But Did He Bring Snacks (Dakota, Ferris)

[Event !]

Dakota Muller has been assigned to wash Ferris Macklin's bicycle

[Ferris Macklin]

Ferris had indeed brought snacks. Or. Cookies. A large mixed box of chocolate chip, ginger snap, sugar, and oatmeal raisin, all homemade, of course. He'd left them someplace safe where they'd be brought out later for the kids to enjoy and wheeled his bike towards the nearest free wash station. He was sorry he couldn't bring a car (he'd been researching and had his eye on both a model and a dealership now), but he had only just gotten his learner's permit. So a bike would have to do.

Walking his bike over, he smiled and dug in his pocket for a moment. Coming up with his pack of grape Bubblicious, he offered a fragrant purple cube to the girl. "Want one?" Patting the seat of his trusty steed, he added with a grin, "You don't have to wash the chain."

And he used a sneaker toe to gently kick the chainring and mechanisms. "Doesn't matter if it gets wet, but it has to stay all oily and disgusting."

In cargo shorts, t-shirt and baseball hat, Ferris did not look like Hammel staff. He smiled cheerfully and stood back so she could get on with things. "What's your name?"

[Dakota Muller]

Dakota looked at the bike with disbelief. Seriously? He was bringing that to a car wash event? Scratching her head she turned her gaze towards the man and shook her head. ''Right...'' She shook her head at whatever he was offering her and put on a faint smile, still a little shocked at what she had to wash. But hey, at least it was easily earned money and she didn't have to do a nearly as hard job as the rest of the kids.

''I'm Dakota, DK for short. And you?'', she replied and reached out her hand to the odd character standing there next to her. She herself was wearing a tank top and shorts, fitting for the warm weather and it wouldn't get ruined by the hard job...of washing a bike....

She placed the bucket with water and soap next to the bike and dug her hand with the sponge deep into it. ''So uh... What do you do at Hammel?'', she asked and peeked over the bicycle rim, trying to get a better look at him as she washed his bike, which still seemed weird to her. She couldn't quite get over it.

[Ferris Macklin]

Bringing a bike to a car wash was probably like bringing a guinea pig to the pet store for a bath, but Ferris was all about supporting the school. And if this was how he could do it... well, at least she wasn't having to scrub his shoes. Or his skateboard.

Taking her hand, he gave it a friendly shake. "Ferris. Kitchen staff. I'm at least partially responsible for your breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

Well, he was mostly responsible and the one who decided the menus, but he wasn't going to say that, not with how some kids thought of school food. Noting DK's... reluctance? Not exactly displeasure but a sort of WTF he recognized, he added, "Sorry I couldn't bring a car. I don't know if this means you lucked out or don't get the full experience."

Turning to watch the other kids, Ferris did a double take and then burst out laughing. Yes, DK had gotten off light. "If you feel too bad about it, those other kids got a horse."

Jesus, the thing was huge.

[Dakota Muller]

Yeah ok, so her first impression of the guy was way off. Because he was actually really, really pleasant. And besides, if he stood for all the surprisingly delicious food she had eaten lately she was beyond thankful. ''Well, I guess I owe you a big thanks then.'', she replied with a chuckle.

''It's cool.'', she replied with a nod and gazed towards the kids washing the horse. Thank God that wasn't her. She'd be deathly afraid of being killed by that gigantic beast. ''Yeah... Poor suckers.'' DK let out a laugh as he spoke, clearly agreeing to him. She'd wash his bike anytime if it meant she didn't have to go near that thing.

Letting the soap run down the rim of the bike, making sure too much of it didn't get on the chain she peeked up at the cook. ''So uh.. You been working here for long?'' DK didn't have much experience talking to adults, and at least not teachers. But Ferris was easy going enough, so she didn't feel any kind of pressure to behave or anything. It was nice being herself in front of an adult for a change. The endless battle of trying to be someone you're not to please grown ups was tiring. She let out a slight sigh of relief and smiled to herself as she continued to wash his bike.

[Ferris Macklin]

"Thank me? That's a first." But he still grinned. Ferris kept out of her way as she soaped up his bike. He'd sprayed it down every so often and kept it all in working order, but this was the first time he'd had it washed, as it were.

''Yeah... Poor suckers.''

"Can't imagine what possessed... Mm." Ferris shook his head, still smiling. There was outside the box and there was bringing your own box. If he'd been a student, Ferris knew he would've just shrugged and started wetting the horse down (had he been talked into doing a car wash in the first place), but he understood the reluctance the two young ladies at that station seemed to be having. When Dr. Neville showed up, Ferris turned back to DK. He didn't dislike the doctor, in fact he respected anyone who had a psychiatrist's post at a meta school a great deal, but he'd spent all four of his months as a Hammel student avoiding the man.

''So uh.. You been working here for long?''

"Just since May. I spent two years at Kocher before this. That's the Hammel in Switzerland. Then something opened here and I decided to come home." Personally, unless DK took out a hammer and started wrecking his bike, Ferris didn't really care how she acted or what her language was like. He wasn't a disciplinarian and while the car wash was on school grounds it wasn't a classroom situation. Besides, she seemed nice enough.

"How long've you been around?"

[Dakota Muller]

DK wasn't much of a horse person, or an animal person in general. Mostly because all the animals she had encountered in her life was stray cats and dogs, and usually, they weren't all that friendly. She didn't doubt the friendliness of the horse or anything, but she wasn't exactly complaining about not being the one washing the giant beast sent from the lush gardens of hell. ''Well, hey. Look on the bright side. If the horse decides to go crazy, you have a easy way of getting out of here.'', she said and nodded towards the bike. Unlike most of the teachers and staff, Ferris didn't have to get in the car, turn on the ignite, set it in reverse and THEN get out of here. Nope, all he had to do was sit down on the seat and paddle his heart out. Lucky guy.

DK rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand and nodded at what he said. ''Sounds like quite the journey.'' She envied him. Having the freedom to go and work anywhere you wanted? She wanted that. She couldn't wait until she graduated and could start her life. Oh, the journeys she would go on!

''Two years now. I came here from New York at the age of fourteen, and I've been stuck here ever since.'' She grinned as she looked at him. It wasn't that she really minded being here or anything, but she really missed the freedom of doing whatever you wanted and go wherever you pleased. No rules, no restrictions, no nothing.

[Ferris Macklin]

"If the horse goes nuts getting out of here will be the least of my worries," Ferris murmured, though he still smiled as he looked over his shoulder at the poor pair scrubbing the giant.

''Sounds like quite the journey.''

He grinned. "The plane ride was the least of it. I lived in the Midwest, so I had to set up everything here from Europe when I wasn't familiar with... anything."

Ferris had put the down payment on the townhouse he lived in sight-unseen, but a realtor friend of his grandmother's out on the East Coast had vetted it, and if there was something Ferris did not want to do, it was move twice. Like Devon had.

''Two years now. I came here from New York at the age of fourteen, and I've been stuck here ever since.''

"As a place to be stuck... you could do worse." Of course it was more than frustrating to be held someplace against your will, but Hammel was hardly a jail. Some of the kids still saw it as such, he knew, but a few days in a real jail would show them the difference. Not that he'd advocate for that. Too loudly.

"You gonna go camping?" Ferris hadn't been at Hammel long enough to partaken in any of the events, but didn't regret it too much.