Good First Impression

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A bit of anxiety was probably reasonable for a fish out of water; paranoia, even, was surely understandable with the situation of this particular fish.  The ride up to Aileron was intimidating enough, but being a wingless creature in the flying village was... overbearing.  This would, after all, be the new home of this fish.  Or would it?  That would depend on how well this day went, which was all the more reason to search for a positive outlook and look presentable.  Reaching the guild without attracting too much attention seemed like a good first step, and from there, impressing Aeliana would be crucial.  Would this archeops be as friendly as Acro, or would she mirror the reputation of her strict and prestigious guild?  Regardless, only one thing mattered.

"Good first impression."

Fish metaphors aside, Dusk could barely keep track of all the reasons she had to be nervous.  She was out of her depth, quite literally, and she knew she would stick out with her lack of flight.  As if it wasn't bad enough that she had an edgy cloak that craved blood and beckoned her to maul everything in her general vicinity, she had to worry about not fitting in on top of that.  She had heard a bit about how the residents supposedly didn't take kindly to flightless visitors, but she was hoping these rumors would stay as just that: rumors.  If it turned out the birds did have a problem with her natural inability to fly, that would just make it all the more important to make sure she behaved herself and didn't get into any trouble with anyone.

"Good first impression."

Adding to the stress was the fact that this was her first time in Aileron and she was very, very lost.  She was moving toward the center of town in the hopes that it would lead her to the guild, but in truth, she had no idea where it was.  If she could just find Acro, everything would become so much easier; he could keep her leashed, guide her around town, and maybe help her look a little less out of place.  As an extra precaution to avoid any unnecessary time in public view, she was struggling her way through the of alleys and secluded areas of this unfamiliar maze, but this would only be an option until she reached her destination. Sooner or later, she would have to stop hiding if she wanted to join the guild.

"Good first impression."

She was muttering this chant to herself in an effort to keep the thought at the forefront of her mind, and she had been doing so for quite a while.  From her first step on the island onward, this had become her mantra.  There were so many reasons why she needed to try extra hard to make a good first impression; she was nothing like the natives, and more importantly, she was... short-tempered, to say the least.  She had accepted that she was technically insane due to the cloak's influence, which, coupled with the violent urges, made her a psychopath.  Right?  She didn't like thinking about it, and it kept bringing her back to the thought of how she didn't actually want to get rid of her curse.  It made her strong enough to win for a change, and she could control the impulses.  She had to.  How would she ever keep up with someone like Acro and manage in this guild without the aid of her new... associate?  She had grown accustomed to the view of the cloak as an entity all its own, as it made it easier to pin blame for her newfound aggression on something other than herself.  More importantly, it seemed to behave like it was actually alive on some level, somehow.

"Good first im-"

Dusk fell to an abrupt silence at a familiar sight in the street.  Rather thoughtlessly, she rushed out into the light of day, revealing her presence as she ran over to a familiar bird.  The archeops in the road was a sight for sore eyes.  "Acro!" she called out, but he didn't even turn to look at her.  Assuming he simply hadn't heard his name, she closed the distance and slowed her stride to a halt before repeating herself.

"Acro, I'm-"

The archeops finally noticed her and granted his gaze, but he didn't seem happy to see her; in fact, he gave a confused look that soon mingled with a distinct expression of annoyance.  This confused the lost umbreon for only a moment before she noticed the lack of red on his wings and realized she had just mistaken this random archeops for Acro.  "O-oh, um, I'm..." she tripped over her words, backing away in embarrassment, "I'm sorry, I uh... I-I thought you were someone else."  Her ears flattened and she turned to walk away, hoping this awkward little mistake on her part would be forgiven.  Life had never been very kind to her, and to her dismay, it didn't seem keen on changing that today.

"Do you think we all look the same or something?" the archeops responded, putting Dusk in a difficult situation where she had to entertain the conversation or risk offending someone within the first hour of her time here.  She slowly turned back to face the civilian she had clearly offended, stared for a moment with an apologetic frown, then redirected her gaze toward the ground in humility.

"I'm really sorry.  I'm just looking for a-"

"Now that doesn't sound like a very sincere apology," the archeops interrupted her with a sort of tone that suggested he knew he was being harsh and just didn't care.  He took a few steps forward, putting himself right in front of the umbreon as if just so he could properly look down on her.  There was a silence between the two, as if the bird was waiting for something, but Dusk didn't know what more to say.  "Well?  Come on, make me believe it," the sour archeops practically demanded, making every effort to intimidate the smaller pokemon in his shadow.  Dusk wasn't afraid, and in fact, she now found herself hoping he would try to make her submit to him, with the operative word being "try."  She restrained herself and instead simply stepped away before starting off down the street toward the center of town.

With an audible flap of his wings, the archeops literally leapt over the vixen, landing in front of her and cutting her off.  "You aren't leaving until you give me a proper apology and pay the fee for offending me," he growled, spreading his wings out to his sides as if to block her from trying to walk around him.  He expected her not only to grovel before him, but also to pay him for her innocent mistake.  It was at this point that she returned the ugly scowl on his face with one of her own, but she kept her wits and resisted the growing urge to bite into him.

Now neglecting to look the archeops in the eyes in an effort to control herself, Dusk took a deep, obviously agitated breath before responding: "Look, I don't want to start trouble.  I said I'm sorry.  I just wanna find my friend, so please leave me alone."  Her words were now more steady, concise, showing a shift from the anxiety present in her demeanor mere moments prior.  Her fear was fading fast, and it wasn't a fear of him to begin with; it was a fear of herself and it was starting to seem invalid.  She stepped to the right of the bird and, without giving so much as a glance up, walked straight past him.  He made no initial attempt to block her way again, which left her filled with relief and hope that she had diffused the situation.

Of course, she was wrong.  When had she ever been right?

While she didn't have to stare down at the talons of her harasser again, he wasn't giving up; she barely got a few feet away before hearing the sounds of his talons clicking against the ground as he started up after her.  His steps were almost aligned with her own, implying he was in no hurry to catch up.  "What, you think your time's more precious than mine?  You're just gonna skip out without paying for my pain and suffering because you think you're more important than I am?"  His voice had a distinctly mocking tone to it despite the words he was saying.  He didn't even sound mad; on the contrary, it seemed like he was enjoying every second of this.  Dusk's eyes darted from one side of the street to the other, scouring for some escape from this situation.  She caught sight of a swellow perched on a rooftop, but it didn't seem interested in helping.  It saw her, it could surely see the desperation on her face, but it just... stared.  It almost seemed to take pleasure in seeing her wandering helplessly through the street with someone following and antagonizing her.

This theme of enabling bystanders continued with a bird of a more distinctly bipedal build, adorned with a mesh of brown and green feathers creating the illusion of a cloak around its body.  A... something-eye.  She couldn't recall the name of the species, but it, too, was unwilling to aid her.  Walking by from the other side of the street, the feather-cloaked bird barely even gave her a passing glance.  It took her too long to realize it was actively trying to avoid looking at her; unlike the swellow, this one didn't seem to have any sadistic interest in her torment, but it still wasn't helping.  She could hear the steps of the archeops growing closer as he spoke yet again: "You should start showing some respect... before something bad happens."  At this point her rings began to glow, presenting an unnatural grey light in contrast with their normal shade of vibrant yellow.  She didn't even notice it, but someone else did.

Before the umbreon could even register the flapping of wings, she was knocked off her paws by a blur of black and white sweeping under her legs.  She fell to the ground on her right side with a very audible oof; the glow of her rings flickered out for a moment before returning with a deeper, darker hue.  She slowly climbed up off the ground, taking her time so as to put more energy toward restraining herself from looking for something to lunge at.  She barely even got to take a breath before something slammed straight into her spine from above and knocked her right back down, this time throwing her violently to the ground on her belly and knocking the wind out of her.  A mix of a growl and whine coupled with the sharp expulsion of air made for a rather pathetic sound, eliciting a brief, triumphant laugh from whatever was now standing on top of her.

"I tried to warn you.  Now you're gonna have to donate that fancy cloak on top of the money you owe me... and whatever else you've got in your bag," taunted the archeops from what sounded like right behind her, pausing for a moment near the end just to think of more demands.  Still recovering from the assault, Dusk was unable to respond, but someone else was finally willing to step in.

"Come on, leave her alone!" called an unfamiliar and feminine voice.  Dusk struggled to move her neck from her position against the ground, but she managed to turn her head to the right to see the same cloaked bird from earlier, now staring straight at her... or... whatever was standing on her.  It didn't seem like this was going to be her savior, however, as the way the cloaked bird carried itself practically screamed a lack of confidence.  This individual was speaking out, sure, but she was clearly afraid of actually confronting the bullies, and they weren't afraid of her.  "Mind your own business!" the thing on top of the umbreon snapped back with haste.  It sounded male like the archeops, though a bit younger.  Why was this happening?  What had she done, bar simply exist?  Dusk, for one, couldn't think of a cause, but she could think of a solution.

"Leave me alone," she pleaded under her breath, still unfit to speak after the blows she'd sustained.  She could feel whatever was perched atop her shift, then its obnoxious, nasally voice in her ear.

"What was that?  I didn't hear-"

The cloak draped over the umbreon lit ablaze with fiery red markings as she suddenly rolled to the left, tripping the bird on top of her and revealing it to be a trumbeak.  A flap of his wings kept him from falling, but Dusk lunged up and snapped her mouth around the nearest nearest leg of the trumbeak before it could fly away.  In one swift, violent motion, she dragged the bird out of the air and slammed him against the street.  There was an ugly squawk from the creature as she returned his treatment of her and ripped the air from his lungs, and she could hear her avian supporter gasp from the sidelines.  Dusk spun to find the archeops without missing a beat, but something else caught her attention before she could lay into him; the swellow from earlier had left its perch and was coming right at her.  She ducked as it neared, leaving it to fly harmlessly past her and skid to a stop against the ground some distance away.

Before any of the damned bags of plumage could make another move, Dusk made a bee line for the archeops.  Her abnormally high speed kept the bully on his toes, but with a flap of his wings, he managed to lift into the air and pull himself away to his right before she could reach him.  Alas, flight was not enough to save him; propelled by the sheer speed of her sprint, Dusk leapt into the air after the archeops, biting down on his wing and dragging him back down with her before he could get far.  Before her victim could even move, she climbed atop him and stamped her front paws down on his wings, pinning him under her.  With a primal aggression painted on her face, she glared down at the archeops, baring her teeth and letting out furious grunts in tune with every breath.  "I said," she leaned in until her soulless red eyes and slit pupils were all he could see, "LEAVE ME ALONE, or I will rip your wings off and EAT THEM WHILE YOUR FRIENDS WATCH!!"  Her voice wavered with every word as she strained herself to control her rampant emotions, making a brief attempt to quell her quite literally painful screaming before forfeiting all resistance and allowing her shouts to go unchecked.  There was little conscious thought going into what she was saying.

A fog had come over her mind.  The visible fear of the bird pinned under her was nothing but encouragement to keep going, and every second she spent in this position thickened her desire to rip into his throat.  Then she heard a whimper.  She looked up to see the one bystander who had shown kindness with the tips of her wings cupped over her mouth and a horrified expression on her face.

Dusk's heart sank.  A bit of her consciousness returned and she slowly looked back down to the archeops.  Her tensed muscles began to relax.  An uninvited thought crept into her mind as if to mock her failure.

Good first impression.

She felt tears welling up in her eyes.

The bell at the door rung as Acro opened it for Dusk. Acro waited in hopes that the toucanon would get desperate as well, but the bird's beak simply snapped shut and watched with a critical and judgmental eye. Spite practically radiated off of the bird as he simply mumbled some expletives under his breath and returned to his rocking-perch. The squeak of the furniture only served to annoy Acro, simply making the prospect of leaving all the more appealing to him. The eyes of the flying type was fixated on the duo in order to ensue that they would leave.

As the door clicked shut behind them, the shopkeep's form could be seen behind the glass suddenly. There was a pause for a brief second, before the distinct "click" of a lock sounded from the handle. The "Open" sign was quickly flipped over to "Close" before the form of the keep vanished to the back of the store. Acro was a little disappointed the shopkeep didn't reconsider...but that's Aileron for you. A bunch of stubborn fools doing stubborn things.

"Y'know..." he started up with a thoughtful pause in a quiet voice, "I have no idea how much this thing's actually worth." He reached back into the bag and pulled out the mask to observe it once more. "The 'expedition' I found it on was more so on the side of the road on my way back from the dungeon...so far all i know this could just be some kid's toy. I always just kind of assumed it was something special or significant..."

He observed the finer details of the mask. It seemed so...simplistic yet finely crafted. He wasn't sure what material it was made of but it certainly looked like gold. "But thanks for talking me out of it." It was the only true "explorer find" he had...besides the amulet around his neck...which did nothing apparently.

Dusk figured the archeops probably didn't know the actual worth of the mask; either that or it was very low, otherwise she couldn't see why he would be willing to give it away like that. And it sounded like it was the prior, as he did seem happy about being able to keep it. That alone was enough for her to feel like it was worth her sleeping in a nest, or even on the floor for all she cared. Her sleep was all messed up anyway and it wasn't like she was going to be getting too much of it.

"Yeah, 'course. I don't even want you to have to spend money on me, let alone that... and I was kinda bluffing too. I have no idea how valuable it is," she responded as she followed beside him, her mood having improved despite the continued blatant discrimination directed at her. "Besides, how bad can sleeping in a nest be? You do it, right?" she added on.

If nests were good enough for birds then surely they were comfortable. The umbreon didn't even consider that there was a specific reason he didn't want to use the spare nest. Her assumption was simply that he wanted her to be comfortable, and she didn't want to be a burden so she was more than willing to sleep wherever she needed to.

And besides, she didn't want that dumb bird back at the shop to have anything nice. Seeing them so upset was beyond reward enough... and she hadn't even had to resort to violence to hurt them. If anything, she felt like hurting their pride was far more satisfying than any physical injury would have been.

He couldn't help but hesitate. Yeah nests were comfortable for him, but there had to be a reason why land-based pokemon didn't sleep in them right? "Well...yes, but I don't know what it's like for others...Grassviel didn't exactly have them and I figure that's for a reason."

He slipped the mask back into his bag, where it was safely kept among his other items. As much as he hated the misery that was being his species, it had its perks. For example, finger-talons. It would have been annoying to have to use his mouth or legs to have to pick up and put away things. Still, most of the time he simply wished he was someone else.

"So...is there anything else you'd like to do or even see around here before we get you signed up? Anything else you might need?" He wasn't sure where to go that would be open, but it wouldn't hurt to look around a little if she needed something. He still had some errands he needed to run, but he was quick to put them aside for the sake of his friend's comfort.

Acro still didn't seem too confident about the nest thing, but Dusk was confident she would be able to sleep just fine in one. Or at least, as fine as she would be sleeping otherwise... so in other words more of the same mostly-sleepless nights she'd been having. It was admittedly nice to toss and turn in a nice comfy bed instead of on something uncomfortable, but this was very much an unrequired luxury. Not that it mattered much since the bottom line was she didn't want Acro buying her things, and this extended to whatever else he had in mind that she might need. "Nah, I'm fine," she responded with a shake of her head, doing her best to look casual about it so the archeops wouldn't get all worried she was lying.

What did she really need anyway? Nothing. The guild would supply food if it was anything like Grassveil's, she could be given a rock in place of a bed and at this point it wouldn't even be on the list of most upsetting things to happen to her today, and just having a room to sit and be left alone in was starting to sound like more than enough. "Besides, I..." she continued, but paused, "I'm... I think I'm done with... all of this. I just wanna go get signed up."

Now it was getting a bit difficult to pretend she was fine. She had convinced herself she was fine, but as she spoke more, she slowly began to feel the suppressed emotions. Talking about it, even slightly, just made it feel more real. She wanted to stop immediately and just get to the guild registration she'd come here for.

Her tone seemed...off. It didn't seem all that certain to him, but he would chalk it up to sign-up jitters. It was best to get it over with than to delay it from his experience. "Alright then," he commented, "Guild's over to the west of here. It shouldn't take us long to get there."

He assumed that the umbreon would want to walk, since flight might not have been all that comfortable for her just yet. Strangely enough, he was just as nervous as he believed her to be. It was entirely possible that he was merely projecting. He just wanted to get it over with himself...though the dread of Dusk coming into harm because of his wretched fate gnawed away at him like termites to wood.