[center][h1]Joel & [color=fff200]Siobhan[/color][/h1][/center][hr][center][h2]Location: Apex Designs; Tuesday Late Afternoon[/h2][/center][center][h3]Interaction:  [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/4491960]Joel[/url] ([@Pilatus]) & [url= https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/4546127]Siobhan[/url] ([@Almalthia])[/h3][/center][hr][center][h3]Mentions: [/h3][/center][hr] 

Joel caught the keys and tucked them in the front pocket of his sweatshirt. “Yeah, they mostly only have each other to look at all day.” He said, referring the motley congregation outside his shop. As she moved in closer, he remembered how she kissed him the last time they saw each other on the roof. [I]Where were these chicks before I won that race?[/i] He thought to himself. She didn't quite seem like another one just wanting to hitch her wagon up, and if she was, she was at least willing to put her money on it. He put the bottle of Blue Moon in her open hand and stooped down looking and running his hand under the fender then getting in a push up position to look under the frame. “That's a Parkway Drive song,” He said studying what he could see of the underside. His main concern was rust, Chevrolets tended to start from the bottom up, but it appeared the car was garage-kept which would be a huge plus. “Not my favorite song by them, but it's not bad, a little dark, I like the riff and the beat.” 

He got up to see her open the hood and glanced over inside. His lips curled slightly. Everything was there, but covered in gray, dusty, age. The radiator hoses looked brittle, rust was staining the firewall under the master cylinder and the spaghetti of vacuum lines looked cracked and dried out. No wonder it ran rough. Every internal seal was likely in the same condition. “No, I don't miss you now.” He said shaking his head with a smile that denoted some level of pity for her. He picked up a broken vacuum hose to emphasize his point. There was no telling where it once led. “This thing doesn't get driven a whole lot I'm guessing?” He let the hose drop undramatically and continued looking, taking out his phone and shining its light to see if he could get a look at the carburetor tucked under the air cleaner. “Like I said,” He started feeling for cracks around one of the motor mounts. “It just depends what you want to do.” He popped open the reservoir on the master cylinder and peeped inside seeing it was low on fluid. “I can rebuild the carburetor and plug the lines and it will run better for sure, but you got a lot going on here.”

He closed the hood down gently. The light outside was fading too fast to see enough of anything else for the night. “If it was mine, I'd think about just putting a crate engine in it,” He said opening the driver’s door and giving the seat a firm shake to see if it was loose from someone stomping the pedal, but found it surprisingly firm. “Fuel injection was the best thing ever put into a car, we could just put a kit on it if you wanted, but you'll be back for other stuff if you plan to start driving this regularly.” He leaned in to check the mileage and nodded approvingly before turning back to her. “I’d keep the color black for sure.” He crossed his arms and looked up and down the unusual coke-bottle design. It wasn't his cup of tea exactly, but it was something [i]different[/i]. He was starting to get his own ideas for it, but wasn't sure how much she'd want to spend.

Looking inquisitively at the cold bottle of Blue Moon Siobhan wiped off the top, as he had the scotch the other night, and sipped.[color=fff200][i] Not bad[/i][/color] Taking a longer draw on the beer she leaned closer looking at the engine with him she grimaced.[color=fff200][i] No wonder Karen was running horribly. She's pretty old and really needs an update.[/i][/color] Sipping on the beer she smiled as he admitted that he had missed her.[color=fff200][i] Was that pity? Oh hell no. I don't want pity.[/i][/color] She watched him get a feel for Karen and could almost see the gears turning with his thoughts. When he got into the driver's seat she took another long draw. She leaned a hip and watched him give the wheel a good shake. “Easy there Speed Racer. Karen's got a temper.”

She nodded at his assessment and leaned down her right arm on the top of the car so she could make eye contact without ducking her head awkwardly. Her white t-shirt pulled taunt over her generously curved figure. She handed over the Blue Moon that had maybe two swallows left. Little ones. “So I plan on driving Karen. Often. Why own her and not drive her? And yes while it seems like she was a show piece she's gonna need to be a working girl.” She reached over and looked lovingly at the inside of the car caressed the steering wheel and looked back at Joel. “While seeing you all the time has its appeal I want you to have some time to miss me. And I don't want to get boring so let me get to the point. What would you do if this was your Corvette and you were as... passionate about her as I am?” It came out a little breathy at the end.

She playfully tapped him on the nose hoping to distract herself. Which drew her attention to his mouth. Which reminded her of her kiss and run.[color=fff200][i] Woah and there goes the tension ratcheting up. He hasn't gotten me back for stealing a kiss yet. That's probably going one of two ways. Either he'll ignore it or do something about it when I least expect it.[/i][/color] She blushed as she realized she was staring a bit and wet her lips. Realizing the image she gave off she laughed softly and backed up a little.[color=fff200] “Sorry about crowding you there Joel just a bit enthusiastic about this.”[/color]

Joel got a generous view as Sio leaned down and expressed her “enthusiasm” with the project. He took the bottle back and finished off what was left. Then she sort of tapped his nose which mildly irritated him. He hated when people touched his face, but he let it go. She seemed to suddenly be acting very childishly and he was in business mode. “Here's the thing,” He said with a small shrug, “If it was mine and I could do whatever I wanted, I would just about gut the whole thing down to the frame. Especially if you're married to it for life.” He looked it over again, not even paying a lot of attention to her as he envisioned the work it would take and the proposition that would cost far and away more than what the car was worth. “Give it a modern coilover suspension, widen the fenders and lower it so it will handle better and be proportional instead of long and narrow.” He scratched at the stubble on his chin, not having shaved since the race, thinking intensely.“Change the motor out, GM crate engines are pretty good and come with all I’ll need. That will clean up the engine bay and make it easier to drive daily, no more pumping the pedal to start it.” He pointed along the side with the base of the bottle, “Put old school pipes down the side like some of the C2’s had, probably do satin black like on a Harley, that would make it subtle yet [i]different[/i]... If you're following me.” He had plenty more ideas, but those were the biggest. If she was up for any of that, she'd be up for anything and if he was going to do this, it would need to be done right. 

Siobhan nodded and got very serious. She could see a lot of time and effort on Joel's part would go into this.[color=fff200] “Then do it. It's not that I don't care it's more of the fact that I trust you. It'd be like you asking me to do a designer piece for you with an outline to work with and letting me have my head, so to speak. But is this going to be fair to monopolize you? I'm sure that you'll have a lot more people now that you've done some schmoozing. Plus this is a ton of work. So I'm willing to start at say 100 grand? And work from there. I can get you a quarter of that when we start and get it to you in lump sums at every quarter at the latest dates. So what do you think? I don't want this rushed. I can deal with not having it right away and I want it done right. Which is why I asked you.”[/color]