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[findthegeck]

Shiny buildings! Lush green parks! Sharp-dressed folk striding up and down the sidewalks with purpose and vigor! All of these descriptions would fit somewhere that isn't the Den.

To say that the Den was rustic would be doing authentic examples of rusticism a disservice. Many towns did not reach their dilapidated state because of the ravages of war, but rather the ravages of time. The town where the Den now stood had not been flattened by atomic bombs, but by looking at it, perhaps that would have been doing it a favor.

Some of the aging pre-war buildings have had whatever maintenance was necessary to keep the number of gaping holes in the roofs and walls to a minimum, leading to a sort of post-post-post-modern neo-retro-classical architectural style. Civic beautification is not a high priority, nor is filling in all the potholes.

There's no grass to mow, yesterdays junk is today's half-buried tetanus hazards, and plumbing is of the outdoor variety exemplified by the outhouse that for Sativa serves as a door to and from Milliways.

"This way," She tells her guest, pointing to crumbling road alongside the seedy bar (The Hole isn't just a clever name) they are standing behind. "The junkyard's just beyond the far end of the street. Watch your step."

That's no so much a warning about what you do here, as it is to actually make sure you don't put your foot in anything unpleasant.

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[findthegeck]

"Wha-?" She leans forward and looks ahead, grunting. "Geckos. They're biters." She shakes her head. "I don't know, I usually steer clear of them or kill them if I have to. Their pelts sell for a good amount."

No lasers, sadly. An oversight on the part of Chryslus Motors, or a necessary omission with the increase of engines running on atomic power and volatile temperaments during heavy traffic.

[says-the-booyah.livejournal.com]

"I bet they don't like a sonic blaster!" He lowers the window and sticks his left arm out. "Take that!"

There is the hum of white noise rising and a burst of energy.

[findthegeck]

No sir, they do not like it. Those that are able to remain upright scatter in every direction, screeching and hissing. Screw this noise.

Sativa's eyes widen. "Whoa."

[says-the-booyah.livejournal.com]

"Comes in handy. I could probably make something like it for the car, if I knew how the car was wired." He takes the car jsut past where the lizards were and turns around.

[findthegeck]

She's never seen the buggers take off like that before. It's glorious.

"Another time, perhaps. For now we'll make do with the old-fashioned way." Get out and shoot, or go to ramming speed.

She's drawn to fiddling with the latch to the glove compartment which, to her surprise, falls open.

There's not much inside apart from an owner's manual with most of the pages stuck together, an out-of-date road map with a half-melted mint stuck to it (there's always one), a torch with batteries so moldy they've started to develop their own customs and beliefs, and an unlabeled holotape, which she takes out to inspect.

[says-the-booyah.livejournal.com]

Cy smiles. The glove compartment in his brand new car is about as bad. "What's that?"

[findthegeck]

"It's a holotape," Sativa replies. "It stores information - words, video, sound..."

It looks to be in decent shape. What would be on a holotape left in an old car?

Her eyes drift down to the stereo system where there's a conveniently-sized slot. On a hunch, she slips the holotape in, and after brief moment of whirring as the player reads it, a fast-paced piano tune starts up.

[says-the-booyah.livejournal.com]

"That sounds like something my granddad would have listened." He tries not to make a face. He is not into the old-fashioned sound. "No other tapes in there?"

[findthegeck]

Funny, she kind of likes it.

She looks around and shakes her head. Cyborg would be out of luck even if there were. Music hadn't progressed the same way through the twentieth century on this world as it has elsewhere.

"No. What does what you listen to sound like?"

[says-the-booyah.livejournal.com]

"Lots of stuff. Rap, funk, R&B, blues, pop, techno...pretty much everything but stuff from my granddad's time and country. I gut about a zillion songs downloaded in here, if you want to hear." He's getting close to where they started. "You're watching what I do, right?"

[findthegeck]

"Okay," she says with a shrug after a blank look as most of what he lists goes over her head.

Things that never existed in this timeline for 200, Alex.

"Like a... thing that watches something very carefully," She assures him. "Doesn't look all that complicated."

[says-the-booyah.livejournal.com]

"It's not. But you need to pay a lot of attention. Once you start, you night not want to talk much at first. Give your headspace to the car and the road instead."

[findthegeck]

"Okay. So - be one with the car?"

[says-the-booyah.livejournal.com]

"Sorta. Better to say, be a partner with the car." Zen never makes any sense to Cy. "Ready to try?"

[findthegeck]

"Partner. Okay," she replies, resting her hand uncertainly on the dashboard, patting it lightly for some unfathomable reason.

What, now? "Sure," her mouth says.

[says-the-booyah.livejournal.com]

He pulls over and gets out. "Come on over! You are the next driver!" He is trying to sound like a game show host, even though he's sure the joke is lost on his student.

[findthegeck]

"All right, then." She peels her butt away from the seat leather and shifts over to the driver's side, running her hands over the wheel, familiarizing herself with the controls she'd watched Cyborg use.

[says-the-booyah.livejournal.com]

He gets in the other side and buckles in. "Take your time. Don't start it up till you are ready."

[findthegeck]

"Take your time," She repeats.

With one hand on the wheel, she shifts the stick and gently puts pressure the pedal. "Okay, nice and slow-"

Not gently enough, though, and then as she remembers to take off the break the car accelerates very quickly... in reverse.

"WHOA!" Slamming her foot on the break and fighting for control of the steering the car does a 180 and comes to a sudden halt, surrounded by cloud of dust.

With a white-knuckled grip on the wheel she glances sidelong at her instructor. "Whoops?"

[says-the-booyah.livejournal.com]

"I...guess you're gonna wanna go slower." He's seen worse. And been in far worse. But this car seems to be bit like a tank. And doesn't have a gas tank to rupture, so they should be okay.

[findthegeck]

"Really slower." Okay. Okay. Got this.

She lets her breathing settle down, shifts into the proper gear this time, and with the most feather-like amount of force on the pedal eases the machine forward at a less hell-bent pace, keeping them on more-or-less on the road.

At least there's no other traffic to worry about.

[says-the-booyah.livejournal.com]

"See, that isn't so bad, is it?" He keeps his eye on her foot more than anything else.

[findthegeck]

Arms ramrod straight, she leans further back into her seat with a grin as she gives the car a boost of speed.

Sativa lets out a loud laugh as the excitement fizzes up inside her. "...I'm driving."

[says-the-booyah.livejournal.com]

"Yup. Fun, ain't it?" He wonders how she would deal with cars that had more sensitive steering or brakes, though.

[findthegeck]

"It's like we're flying... real close to the ground," she replies.

They're going so fast that when she takes her foot off the pedal the Highwayman is still able to coast along at a good pace.

There's a turnoff to the left just ahead. The signpost's too faded to say where it leads. Just for the hell of it she veers off onto it.