Salvage and Stealing

It had been an eventful day, at least, as far as things went for the average citizen. Well, perhaps eventful was not really appropriate considering just how very eventful their lives had been as of late - at least the lives of the two couriers walking into the Maccadam's Old Oil House. However, things got done, and that was what was important. After Swivel had given Backdrop the tour of their humble facilities and accompanied him on some of his jobs, then went off to do some of her own while he had a few to do without training wheels. But it was agreed when evening came, they would meet up for drinks. 
And now, that is what they are doing. Swivel walks in and holds the door open for Backdrop with a large grin on her face. "I think ya'll loik this place. It's not too divy or too upscale, yanno? Nice casual place."
"I'm not sure what 'divvy' means..." Backdrop admits a bit sheepishly as he walks through the open door Swivel holds for him; such a gentlemech! Gentlefemme? GENTLEBOT. "...But I doubt anyplace can really bother me right now. If it doesn't smell like a sewer, I'm okay." 
He looks around at the middle-range place with an impressed air. Yeah. Yeah, this place was nice. "I think I've been here before, but maybe just once or twice..."
"Eh, I dun doubt ya been 'ere b'fore. There's a few places ya prolly been, though I'unno 'bout comin' through th'front doors," Swivel says with a little smirk. Swivel glances about. Bar? Nah. Table? Neh. Booth? Maybe.... CARD TABLE YES! Grinning broadly, Swivel taps Backdrop on the shoulder and then gestures to the card table. "Mebbe a r'laxin' game o'cards. Get me a seat an I'll bring th'drinks, kay?"
"Cards?" And, here, Backdrop actually perks up. "They have a card game here? Oh, that is fancy." 
Look at him. He looks so excited. Good ol' Spritz happiness, is what that is. He practically bounds to the card table. 
Does he actually know how to play? It's a mystery!
What Backdrop doesn't know, Swivel can try to teach him. What Swivel doesn't know, surely experience will teach the both of them. Swivel whisks off to order two fairly weak drinks for starters. She remembers the disaster of the last time she introduced engex to Spritz, er, Backdrop. It isn't long before Swivel comes back with a drink in each hand, hadning one to Backdrop. "Up fer a game o' Salvage?"
"Salvage?" Backdrop blinks twice at the name. "Don't think I know how to play that one. Back with... The others, we used to play Finders." A pause. "...Though I think one of us actually made the game up." 
He takes the drink and sips it. As he goes so, his optics glance from side to side, very unstealthily taking in his surroundings.
Well Swivel is all grins, as she gets a deck of cards out from a compartment on the table and begins to shuffle them. "It's really easy. Uh, let's see. Object o' th'game is ta get th'most pairs o' cards. So everyone gets a hand o... um... seven cards? I think? Been a while. 'En summun asks summun else if they 'ave a card in their 'and. If the person bein' asked 'as it they gotter 'and it over. If they don't, they say "Go Salvage" an 'en the person askin' gotter draw 'en the next person goes. If ya get what y'asked fer from th'pile, ya get ta go 'gain. Well, same if summun 'ands you a card y'ask for.... might be easier jus ta play 'en tell ya wot t'do as it comes up coz I 'ent t'good at splainin' stuff."
Backdrop blinks a bit more at the rules. He squints at the card as he's dealt them. "...Huh." He doesn't look like he really knows what he's doing. Or understand the cards. He may not even know what the cards are made OF. 
"The point is to get PAIRS?"
"Mm-hmm. Pairs of number, not suit. So if ya got two fours, they's a pair. Once ya gotter pair, none kin ask fer 'em cards. Ya jus set 'em aside," Swivel explains as she organises her hand. "If ya got any pairs roight now.... 'en set 'em aside." Swivel sets down two cards.
There is still a lot of squinting at the cards. "So... What do we do next?" No pairs, then. "Who goes first and what does that person do?" He's concentrating SO HARD.
"Well, 'ow 'bout you ask me fer a card? It 'as to be a number y'ave in yer 'and. So, say, if ya'ad an 8 of something, ye'd ask me fer an 8. An if I 'ad an 8 I'd 'ave ta give it t'ya. If I dint, 'en ya jus' gotter draw a card." Swivel smiles. She takes a sip of her drink. "It's a really simple game, so I figgered i'd be a good place t'start. Mebbe some cyke Ill teach ya poker."
The amount of concentration Backdrop is putting in to his cards is almost comical. He just STARES at them, as if willing one of them to change. 
Though, he's been like that since starting his new life. Pouring his entire being in to whatever he's doing. 
"...Uhm... Got any..." A pause. A squint. "...A Q is not a number. Why is this a Q?"
"Ooooh, whoops, yeah..... fer some reason, they're all like, no, we can't 'ave an eleven or a twelve or a thirteen, we gotta go with fancy titles. Q is th'same as 12 mosteer th'time an stands fer Queen. Yanno, loik the Queen ov're 'secitcon 'ive? J is eleven an stands fer Jack. I'unno wot a jack gotter do with Queens, I mean, 'ent that a tool t'lift cars fer wheel replacements? Yeah I dunno. 'En K is thirteen and's a King. Yeah, I dunno 'bout tha'ther. Ooooh an the ones are called Aces. In some games though they are one they're the 'ighest card.... but in this game it dun matter." Swivel taps her fingers as she looks at her hand. "And newp. Go Salvage. I 'ent got one, so you's gotter draw a card."
With a soft sound of pure confusion, Backdrop slides another card to himself. He still seems perplexed by the whole 'jack, queen, king, ace' thing. 
"This is really very confusing."
"Yeah, dinna make sense t'me a'first. But I stopped carin' bout why an' just focused on wot they were worth. Luckily, this game it dun matter wot th'value o'ther cards are. Jus' 'ow many pairs ya get 'en the deck's done." Swivel smiles. She looks at her cards and squints a little, mulling things over. 
"Lesseeeeeee..... d'ya got a... uh... mmmm..... yeah, d'ya gotter 5?"
Backdrop 's optics widen in surprise. "I do, actually! I, hum, oh." A squint. "We're supposed to put pairs on the side, right?" 
He pulls out two cards and puts them face down on the table. Then he squints. And does it again. 
"...Now I do not have any fives."
Swivel had been taking a sip while waiting for Backdrop to scan his cards for her querry, when he suddenly realises he had a pair after all. Swivel spits her drink back out, but luckily, most of it goes back into her cup which she hadn't fully lowered from her mouth, the rest lightly misting her fingers. Swivel slams down her drink, laughing. "Ooooooooooooooh, whoops, yeah, th'appens! Ya'll gether 'ang o' it," Swivel says cheerfully as she gets out a cloth to wipe her hand. "I dunno if it's really the funnest game, but it's a good one t'learn 'bout cards with.... an' 'ey, mos;ly, it's all 'bout bein social, yeah?" Swivel reaches over and draws herself a card. She looks at it and then snaps her fingers. "You're turn."
And there is that concentration on the cards again. He seems to be relaxing ever so slowly, at least. "Got any... Ks?" He makes a face at the not-number.
"Nope nope nope, no K's 'ere," Swivel says and then takes another drink. "Oh, also, rememberin' wot peeps ask fer is a good idea, coz ya may not 'ave a card when they ask, 'en you draw it later, y'kin ask 'em coz they'll prolly still 'ave it," Swivel suggests. "If tha'makes any sense. Mebbe I'm no'the'best at splainin...... you know what? I trust you enough, and I don't need to do the poor trash act around you, so I might as well talk plainly."
A small smile crosses Backdrop's face as he deals himself another card. "...Always figured that was an act." He mumbles it, as if only to himself. "Why do you do the act, though? There are even empties that came from high up, aren't there?"
"Eh, it started small. I just noticed... um... people didn't think... hmm..." Swivel looks at her cards. "Well, 'ave any sevens?" Swivel asks as she organises her thoughts. "I guess I just knew my place and felt I oughta act it, you know? Soon I was over doing it, but it kinda became a 'abit. It's uh..." Swivel shrugs off and takes another drink, waiting to see if Backdrop has a seven to her before continuing.
Backdrop seems to have forgotten he even HAD a drink; after the first sip, he's completely ignored it. "No sevens." 
He looks up over the top of his cards, though. "It's okay if you want to keep doing the accent. If it helps with stuff, it helps, right?"
Idly tapping the rim of her glass with one hand, she sets her cards down with the other. "I think it's.... people think I'm less because of my caste, so I don't try to challenge it. So I do and act and talk whatever way just confirms that attitude. By now I realise enabling that view 'asn't been a good idea, but now, so many people know me as that, so, yeah." She draws a card and picks up her other cards, uniting them together. "Awe..." she says a bit plaintively. "I just didn't want anyone to even think I was trying ta go above my caste or function. Things were that way for a reason, and I trusted the government to know what was best for all of us. I was naive. Oh, and it's your turn."
A sour expression crosses Backdrop's face at the notion of the government 'doing what's best'. "I think you know how I feel about the people in charge right now." Finally, he seems to remember he has a drink and takes another sip. 
"Got any -- teehee, they're all the same color. Uhm, got any 4s?"
"Yeah," Swivel says slowly nodding her head. "Yeah.... I know. Mostly, it was... if you look like how people expect ya to look, no one looks at your twice, or something. Survival for a large part 'as been 'bout NOT standing out until I could figure out wot was going on." The femme still has a slight accent, she just annunciates a LOT better. "And, no, no 4's for you, Spritz." Swivel shifts a little in her chair. "Now, well, it doesn't matter if I stand out or not."
"Doesn't matter?" Backdrop blinks once as he deals himself another card. "Is it about those seekers from the other day?"
"Oh, no... just... things 'ave changed. Standing out, well, I'm not gonna go out of my way to stand out, but I guess I don't really need to keep my 'ead down either. I mean, act stupider than I am to please the egos of the higher caste because now we are trying to show the world that we're not defined by our function or alt mode," Swivel explains. She looks at Backdrop. "Didn't get a four? Oh well. 'Ow about you give me your king?"
Ooh, Backdrop pulls a face at Swivel's card request. It's somewhere between amused and affronted. "You remembered me asking about a K card earlier. Oooh." He slides it over, though. "Sneaky. That is sneaky." There's a glint in his optics as if he was holding back laughter. 
A deep peer and a prolonged moment of silence. "Got any 2s?"
Grinning smugly, Swivel thanks Backdrop for his card and sets her pair of Kings aside. "I am so VERY sneaky. And just demonstorating the strategy I was telling you about earlier." Swivel looks at her card and raises an optic ridge. "Oh you!" Swivel says playfully as she hands him one of her cards.
"AHA!" Backdrop says that a little too loudly with just a little bit too much gusto. He holds up the given card victoriously. "I am learning the ways of this game! I totally am!" 
He is possibly having a little too much fun. Another sip of the mug is taken. 
Then, two cards are set aside.
Swivel laughs, but then she puts on a playfully feigned pout at Backdrop. "Awe..... you stole my thunder," Swivel chuckles a little "But yeah, yer getting it," Swivel says with an encouraging grin. She looks at her cards. "If ya learn this nice and quick, I'm sure you'll be getting pretty good with all sorts of things. Not everything, because everyone has their foibles, but lotsa stuff, I'm sure." Swivel lightly fingers her cards thoughtfully. "Ten? Ten? Gotta ten?"
"Ha!" Backdrops looks so smug again. "No tens! Go salvage the, uh... Salvage... Thing." Well, there goes his thunder. "...Yeah!"
"Hmmmmmmm..... well.... nothin good salvaged." Swivel shrugs her shoulders. "But, eh, that sort of is the way it goes, yanno? So wotter you going to take from me now, eh, you sly mech you!"
A little giggle escapes Backdrop. At least he isn't taking the game all too seriously. "Uhm uhm... I can't remember what I asked for before. Got any 8s?"
"Ooo." Backdrop looks a little excited; maybe he wash't expecting that. "Thank you, Swivel!" And aside the two cards go.
With a light-hearted sigh Swivel looks at her cards. "You are just taking all my goodies away!" Swivel complains ingenuinely. "Well maybe you can give me something? How about you give me a Queen? That would be a Q."
"I think you know all the cards I have now." All three of them. Backdrop giggles again as he hands the queen over; down to two cards!
"I know you know your way around tunnels and such... but moslty Nyon, roight? Did ya 'ave loik a built in map or location program? Or did ya learn yer way 'round th'old fashioned way? Important to know for your new job as well." Swivel looks at her cards. 'Er... I kinda forgot whose go it is." Swivel glances at her half-finished drink.
"I think it's my turn." Backdrop smirks a little. "Got any Js yet? And I figured out the sewer thing with the others. We didn't have any location programs or anything. Just... We made maps and hung them on the walls." 
Suddenly, he looks so sad.
"Er... sorry to bring that up. I know you miss them and that way of life," Swivel says, suddenly realising she really stepped in it. "I just... well, I can get you some maps. It will help out in some of the places you might not have worked in as often." Swivel looks at her hand. "Well, no, no, go Salvage."
Backdrop takes a card with a much more subdued air. He looks quite upset now, though he isn't bubbling or crying. He just looks... Sad 
"It's okay. I memorized most of the tunnels under Nyon. And I do miss them, but... What can I do?" A sigh.
"We can only do our best to learn from what's happened and go forward.... and that IS doing something, just not changing wot 'appened." Well, Swivel had meant to just be helpful, but she sort of killed the mood. As a response the drink she'd slowly been sipping away at is suddenly downed in one or two large gulps. "Got a five yet?"
"Not yet." A small, shaky smile as Backdrop tries to focus on the game again. "Go salvage. Got any 3s?"
You are not holding those cards!
Swivel deals 1 card to herself.
Stupid... stupid... stupid... Swivel laughs shakily. "Nope, salvage." Yeah, the conversation kind of got destroyed. "Uh... so.... um... 'ow do you loik being a courier so far?" Swivel asks, watching to see if Backdrop gets what he asked for before asking him for another card.
"The courier thing? It's... Interesting." Backdrop looks sincere as he says it. "I haven't been doing this long, but it's... Interesting. A little fun. I think I'll enjoy it more if I think of the time limit as a game, maybe? Get the job done as quick as I can..." A small smile as he takes a card.
Swivel grins and gets a somewhat impish expression on her poker incompatible face. "Cough up yer J, Backdrop!" Swivel says holding out her hand and wiggling her fingers. "Yeah, I make a game out of it too. I like to sort of... race against the chronometer so to speak, constantly timing myself on common routes and th'loik. And it is always thrilling when I disocver a new shortcut. I'll also advise you of the routes that have the 'ighest muggins so you can avoid them. Taking a little longer is worth being safe. This one time I was rushing and went somewhere I KNEW was dangerous and in my attempt to get away broke a bottle of enerwine I was supposed to deliver. It was EXPENSIVE! And I 'ad to buy a new one out of me own funds! Sent me back a-ways!" Swivel smiles, and then frowns. That was the same cycle that she first encountered those thugs in Vos... the ones that later caught up with her in Nyon. Swivel quickly forces a grin back on. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE CHEERFUL TIME DARNIT!"
Backdrop visibly winces at the story about having o replace an expensive bottle of ener-wine. "Ooh, I hope that doesn't happen to me. Mostly because I have no money yet." Yeeah, he's broke. "...You know all of my cards." 
The J is slid over. "Got a 6?"
Grinning, pushing herself back into the happy mind set, Swivel shakes her head, and then stops herself. "Oh.... wait... Yeah, I got one for you. Wow, give and take, give and take!" Swivel passes her six over to Backdrop and then looks at her empty glass, then over at the progress Backdrop has made on his own drink.
-- Radio: Globalband -- Override says, "I want to lodge a protest against the concept of 'speed limits'."
Progress? There isn't much of it. He's had maybe... A quarter of his glass. At Swivel's look, though, he takes another sip. 
He's enjoying it! Really! Just... Very, very slowly.
Swivel was enjoying hers, but now it's gone, and she looks at it with an expression of deep contemplation. She finally decides to just leave it at one drink for now. Grinning, she sets the glass aside for a server to pick up on their rounds, and focuses on the game. "So..... you took my six, so 'ow about ya give me a seven? If ya got a spare lying around, that is."
"Ha! I do not have a 7." Backdrop's voice is not nearly as energetic as it had been before and his smile isn't quite as bold, but he's clearly trying. "And I should put these two aside..."
"Wellum!" Swivel begins as she looks at her newest card. "Guess it is your go. Hey, um, did you 'ear the one about the shuttlecraft and the dataslug that walked into a bar?"
"Shuttlecraft and a data slug?" Backdrop blinks a bit. "Are data slugs the alt mode that stores information? I never did keep up with what does what, exactly." A small shrug. "Didn't really seem... Important before." 
He squints at his cards again. "Got a 3?"
"Yeah, that's wot they are." Swivel shakes her head. "Nope, no threes. Anyway, I haven't 'eard a joke about a shuttle and a dataslug walking into a bar either. I was 'oping you 'ad." Swivel smiles. "I 'ad a punchline along those lines, anyway... but it seemed funnier in my mind." Swivel shrugs. "Well, might as well salvage or that three, then. And maybe if you've one, lend me a ten?"
"Ooh." Backdrop squints at the cards he has and instantly sets two aside. "...And that joke was funny. It was. Really." He's not laughing, but he's smirking. "No tens." He waves around a single card. "What happens when you run out of cards?"
You say "You draw three. Oh, and if ya GET what you asked for from the salvage pile, you get to ask again. So draw three and ask me for something... guess I should 'ave waited for you look at your card before asking...." Swivel laughs a little and leans back in her seat. THis time she is sitting in a seat with a back and does NOT fall backwards onto the floor. She's learning!"
That single card is still waved around. Backdrop stares at it. Looks at Swivel. "Can you guess what it is?"
Swivel looks at the single card. "Oh.... um.... hmmm.... now I have to remember things. It was easier earlier in the game when thee was less to remember. Well. Hmmm.... DID you get what you asked for? Because if so you go anyway and ask me for that card. If you got a match to a card you had that wasn't the one you asked for, then OBVIOUSLY, I ask you for a three and get it." She smiles sweetly.
"But it's your turn." The grin is growing a little. "That's why you have to guess, really. So guess. Is it a three? Is it not a three? Ooooh...!"
"... and that was the time I jumped Gasket Canyon. Without a spoilerchute. It was tres wicked."
Jackpot has his arms around a couple of Femmes as he strides into the bar, cleverly finishing up one of his many stories about the good ol' days. He glances around and gives those Femmes a swat on the aft, sending them off into the bar as he immediately starts scanning the room for potential marks.
... and enemies. He owes a lot of mechs a lot of shanix. Might as well make sure the coast is clear before he gets too comfortable.
Sitting at a card table is a femme and a mech of much smaller stature than the average, but bigger (barely) than minicons. Both of them seem to be in the middle of a card game. In front of the femme is an empty glass and in front of the mech a partially drained glass. 
"Fine. Is that a three?" Swivel asks, sighing a bit. She shifts her weight on the chair a size too large for her, which is necesary considering the size of the wheels situated on her back.
"...Yes." Backdrop pulls a bemused expression. "Yes, it is." And he slides that single card over. 
"And now I take three?"
Maybe he shouldn't be as happy as he is about seeing the mech and femme at the table but Jackpot is already rubbing his hands together. He glances upward for a moment, as if there's something up there that he should be looking at and then he's off in the direction of the table with a whisper of, "My name." to himself.
Get it?
As Jackpot approaches the table, he puts on the most worried faceplate expression he can muster up on the few steps it takes to get over there. "... dunno what I'm gonna' do. That mech took all my shanix. I can't even... I'm gonna' be in so much trouble." Jackpot seems to be muttering to himself as he just kind of wanders past-into the card table. Clumsily.
"Oh Primus, sorry about that..."
"Bam!" Swivel says excitedly, and then drums her hands on the table in a rapid drum roll of victory... although she is probably behind in points. But she is really trying to get things upbeat again, because this is supposed to be fun. Amidst her jaunty rhythm she leans back in her chair, tipping it back a little. Well, Jackpots little clumsy act doesn't need to really be an act as she leans back right into his path. 
Impact! Startlement! Swivel's feet, which she was pressing against the edge of the table lose contact and she falls completely back, flailing out her arms and grabbing for anything near by to try and stall her fall - and that would be Jackpot. She also upsets the cards, her hand, the discard pile, everything!
The mech bumps in to the table. All the cards tumble about, and Swivel is... Hugging the mumbling mech? 
For a moment, Backdrop just stares, a little amused. "Uh, friend of yours, Swivel?"
Jackpot tries to keep Swivel on her feet while also maybe even checking her frame for stashes of anything that can be pilfered. Not that he's a thief or anything, but he definitely wouldn't mind getting some pickpocket-ing on in the middle of this stumbling clusterfrag. "Hey, no, my mistake. It's all me. This is all on me." He tries to give a wave of his hand while also hoping to see if Swivel can stay on her feet now. "You good? You okay there?"
Oh, Swivel grapples with Jackpot for a bit until she regains her balance. A quick check for things is only chump change, two datapads, and a goodie dispenser. The femme may LOOK like she might have money, but if she does, she does not keep it on her. Once Swivel is standing she blinks a few times, and then quickly turns away to pick up the chair she'd knocked over and begins picking up cards off the floor. "Um.... er.... sorry... I know ya say's it's yer fault, but, uh, sorry... I shoona been..." Swivel mutters all of this while cleaning up, barely even looking at Jackpot.
At all the fumbling and flopping about, Backdrop starts to pick up cards himself. He doesn't try to put them in any order -- he wouldn't know what order they GO in -- but at least he's got them in a neat enough pile. 
"Are you both okay? Nothing scratched, stepped on, stabbed?" A pause. "Okay, probably not stabbed. Or maybe so. Things are weird lately."
Jackpot's hands go up and they aere empty. Just because he's got something magnetically attached to the back of one of them doesn't mean anything. Something that likely doesn't belong to him. Either way, he's just attempting to continue to look as innocent in all of this as possible. Because, y'know, he is innocent.
"I'm okay. Thanks." Jackpot's hands go behind his back for just a moment, before he's realizing he should probably help. And then he's crouching down to maybe swipe up a card or two that may be lingering around. "Sorry if I ruined your game. Kinda' outta' my mind right now. Heavy is the head, right?" Jackpot holds out the couple of cards he scooped up to Swivel or Backdrop, whichever grabs them first. "I'm Jackpot, by the way."
Backdrop takes the cards from Jackpot with a surprised blink. "Uh... Yeah. Whatever that means. I agree completely." If he notices any stolen cards, he doesn't say anything. The cards might belong to the bar, actually. "Nice to meet you?" 
The tiny shiny racer bot is not giving his own name. Huh.
The femme looks around to make sure everything is gathered up before she stands up straight herself. "Oy." She looks at Jackpot more closely now. "Um, Swivel, tha's m'name," Swivel says since she is oh so friendly. "Kin I getcha a drink? Ya seem loik ya need one," Swivel says, tilting her head to one side. She looks around again to make sure everything is cleaned up. And she's not even the ex-cleaning bot!
Jackpot just offers a small smile to Swivel. He only semi-ignores Backdrop but that's because he's much better at hustling Femmes than he is Mechs. It is in his programming, okay? He can't help it. "I'd-- I'd like that. Thank you." He's all roguish charm as he moves to take a seat at the table that caused all this mess in the first place. "Sorry, it's been kind of a rough one." Jackpot makes sure to sigh with a bit of overdramatic flair to it as he leans his chin onto his open palm. Poor Jackpot.
The actual ex cleaning bot is doing the job, though. He's got the remaining cards in a pile, his seat is back where it was before he got there, and not a drop of spilled energon from his cube. Such tidiness! 
Backdrop opens his mouth to say something, only for a small chime to come from... Somewhere. He blinks, reaches in to subspace and takes out one of those cheap automatic alarm ringers. It is slightly broken judging by the giant crack across the screen. "Swivel, I have to go. I have a delivery due! They were really specific on the timing."
With a sympathetic expression, Swivel just nods her head. She's about to turn to go fetch a drink for Jackpot, when Backdrop has to suddenly go. "Oh, di'tha'much time pass?" Swivel looks momentariyl bewildered. She's always keeping him from his work, even the new job she just got him. The femme wears an odd little smirk as she waves the mech out. She then turns back to Jackpot. "About that drink... I kint afford enthin' fancy, but, still, it's on me!" UNLESS SOMEONE STOLE HER MONEY! Swivel smiles and heads off to the bar counter to order him up something. From behind, the femme really just looks like four huge wheels with legs.
"I like your wheels!" Jackpot calls out after Swivel, while also leaning onto the table and exposing his back. There, magnetized to the small of his back is a particularly familiar datapad that isn't there long. Mostly because a minicon swoops down, grabs the datapad off his back and then swoops back up to the ceiling. It all happens so fast that nobody probably even notices it. Which is likely part of Jackpot's plan in the first place. Jackpot takes to pulling all the cards to himself and straightening them up and into a pile. His hands nervously start to shuffle whilst he awaits his drink and Swivel.
"Thanks," Swivel calls back without thinking much about it, or turning to look at Jackpot. So she misses the little exchange of stolen goods while she waits for her order to be filled. It doesn't take the femme very long before she returns with the engex equivalent of a cheap beer. She sets it down for Jackpot with a friendly and very open smile. "There y'are." Swivel, however, does not take a seat right away.
"Thanks. 'Preciate it." Jackpot grabs the Bulb Light. He raises the cube up and gives it a little tilt in Swivel's direction. "Did you-- oh, I'm sorry. I probably just totally ruined whatever you were doing with that other mech. I-- I didn't even think. I didn't even realize." Jackpot starts flailing around and pushes to start standing up. "Here I am having the worst luck and I'm just inviting myself to your table, after practically bowling you over. What is wrong with me! Gaaaah!" He chugs some more Bulb Light.
"No, 'e 'ad t'go t'work. Iffin ya din show up e'd still 'ave ta go," Swivel says, putting on a slightly bemused expression. "I dun think ya kin blame yerself fer 'is deadlines." The wheeled femme then smiles again. "So, no worries, yeah? An accidents 'appen. Ya shooda seen th'time I almost upset a 'ole bar jus coz I din look b'ind me 'en I backed up. Crashed a waiter 'o toppled drinks on another patron 'en th poatron quickly stood up outter surprise, topplin' o'er the table, which knocked the chairs over, which tripped ANOTHER patron an' 'en pushed a mech onto a femme, 'oo 'en slapped 'im, 'en HER mechfriend punched 'im, 'en a brawl started an..... yeah. Accidents 'appen. I apologized o'course." SWivel bobs her head enthusiastically as she recalled her story, although it might be slightly exaggerated. Only slightly though.
"... Whoa." Jackpot looks pretty amused at the story that he listens to, even as he takes another big swing of the Bulb Light. He looks around for a moment and then back up at Swivel. "Well. Since your friend's off to work, you mind keepin' me company for a bit? When I leave here, I'm probably going to lose the use of my legs. So it'd be nice to actually have some conversation before I turn myself into a Dead Mech Walking." Sympathy Card? Played.
Shrugging, Swivel finally takes a seat across from Jackpot. At the mention of losing legs, her hand goes to the patch of lead over her optic. "Hrrrmmmm..... guess I kin stay an' chat fer a while. I'd 'ave ta check my... my..." Swivel reaches into her subspace to retrieve something that isn't there. HMMM! She looks perturbed for a moment and then starts checking a whole bunch of physical compartments on her person, sliding open several panels on her armour and such, becoming more and more frantic as she searches. "Uh oh...." Swivel stands up only to drop to her hands and knees, searching for something. "I'm listenin, jus sorter misplaced sumtin' important.... so if ya wanner tell me yer prollems, I really am listenin' iffin I dun look loik it."
Jackpot's optics only slightly go wide whilst he's taking a longer and more final swig of that Bulb Light. When he finishes it off, he sets the drinking cube back down on the table and offers a small shrug. "Eh, I won't bore you with the details. 'Sides, you been so nice to me, I don't wanna' accidentally put you in the middle of my own crazy problems." He flickers his optics a little bit, before leaning onto the table and looking at Swivel with a bit of a worried expression. "Hey, you okay? Whatcha' lookin' for?" Jackpot sounds ready to help!
"Oh, tha's really thoughtful, not wannin' t'get folk up in yer mess. Lotter peeps jus' toss people inter their prollems wi'out thinkin' bout 'oo they're 'urtin'..." Swivel remarks as she continues looking around, "so I wunt pry." Not seeing it anywhere on the floor nearby, she glances over towards the bar. "I wunner..." She frowns a bit. "I lost a tool f'me jorb. It's really 'elpful fer keepin' me on task. That 'an I think m'boss'd bee kinner smelt 'ot at me if I lost it since 'e issued it ta me." SWivel crosses her arms over her chest. "Jus gunner check by th'counter."
"Ah, yeah. Sounds important. You go ahead and check the counter. I'll see if I see anything 'round here." Jackpot is up and onto his feet, before dropping down to crawl around under the table, in an effort to see if he can't help this Femme find whatever it is that she's looking for. Either that or he's doing this as a signal to Sights.
Sights gives a mighty flap and soars out of othe building. It only takes a moment or two before the lights start to flicker in Maccadam's and then, it goes pitch black. Uh oh.
Yup. Must've been a signal.
Lights go off, radar goes on. Well, Swivel may just look like another car, but she's got a lot of built in sensors for detecting things when sight is obstructed. This is such a time. The rest of the patrons, naturally, are murmuring. Some sound panicked, some annoyed, some amused. There is a sound of scuffling, a gasp, an outcry... well what do you expect when the lights go off? One by one anyone with their own light source is flicking them on. Meanwhile, Swivel finds her way back to the table seeming completely unbothered by the darkness. "Oy! It wunna there either!"
It would seem as though the lights are coming back on soon enough. What might become readily obvious, via radar or otherwise, is that Jackpot is no longer by the table. Smelt, he's not even in Maccadam's anymore. And even though there's no more light issues going on inside the bar, there might be another way to tell where he is. And it might have something to do with the loud roaring engine and tire squealing that goes on outside for a brief moment.
Somebody just -bounced-.
No heat signature.... where she left him. And he's not there when the lights come on. Swivel just stands there. When she hears the engine, she begins to clue in. "Did.... did I just get robbed?"