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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:54 pm
Barnaby Price wasn't a rule breaker, for the most part anyways. He cleaned his room, did his dishes, tried to remember to put away his Xbox so it didn't get tripped over, and went to school whenever he could manage it. But there were some rules that were just meant to be broken, and not using his bike to deliver pizza was one of them. He could stand insults to his intelligence, his school, and his honour, but he wasn't about to stand insults against his bike.
Thus, it was no surprise when he rounded the corner and headed around the back of the garage on his Suzuki Bandit. The bike wasn't in the greatest condition – courtesy of yours truly – but it served him well and he hadn't crashed it. Yet. Barnaby killed the engine as he got close enough to the garage, pulling off his helmet and tucking it under his arm.
"Oy! Did someone order a large pepperoni, extra cheese?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:14 pm
Not wanting to lift her eyes from her current project, she shouted as loudly as she could into the garage "Yeah, can ya bring it back t'the garage?!" Her voice was strong, echoing off the walls and out the open garage. When the pizza-guy rounded the corner to deliver, he'd find a mess of parts, a partially constructed car, and feet peeking out from under the partial vehicle. If he looked carefully enough, he'd note a motorcycle tucked towards the back of the cluttered garage in a bright yellow color.
The girl could hear the sound of feet as they approached the entrance to the garage, so she called out casually "If ya wait for a moment, I just need t'tighten this bolt, then I'll get'cha yer money!"
It wasn't exactly like the pizza was for her specifically. Mom called and asked Ellie to take care of dinner. And that meant that Ellie needed to order dinner, because lord only knew that Ellie cooked about as well as her mother.
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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:29 pm
The redhead tipped his head when he heard the call, but figured it was safe enough. Not too many girls ordered pizzas with the intent of luring them into the dark recesses of a garage. With a flick of his foot he kicked the kickstand down and carefully made sure the bike was standing on its own. Pizza was easy to replace but the Scarlet Bandit? Not so much. He hummed a tune to himself as he set his helmet down on the seat and exchanged it for the pepperoni pizza. A quick peak ensured it had survived the ride, and with it balanced on one hand his made his way around the corner and into the garage.
Barnaby gave a low whistle at the sight of the partially constructed car, taking in the mess before his eyes finally fell on the owner of the voice. "Quite a collection of bits you got there." Waiting had never been his forte, but his impatience could always be cancelled out when something caught and held his interest. The prospect of having a look at the inside of a car was definitely worth waiting for his money.
"You putting this together or taking it apart?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:48 pm
As she turned the wrench in her hand, she rather easily answered "T'gether! Kinda hard t'drive around in a car ya took apart, ya know?" She chuckled from where she was at, still tightening the bolt in. After her hearty laughter quieted down a bit, the wrench ceased to move.
"There we go!" she announced before she rolled herself out from under the vehicle. First her legs were visible, which were covered in oil stains, then her exposed stomach which had a couple dots of oil decorating her skin. Finally, her upper body was out, revealing Ellie Spectre, Junior at Meadowview High School. She had oil dotting her arms, and even some smudges on her face. Her hair was tied back slightly, but it was still hanging long at certain points.
While moving her wrench from one hand to the other, she apologized casually with a "Sorry 'bout the wait, guy!" She grinned a bit before heading to a tool bench that had been relatively out of sight until now. She set down the silvery wrench in its proper place, then picked up a rag. She glanced back to the delivery guy, squinting her eyes slightly, as if trying to place where she had seen him before.
"Ya go t'Meadowview?" she asked out of nearly nowhere before stepping up to him. For a girl, she was pretty tall at 5'10," and as she drew closer, she seemed to be analyzing the boy for some sort of hint as to how she knew him.
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Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:42 am
"Didn't think you were driving it like this," the redhead shot back, grinning as he moved to get a better look. It certainly looked like an endeavour. He doubted he would have had the patience to finish the job, especially if things went wrong. There was a reason he only took care of his bike and didn't take the thing apart. The Scarlet Bandit would be left in a corner of his garage for all eternity, bits of her insides scattered across the floor. It wasn't a very promising prospect.
But this girl seemed to know what she was doing, and in that way it was intruiging. He shifted the pizza to his other hand so he could watch. The show, however, was cut short when the girl rolled herself out from underneath the car. Barnaby blinked, almost feeling as though he'd seen her before. He could have sworn he recognized that face, though maybe it was just the hair. The redhead had never been the best at recognizing girl's faces. Judging by the expression on the girl's face, she had seen him too. Weird.
At the mention of school he grinned wider and snapped his fingers. "That's it! Yeah I do, actually. Barnaby Price." He inclined his head. "You're not in my year though, are you?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 3:34 pm
Without looking towards her hands, she began to casually rub away at the oil spots, as if she had a lot of practice getting grease off her fingers. Her eyes had been distracted by this guy's face, but just along the lines of "Who are you?"
"Barnaby Price, eh?" she repeated curiously. The name really wasn't all that familiar, but if he went to Meadowview, then she probably had seen him at least 1 time during her 2+ years there.
"Yer probably right. I'm a junior this year." Despite being in what was considered the "worst year" of high school, the blonde did not seem to be frazzled in the slightest. In fact, she seemed rather relaxed in comparison to most of the others in her age bracket. For a moment, she glanced down to her fingers to see if most of the grease was gone. With a rather emotionless approval at her clean-up, she then thrust her hand forward for a handshake.
"Name's Ellie. Ellie Spectre. 'S nice t'meetcha, Price." Her handshake was firm, rivaling that of a guy's. That was the only sort of acceptable handshake in her mind, was a strong one. A weak handshake meant you were weak in character. Too bad girls didn't understand that sentiment.
She eventually released his hand, and without a thought in her mind, she signaled for him to follow her through the garage. "Money's inside. Don't mind th'mess, we're just too damned lazy t'clean up th'place." She easily made her way past any sort of mess on the ground, stepping past loose parts, drips of oil, and even a couple stray bolts. Even stepping through, you managed to get a sweet view of her bike, the Spectrum. The blonde had ample amounts of practice making her way through the garage, even if this wasn't the way she usually went into the house. As she opened the door, she called back "Come on, get yer a** in 'ere!"
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Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:07 pm
His eyes darted to the hand, but he reached out to shake it anyways. It seemed to be a rising trend, girls using a handshake as their greeting. His mother had said it was one of those equality things, and Barnaby had taken her word for it. After all, she did know a lot more about these girl things than he did. "Ellie Spectre then. Firm grip you got there." He flashed her a grin when she released his hand, pretending to shake the feeling back into his fingers. Nice, firm handshake. It was a pity she wasn't a boy.
Barnaby tipped his head at her signal, not bothering to glance at his watch as he followed her. This was his last delivery anyways, and as long as kept him entertained while he was hanging around he could stand the wait. His boss wouldn't be too upset if he was a little late returning. The man was always spouting things like "Customer satisfaction comes first!" He would understand.
"Messes don't bother me much. Long as there's floor to be stepped on." And that was only because he didn't want to drop the pizza. No pizza, no money after all. As the redhead made his way as daintily as possible through the mess, his eyes darted between piles of parts and rags, before they caught sight of a yellow bike. That was enough to stop him in his tracks, aligning himself to get a better look at the Spectrum. It wasn’t until Ellie called after him that he realized he'd stopped moving to get a better look at the motorcycle.
"What? Oh, right, coming!" He picked up his pace and took the last few steps at a jog. "Nice wheels." Barnaby gestured with his head back towards the bike.
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Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:31 pm
"Yeah, there's floor..." she mumbled out as she stood near the door, watching the boy make his way through the garage. She wasn't blind, and seemed to take interest in Price's interest in her baby. Ellie crossed her arms and leaned into the door frame a bit as she watched him inspect the motorcycle. A casual observer would not have stopped and faced the bike, where as someone who knew about them would take the time to look at all the hard work.
"So yer into bikes, eh?" she asked once he approached the doorway. She swung herself around so she could leave room for him to follow as she went to the kitchen. True to her word, the inside of the house was cluttered to say the least. Junk on the floor, stacks of magazines on the tables leaving little to no space, and a less than sparkling kitchen were all the common appearance of this household.
As she guided him to where the pizza should go, Ellie talked a bit about her bike. "Yeah, got my baby last year. Dad got it fer me, but it wasn't a full bike. Mostly there, just needed some exterior work done. Fixed it up, touched up the paint, and voila! The Spectrum was born!" Most vehicle enthusiasts normally assigned their prizes with genders. Yet either way she pulled it, the blonde could not make it work. If she called her bike a girl, then her guys would constantly talk about how she was a lesbian with the way she rided the Spectrum. It wasn't much better calling it a guy, since then she'd still be called a slut for mounting that bike. After giving that ridiculously short summary, she sighed slightly before wandering off to get the money. Not exactly the most polite thing, but she was being more than nice enough to this guy. Most people didn't invite their pizza guys in the house.
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Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 5:01 pm
"I suppose you could say that. Mine's parked outside."
It was hard not to double back and take a better look at that bike. Truth be told, Barnaby was kind of competitive when it came to his bike. Having no siblings and being of dismal intelligence, it was only natural he'd want to have something to be proud of, and the Scarlet Bandit was it. It was fast, it was sleek, and why shouldn't he be proud of it? He'd always subconsciously sized it up against other bikes, and Ellie's bike was no exception. It was hard to focus knowing that the sooner he was finished delivering pizza the sooner he could head back the way he'd come and get a second look at the Spectrum.
He set the pizza on the nearest countertop available, listening as Ellie described her bike. From what he'd seen it looked like a nice set of wheels with a good paint job to boot. Yellow wasn't exactly his colour, but red may not have been hers either. But looks weren't everything, and he was itching to know how well the bike performed.
"Oh yeah? Not bad. How's she- 'scuse me, 'it' run?" Better not to refer to someone else's bike by the same gender he assigned his. Ellie might like to think of her bike as genderless.
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Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 5:41 pm
When she returned to the room with the money, she easily brushed off the gender thing with a "Nah, dun worry about it!" Her lips curled into a cheeky grin, flashing her teeth for a moment before adding "Most guys ain't used t' a girl that rides a bike."
Holding out the cash, she thumbed out the bills until she had approximately what she owed (along with tip). She held it out to Price without a word about the payment. Instead, she continued on the conversation that they were obviously both intrigued with. "No sh*t! Lesee what'cher runnin' at!"
Contrary to his thoughts, she began to walk towards a different door, which led out the front door rather than through the garage. She held open the door and casually added "Obviously ya got a license then, which makes sense. If it weren't fer th'time a'day, I'd ask t'race ya." Just because Ellie didn't have a license didn't stop her from riding the Spectrum. She just had to do it at specific times of day. The cover of night usually did the trick.
Once Price was out the door, she'd close up behind him and eagerly walked quickly towards his ride.
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Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 8:09 pm
Phew. Well, at least she understood his position. It was a refreshing concept. His grin stayed easy as he watched her count the money, counting with her silently. Ellie didn't exactly seem like the type to swindle him out of his money, but it had happened before, and his boss had not been impressed. Luckily for the both of them she could count, and Barnaby accepted the money with a, "Thank you miss" and pocketed the bills. He had been expecting to bid her good day, however it seemed that Ellie had other plans. Not that he was complaining, of course. The redhead rarely missed a chance to show off his bike.
It was a shame that he didn't get a second look at the Spectrum, but in light of current events he would take that as a necessary loss. They were, after all, going to see his bike! He listened amiably as she talked about racing, making a noise of affirmation when she mentioned his licence. "Car and bike, yeah. Can't always ride the bike, what with the weather." It was a sad, sad day when Barnaby didn't get to ride his beloved Bandit. But today wasn't one of those days, and he could barely repress his glee when they approached his ride.
"There she is. The Scarlet Bandit. Not the newest model of her kind, but I think she's better than those new ones anyways. She's got more character." He gave the bike an almost affectionate pat.
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Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 8:36 pm
After she was called a "miss," the girl rather notably winced. There were many things you didn't call Ellie. Her birth name, Elenore, was one of those things. Blatant gender labels also didn't work so well with her. That was one of those things that Ellie would beat a guy up over.
As she cracked her knuckles on her right hand with her left hand, she explained that particular issue carefully as they walked to his bike. "Look, Price, don't get me wrong. I realize yer tryin' t'be polite. Learn the lesson good now. Don't call me 'miss'... like... ever!" The last word was said very pointedly, just to get the point across. Sure, she had been called "miss" in the house, and now they were outside. It had just hung over head until she needed to get out the explanation. Price was cool, but she needed to fix this now.
Upon arriving in front of the bike, Ellie began to inspect the bike with as professional an eye as possible. Obviously, it was used a lot. There was some wear on the vehicle, but nothing that couldn't be fixed up if taken care of properly.
"A Suzuki Bandit 650, eh? Not bad. How's the upkeep on 'er? Is she meticulous t'keep up with, or she a dream come true when it comes t'repairs?"
She knelt down and began looking over the treads of the tires. "She's obviously kept busy, I can see that much!" she chimed in cheerily. It was almost like showing off a motorcycle or car to a mechanic, who was interested more in the working condition than the aesthetics. A nice looking car could only go so far if the interior was filled with junk.
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Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 6:11 pm
Barnaby cocked his head when she brought up the 'miss' comment, but he gave her his best apologetic grin. "No harm meant, Ellie. I can promise you I won't call you anything like that at school." The thought was kind of mortifying. "I'm just still on the job, so I gotta be polite and all to my customers, you know?" He pulled the collar of his work-shirt out so it was visible from underneath his jacket. Only a girl would get worked up about someone being polite to them. He knew there was a reason he wasn't friends with many girls.
The redhead was more than happy to shift the conversation topic back to his bike, watching eagerly as Ellie inspected it. Of course he tried to tell himself that her opinion didn't matter that much, but what guy would shy away from an opportunity to have their ego stroked?
"Yeah, that's the one. She came from good hands, so anything that was wrong with her originally had already been fixed up before she got passed down the line. I only really take her in for maintenance and do whatever I can at home." It was one of the few things that could actually hold Barnaby's interest, and while his bike certainly didn't look like it belonged in a display cabinet it was in good enough condition. As far as he was concerned, he had reason to be proud of her.
At the mention of keeping busy he let out a laugh. "Hell yes. She goes all over town. Much better wheels than the pizza delivery car, let me tell you!"
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Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 6:34 pm
Price was no motorcycle enthusiast after all, what a pity! In Ellie's mind, a true enthusiast didn't take their bike "in" for maintenance. They took classes to learn what they could about fixing the vehicle up for themselves. Save that valuable money for important things, like more bikes or cars.
Pushing herself up from her stooping position, she figured she might hint towards such a good idea. "Ya takin' any of th'auto-shop classes?" She shrugged her shoulders and casually added "I haven't seen ya around the shop an' all." There were a few places where the blonde practically lived, and the auto-shop at Meadowview was one of the many "homes" she had acquired. Hank's garage and her own garage (not the house itself) were also homes of hers. At the comment about the delivery cars, Ellie chuckled. "They actually got some company vehicles? That's a rarity these days! I thought most pizza companies jus'gave ya a little light to put on the top of yer own car while ya worked!"
The girl then rounded towards the seat for the Scarlet Bandit. She was familiar with bike etiquette and knew it was only right to ask to mount another person's vehicle. If she didn't ask, it would be like asking another man's girl on a date. She was tempted to touch the seat, but held her fingers back as she asked "Is it okay if I mount'er?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:46 am
Barnaby shrugged at the mention of auto classes. "Eh, sometimes. I did pay for a couple once but they did too much talking and not enough doing so I stopped going halfway through. The guy who owned her before me taught me a few tricks, but other than that I just learn as I go." A dangerous method, especially when dealing with bikes, but that was why he left the real maintenance to the professionals. Knowing him, he'd ruin the bike by forgetting to put it back together once he'd taken it apart.
"Yeah, most pizza places do," he continued, making a face, "But Larry's got two sets of junk on wheels. I guess he doesn't trust us not to steal the signs or something, I dunno. One guy usually hogs the better car, being the favourite, and the other one jostles around so much I'm surprised it doesn't just bounce all its tires off one day." There was a reason he was riding his bike and not that hunk of junk Larry tried to pass off as a car. Perhaps he should recommend that his boss bring the cars down here for maintenance. Actually, that sounded like a great idea. Ellie certainly seemed to know what she was doing. "How booked are you guys here?"
The redhead relaxed his posture a little as the girl circled his bike, sticking his thumbs in his back pocket as he watched. She certainly seemed to like the Scarlet Bandit, and Barnaby allowed himself a little ego boost.
"Sure, go for it. Mind the little carrying rail at the back doesn't poke you." It was easy to get used to, once you knew it was there, but he remembered the first few times he'd kicked it or got his foot caught in it before he got accustomed to its presence.
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