Multi-pup Sunday morning post -- bar room

[bigarmy_strangepants]

• Ragnar Lothbrok is sitting at a table by the window, slowly making his meandering way through the repair manual for his motorbike. There is something wrong with it, and finding out doesn't become any easier when you can't read all that fluently.
• Teja, on the other hand, seems rather unconcerned today -- he is sitting by the fireplace, playing his harp and occasionally throwing shiny chestnuts for his cats to catch and play with. When the chestnuts are exhausted, the cats bring them back and put them by his feet to throw again. They're not playing fetch, of course, because they are cats.
• Dr. Hannibal Lecter is at the piano, quietly improvising. He has found a theme and is putting it through its paces -- now it sounds like Bach, now like a ragtime, and then again like some grandly bombastic piece by Beethoven, with an infusion of some ancient children's song.
• Father Harman has finished his Sunday service and is having a quiet cup of tea by himself, watching the fish in the fireplace without a book or any paper between himself and the world, for once.

Comments

[runningred]

"Ragnar, hey?" Jay calls, coming down from his room, a little green drone riding his shoulder. "George said he saw you coming in from the forest pushing your bike. Everything okay?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Hi Jay," Ragnar calls over. "Want some coffee? Yes, I hit a rock, and the chain came off."

[runningred]

"Yeah, coffee would be great, thanks." He comes over to join Ragnar. "Did you bend anything or just pop the chain?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Both," Ragnar says, ordering coffee from a rat. "Have a seat. Anything I can offer George there?"

He nods at the drone.

[runningred]

George gives a little hum of greeting and bumps gently against Ragnar's hand, indicating pats might be in order.

"If you've bend something, we may have to strip it back and do some panel beating. We can head down the garage now if you like?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Let's take the coffee and do that," Ragnar agrees.

Coffee helps with thinking.

While they wait, he pats the the drone.

[runningred]

George purrs happily, singing to himself as Ragnar pats him. Singing the Hávamál by the sound of it.

"Coffee is always a good fuel for the brain." Jay nods, leaving serious questions till they have the pot of coffee and are heading down the garage.

"You okay, mate?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Not really," Ragnar says. "Athelstan's still so full of pain and trouble."

[runningred]

"And because you can't help, you're struggling too?" He asks softly, leading Ragnar over to the workshop and looking around to see where the bike is parked.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

The bike is clean, and some parts have already been dismantled to get at the chain, and the slightly out-of-whack parts around it.

"Yes," Ragnar says. "I know I have to be patient, and that he needs to get out of it on his own, with only the help he asks for. But it hurts to see him in pain."

[runningred]

Jay sits down next to the bike to look at it, nodding to himself and calling out as George zips over with tools. "Oh yeah, I see the problem. You've got it just about fixed too but this'll have to be straightened or the chain will just keep slipping."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"That's what I thought," Ragnar sas. "Or something like it. It feels wonky."

[runningred]

"You've got good instincts for the bike." Jay nods, removing a section. "You can feel when something's out of whack."

He brings the bent section over the the bench. "Yeah, I can see what happened here. Well, we can talk to Teja about bending it back or we can find another one and replace it."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Do you have a spare of that?" Ragnar asks. "Because then we could fix the bike now, then get Teja to bend this back and keep it as a spare."

[runningred]

"If I don't have one, we can find own." There's a whole garage of spares, after all. "I build yours from a Yamaha dirt bike so it shouldn't be hard to find parts."

Or at least the bones of a Yamaha with a lot of custom work built on.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Do the drones know where everything is?" Ragnar asks, looking around, as the garage full of spares doesn't immediately make sense to him. "Then I think we'd best do that."

[runningred]

"A lot of it but mostly they have the two nearest scrap heaps pretty well catalogued." He gestures to one of the spare bikes he keeps around. "We can ride out and check."

He hesitates a moment, torn between his own favourites and picks the black bat bike. Sleek as a weapon and fast as it looks.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar reaches for one of the Ducatis, looking askance at Jay -- may he really take this bike again?

[runningred]

"I trust you." Jay grin, tossing him a helmet. "Now."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar chuckles, puts on the helmet and starts the bike.

[runningred]

Jay keeps the bat-bike nice and slow to start off with, keeping within the duc's speed range so Ragnar can keep up. He's tempted to let loose a little.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar follows smoothly on the Duc, remembering how she used to handle that one time. He keeps tame, though, following Jay's lead.

[runningred]

Jay nods, impressed by how Ragnar handles himself on the bike. He speeds up a bit, taking the corners a bit quicker not.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar speeds up as well, loving the way the Duc moves under him.

[runningred]

The scrap pile isn't that far away but Jay's rather enjoying the ride, laying to bike into the corners smoothly and confidently. But still keeping to a speed the Duc can keep up with. He misses the smoothness of road riding and revels in the way the tyres glide on the concrete floor.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar follows as smoothly -- this surface is totally different than the rough terrain outside. You can trust it, for lack of a better expression.

[runningred]

Jay calls back a happy laugh as he lifts the front end, bringing the bike around the last corner and slowing. He's all grins as he pulls of his helmet.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar stops as well, and marvels at the scrap heap.

[runningred]

"There's a couple of trashed bikes on the other side. we should be able to get what we need there."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"How were they trashed?" Ragnar wonders.

[runningred]

"Some of them were here before." Jay shrugs, looking sheepish. "I broke a few."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"How can one tell which vehicles are no longer used?" Ragnar wonders.

[runningred]

Again, Jay looks sheepish. "I just guess really. The ones that don't look like they've been touched in a long time."

He finds a Yamaha with the right shaped piece for Ragnar's bike and starts detaching it. "Here, this'll do it."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Yes, that looks a bit like mine," Ragnar says, "if it had been eaten by a dragon, and spat out again."

[runningred]

Jay chuckles, "For all we know, it might have been." He unbolts the part and slips it into one of the Batbike's storage containers.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Fighting dragons on motorbikes..." Ragnar muses. You can see he's already pondering the technicalities of that.

[runningred]

Jay laughs. "Never thought of that. Could be interesting."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Interesting sport, too, with the right kind of dragons," Ragnar muses.

Hey, this is Milliways! Sentient dragons battling knights on motorbikes with minimum danger or damage to all involved could totally become popular Saturday evening entertainment.

[runningred]

"Know any dragons who might be keen to play?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"There's one outside who seems quite friendly," Ragnar says. "But I never asked her, of course. We only now thought of it."

[runningred]

Jay throws his leg over his bike, or at least he's about to before he spots another couple of parts he can use, tucking them into his bike's carry case. "If you have any luck, let me know. That sounds like fun."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Absolutely!" Ragnar says, grinning widely.

He likes the idea more and more...

[runningred]

Jay get on his bike and grins. "Feel like opening the throttle up a bit on the way back?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Oh yes!" Ragnar says. He nods, ready to go.

[runningred]

"I'd say keep up but if I give this one her head, you wouldn't see me for dust but that doesn't mean we can't red line the Duc."

He revves the bike, snapping his helmet shut and takes off, lifting the front wheel off the ground.

{ooc: shall we fade with them riding like loons?}

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar follows, just as wildly, taking off after him. The Duc is both fast and willing.


[[OOC: Perfect point for it -- thanks for the thread! <3 ]]