onepassingnight | 002. there's no place like home

Current Location: gaia, seventh heaven

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002. there's no place like home

It's one of those absolutely beautiful days when the sky outside is clear blue for a change instead of grey and the rain from the night before actually cleaned things instead of adding to the layer of grime. Outside, the people passing on the street don't seem quite as in a rush or beat down as usual and there's a feeling of faint relief in the air, almost as if you can inhale deeply and it will be okay. Down one of the quieter streets, there's a building with a sign over its front door that proudly proclaims itself to be Seventh Heaven. The door's locked and the sign on it reads 'closed'... but just to the side of the building, tucked away and private, is a little garage attached to the side of the building. That door is wide open to let the fresh spring air into its cramped interior.

It's a small space and a great deal of it is taken up with stacked boxes and bits and pieces of things that might be useful items or just might be junk. There's a washing machine and dryer tucked into one corner and that area is the only neat one in the entire place. A child's bike and a faded ball lay near the front of the open garage door. What takes up most of the space however is a monster of a motorcycle, glistening black as a beetle's shell after a rain storm and even parked it looks like speed on wheels. The air is full of the smell of oil and wax and a hint of gasoline. And there's a long, lean pair of legs sticking out from under the back of the bike where it's been cranked up, the soft sounds of metal on metal coming dimly from underneath. There's a tool chest nearby and a decent amount of dirty rags to show that this has been an ongoing process. Somewhere back through the closed door on the wall that connects this with the rest of the house the faint sound of a radio can be heard playing. The body attached to the legs under the bike might, or might not, be humming - poorly - snatches of whatever song it is that's playing.

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[ She cautiously stands in the doorway and looks around. Now this is somewhere she could stay holed up in for a long time. It puts a smile on her face - well, a bigger one than she usually has as her default expression - and she's just itching to get her hands on things.

Speaking of hands. She sees one poking out from under a type of vehicle she's never seen before, though it vaguely reminds her of the mule. She also sees a wrench close by. Ah! She walks over, careful of where she steps, picks up the wrench and nudges the searching hand with it. ]

Here ya go!

[he doesn't jerk upward because he heard the approaching footsteps but he does still blink at the sudden weight of the wrench in his hand where he's still hidden under the bike. That voice... he doesn't recognize. His fingers do close around the tool but he also stops what he was doing to slide the dolly out from under Fenrir and, lying on his back, blink up at the new arrival in his garage.

She's new.

And there's something about her smile that... makes his lips want to mimic it...

Instead he blinks up at her again and, not upset so much as puzzled, responds with a:]

Thanks.

[ She smiled in response. ] This is a real nice ride ya got.

[while Cloud isn't exactly used to people approaching him out of the blue on a regular basis, he did save the world once upon a time and so he's used to a certain amount of boundary crossing from strangers. This is entirely different though.

This is someone that wants to talk about Fenrir.

So the slightly frozen expression on his face melts as his lips relax and even curl at their edges and, unconsciously, he moves over a little to make room for her if she wants to get closer to the bike. He has a flash - Jessie and her love of flashy things - that relaxes him even more.]

His name's Fenrir. He's an old bastardized Harley Datoyna model but I've pretty much rebuilt most of it.

Fenrir. 's a real fine name for him. [ She definitely takes him up on the unspoken offer to move closer in the space he left her. ] I ain't ever seen a Harley 'fore. How long'd it take ya to get him lookin' like this?

[having her hunker down next to him, so obviously interested, actually had Cloud relaxing and makes him more talkative than he usually is. It's Fenrir after all and he doesn't get to talk about something he has so much fun picking apart and putting back together constantly with someone who's eyes don't glaze over. One of his knees comes up so he's sitting more comfortably and he'll gesture to bits and pieces of the bike]

Still working on him. It's been a little over a year now since I started. You work on bikes?

A year? That ain't too bad. [ She shakes her head no. ] Closest I've ever gotten's the mule an' that's more of a hovercraft. The first mule we had was more like a big bike. Ground drivin' only. Wasn't too much I could go do for it 'sides keep it runnin'. No reason really to go modifyin' that to somethin' nice when all we used it for was to go haulin' the flatbed trailer if we needed to load cargo.

Or if we didn't feel like walkin' places.

All my work's been on Serenity.

[she's got a blurred way of talking but he finds he kind of likes the way it slides her words against each other as if in companionable motion. He can't place where her way of speaking's from. Gongaga maybe - or close to there. New Coral? And he has no idea what a mule is - but he's used to not understanding what other people are talking about right off until he pieces it together and so he picks it up from there. There's something about the way she says the final word though that tells him it's the most important out of everything and so he asks:]

Serenity?

[ Her whole face lights up with an even brighter glow. Even the most unperceptive person would pick up that this one's special to her. ]

Know much 'bout ships? That's what she is. Firefly Class 03-K64. Midbulk transport. Cap'n's the one that named her Serenity. She's a real fine girl. Don't look like much on the outside but she's got plenty of surprises.

Folks'll go turnin' up their noses at the trace compression block engine she's got but 's a real good engine. Far better'n some junky Gurstler. An' loads easier to go modifyin'.

[ The corners of her mouth turn down a bit as she mutters: ] 'specially if somebody ain't lettin' ya spend the money ya need for some part.

[She - loses him. Completely. And his eyes go a little wider and blink as he tries to absorb whatever it is she's trying to say. He's more used to not understanding what people are saying than most and so he picks it apart to catch the phrases he does understand, puzzling them together in cobbled bits. What he comes up with is...

an airship?

It's certainly what it sounds like. He hasn't heard about anything beyond what Cid's working on but that doesn't mean much. He doesn't keep up to date on airships or Cid's lately often technical conversations either. The last part he does catch however and he at least thinks he understands:]

Sometimes I trade services or goods for Fenrir's parts.

[with a slight frown, he'll admit:]

Ship parts are much more expensive though. Have you been to Rocket Town?

Oh I've tried that but it only gets ya so far in the junkyards. 'sides I never got much to go barter with.

[ She tilts her head slightly. ] Nope. Never heard of it 'fore.

[that sentence at least he entirely understands and he nods, a single dip of his chin to show it. Slow and quiet, just barely there, his lips shift at their edges in a smile.]

I think you might like it. It's full of engineers. Last I heard they were working on putting together a new airship.

[he taps the stabilizer on Fenrir.]

They built this for me. And reworked the muffler. We're working on new coolant too, so that the engine can run faster without getting gunked up afterward.

[there's a slight pause and then, almost shyly, he asks softly:]

Wanna see?

[ She had been very close to asking about that airship and the engineers when she was completely distracted by his offer. ]

Really? [ She was practically bouncing in place in excitement. ] Shiny!

[there's a blink because he's possibly never seen a smile that amazing before. It's - without realizing it, his own lips shift upward a bit more, shy and responsive.

That's really an amazing smile.

And then the rest of her enthusiasm catches up too and his smile turns into a little grin as he's up on his feet. They're going to play with his toys and he's feeling pretty pleased himself now too. With practiced ease, and casual strength that can lift more than human, Fenrir's outer casing at the front is unbolted and lifted off to reveal the amazing tangle of it's inner engine, gleaming silver and gold with a fresh coat of oil just applied.]

[ She stands fully and watches in awe as he removes the casing to reveal ... one of the most beautiful engines she reckons she has ever seen. Her face lights up like Christmas, her birthday and every single other good day in the year came all at once. ]

Sure is clean. Ya ain't ever gonna see somethin' like this stock.

Ya must have one tight cleanin' schedule to keep all this lookin' so good.

[he can't help his own grin in response to hers and he feels as if he's just done the best thing he's ever done in his entire life, even if all he's doing is showing off the engine of his bike. Her words have a bit of pleased embarrassment touching his cheeks but he shrugs.]

Actually, I took today off to do it. He gets a lot of road dust and dirt inside with deliveries so it doesn't usually look this good.

[there's a brief pause on his part and then he offers:]

I was just about to go through the spark plugs and clean and replace. Did you - want to help?

[ She nods. ] 's how it goes. Even those what hover'll get all the dust from a town lodged in 'em gunkin' up the works if ya don't clean 'em that much.

[ All those days really did come early. Poking her head in his shop was turning out to be the best decision of her day by the minute. ] Shiny! [ She offers her hand. ] I'm Kaylee. [ It was right to tell him her name and she feels a bit embarrassed she didn't think of it sooner. ]

[her enthusiasm is infectious and he doesn't think he's smiled this way, or this long, for a long time. He's not much for touch when it comes to strangers but it doesn't feel all that awkward when he takes her hands to shake it. She's got a good grip and somehow it doesn't matter if he gets grease from his hand on hers.]

Cloud.

[ She thinks nothing of the grease. Honestly right now she's fairly, almost unnaturally, cleaned up for her. Her hair looks like it might have even seen a brush some time ago. She also doesn't look confused or anything at his name. She knows a man named Jayne and a girl named River. 'Cloud' is downright normal. ]

Nice to meet ya. Well, nice knowin' your name now.

[he hums a soft sound and it might, just might, even be pleased. There's one of his little nods again and then he turns back to Fenrir. He's usually picky about who he lets touch the bike's insides but just the way the girl with him talks screams that she knows a thing or two about engines - and loves them. Besides, worse comes to worse, he can always fix things later. It's not much of a risk really. So he'll give her a glance from the corners of his eyes and, maybe, there's even a little teasing as he asks:]

Know your way around plugs or would you like a demonstration?

[ She laughs. ] I know my way 'round but the last piece of tech I touched 'fore today was on Serenity. An' her engine's bigger'n Fenrir here.

I don't wanna go makin' a mess outta him so there ain't nothin' wrong with a lil' demonstration.

[her laugh wins the smallest of grins from him, a feat in itself and he shifts over to where the spark plugs are on Fenrir.]

It's easy.

[a practiced move of his long fingers and one of the plugs is loose. Cleaning it is a quick process and then it's back in place again with a simple motion. He hands her the cleaning rag and steps aside, obvious open invitation to take over.]

[ She watches intently, a part of her still marveling over how tiny some of the parts on Fenrir are. She's always doing something on Serenity and is used to crawling into very confined spaces to go ripping at something as big as her arm. ]

Real easy [ she agrees as she accepts the rag and steps into place. She gets a plug loose and sets to cleaning it. ]

[his guess was right. She obviously knows what she's doing and it makes him smile just a little bit how comfortable her hands look dealing with the plugs. With a grunt and a nod, he shifts around to the other side of Fenrir and slides himself under it again, back to messing with what he was before. His voice doesn't have to raise to carry from the bottom of the giant bike.]

What are you in Edge for?

[ She carries on with the task. It doesn't phase her to talk while working. She does it all the time on Serenity. Or she'll be sitting somewhere on the ship tinkering with some part she's aiming to fix up, just chatting away. Her hands are steady. ]

I was just walkin' for a spell. Don't get a lot of chances to do that.

002. there's no place like home

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