[h2][color=6ecff6]Jinxy[/color] and [color=c45d3b]Amir[/color]

Engine Room[/h2]

Jinxy had gone back to the engine room after dinner, if one could call what they ate dinner. However, it was way better than prison food, so it had that going for it. She paused as she looked around the engine room and sighed. She picked back up her coveralls and put them on, tying the top part around her waist. It was a bit hot in the engine room, and she was already working up a sweat. 

She got under the main engine, hoping to get some things worked out with a few parts before the captain walked into talk with her. She sighed to herself. Engines and machines she knew well, but people? People are hard.

[color=c45d3b]“Knock knock,”[/color] said a voice from the doorway. Amir grimaced at the rust obvious on the protective railing. Tying his hair up with a rubber band and wiping away the trickle of sweat running down the back of his neck, he stepped down towards the engine and the boots he could see peeking out from underneath.  [color=c45d3b]“So – a tour, Jinxy?”[/color]

Jinxy pulled herself out from under the engine and looked at Amir and smirked. [color=6ecff6]“Welcome to hell captain. Certainly is hot enough to be hell. And also all the work that needs done… well... “[/color] She sighed. [color=6ecff6]“As you heard earlier, I had to break one of the engines to get her to not lull, but that is only because I couldn’t find enough parts here to fix the broken one. Anyways, as for the tour, we’ll start here, with this... “[/color] She paused. [color=6ecff6]“Its a piece of shit. We managed to find one of the oldest ships in port I think, and whoever owned her before wasn’t keeping her up to date. Some of it was being held together by chewing gum!”[/color] She shivered a bit. It had not been fun trying to pull those awful things out of the parts they were holding together and just fix the ship. 

[color=6ecff6]“So beyond that, we now have both the left and right engine broken, and I do apologize for the wrench sticking out of one of them. That was all me,”[/color] she said, looking a bit sheepish at that.


Amir, to his credit, looked completely unperturbed by the knowledge they were in a junker in worse condition than they had imagined, inspecting the engines with an untrained eye.  [color=c45d3b]“So long as she gets us to Oberon and we don’t blow up entering her atmo.”[/color] He crouched down to get a better view of the remnants of the bubble gum, reaching out to scrape a bit off with a snort of laughter.  [color=c45d3b]“Is it worth keeping her, do you think? None of us are particularly attached at present, and if she ain’t good to fly...”[/color]

Jinxy had to smirk a bit. [color=6ecff6]“If I get the right parts and a few days with her alone, I can get her in a better condition than she was when she was new. However, that is up to you. We can ditch her if you don’t think that’s worth the effort…”[/color] She trailed off a bit as she noticed his arm. [color=6ecff6]“Is that a Hunter mechanical arm. However, it’s a bit out of date I would think. That was the free insurance model…”[/color] She walked over and looked at it, the best she could without getting in his personal space. [color=6ecff6]“However, there are some very nice modifications made to it… “[/color] She paused and looked at him and then blushed. [color=6ecff6]“Sorry… uh… I have issues and sometimes those issues include remembering that people have personal space and the like…”[/color] She looked away, suddenly shy. 

[color=c45d3b]“S’all right. Nothing unusual to me,”[/color] Amir said with a shrug. He held out his arm, palm up. The strip of fake flesh, barcode included, stood out in stark contrast to the mess of metal and wires that made up the limb. [color=c45d3b]“It’s must be fifteen years old by now, and it was outdated to begin with.”[/color] The captain smirked. [color=c45d3b]“You look like you want to dissect it, or whatever the techie equivalent is. I’ll take it off, if you want, but usually it takes dinner and a date for that.”[/color] 
 
She smirked. [color=6ecff6]“Oh trust me captain, if we had dinner and a date, I’d want you to keep it on,”[/color] she said and looked at him, giving a wink. [color=6ecff6]“However, if you ever want me to give it a bit of a tune up, I’d be more than happy to. Tinkering with mechanical limbs is a bit of a hobby, on top of fixing engines. Wouldn’t want it to give out on you in the middle of something… interesting,”[/color] she said. 

She coughed and composed herself a bit. [color=6ecff6]“Shall we get back to the engine tour I promised ya? Or have you seen enough of this mess to want to get out of here and just ditch this rust bucket once we get to Oberon?”[/color] She said, leaning against a wall and looking at him. She did look him over a bit, wondering what he was thinking. She realized the top of her chest tattoo was peeping up from under her tank, and she tugged it up a bit. 

[color=c45d3b]“It’ll take more than that to make me blush, Jinxy,”[/color] Amir said with a raised eyebrow, straightening up after one last glance at the hopeless engine. [color=c45d3b]“[i]And[/i], it just so happens that I’ve got a thing for the underdog ships like this girl.”[/color] He hit one of the metal support beams in a gesture of camaraderie, only to wince when it creaked and groaned. [color=c45d3b]“I’m guessing the worst is still to come?”[/color]

Jinxy smirked. [color=6ecff6]“Trust me, I have yet to try to make you blush, [i]Captain[/i]. But yes, the worst is still to come. However, I’ll do what I can to fix her up when we get some time and parts. However, if I do find something that is a bit more alarming than a few support beams groaning, I will let you know that we need to abandon ship, and hopefully before we leave Oberon,”[/color] she said, the smirk gone. She sighed. She hadn’t even thought about a few of the other systems the ship would need to operate, and had yet checked them.

“Make sure she’s in tip-top shape for leaving orbit, that’s all I ask. Everything from Life Support to – making sure there’s no weird noises when she moves.” Amir said. “I know a couple of guys – Waegu – who run shops on Oberon. Hopefully they’ll give us a discount for old times sake.”

She frowned a bit. [color=6ecff6]“Waegu huh? I’ll pass on stopping by the shop,”[/color] she said. [color=6ecff6]“Gotta ask… are you currently… y’know?”[/color] She asked, crossing her arms in front of herself.

Amir shook his head, a small smile born out of nervousness crossing his face. [color=c45d3b]“Former. Former big-shot, I should add – if that’s a problem..?”[/color]

Jinxy let out a small sigh of relief. [color=6ecff6]“No, no problem if its former. Anyways, I’ll make sure everything is in tip-top before we leave Oberon. We’ll get there fine, but nothing too much further than that,”[/color] she said looking at him.

[color=c45d3b]“Right on,”[/color] Amir let out a breath he must have been holding and stuffed his hands in his trouser pockets. [color=c45d3b]“Compile a list of the parts you definitely need – I’ll take… maybe, Angel out shopping instead. Girls like shopping, or so I’ve heard.”[/color] He turned to leave, hopping up the step that led up to the main body of the ship. [color=c45d3b]“Unless there’s anything else..?”[/color]

[color=6ecff6]“If you’re ever serious about that date, you know where to find me,”[/color] Jinxy added with a wink and waited to see what Amir’s response would be. 

[color=c45d3b]“There’s much, much better places than Oberon out there in the ‘Verse for a date. I’ll let you know if we stop on one of them.”[/color] The corner of his lip turned up into a smirk and with one waggled eyebrow he turned on his heel and left.

Jinxy chuckled to herself and smiled, and then realized she was actually blushing! [color=6ecff6]“Augh, put those thoughts out of mind, we got work to do!”[/color] She said to herself and went back under the engine, humming to herself as she tried to scrape more gum off of it.