[all is well in their shared apartment. the tech is functional enough again, groceries were gotten a few days ago, there's the sound of a muffled explosion from Grell's room and the scent of smoke-
well, most things are well. Grell's always been flammable.]
[Honestly it's not terribly unusual to hear explosions from Grell's room, so Bellamy isn't initially concerned - but Rhea whines at him, and Bellona zips off to hide in the kitchen, so he decides it's probably for the best to check on it.]
[Especially with the smoke.]
[He knocks at her door, three solid times.] Grell? Everything okay?
[she sounds at least cheerful about it? though she coughs before continuing - that was absolutely smoke.]
It appears I'm on fire.
[...at least she isn't panicking? part of that comes from working with fire magic, part of that is accepting her bad luck and the now ruined sleeve. her skin is okay, it's just her clothes. which is the fascinating part of this, really - it's not affecting anything living. not the intended purpose of these runes, a sort of "safe" fire, but curious all the same.]
[Her tone sounds fine, but literally nothing else about this situation sounds fine. Especially the smoke and the -]
What?
[And sorry not sorry, Grell, here is Bellamy, opening the door without anymore preamble, because his concern outweighs any privacy considerations.]
[She's not panicked, but he certainly looks it once he catches sight of the fact that she really is on fire. He summons a mini swarm of ice in his hand immediately, but doesn't do anything with it yet; he just likes having it easily accessible, if she needs it. He trusts her but jesus christ she is actually on fire.]
Are you - Jesus, Grell, what are you doing? What happened -?
When has being told to touch fire ever worked out well?
[Skepticism!! So much of it, even if he comes closer to get a better look at her. He's still hovering with the mini ice storm at his hand, but - she's right. The only thing burning is her shirt, and there's zero sign of pain in any bit of Grell's body language.]
[But he does have his own fire magic, and he never burns his own hands with it, so curiosity wins out. He reaches out with his free hand to quickly swipe through the flames, and there isn't much sensation beyond a warm feeling over his fingers. He still jerks back quickly out of instinct.]
Honestly? I'm not quite sure. I was trying to test a new section of runes to possibly attach to armor but I was also trying to avoid any heat getting through if someone isn't versed in fire magic and doesn't do it instinctively and I guess something got interpreted in a very specific way.
[He's still frowning, but at least he doesn't look as panicked anymore.]
That's reassuring. [He says it dryly, over the fact that she isn't sure. Which - isn't a surprise from Grell and her experiments.] It's definitely not burning you, right? Just your sleeve?
[Bellamy will not stop hovering like a concerned mother duck tbh. Not until he is 100% sure things are Fine. He will not agree it's Neat until he concludes it either. He tests it himself again, sticking his hand into the flames and leaving it under for far longer, with no injury effects.]
[Rhea probably didn't like the sound - which makes Grell think next time she might need to lay down a silence ward for her sake.]
But it's definitely just my sleeve. That it burns the cloth at all means it's no toy to be played with, but the safety in not needing gloves to handle it means that someone might find it interesting. If anything, I can just take notes if for some reason fire like this would be needed in the future.
[Bellamy pulls his hand back, satisfied that the fire as it stands right now isn't going to cause any physical injuries.]
It might be a useful trick. Or even a light, if you can trap it inside something. It doesn't burn people, but it clearly still burns objects just - put it out before it burns up your entire shirt and moves on. Are you gonna run any more tests on it?
[He's not concerned about modesty so much as the fire spreading and catching something like the floor on fire.]
Later, probably. Outside where nothing will catch.
[dutifully she waves the fire out - it still responded to her like fire should, and since it's Bellamy, who's part of her family, she doesn't mind turning away to go get another shirt. the most she can do for this one is cut off the other sleeve and the burned parts and restyle it.]
I'm thinking that it'd be a good bluff of sorts. Doesn't burn you, doesn't burn a person, but if you fed paper to it, it'll still fall to ashes. But it fails to be good enough for what I want...which is to add an elemental twist onto the armor. Imagine for you, that armor with an ice component that struck back when you were struck.
[they may not be at war, but she still has a lot of ideas.]
[He finally lets his own little blizzard dissipate once the fire is gone, and now that the potential danger has stopped being so immediate, Bellamy feels better about being curious. They're not directly at war, but it's still a hard mindset to shake.]
I like the fake out idea. Fire's definitely better for a bluff than ice. [Skin feeling whip-lashed, he briefly lets his fingers flicker with his own fire magic.]
The pushback from the armor isn't a bad idea, though. What kind of runes were you using? I know - [Clarke, is the next word, Clarke and her supply of rune knowledge and magic, but he doesn't want to bring that up right now.] I know some good protective runes? Maybe they could be combined with something offensive, on the armor. [A beat.] Unless that's what you were already doing.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
what's the point of roomies if you can't do dumb magic experiments.
well, most things are well. Grell's always been flammable.]
what else are roomies for
[Especially with the smoke.]
[He knocks at her door, three solid times.] Grell? Everything okay?
no subject
[she sounds at least cheerful about it? though she coughs before continuing - that was absolutely smoke.]
It appears I'm on fire.
[...at least she isn't panicking? part of that comes from working with fire magic, part of that is accepting her bad luck and the now ruined sleeve. her skin is okay, it's just her clothes. which is the fascinating part of this, really - it's not affecting anything living. not the intended purpose of these runes, a sort of "safe" fire, but curious all the same.]
no subject
What?
[And sorry not sorry, Grell, here is Bellamy, opening the door without anymore preamble, because his concern outweighs any privacy considerations.]
[She's not panicked, but he certainly looks it once he catches sight of the fact that she really is on fire. He summons a mini swarm of ice in his hand immediately, but doesn't do anything with it yet; he just likes having it easily accessible, if she needs it. He trusts her but jesus christ she is actually on fire.]
Are you - Jesus, Grell, what are you doing? What happened -?
no subject
[the fire, she means. if he does, it'll feel oddly cool - the temperature of warm water, not hurting him at all.]
I think it only burns nonliving material.
[neat magic discoveries are worth not panicking over. she will sacrifice this shirt to the greater good.]
no subject
[Skepticism!! So much of it, even if he comes closer to get a better look at her. He's still hovering with the mini ice storm at his hand, but - she's right. The only thing burning is her shirt, and there's zero sign of pain in any bit of Grell's body language.]
[But he does have his own fire magic, and he never burns his own hands with it, so curiosity wins out. He reaches out with his free hand to quickly swipe through the flames, and there isn't much sensation beyond a warm feeling over his fingers. He still jerks back quickly out of instinct.]
What did you do?
no subject
[safe fire. it's a start.]
Neat, isn't it?
no subject
That's reassuring. [He says it dryly, over the fact that she isn't sure. Which - isn't a surprise from Grell and her experiments.] It's definitely not burning you, right? Just your sleeve?
[Bellamy will not stop hovering like a concerned mother duck tbh. Not until he is 100% sure things are Fine. He will not agree it's Neat until he concludes it either. He tests it himself again, sticking his hand into the flames and leaving it under for far longer, with no injury effects.]
You freaked out Rhea.
no subject
[Rhea probably didn't like the sound - which makes Grell think next time she might need to lay down a silence ward for her sake.]
But it's definitely just my sleeve. That it burns the cloth at all means it's no toy to be played with, but the safety in not needing gloves to handle it means that someone might find it interesting. If anything, I can just take notes if for some reason fire like this would be needed in the future.
no subject
It might be a useful trick. Or even a light, if you can trap it inside something. It doesn't burn people, but it clearly still burns objects just - put it out before it burns up your entire shirt and moves on. Are you gonna run any more tests on it?
[He's not concerned about modesty so much as the fire spreading and catching something like the floor on fire.]
no subject
[dutifully she waves the fire out - it still responded to her like fire should, and since it's Bellamy, who's part of her family, she doesn't mind turning away to go get another shirt. the most she can do for this one is cut off the other sleeve and the burned parts and restyle it.]
I'm thinking that it'd be a good bluff of sorts. Doesn't burn you, doesn't burn a person, but if you fed paper to it, it'll still fall to ashes. But it fails to be good enough for what I want...which is to add an elemental twist onto the armor. Imagine for you, that armor with an ice component that struck back when you were struck.
[they may not be at war, but she still has a lot of ideas.]
no subject
I like the fake out idea. Fire's definitely better for a bluff than ice. [Skin feeling whip-lashed, he briefly lets his fingers flicker with his own fire magic.]
The pushback from the armor isn't a bad idea, though. What kind of runes were you using? I know - [Clarke, is the next word, Clarke and her supply of rune knowledge and magic, but he doesn't want to bring that up right now.] I know some good protective runes? Maybe they could be combined with something offensive, on the armor. [A beat.] Unless that's what you were already doing.