{Lianna}
Silence consumed the registration office as the government employee, sitting behind his wooden table, printed out some documents for the two of them to sign. Lianna's heart was beating a little quicker than normal.
[... It's really happening.]
Even after all of Enverna's efforts to make this process mechanical, detached from any romantic thoughts, Lianna couldn't help but get butterflies in her gut. Looking over at the other lady, Lianna wondered if maybe she felt the same way.
There was clearly an odd tension in the air. Tangible enough to make the man ask:
"Are you two really getting married?"
"Yeah," Lianna responded. "Why do you ask?"
"Um... No disrespect, but, I'm not really sensing the chemistry." He pointed back and forth between them, shaking his head with disapproval.
[Wow. That's insanely rude. I mean, what if we actually were getting married, for real? Damn.]
Slightly offended, Lianna narrowed her eyes at him.
"Well, I'll have you know I love my partner very much."
Both the man and Enverna herself looked shocked. Noticing that, Lianna gave Enverna a certain look.
[What the hell are you doing? Act natural!]
"Y-Yes," Enverna quickly adjusted. "I-I too l... love my... my partner."
Lianna's face fell into her palms.
[Really convincing there, Enverna.]
"... Anyway, here," the man passed them both some forms. "Fill those out. I'll look up the earliest available date for you to receive your marriage certification. If you want to have a ceremony, you can, but you don't have to."
Enverna straightened up. Clearing her throat, she asked:
"What's the earliest time we could get this certification?"
Maybe Lianna was simply imagining it, but Enverna sounded a bit desperate.
"Let's see here..."
His fingers crashed onto his keyboard like meteorites falling from the sky, until he finally uncovered the answer and replied:
"One year."
"..."
"..."
Both Lianna and Enverna were stunned.
"What?" Enverna finally asked.
"Yep, a year. Literally, a year, by the way. August 13, 240 2E. Says so right here," he aimed his projected screen at them. "I'm kind of surprised too... Guess lots of folks are falling in love these days."
"B-But," Enverna leaned forward even further, hunched over entirely now. "I-Is there truly no way we could... um, accelerate the process?"
"Nope." The guy clicked his tongue. "I'm serious. In order for the marriage to be official it has to be certified by the president herself. And, she's busy. Occupied, occupied, occupied. Yep, she's busy literally every day, for a full year."
[HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!?!?!?]
Enverna looked over at Lianna, almost like she was begging her to come up with something. To somehow shorten that time.
Lianna, however, was on a different train of thought entirely.
[Was this not a coincidence?] She wondered. [I mean... I signed up for the Watchful, and Enverna did too, and the literal first people we met happened to be each other. And now, we come to set this engagement up and the quickest reservation we can make for the ceremony is a literal year?]
It was suspicious. Incredibly suspicious.
She did want to take a moment to calm Enverna down, though. So, she stood up.
"Um, could you give us a second?"
"Sure."
Lianna then grabbed Enverna gently by her wrist and pulled her out of the office.
"Is there really nothing we can do!?" Enverna asked the instant they were out. "M-Maybe we should head someplace else, o-or..."
The pleading in her silver eyes thrust a knife through Lianna's heart.
"I don't think we can," Lianna answered. "At least, I wouldn't know a way." Enverna's body visibly deflated, hearing that.
The girl's eyes were fixed on the ground, as though she were seeing her options hovering right in front of her.
The way her shoulders dropped clued Lianna into the fact that, no. She hadn't come up with anything.
"Are you alright?"
"It wasn't supposed to last that long," Enverna said, weakly. "I... I didn't think I'd be here for a year. I meant to come, get married in maybe a month or two, and... leave."
Lianna couldn't deny that she was a little heartbroken to hear that. But, at the same time, given Enverna's general attitude toward all of this, it was absolutely predictable.
"Training is all well and good, and Telvan is fascinating, but my family's standing in Garriden depends on me. The sooner I start working, heading out into the field, the better."
A question quickly came to Lianna's mind.
"But... The conditions said we couldn't separate."
"Yes," Enverna replied. "B-But, I assumed that meant that we could not terminate the marriage. Not that we literally could not be physically apart from one another. Isn't that too harsh a condition?"
[Maybe, but... The condition does specify "in any way".]
Enverna was speaking somewhat callously, but Lianna could understand.
Lianna did not enjoy growing up without a family, but something that quickly became apparent was that having one did bring with it a set of responsibilities Lianna simply couldn't relate to.
She had no responsibility to care for anyone other than herself. A position Enverna clearly did not share.
[Heh, and here I am thinking about finding love and she has this sort of stuff to deal with.] She felt quite guilty, all of a sudden.
Guilty enough to walk up, take Enverna's hands, and say:
"If you want to call it off, we can. We'll still be roommates for a little while. I can still show you around Telvan until you go back home." Enverna looked up at her with a great amount of shock. "Um, on my end, all I really wanted from this was a friend. Marriage or not, I'd still love to make that part of this happen."
[... Well, meeting "the love of my life" was also an appealing part of the deal, but it doesn't seem like Enverna has any intention of being that.]
Enverna gave her a little smile before sighing and shaking her head.
"No, no. We should still go through with it. The potential benefits are too many to simply disregard... But, thank you. Your kindness continues to surprise me."
That said, Enverna walked back into the office, with Lianna behind her.
"Okay... So, where are we now?" The man behind the table asked.
"We will take it," Enverna declared firmly. "One year."
"Cool. Sign these, please."
They did as the man asked.
Both girls passed their papers to him once they were done.
They glanced at each other as he went over the sheets. Even though this whole process was just a means of acquiring power for Enverna and a way to try to deal with her loneliness on Lianna's side, it was clear they both still felt as though it was a big moment for them.
Lianna gave Enverna a comforting smile and Enverna took a deep breath, inhaling slowly as the man nodded.
"Okay," he said. "We're done."
The instant he said that words popped up over Lianna's head.
She assumed those same words appeared over Enverna's as she read:
Trait Unlocked!
Lover's Connection
{While near Enverna Alteri, your attributes are boosted.}
Lianna Velcross
MP: 125/125
---
STR: D+
END: D+
DEX: D+
MYS: D+
L: C
---
Traits:
Child of Mana
{Born from a mana storm. Gain a boost to mana.}
Lover's Connection
{While near Enverna Alteri, your attributes are boosted.}
---
Instinct:
Target Analysis
{Allows the user to see the Statuses of other living beings}
Love Conqueror
{Gain rewards from completing System quests. The harder the quest, the greater the reward}
Lianna's eyes widened.
But, she was even more surprised when she saw:
RP (Relationship Points): 0
Gaining Relationship Points will increase the power provided by Lover's Connection.
Relationship Points are gained by completing Quests!
Quests Gained!
{Quest: Hold Enverna's hand}
Reward: 5 RP
{Quest: Protect Enverna during the Birth of Darkness on August 20, 239 2E}
Reward: Lover's Intuition (Spell)
{Note: You cannot tell anyone about the Relationship Points or about the quests! Doing so will result in the immediate removal of the Lover's Connection Trait.}
Lianna blinked twice, looking down at those words.
[What?]
They walked out of the office. Enverna had a big grin on her face.
"We did it! But... This part about having to be close to each other in order for the power to work is... disappointing, but the buffs!" Enverna exclaimed. "My Strength went up all the way to B-! And I even gained Luck! Wow, this is incredible!"
Enverna seemed so happy. Happy enough to where Lianna felt compelled to ask:
"Um, did... Did the message not tell you that you had to do anything?" Lianna asked, trying to be vague enough not to cancel the Trait. "Like, uhm... With me, I mean."
Enverna tilted her head.
"You mean, besides having to stay close to one another? Uhm... No." She looked up and Lianna guessed she was going through the message again. "That was all."