Raven – Veteran Commander

Elesis – Blazing Heart

When he woke up, Elesis was standing over him.

A quick check of the clock told him he still had half an hour before Eve got back. Another quick check of the screen showed that the download was at 33%, just like it had been an hour ago.

"Raven? What are you doing here?" Elesis asked in confusion. "I thought you and Elsword were planning to go shopping today."

Elesis had left before breakfast, Raven remembered. She wouldn't know why he was stuck here. So he nodded.

"Yeah, we were. Between you and me, he wanted a present for Aisha and decided to get my advice on it. But Eve scanned my arm and found that the imaging software wasn't working, so she decided to re-install it."

"Imaging software?"

Raven shrugged with his right shoulder. "No clue, but I guess it's important, because she yelled at me when she figured out it wasn't working."

"Well, nobody needs Eve yelling at people." Elesis sat down next to Raven, relaxing into the couch cushions. "Good El, that feels good. I've been on my feet all day." Before Raven could ask what she was doing, she leaned over to glance at the download screen.

"Thirty-three percent. How long have you been here?"

"An hour and a half. Eve said it would only take an hour, but it's been stuck here for almost that long."

Elesis gave a low whistle. "Let me guess – you're not allowed to move."

"You got it." Raven leaned his head back, careful to keep the arm still. "So I've basically been napping on and off."

"That sounds boring," Elesis commented. "You want some company while you wait for Eve?"

"Sure." Raven glanced over at her, a question rising to mind.

"By the way, what was so important that you had to rush out before breakfast? Your little brother makes decent waffles, you know."

"If you call his waffles decent, your taste buds must be dead," Elesis muttered. "I still can't forget the time he managed to set the kitchen on fire while trying to mix cake batter that one time. But anyways, Ryota was holding something for me. I had to pick it up before the shop opened."

"I'm still not sure if Ryota's a guy or a girl, honestly." Raven tried to stretch out his legs without moving his arm. It wasn't an easy task.

"You know, I'm not really sure either," Elesis said thoughtfully. "I mean, they seem like a girl, but I thought Chung was a girl when I first saw him. And it's not like I'm going to go up to Ryota and just ask, 'Hey, are you a guy or a girl?'"

"That would be kind of rude, yes," Raven agreed. "What was Ryota holding for you?"

Elesis' gaze slid away from Raven's. "Nothing important."

Raven didn't pry. He just checked the download screen – still 33% – and then leaned back, sighing.

"I still can't believe that you like Elsword's waffles."

"I've tasted worse," Raven muttered, shuddering as he remembered. "Way worse. One of my comrades once dumped an entire container of salt into waffle batter."

"Did anyone get salty about it?" Elesis laughed at her own pun. Raven just stared at her until she sighed and responded with a kitchen anecdote of her own.

"Elsword managed to set the kitchen on fire while cutting up an apple, once."

"A guy in the Crow Mercenaries tried to get rid of bacon grease by pouring it into the fire. He managed to burn down the commander's tent."

"This asshole in the Red Knights tried to make popcorn over a ceremonial fire."

The stories got more and more outrageous, both Elesis and Raven trying to outdo each other. By the end, Elesis was so deep in laughter that she could barely speak, and even Raven was laughing out loud.

Eve walked in while Elesis was telling a joke about Ariel, Camilla, and Glave walking into a bar. She stared at the scene.

"Raven, why are you still hooked up to the software?" she interrupted, and Elesis stopped in the middle of the punchline.

"The download stopped. It's stuck at thirty-three percent," Raven answered, prompting Eve to walk over and poke the screen. The numbers immediately flickered and jumped upward, hovering at 99% for a moment before the screen flashed an install complete message.

"No, it's not. It just misread the arm. It's rather old technology, you know," Eve commented, detaching Raven. Raven immediately stood up and stretched. The Nasod arm did seem a bit more responsive, he noticed.

"Thanks, Eve."

Eve nodded curtly at him. "You are welcome. Now leave."

Raven glanced at Elesis. "What were you planning to do? Feel like going out again?"

Elesis shook her head and stood up, stretching. "I'm rather tired; I might just go take a nap. But you might want to go and find Elsword. He looked rather lost when he was staring in the window of a jewelry shop."

Raven rolled his eyes, watched Elesis disappear up the stairs, and went out to rescue Elsword from the horrors of shopping. He had no idea that when he returned to his room later, he would find a gift-wrapped box from Ryota's shop on his bed, propping up a card with Elesis' handwriting on it.