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Seto was used to performance vehicles. Sports cars. The 'roughest' ride he'd ever had was in a Lincoln Navigator-and even he was forced to point out that though the drive to the Aspen lodge was precarious with the icy conditions, it wasn't at all interesting. Now, now, he thought, close-lipped and hanging on hard to the handlebar above the passenger side window, he understood why the Jeep logo bobbled so hard in the commercial. Tristan drove the little white Wrangler with an almost sadistic glee. The wheel base was modified to handle short near-vertical ascent, and if there was a pile of rocks in the Loveland area that they hadn't crawled over… "Doing okay?" Tristan asked, concentrating on the latest crevasse while his big capable hands blurred on the steering wheel. The spread-winged eagle decal on the hood hung a sharp left and nosed down the hillside at somewhat gentler angle. Another switchback? Wonderful. "Mm," Seto hummed over the growl of the engine, preoccupied with keeping his teeth clenched against the stiff suspension. Even though the seats were leather and obviously top-grade, he still felt as though he could feel every tiny piece of rubble they covered as though was rammed up his- "What?" Tristan shouted. He turned to look at Seto, still cool and obviously at home with all-wheel-drive under his ass as though he had mountain goat in his background. "Yes!" Seto yelped the word, latching onto the handlebar with both hands as the Jeep took a sharp nosedive. Caught so completely off guard, he bristled in irritation, peeled his left hand from the bar and gripped the seat instead, and-between moments of rolling vertigo and sheer panic-proceeded to plot his revenge. Later...
Tristan was unusually tickled by the eagle on the hood of the Jeep. When asked about it, he could only point and snicker hysterically. Seto gave up on him in exasperation, though the conversation surfaced again later when Tristan repeatedly referred to the vehicle as "Dixie," though to all appearances there was no logical reason for the name, and before today Tristan had no penchant for randomly naming his rolling stock. It was only much, much later that the answer came clear. Afterward, Seto made the offhand suggestion that they paint his newly-acquired Dodge Charger a shade of almost painful orange. The shellshocked grin he earned was more than enough reward for the atrocious paint. Back to Scylla's Work E-mail the Author Home |
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