Thunder and Lightning [social] [open]

The transition between a proper coastal spring day and the dark storm that quickly came on the winds took no more than half an hour, but that didn't stop Orin from enjoying it. As everyone moved more quickly in order to stay dry and stay indoors, the eladrin with her light blonde hair and her emerald eyes did the opposite, stopping in the middle of the road. With her shield strapped on her arm and her axe at her side, she would feel one drop. Two. Four. Then, a down-pour that she had never experienced. It was thick and heavy, the drains on the side of the road filling up and fast enough. After everything she had been through, all of the trials she had fought, the memories she had reclaimed, and so much more, it was about time that her wish for a proper storm had finally happened.

Like a lot of situations in her life, she stood her ground against the rain, and when it had thoroughly soaked through the leathers and her hair did she move, but first, she took her shoes off. Her toes dug into the cobbled brick of the road, and it was the closest she had come to being back in Golarian, though the prices of what she had done still hung heavily on her. There was no energy within her, nothing to aide or heighten her physical attributes, no magics to warm her, no Matron or Patron to channel- nothing but herself. It left her with a thought, though: now that she was free, where did she go from here? Could she live without a purpose? A drive? Her master, a goliath known as Grunt, told her (through writing) that she would find a new purpose soon.

But for now? Orin would walk, strapping the shield to her back, the large metallic circle held in place by a strap, and enjoy the rain and everything brought with it, including the lightning and the thunder. She would smile, stopping to appreciate the spiderweb of light dance across the sky out to the west across the open waters. She would count from the lightning to the thunder, just as her mother had taught her so long ago, and then-

-she would feel something latch to her. The blonde elvish woman would look down, hair clung to the sides of her face, her eyes of green locking on to a small, red-haired goblin with yellow eyes that pressed quickly into Orin's side. While a goblin latching onto a person may have been a concern for some people, for Orin? She would simply stand there for a moment, watching the girl. She was... sobbing? Scared, maybe? She had heard a shriek, she thought, but didn't think anything of it other than kids having fun in the water nearby.

"Are you okay?" Orin would ask, slowly kneeling down to rest on the knee that wasn't currently held in place.

Thunder rolled overhead, and Orin would look up as the goblin pulled closer to her. It was deafening, in a way, but it was so much more. It was primal, it was raw and powerful. She had been taught to respect it as a child, feared it as a teenager on the seas, challenged it as an adult, channeled it as a warrior and now sat at a level of mutual respect- something that she understood innately, even if she couldn't access the power any longer.

The eladrin would turn back down to the goblin girl clung to her leg. She'd curl her lips, something that had been busted open and healing for the last week, leaving a glossy pale cut on the right side. Running a comb of fingers through her hair, feeling the water move, almost like squeezing a sponge out, only for it to fill up with more water.

"The thunder?" Orin would ask to make sure, though it wasn't like it could have been anything else. "I guess... it can be scary, can't it?" Her eyes would twinkle, despite the rain and the gloom of the storm. "I was scared, as a child," the eladrin would add, "but my mom would always tell me that it was alright to be scared in the face of something so powerful. It is only natural." She would think back, for a moment- such a long time ago. Hundreds of years, at least, but she still clung to the memories of her childhood, renewed thanks to her ability to relive the past through her trances. She would remember what helped her, at least. Maybe it would work here, too?

"I'm Orin," she'd introduce herself. The goblin was already attached to her (literally) so she didn't think that a handshake or anything would be needed. But, she'd continue on. "Are you... hungry?" It was the thing that worked for her- her stomach. At least until she had grown up. "We could get a snack and wait out the storm. Maybe warm you up a little bit?"

"It's nice to meet you, Enchee," Orin would repeat in a way similar to the goblin. It helped her remember. The eladrin would smile as the girl took her hand, and she took the opportunity to stand up slowly. With her free hand, she would move to the side, grabbing her shield from her back, before setting it on the ground at her side, then un-clipping it before finally lifting it into her grip. She'd use it as an umbrella, the massive circle blocking some of the rain, at least. The eladrin would look around the area before moving down the street slowly with the goblin in tow.

While she was looking around, Orin would note a couple of taverns around them, but only see one that had a plume of smoke rising from it's chimneys, so that was the building that she started to head toward with Enchee hand in hand. Quietly, slowly, with her left arm stretched with the shield to block the rain from the goblin, the eladrin would lead the way.

They would move into the open double doors of a tavern- a bit of a mismatch of people waiting out the storm mixed with the afternoon tavern goers along with some of the barmaids and barhands, mostly humans and dwarves with the occasional off-race; a halfling here at a table, a half-orc waiting by the door. A large, red-coated cat hung lazily next to a fire in the mantle that churned against the rain that managed to come down the chimney, a magical potency keeping it alive in otherwise damp conditions. Orin wouldn't ask, but instead make her way toward the heat of the fire.

"Better?" she'd ask after a moment of silence near the heat before looking down a dwarf that had looked in their direction a little too sternly. Another rumble shook from the skies and seas outside.

Orin would still be looking down the dwarf across the way as Enchee answered her, interrupted by the thunder that shook through the area. Like a cat with eyes glowing in a small amount of light, the eladrin would stare at the dwarf, who would stare back at her, turning from the goblin when the realization came that something else was looking at him. There was an intensity there, as the dwarf narrowed his eyes at the elf, but the intensity was returned, and Orin wasn't going to look away first. In a subtle showing of dominance, the staring contest continued for another half-minute, both judging the other quietly before the dwarf muttered something indiscernible under his breath, pushed out his chair and walked up closer to the bar itself. The eladrin would watch him the entire time before relaxing slightly, turning back toward Enchee with a small smile across now-friendlier features.

"So, if I may ask," Orin would start, "what were you doing by yourself out in the storm?" she would ask, leaning forward in her chair slightly as the cat lazily stretched, it's legs going in two directions before it curled back up, shuffled to it's other side, and plopped back down to become a feline puddle in front of the fire.

As Enchee declared that she was playing in the rain, Orin would smile, listening to the goblin describe how fun it was to splash through puddles. She wasn't wrong, though Orin knew that a person would have to move extremely fast to not get wet while splashing through puddles in a rain storm. It was still nice, though, hearing how enthusiastic the goblin was talking, the smile she brandished.

"Well," the eladrin would lean forward. Fingers would comb her hair back from her face, the blonde strands clinging about like wet noodles of various sizes. "Not as much anymore. As a kid, though? All the time. It was one of my favorite things to do- just go dancing in the rain." Orin would calmly explain while thinking back on the happier days, when she was more worried about wanting to stay outside past sundown and didn't understand everything else, like her mother protecting her.

"But, recently, I think I could give splashing another shot," Orin would nod lightly. "I find myself with-" how to phrase it? "-A lot of free time, lately." Not having a Warlock Matron would do that, really. "If you wanted to try, we could try splashing together?" she'd ask the goblin girl with the bright smile. "Maybe the thunder wouldn't be as bad with two people, if you wanted to try."

The eladrin would watch as the goblin girl would take a moment with a hand on her head and a hand on her heart. Orin didn't think anything of it, not knowing what she was doing. Maybe it helped calm her? Maybe it was some kind of decision making process she went through when she was stressed? Either way, though-

"We can certainly try," Orin would nod wisely. The eladrin stood up slowly, still smiling. "Come on." She would make her way toward the door once more, working her way back through the tavern they had entered, past the grumpy dwarf and lazy cat, but she would stop at the entrance, simply looking out at the rain, waiting for Enchee. Orin would move, making sure her boots were still hanging on her belt on one side. Her toes dug into the doorway as she adjusted her shield on the other side.

"Are you ready?" the eladrin would ask, looking down to Enchee, assuming that the young girl had followed and not stayed behind with the cat.