Redhawk Caldera i could travel just by folding a map. [MFT]

The plot thickens!

Even as he backed away from her, Elwood was bracing himself for some sort of attack -- whether it was physical or verbal. He was starting to cotton on to the fact that every time they got too close, it was like Finley became an opposing magnetic force. She was quick to push herself away, with varying intensity.

This time, however, she lingered. He wished that he could hear her thoughts -- he could just see her mind whirring, spinning out of control with logic and emotion and whatever else made up Finley Blackthorn. He hadn't exactly intended his action to be so loaded, but there was no reversing time -- he couldn't take it back now, and he could only wait for the inevitable blow that Finley would deal him.

When she finally spoke, his eyes widened and his brows raised in surprise. "Don't fall in love with me," she teased, though there was a seriousness in her expression and her voice that gave him pause. He would have expected her to give a flirtatious shrug and bound away from him, inviting him to join her on their next adventure, but instead her gaze never left his.

How was he supposed to react to that? What even gave her the right to assume that he was falling in love with her in the first place? He felt a brief surge of anger, though the emotion died down as quickly as it had risen. It was replaced by a quiet determination, which he masked with a devilish grin. Two could play this game -- she was so good at deflecting her feelings and brushing them casually under the rug. It was time for him to give it a try.

With a roll of his eyes, Elwood turned and started to skate away from her. He snorted, exhaling sharply through his nostrils, and threw a glance back over his shoulder. "You wish," he said confidently; he wouldn't be so easy and predictable as she expected him to be.