driftfleet | inquiries & a challenge

Who: Ray Kowalski
Broadcast: Video
Action: Windrose, and space!
When: today and also whenever the races are happening

[Ray is looking bored bored bored. He has a toothpick stuck in the corner of his mouth, and he's throwing a ball from one hand to the other, sometimes scrambling after it when he misses- it's astigmatism, okay, he just doesn't see all that good.]

Alright, so I got a question. Not everyone here's from Earth, whatever, but most of you are from some kinda place with some kinda rules and laws. And I figure a bunch of you have gotta be law enforcement yourselves, y'know, statically. [sic]

Now me? I'm just a regular schmo, city cop worked his way up to Detective. I didn't always wanna be a cop, but I tried it out and it stuck. Chasin' bad guys, putting on the heat, lock 'em up. Bam-bam-bam. [He slams the ball into his hand three times, then sits forward and grins.] It's a job, right? Just like bein' an engineer in here.

[He misses it. He misses it a lot, actually; misses his partner and the job, the satisfaction of a puzzle and a chase and locking up someone who made the world a little more dangerous.] So the rest of you: what do you do? How's it work in your world?

[Added, a few minutes later:]

By the way: I don't have my ar here to race you in, but back home I'm the last guy you wanna get into a car chase with. [He may be exaggerating slightly, but who could contradict him?] Figure I gotta keep those instinct working. I'll be there in two hours, ready to go.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm up any time.

Alright, kid. So let's go. Just you and me, headin' for the stars.

[He's already up, grinning as he walks towards a shuttle.]

[Nux can't scramble for his shuttle fast enough. IT'S ON, RAY.]

[It reminds Ray a little of two things: being a kid on a new race bike, going down the street at a previously unexperienced speed while grinning at all the suckers on slow bikes; and a car chase (Mountie on roof optional) down the streets of Chicago with true purpose.

He's grinning from beginning to end, and he finds he doesn't even really care about the fact that he lost. He shoots Nux a message, asking him to meet up back at the Windrose, and he's still grinning as he pops his head out of the shuttle.]

Good game.

[Nux hasn't really spent any time on other ships yet -- even his time with Furiosa has all been on the Marsiva or on the planet they left behind, or chattering at each other over the network. He's full of good spirits when he lands on -- practically skids into the landing bay of -- the Windrose, but he's also brimming with curious, quizzical energy, already looking around as he clambers out of the shuttle.]

Yeah.

[He grins.]

This your rig?

[Ray definitely already likes this kid- he looks weird, but he's enthusiastic, and he's a hell of a driver. Or pilot- whatever.]

If you mean 'ship', then yeah. I mean- it's where I live now.

You're crew?

[He's still looking around, but he casts a quick glance over his shoulder. He's still getting used to the fact that he is, apparently, crew; that the ship he flies isn't his ship any more than the War Rig was his. The shuttle is a little better for that, at least. It feels a little more personal, like his old coupe.]

Sure. Polly's captain; I'm an engineer. Well, here, anyway.

[He nods. The thing is, that makes sense to him.]

Black thumb.

[He flashes him a grin and turns again, hooking his thumbs in his utility belt as he goes to peer at something over by the wall. Ray is a black thumb, and of course he would be crew. It's the part where he's driving and taking orders from a shooter that's confusing to him.]

I could do both, if they'd let me.

Who ain't letting you? [Ray wanders over as well, then brightens, distracted:]

Here, I did some rewiring couple weeks ago, make the hatch go smoother? Only it gave me some trouble, so-

[He pries open the panel and shows Nux the job he'd done.]

I tried to get another augment, but they said everyone only gets one.

[He pulls a face.]

Who ever heard of a driver that can't fix his own rig?

[But speaking of which, he leans forward to poke his head into the open panel, taking a good look around. After a moment, he even fishes a little pen light out of his utility belt and shines it on the wiring.]

Looks good, yeah.

Plenty of folks back home don't know how to fix their own damn cars. Get stranded on the road, they call a mechanic. [He leans against the wall, looking at Nux inspecting his work. He looks weird- but Ray likes his enthusiasm, how intense he gets about machines. Man after his own heart.]

That's stupid. You gotta be a mechanic before you can be a driver. What if you've got no way to call anyone? That's a pointless way to die.

[There's a peculiar emphasis on pointless. It's not the dying part that makes him all but roll his eyes; it's that it would be a waste.]

[Ray turns around from the panel, both eyebrows raised.]

Back where I'm from, your car breaks down you're just late for work. You don't die.

inquiries & a challenge

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hope it's ok to gloss over the actual race!

np!

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