Another Day at the Shop (Yeagar/Eli)

@"Shadowborn"

The sound of a turning wrench was all that echoed throughout the store. It was still early in the morning and the shop wasn't open. The sound of a keyboard being rapidly typed upon could be heard from a room in the back. True to its name, the Rusty Gear looked like it really was rusted looking, worn down. It really looked abandoned but to those who came by knew it was just a look and everything done within its walls was high grade quality.

Off to the left sat a vehicle with a pair of legs sticking out from underneath it. The car was raised high enough to allow Yeagar to work freely without much issue. He had been working on getting the engine to the car working and was nearly finished. All he need was to finish making sure everything was secure and a jump start.

"Hey Rob. How much charge does the jumper have left?"

"Very little sir. Remember you had to restart the generator after it blew the other night."

"Next protect: Upgrade that damn generator."

"Shall I start ordering parts?"

"Check what we have on inventory and then go for it. Nothing old, we're making a brand new generator."

"How are you going to jump the car's battery?"

"Fuck if I know."

That was the question of the day. He never knew when She would come around and in general he did not like asking her for anything in return. Well Her check up was soon anyway so he could talk to Her then. For now Yeagar was content with just making sure the engine was put back together correctly after it fell to the ground and nearly shattered when the shop's generator blew and caused all the mechanical devices in the garage to malfunction, causing the crane to drop the engine. A rather large hole in the ground was there . Well it was a fun project to fix anyway.

The bell attached to the door rang but Yeagar didn't care. If it was a customer Rob would take care of it. What he wasn't expecting was a tiny buzzing sound. Thinking it came from the engine Yeagar stops turning the wrench and looks at it more till he hears the buzzing nearing his head. Glancing over he sees a rc airplane and lets out a sigh.

"Excuse me then. Guess I should have been more gentle. Didn't think I left it that shiny though."

Pulling himself out from underneath the vehicle Yeagar grabs a cloth and cleans his hand. There she was, Eli. Yeagar always made time for her for some reason even if he had more important stuff on hand. At the mention of toys Yeagar flicks his cigarette to the floor and stomps it out. Some things never change and he didn't mind.

"Nothing out at the moment. Generator blew last night so I moved them all downstairs. So what brings you by today? Outside of flying your plane in the my garage."

Yeagar walked over to a nearby fridge and grabbed a bottle of water from inside, motioning towards the fridge for Eli. Nothing new between the two. He knew she didn't need it, but there were times she would take it just because.

"Rob you send out for those parts?"

"Four days."

"I'll see what I can rig then. Any who how's things going for you lately Eli?"

"You know not that you said that you're going to run into someone who has x-ray vision and is going to see your sparkling ass."

Lighting up another cigarette it made Yeagar take comfort in knowing that his smoking didn't effect either of his two friends since neither had lungs and would suffer from the second hand smoke. Anyone else could kiss his ass in that regard. Walking over to his bench Yeagar presses a button and begins going through some files, pulling up Eli's and taking a look over it. Well outside of messing with her programming Yeagar only had one thing to say.

"Well you could just stand for a while. Or I could get an ice pack then your ass would go from hot to cold."

Closing the files He walks back over with the cigarette between his lips, turning to the side to blow out smoke before turning back to Eli. Well not much he could say to the customer thing. There were days he would go without a single customer, but during that time he also could still make money with custom jobs from the Academy.

"Flyers could work. Since you're an electronic store too I would get some of the latest electronics and put them up to display. It would draw in the younger crowd. Honestly if you had shit that fit some of my tools I'd be in there myself. Then again would send Rob so I don't drag grease or any other shit in. I am a gentleman after all."

He knew that last part was complete bullshit, but it was his way of joking. His form of being a gentleman was not exactly what one would call normal. He didn't care, long as he could build in peace. Patting himself down Yeagar pulls something from his tool belt, tossing it to Eli. It was just a small sphere he made that morning. A mix between a flashbang and emp, nothing more. Though he wouldn't set it off in anywhere near the shop. Didn't want to harm Rob.

"This is all I have on me. Nothing big, just more stuff for the authorities to help deal with people who get a little too power crazy. Just don't set it off. Don't exactly want to test whether or not you're immune to that shit. Or for my shop to take another dive. Have to fix the damn generator again. Speaking of which, would you mind giving it a jump start? Running off those batteries you set up for me and have to say while they can't power the entire shop, they work one hell of a charm to keep the major shit going so I can run a business."

"Yeagar if I may?

"Hmm?"

"Eli if you have a sample of your logo I could design some flyers and let you pick out some that suit your tastes."

"Good thinking. Unless you want to design them yourself Eli. I'll mass print them for you either way."

Yeagar simply shook his head. He forgot jokes went over Eli's head sometimes, but he was used to it. Was part of her charm and he had to admit he enjoyed it. He let out a small laugh at both of his jokes going right over her head. He knew what ice did and how it would also effect her. Yeagar simply mentioned it just to deal with the soreness was all.

At the mention of an early maintenance Yeagar walks over to his work bench's computer and pulls Eli's file up again. Pressing a few buttons the ever-so-familiar table appears as the floor parts itself a bit. He built it specifically for Eli, made sure it didn't have anything nasty and such on it like his normal table looked. Was as shiny as, well.

"Damn forgot I recently cleaned that. Well it's shiny. Maybe more so then your ass."

Another small laugh. Yeah, Yeagar being a gentleman was a rare sight indeed. Seeing her grab the small emp and begin to...Well do her thing. He didn't exactly fully understand still how she did it and just went with "Because she can." to explain it all. He wasn't trying to discover all her secrets either and could care less. He knew enough to keep her from falling apart, for a lack of better words.

"Like I said would rather not risk that thing going off. Even if it can be replaced, it still wouldn't be the You I'm talking to now, but the You I talked to since you did your last back up."

Seeing the lightning arc Yeagar let out a small annoyed sigh before nodding at Rob to give him the go ahead with the flyers. Least the damn printer didn't need the main generator to do its job. Speaking of which Yeagar, dropping his cigarette, walked over to a large brown metal door next to his office, grabbing the handle bar on it and slides the door open. Inside sat what once used to be his main generator. Now it looked like the room exploded with scrap metal laying around on the floor. In the middle sat what was jury rigged by Yeagar to run the shop, though it was easy to tell not at anywhere close to its fullest.

"And this is firsthand what happens when I forget one maintenance cycle. But seriously though. Please be careful. I just need a small jump start to keep it running for at the least a week. Don't need it exploding again. Don't know about you, but metal shards hurt."

As Eli got onto the table Yeagar moved the monitor closer so he could keep track of everything easier. A few clicks here, a few annoyed noises there. Yeagar really hated modern technology sometimes. He still didn't understand half the shit he did for Eli and made it his goal to learn everything he could.

"Let's see....Well messing with the regeneration program would just be a waste. A sore ass from sitting too long goes away on its own if you just sit on something softer or keep off your ass for a while. Let's see here though...."

Hearing the robotic tone actually got an eyebrow raised from Yeagar. Well that never was a good sign. Making a motion for Eli to lay down on the table Yeagar starts up a basic scan of her systems.

"Well nothing major on the basic system scan. Go ahead and sleep or whatever it is you call sleep and I'll see where this junk data came from. If you want I can do a full system scan too, but that will take about an hour at least. Can't run it on full power without blowing the generator again, so slow and steady will have to do. If I'm going to fix that shit might as well see if there is any other problems that might be hidden. Sound good to you?"

Back in the office the sound of a printer could be heard going off. Rob had started on the flyers it seemed and that was fine. Rob had something to do, Yeagar had something to do, and he had a few surprises for Eli as well.

"Oh yeah after doing a few tests I managed to get a program you can use while you're shut down for maintenance. Nothing too big and it doesn't take up any space on you either. It's basically a VR where you can, well, do what you would at home. It's connected to the internet so you can watch movies, tv shows, or whatever you fancy is. Catch is this'll be the first live test of it. And your thoughts will be projected to my computer so you could basically talk with me and see what I'm doing. I hope it works, costed me a shitload to get designed and made. Again its your choice if you want to give it a try. I've already tried it with Rob and it worked good for him, but he's a simpler android then you are so it might be different."