interview with the wolverine
Who: Chloe and Logan What: Interviews Where: Logan's bike shop When: Recent Status: complete
Logan’s shop looked like most motorcycle repair places. Parts in boxes, Harley memorabilia on the walls, the chassis of an original early 20th century Harley hanging from the ceiling. Next to the US flag was a canadian flag, and there was a beer-filled fridge behind the counter. Logan was drinking a beer and playing solitaire on the work computer while he waited. A Harley was in the repair bay, waiting.
Chloe showed up in the same outfit she’d been wearing when she got to L.A., driving her beatup pickup and parking it near the shop. Hopping out, she walked carefully into the shop, toeing a box out of the way of the door with her boot. “Logan?”
Well, she at least looked like she belonged in a dump, and for all his riches, Logan liked to think of his shop as beat up as he was. He looked up from his (losing) game of solitaire. “Yeah? You must be Chloe.”
“I guess if I must,” she teased, sitting down next to him. Her blue hair stuck out from underneath her toque, and she smelled faintly of Lysol from sleeping in the bus stop mixed with stale cigarettes. “Nice place. Seriously.” Sure, it looked dumpy, but she could see that he had his own way of organizing things.
“Thanks. Beer?” The blue hair didn’t particularly phase him. Odd hair colors were a part of living with mutants and even in this world plenty of people had blue or red or rainbow hair. “You said you’ve worked on cars before?”
Chloe raised an eyebrow when he offered to beer her, but she nodded. “Yeah, I’m a little parched.” She put her feet up on a box, then motioned to her pickup outside. “I keep her running. Can’t afford a mechanic.”
Logan nodded. “Been through a couple of phases like that.” He grabbed a beer and slid it across the counter to her. “Bikes are a little different, but most of the fundamentals are the same. If it works out it’s mostly shit you can learn on the job.”
She popped the cap off on the desk, catching it and tossing it into a trash can. “Hella. I’m a pretty quick learner when it comes to stuff like that. My dad always taught me shit like that on our station wagon, and we learned most of it from books.” No internet for her dad, he was old school.
“Okay, go take a look at that bike over there and see if you can tell me what’s wrong with it?” It was a pretty simple issue, and a basic sniff test.
Chloe took a swig from her beer and walked to the bike, inspecting it for a little while. “Oil’s fucked,” she shot back in a few moments.
“Good. Anything else?” Logan toasted her with his beer.
“Well, the person driving it before should be shot - they were probably driving around on the shitty oil, and now you’ve gotta replace like, half the fuckin’ engine.” Chloe gestured with the neck of her beer bottle.
“I ain’t gotta replace half the engine,” Logan said. He set his beer down and leaned his elbows on the counter. “You’re gonna do it. If you want the job. Fifteen an hour to start.”
“I kinda feel like I have to replace it at this point, then beat the crap out of the owner.” She smirked and nodded. “That’ll work, I can find a place with that.” She’d save up for a bit, maybe crash in a hostel until she’d saved up her first month’s deposit for an apartment.
“Works out, we’ll talk a raise and more work.” Logan grinned at her. “You can start tomorrow. I ain’t too picky on punctuality but there’s coming in a little late versus coming in an hour late.”
“Well, yeah. One’s excusable and one’s being a huge dick.” Chloe reached out to shake his hand. “I’ll be here when you open tomorrow, then.”
Logan nodded. He got up from his seat, which didn’t do as much to improve his height as most people would think. He held out his hand for a proper seal the deal. “Good. Nice to meet you, darlin’. Make sure you finish that beer before you go.”
“Don’t worry, old man. I’m holding, so I doubt that any cop’s gonna worry too much about where I got the beer from. I’ll leave it at home next time, promise.” She shook his hand and then chugged the rest of the beer. “Later.”