⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 ASKING FOR IT      ╱    
SCIENCE & RELIGION.𖥔˚
chapter FOUR

          The next day, there was a new energy in the air. Something that crackled with restless potential and made everyone want to reach out and be the one to grab on. Perhaps it was because of the race yesterday, success that extended from one crew and failure that took hold of the other. Whatever it was, the feeling of it was so palpable it could almost choke you.

The return of mass of bodies didn't help, and instead, only add to the slow suffocation. It's as if one sense is taken over at a time. The canopy of voices fills your ears, the groups of bodies push you tighter into your own skin, and the smell of dew point grass and potent gas burn your nose.

If Carmen wasn't so desperate for some kind of sugar, she wouldn't be pushing on the door under her hands that leads away from it. Inside the dingy gas station they've called home base the energy dips just slightly. Behind the doors, the world outside muffles, and inside them, she's left alone with her thoughts. It's a fate she'd never pick first━━━they tend to drown her too far past gone.

Inside, all isn't lost as the TV in the back corner plays through some random news channel. It fills the space between the crevices of her memories━━━failing to give them the space they need to breathe and run free.

Down the second aisle furthest from the door is not only where Carmen finds the lifesaver gummies she was searching for, but also Boone and another one of Tyler's team debating over which was better: Twix or Milky Way.

"Twix," she mumbles behind Boone, cutting into their conversation as her fingers wrap around the bright plastic package of her desired snack. Immediately, their eyes flick to her. Boone crows in triumph, while the other girl groans.

"Thank you, Carmen," the man says, throwing a casual arm around her shoulders and shaking her playfully. "At least someone else here has taste. Isn't that right, Lily?" The causal contact is jarring for a moment, not something she's used to from virtual strangers, but she sinks into it after a moment.

Lily groans across from them, snagging a gold-tinted candy bar out of its box and shaking her head. "Alright, Boone, you win," her words form around a chuckle, and Carmen smiles at her. "You won't regret it."

The girl shrugs, an easy smile etched on her face like it's her most natural expression. It makes her easy to want to know━━━something about all of them does. From Boone's carefree nature to Lily's kindness wrapped in laughter, even Tyler's layers and charming eyes.

Next to her, Boone snags the bag in her hand lightly. "You getting these?"

"Was planning on it." She waves a hand at the newly reclaimed bag. "But you want 'em that bad go for it, bub," she chuckles. There were plenty more on the shelf, it's not like she couldn't just grab another.

"Nah." He shakes the bag, pursing his lips at her choice. Still, he doesn't give them back, only snags another Twix off the shelf next to Lily before using the arm still around Carmen's shoulder to lead them toward the register. The same bored-looking cashier from yesterday sits behind it, barely blinking when Boone throws the candy on the counter. Only scans it mechanically before rattling off a total.

"Oh," Carmen frowns as she eyes her candy in the pile with Lily and Boone's "You don't need to do that, bub." Her heart jackrabbits with a sudden kick of nerves, wondering for the quickest second if maybe the arm on her shoulder isn't as casual as she thought.

As Boone pulls out a nondescript black wallet from one of his front pockets, he shakes his head. "Don't worry, I'm. Courtesy of Tyler Owens and the wallet he left unattended in the truck." He smirks, smug in the way that it's clear he feels he won some kind of game, before throwing a few crumpled bills on the counter and grabbing the candy in place.

Lily shakes her head from her place next to them, eyes filled with mirth well-worn. "They're constantly finding small ways to get under each other's skin," she tells the other. "Says it keeps their friendship 'fresh'."

It forces her to think about it. A friendship so long formed that new traditions form within it. It's almost comforting, to know such a thing can exist. It makes her mourn something dead inside of her. Something that could have been if maybe the world was a little more forgiving and a little less taking. In the end, all she mumbles is, "I see," they make for the exit.

On the way out, they pass Kate on her way in. The two had been separated when they first got in━━━something about Javi wanting to show Kate something in Wizard━━━and Carmen immediately slipped out from under Boone's arm to wrap her friend in a hug quickly. "You okay?" She asks quietly, remembering how a similar day panned out yesterday.

"Mhmm," she hums as her arms wrap around the other woman in response. "Thank you."

"'Course."

Pulling away, Kate smiles at the two behind Carmen, who have seemingly decided to hang around rather than leave right away. "Good morning," she greets, dipping her chin to them and slipping into the gas station once they've responded in kind.

"C'mon, Carmy," Lily says, tugging on her hand before she can question where they're heading or where the nickname came from. "I want to show you Cairo."

Helpless to follow the two across the parking lot toward their scattered trucks and RV, the girl frowns harshly. "What the hell is a Cairo?"

The rest of their group is there, munching on breakfast burritos and clearly still waking up. Still, an older man with dark skin, and a woman who she's almost sure is named Dani, look wide awake as they scour over the maps and equipment spread over a table━━━all covered by the shade of an umbrella Ben is holding above them.

As they pass the truck Tyler and Boone appeared in yesterday, the former jumps down from the driver's seat and pulls his aviators off his nose. Together, the four keep walking toward the tables. "Boone, you seen my wallet?" he asks, immediately getting an object to his chest for his troubles. The dark-haired man smirks, ripping open one of the bars in his hands. "Nope."

A rumble of a chuckle leaves the cowboy as he shakes his head, pushing the wallet into his back pocket. "Idiot," he grumbles━━━reaching out to snag one of the unopened chocolates.

"Hey!" Boone shoots away, holding his treats close to his chest protectively. "Get your own!"

The two end up wrestling each other playfully as the taller keeps attempting to curl around and grab something from his friend. "I bought these!" They're all laughing ridiculously at the exchange, and Carmen has to swallow down a lifesaver before she chokes on it when Boone begins swatting at Tyler like a cat.

"You bought those too!" He points at the open package in Carmen's hands, and she shoots him an unimpressed glare. "Steal those!"

Freezing slightly from his place reaching around his friend, Tyler turns and raises an amused eyebrow at Carmen. "Is that so?" She tries not to stare at the stretch of his smile and the curve of his cheeks in response, but it's hard when he's looking at her like that. Maybe it's the early morning.

"Apparently," she muses, popping another gummy into her mouth. The group around them continues to fill the air with harmonious laughter, and her insides sing at feeling somewhat included in it.

He tilts his head at her, arms still wrapped around his best friend tightly. "You gonna share?"

Her eyes flicker down to the package, taking in the colorful circles seemingly exploding across bright packaging. They were her normal choice, even if most of the time she left most of the greens and oranges to sit in the bag when she got bored of them. What could it hurt...

"Sure," she agrees, extending the bag to him. "But don't take the pink."

"Oh, sweetheart," Tyler smirks, finally letting go of Boone to make long strides toward her and snatch the bag from her hands. "You've no idea what you've just done."

She chuckles, raising an eyebrow at him as she leans back on her heel. "Yeah?" The bag rustles as Tyler digs into it, and when his hand comes out holding two rings━━━one pink and one green━━━he offers his palm to her. Slowly, she reaches out and grabs the pink, fingers brushing against the heat of his skin. "Thanks."

"So, what is a Cairo?" Turning back to Lily, she pauses at the look on her face. It's knowing and dancing and makes the brunette squirm. "What?"

Her eyes talk much more than the woman herself does, but it's a language Carmen has yet to learn. Instead, she's left feeling off-footed and rooted in the spot as she's examined for God knows what. Just as she's about to ask again, a familiar faux blonde runs up to them and grabs the hand that was subconsciously reaching for the lifesaver being stretched out toward her.

"Carm, Carm," she chants, tugging on her arm with a purpose. "C'mon, I got to show you something." It's not as subtle as she'd probably have liked it to be, and the words have Tyler's eyes turning toward the sky behind them. She blinks rapidly as Kate begins to pull her away, finally getting her act together enough to get her feet working to follow.

They end up pulling the same kind of act on Javi; Kate running up behind him and forcing him to turn so she can insist, "We got to go."

"Oh." Javi looks between them and the unnamed man standing with Scott, pulling them to the side with an awkward shuffle of his feet. "All right. Um, look...We're almost done here."

"Now." The excitement Carmen saw for the first time in years yesterday in back on Kate's face, and it's impossible to know how Javi would even try to deny her something like this when faced with it. Especially because Javi's hardly ever been able to deny Kate anything. "We got something big."

He must see it in her eyes because Javi nods and lets his own face light up. He grabs Scott and whispers something to him, and then the four are all running to their transportation. "Let's go, guys! Let's go!" Scott yells, immediately sending the rest of the crew scattering with no other preamble.

As the three jump into Lion and get in their seats, Kate curses at a red truck that flies past them━━━horn honking and all. "Damn, Tyler's on it." With renewed vigor, they immediately throw the truck into drive and speed out behind him, passing the RV housing Dani and their crew's final piece.

Out the front windshield, Kate and Javi squint at the sky as if it holds all the answers. To them, right now, it might. "What do you see?"

"Okay, already has a nice structure." She pulls her glasses off, leaning forward more. "Moisture levels are just right and lots of CAPE."

The words, the tone of voice, all of it sounds so much like the old Kate it's jarring. It's almost like getting into Lion has put them in a time machine, sending them to six years prior when the younger girl was nothing but confidence and understanding. A time when nothing could have taken her down. And she's clearly not the only one who thinks so, because Javi's eyes go distant when he asks, "What else are you seeing?"

"Flow is clean. Pulling tons of warm, moist air from the south. And when that warm air and moisture busts through the cap, it explodes in the atmosphere, creating an anvil. The vertical wind shear begins to rotate the updraft, forming a mesocyclone." She smiles, looking toward Carmen in the backseat, as if to see if she's listening. It's clear the whole speech isn't for anyone's benefit other than Kate's and getting to say it, but she nods encouragingly like it's not.

The responding smile is more than enough.

"Here's the mystery. We don't know how a tornado forms. We see the hook on the radar, but...What are all the invisible factors coming together? Every little detail that has to be perfect. And it's a mix of what we know and everything we can't understand. It's part science, part religion."

The words have all of them staring out the windshield in wonder, stretched so far their necks will ache in a reminder in a few hours. From the back, Carmen's stretched so far forward between the seats there's an urge to unclip her seatbelt and let herself free, but she refrains. Despite seeing every car on the road in front of them, the memory of yesterday has her stopping just short.

"Come on," she hears herself mumble. "Come on."

"There it is," Javi says, before pounding the flat of his palm on the steering wheel in poorly contained triumph. "Yeah, baby!" he shouts, and Carm wants to slap him when Kate flinches back. Thankfully, the other girl settles again a second later, looking at the twister with her own private smile.

As she settles in to do the same, she blinks twice. "Is that..." For a moment, she's almost positive her playing tricks on her, but when she rubs her eyes and nothing changes, her stomach drops and launches in pure excitement.

Kate hits Javi on the arm, neither of their eyes leaving the twisters suddenly in front of them. Twins, she thinks, Jesus. "Go faster," she insists, the words barely fully out before Javi's stepping on the gas harshly.

The words, and the urgency in them, bring a sort of startling clarity to the moment. Almost all of their backs straighten as if the weight of it is suddenly bearing down full force. " You ready?" Their driver asks them both, eyes not leaving Kate. Maybe he's wondering if he's asking that question a day too late.

The blonde breathes out a harsh breath, looking toward her friend in the front seat and away from the twins for the first time since they've formed. "Let's get our data." Eyes flick to her, waiting for her input next. She laughs at the absurdity of it━━━as if she'd ever say no to running into this. "Don't even fucking ask." She is her father's daughter after all.

The three all laugh, and Javi reaches out two fingers slowly━━━both a bridge to the past and a peace offering. Suddenly, the truck seems to fly when Kate accepts it, and the three come up on the side of Tyler's truck on the dirt road. Without thinking about it, Carmen's eyes drift to the man, and she smirks when they connect with green already staring.

"Come on, Javi," she goads, putting two fingers to her temple and saluting Tyler goodbye as they pass━━━a connection to the day before and everything they've come to build in just 24 hours.

Not even a moment later, they passed again, but she reveled the feeling of knowing it was a reaction they brought out. That they got them worked up enough for a chase. It made her heart sing.

"All right, guys, let's stop playing games. Let's cut these guys off." Behind them, the rest of their crews mixed together in a scatter of trucks and more all trying to beat each other out. Just watching it made her bounce a little in her seat, excitement and want coursing through her just begging to get out. She cheers when Javi steps on the gas, sending them flying up past Tyler once again.

"There you go, Owens," he laughs, not letting up as they get closer━━━only getting more serious. The line of them speed down the road, all determined for their own reasons. "All right, which one's gonna stay? Which one's it gonna be, Kate?"

The blonde turns back around after high-fiving Carmen and picks up the tablet on her lap. "Okay, I'm on it." Even though she doesn't understand too much of it, the brunette follows, leaning over her shoulder and eyeing the images on the screen in front of them. Most of it doesn't make sense to her, but she can't pull her eyes away from the possible right or wrong decision hiding in it. "Let's go for the right. Uh, there should be a road coming up."

"All right guys, right. Right, guys, right," instructs into his earpiece immediately, the trust he's always instilled in Kate meaning he doesn't question it for a moment. The grin across Carmen's face is so huge as she looks toward the twister to the right, that it almost hurts when it splinters off her face. But...

"Kate," she mumbles, eyes not leaving the wheat that blows beside them. The wheat that's blowing the the left. Sure, she might not have all the equations and numbers the two in the front seat do, but she knows her instincts and the look of the wind feeding a tornado. And a tornado to the right of them sure as hell isn't being fueled by wind going to the left. "Kate," she demands again, even more insistent.

Again, the blonde says nothing, and Carmen almost wants to scream, but then she's finally rushing out words that shut her up. "Go left!"

"What?" A bewildered expression takes over Javi's entire face, and it takes everything Carmen has to not stretch across the front seat and take the wheel into her own unforgiving hands. "Left!" she crows at the same time that the passenger says again, "Take a left!"

Unable to deny both the women screaming at him━━━and still a victim to leaning toward Kate like she's the sun and she'll never do him anything but good━━━Javi hooks a rough left and shouts down the comm system, "Going left. Go left, go left."

And even as Carmen is thrown around a little with the turn, she can't help but twist in the seat far enough to stare at Tyler's truck and Dani's RV. Both of which are disappearing down the path to the right, and she smirks because she knows, deep in her gut, they're going the wrong way.

▬▬ mads speaks ╱ i kinda hate this
chapter? but it is what it is bc tyler & carmen
are cute and i adore them so
also !! it's very poorly proofread so oops