At War With the World

[caideniphillips]

aleda-james‌:

She really doubted they had the same definition of ‘fine’, but she had to take him at his word. Plus, she was too excited to get it right to really argue. Turns out, bailing off a motorcycle wasn’t the big drama she’d expected it could be. She took his hand, but barely needed it as she bounced back to her feet. “Absolutely.” A new determination—to master turns—had taken light in her, pretty much overwhelming and clearing away any doubts or reservations she had about this actually being the best surprise, ever.

“Let’s get to it.” He had the feeling that he’d unleashed a monster. Hopefully everyone one would forgive him when she was still trying to turn and dinner never got made. She deserved some time off anyways. He stepped to pull the bike back up.

[caideniphillips]

aleda-james‌:

They rolled, but she felt Caiden curl around her and he seemed to take the brunt of the fall. She tugged off her helmet once they stilled, but he beat her to the question. “Yeah—I think so.” She didn’t really check herself at all, but at most there were a couple bruises and scrapes, she figured. “Are you?” Without pausing to hear his answer, she pushed around him to get a look at his back, his arm and shoulder where he’d landed. After a moment, pain from her elbow began to register, and she spared a thought to check that. It was bleeding, but not heavily at all, and she found herself grinning up at him, still running on adrenaline. “Have I made you regret this yet?”

“I’m fine.” He’d been told before that he wouldn’t recognize himself without a few bruises and scrapes and it wasn’t wrong; this was basically normal. “After one fall? It’ll be few more before you learn.” Which meant it was only right for him to keep riding behind her; it meant he could keep protecting her. He pushed himself to his feet to give her a hand up. “Ready to try again?”

[caideniphillips]

aleda-james‌:

There was something oddly sweet about his insistence on that, although Aleda knew she could argue with him about it for hours if she felt like. But this time, she let it go. 

They were a fair bit away from absolutely needing to, but she decided to try it out. She slowed slightly, out of caution, but leaned into turning. The bike took a strange angle she really wasn’t sure of, at all, and her heart leaped into her throat a little, but she resisted the urge to hit the breaks. Possibly that was a mistake, as about three-quarters through they came skidding against the ground, faster than she thought they would. The bike pushed out from beneath her control, and she felt panic take hold.

He almost wasn’t surprised when the bike fell over, and he wrapped his arms around her, rolling them away from the bike. Better for it to be wrecked than them. It could be fixed, although he was pretty sure the dirt was scraping them up like crazy. “You okay?” He checked when they stopped, letting go of her.

[caideniphillips]

aleda-james‌:

“That so? It’s all about intentions?” she said mildly, keeping the second part—so, why’d you buy me an expensive motorcycle—to herself. They’d gotten past it being weird and were now fully into the stage of just accepting it as fact, so she wasn’t going to go back until she was sure she wanted the answer.

Besides, she was focused on driving. She knew Caiden was supposed to be the passenger but she felt more protected with his arms around her. Safe enough that she eyed the road and accelerated more. And then a bit more. They were still a fair distance from the fence that lined the perimeter, but she called to him anyway. “So, sooner or later, I’m going to have to turn.” Probably sooner, but she wasn’t worried anymore. The bike’s shuddering lessened with speed, like it was meant to go fast. Besides, if they wiped out, they’d heal—she couldn’t really imagine Caiden telling her off for it, not seriously at least. And she was genuinely having fun, now.

“For the most part.” He said with a shrug. If he’d learned anything after living this long, it was that the company and reasons behind an action mattered more for the enjoyment of an activity than the activity itself. Even if it was jumping off a perfectly good cliff.

“Go ahead.” He called into her ear. “You lean into the turn a bit, I’ll balance it out.” He coached easily. They would have to turn, and dirt was easier than asphalt for the first time wiping out. She’d have to do it at least once, if only to get the fear of it out of her system, and the one good thing about being a wolf was that they healed fast; the scars across his body were proof of that.

[caideniphillips]

aleda-james‌:

“Nothing’s killed you yet,” she pointed out. “That’s no way to judge whether you like something or not.” Though if he had died, he’d probably keep it to himself, she thought wryly. She had a pretty good idea of how he dealt with things, after all this time. And they were fairly similar in some respects, though she was loathe to admit as much.

He wrapped an arm around her waist reflexively, so she reached down and patted his hand with hers, before returning it to the handlebars. “Right, slowly… You might want to hold on tighter, though. I’m a beginner after all.” Honestly, it was far too easy to enjoy this. Maybe if she freaked him out enough he’d take it away and she could forget trying to work out her feelings about it? Unlikely, but she held onto that vague hope. Besides, she wasn’t particularly worried that she’d hurt either one of them in the small stretches of road around the Ranch. She started up again, the bike running in a straight line, for the most part. And slowly as instructed, for now.

“I don’t know. It’s not the worst way to judge whether I like things.” He said with a shrug. “I think why I’m doing them matters more than what I’m doing.” With this, he would be doing it because he actually liked spending time with her. She wasn’t nearly as annoying as most.

He almost removed his arm when she patted his hand, but then she told him to hang on tighter, so he brought his other arm around her as well, careful not to lean too closely, to not upset her. He just wanted to be able to get to the handlebars if he needed to. She was doing well though, not that he’d expected any differently. 

[caideniphillips]

aleda-james‌:

“You’ll have to try it my way then. Unless you’ve got a problem with cold water or heights, too?” she asked over her shoulder. Honestly, it’d be funny just to see, if she could convince him to do it. That lake was deep, and high enough up in the mountains that it was just above freezing this time of year.

She wasn’t used to being very close to anyone, and if it wasn’t Caiden it might’ve been weird to suddenly have him sitting on the bike with her. But she knew he probably didn’t think anything of it, so she didn’t either. As it was, she tried to focus on the practical upsides—he was a wall of warmth at her back, blocking the breeze. “Okay.” Feet up, it didn’t take long before she thought she had a ‘feel’, as he put it. So, she toyed with the acceleration. The bike pushed forward a couple of feet suddenly, but she stopped abruptly. “Oops. Sorry,” she called, hoping he couldn’t tell she was grinning. “I found the brake, though.”

“Neither one have killed me yet.” With most, he would refuse on principle, but he already knew he’d let her talk him into it. She was too far under his skin, same as most of the others on the ranch, and he couldn’t bring himself to care most of the time. His curse didn’t seem to have followed him here yet.

The sudden acceleration did surprise him into throwing an arm around her as he tucked his feet up, ready to lean around and stop them if needed. He would not admit to the sigh of relief when they stopped, ever. “Uh, maybe just try to ease forward a bit. Slowly.”

[caideniphillips]

aleda-james‌:

Aleda snickered, and gave a single nod. “Yeah, and now I see why.” She looked skeptical at his question. “Seriously? You’ve never been cliff jumping?” It struck her as odd that he couldn’t see the appeal—she refused to believe he didn’t know what fun was, even if he acted that way on occasion.

She took the helmet from him. It smelled as new as the bike. Frustration uncurled in her stomach again, followed by a happy-but-sad feeling she couldn’t decipher. Figuring out what was bothering her sometimes took a while, but usually she got there eventually. For now, she shrugged it off. But his comment made her remember the sight of him on his bike, one thing distinctly missing, she gave him a half-smile. “Yes. It is,” she said pointedly. Putting it on, she fiddled with the straps beneath her chin, and then got ready to get back on. “Alright, then.” Once she was seated again, she followed what she’d seen and the bike started to life again. “What now,” she called over the noise.

“One thing I never wanted to learn how to do.” He said with a shrug. He hated teaching, hated having someone following him around. It got annoying, and on one notable occasion, shot. “I have jumped off a cliff before, but I don’t think you mean in that way.” It wasn’t for fun, because only crazy people did that sort of thing for fun, and his definition of crazy was very loose.

She looked adorable on the bike, not that he’d ever actually tell her that. It just seemed dumb, if he was honest. “Uh, here.” He slid on the back of the bike behind her and kicked up the stand, resting his feet on the ground to keep it steady for her. “Put your feet on the rests to get a feel for it.” At least this was easier to teach her than any other way.

[caideniphillips]

aleda-james‌:

He thought wrong, but there was no point in going back and forth on it. She scoffed at what he’d muttered, crossed her arms and leaned back slightly, affronted. “It’s not cowardly to ask for a demonstration. Are you this mean to all your students?” she asked, knowing full well that she was probably the only one he had. For good reason, apparently. “I’ll show you the spot where I go cliff jumping, then we’ll see who gets to call names,” she grumbled, but most of her attention was on following the explanation. It did seem pretty straightforward. “And if I was afraid, why wouldn’t I demand a helmet?” she said, gesturing at her bare head pointedly. 

She did actually want to be wearing one. But she could only be one thing at a time, and right now she was completely focused on not being a coward. 

Not that she needed to prove him wrong, or anything. But he was wrong. Nearly constantly. And especially now.

“I told you I don’t teach.” He pointed out easily. This was only one reason, and he didn’t even think he’d been all that mean yet. At least, not by his standards. “Why are you jumping off a cliff?” And people said he had problems. At least he didn’t jump off cliffs that weren’t even falling down. 

That was what he was forgetting. He reached into the saddlebag and pulled out the helmet he’d bought with the thing, holding it out to her. “Here. Stupid to not wear a helmet.” He wasn’t going to mention that he didn’t wear one. He hadn’t died yet, and wasn’t really sure if it mattered if he did. Ella would be fine without him.

[caideniphillips]

aleda-james‌:

Aleda hid a grin. “I— Shut up.” Her cheeks burned a little and she hardly sounded serious, but telling the most taciturn person on the ranch to stop talking was still funny to her. “That’s not the same,” she added, mostly to tell herself that. But a glance at Caiden said he was actually pretty happy, and that gave her incentive to ease up on him. She eyed the bike’s controls, and spotted the ignition. But she hesitated, then dismounted. “You want to, um. Show me how to do that, first? Then I can copy you—it’s easier if I see it.” There was a slight fear in the back of her mind that somehow she’d break it, but she didn’t want to admit that to him.

Caiden raised an eyebrow, but couldn’t quite help the smile that spread at her. “I think it is.” He would still be tossing away money that he could spend on something else. “Coward.” He muttered as he mounted it. “It’s pretty easy.” He said as he started it, explaining how to do it. “And you’ll just twist the accelerator whenever you want to go.” Not that he thought she should start going just yet, but if she felt confident enough.

[caideniphillips]

aleda-james‌:

“You surprised me, and I don’t like surprises. You’re lucky I don’t start charging you for sandwiches,” she shot back, but there was no real anger left behind it. She got on the bike, adjusting to the seat, and tentatively tried pushing the weight off the kickstand for a minute, her feet bracing against the ground. It was heavy, but not as heavy as she’d expected. And it did fit her, it seemed. She flexed her fingers over the handlebars, experimentally. “Of course I like it,” she chided softly, turning in her seat a minute later to grin at him. “You didn’t go for something with flames on the side. I have to appreciate that, at least.” She was more excited than nervous, though there was a fair bit of that building too.

“I thought you didn’t want me spending money on you.” He said, more than a little amusement in his voice. He watched her get on it, pleased that it seemed to fit. Or at least she seemed comfortable with it. “Flames are ridiculous.” Besides, no one would put flames on something this expensive, unless they were a complete idiot. “You can start it up if you want, just don’t go anywhere yet.”

[caideniphillips]

aleda-james‌:

It did bother her a little still, that she didn’t really know why was he doing this all of a sudden. But overthinking, worrying, getting wrapped up in her own thoughts—these were things she tried not to spend too long on. Could be he was bored—or maybe he really did just want to see her try and race someone this badly. “So. Where do we start, then?” Her smile quirked up a little on one side. “Just… get on and go?” She was already walking over to try it out. “I bet you a sandwich you regret this in under ten minutes.”

Caiden wasn’t entirely sure what he would say if she did insist he tell her why he’d gotten the motorcycle. He just thought she deserved something nice, and maybe sometimes still remembered how she’d looked when he’d found her in the woods years ago; small and afraid. “I bought you a motorcycle, I better be getting a sandwich no matter what.” He grumbled. “Sit on it, and see if you like it.”

[caideniphillips]

brookeoconnor‌:

“The burning part sounds fun. Everything else sounds like a lot of heavy lifting.” Brooke looked at the pile he was stacking up. “I hope you get some sort of treat at the end of this. Like a hot bath and chocolate dipped strawberries.” Brooke smiled to herself thinking about it. She hadn’t had one of those in while and just may treat herself to it when she got back home. Bringing her cup to her lips so she could take a mouthful.

“Well, you’re welcome to come see the burning.” Caiden said with a shrug. “Maybe a hot shower and a steak if I can get one.” This wasn’t exactly the worst job he’d done on the ranch. It was actually fairly easy, even if it did have some heavy lifting.

[caideniphillips]

aleda-james‌:

Aleda accepted his nod and returned one of her own, and just the tiniest bit of satisfaction as she could see the wheels turning in his head to figure out how much more time that’d take. Wasn’t nice, being signed up for something you weren’t expecting, was it? “That’s very reassuring, coming from the guy who’s about to teach me how to drive it?” She pursed her lips, and tried not to smile, but her anger was fading rapidly. “You really know how to inspire confidence.” Shaking her head, her expression softened, and actual excitement began to push through her hesitation. She really had a freaking motorcycle? The reality of how awesome that was slowly started to hit her.

“I can teach you how to drive it.” Caiden said with a roll of his eyes. “You’re smart enough to figure it out quickly.” He was confident of that. It wasn’t like it was all that hard, after all. At least she seemed less annoyed now. He hadn’t been expecting her to be that annoyed. Maybe a little bit, since she was the type to make do with less. But he liked her. And when he liked people, he did things for them. It happened little enough that it wasn’t like he would go broke doing it.

[caideniphillips]

lenoreavila‌:

“I didn’t say I was curious,” she responded before sticking out her tongue at him. It was obvious that she was annoying him and it only fueled her further. “Eh, it doesn’t matter anyway. You’re a snoozefest, not a rubik’s cube.”

“Then why are you asking me questions?” Other than just to annoy him, which he assumed was the goal. “I’m all right with that.”

[caideniphillips]

aleda-james‌:

She huffed out a small laugh, exasperated. Of course Caiden tried to brush it off, but if she gave in that made this… actually the most expensive thing she’d ever owned. She used Ranch property and equipment, for the most part. Her teeth kneaded her lower lip, arms crossed over her chest as she stared at the bike for a long moment. “You’d need to teach me proper maintenance, too,” she said finally. “You can’t just throw something at me and expect me not to take care of it.” There was almost an accusation in that, but she could feel warmth and gratitude at war with her desire to call him twelve kinds of irritating, presumptuous jackass.

Caiden did hesitate at that, but nodded anyways. He could just steal it before she noticed anything was wrong anyways. And keep track of when she needed oil changes and everything. Although it would be a little funny to see her trying to figure out how to do it. “I can teach you a couple things.” He allowed. “Not much of a teacher though.”

[caideniphillips]

aleda-james‌:

“A crappy one would’ve been better, yeah. I—” Her voice sounded too high pitched to be relaxed. She was struggling to express why she was upset with him actually going through with this, which she’d seen as mostly a joke earlier in the week. “I made you cake.” That was a shitty explanation, but in some ways it explained a lot. This was just so far outside of the realm of what she was used to dealing with. It felt too cold, though, to be this distance away and trying to tell him off. So she opened the door, and went down the steps, still mostly looking at the motorcycle instead of him. It really was a nice thing he’d done, she was just distressed. “If you bought me a pack of scrub brushes, I’d say thank you, but this? This is… lovely…”

“It was very good cake.” He deadpanned. He didn’t like how she was making a big deal of this, like he was a nice person because of it. He just thought it would be good for her to have a mode of transportation. And it was easier to buy than a car. “Do you want to learn to ride it now, or later?” She would eventually have to get her license, but he figured no one would bother them on the local roads, or just on the ranch.

[caideniphillips]

aleda-james‌:

He did not just roll his eyes at her. He did not spend—how much? Thousands? on a toy, for her, that she couldn’t even use, had told him she couldn’t use—and then roll his eyes. Possibly she was mad about something else, but in that moment his expression seemed like the worst of it. She lifted a finger, about to tell him off for all of it, and then realized it was extremely impolite not to say thank you for a gift. But she didn’t want this feeling. The feeling of not deserving something, and getting it anyway. This… this was very badly proportioned returns for her leaving him a slice of shortcake in the fridge—not in proportion at all. She opened her mouth. “Caiden, you…” And then shut it. And shook her head, feet planted, warmth rising to her cheeks. “You know I can’t accept it,” she said finally. Embarrassment had won out. It was a really pretty bike. “It’s too nice.”

She was definitely upset, and he wasn’t entirely sure why. It was her favorite color, it was smaller and easier to handle than a lot of others, and top of the line. And if she wrecked it, he could fix it. It was just a bike, it wasn’t a big deal. “Should I have bought a crappy one?” He questioned, raising an eyebrow at her. “Better to get used to a nice one. Then you don’t have to upgrade later. It’ll save hassle in the long run” And it would be easier to ride.