Who: Katniss Everdeen and Tinkerbell When: Mid-April Where: 2nd hand garage in the OC What: Car shopping Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Katniss was waiting at the car lot for Tink. The other woman wasn’t late at all, but Katniss had only been able to catch a bus which arrived ten minutes before they had arranged to meet. Leaning against the wall of the shop next door, she took a sip from her coke bottle and kept an eye out down the street.
Tink arrived on her bike. It was a Ducati, and perfectly tuned. Tink pulled up to the lot and parked, took her helmet off and glanced around, then broke into a smile at the sight of the girl leaning against the wall. She set the helmet down on her bike seat and wandered over, unzipping her jacket as she walked. It was warm enough that she didn’t really need it.
“Hey, are you Katniss?” Tink asked. Awkward. What if it wasn’t??
Katniss turned her head to look in the direction of the voice, screwing the cap on her drink to quickly shove in her bag. “Yeah, that’s me,” she gave a little smile to the girl and held out her hand to shake. “Tink?”
“Yeah.” Tink said, relieved when she saw the other girl was who she’d been looking for. She smiled warmly, and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Katniss. Let’s go find you a car.” Tink wasn’t the kind of girl who made a lot of small talk.
"Great," Katniss smiled and nodded before following Tink onto the forecourt. "So how long have you been doing this sort of stuff?" She asked, Tink was quite young after all and it made Katniss wonder what qualifications you needed to be a mechanic. It wasn't something she'd ever tried her hand at but maybe it was an option.
“Uh… I think I worked for the Old Man close to a decade after I finished trade school.” Tink responded, shrugging her shoulders. “It’s just a lot of things to remember, really. How machines work. I’m lucky that my mind has always been good with gears and stuff. Physics was my best subject in school.”
“Naturally gifted then,” Katniss summed up. “Wish I had something like that to guide me,” she said almost wistfully as they came up on some cars on the lot. “So what sort of thing would you recommend? Where do I start?” she asked, indicating the cars.
“Well, you want something that has a few years on it, but not too many. And you don’t want anything more than a hundred thousand miles.” Tink mused, starting to walk around the cars. “I wouldn’t put too much stress on color, we can always change that. But look at the shape of the car. You want to like driving it as much as you want it to run properly.”
“Ok, well I like the look of the Beetles I see running around town, what do you think of those?” Katniss asked, admiring a dark blue Prius she was walking by.
“Those are okay. I’m not as confident with the engines. People seem really devoted to their Volkswagens, though. So I’m sure we could find you an amazing mechanic to help you with one.” She nodded. “Do you like the size or the shape?”
“What’s wrong with the engines? I don’t want a car that’s going to be breaking down every other week,” Katniss asked.
“Well, they used to make them really well… it’s just that everything’s gotten cheaper, you know? They’re using thinner metal because it’s lighter--better gas mileage--but things break a lot. I think… honestly, you want to go cheap and reliable. Rather than trendy?” Tink said, moving through the lot. “How about this one?” She asked, motioning to a Toyota.
“Huh,” Katniss nodded, not having thought about anything like that. “Oh yes, now that I like. What do you think?”
“Well, I think Toyota’s a good company. A lot of the parts are actually interchangeable. Camry versus Corolla, doesn’t really matter.” Tink took a slow lap of the car. “It’s pretty new for this lot. Depends on the mileage. We won’t let them gauge us on the price.” She pulled out her phone to look up the bluebook price.
Katniss moved over to peek over Tink's shoulder at what she was doing. "What are you looking up?" She asked.
“Oh. Bluebook price,” Tink explained, holding the phone out so that the other girl could see. “We want to know exactly how much this car is worth before they try to sell it to us. We can counter their asking price if they’re asking too much. And wonder if something’s wrong it if they’re asking too little.”
“Huh, I hadn’t thought of that,” Katniss commented appreciatively as she peeked at what Tink was doing. “I’m so glad I asked you to come with me coz I would probably have just paid whatever they asked for it,” she huffed a laugh.
Tink chuckled. “I think their business is built on people like you. That’s not a bad thing,” she added quickly, “I mean, you’re learning more now, getting educated and that’s the important part. You’re paying cash, right? Definitely don’t finance with a used car lot if you can help it.”
Katniss laughed at that. “Vultures,” she remarked about the car salespeople. “Yeah, I’ve got $700 on me now. If I need more I might be able to get another couple of hundred from my mom,” she told Tink.
“Yep.” Tink responded. She shook her head. “Nah, let’s go talk to the guy about this car. I think we can probably get it for you for that price. And I can help you fix it up if it needs fixing. The inside looks good.”
“Great, thanks,” Katniss smiled at the woman before they headed to the showroom to negotiate with the salesman. She watched Tink work her magic on the man and soon he was eating out of her hand. She’d examined the engine and been assured there was nothing wrong with it. Not long after, they were walking out with the keys to the car replacing the weight of cash in her bag. Smiling happily about her newest purchase, she turned to Tink once they’d reached the car. With the insurance sorted in the office, she was ready to drive it off the lot. “Thank you so much for all your help Tink, I’d probably have just agreed to whatever he asked if not for you,” she told her.
Tink was able to get him to shave the price down a bit, which was helpful. Then she could put together insurance, and all that other fun stuff. Tink walked out with Katniss, grinning brightly. “Hey, I think you made a good purchase today. And you didn’t let that ass hole over-charge you, either.” Actually, the guy hadn’t been that bad. He was just a snake by profession, probably. Tink stopped when they reached Katniss’ new car.
“You’re welcome. When you need oil changes or any work done, you know where to find me. Now, climb on in.”