Cobalt likes Shrike a lot, and has pretty much from the first time they spoke. Even though they're still relatively new friends, he feels like Shrike probably understands where he's coming from a lot more than other people do. He feels a lot of solidarity with her, which is really important to him.

Cobalt has only mentioned to a few people that he's worried his home was worse than Imeeji, but Shrike has been the only person who seems to actually relate to that. She also seems to understand that feeling of "I am a soldier but I don't get any joy from it, and will avoid it if I can." Both of these are things he kind of feels weird talking about with other people, but with Shrike it feels like he can finally relax about it, because she's right there with him. It's such a relief.

Not only do they have a ton of stuff in common, Cobalt finds Shrike to be easy to be around and interesting to talk to. He'd really like to get to know her more and just... hang out sometimes. He likes her a ton.