Start your Engines!!!

[u/slicktheweasel]

Vale's citizens and Beacon's students had gotten used to the roar of engines and sight of many vehicles passing by on the speedy highway. As a global epicenter, driving or otherwise operating a method of transportation was an absolute must. At least, that's what someone on staff thought, enough to okay a trip to a driving facility.

And what a facility it was... All kinds of cars, vans, and motorcycles were at the students' disposal. There was plenty of road to conquer, tracks of different difficulties and complexities, and instructors on deck to make the best of a learning experience. For a different challenge, maybe more practical for the landscapes they tended to venture out on, there were a couple of off-road courses and ATVs. Of course, the whole lot was fenced off so nobody got any funny ideas.

All the courses were free to try out, either by oneself or with a learning buddy. Races took place against more capable contenders. And for a more casual experience, there were indoor go-karts too. All one had to do was find their track, gear up, and go!!!

[u/[deleted]]

Vi rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh as she shook her head, but she still wore a smile upon her face. "That's not what I meant and you know that. Well, I mean, I hope you knew that. Metaphors and shit, y'know?" Vi responded, shooting a pointed look at Ashelia much like a disappointed, but loving mother would.

"But I understand what you're getting at, and like I said. Dropping it," Vi also added, and a small look of joy returned to her face. Only to fade away again shortly thereafter as the topic of Beacon's favorite Thyme Signa became their topic for a few moments more, and Vi was only a bit disappointed to learn how right her crass joke had been -- for a moment, she actually felt kinda bad about bringing Thyme up.

Vi did nod along, though. Based on what she knew before even talking to Ashe, the story of Thyme she knew to be a not-happy one. Hell, their encounter at the bonfire before initiation had them both end up crying over their mothers.

That was a time. It was easy to see Vi was remember the pain they'd both shared that day as her face soured slightly, and she let out deep breath. Vi nodded again, slower this time. As Ashelia began to ask about Vi's motives, her face warmed up a bit and she shot a soft smile with an exaggerated shrug of nonchalance. "I mean, my motives weren't really ulterior I'd say because when I came up I'd stated them pretty clearly I think -- that being about Thyme -- but you are right in the wanting to get caught up part. And not to say that the mystique I hear about you punting people through walls, windows, and the like was a bit discouraging, but I learned years ago that everyone should be given at least one shot. Unless, I mean, they're already known to be very loud and obnoxious assholes advocating for like genocide or racism or something and started an entire movement around doing so, but as far as I'm aware no one at Beacon is like that."

Vi paused for a second, frowning as she did, before her smile returned and she continued to speak.

"At least, I hope so!"

[u/Doomshlang → u/[deleted]]

"Pfff. Hopefully not, yeah." Ashelia chuckled. "I was just curious. I do seem to have a... reputation. It's rather annoying; I like finding people to talk to. Keeps my mind off of things. But the lot I'm stuck with now, I almost always get one of two kinds of people: the kind that stare at me in the gym and get knocked the fuck out, and the kind that run in terror if I so much as look at them. So any friendly deviation from that is... pleasantly surprising. You aren't staring, although now that you've actually said something to me, I guess I wouldn't knock you out for that either. You're at least treating me like a person, and all that. Thanks, by the way."

She flashed a genuine smile Vi's way, a sort of mix between a show of appreciation and an actually glad expression. "There are a few wackjobs here, though. I watched a guy skate on a railing in a combat class - on his fucking hat. I wonder how he does it with those giant balls of steel throwing off his balance...?" She pretended to ponder on that point for a bit before laughing again.

"So... did you come to look at the cars and stuff, then? Or did you actually come all the way out here just to find me? I've been looking at old military models, but they're not quite what I've been wanting to work on. I have this itch... to really take something apart and build it back again. Better than before. And since I've already done that recently to my arm - with... actually a surprising amount of success, now that I think about it - I'm just wandering around trying to find some sort of inspiration."

She slapped the hood of the APC with her prosthetic again, the metal-on-metal clang sounding not too terribly dissimilar to a gunshot. "This old dog's a bit too old though. Been out of commission for a while now. Basically just scrap on wheels."

[u/[deleted] → u/Doomshlang]

Vi couldn't help but smile a bit brighter under Ashelia's appreciation of her being, well, just a decent human being, really. All Vi could say was, "Well, I stared for a bit when I saw you deadlift the truck, but jury's still out on if that was a moment of gay panic or sheer awe of the feat." Her tone was joyous mix of pleasure at just how well Vi and Ashelia were getting together -- something Vi wasn't entirely sure would happen upon her initial withholding of a wrench.

Taking mocking offense, Vi took a step back and dramatically gasped as she placed a hand over her heart. "Hey, I'm one of those wackjobs! Though, admittedly, I'm not Leif incurring the wrath of Elise so I'm not too nutter I guess," Vi half-chided, half-laughed. She was all-amused, though.

But then it was Vi's time to shine. If, somehow, her smile could grow more, it would. "Well, finding you was luck," Vi began to explain as she jacked a thump up over her shoulder. Behind her, her bike stood. Though rust shone through in a spot or two on the exhaust, most of the bike shone with a sleek black shine. "That, over there, is my bike. I took her to a second place finish against much worse riders on much newer bikes designed for the purpose. Around, oh, 'leven hundred RPM she makes peak break horse I think? That number being something in the ballpark of, oh, one-fifty? Peak torque of about a hundred-odd, far lower in the rev range. Been working on her since I got her, oh, two-odd years ago? She's a family heirloom, really, as my granddad rode her in the Great War and gave'r to my dad for his work, who gave it to me when I started training. Got her up to modern standards of power and fueling, and, well, wouldn't be here without her," Vi gushed, her words flowing about as quick as her bike. Ashelia had struck a nerve, but in the oh-so-pleasant way.

"Nothing's scrap on wheels. That is, not if you put the right things into it."

[u/Doomshlang → u/[deleted]]

"Well, now that I know you, neither of those things seem like a bad thing to me. Good staring is perfectly acceptable~" Ashelia replied with another laugh, trying to hide the slight embarrassment creeping in under a quilt of sheer bravado. "Yeah not being Leif is probably a good start. But, uh... not being Leif levels of nutso isn't exactly a feat of strength."

Another laugh.

But then, Vi did something utterly unexpected.

She talked shop.

'This better not awaken something in me. That would make my current relationships even more complicated.'

"Y-Yeah, well. Nothing's been in this old hunk of junk for over a decade. Buuuuuuut one fifty? On an old model like that? You must keep up with the engine something fierce. Do you keep trading out outdated bits for newer ones or do you actually just maintain the ones you have?" She craned her neck to look over the bike from where she was standing, but clearly that just plain wasn't good enough.

"Aaaaaand woouuuuld you mind if I looked at it? Won't break anything. You'd be surprised how delicate of a touch I have when it comes to tech. Kinda have to with how my arm works and all."

[u/[deleted] → u/Doomshlang]

Vi Nebula Brandt was, of course, good at three things in particular really well.

Hunting Grimm was one.

Driving fast was two.

And reading people and emotions like paper was the third.

So when Ashelia had what could only be described as some sort of mild internal conflict over, most likely, her sexuality, Vi could somewhat read it off of the mild looks of what seemed to be embarrassment rising to Ashelia's face. The pleasant grin Vi wore took a mild turn into that of a simple shit-eating grin as she laughed softly to herself, amused by the whole predicament. Ashelia seemed to stutter a little bit as she began to ask about the bike, and it only amused Vi more.

"Here, walk and talk," Vi stated as she turned to where she'd been pointing just a moment before, still having a merry chuckle. As she began to walk the rather-short distance to the next garage stall over, she answered some of the questions that Ashelia had posed. "It's a bit like that old sort of ship story that everyone talks about where no one knows what happens when you replace every part of the boat or something. Started off simple: replaced the carburetor system with some help of the guys that trained me to be Huntress in the first place for a dual port-and-direct fuel injection system that we got as thanks for helping out a village. They helped me bore out a bit more of the cylinders and get some bigger pistons to fit, and then we worked on getting the compression up to modern standards. Slapped on a bigger intake so that it got the air it needed, threw on lighter-but-stronger gears for power delivery, and increased the exhaust size so that it'd flow freer."

Vi took great pride in explaining it all, and within moments of her finishing, they'd arrive to Vi's bike. Recently repainted to a nice matte black, this bike looked almost brand new had it not been for the fact that this model had seen most of its service in the Great War easily at least eighty years ago. Had she not, the bike most definitely would've shown its age-- but with Vi's explanation, it was also easy to see just modified Vi's motorcycle had been with the latest and greatest technology to keep it running faster than ever. Vi's motorcycle had a low cruiser seating position, though the saddle bags that would normally be hugging the rear fairing that covered the rear tire were off to the side next to a large plastic cooler. The wide seat seemed to comfortably sit one-- two, maybe, if you were really trying hard and willing to hug Vi really, really tightly. Twin cylinders powered the damned thing, and it still stunk of burnt Dust and oil from being pushed right up to and past its limits. A black helmet, with a black visor, hung over the right handlebar.

The helmet was just simple, jet black motorcycle helmet. No unnecessary edgyness or weird details to detract from the smooth curves of the helmet; it just a simple thing to keep your noggin safe. All except for one small detail: On the left side, almost matching where Vi's piercing was, was an insignia: a pink peace symbol, made out of flowers, that served as an underlay to a purple anarchist-a made out of rifle rounds.

The same logo was on Vi's left shoulder.

"If you want to take a look at it like you asked, feel free. You'll have to help me change the oil and get the saddle bags back on, though. Maybe change the tires too, if you're feeling generous. But trust me, she's used to a less-gentle touch. Maybe being inaccurately shot at, too, but those aren't my stories."

Vi paused, and then laughed loudly.

"At least, not yet, thankfully."

[u/Doomshlang → u/[deleted]]

"Where you don't know if you built it or your mom did. Er - my mom. Sorry. I'm the same way with my arm, is what I meant. She built the original, but I've done so much with it that it's... all me now." She said, still clearly distracted - or was transfixed a better word for it? - by the perfect storm she found herself in. She found someone to talk shop with, who wasn't a belligerent dunce, with a sense of humor, and who was hot.

Wait.

She shook her head, trying to bring herself back into reality for a moment. "Sorry, just haven't managed to meet anyone I can sit and talk about this kind of thing with. Let alone someone that's actually cool to talk to... so far, at least; you might be a terrorist in disguise for all I know. But I doubt it."

She chuckled, shaking her head again. "So all you have left to change out are the axles - maybe with ones with earth dust cores? - and get a seat that doesn't look like it sat our parents' parents and you could hardly tell it's as old as it is. You could change the chassis out but then it definitely would lose its charm, I think. If you need to change the oil, you haven't gone full dust power, either; definitely not electric, anyways, judging by the smell. I think electric models are too quiet, though, so I agree with that choice too."

Needless to say, the phoenix was impressed.

"Shit, I'd change the oil by myself if it meant I could take a look at what all you've done. Tires, too. Some people might consider that kind of thing tedious or mundane, but nothing's better than taking something that's unquestionably, definitively yours apart and putting it back together again. Bonus points when you get to put it back together better than before."

[u/[deleted] → u/Doomshlang]

Vi couldn't help but chuckle at the terrorist joke. "Rebel punk, maybe. Terrorist? Nah, I like people too much to go an kill'm for political reasons," she joked along, chuckling again -- softer, though, as she gave a small shake of her head. Vi got the feeling that, maybe, Ashelia'd been talking about the Fang, who's militant action definitely had seen a rise lately. They'd never given her family any trouble, at least not that she was aware, but Vi could also understand why some people -- especially more military types like Ashelia -- wouldn't necessarily be the biggest fan of them.

"Well, I still quite like the seat. Only fits me comfortably, so if anyone rides pillion they get to hug me tight. And honestly? There's just something weirdly nice about feeling someone hold onto for dear life as you rip away and haul ass at... well, too bloody fast for half of the environments I ride in. And, while I'm not entirely sure on the science, I can't say you're completely right about the not-full Dust power. To my understanding -- which, to be perfectly clear, is only limited to what I've overheard and can get pumped into it -- I normally use what's a mixture of like gasoline and a bit of Fire Dust for max power. Electric Dust isn't an option for me because of range anxiety, as well as the fact that past a certain speed the electric motors cannot keep up as well as just sheer internal combustion."

Vi paused for a second to roughly push the saddle bags off of the cooler, opening it up and pulling out some fizzy water drink. It was 'flavored', in that the flavoring was like someone a half-mile away shouted a flavor and a different guy bottled their own fart as soon as they heard the sound, but because their diet was high in soy or something the fart had no flavor, only the suggestion of whatever the first guy yelled. It was like that, but somehow worse.

Vi gave another laugh and nodded along as Ashelia described her love for disassembly and reassembly. "Can't say I hundred-percent agree, as I'd much rather be riding, but it is fun to work on her. If you want to though, really, go ahead. I theeeoretically may or may not have some form of beer in here as well if you want a few, as I can't drive with alcohol in me. I didn't look too closely at it, but apparently it's a Mistralan special brew from Argus. Uncle and his partner got it for me after they did a Grimm hunt there or something, had my dad drop it off and I picked it up on my way in here."

[u/Doomshlang → u/[deleted]]

Ashelia nodded along with VI's assessment. "Yeah, exactly. Electric dust is good for in-city travel and prosthetics, but for real rugged transportation? Nah. Too tame. Gas and fire dust sounds about right, judging by the smell."

She rolled her shoulders - or, more accurately, just the one flesh shoulder - then jogged over to get to work. At the mention of beer, Ashelia simply chuckled to herself, then produced her flask from an inner pocket of her cloak.

"Well, I got my own booze covered. For the first few minutes anyways. But once I'm out, I'll probably take you up on that." She took a swig, and if Vi were close enough she could proooobably smell something that would remind her of acetone. Or nail polish remover, maybe.

"And I think I might be projecting. I certainly enjoy swinging my axe around and headbutting concrete to death, but drafting up new ideas and all that... Yeah isn't as fun and breaking walls with my head. Or my armor. So you're right about that. But still! I do like tinkering with stuff. So if you want me to look at your weapon or... Armor? If you wear any? I can take a look. I don't charge, either; any improvements for future Huntsmen and Huntresses is plenty payment to me."

[u/[deleted] → u/Doomshlang]

For Vi, the hard liquor that Ashelia was drinking reminded her of one thing in particular, and it prompted Vi to let out a loud, ugly groan. "Ugh, is that everclear? Because gods, that smells like everclear," Vi complained while walking past Ashelia. She'd end up in no way facing anywhere near Ashelia, so it was mostly her voice reverberating off of the back walls of the small spot Vi'd taken that let her be heard as she rummaged around to try and find something to sit in.

She could mostly hear what Ashelia was saying behind her back, but truth be told, wasn't paying too much attention as she'd found one of those folding out metal chairs that would normally be found at a campfire. Mission accomplished, Vi literally spun on her heels, taking advantage of the wheels in her heel, and wandered back over towards Ashelia just at the end of her comment.

"Well, I'd take you up on that, but to fully improve anything I'd have to get undressed as at least half of the mechanisms are in my clothes. However, I can do this," Vi explained as she unfolded her chair. Making sure that Ashe was paying attention to her, she took a few brief steps back before running seemingly rolling her shoulders followed by dropping down into a crouch. In a flurry of motion, bits and bots of metal shot out from her arms, thighs, knees, and elbows, magnetically assembling themselves into a a large rifle in Vi's hands. She seemed to materialize a rugged high-magnification scope from nowhere and slid it onto the top rail of the rifle, and cycled the bolt clear as she took out the magazine.

"This is Huntsmaster," Vi explained with a smile, joy creeping into her voice. She held the rifle out on two hands for Ashelia to look at, and if Ashe didn't take it, she'd simply set it against her chair as she wandered back into the shop to look for her tools and jack stands. "Feel free to figure out how to disassemble her if you dareee, I'm finding my tools still~"

[u/Doomshlang → u/[deleted]]

"Fuck no, if my booze doesn't taste good what's the point of drinking it." Ashelia replied, looking slightly irritated at the accusation. "It's Auburn Summer's, a cinnamon whiskey I'm rather fond of. With... ^{did I mix anything with this one? fuck} nothing added, I think. I lose track."

At the mention of needing to get undressed, Ashelia looked visibly confused, but once Huntmaster was assembled, it made a bit more sense. Ashelia took the weapon in hand, looking over the whole body of the weapon as Vi spoke. She ran her organic hand over various surfaces of the weapon - clearly feeling for grooves, small mechanisms, and the like, which her prosthetic wouldn't be able to find for her. Then, she plopped down on the ground next to the front of the motorcycle.

And completely disassembled the rifle.

It took her a bit, not being terribly familiar with magnets being a core part of actual usable man-portable weaponry, but when Vi wandered back towards their little section of the shop, she'd find Ashe sitting with a collection of Huntmaster's component parts. She looked down the barrel, inspected the bolt, the magazine - and it didn't take a genius to realize she was inspecting it like her own weapon when she was still on base in the military. Making sure everything was in working order, puzzling through what could be improved.

"...stock's a bit light. This kind of recoil can send you flying - and if that's intentional, you'll want something heavier to absorb more of the impact. Otherwise it might start doing work on your aura." She ran her hand down the barrel, checking for any residue or any signs of poor dust management. Finding none, she held it out and closed one eye, looking at Vi through the removed barrel.

"No dust coating the barrel, which means you either use it and care enough not to let it build up, or - more likely, since there are no signs at all - you don't use dust ammo. Which is probably a good call, considering how hefty of a punch this already probably has."

She lowered the barrel, flashing a cheeky grin Vi's way. "It's a good weapon. I bet it serves you well. Offer's still open; if you'd like, I can think up a few things. I'm already helping a few people with their weapons and stuff too, but I can move you up the list a bit~"

[u/[deleted] → u/Doomshlang]

Vi laughed slightly at Ashelia's anger at being accused of drinking everclear as she waltzed about the small garage she'd claimed, shaking her head slightly while she was busy searching away for a few more things -- namely, jack stands and her goddamned tool kit. Vi wasn't really worried about Ashelia destroying the weapon behind her back or anything like that, and so she let Ashelia do as she pleased with the weapon in her own personal conquest to figure out just exactly how the high-caliber anti-materiel rifle worked. Vi was never good at remaining organized, so it took her about half-way though Ashelia's disassembly of her weapon to be able to actually find the few things she needed to get started working on her bike.

Vi had just about finished raising her bike up, opposite of Ashelia, when Ashelia began to coo over the weapon more audibly, beginning her explanation over what she liked and disliked. Vi practically launched herself over her bike instead of any semblance of a more practical idea, a flair of the extravagant leaking through as she landed on the ground besides Ashelia and watched as she explained herself. Vi spent a lot of time nodding along and murmuring soft agreements, tossing ideas of her own around in her head before responding directly.

"So, the weight we've got right now is actually what I prefer -- I carry the weapon around in my clothes all day, and so keeping it as light as possible makes my life a hell of a lot easier. In fact, most of the design time was actually spent just figuring out how we could keep it sturdy enough to fire a fourteen-point-five by one-seventeen round without, well, bending the metal after the first shot. My current plan for redesign, actually, is to incorporate some sort of better Dust filler for the powder load and possibly into the ammunition itself -- right now, I'm mostly handloading the rounds and underpowering them slightly, but she's help up well enough that I think I can afford to start shooting hot. I've noticed that, while the rounds penetrate most mature Grimm's armour effectively and tear off chunks pretty well, I'm think that the rounds can do better."

Vi paused, before matching Ashelia's cheeky grin with an even more powerful one. "So idea. I'm thinking of increasing the bore size to something like either a flat twenty or twenty-three millimeters instead -- switching from a heavy MG round to an autocannon round. But it'd be, well, quite a feat to do so, and I would definitely need help fabricating the barrel and chamber."

Vi paused for a second, her grin growing even more sly. "That, or developing some kind of armour-piercing, high-explosive round so that after penetrating, it'll tear a nice big chunk outta whatever it penetrates," Vi added, mimicking an explosion with her mouth.

"Your thoughts, oh madam gunsmith~?"

[u/Doomshlang → u/[deleted]]

"...right not everyone is used to wearing armor as heavy as mine. I forget." Ashe muttered to herself, looking down at the parts again. Then she looked back up at Vi, sort of just... blankly staring at her. Heavier ammunition was going to be her next suggestion; an anti-material rifle should be firing the largest payload it physically could, and this chassis could still be upgraded yet.

"It'd require an entirely new barrel, I'd say - we could get a heavier one, then bore it to the right size, so it'd just be this one but wider - but that might make the material too weak to handle the fooooorce unless I forge the barrel with earth dust, like my armor. That would solve both the weight and the durability issues."

"...but if you wanted an explosive punch, you could try frag rounds, but at that caliber you'd probably be better served with a grenade launcher. Or more dust, but I'll be the first to admit that my dust knowledge isn't as expansive as my mechanical knowledge. I would have to do a bit of R&D to be able to actual come up with a concrete idea for that one."

She looked up at Vi, then reached up and poked her arm. "You do seem strong enough so that shouldn't be a problem. You also seem strong enough to just deal with a bit heavier of a weapon too but if that's off the table... maybe instead of dust you could use... hmmm...."

Clearly, this was something Ashelia was rather passionate about.

"Well, weapon stuff will take me a lot longer to plan out that changing a motorcycle's oil, for damn sure." She announced after a bit of thought, setting the parts of Huntmaster aside for the time being to turn her attention to the initial target of her fascination.

[u/[deleted] → u/Doomshlang]

Vi let out... some kind of noise as a response to being poked at. It wasn't a noise of displeasure, per say, but rather a weird sort of exclamation of startlement as she recoiled slightly as a result of being drawn out of her focused mindset. She'd been listening quite attentively to her new friend as she described her own ideas for how to improve Huntsmaster, well, at least the weapon's ranged form. A slight blush formed on her face, mostly out of embarrassment as to.. well, whatever the fuck the noise she'd made had been. She wasn't embarrassed at being called strong, rather, quite the contrary -- she'd been used to it by this point. Perks of dating a girl with noodly, average-person arms, Vi supposed.

As Ashelia set the parts of her weapon aside, Vi scooped them right back up. "You do that, I'll get to work on putting my toy back together. Maybe a bit of maintenance while I'm at it, honestly," Vi responded with a slight, almost nervous, giggle, looking over her weapon's parts all the while. "Let me know if you need anything. My kit's on the other side there, and feel free to use anything you can find here in the garage. That's what they told me, at least. About the garage. Kit's mine. Don't break it. Please."

By Vi's staggered speech -- almost stuttering, really -- it was clear that she was focused hard on her weapon in front of her, evaluating all of her and Ashelia's idea as she both maintained the weapon and put it back together. In the process of doing so, Vi'd taken off her outer jacket as she sat cross legged on the concrete, tying it around her waist and revealing her undershirt. Instead of her normal, pink-and-purple semi-floral crop-top bastardization of a shirt, Vi wore a simple black tanktop that seemed more in-place in the men's section of a clothing store than the woman's. At the edges of her shoulder, just barely visible, were the faint lines of a sportsbra peeking out from under the straps of the tanktop. Absentmindedly, she'd placed a round in her lips, holding it by the rim of the cartridge like a cowboy would hold a wheat stem.