If Noel was successful, maybe. It was no secret that the iron-mage was aiming high after graduation, and while Henk commended her for her dedication, it also meant she'd become a much higher class of Anirian than the rest of them. Still, he nodded slightly at her suggestion, not particularly in a mood to argue with her so soon after they'd finally found common ground.
Once they'd arrived back at the entrance to the passage back to the Academy, Henk set Casca about hauling all of the other students down into the hole one by one, as the small hatch was too big for all of them to descend at once. The quiet boy grunted a silent complaint but seemed too happy with himself to argue too much. Henk was watching him work when Noel asked him the question.
"What rush did you feel, Henk?"
It felt like his entire body stiffened at once. He'd made the foolish assumption she'd know exactly what he was talking about, and now, she'd put him on the spot. In hindsight, it really should have been obvious that she wouldn't know exactly how he'd felt. How could she? She controlled metal, not minds.
As Casca carried a stirring and mumbling Javier down the hatch, Henk turned his head to match her gaze, his tongue sliding into his cheek. "I enjoyed being close to you, Noel. For that little bit of time, it was like we weren't trained killers, we were just..." Henk shrugged, sighing out the next word. "...People. And I wanted more of it. That strange sensation in my chest, the what-if thoughts... I've never had to deal with those before."
He watched her for a moment, before tearing his pale blue eyes back to the hatch in the ground. "It's... ridiculous, I know. Crushes are something you expect from toddlers, but it highlights a weakness that the pre-revolution ways have. Isolate people from certain feelings, and it affects them even more heavily when they're eventually exposed to those feelings."
Clearing his throat, Henk took a step towards the hatch.
"That being said, I won't speak on the ball again unprompted. We still have a few more months to work together, and I don't want to make things any more difficult than they have to be."
Noel
Once they'd arrived back at the entrance to the passage back to the Academy, Henk set Casca about hauling all of the other students down into the hole one by one, as the small hatch was too big for all of them to descend at once. The quiet boy grunted a silent complaint but seemed too happy with himself to argue too much. Henk was watching him work when Noel asked him the question.
"What rush did you feel, Henk?"
It felt like his entire body stiffened at once. He'd made the foolish assumption she'd know exactly what he was talking about, and now, she'd put him on the spot. In hindsight, it really should have been obvious that she wouldn't know exactly how he'd felt. How could she? She controlled metal, not minds.
As Casca carried a stirring and mumbling Javier down the hatch, Henk turned his head to match her gaze, his tongue sliding into his cheek. "I enjoyed being close to you, Noel. For that little bit of time, it was like we weren't trained killers, we were just..." Henk shrugged, sighing out the next word. "...People. And I wanted more of it. That strange sensation in my chest, the what-if thoughts... I've never had to deal with those before."
He watched her for a moment, before tearing his pale blue eyes back to the hatch in the ground. "It's... ridiculous, I know. Crushes are something you expect from toddlers, but it highlights a weakness that the pre-revolution ways have. Isolate people from certain feelings, and it affects them even more heavily when they're eventually exposed to those feelings."
Clearing his throat, Henk took a step towards the hatch.
"That being said, I won't speak on the ball again unprompted. We still have a few more months to work together, and I don't want to make things any more difficult than they have to be."
Noel
