What You Do For a Candy Bar

[Demi Smith]

Demi glared at the machine, growling under her breath. She'd missed a meal... again, and so that left her facing off with one of these stupid machines. Normally she just sneaked into the kitchen later, but, well, the kitchen wasn't exactly in great shape anymore. The vending machines had gotten a lot more popular, and Demi definitely intended to be among the number taking advantage of it.

Only problem was that she couldn't figure the stupid thing out.

"Give me the chip!" she said, poking at the buttons. The machine beeped at her again, which just caused her to growl some more. Demi pulled a hand back, gathering some of the dirt and debris she kept on her person as something of a shell at all times. She could totally just smash the glass and take whatever she wanted. One punch and she'd have it all.

But no, no, they'd probably do something to her and Demi had just been relieved of a lot of her restrictions. Turned out that helping save a library did that for you. Yay. Demi lowered her hand and instead went to tapping the numbers.

"I want chips!" she yelled again, jamming the buttons for the chips. She pounded the machine a few times, even giving it a kick, though more out of frustration than a desire to destroy. Though that desire was rising up again...

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy was absolutely useless at a lot of things. Keys, opening jars, you name it; if its a basic life function, he probably sucks at it. But if there was something he understood, it was a multitude of gadgets and technology. The vending machine in particular was one of his favorites, and he'd even had a modified machine put in his room at home. There was something strangely satisfying about watching the machine slowly deliver its deliciousness.

So of course he was somewhat distraught to notice some girl inflicting violence upon that poor machine. She was jabbing at the buttons, yelling at the machine like some sort of neanderthal who'd never seen one before. Oh dear. Cassidy cautiously approached, wincing at the pain running through him from her frustrated aura. 

"Hey uh, need some help with that?" he offered. Hopefully she wouldn't turn her anger on him too strongly; he knew how to get her those chips, after all.

[Demi Smith]

Demi heard someone and she whirled, her hands immediately going up into an aggressive, fighting stance. Some guy who, well, didn't look a whole lot older than her, really, stood there, looking at her. Demi seriously thought about just punching him anyway, if only because it would be a lot of fun. There was more frustration soon after: she really couldn't do any of that stuff, not without getting in trouble.

So Demi turned with a "tch" and jerked her head toward it. "The stupid machine won't give me chips," she said, "and I missed lunch," she figured she might as well add that. She gave the guy a hard look. "These stupid machines should be easier to work."

Yes, it was clearly the vending machine's fault.

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy flinched back in surprise, almost falling over as he scrambled away from her some. Jeez, what kind of hairpin trigger was this chick on?! He stared at her, his eyes now an anxious dark grey, but thankfully it seemed she redirected her anger back onto that poor machine. He frowned as she explained the problem; he really hoped the thing wasn't broken or anything. He tried to step closer to the machine, hoping it wouldn't set her off or anything, and looked it over.

"Well, I don't think its broken..." he mused aloud. That would mean the problem was with whatever she was doing to try to make it work. He decided to risk looking like an idiot and ask the most obvious question, just in case. "Did you put money in it first?" he asked. Of course, anyone would have done that simple thing. It was a basic fact of life; put money in machine, receive snacks, but considering how much Cassidy sucked at "simple things", he really couldn't assume anything in this odd situation.

[Demi Smith]

Demi continued giving Cassidy the look that communicated how very many different ways she'd kicked his butt if he so much as put a toe out of line. He looked like one of those other drippy students who were especially stupid. Demi waited for him to say something to confirm that...

and the next words very nearly did it. Demi opened her mouth, then closed it. Money? She dug around in her pocket, producing the card they'd given her. "I've got this thing," she held it up to show. It was the same card that all students got, especially those on the weekly allowance. It got filled up with money every Thursday and could be used throughout the entire school and in many Kalispell businesses.

"But I couldn't figure out how to make the machine take it," she said, turning to glare at the vending machine. Because obviously it was still the machine's fault, and most definitely not hers.

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy tilted his head slightly as he looked at the card she held up. He'd almost forgotten about those things, he never used one. He assumed it would work like a credit card, but he'd never actually tested one out or checked how to use one.

"Huh, I've never used one before, so I dunno how to make it work. But here," he said, reaching into his laptop case. He dug around for a minute before he found his cash, and pulled out a one dollar bill. He'd learned to start carrying change around after the last time when he needed it but only had hundreds. He handed it over to her smiling.

"Here, you can have this. Just put it into the money slot there, and then push the letters for whatever snack you want," he explained, figuring he should just give her a full tutorial since she seemed pretty confused. She was doing a pretty good job of covering it up with anger though; he would almost be impressed if it wasn't so painful.

[Demi Smith]

Demi rolled her eyes. "Well, that's super helpful," she said, looking down at the card. "They give these things to people and then they're all like, 'it's super easy, just use it like--'" Demi paused, looking as she saw a dollar bill thrust toward her. She did get money, though that had taken a bit to understand. The whole trading paper for goods still sounded really stupid to Demi, but she sort of grasped it, grasped it enough to get that she needed some from time to time. Though the card was supposed to be taking care of that, more or less.

Well, Demi wasn't stupid: she snatched the dollar bill, giving Cassidy a weird look. "You're kinda dumb," she said, though it had about a quarter of the venom she usually had in the word. "Just giving someone money. That's a great way to run out of it," she turned and looked at the machine, leaning forward and studying it. There seemed to be a picture, and even Demi could understand pictures well enough. She threaded the dollar into the machine, grinning as it took it.

"Alright," she said, looking at it. "I want the chips," she pointed at a bag of bacon flavored chips. "So..." she looked at the chips again, then at the machine, tapping it a bit. Maybe she should tap at the numbers? he'd talked about that... right?

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy chuckled at her words, not at all stung by her calling him dumb; he'd been called much worse before, after all. He just grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I get that a lot," he admitted. He was tempted to add that it was next to impossible for him to run out of money, and that he'd already tried that, but he couldn't manage a way to word it without it coming out wrong.

Cassidy practically sighed in relief as she managed to figure out how to put the money in the machine. Man, where had this girl been her whole life? He thought he was bad, but this was a whole new level of clueless about the world. He nodded as she worked through the logic, and was spurred into action by her words, the danger of her accidentally getting the wrong item very real; he really didn't want to see just how much angrier she could get.

"Right. Those are..." he trailed, stepping around her to read the case. "B5. So you press the button that has the letter B on it, and then the one with 5," he instructed. He was struggling to remain patient by then, and was becoming very tempted just to do it for her just to get it done faster. He didn't think he'd ever see such a literal example of a proverb; if you teach a girl how to use a vending machine, she'll know how to use it forever. And she won't try to hurt you either. Hopefully.

[Demi Smith]

Demi kept giving Cassidy a slightly exasperated look while he smiled and insisted he got that a lot. "Stop being so dumb then," she said, as if it were truly that easy. She shrugged and turned back to the machine, mostly to fight it and try to get it to give the chips again. The tapping hadn't worked, so maybe she should...

..oh, the idiot was talking. Demi suppressed her initial urge to snap at Cassidy or just outright punch him, literally biting her cheek to stop the words from coming. She'd learned from dealing with Andrew and other people that sometimes the really stupid people knew stuff that she didn't, and that she needed to be quiet if she wanted to find out.

He did seem to know how to get the chips. Demi followed his finger to the pad. "Why don't they just label that the chip button?" she said, snorting. Demi punched the B then the 5, then backed up, waiting expectantly. The machine began whirring, the rings going, and it looked as though the chips would drop out. Demi grinned expectantly, waiting, waiting....

and it stopped moving, with the chips dangling. "Ugh, this machine is so stupid!" Demi said, kicking it, sending a little cloud of dust rolling off her as she did. She glared at it, looking about ready to start punching.

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy couldn't resist another smile at her suggestion. "Yeah, I'll get right on that," he muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes. If only it were that easy, to just "stop being dumb". He tried his best to suppress another wince at the sudden increase in anger, clenching his teeth together and managing to hold the amused smile.

Cassidy stared at the machine as it began to work, glad that the girl had finally managed to figure it out. He actually took a moment to ponder her suggestion about button labels, completely missing the rhetorical nature of it. "Huh. Actually, that wouldn't be too bad an idea. I think they already have those for drinks, but then it would force the people who stock the machine to always buy the same sna-" he rambled, before stopping suddenly in time with the freezing of the machine.

Uh-oh. Of all the times for the vending machine to get stuck, this was the worst possible time. Cassidy took a deep breath, struggling to keep it even against the pain from the rising frustration of the other student. There were still solutions to this; three, in fact, that he could think of from the top of his head. Shaking the machine usually worked, but the last time he tried that, he'd ended up setting off some sort of alarm. He could try getting a teacher or someone to retrieve it, but he figured by her hostility that it would be a bad idea to suggest getting help. 

"Okay, okay, this is fixable," he said placatingly as he dug into his laptop bag once more as he pulled out another dollar bill. "If we buy a second one, two should fall out, and then we'd both get one," he explained. He really hoped that would work, for both his sake and the machine's.

[Demi Smith]

Demi did pick up the sarcasm, but she nodded all the same. After all, her suggestion made perfect sense to her. Why wouldn't someone get to work on making the machine make more sense and be easier to operate? What else were machines for if not to make things easier for people? That's what all the machines Demi had found did.

He also agreed with her other idea. "Uh, they could at least say 'chips' or something," she pointed out, pointing. That would make things a lot easier than this. Not that they had a whole lot of time to debate the finger bits of vending machines: for the machine stopped vending. Demi hissed and kicked the machine again.

The guy kept talking and Demi whirled. "What, there a button for---" she began, stopping as she saw the dollar. "You have more of that?" she asked. She stared at it as though it were poisonous, then looked back at the machine. Well, she didn't see any reason not to, there was... wait, he wanted some?

Demi grumbled, but snatched the dollar and shoved it toward the machine. In her frustration though, Demi was trying to cram it into the machine in a manner that the machine wasn't taking. "I. Am. Going. To. Break. You," she hissed between clenched teeth, slapping the side of the machine, sending some of her dirt flying into the air.

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy pondered her further suggestions. He was probably putting too much time into it, but there was something about trying to work out problems and improving the design of things that was strangely enjoyable. It was like a complicated brain teaser with more than one right answer. "Well, you have a point. But if it was just labeled 'chips', then there'd be no way to tell the difference between all the different types of chips, and then there'd be a bunch of buttons that say chips and you'd have no way to know which chips were the chips you want," he rambled, mostly to himself as he rationalized it.

Cassidy's typical easy smile became much more forced, a subtle tightness filling his features. She seemed so surprised as he pulled out more money. If only she knew... if only she knew how much of it he had, how impossible to truly get rid of it all. It was a slow acting poison, a horror completely unspeakable lest one seem ungrateful. Still, the way she looked warily at it as she took it from him; perhaps she understood in her own way how useless money was.

Cassidy was snapped out of his morose reflections by the sound of something slamming against the machine and an increase in the sharp pains from her anger. Shaking his head quickly as if to shake out the stray strands of blue that seeped into his eyes, he focused back on the problem at hand. "Woah, woah! Trying to jam it in won't work, you'll just crumple the bill. You have to slowly put it in, and make sure the bill stays flat," he explained, trying to prevent any potential damages to the machine. The last thing he needed was for her to break the thing; then they'd both be in trouble.

[Demi Smith]

Demi rolled her eyes. "Chips are chips," she insisted. The "You're an idiot was very much implied (as it generally was with every other time Demi opened her mouth to talk to someone). She didn't see any reason to go further, and the desire to eat chips was pretty much her most paramount concern.

So to the attempted force-feeding of the bill into the machine. Cassidy seemed to draw himself out of it for a moment, and Demi turned back to him. "It's not my fault the stupid thing is stupid!" she hissed, slapping at the machine with a flat hand. The blow dealt more damage to Demi's hand than to the machine, doing little more than slightly rocking it, but if anything, that just angered Demi further.

She growled and turned to hold the bill out to Cassidy. "You do it then," she insisted, waving the hand a few times. "Since this stupid machine doesn't know how to take money properly."