Chapter 108: Tiger

FieryKathy

After Hilda gets us situated and we all finish our drinks she leans over to me. “Amicia, want to go and take a ride?” 

“Yes please!” I nod. 

She then looks over to my girlfriend. “I can take you with me after I come back with Ami, Sam. If you want.” 

“Ah, no, I’m fine.” Sam waves her hands in denial. “But I would like to see your garage if that is okay by you?” 

“Definitely.” Hilda smiles. 

“Me and Nikki are going to stay here and chat a bit longer.” Lise nods as the three of us stand up. 

“Well, you know where the fridge is if you want something else to drink. 

“Of course.” My sister winks. 

“Just don’t empty it completely.” 

“No promises.” Nikki laughs. 

Hilda leads me and Sam down the stairs towards the sunken garage. Inside of it are 2 motorbikes, one modern electric one and the vintage one she took with her to the basketball game, now equipped with a sidecar. Other than her motorbikes there was also a small electric car parked in the other slot and a couple of bicycles. 

“Wow.” Sam looks around the garage in amazement. Her eyes linger on the big red workbench with multiple tool cabinets. “You work on your bikes yourself?” 

Hilda nods with a smile. “I do tinker a bit, yes. But if there’s something serious going on I still take them to the garage.” 

“Still though, that’s so cool…” Sam walks over to the workbench and wants to open a drawer, but before doing so she looks back at Hilda for approval. 

“Check it out as much as you want.” Hilda smiles once more. 

Sam doesn’t need a second approval and immediately starts looking through the tools. 

“While she is busy, let’s get you some safety gear.” She pets my head and walks over to the built in wall cabinet at the back of her garage. She takes out a leather vest that’s padded on the shoulders. “Here put this on. It also helps against the wind. 

I immediately do as she asks. The vest is a little bit too big for me but not immensely so. 

“And for the helmet…” Hilda takes out a white helmet and looks at it and then at me. “I think this’ll work with your ears.” She then hands it over to me. 

“Thanks.” I say, but just before I can put it on Hilda continues. 

“I was thinking about buying you a helmet with kitten ears on it, but I thought that might have been a bit overkill.” 

I hear Sam snicker from the toolbench. “That’d have been outright amazing.” 

I start pouting. “Do they really have those in stores?” 

“They do. I know of some motorcycle groups that are even completely styled around felines. They are pretty badass, y’know?” 

I stare at her cynically. “Is that so?” 

“Don’t believe me?” 

“Not really, no.” I shake my head. 

Hilda takes out her phone and walks over to me. After typing in something in her search engine she shows me some pictures. “These are the Riding Tigers. They are styled around the Flying Tigers who helped oppose the Japanese invasion of China.” She points at the shark teeth on the side of the motorcycles. “These are a reference to the shark teeth they used to paint on their P-40’s. And the helmets are tigers because…” 

“They are called the flying tigers?” 

“Exactly!” Hilda laughs.

“Oh, I see, I see.” I inspect the picture for a bit longer until Hilda turns it away from me. 

“There’s other ones like the pink panthers too, those actually do have ears on their helmets too but I can’t seem to find a picture of them right now.” 

“That’s fine.” I smile at her. “I believe you.” 

“So if you would want to, I could still draw a couple of ears on your helmet if you’d want so.” She smirks. 

“That… that won’t be necessary.” 

Hilda smiles and pets my head. “Alright, why don’t you put on your helmet and get in then, then we can go for a drive.” 

I do as she asks and put the helmet on and get in the sidecar.

“Take these too.” She hands me a pair of motorcycle goggles. 

“Do I really need these?” 

“Hmm, not really but we are going to drive through the forest so if you don’t want flies or mosquitoes in your face I’d recommend it.”

“Ah!” I quickly put on the goggles. 

In the meantime Sam has stopped looking over the tools and has joined me next to the motorcycle. Crouching down so she can be on eye-level with me. “You look great, babe. Although I do think a helmet with ears would definitely have looked even better.” Sam smirks. 

I stick out my tongue.

“Hehe.” 

Hilda then gets on her motorcycle, with her helmet and jacket on and opens the garage door with the small controller she took from the wall. “Feel free to hang around in my garage a bit more, Sam.” 

“Nah, it’s fine. I’ve seen all your fancy tools already. I’ll go join Élise and Nikki upstairs.” 

“Still know the way?” 

Sam looks at the staircase. “Easy enough. Though my parents would probably already get lost.” 

Hilda laughs. “I guess it’s good you didn’t inherit their sense of direction then.” 

“Thank the Goddess I didn’t.” 

Hilda pulls down her glasses and starts the engine of the motorcycle. The vibrations feel completely different than those from a car but I do kinda like it. 

“Have a nice trip!” Sam calls out to us. 

“Thanks, we won’t be out for that long.” Hilda then motors her motorcycle out of the garage. I wave my girlfriend goodbye as we go onto the driveway and the garage closes behind us. “Seat belt is on, Kitten?” 

“Put it on when I got in.” I nod. 

“Alright, let’s go.” Hilda turns the motorcycle into the street and starts opening the throttle. 

The motorcycle rolls smoothly over the asphalt as we make our way out of the suburban neighbourhood Hilda lives in. Thanks to it being a Sunday the roads are all but abandoned, only encountering a handful of cars within the city limits. When we get outside of that, even less cars pass us by. 

“How are you holding on?!” Hilda calls out to me, raising her voice so she can be heard over the engine. 

“It’s fun.” 

“What!?” 

“It’s fun!!” 

“Ah!” She laughs as we go into the flow of the next corner. The forest Hilda mentioned earlier is already within view on the hills in front of us, but it’s still quite some distance away. First we need to make our way through a small patch of countryside with farmlands and their adjacent farms. An automated tractor in the distance is plowing the fields, getting them ready for sowing. 

You definitely do feel yourself connected with the world around you a lot more than if  you were driving in a car. The wind, the smells, the sounds, everything just feels so much more intense. Though I definitely still prefer just adventuring through the forests and hills on foot.

It doesn’t take very long for us to get into the forest. 

“I’ll make a loop over A-79 and head back that way!” Hilda turns towards me and calls out.

I just nod. I don’t really know the route names around here, especially not that far away from the city center. If I were on my own out here I’d definitely not know how to get back. 

“But first I want to show you something!” Hilda says as she slows down her motorcycle and turns it down a small dirt road. The dust of it luckily floats behind us and doesn’t end up in my face. 

Two minutes later we stop near a shack in the middle of the forest, with a sign in front of it, saying ‘Mad Scottish Tacos’. A man is standing behind the counter, busy working on something that smells outright delicious. 

“There’s a taco shop out here?” 

“Hmm?” Hilda turns off her motorcycle as she takes off her helmet. “What did you say?” 

“They sell tacos here?” 

Hilda smiles. “I was surprised too when I found it.”

“Does anyone even come here? Isn’t that bad for business?” 

“Only the people who want to be here. Scott says he likes it that way. He wants to be a destination.” 

“Oh… wait… his name is Scott?” 

“Yep.” Hilda laughs. “Scott the Scot who sells tacos.” 

I look at her, semi confused, and also a bit impressed and then give her a shrug. “So are we getting a taco then?” 

“That’s why we’re here.” She gets off her motorcycle and offers her hand to me. “You have your choker with you, right?” 

“Mhmm.” I quickly put it on and grab Hilda's hand. She then helps me with my helmet, putting hers and mine on my seat before we head over to the shack.

“Hey Scott! Give us four of y’r finest steak street tacos, will ya?” 

“C’min right up, ‘ilda!” The man waves at us with a big smile. 

He kinda reminds me of Argus… 

FieryKathy