[h2][center][b][color=magenta]Alese Piety[/color][/b][/center][/h2]

Alese resigned herself to putting up her tools for the day. Granted, there was more that could be done, but she pretty much knew the pattern her father liked to work. They had been going steadily since Sunday and most of the more complex items were completed. There would be some fine tuning after a test fire, then remount and secure the front air dam and engine cover, shoot the wheels back on, then final check. After that, it was pretty much forecasting: The weather would have to be fairly good. A day like present would be a total scrap though the cooler the better, then pull a traffic study from the Net to finalize the route and fuel load, which might be interesting if there had been any damage to the elevated sections of the expressways or tunnels. She didn’t know where he’d be going, likely south along the spine of the city where the Corpos controlled most of the fast sections. Earthquake or not, late deliveries meant lost profit and a stopped shipment was about as rare as an earthquake, probably more rare. She glanced back over her shoulder, growing more depressed with all of it. The car hadn’t been cleaned yet and the formed carbon fiber still had a dingy veneer of scorched asphalt and rubber making it look like a spacecraft that had just burned through reentry. Norris would never drive it dirty if he could help it and everything would be polished smooth as a dinner plate before it left the shop. 

Alese rather liked that part. A few times she had read tales and seen pictures of what were farmers and ranchers in the old world preening and combing the hair of their horses for work or show and something about it felt familiar when they took that final step in the process. Of course, her father, ever the calculating engineer, insisted the cleaned surface reduced drag and added speed- and he was probably right. Norris only looked at the car as an amalgamation of parts. A system working in harmony to produce a desired outcome. Math in motion. Privately though, Alese liked to think if there ever was such a thing as machine spirits, that it [i]pleased[/i] the car to feel such love and attention from its keepers. She would [i]never[/i] say it, not to anyone, but she swore she could feel that it wasn’t mad at her for what had happened and [i]wanted[/i] her to drive again just to make it right. They were like a pair of adventurers from those old stories. Her dad might have been its designer and creator and its owner, but she was its [i]partner[/i]. Chosen. 

A sharp wrap on the sectional steel of the rollup door broke her from her trance-like musing and she realized she was still holding a ratchet in one hand. [i]Who in the hell could that be in this weather?[/i] She thought, returning the tool to its drawer. Norris was already glancing up from his work at the impressive array of security feeds above the toolboxes. His glance narrowed a bit, angling his eyes just above the frame of his glasses. “Is that Minnie?” He said with a chuckle before looking back down and busying his hands again. “She sure is dedicated.” 

Alese tilted her head quizzically, glancing at Minnie standing there in the rain on the camera feed before shaking her head and pulling off a pair of spent rubber gloves. Minnie was her customer, though why she would ride all the way down here in the rain was a little perplexing. The bike wouldn’t fall apart after one more day. She shrugged and stopped putting her things away. She didn’t exactly feel like working on a wet bike, but Minnie was good people as far as she could tell and always paid, which made things much more pleasant. The drone followed behind as she pulled the big welding curtain back to obscure the view where Norris continued. There was only one other [url=https://www.deviantart.com/3nchanter/art/Cyberpunk-Lamborghini-989095008 
]car[/url] on the floor and she carefully stepped around it. Overall the shop was noticeably less crowded than usual as Norris was being fairly discerning about what he would accept to ensure the prepwork was not hindered. Next to this, the only other vehicle was Alese’s [url=https://i.ibb.co/rdLjcBL/d3cd2291-e025-4eb6-877d-a50bc7da3627.jpg]bike[/url], sitting on its stand. She still hadn’t rode it and today looked like yet another tally in that column. A heavy freight horn sounded down the street as she threw the door up along with the sudden sound of dense traffic down Metro.

”[color=1a7b30]Willkommen![/color]” announced the drone cheerfully to Mingfan. Alese rolled her eyes at the drone’s impertinence, but kept a warm smile to greet her friend. “[color=magenta]Don’t ask.[/color]” She said flatly and then winced a bit at the greasy spray blowing in from the street. Her hair already felt gross and heavy having its vibrant arrays tied back in a simple ponytail most of the day inside the din of the shop and wearing baggy pants and a long sleeve t-shirt, she was certainly not the fashion image Chandi would approve of however, she gave Mingfan a slightly unwary glance in her decision to sport a mini-skirt on a bike, in the rain and carry a large pack. A bold choice indeed. She shrugged and helped push the bike inside.


“[color=magenta]Did you just feel like riding in the rain for some reason?[/color]” Alese asked with some humor. She slid another stand across across the floor with her foot and the small frame jumped and unfolded itself to accept Minnie’s bike. “[color=magenta]Not exactly the best day for this.[/color]” 

[@Kumbaris]