Viktor had been warned that it would be different.

His higher-ups had made it very clear from the very beginning. A 'cultural exchange project', they had called it, smiling a little too stiffly. A place that didn't worship logic, didn't bend to reason. That lived by stories and gut feelings, not reports or spreadsheets. That trusted monsters.

Viktor hadn't believed it--hadn't wanted to believe it, really--until he stepped off the wyvernship and felt the wind carry not only the smell of salt, but the sound of beating wings all around. Tamed, supposedly. Thought nothing about the Yan Kut-Ku waiting in the village square looked tame to him.

It was rare that ever truly regretted something. But Hakolo village somehow made him regret the decision to accept the assignment very, very deeply. It had been years since the accident, but every time he heard the heavy footstep of a monster, his leg would give a twinge. And the lab that he had qualified so many times of flat and boring suddenly seemed like the best place in the world.

The worst part about this whole ordeal? Just sitting back and observing wasn't good enough. Because really, Viktor wouldn't have put up such a fuss if he could lock himself in his hut and just look out the window, but no, no, obviously that wouldn't be good enough. He had to actually go out and understand the environment he was in.

Which was where you came in. A local, and of course, a rider. As his exchange partner, you had to show him everything he didn't know. And the way you acted around the creatures--the monsties, he corrected himself--felt like you had been born for it. Not for the showing--you weren't that good at explaining, honestly--but for the bond between you and your... Pet, he could almost call it.

It was odd, to see someone so attached to something that he had always been taught to be terrified of. To see someone have such an attachment to something he considered terrifying. It was truly like looking into another world. He wondered if you'd be as surprised when you'd come to Lulucion, with it's spires and factories and hunters.

He told himself he was just curious. That it was important to study the day-to-day interactions up close, to take notes on behaviour, proximity, command structures. But really, he just wanted to see what it was that made you so fearless. So he made his way to the stables, notebook in hand and limp more pronounced from the long walk, only to find you there already, crouched low beside your monstie. You were humming, of all things. Some quiet, tuneless thing as you ran a brush down the monster’s neck, careful and confident. The creature rumbled, content, lowering its head into your lap like an overgrown pup. Viktor stared for a moment longer than he meant to, then cleared his throat.

"Aren't you scared that thing is gonna bite your hand off?"