Tinkering [Bolt]

"There. This time don't be an idiot and think putting this into overdrive is a good idea at all."

"Sorry Mr. Rantao. What do I owe you for this?"

"I'll bill the Academy later. Fortunately for you I had to actually think on this so it won't cost a whole lot. I need to get back to the shop so take care."

Yeagar handed back a clipboard to the secretary after signing it and walked out of the office. Well it brought in some money and kept him busy for a while. Hadn't had any decent work outside of keeping things running for events. Hell he even gave the Academy generators and other machinery on campus grounds over the past few days an early maintenance cycle.

He stepped out into the hallway and looked around. Despite how many times a year he came up to the Academy, he still got lost. And he hadn't had a cigarette for a few hours since they wouldn't let him smoke inside. Understandable, but still annoying. He sighed and started to walk when he felt something hit him in the back.

Turning around he looks and expects to see some student and sees nothing. Scratching his head he looks down and notices a girl. Short in stature, white hair, and clutching what he believed to be a laptop. Most people had cases for those type of things and this one was out in the open.

" 'Watch where you're going alright?' Well that's what I would say if you didn't have the look on your face that something happened. Timmy stuck in a well?"

His voice didn't sound anything like he was joking or being sarcastic, but he was. As much as he wanted to just walk away he didn't like seeing children upset. And yes to him teenagers are still children. His left hand goes into his pocket as his right pinky starts clearing out his ear.

"So something wrong with your laptop? Given it's out of a case and the way you're carrying it something happened and you don't see a reason to carry it around safely since it's already busted. Though you should still carry it as such till you find someone to fix it. Going to go out on a limb and guess money problems? If that's the case you're lucky I'm in a good mood today. Mind if I take a look?"

His voice changed from sarcastic to something akin to kind-sarcasm. He just felt like fixing something else before heading home. He had nothing else but a cold beer, Rob, and a night of TV waiting back at the shop. He also had a soft spot for children, especially ones who looked as bad as this one did. He set his hand on top of the girl's head and rustled her hair about.

"Before you ask, Yeagar. Got a name Little One?"

@"Trahnael"
(yay asshole yeagar and adelene xD)

Did he over do it? Yeah he over did it. Well whatever, it didn't matter to him really. Yeagar was never one to keep his mouth shut and spoke whatever came to mind. Might be a good idea not to do that so much while at the Academy. Least she wasn't a stranger to using the same tone he was.

When the girl glared at him, Yeagar just wanted to yawn. Bigger, much more menacing, and armed people have given him that look before. He wasn't bothered when they did it and wasn't even slightly effected by the girl doing it. Though she had every right to be pissed off with him, and he was okay with that.

"Relax alright? Sorry if that bothered you so much. Look sometimes you need to vent when having a bad day. Or punch something. Or in my case blow something up then repair the broken wall the next day."

Yeagar reached for his pack of cigarettes and only after hesitating slightly did he stop. Even though Adelene said she was 20, Yeagar still had a thing about smoking next to people he saw a children. It wasn't just because of her height or age, it was just how he treated people twenty years younger than he was. When she started to walk away Yeagar simply tapped her on the shoulder

"If it makes you feel better Miss Adelene how about this. I'll take a look at your laptop and fix it free of charge. Won't find a better person on the entire Island who can repair it better than I can. And that's the guarantee the Rusty Gear gives. Or I replace it with all the data recovered and a life time warranty. So, know of a place I can fix it here or do we need to head to my shop?"

He didn't exactly know his way around the academy grounds nor did he have any of his tools with him. Most likely he'd have to send for Rob to bring him some of his small stuff if Adelene decided to have him fix it here.

@"Trahnael"

"Let's go then. One second."

Yeagar reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. It looked rather old, not like today's fancy touch screens or anything. He preferred them like that as they lasted far longer. Yeagar wasn't exactly someone who had many friends or needed games to keep him occupied.

"Hey Rob. Mind setting out the computer tools. Uh huh. Laptop. Yeah. Uh huh. No. Really? I'll deal with that later. See you in a few."

Hanging up his phone finds its way back to his pocket as he started walking off. He gave a motion with hand that basically said "Come on." He had nothing more to say really. He had to stop for a moment. Even if she was 20, there was a chance she still lived with her parents on the Island. And he wasn't about to get called out for kidnapping.

"You have anyone you need to contact first? Let them know where you're going and all that jazz? Might want to do that if you need to."

After a few minutes they reached the parking lot. There was a black car that looked rather beat up the closer one got. The outside looked like crap, but when one looked inside it was nearly spotless save for a few tools here and there. A beep plays as Yeagar opens the passenger side door and moves all the tools to the back seat to make room for Adelene. Leaving the door open he walked to the other side and climbed into the driver's seat and started the car. Once Adelene got inside they took off.

It was about twenty minutes of silence, Yeagar having only turned the radio on just so Adelene had something to listen to, he normally kept it silent. True to its name the Rusty Gear had a "rust" look to it, like there was no upkeep to the building at all. Looking closely someone could tell it was cleverly designed and made to look like such. Pulling around back Yeagar gets out and walks to the back door. A robotic voice greeted them.

"Welcome home. Things go alright?"

"Easy fix. Tools set out?"

"Yes. I also set out some snacks and went out and bought a case of Cola."

"Thanks. Oh. Rob this is Adelene. Adelene, Rob."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Rob simply waved at Adelene before returning leaving the room, a door opening and closing heard. Yeagar made another "follow me" motion as he led Adelene to the front garage. Inside the room had a workbench with various tools and parts scattered about on top of it. A big section was cleaned off with a few lights pointed towards it. There was a car up on a lift raised into the air, a few engines and a rather large hole in the ground in the middle of the room.

Near the workbench there was a 32in flat screen TV hanging on the wall with a recliner facing it, a ways back without being in the way of anythings. A small table was sitting near the workbench that had donuts, a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos that was unopened, and a mini-fridge containing Pepsi and a few unopened beer cans pushed to the back.

Walking over to the workbench Yeagar hit a few switches as the wooden workbench moves into the wall and a metallic looking one appears out of the floor. It looked far cleaner and the tool were neatly hanging on the wall. A monitor and desktop tower sat on the work bench, a black external hard drive hooked up to it.

"Make yourself at home. Might take a while so you know. Laptops aren't exactly easy and just by messing with them can ruin it. Don't worry though. All your data will be backed up onto an external hard drive before I begin anything. If it breaks I'll replace it completely."

Boredom filled his voice, almost monotonic making it sound like he's said this same line time and time again. Which he has. A lot. Sitting down in the stool he pats the bench showing Adelene where to place the laptop.

@"Trahnael"

A smile crossed his face for a brief moment. A very, very brief moment when he saw how amazed and the look Adelene had at the sight of his shop. So she was a tomboy of sorts it seemed. The smile disappeared rather quickly though. Not from being irritated or unhappy, just how he was.

"Yeagar will do. Mister makes me feel old and I'm not married. Unless you could my work then yes, I'm married to my work."

When she set the laptop down on his workbench he plugged it into one of the machines on his workbench. A few clicks here, a few keystrokes there, and the monitor brightened up. He started up the scanner to see if whether it was a hardware or virus related problem. Rather easy for the moment. Glancing over he noticed she seemed to be ogling his workbench and the shop itself.

A small 'Heh' under his breath as he stood up and walked back the way they came. He opened one of the closet doors and dragged out a stool. It had a backrest and was made of leather. It looked brand new or really well taken care of. He set it next to the workbench and took his own seat. He hoped she got the idea.

"Rob? I built him from the ground up. Best years of my life were building him. With everything I can do and have built over the years, he's still the best thing I've ever done with my life. Here's a fun fact no one would ever guess. I built him from scrap parts. His original body was build from spare and scrap parts I found laying around when I was growing up. As his body started to get finished is when I managed to program his AI with some help when I moved to the Island. What you see is more of like a car body kit. All the parts underneath are the original with a few modifications, but it's all original. He enjoys the look and I think it looks good too."

Glancing over at the monitor he moves over and starts clicking around to see what's been dug up. All her files were in the process of being backed up while the scan was going. So far everything was looking alright. He began to think hardware was the main issue at this point.

"It'll be a couple more minutes while this finishes scanning and backing up your files. Feel free to ask me anything that comes to mind. We have time to kill and I like getting to know my "client." Though if you're in here with laptop repairs all the time I may think you just want to see me."

He made air quotes around client, but his voice had changed to a sarcastic, humorous tone as he said it. He hoped she wouldn't break her laptop all the time just for an excuse. Didn't seem like the type of person though. Like she had little things to call her own it seemed.

"Only thing I want to know, and sorry if this sounds rude or anything, is you're not like a normal girl are you? I could tell you would rather touch my wrench over say shopping for the latest fashion."

As crude as the joke was Yeagar pointed to a yellow wrench with a black grip on his wall. He didn't want to go too far with his jokes considering it was a young girl and didn't want to give off the wrong impression. Then again most people would just look at it and shrug considering that's how he was with everyone. Almost everyone.

"Still, I do apologize for earlier. I only said little because of both our height difference and the fact I'm in my mid-forties. So you're little regardless. Didn't mean it as any sort of offense."

@"Trahnael"

"What better a wife then one that doesn't complain, is always there for you, and enjoys when you do things right or wrong?"

With the files uploaded he had to laugh a bit. Well, more like a small scoff combined with a chuckle. So she could bullshit huh? Well that was good. One less annoyance that could turn out to be amusing. Turning the laptop over Yeagar reaches for a small yellow box. Inside were small screwdrivers. He went through a few till he found one that fit the screws on the laptop and began to undo it. He had moved a light from his desk over it to help keep things within view as he opened the bottom part of the laptop. Hitting a button a small contained popped up where Yeagar put the screws and a few more small parts he had already removed from the motherboard.

"Well I hope he enjoys you bugging him. Bug me too much I might kick you out. Literally. Joking aside you want to know the history of this place? Uhh...Well shit. Hey Rob!"

A few steps of metallic clanking was heard as Rob peaked his head around the corner of the office. He stared right a Yeagar for a moment before answering.

"Yes?"

"We opened this place what, twenty something years ago?"

"I believe so. You were in your early twenties I think."

"Alright. Hey any update on those parts?"

"Two more days."

"Thank you."

Rob nodded before he went back into the office. Yeagar reached around and grabbed a pair of glasses with a light attached, a few extra lenses that magnified. He looked around the the small bits of the laptop while poking a few places with the tools he now had in his hand. Was just a pair of tweezers and a small silver pole a little bigger then a toothpick.

"Well there you have it. Sucks about your memories, but I think they might come back some day. Everything always does. Speaking of which you don't use electricity for your powers do you? It came screw with a lot of my machines."

Yeagar hadn't moved his view from the laptop. He think he may have found the problem and wanted to keep it in his view. Unfortunately if it was he believed it to be, well, he had a spare laptop in the back she could borrow for a while.

"Yeah I'm old. Know one benefit? I don't get carded for anything....Shit now I think I know where I've seen you before."

Sitting up Yeagar pushes the glasses up over his forehead and looks directly at Adelene. It was bothering him because she looked rather familiar and it was just annoying he couldn't tell where. He thought of his weapons and was going to ask her if she liked them when he thought of that shop.

"You're that girl that works for Kranz aren't you?"

@"Trahnael"