#crewel-intentions

... Nothing out of the ordinary.

She held out a hand for the two to shake. "My name is Yuko Akiyama. It's a pleasure to meet you both officially. Are you two enjoying the event so far? Do you plan to meet the Magi?"

Meg's face lit up as Yuko introduced herself. "Ah, Yuko! It's a pleasure to finally meet you!" she said, quickly embracing Yuko into a tight hug.

Kyo reached over and gently tapped Meg on the shoulder. "Meg, dearest, I don't think you should be hugging people you barely know."

"Oh! Shoot, right!" Meg released Yuko and then opted to shake Yuko's hand with both of hers instead. "Meg Startus. Sorry, with everything that happened it just feels like we're already friends," she said with a laugh.

Kyo reached out and gave Yuko a firm handshake. "Second Lieutenant Kyo Writer, but just Kyo is fine here. Hope Alan took that tongue-lashing you gave him to heart."

"We are enjoying it so far!" Meg said with a smile, "As always, really. Three years here and it's always been a blast. Nat and his family really know how to throw a party."

"We are planning to meet the Magi as well. Considering everything going on with us recently, I'm hoping their guidance will grant us safe passage through the metaphorical storms ahead."

Shinji approaches the feasting whimsicott with a smile.

Whoa there, save some for the rest of us hehe. Are you here with anyone? What's your name?

The whimsicott puts down his bone and takes the peach from Crewel. He wastes no time chowing down into it next.

@ogre-n-partner

[Alruba's laugh is warm as they regarded Yuko. She had grown accustomed to the other's presence in the few time they had crossed paths, and to see her was always a welcomed sight.]

Yes and no. I have long loved the stars and mythology, for as long as I could remember. The love of dragons was early on as well, but came afterwards. Those things usually follow each other when in Draconid society. I'm sure you've learned how much the people of Hoenn love their myths by now!

You would be right however, I wasn't fond of reading for quite some time. I preferred to be hands-on with how I learned, much more engaging than reading.

But I learned that reading was the gateway to everything. The more I wanted to learn, the more I read, the more I found other paths through books.

[They were almost sheepish as they glanced to the side, her ears slightly warming up. For a few moments she was very happy to have them hidden away in her hair.]

In fact, this isn't even scraping the surface of my personal collection. Some of these books are from years ago, relating to the interests of my students from back then.

Paleo takes a moment to regain his composure and settle his feathers. Not a good image to act like this in front of a stranger. “....ah. Well. A lot, you can probably imagine.” A thought occurs to him. He still had no desire to share what exactly happened to his foot, but...a bit of honesty wouldn’t hurt. Maybe it would even get people to stop asking. 

“It’s...strange to me that people assume the foot is the worst thing that happened to me there. I mean, I understand why people draw attention to my scars, they’re visible. But...” He swallows. “The foot is...my own fault. It brings me great shame to even think about it. I’d rather not.”

He gives a brief smile at that, but it slips away quickly back into a neutral expression. “Honestly.....they were so scared. They’d been through so much at the hands of those humans. I think protecting them in that moment is the only reason they trust me now.”

His beak curls up into a snarl at that. “Those monsters have done so many terrible things to them, to me.” He bears his teeth. “The next human I see will not get a chance to do anything else to any of-”

He stops abruptly. Very abruptly. His face goes blank.

He sniffs the air. Why hadn’t he noticed that smell earlier? Why did that smell like....

His head turns to Crewel slowly, expression shifting into what could only be described as furious dismay. His feathers puff up in some kind of stress.

“Please, please tell me you are on the run, as I am. Do not tell me you willingly cavort with such...things as pointlessly cruel as humanity.”

"How does one cope with... pressure...? Everyone's expecting me to be the strongest, to be infallible, to be perfect. They wanted me to shoot for the stars, to be a shining example lead the way for everyone else. Is it wrong... NOT to want that...?"

"As for ways to 'cope' with pressure, specifically from expectations... there are many paths you could take, but heads up, they all tend to be long courses that imply the need to have constant sessions - but if I were to advise a method, I'd gladly sign you up for a course dedicated to training your mind to differentiate your own choices from choices thought to satisfy others."

"Were these informations helpful, you think?"