Fighting like Children

When the butterflies appeared, Carmin took a step back. The display, while beautiful to most, struck a little fear into his eyes. Thankfully, they stayed by Ebvion, so he was able to relax himself again. He still felt odd, though he felt kinda good at the same time. He felt... less troubled than usual and was thinking more logically. That's about when a different sinking feeling hit him. For the first time in a long time, he felt bad but not for himself.

Carmin felt the anger run away from him completely as the girl began to speak, even though she had giggled at him. He was less shocked than he should've been at finding out that she was 146. Almost like he was used to this by now. Though his calmed state probably affected his perception of that as well. Then hearing himself referred to as a flower being left a surprisingly little dent in his heart. As quickly as any anger appeared, it seemed to float away. The warmness of it all might have brought on some suspicion if it weren't for his mind wandering elsewhere.

It was the phrase she said. Looks can be deceiving.

In all eighteen years of his life, he'd never heard that fairly common set of words. It brought on a hopeful feeling in him. A hope that, maybe, he wasn't doomed to be the pathetic, terrible flower child he appeared to be. Unfortunately, this came at the same time that he was understanding his recent mistakes.

This girl was right, calling Ebvion a monster was wrong. While the girl was busy reassuring Ebvion and cleaning up after his mess, Carmin was left to stew in guilt. Supposedly, he could barely even comprehend what they were. Which was fair, he had no clue what a fae was. He was the real monster of the situation.

When the offer was there for him to introduce himself, Carmin was more lost than anything. It was like there were clouds in his mind for the longest time and now they were inexplicably disappearing. He was having trouble processing everything, and he didn't like what little he did manage to understand. He felt too many things and on top of it all he was disoriented. Normally this type of situation would cause him to run away, to hide until everything seemed right again. But he wasn't himself at the moment.

"I'm-" Words floated around in his mind. An angry plant monster. A jerk. Sorry. Confused. Despite all the things he felt he should say, the things he wanted to say, and the things he didn't want to say. The word that finally came out was just his name. "Carmin."

Fae and Edritch? Now there were two words that were rather new to him.

Seeing how upset Ebvion was only added to the well deserved guilt roaming around in Carmin's mind. What he needed to do was apologize, but that wasn't his strong suit in any way, shape, or form.

Hearing Ília say that he wasn't a monster was nice, but she didn't know him. Ever since she'd shown up he'd been feeling and acting unnatural. Something felt off even before she'd shown up though, so he wasn't able to pin down that she was the one causing it.

Then there was another name he'd never heard. Suzaku. a Phoenix was a fire bird or something as far as he understood, but Suzaku was a term entirely foreign to him. Typically he'd just say nothing, afraid of sounding stupid. But to his own surprise, he started asking questions and opening up a little. "Um uh. What exactly is a Suzaku?" Carmin still had trouble asking. His lack of knowledge concerning the species that existed on the island was an embarrassing topic for him. But with the warm aura around him, he saw that it was probably better to ask than to stay being ashamed.

"I don't know what a Fae or an Eldritch are either." His eyes were turned to the ground for most of this, but then shifted upward. "To be totally honest, I'm new to all of... this."

Carmin listened carefully as Ília explained what a Suzaku was. He understood most of what she said, but didn't really know what a Fenghuang was either, so he was left with another question afterward. Though he figured he could probably just research that one later. The idea of two fire creatures packed into one was a terrifying idea, especially considering how quickly something like that could burn him up into nothing. But luckily, Ília reassured them that she couldn't set them on fire. Though it felt more like a wouldn't than a couldn't.

Then there was Ebviony's explanation of the Fae and Eldritch. Or more accurately, their lack thereof. Instead Carmin was told that he should have known. A fact that was already pretty clear to him, and the exact reason he didn't want to ask the first time around.

Yet again, he surprised himself. Rather than getting angry, he chose to explain himself. "By new to this, I mean that I've been living at the island for just over a week now." He sighed, then continued to explain the case with the cultural classes. "I was told that I should wait until next year to take the cultural class so that I could experience all of it rather than just the tail end."

Carmin's eyes seemed to squint slightly as he spoke. Everything had gone blurry for just a moment but seemed to return to normal by the time he finished speaking. Normal wasn't really the word for it though. The whole world still sort of felt like it was moving.