[YOTB] Mochi Blessing - Mercy

    Dan and Shibani come back from the caverns with the rice and spring water needed but Dan mentions that his mentor Kashi tended to get the spring water blessed by the church to make the best moon mochi. Wanting to help out as much as he can, Shibani lessens the work for Dan by setting out to the church to seek out Mercy for help! But he’s also hired some help— Boss, being as unbothered as ever took Shibani’s call for help. He was promised a taste of the moon mochis if he helped, which he didn’t necessarily want but didn’t want to turn down. After all, playing a low profile is what he's always thanks to his actual occupation.

     The giant of a doll and shibari clad doll make their way to the Church of Sulfur, there they could see Mercy tending to some baby Succubuns. As they approach, the head nurse looks up at the two of them and smile. “Shibani. And—“ the taller bub waves his hand as if to stop her from saying his name and interrupts with “It’s Boss now.” They looked at him for a moment before nodding and accepting the new name of the Succubun they took care of long, long ago. “Boss it is then. What can I do for you two?” 

     Shibani explains to them that they were needing to get the bottles of spring water him and Dan retrieved from the Faunt Caverns blessed by someone in the church, “Who else but you, Mercy?” Mercy smiled a little uneasily by this but thought for a moment looking up at Boss— one of the corners of their mouth inching to a smirk. “Well, we are a little behind on the end of the year goal but… Do you two think you could raise up some funds to donate?”

     Both men looked at each other in thought and nodded as if knowing exactly what they needed to do. “You can leave it to us, Mercy!!” Shibani exclaimed and with a bow from them all, they parted ways with her.

“What do you mean you have n-no ideas?!”

     Boss shrugged nonchalantly at the distressed rope boy. It seems apparent that both nodded at each other, thinking the other had a plan. Shibani sighed and twirled his hand around and around one of his ears in complete hopelessness. The bigger man was thinking of get rich quick scenarios— that definitely did not involve him taking any ‘jobs’ right now. After all, he absolutely didn’t want Shibani of all people to catch him taking out a hit seemingly out of nowhere and he certainly wasn’t going to explain his real job field to him. But as luck would have it, he remembered his pet imps. He would always be asked what made him get those little creatures and Boss would admit truthfully that he actually enjoyed the company of a pet in solitude. Especially with how recluse and to himself he is. 

     Boss stands up and takes Shibani’s hand, not wasting time explaining to the flustered and confused Shibani as he walks them to his home. The other thought Boss was about to just reveal a secret stash of Carats hidden away for emergencies like this. But became even more confused when he presented his three Imps to him.

     He had a Bonezo, Freign, and the smallest Rabebe Shibani has ever laid his eyes upon— he had to stop himself from gushing over it too hard. Boss speaks up, sounding louder than usual, not having the outside sounds of Burrowgatory to muffle his strong voice. “This is Chalky, Donner, and Ai. I’ve taken much care for these little ones to be able to fend for themselves while I’m out a lot. But I also can see them being beneficial to this situation, they’re fairly easy to train.” Shibani takes in what the larger man says, looking at the three imps while he did so. Chalky wagged it’s bony tail at him, seemingly happy to even see new company in the house. Ai was also curious to see Shibani, its little nose twitching as it smelled the air to evaluate the air in the room. Donner on the other hand— seemed less interested in Shibani, taking to clacking its hooves in annoyance but being as courteous as it can be in the presence of its owner.

     This was when Shibani had a light bulb click in his head. “I got it!! We can have them perform tricks for Carats!!!” Boss nodded in affirmation, almost implying the same idea with mentioning how intelligent they are. And with no time to waste— the two began brainstorming ideas of how the performance should be like, what tricks they should learn, etc. All of the imps, with the exception of Donner, we’re very attentive and willing with learning new tricks. Boss was trying to have Donner do some prancing and impressive charging but the little guy just didn’t like Shibani being around. “I think he’s just a bit anxious around someone so new. One second.” He stood up and disappeared out of the room, meanwhile Shibani could only look sadly at the reindeer imp as it huffs and has fit at him even daring to stare at him.

     Boss comes back with an imps favourite treat— some dango! He didn’t make it apparent that he had them but the imps can definitely smell it. Chalky and Ai immediately start doing some of the tricks they learned in order to impress their owner and get a treat out of it. Boss turned around to take one of the balls off the stick and hands it to Shibani. “Are we… Taking a break?” He shook his head at the question, “Offer it to Donner, he’ll probably trust you more.” The smaller doll lit up at the idea. Of course! Giving the little guy a treat would probably help it feel more comfortable around him. Shibani, keeping his distance, held out the sesame flavoured dango. The reindeer imp’s snout twitched and shook as it sniffed the air, seeing the treat definitely made it less tense. It slowly approaches Shibani, sometimes huffing and shaking its head in hesitation. But with patience, it finally comes up to Shibani and takes a bite of the dango. It shivers in glee before devouring the rest of it from his hand. While it still looked a little weary, it definitely didn’t shy away from the other anymore.

     Finally with progress made and just a few more tricks taught, the pair and the imps set out to a pretty congested part of Burrowgatory. They went to work immediately, setting a small box in the ground to show where passersby should be tossing their carats in. The imps twirled and hopped around, landing in poses that even the most reserved bun would be impressed by. Some of the imps would climb up Boss and Shibani and dance on them. As time passed, the empty box started to become filled with carats here and there from onlookers. Other inhabitants laughing and smiling at the act and offering up some carats for the brief entertainment. Things were looking good for them and soon both men made a veritable amount of carats.

     Eventually Boss and Shibani decided they had enough to donate to Mercy and after returning his beloved imps home— they ventured back to the Church of Sulfur. Upon arriving, Mercy is rocking a baby bun to sleep and smiles at the pair. The next moment they are setting the baby bun into the hands of an overworked nun who protests meekly, then taking the huge sack full of carats Boss and Shibani brought them. “My my my, this is a big donation! Thank you kindly… Oh right, those bottles of spring water.” Mercy one by one blesses each bottle then handing them over to the both of them. Soon they had themselves several bottles of holy spring water!! Shibani shook Mercy’s hand vigorously as Boss held the bottles, “Oh thank you, thank you Mercy!” With another formal bow from all of them, Shibani pushes Boss out the door to go back to Dan, giving him the fruits of their labour.