I helped Patty back out to the group. She was still inspecting me as if I was the one who was worst hurt. She was still looking me up and down when we stopped and I sat her in a chair. "Look, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I wasn't in the fire and my face isn't charred." She stared at my face, and then examined her own with her hands. "Oh. I'm badly burnt. Well that's just ecstatic isn't it?" I rolled my eyes.
Someone else had come while we were in Tina's shop. It was Mox, and she had some real clothes on. She looked really embarrassed, and she kept talking with her hands more than her mouth. I slowly walked over to the group and listened from behind everyone. "Y'all should probably get going to The Dust. Ellie's got somethin' for ya. Scooter already out there waitin'. Remember, that things may get a bit crazy once I get down there 'cause i'm not exactly welcome. God lord, be ready for somethin' awful. Them Hodunks'll be mighty angry and probably cause some trouble. I hate them so much." She slid between her accent and her show voice. I knew her voice was fake back at the bar! She saw me and her face reddened a shade or two. "Ahem. Uh, I'll see you over there." She had dropped the accent, and she walked out of the little home of Not- so- tiny Tina. I heard a car drive off.
I walked back with the group. I tried to act surprised, but it wasn't surprising. My fake face fell, and my real face of accomplishment replaced it. "I'm so perceptive. First I was right about Scarlett, and now my 'Moxxi uses a fake voice' theory is proven." The younger Vault Hunters laughed, except the Psycho, who kinda just yelled and swung his ax in the air. I liked him. We could be good friends. Plus Maya was obviously his girl, which meant awkward conversations between them, which was a total bonus.
I liked when I wasn't the only one who talked to myself or had odd conversations with others about my experiments and needles and all the things i've found out about DNA and bone and skin and blah, blah, blah. I tend to do that, just completely disrupt the conversation because I didn't remember what we were talking about with 'Did you know that you can actually use your DNA to create tissues for an A.I., and then transfer their mechanical signals into living brain signals?'. As you can imagine from that conversation starting sentence, most of my friends are imaginary or other scientists who have nothing better to do than stare at my 'pretty lights and shiny tools' or so i've heard them called, being my tattoos and surgical equipment, because I enjoy having clean tools when I bury them in my flesh.
We took Tiny Tina and Torgue with us, and we traveled to The Dust. Tiny would of much enjoyed driving, but nobody trusted her at the wheel. Yet we put her behind a turret, because we're idiots. She spun in circles above the cabin of the car, laughing and screaming and shooting. I laughed along with her because she hit a few skags in the face and was actually helping when the bandits attacked in their technicals. The sawblades coming from her launcher bounced from one car to another. She giggled even more when the vehicles exploded.
We came to a building with a crusher and auto shop. Moxxi and her kids stood in front. They were all tinkering with their car, and when we pulled in Moxxi pushed away and pretended like she was only watching. She really was embarrassed. If I were her I'd be more embarrassed of the sexy- talk Moxxi than this Motor head Moxxi. But then again she hated her clan, and most likely didn't like to show that she used to be one of the Hodunks.
She whispered a few reminders to her children before coming to talk with us. "So, sugar, you better?" She was talking to Patty, and she nodded. "Good. Ellie's got your stuff right over here." I looked over her clothes. Yes they were still a bit too revealing for me, but they were better than her bar outfit. She had on oil stained pants, boots, a red and black zip- up vest, and a striped V neck t-shirt. Her cap had a pair of goggles attached to it, and it was red. The gloves on her hands were mismatched, but I didn't mind. Her face no longer was covered with make up, and she looked much nicer with a peach toned face rather than a white one. An oil smudge on her cheek replaced the make-up. The back of her vest read 'Ellie's garage'.
"So, we have your parts. I hope this is what you meant. Your descriptions would've been easier to interpret if you hadn't been so vague, but we did our best." Lilith picked up the parts and gave them to Brick. He loaded them into the technicals, and I pulled Moxxi to the side. "Hey, it's ok. It's not like you're any different. You're still Moxxi, even if you do sound different." She nodded. "I know, sugar, but I just… hate people seeing me like this. I'd rather not be working on cars with my other clothes on, though. Oil is really hard to get out of fabric." I gave her a look. "Fine. You want me to be natural? I'll be natural." She dropped the fake voice. "There. Y'all happy now? I don't need nobody goin' round tellin' people 'bout this, though. I'm holdin' you responsible if this gets out." She pointed at me as she spoke. I nodded and smiled. She rolled her eyes, turned away, and returned to the conversation.
I talked with Ellie and Scooter. They were really nice and didn't use a phony voice. Scooter was cool, and he seemed to understand things, but his face and blank expression made me think otherwise. Ellie was nice and definitely understood what I was saying, with an exception or two, but it's understandable when I go into 'Big Word Mode'. "The experience of the knifes is rather, um, enjoyable if you're careful. And the sedation is nice and tranquil. The needle is ok, and it is probably the least painful. The saw is the worst. Wait, what were we talking about?" I noticed their faces. Scooter was just staring at me, or behind me, or somewhere that I didn't want to know, and Ellie had a slight tinge of interest, but her face was filled with disgust. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to go so off track. Testing on yourself is bad. Don't do it. It does things to your head. Kidding, kidding. I'm not that crazy." Their faces didn't change, so I turned and walked away.
