|
|
Post by downwardspiral on Jul 2, 2015 15:31:01 GMT
"Oui oui, c'est vrai," remarks Damian, who walks over proper from le edge de la rooftop, "I find it especially nice after le rain 'as passé, non? Though I am sure nobody 'ere is up 'ere because zey are up to something, non?"
|
|
|
|
Post by allofthefeels on Jul 2, 2015 15:38:27 GMT
On seeing Damian, Daniel's first reaction is one of mingled horror, bemusement ("Bonjour..."), and the urge to peer down into the quad to look for bodies. He does this, and sees-
Wait, is she with the new girl? Are they going to the theatre-? Oh, this is just like her. Anyone else and this might be assumed to be innocent. But not Eva. No, this is some ill-conceived attempt to rile him, and it's not going to work in the slightest. He leans over a little further to track their progress. And further. And maybe just a little too far.
-Only to hear Maxwell Byrd, lose his grip, and topple off the balcony, towards empty air.
|
|
|
|
Post by infiniteexponent on Jul 2, 2015 15:43:12 GMT
It is at this point that Arkady arrives on the rooftop, carrying the front end of a huge desk laden with precariously-positioned and probably stolen scientific equipment. Cassie is carrying the other end, while simultaneously dragging a massive tuba up the steps, scratching it quite considerably in the process. Arkady looks around in bemusement at the enormous rooftop clusterfuck. "What the bloody hell is going on here? Look, it doesn't matter - just clear a space around the centre. Make sure you're out of the blast radius." He offers a small, friendly wave to Mia, while Cassie, spotting Byrd, quietly spits out her gum and tries to look presentable.
|
|
|
|
Post by teampad4eva on Jul 2, 2015 15:49:21 GMT
Max doesn't have time for more people arriving, or Bia's grip on his arm. He sprints from the doorway towards Daniel's rapidly disappearing form and makes a hopeful swipe over the edge to catch him.
|
|
|
|
Post by downwardspiral on Jul 2, 2015 15:51:04 GMT
Damian peers over the edge, "Sacre bleu!"
|
|
|
|
Post by infiniteexponent on Jul 2, 2015 16:01:40 GMT
Arkady is honestly ambivalent towards Daniel's fate, but failing to lift a finger to save Mia's brother could plausibly sour his relationship with her. He clicks his fingers in Daniel's direction, and Cassie drops the desk and zooms over in his direction. Or Byrd's direction. It's hard to tell.
|
|
|
|
Post by undrwhelmingquestion on Jul 2, 2015 16:05:54 GMT
“Max? What’s he got to do with –” Mia cuts herself off sharply, remembering that the fake-dating ruse had been as much for Daniel’s sake as anything else. As recent eavesdropping data all but proves, he’s far too heavily invested in Young Enterprise to handle the truth. “- I mean. You know what I think of that callous bastard. He used me in order to get after-hours library access! And stole my I.D. badge! Not before – um, unceremoniously dumping me in the wake of all these illicit dealings.”
Or was that after? They never did settle on a story.
… The roof doors fly open to reveal a dripping wet, stunningly toned physique. Which is to say, the very same stunningly toned physique attached to the man in question – to whom, in turn, is attached her fellow Student Council member.
“Oh, for the love of god – ” mutters Mia, who can feel a tension headache already building.
Seriously? All it took to erase from that man’s mind their very precise appointment was several laps, a shower, and Bia?
It is at this point that her brother goes plummeting down over the balcony.
For the second time today, Hall Monitor-honed reflexes kick in, and Mia snatches at his shirt – though her well-timed rescue efforts are somewhat hampered by the vast, chaotic flurry of action that seems to be taking place in her near vicinity…
|
|
|
|
Post by allofthefeels on Jul 2, 2015 16:08:48 GMT
There is suddenly a very large stretch of very solid ground moving very rapidly towards Daniel. He has about time to think "Oh, f-", before-
Someone grabs his collar. His shirt makes an awkward tearing noise, but doesn't actually seem to rip. And then he's being yanked bodily back onto the rooftop, face first over the balcony.
He lands in a tangled heap, gasping and blushing furiously, on-
"Um."
-Max Byrd. Shirtless. Who appears to have been carried by their joint momentum into a puddle, at high velocity, and is now dripping with mud and rainwater.
Daniel tries for something witty.
"Um."
|
|
|
|
Post by infiniteexponent on Jul 2, 2015 16:31:11 GMT
Unfortunately for literally everybody in the immediate vicinity, Cassie's actions cause the desk, tuba and all, to tip over onto its side. As Arkady watches in what should be horror but is more akin to curiosity, the ignition system activates, propelling a massive gout of steam from the back of the tuba and a small black object from the front. It soars across the school, disappearing through the window of Mister India's classroom with a comical tinkling noise. There is a brief pause, during which Arkady holds his breath. As he releases it and starts to relax, the classroom is consumed in a fifty-foot high pillar of flame. Mister India, Arkady thinks, will not be very happy. He might also be very dead.
|
|
|
|
Post by undrwhelmingquestion on Jul 2, 2015 16:47:08 GMT
Just as Mia’s fingers close around Daniel’s collar, he is wrenched alarmingly from her grip. By some miracle of physics, this actually fails to propel her forward: in fact, her momentum is such that she ends up toppling backwards, arms windmilling out to slam against some poor, unsuspecting bystander’s face –
- which, judging by sheer texture of layered-on foundation, belongs to Cassie Zarovich.
As she and Cassie arc through the air, Mia hears an unidentifiable percussive groan, followed by a flatulent ‘whoosh’. Having no time to query this, she twists around to grab something solid – and ends up seizing on something that feels like the lapel of someone’s jacket. Someone’s familiarly greasy jacket. Shit. Shit, shit, shit – too late.
Realising her mistake, she quickly tries to amend it, but it is at this point that Cassie grabs onto the back of her collar, and she is instantly and inexplicably slammed forwards.
As she barrels into Arkady’s chest, light erupts at the edges of her vision, and she does her best to cover him. She squeezes her eyes, braces for impact, and reflects that, so far as dog-smelling parkas are concerned, there are probably still worse ways to go.
All three of them hit the floor in a demented sandwich: Arkady, then Mia, then Cassie.
She opens her eyes to find herself nose to nose with the architect of this debacle himself.
"Um."
|
|
|
|
Post by teampad4eva on Jul 2, 2015 16:51:03 GMT
Max is peripherally aware of Mia moving beside him, as he lunges for the disappearing Daniel. The edge of the balcony catches him high in the chest as he reaches over, and the force of catching Daniel one handed slams him into it again. Max feels the hot sting as blood blooms from scratches across his torso but he has Daniel by some part of his shirt and hefts him back over the wall.
There is a beautifully controlled moment when it looks like the worst part is over, and everyone is back on mostly rooftop, not dangling precariously, and then Max attempts to adjust his footing and his foot catches in Mia's bag, and Daniel's weight is no longer counter balanced and the two of them hit the roof together, in one of the few remaining puddles.
Max is pinned under Daniel, legs tangled, the younger student's head resting on his bare shoulder, his chest is spattered with water and dirt, and beaded with blood from the impact with the bricks.
"Um" His chest resonates with Daniel's statement and then there is a *WHOMF* as something, he has no idea what, explodes above and behind them.
Acting on an instint normally reserved for ladies, Max moves to cover the boy in his arms, and a moment later finds himself no worse the wear from the explosion, straddling Daniel on a slightly dryer piece of roof, and still shirtless and bleeding.
|
|
|
|
Post by infiniteexponent on Jul 2, 2015 16:58:17 GMT
Arkady grins up at Mia, genuinely ecstatic. "It works! The explosive potential was tripled at the least, and the firing system worked exactly as predicted!" Caught up in the moment, he throws his arms around Mia and gives her a hug and an enthusiastic kiss on the cheek, still lying on the rain-drenched rooftop and giggling faintly with glee. He seems entirely unaware of the fact that he nearly blew up the school, and indeed appears to have barely registered being unexpectedly taken out by Mia.
Cassie attempts to extricate herself from the pile and finds herself lying at Bia's feet, exhausted. Not to be discouraged, she seizes the opportunity to turn on the legendary Zarovich charm. "Hey gorgeous," she grins. And then, in a dimly surprised tone of voice; "I can see up your skirt from down here."
|
|
|
|
Post by undrwhelmingquestion on Jul 2, 2015 17:12:16 GMT
“I –” Mia stops to take a breath, face a rather fetching shade of brick.
She tries again. “You –” And once again, fails.
There’s a lecture to be delivered here. Something to the tune of prohibitively dangerous, blisteringly illegitimate combustion experiments on campus; the cons thereof. Or morally reprehensible decisions compounded by gross negligence; the supreme illegality thereof. She swears it’s on the tip of her tongue. But instead, what she ends up saying is something like –
“- Would you like to get coffee sometime?”
Damn that legendary Zarovich charm!
|
|
|
|
Post by downwardspiral on Jul 2, 2015 17:17:00 GMT
Up above, "GERONIMO!!!!!"
|
|
|
|
Post by allofthefeels on Jul 2, 2015 17:16:54 GMT
There is half a second during which Daniel's mind, bizarrely, chooses to register that Max's arms are warm. Then he is shoved onto his back as something explodes. He cringes, but feels no force.
It occurs to him that he has never really noticed exactly how brown Max's eyes are. Like molten chocolate, luxuriously rich, each lingering glance a caress. Or some such. His toned physique is particularly impressive at a distance of twenty centimetres, too, albeit slightly mud-spattered. He smells of petrichor, cheap cologne, and nitroglycerine.
That last one might just be the explosion, though.
It's then that Daniel notices the speckles of blood.
"You're- hurt-" he manages, automatically placing a hand on Max's chest, to manoeuvre him so he can get a better look. "Did you scratch yourself- I mean, we should get something-"
Reality dawns.
"You got blood on my shirt!" He shoves Byrd away, and stands. "Thanks a lot, idiot!"
|
|
