He then waved for Esmeralda to walk towards him, which she gladly did.
"Are you lost, young lady?" Pearl said, thinking that Rina picked up a lost child and now contacting the city's authorities, which probably didn't make sense since she wasn't bringing this kid with her, but that's the best explanation he got.
Esmeralda shook her head aggressively making her hair wiggled and her ears to ring, trying to imitate what mid-teenagers would do. But that action seems more like an elementary child. "I'm curious about the Mei you talked about."
'That's so suspicous, he's going to know I'm pranking him, but no way right?' She thought, nervously getting closer and sat on a chair beside him and sat down.
Pearl took one more bite out of his bowl, he's eating chicken rice porridge with a heavy amount of fresh herbs stirred in. He then wiped his mouth again to talk. The mage didn't seem to be bothered by Esmeralda's cold reptile eyes.
"Mei? She's my sister, I'm kind of ashamed to admit it but she has more potential in magic than me. I'm definitely not going to compete, all I ever wish for is for her to live a carefree life just like mom once asked."
'Dude, you just told your entire life story and your relationship to a random stranger in five seconds. What if I'm a spy from your rivalry group disguised as a child?' Esmeralda thought.
"Marc, our dumb leader on the other hand, is who I've ever wanted to be…" Pearl said with a calm and weirdly nostalgic voice, he then took a moment to grab one more bite of porridge "On the outside, he might be a dumb and almost too friendly dude, but he know ways to look at people and their lives. He has more experience than any of us, he always tried his best which seems normal, but trust me, not everyone can do that these days. He just doesn't understand that, about how much of a figure he is to us."
clap clap
Esmeralda stayed in silence, quietly watching Pearl, who is resting his chin on his hand and telling her stories like grandmas does. She clapped for no reason, is it because of his ability to storytelling? Is it how admirable Marc is? Pearl noticed but didn't care too much.
"Sometimes I wonder what he went through or what he witnessed before The Freedom Group forms. He and Rina invited us both in. Us here being me and Mei, how weird" Pearl is now completely lost in his thoughts, like it's his dream to tell stories. Esmeralda wondered if she should even say something.
"By the way… That shirt and dress you're wearing… Have I seen it somewhere?"
'Shit' Esmeralda thought, while nodding and shrugging.
"Have you eaten breakfast? Call something off the menu and I'll get it for you."
"I can't… Thank you." She said, knowing well she could just turn back to her dragon form and eat less than her human form, or so she thought.
"Then please give me a second to finish this, then we'll go find Rina." Pearl said, putting on his glasses again and speeding up to finish his meal.
'Dude, that's the worst idea ever, she said we'll have to wait here for her to buy stuff, if we go everyone would be lost. Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?' Esmeralda said, quietly watching.
By the moment Pearl and Esmeralda stood up from their seats and walked out, Rina was already back with some fresh clothings in bags.
"So, how's your time with Esmeralda?" She said, smirking towards Pearl.
Pearl, obviously confused, tried to search around.
"Esmeralda? Where is she?"
"Eek!" A light beam then covered Esmeralda human's body, after a moment she turned into her baby dragon form again, which fell flat on the ground from transforming.
Rina grinned while Pearl squinted here eyes while speechless.
"Kid, did you trick me into telling you bedtime stories?" Pearl asked, picking Esmeralda up from her tail.
"Kek eik." Which meant 'You didn't ask my name nor where I'm from Pearl. And I didn't trick you'
"High five!" She said, putting her palm near Esmeralda face, which she reached her smol arm out to clap against.
Pearl facepalmed, put Esmeralda on top of Rina's hair then walked away, he just shared his heart out for a relative. He could only count on Esmeralda for keeping secrets, or he could just bribe/threaten her which doesn't seems like a good idea.
"Hey wait up!" Rina slightly turned her head, letting Esmeralda fall down to her shoulder and followed Pearl.