Lick the Tins (private)

[i]Life had just been so much simpler on the reservation. It really had. Nothing here in Nachton had made much sense. There was Nikhila, who was -very- pregnant and was now sporting a ring as well. That didn't stop his crush, but it did definitely was another sign he needed to knock it the hell off. And he was getting better. Then there was Reign, and she was behaving oddly these days. He understood why she was getting grouchy with him. He'd been hovering and he should know better. So he was trying to pull back a little there. But she was also, well it was probably just his imagination but it seemed that she hadn't been coming by the Den as often either.

And if that wasn't enough she was being stalked, apparently by vampires, said she'd had a wolf in her yard no one knew about, oh and he'd driven of some folks trying to hurt her with the help of a vampire and not just a vampire... his boss! Well when he did go home no one was going to be able to say he hadn't learned anything. Inexperience wasn't going to be something the pack would be able to hold against him if he did take control of the pack. Of course that was -decades- off. His dad was healthy and from what he'd heard things were calm back there.

He was a bit confused by all this, but he kept plugging away. At least there was baseball. That never changed. Today had been a good game too. They'd had a bit of an impromptu celebration after the game and he was now looking for his truck. If they had stayed at the ball fields he'd have been fine, but no they'd gone down to the beach and he'd gotten turned around. He was sure the trails weren't any where near the sports fields. At least he didn't think they were. Maybe he was wrong.

Sighing Drew finally gave up and just stood there. He was going to have to ask for directions. At least it was the middle of the day. He sure as shit wouldn't want to be lost out here in the middle of the night. Seeing a jogger, a signing iPod sporting jogger, he decided to bite the bullet and tried to flag her down.

"Excuse me..."Â?

Tavi looked up from her wristwatch to see a guy trying to get her attention. At least she thought he was trying to get her attention. She turned and looked behind her, first one side and then the other. Yep, no buxom blondes running in dangerously small sports bras were behind her.

She knew she was in no danger of having a wardrobe malfunction so this must be something else entirely. Coming to a stop in front of him, Tavi jogged in place.

She pulled both earplugs out and tossed the wire across her shoulder. Smiling at him, she asked.

"What's up?"

Tiny little thing wasn't she? Drew couldn't help but notice that. Of course He was used to hanging around with some tall drinks of water. Even Reign, who hadn't been gifted, wasn't small. He felt awkwardly tall, like he was looming over her.

But shed stopped and now he was going to have to admit why he'd flagged her down. He was a bit embarrassed, and it showed. Self consciously he adjusted his bat bag.

"Yeah... I'm lost. I parked over by the sport's fields and got turned around."Â?

He turned on his best charming, harmless good boy smile.

Tavi was a little disappointed but then reality kicked in. She wasn't exactly going to stop groups of men in their tracks, cause male runners to trip over their shoes or cars driving by to hit a tree with the lack of rack that she sported.

Briefly she pondered how much trouble it would be to convince a werewolf doctor to give her implants. Sometimes having great regeneration sucked. Her parents would go completely mental which was almost an added bonus. Still, Tavi knew there was no way her frame could rock Pamela Anderson's boobs. Hell, she wasn't even sure how Pamela's supported those things. Did she have chronic back pain?

The guy was lost. Tavi supposed she could play helpful tour guide. It wasn't his fault that he wasn't asking the right questions. She looked up at him and realized now that she was right in front of him that she -really- had to look up at him. Damn! She could climb him like a tree.

Somewhat flustered by that not at all unappealing mental image, Tavi forgot to be her normal wise assed self.

"I hope you're up for another walk because they are pretty far away."

OK that didn't surprise him at all. On any given day Drew would wind up 180 degrees in the wrong direction, and most of the time two miles away. At least. He was used to it, and generally planed for it Why hadn't he followed the rest of the guys up? Oh well, too late now.

"You know that doesn't surprise me at all."Â?

He replied with an easy good humor. He also hoped she was going to do more than point him in the right direction.

"I've got some trail mix and I think a granola bar if you want to give me the tour?"Â?

There was -no- shame in bribing her Drew figured. After all she probably wanted to get back to her run not help some lost kid.

Tavi laughed and gave him a sympathetic smile. It was kind of cute really. There weren't too many guys she knew that got lost; there were even less that would have gone and asked for directions. Most would have wandered around the park getting more angry the longer it took them to find their car again.

It seemed this guy was used to this sort of situation though. At least he appears to learn from past experience.

Mmmm, bird food....Not a chance in hell. Tavi smiled and shook her head.

"No thanks, not while working out but I'd be happy to walk you back to your car. Civil service or something like that."

She took off in the direction of the very distant parking lot and then turned around to jog backwards.

"I'm Tavi, by the way."

Drew shrugged. He preferred his food on the hoof himself. But it was hard to explain a raw steak between innings, so he suffered through things like trail mix and granola bars, even fresh fruit on occasion. Either way he didn't take it personally.

Besides, he was being distracted by the cute little smile. He wasn't going to lie, that was something he saw on more than one occasion, especially when he was busy being lost. OK, being lost had gotten him a date now and then.

"Well you hardly look like a Mountie and I know we aren't in Canada... so I think it just counts as a favor."Â?

At least he -hoped- they weren't in Canada. He was so calling for some one to pick him up if they were. It would be a new personal best too. Maybe he shouldn't think about that.

"Drew. Nice to meet you. I do appreciate the help. I hope I'm not putting you off schedule or out of your target heart rate or anything like that."Â?

Tavi grinned at him and shrugged.

"I like being owed favors."

She glanced sideways at Drew and thought that the only possible way he was putting her off her heart rate would be by making it go faster. Since she wasn't running at the moment that made it sort of even out, right?

"I'll be fine. I can make it up later. Chase some cars or something equally excessive. Maybe just do some sprints."

Looking at the bag, she nodded with her chin.

"So did you win?"

"Damned. I just meet you and I'm already in debt? That explains the whole mess the economy is in doesn't it?"Â?

He waggled his eyebrows, obviously teasing.

Chasing cars was fun. Not recommended of course, but he couldn't say he'd -never- done it. Once it had gotten he and his cousins in trouble with the old guys. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, the bastard had some kind of pay back coming for hurting his sister like that.

"As long as you have an alternate plan I won't feel to guilty about taking advantage of you."Â?

Yeah... that could have been phrased better. Smooth Benally smooth. He did have the good grace to look a little abashed. Not much, but a bit.

He grinned when asked about the game and nodded cheerfully.

"We did actually. Puts us into the finals. We'll probably get our asses handed to us but makes for a good season. You play?"Â?

He asked a bit hopefully.

Tavi laughed and appeared to seriously consider the economy for a moment.

"Not entirely my doing but interest can be a bitch."

She personally always tried to get any favor she owed cashed in quickly before they could think of something really outrageous for her to do.

Raising her eyebrows at Drew's choice of phrasing, Tavi snorted.

"Is that so? I feel so used. I didn't even get bought a drink first."

Tavi shook her head to the negative at actually playing baseball.

"I played more cricket really. I love football. Erm soccer and rugby. I think I get the basics of baseball but I am not certain I know all the rules."

"But I didn't sign a contract and no court in the world will enforce a casual verbal agreement. You'll need something more binding to catch me!"Â?

He did his best evil laugh. It was pathetic. Even a fake evil laugh knew he was a nice guy and it -never- came out right.

Some day he wasn't going to be totally dense. That seemed like an opening. Oh screw it. She was cute and she was being nice. Might as well try his luck.

"We could fix that."Â?

Not as bold as he'd have liked, but it gave her room to maneuver. She might be seeing someone and need the ability to take an easy out.

"European then? Where are you from?"Â?

It had to be more interesting than where he was from.

"More binding..."

Tavi tapped a finger to her chin thoughtfully and then thrust it in the air with a pronouncement.

"I have rope in the car. Will that do?"

She giggled at his evil laugh; It started out good and then just ended too happy.

"That won't do. You've got to think evil mastermind all the way through or else you begin to think you sound utter ridiculous and then the laugh just becomes funny because you're amused."

"Like this."

Tavi summoned up all the B movies Tobi had ever made her watch with mad scientists cackling insanely as she began her laugh. It would have been fine except then her brain moved on to her brother seriously telling one of the younger pack members that she needed to go home and "practice" her scream. He had been focused on his movie project and had truly meant it that way but the girl,who thought it was a crazy pick up line, stormed off the set. All this caused Tavi's evil laugh to dissolve into helpless giggling as well.

"Ah hell, I guess we should both practice."

Peering up at him through her lashes didn't quite work with the cap on. Tavi stopped walking and turned to look up at Drew, shielding her eyes with one hand over the side of the visor. Did she really hear him correctly? Tavi was pretty sure she did.

"I'm good that."

Tavi gave him a big cheerful smile and then added.

"I don't normally fix things. It will be something new."

She shrugged at his question about where she was from and made little pointing hand gestures like the scarecrow telling Dorothy which way to go. Here, there...no here...no there.

"My family travel a lot but I was born in Bulgaria. I spent several years in the UK not too long ago. How about you? Where are you from?"

He looked so handsomely exotic to her; like in the right clothes he could look like one of the fierce warriors of this country. She really didn't know much about America; the Kumpania didn't travel here until they all moved to Nachton.

Rope? Really? This could get creative fast. But it was a good game.

"I never have rope when I need it. Just electrical tape and a tarp."Â?

Her laugh was no better than his. It sort of put him in mind of Dr. Horrible, except her giggle was considerably cutter than anything NPH had done. His answering laugh was considerably warmer and more genuine.

"Might need a vocal coach."Â?

He said with all seriousness.

"Yeah?"Â?

A slow pleased, slightly goofy grin spread across his face. He'd never understand why most guys wouldn't stop and ask for directions. See what happened when you took the scenic route?

God she looked young though. Well maybe it was the hat. He always got carded more often when he was wearing a hat. She re relaxed and told himself he wasn't a perv. Now if she did turn out to be like 16 well that would be bad, but for now he wasn't a perv.

"Chivalry isn't dead, I'm doing the fixing. You're just calling me on my total lack of manners."Â?

About half the women he currently knew would just smack him upside the head for a lack of manners.

He was a little jealous about the travel. His family went no where. Which was a little odd for a group of wandering wolves but, it was just how his pack was. With the exception of granddad's tour of duty during WWII ... well it was what it was.

"Sounds exciting. I'd like to travel. This is the farthest away from home I've ever been."Â?

It was hard to describe where he was from, especially if you didn't really know Arizona. Most people knew Phoenix, some knew Tucson, fewer still knew Flagstaff. But Bitter Springs? No one had ever heard of it. Page, maybe. It sure as hell wasn't fancy.

"Middle of nowhere Arizona. Closest town of any note is called Page."Â?

He thought fondly of his home. It was an odd place though, scrubby desert. Not the rich Mojave that surrounded Phoenix and not the lush high desert of Flag, but special in its own way.

"We've gone straight from kinky bondage to hide the body!"

She laughed and jogged away a bit with the mock intent to run away.

"May we ask why you have a tarp and electrical tape on hand?"

Tavi nodded her agreement on the vocal coach still amused at their horrible attempts at maniacal laughter.

Looking up at Drew, she smiled again.

"Yeah."

She was kind of happy he asked again, like maybe he wasn't sure she would say yes. As good looking as he was overly confident would not have been out of the question. Tavi was still surprised he asked in the first place.

Her smile got bigger at the idea that chivalry had not passed away completely.

"Meh, your manners seem better than mine but I've never met a handsome knight before. So do you have a white horse?"

Shaking her head no, Tavi gave him an apologetic shrug.

"I am afraid the east coast is the only place I have been in this country. So your home has the huge cactus right? The ones that kind of look like people?"

"I'm versatile that's all! Er... no... Boy Scout... always be prepared?"Â?

Drew protested and then finishing lamely half going into his sweet and innocent act. He didn't want her thinking he was a freak or anything. Lord, that would be just like him, chase the girl off just when you were starting to get somewhere. He debated running after her, but odds were one of his steps would equate to two of hers, so not a good idea.

"Well I was using the electrical tape to hold the rear view mirror on and now it just lives in the tool box. The tarp, well I was helping a friend move and we'd thrown it over a load of stuff and I just haven't gotten around to putting it away."Â?

See perfectly harmless and really good logical reasons. It just sounded sinister, if you laughed like a mad scientist.

Crap, now where could he take her. Off the top of his head all Drew could come up with was the pool hall, and he sure as hell wasn't taking her any where Reign might show up. Not that she wouldn't be cool with him having a date, she just might make his life hell is all. And the aquarium was out because of Kai. Well thank god Nikhila had been such a homebody since getting pregnant. One less person to avoid.

"You can veto it as a bad 80s flash back if you want but how about elekTRONicka? You can beat me at skee ball and there is a decent micro brewery in walking distance."Â?

He laughed at the idea his manners were better. He did try but it was way to easy to have lapses and screw up.

"No horses, white or other wise, just an old pick up."Â?

Although he did look a little self conscious at the 'handsome' idea. But Drew mostly dismissed it as the stereotype. You didn't have ugly knights after all.

"Not so much where I'm from, too high but a bit further south they get them, saguaros I mean."Â?

Tavi's eyebrows rose at Drew claiming to be versatile and then she had to laugh at the boy scout who was always prepared.

"Guess you didn't get that Orienteering badge, huh?"

Really it came out before she had a chance to stop herself. This was why she didn't go on dates often; someone would have to get past her wise crack remarks to see that she probably didn't mean them.

"Sorry, couldn't help it. See? You're manners are -way- better than mine."

She tilted her head slightly to regard him coyly from the side. Batting her eyelashes, Tavi replied sweetly.

"That sounds like fun. I hope you don't mind a sound thrashing."

It was true, she had a competitive nature, though she didn't mind losing. It just meant she had good competition and needed to work harder the second time.

Laughing, she asked.

"Well, is the pick up at least white?"

Pondering what he had said about the cactus, Tavi asked.

"So you live in the mountains? I thought it was all sand and flat or something. At least that is what they show of the "wild west" on tv."

"I might not know how to get where I'm going but I can survive for a week on just a jar of peanut butter!"Â?

Drew declared boldly before thinking about it for a second.

"No wait I learned that my freshman year. Never mind."Â?

Honestly the smart mouth didn't bother him. A lot of his friends were like that, if you spent any time at all with Reign you had to get used to that sort of thing damned fast.

His eyebrows shot up and the suddenly sweet response and the batting eyelashes. That set off alarm signals like you wouldn't belive. Anytime he'd dealt with any woman who batted her eyelashes at him Drew always wound up in trouble. The type of trouble varied, but it was always trouble. Looking down at her a bit suspiciously he teased.

"Maybe we should skip right to the brewery. I'm starting to think you might be a ringer and I like to keep my skee ball on an even playing field."Â?

He snorted and shook his head.

"Red. And in desperate need of a paint job."Â?

He almost had it running well enough that he could afford to think about some of the more cosmetic details rather than having to fix the stupid truck every other pay check.

Not having expected to give a geography lesson Drew shook his head and set about giving a better explanation.

"There is low dessert with all the great cacti and mesquite and stuff, there is high desert in the mountains and then there is the scrubby stuff in the middle. Too high for the one to low for the other. That's where I live."Â?

Westerns were not Drew's favorite, well some of the new ones were OK although he did wonder why Graham Green was the only Indian -ever-. But he did brighten a bit, while they tended to mix their locations to suit some artistic vision (or budget) there was one thing you could count on in the old ones.

"You've seen Monument Valley then? That nothing with all the tall rock formations? That's about right. Not too far from home either, as the crow flies."Â?

And on the reservation, a reservation any way. He'd have to double check the boundaries to see exactly where land began and ended. The point was, no one was going to give him much trouble about prowling around out there. He belonged.

Tavi laughed.

"Oooh handy!

She was about to ask if he learned that skill because he didn't learn how to start fires but then Drew amended the origins of the peanut butter survival badge.

Tavi giggled and gave him a comforting pat on the arm.

"No, no! I just like competition that's all. I am sure you'll do fine, Mr. All Star."

Snapping her fingers in an "Aww, darn" gesture, she sighed.

"Ah well, a girl could hope."

She listened to his explanation of where he lived in relation to the big cacti. Tavi almost shook her head no and then she understood the place he meant.

"Oooh with all the plateaus with the layers of colour in the rock? That looks so big and majestic. I've only seen it in postcards and tv shows but it looks amazing."

He lived there? She wondered if it really did look like something of a grand old movie set. So vast and vivid like they always showed in the films.

"I think we ought to figure on playing two out of three right off the bat. And... if you win then we can go to the batting cages. Even it out."Â?

Truthfully he wasn't -quite- sure what he was rambling on about he'd gotten a little distracted by the whole arm pat thing. OK it wasn't a huge deal but it was a start. Sure she'd agreed to go out with him but well... oh hell he was going to stop thinking, saved time.

He laughed at her idea of a white truck/horse.

"I've never figured why the hero needed a white horse any way. I mean the bad guys could probably spot him coming a mile away."Â?

Ha! There that did it. People who couldn't pick the United States out on a map had an idea what Monument Valley was. Thank god for those old movies!

"That's the place. The pictures, even the movies don't really do it justice. You ought to check it out if you get back west."Â?

Tavi considered Drew's latest proposal on the gaming arrangements and shrugged.

"I get to throw things AND hit things? Deal!"

She gave him a big grin to hopefully soften what might look like violent tendencies. Heh, if throwing and hitting things were her only forays into destruction then Tavi would consider herself almost normal. At least she hadn't thrown anything at anyone in a while.

Oops, no, there was the rice.

She almost giggled about that all over again but instead turned her attention back to Drew. It certainly wasn't hard to pay attention to him, he was cute and so far he had been able to keep up with her in the conversation. It was her lucky day or something.

She laughed at the statement on the poor horse colour choice for heroes.

"Hazard of the job? I mean I can't imagine the polished armor would be a very good idea either unless you're trying to blind your opponent. Some artfully placed mirrors...could be very sneaky."

Tavi bit her lip thought on that.

"Probably not very hero like. Of course, if they always behave all forthright and chivalrous how do they still manage to win all the time?"

Because its a fairy tale. The real world had taught her that there tended to be very a very different ending for heroes as often as not. Maybe even more often than not.

She smiled at him and agreed about going out west.

"Should I ever have a reason to be out that way then it would definitely be on the travel agenda."