Mere days following his first encounter with the shack, Mamoru has recovered enough to the point of no longer being bedridden. While the stitches still... itch... every so often, his body is now no longer in constant pain from gaping wounds. The guy is almost relieved at this, as it means he's closer to leaving...

... but getting closer to leave doesn't mean Mamoru can avoid the obstacles in his path.

"... two silver."

Behind the store counter, Mamoru sat atop a wooden stool. Bandaged up and put in a stationary position, Sera made good on her promise to make him work off his treatment as he's promoted to "store money handler". Constantly behind that counter, doing nothing but greeting customers and counting what they want to buy.

Basically, a general store's mercantile work, but... a bit more demeaning and demanding.

And lo and behold, this store is faced with the most inhospitable, grumpy, and unkempt person to do that work.

With Mamoru now behind the counter, Sera was starting to light more candles to illuminate the inside of the store. Her eyes narrowing in doubt, however, at that pathetically dreadful performance. Looking at the man with narrowed, judgmental eyes. "Is that really the best you can do? You sound like a floorboard."

Mamoru is offended by this, glaring back at Sera with equal amounts narrow. "Tch- you're the one putting me behind the damn counter!"

"Right, and I prepare myself to regret that decision fully," Sera responds, moving to the next candle. "Mimi, give him another check, he's nowhere near ready to greet customers."

Mimi, standing aside with a crate of potions, ponders for a bit before putting three bottles on the counter. Getting into character as a customer, albeit... a bit more polite than the typical one. "Yes- hello, and good morning, sir. I would like to buy these, my good sir!"

Heartwarming, Sera thought, and if Mimi could handle being in the sunlight, she'd be the spotlight of this entire store. The welcoming ball of cheer that some paying customers will dump all of their money for. But alas, Mimi cannot, so they must resort to...

... the literal incarnation of a brick wall, looking at Mimi with a glare.

"..." Sighing, taking a deep breath, Mamoru prepares his answer and response. "That will be... six silver," he tells Mimi, with a better attempt at a hospitable tone. While his face is still cold as stone, Mamoru does make an attempt by concentrating on his voice.

In response, Sera chuckles and corrects him. "Better, but you got the wrong number this time."

"Wh-" Mamoru noises, glaring at Sera. An annoyed, irritated look on his face, ears perking up with a harsh scowl. "Three bottles, Sera! You're charging two silver per potion!"

"Check again," Sera says, pointing at the bottles while lighting a candle. "You need to be more careful. Look at the bottles again."

Mamoru- narrows his eyes at the bottles, examining it closely and seeing two bottles of red... and one clear. Gritting his teeth and hissing as he realizes one of the bottles is a bottle of water. "... you- you're kidding me- how exactly am I supposed to notice this?! They're in the same bottle, and- well, there's no lights in here!"

Sera rolls her eyes. "It's what we pay you for."

"You don't pay-"

"Customer's waiting," Sera interrupts, a condescending tone behind her voice as she points to Mimi. "Idle chit chat on working hours."

"... fine, 41 copper..." Mamoru corrects himself, converting the silver price to copper.

"And there it goes," Sera sighs, rolling her eyes and waving off Mamoru's departing hospitality. "Hostility in your voice. Unprofessional hostility in your voice. Customer's getting upset..."

Mamoru just takes a deep breath, looking back at Mimi as Sera is just agitating him. "Whatever, are you gonna buy it or not?! 41 copper!"

"Ooh, snapping at customers," Sera speaks up, going out of her way to really ridicule and shame Mamoru. "Customer barks back offended, storms out without buying a single thing, you're four silver less than what you would have earned from that, and one customer short. Good job, Mamoru!" Clap, clap... clap. Sarcastic clapping fills the room.

Mamoru slams his fists against the counter, angry enough to slam his hand against the counter even while in recovery. "... I... am not... meant... for COUNTER work! If you're going to keep ridiculing everything I'm doing, you might as well be back here instead of me! Little miss 'perfect' over here, talking high and mighty from her damned high horse!"

Sera looks back to Mamoru, narrowing her eyes and glaring. Taking no blame or accountability for annoying this man, she... decides to go along with this. Accepting his claim, giving him opportunity to supposedly take other work. "I hear you. Sure. You're better off doing something else useful. Here, come on and stand up from that stool and come over here, and I'll give you other work."

"Okay, I will!"

Mamoru, out of spite, gets up from the stool to back up his claim.

He then proceeds to sit back down as his entire body felt a sharp pain from standing. An aching pain that sends knives throughout his body as he tries to support his own weight, his legs wobbling... before he falls back down onto the stool. Back to sitting on it, proving Sera correct and being absolutely stool-ridden for now.

"... gods damn it."

"Right, so get your temper in check before that door opens," Sera tells the man, arms crossed and absolutely antagonizing Mamoru with all of the hate in the world. "I will not hesitate to have your entire upper body play the role of your fist, slamming against that counter, if you bark back at a paying customer with silver to spend. Understand?"

Mamoru... grumbles and groans as he glares down at the counter. "... whatever."

"Good, glad we're in agreement," condescendingly speaks Sera as she returns to her candle work, the shop about 50% illuminated now.

Mamoru... proceeds to slump forward, resting his stitched up arms on the counter and resting his chin atop his arms. The cat-eared man absolutely hates this job, hates this new work of his, and he's only been behind the counter for about twenty minutes. Mamoru thinks to himself, I have to do this for hours upon hours, doing this repetitive work until the sun sets?

Tch.

"... u... uhm," Mimi speaks up, tapping the counter lightly to get his attention. "M... Mamoru- uh- w-want some... tips? I've worked behind the counter for a while, uhm... I have some constructive feedback. Something that will make it, uhm... very easy to do counter stuff!"

"..." A sigh from the cat man. Not much else he can really say in this situation, he does... need the help. No harm in hearing Mimi out. He gives her an approving nod and answers. "Sure."

Mimi nods, smiling idly as she prepares herself to explain. "O-Okay, so, w... when you're, when you're trying to say that stuff, think... think of a happy memory, like, a... a friend. Talking with a friend. Seeing the customer like he's just a causal friend you hang out with! Do you think that'll help?"

Mamoru hms for just a moment, taking a deep breath and nodding. "Okay. Okay. Happy memory with a friend. Happy friend memory. I got one of those. Friendship, friendship..."

...

Mamoru sits up and commences with his friendly face. His eyes turning to an overwhelmingly hostile glare, his eyes twitching as he harshly cracks a wide smile. Teeth on full display, straining his face with a seething amount of unintentionally seething bloodlust.

"Hello...!! You seem like you need some help," Mamoru speaks to Mimi, an aching growl in his voice with unnatural amounts of overwhelming enthusiasm. "Go on and help yourself to ANYTHING here, if you got the coin for it...!"

This sends a chill down Mimi's spine, a very... very peculiar phenomenon for a vampire to have. Absolutely bewildered by this sight, unable to hide her terror as she fearfully whimpers and holds back the urge to cry. The combination of Mamoru's face and voice gave Mimi the impression that he would murder her at any moment, that he would reach over this counter and strangle her for speaking to him any further.

Mamoru loosens his face, grinning with a look of... pride, of accomplishment, unaware of the pure mortal terror he's inflicted onto this immortal girl. "So, how was that? I think I got a pretty good grasp on it. It felt perfect!" A confident smirk down at this girl.

"U... uhm- friend, right? H-Happy memory of a friend?" Mimi asks, very visibly frightened and concerned. "T-Thought of a happy, happy f-friend???"

Mamoru blinks and tilts his head at this question. "Yeah. Why? Did it not come out that way?"

"..." Mimi hesitates to say anything, her mouth opening briefly as if she wants to answer with the truth. Yet, if she were to tell the truth, he might get really upset and have his feelings hurt by her brutal honesty. Mimi just awkwardly stands, her mouth opening every so often to try and mumble something, only to be met with complete silence. She's speechless, tongue tied, and-

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"You looked absolutely terrifying and I think I want to hide your face behind a wall, Mamoru," Sera chimes in, doing the hard work for Mimi as she puts a candle on the counter.

Mamoru briefly glares at Sera, before- shaking his head. The truth hurts, but it's the truth regardless. "... y'know what, that's... fair..."

... Mimi looks at Mamoru with a sad look on her face. Whimpering a little, feeling bad now. "W... Well, it's- it's a start... w-we can work with that, Mamoru! So, what friend did you think of...? W-What friend made you think to... do that face?"

"The one that taught me how to hunt and skin wild animals."

"A-And I see the problem," Mimi responds, eyes fluttering in realization. Mamoru is using the memory of someone killing animals to talk to customers. "U... uhm- m-maybe a different friend? A-Any other friend that DOESN'T skin animals...?"

"Uh... you sure?" Mamoru asks, visibly uncertain. "I don't know, I'm feeling quite hospitable. Guy's pretty cool to think about, I think I could make a good enough face while thinking of him."

"N-No, no, you- you can't, you can't make a good face whatsoever with this friend, Mamoru, please," Mimi admits, averting her eyes and looking off to the side. "I... It's honestly really terrifying... how about a friend that you, uh, do... friend things with."

"... like?" Mamoru asks.

"Uhm... have you ever, uh, had tea with a friend?"

"Not a friend," Mamoru vaguely answers.

"Right... what about a friend you've gone on walks with? Walks through the, uhm, grasslands and all?"

"I don't do friendly walks," Mamoru immediately answers.

"O... Okay, what about, what about, uhm- uh..." A pause as Mimi tilts her head from side to side, a little speechless before looking to Sera. "S... Sera, do you have an idea? I- I'm out of friend activities..."

"... playing cards with," Sera suggests.

Mamoru gives a cocky grin, a malicious one that looks like he's about to win a hand and steal every ounce of money from this guy.

"... friendly spars with pretend swords," Sera then suggests.

Mamoru proceeds to have his entire face darken as he violently glares forward, an overcompetitive stare combined with a murderous glare.

"Hm. You're just casually talking to a friend."

Mamoru then has a forced smile as he looks utterly disinterested and bored. A gloomy look in his eyes as he side-eyes and tries his best to listen to this hypothetical friend.

"... this is just sad," Sera bluntly tells the man, sighing.

"W... Well, I mean, we- we can still come up with something!" Mimi cheerfully speaks. "It's just a matter of-!"

Suddenly, the door creaks.

Mimi visibly perks up and scurries to hide behind the shelves, ducking behind cover. An immediate kneejerk reaction to hide her body away from the sunlight, expecting the door to open immediately.

Mamoru briefly looks over in Mimi's direction as she does this, then redirects his attention to the door and the entering customer. In walks a heavily armored knight, his silver plating stained with bits of dirt and gravel. Signs that he recently dove into some nearby ruins, slight dents in his chest from something blunt and heavy. Head completely covered in helmet, with a small line stretched over the eyes for small visibility.

Sera is the first to greet him, and... Mamoru watches and observes, closely, what Sera does. As much as Sera sickens him for the time being... it's worth seeing what she's expecting.

"Welcome, welcome," Sera greets the knight, bowing lightly. "It is an honor to have you in this establishment, sir knight. May I help you with anything?"

"... I seek the finest of refreshments you may have, fair maiden," the knight responds, looking to the shelves of bottles and rations. "And what I seek appears to be present."

"Present it is, and yours it shall be. Make yourself at home among our shelves," Sera gives a stylish, suave smile to the knight. A look that presents to the man a feeling of comfort, one well suited for an adventurer. "Take anything you wish, and our newest employee will tend to payment."

"Wonderful." The knight begins to walk, his metal footsteps echoing out as he traverses the wooden floors. Passing by Mamoru and giving a nod before traveling down the shelves for what looks good.

As the knight turns away and enters the space between the shelves, the "aisles" as Sera calls them... Mamoru has a look of disgust and contempt at Sera. Unable to say anything whatsoever, knowing full well the damned maid will complain if he says anything in the presence of this customer.

Sera doesn't seem focused on Mamoru right now- her attentive eye on the knight. It gave Mamoru all the time to judgmentally glare at her for all of that. The approach Sera took just... it... it actively, actively unsettles him. There's something inexplicably wrong about how she greeted this knight, that perception of "service" he feels disdain towards. Something he struggles to put to words... but knows that it's completely wrong.

After all the ridicule he's been given for his act, Sera does that?

... fine. If that's what you want, if that's the kind of behavior you want from me...

Mamoru has someone in mind to visualize in the presence of this person. Resorting to Mimi's tactics and advice, driven to absolutely silence each and every word Sera can utter, he must tap into his... most hospitable look. A clear image of this person in his mind, preparing. Preparing with his might, preparing with his... heart.

Once the knight finishes picking up his goods, once he approaches the counter with two bottles of water and one pack of rations... Mamoru looks to the approaching knight, calmly gazing at the man behind the helmet. His red eyes softening significantly, a tender and warm look on his face as he beholds this person.

"Hello...~ it is wonderful to meet you," Mamoru sweetly tells the knight, eyes slowly lowering down to count the goods. "Three copper, please, oh fair knight...~"

"..." The knight slowly, slowly just takes out three copper pieces, putting them on the counter. "H... Here you go."

"Thank you~ and please, do come again, oh fair knight~ we'll be happy to give you whatever you need~" Mamoru beseeches, leaning forward on the counter with a tender and warm smile.

The knight... nods, and leaves. Closing the door behind him, the store back in the comforts of shade and candlelight.

Mimi- peeks out of the shelves once the knight is gone, really proud of the man and his first customer! "... Mamoru, that was-!" Mimi excitedly exclaims, about to praise him and tell him that it was a job well done!

Sera, however, did not agree, and immediately calls out before Mimi could praise him. Her immediate question barked out in utter bewilderment: "What in the bloody hells was that?!"

Mamoru has a condescending smirk on his face, looking at Sera. Looking at the so-called superior, staring and exchanging looks once the customer is gone. Free to speak, free to be hostile, free to exchange all the barbs and thorns he has saved up. "What? Are you jealous, Sera?" Mamoru asks, grinning. "Ashamed that I did better than you did?"

"Better than-?! Oh, I'm ashamed, alright, that you think that! You should be speaking with a customer as a counter worker, NOT AN ESCORT!" Sera loudly berates the man, glaring at him. "In what manner did you think it was good to speak as if you were a cheap bar maid seeking a filthy hookup?!"

Mimi gasps audibly, looking between Sera and Mamoru. A flustered look on her face as she covers her mouth and speaks muffled words through her hands. "I- I didn't think he sounded like that, Sera, he sounded sweet and-"

"Stay out of this, vampire," Mamoru instructs the girl, glaring forward at Sera. "Do tell, what part of that sounded like it? Hm? Escort tongue?"

"... oh, let's see! 'Hello~' you said," Sera begins to loosely repeat Mamoru's words, taking a more explicit tone as her eyes visibly sparkle in the candlelight. "'It is soooooo wonderful to meet you, sir~! Please, three copper, if you please~'"

"..." Mamoru squints his eyes at this, almost... offended by how creeped out he can feel from Sera copying him. This was his point first, and now he's having it thrown back into his face.

Sera continues. "'Thank you, and please, do come again, oh faaaaaair knight~' you told him. 'Mmhhhhhhh~' you moaned! Hear it now?"

"... biggest takeaway, I spoke in an uncomfortable way, one that upsets you and upsets the knight, right?" Mamoru asks, tilting his head and smirking. "An approach you don't like?"

"A gross oversimplification, yes," Sera answers.

"Well, if we're going to get on my ass for how I spoke, what about you? What exactly was that, the way you spoke to that guy?" Mamoru asks, glaring at her. Ready to get on her pretentious little high horse. "Tell me, what makes it different from what I did?"

"... first, that was hospitality, you imbecile, I welcomed the knight with a traditional-" Sera begins to explain.

"I followed your lead, followed EXACTLY the tone you were going for. Hospitality, you say, what makes your words any different from mine? 'Welcome, my lord, please, help yourself to anything in my home!'" Mamoru speaks, doing his best impression of a pathetic little house servant.

"'Oh? Yes? Is there something you desire? ... oh? Me? You wish to partake of my flesh? Oh, I'm honored, just let me~!'" Mamoru continues to mock, raising his voice and grinning absolutely wide as he makes a very suggestive hand gesture.

Sera grits her teeth, twitching angrily after that. "You incessant little-!"

"This is you, this is what your eyes were telling him! A knight comes in here after a brawl with an ogre and you treat him with unnecessarily extra 'formality' as if you're the one offering yourself up to him!" Mamoru shouts. "Gonna make his bed, make his dinner, clean his armor, 'POLISH HIS SWORD', and then the gooooold comes running in when he comes back itching for more!"

"Ghhk-! That's it!" Sera loudly shouts, stepping forward with hand reached out, about to grab Mamoru's shirt collar-

"W-Wait, what makes you think it was an ogre?" Mimi asks, immediately.

Sera freezes in place after Mimi says this. Her eyes briefly focused on Mimi for a bit, an eyebrow raised at that question. "...?"

Mamoru swiftly turns to Mimi as well, ready to answer. Happy to give her a happy little answer. "Simple, his armor had a blunt DENT in it. One look at the armor and it's noticeable that it's sturdy in every other aspect, EXCEPT the dent over his chest! Considering he was covered in gravel, dirt and such, an ogre is the only thing that could have indented the armor in such a way."

Sera's hostile look softens as Mamoru says this, blinking a couple of times. She's almost caught off guard by this, just... astonished. "H... huh."

"What? What is it? Got something else to say?" Mamoru exclaims, glaring at Sera. "If the next words out of your mouth are anything related to how I'm the one licking at his-!"

"No, no. It's... I... did... did you notice anything else about him?" Sera asks, tilting her head. "Anything in particular...? Like... what he does?"

"Huh? Why does that... uhm... what he does? I- I guess the guy's an independent adventurer?" Mamoru answers, squinting his eyes and just... answering with what comes to his mind. "Considering the fact he bought just two bottles of water and a pack of rations, then... he either lives up to a day away from here, or he intends to just make a stop. Couldn't see anything outside, so I don't know if he has a horse, but... odds are, since his legs were wobbly, he's probably a heavy walker. Didn't seem happy to talk to either of us. He just wanted to come in and get some stuff, knowing it was a store... exhausted and thirsty, maybe?"

"..."

Sera takes a moment to back away from Mamoru. Taking a bottle of water, opening it up and taking a drink of it. Her eyes blinking a couple of times in astonishment, just... needing a drink. Going silent and drinking and crossing her arms after drinking. "Huh..."

"Th..." Mimi noises lightly, beaming and saying the things Sera is hesitating to tell the guy. "That was phenomenal...! Y-You could tell all of that just by looking at him? Wow...!"

"..." Mamoru grows more confused as he raises an eyebrow at Mimi, having his ego fed with a subtle grin. "Is- is it really that interesting? It's not really that hard, that's all just- basic information... it's just a matter of seeing a knight's armor..."

"I-It's a good talent, a great skill!" Mimi exclaims, smiling contently. "Y-You know all of that just from one glance and some small words...? Y-You're really good at that!"

Mamoru just... smiles at this, confidently smiling at Mimi. "W-Well, if you say so, but- really, it... it isn't a big deal."

"You're right, it isn't," Sera responds. "One knight that went through a single battle. Not a big deal whatsoever."

Mamoru turns back to Sera, his smile immediately dropped to a scowling frown. "Oh, don't even start with-"

"Let me finish..." Sera continues, eyes narrowed. A begrudging tone to her voice as she glares, hesitating to... praise anything about this man whatsoever. "... it's not a big deal, because it's one guy. He's already left and we can't do anything else. However... if you do what you did again, but with more people, then..."

"..." Mamoru stares at Sera, an eyebrow raised. "... then?"

"... how... familiar are you with the Heavenly Father?" Sera asks.