private A Cultural Exchange 1x1 with LonnaKitty

[Illiad Easle 3,131]

@@LonnaKitty

 

Midnight nodded, eating a bit odd what was provided as Argante spoke. "Sounds like a plan, it would certainly give me an interesting view as to how your society functions. Please do take into consideration, I would like to take someone, either you or a trusted representative, back with me to Archback as a first introduction to the other nations of the world. I don't plan on leaving soon unless you ask me to, so just take it into consideration for now."

 

He looked a bit unsure as if he thought he had gone a bit too far. He certainly hoped his message was well relieved.

[LonnaKitty 173]

@@Illiad Easle,

 

Argante's eyes sparkled with joy as she swallowed her food quickly, coughing in the process.

 

"I would love to go!!!" she then caught herself, blushing as other ponies stared at her, some chuckling at their very cheerful princess. She coughed again and then sat all regal like. "I-I mean, yes, I will go, I am the royal representative after all." she glanced over a smirked a bit before bursting into a fit of laughter. "Sorry, sorry, I don't really act like a princess much, its uh, well after the first hundred or so years, you get quite comfortable with other ponies and so its hard to keep up the act, so to speak." she then frowned as she saw one of the council members shake his head and leave the hall. She sighed and leaned back in her chair.

 

"Honestly...its not like its wrong for me to be friendly...." the comment was more to herself than anything else.  

[Illiad Easle 3,131]

@@LonnaKitty

 

Midnight gave a sly, though thoroughly charming smile, "I was hoping you'd volunteer, I'm sure you'll be impressed but we'll get there later then, for now we can focus on your kingdom. I can't wait to see what your regular duties include and to observe the inner workings of your society. Maybe I'll even get some ideas on how to improve my own colony."

 

The disapproving council member didn't escape his notice, and he seemed slightly perturbed by it. "For individuals who've beenisolated door a few thousand years they sure seem like the Disciple got to them anyway with their harmony connection. I tHink they're giving you a harder time than you deserve."

[LonnaKitty 173]

@@Illiad Easle,

 

She smiled sadly and turned to him very serious like. "Once I tell you the rest of our story, you will understand, promise." She got up and headed out the door, waiting for him to follow.

 

 As they made the rounds around the town there were only a few small disputes. One not getting their share of food. One who accidentally had some land broken up cause of the earth wall. Another was a feud over a mare, now that one was a mess that Argante could barely manage. Only a few stopped her with other small problems, but she always stuck it out, talking kindly with her citizens, making sure their problems were fixed, even if some of them were a bit complicated. Getting help where she needed it from Midnight.

 

She stretched out as they headed back to the keep, a small yawn escaping from her. "Great Tree do I wish I could nap, but if I did that the council would have my hide." she giggled a bit as they traveled inside the keep. "We will be going to the Circle Room, that is where we hold the meetings." She grinned a bit and stopped in front of two large doors. The doors were carved with the Tree of Harmony on them, six ponies stood in front of the tree that were glowing. Argante pushed the doors open, revealing the large room.

 

It had six chairs and four of them were filled. The members looked to Argante and then to Midnight.

 

"Princess, what is he doing here." the large dapple grey, Hoofbeat, stood up and glared, he didn't seem to be in a very happy mood. 'He is never in a happy mood' Argante thought and just glared back.

 

"He is here to see how our government works Hoofbeat, he also has information for a topic we will be getting into, so don't be rude." she drew herself to her full height, trying her best to be intimidating as she took her seat, she motioned for Midnight to take the last remaining seat beside her and smiled, turning back to the council once he was seated where he pleased.

 

They talked about random things, if she settled the disputes, other things. When they got on the topic of the surrounding area, she had purposed a barrier around them, but with an opening leading straight out of the forest and into a safe area.

 

"That's crazy!"

 

"That's too much magic!"

 

"But it could work..."

 

"Who would let us even place our barrier near them?"

 

Argante sat and listed to their arguing, Raindew did the same, watching, thinking, calculating. 

 

"I might have an idea, its a stretch, a very long and thin one but, I think the new bearers might help, please tell them Midnight, about the new Elements."   

[Illiad Easle 3,131]

@@LonnaKitty

 

Midnight enjoyed walking about the area solving problems with Argante, it reminded him so much of the colony when it was first really getting started.

 

Though the council was a reminder of how tedious caring for the colony had become. Nonetheless, it was an important insight to how this society functioned.

 

He thought for a moment the best way to phase what he would say about the elements. "Before I talk on the elements, hoping that I am not out of line in doing so, might I say that a wall solution has worked quite well in cities like Troy that deal with dangerous creatures a bit more threatening than timber wolves. Though I would also say that a barrier is a more secure way though much more taxing on resources."

 

He paused for a moment before continuing, "As to the elements I've encountered, from what I've learned the tree gave a gift to two sister alicorns between twenty and fifteen centuries ago to end the rule of the chaos mage draconequis Discord. Celestia was given the elements of harmony which were then distributed between her and five others with her as the element of magic. A thousand years ago she used her element to banish her sister Luna, and I the process lost her connection to her element. A few years ago luna returned and was restored by a new set of elements representing Magic, Generocity, Loyalty, Kindness, Honesty, and Laughter. Since then they have turned Discord back to stone, assisted in repelling an invasion force from their capital city, defeated a tyrant's attempts to reclaim a lost kingdom, reformed Discord, and finally removed the spell that kept your kingdom hidden. Any questions?"

[LonnaKitty 173]

@@Illiad Easle,

 

Most if not all the members stood agape, not really wishing to believe in such things. Argante cleared her throat and stood. "We have been gone too long everyone. The Tree chose new protectors and with very good reasons. After we have reestablished ourselves, I wish to meet with the guardians, and even the princesses, for now of course that will have to wait."

 

They only sat there looking down and away when an old voice spoke up, "You ponies act like you have been stung in the snout!"

 

"Raindew...."

 

"Now listen here, I am old, I am tired, and I want my nap, so here is an old stallions opinion. Our princess has suggested a fairly good idea, but so has the stallion, so how about a combining? Instead of magic, we expand the earthen wall, we wont require too much magic cause the earth wall will just need to be raised and maybe repaired every so often. Midnight, is there a town near us that we may make the path too? I am sure there is since its been a long time."  

[Illiad Easle 3,131]

@@LonnaKitty,

 

(Here's my map: http://s164.photobucket.com/user/Galaxy-a/media/equestria_and_beyond__rev_8_1_by_hlissner-d46wmzm.jpg.html) (I estimated the location of the kingdom as near the unnamed blue triangle in the Everfree forest, between it and the O in Forest.)

 

Midnight thought for a moment as to which towns would be closest. "Well, the forest has expanded since your isolation began, and for the same reasons you want a wall other cites have not put themselves close to the forest border. Still, I know of two towns: Ponyville and Fillydelphia, both Equestrian cities. Were you to go to Ponyville the path would be almost entirely through the forest, but if you go to Fillydelphia there would be much lest forest on the path despite the path being a bit longer. If you want to go through the mountains there is also Manehattan and Mareheim, though again they are Equestrian cities."

 

He sighed, "I suppose you won't be able to avoid working through Equestria, which will make it a bit harder for you to work with some of the other nations of the world, especially if Equestria chooses to simply annex you rather than let you retain your independence."

[LonnaKitty 173]

@@Illiad Easle,

 

"Fillydelphia seems like a better choice for now, if we play our cards right we can offer a path straight through the forest linking Ponyville and Fillydelphia..." Argante pondered aloud, no one interrupted her as she spoke. Her eyes wandering all over the place, her mumbling getting faster.

 

The council members shifted uncomfortably, but it was Raindew who put his hoof on the princess making her stop dead in her tracks. She shook her head and looked around, smiling sheepishly. Raindew only smiled and sat back down. They nodded to each other and then looked to the council. 

 

"Are we in a agreement?" she asked, looking at each ponies eyes. They looked back and forth to each other and then nodded one by one. Argante sighed and then gulped bracing for the next topic. "Our next business is something that came up recently, I would like to go with Midnight to see where he lives and the lives of others, learning and bringing back what I learn to here." 

 

They all stared at her like her wings fell off. 

 

"No!"

 

"What about the citizens?"

 

"What about...." Joyleaf stopped his sentence and looked away. Argante knew what he was going to ask, all she did was sigh at their yelling and waited for it to die down before she spoke in a calm manner. 

 

"The citizens do not need me everyday, that's what you all are for." she glanced at them and they shifted uncomfortable at the stare she was giving them. She was gaining confidence, she could feel it in her feathers, she can't back down now. "And as for the other thing, I am more than capable of handling it on my own as long as I am careful, Raindew taught me just in case." 

 

They all glared at Raindew who looked off to the side like he didn't care about their glances or disapproving eyes, he was too old for their shenanigans anyway. He did turn back to Argante and gave a large smile, the signal for her to continue on. She nodded and smiled back.

 

"It is only right for me to go and make connections with the outside world we know nothing about, I want one good legitimate reason I should not go." she glared, daring them to question her logic. They only glanced away, uncomfortable that their princess was now getting the uperhoof. "Then I will go, I will prepare for it, it might take a day, two at the maximum, but I will start tomorrow, I will make the announcement to everyone before dinner." 

 

They only nodded, she brought her hoof down, a signal the meeting had ended, everyone stood up, taking their hooves above their chests and bowing to each other before leaving the hall. Raindew was the last to leave, giving a playful wink to the young mare on a job well done, before exiting the hall, closing the door behind him.

 

Argante gave the loudest sigh to ever sigh, laying on the ground in exhaustion. "I can't believe that worked in my favor..."

[Illiad Easle 3,131]

@@LonnaKitty,

 

Midnight looked at Argante with a look that betrayed his experience in councils. "Well, it wen't better than some of the Trojan councils I've seen, but those usually have quite a bit more members involved in their debates and none of them have quite the level of experience that your group does. Anyway, I'm a bit confused by what you said at the end there, did you mean that your preparations would take a day or two or that you planned to spend a day or two away from your kingdom? Either way works for me though if it is the latter than I am surprised you are willing to leave your kingdom so quickly after having discovered this development." 

 

He sighed as he looked back towards the center of the mostly empty room, "Though, Equestria already has a pretty nice rail line between Fillydelphia and Ponyville, they may however be interested in using your town as a stop to build a line straight from Fillydelphia to Manehattan, that would connect you to the Equestrian rail system and allow for very easy trade opportunities between the two of you in the future."

 

He looked back to Argante, "If you don't mind me asking, what was the concern that Joyleaf didn't mention?"

[LonnaKitty 173]

@@Illiad Easle,

 

 "As much as I love my citizens they rely too heavily on me, Alicorn I may be, but I am no higher being. They must rely on the other council members as well. So yes, just the two days to prep to go to where you live, however long I stay there will be up to you. But I want the members to go back to what they used to do, each had their own expertise and they forgot about it over these years. So its going to be quite the kick in the rump to get them back to work." she winked at him and let out a small giggle at the bit of mischief. 

 

"What I am hoping for is to trade again, we used to be so rich in trade with other cultures, ponykind, among other things, but when we were cut, a lot of the luster was lost, so I hope to make good relations with lots of delegates. I want that richness back in our lives. I miss it..." she trailed off looking a bit sad for a moment, shaking her head to answer his last question.

 

"Well since they still think you do not know about it, its about my bracelets," she rose her back leg showing the back bracelet for a moment and putting it back down. "He was worried that I wouldn't be able to handle taking them off and putting them back on, which is a reasonable fear, you saw what happened the other day. However the full extent would be that these, fill up with magic, and everyday I have to replace them with new ones, and clear the excess magic from the old ones. Now when I do take off and replace them, a small magic shock wave happens and I am in a small amount of pain for a little bit, not too much, I have put up with it. He was worried I might mess up and cause trouble." she didn't go into what kind of trouble that maybe, she seemed kinda reluctant to say as much. She rubbed her fore bracelet and looked to him with a shy smile. "I hope you don't mind the long winded explanation."

[Illiad Easle 3,131]

@@LonnaKitty,

 

Midnight relaxed a bit at the explanations, he was first of all worried that he'd have to get all the delegations together for a surprise meeting on the same day. Now that he had a bit more time he wasn't as worried. "That's reassuring to hear then that you can take care of yourself, it's certainly the odd predicament though that your magic production is ramped up past your body's ability to store and compensate for it, but I'm glad you have a way of caring for that. As to trade with the world, really what you need is something to offer, something your kingdom has that other nations want. In your case you and your people are valuable as first hoof accounts of the world 3000 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if some of your citizens were offered positions abroad to teach this ancient history or to give statements for historians studying the period. Outside of that, I don't know what resources you have to offer so I can't advise yet what nations would be interested in trade."

 

He seemed to ponder a bit, "If you don't mind too much, I'm going to need to write a few letters to the other world leaders so they can be prepared to meet you directly instead of their delegates if they can. Do you have some parchment and a quill or pen I could use? I would also have to run out to Ponyville to get the letters in the mail system once I've written them." 

[LonnaKitty 173]

@@Illiad Easle,

 

"Of course!" She reached into her saddle bag that as dangling from the chair and pulled out several pieces of parchment, as well as a quill. She set them on the table and smiled at him. A knock then resounded on the door, she tilted her head to the side. No one really ever knocked before. She left him to his writing leaving to go answer the door to see what could be so urgent.

 

As she opened it Orange Blossom and her head maid stood there with worried looks on their faces. "Is uh, something wrong?" Argante questioned, slightly fearing the answer.

 

"Princess you can't leave! What will happen without you!?" Orange Blossom shouted, tears in her eyes. Argante's ears went down as the older mare shouted at her. This was what she was afraid of, she hadn't even made an announcement yet, she gathered it was probably Hoofbeat who told her. The angry stallion always went to the tavern to vent to poor Orange Blossom. She could only sigh and put a gentle hoof on her old caretaker.

 

"Listen it's something I have resigned to do, and something I must do. You know for at least a thousand years I have been trying to get us out to..." Argante looked down, her wings unfurling to also match her mood. The old mare understood immediately and hugged the alicorn.

 

"Oh dearie, I'm sorry, I didn't, I mean, I just....I'm sorry...." was all she could whisper to her. She knew the burden their princess held in her heart, but over the thousands of years, it was easy to forget. A troublesome memory indeed. "Me and Sweet Flower will go and do some packing for you, the essentials and whatnot. You can look it over later okay?" she wiped a hidden tear away from Argante's cheek and smiled, trying to make her smile.

 

She did, it wasn't big though, it was full of sadness too. Then she had a thought, the tavern was too far for Hoofbeat to tell Blossom anything, she pulled up and looked at the mare curiously "How did you know I was leaving?"

 

"Oh please, Hoofbeat was mumbling while I was coming in and you know how he talks, I overheard him." she answered.

 

"Well then why were you coming to see me originally then?" Argante asked, she hoped she wouldn't dread the answer.

 

"Oh! Right, totally forgot in my panic, the experiment worked, the fruit bloomed, and it is non poisonous."

 

"That's amazing! I am so glad it worked, I honestly didn't think it would since it was based off a silly dream of mine."

 

"Give yourself some more credit princess, but the bananaerry was a success, we will see if it will produce the same thing with the seeds it produces."

 

"Please and thank you!" Argante all but jumped for joy, happy that it went well. The two bowed and left, Argante closed the door and walked back to Midnight with a renewed spring in her step. "How are the letters going?"

[Illiad Easle 3,131]

@@LonnaKitty,

 

Midnight didn't even look up from the letters as he responded, "That's certainly the lax security you have if your council members feel free to talk about what happens in council meetings with the populous. Anyway, this is the first time I've had to organize a global summit, though I think most of these will be fine with just their representatives, especially those under collective representation, hmm. I suppose that will do for a form letter."

 

It wasn't very long what Midnight had wrote, stating in fancier terms that a new nation was being presented before the council and that their presence would be appreciated but not required. Midnight's strange hooves allowed him to grip the quill better, and thus write much faster than a typical Earth pony. He quickly copied the same message onto other sheets until he had ten in total, only three of them were written in a familiar equestrian, the others were each written in languages that, had she encountered before being isolated, had changed to be unrecognizable and thus illegible. "And done," he said as he signed the last one with a sketch of his mark.

 

He started folding the sheets in a practiced motion, turning the sheets into self closed envelopes before writing a series of numbers on the smooth side. He turned to Argante as he did the folding, "So, what's a bananaerry?"

[LonnaKitty 173]

@@Illiad Easle,

 

"Most of our decisions are told to the public sooner or later, most of the time its sooner cause of Hoofbeat, he is a grouchy stallion and loves to vent to poor Blossom, since it would be public knowledge here soon, I suppose he didn't wish to hold his tongue with his displeasure." she shrugged and then continued, "Unless its top secret stuff that we, as the council, don't wish the citizens to know, all members are free to discus what happens."

 

She smiled as he asked about her latest experiment. "So a bananaerry is a mixture of a banana and a strawberry, since we traded very often we always got things that were quite new to us. We grew strawberries before but we traded bananas once and learned to grow them. Well you see," she blushed and smiled sheepishly, "I had a dream of a strawberry banana and well, I like tooooooo, dabble in horticulture from time to time and asked our resident green hoof if we could make a cross breed of that and see if it would be possible." she beamed as she explained, excitement all over her features, "And it worked, they say its edible too, we have been working on it for several years now, and now with the barrier broken, we will get more sunlight and be able to grow even more things!" 

 

Her excitement was almost infectious, she loved when new ideas worked, even the silly ones she comes up with. "Imagine all the types of food we could make with it!" 

[Illiad Easle 3,131]

@@LonnaKitty,

 

Midnight looked impressed as he finished folding and numbering the letters, quickly stowing the stack in his cloak. "I'm impressed that your citizens were able to do it, a viable fusion of two separate plants. It would certainly be the sort of resource that could be in high demand given its scarcity."

 

He stood up and stretched as he got out of the chair. "Well, the sooner these letters are in the mail system the better, they're already addressed so they just have to be delivered to Mrs. Doo in Ponyville and they'll be on their way to the world leaders."

[LonnaKitty 173]

@@Illiad Easle,

 

Argante fidgeted, rubbing her bracelet again. "Is it...is it okay if I join you, on your trip to..uh Ponyville? I understand if I have to hide that I am an alicorn, I could wear a cloak! I would just like to, you know, take my first steps out of this forest...." she started to mumble her words towards the end. She was nervous about going out of the forest in general, even if she really wanted it. However that wouldn't stop her from taking those first few courageous steps out into the new world.  

[Illiad Easle 3,131]

@@LonnaKitty,

 

Midnight chuckled a bit as he smiled at Argante, "I'd be honored to have you accompany me to Ponyville. I half expected you to offer to have one of your citizens do the mail run but I guess this achieves the same purpose doesn't it?"

 

He started to move towards the door, a slightly mischievous look came to his face as he spoke again, "Your council probably wouldn't like you dashing off so suddenly especially since they don't even like the thought of you leaving even when they have a day and then some to prepare. Nonetheless, Ponyville's a good fifty kilos from here so we should get going if you want to be back before they miss you too bad, I guess this is a sort of practice for them and for you in having you away from the town."

[LonnaKitty 173]

@@Illiad Easle,

 

"I would rather go than someone else, I dont think my citizens will be ready to venture out just yet, it might be...a shock? I know I will be excited, but I will keep composure at least. Also, sneaking out sounds a bit fun, and honestly I would love to cause a bit of mischief before I go, I was a pretty good little prankster back when I was little, Hoofbeat was my prime target cause he was easy to rile up." she giggled at the memories of playing little pranks on the stallion, from pails of water, to switching the colors of his robes, they were fairly harmless.

 

"It might be why he is always on guard around me now, never know when a pail of water will go on him," she laughed some more and then coughed. "But honestly I grew out of it, especially since we were trapped, I didn't wish to cause more trouble than we were already in you know?" she sighed a bit as she walked to the door. "Well lets get going, I am so excited! There should be spare cloaks near the front gate that I could just grab."  

[Illiad Easle 3,131]

@@LonnaKitty,

 

Midnight smiled at her apparent enthusiasm for the excursion, ready to follow along behind or beside her as they went through the town. "On the way there I would be willing to answer any questions you have, at least while we're in the forest there isn't much chance of us being overheard. More due to the danger of being off a path than lack of concealment. I'm ready to go when you are."

[LonnaKitty 173]

She nodded and lead him back through the keep quickly. As she had suspected there were several cloaks near the front, as they went past she quickly grabbed one and wrapped it around her gracefully. She pulled up the hood so they wouldn't be stopped, she pressed a small bit of magic around them to make them go unnoticed. Long enough to get to the wall that lead towards Ponyville. 

 

Argante looked around, smiling when she realized the coast was clear, putting a hoof to the earthen wall. The wall melted away a large enough hole for them to pass through, she let Midnight go first and she followed suit, sealing the hole behind them with new earth. She nodded at her hoofwork and then looked to the forest. She had always liked looking out into it, but now that she was in it was a whole different story, It wasn't so much scary as it was awe inducing to her. She liked the coolness of the forest, it made her wings shiver slightly.

 

As they walked, having him lead the way, she glanced to him and smiled. "Well now, questions questions, I have so many and I am sure you have some too, or I could finish my story on how we got trapped but, I guess I will start with a question, what is the Equestrian royalty like?"

[Illiad Easle 3,131]

@@LonnaKitty

 

Midnight looked impressed that they were able to get away from the town without anyone noticing. He started to lead the way through the forest towards Ponyville, guiding Argante through the thick foilage.

 

He grimaced at the mention of Equestrian royalty, "Them? Hopefully we won't encounter them on this excursion, they would just needlessly complicate it. Anyway, Equestria is ruled presently by the diarchs Celestia and Luna, though they prefer the title of princesses. Luna is much like me, a cool personality and a strongly analytical mind while also keen in combat and strategy. Celestia on the other hoof is an excellent public speaker and manipulator, well beloved of her subjects to the point where they believe pretty much everything she tells them without question. She also has a habit of rewriting history books to expunge any account of her doing anything wrong or of any other nation doing things better than she did. At the moment neither of them like me very much and Celestia and Sir have quite the grievance between each other."

 

He spared a look back at Argante, both to ensure she was following okay and that she was still listening, "Any other questions? At this rate it won't take us too long to reach Ponyville."

[LonnaKitty 173]

@@Illiad Easle,

 

She frowned at that. Rewriting history? That was horrible, no matter the wrong doing history was very very important. Especially to Argante, history kept them knowledgeable, kept certain mistakes from being repeated. She shook her head free from the thoughts and smiled.

 

"I guess a good question would be, what should I expect in Ponyville?"   

[Illiad Easle 3,131]

@@LonnaKitty

 

Midnight's expression turned thoughtful as the subject changed, it brightened a bit add he began talking. "Ponyville is a nice enough town, I haven't been there myself, but from what I've heard from my usual couriers it's a pretty small town with a bunch of thatch roofed buildings. The citizens are welcoming to those that are ponies, though I heard they recently accepted a zebra that's been living on the edge of the forest. We'll actually be passing by there on our way in. At worst we should expect to be avoided completely, which would allow us to drop these off quick, at best they'll just ignore us."

 

He thought for a moment, his expression growing slightly serious as he looked down at what he was wearing. "Actually, at worst they attack me on sight, though Celestia may have rewritten history, old Earth pony families did keep their oral traditions and thus their descendants may remember me as the literal boogy pony."

 

He sighed realizing he'd have to explain further. "A thousand years ago Equestria had Zebrican slaves, Sir and I had a bit of a crusade going around and freeing the slaves and in the process we did end up killing some of the slavers. Over time the sorry was passed down by those families that I was some dark pony of tartarous who would come in the night to snatch up naughty children."

[LonnaKitty 173]

@@Illiad Easle,

 

Although Argante was shocked at the story she couldn't help but let out a small laugh. It wasn't a laugh that was meant to be mean or anything, but she imagined him as a boogy pony and couldn't help but laugh at the image.

 

"Sorry, sorry, just imagining you as a boogy pony made me laugh," she coughed trying to stop her small giggles. "Well hopefully none of that will happen, if something happens, I will back you up! After all you are becoming my friend." she blushed at her words and then continued quickly, "I-I-I mean i-i-if you want to be friends that is, we just met, b-b-but its been nice to talk to you and learn and I...I will be quiet now..." she tried to have her white mane cover her face, as it was red with embarrassment. What she said she meant though, she did hope they were becoming friends, but maybe it was just her? She did only have the same ponies to talk to for three thousand plus years. 

Edited July 31, 2016 by LonnaKitty

[Illiad Easle 3,131]

@@LonnaKitty,

 

Midnight seemed intrigued by her actions, though snorted at her reasons for laughing, "I may not be so intimidating to you, but I can be rather intimidating to most ponies, especially with my helmet and Sir with me to really add to the image. There are few things I know of more intimidating than a massive silhouette illuminated by a flash of lightning. Anyway, I would again be honored to be considered your friend, as I do consider you a friend of mine at this point. I don't drop those enchantments for just anyone you know."

 

He seemed happy for the latter half of his words, as if he truly were happy to have another friend.