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Ah. "Weed the Thorny Scrub" Day. The day when the underlings that Franz had found were weeding various garden plots on the campus. Howl figured he had narrowly dodged a bullet with Franz and the Polecats, so to make up for it, he'd consistently volunteer for such a chore. In all honesty, it was a bit of a guilty pleasure to be able to tend to plants. The poor lad missed his garden at home terribly, so weeding a few garden boxes was rather welcome.

Close to the school entrance was a rather large thorny bush with a long-haired lad kneeling up next to it. It would be his luck that some strange boy would get hit by some random tennis ball (seriously, where had it even come from?) and toss it up behind him.

Said mildly muddy ball hit the teal-haired lad squarely on the head. Initially, the sudden sensation startled him a bit and he jerked back slightly. Such a simple thing would have gone unnoticed. If it weren't for the ball landing in the thorny scrub. And if it weren't for the fact that Howl saw this ball had mud on it.

MUD.

Standing himself up and dusting off his pants, he called out to the strange boy that was relatively close to him, "Excuse me, but do you think you could be more careful, sir?" Taking the time to attempt to dust off the mud that was now blatantly stuck to his silky locks, he walked towards the lad.

It probably looked like a girl wearing the Hillworth uniform, but Howl's voice was not to be mistaken for a girl's.

An inward chuckle mentally went off in the lad's mind. Alas, it has happened again.

He drew up his hand towards his mouth in a seemingly coy fashion as he listened to this stranger speak of his apologies.

3. 2. 1.

"I apologize, but I lack the correct anatomy to be considered a 'miss.'" His voice had not even a hint of femininity to it as he spoke of the harsh truth. Howl lacked girly bits.

If it weren't for the fact that his beautiful and silky teal hair had been dirtied up by such a ragamuffin, perhaps Howl would have been able to enjoy the commonly hilarious reactions in regards to his own real gender. Once more, he attempted to brush the dirt out of his hair. Maybe this would be one of those things he'd look back and laugh at? Even the Hillworth boy could hope.

As this stranger continued to piece together the reality of Howl's gender, the Hillworth student continued to fuss with the mud in his hair. As as the boy finally sighed out his verdict on the situation, Howl's thin eyebrow quirked up curiously.

"I do actually pride myself on my appearance. I cannot help but disagree with you in regards to my mindset." He brought a single finger in front of him and eyed it critically, noting that there was indeed mud on it.

There was also another thing that did irritate Howl mildly. This boy did not seem to be familiar. Pointedly, he mentioned "Also, I don't recall there being any girls in student uniform here. Are you not familiar with this school?" His eyes glanced up from the mud to the other boy's eyes.

Flatly, Howl uttered out "...indeed..." The lack of eye contact was enough to tell him what he needed to know. There were plenty of nervous habits which could be observed rather easily if you knew what to look for. Avoidance of eye contact was one sign.

Not really needing to push the subject further, since the Hillworth boy already knew the outcome would be this boy would lie, he simply responded to the question in a slightly more pointed fashion than he'd usually speak. "At this school, students are expected to do chores as well. It is part of the strict disciplinary plan this institute upholds." He turned his head to face the planter he had been working in, as if pointing with his nose instead of his now dirtied fingers.

"My assigned duty this week is weeding the planters in front of the administration building," he stated as he returned his glance to the other boy's face. Most certainly, this was not the exact truth, but at least he knew how to make it seem like it was.

For a moment, the teal haired lad just watched and listened to this stranger. He went through an array of emotions within such a short amount of time. This boy must have been slow or just plain stupid.

"I am certain that your cousin would have mentioned something about our school policies. Conning a civilian into doing our work will just get you in deeper trouble. I would not be surprised if Killingworth found out, he'd be breathing down your neck as well as my own. Killingworth does not seem the type to care in regards to whether you go to this school or not."

After his newest lecture, he turned back to the planter. "I suspect it would be best for you if you left for now. Tennis balls do not just magically appear on their own. It must have come from the field, and that is where Killingworth is right now. You do not want to experience the tyranny of Killingworth." With a sigh, he then began to walk towards his work zone again. Perhaps that would be enough to get this boy to leave. The quicker this boy left meant the quicker Howl would finish his work and the quicker he could take a shower to properly attend to this ragamuffin's innocent attack on his perfection.

Unfortunately for the ragamuffin, Howl had decent enough hearing to know this boy was now following him. As he knelt down and picked up his gloves again (there was no way he'd weed the thorny scrub without some sort of protection for his elegant fingers), he answered some questions.

"Killingworth is not the one who assigned me to the thorny scrub. It is Killingworth who supplies the inhumane punishments for those who do not complete their regimented duties." Fortunately, Howl did had yet to receive any of the gym teacher's true wrath. One weekend of not being able to go out was mild from what his roommate had told him.

He put on his gloves, one hand at a time, then set back to work with the weeds. It was rather unfortunate that he had someone looming over his shoulders, but maybe if Howl ignored him as best as possible, he'd leave him alone. The only thing that was ruining this plan was that Howl was polite. He had been asked a question, so he felt he needed to answer it. "To me, Killingworth just looks like your average hooligan. He is quite tall, dark skin, purple dreadlocks, beard, and always wears sunglasses." He paused thoughtfully, then added on "And not the variety that changes to normal glasses when you are indoors. Just normal dark sunglasses all the time."

As he had explained, his fingers had set to work locating weeds, plucking them out, and tossing them in a small plastic trashcan nearby. The motions his fingers went through seemed skilled, and it almost seemed effortless for Howl to pull up those pesky plants.

This ragamuffin certainly had an interesting way of talking. One moment he was talking as if he hadn't a care in the world, the next he was squeaking.

Pausing from his chore, Howl turned and looked at the boy. Looked at this boy in the face as fear seemed to take control of him. There was no mistaking this expression for anything else.

"I am surprised that your cousin had not informed you of our gym teacher. Your cousin must not get around in this school or perhaps have the bravery of a lion. It has been said that many people will... hmmm..." he paused as he thought of a polite way of rephrasing the common saying at Hillworth.

"...Many people will void their bowels when Killingworth is merely in their presence. I believe many of the students at this facility would indeed say that Killingworth would be actually evil, as you phrased it." Hoping he had sufficiently answered the question, the long haired lad smiled politely before going back to work weeding.