Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
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Post by Arioch on Mar 26, 2019 18:32:20 GMT
He was glad Thea had managed to master her fear of storms. The things that for one person seemed but a pebble in their way could be huge boulders for someone else, he imagined it mustn't have been easy for her. He smirked a bit a the mention of the storm orbs. How could Arioch forget them? They had been quite remarkable to behold, and even touch. He could have entertained himself with it for hours.
"... Really?"
He asked, a little bit amazed at the thought. It was one thing to overcome a certain fear but another one entirely to master it.
"So you put that storm inside of the orbs?"
He then questioned and the smile grew a bit wider, he chuckled a bit. That was incredibly, it was the best way to be rid of fear and she had not only conquered the storm but made it into a mockery, something other people could enjoy. For a brief moment his caresses stopped when she looked at him and asked the last question.
"Vell" He began to say, and certainly Thea would be able to predict by the look in his eyes that this would be another of those times when he wore his heart on a sleeve and spoke about his passions or observations openly.
"Think about vhen ve first met, at the alley. At first I thought you vere completely helpless... But you really veren't. I saw you shock one of them. Later, I saw you blow up a barrel with a lightning bolt. You're just here and you can fly vhenever you feel like it. The fact is if you vanted those men dead then you could have smitted the flesh of their bones in the blink of an eye but you didn't. The truth is... There is no hesitation, I think. Either you do something or you don't. Most of the times you've already decided vhat you vant to do, and are just vaiting to either magically find something that makes you feel so contrary to that idea so that it turns you around, or you are beating around the bush trying to find excuses to justify to yourself vhy you von't do it. So the only conclusion I can derive from it is that you either vere or vere not going to cast a lightning bolt at those men. But I think you veren't. So even though you could have, you chose not to. And I didn't know if this stemmed from doubt or conviction, and although I think it might be a little bit of both, there is a... shyness to you that I like. So you have the possibility to be dangerous, but I'm not sure if you have it in you to be. I don't know if I'm making myself clear."
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Post by moralhazard on Mar 26, 2019 18:46:27 GMT
Thea nodded. “I had to,” she said, simply. It was true in a crafting sense – nothing else had been strong enough to summon up a storm – and it was true in a personal sense. How could she have hoped to conquer any storm if she still feared the one that had shaped her? And so she’d coaxed it forth from her darkest nightmares and breathed it into the orb, and watched as it shot its lightning against the glass, and the fear melted away – not immediately, not all in that moment, but soon enough.
For a moment Thea felt a faint pang of fear; she had thought they’d banished it for the night, but she couldn’t quite help herself, oddly afraid of what Arioch might say to her. About her.
So she seemed helpless, but Arioch had known she could cast magic, so she clearly wasn’t helpless. Thea smiled a little at some of his ideas – fly whenever she felt like it! Thea wished. Arioch thought she wouldn’t have blasted those men – which was true, Thea thought she probably would have pushed them away and run, once she’d gotten the first one to let her go. She suffered from doubt but also had convictions, and she was shy, so she was… potentially dangerous but – what, not strong enough to use it?
“Not very,” Thea said, a little dryly. She smiled at Arioch. “So, let me see – I look helpless, I’m shy and I doubt myself but at least I have convictions – convictions that you probably think are useless?” She was grinning a little more. Somewhat to her surprise, she wasn’t at all offended, and that little taste of fear had thoroughly melted away. Thea giggled. “I could be dangerous but – what, I don’t bother?"
“Why are you attracted to me, exactly?” Thea’s hand had moved back up to Arioch’s stomach, and she traced one set of scars on his side. “I sound terrible!”
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Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
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Post by Arioch on Mar 26, 2019 19:28:00 GMT
When he first heard her reply, it was only then he became aware of how it was all sounding; not at all like had pictured it in his mind. Thus, he was quite a bit horrified at the result, and for the first time, flustered as well. Those kind of blunders were his weakness, and now he felt like he had just gone and done it in the worst possible way, with the person he'd least want it happening with. He almost immediately regretted speaking so much, yet, he couldn't go back, only forward. And there was no shame in honesty, he told himself even though he could feel the embarassment of the moment poking at him.
"It's because I think..."
This time he took a few seconds to think before speaking, to put it into proper words
"I think, you only just now are starting reach out to it, or at least... It's vhat it looks like to me. You can do amazing things but you seem to hesitate at every turn. It's not my place to try and shape you into someone vho vould kill the first thief that comes around vith a lightning bolt, or into someone that vouldn't do anything. That's your choice alone, the kind of person you'd vant to be. I think that's vhy I can't really know for certain. Because you're not sure yourself.
Arioch said
"I'm enjoying myself vith you and as you are now. I don't like the person you might become, or the person you could have been. I'm starting to know your depths, and it's this Thea I'm liking. I don't really vant you to be anything other than vhat you vant. That I should like someone only for their capacity to inflict their force upon another is... vell. Untrue."
He ended up saying, putting all of his thought processing power into his words to try and formulate something that was both serviceable to what he wanted to say, and also, not a blunder of tactless magnitude. While he had a different kind of respect for people who were strong and had a clear growth through adversity, or self choice, that was not to say that he disrespected anything else, or that it was the quality he was looking for in a woman.
"I don't think convictions are useless. I only think self deceit is useless."
Added then, before the last question she placed on him. By that point he felt he had said what was on his mind, and without that burden on his conscience he was lighter; both in spirit and in thought. He smirked, shamelessly as she trailed one of his scars.
"Vell"
He said
"You're shy, hardworking, dedicated, caring, fun to be around of, and game most of the time. You're also temperate, considerate, supportive, good with children, if a little permissive."
He locked into her eyes with his gaze, cutting the list short
"Also you have a great ass."
Said then
"I mean it's mostly about the ass with you, nevermind the other things, it's just hgnnmph" He bit his lip briefly looking upwards in barely contained pleasure "So good"
His tone one of clear mockery and over-acting, even though he did genuinely think she had a good rear.
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Post by moralhazard on Mar 26, 2019 19:48:55 GMT
Thea pulled off Arioch a little, propping herself up with one arm, watching with no small pleasure as he did his best to dig himself out of the hole he’d ended up in. She swore she could see a faint gleam of panic in his eyes even with just the moonlight.
Thea still wasn’t sure it was the most flattering description; she didn’t really like to think of herself as blundering about trying to decide whether to blast people with lightning bolts or not. On the other hand – it did strike a chord with her. Thea wasn’t sure who she wanted to be; for a long time, she thought, she had tried to be someone else, and – Arioch wasn’t wrong that she had been discovering herself more and more these last few months, discovering and finally realizing the full potential of her magic.
Something eased a little in her chest at Arioch’s direct statement that he liked her for who she was, not her potential or who she might have been. It wasn’t something she really needed reassurance for, except that – well – she did. She hadn’t known it until he said it, but she did, and – right or wrong – she trusted Arioch to wear his thoughts on his sleeve.
And finally – finally – Thea collapsed into laughter, sprawling across his chest. “Oh, well, in that case!” Thea promptly dissolved back into giggles, her body shaking lightly against him.
It was striking how light she felt, Thea thought. She wasn’t sure what it was that had been weighing her down so heavily, only that – at least for tonight – she felt utterly free, and it made her realize just how heavy those things had been. Dom? Fear of – intimacy? Her own past? The giggles stopped, slowly, but left her smiling, still more or less draped on top of him.
“You,” Thea said decisively, turning her head to look up at his face, “are not very nice.” She met Arioch’s gaze with hers, smiling still. “You’re direct, strong, curious, oddly childlike about magic, rough, devastatingly honest, very funny, and absolutely insatiable.” Thea giggled. “I like you very much, Ari.” She shifted a little, peeling herself off him and leaning down to press her lips to his.
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Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
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Post by Arioch on Mar 26, 2019 20:19:10 GMT
Arioch was used to wear his own body like armor and treat it like such. To be ready to face oncoming threads and withstand them, to be fast. He was used to face insults and to dish them out in turn, to provoke and be provoked, to listen to flaunts and then lash out in anger, to receive blows and then deliver them. He was fairly confident in his abilities, and he had a good grasp of his own strength and resistance. That was the source of part of his self-confidence. His senses were sharp, his battle instincts, proven. There weren't many things that could sneak past him, no pain that would take him out unless he allowed it to.
So it was a surprise to him, when he heard her say that she liked him very much and he felt like something inside of him had melted a little bit without even so much as a warning. Like those words given flesh had just straight out walked through those defenses faster than he could react to them. He suddenly started to feel warmer. By the time she shifted, and she kissed him, he could feel that sensation begin to burn up harder, his heart catching up to it if only a little bit too late; he felt the warmth in his chest, in his face, behind his ears. He responded to the kiss in the same fashion, delivering his own passion into it, just as that warmth turned into the strangest internal shiver ever.
Some kind of happiness about that that could not be resisted, slowly overwhelming his body. Then he realised just how invested he had been about the outcome of the conversation and he was almost a bit resentful towards that. Why had he cared so much? It was just a little conversation, it wasn't anything that mattered really. And yet.
He looked at her eyes, with that almost accusatory look in his expression, opened his lips to say something, the shadow of a smirk on his lips. And then the gesture slowed down, his stare remained. He leaned forward reaching out for her lips with his, looking to feel their warmth again. What started like something chaste, turned into daring, and what was daring turned into a physical expression that was anything if not being demanded by the current sensations. He drew her towards him, drew himself into her, their tongues melting into one another, and their bodies once again intertwinned. He let that feeling take over instead of fighting it; it just felt right.
It was a strange thing to experience; something that he found was so overwhelmingly cute that he was fierce in his response to it.
He briefly wondered if it wasn't really a spell, to fire him up like that.
He really didn't care if it was.
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