fandomtownies | Syndulla Scrap, Monday

Well. There was one bright side to the fact that Wayne was finally making it around to checking out that scrapyard Vette had told him about ages ago on a day like today: not even the bitey bits were going to phase him after spending a good chuck of the afternoon fighting giant scorpions and bugs and scoping out giant bombs in the park.

It was, at least, a very productive day. Didn't have nearly enough of those around lately.

So it was Wayne, who looked a bit rougher than he usually would when he'd come around looking for work, that strolled into the scrapyard with a keen eye out for either more unusually large critters to fight or at least someone in charge.

Figuring he'd at least found the latter, he nodded a greeting when he spotted....well, looked a bit like the same kind of alien as Vette was, really, so that was interesting.

"How are you now?" he greeted.

Hera looked up from the bitey bit she was was...grooming, really...and smiled. "Hello. How are you - can I help you with something?"

"Name's Wayne," he offered, stepping forward, closer, and...remembering to maybe wipe a little of the blood off his knuckles before offering out a hand. "I was told there might be some work around here for someone who might be looking."

Eh, Hera's were covered in metal dust. She wiped one off, too, and shook his hand. "Hi, Wayne. There sure is." She let the bitey bit down and stood. "Can I get you a Coke or something?"

"I'd have a Coke," Wayne said, easily enough, though he was wondering what kind of person didn't bother standing up until after shaking your hand, but Hera might get a pass for being from possible back-assward space. "What kind of work you got around here, anyway? Never worked in a scrapyard proper, but we kept a good pile of spare parts in the back bush, did a lot of our own repairs on the equipment around the farm, that sort of thing. I can be handy, when I need to be."

And even when he didn't need to be, really, but it was impolite to talk about yourself too much.

The kind of person with a crotchety bit of toothy metal in their lap, basically.

She led the way to the office. "Mostly it's inventory, helping people who want to find something specific, and taking down information if someone new needs to park." She waved toward the landing pads. "Other than that, I mostly work on my ship and keep these guys busy so they don't start chomping on things they shouldn't." Another wave, this time at the bitey bits. "Vette mostly tries scavenging and building things. If nothing's going on, you're welcome to do whatever you like as long as it's not dangerous."

She dug out a...this wasn't Coke. She frowned at the Nuka-Cola, shrugged, and handed one to Wayne.

You put the crotchety bit of toothy metal down first, then stood up, then shook hands. It wasn't that hard.

Wayne took the drink with a grateful nod, though he gave it a bit of a speculative look himself. Definitely not Coke; he'd never even heard of Nuka-Cola, which just left him wondering if it was just some sort of space pop? Still, he'd try it, and not just because it would be impolite not to after accepting the offer for one. Even if that frown Hera'd given it wasn't the most encouraging thing in the world.

"Seems simple enough," he said, giving the place a good look around, thinking how it wasn't much different than scrap yards back home, just with spaceships instead of tractors and trucks. He might be worried it was a little too simple, compared to what he was used to, but it was still a whole lot better than what he had going on now, which was just a big heap of nothing.

And then he was watching the little chompy bit a little. "What is that," he asked, nodding at it, "anyway? Some kind of robot?"

Sorry, Wayne; crotchety metal came first. They had a history.

"I actually have no idea," Hera confessed. "They just sort of happened one day. They don't seem to have any circuits or anything, they just are."

She took a sip of the not-Coke and decided it wasn't bad.

"They used to be feral, but we've been slowly taming them. Or at least teaching them they're better off not biting people."

Wayne watched them for a little bit longer, thinking they were maybe a little bit cute once you sort of got used to them, as he sipped the pop and also decided it wasn't bad.

Wasn't a fucking Puppers, but...it'll do.

His attention shifted sharply back to Hera. "Exercise, discipline, and affection?" he guessed. "In that order?"

Hera thought about it. "More all at once, but that about sums it up. Sabine built a pen for them, Vette gives them things to play with, I let them out when they're good. And apparently today I'm on grooming duty."

Wayne nodded his approval; that all sounded like a very good, Caesar Millan-approved sort of approach right there. "So not too dissimilar from takin' care of dogs," he noted. "I can handle that."

He might...should he get over the fact that they were definitely very much not dogs at all..even enjoy it a little, every now and again.

"Well, I've only got Kanan's example to go by as far as dogs, but probably? They're a bit sharper, though," Hera said.

"Apart from that, though, like I said - it's a pretty simple job. Just mark down what comes in and what goes out, help anyone that needs it, and let me know if we get any more renters."

"...probably a good thing I'm all caught up on tetanus shots, then," Wayne noted with one more look at the chompy bits before looking to Hera with a firm, solid nod. "And can do. I look forward to doing what I can to help out."

It...still didn't seem like enough work, but, again, it was still more than he was doing now, and he hoped that maybe the opportunity for something a little more physical or involved might eventually present itself. If anything, he could just move pieces of heavy stuff from one spot to another and chalk it up to reorganizing. There'd definitely been days at the farm where he'd just go into the barn and move hay bales from one side of the loft to the other, just to have something to do, and that was nice, because then, on another day, he could just go and move them right back...

Hera had no idea what a tetanus shot was, but she could look it up later.

"In that case, welcome aboard." She stuck out her hand to shake again.

Sometime after her class, Sabine came by in her armor and announced, "Well, my warehouse is off limits this week."

She hated the last couple weeks.

"What's happened this week?" Hera asked, nodding hello.

"Everything's run down and looks... unhealthy. And there was a giant scorpion in my warehouse." There wasn't anymore! "Looks like you lucked out here."

"Well to be fair, everything here is run down on a regular basis," Hera pointed out. "Although these guys do need a bit of rust removal today. Want to help?"

"Sure. It might be good to be somewhere normal for a bit," Sabine said, taking off her helmet. "Chopper's doing okay with all this, too?"

"Chopper has declared he's staying on the Ghost in case the rust is catching," Hera said. "Other than that, he's fine."

She handed Sabine a box of steel wool, and a few of the bitey bits danced over toward her.

Sabine took it, setting her helmet down before starting to work. "Is it wrong to miss the dinosaurs?"

"Stance was pretty adorable that week," Hera agreed, smiling. "I haven't seen much bad about this yet, though."

"You didn't see the scorpion," Sabine said dryly.

"No, I missed that," Hera agreed. "I'll keep an eye out on my way back to the apartment, though. Anything else, apart from the general rustiness?"

"I don't know how to describe it," Sabine said slowly. "It looks sick. Kanan didn't even hold class in the school because it looks hollowed out, which meant you kind of have to hope nothing comes by that you have to shoot in the middle of a lesson."

Granted, she spent a lot of this class headtilting at the teacher, but still.

"Also there's a bomb in the park. That's important."

"A bomb?" Hera shook her head. "Can we get rid of it?"

"I don't know much about it and I'm operating under the assumption that it's live, so I want more information before I say either way," Sabine said. "At the very least, if the island is going to be doing this every week then we only have to get through Sunday, and it looks like it's been there a while."

"I hate to just hope, but without more information..." Hera made a dubious noise and went back to scrubbing one spine on the bitey thing in front of her. "You're the demolitions expert."

"I'll look into it," Sabine promised. "But as of now, as long as no one messes with that bomb, I'm less worried about that than anything this island is trying to do to everything in my warehouse."

It was a fifty-fifty shot that someone would mess with the bomb, but she was being optimistic.

"What's it doing there?" Hera asked. "You know, if you need space to move things, you can always bring it here."

"The way we keep changing, I never know how to keep everything safe in there," Sabine explained. "I lucked out in that the flooding wasn't high enough in there to do anything, but certain chemicals react with water to create poisonous gas. This week there are scorpions around the warehouse district. If we have this stuff now, what do I have to prepare for next time?"

"Maybe keep anything dangerous or priceless on the Ghost?" Hera offered. "So far nothing's touched it." And if anything did she would have words with the island.

Sabine had wondered if it wasn't worth taking her stuff offplanet somewhere, which was an idea she hated, but this could work better.

"Are you sure?"

Hera nodded. "As long as it's all properly stowed and secured, which I'm sure it will be, you're welcome to keep it there. Anything that tries to get in will face Chopper."

"Thank you," Sabine said gratefully. "I'd feel so much better about it."

"You're welcome," Hera said. "I can help you get the stuff over here too, if you want. Maybe draft Kanan, too."

"You're the best. As long as I get it out before the next potential crisis, anytime is good," Sabine said.

"When I close up, if it's still light," Hera promised. "Otherwise, tomorrow maybe."

Syndulla Scrap, Monday

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject