Jul 23 11:35:41 108 PA - Two Guys, Two Stories

From Chronicles

Jul 23 11:35:41 108 PA.

UNCOMMON MECHANICS

Galvin is sitting outside of his garage on a fold out chair. The garage seems to be quiet today not a lot of work piling up. He has a six pack of beer sitting next to the chair. One of the beers is in his hand. He sits there looking out at the landing strip watching the activity. He breaks out some rolling papers and a small baggy and starts rolling himself a joint.

The big Pavel comes marching in from the south side of the landing strip, still seeming to be intrigued as airplanes, helicopters, skycycles, hovercycles and basically all flying machines of every type pass overhead. His waist is jingling with tools today, more than usual, and he grins a big toothy one as he approaches, waving a big mitt of a hand. Unlike others, he has no problem yelling across a distance. In Euro at the moment. << Galvin! This is what I've seen in old postcards from beaches. Concrete is the new sand? >>

Galvin doesn't bother to yell, and instead waits for Pavel to get closer to where he is sitting. He replies in Euro. "Hey Pavel. What are you up to? Just a slow day, so I am watching the sights. And all the big robots." He says with a chuckle before taking a sip from his beer. "You want to join me?"

Pavel looks, and smiles. << I don't see a chair my size around here. >> He just plops his rear on the ground near Galvin's beach chair, maneuvering his belt so that it doesn't get in the way of comfort. He the nods to Galvin's smoking paper. << Strange smell. North American tobacco? Different than what we have in Russia? >>

Galvin shrugs his shoulders as Pavel sits down, instead of pointing out the folding chairs. "I am sure they have marijuana in Russia. They have it just about everywhere." Galvin responds before shrugging his shoulders. He takes a hit from the joint and holds in the smoke for a moment. "I think it is called anasha?"

"Meh-ree-VAH-na," Pavel says in Russian, putting an emphasis on rolling the 'r'. << It's not so different, really. There's always some spill-over when it comes to drugs. But no, thanks. Never like to take the chance of hurting myself for a few minutes of mild euphoria. Why's business slow? You've got everything in there! Machines that I have no idea what they do. Although.. >> he points to one with an arm << I can see how many people would find that helpful in a forge. Not mine, of course, >> he adds with a grin.

Galvin rolls his eyes. "I don't know what you are talking about. I'm not hurting myself." He chuckles a bit and shrugs his shoulders. "I just got all the work done fast. I do work pretty quick since I always know what is wrong with something. Yah I need the tools for all sorts of things. Taking apart large military vehicles can be tricky. They are designed to stay together after all."

<< Perhaps when I'm not busy, I can help you take things apart and move them. I *am* good with my hands, after all. I'm not fond of machines, but I know enough to make minor repairs and such. Probably plenty good to lend a friend hand and a strong arm when necessary. >> Pavel waves off toward the landing strip. << Surprised that these things don't need constant maintenance like you could do here. >>

"I am sure you could help me. Though I have cranes and lifts for all the heavy stuff. So it isn't too much of an issue. Yes most of the work I do is maintenance." Galvin says after shrugging his shoulders. "Lots of fluid and oil changes. Repairing chains and making sure loading mechanisms are all working right."

<< Chains! Ah, those I can make! Make an anchor and chain coupling for you if you want to sell it out of your shop as a professional theft deterrent! >> The large Pavel chuckles at himself. << Fluids are not my real area of anything. I don't work with them much, and I don't enjoy them, unless it's a quenching pool, or some moist clay to make a good sword. I had to fix up my armor the other day. Lots of people think I look silly in chain mail, but you have to admit - when you see it - it's quite the work of art. So far though, most of the more exciting work that people have asked for has been entirely in the realm of silver, for hunting vampires, I suppose. >>

"Well silver is a pretty useful element for a lot of the nasty supernatural creatures. That and vampires are a problem, not as much here, but I guess it pays to be safe." Galvin says before taking a quick sip from his beer. "I am sure I could use you for making some parts here and there though."

Pavel shrugs, a large and rolling motion, his belt jingling. In fact, that grabs his attention, and he taps it with a finger. << After seeing Valeriya try to steal my things, I constructed this so that unless she can pick mechanical locking mechanisms - or anyone else can do it - without me noticing, they're safe. I don't think that I'm so dense as to ignore that kind of thing, either. Still, I have hired a techno-wizard to put a hex on it. He's still working on it, but it's going to be an alarm. Someone gets near it with intent to steal, and it lets me know. I've never used techno-wizardry before. It's very interesting. >> He looks at Galvin directly. << Basically what you do? >>

"Nope Techno-Wizard stuff is pretty cool, but I don't do anything with magic. I have some psionics, but they just help me do all the work a little faster. Mostly it is still using the screwdrivers, welders and what not. I don't use the gems that Techno Wizards use." Galvin says while shaking his head. "Glad that your stuff won't be stolen. You look like you have some valuable tools."

<< Yes, they are. My most important tools, I can make anything with them. >> He displays a huge grin, then takes the two large golden hammers off of his side. << Even little things, >> he whacks their heads together, which creates a massive spark like a little bit of lightning on the ground. Pavel chuckles. << It's not a weapon, but it's pretty useful when you need to start a fire in a non-magical way. Svarog granted them to me, I could never have made them myself. Very special. I'm sure that you've inherited certain tools? >>

Galvin watches the spark come out of the hammers, and nods his head. "Well only thing I got before I had to flee the Burbs was a tool box. It helped me earn my way though in Merctown, and get more tools. Now I have a pretty big collection."

<< Merctown. I was there, one time. Only a few days. No one really seemed to have any need for me, so, >> Pavel shrugs, << I moved on. Like I'm supposed to do. I suppose that in one way or another, we both ended up here because we had to flee. I don't know if your path was any more direct than mine - but in either case, we both got chased out of our homes. A sad thing, indeed. >>

"It is a pretty interesting town. Lots of cool tech and toys there." Galvin says with a slight grin on his face. "I got chased out of my home. This wasn't my first stop either. I guess we have some similar stories Pavel." He says giving Pavel a sympathetic smile. "Oh well here is to living." He says before taking a sip from his beer.

<< Yes, to living, >> Pavel uses one of his hammers still in his grip as a saluting assistant. << I roamed around the Federation of Magic. Where did you hit, my technological friend? >>

"The Coalition looks for people like me. They take them, and imprison them so that they can understand more technology, steal secrets from alien devices and such. So I had to flee Coalition territory." Galvin says with a slight frown and a shake of his head. "Had to flee Merctown because of a CS agent as well."

<< A CS agent? They sent one man after you? You must be a very special man yourself, >> Pavel says, absolutely seriously. << I don't know much about the Coalition. It probably sounds stupid to you, but I was raised ten-thousand miles away, and spent five years in the Federation. Not a lot of time to learn about the politics and such of an entity that you're not living in or even dealing with. >> He allows one very loud laugh and points at his smaller friend. << Particularly when most of the people talking about it are speaking in a language that you don't know! >>

Galvin shrugs his shoulders briefly. "Well I am a valuable man to them. And it was a woman not a man." He chuckles himself and takes a long pull from his beer. "Well I a sure your American is coming along well. You have been here for a while. You must be learning a bit."

<< My vocabulary is good, yes. My understanding is good. But still, for some reason I have difficulty with the particular grammar and pronunciation. These tones are very foreign to me. We do not have a 'double-yoo' sound, for instance, >> Pavel points out, having difficulty saying it even as an example. << There is no 'tee-aitch' sound to lead a word. We roll our 'r's. Even if I'm here for forty years, I'm sure that I'll never sound like a native, or even close. All I can hope? >> He offers a feral grin, << Is that the ladies find it exotic and sexy! HA! >>

"Well hopefully you'll be able to be understood at least in time. I am sure you won't want to get rid of that great accent. The ladies must go crazy for that." Galvin says with a chuckle and a slight shake of his head. "It has taken me a bit of time to adjust to talking to people. I hadn't had a lot of social interaction before moving here."

<< Oh, I'm am the opposite of you, then, >> Pavel states with finality. << All my life I have been around people, and lots of people at that. A large family, and even though it was a city about the size of.. Laramy, I believe the name is.. everyone was very close. Everyone knew everyone, everyone helped out everyone else. When I moved around, I moved to small towns, people were there. And happy to see me! Ahhhh... >> It seems as if he may want to say something further, but he doesn't.

"Sounds like a pretty nice life." Galvin says with a smile directed towards Pavel. "I hope you don't miss it too much. Kingsdale is a pretty good city though. I'm sure you will meet lots of good people around here. I have met some nice people."

Pavel shrugs. << I'm a grown man. Of course I miss my home, but I'm not a little boy waiting to cry for his mother. My mother wouldn't have accepted that weakness from me anyway. >> He offers an odd grin. << Many people are nice here, but I really haven't met them. Only handful. Maybe.. four? Including you? Five, at the outside. You should come see my place sometime, it's very nice. A work place of course. But being good with a hammer means that I'm also pretty good at excavation. There was a natural weakness in a rock outcrop, which is now my own carved-out cavern home. >> He clears his throat and asks, << Are all psychic techs of your kind so valuable that a huge political machine would send one *woman* across a continent to chase one man down? >>

"Well people like me are pretty rare. There isn't a lot of us around. That and we can build pretty much everything we can encounter. Recall schematics of every piece of technology we encounter. Yes we are pretty valuable." Galvin says with another shrug. "You should get to know more people. There are a lot of people around that I am sure you could meet." Galvin says, "And I'll visit your place anytime."

<< We'll make a time for it, then. I think... that you may be surprised at what you see, >> Pavel says, nodding and grinning. His hammers are once more in his belt and securely locked. << So we are... even more alike than I'd believed. We both do things that very, very few people can do. I suppose I can be lucky in that the Coalition really has no need for blacksmiths. The interesting thing, though? Even if they captured me and demanded that I make my special, magical things for them? Holding a gun to a pregnant woman's head? I couldn't make it. Literally. Even if I tried, my powers simply do not work under duress, even if I might want them to, to fix the problem. I guess I can only leave it to Svarog to know best. >>

"Well my abilities are a lot less controlled. I mean I always know about any technology within about five feet of me. I have heard that they imprison people like me far below ground, having them analyze and build devices." Galvin says looking a little distasteful. "It must be nice to at least know you can't have your skills used against your will."

Pavel bobs his head. << Yes. But certainly you could simply say 'no.' Not do what they ask of you? Dead one way or another, go out doing the right thing? But how, or why, do they have you analyze devices? Presumably it's something that they made, or someone else made, and they could just steal the plans. >>

"There is a lot of technology that the Coalition doesn't have, but they want. Stuff that comes through the rifts, or stuff from other countries. It is much quicker if they have people like me to analyze it. I am also sure that the CS could break me if they wanted to." Galvin says with a somber expression. "I am no special forces officer, or someone trained to withstand torture."

Pavel looks blankly for a minute. << I don't claim to be a soldier either. Maybe pick up one of those tech things and turn it on yourself? No pain, no satisfaction of an evil government. >>

"Well I'll burn that bridge when I come to it. Hopefully I am secure enough out here. Cause I don't have transportation right now." Galvin says with a slight sigh. "Damn banks, and their loans." He says with a chuckle.

Conversation continues into the wee hours of the night, two friends sitting outside of a brand new, shiny mechanic's shop.