Owner Pose
Robbie Reyes Canelo's has a sale today on tires, which might or it might not explain why everyone and their dog has decided to take their car in. The boss is up front handling appointments and scheduling, while Robbie and one of the older mechanics banter back and forth across the garage proper.

Reyes is up to his elbows in the transmission of a vintage volkswagen van; and by the occasional caustic curses coming from under it, he's becoming increasingly irritated with the hunk of junk. His buddy Hererra is seated atop the workbench at the back, giving the younger man the hard time he so richly deserves.
Cael Becker     Cael wanders into the shop with the Archivist beside her - and a large what dog in a service vest on her heels. She carries a cold 6-pack in one hand - in glass bottles, in a cardboard carrying container. In her other hand, a little carryout thing from a local coffee shop - with four steaming hot cups of coffee, and creamers, and sugars. A little something for everyone. She breathes in the smells of the shop - closing her eyes for a moment. It's a deeply familiar and naustalgic smell, that immediately brings up images of her sister's cocky grin as she explains the ingenious way she bypassed some problem in a non-typical manner. The memory brings her both a smile, and a pang of grief.
    Opening her eyes she remarks, "You make it sound like that car has personally wronged you."
Jonathan Sims     Jon is along mostly as potential bodyguard, since the last time Cael was in Brooklyn alone she got shot. Not that he thinks the Trinitarios or the Alhambras are going to roll up to Canelo's and start shooting--but you never know. And why risk it and cause trouble if it isn't needed?

    The weather's been bouncing all over lately, a 30 degree difference in the high from three days ago to today--so fortunately Jon's able to wear a light jacket over t-shirt and jeans, hiding the glowing green arm that replaces his right one. He smiles at the way Cael's aura flares in the shop, looking around himself at all the people working. "Is that a good price on tires?" he muses to Cael, curious.
Robbie Reyes The place is a veritable beehive of activity at this hour. Not to mention loud. As to the likelihood of Cael being attacked while visiting Canelo's.. well. Robbie's perfectly capable of handling street level thugs without even breaking a sweat. But Jon certainly can't be faulted for making sure their girl is protected.

"How d'you know it hasn't?" Robbie grumbles from underneath the belly of the vehicle. There's a muffled *clang* as he finally manages to tear out the piece he'd been wrestling with, and he wheels himself out, and sits up to see who's visiting him. "Hey," he greets the pair, and tosses the faulty push rod into a grimy pan beside him. "Ain't looking for tires, are you?"
Cael Becker     "It's a //car,//" Cael replies in a dry voice - amusement pulling at her lips. This sort of 'arguement' has a very familiar... feel. She leans in towards Jon, murmuring quietly, "The sale excludes the premium tires." Oh, Cael's the tire elitest. //Figures.//
    "Not today, I had something else I wanted to talk with you about, actually. But I brought enough beer and coffee for you and the rest of the crew in here. Pick your poison," she invites. She'll drink whatever's left over - she'll be happy either way, really.
    "Who's your friend?" she asks - nodding her head towards Hererra. "Hey, supervising's hard work! Come get a drink, man."
Jonathan Sims     "Should they really be doing intricate mechanical work while drinking, Cael?" Jon asks with amusement. Clearly despite his general air of academia he has respect for the work they're doing here; he's watching curiously, the same way he might watch someone put together a ritual circle.

    After a moment, he adds, in a deeper tone of voice, "Even a car might have a spirit, Cael. Haven't you ever heard of gremlins? Mind you, awareness of gremlins arose in the Royal Air Force, but it's /clear/ they've migrated to other complex technological machines." He's... he's joking, right? He looks so overly serious he /has/ to be joking.
Robbie Reyes "It's actually a van," Robbie corrects, climbing to his feet and digging a rag out of the pocket of his coveralls, in order to wipe the most egregious of the grease stains from his hands and face. For such a punk ass kid, he's pretty fastidious about these things.

Glancing between the two, his expression is cautious. No smile in sight, but when does he *ever* look happy about anything? "Beer, huh? You must want something good." Hererra hops off the countertop and moseys over to come sniff around at what Cael's brought. "Jose, Cael and Jon. Cael and Jon, this is my buddy Hererra." Whom he grabs briefly in a headlock, then shoves away so the guy can liberate himself a can of beer.

Jon's point about cars having spirits earns him a straightfaced wink, but no elaboration. "So, whaddya want?" he asks.
Cael Becker     "It's //a beer,// Jon," Cael replies with dry amusement. "Drinking a beer while working on cars is practically... ritualistic. It's //required//." She gives Hererra and Robbie a look like 'what can you do?' "...and there's no fucking gremlin." That can't be a thing. It //can't.// She's accepted a lot of weird shit but- gremlins?
    "I meant the term car generically," she adds dryly. Once they have beers, she sets the rest of the drinks down on a counter, and liberates herself one as well - setting the bottle's cap on the edge of the workbench, and slamming down on it, to casually flick the cap off. That done, she takes a sip.
    "I want your input on an idea I had." She glances at Hererra for a moment, then back to Robbie as she adds, "You remember about my foster-sister Alis, yeah? The girl who was really great with cars, and who died when we were both teens?" He'd //met// her - briefly. At least, he'd met her spirit. She's not sure how Jose would feel about that, though.
Jonathan Sims     Jon merely nods solemnly to Robbie, managing not to crack a smile at all. Of course... he doesn't /know/ about the Ghost Rider's car. He grabs a coffee, the one with a truly obscene amount of sugar involved, and settles back to listen to the conversation. Idly he adds, "Well, alright, if that's something people are /normally/ able to do..." He shrugs. What does he know about working on cars?

    He nods politely to Jose. "Nice to meet you," he says. "We're friends with Robbie's..." He pauses. Does Hererra /know/ about Rien? Should he out the poor guy?
Cael Becker     "We're friends with Robbie, Jon," Cael interjects in an amused tone. Why is he complicating things?
Robbie Reyes Robbie doesn't look offended either way. Though maybe a little puzzled, when Jon starts equivocating. "My girlfriend ain't a secret," he points out flatly. "She comes around here a lot." For some reason, he looks vaguely amused about that.

"Still don't know what a hot piece of ass like that sees in a punk like you," Jose scoffs from nearby.

"You call her that again, clavare esta llave donde no brille el sol," Robbie tosses back without missing a beat or looking over. Which seems to shut his buddy up, considering the reputation he has around here. Kid's got one nasty temper.

"Yeah, I remember Alis," he tells Cael, digging his hands into his coveralls pockets, watching her intently. "She, uh." He's quiet for a moment. "Well, what's your idea?"
Cael Becker     Cael lets out a snort at Robbie's comment to his coworker, glancing at the man before remarking, "Can't go talking about his girl." Would she response much differently if someone were making comments about her and Jon?
    Her attention shifts back to Robbie as she explains, "Alis never got a chance to get out of that life we were in - never really got a chance to make a difference, or be remembered, and I thought..." She takes a deep breath in, and lets it out slowly before launching in.
    "I want to start a memorial project. One that targets preferably teen offenders and rather than locking them up in prison - keeps them out on parole, with a parole officer monitoring them. Mandatory mental health and wrap around services... Making sure they //and// their family have appropriate housing, food, health care... But most importantly, I want the kids to keep working towards their High School diplomas or GEDs, //while//... working an apprenticeship at repair shops like this. Paid. Jon has a few leads on some people who might be willing to help bankroll something like this - but I want to make sure shops would be willing to take in some of these kids, and supervise their training. Give them a career, a future. A way out of their shit circumstances for them and their families. Alis had potential, and possibilities and- we just... I guess we didn't realize it in time for her. You know?"
Rien D'Arqueness Said girlfriend rolls up on her custom made bike just then, pulling to a stop in the parking lot and sliding off the bike to head towards the trio with a smile. Rien is sporting cutoff shorts paired with a vintage band tee under one of Robbie's coats, and paired with knee-high boots in a blue that matches her eyes. "Hey! I was in the area, figured I'd stop by and see if you wanted me to pick up anything for dinner. By the way, expect an earful from Gabe tonight. He's back on the 'I want to stay at the safehouse' wagon."

Winking at Robbie, she slides up next to him and slips an arm around his waist for a quick hug, kissing his cheek before turning to flash a smile towards Jon and Cael, "Good to see you both again. Let me know if I'm interrupting, I'll go have a cigarette."
Jonathan Sims     Jon nods to Robbie, looking a little sheepish. "I never know what's a secret and what isn't and I'm prone to blurting things out myself. Good to know." A glance to Cael, and a smirk at 'friends,' but he doesn't comment. Yet. Here.

    He nods along with Cael's explanation of the idea, and adds, "My thought with bankrolling is to make sure the shops are compensated at a fair level, and that the apprenticeships are paid. And I know a couple of people who might be willing, who have /very/ deep pockets."

    They smile at Rien. "Good to see you! We're here on... well, not business, exactly, but sort of."
Robbie Reyes Robbie, however, catches the smirk. He also doesn't comment. Instead, he considers Cael thoughtfully while she explains her proposal. And looks away when she gets to the part about 'shit circumstances'. Quite honestly, she could be describing *him*, and it isn't lost on the young man.

"I was in and out of trouble with the cops for years," he murmurs, swiping at a spot of grease on his cheek that he missed with the rag. "Could've used something like that. Plenty of kids I knew, could've." He rolls his jaw, looks up in time to spot Rien climbing off her bike and heading over.

He accepts the one-armed hug, pulls her close for a proper kiss, then lets her go. "I guess what I'm sayin' is yeah. I do know." He looks Cael right in the eyes when he says it. "I'll talk to my boss. See if we can make this happen, huh? Assuming you--" His mismatched gaze flicks to Jon. "Can get the cash lined up."
Cael Becker     "Rien - hey. Help yourself to a beer or coffee if you like." Cael waggles her glass bottle toward the woman. "Hopefully won't have much of a metallic taste?" she suggests with an amused smirk, before turning her attention back to Robbie.
    "Good. I want to make this work. I //need// to make this work, and there's a lot to do if I'm going to pull this off. I need the funding, I need shops willing to participate... And I need to get the prosecution, and judges onboard with it. I'm looking for someone who's had experience putting this sort of thing together, and looking to find what sort of research is available to prove this sort of intervention is a effective and a good investment for society..."
    She lets out a sigh and runs her hand through her hair. "It's a lot," she repeats.
Rien D'Arqueness Rien leans into that kiss, returning it, then wearing a big smile after that suggests she's quite happy, thank you very much! Leaning in against Robbie, Rien chuckles at Jon and nods, "Personal business? I know how that goes. If I can help, you know I will." Then she's looking to Cael with a grin, "Sure, I'll take a beer."

Leaning forward, she'll fish one out, then straighten and glance between Cael and Robbie with a smile, "If you want me to distract Canelo so he says yes without thinking, I did a little shopping earlier. I have the perfect shirt and top." Because the last time Canelo saw her in not-pants he about had a heart attack!
Jonathan Sims     "I think a lot of people get in trouble in part because they don't really feel they have anywhere else to... go. One can do absolutely nothing wrong and be adjacent to a crime with the wrong skin color and wind up on the run... and then where do you go in that circumstance?" By Jon's tone, he has personal experience with this.

    "I used to study criminal psychiatry, I'd be glad to look into pulling up some research. I mean... Arkham doesn't work except as a place to keep people out of trouble. Reform?" A snort. "That sort of thing doesn't help with reform. Community and outside connections and marketable skills... those things /do/ help."

    He glances to Rien and adds, in a lower tone, "Cael is... well, given that the cat's out of the metaphorical bag regarding her past, she wants to set up a memorial fund in her foster sister's name. She was a mechanic."
Robbie Reyes Robbie's eschewed the beer completely, but he does allow himself a now-lukewarm coffee, along with a handful of sugar packets. Yep, gotta dose it up. Setting the cup down on the workbench, he starts ripping open the paper packets and dumping the contents in.

"It's gonna work," he assures Cael quietly, expression one of sombre resolve. Rien gets a slight smile after he takes that first, glorious sip of his coffee. "I mean, that sounds like the best porn opening ever, but it ain't necessary, babe."

At Jon's comment about being adjacent to crime with the wrong skin colour.. well. His smile vanishes. Plenty of people willing to assume that he's some drug dealing Mexican, up to no good. He's just lucky enough to have a little firepower in the form of a demonic Rider to back him up.
Cael Becker     Cael gives Jon a grateful smile as they offer to find the research to back up her proposal - and they also earn themself a brief kiss. She then returns her attention to Robbie and Rien. "Well. So far everyone seems to think it's a good idea - but that's people who know me, and- well. Are aware of Alis. I guess the real test might be seeing if Tim Drake is willing to blow Wayne Foundation money on it." She really, really hopes so.
    With more emotion behind her smile than she would like to admit to - a mix of grief, and gratitude, and determination, and relief - she adds, "Thanks. I appreciate everyone being on board with this. It... means a lot to me."
Rien D'Arqueness Rien points towards Jon with the hand holding the longneck, glancing up to Robbie then back to Jon. She motions between herself and Robbie and says, "One of us is an uneducated, illegal alien and one of us in a natural-born citizen with at least most of a high school education. But looking at us, knowing literally nothing else, 99 people out of 100 would say Robbie's the illegal one. And they'd be wrong." Shaking her head, she mutters something unkind about assumptions based on skin color into the mouth of her beer.

Robbie gets a kiss and a soft smile and a murmured, "I know, but I wanted to see you smile." Then she's looking back to Cael, "I don't know if I can help with this, but if there's anything at all I -can- do, I'll be more than happy to."
Jonathan Sims     "If Tim isn't willing to back it I'm about 99% certain I can talk Steven into it," Jon says with a shrug and a sip of his coffee. "But the Waynes do fund a lot of this kind of thing, so I wouldn't be surprised." He smiles at Cael for the kiss.

    He nods to Rien. "It's... a problem. And of course that isn't the /only/ reason people get in trouble. But either way... well... I am very much for giving people multiple chances, particularly if they /want/ to change."
Robbie Reyes Robbie's got nothing to suggest on the subject of Wayne money -- or any money, really -- and no in whatsoever with the elite of New York. He's just a kid from slumtown, East LA, who's lucky if he can make his rent payment and put food on the table every night. So he looks visibly uncomfortable when fancy people and their fancy families are brought up.

He downs a big slug of coffee, cheeks reddening when Rien confides to him those soft words. Sliding his arm around her waist again, he leans in to nose at her ear, and whisper something with an uncharacteristically playful twinkle in his eyes. To Cael, "Hey, no problem. Talk to my boss right after I get off shift."
Cael Becker     Rien's offer gets a brief nod of acknowledgement along with a smile before Cael continues speaking. "Yeah, well, who's in jail on all the drug offenses? People of color," she grumbles. Even //as// law enforcement - she has her own beef with the issue. "And really - I think a big part of the problem is we seem to genuinely belief telling someone 'stop it or else' will fix the problem. When it need to be something like 'you need to stop harming others, so how about you try //this// instead?' If you don't help provide the opportunities and alternatives... Well. Anyways."
    Cael gives a shrug of her shoulders then says, "I wanted to know what you thought of it. If it would even work in repair shops like this. If your boss stays in contact with others in the industry - he's free to ask around and see who else is willing to give it a try. I mean, these kids are all going to have criminal records. I know that can be a no-go for people... far too often."
    Which really only makes the problem worse but- ...ranting about it woul be a preaching-to-the-choir thing.
    "Anyways. Jon and I should probably stop interrupting your work..."
Rien D'Arqueness "No, it isn't. But the bias is very real and deeply troubling." Rien lets out a small sigh and nuzzles in against Robbie. Her lips twitch into a smile at his whisper and she offers a murmured response before turning her attention back to Jon and Cael. "I can't say that I can offer to back this monetarily, I'm afraid that I just don't have -that- much set aside. But I support your choice and I sincerely hope that it spreads like wildfire."

She looks up at Robbie with a soft smile and murmurs, "Just because someone's made a mistake or three, doesn't mean they're a bad person." Then she's chuckling softly and murmurs to Cael, "Don't let the old man fool you. He's fond of Robbie, even if he likes to act like a hardass. Once he finds out why the longer break, he'll be fine."
Jonathan Sims     Jon nods very firm agreement to Rien. "I think all of us have done things we wish we could take back. And that's okay." He's looking at Robbie. "It's more about what you do to make up for it and change going forward, you know?"

    He reaches out his emerald hand to twine his fingers with Cael's, if he can. "I think you're doing a good thing, love. Especially since you can't go undercover anymore, this will be something you can do to help kids. It's..." He smiles at her, expression proud. "It's important, you know? It's good."
Robbie Reyes That 'old man' loves Robbie like a son, and he makes no bones about it, really. Snorting, the young man explains, "He's a teddy bear. Especially when he sees you brought beer."

Finishing off his coffee, he pitches the empty cup into a nearby garbage can, and turns back to Rien. She's given a jostle with the arm around her, and a playful nip to her ear. "Few more than three, babe, but I forgive you for not bein' able to count." Then he releases her, and prepares to head back into the belly of the beast. Or, well, the volkswagen. "Thanks for stopping by," he tells Cael and Jon. To Rien, he mouths, 'twenty minutes' and winks before dropping onto his back on the dolly and kicking back to resume taking apart the transmission.
Cael Becker     "I made my share of mistakes," Cael agrees. "And while Jon has the greatest faith in me," she smiles at them wryly, "I still maintain that it was a very near thing, and I could've still been there, making bad choices, harming people... I think I could have ended up a lot more selfish, and destructive than I am now." She squeezes Jon's fingers. She murmurs back to him a sincere agreement. "It is important."
    Shiting her attention back to Robbie and Rien she adds, "And regardless of the old man's tolerance - I don't think we should push our luck. Thanks for helping with this, Robbie."