(LOG) Playpen Fun!
BACKDATED: Tuesday night, August 19, 2008

In which David (Caldwell, not Schaefer - that would break brains) and Erin break into a kid's buffet to play in the ball pit and David proceeds to fail repeatedly when they return.

Erin
David


Normally she wouldn't have accepted a stranger's invitation so quickly. But he looked nice enough, he was a student at the university, and he'd made the request in public - if he did anything to her, he'd just be plain dumb. Plus, she hadn't really felt any kind of hostility in him, and her first impressions were usually right (or, at least, they'd never failed her before).

Five to ten, a little before the arranged time, she came out of the Eir building, wearing - well, it was what she'd said she'd be wearing, but it was also what she was always wearing, so no surprises there.

She waited around a little excitedly for David to show up. If she'd read it right, he was suggesting they did something like sneak into a kid's buffet, and while that was illegal (Gerard was going to yell at her later, she just knew it), it was also harmless, right? It isn't as though they'd be stealing anything.

About two minutes later, David arrived, surprised to see someone standing outside of Eir already. Normally girls took longer before they came out, but they liked seeing someone waiting for them. He smiled and waved as he approached. "Erin, right?"

She smiled in turn, a little surprised that he was in fact as good-looking as the pictures suggested. Never a bad thing to have something nice to look at. "Yeah. And you're David, yeah? Nice to meet you."

"Pleasure to meet you as well," David let his smile widen. Nice-looking girl, even if she probably wouldn't have much he could use. But first impressions were important to keep at least. He patted his pocket to make sure he had everything, then jerked a thumb in the direction he came from. "Ready for some mischief?"

The smile turned into a bit of a grin. "You're sure we won't get caught?" He didn't look the street-smart type, she had to admit, but there was something about him that seemed to indicate that he was. Maybe the way he walked, or talked, or even his expression when he said the word "mischief". It gave off sort of a familiar feeling, she wasn't sure why.

David grinned and waved off her concerns. "That's the thrill of it. But don't worry, I don't want to get caught either. And it's not like we're stealing anything. It'll be okay."

"Well I didn't figure you did, but you know. Not everyone has what it takes." It was half a challenge and half a joke, but it was true. A lot of the kids got in serious trouble because they weren't sharp enough for the reality on the streets. Granted, this was less about being street smart and more about being sneaky, but sneaky was a part of it. "But as long as you're quick and quiet." That sounded kind of wrong, but oh well.

"You just leave that to me and enjoy the playpen." David took that challenge to heart. Damn right he was proud, if secretive, about his lock-picking skills and dodging security cameras. He held his hand out in offering. "C'mon, there's a place not too far with the perfect opportunity coming up." He'd scoped the place out first, after all.

"Hah! You did your homework." She seemed to not notice his hand, though, and just walked up to him to walk side-by-side. "Let's go then, oh kind stranger." There had to be a reason why he was being so nice to her, and she suspected it wasn't because of his own love for playpens, but hey. Playpens. Who cared what his intentions were? Worse came to worst she could just kick him where it hurt and take off. It wouldn't be the first time.

David chuckled and dropped his hand. Confident type. He'd have to remember that. "I'd have to be pretty dumb to not prepare at least a little bit, even if this was on a whim." He started walking, taking her down the darker areas outside of the campus to make sneaking in easier.

And there, in giant letters, was the local children's buffet and play area. There was a side door with a broken lamp they could use. David had already gone inside earlier and checked out the security, which was hilariously lax with fake security cameras. He turned and grinned at Erin as they stepped onto the unlit doormat of the side door. "Want to back out? Now's the time."

"After hiking all the way here? No way." The place was completely deserted, looked like. So far, so good. Didn't look like one could tell that the lights were lit from the outside, either. Which was a great thing, since it'd be sort of strange to play around in the dark.

David grinned and reached into his pocket. "Then here we go."

He pulled out a card and a slim piece of wire, then set to work on the only two locks that were on the side door, being as quiet and as quick as he could be. Then there was a soft but audible click. David glanced at Erin. "We're in." And he slowly opened the door, peeking in to make sure the way was clear before he slipped inside and held the door for her.

Oh, experienced at lockpicking? How handy. She gave the surroundings a final glance before slipping in past him. Swordface was going to kill her, but damn, playpen. "You're full of surprises. ...God, that's so cliché, I'm sorry." She snickered a bit, feeling around in the dark for a wall to lean on. If he knew how to break in, he knew how to move around, and where the light switches were.

David closed and locked the door behind them, just so it didn't look any different to anyone outside, then felt around until he found the door to the left, opening it up quietly. There wasn't an alarm system in place here either, so he wasn't worried. He switched the light on inside the next room, then gestured for Erin to follow him inside.

Wow, security seemed pretty darn horrible. She supposed that people didn't often break into kids' buffets...

She quietly followed him as ordered, not wanting to turn and look behind her out of being almost certain that Gerard would be there giving her an angry look and being all BUT YOU'RE BREAKING INTO SOMEONE'S BUSINESS at her. And obviously playpens were more important.

David lead the way down a hallway, then opened another door. "We're here," he whispered as he hit the lights. And there was a giant playpen of balls with slides and everything, goofy cartoon characters decorating the walls.

Her eyes and smile widened like a little kid who'd just seen the awesomest thing ever. "Come on, come on!" She almost immediately grabbed him by the arm and climbed on the edge of the playpen, pulling him to climb with her. Oh man, playpen! ...But first...

"Well, you went through all the trouble of bringing me here..." She grinned a bit at him, and snuck up a hand behind his back. "You should do the honors!" And she pushed him.

Really, David hadn't been expecting to play too much because this was for her! Let alone be dragged to the ball pit. But then, he supposed playing alone was kind of dumb too- "Whoa!" he yelped as he fell into the pit, sinking down under the balls before he shoved himself back up.

"Hey, that's not fair!" he protested, reaching out and pulling Erin into the playpen with him.

She laughed a little when he sunk, but that lasted very little since the next she knew she was being dragged into the playpen and on top of David. Dammit, she should've seen it coming.

"Hey!" She protested in turn, and proceeded to push him down under the balls before climbing off of him, readying some ball ammunition for when he surfaced again... a little longer... a little longer... and fling!

Ha! Square in the forehead. "Score!"

"Why you-!" David made a dive for her, intent on some revenge (though really, she was still a girl, he had to watch out for that).

Thank goodness for her athletic side! She managed to dodge off to the side, flinging another ball at him in the process. Ooh, square in the forehead again. "Annnnd score! You're falling behind!"

"I'll get you yet, my pretty!" David laughed, flinging a ball at her in desperation. He was a high jumper, not a shotput athlete!

"You'll need to try harder than that, good sir!" She blocked the ball fairly easily - Gerard's training had only just started, but it seemed to go as well as it possibly could! "Come on, I'll even be nice and let you try again." Now this was 100% a challenge.

Why that little-! David threw two balls this time, hoping the other would catch her while she dodged the first.

Well, it was almost like breaking into a hip-hop in the middle of a playpen, but dodge them she did! And stylishly, to boot. She'd done quicker swinging around when dancing before! "No, no! That's not how you do it!"

Erin smirked, dug her arms into the ball pit and swung them forward, sending a wave of multicolored balls at the young man. "See? This way you can't miss!" Oh yes, that was a taunt. "Better start putting up some competition, good sir!" And that, too.

David ducked most of the ones he could, then launched himself out while Erin was distracted with all her throwing, grabbing her and knocking her down into the balls. Let's see her dodge this!

"Eek!" Well, she couldn't very well dodge while he was grabbing her, and down into the balls she went. Well, that... sort of counted as competition, even if it was totally unfair.

Also, being surrounded by plastic balls with a guy on top of you was a very... um, unique experience, a little on the bad side of unique, even if said guy was really hot. She flailed a bit, trying to break free, to no avail - and wound up accidentally activating the power Gerard had granted her through the pact and cutting up a few of the balls in the process. ...Erm, she'd have to work on controlling it a bit more, looked like.

"I win!" David crowed as he got up off of Erin, pleased with his tackling of her down into the ball pit and the flailing that went with it. COMPLETELY clueless over the few balls that had been sliced open, but who cared? He won! "You okay down there?" he called.

What did he mean, he won? All he did was tackle her! Plus, she could do better, just watch...

She moved around under the balls, flipping on her belly and rotating so she would be facing his legs. Of course, from the surface, the most he'd be able to tell was that she was moving, but not surfacing, and hopefully that'd throw him off long enough for her to...

...grab his ankles and yank them upwards while she stood, of course.

David frowned as he saw her moving under the surface. He looked around, trying to keep track of where she was. What was she doi-

"Ack!" He fell back as his ankles went up, sinking into the balls.

"Who wins now, huh?" Erin laughed a little, and quickly moved away so that he wouldn't do the same thing to her, and... sdjfsdl when did those balls get cut in half?!

She quickly stuffed them into her jacket's pockets and zipped them back up - thankfully it was only two balls, so they were pretty inconspicuous.

David pushed himself up out of the ball pit. "Fine, fine, you win," he gave in, sticking his tongue out at her. "But only the first battle! We've still got time before we ought to get going, so prepare yourself!" He laughed, ducking under again.

"Well fine, if you insist!" She laughed in turn, and went on to do the same.

~*~and because Anrui and Neon can only have so many posts of these two being big (adorable) children, this is a timeskip! Fun times were had, there were amazing Titanic impressions (even if Jack died ;_; ), and they kept on being amazingly retarded until it was almost dawn, and they had to skedaddle. And now they were back at Eir dorm where the madness started. Yay! ~*~

Erin had been giggling herself silly since they got out of the buffet. Sure, they had snuck into someone else's business, and she'd damaged some of the balls, but damn, she couldn't remember having this much fun in a while. And... damn, the birds were chirping, and she was starting to get hungry.

"Want to grab something to eat before you go? We can act like it's breakfast at this hour..."

David's snickers slowed as they stopped in front of Eir. He checked his watch. It was definitely early enough for breakfast. And his stomach was approving of this plan very much. "Sounds like a good idea, honestly. The local diner?"

"Nope, right here," she pointed out. "Well, not here here, but wait here a bit, all right?"

And off into the dorm she went. Erin-made breakfast beat the local diner's any day, after all, and she had readied some emergency breakfast supplies just in case... he wasn't the only one who'd made preparations.

David blinked at that. Wait out here? What was she doing, stealing it from her dorm director or something? No way, she didn't seem that kind of a girl. So then...

Wait, she was cooking it?

She walked out of the dorm a good twenty minutes later, carrying a basket, covered by a cloth, that smelled twenty kinds of good in one hand, and a bag with two liquid containers in the other. "Sorry that took a while."

"I know a good spot to eat not too far from here," she said, motioning in its general direction. "Warm, quiet, and no risk of random uninvited guests!"

David stared down at the basket and bag. Dear God, whatever was under there smelled incredibly good. His stomach growled. Embarassed and a little red from it, he coughed, then waved. "Lead the way."

Lead the way she did, and about five minutes of walking later, they reached a spot not very farm from the dorm, surrounded by trees, which looked surprisingly pretty with the morning sunlight seeping in between the leaves.

"It looks best at around this hour," she pointed out, setting the basket down and sitting on the grass. Erin put down each of the bottles, pointing at the first, then the second. "One's chocolate milk, the other's juice. I figured coffee wouldn't be too nice if we're sleeping after eating." And then she pulled the cloth off the basket, pulling out a blue box - one of her usual lunchboxes, since she couldn't find a better container for bacon&eggs - and handed it to him along with a fork and a knife. "There's also some crackers, pancakes, honey and maple syrup to go with... a carton of milk, some cereal, and strawberries." Well, it was breakfast, sort of.

David stared, taken aback. When was the last time someone had cooked him anything without it being out of obligation or because he was playing them for everything they had? His mother was probably the last one to do that, and that was years ago. He opened the box to look at what was inside. His favorite too! How...

"T-Thank you..." he stuttered after a moment, still very much off-guard from this. "You didn't have to..."

She chuckled a little, setting down a glass next to him. "You went and broke into someone's place just to get me to a playpen, you know. You're in no position to tell me I didn't have to." His seemingly touched reaction went by... completely unnoticed. Sigh Erin. "Chocolate or juice? Oh, it's orange juice, by the way."

"Orange juice," David immediately went for. Chocolate was good, but he preferred it not as breakfast. Not like he had as a kid. Chocolate puff cereal with chocolate milk.

And really, he guessed Erin had a point. It was still unexpected, though. Most girls would just thank him for a good time and leave it at that, or have him pay for breakfast out. Well, whatever, he could go with the flow. As long as he was thankful (which wouldn't be that hard, if the smell of the food had any bearing), it'd work out okay.

She poured him some juice, and set the bottle down. "It's not sweetened because the oranges were pretty good, but if you still want sugar there's some here," she pointed out, showing him a small container in the basket.

He looked pretty happy about the food, and that made her happy in turn. It was always good to see someone enjoying something she cooked (even if at that point it'd become pretty common), especially guys. They tended to be more honest in their expressions than girls. Erin smiled a little before turning her attention back to the basket and picking out a couple of pancakes with honey for herself.

"Natural OJ all the way. No sugar for me," David said, turning down the offer for a sweetener. Even if he preferred it sweeter, it just didn't seem right to throw sugar on top of it. He always felt strongly about that.

He cut into some of the scrambled eggs and ate a forkful. There was no way he could stop the grin on his face. "Mm-" David had to pause to finish chewing and swallow. "This is delicious!" And he meant it! Shock of shocks!

She grinned, obviously flattered. She knew she could cook well, yes, but compliments to confirm it always made her happy. "Glad you like it." Erin watched him eat for a bit before eating, herself. She wasn't sure what to make of David - at first his invitation to sneak into the kids' buffet sounded... unnaturally nice, like a con artist. But back at the ball pit he seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself, and his laughs didn't seem forced on the way back, and the reaction to the food seemed pretty genuine, too. Maybe she'd been paranoid over nothing, or maybe he'd been positively surprised by her in the end, or maybe...

This was.... almost unnatural. It went against his usual character. David was not prone to actually being genuine because it had gotten him into trouble more often than he liked to count. Faking it at least gave him some distance in case he had to make a run for it. But this...

This was hard to resist. Really good, homemade food. It was rather nostalgic, but it was rare, and David wasn't about to just pass up on it. "You cooked this all yourself?"

"Mm, yeah." She took a bite of her pancakes before continuing. "I used to cook for a lot of people when I was little, so I got used to it. Which is a good thing, since now I make lunchboxes and treats and stuff like that to sell here, helps make a little bit of money." After all, with the kind of clothes she constantly wore, anyone would notice - even at first glance - that she had to be broke. Or was a really eccentric rich kid, but since she acted nothing like a rich kid, it was decidedly broke. "Hadn't eaten homemade food in a while, huh?"

David shook his head, willing to admit that. It got him free food sometimes, and if it didn't, well it wasn't a big deal. "Not in a long time. I can't really cook all that well either." He glanced at her as he ate, then was a bit sheepish in tone. "I kind of suck that way."

"Ha! You talk like you're the only person out there who can't cook." She snickered. "If everyone could cook, chefs would be doomed." So, he couldn't cook. And he didn't look like he was exactly rich, either. If he had to break into a kids' buffet... more like he didn't have much to his name, like her. So... how exactly was he going to make a living here? Did he have a job? Hm.

"Bah." David grinned. "Chefs would still make money off of the people who are too lazy or too tired to cook, even if they knew how." And how he was planning to earn money was his business, but he wasn't going to say that.

"Heh, you got a point. Though they'd be making a lot less money still." She watched him finish up and did so, herself, and specifically waited for him to seem like he was going to say something like 'thanks for the food' or 'we should get going' or something along those lines before pulling out a small package from the basket, intentionally hidden under an additional cloth at the bottom, and tossing it to him. "Catch!"

It was a prettily decorated pack of large, chewy, and quite possibly the most delicious-looking homemade cookies he'd ever seen. Having food look good was part of the business, after all. Not that the cookies weren't delicious, themselves.

David caught the package, startled from the nice and easy ending he was planning to use on Erin, and looked down at it. Cookies? Gigantic, moist, sweet looking cookies, oh god was she trying to ruin his reputation without knowing it?!

"F-for me?" He stared at Erin.

"Yup," she said with a little grin as she cleaned up the small mess they'd left. "On the house." Not that breakfast hadn't been, but then again, she'd also eaten. Unlike the cookies.

She finished placing things back into the basket and bag and stood, watching him amusedly for a bit. He was just like a little kid when it came to these things... he probably didn't get treated very often. "They're pretty chewy. Hope you like chocolate chip cookies."

It was bad enough David actually really liked chocolate chip cookies. What made it worse was that there was no way to give them back. That would only insult girls. And besides, cookies! For him! Who knew?

"Thank you..." David glanced up at her, then started as he saw her finish cleaning up. Well snap, he'd been too surprised to notice. "Ah, I should have helped you put those away, at least..."

"Oh, no worries. And don't mention it!" She was way too used to cleaning up after messes - her own or, usually, other people's. "We should probably get going, huh? My roommate's gonna get worried if she realizes I was gone all night."

Did he just get "nice and easy"d? My god, when did he let the tables turn this much? David certainly wasn't out of practice. Was he?

"Right, right." He stood up, brushed himself off, and tucked the package into his pocket. "I'll walk you back to your dorm. Here." He held a hand out, offering to take the trash for her.

"Oh, don't sweat it, I could use some morning exercise," she said, referring to taking the trash herself. He seemed the type of guy who would try to sweet-talk people and be a gentleman and whatnot, and she'd broken that so far, she wasn't about to let him take control now. It sounded like he'd become a totally different person when that happened, and she liked him this way (even if they'd just met like ten hours before, shh).

Well damn, he was getting out-played. This kind of sucked. But David played along. "If you say so..."

He had to face it, he was doomed. But at least he could hold some face and walk her back to her dorm.

She paused for a moment, thinking about something, before she wrapped the cloth more firmly around the basket so the contents wouldn't spill easily, and grinned a little. "Say, how about I race you to the dorm? Holding the basket and bag, as handicap, since I'm in track club. If you can beat me you get an extra batch of cookies. Deal?"

Yes. Yes, he was getting out-played.

What? No way. But turning her down would make him look like a coward. Oh damn it, he was getting out-played.

"You are so on." David shot a smirk at her.

"Well then!" She got in position and waited for him to do the same. "Ready? Set! Go-" And off running they went. The extra weight slowed her down, and more people in the track club would have been able to beat her (normally, Naoko and Darin were the only ones who could - a fact that always aggravated her, but she supposed there was always someone better), but someone unused to running for more than a minute?

Welcome to the reason why she managed a sports scholarship in the first place, David! She was fast. (Or rather, she could easily adapt and optimize her running under most circumstances thanks to a certain potential, but that was neither here nor there.)

There was a reason he was just a high-jumper, not an all out track star. And this was one of them! While David was good at long-distance running, relatively short fast sprints were way beyond him.

There was no way he could win, especially once he saw how fast Erin was. (Well, that meant they'd run into each other more often anyways.) By the end of it, David was panting and bent double, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath in front of her dorm building. "You... are fast..." he managed.

She chuckled, setting the bag and basket down inside the building, signaling for the guard to watch it for her for a bit. "Yeah. I got in with a sports scholarship because of track." Erin wasn't one to boast, though, so the statement came out quite natural-sounding. "You okay there? Need some water?"

"No, no, I'm good." David waved it off. He would just get water later when he was back in his dorm room. "I'm here for high-jumping. Just not good at running."

"Sports too, huh?" Well, that was another thing they had in common, looked like. "Come on, I'll walk you to your dorm. If you're not very used to sprinting your legs could give out or cramp up and you wouldn't have anyone to lean on by yourself, and hurt them more! Can't have that happen if you're an athlete."

If this was Mortal Kombat, the announcer would've just said something along the lines of 'Erin wins, flawless victory. FATALITY'.

Shit shit shit, no, bad, hurry David, refuse! "No, no, I'm okay!" David reassured Erin as he straightened up. "Just let me catch my breath and I'll be okay. See? Fit as a whistle." He smiled.

"A broken whistle, sure!" She was absolutely set on going with him, to his dismay. "Come on, I know what I'm talking about. Plus, we walked around a lot today. Your legs may be in worse shape than you'd think."

"Don't worry, I'm just fine. I'll just rest a bit." David waved, inwardly panicking as everything he'd done was being easily unraveled by this girl. Who was she?!

"Shh, no protesting." She nonchalantly locked arms with him, since he'd decided to be difficult, and started off toward his dorm (had to be Loki, if he couldn't afford a playpen). "Also if your thighs start hurting give me a holler, I learned this terrific massage from the track club instructors that'll make any aching go away in a second. It's magical, really!" All that said with a big smile on her face. He wasn't going to put a spot on her perfect win, the nerve!

Doomed. Doomed doomed doomed doomed. Goddamn it, now he was going to have to work doubly hard at whoever he played up next. Preferably not close to her. Which was perfect, since she was in the less expensive dorm.

David didn't have much of a choice. Not with how she had linked arms with him and started to cheerfully drag him back to his dorm. "R-right..." he finally stuttered with his usual practice, thinking there was no way he'd ask her for a massage. That would just be humiliation on top of things.

VICTORY.