| Starting the Bus |
| Summary: | Sofia and Bannik talk about survivors and try to get one of the prison's buses started. |
| Date: | 3 Sept 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | None. |
| Players: |
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| Tihar Penitentiary — Prison Garage — Sagittaron |
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| This is a musty garage with many, many non-functioning prison vehicles. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #189 |
It's /hot/. A prison garage wasn't made for people to really hang out in, and no one cared if the prisoner-mechanics sweltered in the heat as they worked on the vehicles. Tyr wasn't part of the initial team from Cerberus to work on the ground, but when the vehicles were found, the old farmhand was called down to take a look at some things. Currently, he has the hood to one of the large engines that work the buses open and is staring down into it with a pen flashlight. The area is otherwise pretty dark and musty.
Frakking hot even! Sofia has a sunhat on, to shade her eyes and scalp. She's wearing a different shirt than usual, likely borrowed. It's a light colored cotton thing, suitable for duty in the sun. Which is, alas, what she seems to be on. She has her toolkit about her waste and a small box of tools at hand. She's glancing around, a part of the initial team. But - there's a Bannik! She smiles and wanders over. "Tyr!" She greets him warmly, "How's it going? I didn't know you came down here."
"Sofia!" Tyr jerks his head up from the engine, and then promptly bangs it against the hood of the engine. "Ow!" He rubs his head. That smarts. "Hey. How are you? Yeah. I was up there until the ribs healed all the way, and then, when they found these things." He gestures at the bus. "They called me on down to take a look. What have you been doing?" he asks.
Sofia smiles seeing Tyr react, but reflexively winces as he hits his head. "Are you okay?" She asks, frowning a moment. "I was worried about you," She admits. Stair tipped Bannik is not her favorite kind. Nevertheless, she wanders on over. "Me? Helping with wires. Sometimes I think I should just ask to be absorbed into Deck," She chuckles softly. But alas, Engineering seems to have a horrifically high casualty rate. Either way, she peers over. "I have some tools here if you need them. Do you at least have a good hat? You'll fry… though I have my aloe lotion."
"Yeah. I'm fine." Bannik waves his hand. "Doc said it healed up just fine." He rubs at his head a little bit more. He's in his greens, but the jacket is unbuttoned, showing his undershirt below. "But I could use a screwdriver if you have one. I think I found the big problem down here with this cap —" His voice trails off. "Been a while since I worked on a diesel engine. It was back on the farm." His smile is half-hearted at that.
There's relief. "I'm glad you're healed up." Sofia smiles. She doesn't seem eager to share what happened to her shirt. "Sure, phillips or-?" She asks and moves over towards Bannik, setting her toolbox down. "An engineer without her screwdriver is like a fish without his bicycle good sir!" She winks and smiles, though his half hearted smile causes her to tilt her head. "You lived on a farm - I think I remember that. I won't ask more if you don't feel okay talking about it."
Bannik shakes his head. "It's all right, Sofia. I don't mind." He shrugs, but then answers the question: "Phillips, please." He holds out his hand like a surgeon waiting for a scalpel. He doesn't even mention that fishes don't generally ride bicycles, though his brow does screw up in confusion for a moment. "I guess — you heard about survivors on Aerilon, right?"
Sofia nods and hands over the appropriate screwdriver. Perhaps she was being silly. "That's good. It's hard to tell what hurts people sometimes," She admits quietly. Then a little nod. "There's a pretty good chance. In a way I hope they are there and not suffering, in another I don't know if I have any right to wish for that," Sofia considers. "This place has taught me a lot," She admits quietly. "What are your thoughts?"
"Just —" Bannik's voice drifts. "When things were bad. I mean, really bad, you just figured that they're all gone and you try to make peace with it, right?" He crouches down near the engine, looking to reach to the particularly tricky part. "But when you hear about survivors — you think. You hope. You pray …" His voice drifts. "I don't know. I guess I just don't know."
Sofia listens, tilting her head. "Yeah. I think it's that for some of us, the uncertainty is gone. There's only the quiet goneness. But … for others, hope is kind and cruel at once. My whole family was on Aquaria, so-" Her voice goes quiet a moment. Well. She /knows/ what happened to them. "At least it was quick," Is all she states. She will peer at the spot with Bannik, "I think I will hope for you too then. At least an answer. No one likes to never know," She admits. "I don't know what to say, but that I hope you know once we get exploring there. Hopefully we can get on the ground then."
"Hopefully." Bannik sighs. "I'm sorry. It's selfish to worry about those I love when everyone else is doing the same thing. Which is why I don't talk about it too much." He glances up and over at Sofia. "I — yeah. I'm sorry. But hey. As long as we're together, you'll always be my family, right? My extended family?" He tries to muster up a smile.
Sofia looks to Bannik and shakes her head. "Please don't say that. I'd like you to talk about it if it concerns you. I don't worry about my loved ones anymore because I already know," She states quietly, simply. "I'm your friend, that's part of what I do," She nods. "I'd be glad to be part of your extended family," She smiles back weakly. "So feel free to talk about whatever you'd like or need to. Even if I'm not always … able to say something."
Bannik gets off the panel covering whatever was troubling him and peers down into the void. "Ah! I see what we've got here. Okay." He reaches in with his hands, looking like he's trying to jiggle something back into place. "It's okay, Sofia. I just — sometimes you don't have to say anything. Sometimes just being there is the best thing you can do."
"Ooh, good!" Sofia nods. Bannik Buddy is an awesome fixer it seems. She peers over to see. "Well. Then I'm here for you. If you want to talk about the possibilities on Aerilon, that's okay. Just because I may not understand perfectly - Well, I'm here. And I'll try." Even with all the mental wiring gone awry, she seems willing to be there. She sets the little toolbox down and brushes her hands. "So dusty…"
"Oh. Come on." Bannik seems to be talking to the part of the engine he's working on. "Snap into — frak it." He curses and then brings his head out. He manages not to hit it this time. "You have a small hammer in your kit?" he asks her, grease on his face from the insides of the engine.
A wince. Sofia seems sympathetic. "Yeah, sec." She actually pulls one off her belt, towards the rear. "I am always paranoid about not having my tools," She admits and hands it to him, handle first. Though the grease on his face makes her smile a little. "Do you want a hand?"
"Uh. Maybe." Bannik glances over his shoulder. "You're a little bit smaller, at least." He scoots back so that she can get into the work space. "See that valve in there? I'm trying to get it fit back into place into the middle part over there. It should just snap in, but I can't seem to make it work."
Maybe. Most of her is at least. Ahem. Sofia inches over to peer at what he's pointing at. Her green eyes narrow a little. "I think I do. That one there?" She points at it. "I'll give it a shot, but you might want to have a stick of butter handy or something," She comments wryly and leans in to see if she'll do any better. She grunts softly. "I think … I can get at it there."
Bannik takes the pen light he had earlier and shines it into a gap between Sofia's body and the engine compartment. "Here. Maybe this'll help," says the Specialist, shining the light on the part she's to push the valve into. "And yeah. I'll be sure to tug real hard if it comes to that." He teases.
Sofia smiles, "Thanks." She starts to push the valve in. She frowns, grits her teeth and braces herself a little. It's woman vs. bus. After several moments of concerted effort and a comical look of frustration, there's a satisfying noise as it goes in. Phew. She huffs softly. "Sheesh. The last thing I had that was that stubborn-" She tries to remember, "Well, electronics and ECMs tend not to be stubborn so much as on fire or shooting sparks or not going."
"Yes!" Bannik sounds pretty excited when he hears the 'snap' of the part locking into place. "Now — can you get out? Because if you can, you should go around and see if it starts." He smiles to himself. "And yeah. No kidding. Mechanical isn't really my thing. This is just the farmboy in me coming back to me."
Fortunately Bannik doesn't need to tug her out. Sofia ponders this. "Don't laugh too hard-" She starts to back out. There's a little resistance, but probably nothing she's not used to coping with. One could almost add comic book sound effects there. "Sure. We got a key or is this a wire job?" She tilts her head. Then a pause. She peers at Bannik. Looks him up. Looks him down. Does the little artist frame with fingers. She scratches her head. "Okay… it's hard to imagine you in overalls chasing crops and cattle," Grin. She'll start towards going over though.
Bannik blushes at that. "Well, I wasn't that great at it, except for the mechanical parts of things," confesses the deckhand. "But I did what I could to make sure the family had what it needed, you know?" He then transitions. "Wires. I popped the panel inside. It should just be touching the two of them together to see if it'll go." He crosses his fingers.
Sofia smiles a little. "Nothing wrong with that. All I'm good at is making tea and keeping fish. Plants die if they look at me," She notes wryly. With a grunt, she clambers over. "Oh I see them. This pair of black ones?"
"Yeah. That's them." Bannik takes a step back, so that he's away from the closest part of the engine and gives her a thumbs up. "Go for it!" And so he waits, waiting to see if he diagnosed the problem right.
Time for lift-off! Or bus-off! Sofia smiles and nods. She will press the two wires again and see if it goes…
Vrrr. The bus begins to turn over. But then it stops. But wait. Vrrrr. It goes again. Vrrrr. Closer. Vrrrrr. Closer yet. And then — vrrrroooom! The bus finally turns over, its engine kicking into gear. "Yes!" Bannik thrusts two arms up in the dorky-nerd-universal-symbol-of-victory. That's how much of a dork he is.
Hmm. Sofia makes sure the wires stay together. "Oooh! Good job!" She beams from her spot. "That's pretty awesome!" She doesn't seem to mind any of the dorkiness. An engineer calling anyone dorky - a pot and a kettle come to mind. She stays beaming though. "Let me know when you want me to turn it off. I guess I should give it a couple of minutes to work itself out?"
"Sounds good!" Sofia calls back. At least the girl's got operatic projection going for her. She lets it go for a few minutes then, and will carefully turn it off. She grins. "You did all of the work, and it was pretty awesome," She points out. "I just came by and gave you a hammer," She tilts her head. "What do you have planned for the evening?"
Bannik chuckles. "Not too much. I was going to hang out and maybe even have a little bit of water. Crazy, I know." He takes an arm and wraps it around Sofia's shoulders, giving her a little squeeze. "Besides. We're a team. Want to join me?"
"Water! You're mad!" She jokes, acting like Bannik announced he's taking over the word, even putting a hand on her chest in shock. GAAAAAAASP. She smiles and carefully wraps an arm around Bannik's shoulders, gently returning the squeeze too. "Sounds good. I'd like that. I usually find a good shady spot and put on the aloe so I don't look too crisped," She admits, faintly bemused. Sofia sighs. "Stupid sun."