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This morning when they woke up, Sturm had breakfast waiting for Teagan. She'd snuck off to the diner, and picked up coffee and food for the pair of them. A nice little start to what would be a relatively busy day. Fortunately when you're a pair of murderous-looking queers that are dubiously "unarmed", nobody tries to take you for a ride at the dealership! Sturm was able to negotiate a very generous price for her new truck, and she let Teagan drive the beautiful new, snow-white F150 off the lot so she could get the old one to Rage Room Philadelphia.
It's there that our intrepid gremlins are brought to a room filled with safety equipment, and various implements of destruction while the old truck -- the truck that belonged to Sturm's old man before her -- is driven around back and parked inside the warehouse space.
Teagan was very good and hid Baby in a backpack (which is how they used to carry her, way back in the day, before they got the ring holster they normally wear). It's fun being Summer, because intimidating people goes very easily for Teagan. They don't even barely have to try.
The Mirrorskin's grin cracks across their face when Sturm picks a white truck, and they spend the rest of the time there snickering behind their hand. When the keys get handed off to them, they lean over to kiss the round of Sturm's shoulder, and murmur, "There's some sort of delightful symbolism in this, isn't there?" before strolling away lazily and climbing into the big ol' white truck to drive off to Rage Room. They park there and sling themself out of the truck, striding into the warehouse.
"You're an incorrigible gremlin," Sturm blurts out the moment Teagan is in the same room again. The Jotunn is wearing a suit of white protective gear as supplied by the staff, and a broad smile as she leans on the haft of a sledgehammer. She ducks low enough to give Teagan a chaste little smooch on the cheekbone, and then she hooks a thumb at a pile of gear. "You ready to smash, babe?"
Oh yeah, she knows exactly what she's saying.
"You wouldn't want me to be any other way," Teagan answers Sturm lazily; they take off their coat, and then unhook Baby and wrap the precious Hedgespun up in the leather, setting it aside. Turning their face to the side to bite her cheek playfully the minute that they're kissed on the cheek, they lean down to pick up a sledgehammer, and then use the flat of the handle to smack her on the ass.
"With you? Always, doll."
"No. No I would not." Sturm doesn't usually get surprised but this sort of behavior, and she definitely doesn't squeak or make audible noise in response, but after Teagan bites her cheek and swats her butt? Her usually ice-blue skin has begun to flush a deep navy color.
"Well," she clears her throat. She brought this on herself, didn't she? "Then you should get your pads on so we can get out there." There's a slight pause. "Do you want me to help you with the straps and stuff?"
They flash her a brilliant smile when her skin flushes navy, eyeing the old truck. "I'm kinda sad about smashing this shit up. We spent a lot of time bullshitting in it when we wanted to smash and couldn't. Try'na pretend that we weren't thinking about it." It's almost wistful, the look that briefly flashes across their face.
And then when she clears her throat, their attention slides back to her. "I would like nothing better, doll," Teagan answers, leaning the head of the hammer on the floor and resting their hand on it. They don't move: they wait.
"Huh," Sturm's voice is just a thoughtful little rumble as she begins the work of helping Teagan into their pads, and carefully tightening the buckles and straps to ensure that everything fits snug and secure. "I guess I never thought about that until now." Given that she's behind them, Teagan probably can't see her stare off towards the truck, but she definitely goes quiet - and her work slows down to a crawl.
"Shit... and all those fuckin' long-ass drives to the house from either my old place or the Hollow?" A beat, and she resumes dressing them. "Then I'd feel like a dumb teenager again for the whole ride back. Just. Giddy and excited and in love."(edited)
They stand real still, letting her work on the straps of the pads, getting all of the protective gear situated on their lanky-muscular frame. "I didn't, either. I mean, not until I was standing here, looking at it," Teagan answers, absently flexing their fingers around the butt end of the hammer's handle. Their scar rests right across the wood, and they absently itch it with the grain of the wood.
"Yeah?" There's a besotted little curl at the end of that single syllable; when you're prone to saying little, you learn to put a lot into everything you actually say, and for a long time, Teagan wasn't nearly as talkative as they are now. "Were you, now?"
"Yep," Sturm pops the 'p' at the end of that word. It's a very matter-of-fact way to enunciate something. She tugs at the strap of the chest piece to test that it's secure. Satisfied, she crouches and begins to work on the knee pads - but not before placing a little kiss on Teagan'a hip bone. Like a fuckin' sap. "I mean," there's a grumble. "I don't think I had figured it out yet by that point, but I was like a starry-eyed calf whenever you were around for... weeks."
Knee pads are faster and easier, and she gives the cap a pair of taps -- one on each leg -- before righting herself.
"I almost don't want to smash it now," Sturm's face scrunches up a bit. "I didn't realize how many good memories I had that involved this old thing. Some of 'em are bittersweet 'cause of just how fuckin' long I've had the thing, but." She trails off, presenting Teagan with their helmet and goggles before putting on her own.
"You think they'd get pissy if I tried to take a piece of it home with us?"
They reach a hand down to pet her hair, lazily playing around the base of her horn, when she's knelt in front of them. "They feel pretty secure," they assure her. "You got 'em set right, doll. Good job." As she talks, they look down at her, mirror-dark face all soft, and a brief, silver flush sliding across their face. "I knew I was doomed pretty much from -- "
They pause. "Mirrorskin." A puff of breath out. "That's when I talked to Adora, anyway. She was afraid I'd already fucked you and was coming to ask for forgiveness." There's a little sadness, maybe a little healed-over wound there. As if they'd have done something like that, something to hurt Sigrun like that. "I dunno if she saw something or if she just... " Knows how rapacious Teagan used to be.
They press their lips together, pull them over to the side a little, face turned toward the truck rather than down toward Sturm. "I kinda don't," they confess, letting out a puff of breath.
"Prolly they won't care."
Sturm just sorta holds the helmet in her hands as she looks over the old truck. Honestly, it's probably good that she's wearing the goggles already, because she's just staring out at the truck with a scrunched up face.
"Really? Same." She tears her gaze from the vehicle with a grumble. There's a little laugh -- half-snicker-half-snort. "That was when I knew I could trust you. You could've asked me for anything, and I would've done it in a heartbeat. You could've asked me to never speak to y'all again, or to get the fuck out of Philly, but you didn't." A beat. "... and you set Baby down on a table across the room. That was the first time you ever trusted me with that." She offers a bone-weary sigh. "... and then I drove us out to Rainbow Road in the truck to meet up with Lux..."
Sturm reaches up to fiddle with the little gremlin pendant at her neck - brushing her thumb across the face.
"I know it's probably an anticlimactic end to the date, but." She sucks air through her teeth. "I... don't think we should."
Shaggy black hair gets a scarred palm run over it as Teagan ruffles their fingers through their short black locks. "Yeah?" Not that they doubt her, but what else are you going to say to 'really? same' in this context. There's a sort of wistfulness to it, and they stare at the truck, or at least, over in that general direction. It's really hard to tell where Teagan's looking, usually. This time, not so much.
"I didn't really think about where I put Baby, like, trust, or whatever, except I -- wanted to make a point of being unarmed for that. Because I knew you'd be, like, real fucking vulnerable and shit. I mean, I could have gotten to Baby fast but... " Teagan's voice trails off as they consider, possibly for the first time, that it was sort of an unexpected gesture of trust. Because they weren't worried about Sturm freaking out and throwing a table. They knew she wouldn't hurt them.
"Of course I didn't. I felt, like... real fucking privileged, that you let me hang around and be there for you. It's --" The Mirrorskin stops, then. "I don't believe in God. But something like that is about as close to sacred as almost anything gets, for me."
A puff of breath. "Nah. I think the climax of this night is yet to come, doll." Ah, there's the gremlin. "Get this shit off me, and take me home."
"Yeah. Really," she rumbles. There's another little snort of laughter and she tosses her helmet onto a nearby flat surface before taking a knee to begin work on removing Teagan's gear. "We can just park the old fucker out back until I figure out what I'm gonna do with it." The knee pads are tossed onto the same table as she stands, and then wraps her arms around the Mirrorskin.
"You're fuckin' incorrigible, and I love you." She flashes a devilish grin as she unbuckles their chest protector. "... but I'm driving the new one home."
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