I AM THE WALRUS

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Sgt. Howard
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by Sgt. Howard »

lake_wrangler wrote:I'm enjoying this story, and I like seeing how Ari is turning out. I also liked how the other guy was understating to Al about whom they were about to visit...

I am curious, however: will we ever see Ari's sisters again? Will they ever rise above the morass they are currently in? If I recall correctly, they were trying to stealth camp, after having lost their apartment, on what turned out to be Alexander property, near where the elves were keeping watch... I forget if we saw how that turned out.
Heh... on pages 2 and 3 of "Bringing up a baby Sphinx", we re-introduced them as getting jobs at a slaughterhouse/meatpacking plant- and YOU made commentary on both pages about them!
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Dave
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by Dave »

jwhouk wrote:Actually, it's "Goo-goo ga joob.". ;)
I do beg your pardon. I speak with an American accent, y'know. :P
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by AmriloJim »

I've seen goo goo g'joob, coucoo cachoo and kukoo kachu as variants.
Then there's Pikachu's third cousin (twice removed), Kukukachu:
waleus.jpg
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jwhouk
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by jwhouk »

---

The shop was quiet that morning. Smokey and John, basically left to run the place themselves, had simply attended to their work.

Wing was only scheduled to be gone for three days, and there were no new jobs from MIB that required anything from the back shop. In fact, right after Smokey had dropped Ari off at the airport, Miss Oduya had stopped at the building to make sure nothing was "unexpectedly" delivered.

That was a full week ago.

It wasn't until the garage door opened, and the familiar thrum of a particular 5.0 liter engine filled the repair bays that the two mechanics perked up.

Smokey and John exchanged glances, and simultaneously uttered the same words: "She's back!" Putting down their tools, they went across the entrance bay where Ari had just pulled her Mustang through and into the parking area next to the gun range.

They waited for her to emerge from the car. As she did, they both gave her a round of applause.

"You know, maybe I should go on company trips more often, if that's how I'm greeted when I come back." She pulled her bag out of the back seat, then closed the door. "Either that or make applause mandatory when the plant manager arrives."

"Aw, naow, don' get 'haid of yerself," Smokey drawled.

"How was the UK?" John asked.

"Just fine. The seller was more than kind, and AHI will have the Walrus shipped over here within a few weeks."

"Wait, wait – 'Walrus'?" John was confused.

"Yes. One of his sons thought the brush bar they put on it made the front end look like a walrus. Name stuck. Anyways – I need to see what you two blokes messed up while I was gone." With that, she sashayed off to her office.

The two men looked at each other briefly before watching their office manager head to the stairs. Just before she headed up, she stopped, turned, and addressed them.

"By the way – when the 130 comes in, make sure the sedimenter filter gets replaced. Oh, and do not do anything to the interior fuse box door, or I will have the two of you for breakfast."

She smiled sweetly and headed up the stairs, leaving two confused mechanics in her wake.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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jwhouk
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by jwhouk »

---

Three weeks later, Ari received a call from AHI shipping. There had been an expedited delivery made to Richer Engineering on AHI's last shipment from Southampton, and the vehicle was ready to be picked up at Plant 31.

Trying and failing to suppress a squee, she nearly skipped down the stairs to the service bays.

"Walrus is here! And she's over at Plant 31!"

"Y'all need one of us to drive ya over there?" Smokey asked.

"Yeah – John, you're just about done with the brakes on that Evoque, right?"

"Just gotta bleed the lines, but I can drive you over there before that."

The two got into the Series I and drove down Chesnut Parkway, across the 494 to the plant. John used the comm box to get in. The gate slid across, and there in the midst of various combines and tractors was the old Defender 130 that had served High Park Farms well over the previous three decades.

Ari let out with a squee. "Oooh, she looks even better than she did at the farm!"

John just raised an eyebrow and pulled the Series I next to the Defender.

A largish man came trotting over to the pair with a clipboard and a set of keys.

"Morning, Miss Ari," he greeted her. "I see you've already found your shipping delivery."

"Of course, Cleve," Ari replied. "I'm the one who went to pick it up, silly!"

"You need the keys to it?" Cleve asked, handing her the packet that had the shipping papers and a set of keys. Ari shook her head, dangling a set that was already on her key ring.

"Nope. Kept one on me since I picked it up over in Campbeltown. Does it have fuel?"

"Don't know for sure, but you know where our diesel pumps are." He motioned back toward the side of the plant. "Code's the same. Got a plate for it?"

"On it," John said, going to the back of the Series I to grab a temporary plate.

Ari had already opened the 130 and settled in to the driver's seat – on the right side of the truck.

"Well, Walrus, welcome to your new home," she cooed. She reached under the dash, finding the fuse box cover. She pried open the cover, pulling it off.

There, on the inside of the cover, was the signature of the former owner of the vehicle, in marker:

Paul McCartney

She smiled, snapping the fuse box cover back on to the box.

John put plates on the back bed, and after making sure Walrus had enough fuel (which it did, thanks to AHI shipping), they headed back over to the plant.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by jwhouk »

---

"Hay, Wing! Mail jes' got here!"

Ari looked up from her computer screen at Smokey and nodded. "Be right down."

After logging out, she sashayed down to the break room which doubled as RE's mail room. In the incoming mail were two packages – one from the Minnesota Department of Vehicle Services, the other with a postmark of London, UK. The latter was addressed specifically to Ari.

"Ooh, the plates for the Walrus are here!" She peeled open the oversized envelope, and smiled to see that the personalized option she'd chosen was available:

Image

"Thar some sort of significance t' that plate number?" Smokey asked.

"It's a bit of a joke," Ari said. "Want to go put it on her?" Smokey only shrugged, taking the plates and trudging out to the parking bay where the 130 was stowed.

"You know, I feel like I should understand the significance of that plate choice," John stated as he downed the last of the Timbits that were left from that morning. He motioned with his coffee at the package. "What's that? Something from AHI's UK plant?"

"No, it's… something else," she stated, as she looked at the return address.

3 Abbey Road, St. John's Wood, UK.

"Well? Gonna keep us all in suspense?" John smirked at her.

"Never you mind," she replied, sticking her tongue out and skipping her way up the stairs to her office.

Once there, she closed the door and let out a silent squee. She attacked the package, and inside was exactly what she had expected: two framed album cover-sized photos, a clay medallion ensconced in protective bubble wrap, and an oversized t-shirt with the outline of a famed crosswalk on the front.

The shirt, of course, was intentionally large – and absolutely perfect. Putting the package on her desk chair, she pulled the shirt out, folded it and laid it on her desk.

Carefully, she took out the medallion. It was a pair of "wings" – two hands, connected at the thumbs with the palms spread out. On the back was the initials "HM" carved into a corner of the clay. A small jute rope strand ran through two holes at the top of each wing, allowing it to be hung on the wall for display.

She set the medallion aside, and looked at the two framed album covers. One was, of course, the ubiquitous Abbey Road cover photo – with one small difference. It was signed by the gentleman who was barefoot in the photo.

Image

The other was a cover photo of Band on the Run.

Image

This one was signed:

To Ari,
Thanks for taking care of the Walrus!
Paul McCartney


She grinned from ear to ear, and set to finding a place to hang the two items in her office.
Last edited by jwhouk on Fri Oct 28, 2016 4:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by lake_wrangler »

Yeah, I can see why she wouldn't want anyone touching the fuse box cover... :D
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jwhouk
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by jwhouk »

In the original draft it was the glove box door, but then our resident expert pointed out that Defenders do not have glove boxes.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by FreeFlier »

When she said not to touch the fuse box door, I went back through the story . . . when I didn't find anything, I figured it was signed.

The plate number I don't get.

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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by lake_wrangler »

By the way, you have an inconsistency cropping up in several posts: in some, the AHI guy is called Whitmore, in others, he's called Whitemore... There seems to be no rhyme or reason for the switch back and forth, other than typos...
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by chicgeek »

I don't get the plate number either. Enlightenment, please?
Still. enjoyable story!
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jwhouk
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by jwhouk »

chicgeek wrote:I don't get the plate number either. Enlightenment, please?
Still. enjoyable story!
Image
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by FreeFlier »

Ah.

ten-Q

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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by Sgt. Howard »

jwhouk wrote:
chicgeek wrote:I don't get the plate number either. Enlightenment, please?
Still. enjoyable story!
Image
Supposedly saying "He would be 28 if alive,"- As I recall, John (in white) represented the Minister, Ringo (in formal) would be the Mourner/pallbearer, Paul (Barefooted, as people in England are buried without shoes) would be the stiff and George (in working togs) was the gravedigger.

MAD Magazine at the time:

"John, George and Ringo too,
played a trick on me and you,
dropped hints that Paul was dead as nails,
and rocketed their records sales!"

Ironically, Paul has a better than 50% chance of being the last remaining Beatle.
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I speak fluent Limrick-
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jwhouk
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by jwhouk »

And in the end,

The love you take

Is equal to the love you make.


-- Fin --
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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lake_wrangler
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by lake_wrangler »

Sgt. Howard wrote:
lake_wrangler wrote:I'm enjoying this story, and I like seeing how Ari is turning out. I also liked how the other guy was understating to Al about whom they were about to visit...

I am curious, however: will we ever see Ari's sisters again? Will they ever rise above the morass they are currently in? If I recall correctly, they were trying to stealth camp, after having lost their apartment, on what turned out to be Alexander property, near where the elves were keeping watch... I forget if we saw how that turned out.
Heh... on pages 2 and 3 of "Bringing up a baby Sphinx", we re-introduced them as getting jobs at a slaughterhouse/meatpacking plant- and YOU made commentary on both pages about them!
You just had to go and say it, didn't you... From the time you said it, to now, is how long it took me to read all even pages of story and comments, between bouts of real life... (I literally just finished reading it, and returned here to comment...)

Now, however, I am puzzled. What story was it, again, where one of the two sisters (I know there are three, counting Ari, but I mean the two that are still living together) started absentmindedly eating raw meat, until she realized what she was doing?

As far as my comments about wanting to see Mori and Drey improve themselves, I had no recollection doing so, when I commented here. Guess I really mean it, then, if I ask the same question again, not remembering asking before...

I admit, I don't expect a full redemption as was the case with Ari (that was nice, by the way), but if they could at least pull out of the "it's all everyone else's fault" kind of mentality that seems to prevail in their mind at times, they would already be better off than now.

Will they ever reconcile with Ari? I'm guessing there are limits to what Ari would be able to tell them, without triggering the safety protocols of their mind's programming, but it would be nice if they stopped harboring a grudge against her.
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by Sgt. Howard »

lake_wrangler wrote:
Sgt. Howard wrote:
lake_wrangler wrote:I'm enjoying this story, and I like seeing how Ari is turning out. I also liked how the other guy was understating to Al about whom they were about to visit...

I am curious, however: will we ever see Ari's sisters again? Will they ever rise above the morass they are currently in? If I recall correctly, they were trying to stealth camp, after having lost their apartment, on what turned out to be Alexander property, near where the elves were keeping watch... I forget if we saw how that turned out.
Heh... on pages 2 and 3 of "Bringing up a baby Sphinx", we re-introduced them as getting jobs at a slaughterhouse/meatpacking plant- and YOU made commentary on both pages about them!
You just had to go and say it, didn't you... From the time you said it, to now, is how long it took me to read all even pages of story and comments, between bouts of real life... (I literally just finished reading it, and returned here to comment...)

Now, however, I am puzzled. What story was it, again, where one of the two sisters (I know there are three, counting Ari, but I mean the two that are still living together) started absentmindedly eating raw meat, until she realized what she was doing?

As far as my comments about wanting to see Mori and Drey improve themselves, I had no recollection doing so, when I commented here. Guess I really mean it, then, if I ask the same question again, not remembering asking before...

I admit, I don't expect a full redemption as was the case with Ari (that was nice, by the way), but if they could at least pull out of the "it's all everyone else's fault" kind of mentality that seems to prevail in their mind at times, they would already be better off than now.

Will they ever reconcile with Ari? I'm guessing there are limits to what Ari would be able to tell them, without triggering the safety protocols of their mind's programming, but it would be nice if they stopped harboring a grudge against her.
The story where ARI absentmindedly started eating raw meat right after a tussel with Al, that was "Redemption of Ari".


Regarding Mori and Drey, it is to be remembered- not all stories end with "Happily ever after..."
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I speak fluent Limrick-
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lake_wrangler
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by lake_wrangler »

Sgt. Howard wrote:The story where ARI absentmindedly started eating raw meat right after a tussel with Al, that was "Redemption of Ari".
Oops. It has been a while, since I read it...

Sgt. Howard wrote:Regarding Mori and Drey, it is to be remembered- not all stories end with "Happily ever after..."
I know that. I even stated that I didn't expect a full redemption, to the level that Ari has. It still doesn't stop one from wishing they can better themselves a bit, somehow. Although, admittedly, they are doing a little better than before, as they have a steady job, a vehicle that works, and a place to stay. It's a good start, I guess. I just hate to see family members giving each other the cold shoulder...
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by Warrl »

There was discussion of another story that might have gotten them a bit of redemption, but several of the owners of fanon characters that would be important to said story indicated a negative desire for it. So if it happens, it happens pretty much outside the fanon.

(We try to be careful about stepping on each other's significant characters. I got away with swiping Randall and Pauline Hazelton, but they were minor characters - one-scene minor! - who otherwise would probably have never been seen again.)
Last edited by Warrl on Sun Oct 30, 2016 12:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: I AM THE WALRUS

Post by Just Old Al »

Warrl wrote:There was discussion of another story that might have gotten them a bit of redemption, but several of the owners of fanon characters that would be important to said story indicated a negative desire for it. So if it happens, it happens pretty much outside the fanon.
I think the phrase "I hope they end up being processed for ground beef" may have been uttered there...by me.

They were nasty to Ari for creating her own good fortune and success and basically abandoned her. Not nice. As Sarge said, not every story has a happy ending.
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