At least it was getting warmer. The red and teal serpentine child huffed as he lay over his coiled tail. His wings were fluffed up and somewhat fanned over him, offering further warmth. A window allowed the dim sort of twilight 'light' to pour over him and he grumbled. Nothing like the warm sunlight he preferred. Sure, there were crystals in his dorm that were enchanted to give off the heat he found necessary to properly function.

But it wasn't the same as basking in the sunlight.

A lot of things here weren't the same.

The people certainly weren't. Numerous times, Xihuitl found himself caught off-guard by the mass of people. The Academy was packed full of more species and traits and colors and styles and sorts than he'd ever encountered. The buildings? Some were taller than the trees back home. Technology was still something he still was learning how to properly engage with. The older students and teachers were generous in that regard, and a few had begun to notice that the hybrid required time to sit back and just... process.

He didn't understand why, but it was doing wonders for his previously extremely quick and hostile temper. Bit by bit, it was becoming easier to learn how to just breath, and then go back to whatever was making him feel so... tense. The pressure in his chest, as he called it. The one that when it reached a point, he couldn't control it, and he'd just....

It was getting a bit better. He wasn't lashing out as much.

Xihuitl sighed, burying his face against his forearms. His mom never seemed to get so angry. She always was so collected and sure. Always knew how to get through difficult stuff. That's what a warrior does, right? Just... deals with things? His lips pursed and he coiled himself tighter. Could he learn to do that? He was sort of. If he could learn to stop getting mean and puffed up and yelling over technology and classwork, he could learn to be calmer like mom, yeah? His feathered tail shook as if it possessed a rattle.

It was a process, that was a phrase some of the aids used a lot. He'd keep learning, keep working to progress in that process.

[388]