"Umm, battery is full, and... look, they're swirling! Oh my god. This is really good, Aradia, this is gonna be great."
She's grinning all flat-teeth and viciously starving, leaning out the window with her foot on her pedal and one hand lazily gripping the wheel. Tavros is keeping the truck from careening off of the dirt road with his left hand and holding the giant video camera rig with his other, peering at the settings. Aradia howls at the sky, her whiptail braid thrashing in the wind of a thunderstorm that looks as if it were going to open its jaws and swallow the patch of land it roiled over, and he hears himself cackling. They are cutting through the country at sixty and heading straight into an enraged sky that creeps closer and closer to the fields.
She slips back into the driver's seat and floors it, sending dirt from the road flying up in clouds behind them, and she leans forward with her teeth bared at the storm. Tavros's hands are trembling with excitement as he readies the still camera and takes a couple of test shots through the windshield, muttering exaltations under his breath. He peers at the tiny viewscreen and shakes his head in disbelief; their first real find of the year and it looks hellish. The laptop bolted to the center console shows a spot of deep redness at the center of bright yellow and lime green halos, crawling along the map, threatening to burst.
When hailstones finally pummel the truck, Aradia screams in rapture and Tavros looks over at her. His face aches from grinning and he lets his own howl rip from his throat, pounding his hands on the dashboard. They are so close, so close to destruction and it ignites their very blood with the orgasmic thrill of such danger. The sound of hail against the roof is like a spray of bullets.
When the road ends, Aradia comes to a fast stop in the grass, the wheels skidding. Tavros hands her the still camera and they scramble out, pulling the hoods of their windbreakers over their heads, buttoning the holes around their massive horns. The clouds ooze ever lower, swirling, the color of grey like smoke from a great demon's cigar. For a moment, they just stare in awe.
"Tavros."
"Yes, Aradia?"
"Do my eyes deceive me, or is that a supercell?"
"I think that, fortunately, your eyes are in working order. Unless we are both hallucinating, of course."
"Unlikely."
"Very."
They watch, chests heaving. The funnel curls ever downward a bolt of lightning hits the ground, a crack of thunder following just seconds later. Aradia is bouncing on her toes, muttering a mantra of come on, come on under her breath. Tavros braces the camera's rig against his shoulder, only glancing down through the finder to set the crosshairs. He hits record and then looks back up. He curses joyously as the tunnel touches down.
Aradia leaps into the air, pumping her fist and screaming beautiful vulgarities. This is it. They shriek and howl and gasp as the storm rips a massive scar into the empty fields, far enough from civilization to be a pure act of glorious nature. Aradia turns and her dorky grin makes Tavros's every cell ignite with bliss. And then he remembers.
FILL: TEAM NEPETA<3TEREZI
"Umm, battery is full, and... look, they're swirling! Oh my god. This is really good, Aradia, this is gonna be great."
She's grinning all flat-teeth and viciously starving, leaning out the window with her foot on her pedal and one hand lazily gripping the wheel. Tavros is keeping the truck from careening off of the dirt road with his left hand and holding the giant video camera rig with his other, peering at the settings. Aradia howls at the sky, her whiptail braid thrashing in the wind of a thunderstorm that looks as if it were going to open its jaws and swallow the patch of land it roiled over, and he hears himself cackling. They are cutting through the country at sixty and heading straight into an enraged sky that creeps closer and closer to the fields.
She slips back into the driver's seat and floors it, sending dirt from the road flying up in clouds behind them, and she leans forward with her teeth bared at the storm. Tavros's hands are trembling with excitement as he readies the still camera and takes a couple of test shots through the windshield, muttering exaltations under his breath. He peers at the tiny viewscreen and shakes his head in disbelief; their first real find of the year and it looks hellish. The laptop bolted to the center console shows a spot of deep redness at the center of bright yellow and lime green halos, crawling along the map, threatening to burst.
When hailstones finally pummel the truck, Aradia screams in rapture and Tavros looks over at her. His face aches from grinning and he lets his own howl rip from his throat, pounding his hands on the dashboard. They are so close, so close to destruction and it ignites their very blood with the orgasmic thrill of such danger. The sound of hail against the roof is like a spray of bullets.
When the road ends, Aradia comes to a fast stop in the grass, the wheels skidding. Tavros hands her the still camera and they scramble out, pulling the hoods of their windbreakers over their heads, buttoning the holes around their massive horns. The clouds ooze ever lower, swirling, the color of grey like smoke from a great demon's cigar. For a moment, they just stare in awe.
"Tavros."
"Yes, Aradia?"
"Do my eyes deceive me, or is that a supercell?"
"I think that, fortunately, your eyes are in working order. Unless we are both hallucinating, of course."
"Unlikely."
"Very."
They watch, chests heaving. The funnel curls ever downward a bolt of lightning hits the ground, a crack of thunder following just seconds later. Aradia is bouncing on her toes, muttering a mantra of come on, come on under her breath. Tavros braces the camera's rig against his shoulder, only glancing down through the finder to set the crosshairs. He hits record and then looks back up. He curses joyously as the tunnel touches down.
Aradia leaps into the air, pumping her fist and screaming beautiful vulgarities. This is it. They shriek and howl and gasp as the storm rips a massive scar into the empty fields, far enough from civilization to be a pure act of glorious nature. Aradia turns and her dorky grin makes Tavros's every cell ignite with bliss. And then he remembers.
"Aradia, pictures!"
"Oh, shit, right!"
They turn and steal the moment.