EVENT FOUR: Checking Into Work
“Manewitz! Pommel!”
Both mares froze as they heard their names being called as they entered the hotel at which they worked at. Cautiously, they turned around and noticed their boss standing there, with a big fat cigar between his teeth and his usual grimace shining.
“...you’re here early, ladies,” he muttered.
“Well, y’know us,” Grace said, with a fake laugh. “Earth pony work ethic and all that.”
“Uh-huh,” the bossman replied sarcastically. He gestured to the front desk. “Well, Manewitz, I got some documents in from Prance. I want ‘em translated and on my desk by noon. Pommel, just ‘cause you work part-time on Bridleway now, don’t think I’m kissin’ yer hooves. I still need ya to sew drapes for our upcoming makeover.”
Coco and Grace nodded in unison, and let out a sigh of relief as their employer walked off.
“He was unusually nice for once,” Grace mumbled. “Normally he yells at us for a good half hour, then accuses us of bein’ late.” She slid behind her desk, plugged into her typewriter and sat down, readying her supplies as she tried to find the documents she was supposed to work on.
“I’ll see you at lunch?” Coco said, with a hopeful smile.
“If I don’t stab myself with this pencil, then yeah, probably,” Grace replied. She let out a groan and threw up her hooves. “See? I just got to work, and I already hate it.”
“Why, good morning, fillies!” a voice called.
Coco looked back, while Grace tried to slide underneath her desk, but with no such luck.
“Oh, hello, Baymont,” Coco smiled.
“I see you there, Gracie~” Baymont practically sang.
“Don’t call me that,” Grace deadpanned as she stared at the doorman. “Whatdya want?”
“I just came to say hi,” Baymont defended. “Is that a crime?”
Grace opened her mouth to make one of her usual smart remarks, when Coco spoke up in her sweet, polite manner.
She grinned at Baymont and shook her head. “Not at all,” she assured.
Baymont returned the grin to Coco, but it was clearly obvious that his attentions weren’t on her whatsoever -- but rather, her coworker was who he kept staring at.
“So, Gracie--”
“--Grace. My name is Grace.”
“--you look cute when you’re frustrated,” he laughed.
“Shut up,” Grace muttered. She crossed her forehooves like a child and glared at him. “Now, I’ll say it again, whatdya want? Are ya just here to bother me, like you do ev’ryday?”
“Your words wound me, Miss Manewitz,” Baymont said, with a mock gasp. He placed a hoof to his chest, as if his heart was breaking. “I was simply going to ask how your weekend was, that’s all. Is it wrong for me to enjoy talking to a nice mare like yourself?”
“No, you enjoy annoying me,” Grace argued. “And my weekend was fine, thankyouverymuch. Me and Coco here marathoned a bunch of Disneigh movies and I spent Saturday night getting wasted with an old friend of mine. Any other questions? ‘cause unlike you, I got an important job. I don’t just smile and wave to ponies.”
Baymont rolled his eyes playfully. “You like playin’ hard to get, I understand that,” he said.
Grace frowned. “I like avoiding you,” she shot back.
Baymont winked. “Of course you do,” he smirked as he turned around and headed back to his post outside.
“Stupid idiot,” Grace mumbled under her breath. She spun around in her chair and went back to focusing on her work, when Coco looked over to her friend and spoke up.
“He seems nice -- why are you so rude to him?” she asked.
“Meh, I’m rude to everyone,” Grace retorted. “But he’s the main annoyance of my work day.”
“Really? How?” Coco inquired.
Over the time she had known Grace, she realized that a lot of things easily annoyed her friend. And most of the time, the reasons were often quite strange or made no sense at all. Then again, Coco also learned not to question most things.
Grace huffed, and blew her mane out of her eyes. “He’s always winkin’ at me and askin’ me out, he can’t take no for an answer,” she explained. “Also, his voice -- it’s so squawky. I’d rather go out with a parrot.”
Coco smiled ever-so-slightly and tried not to say anything.
“What? You never smile like that -- what’s goin’ on?” Grace asked.
“Nothing,” Coco said innocently. “I better get to sewing those drapes. Have fun translating.”
“Yeah, ok,” Grace mumbled, not believing her friend’s words. “I’m onto you, marshmellow!”
“Whatever you say!” Coco teased, as she walked off.
Grace rolled her eyes. She began to type furiously as she read the Prench documents and squinted at the occasional word or two, but everything was mostly smooth sailing. In all honesty, she rather would have been working for what her cutie mark meant -- writing fiction -- but deciphering was the secondary talent she could fall back on, so this would have to do for now. But maybe, someday, she could write a novel on how a small-town filly rose to fame in the big city…
“So, now that we’re alone--” Baymont trilled from the doorway.
“--get out,” Grace demanded.
“Aw, c’mon, Gracie,” he begged.
“Do you want a typewriter thrown at your face, pretty boy?!” she called.
Baymont instantly burst into laughter. “My, my, a compliment from you! Pretty boy!” he said. “That just made my week! You finally lettin’ those feelings of yours out, huh?”
Grace stiffened her lip. “I was bein’ sarcastic,” she remarked. “I hate you.”
Baymont smirked. “Sure ya do,” he said, with a wink. He made his way back over to her desk and leaned over it, much to her obvious discomfort. “So, maybe this weekend, you could have a little more fun? I got two tickets to see Paramare, live in concert on Sunday. You wanna go?”
Grace ignored him, and went back to typing, much to his frustration.
“You can’t keep running away from me forever,” he argued.
“Yes, I can,” Grace said, with a chuckle.
The doorbell rang, meaning that a pony was in need of service with their bags. Baymont let out a sigh, and gave a sideways glance to Grace. He leaned forward, and placed a kiss on her cheek.
“Think about it?” he asked, sliding the tickets across the desk.
“You kiss me again and,” she growled, picking her bag up off of the floor. “I will not hesitate to shove this purse so far up your--”
“Ahem!” the customer called.
Baymont shrugged. “Can’t blame me for tryin’!” he said as he walked off.
Grace eyed the concert tickets and hesitated.
He’s got an annoying voice. He’s pushy. His manecut is stupid. He’s been watching me like a hawk since I got here. I don’t like him, she thought.
...yet her words betrayed her.
“Hey, pretty boy!” she yelled.
Baymont looked away from the customer for a moment, and his grin twitched.
Grace’s expression was neutral as she picked up the tickets and waved them.
“It’s not a date, just a hangout, capisce?” she said.
“Y-yeah, sure!” he smiled.
“Pick me up at six.”
Baymont smirked. "Wear somethin' pretty," he requested.
Grace snorted. "Don't push it," she muttered.
4558388 YES, DO IT, OHMYGOD. YOU HAVE ALL OF MY YES.
Ohmygosh!
This is just SOOOO, SOOOOO GOOD!
Cheap cliche'. "She says she hates him but she really likes him/breaks down and grows to like him." Couldn't she just genuinely despise him (he certainly sounds like he deserves it) and leave it at that?
4559581 Sorry, I have cliche cheesiness in my veins.
4559645 and that's why your awesome.
But seriously, apart from my (very minor) quibble about Vinyl and Octavia (really more due to me growing tired of the ship then disliking the characters), you've given me a lightweight bit of funny to read.
If laughter be the sound of good fics, then write on!
4559952 you could maybe voice the cab worker on strike 'cause yknow i said Germane accent and you are German so that cameo might have been made with you in mind >_>
4559952
4559398
Thanks for the encouragement and approval.
The best part about this is that I live in Manhattan and go to school in Brooklyn. I cant wait to go to Union Square and get the hippies that hang around there to do some "Legalize it" chants for my recordings; but thats getting a bit ahead of myself. I'll look for VA's in late august.
Now back to finishing chapter one!
4559993 *squee!*
Quirky and silly. I noticed a few errors throughout, nothing too bad. Watch your usage of it's and its.(It's) implies "It is" so if you're not sure, insert the whole phrase and see if it messes it up. (Its) is to imply possession, such as "Its hooves pounded the pavement" I noticed a few instances of the confusion, one in the first paragraph.
Might wanna take another run-thru and polish it up, otherwise it reads fine.
~Dash The Stampede
I do enjoy love/hate relationships, but only if they are done right and the affectionate if teasing suitor is sincere, and knows where to draw the line. The Vinyl Scratch Tapes comes to mind as a good example of this. If not done carefully, its all too easy to see why a relationship like this is doomed to failure since the suitor comes across as flippant and immature at best, and disgenueous at worst. The suited cannot trust the suitor, and the relationship can all too easily become emotionally entangled and abusive.
Assuming that isn't your goal, I suggest that you tread carefully. You're doing a great job so far, it would be a shame to see it fall apart now.
4560706 Dash the Stamped ha! nice I get it and love it
*whispers* but honestly it kind a creeps me out
no offense it's still awesome
4563008 <== This pony is right to be honest I hated almost every character that didn't take no for an answer, and was constantly annoying, the only one who I ever liked was Urkel from Family Matters he was persistent and pretty much took no for an answer but he does have a sense of honor meaning he doesn't go to far (most of the times? haven't watch the show in years sooooo...), he knows when he should get involved when "his" girl is in trouble but even so is still very much annoying.
Oh and just in case it doesn't work out I have my shotgun locked and loaded just tell me when
4559965
Hah!
Well, let's hope I can do my accent on purpose. I might just end up doing a bad italian accent instead because I've watched too much Jananimations.
This feels strangely like 'Two broke girls'
I love this story, however I simply cannot allow such a travesty to occur! Oh, the humanatee!
Alright, I'll stop making overly dramatic puns that force me to disregard grammar. Marshmallow has an a not an e for the second vowel. Good going so far!
We've all had a stalker, Grace. I had one in 9th Grade who was two feet shorter than me and had HUGE teeth. Thank Celestia she got over me.
4569798 Oh yeah. You're right. It does have a bit of a Two Broke Girls flavor.
Earth pony work ethic. Didn't Trenderhoof mention something about that in "Simple Ways"?
I can't help but imagine Coco and Grace's boss as that Don Draper pony that appeared in "Rarity Takes Manehattan".
....oh, the puns. That one hurt.
Coco knows what's up.
Paramare...
I think I might’ve died inside, that’s Dragon Quest levels of pun...