InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "You just lost the game."

Brian O'Conner (blueeyedbuster) wrote in omega_reality,
@ 2013-04-20 21:58:00

Entry tags:

*complete, 2013 04, character: brian o'conner, character: matt casey

RP: Brian and Casey
Who: Brian O'Conner and Matt Casey
Where: outside their house
When: Saturday, April 20, 2013 -- afternoon
Summary: Roommates tinker with things and shoot the breeze...because there really isn't much else to do.

Saturday afternoon was warm and Brian was reminded of the old wives tale of Shake'N'Bake weather when the ground shook briefly with another small aftershock from last week's quake. Nor could he really say he minded having missed the main shock. This was already enough like being back in college in Barstow after Landers and Big Bear. The area had small aftershocks for weeks until it was almost normally to feel that sudden drop in the pit of your stomach when the slight tremors would go through. The most immediate of the large aftershocks had stopped. But, anyone familiar with these things knew they'd have more, just not frequently.

With all the upheaval, mostly emotional, and then schedules being weird, Brian hadn't taken time to get his head back under the hood of a car all week. That was something he was remedying now. Mostly, he was just checking to make sure there were no problems with hoses or intake valves with all the dust in the air that had been stirred up by the quake and resulting rock slides. Even in the trailer park there'd been a few rocks down, thankfully not on any of their houses.

He heard the approaching footsteps without seeing anyone. But, he readily identified the rhythm of walking as belonging to his roommate, Casey. Old habits died hard and nothing moved in his house that Brian couldn't identify by sound alone now. "Hand me that half-inch socket, will you?" Brian pointed at the box of tools behind him without looking, just holding out his hand as though it was natural for the requested tool to appear there. Another habit. This one born of years working on cars with Dom. "Thanks."

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matt_casey
2013-04-24 05:39 am UTC (link)

Casey was feeling restless. Normally, back home, he'd be working on his house when he wasn't busy with work, or failing that on someone else's home. He liked using his hands, do things with them, but in a trailer park there wasn't that much to do and while the safe house no doubt required a lot of work, they weren't there to do it.

Seeing O'Conner under the hood had him moving in that direction. It wasn't what he was good at, he just knew the basics, but he wasn't opposed to learning and it was something to do. Physically do.

He smiled a bit when O'Conner asked for the tool, finding it and handing it to him. "You're welcome," he said as he leaned against the side of the car. "Just checking or is there a problem with the car?" he then asked.

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blueeyedbuster
2013-04-26 05:04 pm UTC (link)

"Other than the fact she's a mini-van that would fall apart if I fixed her up to run with the kind of performance that makes a car worth driving and I don't have the equipment or parts to turn her into the slickest mini-van on four wheels anyway?" Brian asked, laughing and shaking his head as tightened a couple of the connectors. "Nope, no problem. Just making sure things aren't getting clogged, fine tuning a few things, trying to make her purr even if I'm all out of kitty treats."

Satisfied for the moment, he shut the hood and tossed the wrench back in the toolbox. Leaning one hip on the car, he took a rag from his back pocket and applied it to the worst of the grease on his fingers. "You looking for me specifically? Or just trying to find something to do while most people are either at Savannah's or locked up in their houses unaware that this is perfect Southern California weather and they're missing it?"

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	matt_casey 2013-04-26 07:15 pm UTC (link)
	"The second," Casey answered with a grin. "Just sitting around inside doing nothing isn't really my style." "I would love to get my hand on some decent wood, and even more a decent house to work on," he added with a smile. "I can certainly understand the feeling you have with the car." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

blueeyedbuster
2013-04-27 06:59 pm UTC (link)

"If you're looking to get your hands on wood, I think you need to talk to the other Brian," Brian said with a laugh. "Working on the car is just part of it, though. The work is relaxing, but it's also what's necessary to get behind the wheel and know that car is an extension of it's driver. It's taking a heap of metal from the junk yard, cleaning it up, fixing it up, putting together all the right machinery, adding a slick coat of paint, and then taking her out and showing the world what she can do. It's being able to slide under big rigs because you know every inch of that machine and how to handle her. It's being able to maneuver around a bus as it flips end over end and trusting your car to stay out from under it. All of that just starts with hoses and oil, though."

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matt_casey
2013-04-27 07:07 pm UTC (link)

Casey recognised passion when he saw it. It was impossible not to when he was usually surrounded by passionate people. "I can't say I've ever felt that way about a car, but I do get the feeling. Fixing a house up, seeing it change before your eyes because of what you do, I imagine the feeling is somewhat similar."

"Even if I don't get to take the house out for a drive afterwards," he added with a chuckle.

He looked at the car then back at O'conner. "Would you care for a student?" he asked. "Given our situation, I figure it wouldn't be amiss knowing a thing or two about fixing a car up."

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blueeyedbuster
2013-05-04 04:16 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah, you can't get a house to one thirty on PCH and stop on a dime," Brian agreed with a chuckle.

Tucking the rag back into his pocket, he leaned a hip against the hood of the car and folded his arms. "Given any situation it's never a bad thing to know how to do basic repairs on your car. There's a lot of open, empty land out there. Fixing the car yourself, if possible, might be preferable to a two hour hike to civilization through Death Valley. But, sure, I can teach you a few things. You a dealership or neighborhood mechanic kind of guy? Where do you take your car when it's in need of fixing?"

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	matt_casey 2013-05-10 06:39 pm UTC (link)
	Casey laughed. "No, you can't," he agreed. "The firehouse?" Casey suggested with a small smile. "Usually someone can either fix it or knows someone who can. I suppose that qualifies under neighborhood mechanic." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

blueeyedbuster
2013-05-12 06:01 pm UTC (link)

Brian snorted. "No, it really doesn't," he said, thinking there was no way anyone at the firestation was going to match the work you could get someplace like DT's or Tej's. "But, alright, fair enough. Better than a dealer. Come here." He popped the hood as he spoke. "First lesson starts now. We start with naming parts."

He was used to working with people on his level. Spending the afternoon teaching someone else from the bottom up would be an interesting proposition.

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