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Sara did indeed spot the thankful look that Crispin threw her way. Maybe after all of this was over, they could find his brother together and tell him all the news. Unless Crispin wanted some alone time with his brother, which would be more than reasonable. This was a big day for Grimms, and for those who had family, they would need time to fully absorb the import of today. She'd ask him before she made any assumptions.

The trials, it seemed, were exactly what they sounded like: coming-of-age rituals, of the kind that most races had had back in the very oldest of recorded history and the very wildest of conjecture. It was a classic thing, and somewhat primal--a tribal ritual that was very in-line from what she had assumed of the Grimm. But what Neptune said brought Melisara up short.

If Grimm life was pack-based...how could you resurrect an entire culture, most of which was dead? You couldn't. It was all dead, all lost, except for one single pack. And now they wanted to expand their numbers. Turn all Grimm into their pack. Was that...actually...fair?

She looked over at Neptune and gave him a solid nod. He had brought up a good point. She made a mental note to talk to the other junior--he sounded like he had some interesting ideas. Why hadn't she seen him around Eldritch?

That... wasn't really what he was hoping for. This kid didn't really seem to know much of anything after all. While he did desperately want to know more about his people, he didn't want to be stuck there in some strange place. He'd already had a hard enough time adjusting to the academy! Some might even say he wasn't fully adjusted, he hadn't made any friends in the few months he'd been around, and barely made appearances anywhere outside of his dorm or the library.

The nod from the baphomet girl caught his good eye. He blinked, then nodded back thinking it was the appropriate thing to do. Was it? He wasn't really sure. In the process of trying to remember if that was some kind of baphomet cultural thing he ended up squinting a little and tilted his head to the side... No, it probably wasn't... oh, he was making a fool of himself. He straightened back up again, ears fully perked. Hopefully she wouldn't laugh at him or something... but then again she'd only been nice to the others the entire time she was here. That hadn't escaped his watch.

"So.. um... it kind of doesn't really... sound like we'd get a lot of benefit from going...... I mean... if you don't even know if we can come back...." Though really that didn't make any sense... not being allowed to leave somewhere was basically like a prison, wasn't it? Even the academy had field trips. He shrank down a little, suddenly beginning to feel a familiar sensation of being trapped with nowhere to go. "I--.... I don't think it's... v-very fair to um... t--take people and not let them go back... um... if they want to-- imeanthat'skindofimprisonment...." And there he went again, smooshing his words together in an effort to get them all out before he lost the ability to speak. Anxiously he wrung his hands, tail curling even further between his legs. This was not turning out to be like he had hoped it would...

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[qute="Lady Argentum Draconis"]
[qute="Geyser Eelborn"]
[/spolier]

A frown crossed Crispin's face as the other added more as he questioned him. This sounded a little weird to him the more he found out, and he wasn't exactly sure what to make of it. What if he liked it here more than there and wasn't allowed back. "Uh. I mean, I dunno. Cuz what if someone I'm friends with doesn't come or somethin'.." He added gently, pursing his lips as he took a small step back.

Everything he was saying mostly sounded pretty cool on one hand they had hunting clearly and a lot of structure and d..dienamic? What was that word, he couldn't remember off the top of his head. What had been covered in school wasn't much, he agreed when a girl's voice came asking more about the weird new words. Another about history books, wouldn't that be a real treat? He'd try his best to read what he could; it was a slow going for the young wolf. His mind turned over the details. If you had to be a mate to a shaman in order to be a alpha that sounded complicated, and wasn't something he was too keen on.

The grimm raised his hands from their resting position to cross the sleeved arms over his chest. "I mean some of it makes sense, I guess?" He pulled at his sleeved teeth biting at the end of the fabric as the other finished answering pulling back a few steps as more voices rose from the gathering.

Well, at least his questions had sorta been answered, finding of course he only had more now. For now he'd wait till anyone else wanted to contributed, he wasn't sure what else to bring up right at that moment. Maybe something else would come up, he was feeling overwhelmed by everything going on, but hid it behind a smile and the occasional tail flick.

She had been listening.

The answers provided weren't necessarily the ones needed to convince an entire race to abandon their home and accept a new one. She was sure the groups attempt to reclaim their people would falter, and yet a nasty feeling whirled in her stomach. Would they accept no? How long had they suffered, not knowing there were Grimm in the world outside of their tribe? How frightening had it been? Would she accept no? Her tail flicked, a hand squeezing Iah's.

And the trials. In this place you had to prove your worth. The academy had never asked for her to do so. They had accepted her, disability and all, no matter her strengths and weaknesses. They believed in her, and Amy wasn't about to turn her back on her only home. On her family. Standing, she released Iah's hand and used her walking stick to approach, pausing when it tapped against the heel of another Nightmare. Good, she was close enough. With a soft apology towards the Nightmare she had tapped, the blind Grimm raised her head, listening until the questions had ceased for a second.

"And what of the disabled?" She called, eyes blankly staring forward. "Do we have a place amongst your kind? The trials seem to indicate a need to prove worth. What is our worth? Why should those disabled leave the academy to a place that might judge us and turn us aside, should we not achieve the goals put out for us?" For a second she regret releasing Iah's hand, but she stood strong. She had to. This was a time for her people, and she'd never forgive herself if she stood at the edge and didn't participate.

"Well there are some records of different tribes and if they had any special markings or coloration. Some of the stones up north they knew exactly where they came from. It's only some they found later or were in a hurry no one marked it down or remembered." he paused, biting his lower lip. "Well...it would be more than you get here?" that wasn't a good answer and he didn't know what to do. "You'd learn to hunt, and about the gods and ancestral spirits, how to be part of a pack, you'd have...a place to belong...?" slight amounts of panic. He glanced down at Athena for reassurance. He was starting to feel like he'd gone outside the City without a breath charm, and the surface was a long way away.

Myles looked over the crowd, taking in the Grimm faces. "But you'd be home! You'd be with us! You might not have any blood family, but you'd have a whole tribe of people who would overjoyed to see you, to love you and accept you, teach you the old ways..." definitely drowning now.

The mint colored demon at least offered some relief. He knew how to answer that. "Generally the current Shaman picks his successor. You've got to be good at magic in order to be a Shaman. It's not just something anyone can do. Shaman's are in charge of the whole tribe." he said simply for the child. Couldn't there be more questions like that?

He looked over at the dark Grimm who'd wormed her way forward. She looked like she'd fit right in at home. "We have some records and stuff. Most history is passed orally, but the Nixie kind of encouraged us to start writing it down. It's just a big collection of unorganized notes for the most part. A lot of the older members of our tribe have died in the last few years...so we try to get as much information from them as possible, but sometimes they don't remember things right anymore." he frowned.

He looked back over at the orange Grimm. "You set your own trial, so you shouldn't fail something you picked out to do? I mean it's gotta be a big thing! Can't just be anything. So like if you wanted to...I dunno make your trial about food cuz you like cooking, you better be prepared to cook your tail off for like half the tribe and their Nixie friends, and Nixie are likely to bring their friends too! So like a whole town or half a city by the end of it." He laughed a bit then realized that no one but Athena would really understand what a party in one of the towns or cities really meant. It wasn't just for you and your friends, it was for...well Everyone, they be your neighbors or from across town. There really wasn't such a thing as a private party in Nixie territory.

He found the voice of the black Grimm with white hair. Disabled...? "Ah...well..." he looked from side to side. What would Kestrel think of someone who wasn't whole? Deep down he had to admit, probably nothing nice. "I'm sure they'd find something you could do..." Athena help.

He looked over at the Chimera? Yeah, that seemed right. "Ah...umm..." he hadn't thought about that. In fact he hadn't really known that. He wondered if Ryuuichi had known that. Old man was crafty after all, he might have not told Kestrel that JUST in order to have leverage. Sounded like something Athena's dad would do.

The next few minutes were very hectic, as if a floodgate had just been blasted open. Melisara was having trouble figuring out where the questions came from--both literally and figuratively. It must have been the question about whether or not they could stay. But it seemed now that the idea they might not be able to choose had caused an eruption of titanic proportions. She could feel the will of the crowd turn. And they all had such valid points, too!

If Grimm culture was based on strength...well, not everyone valued strength. And what did they think of the blind? Of the disabled? Melisara frowned. From Myles's tone of voice, this conversation was not going the way he thought it would. And as the outpourings of opinion came in from the Grimms all around, Melisara began to see the flaw in his reasoning: he was talking about his own home as if it was everyone's home. As if everyone was meant to feel as comfy-cozy in his homeland as he did. But they'd grown up here--in a different climate and a different culture. How would she feel if she'd been told that she was living her life as a Baphomet wrong? That she had to go to a strange place and live her life amongst a people with different values, values that were the "right" values?

But it was the voice of the Chimera from the back of the crowd that really nailed it home. "Ah think we've all got valid points," she said softly. Now was the time to float her idea. "Mahls, how would yer people feel about settin' up a school nearbah where Grimms could learn about their culture? Without havin' to leave their home." She sat up straighter as she warmed to the subject. "It ain't fair askin' folks to choose between their people and their home. And in this world we're livin' in, post-war, we gotta bring our cultures with us everywhere we go. We cain't just keep a culture in one place only. We gotta let the culture flourish everywhere it can. Let the Grimm at the Academy make their own packs. Let 'em make their own trahuhls rahght here! Lettin' folks learn their culture at Academy without havin' to move to a new place is one o' the oldest and fahnest traditions of the Academic Society of Asphodel. 'Smatter o'fact, it's the entahr reason the school was founded in the first place! T' give the orphans a home to live and learn an' build their lahves." She smiled at him and at the students all around. It was a good plan, in her opinion. It solved everyone's problems!

She shot an extra smile at the odd-eyed Grimm, the one who had tilted his head at her. He seemed rather nervous. She made a note to track him down later.