Birger was up early, cleaning out the printing room which they hadn't opened in a while, he'd pretty much cleared out all the cobwebs and all the printing presses were in functional condition, since he'd hesitantly gotten around to the whole faking notes thing. Birger had begun to notice more stuff about the printing presses they'd owned, he'd heard Grandpa and Isaac say that there were "better" printing presses than their own, ones which ran on some sort of ore or something. But Birger couldn't tell until he'd get confirmation from Isaac...once he arrived. He knew Isaac was busy the night before preparing the design...but did it really take that long.?
His pondering was broken by, Speak of the devil, Isaac himself, he had brought some supplies they'd need and...he was carrying a wooden pad with both hands walking slowly and carefully...like he was ba.ancing something on it.
"Took you long enough...what's that in your hands?" Asked Birger.
"The most important part of this...gig we're doing." Said Isaac as he gently placed the pad down on a nearby table.
Birger approached the table to inspect what was on the pad...there were small pieces of paper, each flat and neat, and most important of all, it had all the designs of the note on it, the small squares and rectangles, coming together to form two rectangles, the front and the back of the note.
"Wow...they...look...good." Said Birger, these recreations were exactly like a 500 Finn Note, only without the minty green tint of the note.
"I know... I've always been good at designs. Hey, I forgot to mention another security feature in the note." Replied Isaac.
"And...what is that?" Asked Birger.
"You see...on King Finnea's collar in the note, there's a stream of 'Veldt' written on it, almost invisible to the naked eye, but visible to glasses if looked at closely enough." Said Isaac as his finger hovered over the note, moving across the collar of King Finneas.
"Oh..." Birger looked even slightly more intimidated.
"Yeah, and they have to be looked at correctly too, lest they get superimposed...it's called something...right! The Moire Effect." Stated Isaac.
"...What's a lest and The Moire Effect?" Asked Birger.
"... I'll tell you later. You get to work on the ink and ribbons, while I'll set these papers on the printer." Said Isaac.
Birger went towards his own table, getting to work on making the ink needed for the note.
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Isaac had finished adjusting both the papers on the printer, and approached Birger as he seemed to have finished up his ink as well.
"Well look at that...look's like a dead slime." Commented Isaac on the ink.
And it was justifiable, as Birger had prepared a fresh batch of thick, dark green ink, as Birger pulled out the mixing tool he had out of it.
"Yep, I'll add it to the printer..." said Birger as he slowly started dumping the ink into a small container.
"Hey...buddy." said Isaac in a surprisingly hesitant tone.
"Yeah?" Replied Birger.
"Remember when I said that I was the expert designer and you the..." Isaac left that last one open for Birger to complete it.
"The expert printer?" Finished Birger.
"Yeah...I basically have no idea how these actually work...so...you've gotta walk me through this one buddy." Admitted Isaac.
"Oh...okay!" Accepted Birger as he dumped the ink into the printer.
"So, you've already placed the note perfectly on the printer right?" Asked Birger.
"Yep." Replied Isaac.
"Good, it first copies the paper, so...just...let me do this..." said Birger, as he went over and pressed down a lid onto the paper. "There...now it's fixed." Said Birger.
"Okay...now what?" Asked Isaac. "Now, go brink those small marbles over here." Birger pointed to a tray filled with marbles, as he made his way to a more open part of the printer.
Isaac brought over the tray of marbles and dropped them into the open area of the printer, as Birger gestured him to, then Birger pulled on a small wheel beside it, and spun it a few times, causing the small part to vibrate.
"Now what's happening? Asked Isaac. "We're giving it Friction. Grandpa said it was basically allowing the paper to settle and harden." As they both watched the marbles move along the vibrating part of the printer.
As the Friction was done, Birger led Isaac towards a open circular part of the printer, as he grabbed a small can of blue liquid and started pouring it on the printer in a spiral shape.
"This is the Treat, Grandpa said it was basically like the final touches. Now we just need to wait and let the notes come out." Said Birger as he leaned against the wall.
"Damn...Grandpa taught you well." Said Isaac as he leaned beside Birger.
"Yes he did." Said Birger, as the both of them relaxed against the wall...until the printer popped out the papers...and the perfect recreations of the 500 Finn note.
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After cutting the notes out of the paper, they first used the stamper that Grandpa used to add the serial numbers and letters on the notes, but boy did they have to work hard on it, their measly little printer only could do one colour at a time, unlike the "better"
printers they had heard of.
So they had to do print it over four times.
Print. Clean. Change. Repeat.
And since their machine was run on manpower, which meant more manpower and force from the both of them, but the high of making money numbed the pain in their hands.
And now they had the perfect bill. Isaac was staring at it, while Birger had brought them some tea he made. But Isaac wasn't marvelling at his creation...he was examining it...it was perfect....too perfect.
"Hey, Birger...can you pass me the tea?" Asked Isaac.
"Sure." Replied Birger as he poured some tea from the kettle in a glass and passed it to Isaac. Isaac didn't drink the tea...but instead dipped the note in his hand into the tea.
"Hey! What're you-" Birger snapped at Isaac, before the note was pulled out of the the tea, the ink wasn't touched...but the note itself was a little crumpled and stained...it looked used.
"We need others to believe this is a note, they won't take ones that newly crisp, but if it seems a little used...we're good." Said Isaac as he gave Birger a knowing look.
Birger poured the tea into a tray as they tossed their crumpled up notes into it, before hanging them on a rope and letting them dry.
"Well...look at that." Commented Birger.
"We've made a bill. I think we should test in the market late in the evening shouldn't we?" Asked Isaac.
They both gave each other agreeing looks, before giving each other a fist bump.