Ellianor could only nod to the words of wisdom bestowed by Muriel. 'I will keep that in mind when interacting with others.' Muriel looked at the entrance to the hub.
"You may enter as well. I knew you were where the entire time. Kissenn." A small groan came from the entrance, Ellianor's attention drew there immediately as Kissenn appeared.
She was grimacing, mad that she was caught.
"It seems none of you could rest, after all." Muriel shook his head. "Either way, keep track of other Wardens, we barely stand each other, and barely tolerate each other in our personal spaces."
'Urien laid about how the average Warden was…' Or Muriel was drastically exaggerating it.
Either way, one of them had to be at least a little wrong. 'I just have to endure and see it by myself, then.'
"You should go to sleep now. Soon there will be your first mission, and you don't want to be tired of that." Muriel returned to his corner of the room, and his quota of social interaction was reached.
He rested his back against the wall and closed his eyes, uncaring of the awkward position he was in, resigned to sleep there.
Both Kissenn and Ellianor grimaced at the awkward and clumsy position he chose to sleep.
Trying to forget the talk from moments earlier, and the haunting apparition that came with it, the black-haired man turned his attention to his friend. "So, how much of it did you hear?" Kissenn smugged proudly.
"All of it." She got close to him and rested her arm around his neck, flexing her muscles against his neck.
"So you will shoulder all the pain and heal yourself, up?" She smiled widely, and a chill ran up his spine.
Ellianor did not like where the conversation was going. He tried to escape, but she kept her grasp over his neck tight as she brought a fist over his head, and gave him a noogie on the head.
"You damn idiot. I can't keep my eye away from you and you go all sad. I'm your friend, you know? I will be here with you in thick or thin!" Her voice was filled with renewed energy, Ellianor closed one of his eyes as he felt his head burn a little.
Besides the chokehold, she had him in. "Don't stay with those stupid stuff ever again. We almost died together, I think we are pretty close to helping each other."
Ellianor resisted the urge to counter-argue, knowing it would be worse for him if he tried to talk back. 'They do say near-death experiences are great for bonding…'
"Otherwise, we wouldn't have fought so hard back there." While it was a little annoying, it was not an unpleasant situation.
That Kissenn reminded him of the one he saw in the space station. The other space station.
'I guess this is your serious you?' He thought with a smile. They were not that bad when they fought back to back against the corrupted corpses and monsters in their run to the amphitheater.
"Alright! Alright! I won't! Just stop with that!" Ellianor laughed from the bottom of his heart and was quickly joined by Kissenn who finally dropped his neck and stopped with the noogie.
"See, it was not that hard, was it?" Ellianor rubbed his head, smiling slightly as Kissenn approached him, a fist extended.
"From now on, we are friends. We have each other's back. Okay?" She smiled confidently, awaiting for Ellianor to join her in this endeavor. For a moment, his heart skipped a beat.
'When was the last time someone was so upfront with me? Hell. The last time someone got my back?'
Despite living with two other people, he always felt alone. Doing his own thing, and he was doing that.
The other two were unreliable at best, and hostile to him at worst. Ellianor bit on his tongue.
A strange emotion swelled in his chest. His lips turned into a small smile, his heart felt warm, and racing for some reason.
Kissenn continued to smile confidently, it showed her thoughts on the matter.
She was not going to back down or leave him behind in the dust. Just like how it was in the space station.
Ellianor closed his eyes and bumped fists with Kissenn, a small giggle coming from both of them.
"That is it now. None of us can back down now." Ellianor opened his eyes to see Kissenn's smiling face.
She had no problems with it or this arrangement. Her smile was bright, full of wonder and life.
A smile so bright it could blind someone.
'Damned be you, voice.' Ellianor cursed the one that brought this upon him and changed his whole life. 'Also, thank you.'
Kissenn's past was a mystery, if she had one, but her personality was magnetic, she was bright and had a good heart and head.
'I think… my life may be worth it from now on.' Gone from wasting his days in an office working overtime.
Now in a much more deadly profession, he would make a difference, stopping heresies, anomalies… "Beyond that, we should also see each other becoming stronger, because I doubt that Magnamonte guy will be a one-time thing."
They needed to become strong, one way or another. "I can't sleep, you too can't sleep. Let's spar for a bit, then?" She picked one of her twin blades, the other nowhere to be seen.
Ellianor withdrew the black sword handed to him by Urien, ready to start sparring right there.
They were too caught in their mood to notice that the place was not ideal for a sparring match.
The two veteran Wardens in the room decided to let them be and watch their happy, and upbeat mood.
(...)
No matter how much time passed, the sensations were the same. The sentiment was the same, every single time he saw people with potential and their happiness.
It reminded him of his own life.
The glorious day of his youth, despite how many eons ago it was.
'I agree with you on this, Urien. The heart, the human heart, never changes.' Despite their differences, it always mad him happy to see the potential of a newer generation.
Even when he was cursed to always outlast them, one way or another.