Astrid barely gets into the air before she sees a flash of lightning from Fish’s exit. Uh oh.

The explosion goes off in a massive burst of hot energy. Every window in the warehouse gets blasted out from the force. Smoke pours out of the fresh openings, billowing out into the air and darkening the sky around it. By all accounts, everything inside the warehouse is as good as dead or destroyed.

Luckily, that doesn’t include Astrid. In the nick of time, she teleported out of the building and is hovering above it, breathing heavily. That was a bit close. Fish is clearly too fast for her. She quickly flies away from the warehouse to get out of the smoke, hefting the suit and keeping a grip as best she can while she looks for Fish. Eventually, she spots them on a roof and lands heavily beside them.

“Hoo, that maybe wasn’t enough warnin’ fer me ta get out, but I did,” she says through heavy breaths. Astrid sets the heavy suit down and stretches her back out and shakes her hands to loosen them back up. “How are ya? No injuries? Get the goop?" The aviankin seems fine, which is a relief. Not that she doubted them at all. 

---

Blink (Displacement cloak)
Bat Wings [post 2/3]

"Fish is fine." Honestly, for everything that Fish does and gets into it is a miracle that Fish tends to remain uninjured. They may not believe in gods, but clearly one is looking out for Fish. That or this bird is just impervious to everything. 

"Fish unfortunately did not have an appropriate phrase to mimic and signing would have been....ill advised." They rummage in their bag and pull out one of the beakers full of the stuff. Fish swirled it a moment, watching the viscous neon yellow sludge cling to the sides then slowly flow down.

"Fish is very curious what is in this...but now is not a time for testing. Should we see how the suit works?" The aviankin hops around to the suit to give it a look. 

Even just lifting up a sleeve is a bit difficult for the bird and their tiny arms. What purpose could it serve? Fish had many, many questions for this device.

Seeing that Fish is indeed fine, Astrid lets out a long sigh. “Good, good,” she says tiredly, glancing across the rooftops at the smoke billowing into the sky before looking at Fish while they continue. “Appropriate phrase ta mimic?” she asks. Admittedly, she did not know Fish could make much sound at all, but she’s never thought to ask because she thought it would be rude.

Watching the aviankin swirl the radioactive sludge around in the bottle, Astrid worries what might happen if that bottle breaks. It looked like just getting any in the bloodstream would cause… significant effects. “Aye, now ain’t the time fer testin’ that stuff,” she agrees. “We’ll take it back ta the Guild an’ they can figure it out.”

The suit itself is a strange mix of metal contraptions and thick fabrics. Despite having a helmet, nothing about it seems necessarily like a suit of armor, and when the helmet is latched onto the metal ring around the neck, it’d be difficult enough to pull off. After seeing the man going crazy and trying to hurt himself and others, it’s entirely possible that the suit is as much for protecting the wearer from themselves as much as it is for protecting them from others. She explains these reasonings to Fish while they poke and prod at it.

Astrid pulls out the magical poster, having it take notes for her while she starts looking over the suit more in-depth with Fish, including drawing the different contraptions that act as support or even… something to strengthen someone? “This is real weird,” she says, standing up and tapping her finger against her chin thoughtfully. “Like this is made fer support an’ protectin’... But it ain’t like armor, is it? I dunno what ta make of it…”

She looks longingly at the bizarre suit, cursing that she couldn’t get another one. “...I kinda wanna keep it.” But she knows she should turn it in to the guild.

"Fish cannot talk, but Fish can accurately mimic anything Fish has heard." They pause a moment before opening their beak, "Good, good."....They close their beak. "Fish can make other sounds as well."

They look over the suit, the different metals and fabrics used are an interesting mix. A lot of these seem odd choices for any sort of armor or protection, at least for the things Fish would think to defend from. The seal for the helmet almost seems to make it air tight, but then how would the person inside breathe? Is there some sort of respirator inside?

Fish is similarly sketching out the blueprints of the suit in an incredibly detailed fashion. It almost looks like an exact picture of it. Fish looks it over once more to make sure they have all the details they need before looking to

"Fish could submit this blueprint, the guild only asked for the potion and information." Yes, turning it in was probably the better option but it would be very hypocritical of the bird to tell people to do good things.

Astrid watches Fish’s hands explain their specific brand of muteness then squawks back at her in her own voice. She can’t help a giggle. “Well, yer pretty good at it. If ya can just mimic other stuff ya’ve heard, I can say whatever ya need or wanna say. Only if ya want.”

The two of them look over the suit then over the blueprint, debating what to do with it. It’s better to give it to the guild, isn’t it? But the blueprint is still good… Astrid looks back at the burning warehouse. “I don’t s’pose ya think any of the suits made it outta the explosion?” she says. “Maybe we could test the suit’s effectiveness.” She’s joking. Sort of. Only if Fish says that’s a bad idea, then it’s definitely a joke. Besides, the guards are probably on their way. “Otherwise… I could make ‘em a copy of the blueprints an’ keep one fer meself an’ just… use what I learned fer better armor pieces.”

Squatting down, Astrid starts folding the suit up as best she can despite the mechanisms. It’s during times like these that she wishes Blue were around to just schlorp the thing up.

"Fish may make a list of common phrases Fish may need to use and follow up on that offer." They tuck their book away after copying the blueprints and look towards the explosion.

Smoke still billows out from the distance, but it doesn't seem like the fire is spreading which is good. The distance thump of guards entering the area bounced through the alleyways. Fish stares off to the distance for a moment.

"Fish assumes the consortium will want to pour over the rubble for anything left behind...they seem resilient so Fish believes the probability is higher than zero, but how much higher is unknown...Fish would be willing to see what the suit can handle, but here and now is not a good idea."

They hop over and help adjust any mechanisms and folds just to make it a little bit easier for Astrid. The suit is complicated and clunky, so it isn't easy even with four hands.

"If Astrid can safely get away with that one, Fish knows some empty warehouses to test it another day."

Smiling a bit at Fish’s response, Astrid nods. “Aye, I’ll help ya however I can,” she says. “I don’t mind. ‘Specially since most folks can’t talk with their hands like ya can. I’m still not all that good at it.”

With the suit folded up about as neatly as they can get it, Astrid considers what Fish says. Is it technically stealing? Maybe, but Fish is right, if the suits are sturdy, then the Consortium will probably get their hands on one one way or another. Besides, testing it later could be quite a lot of fun somewhere less conspicuous. It isn’t like she particularly cares what the guards in Sol City think, anyway. What’re they gonna do? Raid her basement all the way in Dragon’s Cradle? Besides, this is for science!

“I think I can get away with this one if ya wanna take that stuff ta the Consortium,” she finally agrees, hoisting the suit up and doing her damnedest to stuff it into her backpack. It does not fit. Instead, she pulls Charles out of the pocket dimension she sometimes keeps him in, stuffs the suit into his storage compartment, and then schlorps him back into the pet pocket.

Looking at Fish, she says, “I’m guessin’ ya can get yerself there safely, but I’m happy ta join ya if ya want. I can give ya the phrases ya need too.” Regardless, she offers them a hand to shake. “Always nice ta see ya, Fish.”

---

Pet Pocket