[Dec. 31, 2075, Afternoon]The drive to pick everyone up for the Howler's shindig was...unsurprisingly slow and long. With it being New Years Eve, it seemed more people were out on the road, on their way to the various festivities and gatherings planned. Usually not so bad, but when the mechanic got a bout of queasiness come up, sitting at a red light did not seem pleasant at all. So, thankful for modern tech, Arc flipped on the van's autopilot and eased her seat back, laying back and shutting her eyes to rest.
All the while, she thought back to the previous few days...first thinking of that unfortunate text she got from Yelena....
>>Srui. Is Yelena. Marco break Yelena heart. Love was lies. Yelena is thrown from apartment. May I return garage home? Yelena go away for day, maybe two. Maybe take Firefly. Srui tell rigger man Yelena chop off many small parts and feed to something horrible if he hurt you.<<
Biting her lip, she pulled up her reply. A pang of guilt crossed her mind as she reread what she wrote, but reassured herself it was the best response to give.
{Sent: 21:17 12-27-2075}<<Srui'ken kal...I can't imagine this is easy to go through. I'm so sorry. You deserve better than that. Of course you may come back to the garage, you know that. You do what you need to do for yourself...just promise me you'll come back, okay? We'll talk then. I have some...I feel like it would do some good. And I will tell Jaime, no worries. ...be safe, Srui. Please.>>Yeah....I think that worked well...I know she's back, hope she's doing a bit better Feeling a little better, she remained eased back, just punching in her pickup routes and letting GridGuide
TM be her friend in this case. Closing her eyes, the short tusked girl let her mind wander back to the day after that text...and her lesson in teaching someone how to ride a bike...
[Dec. 28, 2075, Morning]"Hoi hoi, ease up ease up. Tha shift switch be a shtep, it ain't needa be pumped like a kick drum, omae!"Arc was realizing really quick that things needed to be taken easy when teaching someone to drive...particularly a grown man of some seasoned years. She was glad that she updated the electronics of the dirtbike to modern standards: the instruction on using the autopilot took little more than an hour of getting used to the concept of "sit down, hold on, relax arms." But now, it was the more refined art of piloting the two-wheeled transport...
It seemed to be a bit more to it. Brake level, throttle acceleration, gear shift on one of the pedals, and then the concept of turning...good thing she set up the autopilot to take over before a collision, but she let him take a few tries...it let her work out the nausea she was kicking off from a breakfast burrito that disagreed with her.
"Aight....here, hop on behind me, I'll show you the motionsh for a bit.." Stretching her shoulders, the mechanic zipped up her jacket against the cold and slid onto the bike, letting the PI sit behind her, his height providing easy view of what she was doing to operate the bike.
"we take it slow...just shift when it getsh to loud, yeah?" Pulling on the throttle, the bike thrummed to life as they pulled forward, the parking lot a good playground to practice.
During this time, she opted to send a message to her garage partner in crime, Tuskaloosa, to see what she was up to.
<<@Tuskaloosa: Hoi omae. Giving Jed a biking lesson, 2 blocks west of the mall on 78th. Been an interesting rough coupla days, wanna blow off some steam. Your babe's ride ready, wanna join us?>>She kept her drive slow, working through a couple of turns, braking, and accelerating through a few gear shifts...giving the idea of shifting up gears before the engine got too fast or loud. A little while later, she pulled up to a complete stop, leg kicking out to steady the bike as she turned her hair back.
"Queshtionsh?"