Mercy's Extortion :')

Percy shuffles about, tugging at his necktie as he glances around. It's not like he really had anything better to do, and he did owe Shibani a favour, but this wasn't exactly his idea of a fun time. There's a few buns that seem to be in line for some matter or another but he doesn't see Mercy, which is odd in and of itself. Maybe things have changed? He hasn't been back to The Bunnery since... well, perhaps since he left Murmur's care...? He never really had much reason to. After all, it's not like he's ever bothered to have kits of his own. It's just that with Oleander so busy with his preparations for the upcoming Mochi Moon service, he thought it might be just a little faster to ask Mercy about the holy water instead.

Speaking of kits - although it's too early for mating season and most cribs are bare and empty, there's still a few young buns purring contentedly or snoring towards the back. 'Must be waiting for a handoff to Murmur,' he thinks to himself.

Taking a moment to switch his hooves for softer and quieter feet, he does his best to tiptoe over to one of the flopped over baby buns, nearly tripping over a loose cobblestone in the process. Biting back a whiny curse over his curiosity and his stubbed toe, he peers over at the sleepy little bun. As their nose twitches and they roll over in their sleep, he coos, "Aren't you a cute little one? Look at those precious little pink hooves. And those floppy big ears!"

After another moment of fawning over the kit, he straightens up, satisfied. "As cute as you are, I'm sure I was even cuter as a baby bun myself."

He shrieks as he feels a hand land on his shoulder - loud enough to drown out whatever the figure behind him said at that same moment. Glancing around wildly, he sighs in relief as he sees it's just Mercy, before flushing with embarrassment at the stares of the other buns.

Glaring at him, the head nun rushes to pick up and comfort the squaling little bun he'd been speaking to before their interruption. Having been woken up by Percy's startled yell, they were now pitifully crying and weakly grabbing onto Mercy. Chagrined, he's about to ask if there'd any way he could help when the nun abruptly says, "You know, you were a young bun here too at one point. And we always need carats. For the little ones, of course."

"Oh, I see," he replies. Without skipping a beat, he adds, "I don't mind donating but I also actually came here today because I was hoping you'd um, make this spring water holy. You see, it's not mine, but I owe-"

"You make such a large racket in The Bunnery, and now you want me to do you a favour? For free? I'm the head nun, and there's much to do." While Percy's still in a stunned silence, they add, "I could, however, be persuaded to find the time to perform such a service with a heftier donation."

He purses his lips and considers it for a moment before digging around for his carat pouch. Producing it, he says, "Well, this is the rest of my allowance for the-" and that's as far as he gets before it's snatched out of his hands by Mercy.

Lightly tossing the pouch from hand to hand, they pocket it, stating flatly, "This will do nicely. Now give me a moment and leave these poor sleeping children alone."

Flabbergasted, Percy's left fumbling for something, anything to say as the nun walks away, many carats richer. All he can do is whimper, "But that's all I had for the week."

With the motivation of a hefty sum of carats, it's not long before Mercy returns with the now consecrated water. Stuffing the bottle into Percy's pouch, they hand it to him before smiling and waving him off, "We thank you for your generous donation and hope to see you at our Mochi Moon service!"

As he leaves, Percy can't help but give a defeated sigh. Looks like it was going to be another week of full time stripping ahead.