#arinowicki

Soon enough, after fetching a drink for himself and a little snack, he found Ari sporting a sheer, laced shirt, ruffled collar, leather shoes reminiscent of older days, and a gold necklace to offset the theme of silver, black, and white. He tucked a hand in his pocket, more or less feeling his ass by extension. Leather pants were tight; they left little to none for the imagination. Julian beamed, “How’ve you been since our trip to Thrace? You did a fantastic job back there,” he commended.

Looking from the blond’s face to his attire, he returned to meeting his bright, knowledgable gaze, “I like what you’ve chosen to wear. They all fit together in a way I wouldn’t have expected. Do you plan to reuse anything after the party? I’m indecisive on that, right now,” he chuckled. 

after taking a map to the nearest cultural guide and being guided toward the nearest spring, leland finally has the courage to talk to the demigod of wisdom. outside of asking him to come with him, he hadn’t said a word as they followed the trail. the silence was awkward, but there was an underlying comfortableness that lingered. after their training session the first time they met, leland knew that ari would be the right person to talk to. he stops short of the spring, arms folded over his chest as he admires its beauty—it almost takes his breath away. after a few moments of stunned silence, he looks over at the blonde demigod. “thanks for coming with me. i know we should probably be training, but...here we are.”

      “Well, nobody died, at least.” It was actually the smoothest victory they’d had, by all accounts. He already had a notebook in his hands, a fresh one. New encounters, new notebook, new notes. “How’re you holding up?” One of his arms was in a sling, but hat was more to giv ehis shoulder a break. Getting speared through it had hurt, and the fact he’d then got slapped in to a statue by a statue after probably hadn’t helped. But, he’d live, he’d heal, it’d b fine in the long run. He just needed to deal with taking a little break.

He’s glad Ari’s on their side, to say the least. 

Julian led the way to the dining hall after dropping off his rented staff to the training grounds’ armory. The cold wind tousled his hair and had his ruined shirt flap behind him, cold tendrils of air sneaked between the slits to ghost Julian’s healed skin. He smiled over to Ari and grabbed a platter from the start of the dining hall’s procession. 

Working his way down, he hummed and bristled with adrenaline from their earlier training. “Once again, thank you for giving me the chance to see you in action. You’re a formidable opponent, Ari. I’m glad to train against you so I can prepare for our future endeavors,” he spoke on a leveled tone with a warm weight, blue eyes still brimming with interest. He placed a salad on his platter, then chicken breast and a side of sauce. He procured a glass of water to take with him to the table. 

Instead of wandering off, he waited for Ari to grab his grub, too, “If we refine our skills, see what two moves would work better together, we could be quite a team. Wouldn’t you agree?”