swan (savioring) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-04-09 23:08:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, emma swan, tinkerbell |
Who: Tinkerbell and Emma Swan
When: Early April; pre-body swap.
Where: Tink’s Garage
What: Emma’s car gets a tune-up
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
As she’d said, Friday morning was a complete wash for Emma. While she could get the hell out of her bed and get going when she needed to, she was also prone to just not wanting to. Dragging her butt out of bed before noon when she had no place to actually be for an allotted time frame was an achievement for her. As it was, by noon she was already in her car, hair in a messy ponytail, coffee cup to go and on her way to finding Tink’s garage.
She wasn’t sure if the rattle in her car was something serious or just her fan belt needing replacing, considering she’d driven this thing almost the full length of the country, and it was nearly twenty years old itself. The fact that it was still running at all was an accomplishment in Emma’s books. But a service was probably overdue, and getting that done now just seemed smart, before something happened to end up costing her more money than she had.
Pulling up into the parking at the garage, Emma grabbed her coffee cup to drain the last of it before heading to the front area to see if she could get booked in.
The way the Garage was situated the mechanics working on cars in the large building could see out through doorways left when huge doors were slid up and out of the way. There were lifts with cars on top of them, shelves and shelves of tools and supplies, and other car parts. Two mechanics in coveralls were working on cars at the moment, but neither of them was Tink.
To the right of the driveway was a smaller (but still sizeable) room with three glass walls. It was connected to the garage via doorway, but also had an exit to the driveway. Tink was inside this room--the waiting area--at a computer desk. There were nice couches inside, and a keurig, a large-screen television, and a door to a bathroom. It was clean and smelled fresh.
Tink glanced up when the woman came through the doorway and put on a smile. "Welcome to Tink's Garage. Can I help you?"
“Hi, I’m Emma, I talked to someone about getting my car serviced.” Usually Emma had been forced to stop in some out of the way towns, getting her car put in for quick and dirty fixes that cost an arm and a leg because she knew next to nothing about the area or just looked like she’d be willing to pay.
Usually she was, because if she didn’t have her car she was stuck, and Emma loathed being stuck. This was infinitely better, she actually knew where she was looking for and from the sounds of it the place had a good rep. “It’s out front.”
"Oh, Emma. That's right. From the net." Tink said with a smile. The other woman looked vaguely familiar, but Tink couldn't quite place why. Tink stood from the desk and pulled a clipboard up for Emma to take and fill out. "Yeah, we can absolutely give her a tune up and an oil change. Here, fill this out? And feel free to have some coffee while you're here."
Tink moved to the garage door and called out to the guys in there about getting the new car up next for a tune and an oil change. Then she came back over to Emma. "Sounds like we'll start working on your car in ten minutes? If you want to hang out and wait. Or we can call you a cab or something."
Taking the form to start filling out, Emma took a seat while Tink went off for a moment, going through the form and filling it in. “That’s fine, I’ll hang around,” it wasn’t like she had anywhere to be, and worst came to worst she had plenty of BuzzFeed links saved to read through on her phone. “I’m not overly busy right now, and there’s coffee, that’s pretty much all I need.”
Handing the form back over, all her details filled in, Emma just smiled sweetly. She doubted it’d take forever or anything.
Nah, it seemed like a pretty easy job. Tink was a little sad that she wouldn’t be the one doing the work, but her business was actually picking up. Funny how being nice and treating customers well meant more business. Also a little advertising. That helped a lot, too.
Tink sat back down at her desk, which was close to the chairs where Emma was welcome to sit, and continued shuffling through paperwork. “So, you’re new in town, I saw? Welcome to Valarnet and all that?”
“Yeah, I just moved to the area.” Which seemed common, but everyone was largely welcoming and nice. It wasn’t entirely usual, but then Emma was prone to moving to larger cities, the small space and lots of people, that usually meant less time for being overly welcoming. Not so much around here.
“It’s a nice place, I’m enjoying it so far.” Even if her bedroom caught a hell of a lot of light first thing in the morning, she might eventually need to go shopping for something other than food. “Is everyone always this nice around here?” Not that she was complaining.
“Yeah, I dunno,” Tink said, blushing a little. She shrugged her shoulders. “I grew up around here. I haven’t done a whole lot of travelling, so I’m not sure if this is normal. Well, most of it is completely not normal, but I have no idea if the friendly-ness is normal.” She said it like that. Friendly-Ness.
“Let me know if you need any recommendations. I don’t do a lot of cooking, so I know a lot of the take-out joints. They know me, too. I get some pretty major discounts, and would love to share the wealth.” Tink grinned. She wasn’t much of a people person, but people seemed to like her. Warm up to her. Awkward as she was.
Awkward Emma knew, so many new places, being the new girl in workplaces so many times, she knew awkward very well. “I don’t think it is, it’s really nice and stuff, but it’s kinda unusual. Maybe that’s why people move here?” It would make sense, if they got here and it was this welcoming and engaging and you just didn’t want to leave. She could see that. So far she was around about there herself.
“I got some Thai recommendations, but I would kill for a good pizza place.” Emma was inundated with coffee shops to visit, which she loved, and Neal had been helpful with places to go and stuff, but so far there were no pizza specialities and Emma did love a good greasy cheese explosion night.
“I hope you’re not looking for New York style because, unfortunately, we don’t have a good, authentic, New York style pizza place around here. I mean, there’s some good shops, but nothing that good.” Tink said, frowning a bit. “If you like Chicago Deep Dish, you gotta try Tony’s. It’s out on [street] and [street], not too far from here.”
Emma was more than sure that there would never be pizza outside of New York that was as good as New York pizza, which was a shame and all, but she could handle it. “No, that sounds great.” Pulling out her phone, Emma flipped to her notes to add it to the food list of places.
“I have this work in progress list, to break up the search for a job, to go all these places and see things.” Basically getting herself acquainted with the area and what it had to offer.
“Hey, that’s a good idea. And keeping it on your phone? Brilliant. The one thing that never leaves my person.” Beat. “Except when I’m in the shower. And then … I wouldn’t really need a list of restaurants.” Tink said, grinning. “Getting to know the area’s a must for anyone in a new place. So I hear. I’ve never moved out of Orange County.”
The phone thing was purely coincidental, it seemed smartest to have a list of places she wanted to see, to try out, on her phone, since that was almost always with her. She used it for her maps, reminders, appointments; Emma’s phone was pretty much the only friend she’d constantly had. “I’m less likely to lose it, that’s for sure.” Especially since she’d gotten into the habit of syncing it after saving everything.
“Have you ever wanted to?” Emma knew that a lot of people weren’t like her, weren’t prone to moving every year, that they liked knowing where they were and what was around them. The familiarity. “Even just for like vacation or anything?”
That’s something Tink did, too. Actually, she’d never lost a phone. She’d taken them apart and put them back together again, manipulated the bits inside until it didn’t work anymore, but she’d never lost one. She was savvy with the tech.
“Well, sure, I’ve taken short trips away. But I’ve never lived anywhere else. And I don’t even have a passport. I’m sure I’ll have to get one sooner or later.” She replied, thinking about it. “I’ve thought it’d be fun to drive cross country, but I’ve never even planned a trip before.”
“Cross country is fun.” Provided you had the money for gas, it was probably better to not take ten years to do it too. “Although planning is pretty important.” Things like gas and food and where to stay, how many miles per day, how many places you absolutely want to stop at. It probably took a fair amount of prep.
Emma hadn’t planned things, she’d just picked a destination the day before she headed off and then off she went. It took her this long to get from New York to California because she spent months at a time in each location, saving whatever she could before she was off to the next place. She was well travelled, but she didn’t really know much about any of the places she’d been to. “Although this is a pretty awesome place to stay.” She could kind of understand the lack of desire to leave.
“That may be what’s stopped me in the past,” Tink said, grinning sheepishly. “I’m not that much of a planner. When it comes to this sort of thing, anyway. I can do blueprints, design plans for my inventions, but when it comes to maps and vacation hours? I’m a mess.” She was more of a leap before you look kind of girl.
“I’m glad you like it here.” Tink responded, genuinely. “I gotta admit, there’s a lot of reasons to settle down here.” Tink never imagined herself the time to settle down, but now that she had a big house with the figurative white picket fence, she was starting to feel a weird ticking.
Settling had been far from Emma’s mind for a long time, she’d always considered where next, even when she just arrived at places, there was always that notion of where she’d go next. She hadn’t thought that maybe she had a final destination in place, but all of the roads seemed to lead to California, and the OC seemed like a pretty enough place; busy but not bustling like New York, with a beach and plenty to do, it was logical really when Emma stopped and thought about it.
She was thirty now, she had to think about her future, and travelling the country working in diners was not how she wanted to spend the rest of her life. “There are, I’m a habitual list maker. So I kind of had a really long list of pros and cons to the area itself.” Before even finding out how damn friendly everyone was. “I’m pretty sure it’s gonna work out, so… You know, if you ever need help planning a trip, I could help out. I know a lot of cool places.” Like lesser known museums, tourist attractions off the beaten road, that one Cowboy place with the assless chaps.
The weather was pretty nice, wasn't it? Sunshine and the like. When it wasn't snowing. (That was a long story.) But Tink agreed with her--Orange County was a pretty enough place. She could have moved several times, but chose not to. Something was keeping her around. Something more than just ... something more like karma.
"Thanks! That's awesome. I would definitely appreciate the help. And hey, if you ever need someone to go exploring locally, I'm your girl. I don't have much else going on, anyway. Lots of free time." Tink grinned shyly. She realized after the fact that that was probably a really ridiculous offer to make.
“It might make figuring out all the good places easier,” as much as it was a little out of left field, and maybe ‘strange’, Emma was finding that strange was a little closer to normal here. Besides, locals knew the best places and shortcuts and where to avoid if you didn’t want randomly hit on. As much as the OC was great for settling, Emma saw the appeal for vacations too. And she really wasn’t in the mood for skeezy guys getting handsy if she wanted to go out and have fun. “I mean, if you don’t mind some day, I’d really like to see all the sights.”
Or at least cram some of them into a day to find out where to go for certain things.
“It’d make it a little more fun, I reckon.” Tink said, grinning. It hadn’t been that awkward, then, had it? Though, she also made a mental note to stay away from the word ‘reckon.’
“Just send me a text message sometime when you’re free. I can always make the lugs open and close the shop for me.” Tink brightened a bit. “I’ll show you what I can. There’s a bunch of fun things to do, things to see.” She almost got out her wings. Almost. She was getting too excited.
One of the mechanics poked his head into the office. “Hey, boss? Car’s up.”
Tink glanced over at Emma. “You ready to check out?”
Making friends in this place was insanely easy, and Emma wondered if it would’ve been this easy in other places if she’d just tried a little bit harder. She didn’t think it would really would be, sure that it was something about here that did it. “That sounds awesome, I absolutely will.” The perks of being boss was likely that she got to dictate her own working hours, Emma could see the appeal.
“Already? Great. What do I owe you?” Most of the time people scrapped cars that started to cost them a lot, Emma knew that eventually she’d need to do the same, but she was loath for that to already be the case now. She loved her car too much for the little banger that it was.
"Good." Tink was glad that Emma had come in. She liked the other woman so far, and hoped they could stay in touch. Tink didn't have a whole lot of girl friends, and her guy friends were dwindling. Tink was better with machines than she was with people. She'd really have to work on that.
"Yep." Tink moved to the register while Emma came over. "Time flies, right?" She processed the transaction, giving Emma a good price on the work. Then she handed over the keys. "Don't be a stranger now, okay?"
Emma could totally relate to being lacking in the friend department, and most of the time she wasn’t great at making friends, maybe people just knew that she was holding something back, that she was distancing herself. And friends with locals was a great idea, more than just because they knew the area, but because they were from here which meant there wasn’t the same nomadic background.
Tink seemed sweet enough; nice and bubbly and friendly. “Awesome,” Emma would definitely need to keep in touch, arrange a time to go out, get to know the girl better outside of a work environment. “I definitely will, we can go out, do drinks and stuff.” Something fun and friendly.
“Thanks so much.” Spinning the keys around her fingers, it was definitely worth it coming in. “I will call you and we’ll do whatever.” And with the car running fine now, she could carry on her explorations until then.