Chapter Text
> Your request?
| Boar, if you please.
* * *
Rook had a special arrangement with the headmage. Vil would only "officially" become aware of the arrangement after being chosen as the housewarden of Pomefiore, but Rook took him in as a confidant not long after entering the Pomefiore dorm. Many weekends began with Rook disappearing early in the morning, bow and arrows and binoculars gone from his belongings as he took off into the wilderness.
He had explained it early on, chattering happily while Vil went through his skincare routine in the morning. Once he became aware of the animals roaming around the dimensional spaces of the dormitories, Rook approached Headmage Crowley about what kinds of policies were in place for hunting. As the headmage apparently explained it, Night Raven College had a few hunters that they would regularly call in to help keep the animal numbers healthy in the expansive dimensional spaces. The dimensional spaces for Pomefiore, Savanaclaw, Scarabia, Octavinelle, and Diasomnia all had different animals to match their environments, and Heartslabyul kept a menagerie of animals important to the traditions of the Queen of Hearts that occasionally escaped. Ignihyde was devoid of creatures as much as possible, with exceptions made to the occasional familiar.
Vil was not especially interested in the grisly details of what Rook did during his excursions. He would listen as Rook excitedly spoke of the animals roaming beyond the other dorms he visited, but would occasionally tune out his stories as he went on about the beauty of the hunt itself and chasing down creatures of various sizes. It wasn't as if he hunted a single animal in a weekend; apparently, he could catch several pheasants or a boar or two in the half-day that he dedicated to the work, making him very efficient at his "job" for the school.
"Your focus should be on your schoolwork."
"Says the one who leaves campus for shoots and interviews."
Vil lifted a perfectly manicured hand to flick Rook right between the eyes. The other boy flashed a smile at the tiny reprimand but did not pull away, remaining still while Vil returned to fixing his makeup. Rook was still abominable with applying his concealer and eyeliner, which led to him popping by Vil's room in the mornings for "presentation checkups." It worked out surprisingly well; Rook was the only person who seemed to consistently wake up earlier than Vil, though he seemed to remain in the dorm space while Vil went for his morning jogs around campus.
Regardless of the topics they talked about in the mornings, Vil appreciated the time. Rook was a fountain of ideas, a born creative with a soaring imagination when it came to capturing the beauty of life. He had watched more renditions of plays than any other student Vil had met, and while he was effusive with his praise, he was also capable of straightforward critique and offering possible improvements for those critiques. What he did not know, he tackled and learned with great intensity -- intensity unmatched by others in Pomefiore.
Perhaps, in another life, Rook would have used his passion and drive to become an actor instead of a hunter. And Vil would have hated him for all the qualities that he displayed now.
Vil liked them in a collaborator. Not so much in an obstacle in his way.
So he helped Rook with his makeup on most weekdays and saw him off some weekends, reminding him to reapply sunscreen every few hours. And when Rook lamented about the scent of the sunscreen being too noticeable, Vil pulled him downstairs to the dorm's basement lab to schedule time so they could create a better sunscreen together.
It was never Vil's intention to be seen as part of a duo. But Rook sometimes needed a guiding hand, and Vil wanted inspiration to continue honing his craft. Needs and wants that complemented one another.
So when Rook returned one afternoon with the idea of mixing the sunscreen with insect repellant, they spent the night looking up their next potionology project. The following week, Vil took extra care to gently cover red bug bites while shaking his head at Rook's ability to ignore bites to his face and neck for hours.
The following weekend, he helped apply the new sunscreen to his friend's face, watching him smile with glossed lips and hunter green eyes both. He disappeared into the fading night wearing a cloak of black feathers -- as he always did while working for the headmage.
A confidant. A collaborator. A friend.
He hadn't realized how sorely he missed having one while attending Night Raven College.