Time Out Together Who: Ransom and Charlotte Where: Weiss Auto Repair When: Late afternoon
The past few days had been brutal for Ransom, working from open to close and finishing the day exhausted. He was trying to get as many hours in before school started as he could, hoping to have some extra cash on hand before having to cut back to part time. If he could save enough, he could buy his own car, a necessity if he didn't want to play chauffeur in the coming year. The only reason he wanted to be dropping by the high school was to see Charlotte, not to pick up his younger siblings who refused to ride the bus. Rolling out from under a jeep, he wiped the sweat from his brow and let his dad know the car was done. At least now he could take a break, and maybe get out of there a few hours early today.
Charlotte hadn't had a chance to really talk to Ransom in the past few days - certainly not about anything important. Not even about the little field trip she and Gabe took, and her plans for what to do with the image now firmly in her head. In typical Charlotte fashion, she had decided to solve this problem. If Ransom was too busy with work, then she would just stop by the garage. Problem solved. She pulled in and got out of the car, smiling and waving at Ransom's dad as she waited for Ransom to come out from under the jeep. When he did, she was leaning against her own car and grinning. She kind of liked watching him work, though for the life of her she couldn't fathom why. It was such a filthy job. Maybe she just liked watching him.
With the jeep taken care of, Ransom's eyes ticked over to the new arrival and immediately smiled. It had been too long since he'd seen Charlotte, days when hours would have been enough to complain about. Strolling up to her, he removed his baseball cap, leaned one arm against her car, and leaned in for a kiss. "Hey beautiful," he said softly before standing back up. He knew he was dirty and suspected he smelled horrible, but he couldn't resist at least one kiss, even if it got whoops and whistles from the rest of the guys in the garage.
Charlotte really couldn't help but grin, and somehow she realized that it had been a while for that. No real, genuine grinning had been going on since Claire died. Her initial reaction was to feel guilt - she could not be happy when Claire was dead! Or at least, not until she'd gotten somewhere in finding Claire's killer. At the same time, she'd experienced enough death in her time to know this was irrational. "Hey yourself," she replied, still grinning. "How's your day?"
"Too long," he said with a little laugh. "On break, though, so we can hang out for a bit. Get some water with me?" Taking her hand, he led Charlotte back over to his truck, where he let down the tail-gate so they could sit. A cooler was there, with cold bottles of water, one of the few things he stocked while going to work in the summer. "Mom's ready for school to start back up again, just to get the kids out of the house for a few hours. Locke's looking at picking up a job and, really, I don't blame him. The twins discovered paint in the garage. And Mayze's started potty training," he grinned. "So yes, mayhem as usual."
Charlotte grinned at the mental image. If Locke was trying to get away from mayhem, it had to be pretty crazy. "You wolves need to learn how to ride," she teased. "Mom's always looking for teens to help the kids at the day camp. Horses just might make potty training and paint seem like a better alternative." The idea of a wolf on a horse was just comical, she had to admit it.
"Horses?" Ransom said, both brows inching up. "I wouldn't know what to do if you got me on a horse. They're big and-- and could stomp me to death." He only knew how huge they looked in wolf form, especially when they reared up. A good kick to the head could kill him in any form. He was intimidated, to say the least. "I'll suggest it, though. What kind of work might they do?"
It was amusing to Charlotte, a werewolf being intimidated by a horse. She'd never seen Ransom in his hybrid form, but she'd seen other werewolves hulk out, so to speak. It didn't seem like there was a lot in the world that could take them down. "Mom runs a day-camp for little kids. They ride and learn how to take care of the horses, go out on the trails, have picnics. She always wants teens and older kids to watch after them and help them out. But they'd have to learn to ride," she added, grinning again and sticking her tongue out. "She wanted me to do it, but I feel like the summer's been too crazy. I need the off-time." And speaking of... "I had an idea the other day, and ended up having Gabe take me to where it happened. I found a bird that witnessed it. Now I need to find an artist."
"I'll try it sometime, but I can't promise it'll go well." He'd try anything for Charlotte if it made her happy, even attempt to ride a horse. Hopefully should wouldn't laugh too much when it resulted in a complete failure on his part. "Wait, you found a bird?" Ransom asked, brow furrowing as he thought about what Charlotte could do with that. He knew she could hear what animals had to say, but he didn't realize she could pick their thoughts... or maybe he'd just forgotten that detail. "So... you were able to see what happened? Even after Gabe shifted?" That was the part of the story they'd been missing from the beginning.
"It started to show me," Charlotte admitted, biting her lip and looking down at her hands. "I didn't want to see too much. I couldn't have handled that. But I saw the vampire before he shifted. I know what he looks like." And she was pretty sure she'd never be able to forget. It was burned into her memory. "The bird is living in my backyard now. Just in case."
Ransom had killed rabbits. He'd killed squirrels and the occasional deer. Never as a human, but as a wolf. It was instinct and he saw nothing wrong with it for that reason alone. It was the same instinct a wolf would have. What he could not imagine was killing a human. Were there many animals that killed their own kind? Not just for sport, that much he was certain. Whatever this little bird had witnessed, Ransom couldn't imagine taking in himself and he worried for the nightmares that Charlotte might have as a result. "Are you okay?" he asked, concerned. "Is the bird?" She was far more important, but he figured it was traumatic for them both.
Charlotte nodded her initial response. "I don't think I would have been, if he showed me everything," she admitted. "I was a little scared I wouldn't be able to stop him. It's not always easy to see memories, and I wasn't sure if he'd be able to make them stop right away. But it felt like an acceptable risk. And... it worked. I've been trying to find artists on craigslist that can do a drawing for me, now that I can describe him."
"I didn't realize you could see them either," Ransom said, smiling softly as he threaded his fingers through hers. "I'm glad you were able to get something useful. Maybe we'll make some headway, feel like at least one of the bad guys out there might get caught." It was frustrating how many things were going wrong in Scarlet Oak without any proper resolution. When teenagers started helping out the law it was probably a bad sign, but it was better than nothing.
"Sometimes I can't," she answered, returning his expression. "Some animals don't take to it, and some broadcast without ever knowing they're doing it," Charlotte went on to explain. "The animals at my house... they're so used to me, that they can turn it on and off in a switch. They can't quite shield from me, but if it's at all possible, I'm sure they'll find a way how when we're older." Not that they often wanted to. Only if they were getting up to antics the humans of the house wouldn't approve of.
Ransom thought it would be interesting when anyone started learning new abilities that they didn't have before. The more they were aware of what was out there, the more likely they all were to exchange information and come to new realizations. What if werewolves had some untapped ability he'd never heard of? That would be both exciting and frightening at the same time. "I wonder if you'll learn how to turn it on and off too. I've heard some psychics can do that, but others can't."
Charlotte shrugged faintly as she thought about it. "My grandma could shield, but she had a long lifetime of experience. I try, but I'm nowhere near that level of proficiency, I think. The best I can hope for is drowning out the noise and focusing on something else. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If things ever got well and truly quiet, I'd probably freak out." She couldn't imagine such a thing. What was quiet?
If it was something that scared her, Ransom saw no reason to pursue it. It was just a thought that he might have considered in her position, without the knowledge of what it was actually like to be there. "No reason to try then," he said with a little smile. "It was just a thought. Do you want to get together tonight? Maybe watch a movie or something?" He honestly just wanted some time with her without the pressures of going back to work. This little break was hardly enough.
"It'd be good for the migraines," Charlotte pointed out. "But it'd take a lot of getting used to." If she got there in her proficiency, she did. Her grandmother had once told her she'd progress naturally, no matter what she did. She'd learned to be (for the most part) okay with that. She smiled at the offer and nodded. "I'd like that," she said. It felt a little weird, doing things that were 'normal', but it was part of moving on. She knew that very well.
Ransom's abilities had always been there, so he couldn't really imagine what it might be like to find out he was capable of something new. Most of his werewolf tricks he'd learned by the age of ten. "We'll see then," he said, sliding his fingers between hers. He couldn't tell what she was thinking, but he was glad to see her smile. "Do you think we can hang out at your place? I'd offer mine, but..." But then he wouldn't have any alone time with her. There was nowhere to be alone in the Weiss house, not even in his own bedroom.
"I think that would be a good idea," Charlotte answered, with a small grin with a sly hint to it. Otherwise she knew Locke at least would never leave them alone, and while she adored his family, she felt like they needed a lot of time alone to make up for the way things had been recently. "And you know you're always welcome at my house," she added, leaning over to kiss him briefly. She didn't particularly care if anyone else saw and made their catcalls and jokes, it wasn't like she was doing anything obscene.
The boys in the garage would always react to even the littlest kiss, mostly because their whistles made Ransom turn red. It was fun to tease him, especially since it didn't seem to stop him. It was a little kiss, but Ransom would take whatever he could get. "I should get back to work," he said, smiling as his teeth scraped over his bottom lip. "The sooner I get my time in, the sooner I can get out of here." And as soon as he got home and cleaned up, he'd be at her place. No reason to waste time.
It was amazing, the way just the littlest interaction with Ransom made Charlotte feel better. She felt a little calmer, more centered, about... well, just about everything. She had needed this, without even realizing it. She smiled and nodded, and leaned in just a little bit more to whisper in his ear. "Love you more than anything."
"Love you too," Ransom answered softly as he squeezed her hand. He wanted to leave work now rather than finish his shift, something he might be able to get away with, but he knew he shouldn't. His father was flexible with his schedule as it was; he didn't need to take advantage of it. "See you tonight," he said, then stole one last kiss before hopping off the tailgate.