Is currently on vacation, but will still update! Also, this is a Skull/Fem Harry pairing
Green eyes watched with avid fascination as the stuntman defied death and not only did so without hesitation, but laughing. The stunts weren't too dissimilar to what she could get up to on a broom, much to certain people's dismay. She had to know if there was a chance he could teach her...the opportunity was too good to pass up.
The stuntman removed his helmet, making her blink a moment at the coloring before dismissing it. Purple was a color she could easily grow to like because she had no negative memories of it. Before she could say anything she noticed him favoring his shoulder. She had noticed his last stunt was a tiny bit off, likely because he had bruised himself at some point but hadn't given himself time to recover.
She could relate.
Digging through her pouch, she walked up to him and handed him a small jar.
"What's this?"
"A medicine for the bruise on your shoulder," she replied simply. "I can see you're favoring it, but you're not in enough pain to make it overtly noticeable. And you were only slightly off on that last stunt, but not to the point that it was obvious you had an injury. So clearly it's just a bruise that hasn't quite healed yet. Annoying, but easy to ignore."
He stared at her for a moment. Something seemed to pass between them, because he wilted just a little.
"It's actually across most of my back. I landed wrong while practicing another stunt, but the shoulder took the worst of it," he admitted. He eyed the jar in his hands speculatively. "Does this stuff really work?"
"Considering I have the recipe down to the point I could almost literally make it in my sleep, and I keep a healthy store of it, yes," she answered him bluntly. "Apply a decent coating over the affected area and let it sit for about thirty minutes to an hour depending on how deep the bruising it...it only alleviates bone bruises, but it's still better than nothing and it makes recovery time shorten significantly."
He looked her in the eyes, before coming to a decision.
"Skull," he said, holding out his hand.
She smiled at him.
"Call me Reed," she said, shaking it firmly.
"So you're good at making remedies?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Let's just say it's a subject I have a very...personal...interest in. What I want to know is how you were able to do that corkscrew while your body was twisted like a gymnast! And what sort of bike do you use?" she asked with open interest.
Skull stared, before a wide grin came across his face.
"How about I tell you over dinner?" He offered, grinning.
He could at least hope her 'personal interest' in learning how to make home remedies had more to do with the fact she was an adrenaline junkie like him, and not because of what he suspected.
Reed blushed for a moment, before smirking.
"Only if you let me pay," she said.
"A gentleman would never make a pretty girl like you pay! At least not for the first date," said Skull mock offended.
That blush doubled, making him wonder if anyone had bothered to flirt with her like this before.
As he quickly figured out, that was a 'no'. Which was quite baffling, as she was very pretty and seemed more like the type to be interested in clothes, not learning how to do dangerous, stupid stunts for the adrenaline fix. Despite her appearance, Reed was a down-to-earth tomboy with a healthy store of common sense and a distinct lack of fear. Skull watched her calmly handle a snake that appeared while they were heading to his spare bike without any hesitation or concern at all.
Which was surprising, considering he damn well knew that particular breed was venomous. Not lethally so, but it would definitely put you in the hospital a couple of days. Reed not only picked the thing up, but managed to find the nest which was thankfully empty of any more snakes.
It wasn't until they were done with dinner and heading back, after chatting happily for hours that Skull found out what she did with it.
"You kept it?" he asked almost hysterically.
The snake had curled around her neck, and was clearly very comfortable if the happy hissing it let off was any indication.
"I'm immune to snake venom. I got bit by this really vicious one when I was twelve and nearly died, but I got the anti-venom in time. From what I can figure, my exposure to it caused my body to produce high levels of anti-venom any time a new one is introduced until it becomes inert...I got bitten by a rattlesnake some idiot had let loose from it's tank, and I didn't feel anything outside of a mild fever for about half an hour," she admitted.
Skull wanted to rip his hair out.
"But it doesn't work that way!" he moaned. "Developing an immunity to something requires repeated exposure over time, not a one-time deal!"
"I chalked it up to my luck. Weird things like that happen all the time around me. Besides, how would the circus react if they knew this snake was around the camp, since from what I saw they intend to stick around a few days?"
"Either kill it or chase it off," said Skull without thinking.
"So long as he behaves, he can avoid that headache and go back to his den once the troupe moves on. Besides, I like snakes," she said, petting the reptile on his head.
Skull could accept that. It wasn't entirely fair to chase a poor snake out of his home because the humans were intruding in his territory and they were moving in a week anyway.
Something that made him rather unhappy, as he quickly grew to like Reed. She had a sharp wit, didn't mind it whenever he let his nervousness take over and he acted like an idiot, and she liked a lot of the things he did. Not to mention her remedies were very effective...the nasty bruise on his back and shoulder had all but disappeared when he used that jar she gave him.
So he was both surprised and happy when he found out she managed to get herself hired as the troupe's unofficial doctor/healer.
"What about your folks?" asked Skull.
Reed's expression went flat and Skull knew he wouldn't like the answer.
"My parents were murdered when I was barely a year and a half old and my aunt wouldn't care."
Skull winced.
"Sorry, I didn't know," he replied.
"It's okay. At least with you I not constantly reminded I lived when they didn't, or asked to give more than I receive," said Reed cryptically.
He had a nasty suspicion that there was more to that story than he would like, but considering he had already put his foot into it he kept his silence.
"Do you have a ride or a trailer? We'll need to get it hooked up with the caravan before we leave," said Skull, changing the subject.
"I can get an RV, but I have absolutely no idea how to drive it."
Skull latched onto that information.
"If you don't mind me hooking up my bikes to the RV, I can drive with you as the co-pilot. I usually hitch a ride with one of the others and we have to make space for at least one of the bikes," said Skull. There had been more than one occasion where he had to drive the spare bike with the caravan since they couldn't fit it onto the trucks.
She perked up at the idea.
"I hope you don't mind the scent of herbs and flowers. Or large predatory birds," she said.
"If we have to we can leave a window open. Wait, what was that about large predatory birds?" said Skull, whipping his head to look at her.
She let out a piercing whistle, which caused more than a few heads to look their way. Then, to the collective shock of everyone an absolutely gorgeous snow white owl with black flecks on their wings flew from one of the branches and calmly sat on Reed's closed fist. She had very intelligent eyes and easily transferred to Reed's shoulder, where she began to preen her hair.
"This is Hedwig," said Reed with pride.
Skull looked the owl over... it was very well taken care of and quite tame.
"Boy or girl? I've never really paid much attention to owls so I have no idea which is which," he asked with open interest.
"Girl."
"Well then she is absolutely gorgeous. She won't bite me will she?" asked Skull grinning.
"Just don't pull any feathers and you should be fine," said Reed.
She took his hand and showed him how to stroke the breast feathers, which had Hedwig coo, pleased with the attention. Reed beamed when she saw how fascinated Skull was with her owl.
On a whim, she relocated Hedwig to Skull's shoulder, which had him stiffen for a moment until the bird tried to put some order to his messy purple hair.
"She likes you," said Reed amused.
Skull let out a nervous laugh, but after a while forgot he had an owl on his shoulder to begin with.
Skull went with Reed to the dealership. Since she had no idea how to drive one, it was unlikely she knew whether she was being ripped off or not.
Finding out she could pay in full was a bit shocking, but learning she had a massive inheritance that she had no idea what to do with was a minor matter. It also explained why she didn't mind being paid so little by the troupe, since she had yet to make herself one of them.
She didn't need the money. She wanted a purpose and a place to belong.
It all added up to something that made Skull very pissed off to whoever it was that hurt her so badly. He really, really didn't want to confirm the abuse that he suspected.
Skull had to appreciate the sensible attitude Reed had. She completely bypassed the hi-tech crap and went straight to the far more reasonably priced ones that were much easier to maintain. She didn't need some monstrous big-screen or fancy do-dads to be happy. She just needed a space to live and work in peace that didn't look ostentatious.
Besides, if she drove up in one of those fancy RV's she would only ostracize herself from the troupe. It would look very out of place, and she'd never truly fit in. Most of the vehicles were at least ten years old, after all.
Skull eyed the modest 'two-bedroom' RV that had a modest built in kitchen, an actual bathroom with an acceptable-sized shower (small as hell, but Reed was rather petite so she'd be alright), two closets and a small space where you could put a living room and maybe a small flat screen on the wall. The top even had two emergency hatches, and the engine was in good working order. There was even a CD player in the driver's section.
In short it was basically a traveling apartment barely the length of a small limo and had an attachment that would allow him to hook up the spare bike to the back. Both of them, if they could get a proper trailer to hook to the back of the vehicle.
The only problem was that it was a bit pricey and trailers didn't come cheap.
"So this is the best one?" asked Reed.
"Yeah, but the price tag is a bit high for my tastes and there's only room for one of the bikes."
"We can get a trailer, if you know where to get one. I don't mind," said Reed.
"You sure?" asked Skull dubiously.
"We're going to be travel buddies, after all. Besides, I have absolutely no idea what's good and what's not when it comes to vehicles anyway," admitted Reed. "I might be able to figure out how to change a tire, but everything else..."
Mind made up, Skull went with her to haggle the price down. Reed was better at it than he was, to his surprise, but she didn't fight overly hard. How she managed to get a small trailer added into the final cost was a bit baffling, but it saved them the trouble of having to look.
Sitting behind the wheel of their newly acquired ride, with the trailer hitched to the back, Skull couldn't help but feel how surreal the situation was. He barely knew Reed at all and yet he had just gone shopping for the equivalent of a small traveling house with her.
And the weird thing was that he didn't really mind. It almost felt natural that they'd share space together, rather than claustrophobic like he was expecting.
It had caused more than a few frictions in the past... Skull hated having to share long car rides and would ride his bike if the weather allowed.
So the fact he slipped into easy banter with Reed while sharing the same close space was a bit odd. And that wasn't even factoring in the pet owl and...
"He's coming with us?!"
That damn snake!
"He finds my body heat relaxing, and I can easily get a tank for him," she assured him. "I'm calling him Sycamore."
"...You're naming a snake after a tree? Is it because we found him close to a sycamore grove?" asked Skull baffled.
"Actually it's because sycamore in the Victorian flower language means 'reserve', 'curiosity' and 'woodland beauty'," she corrected him. "The fact we found him by a sycamore grove was just a happy coincidence."
"Do you know how to milk his fangs at least, in case of accidents?"
"I have a general idea. It's not that hard to look it up," said Reed easily.
"So what does reed mean?" asked Skull, pulling up to where the caravan was waiting.
"It's synonymous with music," said Reed easily. "It comes from Greek mythology when Pan chased after a fair nymph who pleaded the river for assistance in escaping him. The moment she touched the water she became a bed of reeds, which Pan cut down to make a set of pipes."
Skull grimaced at that.
"So instead of sleeping with her, he turned her into a musical instrument instead? Talk about graphic."
"If you think that's bad you should hear some of the other stories about the Greek and Roman pantheon," she said dryly. "Did you know Persephone is actually Hades' niece and he still tricked her into marrying him? Or that if you look at Zeus' exploits from a different angle he could easily be seen as a serial rapist?"
Skull made a face. Then he looked at her oddly.
"How do you know all this stuff anyway?"
"I find reading more relaxing than television," she admitted. "I like music, but most shows tend to bore me or make me feel like my brain is rotting from how stupid they are."
It didn't help that she wasn't allowed to watch TV at all growing up, so she had to find other ways to distract herself. And hiding in the library for hours had encouraged a deep love of books.
She just didn't like obsessing over homework that would be forgotten about once she graduated anyway.
Skull finished tying down his bikes and making sure everything was secure, before coming back in. Reed had taken the chance to move in what little she had. Skull had given the medium sized trunk an odd look but didn't say anything.
"Ready to hit the road?" he grinned. This was always his favorite part, so long as he was able to drive.
"Absolutely," she said with a matching grin on her face.
That she didn't cast even a single glance behind her said volumes. Skull kept his silence as to his suspicions on why. It wasn't his place to ask, not yet.