Who: Tinkerbell and Motoko What: Bringing the car into the shop When: Last week in April Where: Garage Rating/Warnings: Low, some flirting Status: Complete!
Tink was under a car. The speakers in the garage were blasting Fall Out Boy (their first Studio Album, “Take This to Your Grave”... her absolute favorite) and she was singing along. Her voice wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad. Her little toes were tapping against the ground, and her body, covered in coveralls, was half-underneath a Corolla. She didn’t hear someone come in.
A car rumbled up, idling just outside. The door opened, then closed, and a woman wearing a business skirt, white blouse and black business jacket stepped into the shop. She had on sensible, but classy shoes, which came into Tink's view after a moment. The shoes led into long legs, and the skirt hugged shapely curves.
Motoko looked down at the woman in coveralls, half sticking out of a car, and smirked.
“You were the last good thing about this part of town!” Tink sang out, singing along with the end of the song. Then she gave a little kick off and rolled out from under the car. She had some goggles on, but her eyes widening in surprise (along with a little jump of her body) should have been obvious to the other woman. She was startled to see someone there where she hadn’t heard her approach.
The Japanese woman's smirk widened, and she stepped back. Her english was better than a lot of native speakers. "I do not mean to interrupt, but you seemed so into that song that I really could not interrupt you."
“Sorry.” Tink clicked a button on the remote in her pocket and the music turned back down again, another song starting. She tucked the remote away again and gave the Japanese woman a smile. “What can I do for you?”
“I was given a car by my employer, only it seems to be under tuned. I made a few inquiries and was referred to you.” She smiled at Tink and bowed her head in greeting.
“Ahh, I see. Tune up, oil change, all that good stuff? I can do it!” Tink said, giving the woman a grin. “Come on in here with me, I’ll get you started on some paperwork.” She motioned for the other to follow her into the office. “I’m Tink, by the way.”
"I believe so." She was amused she'd been given a clunker, but she didn't really mind it. Tink was adorable, for a blonde woman. She followed Tink into the office, walking smartly. "Call me Motoko."
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Motoko.” Tink said, giving the woman a grin. “Come on over and sit down, it’s some simple paperwork.” One of Tink’s coworkers came in, and Tink handed over the keys so they could pull the car up into the garage.
“Who do you work for? Must be a nice place if they gave you a car.”
“I’m with Interpol, and the local agency helped set me up with something.” She came in and took a seat, to do the paperwork. She was glad she’d brushed up on her English.
“That’s good. Are you new to the area?” Tink asked. She wanted to make polite conversation, but didn’t want to overwhelm or distract the woman while she worked on the paperwork. It was mostly just name, address, phone number, so it shouldn’t be too hard.
“I am. I’m in town for some business.” Motoko scribbled neatly, and glanced up at Tink. She set the pen down, brushing some hair behind her ear and holding out the paperwork. “It’s a long term deal.”
“Well, I hope you like it here, then.” Tink said, accepting the paperwork. She popped around the desk to the computer and punched some things in, then printed out an estimate for Motoko to sign. “And should you want to find your own car, I can give you some names of good dealerships.”
“Thank you.” She looked at the estimate, and then signed. “I’ll have to use my company credit card for this. It’s their clunker, not mine.” She chuckled slightly.
Tink gave a bright grin. “Well, then, while you’re at it, maybe you should put in a new stereo, get some new rims..” She was teasing, obviously.
“..I think they might object to that,” Motoko said, chuckling.
“Maybe.” Tink said, giving a sheepish shrug and a grin. “That’d show ‘em for giving you such a clunker, though.” It wasn’t that it was a terrible car, it just obviously needed some work.
“I’ll think about it. Perhaps a paint job at least.” Motoko’s chuckle turned into a laugh.
Tink’s eyes lit up. “Paint I can do! I’ve got this amazing machine I built that does a paint job... it’s really fantastic. You wanna see??”
“I’m always interested in playing around with paint,” the woman said, laughing. “Please show me? I don’t have anything that amazing that I can show you. At least nothing appropriate to near strangers.” She winked.
Tink didn’t really get it. She sort of blinked at the other woman. “...okay.” She said, not understanding that this was flirtation. She was a bit dense about it all. “Well, come on over here!” She added, the grin coming back to her features. Then she led Motoko through the garage to the back room where she had her rig set up. It almost looked like a rake connected to a tube and a paint can.
Either the woman was straight, or things just went over her head. Motoko filed that away for later, following Tink until they got to the backroom. “How does it work?”
Poor Tink. She missed out on so many interesting things. “Oh, well! The paint goes through this tube here, and comes out these sproingy things here...” She said, and described the way the rig worked.
“So you don’t have to move around the car, or..?” Motoko was trying to wrap her brain around the thing, but mostly she was watching the way Tink talked. It was ... nice.
“Yeah! Well, I’ve got this set of tracks that the thing moves on, see?” She said, then pretended like she was using it to paint a car, giving the full explanation as she went along.
Motoko laughed as the blonde showed her how the machine worked. “That’s ingenious! I’ll have to clear but, but maybe you can do something in a sparkly blue?”
“Of course I can! I did a man named Obi-Wan’s car in bright pink with flames along the sides.” She said, blushing just a little. “That was, of course, without his permission...” It’d been a practical joke by Charlie, but Tink was still proud of the work.
“That’s wonderful. I’ll stop by in a few days, once I can secure the extra funds. It won’t be a problem.” She grinned broadly. “I’ll just call it a business expense.”
“I’ll give you a discount,” Tink gave her a bright grin. “If you’re willing to let me experiment a bit, you can have a steal.
“Experiment?” Motoko flashed a smile at Tink. “A little bit of adventure never hurt anyone. It is a deal.”
“Great!” Tink beamed. One of her coworkers came in with some paperwork and the keys. “Looks like they’ve got your car finished already!” She said, then accepted the things and led Motoko back into the office. “Come on in and sign away your life.” She teased.
“Yes ma’am,” Motoko replied. She’d have to recommend this place to just about everyone.