savetheearth | ACTION

"Well, I've tried a couple times, but...uhh...it didn't work out so good."

Kenji shrugged as if it were no big deal, but the slight frown creasing his brow said otherwise. Why the hell had he even told Tadashi in the first place? The sympathy wasn't really helping either. If anything, it just made him feel even more like a loser than he already did.

"It's not that unusual, is it?"

Tadashi rubs the back of his head. He'd taken to it right away... I mean, anything that felt like that, who wouldn't at their first taste. But he'd heard...

"Not really. I mean, some guys just get really nervous and overreact. Just stalls out."

"I wasn't nervous though, the first time--hell, I wanted to do it! I couldn't wait to give it a try, but..." Sighing heavily, he slumped dejectedly against the hood of the car, a faint blush tinting his face as he scowled down at the toes of his sneakers. "It just...didn't really go the way I expected it to at all."

"And the next time," he continued a moment later, "was even worse." Kenji probably had been a little over-anxious that time. Eager--determined--to prove that he could do it, but once again, everything had gone wrong in a spectacular fashion. He had no desire to share the details of that fiasco, however.

"Never really had the nerve to try it again."

Edited 2013-06-02 19:15 (UTC)

"Hey, hey. You're going to give up? Some people don't even GET a second shot." Tadashi rubbed at his face, trying to find the best way to approach the situation. It was obvious, wasn't it?

"Look, man. I don't know if this is out of place or not. I've got a lot of experience and if you want to get a bit familiar where no one's gonna judge you..." He let it trail off, gauging the expression on Kenji's face. It was no small offer on what amounted to a third conversation, but there was something about their shared history that made this feel right.

"You serious, man?" Kenji looked up, eyebrows raised in mild surprise. That was...quite an offer. As tempting as it was, he wasn't at all sure whether he should accept it or not. True, there was that connection between them--he'd felt it as well, but it was still new, fragile, and he didn't want to fuck it up.

"I dunno, man," Looking away again, his shoulders hunched slightly as if expecting a sudden blow. "What if the same thing happens again?"

Normally, at such a line, Tadashi's answer would be a teasing, "I post it to Facebook," and let the shouting fallout be all of the ice breaking he needed. It's just the caged posture... How much of Kenji's self esteem got wrapped up with this?

"No bullshit." Tadashi raised one hand in some vague imitation of a solemn vow. "If it happens again? Eh. We'll try again."

"Yeah, you say that now, but what if there's nothing left afterwards to try with?"

Still, as Tadashi surmised, there was a fair amount of male ego involved in this, so after a moment, he shrugged, barking a short laugh. "Well, okay man, if you're brave enough to take a chance, I guess I am too--just don't come bitching to me when we crash and burn."

"Hey, hey! Don't even threaten that kind of thing." Tadashi pushed back from the car, waving his hands wildly. "There are some things you don't even joke about." He laughed and slapped Kenji on the back. "Besides, if you start fucking up THAT badly, I'll take over. Just listen to what I tell you to do, and you'll do fine."

"Sorry, man, just y'know, fair warning and all that." Kenji almost couldn't believe he was letting Tadashi talk him into making another attempt--his friend hadn't seen his previous disasters, after all, and had no idea what he was getting into. Still, he tried to be hopeful; maybe Tadashi would be better at explaining everything than his dad had been.

"Okay, I'll give it a shot. Just assume I don't know anything and start from there, I guess. So...what do I do first?"

Tadashi fished the car keys out of his pocket and tossed them towards Kenji with a flick of his wrist. "Get in, and I, my esteemed friend, shall teach you the art of the clutch."

"Dude, I hope your insurance is up to date."

As he snatched the keys out of the air, Kenji tried to shove aside the vague forebodings of impending disaster that hung over him like a stormcloud. It had been at least six months since his last failed attempt...and his dad wouldn't be in the passenger seat yelling at him this time. Maybe this time everything would suddenly click into place, and he'd finally get it. Tightening his grip on the keys, he closed his eyes, took a breath, and offered up a silent prayer to whatever gods were listening that it might be so...and that he didn't kill both himself and Tadashi in the process. Or worse, wreck his new friend's car.

Once seated behind the wheel, he slipped the key into the ignition. So far, so good. His face fell a bit upon noting the stick shift in between the seats and the three pedals rising from the floorboards. Of course Tadashi would drive a standard; that was just on a par with his usual run of luck. But Tadashi had promised to explain everything to him, so...he'd try to remain positive. Still, he couldn't help wishing for something a little simpler, like one of those kiddie cars that ran on pedal power...or maybe something with training wheels.

"Okay...uh...now what, professor?"

For his part, Tadashi's confidence wavered back and forth between some natural alarm at just how much trepidation Kenji's posture was broadcasting, and rebounding as some helpful part of his mind supplied a convenient explanation and excuse.

He slid into the bucket seat on the passenger side and reached for the belt. The car wasn't new, or particularly fancy. It was the old machine his dad has learned on, and he'd learned on... It still ran like a beast after hills, teenagers and simple lifelong wear and tear, if nothing else, he was sure the old steel boat was the only thing anyone should learn in.

"Before you turn that key, put your feet down on the left and middle pedals. Once the engine turns over, take your foot off of the brake, or the middle one, and sllllooowly," he helpfully illustrated a slow and smooth gesture in the air between them, "lift your foot off of the clutch until you can feel the gears catch."

Nodding at the instructions, Kenji gripped the wheel, a scowl of intense concentration on his face. Right. He could do this. People drove every day, right? Hell, people even younger than him could do it, so how hard could it be really?

Once Tadashi had finished, he attempted to perform the described actions, muttering the words under his breath like some weird, arcane ritual, "Feet on the left and middle pedals...engine turns over...take foot off the middle one...slooooowly take foot off the clutch..."

Upon turning the key, the engine purred obediently, and nothing exploded--always a plus. He slid his foot off the brake. Again, nothing. A little more confident now as they were both still alive, he began to ease his foot off the clutch. In response, the car lurched irritably forward a few feet, the engine spitting a few curses at him before wheezing and stalling out. Apparently, he didn't remove his foot from the clutch slooooowly enough.

"Well...fuck."

Edited 2013-06-04 04:53 (UTC)

Even braced for it, the car jolted, lunging forward and jerking to a stop in a heavy, nauseous motion. Tadashi held a palm against the dash, even as he grinned at Kenji.

"Relax, relax. You're gonna do that." He waved a hand in the air. "In fact, if you didn't and got it right off, I might have been pissed off. Try it again, just get to that point where you can feel something happening and then ease off. We'll put some gas on it once you've got a feel."

"...Okay." Kenji wasn't exactly sure what the mysterious 'something happening' was that Tadashi referred to, but since they were both still in one piece, he'd take another shot. It took a few more tries, but finally, when he shifted his foot off the break, he thought he could feel the engine engage--maybe that was the "something"? Encouraged a bit, he again began to ease off the clutch. The car shuddered, the engine spitting angrily at him once again, but wonder of wonders, it didn't entirely stall out on him this time, but eventually settled into a sort of annoyed grumble. There was just one problem.

"Uh...why aren't we moving?"

Edited 2013-06-13 02:41 (UTC)

"No gas, no go, man. That was just to get a feel for her, something of where she balanced, you get me?" Tadashi reflexively mimed the gestures with his own feet... it was weird being at this angle. The car had been a constant in his life since he started to learn on it last year.

It wasn't much to look at. Something of a boat of a car, heavy and a bit ponderous even in the higher gears, but he had plans. Oh how he had plans. He'd gotten a nice little nest egg put together for upgrades as a present to himself after getting out of the hell they call academia, including the very same clutch he'd abused... it was part of the reason he was even offering to help with this. It was another quick check, in gear, belts on, flat ground, no one but them, a few empty rows and a great view of the overlook. Basically perfect.

"Once you feel a bit more comfortable, you've got to let up on the clutch just like you did, and at the same time start pushing down on the gas. That's the tricky part, but if you know where the engine engages, you know where and when you're going to start moving."

"Yeah...yeah, I get you, man." No...no, he didn't really. Car-speak was yet another of the many automobile-related mysteries that had always eluded him.

It was just as well that Kenji had no clue as to the extent of Tadashi's plans. If he had, he no doubt would have called a halt to the experiment while there was still something left to upgrade. As it was, however, he made a few more trial runs: just starting the car and doing the brake-clutch thing, until he could repeat the process without the car cursing at him. So far, this was his most successful attempt at driving--and the car hadn't really even moved yet.

Finally, much to his own surprise, he was able to get the car started and the engine to engage smoothly, and he glanced over at Tadashi. "Okay... I think I'm good now, so now what?"

"Not bad so far," he nodded amiably. "All right, step on the brake and the clutch. Now reach to your right and pull the stick towards you and then push it towards the dash. That'll put us in first gear." He mimed the actions with one hand, absently.

"Then let up on the brake, push down on the gas as you let up on the clutch." Tadashi grinned. "We're gonna jump and stall a few times so don't get frustrated. Guaran-fucking-tee it."

Oh man, that was a lot of stuff to remember, and Kenji wasn't at all sure that he was up to the task. Still, he'd done okay so far, so if he just took it a step at a time, maybe it would turn out all right. He hoped so, at any rate.

Muttering Tadashi's instructions under his breath like a mantra, he engaged the brake and clutch and reached out for the gearshift, pushing it in what he hoped was the right direction. Now came the tricky part. As Tadashi had predicted, when he released the brake and pressed down on the gas pedal, the car bucked and sputtered, gears screeching in protest (apparently, he hadn't quite gotten the infernal machine in gear, after all.).

"HOLY SHIT, IT'S POSSESSED!"

Deciding it was time to end this horribly botched experiment once and for all, he stomped down hard on the brake--or so he thought. In his panic, however, his foot landed on the gas pedal instead. The much abused car roared and sputtered like an asthmatic lion as it bucked and crow-hopped across the pavement on a direct trajectory toward the edge of the docks.

There's a moment, on that first lurch, that Tadashi's pretty calm about the whole thing. "Whoa whoa jus--" Whatever he was explaining was eaten by the roar of the engine and the shriek of gears.

"Not that one! NOT THAT ONE!" The car managed to pick up speed even in first gear... Tadashi gave a quick glance to the rising tach and back to the approaching docks in quick frantic glances.

WHY HADN'T IT STALLED YET?! HOW IS IT ACCELERATING IN FIRST GEAR? WHY IS IT POSSESSED ONLY NOW.

With the next lunge, the car throws them against their belts with rough force as it climbs the inch it needs to roll onto the planking.

"Watch out!"

"SHIT SHIT SHIIIT!"

With each curse, Kenji stamped on what he thought was the brake again--which only seemed to annoy the car further, but did nothing to decrease its speed. Finally, out of sheer luck, he managed to hit the correct pedal...and the sharp squeal of brakes rose up to meet the irate grinding of gears, creating an unholy harmony.

As the brakes caught, the back end of Tadashi's car swung around to the right, throwing both teens violently to the left. Desperately, Kenji yanked the steering wheel to the left, trying to steer out of the skid. Unfortunately, he'd never heard the part about how you're supposed to steer into a skid, so all he managed to do was send the car spinning uncontrollably toward the drop off.

"WHAT THE HELL DO I DO?!"

At the back of his mind he felt that ever-present thread of light grow taut, like a guitar string waiting to be plucked. Could feel it vibrating in time to his own panicked heartbeat, tensing...

No! Not now, dammit!

...and finally breaking. Suddenly, Kenji's body was outlined by a bright, prismatic light; there was a sound like a small thunderclap as the steering wheel burst into a shower of multicolored sparks that swirled around the car's interior before fading.

Oddly enough, when the car's back wheels slid over the edge of the dock, he didn't feel panic or even fear so much as a dull resignation. From the very beginning, he'd known this wouldn't--couldn't end well.

There are moments, they say, in critical emergencies where time seems to slow down as all of the brain's attention focuses on every single detail around you, processing and reprocessing it for potentials and outcomes in the very basic fight or flight mechanism.

That whole shebang went right out of the window as Tadashi watched his friend get engulfed in a strange light and it take a bite out of the steering column. He found himself ignoring the incoming water and velocity for a simple second of slackjawed surprise at something so very, very clearly not of the sane and normal world as they knew it.

And then came the splash.

The car rocked a moment in the water, the fragile buoyancy shattered after an almost cartoonish instant of frozen horror on Tadashi's part.

"Get your belt off! Get out now!" He scrambled for his own even as he shouted it.

Kenji just looked back calmly at Tadashi for a moment, as if they were just hanging out at home instead of sitting in a rapidly sinking car. "Man...I'm really sorry about your car." For some reason, it seemed very important to establish that.

At his friend's urging, he nodded and unbuckled his own seatbelt, moving slowly and deliberately, almost as if he were sleepwalking. He noted with vague surprise that at least six inches of water now covered the floorboards, with more spilling in through the seams around the doors. Not good.

That realization finally caused him to shake off the odd inertia that had almost paralyzed him, and got him moving again. As the top half of the car was still above water, he quickly rolled down the window, sliding out through the opening. Pushing away from the side of the car, he treaded water a few feet away, waiting for Tadashi to make his escape.

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