driftfleet | selvin-9 system mingle

Okay.

[He pointed to the lever attached to the right hand grip.]

That's the throttle. Squeeze it hard, the machine goes faster.

[Another lever on the other hand grip.]

That's the brake.

[There was a small grouping of buttons on the left side grip, mirroring the location of the engine kill switch.]

This is your headlight. [The blue button.] This turns on the heated grips to keep your hands warm. [Two small grey switches, one for the right, one for the left.] That's the parking brake. [A small red flip switch that locked the brake lever into position. The last button was a medium sized yellow one.]

And this is the starter button.

[He purposefully waited to show Lance the starter button last, having picked the engine kill button first for a reason. Keith might do stupid stunts on his own, but he'd been riding that speeder back home for years. He already knew what he was doing and found it easy to make the switch between similar machines.]

[Lance nods again, following along as Keith describes all of the buttons. Remembering what does what shouldn't be too hard; the challenge comes in that he has no idea of how this thing handles. But he's still (mostly) confident that he'll get the hang of it. He can't make the race easy on Keith, either, wants to give him some sort of challenge.]

Got it.

Okay.

[Keith went and got back on his own machine.]

Start it up, and I'll follow you for a few shorter slower runs while you get a feel for it, okay?

[Keith was giving Lance the chance to make it a challenge, too. Mostly because he didn't want Lance to make a mistake and get hurt, so he was hoping to prevent it by giving Lance a few basic lessons before they did anything that involved actual racing.]

Please, it won't take long.

[However, it is tricky, once he actually gets moving. Maneuvering a vehicle on snow is a lot different from maneuvering in the air or in space, and he has to account for the traction of the ground. Turns are a lot more difficult, and he's skidding a good amount the first few tries, but he finally settles into it. Mostly. As long as his race against Keith doesn't have a bunch of 90 degree turns, he should be fine.

Once he's confident enough, he drives back up to their start point.]

Okay! I got it! Let's do this.

[Keith waited, leaning his chin on his hand and his elbow on the handlebars of his own machine as he watched Lance figure things out. After a bit, he started up his own machine, pacing Lance a little to watch his technique.

Yeah... good thing the turns weren't sharp along the course.

It was obvious where the course was because a few people had been making the runs throughout the day, so the tracks were there and the snow pressed down into something akin to a road. It was still slippery, and snowy, but it didn't sink quite as much as the fluffy stuff they'd been practicing on.

Keith pulled up to the line next to Lance.]

Alright... Three times around the circuit. We start on three.

[To avoid having to shout over the sound of their engines, Keith used a hand signal to count down from three to one, his pacing and cadence for the count having gotten closer to the length of an Altean tick than an Earth second after their time back home, and then dropped his arm to signal that they go.

And then they were off!

Whether or not Lance noticed, Keith didn't care, but he made sure to keep Lance in sight... just in case. So he didn't pull too far ahead, and he also didn't fall too far behind when Lance was able to get ahead of him.]

[He doesn't notice, not at first, too busy focused on making sure that he did indeed have the hang of this. Even in a race that he knew was stacked against him due to his own inexperience, he didn't want to lose (or at the least, lose that badly). Lance feels a little more comfortable with the controls and handling by the second lap, enough so to start taking a few risks. Taking turns more sharply, speeding up further than he probably should be.

Because now he is noticing. If Keith is good enough to beat natives of this place, then he should be doing better than this. And Lance doesn't want him to hold back. So he goes faster, trying to bait Keith into taking off the kid gloves.

He can totally handle this.]

[Ooohhh no. The last thing Keith needed was Lance messing up a fancy maneuver to try and impress him. Still, the baiting might actually work... and then... it did...

Keith clenched his jaw and cranked on the throttle, leaning down close over the handlebars to reduce his profile and air resistance. His whole posture changed as he pulled himself in close, knees against the sides of the machine, elbows pulled in, shoulders relaxed and down, and took the next turn tight, blasting past Lance on the inside.]

[It really isn't difficult to bait Keith, after all, at least when it comes to something like this. He can't help but laugh when Keith zooms past him; now there he is. Lance kicks up the speed on his own snowmobile, wanting to do his best to keep up, if not overcome him somehow.

The problem is that he's having to take too many risks in an attempt to keep up, and when Lance gets in this sort of competitive mood, he's more desperate to beat Keith than he is to actually think logically. He takes a turn at far too sharp an angle than his speed allows, and before he realizes it, his vehicle is skidding off course. It's too late to adjust more than just a little so that he doesn't flip the snowmobile over (being crushed does not sound fun), and he manages just enough that...well. He ends up launching off a bump at the side of the track, soaring a short distance in the air before smacking right into a snowbank. The back half of his snowmobile is still sticking out.

It takes him a minute or so to dig himself out of the snow, and he groans as he peels himself off of the snowmobile. Lance is pretty sure he has a few bruises, but his pride is hurt more than his body.]

[Keith was kind of expecting the sound of Lance's engine to die off as he pulled away in speed. He was not expecting to hear the rather sudden and loud revving behind him that meant the snowmobile had gotten some air time. He squeezed his own brake sharply and yanked the handlebars hard to one side, hitting the engine kill switch at the same time to bring the machine to an immediate halt after spinning it around to face behind him.

Not immediately seeing Lance's snowmobile, he started his own back up and slowly made his way back, spotting the tracks that indicated where Lance had managed to launch himself into a snowbank, and, following those, the errant machine buried in a snowbank.]

Lance?!

[Keith shut his own machine off and dismounting, running over to make sure he was okay.]

[He's just managed to extract his body from the snowbank when Keith walks over. Although he's sore, it doesn't feel like anything's actually badly injured, so thank god for small miracles. It doesn't stop him from looking upset, though.]

Stupid...snow.

Are you okay?

[Keith made his way up the snowbank and crouched down next to Lance, watching his movement for any signs of injury before putting his hand gently on Lance's back to help him sit up.]

'm fine.

[He shakes the snow out of his hair best he can, trying to brush it off of his jacket as well.]

I just lost control on a turn there.

[Keith furrowed his brow, and then made to start getting Lance back to solid ground and off that snowbank.]

Come on...

[He held on to him, too, just to be sure he stayed upright.]

[Lance stumbles a little bit on his way up, but readies himself soon enough. Other than a little dizziness that's already fading, he thinks he'll be just fine physically.]

I'm good, I'm good!

You sure?

[Keith actually looked worried. He walked Lance back down to the track where the other machine was parked. He was holding on to Lance's arm until they were next to it.]

Here, sit.

Really, Keith, I'm fine.

[He does sit down, though, brushing some more snow off of him.]

Sorry, I kind of messed up our race...

[Keith frowned a bit, helping Lance dust off that snow so it didn't melt and get all sticky. He shook his head.]

Don't. I'm just glad you're okay.

[He gave him a small smile, and then stood up.]

I'll see if I can get the other snowmobile out of the bank. Stay put.

[He turned as if he was going to leave, and then turned back again, giving Lance a kiss on the lips. Keith smiled just a little as he pulled back, licking his lips.]

You taste like marshmallow.

[Since he knew Lance was okay, he was back to poking a little fun at him. Then, he made his way back up the bank towards the snowmobile to see if he could push it free.]

[...Stupid Keith, making him feel all sappy even right after he'd totally wiped out and lost a race against him. Lance rolls his eyes, settling himself down on the snowmobile, waiting for Keith to get back. If it looks like he needs help, he'll go over, but for now he'll listen to him. For now.]

[Keith studied the position for a second, looked around to see what else was there, and then leaned down to see if there was any visible damage to the underside of the snowmobile. It looked like it was okay enough to wrangle off the snowpile and back around to the track on it's own, so he braced himself behind it, and gave it a good shove forward so it was slide down the other side a bit. He didn't want to push it backwards in case the front skis got stuck.

He might not have much experience with snow, but he knew a potential problem when he saw it.

It slid free easily enough, thankfully, and Keith made his way down to it. He was able to start it back up again, and bring it around to the track again.]

Well, looks like I won't lose the damage deposit.

[He smirked, climbing off.]

Feeling okay enough to bring it back to the start?

[Keith wanted to be sure Lance wasn't feeling too shaky or anything. He knew he wasn't likely to admit it, but he'd give him the out if he wanted it.]

[He gives Keith a nod. The dizziness has mostly subsided, and as long as he doesn't try to pull off any more stunts, he knows he'll be just fine.]

Yeah, no problemo. I'll meet you there.

[Lance can't help but give him a kiss on the cheek before climbing back onto the snowmobile. It's still working fine, miraculously, so he starts the drive back to the top of the hill where they'd rented it. Of course, he doesn't say a word to the rental people about what happened. Ignorance is bliss.]

[Keith watched him as he got back on his own machine and started it up. He kept pace with him this time, though. Lance wasn't going to shake him so easily on the way back.

As he checked the two machines back in and paid for the rental time, he reassured the guy at the counter that everything had been great and fun and perfectly fine, no trouble at all! He was glad Lance didn't say anything, either, and somehow managed to pull it all off with a straight face before walking out.

He heaved a sigh of relief, and grabbed Lance's hand as they headed back to the city.]

Next time, I'll make sure you have more practice first.

[He nudged him lightly with his elbow.]

[Frankly, Lance is surprised he even managed to keep a straight face. He's usually a pretty terrible liar when it comes to the majority of things.

He nudges Keith back, rolling his eyes again before reaching down to tangle their fingers together.]

Pfff. Fine. Once we're on an even playing field, you'll see that I can totally whoop that pretty butt of yours.

[Keith laughed a little.]

Yeah, sure you will.

[As they got back closer to town, Keith realized they were ahead of schedule with having retired the racing part a little early. He considered the options, and decided to detour towards the hotel first so they could relax and warm up a little before dinner. It wasn't a huge swanky place, but it was a decent hotel with a nice modern look that was well cared for. The room was clean and looked recently renovated. There were two beds, but Keith didn't elaborate on why when he walked in, shedding his coat and boots before making sure he didn't have any of the sticky marshmallow snow still on him.]

[His mind gets a liiiiittle ahead of himself when Keith checks them into a hotel, for obvious hormone addled reasons. Said thoughts end up falling flat when he notices that there are two beds. Oh well.

Though it does seem kind of odd... It isn't as if he and Keith don't usually share a bed these days, anyway. So why two? Either or, it's nice to be indoors for a little bit to warm up, and he takes off his jacket and boots as well.]

I'm just gonna wash and dry up a little to make sure I don't end up a sticky marshmallow, okay?

Yeah, sure.

[Oh, Lance. If only Keith could read minds. But, he doesn't even seem to notice that there are two beds. As Lance headed into the bathroom, he flopped back on one of them to relax.]

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