Kind-of-an-OOM: Car adventures!

[hasthehighground]

Clint's not entirely sure how Oswin's gained access to the car she has -- a sturdy four-door sedan.

Whichever way that happened, she has a set of keys and hasn't wrecked it yet. Clint's given it a look-over, including pulling out out of its parking spot and re-parking it in the middle of the lane, and now he's sitting in the passenger seat.

He hands Oswin the keys once she's buckled in.

Comments

[souffle_girlek]

She looks a bit horrified at this as she adjusts the mirror as ordered.

"I was joking!" She protests, clearly expecting him to say the same thing. Just. No. Really?

[hasthehighground]

He actually laughs, this time. "It's not a big deal, as long as people keep it to when they're parked. Some idiots don't.

"Okay. Do you have the clutch pushed all the way down?"

[souffle_girlek]

"Yes." She does actually pay attention through his instructions on putting the car into first gear, then slowly giving the engine more gas while letting off the clutch. It sounds easy enough.

Which is why she's utterly confounded when the engine jerks to a halt as she's attempting the maneuver, after inching forward less than half a foot.

"Oh my stars. Did I kill it?"

[hasthehighground]

"You're just going to have to restart," he says, trying not to sound as amused as he is. "Pu--"

[souffle_girlek]

The engine roars back to life, and Oswin's got a determined scowl on her face. If this machine thinks it's going to beat her, it's going to have a problem. From what she can tell, the engine died because she was too cautious with the gas.

Well. Change of plan.

The car lurches forward like a startled jackrabbit as she definitely manages to not make the same mistake twice, the wheels squealing and leaving black rubber behind.

[hasthehighground]

Clint will feel, later, that he recovers from the shock admirably. It still takes him a moment.

"Less gas!"

[souffle_girlek]

"Right, right, less gas, I can do that, definitely less with the gas..." She still hasn't ever figured out how she showed here not all... Dalek-y, but she's learning right now that this body has perfectly functioning adrenal glands. The adrenalin (of going all of ten miles an hour now) is powering her current babble.

[hasthehighground]

Clint takes a deep breath, and laughs.

Now the initial shock has died down, it's pretty funny.

"Okay," he says, placing his elbow on divider so he can lean over and watch the speedometer. "You're going to want to press down the clutch and slowly increase the gas while you switch over to second. Keep us around the 15 mph point for now."

[souffle_girlek]

She gives him a look (briefly) because it's not that funny. Really. And she manages to shift without horribly stalling - she's still erring on the side of giving too much gas, so the engine revs uselessly mid-shift and lurches a bit once she gets it engaged again.

"There. Could've been smoother, but we're not crashed, so win!"

[hasthehighground]

"Anybody ever tell you you really need higher standards?"

[souffle_girlek]

"You're the one that got in the car with me, I don't think you have much room to complain." She points out dryly.

[hasthehighground]

Clint's still grinning, easy and entertained. "I hate to break it to you, but I have a history of reckless self-endangerment."

If the last part sounds like a quote, it is. Off of his regular psych eval, last spring. It's been three years since he last jumped off of a high-rise; he's not sure what they were complaining about.

[souffle_girlek]

"I ended up on a prison planet for an entirely different species, I dunno why you've voted for me to be the safe one here." She retorts, because she's self-aware enough to realize that sometimes her life choices are just no good at all. The driving, however, is going brilliantly.

Even if they are picking up a bit of speed.

[hasthehighground]

He huffs a distracted breath of amusement, keeping an eye on the speedometer, and on the fact that they're approaching the end of a ridiculously long aisle. "You're going to want to drop your speed back to around 10-15 to take this turn. Then we'll take it up to third gear."

[souffle_girlek]

"Whoo-hoo!" Because hey, third gear is faster, this must mean she's doing good. Or at least not horrifically badly. She'll take that.

Slowing down is a little jerky, since there is some sort of mysterious land between 'not pushing on the brake enough to matter' and 'we're totally stopping RIGHT NOW' that she hasn't found yet. It's like the Northwest Passage - you've heard about it, but good luck finding it.

And now for turning. This is the part that always seems to go so badly.

[hasthehighground]

At first she under-turns, then pulls the steering wheel sharply to the side to compensate for it.

Clint grabs the steering wheel, evening them out.

"Okay," he says, letting go. "Try it again with the next aisle."

[souffle_girlek]

Well. It almost wasn't horrible. She takes comfort in the small things.

"So up in speed now, right? What's third gear at?"

[hasthehighground]

Clint glances at her, amused "After you turn into the next aisle." It's going to be awhile until he teaches her how to speed up into a turn. If ever.

It could happen.

[souffle_girlek]

She makes a face at him because she totally knew that.

Really.

...

Sorta.

She was excited about the speeding-up part.

"Alright then, turning, we're turning here, we're not hitting anyone, Oswald for the win!"

[hasthehighground]

It's not the smoothest turn in the world, but Clint doesn't have to intervene which is a big improvement. "Okay," he says, and the faint approval in his voice is sincere. "You're going to want to switch to third gear when you get near 30. Speed up gradually."

[souffle_girlek]

She manages the speeding up, if not as smooth and gradual as one might wish (the gas pedal also has a mystical land somewhere between 'not enough gas to speed up' and 'GO GO GO' that she hasn't quite found yet).

"Right, so, off the gas, clutch, shift..." With a moment for quick, nervous looks at the stick to see where the heck it is now. "Aaaaand more gas..."

[hasthehighground]

She's learning pretty quick, compared to some automatic-drivers he's tried to teach driving a manual to. Fewer habits to unlearn, probably.

"You've got it."

[souffle_girlek]

Her grin is immediate and bright, and she tries to keep up the good work - the car's going a bit faster with less gas here, so less gas, more brake?

She pushes down, and the car lurches forward accompanied by her startled squeak because that's not the plan, there. She's got her 'oh god stop' and 'go car go' feet mixed up, and instinct isn't helping much here.

[hasthehighground]

Clint looks down towards her feet, automatically. "Just lift your foot off the gas, it'll be --"

Something catches his attention out of the corner of his eye, and his head whips up. He could've sworn they had a good stretch of aisle in front of them, but there's a garage door standing open in front of them, with a road and some greenery.

There's not time enough to coach Oswin into braking, so he grabs the handbrake, and pulls.

The car jolts to a stop, right after shooting through.

[souffle_girlek]

The car's engine crashes into a stall as Oswin goes with not pushing on anything, just to be safe.

...

Maybe a minute or so too late.

"... How?" She asks after staring at the giant ferns outside for a moment.