After the meeting, the Gray Raven Squad and their new unique commandant returned to their base, which was just Lee, Lucia, and Liv's dorms. Even so, they still took Ren and gave him a little tour around their dorms.
First was Lee's. His dorm was like that of the base's workshop. It was complete with a mechanical table that had robotic arms attached to the ceiling, extra parts for minor repairs on their frames, shelves for different parts labeled accordingly, a single-person bed, and across the bed was an open tube that was slanted. Inside, it was cushioned with wires and plugs, aligning to the frame's hidden port. This is a construct pod. It helps with M.I.N.D. deviation on a construct.
Second was Liv's. Her room was filled with shelves that held various kinds of books, serums, first aid kits, and plushies. It also had a gun mount for her Levi-Guns, a single-person bed, and an identical pod. Her room really personified her role as support and healer for the squad and on missions while also providing extra firepower for the team if needed.
And finally, it was Lucia's, her room doesn't have that many things inside, it had a sword rack for her katana, a wooden sword, a practice dummy, a circular table with a stack of report papers on it, three chairs, a single-person bed, and then a similar pod.
Overall, their dorms complemented them as a whole, but Ren noticed a couple of things about their rooms, it was cramped, bland, or just empty and lacking. He took a mental note to suggest that they want to extend their room and have their own office instead of Lucia's.
After the tour around the dorm, they were all grouped up at Lucia's dorm since it was her dorm that had a table and chairs. Liv offered her chair to Ren, and she chose to sit on Lucia's bed.
They just sat there in awkward silence, they couldn't explain what they were currently feeling. It was a mixture of emotions and unrelated thoughts, with a foreign emotion they hadn't felt for a while, nervousness.
Ren was staring at them while they also stared back at him. The atmosphere was silent and tense. Ren was unprepared for this since he usually waits for someone to talk to him first, while the Gray Raven constructs don't know how to start their first conversation with Ren.
As if a saving grace had descended on the three to save them from the suffering of awkwardness, Liv spoke first.
"Um, Co-Commandant, is it okay to ask you a couple of questions? I-It's okay if you don't want t-to answer them." Liv talked nervously, while Lee and Lucia stared at her silently, praising her and thanking her.
"Hmm? What is it?" Ren straightened himself to be ready and answer any questions she would ask.
"I-If it's okay… Why did Sir Nikola say that you are being punished?" Liv timidly asked, which Lucia and Lee thought about slapping their faces for not thinking of asking that in the first place.
Ren blinked a couple of times and stifled a laugh behind his mask. "Oh, that, heh. Nikola just said that, so I would stop doing any ridiculous stuff, like what happened with my last assignment. I fought recklessly on the frontline of the city's borders against the order of the general."
"Huh? You fought at the borders!?" Lucia asked in surprise, and Lee raised an eyebrow. The borders they were talking about were the defense line that had multiple corrupted called a horde, because of the countless corrupted, not many would willingly go there, much less survive and return home.
"Mhm, and still would, if I weren't forcefully promoted to a commandant." Ren said with a sigh, Lucia's left eye just twitched at Ren's downplaying the rank of commandant.
'What's wrong with being a commandant? A lot would beg for your position, you know!' Lucia ranted in her thoughts before shaking it off and asking another question.
"Aren't there any constructs provided to you to stand guard at the borders? So you wouldn't fight on the frontline and risk yourself?" Lucia asked, now interested in Ren.
"No, we weren't provided with a construct to fight with us in our area. Well, at first we did, but they were pulled out and placed on another border line to reinforce their defences. Since the corrupted we fought in our borders were only at the danger rank of E to C, we can fight for ourselves without needing that much help from constructs." Lucia made an 'Oh' sound after Ren explained his past assignment.
"Commandant Ren, if I may, will you answer these two questions of mine?" Lee asked seriously, catching Lucia and Liv off guard.
"Hm? What are your questions Lee?" Ren leaned forward on the table as Lee made eye contact with Ren's mask.
"It's about your last assignment and your relationship with Nikola. You've mentioned that you have fought at the border's frontline, so what happened to your last assignment that you had to be "Forcefully" promoted to the ranks of commandant? And why do you and Nikola seem to be very close?" Lucia and Liv listened intently to Ren while Lee anticipated his movements like slight twitches, eye movements, or body movements that could indicate Ren was lying or bluffing.
Lee's questions are a test for Ren, if he is a trustworthy person or not, and Lucia caught on to it as she repositioned herself and straightened her body, and focused on Ren to add pressure.
Ren was looking down on his clasped hand with a hint of joy and reminiscence, with also some sorrow. Lucia noticed this and became more curious about his answer.
"Well… Heh. About my past assignment and relation with Nikola, I can't really tell much information since it's still confidential and therefore I can't reveal too much unfortunately…" Ren said in a solemn tone, and the Gray Raven squad was disappointed to hear this, though they managed to hide it underneath their passive looks.
"But, I can give a slight hint of what happened on the borders." This caught their attention once more, seeing that they were interested again, he motioned for them to get closer, so they did. Ren leaned close to them while looking side to side, as if looking for somebody eavesdropping on them, fortunately, there was none.
He placed his palm to the side of his mask and talked in a hushed tone that only their heightened senses could hear. "The east borders were unexpectedly overrun by a mass horde of corrupted, I went there to prevent the horde from breaching through the defense line and also saving a special someone of Nikola in the process." Reen stopped and observed the eagerness they all have. Their senses were solely focused on Ren, so they wouldn't miss a single word.
"I saved his daughter…" Ren pulled back and let those words hang in the air as he observed the looks they had, it never failed to amuse him to look at a construct's face breaking in character.
They all had a surprised expression on their face as they took in this revelation. Surprisingly, the first to snap out of it was Lucia, who slammed her hand on the table and stood up fast.
"Y-you mean-! Nikola, THE Nikola had a- a-." Her mouth was shut with a single motion of Ren's finger. Ren nodded, and Lucia slumped back down on her chair in disbelief.
"... Wow." Liv said after processing it, while Lee just leaned back and looked up at the ceiling.
'Today sure is full of surprises, huh.' Lee thought to himself.
Ren sneakered in amusement before a bursting laughter came out of him. Liv looked at him before she too was giggling and laughing along with Ren. Lucia smiled at the shift of atmosphere from tense to a warm and relaxed tone, while Ren and Liv's joyous laughter reverberated in her room.
As they all settled down and enjoy the new change in pace, they dropped the previous topic in understanding to just how confidential the information he had, so instead, they talked about all sort of random topics they thought off and just tried to get to know Ren more, even though they had a slow start with Ren and a hesitant acceptance of him, one thing is for sure though, they are starting to warm up to Ren's presence and being the commandant of the Gray Raven's squad.