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Post by Kale on May 5, 2012 0:59:18 GMT -5
"You've ...never touched a cloud?"
Kale just shook his head. It wasn't something he'd ever thought much about; after all, if flying itself was a low priority, it wasn't like related matters stood much of a chance at drawing his attention. Of course, ever since he'd come to Ponyville and spread his wings (if you will pardon the pun), the desire for these sorts of things had grown in the stallion. This was one experience, however, that he had yet to get around to.
"Kale, you gotta try it! They're like, the softest, most comfiest things ever! Not that I would know, but lotsa pegasus say so! And, and! You've never been to Cloudsdale either, then! You should really fly up there sometime! It's beautiful!"
For somepony who couldn't appreciate clouds herself, Snowdrop seemed awfully enthusiastic about them. Even as he smiled at her eager description, Kale found himself feeling sorry for her. Her inability to walk on clouds was something he knew absolutely no way to fix; he supposed he could refer the question to Twilight Sparkle, as the unicorn seemed to know everything, but if Snowdrop had been stuck with the problem this long, he doubted anypony knew how to fix it. In a way, he almost didn't want to touch the clouds anymore, if only because it would give him a joy Snowdrop couldn't have.
Before Kale could agree politely and steer the conversation to something less guilt-inducing, Snowdrop froze up, then darted back into the cupboard. "Snow?" Kale asked in a whisper, brows furrowing. He didn't have to ask what was going on, though, because the arrival of an oddly vapid, saccharine nurse answered that question quite succinctly. Putting on a fake smile for the earth pony, he found even his fake joy fading in the face of what she placed in front of him.
He wasn't sure what it was, but he could be pretty certain it wasn't food.
As the nurse left, Kale still stared at his 'breakfast,' mouth half-open in utter shock. What was he supposed to do with this? He had no intention of eating it; after all, if he put it in his mouth he'd have to taste it. And if these disparate bowls of mush had any flavor to them, the cooking-oriented stallion was quite certain he didn't want to know what they were. They could have at least given him something solid to eat, there was nothing wrong with his teeth! Helping Snowdrop out of the cabinet a second time, he gestured toward his 'food,' plastering the same fake grin on his face once more. "Heh...bon appetit..."
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Post by Snowdrop on May 5, 2012 2:46:38 GMT -5
Snow was finding this game of hide and seek to be particularly fun, perhaps especially as she knew she really wasn't supposed to be there and the danger of being found added a particular zest to the game. She come out of the cupboard grinning.
When Kale gestured to his so-called 'breakfast', Snowdrop hopped on her chair and then jumped on the bed, being careful however, not to disturb his injured foot. Her grin was replaced by a look of surprise when she saw what he had been served, then doubt when she smelled them, then skepticism when she looked at his 'cheerful' face. "That looks....icky." Snow announced, honestly. In case Kale had any sort of mind to actually try the food, she politely refrained from referring to the oatmeal, applesauce, and gelatin as wallpaper-paste, glue, and melting wax, respectively. "Are you really going to eat that? Even if you put the ....applesauce.... into the, uh, oatmeal, I still don't think it qualifies as food."
Snowdrop was not the most spoiled and pampered of fillies, and she had, as the guest of so many different relatives, on rare occasions gone hungry as the result of a moment of forgetfulness or unintentional neglect. But even she, at her most hungry, would have found this... stuff... difficult to eat. How Kale, who liked to cook, could possibly stomach it was beyond her. "Mmmmaybe I should find you something you can eat?" She suggested, resisting the urge to put a hoof in the oatmeal and see if she could lift the bowl that way. "I'm sure I can bring you something much better, even if just plain carrots and apples."
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Post by Kale on May 5, 2012 22:54:15 GMT -5
"That looks....icky."
Kale wilted, seeing no need to keep up the charade now that Snowdrop so clearly refused to believe it. "Yeah," he sighed, imagining the many thousands of ways he could make these dishes better if he had a kitchen in hoof's reach. With a few extra ingredients and seasonings, there was a good chance he might even make them edible. Of course, it wasn't a sure thing with 'food' like this; sometimes, the only way to improve a dish was to throw it out and start over.
Well, he could at least do part of that here.
"Are you really going to eat that? Even if you put the ....applesauce.... into the, uh, oatmeal, I still don't think it qualifies as food."
Wrinkling his nose in distaste, Kale tentatively poked a hoof at the gelatin, which jiggled morosely in response. "Probably not," he agreed distractedly, wondering if the hospital cook had fallen asleep on the job. After all, what pony could willingly inflict this cuisine on others? Maybe I could take over his job, the pegasus mused; he was no doctor, but he bet he could save a few lives that way. For now, though, he was still bedridden, and as much as he detested the thought, he was going to have to stomach the 'food.'
"Mmmmaybe I should find you something you can eat? I'm sure I can bring you something much better, even if just plain carrots and apples."
Turning a grateful (if still slightly queasy) smile at Snowdrop, Kale shook his head. "That's thoughtful, but...I don't want you getting caught smuggling food in," he said, a bit amused at the thought of somepony being arrested for breaking into a hospital with breakfast. "Besides, you've broken in once already, I don't want you making a habit of it," he added in a joking tone--though he did mean it, somewhat. As much as he was glad the filly had visited, she was still breaking the rules just by being in his room, and he didn't want her to forget that.
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Post by Snowdrop on May 6, 2012 5:49:11 GMT -5
Snowdrop grinned at Kale sympathetically. She was glad, she didn't have to eat that awful food! But still, just like breaking into the hospital, she didn't really see the harm in bringing him something to eat. She knew she wasn't hurting anypony. Why did the hospital even have such silly rules? What difference did it really make what time she visited, as long as she didn't disturb Kale's rest, which she hadn't. Like a good girl, she had waited for him to wake up on his own. And Kale knew she wasn't doing anypony any harm, otherwise he would have sent her away.
And the bringing in of food. What harm could that do? If anything, bringing in food would help Kale get better sooner, since she couldn't think of anything that would make him feel worse than the stuff in front of him now! (and Celestia only knew what they would serve for lunch and dinner!) Snowdrop was too innocent of the ways of the world to understand that everyone who might visit a hospital patient might not be there for the kindest of reasons.
However sympathetic Snow felt for Kale, when he insisted that it was all right, she couldn't help mischievously wondering if he was seriously going to eat it. "Well, if you're sure, no need to stand on manners. Go ahead and eat." The filly watched him intently. After less than a minute, she had to look away and try to compose her expression, lest Kale think she was laughing at him. But even pursing her mouth into a somber little line, the moment she met his eye, her mouth started twitching and in an instant, the little pegasai was smothering her giggles into the bed spread.
"Sorry... Sorry..." Snowdrop said when she came up for air, struggling to master her mirth. "Maybe you should eat the oatmeal first, it's probably the worst of the three. Get it over with."
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Post by Kale on May 6, 2012 23:31:09 GMT -5
"Well, if you're sure, no need to stand on manners. Go ahead and eat."
And in the space of one sentence, Snowdrop had made Kale absolutely certain that she secretly hated him.
But, still striving to keep the filly from becoming guilt-ridden and weepy about him, Kale buried the notion and nodded, turning a half-smile, half-grimace at his breakfast. It stared back, as if daring him to eat it and see how well he did. The stallion gulped nervously, trying to decide what he should try first. Perhaps he'd just alternate, taking a bite of each so no one taste could linger. But he couldn't do that without wondering just how the three flavors would mix--and having done a great deal of culinary experimentation, the white pony could tell you just how badly mixing unknowns could go.
"Sorry... Sorry..."
Kale glanced up from his platter of horrors to find, to his dismay, that Snowdrop was laughing. Granted, she was trying to stifle it, but that didn't help much. Given the situation, the only way she could have been more evil was if she put on a monocle and cackled some. And if the movies Kale had watched his father in were any indication, she was probably about to.
"Maybe you should eat the oatmeal first, it's probably the worst of the three. Get it over with."
Well, that wasn't quite as diabolical as Kale had imagined it would be. "Maybe," he mused, narrowing his eyes at the gray mush. "On the other hoof, if I don't build up to it with the other two, the shock may kill me," he countered, only sort-of sure that he was making a joke. He realized, though, that sitting here and eying his food nervously was only going to let it fester and get worse, so he steeled himself, closed his eyes, and took a small spoonful of oatmeal.
By the time he'd managed to swallow the gummy, flavorless mess, the stallion found himself wishing he'd just told Snowdrop to go find him something edible.
Shuddering a bit, Kale didn't bother to hide a full grimace of utter disgust. Pushing the oatmeal as far away as he could get it without spilling, he raised his hooves as if to keep it from attacking him. "I...I think I just ate paint," he said weakly, then drank a copious amount of water to try and eradicate the horrible non-taste of the 'oatmeal.' "Snowdrop, pass me one of your candies, I need to taste something that isn't...that."
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Post by Snowdrop on May 7, 2012 2:37:26 GMT -5
Snowdrop couldn't entirely suppress her laughter at Kale's antics, even though she knew it wasn't funny to him. How could she help it when he made such faces and acted so? The Kale she knew was calm and patient and took care of everything. To see him act so was... so very funny. She did try to contain her amusement though, and she affectionately picked out a lemon flavored drop as she thought it the one likely to do him the most good. But since he made a fuss over it, now Snow wanted to try it. As she passed him the candy, she seized the spoon and without thinking too much about it, lest she change her mind, shoveled a big spoonful of it into her mouth!
It was awful! even worse than it looked, and Snow didn't even think that was possible. How could adding hot water to oats end up tasting so foul? Paint? It wouldnt surprise her to learn someone was paving a sidewalk with Kale's real breakfast! This was like wet cement! Her own face went through cartwheels of expressions, from surprise to shock to horror, to disgust, to worry, to puzzlement, to relief- As she swallowed hard a few times- and finally to hilarity. Snowdrop could at least laugh at herself as much as Kale!
The little filly flopped backwards on the bed, front hooves pressed tightly over her mouth to keep from laughing too loudly. She couldn't even imagine what the other two tasted like, and she was determined that neither of them was going to find out! All very good and well for Kale to insist that she avoid getting into trouble, but what about him? There was no way he could survive a couple days on food like this, no matter how hysterically funny-awful it was. With sudden resolve, Snow sat up, dumped both applesauce and Gelatin into the oatmeal bowl and carried the mess to the window.
A moment later and the gelatin and applesauce were flying free, out into the wild blue yonder, but the oatmeal surrendered it's hold on life and bowl most reluctantly. Eventually, Snowdrop held the bowl upside-down and shook it, and the sludge finally released it's grip and dropped to the ground outside with more of a thud instead of the splat one would expect falling oatmeal to make. The pegasus filly turned to Kale, shy but triumphant, and yet, still trying not to laugh. "It appears your breakfast has suffered a serious misfortune" she began, then had to pause as a giggle escaped her "I am...going to get you something else to eat. And that's that."
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Post by Kale on May 8, 2012 21:03:48 GMT -5
As much as Kale hated the upper-crust society he'd grown up in, he'd still been forced to learn what sort of behaviors were and weren't acceptable in it. For example, one never snatched anything. Whether you were a mare or stallion, it just wasn't polite; nopony liked having things yanked from their grasp without so much as a 'may I see that.'
Therefore, the way Kale grabbed the lemon drop from Snowdrop's hoof may have seemed a tad rude.
It wasn't like he could be blamed for this aberration from a more polite nature. After all, he was trying to ensure that his tongue wouldn't need to be amputated. And the flavor of the candy was just about the best way to get rid of the horrible, pasty sensation of the oatmeal. Kale was pleasantly surprised, in fact, at how well the lemon drop had been made; obviously, either Granny Weathermane or Snowdrop had quite the knack for candy-making.
Relishing the taste of the fruit drop, Kale raised an eyebrow as he noticed that Snowdrop was apparently dying. A quick glance at the spoon she'd just dropped told him all he needed to know, and he gave her a slightly reproachful look. "I warned you," he deadpanned, waiting for her to finish her (rather theatrical) montage of horrified expressions. At the end, the filly lay back on the foot of the bed, stifling a great deal of laughter; the stallion just smiled, glad that she'd survived the ordeal as well.
His amused expression turned to confusion when she sat up and dumped the entire breakfast into the oatmeal bowl. Grimacing a bit, he shook his head. "Snow, I don't think that's gonna hel--what are you doing?" he asked, watching with furrowed brows as the filly strode calmly over to the window. Once the realization hit him, he just sat back and allowed her to dispose of the nightmarish meal, impervious to regret.
"It appears your breakfast has suffered a serious misfortune."
Affecting a solemn look, Kale closed his eyes and nodded. "How tragic."
"I am...going to get you something else to eat. And that's that."
Kale sighed, biting his lip and looking at Snowdrop in obvious concern. True, he was hungry; even though the oatmeal had been utterly revolting, the mere action of eating only one bite had reminded his stomach he needed food. But he was still worried about Snowdrop getting in trouble. After all, if the nurses could blithely serve steaming bowls of death to their patients, who knew what they would do to somepony who'd broken in before visiting hours?
"Well...fine," the pegasus said resignedly. "Just...promise me you won't get caught, alright? Wait until visiting hours if you have to, just don't get into trouble on my account."
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Post by Snowdrop on May 9, 2012 4:54:25 GMT -5
"I promise!" Snowdrop was delighted, and she had a definite prance in her step as she put the bowl back on the table. She liked being able to help, and being able to help Kale was especially important to her. After all, if not for her, he wouldn't be there! But even more than that, Kale was always helping her, whether it be saving her from immediate trouble, or teaching her how to fly. This was a small thing to do in return. "It shouldn't take me long." she remarked to Kale as she put her saddlebags back on and opened the window.
"If I don't think I can get back in without being caught, I'll wait for visiting hours. It's twenty-past-eight now, so since it starts at 10... that's... three hours and forty minutes." Snowdrop's mathematical calculations were as interesting as always. The filly hopped on the sill and glanced about, both inside and out. "Coast is clear! Um- Be sure to leave the window open at least a little, so I can get in again!" Snowdrop hesitated a moment more, then opened her wings and stepped off the edge, fluttering ungracefully but safely to the ground.
Or... almost. A moment later, a sound of disgust and giggles would drift up to Kale. "Ewwwww.... why'd I have to land in the oatmeal?!"
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