Friends In Hard Times

Participants:

colby_icon.gif magnes_icon.gif

Scene Title Friends in Hard Times
Synopsis Colby makes a trip to help Magnes with his car and finds a new friend in the process.
Date March 21, 2010

Rented Garage


Colby stares blankly at the gut of the car for a long moment. After a pause, she turns her head, looking once more over the brim of her glasses and out from behind a few tussled coils of dark hair. "Kid, you are a trip. Anyone ever tell you that?" She flashes a smile and grabs a line, yanking the thing free with a loud crack, and looking the thing over as she continues their 'idle' chat. "What's Ms. Strauss like, hm?"

"Strict, pretty, driven, she always knows the right thing to do or say for every situation. I don't think she's the kind of person that a lot of people could relate to, but she really is nice under all the toughness." Magnes answers, though he is the type to try to see the best in a person. He stares at the line with wide eyes, still having no idea what's going on.

Colby grins as she looks from the boy's expression to the cracked and dead line she's yanked from the car's insides. She hands it over. "Here, a souvenir to remember this old hunk by." With that she excuses herself from a moment and returns wheeling in a rolling toolbox, pushing a rolling board ahead of her with a repeated kick of her foot. Tucking a rag into her beltline, she begins the process of jacking up the vehicle. "You're one of those optimists, aren't you?" she says with a smirk. "She sounds like a real hardass. You like working for her? What sorta stuff you do? Get her coffee?"

"I get her coffee, answer phone calls, remember complicated statistics for meetings. I wouldn't say I'm at the happiest place in my life, I've had a hard few months, but I'd say I'm at least content." Magnes crouches down to stare under the car, at least after he's done giving the line a perplexed look. "And yeah, I guess I'm a bit optimistic, though when I start thinking realistically about some things, it tends to border on pessimism."

"Hard how?" It may sound like prying, or casual curiosity. Either way, the boy hasn't seemed to mind thus far. Colby finished jacking the vehicle. "I'm going to replace some of the lines," she offers, though she's more than half-certain the kid understands little of the process. Still, it's nice to be inclusive if he's sharing so much. Gabbing a length of line and a hose cutter, she lays herself on the board and wheels up under the Impala. "Poor baby," she mumbles again.

"What's a line?" Magnes finally asks, watching the whole process while taking a great deal of mental notes after sitting the old line on the floor. Next time he'll have to bring a notepad. "And, well, lots of stuff. Lost a few friends, well, as close as it usually gets to friends with me. First girlfriend got amnesia back in January, so I had to break up to make things easier for her, since she couldn't remember me. There's been other stuff too, but I think I'm finally starting to move on from it all."

Colby cringes, halting momentarily in her work. Loss. She knows it well. Rather than dwell on that portion of the conversation, she instead avoids it by answering the kid's query. "Break lines. Gas lines. Transport fluids from one part of the car to where they actually need to be. You like to go and stop, dontcha?" She chuckles and continues running, cutting, and fixing the hosing, making a mess of oil and old fluids in the process. Not her garage! YAY! "Sorry 'bout your girlfriend, muchacho. Sounds like you did the right thing though. Who knows, maybe her memory'll come back, yeah?"

"Not possible… it's… complicated. But yeah, it's pretty much impossible." It sounds like there's stuff Magnes either can't or won't say, but it seems like he's at least in a good place with it now. "She's more or less moved on, but I'm happy for her, she'll be happy, and that's what matters. So, why don't you tell me about you?"

Colby nods slowly. "Impossible is an evil fricken word, kid. It's nicer living in those comic books, right?" She chuckles without sincerity. She can relate to the bitterness that is reality. She rolls out a bit from beneath the vehicle to fix Magnes with a curious expression. "Me?" She seems overly surprised. But, since Ariel… who has she really talked with outside the realm and topics of work? "I like cars…" she begins by blurting out awkwardly. She offers a shrug and wheels back under the vehicle and back to duty. It's easier to talk when you don't have to look at someone. "I've had a rough time of it, too, lately. Just got back into town after some personal time."

"Guess we're all having a rough time. But that just means it's our responsibility to have a good time together!" Magnes bites his bottom lip after saying that, realizing how weird it sounds. "I mean, like, a good time as in fixing the car and stuff, not like… Sooo, what did you do out of town anyway?"

The Latina offers a hearty chuckle. "Guess you're right kid. So, I guess I better put you to work. Hand me a five-eighths wrench outta the box, wouldya?" Her greasy hand pops out from under the vehicle expectantly. "Went to go visit my younger sister. You got any family?"

"Yeah, not sure what they're doing exactly. After this blizzard I've gotta visit my parents, now that I know they're alive and haven't called to like, let me know or anything. There's a woman in FRONTLINE with my last name too, don't know if we're related." Magnes walks over to the box, looking over the various wrenches, growing even more confused. "Uh… there's a lot of wrenches here."

"FRONTLINE, eh?" Colby cocks a brow out of view. Her fingers give an impatient, visible wiggle, though. "They're labeled, kiddo, just look closely at the handles." Her hearty chuckle can be heard beneath the chasm of the car. "What's up with this weather, anywho? Hasn't anyone got a clue?"

Magnes looks through the labels, then grabs said wrench, hunches down, and hands it to her under the car. "I have no idea if there's anything weird about the weather, no one really tells me anything. It's this Evolved flu people need to worry about, that seems pretty suspicious. But still, no one tells me anything."
Roleplay> Abby sniffs around

"The flu…" Colby lets a shiver run up her spine. "Goes to show that the Evo aren't all that different from the regulars, hm?" she sighs and shakes her head. With a grunt that assumedly means 'thanks', she takes the wrench and tightens the clamps down around the hoses. After a moment she wheels out from under the vehicle. "Alrighty, SuperMan. Looks like we're off to a good start. I'm going to have to price out some stuff - like your tires and a new oil pan for this beast, but I think we might be able to make her your dream wagon."

"Awesome! I'm sure I can afford it, I'm mostly just saving money lately, except cheap comics and stuff." Magnes offers a hand, in case she wants to get up. "And yeah, the flu's pretty bad. I'm taking care of a kid who's gotten to the stage where you lose your ability. I'm gonna give him to some people more equipped to handle this."

Colby accepts the help, popping to her feet and brushing her greasy hands along her jeans. Cha-ching. Another mental note in place. Man, she really needs to get back to the 'office' and see what's going down. "I'll talk to a few people, see if I can get an info on that flu for you. Anything I can do to help, ya know?" With a easy smile she pops her tools and the remaining spare lines back into the toolbox. "In the meantime, keep your head down, yeah? And, take care of your buddy. I'll call you in a day or two when I've collected some more parts."

"Thanks, at least someone's willing to keep me out of the dark." Magnes smiles and gently squeezes her hand before releasing it, then stretches and puts the toolbox back where she got it from. "If you need any money for parts and stuff, just give me a call, alright?"

"What're friends for?" Colby pauses, turning back to look at the kid uncertainly. Friends. Yeah, one could say that's what this is, huh? The Latina offers another hearty chuckle and dips her head in a easy nod. "Will do, kiddo. Be safe." With that walks out to climb into the Jeep she most obviously chose to borrow for a time.

"Yeah, friends." Magnes smiles as she walks off, looking back to the car one last time, then starts heading out himself.


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