milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Diligence ought to be rewarded, the way Adrian sees it, and he's been diligently training his ass off since he got to Milliways. Back home he'd be trying to scare up enough people for a game of rugby, but he's not sure how you go about doing that with a bar full of people from all kinds of worlds where rugby probably doesn't even exist.

Bar, perhaps sensing that a cooped-up, bored military man is not necessarily the best thing for local health, has done her best to distract him from his interest in modern blood sports. Unfortunately the distraction has taken the form of a box of balsa-wood toy airplanes and rubber bands to run the propellers. He's taking the opportunity to find out just how much he can crank those suckers before they snap in half or get lost in the rafters.

If you get hit by plane remains... we're so sorry.

[tinytag: Adrian Shephard (Half-Life: Opposing Force), Chell Johnson (Portal)]

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It wasn't so much being hit as where it landed.

-Splash!-

"Hey! I'm eating here!"

"Sorry, ma'am," calls Shephard, coming to his feet. "Didn't think there was much of anybody sittin' out that way."

"Well there was." Nevermind she was stickin' to the corners.

Kit gingerly picked out a balsawood fragment from what was a fairly decent bowl of goulash. "Think this belongs to you?"

"Yeah, probably," says Shephard. "Far as I know they don't fool around with wooden shit in the kitchen much, so it's gonna be mine." After a moment's thought he adds, "I c'n get you a new bowl, if y'want."

(Personally, he'd just keep eating. But after several weeks of eating Xenian wildlife bulked out with early-autumn plant matter, he doubts anything could go wrong in the kitchens here that'd make him stop eating.)

"I'll be fine, just be careful." The soggy remnants are put into a napkin to be disposed of. "Could get someone's eye with that, what'd you use to throw it?"

"Rubber bands." Shephard holds up one of the elastics from an unbroken plane. "Twist 'em up enough and hooooeee, those little bastards'll haul. 'Course, you might break the propeller or somethin', but it's worth it to get 'em up there."

"Remind me not to let you arm yourself with rubberbands then," Smirk. "I bet you're a real hit with the kids around here."

"Couldn't tell ya, ma'am," says Shephard. "Only just got here a couple days back, tell ya the truth. Had a fuckload of nieces 'n nephews 'n cousins who used to think I was the shit, though."

Chell remembers building model planes like those, long ago, and when Adrian gets them out, she wanders over, curiously.

"Having fun?"

"So far, yep," says Shephard, looking up. "How's it goin', Chell?"

"It's going... well, all things considered," she finally decides after thinking for a moment. "Ben... understood, and was actually the one who asked first. It was much easier, like you said."

If Adrian's one to notice, Chell's wearing a ring (http://www.amypetersstudio.com/RBAL.jpg) on a chain that wasn't there before.

"And you?"

Adrian glances at the ring a moment, but it doesn't look like it's even a high school ring, so it's probably nothing significant enough to be a real problem. He just nods. "Doin' all right," he says. "Wouldn't mind headin' back sometime soon, but I've got most of my shit together anyway. Interestin' place."

When, you know, it doesn't turn out that every freaking person he meets has already met that asscrab Freeman.

"Yeah, the same," Chell admits. "I've been refamiliarizing myself with the portal gun in enclosed spaces--they have a garage. It's useful."

Beat.

"You like planes, or are you just bored?"

Adrian wiggles one hand in midair. "Six of one, half-a-dozen of the other," he says. "I do all my drills 'n all the exercise 'n shit I can think of first thing in the morning, try and keep the day full up so I don't go out of form, but it don't hurt to put that aside once in a while 'n screw around some, you know? 'Specially not when it's tryin' to rain fuckin' sideways out back."

Chell nods. "I can only really take the outdoors in small doses," she admits, "and normally not without a friend. Having to travel... outside, in our world? Has helped some, but... Knowing the garage is there is very, very nice."

"Pretty much grew up in the outdoors, m'self," says Adrian. "Stayin' inside too long gets me antsy. Garage sounds interesting, though. What's it like?"

"It's got... possibly every car ever, and plenty of empty space left over... there were other vehicles in there that I didn't recognize," she adds. "It's got a fairly high ceiling, so I was able to strap my old heel springs on for some momentum-building exercises."

"...."

Shephard is trying to picture a garage that size. It's rather resembling Black Mesa, only full of cars.

Because, damn.

"It's amazing," she grins. "And no GLaDOS."

This is, of course, always a plus.

"Okay, I'm gonna have to see this," Shephard finally says. He starts gathering up the airplanes. "Where's this garage of yours?"

Chell hops out of her seat, grinning, and waves him on. "This way--the elevator's just over here!"

"Stay," Shephard orders his pile of plane parts- but he's grinning too, as he leaves them behind. "Man, this is gonna be so cool."

Chell's waiting in the elevator already, and presses the appropriate button when he gets in. "Do you like cars?"

"Takin' 'em apart 'n upgrading whatever shit they've got under the skin, sure," says Shephard. "Usually I let other folks do the drivin', though."

"So you work with machines, too? It's fascinating."

"Aw hell yeah," says Shephard. "I'm not the best at it, but I always was respectable with a wrench back home. Long as I had a good car to work on, anyways."

"I think there are plenty of good cars here, too. I don't know much about them, but... it looks like it."

"I'll let you know when I see 'em," says Shephard firmly. "It shouldn't be ... that... holy shitfucking mother of ass."

He just saw the garage proper.

Yeah.

"I take it that's... good?"

"Fuck yeah," says Shephard fervently. "Shit me fucking blind, where the shit did they all come from?"

Chell shrugs helplessly "Ge--some people say teleporters. It's anyone's guess, really."

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