(2025-05-17) Cobalt Company Interview: Corvin Trent

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Author:	Alli
Summary:	The officers of Cobalt Company (Ben, Elohad, Paluuva) interview a new applicant -- Corvin Trent! They insist on some forthrightness.
Rating:	T for Teen

Elohad is already settled at CCHQ today, catching up on news and paperwork, well in advance of the interview. He wears his tabard and his usual Cobalt Company Lieutenant outfit.

The ever-punctual Paluuva is seated in her usual chair, hooves crossed. She looks as elegant as ever, the fabric of her diplomatic robes shimmering in the dim light. She spends the time perusing a recent report from the Alliance Diplomatic Corps, sparing an occasional friendly glance and smile to Elohad.

There's a faint knock at the door, and then a human man with blond hair — starting to be a little on the longish side — steps into HQ. He's dressed in simple but tidy and clean work clothes, and he carries with him a faint scent of greenery and gunpowder.

"I'm in the right place, I hope? Cobalt Company?" Corvin asks.

"You've found us!" Elohad says brightly, setting aside his paperwork and rising from his chair in greeting. "Elohad Ference," he says, reaching out a hand.

"Corvin Trent," the man says, moving smoothly down the staircase and taking Elohad's hand with a crooked smile and a firm handshake. "Glad to meet you."

Elohad gives the hand a firm shake, then retakes his seat, gesturing to the empty chairs.

"Make yourself comfortable," he says. "There are apples on the table there, and some bread and sausage, if you're hungry. Also watered down ale, if you're desperate." He winks.

Ben Hazan comes jogging down the stairs in the blond man's wake, a book tucked under his arm. He crosses the room to the chair beside Elohad's and then turns to appraise the newcomer with a frank and friendly look. "Ben Hazan," he says, and offers a handshake himself.

Corvin's ducks his head nervously, and says, "Thank you, sir, but I already ate." Corvin's accent is almost Stormwind by now, but the northern vowels still bleed through sometimes, giving away his more distant origins.

He turns as Ben bounds down the stairs, and holds out his hand to take it in a firm shake. "Corvin Trent."

Paluuva rises and offers a bow of her head, and a more delicate hand in greeting. "Welcome, Mr. Trent. I am Paluuva. Please, sit with us." She gestures to a chair for him. Sometimes a little direction makes it easier.

Corvin seems relieved, indeed, and moves to take the indicated chair. "If there's anything you've questions about on my application, I'm happy to explain. I'm currently in the employ of the Reeve Fleet — a worgen-owned business — and am looking to make a change."

"What drew you to Cobalt Company in particular?" Elohad asks.

Ben settles in his own chair and leans to set his book beside him on the floor. He sits back and folds his arms to regard Corvin with interest.

"I was on a longer assignment for Reeve," Corvin explains. "Messages, deliveries, dropped in at Darnassus and rendezvous on the east coast. I ended up tangled in the war with the Horde in Ashenvale, and fought alongside your man Sir Atley there."

Corvin takes a breath. "Anyway, the conflict was all over my path. Through Stonetalon, into the Barrens. I kept with the team I was traveling with, helping out where I could. I think one of our number joined up already, a vindicator called Baalun, and I think Vaaria's one of yours. Last thing I saw was to the defense of Northwatch Hold. It's… bad out there. I want to be doing something more than messenger-work, sir."

"You've worked with Baluun?" Elo sits up a little. "I must have missed that in the application. Nice."

"You said you wanted to make a change from your current situation," Paluuva comments, adding, "That can take some courage to do. Change is often difficult. I feel you've already hinted at this, but what made you decide to embark on this path?"

"Yes, sir, he led our group through Stonetalon," Corvin nods at Elohad. Then he turns to Paluuva and says, "Seeing all that out there, and hearing the stories of more…" he pauses, choosing his words. "I don't want to sit by while innocent people suffer, not when I could do something to help. I'm not a vindicator, but I'm good with a gun, fair with a bow, and decent at hand-to-hand."

"Can you tell us a bit more about your background?" Elo asks. "Before the fleet?"

Paluuva smiles as she jots down a note. "Lovely." She nods to Elohad; they are on the same page.

"Ah… that is, I… uh…" Corvin rubs his hands against his pants legs, suddenly considerably less eloquent. "Everything's, uh… a little unclear, you know, from before I was bit. That was up north."

Paluuva's brow lifts curiously. "Oh? I see. Is that…something you would seek help with? Uncovering those details from your past? We have several skilled investigators in our company."

"No, I think it's fine," Corvin says hastily. "I'd really rather focus on the present. The good I can do now."

Ben nods solemnly, his brows drawn with concern. "We got other worgens, too, who maybe might know you or family or whatever? From before? If you want to talk to anyone?"

"Oh, uh, I could talk to other worgen," Corvin shifts in his seat. "But you know, the odds are really low any of my people made it through. What with the Forsaken and everything."

Elo is staring at the young man now.

Corvin stares back, a resolute young man. Or a deer caught in headlights. One of those things. "I do think I've had a really good track record, with the Reeve Fleet and the Alliance in Kalimdor, haven't I?"

Ben nods amiably. "Seems like, yeah. Just offerin', if you want help with all that."

Paluuva glances back and forth between Corvin and Elohad. Finally she inserts, "We do not judge people by their pasts, except perhaps in the most heinous of cases. I think, perhaps, it is only a concern when someone seems to be obfuscating their past. It is the sort of thing that sows the seeds of distrust. I'm sure you can understand how that can be detrimental to the cohesion and morale of an organization such as ours."

Ben raises his hand halfway. "I can promise for sure they ain't judge. We ain't judge."

"I've… not always run with… the right people," Corvin says cautiously, turning to Paluuva. "I didn't do anything heinous. And when I realized, I tried to leave, and that's… that's when I ran into the worgen. I've been trying to do better, since I woke up. Be with the right people, and make the right decisions."

Paluuva nods with a reserved, gentle smile, but looks to Elohad before making any comment herself.

"I think that if you were to listen to the tales of many of our members, you'd see that a lot of them began in very shady places. Scarlet Crusade. Defias, even. But the only people we've ever ended up having trouble with were the ones who wouldn't talk about it."

The stare again. Stern dad.

"We are not here to shame you or expose you," Paluuva adds. "But these are questions we must ask of anyone looking to join our ranks."

"I don't think it'll cause any problems," Corvin says, nodding his head. "No one's after me, especially not after everything that happened in Hillsbrad, rest their souls. So I've probably told you everything needed for the security of the company?"

Paluuva takes a few more notes, then looks up at Corvin. "Given what you have indicated so far, I think it would be to everyone's benefit if you gave us full disclosure. Don't you?"

"I was an orphan, you know, common story," Corvin says quietly, looking somewhere to the left of Paluuva. "In that sense, I didn't really have too much of a choice where I ended up. Which was with patriotic types, to the north of Hillsbrad."

Paluuva frowns sympathetically at the revelation Corvin is an orphan. Way to tug at her heartstrings. However, she keeps silent, looking to Ben and Elohad to comment on the 'patriotic types' north of Hillsbrad.

"I'm going to need you to at least try to trust us," Elohad says gently. "Remember who we are, and what you've heard about us. And speak plainly. Show us your courage, Mr. Trent."

"I was… raised in the Syndicate," Corvin says, in a very quiet voice. "Since I was thirteen."

"And then you got out of 'em?" Ben asks, in a tone that suggests his question is really just gently reiterating the obvious.

"Yeah, just before all the…" Corvin shrugs. "I got bit circling 'round, after I slipped out of a patrol."

"That must have been very difficult for you," Paluuva offers in a sympethetic tone. "What made you decide to leave?"

Elohad appears calm, underlining his assertion that Cobalt Company is a place where any story's beginning is acceptable so long as there's a twist toward the good.

Corvin hesitates. "They killed a civilian. The guys whose orders I was supposed to follow. They didn't have to. It would've been better if they didn't. That's when I started planning to get out."

Elohad studies the young man, his olive-green eyes going soft.

"It sounds to me like your moral compass is pointed the right direction," he says, "and that's the thing. If you have that inside you, fate can drop you in the darkest possible place, and you'll always find your way out. If I'm being honest, I admire that more than I admire someone like me, who started with good parents and every advantage. It was a long time before my morals were even tested. You - you never have to wonder about yourself. You know."

"Thank you, sir," Corvin says, looking back at him. "I do mean to have it pointed so."

Elohad looks to the others. "I think we'd hardly be Cobalt Company if we didn't at least reward this young man for his courage in giving him a chance, hm?"

Ben gives Elohad a wry look. "You know what I think on it, sir."

Elohad smiles and looks to Paluuva, who has pretty much already been playing good cop this whole time, but Elo's question and Significant Glances just seem to be part of the Performance of it all.

Paluuva gives Elohad a knowing smile, then nods to Corvin. "I think we are all of like mind in this. Many here have been given second chances and shown their true virtue under the Cobalt banner. We would like to offer you that same opportunity, Mr. Trent."

Elohad turns to smile at him too. Gosh, such smiles. If Oranna were here she might have to make another mark in the "Cult?" column. But it seems to be a friendly cult, at least. Not the doomy kind.

Ben does not, to be honest, exactly look like Cultist of the Year. But then again, maybe that's how they get you.

"Welcome to Cobalt Company, Mr. Trent," says Elohad. Because of course, it's not official until he says it. Sonorously. So the people in the back row could hear, if there was a back row.

Corvin lets out a breath. "Thank you, sir. Thank you, everyone. You won't regret it."

Ben flashes him a smile.

Corvin smiles back.