16023/Car Shopping

Car Shopping
Date of Scene:	06 October 2023
Location:	Mercy's Garage
Synopsis:	Jimmy goes looking for a new car, meets Mercy and finds out they share a chatterbox in common.
Cast of Characters:	Mercy Thompson, Jimmy Hudson

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Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy is used to being up early and so she's been in the shop working for several hours. Right now she's wrestling a bit with the air compressor on a a Jetta that gave up the ghost. She is muttering in German under her breath as she puts a bit more muscle on a rusted out bolt. It's a habit she picked up from her mentor.
    The shop is open and she has a phone on the loudest ringer so she can hear it while she has her lithe body half inside the hood of a car and works. Right now there's a few cars in the parking lot but at least one of them must be Mercy's own given that it is an old vanagon. Other then that the Harlem lot seems pretty quiet. She doesn't even have music playing as she works like the movies always seem to show. Mercy doesn't like anything to mask her senses.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
The El Dorado had died, again. After tinkering with it for several hours, Jimmy had given up on the idea of fixing it. It only deserved a few nice words spoken about it and burial in a scrap yard somewhere. He'll deal with that later. Having taken a bus into the city, Jimmy had done a bit of car shopping up the street, but hadn't had any luck.

Dressed in a black collared, polo style along with a pair of blue jeans and hiking boots, Jimmy turned his attention to the quiet shop and the clattering of tools and work. But it's the smell that catches his attention. The smell of blood, tingy and rusty, is very distinct, mixed with something that does catch him as basic canine. The cat part is noticed as well, but that's a normal smell.

Nose curled in curiousity, Jimmy decides to turn his attention towards the shop as he walks up the driveway towards the shop proper. He doesn't mask his footfalls and movements, walking with an easy-going gait as he stops at the edge of the bays, glancing down.

Noticing the pair of legs sticking out from underneath the Jetta, he considers and reaches over, tapping on the metal door with a fist. *clang clang clang* "Morning!" he greets, "Ya doing alright today?" The accent is not local, and is very much Canadian. His hands tuck into his pockets to wait to see if she pokes out or is actually in trouble.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy calls out from her head still in the car. "Just a moment. I'll be right with you." She mutters in her breath how rust will not defeat her today and then with a faint grind of metal the bolt finally surrenders to Mercy's strength. "HA!" She quickly ratchets the thing free and pulls it out and the part in her hand as she stands up. Peering at the part and the bolt she shakes her head and goes to drop them into the 'scrap metal' bucket she takes to the yards from time to time.
    Mercy starts to wipe her hand and face her customer, "Sorry about that." She takes the man in and looks him up and down, her nose picks up his scent. The familiarity to someone she knows makes her lips quirk into a quick smile. "Can't complain too much. Especially now that rust is once again defeated. What can I do for you?" She doesn't SEE a car so he has her curious to say the least.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
When she manages to wrangle the nut loose, Jimmy applauds, a little encouragement at her conquering the Mistress of Torque. She seems to be moving fine, maybe there's something else that was bleeding that got his attention. But now that she's out, he pauses.

She may be lithe, but she's attractive, and Jimmy's caught for a moment before he clears his throat. "I was just up the street looking at some of the cars they had, but they all seemed a bit suspect. Was walking by, thought I saw some trouble, guess the light was playing tricks on my eyes." Because it's easier to say that than to try to explain that he smelled blood and was investigatin'.

"I'm Jimmy." he greets, trying to at least make small talk. "Jimmy Hudson. I teach Phys Ed upstate." A shrug of his shoulders. "And car mechanics is not one of my specialities, but my El Dorado bit the bullet and I was trying to find a replacment to get me about when I'm not on campus."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy grins and nods. "Never a bad idea to ask a mechanic if you aren't sure about the care you're looking to buy." Once Mercy wipes at her hands a bit she folds the rag into a pocket on the coveralls. She looks around and shakes her head, "No. No sign of trouble, just work. Which does often get messy," holding up her hands in evidence.
    "I'm Mercy," nodding to the sign near Jimmy. "Nice to meet you Jimmy. I'd shake your hand but doubt you want that. What level you teach at?" She steps closer to him near the garage entrance and says, "Well if you got questions on a car I can always give it a fast look over if you got it on a test drive or whatever. What are you lookin' for?"

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
"I don't mind a little dirt on my hands." Jimmy offers in friendly retort, his smile showing the enhanced canines as they press on his lips. "Though that was blood over there," a lift of his head in the direction of where he had spotted the smell. "Guess it was just oil. Shoulda figured." A hint of amusement in his voice as he turns his attention to the whole reason he was here.

"I teach mostly high school, though I pinch hit with the middle and elementary kids at times. It's a pretty small school." he explains. "I wouldn't want to take up too much of your time, but it you don't mind. I'm an outdoorsy type. Lot of work in the woods, nature trails, rock climbing and such. I kind of want a vechile that would go well with that lifestyle, if it makes sense. Doesn't have to be big, not seeing anyone at the moment or the like." A shrug of his shoulder. "I figured when I found something I'd like, I'd know it."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy notices the canines and then looks over to her vanagon. She nods her head, "Probably did. I take that with me when I hunt and not really given that a serious wash since my last." Of course she leaves 'what' and 'how' she hunts out of it because that's not the point right now. "Oh you surely got oil, grease, rust, grit, tar, and a lot more around here. Takes a while to sort it all out."
    Mercy hesitates a moment then asks, "Can I ask if you got a sister, about 5'3" Dark hair. Full of energy, likes sweets but hates oatmeal?" Doing her best to describe Gabby if you KNOW her but not be too detailed."
    Far as the car side of tings she adds, "Well I work in German makes and models. So if you get yourself something like a BMW X5 I can totally help you out and stuff. Keep it running for another twenty years long as you aren't too rough on it."

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
Hunting! That makes perfect sense. Jimmy files it away, though something about Mercy herself smells different and it has him curious. Even through the grease and grime of the shop, there's something different about Mercy and he's wanting to know more.

"I do have a sister that sounds a lot like that. And she likes to talk, a lot. Can never get in a word edge-wise around her." he explains with amusement. "Not that I'm much of a talker myself, I figured she makes it up for me. She definetly has the gift of Gab." Can she figure out he means 'Gabby'?

There's a pause and a grin, as he looks around and his attention turns from the shop to the shopkeep. "So you're saying I need to get a German car in order to see you again?" he asks her casually, easily enough that it can be seen with lightness. "I think that would be a fair trade."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "She comes by form time to time if it is the same young woman. I like to feed her cook addiction." Mercy grins and figures she can ask Gabby about Jimmy if need be later. His little pun on her name earns a laugh as Mercy nods. "Yes, Gabby can talk a fair bit. But she's good company."
    Mercy nods to her the man and motions to her mouth> "Guessing that explains the teeth then?" She shrugs and says, "I know how to fix German cars, that's what my shop is about. So if you want to give /me/ business and trust a friend of your sister's. Then you should look into German. I can ask around for you."

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
"She's a good kid. I adore her bunches. We're not the same, she's a lot more active than I should be..." Then he figures the jig is up, so he points an arm down. He closes his eyes, and Jimmy extends three claws out from between his knuckles, trailing a bit of blood as his healing factor kicks in.

A sigh of breath. "Same patriachal DNA." he explains. "So, I figure you're probably going to ask Gabby about me..." He starts to retract the claws. "So should I wait for you to get her approval before I check to see if you want to get a coffee or grab dinner sometime, Mercy?"

"I mean, I'd like to know more about you, the shop and all." But since she knows Gabby. "And how you know Gabby. Do you work with her?" He knows she has extra-ciriculars, just not exactly what they are.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "That explains some things," Mercy gives a nod of understanding as he shows his claws. It seems to help he relax about something as well. "But I happy to help out kin of Gabby, at least if I can."
    Mercy's head tips a bit to the side as he asks her out for dinner. "Why would I need to talk to Gabby? I mean I will mention I met you. But I'm sure if you were a serial killer or something she would have warned me. Besides I'm a big girl, Jimmy. I can take care of myself. Especially if I get coffee in Harlem. There's a place not far from here that's got a great tea. I actually don't drink coffee. I'm weird like that."
    Mercy pauses and is actually weird in a lot of ways but let's not TRY to scare off the nice man right away. "Oh I met her through a friend of a friend sort of. We help each other out from time to time and I gave her some hunting lessons at one point."

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
"Hunting lessons?" This catches Jimmy's attention more than anything else. "I enjoy a good hunt and just living off the land. Wouldn't mind doing that sometime." he admits. "Then tea it is. I'm good with tea, coffee, a beer." A shrug of his shoulders as he considers and takes out his wallet. Fishing out a card, he hands it over to Mercy.

James 'Jimmy' Hudson, Jr.
Teacher - Physical Education
Xavier's Institute

His phone number and email address are listed on it. "Oh yeah, Gabby would have definetly warned you." he admits with a laugh. "If you're free we could do something now, or I can catch you when you get off work?"

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "Yeah. I grew up in some pretty isolated country and nature was as much the supermarket as the actual market." She grins at that and moves to lean on the edge of the garage door after taking his card. "I got cards in the office you're free to get one. Less stains that way." She will read his card and then move to tuck it into a pocket make sure to carefully as it went inside the coveralls to not get lost. "Sure thing. But I better get back to this compressor replacement. Was nice to meet you Jimmy."

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
"I'll grab the card on the way out. Nice to meet you too, Mercy." Jimmy offers in response. "Look forward to seeing you again." He steps into her office, a glance around at any personal effects that may gave him insight to why he is getting a strange read on the fact that she's human, just not quite as he takes the card and scans it with his phone to save the information. Then he steps back out. "See you later!" he calls out to Mercy before she disappears beneath the Jetta again.