[PRP Belrea] One Room Schoolhouse [Era/Percy]

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Fleetingly, Erasmus had a foreboding curiosity as to whether this ‘school’ business was in fact a trap, designed by adults to keep children busy while they did — well — whatever it was adults did during the day that children ‘interrupted’ when they were about always.

But surely that wasn’t it.

Or not for them, anyway. Their mamma and daddy wanted them around and home was one of the best places for them. They must understand that, and so it must all have had a different purpose than to just have them elsewhere. At the rap of the ruler, he glanced forward, sizing up the older man at the head of the room with new suspicion. It was the closest he’d come to directly addressing them aside from the general herding inward, and already this man managed to sound impatient and rude to Erasmus’ ears. He didn’t know about everyone else, but he didn’t appreciate demands or impatience from others and this man wasn’t their father-

Percivle seemed to act a step ahead of his early skepticism, turning right around moments after being called to attention, and Erasmus snickered with immediate amusement. Good. Percy knew what was what. And they were fast. This foreign game already sounded as though there might be some entertainment value to it after all.

“How do you win?” he asked at the tail of Percy’s questions.

Dashan, who had been focusing on Percivle, spared him a glance before returning attention to his brother and answering. “This is my second year. But Jasim-” Dashan turned just enough to point towards one of the boys in the back, “-is a third year - he’d already been here when I started, like you guys. Usually we have lecture in the first half of the morning, and then a morning recess, bookwork when we get back, and then lunch and if you got all your bookwork done and you’re a first year then you’ll probably get to go early in the afternoon, but after school and during break-”

“Mister Salvar…”

As the rest of the room had quieted, Dashan’s determination to get his answer in had become gradually more the only voice in the room, until arrived the point where Erasmus did not know who ‘Salvar’ was, but given the way it was spoken by the teacher who had closed in on their desks and was focusing his attention squarely on Dashan, he had to assume there was a connection.

“Do you have something you would like to share with the class? Perhaps you could introduce your new friends…”  

[Fluffesu]

The Only Black Uke

A third year. Percivle's gaze followed back toward Dashan's gesturing, and he blinked at the older boy with a mixture of confusion and concern. Was 'Jasim' especially stupid, such that he needed no less that three years worth of school experience? Or was it the norm? There was a small cluster near the older boy who all seemed to be large enough that they'd have two or three years' worth of life experience more than Percy and his brother, and assuming they all started at the same time...

Percivle shook his head. "What happens if you don't want to do that stuff?" 'Lecture' and 'bookwork.' His expression slowly morphed to something more like a distasteful grimace, with his lips pulled far enough back that his teeth showed.

And the his attention was back before them and tipping up toward the adult standing over them. He didn't look or sound distinctly pleased, but perhaps it was just that no one wanted to be here at this hour of the morning, and that they'd all been forced to come must lend itself to making everyone sour. "No, it's okay," Percy asserted as the man that must be their instructor offered to so graciously allow Dashan to introduce them. "I can do it."

He unlooped an arm from around Era's neck and instead used it to brace against his twin's shoulder, pushing himself up so that he was standing on their chair, using Erasmus to keep himself from toppling sidelong, and staring still somehow upward at their teacher. "My name is Percy, and this is my brother, Erasmus." He gave his brother's shoulder a little shake. "Our momma said we could come here sometimes and learn stuff and get smart and make friends and play games. But it's kind of rude, y'know, to not give your name first, before asking someone else's. Oh, and, um, it's also rude to talk about people like they're not there. You could've asked me for my name, instead of Dashan."  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

If Dashan had had an answer, evidently he wasn’t getting to it, and Erasmus couldn’t help but wonder if the unfortunate conclusion was that even if they didn’t want to, they’d be stuck. Or at least, some children were.

Erasmus’ attention, though, quickly split back to the teacher — who he decided he didn’t like — and then Percy, who for some reason thought it best to personally address the stern and unpleasant, unwelcome, stranger of an adult before them himself.

But it's kind of rude, y'know, to not give your name first…

Erasmus snnrked, earning an instant’s sidelong Look from the teacher before it returned to Percy in full. It could have been his imagination, but to Era, it seemed that the man’s chest had puffed ever so gradually but steadily as his brother had gone on until now he was at his fullest, trying to somehow make himself loom more than he already did before he spoke.

“Well. I am encouraged that you are at least…forthright with your thoughts. It is evident, however, that you have not been here long. In school, young man, the teacher - that being myself - is not ‘rude’ in their inquiries, rather students are rude if they speak back to the teacher without being called upon-”

“Percy isn’t rude,” Erasmus cut in. He hadn’t thought he cared enough about this strange man to address him, but since Percy had begun the conversation and the adult had the gall to respond in a manner which sounded as offensive as this, he was not about to leave his brother hanging. Particularly since this man thought this was somehow an acceptable way to address them. If they were going to be around longer than a few hours, let alone years, some things would need to be clarified from the beginning. “And we don’t even know if we want to stay here, yet, so now that everyone knows who we are, you can go to the front and do whatever you’re supposed to, and we’ll decide if we’re going to come again tomorrow.”

And that was how some two hours later it came to be that Erasmus was sitting crossly by the window, alone, watching as this so-called ‘recess’ event took place for the first time. The morning’s events had not been fun or exciting or even all that informative, though their educator did seem to think there was a great deal to inform them all of, and apparently advising the teacher of his unpleasantness and defending his brother was reason enough to detain him for ‘half’ their first period of break.

Erasmus’ eyes narrowed further, speculatively. He saw no reason to abide by the man’s instruction other than that he would just be dragged inside again if caught, but though he hadn’t been told his ‘time’ was up yet, it certainly seemed as though a great portion had passed and perhaps he’d been forgotten about.

It didn’t take Erasmus long to conclude it was more than reasonable to just ease out the window and peek about for his brother among the many squealing figures.  

[Fluffesu]

The Only Black Uke

For more than a handful of seconds after their new teacher's retort came, Percy stared back at the older man, still standing on his chair, head cocked, lips slightly parted and then- Squinting. Face scrunched and fingers curled and- He was not rude for doing something so asinine as speaking. And when it was only to answer a question in relation to he and his brother, one that he would be able to answer more accurately than any boy he'd met only a handful of moments ago.

It did strike him as rude, ruder than Percy had even initially feared, perhaps worse because there was nothing actually do be done about it besides what Era had threatened: to just not come again. But that, too, could be entirely out of his hands. It was all a very uncomfortable situation.

When Percivle sank back to his seat, fingers instinctively skirting for the nape of his brother's neck to tangle in any wayward strands that had escaped from his updo, he resolved that it was likely best to simply say nothing. Era felt grumpy enough that Percy didn't think it wise to incite any further argument on his behalf, particularly not at this point, with the whole day ahead of them. Even if he didn't like and wondered if he ought even trust his teacher, Era was still there, and there remained the potential for excitement with the others later...

Though when their break period came and the children near in his age scuttled outward to play what Percy assumed was the game they'd spoken of earlier, Percivle waited dutifully by the door for his brother's appearance. He could not just leave to play while his elder twin remained in unfair confinement due to defending him.

He scuffed his foot against the dirt, and lifted his head to pout at the closed door.

Movement caught his attention, and a moment later, a little orange head was poking from the window.

"Era," Percy whispered in something very near to reverence as he scuttled to aid in the process of helping his brother's escape. He had to assume that if the window was Erasmus' preferred method of exit, it likely wasn't due to being freed on anyone else's order. "I don't really like it here," he murmured, just as softly, once Era was safely at his side.  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Fortunately, Percy was not difficult to locate.

Between the two of them, it was not long before he made his way over and out, and whatever unpleasantness had been in Era’s mood a moment before evaporated as his boots touched dirt. Without a second thought to the matter, he leaned over, giving his brother an appreciative kiss at their success—and perhaps to console, for that matter, given Percy’s mood.

“We will tell Momma and Daddy,” he promised. “They can’t make us stay if it’s like this all the ti—”

“Hey!”

Erasmus, one hand entwined with Percy’s, half turned to glance at their addressor—and frowned. He didn’t recognize the boy, but he looked like one of the older two Dashan had pointed out earlier, and the look on his face suggested he’d just seen something foul. Erasmus glanced about, concerned for a moment there was a dangerous beast or trap or pit of refuse that he’d missed, but-

“Gross. Did you just kiss your brother…?”  

[Fluffesu]

The Only Black Uke

Somehow both of Percivle's hands found their way to Era's form as his brother settled at his side, and Percy leaned in near such that he could be more receptive to the other boy's words and- consoling kiss. Erasmus was generally pretty adept at making him feel better, and given the sheer amount of attention he was used to receiving from his brother, there didn't seem like there was really much they could do that would strike Percy as 'weird.' If anything was abnormal about the situation, it was just the locale and the others in it, though Percy wasn't one to think of other kids as intrusions.

He did, however, manage to feel the tiniest bit displeased as one ringing shout, "Hey!" tugged Erasmus' attention from where it had previously been consoling him in their shared unwanted predicament and toward... Another boy, who looked at least as offended as Percy felt.

The explanation for said offense didn't actually resolve Percy's lack of understanding for it.

But more than offended, he just felt some weird combination of confused and intrigued. "Gross?" He parroted back uncertainly. "It's not gross. My Momma says it's cute." And he made funny faces, too. This however, probably wasn't anything the older boy was accustomed to, if he didn't have an older brother to kiss him, and so of course he would be confused. "I guess it's too late for you to have a big brother. But maybe you could have a little brother to kiss, and then you'd be cute too."