Bubbles in the glass — [Thea]

While he was a little bit disappointed that it wasn't forever, hours was still a pretty long time. Longer than any battle, for sure. Unless it was a siege, but if it was a siege he was sure whoever was using the armor would have more pressing concerns to worry about. His reply was delayed for a few seconds, because in that instant he remembered something he had forgotten that week when he had been concerned with not getting a blade through the gut. The fact that Thea could be rather kind of cute sometimes. The thought, or rather, feeling passed quickly through his mind as he watched her bite her lip and just as it was done the rest of the information hit his mind all at once.

"What"

He said almost incredulous, that he had not been expecting. He was rather upbeat about the whole issue, even his question was rather rethorical. He heard perfectly, but his first response came out automatically before he could think what he was saying. It was really good. Casting such an armor on him? He definitely wanted that.

"What, yes!"

He said with a contagious short laugh, filled to the brim with that joyous feeling. What kind of question was that, if he wanted to have such a thing on him? Of course he wanted to! And just as eagerly he began to undress right then and there starting to doff his armor after quickly scouting his surroundings to find the best place to drop it. No hesitation, no shame; he was sure he wanted it so he went for it.

He spared no thought for Pip however. If Thea had asked him to strip as well in order to place the armor or told him she would engrave a rune in his body, he would have done it.

There was a strange easiness to his undressing; a comfortable one. The kind one would have with a close relationship, that particular relaxed nonchalance and confidence. Only in this case it was also accompanied by his asking.

"Can you do it on armor? Like... On metal? Like the storm of orbs- I mean the orb of storms"

Arioch didn't mind Pip's help at all, it was welcome in fact. Thought this was only after he realised the wasn't going to break anything; it was a natural reaction to a prized posession. Not like there was any chance of Pip actually breaking it, for if a kid managed to break actual steel plate armor then it wasn't steel plate armor at all. Either that or Pip was a closeted monster about to subjugate the city in a reign of terror, and her just being in Thond's shop was a cover up.

"Vhat?" He asked then when confronted with the fact that it wasn't possible to infuse a metal plate armor with that kind of lightning "Vhy not?" And there it was the curiosity showing through. Arioch had already accepted that magic had some vague guidelines and limitations but he wasn't yet quite sold on the idea that something that should have been simpler, to his uneducated mind, than blowing a storm inside of an orb, was off limits to magic users. Another idea quickly crossed his mind when he thought about it.

"But vhat about magic armor? I've heard about enchanted armors. How do they make those then?"

After a few clanks and clongs Arioch had finished stripping down to his underclothes with the help of his makeshift squire, Pip. These were also now of a different fabric than the raggedy furs with mix-matched leather that he had been wearing when they first met. It was a padded leathery thing, black in color with few golden lines sown in as decoration, fitting his body so tight that it was an obvious conclusion it had been hand-tailored just for him. It was extremely comfortable to wear, warm enough to not freeze to death but it wouldn't make up for lack of proper insulation. The general lines across his abdomen, the shape of his chest as well as his broad shoulders were highlighted with the tight fit, as were his legs and glutes. As well other anatomically correct bits.

He did not take the mask off, however.

When Thea asked if he was ready he nodded with masked enthusiasm and steeled himself. His chest moving up and down slowly as he watched her approach, heart racing slightly faster as her hand approached his. What would magic feel like? The question raced through his head. And just as he was wondering this, he first got the answer of what would Thea's hand against his' would feel. That odd mixture between softness and callused labor. And just like that in a heartbeat lightning started to course outwardly from him, encasing him in similar armor. His smile preceded an exhalation of joyous gratification. A quiet laughter as he rose both hands up and slowly approached them to his own body, testing, trying, seeing if he could feel the same "push" he had felt with Thea. If he could run his hands through or not.

"Vould it... push you avay now?"

He asked finally rising his head up to meet her gaze

The shadow of a smirk found it's way to his lips, following her expression right down to the necklace, to which existance now he paid attention for a couple of seconds. He didn't know much about materials, or how expensive some of the things were, but there was a universal quality to the things people wore that was shared by all no matter where they were from.

"Hah! I knew it"

Said triumphantly, but almost in a lower tone. He hadn't forgotten about his suggestion to use lightning to actually forge things, or make glass. Crude as it were, she made it sound like a possibility. His mind was filled, for a moment, with an image of a lightning bolt striking sand and glass being formed as a consequence. What a strange thing, he concluded, that glass could be formed like that naturally.

He appreciated how forthcoming she was with his questions, no matter how silly they could be to her, surely, a knowledgeable sorcerer. She hadn't lied to him, didn't belittle him for his lack of knowledge, and her answers were not cryptical at all to follow. It did not go unnoticed to Arioch, even if he didn't tell her that outright. He felt at ease with her and her magic, which was saying something, considering just how mistrustful and in awe he was of magic in general.

A mischievous, sharp grin grew on his face. He looked at the young half-elf whose name he had heard twice already.

"Alright Pip, you might vant to stand back because I-"

And then he simply moved forward towards Thea, his arms darted forward seeking to sorround her and hug her, lifting her up from the ground with ease. He wondered what would it feel like, that sensation of push-pull combined from both lightning armors. Weird, for sure.

"I've just veaponized Thea and I'm not afraid to shoot her!"

He said trying his best not to laugh, and failing miserably at it, taking notice of how the effect from the lightning armor was now against his body, slightly pressing, pushing, but on a much bigger scale which ended up feeling funny all over.

"This feels so veird!"

He said barely managing to put the sentence together while laughing. His eyes searched for Thea's, complicit, for a moment. And then made his best shot at an interpretation.

"Oh no, Pip, she's- she's getting out of control, the spell-"

And instead just shook her manually with his hands, pretending like she was vibrating or something from the combined energies of the spell and he was having trouble keeping here where she was.

"I can't hold it out much longer, you're gonna have to catch her... Or she might fly through the roof!"

His best interpretation of a worried Arioch. Internally, it was quite the opposite he was having a blast and seemed rather uninhibited, oddly upbeat. There was a similarily odd reason for that as well, and it was quite simple at it's core. He had already accepted the fact that he was possibly going to die; either yesterday, which did not happen, or in a couple weeks while fighting in the tournament which was more likely. And after getting through with that all that remained was a strange kind of courage, and a lack of shame. It was the answer to the question, "if you knew you were going to die in X time, what would you do?". Simply act that way. He was not however, worried or sad about it; it was out of his own choosing, how he would met his fate. Tempus would know.

Save!

t6yRtR5i1d20+5 1d20+5

The wind swirled against Arioch’s chest, pushing – lightly, almost playfully – and he moved not an inch, although his hair fluttered and his mask as well, as if in a breeze. And if Thea had not already been sure, from the rock hard grip of his arms around her? Arioch’s muscles were definitely not for show.

Thea let out a little shriek as Arioch continued, and then a louder one, her hands grabbing onto his arms for a minute, tightly, as if she really thought he was going to throw her, although the giggles mixed in amongst the shrieks put to rest any thought of real panic – this time.

“It’s okay! I’ll catch her!” Pip took a more aggressive stance now, bending her knees and spreading her arms out wide, although she was laughing so hard it was harm for her to keep it.

And then Arioch gently let go of her; Thea let go of his arms in the same motion, taking a half-step back, then another, until a giggling Pip’s hands braced her back.

“… Got you!” Pip crowed, triumphantly.

Thea wasn’t sure if it was that which set Arioch off, but he burst into even louder laughter, shaking even more violently than he’d tossed Thea earlier. Thea giggled a little, patting her eyes against her shoulder. Pip was smiling up at her, cheerfully, and Thea smiled back down at her, exhaling and letting the lightning armor dissipate.

The gust spell had felt a little – different than usual. Thea wasn’t quite sure how to describe it. The lightning spell she’d almost cast had been familiar; Thea had spent years dealing with spells that welled up with surges of emotion. It had been a long time since she’d come so close to casting unintentionally, even out of fear. She was thoroughly glad she’d managed to suppress it, and hoped Arioch didn’t realize how close he had come to being zapped.

Pip was still giggling, sort of leaning into Thea’s side – much easier now that the armor was gone. Without thinking, Thea wrapped an arm around her, giving her a soft squeeze.

“… Everything all right in here?” Dharkand asked, standing at the doorway.

Pip squeaked, pulling away from Thea and adjusting her wrinkled uniform. “Um – yes, Dharkand! Everything is fine.”

“Just fine,” Thea said, cheerfully, eyeing the still laughing Arioch. “Thank you for checking, Dharkand.”

“… All right then.” Dharkand looked, well, suspicious, but he shut the door and disappeared back into the workshop.

Thea couldn’t quite help a last giggle herself, her voice chiming with Pip’s. She knew she should discourage Arioch; she should tell him it was inappropriate to grab her like that, that he had scared her and she could very well have hurt him, but – she didn’t. If he died in the arena, the next time he was there, how would she feel about having scolded him? Besides, he had seen her cast; even if he didn’t think of it, some part of him must have known the risk.

“It did feel tingly!” Pip said, excitedly. “I felt it, when I caught you.” She dissolved into giggles again.

Thea looked at Arioch again when he spoke, smiling again. With how he’d responded, and the questions that he’d had? His confession wasn’t much of a surprise at all.

“Thank you,” Thea said, softly. She wasn’t sure she agreed. She hadn’t chosen magic; it had chosen her, a gift from the storm that only she had survived. Thea had wished, for many years, that she could undo the trade – give up her magic and get back her mother, the shipmates she’d sailed with for two years. By now, eight years after the shipwreck, she had made peace with the fact that she couldn’t.

But that didn’t mean she had to like it.

And, that didn’t mean there was any point in burdening Arioch with her own problems. This had been a happy experience for him and Thea was glad of it. To survive here in Waterdeep, he would need to become very familiar with magic – and rather quickly, Thea suspected. Was magic allowed in the arena? Her stomach ached a little at the thought of Arioch facing against a flaming magic sword with nothing but his half-plate armor, no matter how shiny it was. Then again, Dom had never –

Well.

“The lightning will dissipate on its own,” Thea smiled. “It does look nice, but I should tell you – the half-plate would probably do a better job of protecting you. If I ever find a way to cast it over metal armor though, or to make lightning glass armor, I – I’ll let you know,” she grinned a little more widely. Thea couldn’t imagine experimenting enough to figure something like that out, but one never knew what would happen. And, anyway, it was nice to be thought highly of; Thea thought she could get used to it.

The look of disappointment on Arioch’s face actually kind of – hurt. Thea hadn’t really expected to be affected by it, but she’d felt like – like she had to be honest with Arioch. She didn’t want him expecting too much of magic. Too often, Thea felt, it let you down.

Thea laughed.

“Nobody else!” Pip chipped in, enthusiastically. “Nobody here has ever seen anything like Thea’s storm orb!” She beamed up at Thea, encouragingly.

Thea laughed again, cheered up once more. “It was just…” she hesitated, torn between pride in her crafting and a reluctance to brag about magic. She grinned. “Yeah, you’re right, it is pretty cool,” she winked at Pip.

The lightning didn’t go away the second the steel touched his body, although he would notice an immediate lessening of the effect. A little bit of the lightning lingered until about half of the armor was on, somewhere around there; at that point, the spell seemed to largely give up, dissipating into nothing.

Pip watched, wide-eyed, and let out a little gasp when the last of the lightning vanished. "That was before I expected!" She said, looking up at Thea, then at Arioch.

Thea just shrugged, having not given it much thought. "It doesn't play well with the armor, I think," she smiled. "I've never worn armor myself, so I haven't really experimented."