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 Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 9:56 pm
▐█████████ ██ █▐ ¤ ██ ████████↴A ((¤)) Side Story
¤ (( Karmen and Aiden )) ¤ (( Garage )) ¤
¤ (( Fire & Ice )) ¤ (( Character Development )) ¤ ((JudasForsaken, Persistent Ambivalence)) ¤ FOR (( ¤ )) GENERATION BEYOND ↴ ↴
BURYALLTHEMEMORIES ↴
COVERTHEMWITHDIRT ↴
OURDESTINY'SUNSURE ↴
LETTHEFIREBURNTHEICE ↴ ▐█████████ ██ █▐ ¤ ██ ████████↴
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Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 9:57 pm
Quietly, Karmen worked beneath the hood of her precious project, her mind wandering with all the stories her father relived regarding her late mother. It'd been one of the most consistent conversation pieces they'd had when they spent hours in the garage – from before she'd even been big enough to go to school with Ron. As her hand slipped through a few holes to remove a rusted screw, her features were marred with a bit of sadness. One thing she couldn't ever say was that she didn't miss home, especially at times like these.
Without her dad or brother around, the garage felt empty. Earlier, she'd tried phoning her father, figuring that the conversation would be enough to banish the shadows of homesickness from her heart... but he'd been working with a client, and given the time on the clock – Ron wouldn't have been home for a few more hours yet. Lately, his office for the state had kept him after his scheduled time... And when he wasn't working overtime, he'd been using the resources there to help try and track Cody. His hunt was vigilant – with the silent hope that he'd find the b*****d first, so that he could pay him a piece of his mind for hurting his little sister.
Tears welled in her eyes without permission, but Karmen held them back, replacing her thoughts with the stories she'd begged her father for – her most favorite being when he described the exact moment he knew he fell in love with her mother, followed closely by how he proposed to her. Through all the memories her dad had shared with his kids, both Ron and Karmen maintained a relationship with their mother, despite how young they'd been when they lost her to a car accident.
The screw creaked its rebellion, firm that it wouldn't be going anywhere, any time soon. Biting her lip, Karmen tried with a little more force, grunting her own stubbornness as she did so. “Damn thing.” She muttered with a few more choice words as she glanced down at the reddened tips of her fingers, ready to kick the bumper. She wiped her hands on a towel draped over the headlight, and searched the work bench for some DW-40, figuring that would do the trick, but had no such luck.
Frustrated, she tossed the wrench back into the tool box and took a deep breath, muttering a few more curses that would set a sailor's teeth on edge. She'd leave that screw for Aiden to get, if he ever showed up. Her blue eyes sidled over to the door, still closed to the hallway leading into the watchtower. To be fair, she'd never paged him to let him know she was working on the Z16. When she'd started, she'd wanted just a bit of peace, time to herself. Now it seemed someone upstairs was intentionally making her life difficult for not informing the cryokinetic (that practically drooled on her fenders every time she let him touch it) that she'd ventured out to the garage, intent on doing a bit of work.
Exhaling her frustration, Karmen sank into one of the chairs at the side of the garage and pulled out a sandwich while she thought of what else she could do before calling in her opposite to loosen the rusted screw. “He likely superglued the damn thing, just to make sure I needed his help.” She muttered, her pale blue eyes glaring at the exposed motor. If it hadn't been a Z16, she wouldn't have put it past the man. Polishing off the last bits before she hit the crust, the pyrokinetic gave in and picked up the walkie-talkie-like device and turned the knob to broadcast to the cryokinetic alone. “I'm in the garage if you are inclined to join me.” The blond informed him, nothing more... nothing less. But she thought about the reason she needed him around now, suspecting it to be his fault, and subtly figured she'd alert him of the problem he likely made for her. "I need a screw unloosened."
And while she waited, she could pick the crust of grime out from underneath her fingernails – unaware of the smudge of grease on her forehead – a tell-tale sign she'd started without him. Sorry this sucks for a beginner!
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Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:31 pm
Aiden towed himself up over the pull up bar, mentally keeping track for each rep. He regularly spent time in the gym, keeping in shape—Despite his occasional love of crap foods. He’d never wanted to be the officer that let himself go, and lost the bad guy because he couldn’t skip over the wall. Muscles in his upper arms and torso tensed and relaxed as he repeated the monotonous process, not truly paying attention to the time.
Something about working out reminded him of home. Of the weight of his badge around his neck. Of the friends he’d left behind. He could hear them in the back of his mind, razzing him, that he was all work and no play. Those at the station had been like a second family to him…Though nothing could ever replace the one he’d grown up with.
Hearing a female voice chime in, he paused in mid motion and released the bar, sneakers making a noise when they hit the soft blue mat. Turning up the volume, he chuckled at the sounds of his spitfire partner. Why did she sound aggravated with him already? They’d not even crossed paths since the night before. Though just because he couldn’t put his finger on what he’d done, didn’t mean that she hadn’t taken offense to something inane. “Good morning to you too, K.”
A small smirk played across handsome features when she mentioned why, and he chuckled over the communication-link. “I don’t know what I’d do with you, if you had another loose screw.”
He didn’t bother affirming that he’d be there…There wasn’t any point. She called, and he answered. Knowing that he probably smelled like the skin side of a dirty gym sock, he hit the showers quickly before heading in her direction. Not long later found him walking into the garage, rolling up the sleeves of a button up. He wore a white T underneath it, over a pair of jeans. The knees were a little ripped from wear and tear, but he didn’t pay it any mind. They were his lucky pants.
He’d wear them to the grave.
Karmen…As always, was a sight for sore eyes. But his cool blue gaze zoned in on the grease staining her form, more than her curves. Slowly he shook his head, but he didn’t comment as he walked towards one of the cabinets and retrieved a couple clean towels. One of them he dampened and added a small touch of GoJo. He didn’t know how long she’d been sitting there with that black streak across her forehead… But it was best not to let it sit.
Somehow, he had a feeling it would become his fault otherwise.
“Sorry for the wait, nova girl. You caught me in the gym.”, he approached her, tucking the other towel half into his back pocket for easy access. “And it looks like I caught you after a fight with a grease fairy.”
“Because you’d never start working without me, now would you ma’am?”
He gave her his usual charming grin, and offered her the towel, taping his own forehead. Were it any other girl, or even his sister, he would have offered to help…But Karmen wasn’t any other girl. She was a Rubik’s cube of women. For the time being, he was content to keep turning the colors till they matched on their own…
But eventually, he would be forced to peel the stickers off and cheat. She ran hot and cold more than a faucet.
His eyes lingered on her seated form…Wondering, for a moment, if something was wrong. There was a silent question, but with a short exhale…He let it go. Aiden cracked his knuckles as he turned back towards the car, before shoving his hands in his pockets.
“So. What seems to be the trouble?”
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:49 pm
His sarcasm was left unappreciated once he returned a greeting; it wasn't at all amusing while she couldn't progress any further. Especially not when she could definitely see him supergluing a screw in place, just to make sure she wouldn't leave him out. Not eno ugh to ruin anything in the car, but a dab large enough that she'd need his help removing it. Freezing that dab would cause it to crack... where her ability to heat it would only spread the effect.
Her eyebrows pulled downward into a frown, one eye twitching at his remark about her having another loose screw. Though a part of her did find some reprieve – that was mild compared to what he could have said. She visibly winced at a few of the comments she could imagine him firing back, all chock-full of innuendos that tended to leave her irritated. “And what,” The pyromancer asked quietly over their walkies, “Is that supposed to mean?” By no definition of the word could she consider herself crazy, or even unstable.
Though he hadn't said he'd be there in a few, Karmen had no doubt that he would show, and soon. No other time had he passed on her company when it meant he could work on the holy grail of cars. Some twenty minutes later, her foot had began to tap impatiently; she'd not expected him to take so long in getting to the garage. Muttering a few choice words about pokey men against the silence, the blond wiped the area she ate off of so that no crumbs of her sandwich remained.
Blue eyes flickered over his appearance when Aiden finally graced her with his presence, ignoring how good he might have looked, were it not for the face that she remained stubborn regarding her original opinion of him. She hadn't a clue he considered those jeans to be lucky, but had she heard anything about them, she might have laughed – haughtily informing him that he wouldn't be getting lucky with her, if that was what he was after.
He didn't say much as he waltzed in, instead going for the cabinets to get some clean towels. It was only after he was done fiddling that he apologized for the wait he'd forced her to endure, and she shrugged, acting as though it'd not bothered her. Had she not minded h,er temper, he would have taken it as an opportunity to shoot off one of his grins, and another pass at her – all but saying that had he known she'd been so anxious for his company, he'd have moved a bit faster.
Best to skip all of that.
“Nova girl?” She asked quizzically, taking the towel gingerly from his hands. He mentioned a grease fairy, and Karmen gave a sheepish smile. “It got hot in here, guess I must have wiped the back of my hand on my forehead to get the hair out of my eyes. Outside of the gym, she was a spitfire force to be reckoned with. Here, Aiden mostly got to enjoy the luxury of her calmer, more serene side. Something about the fond memories in her mind seemed to pacify her short fuse.
She dabbed at her forehead with the wet part of the towel, attempting to remove the smudge, but really only lightened it in color. It'd take a full on shower to get the remnants off. Blue-grey orbs became clouded as she glared at the former cop for calling her ma'am once again. “Ma'am is what you call a woman who's older. “Miss” will do just fine with me. Or my name for a change. That would work too, instead of whatever pops in your head for the day.
“I started today, because I figured you were busy.” And the car had called to her. With all the thoughts clouting her mind, it'd slipped past her that she should have called in for re-enforcements... until she hit a brick wall.
He seemed to want to ask her something, but any ponderings inside his head went unsaid, and she didn't press the issue. “There's a screw that's stuck.” She pointed in the general direction. “One on the mount.” Which of course meant, she couldn't lift the engine to work on it. “Almost as though it were superglued just enough so that I'd need help. ...”
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Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 12:53 am
“Your mood changes from hot to cold faster than a faucet K. What do you think it means?”, Aiden responded teasingly, a deep chuckle resonating over the communication device. Of course, the little ball of fire would look too far into it…But he was used to that by this point. He let the comment die, instead picking up his things at a leisurely pace… Not realizing that the blonde bombshell would have been so impatient for his company.
Or rather, his skill at delivering ancient cars from a state of rusted scrap metal to a thing of beauty…Skill and company, when it came to Karmen, were two words that he knew to be interchangeable.
She questioned his choice of nickname for her, the flavor of the hour, and he merely grinned back at her—Devil-may-care dimples highlighted by the truly mischievous expression. “Nova girl.”
It made perfect sense to Aiden…Super nova’s exploded, and Karmen exploded. Though one seemed to happen far more frequently than the other…And with far more power than a few measly megatons.
At her sheepish smile, his own remained as she explained how the grease had wound up on her forehead. She once again chided him on the use of ma’am, and he sighed noisily, running a hand through his hair. Sometimes he did it on purpose, just to see her hackles rise…Other times he did it out of sheer habit. Her lips pulled into a small frown as he gave her a distinct look of wounded astonishment. “I don’t just call you whatever pops into my head for the day…”
“You’d have slapped me at least twenty times by now, were that the case. I’ll have you know that I put a great deal of thought into your nicknames K…”
He walked over to his baby and pulled a cover over her, apologizing for the transgressions he was about to make. About to have his hands in some other girl…Karmen could laugh all she liked…But if the Camaro started leaking oil for no reason, or stalling out at inopportune times when she was in perfect condition—They would both know why.
She owned up to the reasons why she started without him…And as par usual, he only half believed her. Maybe he was just paranoid. Though he’d always had fairly good powers of observation and deductive reasoning skills…It was one of the reasons he’d made such an effective officer at such a young age. Though…That also could have been attributed to his ability. Aiden had made it his business to pick up on the little things…The small, innocuous tells that told him when the bad guy was about to pull the trigger…
Or, when a pretty girl wasn’t being completely honest.
There was only one woman he’d never been able to get a decent bead on, and she’d been out of his life for awhile now. It was better that way. Safer, happier for them both.
By respect of Karmen’s many secrets, and the fact that his mother had told him never to outright accuse a lady of lying—He didn’t comment, merely nodding his head. Though really…When had he not come when she called—Busy or not? She had to see the flaw in that…
The Californian born and raised cryokinetic made his way back over to the cabinets as she spoke, looking for a few things. He knew a couple tricks to get stubborn screws out of a rusty old mount. He laughed quietly at her notion that it was super glued, not at all catching the accusation as clear blue eyes slipped over her. “Super glued? Who would do a fool thing like that?”
It was far more likely that some slap stick mechanic had used the permanent locktite instead of the far more user friendly blue kind. On a car that old, it tended to deteriorate into some kind of super adhesive. Grabbing a damaged screw kit from the top shelf, and a small hand drill, just in case it was stripped from her efforts—He turned and headed back over to the work bench for an impact tool.
If all else failed, he was far more effective than any kind of freeze off or penetrant. Though Aiden preferred to work on the Z16, and his own princess the good old fashioned way.
A whole helluva lot of elbow grease.
“It just goes to show you should call me earlier. If I’m tied up I’ll let you know.”, he spoke as he went to look under the hood, quickly getting to work. If nothing else could be said about the cryokinetic, he was good with his hands.
He was silent for several long moments, little but the sound of metal touching metal he focused on the task at hand. His features remained calm throughout loosening the troublesome screw, using the impact tool to remove it with the calculated precision of a surgeon. Just like Karmen, working on cars brought him fond memories. Absentmindedly he began to speak, his tone even. “The streak on your forehead isn’t that bad…My sister would be covered in grease by this point…Head to toe.”
“My father never used to let her in the garage when we were kids. Mama always threw a fit when she came in the house looking like she’d played in old motor oil …She wanted a proper girl. You know, the kind that wear dresses and throw imaginary tea parties... Priya wouldn’t have that. She can reassemble an engine faster than I can.”
It was clear by the fondness in his voice that he missed his twin something fierce. Three was also a subdued sense of pride…He was always proud of his headstrong sibling. She was her own person, and he admired that. They spoke at the very least, once a week. Most of the time more than that. God help him if he forgot to call.
There was a solid clink and he sighed with relief, “Got it.”
Holding up the screw he cast Karmen a boyish grin. “Perfect delivery, not a thing wrong with her.”
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 8:42 pm
That he compared her to a faucet caused her to exhale in exasperation. “We were talking about my loose screw...” She reminded him, not at all appreciating the laugh that resonated through their walkie talkies. “Not whether or not I run like water from a faucet. And besides, I'm a pyro... the temperature is always on the hot side of things.” A small part of her remained surprised that he'd not made some dirty innuendo about the 'screw' part of their conversation, but she'd not complain about his missed opportunity there.
He'd taken his sweet time getting there, and she'd grown impatient within the first five minutes that he'd spent moseying along. As long as he'd taken, she'd begun to wonder if he was coming at all – images of him flirting with the secretary crept into her mind... No doubt a woman would have been the one thing that was able to distract him from working on the Z16, and the tower had an ample supply for him to choose from. When he finally did arrive, it seemed as though he'd thought of something else to call her on the fly, and she questioned his choice.
He only responded with a grin and reiterated it, so the blond merely shrugged. “I don't follow... but whatever you say.” After all, he could have come up with far worse. Inwardly, she cringed at the thought of being called “dumpling, sweetie-pie...” They'd been names he'd said just to get a rise out of her.
The cryokinetic sighed when she told him for the hundredth time not to use 'ma'am,' and she clicked her tongue against her teeth in response. “You know, if you'd quit using an old lady title on me, we wouldn't have this problem.” He seemed more offended by the fact that she accused him of putting no actual thought into his pet names for her, and she raised a brow – clearly wanting to challenge his statement on that. “I'm pretty sure you do.” She said, folding one arm over the other at her chest.
It was her turn to sigh in exasperation when he said she would have slapped him twenty times today if he merely called her whatever popped in his head. Every warning bell in her head went off like a fire alarm, telling her not to open her mouth, not to ask... but it seemed her tongue was just a bit quicker. One eye squinting suspiciously she carefully worded her question. “Do I even want to know?”
Aiden moved over to his beloved classic, babying her as he always did before he worked on the Chevelle. It'd become so customary that her sniggers were small, but he'd know she still found amusement in the fact that he treated his car better than he probably treated his women. “So tell me, if you were the cheating type, would you go and apologize before you did it?” She asked, clearly teasing because he made it entirely too easy.
Wiping off what she could of the grease, Karmen innocently explained why she'd waited so long to call on him. As much of an pain in the a** as he was outside of the garage, here, when they were working on the Chevelle, he was mostly tolerable. He knew quite a deal and worked well with his hands – a note she was careful to leave just to the idea of a wrench. Anything more might have been dangerous for her health. “Sorry if it offended you that I didn't invite you from the get-go.” The pyro said with a coy smile. “But with as much time as we've spent in here, I figured you'd be busy getting other things accomplished that you've been otherwise too occupied to tend to.”
Plus, with as much as she teased him about treating his Camaro like it was a princess, claiming that the Z16 had beckoned her like a siren singing to sailors would have only made her seem like a hypocrite.
The honesty in his sea blue eyes told her that he hadn't laid any adhesive to the mount, and she shrugged, tossing her blond pony tail back over her shoulder. “I'm not sure... but it's on there tight enough that I can't get it off.” For now at least, she'd believe he was innocent of the crime. And if she happened to find out later that he had been the one to do it, she'd just light his head on fire.
“I'll remember that next time.” She commented absentmindedly, her eyes never leaving his hands as they dug into the heart of her baby. Even still, she worked to try and get the stain off of her face, which he seemed to catch because he told her it wasn't so bad – comparing her to his sister. A part of her smiled as he talked about the girl; obviously he was fond of her. “She sounds like a firecracker.” The pyrokinetic said, laughing at the stories of his family. Out here, he was completely different than the skirt-chasing wretch he tended to be when they were in uniform. And because of it, it was easier for her to get lost in nostalgia and relax a bit.
“My mom probably would have thrown a fit too, if she'd been around to realize I spent more time in the garage than I did in my own bed.” The blond bombshell related, grinning because she was sure that her mother didn't mind so much, watching from where she was. Because of all the time she'd spent with her dad, listening to stories about her mother, Karmen felt like she knew her, even if, in reality it was an impossibility.
“Carmen did always chide dad for it though... saying I'd not be a proper girl if he didn't teach me how to be... but I think he did the best he could, and considering my older brother would have rather had me act like a boy and attract less of the male population, he encouraged Dad to go against what Carmen said.”
With a clink of metal, Aiden held up the bugger that had stopped her progress. “Alright then... let's get started.” She said, grinning back at him.
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Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 12:50 am
Karmen’s exasperated sigh wasn’t lost on him, a small smirk pressing across his features. If she were any more predictable, she’d be a calendar. “So you’re admitting you have a loose screw then?”
It took every ounce of will power not to comment further. Something about loose screws and big drills caused him to laugh inwardly, the mere thought of her presumed anger reward enough for minding his manners. One day he was sure the conversation would circle back to her mental status and the material wouldn’t go to waste.
It felt unnecessary to remind her that she’d once informed him that she could be as cold as the arctic if she so wished, and his light chuckle echoed across the line. “The temperature fluctuates more than the stock market, Karmen. But you’re definitely on the hot side of things.”
Aiden had infact stopped briefly to greet the secretary as he passed through. Though it could hardly be called flirting, at least from his perspective. Karmen seemed to be the only woman alive who thought him entirely obnoxious. The conversation wasn’t long—Considering the woman responded with a series of grunts and disapproving tongue clicks over a pair of horn rimmed glasses. Still, he minded his behavior like his mother had taught and asked about her day, telling short anecdotes. It amused him when he caught her trying not to laugh before he moseyed on his way.
“I’m glad you agree...”, Aiden responded to Karmen, having decided that her lack of outright abhorrence meant this was a winner. “It was the name of this girl on a really old show…”
“It was either that or Agent K.”
Clearly, the former LA patrol officer was a closet nerd.
He let her fume about being called ma’am again—Almost able to see the steam coming out of her ears. Aiden shook his head, remaining silent when she insisted that he called her the first thing that came to mind…She was the one that didn’t think before she spoke. Not the other way around. He could feel her eyes on him as he collected what he needed from the cabinets, and he paused for a moment to answer her question. “I’m sure you do want to know…”
“But I’m not telling. We’re in a garage. Most of the materials here are flammable…And I’m not all that interested in being a puddle.”
Aiden took care with his Camaro…Not just because she was an exceptionally well preserved antique—Not a speck of rust on her…But because the car had been a gift from his father. He’d long since gotten used to Karmen snickering when he talked to the leather seated goddess, but he never relented. He stopped moving for a moment when she asked if he would apologize before being unfaithful, for once a retort not at the ready. It took him a moment to organize his thoughts as he smoothed out the car cover...The words that were innocent enough, a little too close to home… “That’s not a question I can answer as it’s never something I’ll need to apologize for. I’ll never cheat on my girl…”
“And definitely not on my car.”, Aiden pointed out with a small chuckle, forcing his lungs to keep working. For a moment, it had been hard to breathe. The woman he’d left behind in LA hadn’t been monogamous, so to speak…Not by a long shot. For a long time, he’d done his best to look the other way…Hoping he was reading too far into things. But he could only lie to himself so long…
The subject changed and he was glad for it, casting her a devil-may-care grin with half the heart in it. “I’m not that easy to offend.”
“I’m just saying it’s karma…You don’t call me—And you get stuck.”
Aiden worked diligently within the proverbial chest cavity of the Z16, seeming every bit as relaxed as he always was—Though entirely focused on the task at hand. Karmen mentioned that Priya sounded like a firecracker, and the dirty blonde haired man laughed aloud. “You have no idea.”
“Reasoning with her is like pouring gasoline onto a driftwood fire. When she gets set in her ways…Come hell or high water, she’ll get what she wants.”, it seemed like such a harsh review of someone’s personality…But it couldn’t be too callous, considering the pride that laced every word. The smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes.
Hearing that Karmen spent more time in the garage than her own bed, he gave her an odd glance. “I just realized I should keep the two of you away from each other.”
Somehow, deep down, he knew that their meeting would bump his a few steps down the food chain. He listened to her talk, filing away the words for later, the sound of her voice in the garage providing music for him to work to. It was a sweet pitch. Not overly high like some girls… But perfect. Not too high, not too low. “I don’t think it would have mattered if you dressed like a boy or not…You’d still turn heads.”
His words were honest and absent minded as he worked the screw free… Once he’d liberated it from the mount, Aiden grinned and set the offending object on a metal tray and wiped at his hands. She seemed happy that they’d been able to get the screw out without much of a problem, and he was happy to oblige. “Yes ma’am—Miss.”, he corrected himself, “Where would you like to start?”
He tried not to be too bossy with the vehicle…It was her baby afterall. Hanging back, waiting for her say so, he thought back to what she’d said a moment ago. He understood that she was talking about someone else from the inflection of her voice…But he was curious. “Who is Carmen?”
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 12:00 am
This man ever remained maddening. "No... I need a screw loosened from the mount of my car." Karmen corrected, clearly growing more exasperated as their conversation went on. "If either of us have loose screws elsewhere, it'd be you." Somehow, she grew more and more certain he'd be using this conversation for ammunition later - Aiden was the type that liked to stock up. That much she knew about him already. With each passing day, she knew that playing poker with this man would leave her wallet thinned considerably, even if she'd never tell him that.
The iceman said she fluctuated more than the stock market, and she searched toward the ceiling for patience she never had around him. "I'm not even going to touch that one..." She responded back, clearly exasperated with his smooth way to hit on her. Turning off her walkie transmissions, she grumbled something along the lines of showing him what hot was.
She hadn't liked the name, but didn't downright detest it the way she had some of the others he'd popped of. Unable to help herself, the pyrokinetic grinned when he mentioned Agent K. MIB remained a classic. "I think I like that one better." She waited to add anything else in, so that he wouldn't believe she'd caught his reference. "It sounds far more sophisticated and mysterious." Like she was a part of a secret organization, and not just named after Tommy Lee Jones.
With as many times as she'd reminded him, she thought he might have learned by now - she hated being called 'ma'am.' She insisted that he call her the first thing that came to mind instead, and realized half a second later how bad that had sounded. Bracing herself for the onslaught of dirty jokes, Karmen was surprised when he merely shook his head as he moved about the garage, collecting what he needed from the cabinets.
She chastised him for putting no thought into whatever he deemed fit to call her, and the iceman assured her that he didn't just say whatever flounced into his head - that she'd smack him with a fireball twenty times a day if he did that. An exasperated sigh later, Karmen hesitantly asked if she really wanted to know, and he responded with an enigmatic answer that was purposefully worded to drive her insane. A sardonic smirked raced across her lips, and she folded her arms at her chest, waiting patiently... but for what she wasn't sure.
Despite her mocking, he never stopped babying his car. Even though she'd never admit it out loud, she thought it endearing that he took such care with something he loved. To her, it said that there was some depth there... just deep down and hard to find. She sniggered though, teasing as she asked whether or not the was the type to apologize for cheating afterward. He stopped hustling about and actually had to think about what to say back. She marveled in the moment - infrequent as they tended to be. Blue eyes rolled to the back of her head when he finally did decide what to say. Of course he'd segue the question into an actual relationship. "Oh please." Karmen muttered, ignoring the first remark and focusing on the second. "She," She indicated with the slightest nod of her blond head, "Can see your drool. And your hands all over my Z16."
If she noticed how tense he became about the question of monogamy, her expression kept it hidden. It seemed like a conversation that he wouldn't want to get into. Within an instant his face once again lit up with a grin, as soon as the subject changed. "So I've gathered." The pyrokinetic murmured when Aiden assured her that he wasn't so easy to offend. How many insults had she hurled in his direction?
"Karma doesn't work that way." Karmen fired back in exasperation, hands folding over her chest. "It's my car." Not theirs. She should be able to work on it without the diligent hand of her co-worker.
They spoke about his sister, and Aiden was frank - giving what might have been a less-than-kind description of her personality, except the fondness of the woman remained etched in every syllable. They were close. She laughed when it donned on him that she and Priyah shouldn't ever cross paths, figuring that if his relationship was anything like hers with her brother - Pri could cut him down to size in a few short sentences.
A faint tint of rouge colored her cheeks when he said she would have turned heads regardless of what she wore. "My brother wouldn't want to hear that sort of thing." She stated, masking her reaction from his off-handed compliment with a cough. Coughing did redden one's face, right? "He argued against my shaving my legs, wearing anything form-fitting..." While the words might have sounded irritated in a different tone, hers had been underlying with laughter, as though it were a long standing joke in her family. "Actually, I believe
his idea was to have long, curling leg hairs poking out of my socks."
Color her impressed; Aiden corrected himself when he called her ma'am. He asked her where she'd like to start, and her blue-grey eyes scrutinized the engine. "Transmission." She said with confidence, grabbing a wrench.
A moment later, he asked who Carmen was and she made a small smile once again, her stare distant as she thought of ways to describe the woman. "She's kind of like my aunt - was my mother's best friend. And the only reason that I wore a dress to prom instead of carharts..." There was a warmth to her tone that spoke measures of how she felt about the woman. "She stepped in as my motherly influence when my dad didn't know how to deal with the girly stuff."
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Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 3:57 am
“Right. This isn’t a euphemism for anything at all.”, the cryokinetic returned dubiously, pretending that he hadn’t noticed her irritation. If only she wasn’t twice as pretty when her feathers were ruffled, he might be able to stow the jokes every now and again. Really, this entire conversation was her fault. She wouldn’t be having these issues if she’d just called for help in the first place. “My screws are just fine…But you’re welcome to check if you’re worried.”
The grin that plastered itself neatly on his features would have earned him a cuff upside the head if he weren’t soon to be wrist deep in her Z16. He chuckled when he heard her walking away, grumbling. Ah…The crabby sounds of womanly defeat. It was a victory point if there ever was one.
“As you wish, Agent K.”, Aiden returned distantly when she approved of his Men in Black reference. His focus had fallen finding the right materials to remove the stuck and nearly stripped screws in the mount. It always put him at ease when she either understood the comments he made in reference to mostly forgotten films and music, or let them pass entirely. With the way they both favored old cars, he was definitely thinking they’d been born to the wrong era. “Sophistication and mystery for a sophisticated and mysterious woman…I could be over reaching, but I think it’s fitting.”
He could feel fire-eyes burning into the base of his skull when he called her ma’am, but let go any implications in her commentary. She was making it way too easy to pick on her—Almost as if she liked it. She seemed to be waiting for some of the nicknames he’d thought up and subsequently dismissed and Aiden shook his head. “I’m not sure what’s more amusing…The fact that you think I’m going to tell you, or the fact that I’m not going to because I don’t have a death wish.”
Karmen could mock him all she wanted for the reverence he showed his Camaro. It was one of the few things he’d brought from his old life. The loss of his family and his brothers on the force had been one of the largest blows he’d absorbed since coming to the League. The blonde woman wouldn’t have had any way of knowing that her question about cheating hit home, dead center. His only way out of it was to resort to normal banter. As if they were talking about installing new spark plugs. “My princess understands that while there are many, many temptations in the world, hence the drool—She’s the only one for me.”
“Your Z16 is a patient in desperate need of a good physician. Lucky for her, the doctor is in.”, Aiden responded smoothly, casting Karmen the crooked grin that usually had girls tripping all over themselves. “Want to be my nurse?”
If that didn’t change the subject, he didn’t know what would.
He sniggered when she commented that karma didn’t work that way, claiming that somehow because it was her car that she wouldn’t get bit in the a**. Hadn’t she been paying attention? “Karma doesn’t give a dime about pink slips. You were sneaking around and magically you couldn’t go forward without calling me. That’s exactly what we call karma.”
Hearing her laugh when he described Priya he felt a softer smile land on his features. It wasn’t mocking or overly charming. His sister was a constant in his life, his best friend. He missed the way she used to come hammering at his door at six am for a run – Even though the missus had thrown a barnyard fit everytime. “She’s the best person I know.”
She’d been one of the few to support him leaving when he’d found out the truth about the woman he’d intended to share his life with. If he’d have told his parents the truth, they might have been a little more forgiving…But he wouldn’t intentionally sully her name. The fact that she’d slept her way through her office, and some of his, was a hard pill to swallow. He’d loved her once.
It was a memory that deserved its dignity.
Aiden’s smile fell into a smirk when she coughed after his compliment, her reaction audible despite her attempts to hide it. He would have bet his right hand that she was blushing. “Then it’s a good thing I’m not talking to your brother.”
“Though being an older brother… He forgot to lock you in a convent. That’s the only sure fire way to keep sisters safe.”, he teased in return, noting that she seemed to feel much the same way he did about his sibling. It made him feel a little better that she was willing to share a little, just enough to keep them on even footing.
Glacier eyes slipped down her legs, scrutinizing her ankle area for a moment. They were nice ankles. Thankfully, he didn’t recall her being excessively covered in fur during their second mission. He’d been preoccupied, but surely he would have noticed curling leg hair. “Though I can’t say it’s not a relief to see that the shaving embargo seemed not to stick.”
“To each their own… But the gorilla-femme look went out a few decades ago.”
He paused when he gave her the option of where to start next, cleaning off his hands with a scrub towel before touching any of the other tools. Sometimes it was hard to find the correct equivalents for old cars, versus the new ones that hovered. Thankfully the Tower seemed to respect antiques. Aiden nodded when she said the transmission, knowing that it would likely need a thorough cleaning and quite abit of repair.
The cryokinetic listened when she explained who Carmen was to her, lips twitching at the thought of a girl wearing carharts to prom. Even he hadn’t been that evil to Priya. Though he had refused to go in the store with her, lingering in the food court while she spent hour after hour picking the perfect dress. He never did have the heart to tell her that the one she’d picked out had so much lace that it looked like their grandmothers nightstand. “Well… I’d say she did fine.”
More than fine. But that was an opinion that would likely piss the fire-starter off. She was terrible at taking compliments.
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