Of Royalty and Motorcycles [Vice]

[Vice Ysal]

"And that surmises the lecture part of our first lesson."

Vice concluded with a nod as he pushed the empty cup of water slash noodles towards Isolde before standing up. Grabbing a piece of bread from the pantry he had, the red eyed civilian popped it open and broke it in two. Handing half of it towards Isolde, and for her to take it lest he eat it all by himself, Vice then began to munch on his own half.

"The practical part can really only be done via practice, practice,and more practice. Which leads us to you cleaning up the dishes, utensils, cooking accessories, and miscellaneous that had been used in order to prepare the food you have made."

With a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, Vice asked:

"So Blue, how would you go about washing these dishes?"

[Vice Ysal]

"Well, sure, if that's what you want."

Vice answered, as he raised a handkerchief to his face as if he was wiping the smudge of the bread on it but in truth was just hiding the slowly growing smug smirk on his lips at the image of someone who believed to be royalty themselves simply washing dishes. It wasn't condescending, no that was not his aim, but the thought of it was enough to at least garner some amusement from the older of the two.

"I mean, a hint from the lecture phase would have been to see ask the owner of this house if he had any gloves to protect the hands for washing, or maybe if there was some soap to help with the stain removal of which both could be found in the small compartment to the left side of the sink. But hey, if you're fine with doing it the overly hard way, then I've got nothing against that too. Just make sure to clean and dry them off properly. God knows the roaches that live in the building love unfinished dishes."

[Deleted]

"As you wish, Lazarus." she responded with a gallant bow. She went over to the sink and took out the soap from the left compartment. Plucking the dishes out one by one, she used the sponge lathered with soap to wash off the stains first and then, washing them thoroughly with her hands. Actually, work wasn't bad at all as long as she did the work that her servants do for her. Work gave her time to give herself a break from royal matters, too. She also took great care to wash the cooking utensils, silverware, and other cooking accessories she might have used. She hummed to herself while washing them, something she liked to do to keep herself busy. After she was done, she placed the dishes neatly in stacks and the cooking utensils and silverware back into their respective cabinets. At least, she liked doing work considered to be lowly for royalty.

[Vice Ysal]

This time moving to the more comfortable couches available in the room, Vice allowed himself to sink to the pleasurable leather as he listened in to Isolde doing the dishes and whatnot. Humming along with her as he patiently waited for her to finish, Vice tried to articulate the words that he wanted to come out next in his head. This dish washing thing would most likely finish the last part of today's lesson on how to be a commoner 101 but given that it was still pretty darn early, it'd be a waste to just send the girl out immediately.

Nodding to himself with the plan of action, Vice kept waiting patiently for when Isolde would finish the chores assigned to her. When she had finished, the red eyed civilian would then point to the area of the couch next to him and for Isolde to sit there. They were going to have a talk about something else that didn't have anything to do with dishes now.

"Blue, we're going to need to talk."

Vice started. His eyes gazing straight ahead towards the corridor leading to his bedroom and not at the lady next to him.

"Tell me, what do you know about the Outer Circle?"

[Deleted]

She sat down at the area of the couch next to him when he told her that he needed to talk to her about something important. Perhaps, it will be something that didn't relate to washing the dishes. Then, the big question came up. He had asked her what she knew about the outer circle. Well, the outer circle was a lot of things. She wasn't exactly knowledgeable about it yet, but she was willing to answer his question. Most likely, a lot of Persona users would ask that question to her. She answered, "The Outer Circle is a dangerous place, Lazarus. It's crawling with Shadows, creatures that feed on the minds of the living. Most of them are pretty powerful, too."

[Vice Ysal]

"I know that already."

Vice answered, his voice a bit too tense at the mentioning of things he already knew. He knew Blue from the battle at the cemetery, he saw her fight and how she summoned those damnable things to battle the shadows with. Her answers at her questions didn't really give him anything else to work with and for the most part, even if he didn't know, he would've already put that together from the first few times he's gone exploring.

"No, I need to know what you know. The places you've been to, the monsters you've fought, anything else that you think can help a person who can't summon a persona to further his chances of surviving."

[Vice Ysal]

"Abandoned Buildings. I've been there too if the place we've been talking about are the same. Hands and tables are also things I've fought and the intricacies behind them have been studied a bit."

Vice continued as he looked down under the couch they were on and felt around for something. When the click finally came out, the young man then proceeded to unlatch something and pulled out a secret drawer from the bottom of their furniture. Most likely receiving a strange look from the girl, Vice would just answer her inquiries with 'Security Issues' before rummaging around his maps, notes, and a usb that could be attached to his laptop in his bedroom.

"Come with me."

The civilian ordered as he locked the secret compartment once more and headed towards his bedroom. Leading the way, Vice more or less ignored the clean and spotless room he slept in in favour of opening up his laptop and booting it. Waiting for the thing to start up, Vice then drummed his fingers on the bed side table available to him.

"What else can you tell me? Maybe your persona and those Knights of yours?"

[Deleted]

She followed him to his bedroom where they would discuss private matters. It didn't occur to her that he wanted to know about Personas and those knights of hers. Even though, it was a well-guarded secret, she was willing to tell what she knew to a civilian. It wouldn't hurt to tell him a few details about it. She responded, "My Persona is Penthesilea. She excels at healing and ice magic. As for my knights, their names are Seiji Dalton and Zhou Yuan. They are actually students from the same school I go to."

[Vice Ysal]

Vice stayed quiet as Isolde continued to supply him with the more minute details about the people who had been involved in the raid not too long ago. The machine had finally started running and with a quick and practiced motion did Vice encode his password into the his personal database and with a few select options opened up a new program that opened up a series of maps, applications, folders, documents that carried with them information that he had been able to garner and glean from his numerous expeditions outside of the city.

On the side could be seen a few notes that were added for future inspection and a few more directions for himself in the case of him ever being able to find out a bigger amount of information. Opening up the application he had for a Seiji Dalton and creating a new one for Zhou Yuan, his fingers blazed all over the keyboard as information that came from Isolde flew through his fingers at an ever increasing rate.

"I'm pretty sure that you and your Knights have gone on to their own expeditions to the other circle. What I'm not sure about is if you all have access to maps that are lined with measurements, sightings, and possible nests in the over all. I know I'm not the only one who has been making these, and if you can find others then that would be great, but if you'd like a copy, I could probably make one for you and your team along with anyone else is interested."

Vice offered as he continued typing away at his laptop.

"What I need in return though would be more information about the outside world and your utmost cooperation with a few projects I've got in mind."

[Vice Ysal]

"I'm going to need you to swear to your own life that you'll abide by this contract, Blue. If I were to find out that you decided to skimp out on information that could very well be crucial to the survival of not only us, the Raiders, but the general populace as well then I won't be hesitant on making sure you regret that decision."

Oh Vice was very well confident in his own words. Yes he may not have the same kind of powers these people had but in this world, show casing such things to the public would just really label them more as monsters rather than saviours. Popular opinion could also be swayed if one had the right tools, and connections was something that Vice could be certain that he was rich with.

"For now though, I'd appreciate it if you can give me any more detailed information about your associates, their personalities, likes dislikes, whatever you think could very well be helpful. I'll also need you to give me your contact information so that we can update each other should something start popping up that may benefit us both."

[Deleted]

Dear god, he sounded like he was threatening her. Well, she'll have to abide by this contract with her own life at stake. She responded, "I swear on my own life that I'll abide by this contract, Lazarus. You have my word for it." And then, he wanted to know anything about her cohorts. Well, they were a lot of things she could describe. She answered, "Seiji is a nice young man. He's always helping others in need and he likes video games as well. Zhou is a cheerful young man. He's very polite and he likes the company of others. As for my contact information, I'll give you my phone number." She took out her cell phone and went through the menus to give him the info he needed. After that, it was done.

[Vice Ysal]

"And that's all I can really ask for."

Vice commented as he typed down the contact information that he had just received then before continuing on finishing his own little database with several more footnotes for the applications present. He still had to gather photos from Isolde's cohorts to ensure that he had a face to go with the name and since that they really only had a limited amount of connection to the internet, there wasn't much he could easily gather from the safety of his home.

He'll probably have to do this like old time's sake.

Christ the library could really kill anyone, Persona or not.

Pressing the hotkeys for saving the documents into the laptop itself, Vice then gave a small grunt of satisfaction as he stretched and fell back on his comfortable bed. He allowed the sudden influx of information settle down for a bit…before hearing his own stomach growl. The instant noodles and the bread wasn't really enough to satisfy him, and he was sure that he still had some goods in the freezer which meant that he could probably whip himself up a small brunch to help stave off the munchies.

Still lying on the bed, the laptop still present on top of his thighs, Vice then looked over Isolde who was in the room with him. Shrugging his shoulders, he decided to ask her something:

"I'm hungry, Blue. Want me to cook something up for us? Consider it a small thank you for giving me whatever information you have at the moment."

[Deleted]

"Yes, Lazarus. I could use a bit of food as well." she responded with a smile. At least, they were starting to become friends. Even though, some friendships had rocky starts, this one was no exception. She had never met a civilian before, but she believed that civilians had similar abilities to Persona users. She assumed that he'll still need photos of the two she described to him. Looks like the bread and spaghetti didn't do well with her growling stomach either.

[Vice Ysal]

"Just give me a hint on what you want, ayt?"

And just like that, all the seriousness that had been present not long before had swirled away into the same casual atmosphere the two had that could be comparable to the time at the park. Placing the laptop back to the side table after saving all the progress he had been able to add in, the young man then proceeded to place it back on lock down before shutting the thing off completely. The notes he had with him were once more compiled and shuffled back to how they were before. Walking out of the room and back to the couch, the young man returned the papers in the secret compartment before returning to the kitchenette he had going on.

Everything was still in order, and there was some cold rice left in the cooker. He also probably stocked the eggs as well which meant that with a couple more ingredients and spices, some easy fried rice shouldn't be quite out of his reach.

"Ever tried 'That Restaurant's' style fried rice? I work at a food establishment so I can probably give you a free sample on our dishes taste like. If it fits your fancy, make sure to invite your friends there alright?"

Vice offered with a small smile on his face, the same marketing smile he used whenever he tried to convince someone to do whatever he was asking for them in the guise of a friendly gesture. It's always worked for him whenever he needed it to and so there was little doubt in him that it would give Isolde the idea at the very least.

[Vice Ysal]

It wasn't a difficult affair to prepare some fried rice. All Vice had to do was line up the ingredients he was gonna use in a neat order on the allotted space for said pieces of the final product. From salts, to pepper, to a clove of garlic and a bulb of onion. Some easy to fry diced meat, green peas, and three brown eggs. The cold rice he had readied would be the base as he turned on the stove to heat up the frying pan. A dash of oil to help make things easier, the young man quickly ripped the onion and diced it along with the remains of the garlic. Foregoing adding a single bell pepper to the mix, Vice began to test the frying pan if it was hot enough before frying up the aforementioned ingredients.

Tapping a couple of pepper and salt to the mix, Vice then added in the meat. Opening up the stove next to it and adding in another pan, the young man then proceeded to transfer the cold rice to the newly oiled utensil. Cracking the eggs into a separate bowl and stirring them enough to get that delicious yolky mix, the civilian then quickly put all of his cooking expertise to the foray as he began mixing, combining, frying, and tossing the rice around. Slowly but surely, the white grains had began to turn into a colourful and healthy gold. Adding in another dash of salt and pepper at the end before transferring the servings into a bigger bowl fit for the two of them, the young man then placed it on the centre of the dining table before grabbing a 2 sets of eating utensils.

Including in two glasses of water with the simple presentation he had readied, it was then time to eat.

"C'mon Blue. Eat up before it gets cold. Also, if there's anything you wanna talk about, you might as well throw them up now. I'll probably be heading to bed in a couple hours since I haven't gotten any sleep at all last night."