Merikh nodded and closed his eyes, the tear tracks on his face starting to dry. He sniffed and sat down again. "T-thanks for telling me all that..." He looked down at the runes. "One more thing has been bothering me...this is sloppy craftsmanship, honestly. If the art of runes has been lost to time, then its up to me to bring it back. You seemed curious about them earlier... if you like, I could teach you some?" He spoke, trying to get his mind away from the bad memories. He also really did want to teach someone the better way to make runes... the thought of the art being lost made him sad.

Rina jumped when the lupora's head appeared. "I-I..." Rina tried to say something but her voice was so quiet it was like she hadn't said anything at all. She tried to think of what to say. The only thing that came to her mind was the words she had practiced earlier in the forest. "M-my name is... My name is R-rina..."

Rina paused for a moment, summoning all her courage, then said loudly, "My name is Rina and I want to be a protector of the innocent!"

Vilas couldn't hide her excitement, learning new and interesting things has always been something she loved. "Really?! You'd teach me?" She said, no trace of shyness at all. She eagerly awaited what came next, paying no mind to what anyone would think of her learning from a poltergeist.

(Went from a really long post to a really short one... Yep, that's something I'd do.)

Luciana was quite surprised Hewie knew she was a ghost, and her wings skipped a beat before she nodded, answering his question. However, she had been flying before she'd even met the group, and she was quite exhausted. Her wings momentarily gave out again, and she grasped Hewie's antlers for support, perching on them rather gracefully with her little six legs. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she apologized to the faelora.


Alala smiled at the Ryori under her desk. "Well, if you want to protect the innocent, you're talking to the right sylesti. I'm Alala, the leader of the town guard. Come out from under there so we can talk." She pulled her body out from under the desk and flipped on the light switch.

"Yes, I'd just need pencil and paper." Merikh replied to Vilas. "Oh! Did I ever get your name?" His happiness and excitement at the thought of tutoring a sylesti on runes was evident in the way his tail was outright wagging. It was a rather swift change, seeing as his tears from earlier were still drying, but he was rather good at distracting himself from sadness, as he'd learned to do from his time alone both alive and dead.

Rina watched as Alala turned on the lights. Her tail was swishing in excitement. She felt to lucky to be standing before the leader of the guards. She was happy that finally she would be able to become a warrior! She would protect this town with her last breath!

"When can I start training?" Rina asked excitedly. She could barely wait.

"Slow down, Rina! First, are you living or ghost? Do you know your powers? And where are your parents?" Alala asked curiously. She wasn't about to sign up a child for a rigorous training program if her parents would be yelling at her tomorrow. Absolutely nobody in the town had signed their child up for the program, opting instead for easy, safe jobs as shopkeepers or something. Alala hopped onto a big white sylesti bed with green blankets covered in her pink fur, and invited the child to sit beside her by patting the bed.

Rina jumped onto the bed next to Alala. It was surprisingly comfortable. Or maybe she was just used to rough hay beds. Rina looked at Alala, and started to answer her questions, "I'm a living. I don't know what you mean by Ghost, and I don't think I have any powers." Rina stopped before answering the last question. "My parents... well..." Rina didn't want to mention that they were dead. She thought Alala wouldn't let her join the guard if she was homeless. "We don't need to worry about them for now. Um... They know I'm here." Well it wasn't a lie. Her parents were probably watching her from heaven.

Vilas looked around, and remembered there was a notebook and some pencils on the desk she got the test tube from. The desk was probably for research purposes if it had writing utensils and test tubes. She grabbed the items and slid them into the circle. "Oh, um, won't it be hard for you to use the pencil? Since spirits have to concentrate pretty hard to interact with objects...?" Vilas was happy to learn, and it was evident by the faint glowing of the flowers that twined around her.

(I hope it's okay if I make the flowers change slightly according to her emotions. I felt like it made sense if those flowers stay alive because of the energy of what the grow on, so they'd change with the being they're on)

(I have to get off...I might come back on in a while though. Sorry this is so sudden :( )