Work Text:
Somewhere on the first floor of the manor, Tracy is in her and Luca's small shared workshop where they fix their items after matches. She's twisting some new bolts and screws into her robot, George.
Tapping echoes down the hallway outside of the workship. Helena is carefully moving her cane around to make sure she's going towards the right part of the manor, feeling the walls as she walks towards the workshop. Tracy looks up from where she's sitting in the workshop and calls out to Helena.
"Hey, Helena! Over here! You're going the right way!" Tracy shouts. Helena smiles to herself, knowing she didn't get herself lost, and walks inside the workshop.
"It sure is a bit cluttered in here, Ms Reznik," Helena says, tapping her cane against the legs of the table. Helena wasn't wrong. Luca had a bit of a hoarding problem when it came to where the containers of screws, bolts, and different scrap metals were laid about the room.
'"I know," Tracy sighed, "but you know that Luca won't clean it up. So we deal with it."
"Might want to be careful, then. Clear off the floor a little. Its.. Sort of hard to get around in here if I can't see what I'm stepping on."
Tracy snorts and looks back down at George, twisting his arms and fingers to make sure they aren't rusted and refusing to turn. She picks up a thick bristle paintbrush and unscrews the lid of a grey container, dipping into the paint-like solution and spreading some alongside the inner creases of metal plates that separate the doll's joints. Helena scrunches up her nose at the smell.
"What is that?" Helena asks.
"It's oil paint," Tracy replies. "It prevents corrosion so that lil' guy George here doesn't rust."
"The smell is.. Not very gentle, is it?"
"Not at all, but I'm used to it."
Tracy once against dips into the substance and continues to paint some along George's joints, the under chin, his neck, waist, and such. No more rusting for this doll!
She stands up and walks towards a small sink in the workshop and runs some cold water to clean off her brush, then dries it off and sets it down with her collection of other paint brushes.
Luca had mentioned that he was drinking with a handful of the other survivors in the bar so Tracy had the workshop to herself for a good portion of the afternoon. This meant she could put more time towards improving how George works and fixing any wires that seem to be out of place or no longer working due to the beatings he takes from the hunters. It made Tracy a little sad knowing that the hunters didn't think twice before downing George and causing some pretty hard to fix damages to his head, especially considering that's where the control panels were installed. This meant there would be longer hours in order to restore him back to being functional, and Tracy was already sleep deprived as is while she recovered from post-match wounds.
Thankfully, Luca was willing to sacrifice his sleep schedule to help her fix George and even took over her work so she could sleep in her designated room.
"How much time do you spend in here, Ms Reznik?" Helena asked, feeling around for another chair and sitting down in it.
"I want to say half of the day if we don't have any matches. Sometimes less if Luca wants to fix stuff for me."
"Like what specifically?"
"Like George. Or other inventions I'm working on that I need a second opinion for. He's been doing this longer than me with much more powerful people."
Helena taps her chin. "That makes sense."
Helena sits silently and listens to the squeaks and metals clicking together while Tracy makes other adjustments to George. Turning him on via her controller and double checking to make sure nothing is out of place or not listening to the connections that were set in place. Helena hums quietly to soothe the silence between them, making Tracy smile a bit. Helena was a kind and patient person. Even if they didn't speak often with how the games were played out, they would talk whenever they found the time.
"Do you believe we'll have more matches tomorrow, Ms Reznik?" Helena asks.
"Maybe. You'll have to take it up with the Baron, you know. They have all of the information on the match schedule."
"Okay. Thank you very much for conversing with me. It means a lot," Helena says, standing up from her chair.
"You're welcome. Always a pleasure," Tracy replies.
Helena shuffles to her feet and picks up her cane, tapping the legs of Tracy's chair and finding her way back out of the workshop, back down the hallway... All the way back to the garden.
Maybe they'll have more time to speak soon. Tracy wasn't sure.