Fresh Faces [Ase & Tomas]

[☢️]

Tomas Facioli.

”You’ve got me down for lunch time, Tomas, right?”

Tomas taps the side of his head with outstretched index finger; the mentally recorded schedule has Annabel Weathers penciled in for a thirty-minute session at lunch. ”Yes, as long as you’ve got my sandwich! I can’t work on an empty stomach and I will have to skip the canteen line to see you.” The curly haired blonde nods her head while she reveals the brown paper bag with the goods in her satchel. ”Lunchtime it is!”

It is a new semester for Tomas and that means a whole new timetable of classes for him to get a grasp of. The first one this morning is a class on Poisonous Plants and Chemicals, something different to the standard biology and chemistry. Something to do with the mayor shaking up the education system, just time for the new election. Whatever. It is just an hour that Tomas will have to burn in the day before he can get onto the real business. There are so many kids in this school that need a little therapy and he is the guy that gets his pockets filled after offering the service.

There are not many familiar faces in his new class and all the available seats look sparse, all the established friendship groups have taken the best spots. There is one in the middle, near the window and next to a guy he has only ever seen passing in the corridor. ”Hey is this seat free?” He asks, despite already claiming it with his rucksack on the desk. ”Or is it reserved for someone, like every other seat in this room?”

[parsnip]

The hall he sat in was dimmer than he'd imagined, yet the light from outdoors poured in through the top windows, illuminating a portion of the whiteboard. "You know you're far too early, right?" a voice spoke as they entered, and as Ase looked up he'd seen the figure of a definite teacher, just not one he'd had so far. He gave a bashful shrug and adjusted his seating position, smiling to himself. He knew he was early, he just didn't know anybody well enough to meet in the hallways of school, yet.

Eventually, his peers started to pour in. He pretended he was deep in thought, looking at the book set out on each desk. The one he'd watched the teacher produce moments before. An in-depth guide on Nightlock: From beginning to swift end. He laughed to himself privately, flicking through it.

”Hey is this seat free?” somebody asks. Ase looks up at the tallness of him. He's got to be something like six foot, or just under. The light from the top windows shone through part of an ear. ”Or is it reserved for someone, like every other seat in this room?”

Ase looked around briefly, seeing quickly how each seat had accumulated a barer. "Imagine if I'd said no?" He playfully laughed. "Go for it, bud."

As the class began, anyone except the teacher could notice Ase had seen it all before. He stretched with a slow yawn, the kind that you feel right in the back of your lungs. In doing so, Tomas might notice that Ase has slid along his notebook which has been freshly littered with doodles. Most of them are plants, the one being mentioned by the teacher, but with a silly twist where they all have mouths and eyes, devouring each other in a huge circle. He gave the same bashful shrug he'd given the teacher, and motioned for Tomas to add to it, or make a doodle of his own.

[☢️]

Tomas Facioli.

Tomas a flicks a switch on his attention, muting the dull drawl on plants that will make its prey’s veins pop to a more important matter at hand. The list of IOU debts from his sessions, now whose name on this list will write an A+ paper on this class for him that he already zoned out of? His pen hovers over each name, quickly skipping by some and others he circles. Some he circles twice. Some he sketches a bold star next to too as they owe him too much.

He is not the only one to have disconnected from the lecture. The guy that was so kind as to not claim the seat he is sitting in slides a notebook across the table. It pushes aside his own list, and the disruption of his administration task is quite the irk. The page is filled with doodles, one is a plant that is decorated with humanoid features. Tomas looks across to the guy, pen gripped between his fingers as he expected a note to have been passed to him. But nope, just doodles and a confused look on his face.

This guy must be new to here. New to the school. You can’t be new to District Six. Tomas wets the paper with his ink but doesn’t add a decorative doodle.

Tomas Facioli Therapies.
Something on your mind? Come speak to me!
No need to inform a parent or guardian.
There’s a price but it is not gold. Just owe me. (:

Tomas smiles at the guy as he clumsily pushes the notebook back onto the table in front of him.

[parsnip]

Ase was grinning nervously at the prospect of a new doodle on his paper. But he sees the guy grumble facially until he returns a note. It’s written in such a way that it takes Ase a good moment to contemplate it. An advert. He quickly draws around it. First a square, then another around it, then some additions until quickly it seemed like a billboard advertising the good man’s startup company.

It’s probably just playful, but Ase wondered how the guy knew he needed some help of his own. He wanted to whisper. Tell Tomas he doesn’t know anybody in this school yet. That he’s actually quite outgoing it’s just he situation they find themselves in. He doesn’t, though. He writes.

Need some help yourself?

It was a long shot. A guess. He’d figured that somebody in Six who’s helping people out on the down low is likely either exceptionally good at it, possible, or lacks the support themself, likely.

He then crossed it out. Still legible but clearly underneath is what he meant.

Looks like we’re both done learning! I’ll do ur mock test for a quick exit outta here?

[☢️]

Tomas Facioli.

A ludicrous form of advertising for his services but every new face is a potential client, he may as well get in there quickly before the competition whisks him away. Not that he is competing with anyone in this school, just the legitimate shrinks out there in the Six wild that he aspires to be. This is all just work experience for him, a small paragraph on his resume that will open up so many questions during an interview.

The notebook is pushed back under Tomas’ nose. His note has been highlighted, a few squares round it, it really stands out amongst the doodles on the page. Could this be his marketing guy? Tomas does this solo, seems less complicated. He tried having a PA once, a kid in the grade below. The kid fucked up bad, so many double bookings. Tomas’ mental schedule has never let him down.

There’s an addition that has been crossed out and then there’s an offer for the mock test he cannot refuse. He squibbles an answer below it.

Sure but then I owe you.

Tomas is less than careful when he slaps the notebook back in front of the guy. It makes the teacher turn around from the board and he just grins at them.

”So, I’ll need your name if we’re making a deal.” He whispers, not wanting to startle the on edge teacher again.

[parsnip]

He pulled a friendly smile out for Tomas. He held it whilst he spoke. "So, I’ll need your name if we’re making a deal.”

The teacher seems all too distracted whilst his new friend whispered. Ase was one for mischief, sometimes, but only when he knew what the consequences were. It seemed the higher up in the education system you'd go, the more strict the punishments were. "Ase Barber, District Six." He chuckled privately until the teacher looked over with a narrowed eye. Not at the pair, but the general area. He covered his mouth with a palm casually, before leaning back when the coast was clear. "You're selling your smarts? That seems pretty... lucrative, well done." He paused, checking again that the coast was clear. "Well, I'm pretty good at helping too. One time, when I was driving the ambulance-"

The teacher slammed their pointing stick straight across Ase's table. He was silently startled, as were some of the other kids. "That's the first and last time you interrupt today, young man. I don't care how early you were to class." They point directly at the door. "But" pleas Mr Barber.

"No. Leave." Their tone was sharp and inarguable.

Ase collects his things. The journal with the notes and doodles on included. He nods to Tomas, motioning to the door discreetly.