closed ✋ 𝓳𝓾𝓷𝓮 𝓬𝓪𝓽𝓬𝓱-𝓪𝓵𝓵

[oomfies]

Who: lottie person.. and YOU!!
Where: various
When: may + june
What: generally going to consist of tdm continuations!! and maybe closed / open starters depending on my time.

Warnings: n/a




if you'd like a closed starter, feel free to contact me through pm or via snottie ❤️

Comments

🚗 cassian

[oomfies]

[ from here! ]

[ No, she's not in a hurry. Every other car driving past them is but not her— too lost trying to use what she's learned years ago when she got her license, took her test. But she still takes a second to look at a car that zooms by, a cloud of dust trailing behind them on the road she once took.

Some of that apprehension is still there, in that far away gaze of hers that trails behind the beat-up sports car, but it isn't from fear, exactly. Her head tilts softly. ]

No?? Not really.

[ She doesn't mention that she barely knows where to go, is only following everyone else because she can't reliably read directions (much less a map). And almost like she's checking: ]

..Are you?

sorry for the late reply!! i moved and life things also came up 🥹

[diametrically]

[ Now that he's seen that pinprick of something (hesitation, apprehension, not outright enthusiasm or cheekiness that he's already been on the receiving end of), he can't unsee it. And frankly, even if he wanted to, it's hard for him not to search for more of it. It's not out of a fascination or anything of the sort. Rather it comes from a place of wanting to alleviate any more of it any way he can. ]

No.

[ He stopped, hadn't he? He's still standing here. Granted the reason might have been born out of some ridiculous need to prove himself/defend his stupid spoiler, but he's here.

Which is why he decides to make this choice that she can absolutely veto if she so chooses. ]

Come on.

[ And by the time they're buckled into his car, the engine roars to life. With one hand on the stick shift, the other on the wheel he looks towards her, foot poised just above the gas pedal. ]

If you feel uncomfortable, just say so. I'll slow down or stop.

omg no you are absolutely fine!! hope things are chill now <3

[oomfies]

[ Lottie's only ever heard about stick shifts in passing, with influencers she only kept conversations with until her real friends showed up at parties or events. She doesn't know how they work, much less the science of how to maintain cars, but the way Cassian handles it makes her slightly less nervous. That doesn't mean she isn't sitting stiff, still, hand awkwardly touching the handle right above the passenger window.

—Would he find it insulting if she held it, right now? Her hand drops down to her lap, immediately. She looks at him, finally, after a soft little breath that's meant to ground her (only serves to make her stomach do flips, the same way she feels before going on a roller-coaster). ]

For sure. [ Does that sound cool? She blinks at him, brushing her hair behind her ear. ] Got it! I promise.

things are getting there 🥹

[diametrically]

[ The way her hand goes to the handle above the window doesn't go unnoticed. Then again, it's kind of hard not to considering how small of a space this is. Even if that weren't the case, it's enough for him to know that he shouldn't just gun it for the sake of his own amusement (not that he's the sort - but you know).

He is however the sort of person who will trust a stranger enough for them to tell him when something isn't comfortable. And since she's said she will there's really only one thing left to do.

Miraculously, there are little to no cars before them now. Whatever traffic that had been going in this direction before has since died down making it easy to maneuver back onto the road. True to his word, the build up to speed is gradual, but soon enough the engine is revving louder and the scenery before them begins to blur. It isn't long before it becomes apparent that they're going to catch up to the cars in the distance.

He could push the car faster. But before doing that he gives Lottie a glance, trying to gauge how she's feeling and if she'd be comfortable with that. ]

yay!! that's good to hear ☺️

[oomfies]

[ None of this feels real. Lottie Person in a car driving faster than the speed limit? Unfathomable. But it's happening — it's happening so viscerally she can't process it, quite yet, even with Cassian's gentle acceleration. Things just feel and look different as she's glancing at the blurring landscape, watching her gargantuan excuse of a car meld into a tiny spec behind them.

It's as exhilarating as it is vaguely terrifying, she realizes, when she has to bite back a laugh. The fun wins out more than the scare and she's finding ease in the way Cassian's car lurches with each loud and gluttral rev of his engine.

She feels it in her belly, deep through the seat she sits on. It's kind of cool. There's cars in the distance. That's kind of not. But they keep speeding and it's a few beats in she notices they're a controlled speed behind the pack. Lottie turns to look at Cassian, only vaguely startled when she catches his glance. It's clear she doesn't expect it, brows raising at the sudden eye contact.

By now she's already forgotten what point either of them were trying to prove — all she does is nod towards the cluster of cars, a hand pointing forward like it'll get him moving quicker. ]

Eyes on the road!

[diametrically]

[ It should come as no surprise that he nearly mistakes the strangled noise she makes as a sound of discomfort. That's a contributing factor to why he looks over in the first place, trusting the feel of the car beneath him and the fact that the cars in front of them are still moving faster than they are. Well, for now.

But then he sees her raise her eyebrow and hears the certainty in her voice. Maybe the sound from before hadn't been so much of a noise of discomfort but maybe one of unexpected joy? The corners of his eyes crinkle in time with the upward slant of his mouth and there's something almost mischievous in the way he replies. ]

Yes ma'am.

[ He shifts the car into gear, engine letting out a giant rev as they pick up speed. It isn't long before they catch up with the other cars. But as if embodying the spirit of whoever had owned this car before him, Cassian accelerates, swinging them into the opposing lane to get around the short line that had formed and leaving them in the dust.

There's something exhilarating in this for him - the speed, the acceleration, the handling of the car - it's akin to flying and the thought makes his chest tighten. Before he can allow it to get too far though the press of his foot against the gas as he nudges the car along is enough to keep his mind, and eyes, on the road. They drive on for a little while longer before he glances over towards her as a warning, nodding briefly at the handle above her seat. ]

Hang on.

[ It's apparent why. With enough distance between them and the other cars and no oncoming traffic, he cuts the wheel hard sending the car into a spin until they're safely back in the other lane and en route back to her car. ]

[oomfies]

[ It rumbles in her belly, the air shifting out of her lungs when she breathes out.

She feels so very alert and alive when he says yes ma'am (wow, does that make her feel cool) and accelerates. Lottie tries very hard to bite back the curve of her lips, the matching curl up Cassian graced her with, when they pick up speed. It feels so lame to say she feels like she's in a movie but it's the only thing she can compare it to, when they so smoothly shift past car after car. Cutting across lanes, looking at the stupefied and vaguely annoyed passerby's with a face that says ha ha — because she sticks her tongue out, too, probably because they're showboating when there's no reason to.

(Later, when she reflects on this by herself in a dingy little motel room, she'll think about one specific movie franchise. Fast and the Furious. Is that why it go so popular? She gets it, if it was. The thrill and adrenaline, the fun of controlling a little metal machine to do fun stunts.)

She's got the window rolled down enough to ride the rapid winds with her hand, wave after wave before she looks over at him just to see (there's been a joy in seeing him drive, too, another aspect of the Furious franchise she'll have to mull over). Her brain doesn't register it but her body does, holding onto the handle right as he lurches the wheel to the side.

Something like a choked shriek echoes inside the car, melding into a bark of a laugh that lands on ohmygod. Oh my god, she says again, lightheaded and blinking rapidly. ]

What the hell was that??

[ They're back in the right lane and already drove past everyone in their way, on their way back to her car she thinks. Her skin is buzzing, head fuzzy. Brown eyes look at his, equal parts stupefied and in wonder. ]

How did you do that?!

[diametrically]

[ Despite the dry tone and grumpy appearance, Cassian, at several points throughout his life, has in fact done his fair share of showboating.

Some of it had to do with the cockiness of a kid trying his best to fit into a completely new environment where he spoke little (none) of the language and who had yet to fully comprehend the lessons life was going to teach him. And then in between all of that, some it could be chalked up to trying impress someone. Typically someone of the pretty or handsome variety. If we had to place this scenario anywhere between those two, it's probably closer to the latter. But only because he had to prove a point.

And when she lets out another sound - not just any sound, it's the sound of the ebb of fear that flows into joy - hearing that is what turns the tilt of his lips into a proper smile on his face that feels more devil-may-care than it did before. He eases off the gas pedal but not so much that the wind whistling through their hair stops. Though he hasn't laughed there's the obvious sound of it in his voice as he takes his eyes off the road to look at her clearly equal parts amused and pleased to see that the apprehension from before has been swept away at least for the time being. ]

Do you want the easy answer or the more complicated one?