Elementalist's Best Friend

The aura definitely wasn't helping, because by that point Jude was good and immune. Being around Basilio, let alone Alma and Iggy had fully deadened his body's reaction to auras. Like being immunized, only with a lot more variety.

Jude popped his head out the front of his apartment, spotting Smokey and immediately stepping back, waving them inside.

"Come in. It's not much, especially compared to the last place, but it's home."

The apartment was not large by any metric. Modest would be a kind term for it, because it was really just intended for Jude and Basilio. The entrance opened up to a living room that became a kitchen farther on, and to the side were two bedrooms and a bathroom.

It was a far cry from either house Jude had lived in before.

"My dad's at work," Jude said, closing the door behind them before heading towards one of the bedroom doors. "Thanks for coming over. I'm just working on a thing and could use your help."

Yep, he'd pretty much expecting the flirting, and simply carried on as if it... well, as if it hadn't happened. It was just a non-factor to him. Smokey did it all the time, and it never went anywhere, and Smokey more or less just continued as they always had. The one time he'd tried to respond seriously, it had just thrown them off.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention this to anyone," Jude said, careful with his wording to avoid any unfortunate consequences.

His room was fairly bare. There was a bookshelf, half empty. A nightstand. A bed. The only particularly interesting things were a series of statues - glass busts of DeadManSwitch and Edmund Eldritch at eye level, and smaller ones of Teagan Queen, Armorer, Finch, and We The People a bit below that. If Smokey craned, they might see another large one of his father on the top shelf, tucked mostly out of sight.

There were also, set out on the floor, no less than ten metal disks about the size of a CD, laid out in a row.

"I've been learning enchanting," Jude said, starting to explain. "Or artificing. They're effectively the same thing, with no standard terminology. Either way, imbuing magical effects into objects. I've been training under a mentor, but I've also been working on stuff in my off time. This is my big project right now."

Jude moved over, sitting down cross legged beside the disks before reaching out, tapping his fingers along them one by one.

"I've been trying to enchant these to collect smoke, but it takes a fair amount of... tweaking. 'Smoke' is kind of nebulous, after all. But I figure at least one of these will be correct, so if you breath smoke on each, I should get a better idea of which ones are working well. Not a lot. Just like... a little bit."

"It's a gift," Jude said. "For my dad. It helps relax his body when he smokes, but we don't have a balcony and it's a major walk down. If I can make a smoke catcher, that'd be ideal for him. It'd let him smoke inside without ruining the security deposit... or making our clothes smell."

He tapped a metal disk.

"These are just proof of concepts for the magic. You can start whenever. I'll be taking mental notes."

Jude snorted at the 'request', waving his hand. "I'll mention it," Jude said. "Because if it works, he'll definitely ask how I managed to do it. I haven't told him much about my artificing practice, so this'll come mostly out of the blue."

The disks proved an absolute mix of results. Some did nothing at all. Some attracted the smoke. Some attracted the smoke too well, speeding to the disk and starting to pull smoke from the other areas even after they'd settled. Jude reached down, scooting two away from the others - the best of the lot.

"Can you test again on these two?"