Change The Tides

Familiar Faces

Harry POV

It feels... a wee bit odd being on good terms with Arley, but the fact that she seemed immediately more open ta me made that quite worth it.

I did not expect it ta be so instant, then again last night's situation was so severe I can imagine it meant a lot ta her that it ended out alright... because she's so used ta it not ending well, which is rather hard ta hear but good that I could... change the narrative for her a bit. Was I really supposed ta stay even a little mad at her through that anyway? I mean come on, from spiraling ta basically flying backward purely out of fear of me hurting her... no way, couldn't act tough through that one.

And the fact it was specifically when I was going ta try and help her too, there was not an ounce of doubt in her body that I wished ta do her harm and I just couldn't handle that... I'm not heartless ya know.

But I'm still surprised as ta how she's been acting towards me today, it's such a dramatic change that I couldn't help but match it a wee bit... we really are just friends now, it's odd... but I like it, I know she can be fun from our... dates which is really weird ta think about now, but I know that once she comes out of her shell again she's a fun lass, I mean come on, everyone got ta see that last night regardless of how much she was just pissed off at me. The way she handled the customers was extraordinary, even though I watched her pretty much the entire time she was out on the floor and could just feel the fire from the kitchen, because I knew damn well the reason she was being that short was because of me. Yet another reason why I had ta fold, she goes... ghostly cold and honestly straight up mean when she's mad, which for here is lovely, but I didn't like being the reason for it.

It's been a while since I've had two customers in one night threaten one of the servers, the same server at that, that's a pretty good way ta sum up her feisty performance. Don't get me wrong, it was lovely, seeing two of the worst customers get absolutely demolished by the one person everyone in the building didn't think could do it was mind-blowing in a way, but knowing that I was the reason behind her anger just really left a bitter taste in my mouth if I had ta describe it. She showed me a lot last night... a lot of extreme sides of her as well, but I like ta think that because I got ta see what she's like when she's mad plus when she's... ungodly sad and scared, I hopefully understand her a wee bit better. Because while I love that sharp tongue she brought out last night, it's not all that fun when ya know yer the cause of that. It's been a long time since someone's had the guts ta tell me stuff like "who are ya ta tell me what I should and shouldn't do?". At the moment I was rather mad at such a statement, one that felt somewhat disrespectful... but upon further inspection, I just realized she said that because she was sick of feeling like she was out of control, so she stole it back the moment she snatched Gil's notepad out of his hand and forced the issue that she was working.

And now that we're on good terms again I can't help but grow rather giddy over how great that determination is and how... fun it is going ta be ta train her.

I'm keeping that message rather casual right now with her as she has a long way ta go, but with that determination, fire ta survive, and fascination with swords I can just imagine what training her ta fight is gonna be like. There are some people that I've trained that have been a drag through the whole thing, not many excited me, but she hasn't even started training and I'm excited which has got ta say something!

I'm thinking about maybe getting her started on some small things in the next week or so she's improving so quickly which I have noticed for sure, but I don't wanna tell her that in case I have ta push that back. But I can already see it a bit in her frame, but mainly her arms when she wears a short sleeve, the stuff I have started doing is definitely working, and that is exciting. I know she's keen so she's probably noticed how she always gets her food separately in a way from everyone else, and that's because I've been adding stuff to her food since I found out about her body condition. Nothing intense, I give her a little more food than I do everyone else and of course she has milk with most of her meals, but I also mix some of my protein powder into her milk, not nearly as much as I have, but enough ta give her yet another boost, and I really think it's working marvelously.