With most of the commotion settling down and the matter of everyone getting their rest becoming more and more urgent, Theodore slowly edged closer to Thea before finally trying to draw her attention with a short cough. Whether she reacted or not, he addressed her right after: "I think now's as good a time as any to have that little chat you have wanted us to have. Shall we have a table?"

Thea turned her attention from Katia and the Gnome to look at Theodore when he cleared his throat, the corner of her mouth twitching up in a small smile. [color=c0c0c0]"Sounds like a plan, are you allowed to remove your mask if we sit at a table?"[/color] she asked him with a raised brow, reminding him of the promise he gave her if the two of them were alone. While it was evident that they would not be [i]completely[/i] alone thanks to the group they travelled with, she figured it would be close enough.

While he had not showed it, Theodore had been extremely nervous for the brief moment of silence between them, as if the question had held some weight that had not been apparent in the words themselves. Well to be fair that was the case here, but the nervousness gave way as the Paladin's reply turned out to be favourable. The Monster Slayer reached for his mask, which was now hanging next to his bolt case, on a small hook added specifically for these brief moments the doctrine did not ask to wear it out-of-combat. "Ah, good. No problem with this one, for if there was I would not be talking with you bare faced as is", he responded and began making his way to one of the tables in the common room, a round one with three chairs around it for the time being. This move was accompanied by a hand gesture at Thea to follow.

Thea's smile broadened as she followed him to the table before taking her seat and setting to work removing both grieves and her gauntlets, there was no way she was going to sleep in her armor. [color=c0c0c0]"Good, no need to hide that handsome face of yours,"[/color] she said to him as she set her armor off to the side and set to work removing her breastplate, [color=c0c0c0]"So, what's up?"[/color]

Theodore sat down with her and followed suit with his combat gloves, leaving his legguards for later. While still occupied by this process, a small smile appeared on his face, accompanied by a bit of a blush as his company had just called him handsome. He wanted to say something similar back, but didn't really know how. While Thea got to work with her breastplate though, he got his chance: "Well, now that I've sat down here with such a... such..." he stammered with his words for a moment before smacking himself on the side of the head to get the words out, "such a pretty lady such as yourself, things are much better than in the morning when we fell down here." The small smile had turned into a broader, although now visibly nervous expression. "Y-y-you?" he managed to add before leaning back and letting some of his hair fall before his face. He felt like he needed the cover.

[color=c0c0c0]"I am doing as well as one can expect,"[/color] she told him, resting her chin on her hand as she watched him, [color=c0c0c0]"Mildly aggravated with being taken from our home and thrust into a world we clearly know nothing about. Then there are these shadow things..."[/color] The Paladin let out a soft sigh and shook her head, she was tired of everything already and she honestly just wanted to not have to deal with everything that was going on.  [color=c0c0c0]"A lot has happened in a single day huh?"[/color]

Theodore took a deep breath and sat up straight. He placed his righ elbow on the table and leaned his head against his hand as he spoke: "Yeah, it's been a lot... first we try to save our home... I can only assume we failed... then we fall down here, end up skirmishing with them big birds which nearly beat me into a gem... and as if that wasn't enough all that took place in this town, including the bigger and meaner cousins of the shadows... It's a lot to take in for sure." To be fair, he could not be sure how he had endured it all so well. Perhaps some of the training of the templar had really streghtned his spirit against things like this. "But if it's not us who are to save the Kingdom of Light, who is there to do it? We've no other direction but to press on I'm afraid..."

[color=c0c0c0]"What if we can't though? We haven't exactly found out what these creatures are weak against and if we have to face another one of those huge ones..."[/color] Thea let out a sigh and shook her head before gently grabbing onto one of Theodore's free hands, [color=c0c0c0]"The attacks I took didn't even hurt, there are no wounds on me anywhere and the fact that I survived that blast...  everything here is so weird."[/color]

Theodore raised his head up and set it on top of Thea's, which she had brought forward on his. "Weird for sure. But we don't have an option, Thea. We've got to at least try, or we risk all of the worlds falling to the same fate as ours. If we die in the process, so be it. But it's something we'll have to do." He took a deep breath before squeezing her hand gently, but could not say out loud what he was thinking... how with this group of people by his side, especially Thea, he believed in their chances. He began slowly drawing his hands away, back towards himself as he made an attempt to change the subject: "But I think that is a matter of tomorrow. Before that, we have the chance to rest and think. Speaking of which, how have you..." he spoke, his voice trailing away towards the end. He didn't have the guts to finish that sentence.

[color=c0c0c0]"How have I what?"[/color] she asked him with a curious look on her face, her head tilting to the side as she was confused as to why he had trailed off at the end. She understood what he was telling her, but that did not stop her from worrying her, she was scared for her friends. While she waited for the response she looked at his hand, wondering why he had pulled away from her, maybe he was far shyer than she had thought?

Theodore turned to look at the roof for a moment, his thumbs fidgeting around each other, trying to summon the courage to end that one sentence. [i]Come on, it's not that special![/i] he tried to convince himself with little success. But since she had specifically asked, he tried just barking it out: "How you've thought to... ah, you know... we only have so many rooms and all... ah, dammit", he cursed and hit the table, unable to really ask what he wanted to ask. On the other hand, perhaps it would be too early anyhow. Perhaps it was for the best that he couldn't.

Thea remained silent for some time, clearly trying to figure out what he was saying to her before her eyes gave way to showing that she knew what he was talking about. [color=c0c0c0]"Are you asking me where I plan on sleeping?"[/color] she asked him, [color=c0c0c0]"Do you want me to share a room with you?"[/color] The Paladin shifted a bit, her breastplate finally released from her torso and joining the pile of plate she had removed. The release of metal from her body allowed her to relax and simply watch the male before her, curious.

The momentary silence had Theodore's thoughts racing. What was she thinking about now? Did he seem like a total fool to her? Was she simply flabbergasted at how he even dared to bring such a thought up? And when she finally spoke with that surprised tone of hers, he could swear he felt something both die and be reborn within. He could not quite explain it, but it was an odd feeling of both success and dread. It had to be the fact that she had realised what he had been going for, but... she didn't tell anything about what she thought of it! "Uhhh... y-y-yes and n-n... [b]yes[/b]", he managed to answer, surprising himself at how he had dared. His hands instinctively rose to his face, as if seeking the familiarity of hiding beneath the mask without actually donning it.

More silence followed, the fact that he had dared asked her both thrilled and confused her. While she had much interest in the male, she had not expected him to ask her... or try to ask her rather. [color=c0c0c0]"If you would like..."[/color] she murmured softly, brown eyes moving up to meet his, [color=c0c0c0]"I would not be opposed."[/color] This time it was her turn to be nervous and a bit embarrassed as a light pink tinge spread across her cheeks, her bottom lip slipping between her teeth.

: When she finally answered, Theodore sighed. "Yeah, I thought... wait, what?" he reacted, slowly lowering his hands off his face and raising an eyebrow. Had he just heard her correctly? Judging by the slight pink on her pretty face and how she looked at him... "I... I guess we could... do that then... I think..." he mumbled. "Share a room I mean... you know, we won't all have our own rooms and all..." he continued, as if there was any chance of a mistake to have happened earlier in this discussion.

Their discussion would shift to other more trivial matters for a little while longer, but the two of them managed to stay firm and not chicken out of their choice of sharing a room for the night. To Theodore's horror, he found out that there were not nearly enough beds for everyone to have their own, but after copious reassurance from Thea, he could believe that perhaps it would be okay to share.

[hr]
Come morning, Theodore was one of the first to rise, and the very first in this room if nothing else. He gently guided Thea's hand off of him and rose up from the bed, picked up his things as silently as he could and slipped into the clothes he wore under his armour. With that done, he sneaked out of the room and sought a seat in the common room, placing his crossbow on the table and getting on with the process of checking it for damage.

Once he was partially done with the process, an infernal commotion outside distracted him. It sounded like the two birds had risen from the grave, just as Birbin had suggested. A lopsided smile appeared on his face and stayed for a while: It had been for the best that they had not tried to keep them. A wild animal in a state of that much agitation would not have spelled anything good for them or their endeavours. Once that was over and done with, Theodore returned to inspecting his gear. The others would come down eventually... they had a [i]Hall[/i] to check today.

[hider=Holy wall of text, batman! What's going on?]
Here in the upper part (above the line), we have a lengthy discussion between Theodore and Thea. If you are not particularly interested in character development between the two, that can be feasibly skipped.

But let's say you slogged on through that, saw the divider and thought "That's it, that's where I draw the line!" ( :newlol ) Well, those remaining paragraphs share Theodore waking up and heading on back to the common room. Since repeated military drills were nothing new to the templar, especially in the morning, it is entirely possible that he was the first one to wake.

Long Rest benefits have been accounted for. The only things he is missing now are 1 hit die (Had 1/3, recovered 1,5 -> 1 for a total of 2) and 6 crossbow bolts (since rests do not grant those).

[b]HP:[/b] 28/28  [b]AC:[/b] 16  [b]Concentrating:[/b] Not
[b]Radiant Consumption:[/b] Available
[b]Slayer's Eye:[/b] Inactive

[b]Spells expended:[/b]
0/3 1st
[/hider]
[@The Harbinger of Ferocity]
[@Zverda] - Includes lots of things from Thea