Valkyrie

Jorgen glares hard at the black metallic HD as she contentedly listens to Bruder. He was looking at her in a harsh, analyzing manner like he was begging her to answer a question he’s had for many years. I watch him for a moment before he finally notices me looking and sighs.

“…You have probably wondered about what happened between the 7 month female and I for a long time.” Jorgen starts, turning around to face me.

“That’s her, isn’t it?” I guess.

“Yes. Unfortunately.”

“If you’re concerned that I’m concerned—”

“Neither have any reason for concern. My adoration for Valkyrie ended decades ago, and for very good reason.”

Jorgen!

Jenna goes human and expectantly sits on the couch like she was waiting on a long story. I slowly nod and park in a comfortable position myself. “I met Val at a gas station up north. We were preparing for a blizzard and stocking up on supplies...”


“This one’s gonna be a monster; I can feel the draft on my chassis already.” Schickard groaned as we filed towards town, down the steep mountainside road. As always, Tycho was leading the charge with me right behind. Laredo was behind me with the giant propane tank on a trailer, Followed by Schick. Lastly, Clauvius was bringing up the rear, hoping to find a few replacement tools for his garage.

“Wee 1500; nobody even sees until spring because you are hibernating in house under thick Sherpa!” I had teased, good naturedly.

“If I was behind you Goliath, I’d kick your tailgate!” We had made it into the small town, though it was still bigger than ours. There was a convenience store slash fuel station in the square that had just about everything you needed to survive in the Arduous Mountain Range. Our fleet reaches the store without a hitch and we split up to gather the goods on our lists. I was in charge of all the baking goods. Since we always needed unhealthy amounts of sugar anyway, I just stuck out a tire and ran it down the shelf of white sugar and dump everything into the cart. I then proceeded to plow through the chocolate isle. There was a shortage of regular dark chocolate baking morsels, so I started throwing in dark chocolate bars instead.

“Butter. So much butter.” I had muttered, starting for the cold section before stopping. There was a charcoal Ram 2500 stocking the milk and creamer right beside where I had to be. She seemed aggravated by her short, quick movements and how she had her mirrors folded slightly back. I lower my front end and carefully trot to the butter. I noticed her glance over at me and double take as I eyed the selection.

“…Excuse me, but are you looking for something in particular?” The female asked with an edge to her voice. I shook my front end.

“Salted. But you seem to be out.” A curiosity lit the aggravated HD's gaze as I spoke.

“You’re not from around here, eh?”

“I am a human-made from Austria. Uh, is Jorgen.” She slowly nods, seemingly impressed.

“I’m Valkyrie. We don’t get many human-mades around here. Are you new?”

“I have lived up north a ways in Ramsterdam for almost 10 years. You must be the new one of us both.” I gave Valkyrie a keen look as she awkwardly smiles.

“I just started here last week. I already regret my life choices moving here from Sanrika. I bet it’s still warm there while I’m perpetually in the freezer section up here.”

“Is not for the faint of essence. This you should probably know.”

---

Without warning, my door bell chimed. I paused from eating dinner, went Ram, and cautiously checked my cameras. “Who would possibly be out there in this blizzard?” I mutter before going wide eyed and racing to the door. There sat Valkyrie with a pile of snow on her hood and icicles dangling from her mudflaps.

“Hi there!” She greeted like nothing was wrong or odd at all. “This Ramsterdam is actually quite a minute from town! I thought it was just around the bend.” I blinked and tilted my front end in absolute bewilderment. “I know you probably weren’t expecting me or anything, but I kinda beat the storm! Not before it kicked the Ford outta me, but I beat it! May I come in? Or can you at least point out the nearest motel; I think my transmission fluid is frozen solid and I lost my shift rhythm coming up here.”

“…Yes, definitely.” I moved so the strange lady could come inside. “May I ask why you came this far with blizzard breathing down tailgate?”

“It was closer than going home. I didn’t think I could get back before the heat of it hit. Or might I say the freeze of it. Ha!” I smiled slightly and offered her some soup on my table. “You don’t mind?”

“Not at all. Help yourself.”

---

I locked the door and called Schickard.

“Ay, Goliath—!”

“Schickard, that Ram from the store just showed up on my doorstep.” I had pleaded. “I do not know what she wants and she is now eating my soup! What is going on?” He had just chuckled. “What is so funny? What do I do?”

“Jorg, man; she hasn’t said what she wanted because what she wants is you.” I nervously crouch.

“How can she want me? She does not even know who I am!”

“I know you’re not used to chicks wanting to know you after you show interest in them and all, but if she came all the way from town and wound up at your place, she wants to know more about you. You’ve finally done it; you’ve let nature take its course.”

“Uh, Jorgen?” I heard Valkyrie call from the kitchen. “I might have ate the rest of your soup. I’m sorry about that! I didn’t realize how hungry I was.” I hung up on Schickard as he was only crowing with laughter after that anyway, and kick open the door.

“That is okay!” I had pleaded. “It is no big deal! I can make more?”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to!” Valk reasoned, in the process of putting her bowl in the sink. I shook my front end, grabbed the pot, and begun chopping more potatoes with my wheel claw.

“No. I got. Park by table and tell me anything you want me to know.”

“…Know about what?”

“You are here for reason I assume. Start with that much if you want to.”

---

“Uh, suddenly it’s thunder snowing out there and I have a huge phobia of thunder?” I hear Val squeak from the doorway. “What do you think is rarer, my phobia or the thundering blizzard?” I drowsily blinked at her for a second, processor not even awake enough to comprehend what I was looking at. “Sorry. You look pretty sleepy, still.”

“…Park beside if you want. I do not care.” I finally yawned and started nodding off again. Instead of simply parking beside me, however, Val races over to press her fender into mine and snuggle in, still shaking in terror. “You were not joking about the phobia. This is actually the second thunder blizzard this year.”

“If it weren’t for you,” she whispers. “I’d say that I hated it here already.” I tiredly smile and close my eyes again.

“Should have figured as much.”

---

"Sooooooo..." Schick casually whistled and glanced over at Val. "How was it?" I blinked at him, totally lost.

"The storm? Cold and mildly annoying."

"No, I mean," He revved twice and winked. I continued to stare at him until it dawned on me what the light duty was referring to.

“Get tiny processor out of gutter, Schickard! It was totally innocent! Nothing happened! And I am not the kind of truck to want anything more than innocent until after the partnership ceremony.”

“So you’re telling me,” he hissed with an absolute puzzled expression. “That she snuggled up against you and you just fell asleep?”

“Yes! What else should I have done?” I instantly cringed as he smugly opened his mouth to reply. “No. I did not say that; I take it back.”


“You two actually sounded pretty sweet and wholesome.” Jen muses as I pause to take a sip of my lemonade. “And Schickard still sounded like Schickard.”

“Schickard has always been Schickard and nothing will ever be less than Schickard about him.” I chuckle in agreement before wistfully sighing. “After that, it was fairly normal of a relationship. We dated, eventually Val moved in with me during the final few months of our relationship, and everything was absolutely… Wonderful. It was not amazing, far from it in fact. Or at least it was not as I look back on it. Do you ever have a feeling something was not going to last in the back of mind, though you choke it back and ignore?”

“Sometimes, yeah. I think we all do.” I slowly nod and continue.

“Well, that was me everyday. It was too good to be true. Someone falling in love with was not reality, at least before you.”


“Good morning, my devotion!” I had yipped, eagerly waiting on my porch for my only love (at the time, that is). Val had bowed at me as she always had when she’d leave in the morning on her way to work in Arduous. She was still employed at the gas station there. I always reminded her that she wouldn’t have to work anymore after we became partners.
What simple yet depressing times those were.

“Hi, doofus. How are you this fine morning, eh?” Valkyrie beamed, driving up my porch ramps to give me a loving fender butt. I had tiredly rested my bumper on her hood. “You alright? You seem a bit off.”

“I am fine, Engel Blossom. I was up late last night perfecting new cookie recipe!” What I didn’t tell her was that I was up until 5am trying to figure out how to bake a batch of cookies without scorching the proposal gift I had got her. Yes, I was going to ask her to be my partner when she returned that evening. “I think it will be good to try when you get home. Bring ice cream!”

“Oh-hoh. Alright, then! Sounds like a plan.” I lightly watched as Val left for work, giving me a merry honk as she went. I had honked in return.

“I will see tonight! I love! Do not hit any Bucrazor! They hurt!” Her only response was a flash of her left taillight before she went over the hill, down the road, and never came back.
I was so excited for her to come back and be my partner, I grabbed the cookies, put them on my dashboard, and I parked right by the town border on the side of the road. Cars would come and go, greeting me as they went, and of course I’d happily call back at them as well. Hours went by, and I continued to wait for her even after she was late getting home.
I called, but she never answered. Out of sick worry, I couldn’t return to my house. All I could do was stay where I was and wait for her.


“I parked in the pouring rain waiting for her.” I wretchedly mutter as Jen gapes. “I was hailed on, pelted with snow, even nearly hit by a falling tree. But I waited and waited for Val to come home to me. I did not need answers... I just needed loved again.”


Hours turned into days, and days turned into weeks. It snowed on me every night, and rained practically every day. I couldn’t even leave to get more diesel I was so hellbent on being the first to welcome Valkyrie home.
One day, Schickard and Tycho stopped by to check on me.

“…Jorgen, she’s not coming back.” Schick had reasoned. I rapidly shook my front end and folded back my side views in denial.

“No! She is coming home. And I will stay here until she does!” I had hostilely snapped, my distress and lack of rest starting to take its toll on me. My tone made two of my oldest friends jump back in shock. I continued to glare after them as they hurried back to their houses in total bewilderment.

---

“We went to town, Laredo and I.” Schickard started, hesitantly. “Valkyrie was with another Ram. I’m not going to show you the pictures unless you downright deny what we saw. But you know us, dude. We’re not messing around. We liked Val as much as you did. I hoped she was your one more than anything I had ever hoped for. But she’s gone, Goliath.” I had chuckled in sheer disbelief for a moment, and soon started full out cackling my tailgate off. Tycho and Schickard gaped at me with concern.

"Jorg, I'm so sorry." Tycho breathed, sullenly looking me in the windshield.



“It’s okay to still be hurt by what happened.” Jen softly reasons as I hang my head.

“It does not. Not anymore.” I assure, hollowly looking at my lap. She hugs me and presses her head into my side.

“It does, Jorgen. She traumatized you. You can't just sit out in the elements and wait on someone just to find out that they dumped you without ever saying goodbye without being pretty screwed up; anyone would still burn from what happened. How you even brought yourself to love someone else after that is actually pretty amazing.”

“Do not confuse my agony with lingering love, Jen.” I finally admit, wrapping my arms around my only adoration. “I could never love Val again if someone promised they could take pain away forever if I tried to start over with her. I would rather partner male than to try again with Val. Things happen for a reason and no truck is a bigger believer in so than I. But that does not mean that I am ready to reconcile over what happened. I would probably throw lit candle at a wall, guh-huh."

---

“I think somebody needs to address the elephant in the room.” Avery reasons as we all stiffly eat out dinner. Bruder pauses and looks at her.

“…Yes, do address.” He nods and coolly poses.

“Not you, goob. Haven’t you ever heard of that expression?” Brude shakes his head, confused. “Never mind. Keep eating. Anyway, everyone is eating dinner like they all have sticks shoved up their tailpipes! I think we need to ease the tension and breathe.”

“I wouldn’t.” I warn, Jorgen snorting sardonically at her comment.

“I wouldn’t even.” Ash agrees, dryly as Val picks up a drumstick and gnaws on it.

“It needs to happen. I’m sure there’s a lot of misunderstanding floating around in this room and it’s making a toxic environment!”

“Do you know what is making environment toxic?” Jorg snaps, slamming down his fork. “Everyone in room except for partner. Eat or get out of our house.”

“You really wouldn’t want them to waste this beautiful meal, would you?” Kieran nervously smiles.

(Approximate translation) “They are the waste. Both of them—wasted space. Throw the entire area of oxygen around them in trash can! I do not care!”

“Is he insulting us now?” Ash demands, harshly as I squint at Avery. She slowly lowers her head to drink her soup. “I don’t know enough German, but something tells me—!”

“I’m going to be the referee tonight and flag everyone here for uncalled for conduct.” I hiss, standing up. “Jorgen, eat. Asher, eat. We’re going to talk this out after dinner. I don’t want any fists thrown until the plates are clean. If anyone insults my partner, however, I don’t care how in the wrong he is; I’m biting the tailgate off of his insulter. I’m a referee with a bias, don’t forget.” After a moment of hesitation, we all start eating in silence. I even pull up my watch to check Grillebook and see if anyone had something good for sale in marketplace.

“…He called both of you wastes of space.” Bruder finally admits. The three stop eating again and glare each other down.

---

“Don’t say it.” I hiss, seeing the look in his eye. “Jorgen? Don’t say it. Don’t. Say it.”

---

“Do you remember the time you drove to house and stole my soup?!”

“I didn’t steal your soup; I asked and you told me I could have some!!”

“The other time you stole my soup!!”

“How many times did you steal the poor truck’s soup, woman?!” Kieran demands.

“There was a starving homeless kid; what else was I supposed to do?!”

“Ask!! You ask before you steal someone’s soup, for homeless child or no!!”

“Well screw my conscience!!”

“Conscience?! Show to me this supposed conscience!”

“I ripped the Ford forsaken thing out for your soul-sucking tailgate!!”

“I almost died waiting for you to come home!! This conscience you ripped out for me, you mention?!”

“You want to know the truth? You want brutal honesty?” Val snaps, harshly. “Fine, then! I wanted a partner that could see that I was independent! I’ve been coddled my entire life and I wanted to be with someone who could let me be my own person without worrying about me hurting myself, Ford forbid banging my front end on a mailbox! I didn’t deserve you. I knew somebody out there did, and I admit that I didn’t have the essence to say that to your front end and have to watch you writhe in grief.”

“That is not excuse for making me writhe in grief for most of my life! I would rather have suffered for two years than the hell that I went through wondering why nobody ever loved me!!”

“You strike me as the selfish type, actually.” I agree, lifting my front end. “Your defense? Before I plow you through the wall?”

“Yeah, it was selfish. I’m not going to deny that I hurt you and made you suffer. Nobody deserves to be abandoned or made to stand out in the elements and wait for someone. I didn’t realize I meant that much to you.”

“Did you take apology class or read cheap Dollar General Lee cards until you created a sentence?”

“That was pretty cheap.” Ash admits. Val squints at him.

“I’m scrap at words and I never expected to see you again anyway. No offense intended, sorry for the briskness, but I fell in love with my partner when I went to town that last time and never came back. Things happen. Choices were made. Essences were shattered. It was better for everyone, obviously. I’d care a little bit more if we were both still single and didn’t have kids with the people we were supposed to be with, alright?” She glances Jorg up and down before bowing at me. “Just look at you two. You’re the power couple of everyone’s dreams. And you deserve everything good that came at you after I left you. Imagine if we stayed together; neither of us would be happy and our soulmates would have gotten away.”

“…I know.” Jorgen agrees, nudging me in the side. “It would have been selfish of me to plead for you to stay, because I would have. I would not have understood what you had wanted. I would have been blinded by adoration and try to wallow with love and hope that was the issue. I sorry for getting angry.”

"...Ha! It worked!" Avery cheers, fist in the air. "I finally gave good advice! Woohoo!"

"Get out, Avery!!" We all hiss.

---

“So, can we stick around? We weren’t lying when we said we wanted to join Green Acres and be warriors. We don’t even need to join this district if you don’t want us here.” Jorgen glances back at me in concern.

“…I think you’re accepted.” I finally chuckle. “I welcome you into our lovely District and agency with open arms. However, I’m not the only decision maker here. You’ll have to ask this gorgeous beast before you.”