She should have deduced that the existence of the event meant that she was bound to run into familiar faces. The face she spotted now, was none other than Fenrir. She elbowed her partner, to get him to follow her, while she led him. She snuck in between the crowd and towards the man who was childishly stuffing his face with candy. Both of these things were something she would have avoided at all costs, just a few months ago... Now, not so much. While she still detested the crowd, she no longer feared walking among the people.

After engaging in several skirmishes and a few larger confrontations, Aki had enough control over her magic to not attract undue attention by suddenly letting wisps of darkness trickle out of her like they once did. Ironically, despite the internal conflict of the two elements, the two leashed and reigned each other in, allowing Aki to play the part of the neutral wielder, the referee between the forces... So, she no longer felt like people were a threat to her since they no longer simply assumed she was evil spawn.  

Before joining the Rune Knights, she only had her mother and a few others she was close to in her family, who would understand her. They used to be the only people she wanted to meet. Now, here she was, streaking through the crowd to actively seek out and engage in conversation with another being. Usually, that honor was reserved for Asura and Tsuru, but had just faced a bit of a tough time, so surprisingly, for this once, Aki really wasn't discriminating, she was actually looking forward to sharing her experiences with the lycan.

Apart from the fact that she'd oddly grown fond of the oddball that Fenrir was, Aki had taken responsibility for him. The problem was, after vouching for him, she was called away and she'd been worried that neglect on her part, may have caused him to get into trouble again, seeing him here assuaged that anxiety and filled her with some joy.  She was glad that he was here and not doing anything too notorious, to get himself into trouble, it seemed as though she'd done the right thing in standing up for him. 'Fenrirrrrrr!' she exclaimed as she skipped towards him, the healer in step, just after her.

She would have been happy to just hang out with Tsuru as well, but he'd been a bit prickly lately and she was struggling with that. She could empathize, but the days when the pieces of her shattered idealism cut her, were long gone. She'd blunted those edges and moved on... Now, she was never unprepared, the realization that the Rune Knights served an organization which cared more about the picture than the individual pieces of the puzzle, was one that Aki had come to ages ago. It was only now that Tsuru reflected the grimness that she used to carry around with her and she wanted nothing more than to change it. So she subconsciously looked for a third-party to diffuse the tension. Fenrir was just the man.

Oh. was all she had the time to think of before she half collided half fell into the friendly embrace of the lycan. Well, this was much better than him trying to kill her, or to get her to hurt him, really... That entire deal had been one she was happy to put behind her, it reeked of some crazy and abusive nonsense. She hadn't really expected a hug, but she had obliged. Aki was an awkward hugger, with or without it being sudden and now there was the added issue that the bony, petite girl could barely get her hands around his wide barrel-like chest... Some people made the strangest of places feel a bit like home. 'You've got powdered sugar on your nose.' she said, with a soft chortle.

She turned to Tsuru, a little warily, wondering if he was going to get Fenrir into trouble for eating all these sweet goodies. Maybe the healer would indulge his own sweet-tooth and join him? It'd technically be a bribe, to basically look the other way while he emptied the treats... But for some reason, the scarlet hair man stood there looking a bit sheepish. Contrary to what Aki had expected, he didn't stop Fenrir at all. Before she could deliberate, he asked her how she'd been and things, so she responded politely. 'Er... Oh yeah! I guess you could say that, but mostly I'm neglecting my duties and enjoying a well-deserved break.' she answered rather naively and frankly. Somehow, the Shimada managed to miss the implication in his words, at least for the time being. 'So... How have you been?' she asked, brightening up, skipping to the stall and perching herself onto one of the stools there.

'Yeah, the place looks pretty damn good!' Aki exclaimed agreeably. It was strange how the lycan and the lunar mage had managed to get along. It was a bumpy ride, but she was glad that things didn't drive a permanent wedge in their relationship. She had a bucket load of empathy for the guy and upon having a peek into his story, she couldn't help but extend some consideration and understanding. She piped down a little, when he asked about her neglecting her duties. 'Yep, some stuff happened and for the moment, I just don't give a crap, I mean I'm here and I'm going to be paid either way... I'm guessing.' She muttered, she was gambling with the knowledge she possessed about the council. It could go two ways, they could try and keep things quiet by extending Aki some rope, or they could try hold her accountable for something and get her fired... The were not to hesitant with such decisions, Fenrir was case and point.

She did want to talk a little bit more about what she had witnessed and gone through, with their attack, but she wasn't sure how classified that information was. It was moments like those, that people like Fenrir, would truly understand. She bit her lip though, if at all she'd get to broach the topic, she'd have to do so cautiously. The matter at hand though, was the healer. For some reason, Tsuru's sheepish behavior stuck, her eyebrows furrowed together and she cocked her head and the scarlet haired Knight picked up another box of chocolates and oddly offered them to her. 'Er... Ok...' she said, picking one and before she even had the chance to assess the flavor and maybe take another, he'd already offered the rest to Fenrir, while briefly exchanging some inaudible words. What the hell was going on? Tsuru had always been outgoing, definitely more than her, but she didn't know that he and Fenrir had things to discuss that were exclusive to them.

She slumped and sat there rolling her eyes as Fenrir attempted to direct Tsuru away from her. 'Let me know when you guys are done... I'll be right here, waiting...' she said in a mock sing song voice.

It was all super strange, Tsuru was playing along too, for whatever reason. She had hoped that the healer wouldn't indulge this strange behavior, but alas, that wasn't the case. They continued whispering, something about girls something about strength, she couldn't really make out, but given the Lycan's proclivities, that was probably for the best. Were the two guys discussing females, similar to the way she and Asura had briefly discussed boys? It piqued the girl's interest but they were being careful about not really letting her eavesdrop. Then out of nowhere, Fenrir flexed his arm to show-off his muscles to Tsuru or something. Aki watched with interest to see if the healer would take the bait and attempt showing off as well, she already knew his ectomorphic build left him a little bare in that category.

Hatsuharu was the lithe sort, he wasn't a bulky hulk like their wolfy friend. Apparently, all this was attached to some deep discussion. It couldn't have lasted more than a couple of minutes but Aki was an impatient young girl. 'What. Are. You. Two. On. About?' she asked emphatically, finally getting off her stool to begin making her way towards them when she noticed Fenrir hugging the healer a second time and crying. She paused and recoiled a little, did Tsuru know something she didn't which wasn't just some frivolous personal detail, had Fenrir lost someone. Tentatively, she continued to approach the boys and placed her small hand on the lycan's large arm. 'A-are you ok?' she said, looking up at the healer for an explanation.

Aki really couldn't tell what on earth was going on. But she simply chose to believe the pollen thing because it was the only one that made sense. Not to mention her mother did have such an allergy too. 'Stupid pollen allergies, that's gonna suck the fun right out of the festival for you... Fenrir.' she muttered, her tone rather empathetic. She picked up a candy from one of the boxes as well and toyed with it, Aki really wasn't a fan of sweet things... desserts she could make an exception for, but candies and chocolates, not so much.

'Bandaids?' she asked quizzically, for some reason taking the metaphor quite literally. 'Are you hurt, Tsuru? How?' she asked a sense of annoyed concern betrayed by her tone. 'Why don't you ever tell me anything?!' she exclaimed. More than irritation it showed how the two expected to know everything about one another and felt it was ok to be righteously annoyed if that wasn't the case. More than anything, it depicted Aki's worry for her healing partner, even when it came to small cuts and wounds. 'And don't listen to him, might make it worse! Ease it off...' she continued, rambling nonsensically about an injury that didn't exist.

The lycan spoke again and Aki glared at him, then back at Tsuru, then back at the larger man again. Finally, she gave up and decided to try to get some more information from her partner. Aki hissed at Tsuru for clarification. 'Were the candies spiked or something? Who is this "her" he is talking about?' she finished, using her fingers to make quotation marks in the air, to emphasize the pronoun.

Aki raised her eyebrows, wondering what the hell could have cut Tsuru on his thigh... Maybe he walked into vines. Her face reddened as she almost let slip that she wanted to see the wound, before realising it was probably too close to intimate regions. She opened her mouth and then closed it. No wonder he was being all hush-hush about it.  Fenrir was probably helping him with tips on making it better or something, although Tsuru was a healer himself, he could just fix it, couldn't he?  Sugar? Hormones? Did Tsuru have a clue of what he was talking about?

She decided to give up on trying to make sense of this interaction. She rolled her eyes, feeling a little left out. The girl shuffled awkwardly before clearing her throat, just before she could make her speech about wanting to take her leave, perhaps even as a subconscious tantrum, Fenrir interrupted her. The lycan was a bit awkward about it too, as he decided to leave the two Knights to it. She'd been hoping to ask him how everything was and if he'd made any progress towards petitioning his return and things, but today really didn't seem to be the day. He did ask Tsuru to meet him elsewhere, so clearly those two had some more to catch up on and she wasn't invited. Way to go, this is what I get for sticking my neck out for him... she thought a little petulantly. Without actually offering any words, she stalked off, away from the direction Tsuru intended on leading them and away from where Barry was headed too... She'd think twice about randomly approaching someone again...