Hero or Scum

Cast: (Arthur & Oboro)
Prompt: Oboro speaks with a Nohrian whom defies her preconceptions

She watched him as they went into town. Oboro and Arthur were assigned to gather supplies from Dia before their army tackled the trip to Notre Sagesse, and so they went. Along the way, Oboro kept her eye on Arthur. He would get sidetracked from their errands in numerous ways. Arthur would help elderly couples cross the street, or he would search for misplaced pets, he would even stop to play games with local children whenever they asked.

Arthur was the most confusing man Oboro had ever met.

"Okay, what are you up to?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Arthur asked, completely genial.

"You're being so… nice to everyone," Oboro explained, hoping Arthur would infer her message. But instead, she was just met with a smile.

"But of course! Whenever Lady Justice calls, I must answer!" He slowed down a bit. "Unless Lady Elise called first. But usually they coincide, so nothing to fear!"

"Why?"

"Hmm?"

Oboro glared, but did not go full Oni on Arthur yet. "I asked 'why'. Why are you pretending to be so nice?"

The dutiful servant of justice raised his brow. "Me? Pretend? Perish the thought! I live and breathe justice!"

"You can drop the act around me! Especially since pretending to be such a nice guy gets you in so much trouble!" Oboro found it darkly amusing that each time Arthur went out of his way to prove his kindness, he would find misfortune. Maybe if it happened enough, he would give it a rest and be himself. "Like when that carriage knocked you down, or that cat scratched up your face… or when those kids tied you up in rope and left you in an alley!"

Arthur winced. "That last one was probably my fault for not anticipating it, now that I look back. But no harm was done, so all is well!" His brief lapse back to joy was then replaced with a look of concern. "But my, have I done something to slight you, madam?"

At that point, the lancer was starting to suspect Arthur was not putting on an act. She let out a sigh.

"No… I'm sorry, I was just being irrational. Again…"

"You look troubled. Please, feel free to tell me your woes, Ms. Oboro. After all, we're allies!" Arthur flashed his winning smile.

"Well, it's just… I can't help myself. Whenever I see a Nohrian, I just get so angry."

The hero nodded. "Ah, yes. I do recall you scowling when we set out from the Astral Plane."

"It's just... ughhh," Oboro shut her eyes to compose herself. "I instinctively get mad. I'll fight alongside Nohrians if they agree with Lord Corrin's cause, but I still haven't really liked any that I've met." She began to list them off. "That butler, Jakob. Or the cruel wyvern-riding princess and her retainers… that Wolfskin who keeps picking up trash… Then we met those guys who were occupying this town, I've yet to see what they'll do."

"Oh are you referring to Silas and those border guards?"

"Yeah, that's them," she nodded. "With all that on top of past experiences… it's kind of weird to see a Nohrian who's so… nice! I know it's not fair to judge an entire people like that, but… well I guess some habits are hard to break."

Arthur stroked his chin. "Hmm… Did you have an unfortunate run-in with a Nohrian before? One that might have caused this outlook on life?"

"Yeah… I… don't know if I want to talk to you about it though. But needless to say, it really affected me…"

Elise's retainer would be lying if he had said he was not interested to know Oboro's tale. But if she was not ready to tell him, then she was not ready. He waved his hand reassuringly. "In that case, you have nothing to worry about. These things take time and effort. And I can see you're making an effort, so all you need now is time."

"Hmm. That actually makes sense. And you're not upset that I sort of jumped to hating you without getting to know you first?"

"Not at all! The important thing is that you keep trying! And besides, I would not wish to undervalue any traumatic experience of yours just to sooth my ego!"

The blue-haired fighter smiled. "Thanks, Arthur. You know, you're actually not so bad."

"Thank you, Oboro, that's kind of you to say." He then turned and pointed in the direction of a shop. "Now let us procure some vulneraries!"

"Right."

A/N:

A lot of Oboro lately, huh? This was an idea I had for a while, and one of the mods actually wanted to see something like that on his birthday. The main mod of the blog, actually. So I wrote this.

Go to the blog if you have requests.