Immediately after the collapse of the fence at the Peace Garden, our trainees have been ushered off the site. Dinnertime has arrived and today's entree is a strange mash-up of the words stew and slop, turning into slew. The sign outside the Mess Hall door is not very clear and can be easily mistaken for just bad handwriting. The bell has just rung and it's best to hurry in while the food's still hot warm! It seems the cook ran out of a few key ingredients tonight and the entree (whatever it is) has turned out less than wonderful.
Other than the fence issue, tonight is a fairly normal night for most and the weather is pleasantly warm with a cool breeze. A few clouds loaf in the sky, waiting to be dipped in sunset and their wish will be granted soon!
Now let's beat Alec up
Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 3:16 pm
Alec had gone to put his hat Terry had given him away at his bunk before ducking into the mess hall, not that he'd actually made it back with it. Instead he was in the mess hall with the item as a constant reminder of the situation. Although it was a pretty spiffy hat, so it wasn't so bad all in all.
Trying to keep a low profile was something he could only pray might be a thing. He could dream anyway, it wasn't like he'd done it intentionally. That would have been one thing... (here's to hoping) as it so happened he managed to slip in, grab a plate and sit down poking at the lack luster meat slop and begrudgingly eating not one to skip meals.
Whatever the case was, Alec would face it like a man...or at least stare into his food bowl and try and not make eye contact. That seemed like a good idea.
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Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 4:03 pm
"What the ******** was that?!"
Trudging along the path to the mess hall, Jeong-jae was the epitome of frustration. They'd spent forever on that fence and it'd been truly heartbreaking to watch it snap into a million little pieces and explode onto the ground. The image was a bit exaggerated in his mind and did nothing to calm his anger. Common sense told him not to blame Alec, none of them had known what they were doing, but he was too upset to listen to it.
"We have to go back and fix it after dinner!" It would be too dark to see then but he didn't listen to that nagging voice in his head either. Stomping to the entrance of the mess hall with Hwan behind him, Jeong-jae only briefly read tonight's menu board and blinked in confusion. What was Beef Slew? The server slopped some onto his plate and his heart sank even further, deeming tonight a very bad end to a disappointing day.
"So much for blueberry tarts." He muttered moodily and moved on to get some roasted vegetables before looking for a seat at an empty table. Red hair came into view and he changed targets immediately.
"What the hell happened, man?" His tone was bitter but he refrained from outright yelling at the guy, giving him one chance to explain.
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((Feel free to come in and just hang out, guys! This thread won't only be about the peace garden but just an opportunity for characters to meet up and get to know each other!))
Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 4:45 pm
"Mmphm..."
Shakuntala let out a bedraggled sigh. Her and the others were working so hard on the fence and to simply have their attempt at perfecting it crumble to nothingness made all that work seem for naught. With a slight bend at her waist, she trotted in after the twins while smearing away some sweat from her brow. While she was glad to be out of the heat for good, her stomach wasn't looking forward to beef slew (whatever in the world that was). Her neck snapped upright at Jeong-jae's sharp declaration of frustration, but she didn't give in and pass along a few words to summon some calm before the storm. She was too tired to even try.
Instead, she trudged passed the group and located an empty table within the mess hall. Dropping down into the seat, she groaned in contentment, and reasoned to herself she had never been so happy to be off her feet in such a long time. She was also tempted to kick off her boots and prop them up, but thought it unsavory if people were about to eat whatever mystery their meal was going to be. Instead, she slid her eyes over to where one of the twins was regarding Alec.
Even she knew he was partly to blame for the accident regarding the fence, but Shakuntala refrained from blaming him. He was too dear of a friend for her to find fault. Instead, from her spot, she remained an onlooker to whatever was to unfold from Jeong's inquiry, but that didn't stop her expression from morphing to one of slight distaste.
Despite his frustrations, no one talked to Alec like that.
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Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 4:50 pm
The day had ended badly and they didn't have much to show for their hard work. There was still all the wood they'd gathered but it lay in piles on the ground surrounding the area the fence was meant to outline. He could still hear the sound of it tumbling over like a pile of dominoes. Moodily following his brother, Hwan got in line and scowled at the night's meal.
"What is this gross s**t?" Two scoopfuls of mystery on his tray and his body attempted to gag to reject it. Seriously, even he could throw together something better than this. Brown eyes noticed the same flicker of red that Jeong gravitated towards and he sat down on the opposite side of Alec's table. A twinterrogation had begun.
"We spent hours on that, y'know. I think some kind of punishment is in order." The boy leaned forward with a mix of mischief and malice in his eyes. He knew it was wrong to pick on the guy since he felt, from what he knew of Alec, it had been unintentional and accidental. But still, he couldn't shake the frustration off his shoulders and needed an outlet.
"I heard there's a demon barber on campus. Maybe we should make you go there." He chewed on a few roasted vegetables before continuing, "Supposedly they take off more than just 'a little' from the top." He glanced at Jeong as if to question if this was acceptable before sparring a teasing grin Alec's direction.
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Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 4:54 pm
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AN AXEL BARGES IN OUT OF NOWHERE
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Axel had shown up at the Peace Garden, fully kitted out in his pink kitten socks and horrible kitten hat, just in time to see Alec destroy the fence. Unlike the trainee currently grouching at Alec, Axel didn't mind. He found it impossible to take the Peace Garden seriously, despite the hard work that had gone into building the fence. Besides, the blushing redhead was his friend! He wasn't about to stand for someone walking up all big and bad, talking a bunch of smack just because some stupid fence fell over.
Elbowing his way over to Alec, Axel plopped his tray of meat slop down onto the table next to his friend. It hit hard, drops of savory brown meat slop whizzing into the air with the impact. "Hey, Alec!" Axel's voice was cheerful, but he was giving the stranger a suspicious look. What was his name, Jeong something? Hwan? Axel wasn't sure. He took a seat next to Alec, digging into his meat slop with gusto. His hideous kitten hat wobbled dangerously on his head, listing to the side. "Good job knocking down the fence. What'd you get, socks? Mittens?"
Wait, there were two of these guys! Twins! Interesting. Back to food. Food.
Yesenia and Amalia walked in to the mess hall together, having apparently made up their petty squabble after the fence had been destroyed. They both received their slew, they both found it utterly unappetizing, and they both sat down regardless. Amalia looked up from her "meal" to see both of the twins giving Alec a hard time. While she had been pretty irked that the fence was destroyed - both she and Yesenia were - she also didn't feel the need to send Alec to get his hair cut off as punishment. She abruptly stood up, but Yesenia grabbed her by the hand. The braided girl looked up at her friend and shook her head. "Don't go picking a fight, Malia. It's not worth it." Amalia shook her hand free of the other's grip. "I'm not picking a fight. I'm stopping it." She immediately walked over to the twins with protective malice in her eyes as Yesenia sighed dejectedly, eating her food.
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Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 6:35 pm
Alec's eyes went wide when he heard the first twin snapped at him, weather they were teasing or not was lost on him. He opened, then closed his mouth quickly when all he could make was a weird sort of nervous pitched laughter and immediately muttering an apology.
"Seriously I'm really sorry..! Please..dont cut my hair off. I don't wanna meet a demon barber." He began, trying not to sound like a little kid or some crap and make it right with the people he'd disappointed. Alec was quick to grab for his head of hair.
There was Tala..hopefully she wasn't too angry either. This wasn't looking any better by the second, and he really didn't want to be the guy who broke a fence and ran off to hide from his classmates. It just wasn't his style.
"I...put to much force into tightening a section of the fence and the whole thing caved under the extra tension. I didn't think it would break the whole structure let alone trip into it." He had the pink cat hat still on his lap he set his spoon down. This food really did suck, and needed some serious TLC..like salt or something. It was making this whole situation infinitely worse. He just wanted to eat in silence, not be heckle. However, he had no choice but to stick up for himself in this situation.
"I didn't do it on purpose..walls I'm really sorry you guys I didn't mean to let you down." Yup, he was done eating, and he wouldn't actually look at the other briefly distracted by Axel's barging in. That was something, a moments relief from the situation. Uhh..a hat. Its got a kitty on it" He answered his friend lifting up his hat, and despite the moment of fighting the red head tugged his goggles off, popping the cat hat on, before returning them back to his head and turning his attention to the twins..and a woman sighing at the table as another now stood over them.
"...hi...?" He began slowly addressing Amalia and her malicious look unsure what it was meant for.
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Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 7:13 pm
"Too much force?" Jeong-jae paused and thought it over, having not realized that was a possible problem for their fence. He'd just been shoving wood pieces into the ground and wrapping wire around them until it seemed right. Obviously there was a correct technique to go about doing the project but he'd assumed it wouldn't matter because this wasn't a professional installation. The irritated expression on his face started to waver, replaced with contemplative look in his eyes. Part of the reason he'd been so angry was because he hadn't understood what magic Alec had worked to destroy the entire face from one point. Now that he knew what had happened it didn't make it suck any less but he understood Alec hadn't been setting up a sabotage from day one.
"It's okay. It's not your fault, I guess none of us knew what we were doing." Rubbing the back of his neck, Jeong-jae's body relaxed a bit and he seemed to be starting to calm down. Alec's apologetic behavior had shown him they didn't need to fight. Truthfully, Jeong hadn't been planning to unless the red head had taunted and mocked them over the incident and all the effort they'd put in but that had been incredibly unlikely. He didn't know the guy that well but he'd given off a more empathetic impression the few times they'd met.
"Sorry for freaking you out. I just wanted to talk about it now and settle things." The black haired boy explained. He knew he had a problem of holding grudges if things didn't get worked out quickly. It was a flaw he had trouble controlling unless something was really eating at him. Offering a hand to shake and mark the matter as over, he noticed a guy with a ridiculous hat had taken a seat. Oh god what was that thing?
"Pffff what is that?!" Cracking up at the Tuggle goods, Jeong placed his plate on the table to officially join them and see what other crazy stuff these guys had on them. Hopefully now that both sides had apologized and explained themselves, they could share a (not so nice) meal and become friends!
"Oh, hey Amalia!" Alec's attention moved to the side of the table to reveal the green haired girl with a grim expression and he blinked wondering if she needed something from them. A thought occurred to him and he bumped Hwan to move until they'd scooted over to make space for the girl. She'd come over to join them, right?
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Sorry I wasn't able to work Amalia in until the end!
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I didn't manage to involve Tala in my post but figured you'd want a notification!
Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 7:51 pm
Before Shakuntala knew it, bodies were filing into the mess hall one by one. She recognized most, if not all of the people nearby, but she still did not rise to greet them. The trainee decided to play the role of observer for a few more moments and figure out what was really going on with the twins and Alec. Eavesdropping wasn't her specialty, but she managed to hear the last bits of their conversation, and then nodded her head in acceptance. Good, good, this wasn't escalating to something dangerous. It wasn't as if she had the strength to fight back (nor the willpower; she'd likely breakdown before she had a chance to protect her friend), but she did have the courage to protect when need be.
Figuring she should make her presence known instead of hanging on the outskirts, the skittish girl rose from her empty table and approached the livelier one with some hesitation. Shakuntala eased herself from her one step forward, two steps backward routine to her three steps ahead at all times. Eventually, she was standing at the edge of the table with her hands hooked behind her back as she wrung them in nervousness.
Stop it, Shakuntala,she mentally rebuked herself as she cast a smile to the twins, Alec, and Axel; following another to Amalia when she neared. They're not titans, they won't bite your head off for saying hi.
"I, um, i-is there room for me to sit?" she asked gently with a tilt of her head. "I'm... I-I'm not really hungry, so I thought I'd, um, j-join you guys..."
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That's fine, haha~
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Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 10:09 pm
It would've been impossible not to notice the stink eyes all around the room glaring at him and his brother for picking on the redhead, even in jest. He honestly had only meant to spook Alec a little in a strange method of cheering him up but he hadn't intended to offend people.
"Well, I guess I forgive you since you're such a lovable goof. Sorry for giving you a hard time, Alec. I was just being a brat." He laughed in an attempt to diffuse the tension, and bowed his head slightly in apology to Alec as well as the blonde who had obviously come over protectively. Hwan had struggled with grudges since childhood but tried hard to overcome this. Occasionally he slipped up like this and a surge of embarrassment flared up inside him for his immaturity but making a big scene out of it would only make things worse. Others began to join or hover around the table and he squashed against his brother to make room. The two were close siblings and so it didn't bother him that his legs were practically on top of Jeong's. The calmer twin might have a problem with it when the time to get up came but that was then, not now.
"I wouldn't have really made you cut your hair. It looks too cool." The vibrant shade really stood out in a fashionable way and he eyed it a little jealously. Axel's hat was incredible too and Hwan's jaw dropped as the redhead pulled one out as well. What were these crazy things? How did he get one?
"Those are incredible! Somehow they really suit you two-" He was laughing pretty hard at this point at the absurdity of the cute little kittens plastered over Axel and Alec. The designs were somewhat weird but overall adorable which looked pretty strange on the buff and muscular blonde but Hwan wasn't sure they were entirely out of place. The guy gave off a relaxed comfortable with himself vibe. Amalia approached with a displeased expression and he shifted closer to Jeong in defense. It also made room for Shakuntala to pick a seat at the table. She said something about not being hungry and he almost looked over to ask for her tray (if she had one) as he was starving until he sampled the slew for himself.
Was this bathwater or something?
"Guh, this is disgusting." He swallowed what he'd put in his mouth at least but made not move to eat the rest of it. Why couldn't they have served cherries or something? There were fields of them near here. "I wish they'd give us dessert every once in a while." He understood it was important to keep to a healthy diet and stay in shape, yadda yadda, but in these exhausting conditions he couldn't help but want some sort of sweet reward after making it another month.
"Or beer." He added as an afterthought. Would any of these other trainees know where to get some? Or was this the wrong crowd for that sort of thing? He decided to take a chance and ask.
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Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 1:23 am
Alec took a deep breath realizing he was kind of over reacting. It wasn't like they were exactly screaming at him. Really the red head just didn't want them to think he'd done it to be a jerk. There was a rush of air the fifteen year old had been holding that he hadn't even realized was there. He looked back between Hwan and Jeong, tilting his head slightly. "Walls..remind me to never get on your bad sides..you two can be one scary a** force. O..oh um thank you?"The comment about his hair and the way he had been looked at unsure what to make of it. His shoulders sagging releasing the tension he'd been holding for the duration of the conversation thus far.
"Terry, he handed me the hat actually. Sometimes he gives out socks 'n hats he makes." Alec actually laughed beaming finally the awful tension seeming to pass. While they'd all toiled and worked hard at something..it occurred to him they had made a lot of memories together. Alec really did admire the group gathered..and even more whos faces weren't here. These lives had touched him in some way or another. Even if they weren't all the closest of friends just yet, they certainly weren't strangers to him anymore.
Perhaps that was why he'd been so embarrassed and nearly as red as his head of hair. It meant something to him what his peers thought as much as he hated to admit it.
When Shakuntala approached them, gently nudging the person closest to him to scoot over.The table had plenty of room, especially with some bodies making room when Tala had asked oh so kindly. "Of course, come join us! And even I'm having hard time with this tonight...the chef said we're getting in a new dinner shipment tomorrow and to deal with it." He murmured softly, getting settled as he eyed the food and those making comments about it.
There was a time when nothing was said from Alec's part, slipping away only when his food was finished and water to drink was obtained and sliding back into his seat. "I dunno. I drank once and had the worst headache of my life the next morning even if i had fun. I suggest we get some pie in Trost sometime soon together, 'n it'll be on me." he offered after a little bit of consideration.
Hey man. now you know how i feel when i quote you guys for classes LOL
Axel tipped his horrible hat to Jeong and Hwan in acknowledgement of their hat-related compliments. They weren't heckling Alec any more. They must have just been frustrated about the fence collapsing. Well, Axel could understand that. He relaxed.
"Hey Tala. And Amalia? Come on, sit down!" Axel said cheerfully, scooting over to make room for Tala and the girl that stalked over with fire in her eyes. Amalia, was that her name? He didn't think he'd talked to her before, but he was starting to pick up names.
"I like beer," Axel said, addressing Alec and Hwan -- or possibly Jeong. "I've had some of the best times of my life with beer,"he said reminiscently. Like that one time, at the tavern in Shiganshina. Oh yes. "And also some of the worst." Like that same exact time ... at the tavern in Shiganshina.
Why was everyone picking on the meat slop? Okay, it was slop, but it wasn't bad slop. There were even bits of potato in it and things that might be carrots. And he was hungry. Axel eyeballed the rest of the trays thoughtfully, wondering if the other trainees really weren't going to eat all of that delicious mystery meat. He had a very distinctive gleam in his eye as he looked at those unwanted trays. It was the look of a dog trying to sidle into the kitchen when bacon was on the stove.
*quotes umpty bazillion people*
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Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 7:33 am
As Shakuntala slid her bottom onto the seat beside Axel, she gave a weary eye to the beef slew that others were picking at and quickly averted her eyes. It wasn't that she was against the meal (and she was a bit famished at that), but meat never sat well in her stomach. Never had and probably never will. Ever since that moment with her father and the pig- Okay, no more thinking about that, Shakuntala.
"Beer?"
She tilted her head at the drink that was brought up. Of course she knew of the existence of alcohol; it was popular amongst working women and men to douse themselves in after a long, hard day's work. Those who worked at the slaughterhouse with her father often would pool their funds together and leave in the evening to a tavern to drink the night away. Well, except her father. He never seemed to like to drink (and had become an outcast to his colleagues because of this), but she never questioned why. All she heard was positivity about it! It must not be that bad, right?
"I-I've... never tried beer," Shakuntala spoke up innocently from her end of the table, "O-or anything alcoholic, really. W-what's it like?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 8:56 am
The malice faded from Amalia's eyes as she saw the situation had already resolved itself. She shook her head. "It's nothing." Turning to leave, she was abruptly stopped by the sudden appearance of Yesenia behind her. The braided girl turned her friend back around forcefully and waved. "Hey, everyone! I'm Yesenia, for those who don't know, and this is Amalia!" She poked the other girl in the cheek as she said her name, earning her an annoyed glare. Nevertheless, Yesenia continued on. "You see, Malia here was just saying she wanted to make new friends, but wasn't sure how to go about it - she's actually very shy!" The green haired girl grabbed her friend by the wrist and pulled her away from the table. "See? Super shy! We'll be right back~!"
Amalia slammed the grey haired girl into her seat. "What the hell are you doing." It wasn't even phrased as a question. Yesenia stuck her tongue out jovially. "You were about to make an a** out of yourself, and I just saved you." She gestured to the large group of people. "Anyways, whether you like it or not, they're waiting for us to come back now. What are you going to do about that?""I really hate you sometimes, Yes." Yesenia merely grinned. "No, you don't." She stood back up. "Now, come on! Your adoring public awaits!" She marched back over to the group as Amalia rubbed her temple.
When the duo returned, the topic had moved onto beer. Yesenia piped up first. "When Amalia and I were old enough, I challenged her to a drinking contest! We drank and drank and..." The girl's brows furrowed as she tried to dredge up a memory. Finally, she turned to Amalia. "Hey, Malia - who ended up winning that one?" Amalia shook her head. "From what little I recall, we both finished three and passed out. If there was a winner, I don't remember it." Yesenia's face settled into a pout. "Aw, lame!"
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