2019-11-11 - Something I Can't Fix

Kass shrieks as she races through the rain that's managed to crop up suddenly, the drizzle becoming a downpour in less than the blink of any eye. Darting glances all around, she spots the open ports of the garage and darts towards them, racing against nature to make it inside while there's still any part of her not soaked to the bone. Its a race she ultimately loses, arriving into the garage looking for all the world like a drowned kitten with big, pitiable eyes and her hair plastered to her face and neck, clothes so laden with water they drip into a puddle around her feet. Even her beloved Chuck Taylors (black with glow-in-the-dark stars) are soaked through. She stands there, shivering, looking like a pathetic flood victim in her soaked clothes with her arms wrapped around herself to try and keep some of her body heat. "...help..."

Ahhh the great Pacific Northwest, grower of mold and ruiner of curly hair. Itzhak's working on a car, surprise, when the rain starts and Kass comes barrelling into his garage. He has the sedan up on the rack, hands in its underbelly, and he's scowling at Kass confusedly as she stands there and shivers.

Nobody else is around. This place is a one-man operation, apparently. Well, there's one other creature, and that's the giant yellow and white snake coiled in a terrarium that is built into one corner.

"Th'fuck you come from?" Itzhak says, face hitched up in annoyance. He grabs the rag hanging from the back of his coveralls to wipe his hands.

"Th-that way?" Kass lifts one shaking hand to point back the way she came. "I-I-I was j-just gonna.. g-get some l-lunch before w-work..." She seems to at least have enough consideration to stay put and not drip water all over his garage while she shivers and sniffles. Her eyes lift from man to vehicle, her head cocking to one side as she shifts her hand to point into the undercarriage, "Th-that b-b-b-bolt's g-gonna ffffffall ou-out. " She points towards a bolt that looks near sheared through, not a critical point, but enough that if left too long, would ruin the exhaust system as more and more weight was put on it. "C-c-can I sssstay here t-til the rain stopss? Puh-puh-please?"

Itzhak takes a minute, seeing Kass out of context (she's soaked to the skin and looks different, like a cat when it's wet). He scowls at her until his expression lightens a little. "I remember you. You were at..." That thing we don't talk about. Itzhak waves vaguely instead of saying 'illegal underground boxing ring I got my ass beat at'. He doesn't look around at the bolt. "I know, I'm fixing it." Jerking his chin towards the bathroom at the back, he says, "Head's over there. Dry off, there's towels." Then he turns back to his work, the lines of his back and shoulders tense.

Kass bobs her head when he trails off, thankfully NOT saying what he left out, instead offering, "I r-remember you t-too. I-is your n-nose okay?" Since that seemed to be the part of him that was most beat on that night. She did what she could, but he growled before she could fix more. When he points her to the bathroom, she flashes him a brief smile and bobs a nod, scurrying off as quickly as her squeaking Chuck's will carry her!

He gets blessed minutes of silence while she's in there getting dried off.. long enough that he may actually wonder what's happened to her in there. Did she fall in? Weird chicks, whatcha gonna do, right? When she finally does emerge, she's barefoot and looking marginally less pathetic. Her hair is starting to fluff out again, her shirt seems slightly less waterlogged, the jeans look painted on but that not likely to change while still damp. She pads forward and offers another smile, asking, "What's the snake's name? He's got a cute face."

Itzhak is a growly kinda guy, ask anybody! It's all part of the New York, uh, charm. "Lemondrop," he says, absently, working a socket wrench. Rrreenk rrrrenk rrrrenk. "She's a she. Not that she cares, snakes don't do gender. Important to know for us, so she don't get put in with males on accident or something. Not that I'd let that happen, but you never know." Hope Kass wanted to hear about snake sex.

He sets down the wrench, picks up another tool, sticks his hands back into the car. The rain slaps and punches the garage bay windows like they said something about its ma.

"Well she's adorable. And her name is cute too. Has she eaten recently? Does she do mice or rats?" Kass seems entirely zen when it comes to matters of snake sex, oddly. She can't even be around people without cringing, but snake sex is totally fine. Pacing in closer, she stays out from underneath and just cants her head back to watch him work. "How long have you been working on cars? I've been helping some friends out with the maintenance but... nobody wants to hire on without certification, y'know? And.. I can't even remember where I learned how to work on cars. I just... know." Watching, she reaches out and snags a 3/4 open ended wrench, holding it out for him since he'll need that next.

Just as Kass's fingers touch the wrench, Itzhak, who had his back turned to her and did not seem to be paying much attention LET ALONE to something he couldn't see, whips around. He levers a long finger at her, half of his upper lip curled in a hell of an aggressive sneer. "Don't. Touch. My tools." The finger points down at the toolbox, indicating she ought to put it back.

Caught holding the wrench out towards him, when Itzhak whirls to snarl and snap... Kass blinks. She blinks, then shrugs and puts the tool back, "Sure, okay. I was just trying to help." There doesn't seem to be an ounce of fear in her for him. She just replaces the tool and asks again, "So how are you doing? Feeling better after that night?"

Maybe Kass's instincts are correct, telling her that Itzhak isn't a danger to her. For all his snarling, he could have gotten rough with her, and he hasn't. A perfect gentleman. He picks up the wrench himself thank you and reaches up into the car with a grunt. "Yeah. Fine. Guy's an MMA champ, shoulda kept out of his way." He says it with annoyed acceptance that there's people in this town who hit harder than he does.

"Good. And, uhm, sorry again. For.. you know.. without asking." Kass lifts a small shrug and glances down, her toes sort of kneading at the flooring, fidgeting in a way that's normally kept hidden by shoes. She stays silent for a good couple of minutes, just watching him work. Then, out of nowhere, "Can I paint your building? I could do something really cool with it." Her eyes shift from undercarriage to Itzhak, like it was the most normal question in the world. "Just like, the outside, I mean. You like snakes, right? I could make Lemondrop drape over the port doors, could put a different kind of classic cart on each shutter. Maybe jazz up the storefront a bit?"

"Yeah well, it's over with." Then Itzhak blinks, at her offer. Frowning, he cranes his long neck over his shoulder to peer at Kass. "That's a lotta work," he mutters, almost to himself, then, to her, "Why?" Just that. Why. Why is she offering to give his shop an entire repaint? He's confused, and being confused, or any other emotion, also makes him annoyed.

Kass just looks at him and shrugs, her thumbs hooking in her back pockets. "Because I want to. I like painting, pretty good at it. Who knows, might bring you in some extra business..." Her head cants to one side, "Could even put the NYC skyline on the long end. Make it look like its reflecting off the water... Maybe some reflected fireworks in the sky, if you're down with that sorta thing. Otherwise we can stick to the cars and snakes." She flashes a smiles, "So what do you say?"

"Uh. Listen, kid, that's awful sweet of you 'n all, thanks but no thanks. It's the rains anyway, everybody told me I can't repaint in the rains." Itzhak hesitates, eyeing her. "What did you say your name was again? Don't get mad at me. I got trouble with facial recognition. Redheads like you are way more common in this town than you'd think." Sure, he tells her not to get mad at him, after he's been nothing but mad at her!

Kass shakes her head and chuckles, "I would do it right NOW. I'd wait until winter passed. So like.. spring. Its too hard to try and do a big outdoor project in winter. But I mean, its your building. I just thought you might like it... " she pauses, then adds, "and maybe I thought you would teach me how to fix cars better in the meantime. Cause I can fix things but.. uhhhhh, not like you fix them." She lifts both brows, then grins, "Kass. Kassandra Hughes. I'm not mad, I've been.. gone a long time. Even people that used to know me don't recognize me anymore."

Itzhak grunts, turns back around. "Know how that is," he mutters, about being gone and unrecognizable when you come back. "Kass. Right. Look, I don't think that's a great idea. Check if Jack or Zoe need help in their shops. I'm a one-man operation."

"I don't know them. I know you." Kass pauses, frowning in concentration before looking back to Itzhak, "Look, I'm not looking for a job. Like.. I don't expect you to hire me on or anything. But I can't get out of Platinum until I can get a better job. And that means I have to actually get trained in the shit that I know but don't know how I know. Once I can get certified, then I can try to get a job in a shop. I just.. I can't afford to pay for classes on top of what I'm already paying. So if you could do a trade... I'll paint up your shop if you'll help me learn more about repair." She lets out a breath and runs a hand through her hair before looking back to him, "One refugee to another.. please?"

Itzhak sighs, turning around, grabbing the rag again for his filthy hands. He does seem a little confused. "You don't need me for that. I can hear ya Song." He gestures at his temple, but doesn't touch. "You're pretty strong. Maybe you don't know yet how you fix stuff, but if you hit a junkyard and mess around, you will figure it out. I promise ya you will. I know these things. Crack open an engine, find somebody's 'project' been sittin' in their front yard for ten years. Fix that shit." He emphasizes with a thwap of his fingers into his opposing palm. "You need repair manuals, they're at the library, they're online. You won't have no trouble gettin' certified after that. Lots of us are self-taught. Me included."

He shifts his weight, leaning forward at Kass, his eyebrows serious. "You been trapped Over There for a long time now, but you don't need to stay trapped and rely on some ex-con mechanic. You can do all this shit yourself and you don't need to ask nobody for no help. You're strong. I think maybe you don't know how strong, but take my word for it on that. You are."

"No. No, I don't want... I don't mean THAT. I don't.. I don't want to rely on that." Kass shakes her head and folds her arms around herself, shifting a step or two back. She looks at the car's undercarriage, eyes darting here and there. "I know what's wrong with it but I don't know how I know. I don't know what Over There means. I've learned things and I don't know how. But I want to learn and remember learning. I want to use a wrench to fix a car, not... whatever." Her lips purse up as she stares at the ground and considers.. something. When she looks back up, there's an odd sort of expression on her face.

"When I was thirteen, I hurt my parents. Badly. They were hospitalized. And I was sent to an asylum. For ten years. I can't remember hardly any of that time. What I did, who I knew, anything. I get flashes, three second slices of faces or places and I have no idea who or what they are. I came back to find that my father hates me, my mother is terrified of me and barely anyone even remembers me. So can you PLEASE just teach me how to fix a fucking car without having to wiggle my nose at it? So I can have at least one memory of learning an actual fucking skill?"

Itzhak isn't looking at her, but he's listening. He's listening and he's twisting the rag between his hands, studying the folds and creases as he mangles the poor thing.

"You ain't the only one in this town had a fucked up childhood," he says, quiet. "Fuckin' sucks. Life sucks." He glances at her eyes, brief. "Kid, I can't take your problems on, and you do not need my problems. You don't know who this shop really belongs to, do ya." With a grimace and a breath pushed between his teeth, he turns back to the sedan. "Forget it. I can't help ya. You can help yaself. You can stay till the rain lets up."

Kass just stares at him for a moment, watching him turn back to the sedan. Without a word, she turns and heads off, leaving him to the repairs. A few moments later the squishing squeak of her sneakers can be heard against the cement. A pause, she seems to be talking to the snake. "You're a cute snake, Lemondrop. Don't let anyone tell you different." The squishing squeak picks up again and heads towards the open bay door, then is gone, taken over by the sound of the rain.