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Who: Rory and YOU
When: Throughout Narcissa
Where: Hall of Glory, schools, and around Caissa
What: Working in the day, barking in the night
Rating: What does swearing get? Because swearing.

Herb gathering

[There was nothing quite as relaxing as spending an entire day wrist deep in soil and foliage. These plants were a good crop, fragrant, and strong. Alix knew her botany. He felt relieved to know these herbs were in good care.

He quickly put the next plant in its container, protecting its roots from the elements. He breathed in its aromatic leaves and then exhaled, pouring his mana into the leaves, the stems, and its root system. All the plants that he collected glowed with energy, literally. In the setting sun, the batch of herbs shined with a light of their own. With all his bags filled to the brim with these plants, he was like a walking torch.

For once, he truly looked calm. Tired, but calm.]

Meet and Great (Available after 03/15)

[It was frustrating, but he had finally convinced these children that the mana potion was nothing more than a waste of colle. He did not have to tell them about the intricacies of his world, nor mention his own experience when it came to mixing up spells. Yet his job was not finished. A girl in the class was so eager to ask a question, she could barely stay in her seat.

"Is it true Heroes exchange mana by cutting their hands and then pressing their blood together?" the young student excitedly asked.]

No. [He grimaced.] Don't ever do that. Mana transfer is simple. Think of it like heat exchange. You only need to touch to exchange mana.

["Well, can you show us, Mr. Connor? Oh! Can you exchange mana with me?" a student asked.

Rory quickly looked around. He made a vague excuse of being inexperienced with mana transfer. Surely, they would want to learn from someone with more experience. Once he saw the closest Hero, he went over to them.]

I'm sure this Hero knows more about mana transfer than I do. [He looked at the Hero with a hint of desperation in his voice.] Why don't you do it?

There's a dog in the… kitchen?! (Early evening)

[Dinner in the dining hall was over, the night was still young, and he was hungry. Once the chef was done with the kitchen, it was free for Heroes to use. It was nice to get into the kitchen. Before, he had resorted to forcing himself to gorge on awful food. Now, he could make food he could enjoy.

The kitchen filled with the aromas of juicy meats, fresh herbs and spices, and succulent vegetables. Trays of pasta coated with creamy pesto, seared steak in wine sauce, and buttery fish roasted with herbs and lemon sat under heat to keep warm while he finished cooking. They were not out for people to take, but it would be easy to just reach over and grab one, or two, or all of it.

Whomever would come into the kitchen would find the one responsible for the food, and noise, looked nothing like the heroes brought in these past two months. This great creature vaguely resembled a dog, yet he was much too large. He just managed to get through the walkways by squeezing between them. Upon noticing company, he looked at them with his large, red eyes. There was a whisk in his mouth.

What should he do? Act natural. He wagged his tail. Flawless.]

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[It was Monday, and it was breakfast. Unlike other Heroes who seemed to treat this meal with dread, he treated it like any other. He ate it quickly and avoided chewing as much as possible. The portions were always too large for him, so he disguised his leftovers by wrapping it in edible leaves and gave it to his carrier.

Yet today his attention was not on the food but rather on someone he recognised, the woman who had no experience with cooking. He watched to see how she would do with her meal. She seemed like someone who had no sense of taste and would eat anything.]

[She'd heard of the "Mystery Monday" at the Hall's cafeteria, though those were mostly rumours in passing, as she'd never actually attended before today. Normally, she uses her own colle to purchase her own meals, preferring the quiet of a nearby tavern. But with her funds rather low at present, she's forced to endure this plate of.... thing that was handed to her.

Vivienne is by no means a picky eater, and of the opinion that provided something is edible, she will have no qualms in eating it. This though.. the smell alone is enough to make her wrinkle her nose in apparent disgust. How has this day's "theme" not been abolished yet?

Feeling a pair of eyes on her - something she's surprisingly good at, considering where she comes from, a lack of awareness often gets you killed - Vivienne stops poking at her food with her fork and takes to scanning the area around her. It takes her a moment, but eventually, she settles on Rory's unwavering gaze, and her eyes narrow in recognition.]

You...

[Well, he had received worse reactions. Since she clearly noticed him, he moved closer to her. He wanted to question her anyway.]

How does it taste?

[The first time he tried to get her to use her sense of taste in cooking was a disaster. Would the result be similar here?]

[She, of course, doesn't object when he comes closer, but she does watch him rather carefully. Last she remembered, while he was polite, he was still rather crude...]

Can you not simply sample it for yourself?

[A genuine question, though it might also come across as a mild form of sarcasm. If it does, it wasn't intentional - she hasn't mastered the art of sarcasm yet.]

[Oh, he took it as sarcasm. It also did not help that his sense of taste was a rather personal matter to him. He tried to rationalise it by understanding that she had no way of knowing, but that did not put him in a much better mood. This was no longer a job and he did not bother to hide his frown.]

I'm asking you for the same reason I asked at work. You taste it to learn what makes it good and what makes it bad. So how does it taste?

[And she in turn, frowns also. If he didn't actually have a point, maybe she'd also be getting a little tense right now. But as it stands, she stares down into her plate, and after a brief moment's hesitation, she cuts off a bit with a fork and lifts it to her mouth.

Her expression right then and there ought to say more than words ever will, and there's a point where she almost spits it out, but pride has her finish she started. Immediately after, a hand rises to her mouth.]

That was vile.

[He watched her reaction. Apparently, she did have some standards when it came to food, not much standards, but standards regardless. That was good.]

So you do have taste.

[He rubbed his head and leaned back. If she did not resume eating, he would ask next.] You going to eat the rest of it?

[And here comes an incredibly long pause, as she clenches the fork so hard, her knuckles turn white. She always considered herself a rather patient person, doubly so by Yharnam's standards, but she can feel a certain measure of anger begin to seethe in her.]

Why would I?

[Ah... her retort is spoken rather sharply, defensively. This sort and level of hostility was very rarely directed at her personally - she doesn't really have a frame of reference for a decent reply. She's going purely by feeling. Possibly passive aggressive feeling...]

[As he rushed to one of the schools listed, Gilbert still couldn't believe that he somehow had managed to get involved. "The children loved you all at the snowball fight last month." What the hell did they mean by that? He had absolutely no idea, but he'd appreciate some distraction after what happened in Palamède and if he could get some colle from it, he wouldn't complain.

Even though he wasn't all that experienced when it came to children. But telling them a story or two shouldn't be too much of a problem, right?

He arrived late but thankfully, the school staff didn't seem to be too bothered by it. And when Gilbert thought that everything would go fairly smooth...then he heard Rory's voice.]

Bossing people around as usual, huh...but fine, I'll tell them.

[His explanation is made up stuff for the most part, though. Unless somebody had heard about someone who replenished their mana by eating all their vegetables or by being polite or by going to bed early.]

[Of course it was him. He was not even surprised Gilbert was late. This guy seemed like someone who screwed up everything. Furthermore, he had the nerve to give him that attitude here.

He only raised his eyebrows in a look that dared Gilbert to continue the act. Then he could see how long the school staff would keep him around their impressionable students.

The children looked doubtful. Gilbert's explanation did not sound like the stories about blood pacts and sacrifices they had heard. They raised their hands and asked questions all at once. Rory shook his head. Once again, Gilbert showed he did nothing but mess up everything. How could he fuck up something so simple? When the noise became too loud, he spoke out.]

Settle down. Mana exchange is as easy as holding hands. [He gestured to Gilbert.] Hold out your hand. Now, who would like to come up and demonstrate?

[One bold student got out of her seat and approached the two. He looked at Gilbert expectantly, waiting for him to hold her hand.]

[Gilbert didn't think of one simple thing—not all children were like that bratty Alice who would believe literally anything just to get what they wanted. Actually, they even had questions, which he didn't expect at all, even though it was natural. Maybe he should come back here when he'd gain more experience in dealing with children...

Expect it was too late.]

Sure, you can do it this way, too. [If the children weren't here, he'd say what he thought about being bossed around.] I was about to say that.

[He took the girl's hand gently but she definitely wasn't so delicate about that and tightened the grip shortly after, probably to impress the other children. That earned a raised eyebrow from Gilbert, but nothing more.

At least until the mana exchange begun. Smiling shyly at the girl, he watched their hands becoming engulfed in weak light.]

[He did not say any criticisms about Gilbert's excuses, though he did think about it. As the children gasped over this small display, he spoke to the students.]

See? Simple. All we need is physical contact. Now you can say you've seen the proof yourself.

[That should put those rumours to rest, and stop any stupid children from trying to attempt such a thing. That was just asking to contract diseases. The little girl let go of his hand and returned to her seat with her head held high. When one student asked about what mana exchange between two Heroes was like, not just one hero and a regular person, Rory explained the process was the same. However, this child was just not satisfied without visual aid.

" Can you hold Mr. Connor's hand?" the child asked Gilbert.

Rory tensed. Why would they want him to hold hands with that asshole?!]

It's the same. There won't be anything different.

[He looked at Gilbert. If he wanted to escape from this, he had better think up some excuses, too.]

[A flat "no" was on the tip of his tongue when the kid asked him to hold Rory's hand. Even if they gave him colle, he wouldn't ever do such a thing.

But the boy kept gazing at them with an expectant look...which was soon followed by the older children shouting "Do it, do it!"

This looked bad, really bad.]

Who else would like to exchange mana with me or...mister Connor...

[Gilbert glanced at him giving him the you better cooperate with me now look.]

[Why did these children start chanting? What was wrong with the youth today? All attempts to persuade them out of this were futile. They were determined to see a mana exchange between Heroes.

Amidst the noise, Rory ran his hand through his hair. This was giving him a headache in so many ways. He looked at Gilbert. Without words, his expression seemed to tell Gilbert to go eat shit.

He held his hand out. Might as well just finish it quickly, he figured.]

[Someone should really teach them to respect the Heroes, because the way they were now, neither Gilbert nor Rory could talk some sense into them. The school staff wasn't too much of a help now, either.

Just before Rory held his hand out, Gilbert's own expression changed to fuck, we're screwed. They probably wouldn't be allowed to leave at this point, which seemed to be the only way out of this embarrassing situation.

Embittered, he reached his own hand out and made their fingertips touch each other and mumbled:]

Let's do it quickly.

[On the contrary, the school staff looked just as eager to see this as much as the children were. At least this was not a place where camera phones were invented yet. As their fingers touched, he bit his tongue to keep himself from immediately slapping Gilbert's hand away.

Touching only fingertips somehow felt even worse, so he did not waste any time to grip his hand. He did not look at Gilbert for the entire duration. Was he holding hands or getting his leg amputated? His expression made it hard to tell. The children gasped, once again amazed by the light that emanated from their hands.]

Okay, that's enough for today!

[Despite the extremely brief display, the children looked happy. Once the staff resumed lessons and escorted Gilbert and Rory out of the school, he waited until they were far enough before turning to him.]

Don't ever tell anyone what happened.

[Like he suspected Gilbert wanted to shout it to the world.]

[Although he wanted to keep the contact at the bare minimum, Rory still went and grabbed his hand which gave Gilbert creeps just a while later. The process of mana exchange wasn't a long one, much to Gilbert's relief. He couldn't even help letting out that sigh when one of the teachers asked children to go back to their classrooms. What if the children had another ideas?

He didn't really want to even think about it. Not that he had to, because soon they were already standing in front of the building.]

Damn, I would never do that. You do the same. I need cigarettes...

[It was just too much.]

Deal.

[He rubbed his hand against the side of his uniform. It was as if he could still feel Gilbert's disgusting fingers. While he could just leave here and never see his face again, something bothered him.]

Which schools are you going to tomorrow?

[He wanted to avoid going to the same school as him. Knowing his luck, they may have to do the whole thing again if he did.]

Rude.

[However, he wiped his hand just like Rory had done a little while before.]

Just one primary school...Spring Gardens was its name, I believe. Don't even think of going near there.

[He'd rather die than go through all this once again.]

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