DT1 - License and Registration, Please

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 6:48 pm

Ashlie is on the phone. That is to say, the room is empty and her phone appears to be talking to itself in Ashlie's voice. She sounds somewhat exasperated.

"I'm not sure why you would assume the University is involved."

"Yes, I understand that, but just because someone drove around with our symbol on their license plate doesn't mean that it belongs to our car-park, much less a bright green one."

"Yes, absolutely certain." she says, definitely annoyed now.

"It what?" she sighs in resignation.

"Constable, maybe the next time you should lead with the fact that the car turned into a person."

"Yes, I understand that the school's presence is causing a lot of unconventional situations and I appreciate your department's willingness to work with us."

"Let me assure you that I will take care of the matter and I apologize for the inconvenience. Have a good day, Constable."

The phone-line clicks once as Ashlie disconnects the call, then again as she rings up a number that ends in a voice stating it is currently unavailable. A brief moment later a text message is sent out.

Code: Select all: Mister/Miss Stanton, Please come see me in my office at your earliest convenience. Thank you, Ashlie Minamida

by **Will Stanton** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 8:16 pm

Will was there within 15 minutes.

"What can I do for you, ASHLIE?"

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 8:34 pm

"Will? That was faster than I expected." her voice comes from the phone on the desk. "I'll be there in about 5 minutes."

And, as promised, Ashlie comes walking up the hallway and steps into the room four and a half minutes later. She's wearing some sort of overall and looks like she's been busy in the workshop. "I'm sorry about that. I was on my way here when you walked in."

by **Will Stanton** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 8:38 pm

"It's alright; I didn't realize you wanted me to arrive later--you said at my earliest convenience."

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 9:35 pm

"You could have been busy. Anyway, I asked you here because apparently the police in Maldon got a little confused when they saw a green car driving around that doesn't appear to be registered in any way."

by **Will Stanton** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 10:01 pm

"Oh, yeah, Ms. Kinney wanted someone to test to make sure I wasn't only good an arctic surfaces, so one of the tech guys took me through Maldon."

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 10:19 pm

"Well, apparently the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency doesn't like unregistered cars on the streets. I can take care of most of the actual paperwork, I just need to make sure that you're actually street-safe."

by **Will Stanton** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 10:35 pm

"Well, does what they say really matter? I'm safe!"

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 10:48 pm

"It matters in the sense that I'm obligated to follow their rules. And technically, right now, I own an unregistered and untested automobile. Even if it doesn't look like one right now."

by **Will Stanton** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 11:09 pm

"I had plenty of testing from the military, but I guess you have a point," Will sighed.

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 11:28 pm

"The good news is, I don't have to take you to a garage because I'm qualified to do the inspection myself."

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 2:03 am

"Well, that will save time!" Will smiled. "That's fortunate."

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 2:15 am

"Shall we head outside? I'd rather not do this in my office."

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 2:18 am

"I wouldn't want to damage anything in here. This is no place for vehicles."

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 2:51 am

"Not regular ones anyway." she smirks. "Come on then."

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 3:00 am

Will obediently followed. "What's involved with being cleared here, anyway?"

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 4:56 am

"If we follow official procedures, sitting in a garage while someone measure exhaust, light, brakes, airbags... I have a better idea though." she says as they step out into the courtyard and the driveway. "Let's take a look at what we have to work with, yes?"

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 5:33 am

"You want to check out my body?"

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 5:37 am

"So to speak, yes. I hope you don't mind."

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:04 am

"No no no--if this is what I need to do to help, I'm more than happy!" he said, stripping out of his outer layers in the parking lot, and getting on all fours.

After a few moments of bulging and stretching, a large, green military-spec humvee was sitting in the parking lot. It looked out of place next to the teachers' cars.

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 4:19 pm

First things first, Ashlie opens the door to check if it's a modern enough car to have an on-board computer.

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 7:51 pm

It does! And a radio and all sorts of things.

The radio was on, playing an old Beatles song, but with the voice of John Lennon pretty clearly replaced by Will's.

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 7:58 pm

That made things easier. Ashlie pulls out a diagnostics tool and hooks it up to the center console.

"Can you talk through the radio?" she asks while looking around to see if keys are part of the process of turning into a car or if the ignition even needs keys.

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:01 pm

The keys were in the ignition, dangling from a green keyfob.

The diagnostics tool would indicate that, for a car, the on-board instructions were ridiculously complex and overwrought. There would probably be better performance with a firmware update.

"I can indeed, at least for now!" Will's voice came through the radio, occasionally fading in and out with normal radio static.

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:16 pm

"What do you mean for now?" she asks, turning the key to start the engine.

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:30 pm

"Key's in the ignition, mute button hasn't been pressed--I'm good to go."

The engine roared to life.

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:37 pm

"Excellent." Ashlie says as she peels out of the driveway.

"Oil pressure good, fuel injector's are fine. Mixture is a little air deprived, combustion not as efficient as it could be, but within normal limits. Exhaust around 400 ppm, CO levels acceptable for public roads." She swerves around a corner and onto the main road leading towards Maldon. "Breaks are a little sluggish and acceleration is slow but acceptable for a Humvee."

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:42 pm

"Hey! My acceleration is just fine, thankyouverymuch."

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:47 pm

"I've flown the QinJet." she smirks faintly. "Overall this looks fine. Lights and signals all work, I'll assume your crumple zone is fine. Airbags read as functional. You are a perfectly average army truck."

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:19 pm

"No, I'm a really good army truck," the radio pouted.

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:25 pm

"You have the potential to be. Which begs the question of why you don't turn into a more efficient car."

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:39 pm

"Well, I don't have a lot of choice, do I? This is the car I turn into."

Seems simple enough, right?

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:42 pm

"You don't have control over what kind of car?"

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:51 pm

"Well, not really. I just have the one car, you know? Just like I had the one person form, until Alex did sculpting, or just the one couch until I was re-upholstered."

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:02 pm

"Interesting. So if I worked on this car you would retain the modifications?"

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:13 pm

"I could! I mean, I wouldn't have too, necessarily, but I'd learn how things should work, and learning is half the battle. It's muscle memory, without the muscles!

I mean, in theory at least."

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:17 pm

"What about materials added to the design? Are they absorbed?"

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:24 pm

"Oh, yeah. Anything inside of me when I shift back tends to become part of me, unless it has a consciousness of its own."

by **Ashlie Minamida** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:27 pm

"That raises all kinds of questions about what constitutes a consciousness, but that'd be a more involved experiment. But would you be interested in becoming the best car you could be?"

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:32 pm

"I want to be the best ~everything~ I can be."

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