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There have been… a pair of brand-new Pontiac Tempest wagons around the school lately, one blue one having arrived some weeks ago, and the second, gold-tan with a white roof, a week or two ago, which time it's spent most of in the garage being gone over with, doubtless, certain modifications. Very sensible-looking vehicles, save for the pair of GTO-type little scoops molded into each hood, and the quiet rumble of hopped-up engines. The gold one's just rolling back around to the rear drive, toward one of the garage bays, a local rock and roll station playing out the window, as Dizzy slows to wave a bit upon spotting someone.
That someone, naturally, being the Professor, who waves back towards Dizzy. Taking a break from the fall afternoon walk, he changes course and heads over to the vehicle, "Afternoon, Julie. How's it been going with your new toys." Sure, technically they are his, but he tends to let Dizzy have free reign of the garage. Safer that way for everyone.
Julie turns down the radio a bit as she shifts into neutral, turning the radio down… it's unclear if she actually touches the knob to do so, and she pats the side. "Number two's almost ready. Thought I might add a couple extras to this one, like maybe an extra battery for camping or the like, but these are pretty good. Did a little something about the handling and stuff for both, couple tweaks here and there. Wanna give him a try?"
The Professor laughs softly, "What, you'd let me drive him?" He looks mildly amused at the thought, "Sure, just had lunch though, so I'm going to be a little sedate on the acceleration."
Julie nods. "That's all right, we're still on break-in oil, won't hurt to take it pretty easy. And, yeah, that's kind of the idea, we'll have something for, ah, class excursions that's got legs. My ride kinda stands out a bit, and that wagon I keep in the city kinda looks out of place some places, too. Like, err, around here. Also, the way I geared that, it don't have much highway speed for anyone else." Dizzy does seem to like hopping up wagons, and wagon-like vehicles, though, and she's rather beaming at the little coup. Possibly just having walked into a dealership and started ticking boxes to add and delete options. She unhooks a seat belt, and sets the parking brake to shuffle over to the passenger seat.
The Professor hops into the driver's seat, buckling up as he looks at the console, "What, no oil slicks or smoke clouds Julie?" He sounds fairly amused, "Anything I should know before I kick it into gear?"
Julie presses a hand to her breastbone. "What, from me?" Actually about all's I did to the engines of these is polish the ports, part of why we did these is cause they come close to set up just right. Ah… Just so you know I think they under-rate the horsepower a bit." It seems the car came with the full instrumentation package, but Dizzy's added more. They're mostly temperature gauges, plus an extra oil pressure one and some other gauges labeled 'Trans' 'Diff' and 'Irony' in plastic press-label tape. She also points at a little crank fitted alongside the shifter console. "Ah, the crank's for the exhaust cutouts, you'll get maybe fifteen more horsepower and maybe fifty more decibels if you open those."
The Professor glances sidelong at Julie, "Okay, and Irony goes from zero to Ambrose Bierce?" He gives her a wry grin, "Though that sounds pretty good for a start, Julie. I like what I'm hearing."
Julie nods. She winks. "Manifold gauge in case you gotta milk fuel, it'd also help let me know if certain stuff goes wrong." She points toward the back, "There's privacy curtains around the back in case we gotta keep someone out of sight," She pauses, "Or I guess something I didn't think about before…" Adds, "Stuff to keep the wheels on the ground better underneath, and, ah, a little extra cooling and gauges on some things in case I gotta run em hard on my powers for long, set up the gas pedal for heel-and-toe, stuff like that."
Charles nods, and grins a bit, "I hope that having Clarice around doesn't keep us from driving then, because this will be a nice ride to take around for things. Of course, she could conceivably teleport the entire car where we need to drive…" He hrms, thinking of the possibilities
Julie ahs. "She can do that? That'd sure save a lotta time. Rescuing Lorna was a road trip both ways, not to mention a little extra planning for if they was chasing us." She hrms. "Wonder where Daken went off to, but that all went real smooth, actually. Probably had a lot to do with her Dad being there."
Charles nods, "Well, he does tend to make things easier… though we should probably take advantage of the fact that we do have the Blackbird at our disposal, hmm?" He gets a bit of a wry look, "Road trips aside, it makes the travel a little easier."
Julie nods. "Some folks can do some amazing things, but I guess sometimes you might not even know where you're going. Or have Warren up there to spot forya." She says, "I keep hearing about some Blackbird, ain't seen it yet." She adds, about the car, "Oh, yeah, speaking of the irony meter, basically these are a tri-power setup, not too bad on gas till you really get your foot in it. Then the secondaries kick in and baddaboom, it's a lot like dual quads." She pauses, and adds, "Which'd be *lots* of fuel and air going in."
The Professor grins, "Oh?" With that, he does start driving, a bit sedately at first, but then he starts cutting a bit loose considering there's no one else around… he wants to see what the beastie can do!
Julie smirks, there, "I think you'll find the power adequate," she says, imitating a more-highbrow voice, "We put in ladder bars out back, something like you see on some kinds of race and drag cars, …still a wagon but she ought to hold corners about as well as you could ask till Pirelli gets with American sized tires. She'll get off the line good, anyway. You know what they says about American cars, anyway. Got dual-cylinder braking there, too, cause, better you can brake, the later you need to if you know the car. These oughtta outrun the cops and your general mooks pretty good that way. The coupes of these are kind of big news in the right circles, but nothing says you can't get that stuff in wagons, so here we are." And, yes, there's a *lot* of horsepower. More even than advertised, since safety's just becoming something some shake fingers at. "So, how bout this Blackbird, then?" She's sort of turning her senses toward all the gearing involved, likely Xavier's shifting technique.
Charles has a pretty good shifting technique, all things considered, working through the gears pretty fluidly as he says, "The Blackbird is our jet." He grins, "Hank designed it, it's been gathering a bit of dust lately so I think we might need to take that out for a bit of a spin." He hrms a little, "Definitely doesn't handle like a wagon, for certain."
Julie ahs. "Well, that must be something else. Been sorta studying up on those things, pretty interesting and all, and, well, uncle Angelo's had to go into turboshaft heloes cause there's only gonna be so long people still fly the old piston-engine ones." She's just nodding. "Why ain't I surprised, though. Probably someone ought to cycle those engines if they been sitting. Engines are made to run, they could get cranky if they just sit." She adds, though. "Bet you'll feel the wagon part coming out of corners, considering all the glass back there, but I always liked a *fast* parts runner, so I get pretty used to it. It'll surprise people, but still is what it is."
The Professor grins, "Well, when we need them, the surprise would definitely come in handy. Never hurts, anyway, to have a little extra under the hood than you think. We'll want to make sure the team can drive these too. Think you could handle supervising that?" He grins over at Julie, "Don't scare them too much, Julie."