The Transport
in collaboration with @Elizipeazie
Thomas greets Valentin, opens the gate and helps reversing onto the large property, which is crowded with diverse cars in various states from junk to almost perfect, then shows him the car that needs to be transported, and filled in the protocol.
Many dents and scratches
Rust, but chassis is solid
Door locks don´t work
bulletholes
cracked windscreen
head and taillights functional but lenses partly destroyed (Thomas will maybe fix it later for night driving when he has time
engine misfires a bit at idle and seems to have lost maybe 50 of its 360 horsepower
exhaust fell off
brakes worn, but should still work for this one last time
tires are shitty and old but have profile left and are not damaged
vague steering that shouldnt be that vague even for this model
and one thing that they forgot but will soon notice…
All papers are in the glovebox, but… it´s jammed, and it will fall off if you pull to hard, so be careful then in case you need to show them. In case you rip the glovebox off, there is duct tape in the trunk, but you can only open it from inside since the handle fell off and the lock is on strike.
I do not think that I need papers for it, since this car is propably not in the shape to be registrated again, and we remain in the EU.
said Valentin, comparing the fragment of a cop car to what Thomas filled in the form, and noticed that Thomas list of faults was an understatement.
Yes, I guess this car is not suiting for any public road in this world…Valentin, you want a drink?
Some states are said to be more liberal than others…
Yes, so, I doubt that it is helpful if I distract you from your job, I will go inside and let you do your task, eh, what about the drink, coffee or water?
Water, thanks
Valentin started to get the securing equipment ready and wondered a bit how to use the space wisely, since a second car needs to be loaded onto the trailer later and both vehicles are huge, as the Highway Hooligans also went for a fullsize car. But even that large car can barely fit Valentin, who tries to fold into the driver seat.
Meanwhile, Chanty asks Thomas who came.
Valentin, he is loading the car now onto the trailer, and I get a bottle of water from the office.
Chanty started a sprint outside, but was harshly held back by her father.
NOW LET HIM JUST DO HIS JOB!
And if he needs help?
Then he can ask for it. I TOLD YOU A 1000 TIMES THAT WHEN PEOPLE ARE FOCUSSED AT WORK, DONT DISTRACT THEM BY BLABBERING NONSTOP!
Since Thomas was a bit harsh, Chanty ran to the toilet, locked herself in and cried bitter tears, while Thomas sighed and decided to comfort his daughter after bringing Valentin the bottle, which he put onto the driver seat of the van.
Hah! Looks like you don´t really fit in, Valentin. Should I use next year a minivan that´s more spacious than this ride?
There are many reasons why I usually do not work for my father as a driver, and the inability to fit into most cars is one of them.
Starting the car was a problem, as Valentins knee blocked the iginition.
Valentin, as a mechanic and shop owner I have driven cars on ramps a lot of times by now, if you want, I can do that, I am not familiar with this behemoth but I guess I am qualified to get this done.
That´s maybe better. Ugh. I can barely fold myself out of the car.
Thomas started the Globus Grand Cruiser which made a deafening noise, so Valentin used handsigns to “navigate” Thomas correctly onto the trailer.
Meanwhile, Chanty left the toilet and joined them, which they didn´t notice with all the noise the car made, and Thomas succeeded with the second attempt, while Valentin used his hands to cover his ears whenever not having to use them for signaling Thomas.
[in Swedish] Dear god!
A nervous Chanty sneaked behind Valentin who used the belts to secure the car, not knowing if she can say something or not, and then just gave him a firm hug from behind.
[swedish] WHAT THE FU…?
Judging from the perfume cloud, Valentin quickly realized it was Chanty and carefully tried to get out of the hug, who notices that Valentin doesn´t feel comfortable and stands now very shy behind him, not really being able to speak a clear sentence, as her terrible English skills are a problem again.
Valentin notices and uses his integrated AI, Vito, by coupling it to his smartwatch and then making it translate his Swedish to German, and Chantys German to Swedish.
Good evening. I did not mean to be annoyed, I just need to get the job done first.
Of course, the setup is weird, because you first hear the peoples own voice in original language, then the artifical one.
Eeeeeh, WHAT IS THIS? YOU HAVE A… a… a… how is that called?
A translator? Yes. I noticed in Holsia that foreign languages are a pain for you, so I prepared myself to make it easier for you when interacting with me. I can explain it more when I am done here.
Eeeeeh, sure… I wait inside, and, eh, are you hungry?
Appetite yes, but don´t start making it complex, I will get some food in town with ease.
Thomas, meanwhile sneaked with a cigarette across his property, and Valentin checked for him if he touched his transporter, since he assumes that everything that Thomas got his hands on will fall apart and catch fire.
Eh, Valentin, what are you staring at him? Hm, it´s really no big deal cooking for you, I like doing it. Are you allergic to something?
No restrictions there. Due to a lack of time, I prefer food that is well scalable, like pasta, soups, or such.
sca…what?
Valentin sighed.
Pasta is fine, Chantal. I eat because I have to and not because I want or like to, if the other four family members next to me eat less than me, it´s not comfortable. I eat that what´s easy, not too unhealthy and could be eaten for some days in a row, my enormous appetite is restricting my choices a bit.
So… that means I am NOT the person eating the most in the world? DADDY, DID YOU HEAR THAT? I AM NOOOOOOT!!!
Chantal, since I don´t know how much you eat, it´s not yet safe to say that I am eating more.
Ehm, eh, I eat…a lot?
M-hm.
Valentin now secured the last wheel and drank the large water bottle that Thomas put on the driver seat, and with a large gulp he emptied half of it at once.
Since Chanty noticed that she annoyed Valentin, she started crying silently and went into the kitchen with hanging shoulders and started cooking, which Valentin did not notice. While cooking, her mood improved a bit again.
Instead, Thomas approached him.
Since most hotels are not suiting your size, I have arranged a few pallets and matresses in the barn there, it has an oven, a simple bathroom and is there for our guests to have a seperate private space here.
Oh, this is a solution that I would like to accept, in this case I will refund the hotel fee we charged you, Thomas. Indeed I do prefer sleeping on something that works for my size.
Ah, buy yourself something nice from that. You want a beer?
No, thanks, I do not drink alcohol.
After an hour, an euphoric Chanty called for food, and the traces on her mouth showed that … she already tried a bit of it.
CHANTY! COULDNT YOU WAIT TWO MINUTES?
Mah! I haff to feck iff itf delifiouf. I can´t offer our guests trash.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Thomas takes a seat and hopes that Valentin didn´t notice, but of course he did.
Not soon after, the dog of the Nilferts suddenly jumped onto the table when Thomas left it to get more beverages, and ate up Thomas meal, and Thomas carried the dog back into his bed, swearing a lot, and Chanty has a laughing attack and fell, as the chair was tilting dangerously from her weight, down on the floor.
The fast happenings of one disaster after another irritate Valentin a lot and he looks confused at Chantal, who tried to get up again, which took a bit of time.
Eeeh, I am not the only one with a lot of hunger here… eeh, he doesn´t always do this, but he loves…Cheese… like me…
Thomas came back, with the dog again following him.
He is from animal protection, a dog that starved before… but well, Chanty cooked for a whole army, so, it´s enough left. When are you planning to leave tomorrow?
As early as possible to get the ferry.
Valentin started to visibly freeze.
It´s not THAT cold, Valentin… eh, I will heat up the oven you have there, I will be right back.
They then finished dinner, and went to bed quite early, as the next day would be stressful.
The next morning, Valentin entered the Nilferts house, as he didn´t fit into the shower in the barn. Thomas, not noticing Valentins presence as he was still half asleep, activated the coffee machine, and then, when noticing his guest, made a grumpy attempt at smalltalk.
Eh, there you are. Well, take whatever you want, but there is no hurry, the eating machine still doesn´t hear her alarm…
Valentin acutally eats more than Chanty at the moment, but restrains himself, and his thoughts were interrupted when thomas started swearing - he forgot to put the pot into the machine, and the mess was quite impressive. Soon after, he went off, still cursing, to load the camping trailer.
Shortly after 6 AM, Jan appeared on the yard with Chantys car, wondering about Valentins presence who just left the Nilferts house and got back to “his” place.
Oh, Valentin, what are you doing here?
Collecting my stuff, I am hired to transport the car of your team to Sweden and was allowed to sleep here.
Ah, nice. Thats typical of them to not tell me anything. Chanty talks to me for two hours about a stupid tiktok video but the really important things, nah, why? Just like her father. Anyway, can I help you with something?
No thanks, it´s just collecting my things and doing my hair, thats easy.
Oh, all right, I will wake up Chanty then, because Thomas seems busy with the camper and it seems I better don´t interact with him now with that temper… I wonder what it is now again.
Mhm…
Valentin disappeared in the barn, because the chaotic characters of Thomas and Chantal were already stressful enough for him, and left at half past six, while Thomas was still trying to fit everything.
WE ARE GOING ON VACATION, WE ARE NOT MOVING IN OVER THERE! DOES THIS HAVE TO BE ALWAYS SO MUCH SHIT OF YOURS TO LOAD??? CHANTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!