Haven City Garage, Sunday
"We've been destroying cargo for Krew."
Jak padded into the garage with confidence in his steps. The mechanic didn't like him a great deal, but that wasn't really his problem; Krew had told him to come here, so this is where he went.
His shoulder sank briefly as Daxter hurled himself off it. The ottsel snuck up onto one of the platforms and took a peek at the curtain behind which the mechanic was doing her job.
"Great," she snapped, "I'll get you a freaking medal. Now I'm on a deadline, so scram!"
... Oh, come on!
Jak shook his head in frustration. "Are you always this difficult?"
Looked like he wasn't the only one tired of this, because Daxter leapt off the platform with a certain jeneskoi - or however you spelled that - in his step. "Let me handle this, Jak," he said, braving the distance to the curtain. "LISTEN, lady, we beat your stupid course, and we can outrace anybody in this city. And there's just two things--"
The mechanic muttered something behind the curtain, but Jak couldn't quite tell what.
"--you need to know. One, we don't want to be on your stupid team. And two, you just lost a date with Orange Lightning!" Daxter turned tail, shaking his head. "Let's go, Jak--"
Something shifted behind the curtain. And then something shoved open the curtain, revealing hips, a naked midriff, goggles, green hair, holy--
"Daxter!" she cried, astounded. "It really is you!"
... "KEIRA?!"
She was already halfway across the garage before he could finish that thought, sinking down to her knees so she was at Daxter's eye-level, and squealing. "Oh, I never thought I'd be so happy to see your furry mug!" She snagged Daxter's cheeks and pinched them. "And Jak!"
She rose up to her feet. "You look--" Her hands flew up to her mouth.
Oh, thought Jak. Sure. Of course.
"...Different," Keira finished, awkwardly.
Yeah. "It's... been a tough ride." He should have felt happier about this, but it was way too much like running into Dinah all over again. Like he didn't know what to say, or do, and now he was lost without a paddle--
"Our boy here was pumped full of dark eco," Daxter explained, casting a long gesture in Jak's direction. "And it did something to him."
Jak almost could've kissed him. He really did miss Daxter when he was at Fandom-- this was the way things should work, with the ottsel filling in what he couldn't really voice himself. "Now he's got super moves, or something," Dax said, with an overexaggerated eyeroll. Taking it in stride, as always. "And a few anger issues as well," he added, conspiratorally.
Yeah, right.
"I've been looking for you guys forever," Keira said. It was obvious she was trying to play things off like they were normal, like they hadn't gone unchanged, like... Like. Jak wasn't sure whether he preferred this over Dinah's freak-out or not. "And planning a way to get us out of here!"
Maybe they were both just as bad. What the hell did he know.
"Somehow, that rift took us far into the future. I calculated the time displacement and blah blah babble bibble blah blah--"
... Or something. Jak's brain always went a little fuzzy once she started talking mechanics, and there were more important things to talk about.
"We found your father," he said. Awkward, too. "Well... sort of."
"Working with the Underground, fighting the Baron," Daxter filled in, making a few punching movements. "But he's, ah..."
By now, Keira looked more than concerned, and he couldn't really blame her. "Listen," Jak said, "You just need to go see him. And we need to get to the Baron."
That was still goal number one, possible ride back home or not.
Keira rubbed the back of her neck. "You could try to win the Class 1 racing championship," she ventured, "The winner of that race always gets to meet the Baron. But you have to qualify by winning some of the lower class races." She rubbed her chin, thoughtful. "There's a Class 3 race starting soon. You could drive for my team. But Jak..." She pulled off her helmet. "We should be thinking about finding a way out of here. I don't like this place. And some of the people are creepy."
Yeah. Well.
He still had his own goals.
They might have even talked about that, if Krew hadn't seen fit to swing by right then, demanding the Ruby Key Jak had wrangled out of the sewers a couple of weeks back. By then, the deadline for signing up for the race was nearly up, and he had to run to make it.
It was a good thing that racing came easy to him: by the third lap, all the other competitors were eating his dust, and he won the Class 3 race by a wide margin. It was a slow route up to the Baron's palace, but it was a route, and that was all Jak really cared about right now.
Considering Keira, he should probably be worried about that.
He was dusting off the Class 3 prize before setting it down in Keira's cabinet in the garage, Daxter bragging it up to Keira herself - she kept sneaking looks in Jak's direction, but he didn't quite know how to deal with it. It was a relief when Ashelin barged in to congratulate him.
"I watched your race today," she said, hips swinging, "You were pretty amazing out there."
Please excuse Jak; he was pretty sure her top was slightly smaller today, and he had a mental keysmash to clean out before he could get to talking. "Oh," he said. Intelligibly. "...Thanks?"
Keira was a sudden presence at his back. Right. Talking. Uh. "Keira," he started, "This is Ashelin. She's-- just--" Awkwaaard.
"Oh," Keira said, feigned sugar in her voice, "Everyone knows who she is."
Right. No flailing. "And Keira's--"
"A friend," Keira snapped, before Jak could finish talking. "A very good friend."
Ashelin didn't seem too impressed. She barely shot Keira as much as a look and reached over to pat Jak on the shoulder. "Thanks again for helping me with that tanker, Jak," she said, "You saved a lot of lives."
Keira was glaring at him. Jak wasn't sure what was going on here, except that he'd like it to stop. Um. Ashelin pulled away from him, turning in a flurry of red dreadlocks, and went for the door.
Where she halted. "I'm not like my father, you know," she said, staring at the wall in front of her. "Ever since I was a little girl, I looked down at the city streets from that ridiculous palace, and imagined a better place."
She ran a hand through her hair. And just like that, that moment passed. "By the way," she snapped, hardened, "Watch out. They're hunting for you even worse than before. I'd watch out for Erol. I can't protect you from him."
As always, she was gone before Jak could say anything else - although Daxter did a good job of amping up the tension as he rambled on about how obviously Ashelin was into him. Dammit. So maybe Haven City was still more complicated than he thought.
And by the sounds of it, Torn was going to bench him again the next time he saw the guy. Great.
[[ nfb, nfi, ooc-okay, wheeeee. taken from Jak 2, obviously. open to phone calls ]]