Of Suits and Mohawks

[Existentially Odd]

Her sliding forward on the seat told him that he was supposed to sit behind her.  He mimicked her action of lifting a leg and climbing aboard but then sat, a little stumped as he stared at the briefcase he was holding.  After a moment\'s thought, he hugged it to his chest, not understanding that he needed to hold the girl as well.

What worried him more were his feet and he peered down at his left foot in puzzlement, noting that it was still on the road and realising it couldn\'t stay there.  He looked at his rider\'s feet and saw she had pegs to put them on.  "What do I do with my feet?" he asked naively, moving his leg about so that he could see if he had some clever pegs like hers to rest them on.

[Harlequin]

She looked over her shoulder at him – sitting there with his briefcase in his lap, nervous like a schoolboy – and finally it dawned on her that he really didn\'t know what the hell he was doing. "Just hold \'em up off the road, tucked back, like this." she showed him with one leg – supporting the bike\'s weight with the other – by bending her knee and tucking her foot behind her, toes pointed in her leather boot, careful not to kick her passenger .

"Like that, with both legs. Grip hard, with your thighs." Then, she added, "And wrap your arms around my waist. Scoot in, and hold tight. Leave the briefcase in your lap. It\'ll stay wedged in between us." She hoped it would, at least.

[Existentially Odd]

Some of his feelings were given away by the little frown that appeared on his forehead - which was not nearly indicative of the amount of nervousness he was suddenly feeling.

He could envision her instructions and understand them well enough, but it occurred to him that he was about to become a lot more intimately positioned with her than he\'d anticipated.  Wrap his arms around her waist?  He eyed her off at the suggestion and pondered whether she would break, if he squeezed too hard (and he had a habit of going hard at everything he did).

"What\'s your name?" he asked steadily, figuring they should get such formalities out of the way before he started... holding her.  It was strange to him, this notion of sidling up behind a woman he didn\'t even know and gripping her boldly, even if there was a briefcase standing on its end between them.

"Does this go very fast?" he added, his nerves getting the better of him.  He\'d only ridden in enclosed vehicles and he\'d never been very comfortable with the speeds he\'d witnessed - he stuck to walking under his own steam for this very reason.  The notion of sliding through the night with no barriers around him whatsoever and only a small female and the grip of his thighs to sustain him... had him quite spooked.

[Harlequin]

Ami smiled, a wicked expression to be sure, "I\'m Ami, and I\'ll try not to go too fast, if you\'re spooked," she said, and the smile faded. Some people had a hard time with the concept of the motorbike, and she could understand that. "I\'ve spent most of my adult life doing this. You have nothing to worry about."

Then, as an afterthought, she added, "We\'re not going far, anyway. \'Sides, that suit looks nice. Should protect you from most minor road rash."

[Existentially Odd]

He blinked at her, showing that he obviously did not understand her humour.  "I\'m Tau Leander, Oligarch for Shifters," he introduced himself, taking comfort suddenly in the formality of his name and title.  If he introduced himself to her thus, she might be more impressed with his person and not be very willing to harm him, after all (even though she didn\'t sound like she wanted to and he\'d responded instinctively to the soothing quality of her voice just then).

That said, he slid himself forward and gingerly wrapped his strongs arms about her waist.  "I\'m ready," he declared, bracing his legs according to her instructions.  Foolishly, he honestly believed he was.

(Continued in \'Suits and Mohawks II\')