11 First Impressions And Expectations

Note: Enverna will have some occasional "Victorian-era priest seeing a girl show her ankles for the first time" energy over the course of this story.

Please, bear with this extremely sheltered individual. 

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{Enverna} 

Their eyes remained connected for well over a minute. 

Neither one could break away. They were both just too shocked. 

[By the grace of Saren, it's her...] Enverna thought, peering back at the other girl The Lover had chosen, her heart thudding steadily in her ears. 

Enverna wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but this certainly wasn't it. 

Having never met someone from Telvan before, after all the rumors of this being a drug-filled den of degeneracy that she'd heard, she hadn't been expecting someone who'd show a complete stranger like her the amount of casual kindness Lianna had shown leading up to this. Not just that, but whereas everyone Enverna had known throughout their lives would kill if it meant improving their image, Lianna didn't seem like she took herself too seriously. 

There was also the fact that...

Well, Lianna was beautiful.

But, the beauty she displayed was different from the sort Enverna was used to at Garriden.

A woman with long, crimson hair and two differently colored eyes, one bright, emerald-green and the other blood-red like her hair. That, coupled with Lianna's tan skin and tall frame, standing almost a full head taller than Enverna, almost made her feel like a spirit of fire looking down at Enverna like she was something to be consumed, burned away. 

The clothes she wore didn't help either. The shirt she wore looked like it had been split in half in battle, with exposed shoulders and a bare midriff that pulled Enverna's eyes to them just from the sheer audacity of the display, and her skin-tight pants had so many holes in them that Enverna had to wonder why she hadn't just thrown them away instead of embarrassing herself by continuing to wear them. 

It was a mess of an image that her outfit produced. A veritable disaster as far as practicality and modesty were concerned. 

But, Enverna could not look away. 

Until, of course, the booming voice of her stepfather echoed in her memories and Enverna cleared her throat, trying to get herself under control. 

"I-I see!" She said, pulling back a couple of steps. "So, you are Lianna Velcross? Well, wonderful. Great. This is highly fortunate, actually. Saved me the effort of having to look for you."

Enverna strutted to the shabby-looking couch in the back and sat down on it, crossing one leg over the other as she tried to maintain a confident exterior. A lady like her needed to conduct herself with pride at all times. At least, that was what she'd been taught over the years. 

Lianna remained where she was, looking Enverna up and down. 

Enverna almost squirmed. Now that she knew who she was, those strange eyes gained a certain pressure that hadn't been there before. 

That one comment her sister had made before about Telvan's women all being "carpet lickers" came back to Enverna then. She wanted to give this girl the benefit of the doubt, but with her eyes roaming over her body so blatantly, she almost quivered. 

"You got the same message, right?" Lianna asked, walking up and sitting down next to her on the couch. 

"W-What did your message say?" Enverna asked, shifting a couple of inches away from the other woman. 

Putting her elbow on the couch's back, Lianna rested her head on her hand as she answered: 

"Well... That I had to sign up for this place, find you, and..." 

"Marry me?" Enverna asked, unable to meet her eyes. 

"Yeah," Lianna responded with a slightly sad smile. "So... You wanna talk about it?" 

"We should," Enverna nodded. "But, let us not make this any more complicated than it needs to be. This is... a transaction," she stated, regaining her refined attitude. "You were promised the same thing I was, right? Power? That should make this conversation of ours pleasingly simple." 

"Uh... Yeah," Lianna responded. "But... I was kinda hoping I'd get to know you a little." 

[What good would that do!?]

"Such a thing is unnecessary," Enverna replied, waving a hand in the air. "The rules did not state we had to speak much, did it? We can just set the engagement up and collect our reward calmly." 

Lianna paused for a little while. 

Enverna tried to prepare herself for whatever rebuttal would follow. She was prepared to offer a small amount of money, of course. Her family wasn't doing particularly well, so she couldn't afford to give too much away, but she was prepared still. 

Instead, Lianna simply asked: 

"Is that what you want to do?" 

Enverna faltered for a moment. Lianna looking so shocked about this stunned her as well, in turn. 

[She sounds rather disappointed,] Enverna realized. [But, I... I am not to blame for whatever unfortunate expectations she has. The Lover is. I just want to become stronger.] 

"... That would be the most convenient way to accomplish this little task of ours, wouldn't it? Maybe that Constellation picked us under the pretense that we would engage in... unnatural behavior, but why bother?" 

To Enverna's own mind, her words made perfect sense. And yet, Lianna seemed so unreasonably surprised. 

"These are my thoughts," Enverna began, "the deal we have both been presented with is incredibly beneficial. Given that you're here, I take it you're also trying to become a well-known, respected Player, right?" 

"Well, yeah..." 

"Then we would be foolish not to accept. We can get this... silly engagement out of the way, we claim our rewards, and then... Well," Enverna shifted in her seat. "Whatever happens at that point happens." 

She knew that if she outright told Lianna she planned to leave, that could make the girl more hesitant to accept. 

"So," Enverna put forward a victorious smile. "What do you say?" 

Lianna looked away. 

[Please,] Enverna begged in her mind. [Make this easy for both of us. There is no need to overcomplicate things.] 

The blood-haired woman kept her eyes on her lap. 

Then, thankfully, she responded: 

"Yeah," she said. "I guess all of that makes sense." 

[YES! Thank goodness, she saw reason.] 

Then, Lianna did something that tossed all reason out of Enverna's own head. 

The girl shifted a little closer to her on the couch and, gently, she placed her right hand on top of Enverna's left.

Enverna stopped breathing. 

[What...? I...? Why...?] 

The mask of confidence she'd placed over her face fell to the side and all that was left was a wide-eyed, shocked expression, which Lianna totally ignored. 

"Um," Lianna said gently, "still, there's no reason we can't try to be friends at least, right? I mean, given that we're roommates too, and everything..." 

"..." Enverna could still hear her heart beating rapidly, ricocheting off the walls of her skull. 

She calmed down a little when she heard that, though. 

Enverna had been expecting far more haggling to take place today. But, if befriending Lianna was the only price she'd have to pay for her rewards, then, she could do that much for her. 

If having a new friend was all Lianna had been expecting out of this, well, that was absolutely something Enverna could do. 

"Certainly," she pulled together a smile. "Let's get along." 

[... Maybe now, my heart can stop beating so damned quickly.] 

---

{Lianna} 

In truth, Lianna's agreement was mostly tentative. 

Here was her plan: 

She would go through with the engagement, see what she got from it, and, in between all of that, she'd try to talk to Enverna more. 

She hadn't completely given up on this, mainly, for one reason. She contemplated that reason as she sat on that couch, while Enverna put all of her things down in the bedroom. 

[That message I got knew stuff about me I'd never told anyone out loud before. So, this Constellation, The Lover, knows me on a pretty deep level.]

She glanced at the bedroom, where she could see Enverna folding some clothes and placing them in a small drawer.

[So, the Constellation has to know her too, right? In that case... There has to be more of a reason why she set me up with her. Maybe... Maybe there's more to Enverna than meets the eye.] 

Lianna huffed. 

[Unless The Lover's just that cruel.] 

"I am done," Enverna announced as she walked back into the living room. "About the engagement, I'd advise that we make it official as soon as possible. Before the term begins. The boost in power may help us with our training as well!" 

"Yeah..." Lianna trailed off, looking back into the silver eyes of the foreigner sharing the room with her. 

[She really is so pretty, though. Gorgeous. Hurts my heart just to look at her.] 

"Ah, yes! We should take this moment to walk around. Before the halls fill with other hopeful new recruits, and all," Enverna suggested.

"Uhm, yeah. Agreed." 

With that being said, the two of them walked out of their shared dorm room.

As for Lianna, all she could do was hope The Lover would make things a little bit clearer later.