//aka me trying to get more muse for this boy bc i love him too much to drop him uwu;;

He had spent a lot of time moping, cooped up in his room in the observatory. Most of it had been him reliving unpleasant memories, ones that kept him up in the night, his mind a swirling pit of dark thoughts. But he had soon decided that he had had enough of being sad and depressed about his situation. It was difficult to continue on with the things he knew, but he saw no good in doing nothing but isolating himself and obsessing over them. He was good at staying optimistic in the past, and there was no reason for it to be any different now.

Hughes limped out from his room, pain shooting through his body from the gruesome scar in his chest, an grimace of discomfort on his face. This brought back memories of him stumbling down the corridor of HQ, trying to get away from his attacker. But he quickly shook his head, clearing himself of those thoughts. He knew he was stronger than this--he had been through the damn Ishbal war, for Christ's sake. So he straightened his back, trying to hide the falter in each of his steps.

"Hello? Anybody around?" he said, taking a seat in the center of the observatory. The way his voice echoed through the building was definitely unsettling. "I'm Maes Hughes. Just thought I'd introduce myself, since I haven't been around much. Feel free to tell me a bit about yourselves!" he had missed knowing and joking around with people. He would have bragged and went on about his wife and daughter, too, but...

"SPEECH"

Admittedly, Mirabella had been doing a rather poor job when it came to getting to know everyone. She was far from outgoing, so it probably wasn't a surprise to anyone whatsoever. Still, she felt guilty for being as antisocial as she was, especially with her lackluster attempts to fix it. Though, if there was one situation that she wasn't afraid of stepping into, it would be if someone else was sick or injured. In this case, it happened to be Hughes, who was practically limping around. Despite his attempts to hide it, she could still tell. She'd taken care of too many people to be convinced.

"Ah - woah! Be careful about moving around too much! You don't look like you're doing okay; don't strain yourself-" her message was fast, worried, and it sounded automatic as if she'd delivered it to many other people in the past. She felt guilty butting into the conversation with such a reaction, but she couldn't really hold it back. "Sorry, but it's just not good for you-" she cut herself off, figuring that she was being too much of a blabbermouth. "Uh- anyway. My name's Mirabella. Nice to meet you," her voice had gone quieter upon introducing herself, almost as if saying her own name was much harder than scolding a stranger. Though, that really was just how things were for her.

Hughes greets the first person to come over with a hearty grin and a slap of his tail against the floor. He instantly takes a liking to their attitude, although they're pretty...energetic? Either way, it's a nice change from the drab atmosphere the place had so far, with all it's people always acting like they had a stick up their ass. Sure, he couldn't really say much, but his situation had been difficult, to say the least. He was at least making an effort at being social now.

He huffs slightly at being found out, though he hadn't had high hopes of doing undetected, either. It was more of an attempt at not worrying anyone, he supposed. He nods at her promise to keep quiet, though it probably wouldn't do much. Others had probably noticed already. "Nice to meet ya, then, Eternal," the lab is happy to know someone other than Roy. If he was to get used to this new place, he'd probably need to get to know a few people.

Considering all the time they had spent together, and the deep bond they had developed, it was understandable for him to be slightly wary of people who weren't that friendly with his best friend. So, he wasn't exactly that fond of Bastille. He didn't know that much about him, though, and had decided to give him a chance to somehow redeem himself. He just nods towards the male and is then startled by the next person to appear.

Her outburst had caught him off guard, but he quickly rights himself, an amused smirk on his face. "Thanks for the concern--nothing much I can do about it, though," he wasn't sure if it was normal for an old scar to hurt this much, but considering what had happened to him, he didn't think it was that odd. Probably just phantom pains and what not. "Pleasure to meet you, too, Mirabella,"

"SPEECH"

★  WHEN MY HEART IS MADE FROM GOLD AND FORGIVENESS SEEMS TOO BOLD

Hazel was sure she’d met most of the people in The Ascendants by now, but people kept proving her wrong. She didn’t mind; the range of personalities here varied so much more than those of her old clan. And truthfully, there weren’t even that many - just a tight-knit ground of animals looking for a little shelter and safety in numbers.

The girl’s ears pricked up as someone called out from what sounded like the middle of the observatory. He sounded unfamiliar, but kind. And while Hazel’s heart said to stay in her room - she was almost finished! - her mind and body silently chided her that it was rude to ignore newcomers.

So she went, albeit rather reluctantly at first, moving past the sleeping form of Arion against a clear space of wall and sweeping her tail across his muzzle to wake him up. Hazel shooed him out of her room, waiting until the colt had tottered onto his gangly legs to push him out the open doorway. His hooves were loud against the observatory floor; a sort of hollow metal clop.

With Arion out of her room, Hazel made her way to the center of the domed building, already finding a small group of clanners there. It was split half and half: she knew Mirabella and Angry Boy, but was unfamiliar with the oddly colored tigress and the scarred male sitting at the center of attention. And admittedly, she chose a seat as far as she could politely manage from the tigress, for until she knew more about her character, the power wafting off the large feline was more than enough to set Hazel on cautious edge.

Curling her tail over her paws so the tip barely flicked the bandana tied around her foreleg, Hazel offered a smile to Maes. “Hi,” She greeted. “I’m Hazel.” She paused for a moment, lip slipping between her teeth in a nervous habit as she glanced over her shoulder for a fraction of a moment. “And you might see a colt running around. His name is Arion, and he’s a doof, so feel free to wave your arms and scare him off if - if, y’know, he comes too close for comfort. He startles easily,” She offered sheepishly.

★ — hazel — "speech" — six months — the ascendants — tags — ★
c) miithers

So far most of the people there he recognized, which pleased him. Hopefully it would make the place feel more like home. He had definitely changed, and with his murder he had become a lot more wary, though so far these people hadn't shown any signs that they intended to hurt him or his good friend. The thought that anyone here could be disguised suddenly made him frown, his eyes sweeping over everyone around him. Had the ability to change their appearance at will, Roy's words echoed in his mind. But that would be ridiculous. They thought he was dead, so there was no reason for them to come after him--unless they were here for Roy, somehow.

His frantic thoughts were interrupted when someone else came along. He was happy for the distraction, his friendly smile quickly returning to his face, albeit slightly forced now. The idea of an animal having a pet horse makes him snicker softly, nodding at her advice if he was ever bothered by them. But having a colt around might give him a good sense of familiarity. "Noted! Nice to meet ya, Hazel," he barks and then settles on Suiteheart.

"Oh, yeah! Hey there," he's fairly certain he already knows her, though she has a different name and face all-together. But there wasn't any problem with re-introducing themselves. Eternalwar's question makes him pause, then, leaving him to quickly scramble for an answer. He was sure that Roy hadn't explained where they had come from yet, so he isn't sure what to say, since they probably wouldn't understand, anyway. Would he even want Hughes to tell them?

He shifts where he sits, bouncing his weight from paw to paw. He chooses his words carefully as he speaks. "Well, I got kinda lost. And then I, uh..just kind of stumbled upon this place. I was looking for my friend, actually," it's a lie, but he feels pretty clever for the last part. It would somewhat cover how he and Roy knew each other.

"SPEECH"