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Tweak says, "you love riding it"

Harry Dresden (i_wizard) wrote in we_coexist,
@ 2011-02-05 13:18:00

Entry tags:

harry dresden, kaylee frye

When Wizards Meet Technology [Kaylee]
Once he'd woken up, and left a message on Dinah's shop's answering machine about finding his place, Harry had found only one thing out of place in his apartment. It was a small, black device that looked like a cell phone. As a matter of course, Harry didn't touch it. Not until he started wondering who had left it. Everyone close to him knew that cell phones wouldn't work around him. Even standing near him was enough to scramble the reception of even the best cellular service. The devices themselves generally shorted out within half an hour - less if there was any magic going around. Hell's bells, Murphy and Thomas made it a point to leave their phones at home if they knew they would be working with Harry.

No one else could have left it here. Not with the wards in place. His curiosity reached the point that he picked it up and flipped the cover open.

There was enough time to see the screen flash HARRY DRESDEN - WIZARD before the device let out a squeal of noise and winked off.

Harry sighed. "Typical."

Well, at least it gave him something to do. Look for some way to fix the thing and see if there was something important on it. Harry glanced at his dog. "Want to go exploring?"

Mouse went to the door, picked up his leather lead in his teeth, and looked back at Harry, tail wagging. Harry got into his duster, grabbed his staff, and clipped the leash to Mouse's collar. It was mostly unnecessary, since Mouse wasn't going to be running away from him, but Chicago leash laws aside, Mouse seemed to think people were more likely to approach such a large dog if he seemed to be 'properly restrained'.

It was worth noting that Mouse had better people skills than Harry did.

Harry lowered the wards, and exited the house. The wards automatically raised again once he was past the threshold. "Repair shop," he muttered to himself. Mouse looked up at him, head tilted slightly, then looked out at the street. Harry followed his gaze, and saw a battered, multicolored Volkswagon Bug. His car. Dubbed The Blue Beetle. Harry gave the car a wistful look, then shook his head. If this City could bring back his apartment, his duster, his staff, his dog, it certainly could bring back his car. The question Harry was wondering was, what would be the cost of all this?

"Not this time," Harry said. "We'll just walk it." He didn't feel the urge to drive just yet, not when this blasted City kept changing. And not when he didn't have Mike around to keep the Beetle running. "But look for a repair shop."

The dog huffed and started walking. Harry followed along, paying attention to how the streets changed. He had no luck in working out any kind of pattern, but at least Mouse was doing his job. The dog stopped outside a place that seemed reasonable. Harry looked up, shrugged, and went inside.

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i_fixthings
2011-02-06 07:20 am UTC (link)

The place wasn't exactly spiffy. But it had an odd assortment of parts laying around. Kaylee had been busy gathering things for the year she'd spent in the city. None of it was from Serenity, but odd parts kept appearing in the junk piles that were definitely where she was originally from. There was a great big blueprint on the wall behind what she liked to call her desk, the blueprints to a certain Firefly vessel. Her pride and joy. Serenity.

Well, Mal's pride and joy. Her pleasure craft as it was.

Kaylee had her feet kicked up on the desk in a pair of comfy looking coveralls that were covered in an odd assortment of girly patches. She had some goggles on and was welding two pieces of metal together when the little bell on the door made a ring. Kaylee turned off the welder and looked up.

This was probably the first customer she'd had in who knows how long. The shop was normally closed only because Kaylee was working on Serenity. Without Mal around to make her do that she had been doing it less.

"Hey there stranger." Kaylee beamed as she pushed the goggles onto her forehead.

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i_wizard
2011-02-06 06:31 pm UTC (link)

Harry smiled a bit, but it was Mouse that moved closer to the girl, the big dog grinning in his doggy way, tail wagging excitedly. Harry felt himself relax just seeing the dog's reaction. Mouse was extremely good at people, and Harry was willing to blindly trust his judgement.

"Hi," he said. "Uh. I've got this.. phone-looking thingy that kinda broke, and I'm not really sure how to use it or anything. I was hoping I could find someone to help me out with it?"

Most of the things in the shop looked purely mechanical. He liked that. There was less of a risk of him disabling things that were mechanical. It took longer, more effort.

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i_fixthings
2011-02-07 07:59 pm UTC (link)

Eeeeeee!!!!! THERE WAS A DOG. HE HAD A DOG. EEEEEEE!!! Kaylee's mind screamed at her. She kind of forgot what she was doing, and sort of stopped paying real attention to the man. She set the metal aside and came around the desk, instantly she was on her knees and was petting the dog as if there was nothing more amazing in the world than a dog. There really wasn't.

Kaylee really needed to get herself a Beagle.

On the other hand Jake was amazing too, and he was a cat. Kaylee couldn't really have pets in space, but she supposed since she wasn't in space anymore she could get a pet, right.

"Phone-lookin' thingy?" Kaylee said without looking at him.

"I'm more of an engine kind of girl, but I know my way around a lot of things, and I could probably find the service manual somewhere. Wish they'd translate them for me though, much as I like English, I'm used to.." Kaylee shrugged. Too happy to pet the dog.

"Not a wiz with techs, are ya? Not everyone is. I'm from the future so all of this stuff seems kind of old and boring. Give me a hovering chandelier would you, City?" She asked, but knew she wouldn't get that request at all.

"Name's Kaylee, by the way. Sorry, I don't have pets, wasn't allowed none on Serenity. I'm rather fond of critters."

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i_wizard
2011-02-07 08:21 pm UTC (link)

Harry let her pet Mouse. Not that he could stop it - the moment she'd crept out from behind the desk, with Mouse giving her those soulful puppy eyes, it was inevitable. Mouse let himself be petted, and when she said that she was fond of the critters, the dog immediately lay down to give the young woman access for a belly rub.

Harry looked down at Mouse, and shook his head. "Shameless," he said, without any trace of scolding. "Go ahead. He'll just pout if you don't pet him. That's Mouse, and I'm Harry."

Meanwhile, he took the phone from his pocket and set it on the desk for whenever Kaylee was... no, make that, whenever Mouse was inclined to acquiesce to let Kaylee stop petting him.

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i_fixthings
2011-02-09 02:55 am UTC (link)

"Mouse?" Kaylee asked with general curiosity. "More like a bear. Kind of a giant dog for such a small name." Kaylee happily began to rub Mouse's belly as he'd presented it for a good rubbing.

"Well, Harry, soon as I'm done with Mouse, I'll have a look at your phone thinger and see if I can't fix it right up. Do you know why it broke, or was it just broken when you found it?" Kaylee asked even as she got to scritching.

Kaylee really did love animals a bit too much. She hoped Jake wouldn't be jealous.

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i_wizard
2011-02-09 03:15 am UTC (link)

Harry shrugged. "Well, when I first brought him home, he was grey, quiet, and fit in my pocket. So, Mouse. I didn't know he was a mix between a chow and a woolly mammoth at the time." The dog huffed out a breath and opened his jaw in a doggy grin, giving Kaylee's arm several kisses before rolling back onto his side.

Harry motioned at the phone. "It... ugh. Technology doesn't like me. Things tend to short out when I'm near them for too long. I've got a Volkswagon Bug from the 1960's that only runs eight days out of nine, and my last mechanic must have been some kind of genius to keep it running that often." Especially when the Beetle tended to have difficulties like 'a demon ate the backseat' or 'a chlorofiend fell into the engine'. Mike didn't ask many questions anymore.

He wondered if he ought to tell her about the wizarding bit. She probably wouldn't believe him anyway. And she was what, from the future? Okay was... different. Calling it 'weird' made Harry feel a bit hypocritical.

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i_fixthings
2011-02-15 02:20 am UTC (link)

"What's a woolly mammoth?" Kaylee looked up, finally she was able to stand, and stand she did. She headed over to look at his phone and smiled a little.

"Well, technology likes me jus' fine. Same with mechanical anything. I'm an absolute.. well I don't want to give myself too much credit but I'm ace at all of that stuff." Kaylee beamed. "Same with automobiles, though I prefer spaceships. I fixed up Kyles.. car once." After she said Kyle she sort of deflated a little bit.

She really needed to get over that. And Simon. Boys were dumb.

"Lets see what I can do." Kaylee popped open the back and immediately regretted such a decision, the thing sputtered and threw it's battery out.

"Gorram thing must hate you a lot." Kaylee went to retrieve the battery, but it was pretty dead looking anyway. Batteries, she had batteries didn't she? She opened a drawer along the wall and pulled out a box of them.

Now to find the right fit.

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i_wizard
2011-02-15 05:02 am UTC (link)

"Um. Big, prehistoric elephant that was covered in thick, bushy hair." Well, that joke sure lost a lot when it had to be explained. Harry brushed it aside and listened, jealous for a moment of her ability with tech and mechanical things. But for that talent, he would have to trade his magic, so... pass!

When the phone flung out it's battery, Harry just sighed. "Yeah. It kinda does. Sad part is, I'm trying my best to be as tech-friendly as I can be." Which was true. He was trying to think the calmest thoughts he could. Friendly thoughts. Technology-friendly thoughts. With as little emotion as he could muster, since emotions fueled his magic.

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i_fixthings
2011-02-27 07:07 pm UTC (link)

"I think I know what an Elephant is. I'm sorry, I'm kind of from the way way way way way way way future. I mean, I have to explain space to people all the time, but I feel bad needing to get things explained to me all the time. Sorry." Kaylee offered a smile, but kept digging through the batteries.

"You want to know how I keep myself tech and mechanical friendly? I name 'em, and talk to 'em. My phone-thinger, as you like to call it, is named Si-er... Charlie. Yes." Kaylee had a problem.

A big one. Cause whenever she thought of guys names she thought of Simon's name and that had to stop.

"So I talk to it, so it keeps workin'." She found what she was looking for and put the new battery into the phone then closed the case quickly.

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i_wizard
2011-03-01 11:45 pm UTC (link)

Harry chuckled a little. "I don't think that'd work for me. Mechanical stuff just... really doesn't like me. Especially the really fine computerized stuff." Like cell phones, computers, and anything based off of them. "My car only works nine days out of ten, and that's when I had this really great mechanic..."

Harry frowned to himself, thinking, and then asked, "How are you with cars? I mean, if you're from that way way way way in the future, you're probably better with like, warp cores and inertia dampeners or something, but I've got an old Volkswagon Bug that... only works nine days outta ten. I call it the Blue Beetle."

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