Molting [Flashback, 1 Year]

[Boogiepop]

The vehicle was in the distance for a while, to be fair. However, the attention directed by Nagisa might have given the "Ishiko" enough encouragement for the kami inside the energy to lurch it forward so that it could seek refuge at the garage before ultimately failing with a final chug.


Kuni Eriko

The driver of the vehicle got out with a frustrated huff and looked like she was ready to throw fists at the car. It was the island's on-and-off doshin and Kuni Asataka's student, Kuni Eriko.

"Absolutely, unbelievable! Unbelievable! I've told him forever to get rid of this scrapper, but he just wouldn't listen! It's been schlepping around forever without an issue, and figures it fails on me now!" She said with a kick to the car's tires.

[Kaiu Nagisa]

“Whoa, whoa, Kuni-San. No need to take frustrations out on the poor thing.” Nagisa raises her hands up in a “slow down” kind of motion as she approaches the vehicle. “I can see what I can do about it. Man, kind of an unlucky night, though.”

A drone whirs on by, scanning the vehicle for an initial diagnostic on the Type 34.

“Do you need a place to sit while we give the old girl a look-over? I have some drinks and snacks.”

[Boogiepop]

“Whoa, whoa, Kuni-San. No need to take frustrations out on the poor thing.” Nagisa raises her hands up in a “slow down” kind of motion as she approaches the vehicle. “I can see what I can do about it. Man, kind of an unlucky night, though.”

A drone whirs on by, scanning the vehicle for an initial diagnostic on the Type 34.

“Do you need a place to sit while we give the old girl a look-over? I have some drinks and snacks.”

Kuni Eriko

It looked like Eriko had seriously considered giving the car another kick before Nagisa stopped her. She did relent from doing that, at least. "Are you so sure? I'm no shugenja, but sometimes I like to think that I'm capable of some magic of my own. Usually, I like to think that when I give the dash a good bop, I can show the car who's boss, you know? But not this time, pretty sure this car is done for. Done for. Stick a fork in them. An ex-car."

She smirked at Nagisa. "Maybe you can start the funeral rites and send the car to be turned into coral in the ocean. Bill it to the old man. It's his ride, after all."

The drone would at least indicate, despite all of the complaining from Eriko, that the car was still very fixable. It wasn't going to be pretty or sound good, but it still had some decades of life left in it.

"Hah, you're telling me!" Eriko snickered as she brushed some hair behind her ear. "I'd love to stay and chat but I'm trying to get off this world. Now I might miss my shuttle at this point. At this point, I'm sure some red-eye flight has my name written all over it. Just grinds my gears. At least, I have gears that could grind, unlike this piece of junk."

[Kaiu Nagisa]

“Oh? You’re heading off world?” Nagisa takes out her densai and starts noting on ways the old car could be fixed, tallying up the potential costs. “Sorry to say, but this vehicle has more than a few years left in her. She might need a part or two replaced. If you’re in a hurry, I could get you a ride.”

[Yasuki Honoka]

Honoka had assented to Nagisa parting ways to see to her customer with a pleasant smile. While the two women spoke she herself had moved to speak with her yojimbo whom was currently standing outside taking a smoke break. He spoke with impatience, and Honoka frowned with the inability to create a miracle. They would continue this way, serving as a backdrop for the moment to the conversation between Nagisa and Eriko.

[Boogiepop]

Kuni Eriko

"That's right, and I'm not talking about Aoihama this time around. I'll be taking the first of many flights to the middle of nowhere somewhere in Phoenix frontier territory. Population 100. It'll be quite a trip, but I'll probably be back in here in no time...after a few detours, back to maintain the law in Nakahama. Maybe, I'll actually make it to yoriki eventually," she gave Nagisa a quick wink at that small joke at herself.

"If you could get me a ride on short notice, that'll be swell of you, actually. It'll rescue me from this bind I'm in, so I would appreciate that. Huh, oh, you had customers here already. Sorry about that, folks! Let me know if I need to scram," she said with a bow given to the direction of Honoka and her yojimbo when she spotted them in the distance.

[Kaiu Nagisa]

“Huh. That sounds like quite the odd trip. Hopefully it’ll be eventful for you.” Nagisa takes out her communicator, looking for the ride service she usually contacts for this kind of situation. “I’ll be sure to see what I can do for this old girl and get her to your boss as soon as I can. I’m waiting back on the ride service to get back with me with an ETA, but they should get you to the shuttle port easy enough.”

[Boogiepop]

Kuni Eriko

"Aw, well. It's all in part my sensei's plan that I hope to learn," she said with a coy pause for a moment as the restructured things to her advantage, "add further to my list of responsibilities, let's just say. He picked the business, and I kind of finagled my choice of the place. Thanks, Kaiu-san, I'm sure it'll be a swell trip."

Should she mention it was a miai? Nah, that might spark too much gossip around here. It would be pretty terrible if she found herself booted out of the planet at the end of her stay. It was best to wait until all of her fungus spored. Was that the appropriate way to say things in Asakaze? There was some reading to do later...

"Just do what you need to do and let someone at the magistrate's office pick it up. I'm sure that he's going to be really upset to hear that it's in a garage, but then hopefully be really glad that it's actually all in one piece. Not shot up by space pirates, at the very least," she said with an amused glint in her eyes. Could she be talking about personal experience? Impossible.

[Kaiu Nagisa]

“Space… Pirates?” Nagisa gives Eriko a very confused and slightly concerned look before noting a few things in her densai. Mainly messages. “Well, good luck with your business there. You got about five minutes before the ride is supposed to be here. So take a seat and relax.”

She does glance back at the two Yasuki. They didn’t quite seem to get along very well. At least that was her read of the situation. “Excuse me, Kuni-San, I should check on my other customers. Please make yourself comfortable.”

With a small bow, she approaches the two Yasuki.

[Boogiepop]

Kuni Eriko

"Aw, shucks, did I say the quiet part out loud again?" She grinned and shrugged. "Yeah, I'll take a load off here. You've been talking to me enough, I'll be around. Thanks again, Kaiu-san, real lucky I ran into you when this happened."

While Nagisa went off to tend to her customers, Eriko went to her own devices.

Nothing would explode during her visit here, at least.