Later that day, Julie heads to Sorncoliv to catch up with Eli. It was raining by then, but she had really wanted to see her newest friend without the stress of the Guild on her back while she could. To prevent her from getting wet, she wore a green cloak. It was hunter green, very dark and nice to look at. Sarron had some eye protection as she rode him as well with a sort of rain covering for him as well that Ierra made out of leather. When she gets to the town, the large Malenterian woman hops down off her horse and starts her search for her pink haired friend.
In Stoneheardt’s search for Eli, she asks a few people that were out and about. It ended up leading her to a woman. She was half Arrintar and half Malentar, so her complexion was lighter than Julie’s had brown hair and was nicely dressed in a deep maroon top and black pants, she had on a gray cloak on as well to protect from the warm rainfall.

"Hey there, ya know anyone named Eli? Goxian, pink hair, silver eyes?" Julie asked nicely.

The woman looks at Julie with a rather curious expression..

"You… know him?" The woman asked, her head tilted slightly.
"He’s a friend. 'Ah’m looking for him." Julie explained briefly.

The woman takes a look at Julie for a bit, as if studying her. Over the time of the short silence, a grin spreads across this brown haired woman's face.

"He always liked the dark ones." The woman chuckled to herself.
“I-Ah’m sorry?” Julie said, taken aback by the comment.
"Names Nami,” She said, ignoring Julie’s shock. “I'm a good friend of his. He’s around here somewhere. Check the fountain in the Square. He loves the rain.”
“Thanks, names Julie by the way.” Julie starts to walk off, leading Sarron to follow. The woman pauses hearing that name, as if she's heard it somewhere but Julie ignores it. 

She moseys to the square with her midnight black horse. Julie looks around and sees the mess she left there. The rocks and such protruding from the ground when she fought Fennish Ra.

"Ah forgot ta fix that up,” She thought with realization. “I'll just-"

Julie raises her right hand and slowly lowers it. As she does that, the craters and protrusions of the ground equalize into the ordinary flat ground.

"There." She said with a smile.

She continues to look around and there, messing with the water in the fountain and suspending raindrops around him, Eli stands with no cloak on. The silver eyed man held his left hand up at chest level with his palm facing the sky to stop the rain around him in a small radius. The rain drops around him stop sometime before they hit the ground. The range of stopped Raindrops go from higher than Eli’s height, or just before they hit the ground. Julie and Sarron wander toward him, a devious plot on Julie's mind.

"Gotta sneak up on him. It’s too perfect not ta." She thought to herself.

The Malenterian woman lets go of Sarron, instructing the dark horse to stay where he is, and begins to walk up silently and sneakily up to Eli, or at least she thought it was silent. THe Malenterian continued her Sneaking until she ended up right behind Eli and yelled out, making Eli Jurk away from Julie in fear also making him yell out in response. The disturbance in his concentration causes the water suspended around him to fall, getting Eli soaking wet where he was.

“Ya should have seen ya face,” the Malenterian woman said with a laugh. 

Eli turns to Julie. His hair is all wet, the pink haired man styles his hair to the left, some parts of it falling over his left eye. Julie chuckles.

“What are ya doin out here when its rainin?” The Malenterian asked.
"Meditating. Honing my water magic. I was always very good with it but I want to reach a perfectionist level with it. Also I generally love the rain.” The pink haired man said with a charming smile.

“Last time I saw him, Ierra pointed out he was already a Perfectionist in water,” Julie thought to herself. “He doesn't know his own level of magic? I wonder how he even became a perfectionist with Water in the first place.”

“Ya doin pretty good Ah’d say. Not many people can control water and  stop rain like that”
“Yeah funnily enough it felt like I was somehow aware of every raindrop.”

The Malenterian woman was rather surprised at Eli's description of his focus, it was inhuman to be frank. Julie herself has an immense amount of focus but even then she can't exactly keep track of every stone around her if she were to meditate like that, at least she thinks she couldn't. Eli looks over at Julie and looks slightly worried seeing some injuries on her face.

“Julie, who hurt you? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. Ah’m good. Just a bit busted up is all. Ah handled them pretty well.” The dark skinned woman said, brushing off Eli's concern. 

“I almost forgot I had a few bruises on my face from the fight with Dolland.” Julie thought to herself.

"What happened?" Eli asked, stepping to the side to look at Julie’s face at a different angle.
"''Ah got into a fight with someone." Julie explained, technically not telling a lie.
"You sure you’re ok?".

The Malenterian nodded, and the tall silver eyed man simply accepted it, looking over at Sarron and walking toward him.

"Nice, a war horse. You know the Widow has one just like this one.”
"Yeah. This is it’s brother." Julie said, following.
"Really? That's neat! Now, let's get you both somewhere nice and dry." Eli suggested.
"There a coffee place ‘round here?" Julie asked, adjusting her glasses.
"Yeah, close by too. Let's hurry!"

Eli takes Julie to a nearby coffee shop, A few ravens land on a few buildings around them, all in places as if to watch them as well.. The sky is darker than it was before. This puts Julie on edge a bit.

"Fucking ravens" Julie thought.

"Here. I don’t drink coffee, I drink tea mostly. But my friends say that this place is amazing,” Eli said, opening the door for her with a big charming smile.

The inside of the building was brightly lit. It had a warm feeling to it on the inside with the red-brown brick walls and the crème colored floor.

Julie hitches Sarron to the parlor. Just then lightning flashes and thunder loudly roars. Julie jolts  back, clenching her eyes closed as hard as she can, gasping in fear. She feels her chest tighten up and her breathing becomes hard. She hears a few thumps in her ear. Her face against a hard, cold surface. She opens her eyes to find that Eli's holding her. Her head on his chest. She was hearing his heartbeat. She looks up, adjusts her glasses and stands up straight.

"Afraid of Lightning?" Eli said, attempting to rub her head.
"Shut up." Julie said, her face red with embarrassment at her childish fear. She pulls away from Eli’s hold too. She didn't expect him to do that, though it felt nice to know that a friend other than the Witches was there to comfort her. Though she still didn't like that too much.
"It’s fine we all-"
“Can we get in the damn buildin’ please?” Julie interrupted.

The tall, pink haired man nods and opens the door for Julie

"Come on,” He said with another charming smile.

Julie and Eli walk in. The Malenterian woman attempts to walk to the counter when Eli stops her.

"They come to you here. At least that's what I’ve been told." Eli stated.

The blue eyed woman nods and follows Eli to a comfy looking booth, they sti across from each other. 

“Ya got a lot of fuckin’ nerve holdin’ me like that, Eli.” Julie said with a stern tone.
“Sorry, it was instinct. Not sure what came over me.”
“Better get that under control, Next time ‘ah wont be too nice,” She said, a scary undertone to her voice.
“Y-Yes ma’am.” The pink haired traveler stammers. 

A waitress walks up to the table Julie and Eli are sitting at. She was in a nice uniform, White shirt, black pants with a black apron on. Brown short hair and blue eyes as well.

"Shocking for you two to be here in this weather. What can we get you?" She asked nicely, smiling brightly at the pair.

"I don’t want anything. I'm fine." Eli smiled.
"Can 'Ah get a hot coffee? Little bit of milk in it, 3 scoops of suga?" Julie asked.

The waitress nods and leaves the table. Lighting flashes again, scaring Julie once more. She jerks back and holds her eyes closed. Breathing somewhat heavy. Eli gets up and sits next to her.

"You ok? Need someone to lean on?" Eli asked, concern heavy on his voice.
"No." Julie pushes Eli away.

Lighting strikes again, thunder rattling the windows. It causes Julie to jump slightly, and scoot away from the windows.

“Would you feel better if you held onto my arm, Julie?” Eli asked, holding his arm out for her to take if she wanted.

Jule smacks Eli’s arm gently and looks at him a little off. Slight irritation in her expression. Eli lowers his arm, looking dejected and slightly saddened that he couldn't help his friend. It goes silent for a moment, No words being spoken between them for a few seconds until Julie sighs and looks at her 7 foot tall friend.

"A for effort though." Julie said.
"Just trying to keep you calm. That's all." Eli said
“Suuuuure," Julie said sarcastically. “Just tryin a ta keep me calm”
“I mean it Julie,” The pink haired man said with a smile. “I look out for my friends.”

The dark haired woman chuckles softly and adjusts her glasses.

“Ya really know how ta act cute, Eli”

Eli blush deep and looks away, his face flushing with a blue blush and his words stolen out of his mouth. He was left speechless. Seeing his reaction and finding it cute, Julie chuckles and learns back against the window. Soon the waiter comes over and gives Julie her coffee with a smile.

“Did ah really cause all that? Damn, ya need a minute ta reset there Eli?”
“N-No it’s not like that”
“Don’t lie Eli. Ya can barely talk.” Julie grinned and sipped her coffee, rather enjoying the little teasing she has going on with Eli, like a fun game.

The dark Malenterian goes silent for a bit to allow Eli time to recover from her comments. He does so rather quickly. Once he does, Julie is looking outside at the rain. Lightning strikes and thunder roars once again, making Julie  jump a little. She still felt embarrassed of her first reaction, screaming as she had. Eli looks over with concern, seeing her slightly jolt from the thunder.

"Julie, how are you feeling?" Eli asked.
“Better without the thunder and Lightning,” She said after sipping her coffee.
“Sorry,” Eli said with a saddened tone as he looked at the table.
"It aint ya fault Sugah. Plus I got ya with me. And ta be honest, ya help me keep calm." She said, taking a sip of her coffee. “So does this coffee.”
“Doesn’t feel like i'm doing much really”
“Ya dont have ta do things ta make someone feel calm all the time, Eli. Sometimes just bein there is enough.”

Eli thinks about that for a bit. The pink haired traveler had never thought that he can simply have an aura of calmness. He always thought that he'd have to do something to help calm people. Julie sips her coffee and lightning strikes again, making her gasp and choke a bit. Eli lightly smacks her back to try and help her. She coughs hard.

“Thanks.”
"It’s rude if I just let you cough like that. I didn’t hit your back too hard did I?" Eli asked, worried he had hurt Julie.

"This guy is too pure.,” Julie thought to herself.

"No, ah’m fine." She said, She sips her coffee again before speaking. “Ya know, ah feel like this will be a fun friendship suga.”
“S-sugar?” Eli said, not expecting the nickname.
“Yeah, somethin wrong with it?”
“No not at all,” He shakes his head. Pink hair moving along with the movement. “I just didn't expect it”

The Malenterian woman chuckles at her Pink haired friend, noticing his blush.

“Ya easy ta fluster, ain't ya?” Julie asked Eli.
“Y-Yeah, kinda” He stammers..THinking back on his experiences with women, which weren't very many admittedly, he was often reduced to a stammering, blushing mess due to compliments he'd receive. Often he was unsure if they were flirts or just genuine compliments. Either way, a nice comment always managed to have him embarrassed.
“Talk much ya girls, Eli?”
“Is it that obvious?”

Julie takes a sip of her coffee, a small action causing a pause in the conversation. The slight moment of silence has Eli on edge for what Julie would say next. He worries a lot about his impressions. The Malenterian woman sets her coffee down and looks at Eli. 

“It is. Ya almost seem ta not know what ta do, or don't exactly think about what ya are gonna do.” Julie said, referring to earlier when he held her for comfort at the first lightning strike.
“I don't know what you mean?” the pink haired traveler stated in his confusion.

The older woman slightly chuckles, causing Eli to feel he was being made fun of in some internal way. Slowly she gets a bit louder.

“My, ain’t ya the dense one?”
“W-what did I do?”
“Calm down, it's nothin bad,” She explained to her worried, silver eyed friend. “Ya dont really think before ya think or act do ya? Its pretty obvious. Ah mean, grabbin onta a woman ya barely know just ta comfort her?”
“You were scared by the lightning!” Eli defended.

Again, the large woman chuckles, she fixes her glasses on her face, pushing them up.

“Still not the smartest thin ta do,” the dark skinned woman said while drinking her coffee.

Eli is silent for a bit, looking down at the table. He feels bad that he did that now. He regrets it. Even if Julie is laughing about it, he feels a little embarrassed by his lack of thinking at that moment.

“Ah appreciate it though, it was cute.” The Malenterian says, smiling at Eli. Sure, she didn't exactly like how it happened, but on the brighter side is the fact that Eli tried to actually comfort her.

Eli smiles at Julie, feeling a bit better about the situation. The Malenterian looks back with a smile, brushing some hair out of her face.

“You look nice in that cloak, Julie,” Eli said, trying to recover from his slight awkwardness.
“Don't push ya luck,” The black haired woman warned, teasing him being the intention. “Don't flirt too much.”

The pink haired traveler blushes and looks away from Julie, who chuckles. She finds their little game amusing, a nice distraction during her break from guild work. While Eli looks rather embarrassed and flustered, he rather enjoys the feeling and teasing as well.

“This is a nice distraction from what's goin on in the world.”
“You mean the country's civil war?” Eli asked, looking back at the glasses wearing Malenterian.

Julie nods, thinking about the consequences of her actions. This war was because of her, and he didn't know it. Julie thought about how Eli would feel about that, how it may affect their friendship. She knows he looked up to the Black Widow. But does he anymore?

“I understand the fear and worry the masses have. They don't think the Black Widow is good enough to rule the country, others say she's evil because she killed King Dolland. I say she did the right thing to make a better future. Before it gets better, it has to get worse.” Eli said, explaining his views on the matter and trying to reassure his friend. “We know what happened. We know what he did and wouldn't admit to. The masses don’t, they don't know the truth.”

Julie takes a sip of her coffee and leans against the window of the booth they are at. Lightning strikes and she jolts a little at it and the thunder but soon returns to her calm stature. It slightly inspired her, she found comfort in that logic. “It gets worse before it gets better”, she thought.

“Ya know Eli, ya got no idea how much ah really needed ta hear that,” The Malenterian said as she looked at the hulking man in his glittering eyes of silver, taking note of their odd look for the first time.
“I try my best to make my friends feel better.” He said with a wide smile.

Julie looks out the window for a bit. Thinking to herself, an intrusive thought emerging, a not so pleasant one. Her chest tightens and she gets tense. With the world fading around her and feeling alone, she slowly focuses herself and luckily brings herself out of her spiral before she gets too deep. Eventually she switches her mind to a different thought, one more interesting and personal about her pink haired muscular friend. She looks at him for a bit and notes his stature, his actions, his personality. His clothes, the royal purple shirt he had on, were still slightly wet from Julie's scare prank earlier. His black pants, which were loose fitting. And his shoes were brown. 

“Eli, did you ever have someone that ya loved? Someone ya hold close and would have done anythin for?” Julie asked suddenly.

The pink haired Goxian sighs and looks at the table. Seems the topic was hard for him to talk about. Julie’s mind flooded with possibilities; They were killed, they left him, they were taken away, they hurt him. All kinds of different assumptions.

“I did. Long ago.” He said with a saddened tone, memories of the past running through his mind quickly.
“What were they like? Can ah know?”

Eli is silent for a bit, sitting back against the booth and crossing his arms and against his chest as he looks at the centerpiece on the table. The table itself was nothing more than just a deep brown wood table. The centerpiece held salt, pepper, and between them was a compartment to hold napkins. The memories Eli shifts through in his mind of his loved one brings a wide smile to his face, it's clear they meant a lot to him.

“We were kids when we knew each other. We liked each other a lot then too. I even promised to marry her,” The silver eyed man reminisced. His tone was one of adoration for his crush. “I know that she's 10 times what she was back then. But I don't really care about how she looks, I just care about her. I miss her frankly, I miss her a lot. She was fun, always kept me in check. I owe a lot to her frankly. We spent a lot of time together. Our parents always made things work out so that we could see each other. I think they knew before we did that we liked each other.”

Julie chuckles. “That sounds adorable. Ah had a friend like that too, ain't seen him in years though. Ah assumed he moved on. Ah ain't too bothered by it though, Ah got my daughter. His loss, right?”
“Definitely,” The large man chuckles, uncrossing his arms.

Grabbing her coffee and bringing it to her lips, the dark toned woman takes a sip before asking another question that pops up in her mind.

“How'd ya get so….” She pauses and looks Eli up and down, studying his body to look for an apt description as she pushes her glasses up on her face before speaking again. “Bulky.”
“What do you mean?” Eli asked, sounding confused by the question. 

The woman in glasses motions to Eli and moves her hand up and down, motioning to his entire muscular body. The pink haired man looks at himself and he looks even more confused! For a moment Julie thinks to herself. “This man is an airhead”

“I don't understand,” Eli said.
“How do ya know understand? How’d ya get so muscular? Ya don’t seem like the kind ta work out so much ta where ya get like that really.”
“Oh! Well I’m a traveler. Lots of moving and walking, lots of climbing. Lots of body usage. I guess I just got muscular over time, though i've always been easy to build and always had muscle in some sense.”

Julie listens and sips  her coffee again, thunder strikes and she chokes slightly. Luckily not too bad though, she quickly regains herself.

“Gods damn it,” Julie sighed.”Anyway, that's interestin, you're a gentle giant. Sweet and kind, but big”
Eli rubs the back of his head, blushes and looks away embarrassed by how he’s called. “Y-Yeah I guess that fits me.”
“It very much does,” Julie responds with a nod.

Julie chuckles, watching Eli’s blush grow. The pink haired traveler seems really embarrassed by his current predicament.

“Why are you teasing me like this, Julie?” Eli said, his face blushing a cute blue color.
“It’s fun,” The large bodied Malenterian said simply. A smile spread across her face as she watched the large traveler squirm and writhe with beach passing compliment and tease.

Lightning strikes, thunder roars. Julie gets startled by it once more. Eli’s head shoots over out of concern for his friend, luckily Julie is fine and not choking this time. She grabs the cup and takes a sip of her coffee before looking outside. Eli remains silent for a bit, enjoying the sound of the rain on the window and wondering things to himself. Most notably is his wonder of why Julie is afraid of Lightning and Thunder. Julie isthinking to herself about the Civil war she started. She can't help but to think about it often.This was just a temporary leave so she can get better mentally.
“It has to get worse before it gets better” She thought to herself.