversation with more faith in the boy, but it wouldn't matter. Hiroshi was a kind and generous man who desired to help the people of Suna.

Hiroshi dusted off his blue robes and the craftsman tools on his belt clanged together. He didn't like to be dirty. In fact it was very important to Hiroshi that his sun be bathed in the light. "Well let's go in the shop where I have complete puppets on display. These are unfinished, not useless but your curiosity will benefit little from this stuff now." Hiroshi paid no attention to the boy staring at the hallucinations of his demon. He heard nothing.

Stepping forward Hiroshi crossed the boys path and walked to the door. He pulled it open and let some of the beautiful light in from outside. "Into her glory, aye? Hiroshi was grinning happily. The fresh warmth of the sun was toasty against his skin and he happily held it open while he waited for Indra to step outside with him.

The two walked back to the shop together.

[Ace Trainer]

Indra was quick to follow Hiroshi as the man moved to take them outside. To a degree, he wanted to stay in this workshop because it seemed like it would be a much more educational place that the shop with the completed puppets. But, the sounds in his ears were getting loud, the shadows practically shouting at this point as they danced on the walls around them. Hiroshi would push open the door Indra had just came through, and the light would flood them, the noises coming to a sudden stop and the images the soul genma was putting in his head coming to an end. He would follow Hiroshi out, basking in the sun himself and giving the jounin a nod, "Into Her glory indeed.", he said with a soft smile.

Walking back to the shop, Indra would try to match his pace to Hiroshi, who was a fair bit taller than him.

"You see. Plenty of Suna shinobi become puppeteers and they do a little bit of maintenance, but I've heard all the best make their own. Some other folks I've talked to have said that to really be a great puppeteer you have to understand every nook and cranny, you gotta be able to know how every single part of it functions, and that lets you pull off all sorts of tricks that someone who buys a puppet would never be able to manage.", he explained this sort of excitedly, showing how eager he was to learn.

The difference between Indra within the workshop and Indra in the sun was noticeable. The Soul genma caused Indra to lose weight, it changes his eyes, even dyed the tips of his fingers red, but overall it just gave him a general air of...death. Like he was sick. But when Indra was in the Sun, blessed by Her Light, all of that seemed to fade away. Or at least, he seemed energized enough to offset it.

[King of Cats]

Walking through his sandy backyard Hiroshi was looking forward and listening to the young teenager talk. In the sun he didn't seem so sick, his vibe had completely changed. It seemed easier for the kid to focus outside of the workshop, which was not a good sign for a puppeteer. Hiroshi noticed that but he didn't give any lead of it to Indra. He guided the boy back towards the sliding glass door that Hiroshi had seperating his shop from the backyard.

Inside of the shop was well lit and there were lots of windows high in the cieling. The home had belonged to Hiroshi's rich parents, they paid for the complete at home package and the place was very nice. Hiroshi had paid construction crews a lot of money to install certain railways and shelves. There were various podiums with puppets standing atop them and the Sunlit Workshop had an inviting, warm feeling to it. Hiroshi felt at home here now more than when he was growing up. His auntie who took care of him after his parents died was never very loving or attentive, so when Hiroshi had the chance to turn his childhood home from a mausoleum into a storefront he was more than excited. Hiroshi loved puppets immensely, but not quite as much as he loved the Sun.

The two ninja walked over to a specific puppet that Hiroshi had designed for beginners. He had been listening to Indra tell him about puppeteering and slowly forming a responsible response. Hiroshi was a carefully worded man who believed that words carried more than just thoughts, he blieved words carried the light of human emotions with them. What he said to Indra would be instrumental in forming the young puppeteers base for the art of Kugutsu.

Standing in front of the combat puppet Hiroshi put his hands on his hips and said to the boy in a warm tone; "That's true boy. A good puppeteer has a firm understanding of how puppets work. The various joints that are used to connect limbs, the machinations of mechanical weapons, and the familiarity of how puppets move all must be understood." Hiroshi paused and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a paper sealing tag. "One must also train how to augment puppets, apply poisons, and of course the art of Kugutsu must be mastered. There is much that goes into puppetmaking, and puppeteering."

Holding out one of his hands Hiroshi manifested chakra strings and they flew to the puppet the two of them were standing by. It was a small humanoid puppet with no defining features. It had no face and it's hands consisted of only three fingers. "If you want to build a puppet understand those things and learn those skills. Once you do that you will be able to perfect a perfect puppet. Then your skills will grow and you will have to make a new puppet to join your army. Puppet making is all about improvements. Modifying and altering are essential, but the understanding one achieves by practicing puppet making is truly on brightest display when the puppet maker creates a second puppet to pair with their first masterpiece. Keep this in your heart and you will be a great puppet maker." Hiroshi finished talking and commanded the puppet to move.

The puppet jumped down from the podium making ricketing noises. It was pretty loud but the puppets movements were fluid, almost human like. Hiroshi walked the puppet over to Indra.

[Ace Trainer]

Indra followed, and as they entered back into the original shop he took more time this go to absorb in the lay out of the shop and the various puppets that were mounted about. This room had much light in it, and the sounds he had heard before had melted away giving him more space in his head to focus on what was in front of him. Even here though, Indra could faintly hear the sound of Hiroshi's soul, and the lingering whispers of souls of passersby out in the streets. Hiroshi's soul made an interesting sound, not dissimilar to the sounds Indra often heard within the temple, giving Indra some silent reassurance that Hiroshi was a devout man, and likely a good man. That was always good.

As Hiroshi gave his spiel, Indra listened intently, nodding in agreement as it was explained to him. "Thats really what I'm trying to learn. Augmenting them. Finding the best weapons and additions to make to a puppet so that it can be a powerful weapon that I can rely on.", he gave a confident nod, "A weapon that can be blessed in her Light. I'm told puppets are good for non-lethal solutions to a fight. Keep you out of danger, let you finish your opponents without killing them. All very important.", he nodded again, looking Hiroshi directly in the eyes. "I can become a good puppeteer fine with manipulating strings and the puppets themselves. But I need to be good at the puppets itself. Maintaining it. Knowing all the little niches and brackets, the best way to pull to make it move the fastest. If it's fighting in my place, it needs to be as efficient as possible."

He looked at the puppet that Hiroshi brought over to him, Indra inspecting it closely, "Where did you learn to build puppets?", he asked curiously, looking closer at the puppet, his eyes not moving back to Hiroshi.

[King of Cats]

Listening to the young boy talk about his dream for his puppeteering was awe striking for Hiroshi. As he had heard many young boys talk about their dream to build a powerful weapon Hiroshi was familiar with the warm feeling he had in his heart as he listened. It felt good to know that the tradition of puppeteering was being passed down to this boy. Hiroshi had spent countless hours perfecting his skill with puppets. He walked the puppet he was controlling around Indra in a circle, making it move in a funny way as it did so. If the puppet were under a transformation one might have never guessed it was a puppet, Hiroshi's fingertips masterfully contorting the animate object to his will seemed too real.

When Indra professed his faith Hiroshi felt an even greater warmth fill his soul. His spirit began singing in excitement of Indra's dedication to Her Light. One thing was certain to excite Hiroshi and that was puppets, but there was one thing that would get him riled up in an even more magnanimous fashion. Smiling Hiroshi walked the clanking puppet back to the podium and detached his puppet string. "Well if a blessed puppet is what you wish to defend the people with, I suggest you consider the Book of Luminations for inspiration. Puppetry is directly referenced in Chapter 4, Verse 32." Hiroshi wasn't one to brag but he was familiar with building puppets with religious dedications. Kogaku, his masterpiece combat puppet, was adorned in Yuumagure scripts and each piece of the puppet was individually blessed by a priest.

To answer Indra's question Hiroshi first pulled out the scroll from his waist band. It had multiple puppets that he had created stored inside of it and Hiroshi unraveled the scroll to a particular seal and then summoned his puppet. In a poof of smoke Batto appeared.

Batto was a small puppet about three feet tall. It had four arms and it's eyes were painted on. The puppet had a mechanized mouth with a nozzle sticking out of it. The puppet was certainly old and dusty but it looked to be well taken care of. Hiroshi attached his chakra strings to it and began moving it around. Batto skittered along the ground and up Hiroshi. It sat on his shoulder like a four armed monkey and noticeably it hadn't made any noise like the other puppet. "I actually stumbled upon my parents puppet shop, in this very store. I started working on this puppet by myself. It was partly functional, but I had to almost completely gut it and rebuild the design. My father hadn't forged a pentagonal pin so I had to do that myself.. I guess you could say I taught myself. If you got any eye for it puppeteering can be performed with nothing but common sense and practice." Remembering the bad vibes Indra seemed to receive from his workshop Hiroshi cautiously said to the boy, "Of course, ya gotta spend a lot of time working at the forge in the dark."

With the puppet motionlessly clinging to his tunic Hiroshi continued speaking, "So let me help you." Hiroshi looked Indra square in the eyes. "Let's assume you develop a good base understanding of puppet frames and construct yourself a perfect first frame. Decribe to me the weapons you would put on it. I'll steer you in the direction of what you should look into." Hiroshi was secretly using his question to pry into the mind of his company. Indra seemed to be a dedicated young man, Hiroshi wanted to know what sort of path the boy would follow in order to prove himself. As a master puppeteer Hiroshi knew the weapons one put on their creation was symbolic of more than just their battle style.

[Ace Trainer]

Indra gave a curt nod in response to the meaning of puppetry within some holy texts. He knew what Hiroshi mentioned, but made a mental note to return to the section and revisit what it said. If not for the lesson, it was good for the spirit regardless. He noticed, as the puppet danced about around him, the various scriptures carved into its form. How fortunate Indra was to find a puppeteer both as knowledgeable and devout as Hiroshi was. However, then Hiroshi pulled out a scroll and another puppet burst into existence before him, dancing to life before landing on Hiroshi’s shoulder. His parents? How interesting. He wondered for a moment if Hiroshi’s parents were still around if the shop was now his. His interest in death had been stronger recently, the influence of the soul genma he was certain.

”Common sense and practice?”, Indra echoed. Was it that easy? Perhaps for some.

Then Hiroshi asked a big question, causing the young Indra to lift his arm up scratching the back of his head sheepishly, ”What I would put? Ah geez, I don’t have the slightest clue. I think they’re a lots of cool ideas, I’ve seen puppets with flamethrowers, ones that could dig into the ground and leap up to capture people. All sorts of things. I guess my perfect puppet would have ways of subduing people without hurting them. Defensive abilities that allow it to jump into a battle and endure lots of hits so it doesn’t get to damaged or anything. Enduring. Protective. You know, a beacon of Light.”, he smiled. In truth he’d never really thought of it that way, so it was nice suddenly having to put together a concept for Hiroshi.

[King of Cats]

The familiar weight of Batto, the small, four armed puppet, on his shoulder gave Hiroshi a warm feeling inside of his heart. The puppeteer has crafted Batto for specifically covert missions. Hiroshi had crafted Batto to be quiet and easily detachable. The puppet was created for assassinations and could emit a deadly poison from it's mouth. Hiroshi had worked hard crafting that liquid poison and it had claimed the lives of three people on just one occasion. Hiroshi went to painstaking measures to ensure the container that held the poison was an airtight seal, it had been a lot of work.

Work that Indra would one day go through. It seemed that Indra was unlike Hiroshi though, Hiroshi crafted puppets to kill. Whether it was by blade, or poison, or saw, or drill. Hiroshi had devised puppets to trap people inside and stab them to death under interrogation. In all manners Hiroshi had used puppetry to kill. Protecting others, while it was a byproduct of what he did as a ninja puppeteer, had never been his goal.

Standing there listening to Indra talk Hiroshi pondered the idea. He couldn't help but realize that he had never truly protected the village by logos. Hiroshi frowned but it quickly faded away as he directed his attention back on the boy who he was talking with.

"Well that is certainly an admirable goal to take up. To control the arms of protection in Suna, you'll certainly breach the standards around here." While Hiroshi had met many puppeteers in his time, he had never found one that truly stood out. One with a strong desire to protect would certainly make a name for himself, or at least that was what the shopkeep Hiroshi thought. Hiroshi straightened out one of his fingers that had a chakra string attached to it, the puppet came to life.

Batto jumped down onto the ground and tilted over, exposing the poison hose in it's mouth. "I think you have a good premise to begin your career. Let's see," Hiroshi scratched at his chin with the hand that wasn't stringing his puppet along. "You should look into omnigyro articulators. Those are spinal modifications that help your puppet to turn around at key points. Good for watching your back." Hiroshi was smiling, he loved talking about puppets. "Of course if you design your own frame you can modify certain joints, plates, and cogs."

Hiroshi jumped Batto up in the air and as he did he activated the Camouflage Initiator. Hiroshi had spent a lot of work on creating an advanced iridescent paint, that with chakra enabled his puppet to remain mostly invisible. With too much movement the little machine didn't work and the invisibility appeared more like vibrant flashes of silver light. Nevertheless it was an excellent device. "With hard work you can utilize complex machinery, or enchantments can be engraved into your puppet. In order to protect, what kind of ability would you need your puppet to bear?" Batto fell down to the ground and Hiroshi released the invisibility. Batto was holding it's two extra hands, there were little blades protruding from the arms.

[Ace Trainer]

The warm that Hiroshi felt would reach down to his very soul, small echoes of the warmth being picked up by Indra as he watched the man. It was odd, given the puppet wasn't in any way alive or real, but it was clear Hiroshi shared a bond with it nonetheless. The strange and interesting hum to Hiroshi's soul really stood out to Indra, indicating to him that the man was a true devotee, or special to the Light in some way, perhaps something Indra would better understand in the future. "Thank you.", he said in sincerity in response to the notion of his goal being admirable. In truth, he hadn't really intended for it to come off as a goal. In many ways, a defensive powerhouse of a puppet was just what made the most sense tactically for Indra. The fact that Hiroshi had extrapolated some deeper meaning behind that was unintentional, but it did make Indra wonder if he had subconsciously picked something representative of how he felt. In truth, Indra wanted nothing more than to be a good host for his village and it's people. Whatever that entailed.

He smiled at the positive feedback, and made yet another mental note at the suggestion of 'omnigyro articulators' that was a new word. He would have to look more into them and see if he could find them anywhere, or sort out how to build them himself. Yeah, this conversation had very quickly convinced him that building his own frame was the right thin to do, he just needed to dedicate more time towards it. He would be a great puppeteer for sure!

The next question left Indra stumped, though. What kind of ability? Now that he had not thought of. Puppets were primarily mechanical, after all, so thinking about chakra and other types of enchantments hadn't occurred to him, as good of an idea as it might be. He pondered it for a moment, thinking about it as an idea came creeping into his mind. He opened his mouth to say it but pause - he couldn't talk about the genma. Well, at least not to Hiroshi. He held his finger up as if the idea had been lost in his head before sighing, "Gee, I dunno.", he said rather unconvincingly. This secret was becoming a lot to carry!

Peering out the windows that covered the room they were in, Indra spotted where the sun was in the sky and smiled, "Well this has been nice mister, but I've got to go I think!", he said with a grin. "Thanks for your input, is it okay if I come back around?", he asked. He'd wait patiently for an answer and then give deep respectful bow before going on his way.

[King of Cats]

The puppeteer has Batto back on his shoulder again as he was listening to Indra respond to him. Hiroshi had posed the ultimate question for a puppeteer. What ability a puppet had gave it a specilization unique to the puppet. It was part of the great art of puppetry, and Hiroshi didn't expect a fledgling who had yet to turn a wrench to know where to begin. But he did feel like it was an important question to pose. Hiroshi had worked on many puppets and devised several different "engines" with which the puppets used mystical energy. It was an ubiquitous prospect that every puppeteer would find themselves battling with eventually.

In fact at this very moment, Hiroshi was working on a specific design for his puppet Kogaku. Kogaku was a close combat puppet. With a tail and multiple weapons the horned puppet was dangerous to anyone. Hiroshi had recently equippwed it with a dangerous cable system and in the test runs it worked perfectly. Hiroshi had tracked down several chuunin with Kogaku. The young kids ran in the desert from the puppet, three of them; they were all caught by Kogaku. Version 3 was undergoing some new modifications though. If it weren't in the shop, Hiroshi would have showed that wonderful puppet to Indra. Instead it was being fitted with a crown piece. The specifics were still under wraps but it worked on Kuuton chakra. By forcing gravity towards Kogaku the enchantment served to make his puppet exceedingly good at close range combat.

Hiroshi wasn't ready to tell young Indra about that though, and it seemed the young boy was ready to leave. Hiroshi wondered if his pressing had made the boy uncomfortable but he didn't let it bother him too much. It was clear to even a novice that Hiroshi was a well educated crafter in Sunagakure, and anyone with ambitions would take what he said about puppetry with passion.

Hiroshi stood there with his puppet on his shoulder smiling. "Come back soon Indra, I would like to see your progress as a puppeteer and ninja. You're always welcome here at the Sunlit Workshop." Hiroshi waved to the boy as he left his shop. It was time to get back to work on that damn furnace.