"You know Ari?" asked Merri with an excited grin. "I met her a few months ago myself, during the Founder's Festival scavenger hunt! She's great, isn't she? Were you here when she was performing in The Marriage of Fedoro? She was incredible. I'm so happy I got to see it twice." Even if the second time had been under less than ideal circumstances, but he didn't regret the last minute decision for a second.
"But I am glad to hear that you're doing well," he said more calmly. "Five years is a long time. It's not really a small number at all, not when it comes to years." In fact, Merri had a hard time thinking about where he was five years ago compared to where he was now. "Were you still al-- around when I started blue mage training? I only did it for a couple of years and I wasn't any good at it."
He chuckled, sheepish. "They put me in red mage training right after though, and it's probably where I should have been all along, come to think of it, not that I regret the time I spent in my other classes!" Black magic, synergy, the weapons training he gained from blue mage training, everything led him to where he was now.
"I'm also... dating someone now." This time his smile was of giddy joy. "We've only been together for about three months but... even with everything going on in the city lately, I can't say that I've ever been happier." More at peace, perhaps, but that had nothing to do with the captain and everything to do with the attacks Emillion came under and especially the battle in the Tenements.
"But I'm talking too much about myself, I'm sorry! How about you?"