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Post by Gavin Micheals on Oct 19, 2016 18:15:24 GMT -7
Ratchet's Garage was the name Gavin designated to his business, as more of a hook than anything. It was a simple enough logo, a simple skull and crosswrenches. Served to bring in the occasional new customer, though it was mostly his reputation that kept them coming in. He was renowned for his expertise and efficiency, capable of diagnosing and fixing any problem that would arise within 24 hours, maybe double if the car had been totaled. Prices were alright, cheaper than one would expect for a single man running the entire business. Somehow, he still found the time to work on hobbies or little projects that had came into his mind, and sometimes these worked their way into his workspace instead of staying on the workbench that lined the perimeter of his building's interior save the office. That workspace spanned across a double garage and an office in the back, the latter being where he was speculated to sleep and eat. It was spotless, though, except for the guy sitting in it. He was just looking over at half his garage, taken up by a large automobile with a tarp over it to obscure it from view. Gavin had yet to change out of his work outfit, and for good reason. He still had a car to work on, and it had been destroyed. Head on impact, drunk driver. It came in from the previous night, but was already a fair portion fixed up. It would just take a bit to work on it with the determination he needed; it was time for his lunch. He strode out of his office to the car, still holding onto the sub sandwich that his lunch had consisted off, and started to examine the vehicle. It was back on the ground, where it was going to stay for a bit. Gavin left it be for now, and instead started up on of his projects while walking to sit outside. There was a plastic chair he left outside the garage so he could readily greet any customers. Munching his sandwich, he watched his little creation march out of the garage. It was a small plastic kitten, moving all on its own. It had the same outside covering as an old Windows 97 computer, the circuits and innards showing at the joints. It had a windup key in the back of it as a startup, but it moved rather... intelligently, albeit clumsily. It looked like an old simple creation, but was really quite complex on the inside. The eyes had been created from camera lenses, still functioning but as visual inputs that could were used to detect its surroundings and properly navigate. The creator chuckled and bit into his sandwich once more, looking up and down the road he had founded his livelihood on. It wasn't very busy, a car passed only rarely. Usually it was to stop in at the garage, though some cyclists or skateboarders could be seen every now and then. They were often up to semi legal activities at best, and it was surprising what a mechanic could pick up with sharp ears and a curious nature. The little kitten clumsily waddled around before stopping and falling. Gavin picked it up and slowly started to wind it again, looking up and down the road. A customer would likely pop up soon enough, and he didn't really feel like working on the car in his possession right now. Instead, he just whistled and waited. Minerva "Minnie" Wells
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Post by Minerva "Minnie" Wells on Oct 21, 2016 13:28:36 GMT -7
Minnie sighed as she crawled into her truck for the second time that day. It had been acting up for awhile now, weird noises, engine stuttering, gears creaking. For awhile she was able to ignore it. No big deal, cars make tons of noise all the time. And then this morning happened. It seemed fine until she tried to leave the bookstore parking lot. After five minutes of trying, her old beater just wouldn't start. Someone even tried to jump start it to no avail. Groaning she slammed her head on the steering wheel. Well this was great.
"Couldn't you have died somewhere else?"
She asked the vehicle miserably. Pulling out her phone she called for a tow truck. Twenty minutes later it appeared and hitched her up. She told him to take her and the truck to Ratchet's garage. She hadn't been there before but she had heard that they had fast, good quality work. When they finally pulled up to the garage, she paid the tow truck and walked inside. What she saw raised her curiosity. A little mechanical cat was walking around. Squatting she took a closer look at it, admiring the craftsman ship. Thats when she noticed the other person in the room. She stood up and gave a short wave.
"I take it the little kitten wandering around is your creation. Nice work."
Taking care not to step on the little bot, Minnie made her way over. The tow truck operator slid the truck into the garage before honking twice and leaving. She sighed and began to tell him what went wrong.
"My truck gave out on me this morning. It had been making noises and creaking for months now but this morning it died while I was at the bookstore. We tried to give it a jump but it refused to live. Any idea what went wrong?"
The pinkette hoped that she had explained it clearly enough and that this mechanic could help her. She did not have the time or budget to get a new truck.
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Post by Gavin Micheals on Oct 21, 2016 15:07:09 GMT -7
Gavin heard the tow truck before he saw it, not a particularly wonderful vehicle itself. The truck coming behind it was worse off. It was clear enough on his face, curiosity that was slowly piqued until he saw the truck behind it; he had a certain delight for trucks, and he could tell this one would probably need a bit of work on it. Maybe it was just the more broken down one carrying it giving it more of a decrepit appearance, but it certainly didn't look great. "Thanks, I'm proud enough of the little thing. Even a little affectionate, I like cats." He stood and started back toward the car, as he'd not moved from his chair watching the whole thing happen.
The kitten came back, as though it heard it was being talked about, and started circling the wall inside. It was hobbling, one leg continually hitting the wall just enough to slightly unbalance the steps. Gavin just sighed and waved it off, examining what work he had set before him. It would be far easier to fully diagnose it if he got under it and fully checked it out, but first the hood. Nothing was smoking, which was a fairly good thing, but nothing appeared too apparently wrong. Which was somewhat disturbing. He pulled out a longboard, an old thing that was in surprisingly good condition, and a few jacks. As he started to get it lifted, surprisingly quickly, he looked back at her. "My name's Gavin, welcome to my garage. I can promise to get your car running, probably within the day. No guarantees, especially on the price, but it ought to cost less than buying anything new. That's mostly what I do."
The kitten made its way to the office, where it promptly fell over. Gavin wheeled over to it on the board and started to turn the little wind up key. It let out an odd buzzing as he did, and he set it back down for it to trot about. "I'm probably going to be doing a bit of dissecting, so if you'd care to pay a bit extra I could do that. We both probably know that this will be expensive, to some extent, but it won't be as bad if you tell me how fixed you want it. Like, scale of one to ten with one being running, ten is practically new." He talked with his hands, lots of gestures and a curt but pleasant and friendly tone. By the end of it, he was looking back at the sandwich he had left in his chair but more concerned with the potential customer.
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Post by Minerva "Minnie" Wells on Oct 23, 2016 13:09:54 GMT -7
"It's always good to be proud of your creations. It just makes you strive to keep creating and improving. And cats are amazing."
Minnie smiled at the mechanic. He seemed a good sort. Handy with technology if the little automaton was any indication. She listened to his spiels, seemed to be the honest sort. Definitely expressive, if his constant hand motions were any indication. 'A physically expressive mechanic with a fondness for a small mechanical creature of his own design. Almost sound like a quest giving NPC or an important secondary character.' she thought to herself, 'I should keep him in mind for later.' Once Gavin finished speaking, the pinkette had a choice to make. She needed it to last awhile, so having it only be running would be a hassle but did she really need it to run like new? For a few moments she mulled it over.
"Go ahead and dissect it. I would rather know and fix the problem then just get it running again. As for the scale, I'd gather a 5 or 6 would be fine Gavin. And you know, you can keep eating your sandwich. I interrupted you after all."
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Post by Gavin Micheals on Oct 23, 2016 17:37:06 GMT -7
Gavin took off again on the board, wheeling his way to a tall toolbox, also on wheels, and rolled it back to the truck. "Ah, I never eat while I work. Bad practice, turns into a bad habit. Similar to putting wheels on things, but its too helpful to just not do it." From the toolbox he laid out a ton of equipment, all sitting next to the truck, before returning to the underside and starting to work. Taking things apart was always a joy, though it was bittersweet; this particular specimen was not in very good condition, and it was a little sad.
His face furrowed into a sort of easy concentration on the task at hand mixed with light irritation, and he was never still. There was always something that needed grabbed, moved, unscrewed, or generally dealt with and he was conditioned to do it quickly. "How long you had this thing?" Gavin didn't look at his current client, nor did his facial expression change, but he sounded interested enough. Briefly after the question, he muttered something about a less than professional solution to a simple enough problem. "Oh! I'm afraid I didn't catch your name?" It was a simple realization, something that had been bugging him. It was hard to remember that there was a business and person aspect to this job, not just work. The work was always his favorite part, anyway, but sometimes it had its own interaction with him. Work had its own way of talking back, and this particular piece's way of doing so wasn't anything more than just its condition.
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Post by Minerva "Minnie" Wells on Oct 25, 2016 13:05:56 GMT -7
"Ah, understandable."
Minnie watched as the mechanic set up and went to work. It was mostly quiet, the occasional noises from the working mechanic notwithstanding. Trying not to disturb him, she wandered around the other side of the shop. It seemed like any other mechanic's shop. The tools, the profoundly uncomfortable sitting area and even a car that seemed beyond repair sitting in the back. Ouch, whatever accident that came out of was a doozy. Made her glad that her old truck just quit on her. His first question reached her ears and it took her a moment to respond. How long had it been? It was her first car, and she had passed her driving test in it so it had to be...
"I bought it used about seven or eight ago. Had a good chunk of miles on it but ran decently enough for a good price."
Her jean clad legs brought her back to her original standing point. Had he figured it out? Or was it just to help him figure out if it was worth it? When he stayed beneath the hood, she assumed it was the latter. With a shrug she went back to her wanderings. She would answer any question he needed if it meant getting her truck's issues figured out. Just as she moved away another question floated her way. Her name? Oh right her name.
"Oh it's Minnie, Minnie Wells. Sorry about that."
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Post by Gavin Micheals on Oct 25, 2016 18:02:22 GMT -7
He slid back out from under the car, hopping up and rolling the longboard to the side. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Minnie. I have a bit of bad news. I have not yet found anything symptomatic of it not starting. And that means it could potentially take a very long time, because there are a couple things I could say are messed up. I could still easily have it done within the day, regardless." That portion of his reputation was spotless, and he was going to keep it that way. The car wasn't in the best of condition but it should've been running, which meant that it couldn't possibly take him too long to figure out what it was. Nothing stayed hidden very long in a car, not from him.
Problem was, Gavin worked in bursts of energy and he wasn't really feeling it. He could brainstorm based off of the information he had, but that was all. Otherwise, he risked doing something detrimental to himself or the truck. When he was off, he was forgetful and careless. Best to still be a gracious host of sorts, and pull up another chair for the lady. He sat back in his own and started to eat his sandwich. "Sorry, it's break time. I have another lunch, if you'd like a snack. On the house because I'm not doing jack right now." Gavin had a habit of packing lunches by the week, and sharing is caring. She seemed nice enough to warrant the sacrifice, anyway, putting aside the fact that if there was a big problem she'd being paying anyway.
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