New to the races: A mechanic and a pyromancer

"Ah, you must be Magna," A relatively small, fox-like person says once they see me "I'll be right there once I finish getting...this...damn it, my arms are just barely too short. How to work around that...maybe tongs? No, that's not going to work, I need something flexible...."

"Maybe I can help? " I say and he looks over at me

"No offense but," He says, waving at me with a finger "you, you are way to big. You'd crush the entire thing if you trilookingan I at least see what's wrong?" I ask and he sighs before waving me over

"I just need to connect a rubber tube to a pipe but it's just out of reach," He explains as I crouch to get a better look "and I'm not sure how I can attach it."

The thing in particular was a bit odd but it looks a bit like the airships I keep seeing. There was a strange looking engine not far from a worn out seat and was surrounded in twisting pipes, some attached to it but most looked like they're the frame. Picking up the rubber tube he was holding earlier, I make the end ignite with my fire.

"Hay!" He yells, snatching the tube from me and tries, and fails, to put out the fire

Finally seeing that it's not actually doing anything to the tube, he pauses and stares. Gently taking it back from him, I make the fire, and therefore the tube, rise into the air.

"This is what I meant," I say as I make the end of the tube move around in the air "I can use my fire to move it around."

"Alright," He says, a big grin snapping onto his face and grabs the tube "once I let go of it, you'll follow my directions."

"If you don't mind me asking," I say as he tries again "what do you plan on doing with this once you finish?"

"Racing," He says simply, letting go of it "now, listen carefully. Move it down and forward a bit-slowly...okay, now move it to the right...okay, keep it there."

He was blocking my sight of where he wanted me to move it so I couldn't see where it ended up. I was considering on taking a look while he was searching for something but he came back holding a wrench and started messing with the tube again. While he was doing all of that, I took a closer look at what he was working on. It seemed to be made mostly out of brass and had a vaguely arrow head shape to it. Next to all of it was a bunch of spare parts and tools and in a surprisingly (considering how everything else was a mess) neat stack of brass plating. Frowning, I try to figure out how it will end up looking. As I was trying to work out some details, the mechanic starts talking to me.

"You know," He says setting the wrench down and turning to face me "if you want to be my assistant, you're available to do so. I've been stuck on that for a few days now, but you helped me manage to do it. I don't have the money to pay you but once I win the race, I will."

"It's fine," I say, waving my hands before rubbing the back of my head " I'm here to get an airship of my own. I was told that you can come up with some interesting ways to build engines and I was wondering if you could make one that can run off of my fire. "

"Well," He says thoughtfully as he tries to wipe the grease stains on his fur off "that's a bit of a tall order but I think I may be able to do it. We would have to run a bunch of experiments to see what can and can't handle your fire." 

"I'm willing to do that," I say with a bit of a grin "but I'm going to warn you, it's gotten hot enough to melt stone."

"Ha!" He laughs "I love a good challenge."