A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.

Cocking his head to the left and then to the right, Ether giggled a little and rolled his shoulders before he rested his elbows on the tabletop. Briefly, his eyes glanced over to (f/n), who hoped that there was some chance that Ether might take up his offer. It certainly would make the trip less concerning. "I don't know," he answered in a sing-song manner. "What do you think (f/n)? Will it still be convincing that I don't know how to drive one?"

Instantly, she nodded. "Yes. It's not like he'll know that you learned the basics for driving one. Besides, you've never really driven a car in general. I doubt he has either." If she wasn't so worried about Vincent and getting to her mother and sibling, she might've sweat-dropped at the whole thing since it would be an accomplishment if they even made it to the factory in one piece.

"I suppose that you're right," he responded slowly, stressing every word, as his attention gradually fell back on Vincent. "But, I still want to know who you are to my pink flower. That might change my answer." (F/n) froze, and her hands intertwined on her lap out of nerves. Vincent didn't look any better, but he forced himself to speak after a few moments.

"I helped her." Ether sat up a little and motioned him to go on. (F/n) wished that she had the ability to knock out Ether currently and that she didn't need him to rescue her mother and sibling. "Back at the cabin." Pieces began to click in Ether's mind. "It had been my grandfather's. I came up to visit. I found her there." Each sentence was said slowly as though if he spoke them any quicker, Ether would launch forward and strike him dead then and there.

"She convinced me to help her navigate down the mountain. I drove off after she reached the bottom. I haven't been in contact with her since." Vincent hoped that last sentence would give him more of a chance of surviving the creature of Cankerfell, and he knew that he was lucky for (f/n) being right there to keep him calm. Well, he didn't know if the creature was calm or not, but he seemed to be weighing in (f/n)'s opinion to a degree, so he might have a chance of living.

"You know;" the creature began before he giggled and continued, "if it hadn't been for you, my little helper never would've run into that woman, who had tried to sacrifice (f/n) to me." Ether rested his chin on the palm of his right hand. Vincent, momentarily, shifted his gaze over to (f/n) to see whether that was true or not. She gave a slight nod to assure him that it had happened. Admittedly, he felt bad, but he didn't regret his decision about leaving her at the base of the mountain. "A foolish move on that woman's part, but she never would've been a problem if (f/n) hadn't left the cabin."

A bone-chilling grin spread on the creature's lips. "Sure, it might've not been your fault that some crazy woman held my pink flower hostage and tried to use her to gain my favor, but you were one of the pieces that led to that happening. That fact alone kind of pisses me off." He released a giggle, and Vincent really wished that throwing himself out of the window would give him a fighting chance. If anything, it might just make him look pathetic and only cause him to bear more injuries before his death.

"But, killing you would create problems, and I'm assuming that you won't tell anyone about this." Vincent resisted the urge to nod eagerly, and he managed to give a firm, steady nod instead. "Good. Then if I can let Nick off the hook for now when he was one of the pieces that led to my pink flower's encounter with someone even worse than that crazy woman, then I suppose that I can let you off the hook, but I do hope that you understand never to come in contact with us again after this evening."

"I promise."

"You better hold to that, or I'll kill you horribly and slowly."Ether continued to grin. "You can end up looking like one of my victims that was too gruesome to show on television. Then again," he giggled once more, "that was a lot of them." Vincent nodded again in the same manner he had done so before. The creature placed his right hand back in his one hoodie's pocket. "Good. Let's get going, then. You might want to leave the building first with my little helper. I'll be knocking everyone out and getting the keys."

Standing up from his seat, Ether stepped aside to let (f/n) out of the booth. Vincent stood up too, and he looked to Ether, who gave him a warning look. Try anything, and you won't see tomorrow. The human male needed no other words of caution, and he followed (f/n) out of the establishment. (F/n) didn't need to peer back into the diner to know what was happening inside. She simply was relieved that the creature hadn't killed the man next to her.

Before she could say anything else to Vincent, she noticed that Nick and the others had finished filling up the car. They were waiting off to the side, and she noted that her father was looking to the man next to her with a confused expression. She gave him a reassuring smile to indicate that everything was fine, and she signaled Nick to drive next to the semi.

Nick wasted no time, especially when the diner doors opened behind Vincent and her. Keys jangled, and Ether stepped between them. He draped his right arm over Vincent's shoulders, and the human male froze at the contact. "Well, let's get to the lesson." Vincent just hoped that the creature could learn quickly since learning how to drive a semi wasn't exactly easy, especially for someone who never had driven a car before, let alone a manual one. There also was the fact that Vincent last had driven a semi maybe twenty or more years ago, so he hoped that the one in the parking lot didn't have some fancy upgrades he didn't know about, or he might be killed that evening.

When the three of them reached the semi, her father got out of the car, and (f/n) hurried over to him to explain the situation so that he didn't misunderstand or lose his temper. His emotions probably still weren't stable since her mother and sibling weren't safe yet, and she didn't want him punching someone again, though; Vincent had helped her in the past, so she doubted that would happen, but she preferred to be cautious at the moment. While she told her father what was going on, Ether unlocked the semi and hopped inside with Vincent. The doors shut behind them.

Making himself comfortable on the driver's seat, Ether looked over the various pedals and the shifter. Frankly all of the symbols meant little to him, and he hadn't even seen three pedals in his pink flower's car. Vincent just was glad that the semi was similar to what he had driven in the past. "Okay, I know you haven't driven, but it looks like you haven't seen an interior like this before." Ether looked over to Vincent and shook his head. Almost, Vincent made a sarcastic comment, but he held his tongue. Otherwise, he might lose it. "Well, the pedal to your farthest left is the clutch. That lets you switch between the gears, which are shown on the shifter here. The middle is the break, and the one on the far right is the gas."

Tapping two switches on the shifter, Vincent indicated to each one. "This switch here is the range switch. You can set it to high and low, depending on what gear you want to get in. This other switch is the splitter. You can move it between the high and low setting for each gear that you're in. Make sense so far?" Ether nodded. "For convenience, you'll want to use your index finger for the range and your thumb for the splitter." Thankfully, Ether had his longer nails on his left hand, not his right, or this whole process would be a lot harder for him. "To switch into each gear, you'll look at the diagram on the shifter." Vincent tapped the lines engraved into the material. "Follow these patterns to shift into the gear you want."

"So, I just hit the clutch and shift into the gear?"

"Kind of. There are more steps involved. If this was a regular manual, that would be true. We'll start off with getting the truck going in the first place. You know where the key goes, right?" Ether nodded. "Good. Once it's in the ignition, it won't simply turn. You need to push in the clutch pedal all the way." Again, Ether nodded to indicate that he understood what to do. "Now, the truck's on ... You might want to write this all down."

"I'll be fine. My memorization is pretty good." Ether's expression was serious. "If it wasn't, I would. I'll be driving my pink flower. I want to know what to do so that she won't get hurt. So, continue."

Understanding that the creature really wasn't fooling around, Vincent continued the explanation. "You'll want to move the range switch into lower position and the splitter into L too. Once you've positioned those, you'll move the shifter left and down where you see this symbol. Remember, right now the truck is set into neutral position. Also, make sure to pull down the parking break, which is the lever at your right. Otherwise, you won't be going anywhere."

Pointing back to the clutch, Vincent continued, "Once in, you'll release the clutch and be ready to switch into Lo-H. Change the splitter to H while you depress the clutch a little bit again, then release the clutch. Just remember not to release the clutch too quickly; it'll make the drive smoother. Your next step, however, is to get into first gear, but you want to switch when you're in the ideal rpm range." Vincent indicated to where the rpm reader was. "The ideal is about fifteen-hundred rpm. It's color-coded, so watch for green. You don't want to shift gears twelve-hundred and under since you'll probably stall the truck. Then, you'll have to start all over again."

"That shouldn't be too hard to do. I can be patient and not shift too quickly." Vincent gave a hesitant nod, and he really couldn't understand how the creature was memorizing everything. There wasn't even going to be a practice run. Thankfully, he wouldn't be in the semi when the creature was driving. Noting Vincent's look, Ether reassured, "I'll be fine. Continue." Gradually, Vincent nodded.