Additional Tags: Storm Chasing, Alternate Universe - Real World, Not RPF, Age Difference, Only 7 years tho, Slow Burn, Natural Disasters, Car Accidents, World's Worst Meetcute, Like congrats guys that's the worst anyone's ever done it, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Words: 4,687
Tango is a storm chaser having terrible luck this season, scrambling all over the US trying (and failing) to catch the next big twister. When his desperation almost gets him killed, he ends up carless and stranded in Oklahoma—and wrangled by a rowdy band of British grad students currently staying there. They're nice and all, but one of them might just spin his whole life into pieces before he even gets a warning.
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First 600ish words below cut vvv
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
457 PM CDT SUN MAY 4
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORMAN HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
SOUTHEASTERN CADDO COUNTY IN CENTRAL OKLAHOMA...
NORTHEASTERN COMANCHE COUNTY IN CENTRAL OKLAHOMA...
WEST CENTRAL GRADY COUNTY IN CENTRAL OKLAHOMA...
* UNTIL 530 PM CDT
* AT 457 PM CDT...A CONFIRMED LARGE AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TORNADO WAS LOCATED 5 MILES SOUTH OF CEMENT...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 39 MPH.
THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. TAKE COVER NOW!
Tango’s phone mounted on the dashboard shrieks an ear-piercing alert, fretting over the monster he’s craning his neck to catch a glimpse of. It has to be somewhere back in those trees, if the roiling sky that way is any indication.
He’s unfathomably late to the party. This thing has been on the ground for a good twenty miles already, and judging by the fuchsia debris ball on his radar, it’s not playing around. With any luck, it’ll be the first good one he’s caught all season. Another cell to the south was supposed to be his first good one, but he ended up chasing nothing but scud clouds down there. He flies due north on the US route heading into Chickasha, praying that he can get ahead of the storm before it crosses the highway and finally get some nice footage, or even any usable footage at all.
“Yep, yep, thank you, I know, shut up, I know,” he snaps back at his phone, getting increasingly frustrated as it doesn’t turn off, no matter how many times he mashes at the screen like a caveman. Tearing his eyes away from the windshield, even for half a second, is not an option. Not all of the smaller roads branching off are signed, and with the darn forest (the single layer of trees along a fence) limiting his visibility, he could very easily miss the left turn he desperately needs to find. Yes, he could always pop a U-turn if he zips past a prime opportunity, but that would cost precious seconds that he simply doesn’t have. This is do or die. And he’s never died yet, so he’s not planning on today being the first time.
He narrates most of his stream of conscience out loud and unfiltered, half to the dashcam recording him and half to the air, maybe. Actually, he never set up the secondary camera—well… too late for that now, he’s not stupid enough to try and do that while pushing eigh-OH, TURN, LEFT TURN, DING-DING-DING—he slams on the brakes and nearly whizzes past the connector paved over the median, ungracefully hanging the left and just about flipping the car.
But he doesn’t. Still in business. He pats the steering wheel, thanking Tek for not killing him. Tango’s… Excellently-balanced Kar? Tango’s Equilibrious Kar? Is that a word? It’s the best he can come up with.
(His trusty Grand Cherokee has been with him for most of his career. Her official name is Tango’s Enjoyable Kar, but the E tends to adapt to the situation. She might be Economical when he finds cheap gas, or Entertaining when there’s a hockey game on the radio, or Explosive that one time the engine caught on fire. He re-explains the lore in each year’s storm season documentary he puts out, yet he still gets comments asking him about it. No one would notice if he started calling her Ol’ Red instead, and then he’d finally be at peace. God, even in hot pursuit, he’s already thinking about that whole mess. Good job team, hit the showers. Whatever.)
Additional Tags: Storm Chasing, Alternate Universe - Real World, Not RPF, Age Difference, Only 7 years tho, Slow Burn, Natural Disasters, Car Accidents, World's Worst Meetcute, Like congrats guys that's the worst anyone's ever done it, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Words: 4,538
“Is that them?!” Martyn exclaims. He rolls down the window and sticks his head out. “Oi! You there!”
Cleo squeals and veers into a parking spot as fast as she can, barely stopping the car before she and her wingman are leaping out.
An unfamiliar voice hails, “Dudes! You made it!”
Oh, great. More excitement. Hooray.
OR
To his chagrin, Tango meets the rest of the friend group while his concussion pain worsens.
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were so close lads. just one or two more quick edit passes depending on how confident im feeling. tomorrow (or today. its already tomorrow in my timezone. friday the 7th)
i think at some point i need a british beta reader for whirlwind. like in chapter 1 theyre translating all the miles to kilometers. i didnt know they use miles sometimes lmao
When did chapter 3 become genuinely fun to write. First drafts can be such a slog to get through but then once you do it's like a switch flips and you know how to write again
