open / heaven created a miracle

[exorkismos]

Comments

[poleaxed]

hey look at that!
your possible murderer score just went down again

well since i already started
gimme a few days

can i trust you to get a good deal on parts or do i have to haggle too

[exorkismos]

you just went ahead and started huh
yeah that figures
that’s what I’d do
you bastard

face like this and you ask if I can haggle
don’t worry no one can resist my charm

sod all point asking if you’re sure about this, right

[poleaxed]

youre welcome

if you help itll go faster
and you might learn how to not fuck up your fucking car this bad for when im gone

good ill start sending you to the nearest junkyard
between the two of us we can get it done way under a week

i can beat you in a fight
with or without my guns
which were bringing
fyi

[exorkismos]

for fuck’s sake kid
you could have just not mentioned em

gimme a shopping list. reckon it’ll be an easier or harder sell if I fish out a collar

[poleaxed]

lying by omission is a sin
probably

youd use the collar to get a better deal?
i knew i liked you for a reason
yeah ill make you a list when i get them off frankenford and tell you the prices and all that shit

theres one more thing
and its important

[exorkismos]

a discount’s a discount.

what now

[poleaxed]

your truck got a name yet
i dont drive in cars without names
its bad luck

[exorkismos]

what

[poleaxed]

if you dont do it ill name it for you

[exorkismos]

did you name frankenford

[poleaxed]

frankenford is MY car
because its a FORD
yours is a chevy theyre made by ge
oh my god

[exorkismos]

yeah it’d be ironic

[poleaxed]

youre just being lazy
im giving you one more chance and then im naming it

[exorkismos]

judith

[poleaxed]

knew itd be biblical
isnt she the one who cuts off heads

[exorkismos]

that’s her

does that satisfy your superstitions

[poleaxed]

stones and glass houses father
now get over here i need an extra pair of hands

do u wanna continue to non-text? or we could skip forward to travelling together

[exorkismos]

wait

what would you have called it

lets skip to traveling ive exhausted my car knowledge for 2day

[poleaxed]

doesnt matter
you picked
finally

i can't fucken drive so you could say absolutely whatever tbh

[exorkismos]

so you had no idea either

Marcus doesn't really do vehicle maintenance, or certainly not on this scale. His truck has worked thus far out of a mix of luck and improvised patch-fixes. But he knows enough about the innards of the thing to be able to do as Joan tells him, however sniffy he gets about taking orders, and the collar works wonders when it comes to getting the best deals. He's not really supposed to wear it anymore. He doesn't like wearing it, it's stiff and uncomfortable and he sweats beneath it. Needs must, though. It's not long before Judith Frankenchevy is ready to go, looking distinctly more patchwork but also distinctly more road-worthy.

Joan's giving him a good deal. He insists on buying her a burger once the truck's fixed, partly to prove he can and partly because he's guilty about lying to her.

*

"Jesus," Marcus says, sounding a bit horrified but also a bit delighted. He's laughing as he decelerates, coming down off a long, relatively empty straight: big, chest-heaving laughs, not quite hysterical but definitely a little manic. He has to shout over the music, deep soul roaring over the noise of the engine. "Was this what you meant? About it being fun to watch me drive this? Because it's way more fun to actually drive it. And no, you ain't taking over. Jesus Christ, kid."

fingerguns, signs blood pact, etc.

[poleaxed]

She did, actually, have an idea for the name of the car, but it's embarrassing enough that she'll keep it to herself unless pressed. She opts for names that are a twist of an insult; it's always been her nature to pull down than uplift. Not a positive trait, but she's stuck with it either way. She knows what she is, and there's no changing it.

Marcus is better than her, anyway. He's an asshole, but he gets the job done. Helps put in a motor, which isn't a small thing for one or two people. He gets them enough cash that she'll be fine for a while when they hit MA, and probably be able to eat on the way there. It works out.

For now, anyway.

Seeing him lose his damn mind over his truck acting like a real truck-- much less a souped up one-- is as good as she expected. "Everybody deserves to drive with a formula one engine once in their lives. Which is what that is. I have before, so I'll just watch you decimate the local wildlife."

But she's grinning, stretching the scar on her lip. Can't help that, either.

[exorkismos]

"I ain't gonna hit anything," he protests, though to be honest he wonders if he'd even register a bump — everything feels a bit off, enough that he was irritable with it at first until he hit his stride.

"Were you serious about not telling me how you got this?"

[poleaxed]

She turns his head to give him a very flat look, expressionless save for the jaded look in her eyes and the angle of her brow. She's hunched over to the side in her seat, one leg up on the dashboard and an elbow sticking into the divider, head in her hands. The seatbelt is a loose suggestion around her hips.

It's calculated laziness; she has an image to project even now.

"So now you wanna know."

[exorkismos]

"Yeah, so, from what I remember — " Marcus makes a change of gear into semi-violent punctuation, angling a sharp look at her under raised brows. "You were taking apart my car without my say-so at the time, excuse me for having other concerns."

And, blandly, as he looks back to the road with just a suggestion of a grin: "Also thought you could be lying about how good it is."

[poleaxed]

Staring out the window, she says in a light but serious tone, "I don't lie," and then, joking, "It's a sin."

She considers the facts carefully, though. Keeping shit to yourself, that's fine under her generally inflexible moral code. "I'll tell you, but it involves me being naked for like the majority of it, and I'm just not sure that's a confession you wanna hear."