• Graded • Hold This Thread As I Walk Away

[Darius Baer]

Arc 721, 65th of Ashan

"Where is it?!"

Darius' voice was becoming ever more frustrated with every passing bit. The bearded blond, member of Isonomia and Principales of the FireForged, and captain of the Libertalia, was unceremoniously lying beneath his bed, trying to ignore the dust that had settled there. He was half-clothed, wearing only a pair of leggings and a solitary sock - its partner was eluding him, and he had been searching for it for almost half a break.

"It has to be here somewhere," he growled, eventually moving in something that resembled a reverse commando crawl to get out from under the bed.

He clambered back up onto his feet, lamenting that one foot felt the cool of his wooden floor and the other did not - although as a FireForged, it did not affect him beyond a mild annoyance. His greater frustration was the absence of his sock. He could have sworn that he'd washed it and hung it out to dry with all of his other clothes, and yet it was nowhere to be seen.

He had other socks, of course, but this unanticipated mystery bothered him, and he couldn't help but wonder if there were other clothes that he might have lost.

He brushed his torso down and ran his hands through his beard, causing a shower of dust to float away from his body. He immediately began to cough on the dust. When he tried to catch his breath, he breathed in more dust, which only caused him to splutter more.

With his eyes watering, and still wearing only leggings and one sock, Darius quickly descended the stairs from his bedroom in search of his waterskin.

[Elisabeth Black]

“Where is it?”

Crawling around on the floor in the bedroom, long dark curls haphazardly cascading across her face, the raven-haired young woman was searching for an errant shirt. Elisabeth knew she had been wearing it the trial before. To be fair, sometimes clothing did go missing for a bit…. but…no. Well, maybe? No. Possibly? Checking under the bed, she began to get frustrated. It was getting late and she was due to meet up with Darius for breakfast.

Where the Beneath was it?!?

Beginning to rise, she managed to hit her head on the underside of the bed. Growling just a bit, she managed to get to her feet. Next place to look – the bed covers. She wasn’t sure why it would be there but then again, things happened sometimes? After a few minutes of going through the blankets, she determined that it was, in fact, not there.

Ugh. Her favorite shirt.

Finally coming to the conclusion that she would just have to search for it at a later point, she quickly got dressed - complete with a different shirt.

Reaching for where she kept her gloves, her slender hand hit the bare table. Head whipping around, she found that her gloves…were not there.

WHAT THE BENEATH….

Heading out into the slightly chilly, drizzly streets, highly agitated, Elisabeth quickly navigated her way, taking a quick look at the directions Darius had given her previously. And her hands were cold. Perfect.

The young mage was fond of the blond man. Having befriended him in Viden, without realizing his ties to Yeva and Balthazar, Elisabeth had quickly warmed up to his charming ways. He was authentic and that was a rarity in her opinion. The more time she spent with him, the more confident she felt in her view that he was indeed a very good man…and friend.

Arriving at the address, she quickly shoved the parchment in her pocket, knocking heavily on the door. Rubbing her hands together in the meantime to keep them warm, her mood considerably improved at the thought of spending a bit of time with her friend.

[Darius Baer]

Darius had definitely intended to descend the stairs quickly, but not quite that quickly. With each of his feet providing inconsisent grip, he slipped, his calced foot swinging in front of him, and landed on the wooden steps with a solid thump. He groaned as he sat up, arching his back to stretch the area that had borne the brunt of the impact. It would most likely bruise, he realised.

"Now I know how Elisabeth felt," he grumbled to himself, before his eyes shot wide open in realisation. "Elisabeth!"

The beauteous brunette was supposed to be joining him for breakfast, but he had lost track of time trying to find his missing article of clothing. Grabbing hold of the handrail, he hauled himself up onto his feet just in time to hear a knock on the door. He urgently - but cautiously - made his way down the few remaining steps and grabbed for his waterflask from his dining table as he passed it by. He took a swig, hoping it would be enough to clear his throat of the invasive dust, then stepped towards the door. His walk had a slight limp that he hoped he would be able to walk off, but it was as he caught sight of his reflection that he felt a sense of panic beginning to set in.

He was still topless!

One of the benefits of being a FireForged was that the cold didn't bother him, but he was quickly discovering that wearing clothes wasn't simply to keep warm - it was a simple act of decency!

For the next several trills, Darius switched directions, taking a step towards the door and then another towards the staircase. He didn't want to answer the door without being fully clothed, but he didn't want to leave his friend waiting, either. The more he switched back and forth, the more urgent his movements became, until eventually the fear of a second knock sent him towards the door for the final time.

Opening the door, he half hid himself behind it, peeking around with just his head, seeing Elisabeth waiting patiently outside.

"Welcome!" he smiled, cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. "I hope the hill climb wasn't too tiring!"

He recalled Yeva struggling with the incline, but in the redhead's defense, she had been carrying a lot of groceries...

"Sorry, I got a bit waylaid," he admitted. "I can't find my sock."

He snorted when he heard himself, realising how silly that sounded, and he pulled the door open wider.

"Come in, out of the cold," he added, retreating behind the door's wooden frame as at swung further open, only to suddenly realise that he had trapped his topless self, and that his hiding spot would disappear as soon as the door was closed.

[Elisabeth Black]

She waited. And waited. And waited a bit more. There was movement inside – that was for sure. As her hand rose to knock again, she was greeted by the…head…of her friend. Darius, red-cheeked, was standing behind the door for rather obvious reasons. Her frustrations from earlier melted away at the sight of the man attempting to be modest. To be fair, it was rather adorable and only made her that much fonder of him.

Arching her eyebrow gently, she gave him a mischievous smile. “Well, hello there. The hill? Heavens no. I’ve run training courses harder than that.”

His comment about the sock stuck in her mind but she excused it for the moment, being much too amused with the situation going on behind the door as he invited her in. His predicament was glaringly obvious and as soon as he closed the door, things would get interesting. Giving a soft laugh, she turned her back to him and began to explain. “If I were a mischief-maker, I would make you close that door and give you a hug – shirt or no – but I’m not so I shan’t. Get dressed. I’ll stay here.”

He embarrassed easily – she remembered that from Viden. Elisabeth also remembered how easily he had held her hands and how warm they had been. Darius may not have realized it, but they were very similar creatures. She had only begun to realize that touch was the way she communicated best to those she cared for and the sailor had quickly made his way into that small circle of people, but he did the same thing. Somehow, he always knew just what to say and do to make her feel better, instinctively.

Keeping her eyes firmly on the wall, her voice rang softly throughout the house, keeping him company as he did his thing. “I might not have told you, but I met Balthazar during a brawling match. He was shirtless as well. And I trained at Storm’s Edge with a lot of shirtless men. It doesn’t bother me.”

And as much as she adored the blond man, she couldn’t resist a compliment…

“And by the way, you have a very nice chest. I approve! I mean, I’ve seen a lot of them, so I feel like I’m a pretty good judge of such things…”

Maybe she was a mischief-maker after all. Poor Darius.

The comment about the sock circled back in her mind, calling out again. “You lost a sock? I couldn’t find my shirt this morning…or my gloves. What a morning to lose stuff. That’s so bizarre that we both misplaced things.” It was odd, sure, but coincidences happened. Shrugging her shoulders a bit, the young raven-haired mage didn’t give it a second thought.

[Darius Baer]

Darius wanted to close his eyes when Elisabeth crossed the threshold. He was glad to have her in his home - she was a friend, after all - but he wished he'd been more modestly dressed before she'd entered. He was grateful to the brunette for turning her back on him, though he knew she'd caught a sight of his topless form before the door had been closed. Even with her looking away, he crossed his arms, burying his hands in his armpits in a vain attempt to conceal his bare chest.

"I'm not convinced that you are not a mischief-maker," he quipped from behind burning cheeks, "but thank you for not making this even more embarrassing for me than it already is."

Unseen by the Videnese, he nodded at her suggestion that he go get dressed. He moved around her awkwardly in the small entranceway, his palms still covering the bulk of his pectorals, and made his way towards the stairs that would guide him back to his bedroom. If Elisabeth were to pay any attention, even from the corner of her eye, she would notice a muscular back and one naked foot.

As soon as Darius made it to the stairs, he rushed up them, jumping two and three steps at a time as he heard Elisabeth calling out after him. What she initially said, about Balthazar, was interesting enough to emit murmurs of understanding from upstairs as the bearded blond kicked off his singular sock and set about finding a tunic to adorn himself with. But her following comments - including a compliment on the appearance of his chest - quietened him, and he felt as though his cheeks might be set aflame.

"Th-thank you," he blurted out rather suddenly after an awkwardly pregnant pause.

Usually, when he received a compliment, his natural instinct was to respond in kind, but something told him that neither Elisabeth nor Balthazar would appreciate him saying the same thing to the brunette!

A semblance of composure had returned to him by the time he returned, this time fully dressed. His cheeks were still red, but they were already beginning to fade, and he was grateful that Elisabeth was changing the topic of conversation.

"Out in the cold without gloves again?" he gently teased with a chuckle as he quickly regained his composure. "You have cold hands, I suppose. I hope you bought pockets!"

Darius was now the one being cheeky, he knew, but this was one aspect of their friendship that he enjoyed the most.

Resisting the temptation to offer to warm the woman's hands, he instead offered her a pair of spare gloves that he was sure he could find if she didn't want frozen fingers.

"So," he said as he moved towards the front door again, "do you have any preferences regarding breakfast?"

The missing clothes temporarily forgotten, Darius opened the door and stepped out into a gentle but persistent rain.

[Elisabeth Black]

Gasping dramatically as he confessed that he wasn’t sure of her mischief-maker claims, she held her hand on her heart. “You wound me, Ox. Oh, did you think I forgot that little incident in Viden? I might still have bruises from it. You really know how to sweep a girl off her feet!” Her laugh was soft and musical, and indicative that in no way did she harbor any ill will.

As their conversation continued, she heard noises from other parts of the house, presumably him getting his clothing sorted. Elisabeth marveled at how her mood could go from vexed to playful in such short order, but that was just Darius. He brought a lightness to her heart that was hard to explain and for once, the young woman had no desire to attempt to explain something. It just was.

After her bold compliment, she heard his stuttered reply and laughed softly, calling back to him. “Stop blushing. You are a very handsome man and the sooner you realize that I know that and refuse to ignore that fact, the better this will all be. I’m not here for your looks. I’m here because you are my friend, I love spending time with you and you offered to feed me breakfast, and I found that offer incredibly attractive.”

The raven-haired young woman still wore a grin as he returned to the room and his next comment about the gloves caused another laugh to spill free. “Well, at least this time it wasn’t my fault. I think. I don’t know what is up with the missing clothes. I always put my gloves on the same table.”

Accepting the offered gloves, Elisabeth put them into her pocket for the moment, giving Darius a smile as she held out her hands. “Gloves are good. Hands are better…and I’m not one to waste a natural resource when I have it available to me. I’ll put on the gloves when we go outside.” Yes, she liked giving him a bad time…but the hand holding was a special thing for them, and it brought her back to their first meeting. There had been something so larger than life about his kindness and warmth…and still was. She felt truly honored to be his friend, and there was nothing funny about that.

As they bundled up and began getting ready to leave, his question caused her to pause a moment. “Hmmm…. I really hadn’t thought about it. The ‘spending time with Darius’ part outweighed the ‘breakfast’ part. You are the local, so I’ll let you decide…”

Stepping out of the house, waiting for him to lock up, they then began down the hill. Oh, gloves! Quickly shoving her hand into the pockets of her cloak, she found his gloves and pulled them on, giving him a quick smile as she waved her hands a bit. “Gloves. See? No more handholding today. But I think if we do it one more time, we are almost betrothed. I’d have to check Scalvoris law on that.”

[Darius Baer]

"Ox?" Darius echoed the word with a pang of guilt, but he did not offer any protest.

He had knocked her over in the least graceful fashion possible, and he was relieved that her bumps and bruises had healed - but he suspected that her gentle teasing would linger for much longer.

Upstairs and out of sight, Darius was doing the very opposite if what Elisabeth was telling him to do. His cheeks felt as though they were on fire! He had never been given such compliments, and certainly not in such a bold and direct manner. He was grateful, but ultimately at a loss as to how to respond, and so he spent his awkward energy by dressing as quickly and efficiently as he could - and in complete and utter silence.

When he returned, he accepted the offer to warm up Elisabeth's hands. Walking outside in the wet had not surprisingly made them cold, and he took hold of them and rubbed them, hoping to provide the woman with some more feeling in her digits.

At the realisation that the brunette had no place in mind to eat, Darius nodded and used the time it took his friend to ready herself for the cold to make a decision.

"There's a stall in the market that sells hot pastries," he offered. "A perfect way to warm your stomach and your hands, even if you don't have gloves!"

He chuckled gently at his jest, but his laughter grew when he saw Elisabeth put on his gloves. Her hands were much smaller than his, which meant the ends of the fabric fingers were hollow, and he reached out and squeezed a couple to emphasise that fact.

As the pair began to descend the hill and approach the main part of town, the vantage point that Faldrass View Lane afforded them meant they could peer down onto the top of many Scalvorian homes. The roof of one such building caught the local boy's eye.

"Look at that," he spoke, curiosity in his voice. "Looks like we're not the only ones to have clothes go missing."

He pointed at a house a few streets down the hill, where he could see an article of clothing stuck on a roof. It was in a tangle, and soaking wet from the recent rainfall, so while it was difficult to tell what type of garment it was, it was clear that it did not belong on the top of someone's house.

[Elisabeth Black]

Grinning softly as he questioned her nickname for him, she reiterated the name, responding from the other room. “Yes, Ox. An affectionate name, I assure you. I’ve never been swept off my feet like that before, so I wanted something to remember it by. I hope you don’t mind? It truly is something given out of affection, I promise you.”

A soft smile slipped across her lips as he did as she asked, warming up her hands, ending with a soft squeeze of his in thanks for indulging her.

The suggestion of hot pastries got the raven-haired young woman’s attention quickly. “Yum! That sounds perfect. Lead the way.” As she shoved on his gloves, he teased her about the size difference of their hands by showing her just how much room was left in them. Narrowing her eyes at him, she did the only thing she could think of…and stuck her tongue.

Breathing deeply of the fresh air as they descended the hill into town, sapphire eyes gazed about, taking in the wonder of this place. “Oh! I just remembered something! You said you could see the ice island place from your house. Could you promise to point that out to me?” She was worried they were too far into town to see the island now but maybe after she walked him back home, he would remember to point it out.

His observation of something on the nearby rooftop caught her attention. Narrowing eyes, she tried to figure out what it was. “I’m not sure what that is…but we should find out!” Picking up the pace, Elisabeth marched through the streets and poked her way over to the house that held the roof of interest, walking around it, trying to see the easiest way to get to the roof. It wasn't particularly high. If she could just get a bit higher, she could probably haul herself up onto the roof. Jumping up a bit to try to grab the edge of the roof, she tried to ascertain just how much higher she would need to get.

It was then that an idea came to her. “Darius…can you give me a leg up? I should be able to make it up there if I’m a bit higher.”

[Darius Baer]

Darius had not taken offense in any way at his new nickname. If anything, he appreciated the gesture. It meant that Elisabeth had warmed to him enough that she saw him in his own, unique light, much in the way he referred to Yeva as Honey Bee.

It was an expression of flattery; there was no doubt about that.

Descending the hill, Elisabeth made mention of the island of ice that he had claimed was visible from his home. He stopped on the path there and then, before lifting himself up onto his tip-toes and craning his neck to see if he could locate it.

"Aye," he acknowledged the woman's request, "Ishallr is the ice that offsets Faldrass' fire. A beautiful, dangerous place."

He dropped back down to the soles of his feet and sent the brunette an apologetic smile.

"And, sadly, out of sight for now. Perhaps I can show you the next time you're walking in the rain without anything to keep your hands warm!"

A light chuckle rumbled in his chest as they resumed their walk.

His laughter grew when Elisabeth rushed down to the house that had unwittingly become a very ineffective washing line. Darius himself had thought little of the curiosity, but the brunette's eagerness to satisfy her curiosity was endearing.

He half-jogged in a non-committal attempt to catch up, and by the time he did so, she was already jumping for the item of clothing, but while it rested tantalisingly close, it was still frustratingly out of reach. He nodded at Elisabeth's request for a leg up, though it was mostly to humour her, for he was still more interested in getting breakfast. Dropping down to one knee, he interlocked the fingers of his hands and rested them, palms upwards, on his knee. When the Videnese put her foot into his hands, he lifted with his arms, hoping to give her the boost that she needed.

It was as they were in this position that Darius heard a scampering of feet behind him. He turned his head, but was unable to see behind him without toppling Elisabeth into a nearby puddle, so it was all he could do to search with his peripheral vision for the source of the noise.

As the footsteps came closer, it became clear that they were many and fast. Effectively pinned in place by Elisabeth's foot, Darius could only pivot, and as he did, he felt something brush past his back, before the steps began to get quieter.

He turned his head, eyes widening as he swore he saw...

"A runaway sweater!"

He guffawed at his own exclamation, before looking up to Elisabeth and then back to the street, where a sweater with a pair of tiny feet beneath it, scampering across the street.

"Do you see it?" he laughed in disbelief. "Look at its little legs go!"

[Elisabeth Black]

Elisabeth’s fondness of Darius had woven itself into various aspects of her life. The nickname was simply one. The young mage was aware of another…but it wasn’t yet time to tell him. She needed to make sure before sharing the information. There was a matter of how it had happened, but Elisabeth was fairly certain she knew the answer to that question as well.

The visual of Darius on his tiptoes trying to see Ishallr was enough to cause a soft grin to form on her lips, but sadly, they were already out of view. “Too bad, Next time then. Although I think I need to accept the fact that gloves aren’t in cards for me. The universe keeps sending me too many signs.” The laugh that followed matched his own. It felt good to laugh with the blond sailor. He didn’t have expectations of her, other than of her being his friend.

She should have warned Darius about her insatiable curiosity, but it was far too late for that as her legs raced to the house containing the rooftop she wanted to look at. Endearing was one term for it, although over the arcs, she had heard others speak of the trait in a less positive light. Elisabeth’s curiosity tended to land her in mischief often but there was really nothing she could do to curb it. Discipline had helped but it truly was what it was.

Jumping up to try and grab what, she now knew to be a scarf, off of the roof wasn’t working and as such, asking for an assist from Darius seemed to be the logical plan. He seemed on board with it and assumed a position that would allow her just a bit more height. Stepping into his hands, he boosted her up, hands quickly grabbing the scarf and smiling victoriously. “I got it! “

And that’s when things went a bit sideways.

The very moment she declared victory, a devious seagull decided to contend for the garment, swooping at the young woman, startling her into ducking. Elisabeth heard Darius mentioning something about a sweater the moment her body started to fall. Because of the way she was positioned, her falling body hit Darius’ shoulder, bending her in two over said shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Her arm grabbed him around the neck, trying to brace herself, but possibly was managing to strangle him unintentionally.

But she still had the scarf!

“Sorry!!!! The damn seagull came out of nowhere!” Shaking her head a bit, she began to focus on how she was going to get down off her friend when her sapphire eyes noted four individual gloves running down the street, little legs going as fast as they could. Narrowing her gaze a bit, she patted Darius on the head clumsily and pointed in the direction of the gloves.

“Ummm….Ox? I might have hit my head but…do you see gloves running down the street? Oh, and that one set is really cute! Love those colors...”

Certainly not a sentence she ever thought she would hear herself say...