#kinglyisms

Hiroki is bent over the desk, writing out some orders that needed to be carried out for repairs in town. He hasn’t slept much, trying to work his way through his paperwork, and feels himself nodding slightly off. Only to flinch at the sound of a knock on his door. He snaps his head up, blinks a couple times and then breathes softly out when it’s just Toshiro. He stepped inside, followed by a few friends, and moved to stand beside Hiroki’s desk. “Your Highness, this is Artem the Alpha of a visiting pack, and his two pack mates.” A soft blink and then Hiroki dragged his gaze across the three strangers in his office. Two Werewolves, his magic tells him, and a Vampire. Interesting. Vampires aren’t part of the local Pack in Abarith, but then again Abarith’s Vampire Coven was currently having some issues. The moment they all find a way to execute John Reid the easier their lives will be. For now though, he stands from the table and smiles gently to his guests. “Hello. Welcome to Abarith. I’m Hiroki Nakamura, the King.” He tilts his head slightly, glancing between them all. “Are they staying with you, Toshiro?” “For now, Luka seems to be—busy with their Pack Mate they came to collect.” Busy. He might need to make a phone call later. Shaking his head slightly he turns back to the guests. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you want. If you need anything at all, my office is always open.” If he’s in it or not is entirely debatable.

There is a bit of out-of-body experience in knowing that he was in a different place that he had never seen before. There were different laws and lays of the land that Artem and his pack mates just weren't sure about. So they huddled close to their Alpha not for his protection but so that they don't do something stupid.

Artem's hair had been braided, bits of wild wavy hair and braids throughout, white outfit was different from the day before having packed a couple just to play it safe. Aurel was wearing a darker outfit this time, not wanting to wear white outside and hoping to see his pack mate. Only Radovan seemed to be busy so he would have to hang out with Eliot which wasn't that big deal.

Dacian was leaning against Artem, being sulky that he was forced to leave Elijah and Silas but Artem gave a quick pat to Dacian's head before smiling at the King.

"Hello King Hiroki. It is a pleasure to meet you." Artem offered him the same respect that he did Toshiro, bowing slightly and baring his neck. Still, he found a spot to sit, Dacian standing behind him and Aurel moving over to Toshiro and standing next to him. He smelled like Eliot and Aurel just wanted to go back to the pack house.

"I did want to ask you something, King. Since of course, I don't want to take up much more of your time. My, Radovan is his name, Pack mate seems to be enamored with Luka, forgive me if I don't know his last name, mated pairs don't do well talking for the first couple weeks of being mated in my experience, obviously they can't be separated and so Radovan is going to stay here." He glanced over at Aurel and then Dacian, throwing a wink at Toshiro before leaning over the desk towards the King. "And if we are being honest more of my pack members seem to be enamored with your people here so I can bet more are going to be lost to the mating than just the one." He leaned back and crossed his ankle over his knee smiling just a little bit.

"I did do something wrong, and that was taking out my frustration at myself on you. I shouldn't have done that, especially since all you've been doing is worrying over me."

Izumi hears his words about doing better and the dragon shakes his head. He doesn't want better, he wants Zero. He sighs and buries his face into the other's neck. He needed to convince Zero to go along with this plan, seperating part of his soul to have the other's memories etched onto it, that it would allow him to come and go to the manor as he pleased...He had to get this right.

"I don't want anyone else, Zero, I want you. I like that you enjoy the simple things in life, because sometimes, people are obsessed with grand gestures and try to fill their lives with something they think will make them happy, and it only makes them more miserable. You offer enough for me, and you make me happy, and I want to spend my life with you."

"I want you to be my mate, to be soulbound to you. I can think of nobody else I would enjoy an eternity with."

More words left unsaid, but he's not going to let Zero go any time soon.

"I'm selfish, or at least, I want to be. I've given so much of myself to others, pushing my own desires down. So this one time, I want to be selfish, and have the chance to keep you in my life for all time."

Their guest was a… a pretty person. Which wasn’t something Eric payed far to much attention to. Shanjie though seemed to feed into a few—select parts of him that fed off of that kind of thing. The parts he tried to keep rather buried deep inside of himself. They weren’t that great, and he hated having to feed off of certain things (like body parts) Which made it rather difficult to be around their new guest. Never really thought he was that attracted to things, or any specific type of person. But Shanjie was, apparently aesthetically at least, his “type”. Well built, thick, and more than Eric even who was rather “lanky”, yet still shorter than him. A primal part of him really enjoyed that part. He can’t quite explain what came over him today, what it was feeding off of. But one moment he’s perfectly fine, walking through the manor to find Zero, and the next he had stumbled into Shanjie. They exchanged a few greetings, he seemed a bit tired, and Eric backed him up against the wall with his bigger height. He leans in toward them, a hand on the wall beside his head, and with the small bit of distance between them he spoke lowly, softly. “You know you’re unreasonable attractive? It makes me want to do things to you.”

@kinglyisms ○ 𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕞𝕚𝕤 𝕒𝕤𝕜𝕖𝕕 𝕣𝕚𝕕𝕕𝕝𝕖 ○

          ⤷  『  Riddle and him are actually alone, something that can tend to be difficult to do with how many people Riddle tends to tutor, take care of, and monitor. He has friends too, other than Artemis, and he knows the other enjoys and craves his time with them. Something he didn't get nearly enough as a child. Artemis doesn't know a lot about his childhood, just like Riddle doesn't know a lot about Artemis. It's a complicated thing, both their history, and they give small bits of it to each other in passing when they're just talking.

Today, however, he wanted to share something with Riddle. The last few days were rough, Riddle ran into some trouble and though he can handle his trouble on his own well enough--Artemis doesn't like when he has to face it alone. He had that--weird flat device thing that Riddle gave him, but Artemis isn't quick enough with it to get to where Riddle is in a flash. He has a solution to that.

Riddle had just finished changing his clothes and Artemis slips up behind him. They're in the bedroom, private, he loops his arms around his friends neck. Artemis leaned down, resting his lips near the other's ear, and when he spoke his voice was just above a whisper. Just enough to be heard.

"I want to tell you something. My real name." Names have power for Gods and most supernatural creatures. Names were dangerous. "If you ever need me, you only need to speak it. So practice it well, Heart." A twist to his lips, perhaps a smile, and rolls his real name off of his tongue. "Vurphoadith."  』

Riddle always made sure to make time for the various events and happenings of the Heartslabyul dorm alongside his tutoring sessions of not only the younger years, but even the occasional 3rd years as well. At least Cater had gotten his GPA raised enough not to need Riddle all but hounding him over his grades anymore.

Nevertheless, quiet moments in his dorm room with Artemis by his side had become a part of his routine that he would hate to find missing nowadays. There was a certain kind of peace to them, even if he had not yet known Artemis to truly be peaceful.

They would work on their respective projects, read a book together ( occasionally with Riddle reading it aloud to the other and secretly very much enjoying both the act itself and the closeness that often came from it ), have tea and scones if the moment called for it, and indeed sometimes even laid down on his bed together and relaxed.

Right now it was time for bed. He had already completed his nightly rituals and had just finished changing into something more comfortable ( yet equally red and cream themed ) when Artemis pressed against his back and the other's arms wound over his shoulders in quite the intimate embrace.

Naturally, he immediately noticed that the other had chosen to be in his older form again tonight, something Artemis had begun doing more often when they were alone since the first time he'd learned that was a thing the other could do. Though he was more used to it now, Artemis' older form still tended to make him lose track of what he was saying or simply cause him to be looking at Artemis for slightly longer than could be considered appropriate.

Maybe if people knew he was attracted to the fractured god they'd call him  m a d . But really, what else is new?

He shivers, for what else can you do when the person you're attracted to not only embraces you so closely but then also proceeds to whisper, breath hot against his skin and close enough to almost feel the brush of soft lips over the shell of his ear.

Focus— He should focus. Artemis is telling him something important, even if the way in which he's chosen to do so is apparently synonymous with seductive.

Riddle could think of quite a few reasons with which the use of a MagiCam wouldn't suffice and something like this could come in handy, but none of it really cares to register when all he can think about is that Artemis wanted to tell him this. Wanted him to know that he could call on him whenever Riddle needs him… It threatens to steal his breath away and feels like a promise wrapped like silk around his ribs. There and present.

"I'm going to butcher it, aren't I?" Is the first thing he manages to mutter after a moment of silence, trying to process both what Artemis has told him and the way he feels about it. He can feel the heat that has sunken into his cheeks, the steady press of Artemis' chest against his back and the comforting hold of those arms wrapped around his frame.

"Vur…phoadith."

Casimir: need me to fix that?

"You tended to the laundry yesterday, the day before that and the day before that." Three days in a row, he was made to stand back and watch. Three days, and his every attempt to help was sidelined by a smaller, less important task. "I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself, I'll have you know."

"Hey. Let's play a game. I'm going to STAB YOU. See you can CATCH the knife or die trying."

Oh. Oh. Chongyun can already feel a grin appearing on their face. Not because they want this kind of challenge, but because it's already triggering their yang drunk side, and Chongyun, for once, is going to heavily lean into it.

"You want a game, huh?" Chongyun asks, taking a step forward. There was nothing saying Chongyun can't bring his own weapon into this mix, but on the off chance that he's to go unarmed, Chongyun can still use his hands. He knows he's very skilled, after all.

They drag their claymore behind them, drawing little lines in the dirt. "What happens if I stab you first? Then what?"