docks

@Rhydian E. Arel smiled as he heard that the damage to his ship wasn't nearly as terrible as the mechanic said it might have been. "I'm relieved to hear it," he hummed. "Since I'll be grounded for a little while, if you need help finding any parts, just let me know! I'll probably be free to help you look." He was sure that he would be able to find many different things to entertain himself with whilst of Teccypso, but even so, he would always have some free time to spare where he would have nothing else to do. He was sure that salvaging parts would be easier with two people anyways.

Arel sat more comfortably, making sure he and Rhydian had enough room to put the bag of food between them as they ate. He looked at both Bastet and Myrin and rolled his eyes playfully. He stood up and got their food out, placing it on top of the ship for them both to eat were they were. "Enjoy~" he grinned, petting them both on the head before sitting back down. Arel hummed happily as he opened up the takeaway ramen as well as a few other things he had managed to get his hands on. "Let's eat~"

@Arel F. "'ey." Rhydian called back when he heard Arel announce his return and pulled back from his work, wiping his grease smudged hands on the front of his already dirty cargo pants. He then placed his hands on his hips, glancing back at the empty hole that had once been covered by the dented paneling. "Not as bad as I thought, honestly." He confessed with a shrug of his broad shoulders. "It just knocked some of the couplings loose, but nothing to really write home about. The hardest thing is probably going to be salvaging that panelling, but even that's not terrible. You lucked out, kid."

Rhydian laughed and clapped Arel on the back and moved to settle down on a forgotten shipping container as well. "I'm starving. Whatever you got smells great." He leaned closer, trying to peek to see what it was. His movements almost matched Bast as she came forward, tilting her head up at Arel with Myrin in top of it. Both emulated that pitiful look like they'd never eaten a day in their lives.

@Rhydian E. Arel tried not to take his time too much as he went to grab their lunches, but he was admittedly a little distracted here and there by the little changes around the station. He hummed happily as he went to get lunch for the mechanic and himself, but also a snack for Myrin and something for Bastet too. He had a whole bag of things by the time he was returning to the docks. He wasn't surprised this time when Myrin once again zoomed off of his shoulder and flew to where Bastet was, crawling along and making herself comfortable on the space leopard's back this time.

"I'm back~" he called out as he approached the other Striettall. He couldn't help but make little sounds like "ooh~" and "ahh~" as he saw what Rhydian had done to his ship so far. It was always quite intriguing to watch mechanics at work. "So, what's the damage like? As bad as you thought?" he asked as he settled up on top of a crate and took out their food, standing up on it and coaxing Bastet and Myrin closer to him so he could give them their treats.

@Arel F. Once the fellow Striettall disappeared to fetch their lunch, Rhydian didn't waste any time going to fetch his tools from his previous station and get to work removing the paneling he needed to from Arel's ship. The first thing, and probably the most troublesome, was checking out if there was more than just superficial damage beneath that dent in the hull. All the other standard tune ups would be relatively quick, provided no one tried to hustle him for parts, but the most concerning damage to the internal structure of the hull that could happen would be what maintains the integrity of the airlock. It was what allowed the crew to maintain a safely pressurized environment so that they could move around without relying on flight suits to maintain life support and it also was critical to maintaining the artificial gravity.

Thankfully, when he removed the panels, it didn't look like much of the internal structure was knocked around so badly that he needed to replace anything. Bastet had settled on top of the ship, her long tail dangling down as Rhydian rummaged elbow deep in the hole he'd made in the hull to tighten the nuts and bolts holding everything in place.

@Rhydian E. Arel watched closely as Rhydian looked over at the hull. He knew that there was probably more damage than what was able to be seen with the eye. He just hoped that it wouldn't be too extensive since that would only make Rhydian's job harder. He nodded at the mechanic's decision and hummed, "Thank you. I know enough about ships to make sure they can fly and stay moving, but this sorta thing is definitely out of my league," he sighed.
Arel pouted and glared a tiny bit at the mechanic's words before relenting. "Alright then. I'll get you your favourite," he hummed. He turned to Myrin, "Come on, let's go," he gestured. Myrin chirped, reluctant to move off of Bastet. "Come on~ We'll be coming back and then you can take a nap with Bastet, okay?" He waited another couple of moments before Myrin was flapping on over and hooking onto his shoulder. "Thank you," he said, gently petting her head. "We'll be back!" he exclaimed to Rhydian before running off to get their food.

@Arel F. "Hm..." Rhydian only partially listened to Arel's reasoning for the damage as he walked up to the hull and ran his hand along the sizeable dent in the paneling. Depending on the type of craft, visible surface damage often ran the risk of there being unseen issues underneath. Some mechanics on the station weren't as reliable and wouldn't even investigate beneath if they thought they could get away with less work. Others would come up with some bull to try to swindle their customers out of more credits. Not Rhydian, though. He was honest to a fault most of the time and he certainly wasn't going to lead a friend astray. "No telling what got knocked around, though. I'll take a look at her and run diagnostics." He murmured as he took a step back and ran a hand along his scruffy face, a habit that usually made him quite a mess at the end of the day since his hands were often smudged with grease. After a moment, he turned back to Arel with a cheeky smile. "Why don't you grab us some lunch while I get my tools and check it out? Consider that my tip."

@Rhydian E. Arel was honestly very happy to see any Striettall these days, but especially Rhydian since they had known each other for a little while now. Both of them being more fond of animals than people definitely helped their friendship. And in a way, because their jobs differed, it was a more fun relationship, they always had very different stories to tell one another if and when they got to sit down together and chat.
He smiled sheepishly at the question, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, its not usually this bad. The guy was just very desperate to get away!" Arel exclaimed, Myrin giving an affirmative chirp from her spot on Bastet's head. He led them all to his ship and pouted at the damage, not having looked at it for several hours by now. He listened carefully to the other Striettall and nodded, having predicted something to that extent with everything. "Thought so, oh well," he shrugged. "I should be fine~ I'll make sure to leave you a good tip!" He grinned and then walked right up to the hull of his ship, frowning at the dent and scratch. "It wasn't deep at least, but it definitely got me a little worried about getting back here safely," he said as he ran a hand along the metal.

@Arel F. "Yeah, yeah. I guess everything is usually attached." Rhydian agreed playfully as he enveloped the smaller male into a hug, only to reach up to affectionately ruffle his hair when he pulled back. The fellow Striettall had become someone that Rhydian was quite fond of. Though it had been many years since he'd even returned to his homeworld and he didn't harbor any particular allegiance to it, there was a comfort in having someone else who understood him so completely that wasn't a furry critter. As Arel listed off the damage to his ship, Rhydian's brows knitted together in a frown and he let out a despondent groan, that Bast mimicked with a low bellow of her own. "What are you /doing/ to her?" He grumbled and gestured with a large hand for Arel to lead him to where he was docked. The large Zerval and her tiny jockey were not far behind as he started striding in the direction the other had come from. "All of that, plus the standard tune ups... I can maybe do it in two days if I focus just on your ship, but you know that's impossible. And that's provided no one is stingy with the parts. So the more likely time frame is five days without hiccups. Hope you planned on being grounded for a while, buddy."

@Rhydian E. Arel whined to himself, grumbling under his breath about how Myrin just seemed to love Bastet a whole lot more sometimes. Though he could sense how much she missed the giant space leopard so he wasn't really all too mad. He was just glad that it was Bastet and not some random person or animal Myrin decided to hop onto this time. By the time he caught up to the little bat, he could already see Rhydian standing nearby. Well, that was one good thing at least, since that was who Arel had been looking for in the first place.

He glared at Rhydian for all of five seconds. "What do you mean "this time"? I come back in one piece all the time!" he pouted before giving the other Striettall a quick hug. He turned back to Myrin and sighed, "At least they're happy," he mumbled. He sighed and turned to Rhydian once more. "Are you free right now? My ship needs some repairs," he asked. He began listing the main issues and then a few other minor things that needed checking. "How long do you think that'll take you to do?" he asked. He knew that Rhydian was an efficient worker, but who knew how many other ships he was needing to look at.

@Arel F. Like every other day on this hunk of junk, Rhydian didn't have much else to do than busy himself with work. He liked to tell himself that each repair got him one step closer to paying off his debt and getting the hell out of dodge. And thankfully, there was no shortage of tasks with all of the ships pulling into the docks. Even the ones that were well maintained still needed to undoubtedly be tuned up after a voyage in deep space. "Alright! Start her up!" Rhydian called up to the pilot of a cargo hauler as he slapped a panel back into place along the starboard jet that allowed the ship to be propelled with compressed jets of air. Standing on top of the ship, he felt the blast of air as the driver both jets, his long dirty blonde hair getting ruffled in the process.

"Looking good!" He told him with a solid stamp of his boot on the roof to let him know that all was well. As the ship's power cut off, Rhydian moved to climb down along the ladder on the side when something zoomed through the air towards the giant space leopard that was lounging on a pile of cargo boxes the crew hadn't moved yet. For a moment alarm bells went off in his head, but the immediate wave of happiness he felt from Bastet managed to smooth everything over. As he walked over to the hulking feline, he noticed the adorable little bat crouched atop her head, holding onto her tufted ears like reins. "Myrin? That means-" He turned to look over at the fellow Striettall that ran up and chuckled, his hands coming to rest on his hips. "Well, look who's back! And in one piece this time. That's an improvement."

@Rhydian E. Another day, another job done. Arel was quite pleased with himself as he collected his reward for capturing a somewhat elusive criminal. He had ended up chasing them almost to the edge of the quandrant before they had a bit of a scuffle, a small fight before Arel won and knocked the poor guy out. The crimes the guy had committed didn't make Arel feel too sorry for him though -- smuggling, theft, accomplice to many other crimes. If nothing else, the guy deserved a good amount of time in prison to reflect on his actions.

In doing all of that, getting back to Teccypso and whatnot, Arel's ship had taken a bit of a beating. One of the engines had barely held itself together for the return trip and there was a nasty dent and scratch along the left side of the hull. So once everything else was taken care of, Arel found himself back at the docks, in search of a certain mechanic. He wasn't in a rush though, strolling along, trying to find the familiar face. Myrin on his shoulder chirped once in warning before she was flying on ahead of Arel. "Myrin?!" he exclaimed in indignation. He sighed and ran after her, only to find her sitting on top of none other than Bastet's head. He sighed, "Really, Myrin?"