Surprise!
Characters: Autumn and Mazie Setting: the cafeteria, morning
Mazie had gotten a good couple hours of sleep settled awkwardly on Adam’s bed, but when she woke up she had a crick in her neck from the strange, seated position and she was starving again. Slipping away and out of the room after leaving a small note on Adam’s computer saying that she was headed out so he wouldn’t freak if he woke up, Mazie headed to the hallway. For once she wished she had a hair-tie as her hair was just hanging in her face and she would rather it be off it for now, not to mention it was a hot mess from the awkward sleeping space and the lack of washing since she’d gotten here, but that wasn’t on Mazie’s mind. Food definitely was, though, and she was heading just past her own door to get to the staircase nearby.
Autumn had gotten up early, and had checked the computer. After reading her message, confused, she ran down to the cafeteria to see what the heck she had, still in pj shorts and a tank top. She didn't know what to expect. After all, she'd gotten her bubble bath, and assumed her other request was too much.
When she peeked in the box, she literally squeed, then went tearing off towards Mazie's room. Which, she spotted the blonde on her way, and she rushed up, beaming brightly. She practically crashed into Mazie, grabbing the blonde by the upper arms. "Mazie! You have to come with me! Like, right now! And you have to close your eyes, and promise to keep them shut til I say it's okay!"
Woah. Very early morning and very hyper Autumn. Which was cute, sure, but Mazie’s mind was still trying to catch up with everything else. Apparently she had to go somewhere with Autumn, right now, and keep her eyes shut? “Ok but where are we going? And do I have to keep my eyes shut on the stairs? You don’t want me to do that, trust me.” The hell was she so excited about? Something good apparently. And if Autumn wanted her to go somewhere, she’d go, regardless of early morning-ness.
"Okay so you don't have to take the stairs with your eyes shut..." Autumn said, grabbing Mazie's hand and dragging her towards the stairwell. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon..." she said, unable to reign in her exuberance. She noticed that it appeared Mazie desperately needed a shower, and she mentally made a note. She'd have to try to gently get that involved at some point. Mazie had warned her she forgot to do vital things.
It was hard not to get caught up in Autumn’s demeanor right now. She was so happy and honestly just easier to smile at Autumn and go with her towards the stairs. If going with her on wherever they were going was going to make he that happy, Mazie sure as hell wasn’t going to stop it. “So we’re going downstairs then?” She asked, grinning a little since Autumn hadn’t said they were. Mazie knew Autumn wasn’t going to give her any clues even if she asked for them. So maybe a little trickery had been used, with a bit of wishful thinking because the kitchen was downstairs.
"Downstairs, yes." Autumn said, talking the steps two at a time as she bounded down them. Then she opened up the door out into the main area. "Okay now you have to close your eyes." she said, slipping in behind Mazie, to cover her eyes with her hands.
Though that was something Mazie wasn’t expecting, she was definitely on board for it. It was nice to feel Autumn so close and she closed her eyes even after the girl covered them with her hands. “Ok, so what’s downstairs that’s so important?” She asked, feeling her hands reach out instinctively even though she knew Autumn wouldn’t let her trip or run into anything.
"You'll see!" Autumn said, getting them to the cafeteria. She'd opened the box, so the game was there, in it's full glory. She'd taken the time to plug it in, too, and yank chairs from nearby tables to put next to it. She absolutely couldn't wait to see the look on Mazie's features. So she was possibly rushing them a little fast. But they got there without incident, and Autumn walked Mazie close to the game. "Okay. I'm going to count to three." she told her.
"One...two..." she took her hands away. "Three!"
Whatever Mazie was expecting, it sure as hell wasn’t this. The sounds should have given it away but she hadn’t believed it until she’d seen it. When Autumn’s hands fell away, her eyes opened and she just stared, mouth agape, eyes wide at the scene before her. “Holy shit...There’s a...we’ve got a Space Invaders game?!” She headed right for it, letting her hands run across the side of the table, smiling even more at the smooth, clear plastic cover. “God, it’s beautiful...How did we get a Space Invaders game?” She asked, tearing her eyes away from it for a moment before looking back at Autumn. This was definitely like Christmas, like all of her Christmases combined more likely.
Autumn was standing there, absolutely beaming. She bounced on the balls of her feet, hands clasped at her chest as she watched. "I requested it." she told her, giddy with Mazie's reaction. "With your tattoo, and everything else, I just...thought you'd like it. And I can't believe they actually provided it! So, go you, Administration! You rock!" she called towards the ceiling. Then she looked back at Mazie. "You like?"
Mazie was looking down at the controls when Autumn said that. Turning, she found herself just staring back at Autumn, absolutely stunned. She’d requested this for her? With only three days of knowing Mazie, Autumn had requested something this monumental for her. She didn’t do this often or ever but if there was ever a time for it, now would be that time. Heading back over to Autumn, Mazie wrapped her arms around the girl in a hug and pulled her close. “This is amazing, Autumn. I can’t believe you did this...Thank you.” She’d done this for her or because of her, however you wanted to look at it..that meant something.
Laughing, Autumn hugged Mazie back tight. "You're welcome!" she said. "I'd thought they were going to blow me off, I requested it the first day along with bubble bath, and they only gave me that. So I figured it was too much. But look! Here it is!" she said. "I figured you could fix it so we didn't need quarters." she added, pulling back enough to smile at Mazie.
“You requested it the first day?” She still had her arms around Autumn, unable to pry them away from the girl because she kept telling her things that made her want to keep hugging her. “Autumn...this is the most...best thing anyone’s ever done for me.” She was positive it was, aside from the year her parents gave her a computer. The two events were warring now for most awesome thing ever and honestly, this was starting to win. Autumn had barely known her the first day and she’d requested this. “And I get to work on it...Autumn, this is...Wow. How are you so amazing?” She asked, looking back at Autumn again and smiling, grinning really.
Autumn watched Mazie's eyes, just smiling back at her. "It didn't cost me anything. Never costs anything to be good to people. I'm one of those people who thinks there ought to be a little more honey in the world than vinegar, and I've got to put that out there somehow, right? So, I met you, and I just thought it would be cool. Thought you'd like it and we could get to play together, and maybe have a tournament or something with others." She leaned a little closer, playfully nuzzling Mazie's nose ever so slightly. "And maybe I just wanted to see you smile."
Autumn was just incredible. The more Mazie listened, the more she wondered how someone could honestly be this amazing. “You’re all honey anyway, I don’t think I could ever see a drop of vinegar in you. Guess I have enough vinegar to count for both of us,” She said, but shut right up when Autumn leaned in closer and nuzzled Mazie’s nose. Which was way more than anyone had done in the way of cute, intimate gestures and definitely something she didn’t want from anyone but Autumn. She could feel her cheeks heat up and just sort of stood there, watching Autumn, but ended up smiling at her. “Well, it’s hard not to smile when you’re around.” Looking back at the machine, Mazie could feel herself start to attribute this moment here to that machine. Just like with her parents and her computer at home, the space invaders game here would forever be this moment. “Want to help me with the tweaking of it, so we don’t need quarters?”
"I sure do!" Autumn said brightly. "I can't wait to play." she added, grinning as she finally stepped back, looking at the game again. She walked closer, looking down at the screen there. "It'll be really fun. What are you going to need? I can hold tools and offer colorful swearing options should it prove difficult."
Mazie smiled, walking over with Autumn to stand next to her by the table. She found herself leaning against it to look down at the screen but then knelt down and reached for the door, locked, that would open up the electrical compartment. “We’re gonna have to pick this unless there’s a key for it. Otherwise, probably a good cross-reference of tools, wrenches, wire cutters, maybe a soldering iron...We could go check the tool shed but I don’t want to leave the game yet...” She smirked back up at Autumn. “You have to be careful, you know..with what you say from now on. Anything I hear that you might end up wanting, I’m gonna request it all. Make your room full of boxes from presents.”
Laughing, Autumn grinned. "You don't have to do that." she said. "Besides...you to test out this awesome bubble bath I got when I got those. It smells heavenly and makes your skin soooo soft, and I absolutely have to share it with someone." she told her. "But it can wait til you're ready to walk away from this beauty." she said, petting the top of the game.
“Not sure when that’ll be, actually,” She said with a smile as she looked back over at the game. “You wanna share your bubble bath with me?” Mazie asked as she glanced Autumn’s way. “You don’t have to do that. You’re the one who was dying for them, right? I wouldn’t want to take that from you.”
"Of course!" Autumn said. "What's the point of having nice things if you can't share them? Besides, they actually gave me quite the assortment. I love me some bubble bath, but I'm not going to be taking them every day or anything." she added. Plus she knew Mazie needed to bathe, and this was the most sideways way to get her to do it without actually drawing attention to the fact that Mazie needed to bathe. She was happy to put it out there in utterly different terms, with connotations that weren't anywhere near 'you're lookin kinda greasy'.
“Well, if you want to share with me, I’ll use some of whatever you want me to. I don’t really think about that stuff much plus they’re your bubble baths so you just pick which one you want me to use and I’ll do it.” Mazie said, poking at the locked door as it pushed a little but didn’t open. “We definitely need to unlock this. Did it come with a key? One of those weird circular ones?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe check the box?” Autumn suggested, thinking she was going to pick out a specific scent for Mazie. Something kind of bolder, maybe something that had a sandalwood scent involved. She walked back to the box, looking things over. “Can you break into it even if we don’t have the key?” she asked.
“Probably. Scratch that, I definitely will. Hell, even if we can’t open it, there’s bound to be someone around here who’s picked a lock once or twice in their lifetime. We were all in jail, right? Guessing that gives us a good pool of people to access for lockpicking.” She poked again at the door, pushing it so that she could try and peer at the metal forbidding them entrance into the electrical compartment, then she looked back Autumn’s way. “Anything?”
"No, sorry." Autumn said, though she was still smiling. "So, let's go on an adventure, get tools, we can fix this bad boy up and get to playing?" she suggested. And she'd get that bath thing going later, when it wouldn't come off as her pushing it at an odd time. "Come, my lady. Let us depart on this adventure." she said formally, holding her hand out to Mazie.
Mazie stood up, taking Autumn's hand as soon as it was offered. She grinned at her words, shaking her head but thinking she might as well play along, even if she didn't really ever feel like a lady. "..And depart we shall!" She said, starting them off towards the courtyard and ultimately the toolshed, ready to scour for any kind of tool they might be able to use to get the game playable for free.