2007-08-02: Mothereffing Mountains

Starring:

DFClaudine_icon.gif Orion_icon.gif

Summary: What happens when a young earthshaper tests the limits of her powers? Well, an argument, lots of cussing and facepalms. Cuteness and hilarity ensues between Orion and Claudine.

Dark Future Date: August 2nd, 2009

Mothereffing Mountains


Somewhere in Upstate New York

Upstate, New York…

An old mine seemed to be the spot. Back in the day, a young earthshaper made tunnels here for two reasons: for practice in use of her abilities, and for ways the Company can hide and have a place to fall back to. Those tunnels still exist and it seems that at least one current Company agent was sent to try to map the place out. No one is here doing that now, but anyone who has been here before would find something different.

If following the tunnels from underground, they would've noticed some sections are closed off. Either something collapsed or something was shifted. Or rather, lots of things were shifted. If walking up above, they'd find that one of the deeper quarries has changed completely. In a quarry that was one the size of a football stadium now has a mountain in the middle. Well, not really a mountain. More like an inactive volcano. It seems the young earthmover took a certain Russian's words to heart and decided to see if she could actually do it. And it seems she succeeded.
Do you have any idea how freaking long it takes to drive up to upstate New York from the city? Any idea at all? It takes a damn long time in the modern day. Can you imagine how long it must take when you're driving in THE OMINOUS AND HORRIBLE DARK FUTURE of next year?

Orion's knuckles are bleached bone white, gripping his steering wheel so hard the plastic may be cracking under the force of his irregularly metal-coating hands. Granger's face, in spite of his clearly furious body language, is utterly calm. It expresses pure neutrality. It's just his driving and the way his minivan's steering wheel is dying a slow, horrible, torturous death that marks his incomprehensible fury.

Hours upon hours after Claudine left, Orion returned from his work elsewhere in the city. He had humans to guide to safety, people to kill, time to see… No, wait. Something's wrong with that… Eh. Whatever, it's close enough for his tastes. Orion returned to the cavern to find a lack of Claudine. He waited around, exercising for close to four hours before falling asleep. Granger woke up hours later to a phone call from Claudine asking him to meet her in upstate New York because the car she 'borrowed' broke down.

When Orion arrived, the only story he got was that Claudine had come upon an idea for even better training than what Orion has been guiding her through the past two years. He was dubious, but supported her. And then, when Orion gets to where she told him to meet her… There is, as Samuel L. Jackson might say, a MOTHERING MOUNTAIN IN A MOTHERING QUARRY KNOWN TO THE MOTHERING COMPANY. WHAT THE MOTHERING ?

And that, true believers, is why Orion has been driving in circles around the quarry for the past half hour, slowly killing his steering wheel.

Oh dears. She had no idea how pissed off a certain hulky metal brute would be upon her new training exercise. And what an exercise it was. It took forever to actually do the whole dang thing, and she was tired so it took a while for her to realize that he was there.

Fortunately for her, she and Brooks are still close friends. As such, she was able to hide away someplace nice and safe thanks tohis help and for a while, she basically zonked out. It was only when Orion arrived in upstate New York does she wake up groggily from her body needing all that rest from the feat of earth-goddessness that she had performed.

It's not a huge deal..well, maybe it is a huge deal. So, she grabs her cellphone and heads out. She eventually has to face her beau, and so that means going to the quarry, cause she figures he might be there. Ahh, all those years ago when he had her make plateaus for training. Well, she's upped it a notch, hasnt she?

Soon, his cellphone would ring, as Dine has him as number one on her speeddial. She's already reached the quarry and is looking around while leaning against the base of the mountain, waiting for him to pick up…

"WHAT THE MOTHERING IS A MOTHERING MOUNTAIN DOING IN A MOTHERING QUARRY KNOWN TO THE MOTHERING QUARRY AND WHY THE ARE WE INVOLVED IN THIS MOTHERING *ING BULL**?"

Somewhere a censor's censoring system explodes in a Star Trek console explosion, whereby it glows ominously for about two seconds, stops glowing, and then suddenly erupts with a shower of sparks that fails to damage the console.

Orion just seethes with fury in his van and through his cell phone. It's very nearly palpable if not audible and Orion may, in fact, be cracking the steering wheel now with one hand completely subsumed by hardening metal.

"AND WHERE THE ING ARE YOU?!"

Uh oh. Maybe she did a bad thing. She swallows nervously as she chews on her bottom lip, wincing at how loud Orion is at the moment, even having to put the phone farther from her ear cause well, she doesnt want to become deaf afterall. So, like all good girlfriends, she tries to calm him down.

"I….love you?"

Maybe that isnt exactly appropriate for now, but hey, it's worked before, or at least she thinks it worked before. Waiting until he's unleashed all his righteous fury at her, she sighs on the phone.

"I'm in the quarry. I guess you saw it all. Um, I'll see you in a bit I guess?"

Orion slams his forehead against the steering wheel hard enough to set off the car horn, not that Claudine is aware of much except that the car horn is suddenly going off on the phone and on the far side of the mountain from her. This is probably for the best. It ought to give him time to cool off before he picks Claudine up.

Granger is still seething with fury but, well, when the girlfriend reaffirms that she loves you while you are screaming frothingly bloody murder at her you need to do something to distract yourself from the feeling of heightened blood pressure and that warped, twisty feeling in your stomach.

"Meet me at the gate. Five minutes."

Oww. Ears. Bleeding. The sound of the car horn is going off on the phone and she definitely pulls her cell back, letting out a gah. She winces and sighs, shaking her head a little as she rubs at her temple. Maybe her little practice session wasnt a good idea afterall.

Once the car horn isnt blasting through the phone, she brings it back to her ear and nods, starting to rush towards the gate. Damn him! Only five minutes! How is she going to get all dolledup and sexy to where she'd make him forget her just incredibly stupid stunt just now? Oh well, she'll make do.

"All right. See you then. Love you.."

And then there's the click of the phone…

Granger collapses his phone and slips it into his jacket pocket. He somehow handbrakes the minivan without flipping it as he whirls a 180, possibly due to superior Company training, perhaps due to superior luck. With that, Orion starts driving back toward the gate, his window wide open as he tries to figure out how to both calm himself down and make sure that Claudine doesn't see the enormous red *SPLAT* mark on his forehead with the steering wheel's central emblem stamped in its center.

Damn you, road rage, you've failed Orion again.

It doesnt take that long as she's running towards the gate. Surely he'll arrive first, but she has to get dolled up. So, what does she do? She rips her jeans a little to make cut off denim short shorts to accenuate her assets so to speak and buries them deep under ground. Like way deep. Alas, it's a waste of some nice Hollister pants, but hey..calming down her beau is way more important.

Then, she rips at her black tanktop, just leaving strategically placed holes here and there. There we go. Now she looks all sexy. Or at least, what she thinks might be sexy. She's waiting at the gate, looking for an angry, angry man, chewing nervously on her bottom lip.

Orion somehow manages to fish a bandage out of the central console of the minivan and slaps it across his forehead. He'll go with… With. Crap. Wait! Perfect! /CRAPPIES/! He got smacked by a fish while he was waiting for Claudine to call. Where's the fish though? WHERE IS THE MOTHERF- Oh crap. Claudine.

The minivan skids to a halt, kicking up a huge plume of dust and firing gravel every which way as Orion slams on the breaks after passing Claudine at speed.

He promptly plows his forehead into the steering wheel again.

That's definitely going to leave a bruise now… And the horn might well startle Claudine. Orion slowly backs up toward the Fillipina, now more concerned about having to explain why his forehead is all bruised up and he almost drove off without her than about being furious at her.

See how this works?

She was waiting, trying to not look like a cheap hooker on the side of the road. This thought came to her after she was leaning against the gate, but with her cut off short shorts and her tanktop with holes the thought came to mind. Embarassed, she stands on up and sighs, waiting for the angry metal man to come.

And come he does. And then he whizzes right by her.

Blink. Blink. The dust the rises as a result hurts her eyes and she covers her lips, trying to cough as she waves it away. This cant be good for any allergies that she has, though at least, she's giggling a little now. He's always so amusing when he's upset. It's only when he starts backing up that she stiffles her laughter and stands up straight.

Once the van is finally in front of her, she leans over the window and beams brightly. "Hey handsome..I.." and then it hits her. He's looking like Nelly, but the bandage is onhis forehead. What the heck? She just stares at him for a while and looks all confused.

"Are you okay?!??!"

"… I, uh… Stopped… Short and hit my head pretty hard?"

Nearly two years of living with Orion will tell Claudine he's both telling the truth and lying at the same time, but, as is often the case, it is going to prove inordinately difficult to separate the two. Orion smiles at Claudine sheepishly, leaning over to open the van door for her.

"You okay?"

An impish giggle escapes her lips as she just shakes her head and steps into the van, hopping on in. Once settled inside, she leans over and kisses him on his forehead, "Awww, Orion has a boo boo.." she says with a little pout while wrinkling her nose a little before kissing him gently on the lips.

"I'm all right, though really, I'm never, ever, ever messing with the earth on that scale again. Stupid Babenkov told me to try to take out the White House, so I was sort of practicing."

She looks back sheepishly towards her beau, and she doesnt say anything about the lying part. If he's going easy on her, she'll do the same to him. "So um..you still mad at me?" fluttering her eyelashes in the end.

"Yes, I am horribly, horribly pissed at you for that… And for you trying to practice to take out he White House. It's a bloody national landmark. You don't take out the White House. That's /BEGGING/ to be hunted down and killed like rabid dogs. By the people we want to trust us."

Orion reaches over and rubs Claudine on the back of the head very slowly as he starts driving away from the quarry. He lets out a deep, plaintive sigh that speaks volumes of how much he wants to rant and rave, foam at the mouth, and generally tell Claudine off, but he neither has the energy nor the, ahem, space for the inevitable reconciliation.

"But so long as you've learned your lesson, I suppose we don't need to revisit it."

There's silence for a bit as she nods slowly, chewing her bottom lip as she twiddles her thumbs, looking like a scolded puppy for a few moments. Claudine then peers up at him with a coy grin.

"I'm sorry hun. I promise never to do anything like that. I just wanted to see what I can do, but I mean..it's way totally cool! It was nothing like I ever experienced before. The rush of power. The feeling of being one with the very earth itself. It was amazing! Almost as good as sex..

Her cheeks flush a bit as she lets out another soft chuckle, stiffling laughter.

"Um..can we pretend that we had a really nasty fight though for the makeup sex back at home?"

"Would you facepalm for me? My forehead still hurts."

Orion casts a sidelong glance at Claudine, one eyebrow arched slightly as he takes note of her flushed cheeks. Granger smiles thinly, though he doesn't say a word for the moment, his gaze flicking back toward the 'road' as he drives back to the actual highway.

"If we're going to do that, you might need to drive for a while. I need to recoup my strength after something like eight hours of driving now."

Always one to please, she does facepalm and sticks her tongue out towards Orion while seeking his approval. "Is this the facepalm you were wanting?" she asks with mirthful laughter. She's at ease once more and sighs, taking in a deep breath while reaching out for his free hand, letting her fingers entwine with his own.

"If it means we get to make up at home, I'll drive the whole way!" she chirps brightly, giving his hand a gentle squeeze while beaming towards him. "I promise not to do something this stupid though. At least not for a good month or so.." Claudine says matter of factly in the end.

"We'll switch over at the Poughkeepsie rest stop, love. I'll be fine until there and it's still a good three or four hours until we get home from there."

Orion squeezes Claudine's hand back, smiling lopsidedly at her. There are plans in his head, to be sure, but it's hard to tell what exactly is making him smile that way. He adjusts his seat slightly and continues on the way back to New York City.

Oooh! Plans. Those are always good. For now, she decides to fail to mention a few things, like agreeing to help the gubmint find a killer. That always ruins the mood afterall, and that's something she doesnt want ruined. She will rage if that were to happen.

So the rest stop comes and goes, and now she's in the driver's seat, looking over to Orion fondly every now and then as she maintains a steady pace, sighing softly under her breath. Eventually they reach the cave entrance to their little apartment underground. It's like the bat cave, but cooler.

Orion fell asleep, sprawled across the floor in the back (love those flip down seats), almost as soon as Claudine pulled out of the rest stop. Somehow he managed to secure himself back there by wedging himself in between a pair of coolers and some bricks. Just in case Claudine needs ammo for something. Hahaha. In case she needs ammo. Yeah, like that day will ever come.

A good bit of the planet is her ammo, and as long as they're not stuck in the middle of the sea over the Marinna trench, then they'll be okay. Claudine parks the car and giggles impishly as she starts to crawl towards the back, moving the bricks and coolers to the side as she crawls on top of him. A soft kiss is placed on his lips and she whispers softly, "Wake up, sleeping beauty."

"Shouldn't this be the other way around? Possibly with you trapped in a dragon-guarded tower?"

Metal starts seeping from his pores, spreading slowly across his body as he lies still under the Fillipina, smiling up at her. A bit of the gellid steel covers his finger tips as they come up to brush over her face.

"Or is this the politically correct Sleeping Beauty story?"

"True, you are my handsome prince in shining armor.."

A coy grin curls onto her lips as she lets out a content little sigh before leaning in for another soft kiss on his lips, letting out a soft and amused chuckle. "But we dont need to go with the hegemony. I can be your beautiful princess in rocky armor." she winks.

"My beautiful queen in earthen armor of the finest order," corrects Orion. He returns the kiss gently, one metal-sealed hand caressing Claudine's cheek with an unnaturally smooth motion. The tall man slowly wraps his other arm around the Fillipina's waist, pulling her down against him, his eyes open and his cheeks perked by a warm smile.

Mmmm. Claudine melts into the kiss, letting out a happy and content sigh as she lets it linger for a few moments. Her fingers start to brush over his muscular frame, moving up and down his sides gently. "Mmm, I'm so glad you were too tired to be angry at me.." she admits ruefully while looking him in the eyes. She nuzzles her nose against his own before stealing another kiss. "So..what shall we do now?

As Claudine's hands trail over his body, she can feel all of the metal spread acorss his musculature. It forms a dangerously thin shell between Orion's body and his clothing from head to toe and he's slowly trying to form the more exposed portions of it to resemble a knight's armor.

"I'd be down for a long nap."

"You know. I'm sleepy too.."

She sighs and cuddles up to him, her eyes widening at the knight's armor trick and a wry grin curls onto her lips. "Impressive, you should do that for birthday parties.." she says teasingly before waggling her brows a bit. "Come on hun, let's go to bed. We can always make up later.."

With that, she crawls off of him and slips out of the van..unless he stops her of course.

Orion stops Claudine indeed. He gently wraps a hand around one of her wrists, tugging her back into his steely embrace. The tall man smiles up at her, his knightly visor kept up and out of the way for the moment. How he does that is anybody's guess, but it must be easier for him to do with the metal hardened.

"C'mon. We can enjoy the bed while we're reconciling our differences like two responsible adults with mutual attraction."

"But we're not in bed?"

A brow quirks a little, as she wrinkles her nose as she offers no resistance to being held in his strong muscular arms once more. She does like that a lot. A soft chuckle escapes her lips while stealing another quick kiss. "I dont see how we can reconcile our differences if we're still in the van. Unless you want to get a headstart with the whole reconciliation process?"

"We can sleep out here. It's nice and comfortable… And cozy. Just you, me, and a blanket."

Orion kisses Claudine on the cheek and squeezes her gently in his still metallic arms.

"In there, it's you, me, the blankets, the bed, and all that open space."

"Mmm. I do like being all cuddled up with the man I absolutely adore.."

She beams brightly, nuzzling her nose through the metallic visor, giving him a little eskimo kiss while suckling gently on his bottom lip.

All around Claudine as she shares Eskimo kisses with Orion, his metal suddenly melts away. It streams down his body, disappearing under his clothing to start seeping back into his pores. Orion wraps his arms around Claudine again, pulling the Fillipina close as he slowly lays back down again.

"Snuggle and take a nap then? We can reconcile our differences later… Somewhere comfortable."

"Sounds like a wonderful plan!"

Claudine shifts her weight a little to rest her head on his chest, now not to hard from the metal on his skin as she lets out a content little sigh. She kisses his chest through his shirt a few times, smiling brightly towards him while resting her chin on his chest. "Of course somewhere comfortable. But can we at least pretend it was a really really bad fight so the reconciling can ya know.." and she waggles her brows.

"Maybe when I wake up, I'll want to yell at your gorgeous self some more. Really get the juices flowing," replies Orion. He winks at Claudine and squeezes her in his arms, nestling comfortably with her while the metal continues to retreat back into his body under his clothing.

Claudine stiffles a full laugh and lets out a soft oye at the comment. "Then I'll just have to yell at you back, ya know, just for good measure. Makes it more fun that way.." she winks and settles onto his chest before closing her eyes, content to rest. It's been a long day afterall.

Orion smiles happily and kisses Claudine on the top of the head. He keeps his arms wrapped around her, his head tucked against her own as he lets himself start to drift off. It has been a long, long day for him.

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