15787/Riding Lessons

Riding Lessons
Date of Scene:	11 November 2023
Location:	Xavier's Garage
Synopsis:	Jubilee is about to start learning to ride a motorcycle. Tabby will be coaching. What could go wrong?
Cast of Characters:	Boom-Boom, Jubilee

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Boom-Boom has posed:
When Tabitha started teaching Autoshop, she gave the kids two options for personal projects. One of them is a retread of the old "Build your own motorcycle." that had been going as far back as when Tabitha was a student.

The other was "Build a go-kart" using salvaged electrical motors and batteries to get kids interested in clean energy solutions as they grow increasingly ubiquitous.

At the moment, since class time is over and the kids are gone from the garage. Tabby is actually busting out and testing a couple bikes from the previous year that had been built but abandoned by graduating students.

Her own bike, a metallic pink Yamaha parked next to her shitty old Mitsubishi Delica in the same bay.

Amidts the center of the garage it's an old Suzuki that Tabitha is working on. Checking bits and pieces while squatted down, abusing some old tan colored jeans, an old blue work shirt over a cropped tank top missing it's sleaves. A white with blue outlined oval name path with "Smitty" sewn on the right chest over a pocket. Hair in a bun pinned with pencils with Wayfarer style glasses on her nose handling any glare via Cyclopean red tinted lenses.

"Heh, this one might actually start and be good for drivers ed after Christmas." she mutters to herself.

Jubilee has posed:
Given her penchant for Shenanigans and her, well, inbuilt inability to Math, Jubilee was saved from and/or denied the joy of auto shop. While she's not the most prissy of the School Squad, her hands are still fairly delicate and not made to be rooting around in an engine and getting grody.

This also removed her chance to learn how to drive a motorcycle. Legally, anyway.

Thus, she slips into the garage, peeping at the array of vehicles, though the sound of tinkering attracts her attention. She slips closer, watching Tabby, well, root around in an engine for a moment.

"Why am I not surprised you're getting greasy in here?"

Boom-Boom has posed:
Tabby picks her head up and looks around for that familiar voice. Autoshop was an elective even when she was a kid, but she took it, there really isn't much math involved. No calculations at all. Tabby was the daughter of a mechanic. And as a kid she wanted the free bike.

She long got used to teenage boys staring at the weird girl not doing traditionally girly things. Handy when you're teaching them.

"I gotta be responsible adult. I got kids building bikes. Some of them don't know how to ride them so looks like I'm doing Drivers Ed for bikes as well as cars." she states and lets her hands rest on the upholstered seat. She doesn't stand. Her hands despite the grease hear and there still look relatively pristine.

Jubilee has seen how much lotions and creams she uses. But she never paints her fingernails. Plasma kind of incinerates the stuff. So toes only but those are hidden under her boots.

"You ever learn to ride? God it's a frigging rush. Almost as good as booming and or balling someone!"

Jubilee has posed:
Sometimes it's absolutely shocking at how -mature- Tabby is. Granted, Boom Boom gonna Boom Boom, but her sense of responsibility to the kids is impressive and, honestly bigger than Jubilee's own. In a crisis, sure, Jubilee will be out in front for all the good it will do, but in teaching?

Well, she's at least good at teaching them basic gymnastics, which is mandatory in their line of work.

She steps closer, hands in her coat pockets. "Nah. Never really had the time to. Rode some four wheelers around the grounds, but Logan, or anyone else really, never taught me how to ride."

Boom-Boom has posed:
The Chinese woman never learned to ride. That gets Tabitha looking surprised. Enough she stands and looks the dark haired Jubilee in the eyes as she turns on the spot to face her. "Okay, it's not that different from riding a quad. In fact it's probably safer ironically." she hmms and looks to her bike. Then to the one she was working on.

"I learned to ride when I was on the streets. A boyfriend... taught me a few things." she explains.

That's when she rounds on Jubilee and places hands on that tiny waist. Despite being roughly the same size. Height wize. Tabby carries a little extra weight pressing against Jube's back. There's a flex of arms and suddenly the dark haired plasmatic is being lifted kind of easily.

Tabby's strength likely developed in concert with her durability. Her own bombs won't hurt her now, even when they can blow her across a field without anchoring.

A hundred or so pounds is nothing.

Especially when she sits JUbes down straddled on the bike's very firm but comfy upholstery.

"It's getting used to the controls. Throttles, breaks, gearshifts. Just takes practice. No math, it's all feel!" she explains when she leans down between Jubilee's legs and turns the key to start the engine without a classic kickstart.

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee is tiny, this is true. It doesn't stop her from yelping as she's hoisted and placed on the motorcycle with a grunt. "You coulda warned me, you know!" She huffs a little as she settles on the machine. She runs her hands over the handlebars, eyes flickering across the dials even as her fingers slide across the buttons.

She jumps a little when Tabby starts the engine, the low rumble starting up. "I guess it's a good thing I'm pretty aware and able to use my hands ant feet at the same time, huh?"

She cranks the throttle once. Because it's mandatory.

Boom-Boom has posed:
The bike is not in gear, so there's no danger of it just peeling off and launching itself and it's cute rider into the wall. Al it does is just vibrate the whole bike through that seat. "We get you riding we'll get you a helmet. Even I use one. Sometimes. Look. Have you tried getting so much hair in a bucket?" The bun might look nice with those pencils and a few wayward strands too long to be bangs draping down the front. But the bun is pretty large.

"Sybi over there has given me so many concussions over the years." it explains a lot really. But then Tabby can absolutely take a beating. She's taken a lot. Some she even enjoyed. "So yeah, get a feel for the throttle in idle. The feel of the engine, the sound of the revs. This thing has an automatic transmission so gear changes aren't a worry." she explains. "So when we get you outside, the takeoff won't be so wild."

Jubilee has posed:
"Well, yeah," Jubes says, shaking her head. "I'm not taking this thing anywhere at any kind of speed without a helmet," she says, shaking her head. "My skull isn't extra tough. I'm just a squishy thing," she laughs. "...Gotta have cat ears on it, I think. Maybe? I dunno. It needs to be cool, though."

She revs the engine a couple more times, peering down at the dials. A smirk spreads across her face. "Let's not tell anyone I'm learning. I want to scare the hell out of Logan."

Boom-Boom has posed:
The idea of Jubilee on a bike tearing around is probably as scary as people finding out Tabitha can fly the Blackbird. Though when passengers are involved. Tabby does actually have a sense to keep things relatively safe. Even when she's going at speeds.

"It's gonna be a shopping trip. Cat ear helmets. They often have air vents for cooling. Great in summer. Also gotta be pink. You'll need more leathers too. That we can come up with with the Shi'ar replicators we get our uniforms made with. Synthetic but beats the piss out of manmade pleather and faux leathers. So cruelty free and feels fantastic." she plans on getting the woman kitted. out.

"Then once you got riding down well enough. We get you a bike in better condition. Then scare the hell out of Logan!"

X-Squad goals!