_capable_ (_capable_) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-08-19 19:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, capable, furiosa |
Who: Capable and Furiosa
When: Recently
Where: Car lot
What: Car shopping
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Completed gdoc
Capable was excited and just a little bit nervous about shopping for a car. She was a more confident driver than she’d expected to be, having had brilliant teachers probably helped there and passing her test had been a good milestone for her. But having her own car felt that little bit more...real maybe. Though she was looking forward to being able to pick Furiosa up sometimes, instead of it always being her girlfriend who had to be the one driving them everywhere. Not that Furiosa minded, she knew she liked being behind the wheel.
If someone asked Furiosa what kind of car to get, she’d pick something either fast and sporty, or big and intimidating. But this was for Capable, and she knew what Capable was … capable of. Neither intimidating or sporty, but still something that she was comfortable in and could be pushed hard in an emergency.
Furiosa was always thinking about emergencies. “The salesman is going to try to intimidate you.”
“If you weren’t with me he’d probably succeed” Capable replied, but with Furiosa around she always felt stronger. “I’ll be relying on you to let me know if he says anything that isn’t right” she added because she knew very little about the mechanics of a car, whereas Furiosa was much more knowledgeable.
“I’ll just have to intimidate him.” Furiosa knew, as women, they’d likely encounter a lot of resistance. The salesmen might consider them easy targets and try to take advantage of them.
“Try to rope them into a good deal, if they think we’ll lease they’ll lower the price. But then we pay cash.”
It would actually be amusing to see anybody try to intimidate Furiosa, her girlfriend was not the type to accept that kind of crap from anyone.
Capable nodded, “Okay” she said, that should be easy enough, having people make assumptions about how soft she seemed was something Capable was getting used to. Turning it to her advantage seemed like a good idea here.
It helped that Furiosa wasn’t driving the Corvette right now too, she thought. Give them a sense of not being super rich. Not that they were super rich. But she did have a nice nestegg she’d rather not dip into.
“We’re here, lets take a look around before they flock to us like seagulls.”
“Or vultures” Capable said with a smile but took Furiosa’s hand as they moved towards the cars. Capable had enough for a decent reliable car, she didn’t need anything flashy or fast though she would like a pretty color. She wasn’t about to say that out loud though.
“This is nice” she commented as they got closer to a small blue car with the word Ford on it. That was about the limit of Capable’s knowledge.
“Vultures, I like that.” Furiosa squeezed her hand. She took a look at the Ford. “Not a bad choice. I’d want to see the engine though. And you should inspect the trunk space to make sure it’s big enough. Some of these cars have tiny trunks.”
Capable gave her a smile, before nodding and letting her hand go to do just that. It seemed reasonable to her, enough for shopping, equipment and a couple of boxes of books which was the most she’d transport. They had a harness for Valkyrie so she could be strapped in on the back seat. It was safer, or so Capable had read.
Furiosa did have a warped view of space. It was contrasting - the cab of a semi was a lot more cramped than it looked, but you could also fit more than it looked. And of course a trailer was huge.
She spotted the salesman coming. “And here he comes. We’ll have him pop both the hood and the trunk, then see about a test drive.”
Of course Capable was assuming a lot about the car, maybe when the trunk was open it would be smaller than she had thought but she didn’t think so.
“Hi ladies, can I help you at all?” the smooth voice of a salesman entered the conversation.
“Oh yes, we’d like to look under the hood please and in the trunk, if that’s okay?” she asked with a smile.
“Of course, of course. Just give me a moment” he opened the car door and pressed the buttons for the areas she’d asked about, “If you have any questions just let me know, I know my way around an engine so can absolutely help you out” he added, a little patronisingly maybe.
Furiosa gave him a tight smile as she lifted the hood. “Capable, can you see how many miles are on this thing? The engine looks good, I’m not seeing any obvious problems, and it’s a little bigger than I expected for a car like this. V6.” She started to rattle off the specifications and pointing out various things in the engine, enjoying the lemon-lips look of the salesman.
Capable nodded, slipping around the salesman to check the clock and call the numbers out to Furiosa. “My girlfriend knows her way around an engine too” she told him sweetly and possibly a little smugly before she moved herself around to the trunk. Happy to see it was a fairly decent size for what she’d need.
“Not too bad,” Furiosa said. “But still a little high. I’d say about a thousand dollars off the asking price high.” She gestured in the direction of the engine, smiling politely at the salesman. “The engine has been overhauled, can we start it? I’d like to hear her purr.”
The salesman spluttered for a moment when Furiosa commented on the price but smoothed his features with a forced politeness and nodded, beginning to sit in the drivers seat when Capable appeared once again. “Can I try?” she asked, holding out her hand for the key. Nodding mutely he dropped the key into her hand and stepped back to let them get on with it.
Furiosa gave Capable a proud little grin, folding her arms and watching the engine as it rumbled to life. It was a smooth start, without any of the telltale sounds of trouble. If the car drove as well as it sounded, she’d sign off on it. “Sounds good. Want to take it for a spin?”
Capable nodded with a smile, glancing at the salesman, “That’s okay right? We won’t go too far”
“I shouldn’t real...yeah sure why not” he said seeming to give up before he completed his original sentence. He’d obviously misjudged the women and would no doubt pay for it come the closing deal.
Winking, Furiosa got into the passenger seat. As a gesture of goodwill, she left her ID and car keys with him. But it was Capable’s decision on if the car felt right. No one could tell someone if a car felt right, not even Furiosa. “I’ll just play with the radio a bit.”
Capable nodded and after making sure both she and Furiosa were securely fastened in she slowly pulled out of the car lot and onto the road. Thankfully it was a fairly quiet time of day so she wouldn’t be fighting too much traffic. The car drove well and Capable found she relaxed quite quickly behind the wheel. “I like it” she said glancing briefly at Furiosa with a smile.
“Enough to drive it day in and day out for three or more years?” Furiosa asked. Probably emphasis on more than three. They weren’t leasing, so the car would ideally last as long as possible. And with Furiosa maintaining it that was probably going to be a very long time.
Capable thought for a moment about this as she drove, “Yeah I think so. You know me I’ll probably get so attached I’ll never want to get rid of her” she said patting the steering wheel affectionately while giving Furiosa a grin.
“If you name her, you’re really screwed.” Furiosa had names for her vehicles. She never told them to anyone. In her mind it was bad luck. “Just don’t tell me what it is. That’s between you, and the car.”
She put her hand over Capable’s, and smiled. “Lets head back and talk him down a few hundred.”
Capable laughed, “Okay, I won’t say when I decide on a name” she promised, because Furiosa knew more about these things than Capable did.
“Five at least” she grinned, because the salesman had already seemed so resigned when they left, she was sure they could take advantage of that.
Keeping it secret was pretty important, at least in Furiosa’s experienced opinion. Her grin only widened as they got close to the dealership. “Is it wrong to admit that I’m really enjoying this? The look on his face has been priceless.”
“I hope it’s not wrong because I’ve been enjoying it too. When you started calling out the specs I thought he was going to faint” she laughed, “I’ve never seen a face go so white”
“Didn’t you know women aren’t supposed to know mechanics?” Furiosa scolded. “We’re supposed to leave that to the menfolk.”
She’d pegged him on sight, but then she hadn’t met many people in car sales (or mechanics for that matter) that weren’t just a little bit sexist. It was fun to mess with them.
Capable rolled her eyes, “You are more competent than any of the men I have ever met in my life” she replied decisively, she thought for a moment before adding softly, “When I was in the hospital I was told the things that happened at the camp were wrong, the ideas outdated but it seems that wasn’t just limited to the people there” She didn’t speak often about it, was trying to move on but sometimes it was needed.
“I’m not going to argue with that.” Furiosa took Capable’s hand, once they were parked, and threaded their fingers together. “That camp was as far behind the world as Immortan Joe. It’s just that the world isn’t as far along as we would like it to be.”
Capable nodded, “You’re right, but at least I have you and together we can teach people a lesson, one car salesman at a time” she said giving Furiosa a grin and leaning over to press a kiss to her lips.
Smiling against Capable’s lips, Furiosa couldn’t have put it better herself. First the car sales lot. And then? The world!