Under the leaves [Social - Rin & Eero]

As much as Eero enjoyed the usual conveniences of being in a city, the constant presence of large quantities of people exhausted him. He was about ready to take leave from Hargeon, when he came across a park, tucked away from the crowds. /"Perhaps I won't need to leave just yet."/ Eero thought to himself as he walked around the green scenery. Even though it was cooler under the shade of trees, the moisture in the air got thicker, which made Eero regret wearing his full black and tight attire. He could feel sweat forming on his forehead as he sat down on a bench that sat along the pavement. Thankfully, he brought plenty of water with him. Eero felt slightly sad that this weather was very ill-suited for his favourite drink - tea. /"They say that you should combat heat with heat, but I don't know about that."/ He thought sourly as he took out his leather-bound diary.

Eero was going over highlights of the past week. Nothing much had happened, aside from his adventure with the passports. The research of his own magic didn't progress at all, but he had a few hunches that he needed to go over and find more information about. The artifact quietly reminded him of his long-standing goal - reveal its mystery and the mystery of his mild case of amnesia. The calmness of the park was slowly getting to him, making his eyelids heavy. Eero wasn't tired per se, but something about the atmosphere... He felt his eyes close and dozed off, sitting back on the bench as the diary slipped from his fingers.

The dream was the same as it always was. Strange silhouettes, constantly appearing and fading away. Eero had tried to wrap his head around it, but he could only assume that he was probably dreaming about something that he didn't remember. That was the most plausible theory, anyway. He wasn't aware of how much time had passed since drowsiness took his mind. He felt peaceful, despite the confusion in his thoughts. Eero's sleep wasn't deep enough to not hear a voice. For a shameful split second he thought of pretending to be asleep, but he quickly brushed the thought away.

Eero made his eyes open. Since he had dozed off in a shade of trees in a park, he didn't feel blinded and almost immediatelly noticed his journal in front of him. Eero could've sworn that he was holding it, just a second ago. The boy would look up, noticing a pink-haired girl, holding out his journal. It seemed that he either dropped it or someone took it and the girl managed to get it back. He hoped that the latter was false and instead it was just his own fault. Not to mention that he lost his train of thought, like always, if he unexpectedly falls asleep. However, he didn't have the strength to try and be angry at himself, so he rather settled on thanking the girl.

"Thanks for keeping it safe. It must've slipped from my fingers." Eero would say with a slightly strained voice. He would clear his throat and take his journal from the girl's hands, putting it inside his bag. "You can have a seat, if you want." The boy would offer, grabbing his bag from the bench and putting it down on the ground, clearing the space for the girl, if she wished to sit down.

Eero was glad that the less explosive assumption of his was the right one - just his journal falling out of his hands, being found by the little lady. She also didn't decline his offer for a spot on the bench he was sitting on - joined by her apparent pet, aswell. It looked cute, in a way. The girl also introduced herself - Rin Mayou and also shared her guild - Crystal Swan. The guild's name sounded poetic to Eero's ears. He also got to know the now napping pet of hers - Lily. For some reason Eero thought that name fit. He got kind of surprised by Rin's question, though. It made her seem like she's a local, like she knows the people around to the point that she can say who is a new face.

Eero would smile and reply: "Pleasure to meet you both, I'm Eero." He almost wanted to pet Lily, but it was probably for the best if he left Rin's companion snooze peacefuly. "I guess you could say that I am new around here. I've been travelling almost my whole life." From what he could remember, anyway. "It's my first time in Hargeon, I find it a charming town. A bit too fishy for my taste, though." He would continue with a light chuckle. There was a distinct lack of libraries in the town, at least for Eero's taste. It made it up for it with plethora of people who had all kinds of information, if one was willing to commit to start asking strangers a number of questions. If you don't mind me asking - did you say that you are with a guild named Crystal Swan? What kind of guild is it?" Eero would ask the girl, out of curiosity.

It seemed that Rin knew about the town of Hargeon a thing or two. Whether she was a native or just somebody who had been here for a while was undecided, though. Not that it exactly mattered or bothered Eero, anyway. But when the girl said that the guild travelled all the time, he got truly interested. A travelling guild hall? That sure sounded unique. Was it an actual building travelling about or was it something else? Eero's overthinking was very shortly answered by Rin - a flying ship. He supposed that the name sort of fit for the guild in that sense.

Rin did also offer him a visit, much like Poko did. As much as he wanted to see the flying ship in action, Eero would feel quite guilty. He declined Poko's offer saying that he had to do something first and if accepted Rin's offer he felt like it would be quite unfair towards Poko, at the very least. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I have to do something first before I feel comfortable visiting guilds." He would decline with sadness in voice. The boy just felt sad and conflicted in this situation. His overthinking trait wasn't helping him one bit, either. If anything, it was making it much worse for his head. "I would love to hear about Crystal Swan from you while we are here, though." Eero would offer a sort of counter-offer to Rin. "If- If you are alright with that, of course." He would add quickly, sincerely hoping that he didn't offend the girl by declining.

The way Rin put Eero's reasoning behind his refusal made it seem as if he needed to buy some fancy clothes or get ready for such a visit. While the reason had nothing to do with material things, he wanted to get his head in the right place before he a visited a place and people that he could potentially be with for many years to come. Eero wanted to make sure that he seemed as normal and sane as he possibly could. As Rin talked about her guild, the boy listened to everything she said. He made note of the guild's ship - the Crystalli. What surprised him was a mention of a town atop the flying ship. It sure sounded incredible. It also made sense that other people called the mages of the Crystal Swan "nomads", as they seemingly flew all over the world. Their goal was to protect both people and nature. Eero would nod in agreement when Rin asked him if the nature should be protected aswell. There were many hidden wonders in the nature, there was no way he would've answered otherwise. However, when the girl said that the guild mages were artists aswell, Eero got slightly worried. He knew for a fact that he carried no artistic talents at all. He was forced to play a lute and dance a bit several years back, but he was such a potato at it, they very quickly told him to stop. He honestly wanted them to tell him to stop. The mages of Crystal Swan being artists aswell as skilled mages did sound like an interesting combination, though. Just not the one he felt like he would fit in. Maybe someone else could prove him wrong. Rin also mentioned her guild master and some other guild members. She also outlined her own magic. A magic that was based around drawing. Eero had to make a note of that, to further his research.

Maybe the girl rambled on a bit, but Eero didn't mind. He learned a lot about an another guild from her, for which he was thankful. "It's okay, Rin, don't worry about it, it was interesting." The boy would say to ease Rin's worry with a little chuckle. "I'm sad to say that I wouldn't be able to fulfill one of the characteristics of the guild, though. You see, I am no artist. I have no fine or performance arts talent." He would explain. "I just dig around books for information and then write it down. That's pretty much my life summed up, really." When he put it like that, it did sound kind of.. sad. "The idea of a flying ship is exciting, though." Eero would say with a smile. "Do you spend your time on Crystalli often?" The boy would ask, interested to see how a non-static guild operated.

Perhaps there was truth to the girl's words. But in Eero's eyes art was something refined, music, painting, that kind of stuff. Could stretch it to something as cooking, but his strengths? He enjoyed writing, but the result was a research paper, not a story. Maybe it was an area that Eer could look into - writing poetry, for example? He would have to try it out sometime. From Rin's talking the boy could tell that the guild members knew each other well, especially if they spent a considerable amount aboard a flying ship, which served as a guildhall. She also mentioned that they tend to receive requests from the Council itself, that tend to be dangerous. It sounded interesting, but Eero felt like he would be quite useless under such pressure. Especially in his current condition, he tried his best to avoid any unneccesary combat, to spare himself and the others trouble.

When Rin finished talking about the Crystal Swan, she turned her sights on Eero instead, asking about the information that he was looking for. It wouldn't hurt to share, seeing as he already had done before. "As of right now I am trying to find out what makes magic what it is, essentially." The boy would say and continue: "Where it comes from, what fuels the power, what kinds of magic and elements there are and so on." Eero would try to outline his field of research. "It is quite a wide topic, though. I may very well spend my entire life studying it and not find the answers. I do hope that I will be able to find out at least something." The boy would share his thoughts on his own research. So far he had only gathered information primarily about the different kinds of magic and elements. The true origin of magic still eluded him, though.