2023-02-08: Our Engine

• Cast: Seolla Schweizer, Qivi
• Where: Huffman Island
• Date: U.C. 0097 02 08
• Summary: Seolla and Qivi bond a bit over motorcycles!

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<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

Qivi doesn't run the Shuffle Alliance's salvage division, but she's deeply hooked into it, because of two reasons:

1) she has a lot of contacts with salvagers, scrappers, and Vultures, which she is willing to lean on and even participate in, and
2) she finds the act of fixing stuff good stress relief.

One of the biggest markets for semi-legal military equipment is Huffman Island and has been since before the One Year War. To that end, the Shuffle Alliance keeps safehouses there, and because Qivi lived there for years (and brought one of them with her when she joined) she tends to hang out there a lot.

Huffman Island is a mostly tropical island (it's about on the same latitude as northern Brazil) in the Pacific. Like Japan, it is currently split 50-50 between the OCU and Britannia, though unlike Japan it's been that way since it was discovered. Functionally it is two nations that get along... most of the time

The Shuffle safehouse in question is an unassuming wanzer-and-small-vehicle garage in Freedom City, which is a large city with a Vegas-like tourist central core set slightly apart from the industrial neighborhoods, of which it has plenty. It's the garage that Qivi, as a gladiator, did a lot of her wanzer prepwork in. While the mechanic team she worked with is long gone, she still has the garage, and it's as good a place as any for Shuffle Alliance members to lay low. Plus, it has the equipment - lifts and such - to handle small robots, like wanzers or Arm Slaves.

Qivi is currently inside it. She has music going (sounds like 0070s rock, a little harder than the colony pop that got publicized after the Zentredi war and is getting a resurgence these days) and is at least nominally working on her motorcycle; she's just getting the windshield back on. She knows someone is coming but thought she'd do at least a bit of work before they got here.

<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.

        Maybe at some point Seolla Schweizer will better manage her cycle of working a little too hard and then resting for way too long. Ever since she's been shuttled around and traveling aboard the TDD-1, she's been gradually, slowly adjusting to a carefully balanced medication to mitigate aftereffects and dependency on combat drugs, a withdrawal process that's...perilously close to putting her in a coma at least.

        But she's too stubborn for that, and the moment the TDD-1 docks at Huffman Island for supplies, she's hungry to see daylight again, and requests something to do besides waiting around all day. And thus, she's brought here! Meandering in with a scruffy old tank top with Lynn Minmay's face on it, shades, and torn up jean shorts, Seolla certainly looks the part of someone ready to hang out in a tropical garage all day.

        "Heeeeeey. Ooooooooy-!" Seolla's arms wave up and over to herald attention. "I'm lookiiiiiiiing for a...Qivi? Did I say it right? They shoulda called ahead and told ya that you were getting an extra hand or two, right? I should be in the right place...I...kinda remember this island, but I feel like it's changed too, so..."

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

Qivi is easy to find, both because she's the only one working in here and because she is dressed pretty much the same way as Seolla: a tank top (though hers is a local sports team: FREEDOM CITY EAGLES, it is unclear what sport that is) and jean shorts. She has a band around her forehead to try to keep her hair out of her eyes (with mixed success) but it doesn't cover her ears anymore, which just poke out a little bit from the hair. No shades, though.

"That's me," Qivi says, straightening up once she's gotten the windshield attached and looking Seolla over. Hmm, she thinks. She heard she was recovering, but physically, she looks decent enough. Maybe a little tired, but who isn't?

Well, Qivi isn't. But in general.

"Hey, I remember you," Qivi blurts out, after looking at Seolla a little long. "You were at the gunnery competition, in Tsutsujidai, right? Nice to see you again!" She steps away from the motorcycle, offering an only slightly oily hand to Seolla in greeting. "Guess you're just settling in, huh?"

<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.

        It takes a bit for Seolla to remember exactly - Qivi's a familiar face from that event, but not one she said that much to at the time - and she got...rather spirit-drained at the end there, especially with everything going on.

        "Oh! How about that, I guess...a lot of important people wound up in that place for one reason or another. Y-yeah, it's good to see you too-!" She's a liiiittle reticent about accepting these hands, even still, her own arm raising slightly, before she takes a stern little breath in and takes it for just a bit - wiping the oil that transfers onto her top.

        "...nnh, they keep telling me to take it really easy, but I wind up so bored sitting around, especially in a submarine all day. ...After being in Tsutsujidai for like two months, and kinda scurrying around all over the place until now, I guess that I..." Seolla gazes upwards through a skylight - baleful clouds over a vivid blue sky overhead. "I guess I needed to see something wide open again. ...Oh, you work on motorcycles here, huh? I've always liked them, especially when flying ain't an option. ...Actually, I've repaired these a few times out in the field, so maybe I'll know more about how to help you out than I thought...!"

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

Qivi realizes that Seolla does not actually want to shake at one point, and her expression falls slightly - she can't help it. She looks at her hand, realizing that it's got oil on it, and wipes it on the side of her shorts in an attempt to get it clean-ish, looking slightly sheepish.

It sort of works.

"Yeah, I get that," Qivi agrees. "I mean, don't push it too much, but I hate sitting around to. I always wanna do something, you know? Even if it's just working with my hands. That's a lot of what I do here, anyway. I'm not the best mechanic in the world but it gives me something to do and it feels good to make your own stuff. If you wanna, you're welcome to. That's what this place is for. Just, uh, don't bring a mobile suit, it doesn't really fit and it'd get attention. Wanzers or arm slaves are okay, though."

Seolla mentions her motorcycle. Qivi gives it a bit of a possessive pat. "Well, I work on *this* one. It's mine. Spent a lot of time gettin' it just right... It's a shame I didn't have it in Tsutsujidai, but I guess I wouldn't've been able to ride it a lot of the time, so it doesn't really matter. You like 'em?"

Qivi considers for a moment, then asks, "Do you want to ride before you go? I don't have a sidecar so it's a bit cramped but it can handle two." It's a decent-sized motorcycle; weight isn't the issue, it's just that one would have to sit behind the other. "But right now I've just finished with it. Had to deal with the engine, a bit."

<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.

        With a slightly awkward laugh, rubbing the back of her head, Seolla steps in a little closer to the bike, tipping over to peek at its engine and exhaust - briefly wiping off a little spot of oil with one fingertip. "Aahhh, so it's more of that sort of workshop, a hobbyist sorta place. ...I've never really...done anything like this just for the sake of doing it, it's always been kinda because...that's what has to be done. So I kinda...don't have a good idea on what I'd..."

        Seolla has to shake her head this way and that a little bit, pushing away the past that keeps creeping up on her, both hands resting on her cheeks. "...Oh! Taking a ride sounds really fun. ...I kinda feel like I shouldn't...be somewhere just for fun maybe, right? E-errr..."

        The fidgeting returns - it's weird to adapt to the idea of being somewhere without needing to be somewhere. Eyes squeezing closed, Seolla puffs mildly, at herself really - and takes a louder step forward. "...Where do you keep the helmets around here, I'll get it on and ready-!"

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

"It gets some serious work done - I used to be an arena battler, you know? And this is where we worked on Sarangay. These days, though, it's a bit more..."

Qivi considers how to put it. "It's open to the Shuffles," she says, "because it's a good place to use as a home base on the island. I've got a couple rooms upstairs that people can sleep in, I stay there sometimes. But I'm not using it as a primary home - nobody is. Good for hiding out, though, or for getting things done. You're welcome to use it too."

She hesitates. Seolla can tell - because Qivi lets every expression and emotion cross her face - that she is considering saying something else even before she says it. Eventually, she does: "I dunno what you've gone through," she says, a little less loudly and excitedly. "But I know sometimes you need to get away and recover. I've had to do it, though probably not the same way as you... if you need to, or want to, stay here for a bit, you can. Though you might want to bring an overnight bag or something, I don't know. You need anything while you're here, you can ask me."

Seolla asks about helmets. Qivi grins. "I don't always bother," she says, turning aside so she can go to the far side of the bike. "But if you want one, I got one here." Qivi hefts up a helmet - two actually, but one is definitely hers, as it matches the bike in colour, while the other doesn't.

<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.

        The sheer amount of hospitality Seolla's been receiving is almost dizzying to her - each time, it makes her squirm in place, expecting a catch, or some sort of prerequisite, but no - it's just presented to her, as something safe and present when needed. "...Honestly, I might take you up on that. This Huffman Island place seems kinda easy to hide out in when needed. It's out of the way, but dense enough that there's plenty going on to make use of. Not screwed if people do come looking for me and land here, or something."

        Seolla takes the non-matching helmet, and takes a seat on the back of the bike, arms stretching upwards. "I gotta report back to the Captain, so I'm hardly liable to stay overnight, but I'll remember that offer for if I get here. ...hmm. Usually when ride a bike, I go for a helmet, but I rarely do when piloting, even though it's arguably a little more dangerous there. Wonder why that is, ahahaha..."

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

Qivi has always been generous, and while she doesn't know *exactly* what Seolla has gone through (and if she did, she would be furious, though not at Seolla), she doesn't need to; this is just the way she is, and she does know a little bit through the Shuffles.

"This is one of the bigger cities. If you go out into the countryside there's fewer people. But here there's shops for all sorts of shit, it's got way more than you'd think and from all over." Freedom City has perhaps nine hundred thousand people, and it's a major spot for trade (and smuggling, but never you mind that).

"But ... yeah. This is one of the places I hid out myself." Qivi too ran away from school, just not *The* School. It makes a difference. "Here and Rupidis, which is pretty much the same thing on the other side of the border - Britannian rather than OCU. You can definitely do that and just kinda... blend in. It's got so many people who are all standing out that one more doesn't make much of a difference."

Qivi hops on the bike. "You'll have to get on behind me, I don't have a sidecar," she admits. "Grab on if you need to. But c'mon. I'll give you a tour. Want to see the river park? The big downtown's on the river, because it looks good, but if you go further down from there, they don't build it up at all. Lots of green."

Pause. "We can get something to eat if you want," because Qivi remembers what it is to be a teenager. Also, she could use it herself.

<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.

        Legs clenched to the back of the bike, Seolla grasps Qivi's waist tightly and securely - she's ridden behind others for longer than she can remember, so this is hardly something unfamiliar to her. "Hah...in its own way this place is a bit of a mess, but that's kinda to its benefit in a weird way. I bet plenty of people take advantage of how two places split this island...running from Britannian cops by day and OCU cops by night, or something like that."

        "You know this place pretty well though, sounds like! This where you grew up, or...?" Seolla's talking rather loudly over the rumble of the engine - she has to do so consistently as the ride goes on, and her voice does eventually start running a little ragged...

        ...but out here, feeling the wind freely in her hair, clear of the worry of being pursued, of having anything that needs doing, any weight pushing her down, keeping her wings contained-

        ...it's something she's never truly felt before today.