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It might have been winter, but there were still cleaning regiments that needed to be tended to. This was Hillworth, a school that was infamous for keeping the students quite busy with the tedious maintenance of the facility. Typically these sorts of tasks were used as reprimands for the unruly students, but there were always exceptions to the rule.

Franz had been an excellent exception to the rule when he was still at the school. He merely looked out for the school's appearance out of an odd sense of pride for Hillworth. The blonde had always volunteered his free time to show his dedication to the facility. And now, his influence still remained with the teal haired figure who was now wandering the campus. The weather had been quite cold recently, so over his usual school uniform was a simple grey coat accompanied by a white scarf. His task was to merely pick up the trash from the ground about the campus. Sadly, most of the trash had merely just blown in from off campus, making such a task seemingly pointless. However, the faculty did seem to like selecting meaningless tasks for reprimand.

As he worked, it was quite difficult to miss the presence of a rather large creature underneath one of the nude-trees. If he remembered the whispers in the hallways of the rather large student who had earned the nickname of "Tank." At times the young lad had to wonder if the rumors had been mere exaggerations, yet now seeing the impressive beast in person, he knew for certain his colleagues were only speaking the truth.

For a moment, he paused to stab at a stray candy wrapper with the poker he had been given. He lifted the end up and tugged the piece of garbage off before tossing it into the garbage bag he was carrying around with him. Other students might have dragged the bag around, but that would only lead to an eventual tear forming in the plastic. After tending to the piece of trash, he clapped his gloved hands together, as if trying to rid it of the filth before moving along again.

The giant seemed to be quite relaxed, but he definitely did not seem to be asleep. The lip movements and the opened eyes were good enough hints for such a logical conclusion. Unfortunately, there was an obvious scattering of trash about the base of the tree.

Mustering up a polite tone as he approached, the lad greeted the giant. "Good afternoon. I hope I am not interrupting anything important." He smiled, though he was uncertain the other would see such a gesture before he moved towards one of the offending pieces of trash.

The lad remained in place, allowing the giant to rise from his figurative slumber and give him a once over. It wasn't a foreign response, seeing as this was their first time encountering the other. Maintaining a pleasant smile upon his face, the lad replied "I am glad it is no burden. I do not feel you are in my way, but I figured I should give you fair warning of my presence here. As to not startle you if I were to start cleaning without announcing myself."

Being the sort to mind his manners, he shuffled the objects he was holding at the moment about. The poker was set along the crook of his left arm, and the trash bag set down by his ankles for a brief moment. With his left hand, he tugged off the glove from his right hand, revealing the seemingly dainty hand underneath. In a show of manners, he extended this hand forward for a potential handshake. Of course, he already knew in the back of his mind he might be regretting such a gesture simply because of the size of the giant's hand.

"My name is Howl Wickham, senior class," he offered. "And my task at hand could be called a partially assigned chore. It was assigned to me, but only after I volunteered for the work."

This Björn Guildson was definitely a much more respectable name than "Tank." Of course, the school was not known for giving out refined nicknames. Of course, as expected, Björn's grip was quite solid. Once their hands parted, Howl quite carefully replaced the glove back over his clean hand. "It is a pleasure, Mr. Guildson." With a subtle nod, he moved to pick up the edge of the bag he had toted along with him. Yet, the teal-haired fellow did not seem ready to move onto his task.

A gentle laugh escaped him as the blonde rather bluntly asked a few of his own questions. "Oh goodness, it would seem as if you are quite perceptive, Mr. Guildson." Hushing his polite laughter, he then addressed what information he was willing to part with.

"I am, in all technicality, an American. I was born in America, but quite shortly after my birth I essentially moved to England with my parents. I lived there until I was 10 years of age. After that point, I moved back to America. However, my mother is grateful I did not pick up the 'American accent.'"

The second matter was a subject which Howl preferred avoiding at all costs. So rather than address it directly, the lad instead attempted a redirect. "You seem to have your fair share of manners as well, Mr. Guildson. It is quite refreshing to see in this facility."

"That is quite a clever little saying." It was one Howl would have to tuck away in the back of his mind for another time. With his free hand, he gestured slightly to the task he had at hand before moving to start stabbing a stray candy wrapper on the ground. Multitasking a conversation and a chore in such a manner wasn't difficult considering the task was mindless.

"There is no need to apologize to me about your use of English. Your manners speak well of you as an individual." As he plucked the candy wrapper off of the poker and prepared to toss it into the bag, he couldn't help but pause at Björn's commentary.

"I agree... what is right and wrong is very subjective..." Rather than linger upon such a comment for too long, the teal-haired fellow moved onto a more relevant subject while resuming his task, moving about to stab at various pieces of plastic and paper.

"My father was a businessman, so we needed to live close to where he was set up. Growing up, I lived in London. I still go back every year for vacation though. It is mainly to visit family and friends." Rather than keep the conversation completely upon himself, he politely inquired "Might I ask what you were doing prior to my company, Mr. Guildson? You definitely were not sleeping from what I could tell, despite how relaxed you seemed. I am quite curious."

Pulling more garbage off of the poker, Howl had to pause and look thoughtfully to the branches of the tree in thought. He had seen fliers in the city the last time he had gone out. Whoever was the head of the drama department was doing an excellent job of making this play very well advertised. "I do believe I know which play you are speaking of." His eyes fell from the nudge branches above until they were back upon his large companion. "I did not know that I was in the presence of an actor."

Pausing from his work again, he set both palms of his gloves upon the top of the poker and leaned forward, allowing the tool to dig itself into the dirt a bit. "I honestly have no talent for acting. My schedule also is not very kind to me when it comes to extracurricular activities. I do rather enjoy the theater though. Would you be willing to give me a preview of the lines you memorized, Sir Gawain?" It seemed as if he had no intent upon resuming his work until he at least received a response about his polite request.

Being the polite lad he was, he remained in place as Björn stood to deliver his performance. It was vaguely intimidating to see the blonde at his full height, but Howl masked such with a pleasant smile. He was adjusted to not being the tallest boy in school, but even a vast majority of the taller students would feel dwarfed by his current companion.

With a hint of a nod, he settled to listen to the lines. It wasn't the longest excerpt he had ever had the chance to listen to, but it did sound well practiced. It also had an intriguing tone to it. To show his appreciation of the quick performance, the lad once more moved the long pole to the crook of his arm so he could clap for the giant.

"Quite lovely, Mr. Guildson. I thank you for the sample."

His clapping slowed a bit before he gave actual feedback, shifting to put his hands upon the top of the pole once more. "I rather enjoyed your portrayal of the character, Mr. Guildson. Your voice makes Sir Gawain sound heroic, which I believe was your intent." Pushing off of the poker, he soon enough moved to resume his task at hand.

With a smile, he added one piece of advice for his momentary companion. "However, 'practice makes perfect' as the saying goes."

One of Howl's slim brows lofted up at the curious motion of self mockery. It wasn't common for people in his age group to be so open to teasing, let alone encourage it with their own actions. From his observations, only the two opposite ends of the spectrum seemed to do such things. Those of high self esteem or low self esteem were typically very open to such teasing. People who were a middle ground typically would be more reserved, saving such teasing only for those who were considered friends.

"...that does seem to put the actors at a disadvantage. However, it is not an actor's place to argue with the director over when they receive a final script."

Placing another piece of garbage into his bag, Howl had to pause again. "I personally did not find you to be a distraction. However, if you were, you were a very welcome distraction. I will consider visiting the production once it is up and running. Hopefully I will see you on stage, Mr. Guildson." With a smile, a nod, and a wave of the hand holding onto the garbage bag, the teal haired fellow returned the polite gesture in a wave. "The same to you, Mr. Guildson. Have a good afternoon." As probably expected at this point, the moment he had finished his farewells, Howl Wickham was back to work.

Hillworth was not going to clean itself up.