ORP - Phonyland Elementary - Open!

[Kitomyx]

"I just meant to start with," Truths clarified, setting the books on the closest empty desk so he didn't have to hold the slowly-growing tower. "If it's too narrow an interest, I can think of broader ones." The tiles he skimmed as they set themselves down seemed to be exactly what he'd been hoping for, though.

"Hmm...police work," he repeated thoughtfully. It seemed a bit limited in regards to jobs where his talent might come in handy, but perhaps if he read a bit more, he could understand and learn of more careers. Besides, police work didn't seem too bad. He'd never know unless he tried. "Thank you, Miss Glory. I'm not exactly sure what it is I want to do yet when I'm Old Enough, but a police phony sounds as good a place to start as any. I appreciate your efforts."

He couldn't help following her gaze to his classmates, before returning her smile with a small smirk. "Yes, actually...when is lunch time?" As eager as he may have been for lunch itself, the most pressing matter still on his mind just then was Acid.

Astraea Pandora

 

[Scaramouche Fandango]

LUNCH. FINALLY. Taters dropped her book and pencil and whipped her lunchbox from under her desk. She could hardly wait to
dig into her latest masterpiece. The bitter taste of academic dishonesty had fled her mouth, replaced by the sweet promise of buttery lettuce, juicy tomatoes, and thick slices of sharp cheddar.

She chose a sunny spot on the playground at one of the low tables, beckoning her brother over to join her. She figured she'd eat her lunch and then go play on the swings until she had to come back inside. Spreading the embroidered cloth napkin she'd brought along (if you squinted, it had potato leaves on it!), she carefully set up her soup and sandwich. Crackers in soup- just so- and brownie placed tantalizingly close by. Gosh. What a lunch, she thought, before picking up the first half of her sandwich and taking a delicious bite.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[Kitomyx]

Pleased with the teacher's response, Truths nodded eagerly. "Thank you," he told her, before trotting off at a brisk pace to the First Aid room Acid had been sent to for his nap. He didn't even stop to admire Glory's magic as she summoned all the tests to her desk, though he was sorely tempted.

Swerving his ear to catch her instructions to the rest of the students, he entered the small side door that had been indicated earlier.

"Acid! Acid, wake up," Truths called gently, hurrying to the cot Acid lay napping on. "It's lunch time. Come and eat." He nudged the green colt's shoulder with a hoof.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

In the beginning of his exile, when shame was still hot on his ears, sleep had eluded the young colt. Acid Beat had instead imagined a thousand mocking eyes all directed at his fault. When he did finally sleep, it was uneasy, and rife with exaggerated dreams of unkind laughter. The color of their voices trampled him, pushing violently against his chest and shoulder, almost like someone was... nudging him.

Acid awoke in an instant, mind much sharper than before. And in that instant, he decided to try and pretend his cheating had not happened or, at very least was Not A Big Deal. "Hullo, Truths. Thanks for getting me; I'd have slept the day away!" He smiled a little. "Should we eat on the playground? I've just got to grab my lunch. You go ahead." Acid had been inside far too long and headed for the playground, stopping by his desk to pick up his food.

Or he would, if there had been away. Lo and behold, the green colt had forgotten his lunch. Oh well, this was another No Big Deal, right? He could go without.... He blinked into the sunlight again, squinting. Taters, the filly he had copied from, sat at a low table. H-he supposed he should apologize... again.

"H-hey, Taters," he said warily, making a mental note to retreat to Truths if she was still uncomfortable. "I just wanted to say sorry again for th-" A sound cut in between, a hungry sound, a belly wanting food: Acid's stomach.

grooowwwwllll

Scaramouche Fandango

Kitomyx

 

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Taters' brow furrowed just a tiny bit as Acid Beat approached, but she managed to keep from frowning. He was probably coming over to apologize; even though he'd cheated, she tended to see the best in everyphony and assumed that he wasn't a jerk. Maybe he'd explain himself a bit or something; either way, she wasn't preparing for a confrontation. Just for lunch. As he started to speak, her forehead unwrinkled; her faith in phonies had yet to fail her. She was going to ask him for an explanation- she was still a little miffed, after all- and that he just shouldn't do it next time when suddenly his stomach growled.

No. That was not the right word for it. His stomach roared like a circus lion who suddenly realized that his tamer's whip was just loud and that a flimsy wooden chair was pretty useless against a six-hundred pound carnivore.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Is... is that your stomach? Maybe you should eat lunch." She certainly wanted to eat hers.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Oh no. Acid Beat's face turned several alarming shades of red: all colors of embarrassment. But still, he doggedly continued. He figured that at least he probably couldn't embarrass himself further in front of her.

"I... uh.. actually don't have any lunch. I forgot it. You see this morning I was so tired, I hadn't slept all of night night, and that why I uh... yeah." His stomach growled again, less violently this time. Of their own volition, his eyes drifted down to Tater's delicious looking lunch., He jerked them back up and twisted his lips in a faint smile. "I... um... I guess I'll be going now. Enjoy your" growl "lunch."

Scaramouche Fandango

 

[Scaramouche Fandango]

As his stomach rumbled, Taters was feeling something unpleasant inside, too. She really wanted to eat her lunch, and she was still slightly angry- but even though he'd wronged her this morning, she felt really, really bad about letting Acid Beat go hungry. She had more than enough food for one phony in front of her, and she knew how she'd feel if she forgot her lunch.

Maybe she could compromise and be aggressively nice to him. Yes. That would work.

"Hold it right there!" she said sternly. "You were too tired to do your work this morning; what makes you think that you'll be able to do your work this afternoon if you don't have lunch? Naps are great, but cars need gas and phonies need food! So you will sit down and eat half of this sandwich before you even think about doing anything else!" She put her hooves on her hips and frowned. "And part of this brownie because it's got walnuts and walnuts have protein!"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[Kitomyx]

Perplexed by Acid's drastic change in demeanor since he last saw him, Hard Truths blinked. Had that nap made him significantly better than before, or worse-off? The unicorn honestly couldn't tell. "Are you alright?" he asked the green colt, watching him as they left the little room. "Oh, um...okay," he agreed at the mention of lunch on the playground. Still watching Acid over his shoulder, he headed outside.

It wasn't long before his honorary brother was outside, though. Truths was nibbling at a cucumber-and-cheese sandwich when he spotted him. "Where's your lunch?" A ridiculous rumbling from the green phony's stomach interrupted and Truths realized Acid had caught sight of Taters' extravagant meal. Well, this was going to be interesting.

At Acid's second confession, the vermillion colt hit his hoof to his face. Of course he'd forgotten his lunch; he'd been half asleep on his way to school. "Acid, you are just a walking disaster today, aren't you?"

He was about to offer his own half-eaten sandwich, even if it wasn't much, when Taters' sudden stern voice startled him. Truths stared as she scolded her classmate, about to defend Acid before catching on to her train of thought. Despite himself, the corner of his mouth curved upward a little. What a funny, intimidating way to show generosity. He'd have to remember that technique.

"That's awfully nice of you to share your special lunch," Truths told the filly. "Especially with a phony who looked off your test." Going to sit closer to Acid and Taters, he continued. "Acid Beat isn't your average phony. He can see things that others can't, like colors in sounds and hidden intentions." Glancing speculatively at the colt in question, he went on.

"Evidently he seems to be lacking in other areas, like giving in to temptation and ignoring the rest and sustenance needs of his body. But who's perfect?" He looked back to Taters. "I'm just sorry you caught him on a bad day. He's actually very considerate and thoughtful. More so than many phonies, including myself." The foal dipped his head. "I'm Hard Truths, by the way."  

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Dude, I'm not a complete disaster. Today is just a.... difficult day." He muttered to Truths. He hesitated a second before grabbing the food. Normally, he would politely refuse, but he was really hungry! To be honest, he wasn't even sure he ate breakfast this morning..... "You," he pointed on hoof at Taters. "Are a kind filly. Thank you. I owe you one, big time."

Despite his hunger, he ate neatly, careful not to gobble. It wouldn't do to be even ruder! At Truth's words, he nudge him with a hoof. "You're plenty nice as well, Truths." He addressed Taters. "This guys is my brother-in-arms, so to speak. And, um, yeah, I like colors in sounds. Everyone's voice is different. Though, I don't know about intentions." Sandwich gone, he bit into the brownie. Oh.... this was heaven. A chocolatey heaven with nut clouds.

"Mmmm.... where did you buy this brownie, Taters? It's fantastic!"

Scaramouche Fandango

Kitomyx

sorry for the lateness, guys!

 

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Taters smiled at the two colts. "It's ok," she said to both of them. "Everybody has off days from time to time, even the nicest people. Nobody's perfect, and I'm not going to hold a grudge over something this little. That'd be super petty and make me a really big jerk. And don't beat yourself up too hard, Acid- it was a mistake, and you're not gonna do it again, so there's no problem!" She nodded happily; she could tell that he was a nice guy, and she was big on second chances. "And thanks- my mom made it! You want some too, Hard Truths? It is a really big brownie."

The Semblance of Unity

Kitomyx

 

[Kitomyx]

"Mmhmm..." the unicorn murmured in response to Acid, swallowing his mouthful of sandwich before properly replying. "...Just like that one day you cleverly decided to bring your own candy into a candy store."

Flinching at the friendly nudge, Truths looked away, shaking his head as Acid explained their relationship to Taters. "I'm not," he protested. "In fact, I go out of my way to make certain no one suspects me of being such. You are going to ruin my hard-earned reputation if you keep that up," he added, nudging the green colt back. "And if you couldn't see through intentions, you wouldn't be such a brotherly pain in my side."

The vermillion colt smirked at Taters' words of forgiveness. "Well, just as a warning, I am a really big jerk, so you might want to be careful around me." Her offer of the brownie caught him off guard, however, and he looked completely surprised for a moment. "Oh...thank you, but I think you two should share it. I'm afraid I'm not fond of sweets."

The Semblance of Unity

Scaramouche Fandango

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Acid snorted inelegantly at Truth. "Somephony's got to step outta line for you to correct. Might as well be me!" He laughed a little, almost deprecatingly. Feeling much better now that he was not hungry, not tired, and no longer in trouble, he leaned over to whisper at Taters. "He's really the biggest, bestest jerk. And, please, tell your mom her cooking is awesome!"

As he polished off the last of his food, he laid back, enjoying the bright sunshine. Really, Miss Glory should have sent him to sleep out here. He would've had no trouble falling into dreamland out here. He drowsily smiled.

Kitomyx

Scaramouche Fandango

this is a poopy tag, sorry. since both elements are done, do you want to leave it here until the lunch hour ends? up to you guys c:

 

[Kitomyx]

"Well if you continue going about taking my criticism so well, there's not much fun in criticizing or correcting you at all," the foal answered with mock haughtiness before finishing the last of his lunch. "And not much point. Like 'Taters' said, nobody's perfect, and it's not as though you would have made those mistakes under normal circumstances. You're too good a phony." He waved a hoof as he tossed the remains of his trash in the nearest bin. "I just enjoy giving even the best phonies a hard time for the sake of my own pleasure."

Glancing over, he wondered anxiously if all this social interaction was getting to him and he had accidentally said too much. But much to his relief, Acid already seemed to have gone back to napping and probably hadn't heard what'd he'd said. The colt smirked and shook his head.

The Semblance of Unity

((Yeah, that works! Sorry I took so long; I wasn't sure if Scara wanted to do anything, but I figured if this was going to be the end, I at least wanted to put an ending post for Truths. And that tag wasn't poopy, Unity! Hehe, I liked it a lot. XD It was cute and a good ending.))

Scaramouche Fandango