[REG] Ride the Wind (Ridley + Tara)

[DivineSaturn]

The weather had taken its sweet time improving. For a while, Tara was convinced that Mother Earth was determined to send them into another ice age. Considering she insisted that every winter, even she was starting to doubt her claims, but no matter. It was finally warm enough to do things outside without five layers of clothing or fear of frostbite, and she was more than ready to make up for lost time.

That day, she had set out for a ride in the park. While she had always enjoyed riding her bike, Tara found that using it as her primary mode of transportation, weather permitting, was more fun than she gave it credit for. That day, however, she just wanted to enjoy the feeling of zooming down the bike paths, the light spring breeze blowing through her hair. Sighing with pleasure, she closed her eyes and let herself get lost in the sensation.

Something in front of her squawked loudly.

Tara opened her eyes and swerved abruptly to the left, mentally berating herself. "Sorry! Coming through! Look out!"
 

[chirigami]

There was no discrimination in weather to the young Ridley Pendergast, she would be out playing come rain or shine, or even being bundled up enough to restrict arm movement. But, today Ridley was getting away with a light sweater and the ability to have as much flare as possible without a long ugly coat to cover it up.

Today her mother had accompanied her to the park, taking refuge on a park bench near the main convergence of bike lanes but the easiest place not to lose her child come when she needed to lift her head from the work she had brought along to occupy her time. Ridley was let loose upon the other park occupants, having already made friends with a few college girls enjoying a nice day outside to study for their finals, a cute looking boy who was walking his dog, an elderly couple stretching their legs after a long winter of being cooped inside, and an even younger girl who wanted to play hop scotch. All in all, a busy busy day and it was still only beginning.

Now, the young girl was tailing what could be known as her greatest weakness. A cat. It was a small young looking cat, stray from the looks of it and one that had already been in its fair share of fights even in its young life. It was orange - like her hair! - and didn't seem to care that a nine year old was following it. At the moment, however, a bike was barreling down upon it. The cat hissed and leapt out of the way as fast as it could, the squawk that Tara would have heard came from young Ridley and surprise.

"You almost hit the cat!" She cried out in dispair, frantic eyes looking for where the feline had disappeared to. Oh my gosh, was it okay?!  

[DivineSaturn]

It was bad enough that Tara was barreling towards a surprised cat. When she tried to turn, she found herself barreling towards a surprised girl. Her mind swore up a storm as she swerved in the opposite direction. By this time, the cat had fled, but the constant steering problems meant that she was rapidly losing control of her bike.

On the bright side, by this point everyone had seen her and gotten out of the way. Bushes, however, did not have that ability.

Screeching along with her tires, Tara plowed her bike into the nearest shrub. It stayed there for a moment, unmoving, as she tried to make her body realize that it had come to a stop. Then, with little care and a lot of speed, she scrambled off, leaving the bike in a heap as she looked for her almost-victims.

She couldn't see the cat, but the girl was looking around frantically. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, really really sorry!" There was really no excuse for her negligent behavior, and having nearly hurt someone- and a kid, no less- had rattled her badly. "Are you okay? Did you bump anything? I'm really sorry."
 

[chirigami]

Nevermind that Tara had nearly killed herself, attempting to swerve around and avoid the frightened tabby cat and small girl. There had almost been a feline fatality, which to the world of Ridley Pendergast was beyond horrible and punishable by death - well, not really death, just the wrath of a nine year old.

Ridley was still inching around the bushes trying to locate the cat when Tara came over, frantic herself, to check upon the girl. The little girl's eyes were huge, not over her own well being but to the small feline that had scampered off like it was nothing at all; he was long gone but Ridley didn't know that. So, when the older girl finally got the girl's attention, mostly after the third set of apologies. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she spun around pretty fast, arm following the momentum to strike at the other girl.

"You almost hit the cat!" She repeated, her tone angry but teetered to that of a whine.  

[DivineSaturn]

Well, if the girl was well enough to look through bushes for something, Tara suspected she was fine. But she had to make sure, especially when, for all she know, there was a mama bear or a papa wolf watching from somewhere. The last thing that Tara needed was to invoke the wrath of a parent for failing to make sure their little angel was in tip top shape.

It seemed her concern should have been for her own well-being. Tara wasn't expecting this to come to blows, and she recoiled from the punch, cradling her arm. "Ow!" For such a little thing, that girl really knew how to pack a wallop! It didn't help that she had a tendency to milk such things for attention, either.

"Almost means I didn't hit it," she said irritably. "I didn't hit anything-" well, other than a bunch of innocent bushes- "so you didn't have to hit me!"
 

[chirigami]

Ridley still stood there, still rigid from her fury over the near accident that involved one of the feline population. Her mouth twisted and moved about in a flurry of her emotions. It was then her stern eyes softened a little, calming from her reactions and letting herself mull over the situation.

"...... sorry," she replied, her anger not making it sound as sincere as it should. "But almost is almost," she continued as she crossed her arms at her waist. "You should watch where you're going," Ridley's head bobbed up and down, trying to express her profound nine year old knowledge with a wise looking nod.  

[DivineSaturn]

"And you shouldn't hit strangers, even if they make mistakes," Tara scolded right back. She was still sore over the punch, more emotionally than physically. The slight ache had already started to fade. Being reprimanded by a kid was going to take longer to get over.

But it looked like the girl was starting to feel bad. And she did apologize. Tara sighed and tugged on her braid thoughtfully. "I'll make you a deal, then. If I promise to watch where I'm going, will you promise to not hit total strangers?" The Negaverse came to mind for some reason, causing Tara to wince. "Well, only if they really deserve it. But be careful, 'cause not all strangers are as nice as I am. Some wouldn't think twice about hitting back, even if you are a kid."

When had this turned into a public service announcement?
 

[chirigami]

Touche, Tara... touche. Though, Ridley wasn't going to admit that the other girl made a better argument. Of course, maybe she would if she realized. She had apologized and that was enough in her mind. Even though Tara seemed to want more from her.

"Fine," she agreed in a tone still much like her apology. It was a little downhearted but only because it seemed a little more forced. At least Tara had added in the loophole; there were always ways to prove why people needed to be hit or yelled at.

"Why were you riding so weird anyway? The bike path isn't that hard to follow." Ridley's tone was beginning to ease up and return to the norms of happiness that they usually displayed. Her orange eyes took a quick glance around, to observe the area, "not a lot of people either. Do you just suck at riding bikes or something?" Not like she could talk....  

[DivineSaturn]

It wasn't much of a victory, reluctant and grudging and against someone half her age. Tara took it anyway. "That's right," she said, her voice dripping with smugness. "I hope you remember this little life lesson; you're just lucky I'm the sort of person who considers education a duty." Most people would know to quit while they were ahead. Tara had never learned that particular life lesson for herself.

The next question threw her. What was she supposed to say? That she was pondering the meaning of life, the universe, and senshi, and pedaling her bicycle to escape the things that chased her, both in life and in dreams? Even if that made any sense- and she didn't think it did- she could hardly explain it to a kid. And even if she did, the kid probably wouldn't understand.

There was the "I was distracted" route, but she didn't think it would get very far. Besides which, it was just plain boring. That left only one option.

"I'll have you know that I am working on a brand new way of riding bikes." She sniffed haughtily and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I am going to revolutionize the way that people get from point A to point B. It might look like I just don't know what I'm doing to the untrained eye, but I'm in the process of setting the new standard for how everyone will ride someday." Her eyes glinted with excitement. "Do you want to see?"

It was a lie, of course, but a fun one. And difficult as it might be, Tara was almost hoping she would be called upon to prove it. Now that she'd explained herself so, she was starting to believe it, and itching to start her bicycle revolution.
 

[chirigami]

Now, Ridley wasn't exactly gullible but there were times when the little girl could be taken in by extravagant stories; especially how well Tara explained herself. So sure of herself, it was hard for Ridley not to fall for it.

Well, not totally. "Really?" She asked, her eyes riddled with skepticism even though there was hope and wonder in her voice. She had always been told that practice made perfect. "That could be kind of cool, though it still looks like you sucked. Does it look better done the right way or something?"

"Aiming for cats isn't part, is it?" Her eyes narrowed for a moment, just in case it was. Tara would need to be hit again if it was, there was no way the harm to cats would ever be tolerated even if it was required to 'revolutionize how people rode bikes.'  

[DivineSaturn]

Tara's chest puffed out proudly as she thought of how she would make a whole new style of bicycling... and then deflated at the skepticism she recieved. From a kid who was what, ten tops? When had she gotten so bad at engaging people that she couldn't even keep the attention of a girl who probably still slept with a stuffed animal? And more importantly, how could she still salvage the situation?

"Yes, really," she started, her words sharper than she meant them. Tara could be mean when her ego was hurting. And it seemed to work- the child changed her tune. Or so it seemed. Tara bristled noticeably at the next words, having to forcefully reign in her desire to return violence with violence. "And I did not 'suck at it,' as you so eloquently put it."

Arms spread wide, Tara gestured to the world at large. "Everyone seems to think that competence is the main goal in life. While there's some sound logic in that- you wouldn't want your doctor or your lawyer to be a total novice- there's no need for competence all the time. Some of the world's greatest inventions have come about completely by accident! Others, by people who had no idea what they were doing.

"So why just play by the book, when you can do something new and interesting? After all, if you don't have your mind on a particular outcome, then anything can happen!" Tara opened her eyes, slowly dropped her arms, and looked piercingly at the girl to see if anything she said had penetrated what was clearly a very thick skull. "And no, aiming for cats has nothing to do with it."
 

[chirigami]

Ridley was honestly still getting reeled in, Tara's heartfelt lie was still hooked into the orange haired girl and there was still no chance of it letting go. Her eyes were getting increasingly larger with word and honestly, more excited.

And with knowing that aiming for cats was really not part of the whole deal, yeah it sounded a whole lot cooler to Ridley. Of course, she only had a vague idea of what competence meant - she knew it in context really - but everything else sounded really really cool now. It was something new really, and Tara had a point.

"Can you show me?" She asked, more awe in her voice this time. Though, she really wanted to ask if she could try it herself. But, this was something new! Ridley really wanted to see how it was done before she was given a chance to give it a whirl.