Weighted Clothing.

Arsenic bounced on the tips of his toes, arms swinging lightly as he did so. He'd fold both arms behind his head as Levi approached, also leaning all of his weight to one side, and then begin to deliberate on what, exactly, had been up since their last little excursion.

"...Mm, nothing, really." He admitted.

A half-truth.

The full truth was that he had been ardously working to accelerate his progress as a fighter so as to be nowhere near the burden next time as he'd already been, but that was something his friend'd combat, likely insisting he was in no way, shape, or form a burden to any of them.

Bullshit, in his mind.

"You?" He asked of what, by this point, may as well have just been his blood brother. A single hand came down to swipe underneath his nose, and his eyes flicked briefly to Veara, but only because he'd caught motion. Were she to rise, he was bolting out of there.

_______

With the fact that Levi had struggled to lift the weighted clothing apparently, Arsenic essentially keels over in his catch, not having been prepared for it in the slightest. He lets out a sharp outtake of breath, laying on the ground with it on his chest during the whole of Levi's explanation...

And then the offer is extended.

He manages the strength essential to slide on aforementioned weighted gear, roll himself over, and stagger back up and to his feet, and, at that, make it look easy. He puts on a strong face, grits his teeth, and then marches forward, steps slower than usual but little other difference apparent.

Don't look at his feet, he's dragging them.

"Yeah. This is nothin'. Let's go."

There was no 'where we headed.' There was just 'go.'

_______

Arsenic stepped into the cave significantly inhibited by the weights he donned, chest heaving with the exhaustion of just carrying himself with the burden. His eyes momentarily shut, and then they open again, an instant that felt like hours as he bolstered his resolve with little other than the thought that he refused to look like a bitch infront of Levi.

His strength was meager, but he was insistent, determined, and he wouldn't fall. If he fell here, his resolution previously would've been for naught.

If he fell before he even got into the thick of the fray...

He rose a single arm, whipped it back, and electricity cut to life. It did little to bolster his strength, but the gesture gave him strength, if only due to morale, if only due to placebo.

It was the little things that help us carry on.

_______

Nearing a Scorpion, the boy is given pause for the first time since the onset of the adventure. He steels himself, bracing for what may very well be an incredibly painful reminder of his mortality, his limitations....

Nah.

He heaves the colossal sword from his back, spins it mid-slide, and then strikes. The scorpion would fall, and it'd be the first of many, even as his muscles groaned and ached in protest, even while his body begged him, pleaded him to cease this nonsense. The ten year old boy, in moments where he lagged, dregged into his magic to make things easier...

And was never far behind Levi, as he never had been. Right on the boy's haunches, the two of them pushing each other further, further, running through the cave a covenant of steel.