Laurie and Cain log

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

Laurie and Cain talk after a training session.



"I still don't know how anyone's managed to get up to 'hard' level on that." Laurie said as she walked with Cain toward the locker room and what would be for her a long, hot shower in order to take care of the bruises she was sure were forming. For Cain? Well, that remained to be seen. She held back as they reached the locker room door, allowing Cain to open the door for her, just as she knew he would.

"Ain't like a video game, kid," Cain grunted, opening the door with one hand as he looked back at Laurie.

In retrospect, it could be well understood that someone with hands the size of hubcaps wouldn't have noticed the small bit of extra resistance that a tense piece of string behind the door would provide. Or that while talking and distracted, the series of pings and whistles from said string snapping and releasing a set of springs and pins - well, that could be defended as well.

The reaction to a bucketful of cold hot dogs being launched from a small trebuchet at head height, however, did not go unnoticed. With half his face covered in cold, wet beef by-products (one of which was currently wriggling down the collar of his uniform jacket), Cain just stood quietly and closed his eyes.

He had, in short, been pranked. And the giggling girl next to him was definitely giving herself away as the culprit.

Eyes still closed, he let out a breath and simply said "Run."

Laurie didn't need to be told twice, and as much as the giggling made it hard for her to get up speed straight away, she managed to reach the stairs to the upper levels fairly quickly. Now, if only she managed to find a camera before he caught her she could immortalize this in perfect glossy colour.

"I regret nothing!" she called back over her shoulder as she tried to take the stairs up two at a time, still somewhat hampered by the giggling fit she couldn't quite stop. The hotdog! It had been trying to make a break for it down his shirt. Oh Gods, she needed to tell Kyle...when he was talking to her again, anyhow.

Cain listened to the footsteps as he wiped his eyes, then grinned. Laurie might be younger and limber, but this was his house, and he knew every little hallway and nook like the back of his hand. Chuckling to himself, he headed for a lesser-used set of stairs...

Laurie had almost reached the bottom of the stairs up toward the student rooms when she noticed the rather large bulk of the person she'd just covered in hot dogs.

"No! How did you? So not fair!" she cried as she slipped on the rather clean floor in her attempt to stop her forward momentum and landed on her butt with the thump. "That's cheating, Mr Marko."

Without a word, Cain reached down and grabbed both of Laurie's ankles in one hand, hoisting her upside-down. "Win if you can," he said, "lose if you must, but always cheat." Reaching out with his other hand, he deftly tied the laces of her boots together, then looked over his shoulder and walked into the foyer, carrying Laurie upside-down in one hand like a sack of potatoes.

Grunting slightly in smug satisfaction, he stretched up, then stepped away, leaving Laurie suspended head-down from the chandelier between the large staircases, dangling like a grey-garbed Christmas decoration.

"Here endeth the lesson," he said with a grin. "Know when you're outmatched, kiddo."