Adventurerers! Planning [Closed to lilgiastar and The Dark L

The British museum were being a bit of an asshole about letting Adriel see the new cuneiform tablet pieces with the Enuma Elish on it when he checked in during 1928 expedition - 'it was still an ongoing expedition and they were not willing to let a non-employee view it unless...' And that unless caught his attention, of course. The tale was one of his most favorite ones growing up, even fragmented as it was. He and his father had a lot of fun filling in the blanks with their own made up versions, and every time he heard rumors of new fragments being found, the British museum knew to expect him on their door steps. They never had an issue with giving him access before since he also made up for it by translating other tablets for them - usually with two scribes so he could just read a tablet out loud in English for them to type out and put into their own records. One night of work would get through up to half a dozen boxes, but saying as there were hundreds in storage, possibly thousands, that wasn't even a dent. Especially with how new tablets were constantly just being put into storage, too.

This time, they wanted him to be a guest speaker at Oxford on their behalf, though. That was a bit much for Adriel, especially since it was over the Cuneiform version that the kingdom of Urtu used. Yes, he had helped translate it, but it was his father's name on that, and he had not been particularly interested in that iron age kingdom. Their biggest claim was honestly that they could hold their own against the ancient Assyrians, and while his father had been interested because of the biblical connection they had, the only people that actually cared about that kingdom were the Armenians that descended from them. Sure, they were great at defensive warfare with their intricate fortresses and wrought iron fortifications and were pretty much the what grand fantasy castles like Camelot were based around, but as a people, they just sat in them like turtles, snapped when they could, held power for a short period with that tactic, but because they were such defensive tacticians, they grew complacent very fast over their 'invulnerable status' and were toppled very quickly and anticlimactically by the Medes who also toppled the Assyrian Empire before them themselves fell apart before they could make their own empire. The Medes only held together as a powerful people for two centuries, but they didn't leave writing behind and were only known because the Assyrians, Urtu, Greek, and other ancient civilizations made records about them. There was so little documentation that it was also debated that the Medes didn't exist as a government at all and consisted of tribes, which meant that the Assyrians and the Urtu battled each other until they were both weak, and then some random ancient Iraqi tribes came in and destroyed the remnants of both just to loot like vultures going in for the kill when the prey was gasping and too weak to fight anything off.

Right. Urtu kingdom. Adriel obviously had very little respect for those people, but they wanted him to talk about them in a positive and informative way. Ah! He could talk about the Hittite version of the Ḫaiaša-Azzi that some were theorizing were what the Urtu descended from since they were in the same Armenian region! And they were in conflict with the Hittite empire - something Adriel knew very well because he read those freaking tablets as part of his primers - and the Azzi were also connected to the Aia of Greek mythology. And the Colchian woman Medea which is what made Herodotus change the original name from Arian to Medes/Median but Adriel would leave the Greek stuff out and focus more on the Hittite correlation between the two kingdoms despite Hittite's collapse before the Urtu empire formed out of the Azzi one.

Right, so plan made, Adriel stopped at the Leaky to shower and change into something more appropriate, then went to search for a nice place where he could make a rough outline about what to talk about. There was a small tea shop right outside of Oxford, so he ordered a cake and tea and looked for a spot to sit. Sadly, it was filled with students. Well, almost completely filled... There was one table with a man maybe a couple years younger than him, and no other people at it. Since there was a seat there that everyone else was avoiding, he figured the man was unpleasant company, but it was a public place and Adriel had no problem plopping down on the spare seat. The man looked up at him with an angry scowl which Adriel returned with a kind smile, and Adriel noted how those pupils dilated with attraction for a brief second before the man averted his face with a frown.

"Thanks, mate," Adriel said in a happy voice before the man could try to tell him to leave or leave himself. "I was jumped by the museum to be a guest speaker at Oxford today. Can you believe it? I didn't even get a twenty four hour warning, but the ancient language professor that was supposed to go to speak about Urtu apparently came down with a nasty case of Dragonpox - er, sorry, smallpox, private joke - and then a permanent case of dead, so as the only Cuneiform specialist that popped up in the past week that actually knows anything about Urtu, they strong armed me into it. Are you a student there? If you are interested, you can come and see, or maybe even help me kind of sketch out an outline of what I will talk about. Oh, sorry, my name is Adriel Chee, what is yours?"

And just like he had intended, the man was too overrun with information to try to flee or kick him out. "Art," the man replied in a short tone, then frowned. "And I am a professor, not a student!"

Adriel beamed at the surly man like he had just been friendly rather than very rude. "My apologies, professor, it is just you look so young!" he complimented. "I bet you have all the college ladies asking you out for dates since you are rather handsome, too." Ah, and just as he hoped, the man flushed red with embarrassment, picked up his teacup, and stopped speaking. Well, the silent part was not ideal, but knowing that the man really had looked at him with brief attraction and was now very shy was progress from the angry and unhappy tone he was using before. Mmm, sexy college professor... Adriel could work with this if he wasn't homophobic and in the closet about his attraction to his own sex, anyway. Muggles could be tricky. "So what are you a professor of?"

Art's shy demeanor turned into a frown again, though it was aimed at his teacup. "History," he said in a curt tone while Adriel pulled a small notepad and a pen out of the inside of his jacket to start writing on with one hand.

When the man said nothing else, Adriel raised an eyebrow. "There are several history classes out there," he said in an amicable tone. "Which one do you teach? I could never be a professor, so it is admirable that you are teaching the next generation of historians!"

Ah, and that frown turned into a scowl as Art looked up at him. "There is nothing enjoyable about teaching students that only need credits in basic history," Art snapped, then frowned at Adriel again when all he did was nod an agreement. "They don't care about it, and I specialize in ancient history of Greece and Egypt! I specialize in ancient languages! And they can't even appreciate Britain's more recent history of the Romans, Gaelics, and William the Conqueror!"

Adriel smiled at Art since it seemed like he was very frustrated about having lackluster students in a subject he very much adored and finally had someone to rant to about it. "Ah, I dislike the Romans myself," he said. "They had very little originality and cribbed from all the countries they conquered - even their 'revolutionary plumbing systems' were taken from other small kingdoms with Mohenjo-daro and Harappa being the two ancient cities in the 4th millennium that already had advanced plumbing systems followed by the Minoans in the 3rd and then many others. Even their military tactics consisted of 'Hire the Spartans' or 'throw bodies and the kitchen sink at them until they topple over, then build more roads so we can continue to move more bodies.' I can understand how frustrating it is to teach people who only want credits, but surely you have a couple students that are entry level but are genuinely interested in history and need the credit to get into the more specialized history or archeology classes?"

Art seemed rather taken aback by Adriel's assessment of the Romans, seemed... a little pleased? Less frowny anyway when he sympathized over his plight about teaching, then gave a reluctant nod since there were a couple quiet students who actually were in his class for history. "Yes, but they already know what I am teaching so they are bored," he argued right back, not willing to concede that there might be a single good student in his classes. "Just like I was bored in classes in school, so they self study just like I did! So they don't need me!"

Adriel nodded along as he cut his cake into bite sized pieces with his fork. "Well, you are the professor so you don't have to follow the course they gave you, just the general outline," he pointed out before he plopped the first bite into his mouth then made a small face of disgust since it was overly sweet. "Blegh, damn the recent sugar craze. They ruined perfectly good cream!"

He picked up his tea to drink it black and get that foul taste out of his mouth while Art scowled at the offensive cake. "I only order the tea and the plain biscuits here," he said. "The kids like the sugar and the energy it gives them for study."

"Kids?" Adriel asked with a smirk. "You could not have graduated more than a couple years ago at most. What are you, twenty-six?"

"Twenty-seven," Art corrected with a frown. "My birthday was a couple months ago. Also, I did not attend Oxford - I am required to teach as part of my job working at the British Museum."

This time Adriel frowned. "Those bastards are the ones that sent me to be a guest speaker today, too," Adriel grumbled, then pulled his notebook over to start writing in his coded language. "About the most boring kingdom at that! Who even cares about Urtu - they did not do much beyond progress castle building, and really, they did not pile rocks up better than the Ancient Egyptians did or even the mysterious stonehenge and its Neolithic creators! And they were of the iron age! How shameful."

Art snickered for a brief second, then looked surprised at the sound that came out of his mouth. "Ah, yes, shameful," he agreed, though it was with a puzzled frown. "Oh... You mentioned dragonpox? Hogwarts?"

Adriel blinked, then he grinned when he realized it was either a wizard or a squib across from him. "Nope," he said in a cheerful tone. "Regular schooling out in the States, and my summers were spent being schooled with European wandcraft. I'm from the tribes, but my father was British, so I have three different learnings... Four if you include that my summers were additionally spent at sites like Knossos, Hattusa, and the Valley of the Kings starting with KV55 along with some of the Pacific Islands and a few other locations which means I got first had lessons on archeology and ancient histories around the world. You?"

Art looked rather impressed, but he nodded at Adriel's question. "Ravenclaw," he clarified. "I was personally tutored, am one of the youngest master archivists in the last few centuries, can speak Ancient Greek and an Ancient Sumerian language fluently, and I'm still working through Ancient Egyptian which is a bit more difficult since their vowel system is implied based on a region's dialect, accent, and time period. I'm mostly focused on the eighteenth dynasty at the moment, though I do want to find Cleopatra's lost tomb so will also be breaking the dialect for the Ptolemy dynasty. I didn't attend universities, but I have apprenticed in many subjects that also include cartography and archeology for both worlds."

Adriel grinned at Art. He didn't mind one bit that Art sounded like he was trying to make it a competition of who was smarter since he didn't believe intellect was the most important thing in life. Sure, it would be obnoxious if he really cared if someone wanted to one up him in that category, but Art could take that - he was just happy he got the surly man actually engaged in conversation. "Very nice, you must really have worked hard to be privately tutored or apprenticed by all of those masters," he complimented, and was pleased that Art looked taken aback again at getting a compliment. "No doubt a genius. I'm just very smart, but I am happy with that since being a genius is more difficult and people keep piling more expectations on you. My father was considered a genius and they were always shoving ancient alphabets at him to translate and decode, so I actually grew up with cuneiform primers. He didn't understand one bit how to raise a child, and I was a hellion! Even the Greek ministry knows me as 'the Gremlin of Knossos,' though I did get better once we got to Hattusa. We bonded over cuneiform, and now that he has passed, the British Museum is trying to shove his work on me. The only thing I am interested in is the Enuma Elish - there are new fragments! - so they got me to do some guest speaking rather than translations."

Art furrowed his brows in confusion. "Adriel Chee... I don't recall a Chee," he said in an uncertain tone, obviously thinking back on names scribed to translated works in the archives. "No, wait... There are some under your name, but mostly primers, accounts, and trades?"

Adriel groaned and nodded. "They don't know what are in the boxes, about about 95% of tablets are those things," he moaned. "The Hittites, Babylonians, and all of them seriously kept everything that was written down. Well, carved or pressed, but you know what I mean. I occasionally get to translate some of the military tablets though, and that is nice. I refuse to share the legends and the ancient magic ones, so I have to trade off doing anywhere between six to a dozen boxes of the boring stuff with the occasional military or history note to get access to those."

Ah, and the professor suddenly looked very upset, and Adriel grinned. "You can't keep those things a secret!" he lectured with a scowl. "Those are the things that we need to understand a culture! How dare they - how can you-"

Adriel cut him off. "They have dedicated teams to those things, so it doesn't matter if one barely civilized specialist just browses those things since I am certified to read, translate, and handle those things," he airily dismissed. "I do it for my own interest, not to share my stuff with other people. See, you specialize in ancient history, but I specialize in ancient magic which means also learning the cultures and beliefs of those people since they were part of what made ancient magic work. Growing up in a tribe that believes in oral traditions and that writing things down is taboo... Well... I could be convinced to share my own private translation with you over dinner? Tonight if you are not busy? I'll be at the museum with the fragments tomorrow."

Art very much looked conflicted at the offer. "Dinner?" he asked with a frown. "Like... go to your house? Or invite you to mine?"

Adriel leaned forward. "No, dinner like a date at a restaurant," he quietly said with an amused tone, and the professor in front of him froze in shock. "No strings attached, just your company for a meal, or for the whole night if you are interested."

And then Art picked up his teacup and dumped in on Adriel's head. "No thank you," he huffed as he stood up, then grabbed his bookbag on the floor and stomped off.

Adriel sighed as he grabbed some napkins and cleaned up the tea before it could drip too much on his suit. Right, touchy. He really thought he had him hooked, too. What an odd fellow to reject someone that vehemently... It wasn't like he was asking for his virgini-oooooooohh... Yeah. Thinking a bit on their interaction, maybe the professor really was inexperienced even at his age. Hm. Adriel got up, grabbed his notepad, then also left the teashop since he would need to clean up and change again with an hour. Thank the gods for magic.

*************

The presentation went rather well - he went with something a little more victorian which was a hit with the females while the dragon leather boots he wore under his pants kept the respect of the men. He also used his wand as a pointer for some of the posters he had magicked up before people came in for what the three kingdoms would have looked like once upon a time, then pulled out some of the charcoal rubbings he had of various ancient tablets from Hattusa to show the students how cuneiform evolved and was used between these three different civilizations with Urtu being the newest. Assyrian and the Medes were also lightly touched on with his own conjectures about how Urtu and Assyria wore each other down so much that the Medes were able to swoop in and destroy both before they also disappeared into history, and at the end, he got several questions that even went into Babylonian territory that he happily answered before he told them that he really did overstay by half an hour and that the room would be needed for the next guest speaker.

Surprisingly, Art was waiting for him in the side room that the guest speakers used to prepare before and organize after each event. "Huh, guess you really are a professor if you can access this room," Adriel couldn't help but tease as he pulled out his medicine pouch to start shrinking and putting away his charcoal rubbings. "I didn't mean to upset you earlier though, so I'm sorry."

Art shook his head no with a frown. "No, I came to apologize," he said. "I thought you were mocking me when you asked for a date - nobody has asked me before. It wasn't until after I walked around for a bit that I realized you wouldn't even know me at all since you don't work for Oxford or the British Museum...?"

Adriel shook his head no as well. "I contract to various museums, universities, and even just private teams around the world," he said as he vanished the posters. "I was actually just passing through England for a few days - I'll be in Scotland by Monday to prepare for an expedition to the Orkney islands. I will be working as a translator for that one, but I am usually doing bodyguard or guiding jobs. There are better guides than me in up north, but I'll probably end up as a backup curse breaker since it is a neolithic site and those ancient people could have some pretty nasty surprises. I'm the only magical going along for it - it is a muggle expedition - so I'm especially needed because I can discreetly use magic without wand or word. Not that the neolithic people there actually used futhark runes, but the Ministry of Magic is paying me as well to preserve the statute just in case something does happen. I technically don't have any certificates in British prehistory, but I'm known in the community anyway as someone who is especially interested in it and the paleolithic periods, so the University of Edinburgh itself had nothing else to really put me under for that region. Eh, university, muggle, and magical politics - to sum it up, I am flexible enough to fit into areas that there are no specific positions for because of my magical and muggle upbringing - I am a DADA and rune master that specializes in Cuneiform, Futhark, and Hieroglyphs along with various ancient history from the bronze age and earlier, and I speak the basics of many modern languages including Gaelic which is what the older folks in the region speak who I can get oral traditions and histories out of that might help piece together the history of the location we are going to. Anyway, I hope you have a good weekend, Art, and it was great to meet you. Good luck with your classes."

Art looked unhappy with the sudden goodbye - there was a small vulnerability in his eyes that made Adriel hesitate, then tilt his head a little in curiosity. "Uhm... I mean... If you want to do dinner tonight...?" Art mumbled in a small voice.

Adriel grinned. "Sure, we can do dinner," he agreed as he rocked back on his heels and put his hands in his pockets. "No strings attached, and I'll tell you a bit about the Enuma Elish, too. The first book, mind, not all of them, and we can talk theories on the missing pieces. Just a dinner between friends."

Art looked relieved at the last part and nodded. "I'll meet you at the Oxford library at seven then," he said. "I can show you a nice Spanish restaurant if you want. It is pretty quiet and the food is good."

"Sure," Adriel agreed again with a smile. "See you then, I'll dress down a bit."

Ah well, it wasn't the date he had originally aimed for in the tea shop, but he did learn from this experience and he might have a new friend. He might give the professor some teaching tips, too, so he would hopefully hate his job a little less and get the students that actually liked history engaged even more.

Adriel was visiting England in February to meet Marilyn Conner - Art's 'lady love,' 'soulmate,' 'goddess of femininity,' and a myriad of other and progressively worse poetically descriptive letters about her beauty, kindness, intelligence, compassion, and so much more. Two months of letters like that, and then a letter asking him to be a best man because they are getting married ASAP after only three months and... Adriel was feeling exceptionally paranoid. Art was insisting on Valentine's day which was only a week away.

Gods... He really did hope Art found the one, but Art tended to tumble in and out of trouble, and seriously, Art was too picky to ever think of anyone as perfect. If he asked though, she probably farted rose-scented perfume and her lips tasted like the finest dessert wine or some bullshit like that. Could he just spy on her and make her disappear if his suspicions were right? Tsk. No, of course not, or Art would end up severely depressed. Fuck, unless he actively caught her in the act of love potioning him or something, Art would end up severely depressed because if she just used skillful seduction to snag him for his money, then Art would think there was still nothing to him that anyone would want.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck. Right. And fuck again. He hated this. He prayed that this woman really was able to sing birds out of the trees and was as sweet as Art claimed or there would be hell to pay. Without making British citizens disappear in Britain because the aurors really would investigate murder if he was the prime suspect. He was listed as dangerous and always had to report his presence in the country because of his two masteries - one wasn't an issue, but when you had both on top of ancient magic, like a martial artist had to register their fists as a weapon, he had to report he was around. So he could be investigated for any weird crimes when he was around. Meh, it just meant he was kept up to date with the latest weird cases the aurors might be looking in to, but it sure was an issue when he actually did want to commit a serious crime. Or potentially wanted to commit a serious crime. Thankfully, he had an idea that would postpone the wedding until summer, and he was fairly confident in his ability to talk Art into it which was why he was visiting - not to be a best man for a sudden wedding, but to buy some time.

Thankfully, it worked, too. He pointed out that it would be most romantic if the wedding was held at Art's resort, but he would actually need to fully furnish his Roman villa from the bare necessities it currently was. Adriel was also more than willing to help furnish the place, but the wedding should be held in early summer since those are the luckiest weddings. He gave Art a scroll with the fortune arithmancy that he paid a Chinese fortune teller to do based off Art and Marilyn's birthdays and birth locations (Saint Mungo for both) that also backed up the dates he was suggesting with a June 7th wedding considered the most opportune date, and Art finally agreed once Adriel painted a picture of the whole town decked out with garlands of flowers, a siren serenade for the wedding song, and all sorts of things like that. Then Art dragged Adriel to this mysterious woman to give her the good news in the change of plans.

Marilyn was pretty. She was also fake. Adriel immediately sensed the glamour on her before he took her hand to politely hover right above her skin... And then she flipped her wrist and tried to brush his lips up against it which made him jerk his head back. She apologized for the 'accident,' of course, but Adriel had smelled the traces of the potion on her skin and he was even more on guard. Art went right up to her to give her a kiss, but she kept her eyes on Adriel with a triumphant look like he could do nothing about what was going to happen even though she suspected that he suspected that she was up to something.

And that smug air remained around her while they took tea (which Adriel banished the contents of rather than drink because he did not trust this person at all), but then Art, in his usual oblivious manner, presented the scroll with the fortune and chattered about the change of plans and Adriel saw that flash of rage that made Art falter for a brief second before the woman put that mask right back on to smile and nod, but then lament that she wanted to marry him sooner so they could start a family as quickly as possible since that was all she ever wanted and he was such a perfect man. Art was about to give in to her guilt trip, when Adriel smiled in turn and claimed that he was very pleased that she trusted Art's judgement, and that any woman would love a grand wedding with a Roman villa to retire to immediately after it, but if she had any preferences for fabrics and colors for a house design, he would be glad to go over it. Art perked up then since Adriel knew what to talk about, and Marilyn clenched her jaws very briefly before she gave a pretty smile and agreed, and Adriel firmly kept the conversation on fabrics, colors, types of furniture, rugs, and everything else a home would need while Art patiently waited with an adoring gaze at the woman as they spoke.

With that concluded, Adriel whisked Art away to Greece using Art's portkey that evening, not even allowing him to grab his clothes since Adriel reminded him that the villa had clothes suited for the terrain. When they got to Greece, it was just a couple hours later, so Adriel shooed Art to his villa and took the unfurnished guest room for himself where he set his hammock up in a corner.

Step one: get Art away from the woman for a period of time was complete. Whoever she was, she definitely was not what she appeared to be, and he wasn't sure if she was even human. Well, no, that thought was highly uncharitable - she definitely was human - but he sensed something oily and disgusting about her that was horrible. It reminded him of something, but he wasn't sure what that something was... Something that he had brushed against once upon a time. Barely touched... When? He wasn't sure, but it was an unsettling feeling and definitely associated with something more on the negative side.

Step two had Adriel waiting until Art was asleep before he snuck into his room, then he scanned him for curses and potions. He could not detect anything, however, and that meant that whatever was happening circled around Art's gullibility and romantic side that wanted to believe that Aphrodite and Hephaestus got together from genuine love and she had not cheated on him at all with Apollo. Fuck again. And he couldn't just say something without evidence or he would drive Art away because he would refuse to believe him without proof. Adriel retreated back to his own room, but he didn't sleep - he started making a charm for Art instead just in case it was some kind of mind magic based around dreams since those were all but impossible to catch without legilimency on his part, occlumency on Art's part, or artifacts that protected the sleeping mind when it was most vulnerable to things like moon magic that actually could tamper with the mind.

By morning, he had gotten only a two hour nap in, but he was able to present Art with a 'dream catcher' that a frankenstein mix of Adriel's native magic, voodoo rituals, and African witchcraft that served for what Adriel wanted. He explained that even if Art was no longer having much in the way of nightmares, it was meant to catch the sun's rays during the day to purify Art's mind at night to help clear his mind so he would not get wedding jitters or second thoughts which were perfectly normal to have, but if he did get them, he could always talk to Adriel as well. Art seemed very happy at the thoughtful gift - even giving Adriel a brief squeeze as a hug of appreciation - then he ran off to hang it up in his bedroom window.

Step three was now the waiting game. He explained to Art that there needed to be a full cycle of the moon without contact from the partner, and only with trusted male friends or family members for company so he could properly contemplate what kind of family he wanted without external influence. When Art looked confused, Adriel grinned and told him to just tell him his hopes and dreams for future children and what kind of wedding he was envisioning, and Adriel would try his best to make sure Art would be happy in the end. That was about the best he could promise, too...

He wrote a letter to Marilyn Conner explaining there were certain traditions that must be observed, that Art loved her very much, and they would be busy anyway but Art would be even more appreciative of her presence when he got back after thirty days without word. Art made a few revisions to it when he showed him to add more flowery compliments and declarations of love as a P.S., but it got approval in the end and Adriel mailed it off. It made him feel awful that he was misleading Art in this way, but seclusions before marriage were common in many types of tribes so Art didn't question it and was just glad to have something to talk about while he followed Adriel around for shopping to slowly furnish the house. Days passed like this, and after a week passed, Art nervously opened up a new topic over breakfast.

"Uhm... You remember you said I could talk to you about... wedding jitters? That I didn't think I would have? I uhm... Are you sure it is normal?" he asked in a small voice as he sadly looked at Adriel.

"It is a stereotype for a reason," he confirmed with a reassuring smile. "Most men get cold feet in the months leading up to a marriage. It is a huge change in your life, and you start wondering if you really are ready for such a large step. You just need to ask yourself two questions though - do you love her now, and do you see yourself loving her even ninety years from now when she is old and sick? When one or those is a no, that is when you really do need to think about it and talk to me more so I can help you sort your feelings."

Adriel was feeling a bit of hope now - if there was some kind of mind magic, it was beginning to fade. She was also not aware of an animal ward around the town which included owls, so when breakfast was over, he went out like he did every morning to 'inspect the town and clean it up a bit more before shopping while you work on the garden' to check for owls. And sure enough, there was an angry looking one waiting on a tree with a letter in claw that he stunned, caught, then removed the letter from, and saw it was addressed to Art from Marilyn.

He inspected it for curses, enchantments, and potions, but all he could detect was a perfume that did not hold even a faint scent of the potion that was on her wrist. Still, it was the same perfume she wore, so Adriel cautiously opened up the letter to read its contents. She was begging for Art to come back quickly since she missed him dearly - how he must be in London tonight since she was preparing a sumptuous dinner for him, but that he was welcome to bring his friend Adriel along if he couldn't leave him behind. And Adriel's suspicions deepened even further since it read more like a command to be obeyed rather than a love letter that was asking for Art to return as quickly as possible.

The letter was burned, and he sat down on the ground to pull out a wood board and his stationary while the stunned owl was set to the side. He wrote her back in his most beautiful calligraphy in purple ink that he apologized, but Art should not be contacted while he was undergoing Adriel's traditional rituals that had to be observed before a marriage, and that if there truly was an emergency, she could write directly to him and he would be glad to respond or assist if it was feasible to do so. That he hoped her health was well, to remain strong in her conviction of love for Art, and he would definitely be returning Art as soon as the rituals were complete.

The beautiful paper with the beautiful calligraphy was put into a matching beautiful envelope which he then used a white wax with faux gold flakes to seal, then it was tied to the bird's leg with a beautiful red velvet ribbon before he enervated the bird that immediately tried to peck him. He barely got away without a scratch from the angry thing, and then it shook its tail at him in the most insulting way before it leapt off the ground and to the air to make the trip back to England.

The trip back to the villa was made with Art vanishing any trash and casting sweeping charms on the main road to make it look nice and pretty, and then he and Art were off for more shopping and decorating.

It was honestly a little bit expensive, but the colors she picked were colors that Art would not mind one bit, and Art seemed to genuinely appreciate the pieces Adriel was turning up in muggle and magical stores. Especially the solid cherrywood and crystal cut glass curio cabinet that Adriel said could highlight his dancing statue collection in the main hall, and surely Marilyn would love to see them every day as well in such a prominent position. The cabinet had been found on the muggle side of France in a Chinese district, and Art had happily gushed about it and his statues while they had it crated and taken to his boat which was what they used to pretend they got to France after he apparated Art up there despite the brewing war.

Yes, Adriel was very much dragging his feet and stretching out the time by insisting on shopping in different countries - Greece would not have everything after all. He also made sure to show Art historic locations in each areas which made Art eager for their outings. And as more days passed, the excitement for their travels grew while his enthusiasm for the wedding dimmed, and Adriel had to block a few more letters with more insistent demands that had flimsier excuses and burn them before she finally got the hint that she really did need to write to him rather than Adriel, and finally it was flowery pleas to bring Art back.

It was on the eighteenth day when Art quietly and guiltily said he wasn't sure if he could answer the two questions with a positive anymore and burst into tears. Adriel held him and let him cry while he reassured him that sometimes crushes developed, but they only lasted for three to five months before they petered out just as fast as they had developed. That crushes could very much feel like love, but they were just the mind yearning for something it was missing and wanted dearly. He also told Art that it could also just be more wedding jitters though, so they could continue to wait and see if the feelings came back, but maybe he should go back to writing his lists and write a list about things he liked and disliked about her tonight after the shopping trip to Iraq where Adriel knew of an Ancient Greek city called Artemita hidden in the desert. That it was well known by the locals and even the surrounding districts, but the country itself didn't care much about it so word was not out about it to the rest of the world and the country did not allow excavations there, but going to see it and walk in the ruins was fine while they were on their way to Iran to look at Persian rugs.

That cheered Art up considerably, and Adriel pulled out a handkerchief to clean off the tears and snots before he sent Art off to shower and get dressed for desert travel which included turbans that could double as a face cover in case of strong winds. Adriel had put Art in those things in Egypt, so Art had a small wardrobe of desert clothing and he had stopped arguing about necessities of terrain-based clothing after their first trip through Greece. Adriel popped out to check for letters, and sure enough, there was another owl with a letter, but this time it was in the red envelope of a howler.

"ARTEMIO REYES, PLEASE COME BACK TO ENGLAND RIGHT NOW!" it wailed out, then shredded itself to bits.

Adriel was glad that all of this was happening outside of the town where Art would not be able to hear it at all. He penned a letter - this time a mild rebuke at such behavior since patience was a virtue and Art was a very devout Christian who was also showing patience by observing Adriel's own unusual traditions, then a flowery worded plea to just wait a little longer since the time apart was getting shorter and their beautiful reunion was only ten days away. It was sent off just like the others had been - in beautiful calligraphy on fine paper and envelope with the seal and stamp and red velvet ribbon. The owl hated him just as much and continued to shake its tail at him before it left.

Art was absolutely astounded with Artemita, and Adriel pointed out that it was very close to his own name while he explained how its history entertwined with the Assyrian and Parthian empires as well. There were only a few columns and walls standing, some with cuneiform writing which he translated to Art and others with ancient greek writing which Art translated to Adriel. They spend a good couple of hours there for Art to relax, and Mr. Bear even came out for a few photos before they hopped to Iran for persian rugs.

Adriel picked out a few beautiful rugs in red which he explained would bring the red columns in the house together with the black marble floors he had put in, and since Marilyn had only agreed to Persian rugs but had not specified the color, this could be Adriel's little contribution to Art's home and he said he would pay for them as a gift to Art. Art knew they were expensive since Adriel had to pay for each one with two once ounce gold ingots each, and Adriel was getting a bargain only because he was paying in real gold rather than the iffy currency that the world was getting nervous about with the depression barely behind them and a new war on the horizon. But Adriel just smiled at Art's protests, patted him on the head, then apparated him back home in the apparition hops Adriel was very good at.

More days passed, and Art started showing Adriel the lists after day five. Art was realizing there was very little he had in common with Marilyn, and that... he was not sure why he had fallen in love with her at all. That maybe it really was a crush. That with more consideration, he would absolutely hate living with her because she was very picky about what Art was allowed to wear, eat, do, or talk about. She apparently didn't mind talking about Ancient Greece or Egypt, but she absolutely loathed Rome and hated things like wide roads which was why her home had a dirt path that was connected to a small dirt road that wouldn't allow a car to pass through. And she did not go into London or any large city. And... she sometimes talked about ruling his town with him together and making it a real ancient town which he actually very much hated the thought of.

Adriel solemnly nodded as he listened, and then asked if Art had considered that maybe she had intentionally seduced him. That there were people in the world who could enrapture people just through charisma and promising them everything they could ever want, but they just needed to make some small sacrifices in return. Maybe she was doing hima favor by taking over the administrative duties of his resort? She was a good head on her shoulders for numbers so could do balances and make sure he continued to have funds for his expedition? That if he didn't like his family, they could just run away to Greece together and stay there so Art would not have to see them often it at all?

Art grew pale with each question, and then he turned green and ran away to the bathroom. Adriel quickly followed and rubbed his back while he vomited into the toilet and made soothing sounds. Art was finally listening, finally capable of listening, so he quietly confided that he had suspected that Art was under some kind of obscure mind magic which was why he had isolated him and made him a type of dream catcher meant to stop anything from accessing his mind at night when it was most vulnerable, then said he had noticed she was under some kind of glamour charm and had tried to apply a potion on him during that first greeting. Art started crying and blaming himself for being an idiot, but Adriel held him and smoothed his hair back as he insisted that her tricks were actually very very subtle, and Adriel was only saved because he had been on guard himself due to Art's very unusual letters. And whatever she was doing was some type of very old magic, but he would get to the bottom of it since it was the type of evil witchcraft that medicinemen were trained to spot and deal with, but Art was to close the wards on his resort and not let anyone in or out until Adriel contacted him through the Mavros who he would definitely be going to before and after, and taking some of them along as backup since he suspected it had something to do with Ancient Greece with how she was going on about ruling his town.

Adriel was both right and wrong with his suspicions... It had been Cleopatra herself, and she had wanted to regain her kingdom and destroy all of the Roman countries in a final revenge against the Roman empire. One of the objects Art had allowed to go back to England had been a phylactery - a type of horcrux that stored the whole soul rather than a sliver - and it had possessed a woman at the Ashmolean museum. It had been in a ring that had been in one of the mummified servant rooms rather than the main tomb that Adriel had checked up and down for death magics, and it only needed proximity and a vulnerable heart rather than someone actually holding or wearing it to begin an initial possession, too. Like a horcrux, however, it had to be destroyed, and Adriel, Sepia, and an Unspeakable did so before the Mavros and the Unspeakables got into an argument over who would get to keep the remains. Adriel left to go back to Greece once he was sure the young lady who had been the victim of Cleopatra would eventually recover after years of therapy despite being aged thirty years (a decade was sacrificed each month to keep Art enthralled using a life force based magic that required constant contact through touch, scent, sight, sound, or taste, with sex making it permanent and could only be used on a virgin and explained the perfume on the letters), then went through Maroon to open the wards with him and get back to Art.

Art was inconsolable. First, that he really did not mind falling in love with Cleopatra after all, but he would not have allowed a young woman to be sacrificed for Cleopatra and why didn't she tell him the truth?! They could have figured something out to give her a body and how much history was wasted with her final death because he would have wanted to ask her questions about ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece - so many questions for first hand accounts - but then again, look at what happened to Mark Antony and how she had deliberately sent him off to die for that terribly evil plot they had learned which really was justified since she was only trying to save Egypt and whyyyyyyyy did she have to be so evil and why did he need to be saved? If only she had been good! But if she were she would never had made a phylactery and Art would never have gotten to meet her even if everything with her was all based off of lies and enchantments and he really was grateful that Adriel had saved him but why didn't he contact him first about the whole thing so that maybe they could have done something to learn about ancient egypt and that whole era while keeping her properly contained and safe!

And Adriel sighed since he could never win with Art. Art really was a woman in a man's body despite his protests over Adriel mentioning that once a year ago. And at least Adriel finally got to furnish Art's home. That last one had really really bothered him, and he had had the foresight to pick things that Art would like even if 'Marilyn' had made her suggestions, so it really was meant for Art's tastes. He patted Art on the head, apologized for destroying an ancient and evil soul that was going to take over his town, then the island, then rebuild her own empire on the ashes of all of the countries around them, then asked if Art wanted to go out for dinner at the Pulled Pork for the daily special.

Prompt 1:

Adriel owns a very prominent luxury exclusive BDSM night club. And once in a while, every few months or so to try to attract new clients / have variety for the regulars there are discount nights that are super cheap. Art gets brought there on one of these discount nights, and has no idea what kind of club it is until it is far too late.

- Adriel is INSANELY rich.
- He notices a very freaked out Art

Prompt 2:

What if Adriel's father, while still an archeologist and such, was a muggle? And Adriel himself were completely muggle? No magic at all, not even tribal magic. And has almost no knowledge of magic, just a tiny bit of tribal magic knowledge but other then that he doesn't know about say kelpies or wands or anything.

Where would he be now?

You can include Art if you would like/ mention their trip and how different it would be if he was muggle but it is not neccasary.

Prompt 3:

Adriel decides to do some searching into his own personal history, and finds to his surprise thathis 'Navajo prince' title isn't so fake after all and finds ties in his British background that show he is blood related to royalty. And in fact, hes the last heir of a huge family fortune through some old great aunt hes never even heard of! She's incredibly elderly and ready to die any day and once she does, Adriel is set to inheritate at least one million galleons.

- Adriel decides to visit this long lost relative
- She has no children, no pets, no grandchildren, absolutely nothing and no one and is literally at deaths door going to pass any day. And no will, so once she dies it automatically all goes to Adriel.
- She has no idea who Adriel is either.
- She has at least one million galleons in her vault at Gringotts, a mansion of a house, a brand new nice Ford car, plenty of land (like 15 acres of land just on her mansion property), stables though no longer has horses, a beautiful private carriage, a royal title, and also some way of conting to make money (farms people work, a company, a factory ect) all of which is set to land right into Adriels lap once she passes.
- He can not kill her
- He only inheritats everything if he moves into the mansion permanently since it can not be sold due to it being tied to her royal title. It MUST go to one of her relatives, and there is a clause that if that relative does not move into the mansion they thus can't inheritate anything.

How does this visit go? What does he say to her? What does he do? What is he going to do about the clause in the inheritance? What does he plan on doing with the money if he agrees to the clause?

Prompt 4:

Due to something out of ADriels control, he accidentally causes a huge breach in the statute of secrecy in England while there. Like, that event where thousands of muggles had to be oblivated event in idr what year. Like HUGE.

- What did he do to cause this
- How does he handle it
-how does England handle it

Prompt 1:

Based off my last writing from your prompt 1.

Art was kissed on the forehead and apparated home with a lot of conflicted feelings. But be had made a decision to go to the club that night when he met the very first nice person he had ever met despite the man giving him a kiss on the forehead. Or a "Queen's Blessing." It did feel magical, and Christopher had been fired the next day since he was caught stealing stealing the petty cash from the acquisitions office, so he probably was blessed. So yes, he goes, and he goes every day of the month. He finds out that there are other nice people, but he looked forward to seeing Adriel the most - especially with the occasional and interesting costumes he picks based off of mythology or history. And it feels special when Adriel 'breaks character' just for him. And he listens and gives solid advice to problems. And... He tells him when he is doing a good job.

And he finds out he has a praise kink. Specifically praises from Adriel since they are real and genuine and lets him know he really is accomplishing things to make his own life better.

Art also kind of wants another kiss on his forehead. More than kind of wants, but he is struggling to admit he really really wants another kiss on his forehead. It was comforting, that was all! Nothing more to it. Not that it would matter if there was more to it since Adriel seemed to disappear into the back rooms with males or females on occasion. And Art is under no illusion about what that means - as a member, even if it was free, he did take home and read the terminology and outlines of what BDSM was specifically so that he would not be tricked into things by terrible people that might do stuff he didn't want. And no, Adriel was right, the whole thing was actually less than a quarter about sex or sexual gratification. It was almost completely about emotional fulfillment, so there was nothing wrong with him trying to do the best he could just so he could talk about his accomplishments and get praises for them. But now his month was up, and he had to decide if he wanted to pay the one gold a month membership fee.

--Adriel does give Art other compliments about having pretty eyes, nice skin, and things like that. Just things that are casually dropped into conversation.
--Art figures out that he gets more praises if he actually does try hard rather than talk about how horrible life is.
--Art must ask for another 'Queen's Blessing' at some point, and if it is partially during the story, something else lucky happens (coincidence again, but Art can take it how he wants)

Prompt 2:

Oxford requires Art to go to Africa on a business trip to oversee a couple of their research farms that are supposed to be there to help improve the lives of the locals and give them feedback on various crop rotation cycles, but what he finds is corruption and slavery of the worst degree. Many of the locals are missing fingers and toes from various punishments, children are sick, malnourished, and starving, and everyone carries whipping scars. The surprise visit has the officials trying to bribe Art with gold, diamonds, and women, and when that doesn't work, they threaten to kill him if he tells the University what is really happening.

--Art can go alone or with an associate, but if there is an associate, they happily take the first gold bribe that is offered.
--If Art fully refuses, then his return trip north has to be a dangerous undertaking that gets him stuck in Cairo, and he has to find Amon and get help from him to return home where he can report the heinous crimes.
--Make the slavery situation as bad as you want - of the worst kind if you wish. It cannot be nicer than that is stated here, however.

Prompt 3:

Art is a DMLE archivist because it is the only job that pays high enough for him to buy the books he needs to sate his book hoarding tendency. Fiction or nonfiction, magical or muggle, he doesn't care as long as it is a good read for what it is. If it is a book on science, then it has to be factual, and if it is fantasy, then it best be well written so he can escape into the fantastical world the author is writing. Recently, he had to pause in buying books so he could save up and buy an actual house so he had more room for his books, and he picked a home that is right by one of the largest and most interesting bookstores in all of England that even has a magical section to it called 'The Bookwyrm's Horde.' The owner of the store is such a recluse that nobody knows who owns it, but the man who runs the tiller is very handsome and Art loves to shop there just to see him, too.

--Adriel is owner and runs the store, but it originally belonged to his father who really was the recluse until he died. Adriel lets the public keep thinking he is just manning the store and refuses to answer questions about the reclusive owner.
--Art is a complete bibliophile who has read too many books to really care about homosexuality. He honestly thought himself as asexual until he sees Adriel for the first time. Hot guy that is knowledgeable about magical and muggle books with excellent references to give + hot bookstore with more books than Art could probably maybe read in a lifetime including the occasional rare tomes = Art's catnip on crack.

Prompt 1:

Art finds out he has a huge crush on Adriel after they find Cleopatra, but he gets depressed because there is nothing he can do about it since Adriel said no. His therapist tells him all he can do is keep going forward because a person can't go back and change time.... Only Art can! He has an artifact from the tomb that will let him change time a little bit! Kind of. One minor event that involves one person, anyway. Art decides to go back in time to change what he said on the fountain at Gringotts.

---Adriel and Art are very good friends, but Adriel turned Art down because 'Our friendship is still not stable and I don't want what happened in Demeter District to mess it up. You are still learning about different relationships and a first boyfriend or girlfriend relationship almost always goes bad. You should get some dating experience.'

Prompt 2 :

When Art was younger, the museum held a special farming history exhibit, and he had chicken duties delegated to him in the outdoor part of the display. What did that mean? He had to collect the chicken eggs. In front of people. From real, live, chicken.

--There is no rooster
--Chickens can make you bleed a bit with scratches and pecks, but they can't take chunks out or anything lol

Prompt 3 :

When they get back to London, Adriel goes toe to toe with Victus and a couple of his minions with a couple of aurors at his side and Art at his back. Victus and his allies are defeated, but not before Adriel gets turned into a rather large cat (think cheetah, lion, leopard, puma, tiger, etc. Your choice.). The Healer at Saint Mungo says Adriel will be just fine after a week, and the aurors dump the cat on Art and tell him to just feet Adriel a couple pounds of raw and unprocessed meat (steak, a few chicken thighs, a small but whole plucked pheasant, etc) from the grocery store each evening.

Adriel is still in there, of course. He is still taking his Art-sitting duties seriously, too. Adriel goes with Art to work every day, but since he cannot apparate, Art has to apparate him. And get him a harness and leash because the librarians are very upset to have an uncollared cat even if it is a wizard that is a cat.

--Adriel can't cast spells, and if he is left at home alone, he will make his displeasure very well known. Like clawing the door, rolling around on Art's bed and furniture, etc. Nothing that can't be fixed with spells and nothing to hurt the books.

Art and Adriel made it back to London and Adriel seemed to be on a mission to find Vicuts the head of the board, since all ties of Art being cursed had lead to him. Art sort of just followed Adriel around as Adriel went to the Ministry and got Aurors and hunted Victus down, since there wasn't much else for him to do. So he followed along as Adriel and the Aurors hunted him down. They found Victus, as well as some of his co conspiracers who all worked at the library and had a huge duel. Art was pretty much hiding behind Adriel the entire time as Adriel and the aurors took care of Victus and the rest. Slowly one by one they were taken down, or disarmed until just Victus was left. Just as Adriel let off the final spell that would take down Victus, a light went off of VIctus's wand moments before Adriels spell hit him, and Adriel didn't have time to protect himself.

There was a flash and suddenly... there was a tiger!!! Art let out a blood curdling scream as there was suddenly a tiger next to him, the aurors rushing to take care of Victus and his crew. However Art turned and started to run, screaming.

"ADRIEL THERES A A A A CAT!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BIG CAT BIG CAT!!!!!" fear made it so he could not think of the word tiger at the moment. He found a pole to hide behind and quickly did so, gasping for breath. He glanced behind him to see...

Where was Adriel? The tiger was just... sitting there. And Adriel was no where to be seen!

"Adriel?" Art asked, his voice shaking. His eyes darted around, the aurors seemed to be completely unconcerned with the fact there was now a giant tiger just... sitting. One of them glanced back at him with a frown.

"Stop screaming, your giving me a headache" he snapped "Your friend IS the tiger" he informed him snappily before going back to the member he was dealing with. Art frowned when he was snapped at but then looked at the giant cat who was now laying down on the floor. Art slowly made his way out from behind the pole.

"Adriel?" he asked softly still quiet a bit away from the giant thing, not wanting to get too close. The tiger then rolled onto its back revealing its stomach to him and Art couldn't help but skirt back at the sudden movement. The tiger let out a... vibrating sound and Art couldn't help but stare at it in horror. No, that THING couldn't be Adriel. Could it...? He hoped not. He really hoped not. "If you are Adriel... you can't eat me... as much as your animal instincts want you to eat me. I uh... I will take you to Saint Mungos to figure this out" he assured him "Just... uh don't eat me" he practically pleaded with the cat that was supposed to be Adriel. The Aurors seemed to not care at all that Adriel had been turned into a cat.

Art slowly inched forward, absolutely terrified. He was praying to everyone he could think of that Adriel wouldn't eat him, including Adriels gods he had mentioned like Coyote and the Spider Woman since he figured Adriel would listen to those. Finally he got close enough that if he reached his hand all the way out he could touch Adriel cat. "Alright I um I will apparate us. Don't... don't bite off and eat my fingers" he said trying not to sound as absolutely terrified as he was. Art brought out his hand and oh so slowly and cautiously brought it forward for Adriel and as little as possible as he could touched Adriel and took a hold of him. Oh god this was awful he was touching a CAT. His heart was RACING. But he took a deep breath to try to focus and apparated with a crack. They landed in the lobby of saint Mungos and a few people did a double take at seeing him with a tiger. A few even ran away. Art wished he could run away. He did however quickly pull his hand away, as fast as he possibly could since he didn't really want to be touching the man eating creature that Adriel now was.

Art walked to the help desk with the tiger following him around. It was... unnerving. "Sir, you can not bring an animal into here, we are not a vets office" the help witch said. Art frowned.

"That is a wizard, he has been trned into a tiger. I... didn't know where else to go" he said. The help with looked at the tiger who gave her very big puppy dog eyes. The helper witch slowly nodded.

"Follow me" she said and got up and headed down a hallway. Art, and Adriel, followed her down the hall until she got to a room and let them in. She did a diagnostic, as best as she could, but wasn't really sure what the tempurature and blood pressure and stuff for a tiger was supposed to be. Art filled in the paper work to the best of his ability. And then a healer came in and tried to see what he could do. However... he decided Adriel was fine. He was just... a tiger instead of a wizard now. And it seemed as though it would last for about a week, and then wear off on its own. And to feed Adriel like a tiger, with raw meats from the grocery.

Art frowned as he walked back to the lobby with tiger Adriel following him. What was he going to do with Adriel as a tiger? What even could he do? As much as he wanted, he couldn't just set Adriel free to roam the countryside. As much as Art thought he could easily survive on his own in the wild for a week, he highly doubted that those in Britain would take kindly to seeing a tiger roaming the countryside. He'd probably get shot. Or thrown in a zoo or something. But most likely shot. And he couldn't let that happen to Adriel. And the Aurors didn't even seem too bothered by it, and just left Adriel to him. And it wasn't like Art knew of anyone who could take Adriel in. Or how to even get Adriel to them if he did, since it seemed Adriel couldn't do magic in this state.

Art looked at Adriel Tiger as they got to the lobby. "You can't let your man eating tiger instincts take over. You can't eat me." Tiger Adriel looked up at Art with big puppy eyes. Art frowned "You may think its silly now but who nows if in a day or two your new animal man eating instincts will take over! But, unless that happens you can stay with me and wait for it to wear off." he said. Adriel wagged his tail at that. Art frowned. Oh he hated this.

He apparated them to his apartment. He sighed, Adriel took up half the living room. "don't touch the books" Art said, the wall where in the 21st century a tv would be, across from thecouch, was a nice but modest collection of books. There was also an arm chair that looked second or third hand that was a plain brown color, with window next to it, and a small radio on the windowsill. There was a small and modest and looked second hand couch that was a plain grey color, and looked to be sagging and breaking. There was a small kitchen, with very little counter space, and consisted mainly of an ice box not one of those new fridges that had popped up in the 20s, and an oven and stove. There was a small circular wooden table for one, with one matching chair, both looked to be old and chipping. The living room and kitchen were very open so they felt very much like the same space. There was an open doorway that lead to a bedroom, and the bathroom was through there. The entire apartment couldn't have been more then six hundred square feet. If that. Besides the book shelves full of books, all of which were clearly also second hand, in the living room and kitchen there were no personal affects. No personal touches, no warmth, the walls were all plain white. There were no pictures of anything, nothing on the walls. It almost felt like someone didn't even live there. Even though it couldn't be seen, the bedroom looked the same. A small twin sized bed with beige sheets and blankets and pillow cases. Of course perfectly made. A night stand with a lamp, and a few books on it. A closet. The door to the bathroom. Really the only sign of life was in the bathroom, with shaving cream, razors, tooth brush and paste, brush, and shampoo and body wash in the shower.

Art went and closed the door to the bedroom/ bathroom area. Art turned to look at Adriel "I am going to run to the grocery store so that I can grab some raw meat for you, a chicken or something." Art said. Adriel Tiger seemed to frown a bit at that and growled a little. Art backed away. Was Adriel already succumbing to his new man eating insticnts? Did he want to eat HIM for dinner instead? Adriel Tiger then went over and gently pawed at the door. Art frowned. "I can't take you with me to muggle london to the grocery store! I will only be gone a few minutes. I need to get you meat. And a harness and leash so I can walk you-" a growl making Art take another step back, but his back his the door to the bedroom. Oh god he was cornered. A few moments passed. "YOu aren't using my bathroom! So I need to be able to walk you. Which I can't do in muggle London. It would cause a riot! People would be terrified and running away screaming!" he wanted to run away screaming! "Someone would try to hurt you!" Art insisted. Adriel Tiger sat down in front of the door, not seeming to want to move. Art frowned. "I am leaving, I will be back in a few minutes" he insisted and then with a crack was gone. And at a nice alley not far from the grocery. He walked in and got plenty of meat, different things like steaks, ground beef, entire whole chickens, even a turkey. He wanted to do everything he could to prevent Adriel's animal insticnts taking over and eating him! So he made sure there was plenty of variety. He also got a harness, and a leash and picked up some cat toys. Art figured that was good, and apparated back after paying.

He found a broken kitchen chair, and a scratched up front door. Luckily Art was able to fix them with spells, but this was ging to be an annoying week.

And indeed it was. Art had to take Adriel to work or else he would come home to a destroyed couch or chair or something. The nights were terrifying, Art as barely sleeping since he was always worried about Adriel eating him. He would try to close and lock his bedroom door, but Adriel didn't seem to like that and would force his way in and try to sleep on his bed with him. He had to wash his sheets a lot too, because of it. No matter how much he told Adriel to get off, he wouldn't listen. Adriel also was always around! Everything from trying to read, to listening to the radio now was difficult because he had a giant tiger in his apartment!! Which took up like half of his space! It was incredibly annoying! His tail in his face. His face in his face. AND HAIR!! HAIR EVERYWHERE!! It was awful! Art HATED it!! It was evil! His couch and his bed were turning orange! Everything was turning orange! And Adriel forced him to brush his hair for him! And he was constantly underfoot, and Art constantly accidentally stepped on Adriels tail, or foot. Or accidentally hit his nose. That had been horrible.

Finally one morning Art woke up after a meager hour or two of sleep after fighting with Adriel to get off the bed. He sighed, at least he didnt have work today. He looked over and... saw Adriel!! As Adriel!!

"ADRIEL!!! YOUR HUMAN!!!" Art practically shouted. Adriel winced and opened his eyes and brought his hands up and inspected them. He then turned to Art with a frown.

"Please let me decorate your villa, I can't stand the idea of it being as bare and plain as your apartment." he said. Art frowned.

"There is nothing wrong with my apartment!" Art insisted.

Prompt 1:

The world is the world of pokemon. People befriend pokemon, train and raise them, battle them, just enjoy their company, dress them up and put them in shows, use them to help farm or do other daily tasks.... the world revolves around these wonderful beings known as pokemon! However not everyone decides to befriend a pokemon. Its rare but it happens. Art was one of those people, his childhood came and went always avoiding the tall grass, and never straying far from home due to strong and dangerous pokemon being out there. Being alone without a pokemon by your side is dangerous. Adriel is born a pokemon. And One day Art trips and falls into the tall grass and gets attacked by (though very weak/ low level like lvl 5 or less) pokemon, and without a pokemon they attack him. Hes getting battered and bruised... and Adriel sees and battles the pokemon attacking Art. And doesn't want to leave Art's side.

- It can be any region/ any generation of pokemon
- Adriel can be any pokemon
- What does Art decide to do with his new pokemon? How does he and Adriels realtionship grow

Prompt 2:

Adriel was born a hydra, and a familiar. However he got seperated from his family and never knew he was a familiar. He only grows to the size of a small cat, and has to fend for himself. One day he comes upon a man being frightened by a cat, a mean alley cat. And Adriel steps in and saves him but gets hurt. Art decides to take him in and care for him until he gets better. However, Adriel and Art click and Art has to explain to Adriel what a familiar is, and how he never wanted one since he doesn't like animals.

- Art explains everything about familiars to Adriel
- Adriel has never had a family before, and doesn't have any memories of his hydra family and is very happy to have a wizard
- Adriel hates being away from Art, and feels very lonely very quickly
- it takes Art a while to get used to the idea of having a familiar, but (like LIttle Beast) Adriel grows on Art
- At one point Art takes Adriel to the library
- Once Adriel and their bond is strong enough Adriel can turn into a human with some mark of his hydra-ness
- fee free to add an epilogue XD

Prompt 3:

Art and Adriel are mortal enemies in the museum/history world with a bitter rivarly and EVERYONE knows about it. To th epoint if theres a fundraiser event and one is invited, the person doing the fundraiser knows not to invite the other. But they are actually secretly lovers and just pretend to have this rivarly.

Adriel was a lizard. A snake lizard. A snake lizard with five heads. He was a bit of a mutant, really, but he didn't care because his heads were red, green, blue, and a yellow so pale it was white. Each of them also had their own abilities! Red could belch some fire so he could cook his meals or chase off dangerous things - it was his favorite - the green one could spit out dirt and rocks to blind things that came after him so he could run or cover the entrance of his burrows when he sometimes made dens underground, the blue one was water and great for hot days when he could not find a drink, and the yellow one was a wind/ice. Then there was his head, the one that controlled the four, and it was dark grey with a long black mane that went all the way down to his back where it started streaking with the colors from the other four and their manes, and ended only ended halfway down his tail. All but the green head were great to help him groom his mane. His long whippy tail that could cause gashes on most things. It was probably the most dangerous thing about him, though it wasn't at first. He only learned to use it when he saw another lizard use theirs against him like that, and since it had been rather helpful even if it was unintentional, he let it escape.

The other lizards and snakes he met that taught him life skills like that were all stupid, though. He tried speaking with them, really, but they only talked about their favorite warming rock or about escaping a giant bird just the other day. They had nothing interesting to say, ever, so he didn't feel bad about eating them. He also didn't feel bad about eating mice or baby rabbits or anything else he could catch. Life as a lizard snake thing was really hard, and it took a long time and a study of the giant crunchy spider snacks that lived just below ground to figure out that he might be an ambush predator. It explained why he could use his heads to stay below ground, under water, inside of mud, or even move rocks with the white, green, and blue heads so well.

Adriel liked water the best. Well, no, he liked little burrows that used to have rabbits (delicious baby bunnies) or the stone alcoved that hid giant spiders (tarantulas were so crispy nom) the most, but rabbit burrows flooded and became mud pretty quickly and giant spider dens were places that large hawks and eagles also liked to look for prey, so water was best. A spider den and the eagle was actually why Adriel was now in a very very strange place and hiding inside of a fountain - it had plucked him out of a spider den (he would never use one of those again. That's what he said every time, anyway, but this time he definitely never ever would because this one managed to carry him this far before it could no longer ignore him breathing flame at its armored claws) and dropped him somewhere not far from here. And he went straight to here because it was the strongest water scent he could find to hide in in this strange land of stone and weird disgusting smells and humans (he did not like humans one bit. They kept making his wildlands small and brought trash and stench into them!). Plus, he was hungry after his unwanted afternoon flight, and surely a small bird would end up wanting a sip!

Surely...

A small bird...?

Nothing happened throughout the rest of the day at all. Sometimes shinies would come plopping into the water and a human would say something to the fountain, but they would move off. There were a lot of shinies in the water, actually, so to pass the time, he started gathering them up and stacking them around the area he was using to hide himself in. The pool was pretty large, and in the middle there was a giant statue of a male human with wings on a stone platform, and it was under this thing he was hiding since there was a lot of space under it with some pillars that kept it up. Graceful looking pillars, really, so he had actually lucked out on this spot with the shinies and the very pretty den. Sadly, it actually was in the middle of a human region, so that made the property value horrible, but there had been a couple small and crunchy spider snacks in among the columns at first. Until he ate them. If this pool had been out in the wilds, he would have kept it all for himself since it would be perfect, but apparently even the delicious little sparrows didn't come here and the only birds to be seen were the dirty pigeons that he did not like at all since they absolutely reeked of human stench and trash.

It wasn't until the evening when he was thinking about abandoning his temporary shelter to find a way out of here that something happened. The streets had been silent for a while, and he figured he could find something to eat along the way of escaping this area when he heard screaming. A human screaming was usually something terrible, so he stayed in his hiding spot, but then the man jumped right into his pool and started splashing his water and it was so NOISY! Then he heard the sound of a cat and... Well, he was very hungry. And he could take on a cat. How strong could a cat that lived off humans be? It would not be the first time he ate some human's pet since they were very weak as long as it was not bigger than a cat!

He shot out and ambushed the cat. His movement apparently scared the man since he fell on his butt and screamed again, but the cat was a bit tougher than he expected since it actually crushed his beloved red head before he could spit fire at it. It would grow back, but for now, it was dead weight in his battle. Dirt and water from Green and Blue got in the cats face, and it yowled in anger as it was blinded, and he and the cat tussled with claws and weight for a moment before his dirt head was bitten off in a blind chomp from the cat as he paused to whip it with his tail. The cat lashed out and scratched his side, and that blow knocked him back into the water which allowed the cat to run off with a yowl for its own bleeding gash that his tail had made.

The cat had definitely gotten the better of him, and he stayed limp and floating in the water to take stock of his injuries. Clawed side, two heads that would take a few days to regenerate as long as he managed to find food, and a missing back claw that got embedded in the cat while they had tussled and he had scratched it up. He was just about to go swim back under the platform when the human DARED TO LAY ITS FILTHY MONKEY PAWS ON HIM AND *clicked.*

The human was babbling suddenly but Adriel was swamped with such strong feelings of adoration that it effectively squashed his hate and anger. In its wake was unhappy confusion that made him want to chomp down and devour that finger coming up to touch his maimed heads with feelings of anguish from the human, but as soon as he thought about doing that, he cringed from the thought like he was thinking about eating his own beautiful whippy tail. He lifted his head up to glare petulantly at this human that was using some kind of weird and evil human ability to keep him docile and not want to leave his hand or stop being touched, but the human babbling became a bit clearer and was also talking in his head so he understood the creature.

"I am not a creature!" he whined. "I'm Artemio Reyes, and I am your witch!" And now it was all excited and happy and bubbly like he would get when he found a whole nest of baby bunnies with no mother about and him getting to control the entrance with no other exit hole. "Ew, no! I don't eat baby bunnies! How... Terrible! No, I mean, well, if that is what you like to eat, I mean... You are a hydra." Ah, and the creature was now being properly reverent about his beautiful self even if two of his heads were horribly maimed at the moment. "No, you don't get it! You aren't supposed to exist! You are a legend! And you are my familiar!" And before he could wonder what that meant, it continued to speak. "I am a he, not an it! And I'm your witch... oh. You don't know what that means?"

And then Adriel was told what it meant, though in a very strange way that was talking about Zeus - a tangent on who Zeus was and how it was destiny that they found each other under the statue of Eros - and then two souls in one body, soulmates, familiars, and all sorts of things like that. All while the human carried him. And he listened, but he learned to quiet his mind so the human stopped reading what he was thinking just to sulk about his predicament. And he cursed the eagle, too.

"Ooooh, an eagle?!" Art exclaimed with delight. "That is the bird of Zeus! I knew this was fate! I am so glad to meet you, Adriel!" And great, it also knew his name. He would have to figure out how to keep his brain quiet.

Everything was absolutely horrible until they reached the human's den and a bowl of warm food was made for him. "I'm sorry, I have no idea what you eat, but this is all I have," was all that Art got out of his mouth before Adriel was suddenly on the plate of whatever it was he made. It was delicious and he had never tasted anything like it before! There was savory red and dark and warm chunks of cooked meat that had no burn and bits of greens in among the red sauce and something yellow and chewy/soft. "It's spaghetti from my dinner last night. I hope it doesn't make you sick though... I will have to take you to the hospital if it does." Honestly, if it killed him, it was a meal worth dying for. "Don't say that! I only just found you!" And Adriel flinched from the anguish in their connection and immediately made his presence and mind small once more to go silent as he stopped eating. "No, no, I'm sorry, it's just... I don't want you to be hurt ever again. It is already horrible that you lost two heads! The legends say they will grow back... As double?"

Grudgingly, Adriel opened his mind a little bit to show the passing of three suns, and then that he always had his four colorful fighting heads plus his grey thinking one. Since the other man no longer seemed so upset, he resumed his eating to chomp into another brown meatball while Blue started on the yellow chewy stuff and Yellow began lapping up the red stuff. It was nice to eat meat without having to cook it himself as well - and it was cooked so evenly! He usually had burnt and raw bits all over, and his foods never tasted this good.

Except for the giant crunchy spiders.

"Eeeeww, you like tarantulas?!" Art said, now feeling a lot more calmer than he had been the entire night so far. Good, Adriel would probably have gone a bit nuts if he had to deal with all of that excitement for so long! "Hey! There is nothing wrong with being happy to find my familiar! There is only ever one in the world for each other, and most people don't find them at all. And you are a hydra and you are beautiful and I already love you so much!" Then he paused. "Oooooh, and I just realized you can eat all of the spiders in my house for me - I don't have to run away from them and let them have whatever room they are in until they go away."

Adriel was halfway through his meatball, a few of the yellow chewy not-worms had been devoured, and the rest sauce in a whole area had been licked clean... And he was absolutely stuffed. He could feel his sides were actually bulging. He didn't want to stop eating, but the mention of running away from spiders made him look up from his meatball to give Art an incredulous look because spiders were tiny compared to the human, and they couldn't even hurt something as small as Adriel was! And then Art was picking him up and he wanted to go back to his food despite being full to nearly bursting but his body apparently wanted Art's hand even more because he went limp and his two traitorous heads began nuzzling the human's hand.

"Awww, you are so grumpy and cute," Art coo'ed at him, and he got even sulkier. "Let's give you a bath now - you have sauce and grease all over you, and then I'll make you a nice little nest of blankets and pillows for tonight. Tomorrow, I will have to take you out to get you registered to me - it is a requirement since they test to make sure the bond is real and then nobody else can try to claim you as theirs - and we will go shopping for supplies. Wait, the ministry first, the vet second since they can check you over and then run tests to see what might be harmful to you or if you have allergies, and then supplies. Will you sleep in my bed with me? Or... Actually not yet, I need to make sure to potty train you and stuff... Make sure there are no accidents. Uhm... I have newspapers and a... I guess I can use a small plastic bin."

And then Art shredded up some stuff into a blue 'plastic bin' and told him that that was where he was to poop and pee at.

Adriel wanted to be spiteful and just get rid of his wastes right where he was on the floor as Art tried to coax him to get in the box and use it, but he hesitated. The human had actually... Been decent. For a human. And fed him something divine and was properly reverent of his beauty as maimed as he was at the moment. And was telling him that he was a mighty and powerful being that could vanquish spiders and fend off cats, so... Fine. He would use the 'plastic bin.' But the human best not be watching because doing such things was a vulnerability and a vulnerability meant something like a fox might come along to try to eat him. So the human could keep an eye out for foxes while he got rid of his wastes if he wanted him to use this spot so much.

"Alright, Adriel," Art said with a laugh, then looked away. "That does make sense, actually. A lot more sense than when people with normal pets say their animals get embarrassed if people watch them poop."

Adriel climbed into the box and flumped right into the soft pile of shredded papers since he had been expecting a firmer surface. It was like a pile of leaves, though less crinkly, but they were good places in the fall to find the large juicy burrowing beetles and to ambush the squirrels from. He roamed around inside for a bit moment to find a good spot, got rid of some of that stomach pressure, then properly scratched more things on top of his wastes so it would not attract larger predators before he started climbing out.

"You don't need to worry about larger predators here, Adriel," Art said with amusement. "It is safe, and nothing will get in the apartment. I will get cat litter for you though, I think you might like that better if you need to bury your poop. Oh, before I forget, you also have a human form you will be able to take after about a week. From what I read, it becomes instinctive - you know me so well by that point that you can just switch. I can't wait to see what you look like! I bet you will be so beautiful as a man, too."

Adriel didn't want to be a human, thank you. He was already a beautiful... hydra. Actually, it was nice to know what he was. He thought he was a mutant lizard snake this whole time and was related to the snakes and the lizards, and to know that he wasn't related to such stupid stupid creatures was a relief. A lot of relief. And he wanted more meatballs tomorrow, too.

"Yes, now, let's take a bath together since I am also wet and dirty from the fountain, and then we can go to bed."

---

Day 2 sucked. So hard. The Ministry was a hive den of humans, and Art was holding him against his chest when they walked in. It didn't take long for Adriel to climb up to the top of Art's head to glare at all of the staring people and lift his tail up threateningly, and even then, some idiot came right up to insult Art.

"Arty!" a blond and plump human cried out, and he felt Art cringe inwardly for a moment before his human stiffened up and angrily turned to face the yellow furred chonky man. "I can't believe you are in public! And what is that - oh my god, is that a hydra?"

"Yes, and he is my familiar," Art said in a smug tone, and Adriel wholeheartedly supported that statement in this very moment because even if he hated humans, and least this one was his, fed him delicious meatballs, and he did not like the tone the other one was using or the feelings it was causing his witch. "It's ok, Adriel, calm down."

Adriel hissed to show how he felt for that statement. His silly witch was oblivious to all the dangers! "Two of its heads are dead, so obviously it isn't your familiar if you can't even take care of it," the man scoffed, then started to reach out. "I'll just take him-OW!" Adriel whacked him with his raised tail hard enough to split the human's delicate skin open, and everyone stopped and stared as the man grasped his wrist to stop the bleeding. "You brought a feral beast in here! I can't believe it just attacked me!"

Adriel felt Art begin to panic, and Adriel began to hiss in more anger while his yellow head spat out some ice that just landed harmlessly on the marble floor and shattered. Art wrestled with his panic though to try to reassure Adriel. "No, it's ok Adriel, just calm down, he can't do anything because you are my familiar and everyone knows it is a crime to grab another witch's familiar like that," he babbled as he reached up to try to pick Adriel up to hold in his arms. Adriel was not having it, though - he dodged the hands and continued to angrily hiss, and the unwanted human was shouting, and there were so many eyes on him that he really wished Red was not dead at the moment or he would BURN IT ALL DOWN! "No! Bad Adriel, no burning things down! Just calm down, the aurors are coming, and nobody else will try to touch you okay?"

Adriel didn't calm down, but nobody else came near them until humans in red clothes came in, and Adriel flattened himself down on Art's head to make himself a smaller target while he hissed even more threateningly because red was a dangerous color more often than not. He wasn't paying attention to Art as he continued to babble reassurances, so his human started babbling at the other humans, and then the Stupid One was being healed and then escorted and Art followed along and he finally calmed down because Art was feeling confident and vindictively smug which was a very good feeling to have in a dangerous situation since it meant that Art had the upper hand. And then everyone was in a small den-room about the size of Art's sleeping room (he had most definitely insisted on his own nest inside of the closet the night before) and the red people made sure that the Stupid One was on the opposite side of the room.

"He is calling you the Stupid One, Brian," Art suddenly snickered. "And he has also called you chonky, fat, unwanted, and an idiot."

"Shush, the Ministry's familiar department head is coming," one of the Red Humans said. "Please do not instigate a fight."

"That's right, Arty, don't instigate a fight," the Stupid One said with a sneer. "They will find out you are lying about your beast, and then I will demand to have it as retribution. I'll have it stuffed and mounted after it is put down."

"You need to be silent as well," the Red One snapped at the Stupid One when Adriel started his angry hissing up again. "I would say you are the instigator with how the lizard is reacting!"

"Hydra," Art and the Stupid One both corrected at the same time, then proceeded to enter a glaring contest with each other.

That was what the female human walked into a minute later - three aurors acting as a barrier between to men, one of which who had Adriel perched and angrily hissing on top of. "Alright, I hear there is a familiar dispute?" the woman with bright pink hair said.

Adriel was rather intrigued by the color since he never saw a human with such fur, so he was staring at her with interest and then could feel his human get all jealous for some reason. Because he didn't have pink fur like her, maybe?

"No Adriel, I am not jealous because I don't have pink fur," Art grumbled, then proceeded to get embarassed.

The woman laughed and then winked at Adriel before her hair began to cycle through colors. "Ah, this is why I am department head - a lot of the more difficult familiars find my hair fascinating also," she cheerfully said. "I am going to cast a quick spell on you, Adriel, and then one on each of the humans, ok? It will just make you feel a little bit warm, but there is nothing to be afraid of."

Adriel blinked and then relaxed on top of Art's head while Blue started to chew on Art's hair. He had no idea what she meant by a quick spell, but he didn't care what she did as long as she wasn't touching him or his witch. "He uhm... doesn't care as long as you don't touch either of us," Art quietly said, but Adriel could feel that Art was feeling even more uncomfortable than before. Shy and hopeful. Why? Did he like the female human? Adriel supposed she would be a good mate for his human since she had colorful hair. "No, Adriel, that is not... I mean, we will talk about this later!"

"No, he is saying he doesn't want spells," the Stupid One interrupted. "He is aggressive and feral!"

Adriel and Art both turned to stare at the Stupid One like he was an idiot, and the female rolled her eyes before she pointed a stick at Adriel and Art. A beam of white light came out, and Yellow tried to catch it to eat it, but it only made Adriel feel warm rather than feel full. Art didn't move at all when the light hit him, and the Stupid One flinched. "He's the liar," the woman said in a bored tone as she pointed at the Stupid One, and the aurors pulled out something and started to wrestle the fat man around before they finally just... hit him with a red spell and started to drag him out. "Now, I need names please. I only have Adriel. What is his surname?"

Art fidgeted and turned away from the Red Ones to answer the Colorful One. Adriel continued to watch the prey get dragged off by the Red Ones to no doubt be devoured like the idiot he was. "Adriel!" Art squawked. "The Aurors are not going to eat Brian! He is just being arrested. Oh my god... Would you eat a human?" Adriel would most decidedly not - humans are too disgusting to eat. "Oh. Good. Yes, we are very very gross. Sorry. He doesn't have a surname... I found him on the muggle side of London last night living in the Fountain of Eros right outside the Oxford library. An eagle apparently tried to eat him but dropped him somewhere in London, and he ended up living in the pool from what I understand. A cat tried to eat me last night and I ran into the water to get away from it and tried to splash it with water so it would go away, but it didn't! And then suddenly he was there and fighting with the cat and then there was blood in the water and he was limp in it and I saw my first hydra ever but I thought he was dead and was so sad and was going to take him in to see if maybe I could save his life except he wasn't dead and was just resting and about to go back into hiding only we clicked! And... He didn't know what witches or familiars were."

The Colorful one stared at Art who apparently had needed to get that whole terrifying tale out to someone, then gave a slow nod before she pulled a clipboard with a paper on it to start filling out. "So Adriel, no surname, and he is a... hydra like in Ancient Greek tales," she said as she started writing the form. "And your name?"

"Artemio Jose Miller Reyes," Art promptly answered, then he started reciting numbers and gibberish words. The two talked and said some other stuff that Adriel tuned out so he could nip Blue to make him stop chewing on Art's hair because he did not like having to try to digest fur. Stupid head. They kind of started doing their own things a bit if one of the heads was dead, and two were dead so they were really doing things if he wasn't paying attention to them. Yellow had tucked up and was starting to nap, so Adriel pushed Blue down with his front hands to make it do the same.

By the time he smothered blue down long enough for it to fall asleep as well, Art was thanking the woman. "Remember to have him checked for parasites - feral familiars can and often do have them, and they are also harder to integrate into human society," she said. "He will not be muggle safe at all, so you will have to teach him etiquette and the like before you can venture out to the muggle side with him. They might do things like grab food from street vendors or passing people to eat just because they are curious or feeling peckish even as a human, or they might chase down someone's pet to kill just because it got too close to you and they were feeling territorial or threatened by it. Make sure he is socialized, take him to any one of the classes on that paper once he starts turning human, and never leave him unattended in public not just for his safety, but the safety of others until he is properly certified. He would not hurt you, but he may hurt others the same way he did that other man today. Today was a clear cut case of self defense since he had reached out to grab the liz-er-hydra off of your head, but until he is socialized, there will be other self defense triggers you may not be aware of that only apply to a reptile that humans do not understand."

"Oooooh, like the watching out for foxes while he is using the bathroom," Art said out loud, then blushed. "I mean, I understand, and I will be careful."

"Congratulations, Mr. Reyes, and if you will do me a favor, I would like to see what he looks like when he turns human," the woman said with a smile. "He seems to love colors and is very colorful himself, so I can't help but be a little curious."

Adriel felt a flare of jealousy from Art and wondered why he was feeling that again. Was it because the human was curious about him? How silly, Adriel was not interested in humans. And then Adriel was suddenly crushed with overwhelming heartbreak and he wondered why his human was all broken now - Art was a Witch and not a human so he didn't count. Adriel... Disliked him the least of everything else he had ever met. The only things he liked was food, and Art did not like to be a food so that was a good thing.

"Are you okay, Mr. Reyes?" the woman asked with concern as she conjured up a tissue to give to Adriel's perch. "I didn't mean anything offensive by asking, I am just wondering if he will be colorful or have scales or what as his identifying mark. You are not required to bring him in, of course. I just find familiars and their human forms interesting - it is why I chose to be a bond inspector. I really hope I find my own one day."

Adriel's witch was very silly with its crying and happy and confusion, it was yoyoing so much that he was getting a headache. "Sorry," Art said as he blew his nose. "Just... Adriel is uhm... He doesn't realize that he kind of... He isn't mean, just doesn't understand what he is saying and oh gods I must be like that also around other people..."

The female smiled and conjured up a whole box of tissues which she offered to Art. "Oh, well if you want to take the socializing classes with him too, it could help you both to understand each other," she said in a sympathetic voice. "Some of the classes are for both Witch and Familiar - sometimes it is a Witch who is struggling with the bond and not the familiar, and sometimes it is the other way around. He is talking to you though, so that is a very good sign and you don't have to be afraid. What did he say if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh, uhm... He said he didn't like humans, and I thought he meant me, then he said he disliked me least out of everything, but that was a good things because he only liked food and I don't like to be food," Art said, and Adriel felt him feeling embarrassed again. Adriel reminded him that Art also didn't need to be jealous of the Colorful One, but Art didn't say that out loud for some reason. "He really loved the spaghetti last night so... I guess I see his point."

She giggled. "Ah, yes, that is another thing about feral familiars," she said. "Most don't have support and everything has been only about survival... And we don't even know if there are more of his kind or where he came from. So he probably hasn't had anything to like or love yet, but that will definitely change now that you are both bonded. It just takes a bit of time, but he will figure it out."

Adriel felt hope and warmth bloom in Art, and he yawned since it felt so nice like being on a perfectly warm spot at just the perfect time of day. Art should feel like that more since Adriel also liked that. So maybe it wasn't just food that Adriel liked. He also liked shiny and pretty things, too. And comfortable things. Art's head fur was comfortable. Art now felt all warm and gooey and happy.

They left the ministry with Art in a very cheerful mood which had Adriel nice and calm for the exit, and then they went to Saint Mungo's Hospital for Witches and Familiars. That... Was actually very horrible. It stank of many terrible things that he could not identify, there was a lot of noises and crying and screaming, and the air was thick with anxiety and fear and prey scents. That was honestly the last thing he remembered because Yellow and Blue started spitting ice and water while he hissed and raised his tail to lash out at the nearest jostling things, and then there was a burst of red light and he didn't wake up again until they were outside and he was being cradled in Art's lap in the warm sun and a blanket and there was something cold that dripped on his nose.

Adriel licked and it was very yummy in taste, and he looked up to see Art was licking something white that smelled just like what had landed on his nose. "Ith's ice cream," Art said out loud when he noticed Adriel was staring. "And no, you can't have any. You panicked and clawed me up and made someone else's familiar bleed and the hospital security had to stun you then heal me and everyone else! Plus the healer said you had to fast until sunset, and then you have to eat a certain dinner tonight and tomorrow night that I bought that will get rid of the rest of the worms you have. I also have to throw out that plastic bin because the poop from last night probably had worm eggs and it is so gross! At least they were able to get rid of all of the mites today, and you got vaccination shots so... Well, you were supposed to be sleeping for another few hours because the nurse said you would be exhausted, but you look just fine."

Adriel was just fine, and he wanted that ice cream. It was yummy. "No, you can't have it!" Adriel wanted it! "No!" He started to get up so he could climb and get it, but Art just put his other hand on him to keep him down. "I will get you ice cream in three days when you are done with medications," Art promised. Adriel wanted it now. "Three days! Oh. And they amputated your spare heads to make it easier for the new ones to grow in. It hurt before?"

Adriel paused to look for his dead heads and... They were gone! And no, it didn't hurt before! He ate them before since it helped them grow back, but now they were gone! Not only had Art let his spare food get stolen, but now he was not giving him other food and was eating in front of him! It was so.... So cruel!

"No, awe no Adriel don't be sad, please?" Art said, suddenly changing his tune and all sympathetic and liquid warm around Adriel which felt nice through the bond but he was still so very upset. "I'll get rid of my ice cream and I promise not to eat any until you are able to eat some, okay?" Or he could have ice cream also so neither of them are deprived of food resource! "No, you can't have it, we need to get rid of the worms and the ice cream will feed the worms and make them grow stronger! It is part of why you eat so much - they are eating a lot of the food inside of your stomach and depriving you of those resources. We have to give you the right food that will feed you and starve them to death."

That made sense, but Adriel was still sulky. His witch should eat the ice cream but he wanted two ice creams when the worms were dead. "Fine," Art chuckled. "If you can eat the whole first one, then you can have a second one. But I doubt you will be able to eat half of it. Let's go buy your supplies."

Shopping was nice... It was the first activity today he actually liked. He got to see all sorts of pretty things, pick the prettiest ones he wanted, and Art seemed to be very happy just like he was also very happy and it made the both of them so very very happy that Art got him all the pretty things. Then they got home and Art realized what he had done. "Awe... I won't be able to put anything into my saving account this month," he sighed. "Oh well, at least the day ended on a good note. Let's get everything set up.

---

Day 3 was urgh. The dinner the prior night was not very good - he ranked it at cicada larvae flavor which meant bitter and a horrible aftertaste - and Art had to do a lot of coaxing to get him to eat it all. To the Death of Worms! Horrible. And now he was suffering with stomach aches and lots of pooping and was having to drink weird tasting water medicine that was also supposed to be part of it and he never ever wanted to get worms ever again if this was what it was like to kill them all.

"Only because you had three different types," Art sighed as he listened to Adriel bitch for the millionth time about the water. "I am the one having to dump out the cat litter after every time though! This is so grooooooss!"

And that was day three. The two of them complaining about how horrible worms were. The worst thing on the planet. Adriel swore to be careful about food since he apparently got worms from eating undercooked meat from things that had worms. Art promised to always make sure to get him food and that there would never be any worms in them. Adriel decided that maybe he more than just 'least disliked' Art then and there... He was not as good as a warm rock, delicious food, or all the shinies, but Adriel felt like maybe he liked him.

---

Day 4 was much the same on waking up - he had to poop. But this time there was no medicine water so the whole deworming thing finished running its course at noon. Adriel was exhausted, and Art gave him a bath and tucked him away into his nest to nap, and when Adriel woke up... Art was not home.

He did not like that. Not one bit. Not at all. His two heads were starting to grow in and would be fully formed probably the next morning, but it was slow either because he didn't eat his dead heads or because of the medicines. Probably both. Either way, they were still useless and he couldn't burn down the door or try to use Green to dig through the wall but his scratchings to get out showed that the wall could be dug through! It was leaving white clumpy powdery stuff, but some water application from Blue turned it into sludge and it made digging even easier!

Until he hit wood, anyway. Testing showed that this wood was much thinner than the door wood though, so he started scratching and clawing at it, then he heard the front den door open. The one that led outside. He clawed even harder since something had come into their den and he had to go out and kill it and-

"Adriel!" Art shouted as he burst into the sleep area. "Adriel, what is wrong?!"

Adriel turned from the hole he had dug in the wall and ran and leapt on Art who had just knelt down to search through the nest Adriel had in the closet that had the new bedding they had purchased for him the day before. His witch was back! Bad witch that can't even fend off cats or spiders going out into the world without him and leaving him here all alone with the sleep den closed so he couldn't even make sure that-

"Calm down, Adriel, I just went to buy tonight's dinner!" Art protested. "I got a tub of vanilla ice cream - apparently you cannot have plums just like me but the healer said it is common for familiars and witches to share the same allergy - and I also got oh my god the wall!"

Adriel had to try to get out somehow to get his witch. Don't leave him at home ever again. Ever. Again. "I was-" Adriel was going to burn down the door if Red was up. "Buying-" Art was too much prey to be allowed out by himself while Adriel could even fight eagles. "But it was-!" The only thing Art had to do was make sure nothing came along while he was pooping, and if something did, to give him an alert so he could stop pooping in time to protect his witch. "Buying food!" And provide him good food, yes, but Art had to take him along for that or his witch would become food for cats and spiders and eagles.

"I... Okay, Adriel," Art sighed in defeat. Which was good since if a witch could not protect themselves from a cat, then the cat would steal the food. "They did - that is why I only had spaghetti instead of the fish and chips I was bringing home..." See?! And Adriel was here now so the fish and... chips... stuff would be safe next time. "I will take you to the store with-" Everywhere. "Everywhere with me. Except the muggle area-" Then his witch wasn't allowed in those areas since Adriel recalled that Art said the cat attack happened in muggle London whatever that was. "You are too smart for your own good." Adriel knows this, and that is why he disliked snakes and lizards because being surrounded by that amount of stupidity all of his life had been painful.

"I... Can completely relate," Art said, since he very much could. "At least I can fix the wall with magic, though. Please don't burn anything in the house down, Adriel - I can fix these kinds of damages, but if you burn it down, you are burning down your shiny and pretty things and everything I own because a fire doesn't stop at just a door - it will keep spreading and a spell can't fix ashes."

Adriel had never own shiny things that he could keep long term... Sometimes flowers or pretty rocks or whatever, but he didn't get to keep them long since dens were not permanent so it didn't matter if something burned down.

"This is a permanent den, Adriel," Art explained in a patient tone as he swished a stick and... The wall was fixed! How fascinating. Where was his stick? "Most familiars are not capable of using wands. Your magic sustains you in human form, so unless your hydra form is dextrous enough to hold a wand, you cannot cast a spell." Adriel could hold a stick. Kind of. He could probably hold one for sure with practice. "I'll pick up a stick somewhere for you to practice with, and if you can actually swish and flick and everything, we will see if Ollivanders has something for you. Later, though."

Art picked him up then, and like normal, he went limp with the touch and his stupid heads started nuzzling Art's hands and wrists. "Awe, it's okay if you like it," Art said with a smile. Another person would call it sappy, but Adriel had no idea what sappy was and Art was the sap and unaware that he was a sap. "I like it, and you are supposed to like it also. It is part of the bond." Art started carrying him out and held Adriel to his chest as he knelt down to grab the shopping bag he had left on the floor when he felt Adriel's panic and anger. "So this is a permanent home - as long as I pay the owner rent, I get to stay here and nobody can take it from you or I."

Art had to then explain currency and work to Adriel as he put the groceries away, then he set Adriel down on the kitchen table and started to prepare the food. Adriel listened since it really was more interesting than the boring hisses of lizards and snakes, and he thought it was overly complicated but did sound a lot more secure and safe than the wilderness was. Art explained what his job was as well, but that he had sent an owl for vacation time (and an explanation of owl whose eggs should not be eaten anymore since there could be worms or diseases, and who also would not try to prey on him if they came to deliver letters, and then what vacations were), so he and Adriel would be home together for an entire week and a half longer because Art had taken that much time off. Then time increments was explained to him, and by the time that explanation was done, so was dinner.

Tacos were good - not as good as meatballs and tomato sauce, but they were good. Adriel liked spaghetti more. He really liked the stories Art started telling him though. Ancient history stories from years too far back for Adriel to understand how ancient they were just yet, but it started with the tale of the Hydra in Greece and then continued with the tale of Hercules from the very beginning so he got to listen to the Hydra story twice! And Art seemed very happy to absolutely know someone was fascinated with his stories. They got to the Erymanthian Boar by the time dinner was done, the stables of King Augeas were cleaned up as the dishes were charmed to clean themselves, the bath was filled at the Stymphalian Birds, and the Cretan Bull was captured and the Mares of Diomedes was returned while they played with the bubbles in the bath. By the time it was the twelfth task with the Cerberus, Art was dressed in his pajamas and Adriel was tucked into the nest in his closet, and he was in the middle of a yawn while his two heads snoozed when he was surprised by a warmsoft on his nose along with a burst of affection from Art.

"That was a kiss goodnight, Adriel," Art said with a smile, and since it had felt nice, Adriel accepted his explanation, tucked his nose under his tail, and fell asleep.

---

Day 5 was the day Art decided to take Adriel out to see his workplace and then promised to get ice cream if Adriel was good. There was ice cream at home, but Art insisted every person's first ice cream should be Fortescue's ice cream parlor because there were over one hundred and fifty flavors and a single tub of vanilla did not compare. Art said he would get three scoops of ice cream of what Adriel picked out, and would give him a few spoons of each scoop for his share to eat while Art had the rest, and if Adriel was able to finish them and wanted more, then he would get a fourth scoop.

But Adriel had to be good and not bite, whip, or burn anything even if his two pretty heads were back and one could finally breathe fire again. Not unless something actually was attacking, and to let Art handle the human threats unless he asked Adriel for help.

Adriel wanted that ice cream - he remembered that tiny drop on his nose and it had been exquisite. The best thing, really. Better than the meatballs, though that was debatable. He needed a larger sample size to figure out if they really were better than the meatballs or not, and to do so, he had to just... not bite or whip or do anything. So Adriel just climbed up on Art's left shoulder, moved his body to the right one, and curled his tail around Art's neck so he could go into a half-doze where he could be alert in a split second's notice if Art needed him, but would otherwise ignore everything. Everything. Including when the Stupid One tried to stop Art before he got to his office.

"Brought that diseased and feral reptile to work, Arty?" came the grating sound of Stupid One's voice.

Red started to perk up, but Adriel ordered it down. "Vaccinated and de-wormed, Stupid One," Art replied back with a brief and vindictive smirk. "No telling what you got in prison before mommy paid your fine, though."

"Why you!" Stupid One snarled. "Watch your back, Art... Your little necklace could be worth a lot of galleons, I bet. That would repay-"

"Is something happening?" a third voice broke in, and Adriel peeked over to see a tiny female human with silvery grey hair. Ah, an Old One. Many furred animals got grey as they aged, but not that grey. Her skin was also all leathery and-

"Brian is threatening my new familiar again," Art said as he put a hand on Adriel's head and interrupted his thoughts on the woman. Oh... Some kind of respected pack leader, he was guessing. Humans were strange. "He threatened him a few days ago and tried to claim Adriel, but the bond tester tested and now he is very angry about having to pay a fine after harassing me and Adriel at the ministry."

A very respected and terrifying human if the way Brian was shrinking back from her glare was an indication.The Stupid One had not shrank away from the Red Ones. "It whipped me in the middle of the ministry first!" Brian protested. "I was innocent!"

"Adriel did not raise his tail to him until he reached out and tried to grab him," Art answered when the woman looked back at him. "There were at least a dozen witnesses that verified it since the Aurors wrote a report. I gave my own testimony to the bondswoman while she filled out the familiar registration form after the tests, and it checked out with all of the other testimonies. Except for his. Adriel is a feral familiar, but as you can see, he is intelligent and well behaved as long as he isn't feeling threatened."

Or hungry. Adriel wasn't hungry either so he didn't really feel like attacking at all. Well, he was kind of hungry, but hungry for ice cream, and as an ambush predator, he knew how to be very still and very patient. Like now. He got another worried pat on the head.

"Brian, please follow me to my office," the old woman said. "Art is in front of his office where you are harassing him, and I am old, not dumb or blind. We will be discussing your behavior and how you should be leaving another person's familiar alone."

Brian bared his teeth at Art in a threatening gesture as soon as the woman's back was turned, but like a whipped cur, he followed the old woman and went away. "Adriel, your commentary is amusing, but please please don't make me laugh at one of the directors," Art sighed as he turned to enter a new room. It was stuffed. "This is my office!" He closed the door and the small space was even more cramped. Adriel liked it. Small spaces were safe. "Glad that you think so... I actually do need a larger room though. I am running out of spaces for my book. See, I've been searching for Atlantis! And I think I know exactly where it is, and yes, you can come with me when I go to look for it!"

The next two hours was filled with Art showing him all kinds of papers with lots of designs (maps, he called them) and stories about Atlantis. The legends. How hard it was to figure out the location. What oceans were and what ocean currents were. What a country was and why they existed. No, they had not been in Greece this whole time, this was England, but Art would be going to Greece as soon as his funds were approved. Then measurements of space because Adriel could not understand how it could be so hard to get from Greece to London when, on Art's map, the two were less than his own length of body apart.

Then Art asked where Adriel came from once he kind of sort of understood the map.

Adriel had not come from any of those places on Art's map. Europe. No, that was not what he saw from the sky as an egg.

"Egg?" Art asked, and Adriel could feel how surprised he was that Adriel could remember being in an egg. "Do you know your family or where there are more Hydras?"

Adriel had no idea. He knew darkness and sounds of claws on soft and warm sands and the rush of a water nearby. Best as he could tell, he was probably somewhere underground and warm. Then his egg fell into the water - it was a tiny egg smaller than an owl egg - and then there was a long journey through dark waters. He thought for sure he was to die soon since he was cold and numb and it had been an eternity in pitch black nothing, and just as he was about ready to succumb to the darkness, there was a terrifying roaring sound. It turned out to be a great waterfall of some kind since the next thing he knew, he was flying in the air with the rest of the water that was gushing out of a cliff. He could see no cliffs with a forest and waterfall on Art's map, but that was what he saw while his egg flew before it landed in the water and floated him down stream. His egg ended up getting caught up in tree roots in very shallow water after a day, a night, and most of another day, so he stayed warm and moist just like he needed until he was able to hatch though there had been some close calls of animals hunting in the area. They had not found his egg and ate the fish in the water. Then he stayed in the safe roots and ate the tiny fishes until he was large enough to start hunting in the woods. He had travelled around all of his life and, by Art's accounts of time increments, he was around twenty five to thirty springtimes old and started somewhere far south where it was very warm since winters got colder the farther he got from where he had hatched.

"South of England..." Art mumbled as he looked over his maps. "You said an eagle?" Adriel did. "Stay here a minute, I just need to get a book..."

Adriel was very unhappy about being left in the room all of a sudden, but he reminded himself that there was ice cream if he didn't burn things. And that he could still feel Art so it meant he was close. And it wasn't very long at all before Art was back with a book that had pictures in his hand, and he had Adriel looking at each picture before Adriel indicated one.

"Hmm... Golden Eagle?" he asked with a frown. Adriel was sure. "How long did it carry you?" Adriel would guess a few hours, but less than a quarter of the day. "It's... actually very feasible for a Golden Eagle to fly from France to London in that time period, and they roost as far north as Scotland so it might have been heading north for the summer." Adriel knows there was a Great Water crossing, but he did not realize it was an ocean since he had never seen it before until Art told him about them the night before. It smelled very salty even up in the sky, and it was why he did not burn that eagle's tail feathers off. "Do you... Want to go back south?"

Adriel wondered what kind of stupid question that was. There were no Art meatballs down south and he would not get ice cream, either. He would get worms again and he did not want worms. He was not interested in going down south if his witch was not down south, and Art's question very much implied that Art was-

"Adriel!" Art wailed as he snatched him up off the desk to cuddle him. Adriel was very dizzy from suddenly being grabbed and also confused. "You actually want to stay with meeee!" His witch was being stupid by stating what he had only just said. "I was just thinking... that you might want to goooo!" Why would he want to go anywhere? If he did, his witch would get eaten by a cat or a spider. "You are so sweet!"

Adriel went limp and let Art just cry snuggle against him. His witch was very confusing. Life was simple, but Art was making it very complicated. Art already said Adriel was his familiar and that Art was Adriel's witch, and Adriel's instincts would not let him leave and had him liking being touched even though it had terrified him so there was no point in wasting his time to think about leaving since he apparently had a safe den that was permanent and food that was delicious and did not give him worms. Really, even the stupid lizards and the stupid snakes would understand those basics - safety and food, and it wasn't like Adriel could mate with anything since there were no other hydras and he was not attracted at all to snakes or lizards despite growing up thinking that he was a weird mutation from both species. Art was intelligent and good company so that was close enough.

"Oh, I didn't tell you?" Art sniffled out as he held Adriel close. "Uhm... Some witches and familiars er... Sometimes they fall in love. And uhm... Become mates. For life."

No. Art had not told him. That was very new information and Adriel would have to think about that now.

Art blushed, and they both dropped the subject.

On another note, ice cream was even better than the drop on his nose. Adriel picked out chocolate on Art's suggestion, strawberry because he recalled chomping on those berries a couple times during his life which were delicious but rare, and then vanilla because that was what had dripped on his nose. "The Napoleon" was a thing though, so all three were in one scoop, and Adriel decided that banana smelled interesting as did the apple pie swirl. And yes, he ate his ice cream, every bit of it while nipping the other heads away so that he could enjoy it all for himself, but he was too full for the fourth scoop. He lied and said he wasn't, and Art laughed and ordered a strawberry fudge ice cream pint to go for Adriel to enjoy later.

Adriel learned what chips where that night for inner. Fish and chips were delicious.

---

Day 6 was a lazy day. A rest day, according to Art. They had had a very full week so far, and Art said Adriel needed to rest. Adriel thought he was wrong - he was actually feeling very cooped up, so Art sighed, grabbed a book, and took Adriel to a Familiar's park while he grumbled about how he wanted to read his book on the couch and just do nothing all day. Adriel said Art did not do enough exercise and that was why a cat could chase him into a fountain! And Art said if it were not for that cat, he would not have met Adriel, and Adriel would not have ice creams at home.

Adriel could not argue with that logic. His witch was allowed to be lazy since it got Adriel ice cream. That was the least complicated argument that Art had given him yet.

There were not many familiar/witch bondings in England, and it was a Thursday morning, so the park was empty. Art settled down on a bench under a tree, and Adriel ran off to explore this very tame outdoors. He had never seen such a thing - there was the human's stone areas and then the creature's wildlands, but he did not know there could be parks around. It was also very clean and smelled free of the stench of London, but most of the magical areas were actually free of that stink now that he thought about it. They needed to find a den in the magical areas because their den in London stank like the humans and Adriel didn't like that.

"I heard that!" Art yelled out to him. And it was good Art heard that since he had not been quiet about his complaints about how terrible things smelled. Art would understand, too, if his nose was not so horrible. Did all humans have such terrible noses? No wonder Art was easy prey for cats and made them so angry - he could not smell their territories. "I heard that too, Adriel! Just go play!"

Adriel explored for a bit until the sun was at a good point - a couple hours before it was at its highest which meant the ground would be cool but the sun would be warm so he should find a nice and comfy spot that was not completely in the open and relax in the sun. And that was exactly what he was doing, too, until... "Gotcha!" Something heavy was thrown over him, and teeth and claws could not rip through it nor could fire burn it. He was disoriented for a moment as the world flipped around when the bag was picked up, and then Green realized that this fabric was not fabric but some kind of magical stone weave, and it chomped and tore through it with magic and teeth to open a hole large enough for red to burst out to start flaming, and the man screamed but Adriel's fire had missed so the human was only surprised. His surprised allowed green to make the tear even larger, though, and all of Adriel burst through, clung to the stonefiber bag rather than dropped down, and then he flung himself on the man that had him and started to attack.

The man screamed again as the back of his robes caught on fire, two sets of teeth sank in (his and Green), Blue spat water on the ground around his feet, and yellow froze it. The man slipped and landed hard on his back (lucky basterd, it smothered the flames), and Adriel glanced at Art's bench and saw his witch was unconscious while his four heads continued to attack whoever this person was that had hurt his witch! When the man's stick came out, Adriel used his tail to whip the hand hard enough to flay the skin open and sent the wand flying, and Red breathed fire at his face while yellow, green, and blue chomped at the other hand trying to slap him off. He was keeping an eye on the battle to make sure this stupid human that hurt or killed his witch was never ever going to get up again, but then Red Ones started popping in.

"Two men down!" one of the Red ones shouted. "Familiar, stop your attack and back away! The safety charms went off and we understand that the other man was stunned by this one, correct?"

Adriel wasn't sure what they meant, but he dug his claws deeply into the screaming man's flesh as his hissed and debated what to do. A Red One was approaching his witch though, so he leapt off his downed and wailing opponent to run to Art to protect him. The Red One was far closer though and pointed his stick at Art, and Adriel was going to kill kill kill that Red One until Art groaned, put a hand to his head, and started to sit up.

The Red One could live for now since he woke up his witch. Adriel got there in time to jump onto Art so he could turn and hiss to warn everyone away from his witch and he would burn the others just like he burned the Stone Bag Man! Who was no longer on fire because the other Red Ones had put it out, but he was definitely not looking good at all. His entire face looked like melted wax, one of his eyeballs was-

Art started gagging and put his hands on Adriel's head to push him down. "No, stop getting descriptive, Adriel!" Art choked out as he tried not to puke. "I don't want to see it or hear it!" And then his witch burst into tears.

Adriel started hissing even more and was confused and angry, and the Red One that woke up his witch took a step back which made Adriel calm down. Just a smidge. He had no idea why Art was so upset, but he refused to turn his back to potential enemies while Art was so vulnerable so he kept himself puffed up and his tail raised to show he was ready to attack but didn't hiss.

"Please sir, calm down or your familiar can't calm down," he heard the Red One telling Art. "We need to know what happened. From what we can see so far, it is obvious you were attacked, but... Your familiar is making everyone very very nervous, especially since we have to hospitalize a man!"

Art managed to choke down his sobbing enough to talk. "Adriel, what happened?" And Adriel showed him the scene starting from where he was woken up from his half doze on the rock. Art relayed the tale in words and Adriel showed him the memory, and when Art saw the burned face, he gagged again but didn't try to shove Adriel down. "Right... Right... Hydra... There is a reason they are the second labor. The story exaggerated, but it really really didn't have to exaggerate."

"Well, it looks like a case of attempted kidnapping of a familiar," the Red One said. "Do you know anyone who would want to kidnap him?"

"Brian Duagar from the Oxford Library insinuated it yesterday when he harassed me and said my familiar would be worth a lot of money," Art answered as he wrapped his hands around Adriel's body and tried to cuddle him. He was busy guarding Art! No, let him go, he had to bite the next one to pull a stick out! "Adriel, calm down! The Red Ones are aurors - they are guards that protect witches and their familiars. They helped with Brian before, remember?" Adriel stopped squirming, though his heads all stayed on alert and tracked Auror movements as they gathered up the bag and wand now that they had removed the human. "He harassed us five days ago at the ministry, tried to steal him then, and lied about Adriel being his familiar, but the bondswoman checked and said he was definitely mine. One of the Oxford Directors also reprimanded him for harassing us yesterday. He is the only one that I know with motivation, but neither Adriel nor I know who that man he burned is. The man didn't say anything - I was stunned while reading and didn't even know he was here! And then he grabbed Adriel using a fireproof bag made with stone fiber, but Adriel can actually control all four elements." His witch was very stupid to let everyone know what his attacks were. "Er... right. Can you leave that last part out of your report, please? Adriel doesn't want everyone knowing that just in case we are attacked again."

The Auror frowned, raised his wand, then very carefully and deliberately pointed it at the report when two of Adriel's heads turned to stare at him (black and yellow) with the yellow one letting out a quiet warning hiss. "Very protective, isn't he," the auror chuckled. "I can obscure it so it remains confidential until the end of the investigation, but I cannot remove it. I suggest that you remain at home or only go to public locations while keeping him securely with you on a safety harness until we are done. The miniature dragon harnesses should fit him just fine."

"Oh, we picked up a set a few days ago... I just didn't think he had to wear it since he isn't a pet," Art said with a scowl. Adriel agreed. "And he wanted to go out and exercise today..."

"I think he has had a lot of exercise for the day - it isn't easy to take down a fully grown lizard - er, wizard," the auror said, sounding a little amused. "The leash will prevent anyone from just snatching him off of you, but if you got the safety one, then the harness will snap off the lead before the dragon - hydra, in your case - is actually hurt if it turns into a tug of war. That extra second or two will no doubt buy Adriel enough time to set an attacker on fire again."

Adriel couldn't help but preen a little bit because damned right he would. However, keeping his witch in the den sounded like a very very good idea to keep him safe. "You are the one in danger, not me," Art told him in a flat tone. "That is the second person that has tried to snatch you now!" Adriel was just fine! Well, he was until Art squished him up against his chest and started that aggressive cuddling thing. "My poor Adriel, you were almost stolen from me! We are keeping you in the den, er, apartment! And I'm giving you ice cream because you must have been so so scared and you were so so brave!"

Adriel was not scared! But ice cream sounded good. And he was very brave, yes. "Well, let's finish up this report, and I will let the two of you go back home to rest," the auror said, definitely looking amused. "Names and address, please?"

Art ended up getting couch and book time just like he wanted, but Adriel did get ice cream! And while it wasn't the same as a rock in the warm sun, Art's chest was very comfortable, warm, and a good place to nap as well. He could hear Art's heartbeat, and that let him know that Art was safe and alive while he dozed. That night after dinner (grilled chicken on caesar salad today, Adriel, you need a little bit of vegetables but I made yours with cherry tomatoes and boiled carrots with a bit of watercress and spinach so... Grilled chicken on a salad since it isn't a caesar salad like mine.) Adriel and Art had a bath together, and Adriel stayed very silent as he studied Art's body while he undressed and got in the water.

When they went to bed, Adriel was once again on Art's chest without needing to ask, and after Art fell asleep, he pondered the mechanics of mating with a human and what Art meant by 'love' when he had mentioned how witches and familiars got together to mate.

---

Day 7 passed at the house, and Art cleaned. He cleaned a lot. He scrubbed and disinfected everything, including Adriel's sandbox, and new sand was put in it. Not that the sand ever got old... Art had only changed it a couple days prior after the last of the worms had been killed off. Still, Adriel appreciated it since he could never use an overused sandbox because he could see it getting disgusting very quickly. However, he really wanted to contribute with the cleaning, so after a bit of idea exchanges, they figured out a way that he could help. Blue started taking over the areas where Art would use augamenti, and Red took care of lint with carefully applied heat that was just shy of turning into a flame. When they were done, Art asked if the stench of London was out of the apartment, and Adriel realized Art was trying to make the den more comfortable for him.

It... was not gone. But! It was a lot better. Adriel was a lot more comfortable, so he could tolerate it better. Then Art said he was going to start looking into places in Godric's Hollow and Hogsmeade which were colder climates, but they were also in the countryside so the air would be clean and the house would be a lot bigger for the same amount of rent he was paying here. Distance to work would also not be a problem because he was a witch, so it wasn't a problem, he had just stayed in London the whole time because it was what he was used to.

Oh, and Adriel would be meeting his family tomorrow. Because there was a family dinner he had completely forgotten about until today.

Adriel heard the word dinner, and he was fine with Art's plans.

---

Day 8, and officially a week after Adriel met Art since the Fountain was very very late at night (apparently close to midnight which was why there had only been fish and chips to be found), and Adriel woke up on top of Art like he usually did before the sky really started to get light (sunrise was around 6:30 in the morning, but Adriel woke closer to 5 in the morning.) Usually he would just slip into a half doze and luxuriate in not needing to start moving to check and make sure his den had no predators waiting in ambush and see if he could find a den or a nest out there that could be ambushed as he checked the area, but this time he stayed awake to study Art's sleeping face again.

Art had said one week. That meant if Adriel wanted to, he could try to take a human form now. Something about knowing Art well enough for things to happen naturally? So what did he know about Art?

Well, first, Art was very very emotional. He didn't seem like it on the outside, but his emotions could be very all over the place. He could be happy one second, crushed the next, and then sentimental in the third. It was baffling for Adriel to feel that, but after the first couple times it had happened, it stopped causing headaches and such. Were all humans like that? He would have to guess some were since the Colorful One had also been expressive, and Brian had to have let his emotions make him stupid. The only time he ever saw Art get stupid was when he was thinking Adriel might leave him because he was not good enough (that was the gist of it anyway), but yes. He was emotional.

Art was also very smart! He knew all the stories... Actually, as far as Adriel could tell, Art knew everything. He even found the bird that flew him here! And guessed that he had been brought from France! At least most recently - Adriel was definitely from farther south according to Art, and he was basing it off of the descriptions Adriel could give him. However, as smart as Art was, he was very very squishy and weak. All humans were squishy and weak in comparison to Adriel, though, so he was not too sure where Art stood on the squishy human spectrum. Not very high if the Stupid One thought he could harass his witch. The Stupid One was defeated by a warning tail thwack - at least the human yesterday took a full tail that and several bouts of flames... And a mauled hand from where he had still been trying to shove Adriel off which meant more chomps and fires instead of going still and docile under a greater threat in hopes that maybe it would get bored and go away like a defeated enemy should have done.

Adriel couldn't even think about how Art might stand up to even a simple warning thwack. The bond was almost annoying like that and really would have been annoying had he not known that it was an equal exchange so Art couldn't think about how to hurt him, either. Overall, though, Art had been... Not bad. Not very bad at all. So 'not bad' that his initial ideas of just 'ignoring it until it went away' didn't work, and he grew to like Art more than he liked tacos. Not as much as he liked ice cream or spaghetti, though. About on par with the fish and chips. Art was starting to try to find foods Adriel might like more than spaghetti also because 'spaghetti is a simple meal, Adriel! There are better things out there! No, ice cream doesn't could - it a dessert, not a meal!' But Art couldn't even hurt a cicada larvae - or any other larvae for that matter. Things so weak that they just needed to be pushed on to pop. So Art was a very gentle person and a very good cook which meant that if he took Art as a mate he would have to think about this working stuff and galleons and pounds to bring in better foods and more support.

Art's books, too... Art liked his books as much as Adriel liked pretty things and really good food. If he got a job, he would bring Art home a lot of books. Art had been very very careful to explain concepts like stealing while he talked about currency (so you can't just take things unless you ask first or buy it from a store. No matter how weak they are or unprotected their den is. No, you can't take from other familiars either, Adriel. Even if they are lizards or snakes! Well... No, no cats, either. Just leave the cats alone unless they actually attack me.) and had made it clear that Art would be the one paying the consequences. With galleons at the least. Which meant Adriel would also end up with the consequences of not very good food at all because there would not be enough money to buy the good food if Art was using the money to pay for stolen things. So no stealing or taking.

Did Adriel actually want to be a human, though? Or human shaped, anyway - he was Adriel and hydra or human or mutant snake lizard were all just descriptions and not who he was. Going from his current body to a human one was a rather large step, though. Well... It would be if he really wanted to overcomplicate things. All this thinking and making it feel complicated was an Art thing, and it wasn't like Adriel could not be human unless he wanted to continue to risk Art's safety by having people think he could be kidnapped. If he was in a human body, it would wrap that issue up, and he could continue to just do what he wanted and not think about the mate thing either since it wasn't like they had to do that even if he could feel how much Art pined for a mate. There were other humans, and from what he had studied in the baths, Art was better formed than most other humans he had seen so far (though the Colorful One had been very nice as well. He still thought Art should be with her).

Even without taking the kidnapping and practical side of being a human, he was curious about it. So yes, he did want to be a human.

That last thought felt like a block had slid right into place since Adriel's body just slipped into a new form. He was a bit bigger than Art as a human - something that was very immediately realized because he had been lying out on Art's chest and now Art was flailing under him from the unexpected weight.

"AAAAAAH Adriel something is going to EAT MEEEEE!" his silly witch wailed out before he actually looked and then froze. "Adriel?" He was. "I uh... I uh...." Art was turning red and Adriel could feel all kinds of intense feelings from him - admiration, embarrassment, arousal, awe, yearning, possessiveness, and then a couple more complicated things Adriel was not very familiar with but were also warm. "No, don't... Just... Get off me oh my god!"

The embarrassment won out over everything else as Art pushed on his shoulder (very weakly) and then thumped his fists on his chest (also laughably weak), but he rolled to the side and off of Art to stretch and yawn because he could understand that Art didn't want him on him but did and was very confused and starting to panic. Well, either Adriel was a very strong human, which was probably the case, or Art was a lot weaker than he thought, which was probably also the case. "Adriel!" Art yelped, but he ignored it. "No, cover up cover blanket just-!" And then a pillow landed on his face while the blankets were shoved on him all while he was having his first good stretch as a human! "Oh my god oh my god I have to use the bathroom stay!"

Adriel pulled the pillow off his head in time to see Art slam the door to the bathroom shut behind him, and then Art wailed. Sheesh, he could hear that, he wasn't sure why Art just didn't having his wailing fit while holding him like he had every time so far. The wail got even louder as did the feeling of mortification, so Adriel figured it had something to do with him. Mmm, Art's spot on the bed was still nice and warm which he could feel very well through his soft human skin... Very soft human skin. Adriel started running his hands on himself and -

THUNK THUNK THUNK "Ow... Stop that, Adriel!" Art shouted through the door. His witch had... Smacked his own head into his door, and for some reason it helped clear his gibbering brain. "No... None of that stuff! What time is it?! The sun isn't even up yet!"

Adriel sighed since the circles with the nubs on his chest had felt nice to touch and twisted to look at the clock. "Six," he grunted as he squinted and considered it.

"Whyyy is your first word SEX?!" Art wailed out, then Adriel heard him slide down onto the floor in the bathroom. It wasn't, it was six and what was sex? "EEEEEK!"

The next hour was spent with Art flailing around in the bathroom and refusing to come out until Adriel was properly covered up god dammit, and they had to go clothes shopping and did he have anything that even fit Adriel so they could leave the apartment?! And Adriel learned the word sex was just another word for mating. He wondered why Art was thinking about sex so much when they had only just woken up, and he was told to shut up and put on the wizarding robes, then Art had to help him put on the robes because he had no idea how to do it and Art just kept thinking more about sex and was shutting down each new thought before it got too far. His witch really needed a mate since he was so tense and panicked about mating. That thought earned him a smack on his arm and a huffy Art.

While they were out buying clothes that fit him in second hand shops in the magic areas, Adriel got a job. It was a very sudden offer, but someone from Witch Weekly (a magazine which was like a book only less pages and lots of pictures) wanted him to do things and poses. Art simplified it for him better by mumbling that they wanted to make him look very beautiful to get pictures like how the book had pictures of eagles. It seemed like an easy job that actually had some nice galleons, so he agreed because Art looked pretty stunned by the amount they were offering which meant it was a good amount and would cover for clothes from today along with books for Art and stuff, and Art sighed before demanding a proper contract be made at Gringotts.

It was his first time there, and he liked the goblins and they seemed to like him well enough too since neither of them hissed, bared their teeth at each other, and were pretty amused by the other. He managed to get the goblin Art was trying to do business with to talk about food, and the goblin looked delighted to talk about things like dragon tail steaks until the Witch Weekly person insisted they work on a contract while looking very annoyed. Adriel and the goblin were both annoyed at the silly humans who did not seem to understand how important food was, but they both complied and Art negotiated for Adriel while Adriel looked around the goblin's room with interest since they also appreciated the fine and shiny things as well, and then Adriel was putting a bloody thumbprint on the contract since he had no idea how to use a quill and snapped the first one just trying to hold it to make a scribbling mark.

They were supposed to do more shopping after, but Adriel got very stubborn at that point and insisted that he got to eat because he was very very hungry and made his complaints known with hisses and growls. Art grabbed his hand and dragged him off to a Leaky and they ate food there that was not as good as Art's food (Art was very pleased to hear that) and Art explained to him some more about his new job and how there would be another familiar who would be able to understand Adriel better to act as his manager. And that yes, the gold was enough for food and for books and for today's clothes. And to cover the shiny stuff also for his hydra form. And any further jobs would definitely help pay for getting them to a bigger den which... Art decided they actually needed since Adriel was big, and Adriel immediately said no to the offer of him having his own sleep den - bedroom - so Art whined about having to get a bigger bed and Adriel had better wear pajamas for it and not touch himself because that had given him a nosebleed in the bathroom.

Which Adriel thought was rather unfair since how was he supposed to get to know his own body if Art was telling him not to even touch himself? And what were the circles on his chest that- "Shut up, Adriel!" Art whined, very very red. "I'll... I'll explain later! Not here in public, it is very bad to talk about these things in public!"

The rest of the afternoon was Art naming various body parts and what they did while Adriel was learning how to put on various pieces of clothes. He did not like underwear. Art insisted they were required. Adriel said they were not if he was wearing robes or pants. Art said it didn't matter because they were underwear! Adriel pointed out that Art had said clothes were for covering up things humans thought were embarrassing, and if he was covered, then there was no point to underwear and he didn't like how they bunched up in the pants so he would wear those or he would wear the underwear, but not both. And Art whined, but he stopped trying to argue for pointless underwear.

Then it was the family dinner Art had mentioned, and Art wondered out loud if Adriel should be human or if he should be hydra. Adriel would be human so Art would not be in danger if another idiot decided his Hydra form was a good idea to try to take. Art ended up having to help Adriel into a proper suit (It was tight and didn't fit well! And he didn't like buttons and no, please not the tie not the tie!) (Adriel, you need to learn how to wear a tie so don't argue, no no don't tug it loose! Adriel! Ah, fine, whatever, just don't take it off and leave the buttons alone!) and Art brushed his hair. They both found out that he liked getting his horns rubbed (Adriel already knew this as a hydra since he rubbed them on trees to keep them from getting flaky or too big, but Art had not touched them at all and it felt so much nicer when Art scritched and rubbed them) (Adriel, I'm trying to brush your hair, stop turning around to rub your head against me! Fine, fine, I will rub your horns for a few minutes and no, that was not an invitation - you are too big for my lap! Down Adriel, no lap when you are a human!) and Art only idly thought about cutting his hair short for a brief second as he brushed his hair before Adriel threw such a fit over having his beautiful and shiny and colorful mane cut that Art immediately apologized and promised nobody would be cutting his hair ever.

Art had to straighten himself out again and redo his own clothes and hair because he had looked like he had been running around outside once Adriel was groomed 'close enough' for a family dinner (It's your fault, Adriel! Why couldn't you just sit still on the chair?! Now we are half an hour late!) and off they went to a different area of London that was still stinky, but not as smelly as the busy area Art lived in.

"Art!" a woman exclaimed when the door opened, and then she tried to hug an Art who was about to take that attack with resignation, only Adriel grabbed Art and wrapped his own arms around Art and hissed in a threatening way while missing his tail. "Oh, oh my!"

"No, bad Adriel, that is my mother!" Art chided, and while Adriel stopped hissing, he did not let go of Art and kept him held up against him. "Ugh, whatever." His poor witch was getting tired and cranky. "That's your fault, too... I think you were less trouble as a hydra. Mom, this is Adriel, my new familiar."

"Oh!" Art's mom exclaimed, suddenly all teeth and excitement and Adriel flinched back while he dragged Art along with him because he wasn't sure if that was some kind of weird attack. "Oh, dear, I am not going to hurt you. Art?"

"...He is also feral," Art mumbled as he tried to wiggle out of Adriel's arms, but went still when Adriel very much was going to sit on his witch if he tried to escape. "Er... And he thinks you are a threat. It has been a very long week and it is his first day being human and there are people trying to kidnap him so he would not go back to his familiar form. Don't worry, the aurors are already investigating and they have someone to interrogate... If he lived. Adriel... is very dangerous so... I could go home? We still have socializing classes to attend."

"Oh, don't be silly, dear," his mom said with a smile. "My name is Elizabeth, Adriel, and it is very nice to meet you. You can call me mom if you wish since you are Art's familiar - that makes you as much my son as he is! Don't worry, I'm not taking Art from you, just come in and let's get you nice and comfortable."

Adriel waited until the woman was back inside her den but had left the way clear and open before he released Art to inspect the opening to make sure it was not a trap. Art, though, just pushed him in and he stumbled as he caught his balance and gave Art a hiss of irritation. "It's fine, Adriel, she is family and nobody will hurt me here, I promise," Art sighed as he closed the door behind him.

"Oh, do I hear Art?" another female called out, and then a woman that was yellow furred with blue eyed just like Elizabeth came out from another room and gawked at Adriel. Adriel was immediately on guard and nervous because that was the same look Brian had when he tried to grab him the first time at the ministry. "Oh my god, who is that gorgeous man?! I'm Sarah! Who are you?"

And Adriel could feel sourness and anger and anguish coming from Art so he narrowed his eyes and got ready to bite if she came near. "No, bad Adriel!" Adriel heard before Art was in his face, had his tie in his hand, and was yanking him down. Huh, his witch could apparently exert some strength it seemed. "That is my sister and also family! Sarah, Adriel is my familiar but he is feral and this is his first time as a human so please please don't upset him because he doesn't know what is dangerous or not yet."

"Feral?" Sarah asked, and Adriel felt nervous with the look she was aiming at him. "I have heard certain things about feral familiars in the bedroom... OW! Mom!"

Elizabeth had grabbed Sarah by her ear and was giving Adriel a smile, but this was a dangerous smile. "I am so sorry, Adriel, don't mind Sarah who is engaged and has apparently forgotten her manners," Elizabeth said, and Adriel and Art were both so relieved that Sarah was being dragged out that they leaned against each other. "I will just have a small talk with her to remind her about them." Sarah gave a final yelp as she was pulled along by her ear, and Adriel heard a door in another area of the house get shut as the woman pulled the girl into the room.

"Is it safe?" a man asked as he poked his head out. An older man who did not exude any dangerous vibes at all... Art looked like a younger and thinner version of him and Adriel could see where Art got his meek gentleness from. Art was very angry over Adriel's last thought. "Ah, good, come Dio! The women are busy and we can meet Art and his familiar. I am Manuelo, Art's father, but you can call me papa or dad." Art let go of Adriel's tie since Adriel was relaxing and pat the top of his head even though he was still cranky at Adriel. "This is my youngest son, Dionisio, but we call him Dio! And Artemio is the oldest. Sarah is our middle child, but with a family of boys, she learned to be very head strong and sometimes speaks before she thinks. Do not mind her, mama is taking care of it and she will be better mannered for dinner. So what animal are you? A dragon or quetzalcoatl? You are colorful enough for the latter, though they do not have horns."

Adriel blinked, and Art shook his head no. "He is a hydra, papa," Art said as he took Adriel's hand then tugged him towards the couches in the middle of the room. "He looks like large lizard with five little dragon heads that are red, blue, green, very pale yellow, and black. A hydra is a legendary ancient greek creature thought not to exist, but there is apparently a hidden colony of them somewhere in Europe! Deep underground where it starts to get warm or around a volcanic area, and I will find it! I already have a bit of a lead because Adriel remembers things as an egg so I think I can trace his journey north backwards as soon as we can go to the library so I can research it and the library will fund it for sure! If not them, the Ministry definitely because this is a huge discovery!"

Manuelo laughed, and he and Dios took a seat on another couch once Art had tugged Adriel down on theirs and fussed over his tie before plopping down next to him. Adriel tugged the tie loose again. "Ah, I see," Manuelo said as he watched Art turn to fuss over Adriel again who started to gently bat away the hands to keep them away from his tie while he made a whining sound. "Ah, well it is a good thing I named my sons after Ancient Greek! It was a very lucky portent. Before he left, my father told me I must find the most powerful things in distant lands to name my sons after since he saw a long journey for me, and that is why I chose Artemis of the wild animals for you, Artemio, and then the God of Revelry for Dio so he would grow up to be happy when I saw how much you struggled. I always felt bad since I thought I had cursed you, but you look so happy with your wild hydra."

Art looked mortified when he heard his father sniff and tear up, and to Adriel's relief, he stopped trying to mess with his tie so Adriel took the opportunity to try to get that top button off also because it was around his neck and he did not like it one bit. "Adriel!" Art cried out when the button was accidentally popped off and pinged almost to the opposite side of the room because Adriel's fingers slipped. "No, bad Adriel, I told you to leave the buttons alone! Fine, you don't have to button the top one since it is gone anyway - oh my god you look so disheveled now after I spent hours trying to fix you up - do NOT touch the other buttons!" Adriel was going to flop out on Art's lap since it was safe now, but Art's hands came up to keep him up. "No! I said no lap also when you are a human! Just sit! Yes, dinner will be soon and yes, you have to use a fork again but I will cut everything up for you so it isn't so messy this time."

"He doesn't know how to speak?" Manuelo asked. "I thought familiars speak?"

Art was no longer in a very neat state either after Adriel's manhandling outside the door, but he had not realized it yet. "No, he can but..." Art blushed as he remembered how he had mistaken six for sex. "He isn't used to communicating yet. He has said a couple words today-" six, no, yes, food, and ice cream "-but he is still used to only hissing, growling, or talking in my head. We will be attending classes together so he can learn manners and stuff, but this is the first time he will be eating with other people and he can be... territorial about food." Adriel had not liked that waitress coming so close to their table while his food had been on it. "If you don't count the Leaky, anyway, which I don't because Adriel chased off the waitress even though we were in a remote corner and she was only asking if the food was good which does not mean they are asking because they want to take it, Adriel."

Adriel looked away to study the room as Manuelo chuckled. "Explain this feral thing to me and Dio, Art," he said with a smile. "Neither of us understand well, but it seems like it is special?"

Art slumped, then raised his hand to rake his hair back with fingers and sighed. "He has been living in the wilds and actually hated humans," Art began, then told his father all about how they met at the fountain while Adriel inspected the couch. Art only paused to stop him when he started rubbing his head against the arm rest to scrape his horns against it, and got lectured that they were too big as a human and he would break things so none of that either while he was in a human body. Adriel got annoyed enough by all these human restrictions that he just turned into a hydra right then and there since the den seemed safe enough, and then Art had to help him out of the pile of clothes that had been left behind. "Nooo, Adriel! You are supposed to change with them or you will be naked again when you decide to be a human! Now you are stuck as a hydra until we get home because you are not allowed to be naked here! Or at home! I don't let him run around naked at home, papa, oh my god you are making me say too much, Adriel! Just... Be good!"

Manuelo was laughing so hard that he had tears in his eyes as he watched Art get so flustered. "Ah, Adriel is good for you - I have never seen you so excited or happy, my son," Manuelo said with a very happy smile of his own. "I tried very hard, but you were so smart and so scared that it was difficult to understand since I am only a simple farmer. However, it does mean that I do understand wild animals. I suggest you buy treats since he seems to love food and just give him one when he is being good, and if he is being bad, tell him he will get one if he is good. You can use the spare room that used to be yours to dress him up again before you go home."

Art looked shocked. "I... Already kind of did that with ice cream," he said in a thoughtful tone. "It actually worked very well since he was very good while we were at the library. Do you have any other suggestions...?"

---

Several months later and Adriel was a very popular model. He found clothes he actually liked (soft and colorful silks and velvets along with fine quality wool and cotton that the clothes agencies happily gave him for free because he was apparently a walking promotion - all he had to do was tell anyone who asked where the clothes came from) and he did learn how to wave a stick as a hydra. The kidnap attempt had not directly been from Brian, but rather one of the library directors named Victus who had heard from Brian about the legendary hydra, and Brian was fired while Victus had been sent to Azkaban and fired because attempted kidnapping of a familiar was a serious crime. Art was being funded for an expedition to Greece which was for his search for Atlantis with the Greek Ministry also willing to add their own donations for his venture as long as he paused to search out the hidden colony of hydras with Adriel's help in their country. Italy then clamoured for the same courtesy as did France since Adriel had been in France and Italy at the very least on his journeys, and they knew that simply because Art had been sending enquiries to match up terrain and creatures that Art and Adriel could not identify. Aphrodite's Area had also had several boutiques trying to contract Adriel for modeling, and his modelling manager, a wyvern familiar named Leonardo that he got along with surprisingly well, had them all in a bidding war since Adriel would only model for three shoots out there because he was not comfortable leaving Art alone and Art could only give him that much time.

Leonardo was very good, but the first two modelling managers had quit because Adriel tried to flame the first one (a dog) who annoyed him all the time and the second one quit because she (a turtle) kept forgetting which treats he preferred and didn't want to deal with how difficult he was. Leonardo understood the importance of treats and shinies, though, so there was no problem whatsoever there, and he got a 10% cut of the profits so it was in his best interest to not just negotiate good deals, but negotiate good deals that Adriel would actually show up to and keep him happy when too much poking and prodding would make him cranky because he was still not very good about being touched by humans that were not his witch.

They had a lovely home outside of Godric's hollow that had a nice stream that ran past it for Adriel and had two libraries now all for Art. Art was teaching him how to read and write, and they were learning that while his spells were only good for attack and defense, he was not very good with reading and writing. That is until they found out he had an affinity for ancient runes, glyphs, and characters, anyway, and absorbed them at such a fast rate that he was even starting to touch on cuneiform while Art was still getting him through hieroglyphs. The Futharks took only a month to learn all six different versions of it. Adriel was about ready to abandon his wand stuff and just cast through runes since those could actually be carved as a human and then used in either form if he was smart about it. Which he was. He prided himself on his intelligence as well as his beauty.

Before Adriel, Art had not cared about fashion one bit - clothes were for modesty and utility, and that was it. However, it changed just a little bit because he made sure he got a copy of every magazine that Adriel was depicted in, and while he was fussy about what he himself wore needing to modest, he couldn't argue with the fact that Adriel looked very nice in things that brought out the colors in his hair and the iridescent shimmer of his black horns. He also made sure to tell Adriel how pretty he was because Adriel could get fussy (they were starting to call his familiar a diva! How dare they?! He was very simple as long as people actually listening to what he said about how to handle Adriel!) and it wasn't a hardship since he knew he had it bad for Adriel. Adriel also knew how he felt (He had understood before that first week was up, it was impossible to not understand what yearning and lust was) but had not opened up the subject to Art though he slept in Art's bed every night as hydra or man. He absolutely refused any contract that took him away overnight or out of the country because he refused to be too far from Art - Art had had to go to the first few modeling shoots and take those days as vacation (the dog got flamed when he kept knocking on the door to get Adriel to show up at the ones Adriel would not attend because Art could not get that day off). Adriel did his modeling shoots alone now, thankfully, and Art could even get some alone time at the bookstore on occasion if Adriel was relaxed enough to not insist on tagging along. There were even work days where he could work the whole day without Adriel coming along or showing up now!

Still, there was the Nundu in the room about feelings that neither of them voiced, and while Art knew that Adriel knew that he loved him, Art was not sure if Adriel knew that he loved Art. Art knew Adriel loved him, but he didn't think Adriel was aware that the feelings were love, and Art was not sure how to broach it and was terrified he would lose his familiar (the first one in known history with a Hydra could very well become the first one in known history to have a familiar leave him!) so he kept silent about it.

That was, until Leonardo had sent him the newest magazine with Adriel's newest photoshoot. Art didn't pay attention to the offers, he had left that with the manager since if Adriel was fine with what he was doing and it was safe, it wasn't Art's business. But not this time. No. Because Adriel was the centerfold of the Playwitch magazine in this one! With a two page article about his hobbies, likes, dislikes, and his single status and Art was not having this! Now everyone would see his beautiful familiar in all of his naked glory and - he was really really flexible for that position - no, BAD ART, don't get distracted! People were seeing his familiar, and someone would trick his naive hydra into their wicked arms and Adriel would not realize he loved Art until it was too late! So he ambushed him over dinner.

"We need to talk, Adriel," Art said as he scowled at his plate and stabbed his potatoes like they had committed a heinous deed.

Adriel blinked at him. "We are talking?" Adriel asked, confused about why Art had been so closed off and upset all evening.

"I mean, about your last photoshoot," Art gritted out.

"For the JNCO line?" Adriel asked. He had been working on that for the past few days after all.

"No! Playwitch!" Art hissed, then gulped in air to calm himself down. Adriel did not understand so he shouldn't be angry at him - Adriel was too innocent to understand why nudity was so bad. He would have to talk to Leonardo, though... That Wyvern was going to be drawn, quartered, hung, and put in the brazen bull to be cooked as a final end. "Where you were naked?"

Adriel grinned. "Oh, yes, that was the contract that let me buy you the last set of bookshelves!" Adriel happily told Art. Art had been thrilled over them since they had hand carved designs on the edges that looked like figures on Greek pottery. "They had-"

"I don't want the bookshelves if it means everyone gets to see you naked!" Art wailed out as he threw his silverware into his plate, giving up all pretenses of eating when he had no appetite, anyway. "You are my familiar and I looooove yoooouuuu!"

Adriel scowled then and was confused. "I was not naked in the published copies, but I love you, too," he said as he stared at Art like he was acting stupid. Because he was. They both knew they loved each other, so he didn't know why Art was fussing. "Well, I guess I wasn't wearing clothes, but you said I don't have to wear clothes as a hydra."

Art was speechless and angry and confused and confused because Adriel had said he loved him, but anger won out since Adriel didn't even know he was naked! He got up from the table so fast that the chair fell to the floor, and he went to go get the offensive material and now had plans to sue Leonardo and Playwitch all to hell and back for publishing his sweet and innocent familiar in his naked glory without him even knowing about it!!!!

Adriel abandoned his plate (Poor food, but Art had actually managed to become more important than even ice cream lately) and chased after Art just as Art snatched the Playwitch off of the living room table and opened it to show Adriel the pictures he was talking about. "THESE ARE NOT A HYDRA BODY!!!" Art shrieked. "I am going to burn down that whole studio and toss your stupid wyvern friend INTO THE FIRE!!!!"

Adriel reached out and grabbed Art as he started to turn around to go for the door and held him up against him. "Oh, no, that copy was only for you," Adriel explained with an enthusiastic tone. "See, I told the magazine director about my dilemma about relationship status because I didn't know how to answer it, and she said you would love to have your own private copy like that and it would help me figure out what we are! She said it sounded like we were mate bonds even though we weren't mating or anything - but since you don't like the S word, I can't ever ask you about it so I thought she was wrong and I am a normal familiar without a mate. The published copies had my hydra form on paged five to eight with eating habits, beauty tips for scales, claws, mane, and horns, and other things like that with one picture of me in a bathing suit by the swimming pool, but no mention of a relationship status except as a familiar. I didn't want to go in the water like they had originally planned because the pool smelled funny and like chemicals. She said if you said you loved me and got jealous and angry and maybe even murderous like right now, then we are actually a mated pair and I am not single."

Art had not responded at all and Adriel apparently broke his brain because he wasn't thinking or feeling, either. Or, there was feeling, but it was just shock. He nuzzled the back of Art's neck then licked it, and Art jumped in his arms and hissed like a started cat. "Adriel!" he protested while he tried to wiggle away and flail, but Adriel just held him tighter and didn't let him go into he tired himself out and stopped struggling. The magazine ended up on the floor, but Adriel ignore it to lick and nibble on Art's neck some more since he had felt how much Art had liked that and had been happy about it despite his struggling. "Adriel I uhm... You love me?" His witch was asking a stupid question that didn't need an answer so he just reached around to start popping buttons off to lick and suck on Art's neck better. "I.. Fine but... Eh? Adriel? EEK!"

Adriel's mate was a very silly witch who fussed and made things very very complicated when things were simple. Underwear was an unneeded complication, worrying over what-ifs was an unneeded complication, panic without being carried off by an eagle or being attacked by a cat was an unneeded complication, and so much more. Art made at least one thing a day overly complicated, and today it was going to be about sex. He fought and wiggled and whined while Adriel explored his body with hands and mouth and tongue, and it didn't matter that his clothes got destroyed in the process because Adriel could replace them anyway. Art loved having Adriel's tongue run up the spine from tailbone to the back of his neck while he was held down despite his flailing and attempts to escape or yelling for Adriel to just wait please! He was a very straight forward Hydra, so if Art didn't want to talk about sex, Adriel would just have to show him all about it. Besides, the whole playwizard crew for that three day shoot had been very very happy to give him plenty of tips and advice about what humans liked, and Adriel was even allowed to go watch some porn being photographed ("just in case it doesn't work out, you can always do things like this, luv") so it only took him about twenty minutes to get Art to stop protesting and really start moaning just like the humans had done for the cameras. That lady have been very right, though, and now he owed her ten galleons since the centerfold for Art did work.

It was worth every coin and then some.

Art was a cat, or well he thought he was a regular muggle cat. He had been raised in an alley his entire life. Except, he was... small. Really small, nut much bigger then a kitten! Except he was full grown! So, unfortunately, he was constantly bullied by the other cats. Constantly picked on, nipped at, scratched at.. he had trouble finding food, and the other cats never shared with him. He barely was able to survive. It was unfortunately no different today. It was evening, and Art had gone most of the day looking for food with little luck. He was too small to be able to get into trash cans or dumpsters and he didn't trust or like humans. He had seen humans take his fellow cats and then they never returned! Obviously humans were monsters and did unspeakable things to them like ate them.

Art was going back to his alley, hunger gnawing at his stomach. He was most likely going to go to bed hungry. Again. When three of the alley cats came out. He froze, he knew these cats. Big, dumb. And always liked to bully him, batting at him and scratching and attacking and trying to make him leave. Of course this evening was no different. He cowered, he was far too small to actually defend himself. Hiding was the best option. The three of them started beating him and yowling and scratching at him. He couldn't do anything but let out pitiful meows as he took blow after blow and scratch after scratch. But then suddenly they were gone and he was suddenly being lifted 'aaaah!!!! whats going on?' Art frantically looked around and his eyes widened at seeing the HUMAN!!! 'HUMAN!! NOOO NO I DONT WANT TO BE EATEN BY YOU YOU WON'T TAKE ME ALIVE!!!' badly beaten, Art used what little strength he had to attack the evil humans hand and the human almost dropped him! So close!!! 'You can't take me alive! I won't let you eat me!! Cat eater!!!' Art let out what was supposed to be an incredible battle cry of a roar! However what came out was the tiniest little 'mew' sound.

"calm down, I don't want to hurt you. Or eat you... why on earth would I eat a cat? But your not a cat, your a familar... my familar. ANd please stop screaming in my head" the human said softly.

Art froze. 'Why... why did I understand what the human said? Did he speak... cat? Did I speak human?'

"No... we can understand each other because you are my familiar" the human said. "I can hear your thoughts in my head" he added. Art let out another ferascious 'mew' at that.

'What is this 'familiar' you speak of?' Art demanded. The human sighed a bit and examined him.

"Your hurt, come on I ill take you home and explain everything. I'm Adriel by the way, do you have a name?" he asked him. Art tried to glare at him and give another roar of 'mew'.

'I do not care what your name is human! Put me down this INSTANT! I will not be eaten by you!' Art protested. Adriel sighed and didn't listen to any of his protests as he took him to a strange place h had never been. Then the human put him in WATER!! Art was no stranger to water, of course it rained so he was used to water. That didn't mean he LIKED water or wanted to be put into water! The human also put some stuff on him that burned and itched and then all his nasty fleas fell off. And also waved a stick at him and all his wounds from the fight earlier disappeared. Art fought him the entire time, pushing the human away and calling him names and roaring at him and threatening to bite him any time he touched him. But he had to admit it did feel nice to be free of fleas, and also to be healed up from the fight. And all the while the human explained about familiars. Magical creatures, that bonded to a witch or wizard. And why he could hear his thoughts, why he was intelligent compared to the other cats. And they were tied to each other and would have some osrt of relationship, friendship or... more. They were mentally connected. And once he got his stregnth up, he could turn into a human. That earned the human lots of angry 'mew' noises and more insults. Though... as much as he fought the process and the human, something felt... right about being with this human.

The human then gave him a saucer filled with milk and Art eyed it... suspiciously. But only for a few moments and then his hunger took over. He ended up drinking three saucers of it. And when he was done thehuman showed him a box with... stuff in it and called it his bed and aid it was temporary. 'Maybe... this human isn't that bad... but that didn't mean I have to like him! Or this dumb famiiar business.' Art grumbled as he climbed into the bed and felt how nice and soft and cozy it was. So different from a wet moldy box in the alley. Art curled up a bit.

"You haven't told me your name yet. I told you I'm Adriel" he said. Art swished his tail annoyed. Did this human deserve to know his name? "i can hear your thoughts" Adriel reminded him. Art let out another roar of frustration.

'Art' he introduced himself reluctantly. Adriel nodded and went to pet him. Art hissed and barred his teeth but also felt bad as he retracted his hand. 'Don't touch me!' he snapped at him.

"I understand. I am sorry. I will not touch, pet or hold you unless you approach me for them" Adriel promised. Unlikely, Art couldn't help thinking. Adriel gave a nod "It is your right, even if you never wish to be touched" Adriel explained. Art swished his tail annoyed, he didn't like this human being able to read his thoughts. How could he have any privacy! "I can leave your bed here, and I will go to my bed" Adriel said and left the room. Art expected to feel better at being lone and away from this human but...it felt awful. He felt so alone and cold suddenly. He felt more lonely then he ever had on the streets actually alone. Part of him wanted to just jump out of the box and go over to Adriel's bedroom and curl up with him. Part of him hated that idea. Part of him was still unsure that Adriel wouldn't eat him. But Art was stubborn, and stayed in his box as lonely as he was. he hated this situation, he wanted to go back to the alley... yet... that thought somehow filled him with dread. No... he coulnd't leave. Even if he could, he didn't know where he was. How to get back. He was stuck here, with this human. Art slowly criedhimself to sleep, the thought of never leaving and being free again, the loneliness, the doom at the thought of leaving... it was al so overwhelming. He just let out soft mews and cried until he passed out.

In the morning Art woke to Adriel making him a saucer of milk. His face was dried and crusted with his tears and as Adriel set it down, Art lapped it up quickly. And then begged for another. After that one was gone, Art begged for yet another. He never had the notion of his next meal being... guarenteed. Each meal was a fight, and an uncertainty. And he often went hungry, due to being unable to get his own food, or bigger cats stealing his food. Adriel however frowned "You will get sick, two is it from now on" he said and picked up the saucer and put it away. Art protested though "I want another one!' he insisted, Adriel frowned. "No" he insisted. Art sat with a ferascious hiss that sounded about as angry as an aggitated worm.

'I demand more milk!' he yelled. Adriel frowned.

"If i over feed you, you will get fat" Adriel reasoned. Art hissed again in his angry worm way.

"To be fat is a blessing! Only the best of the best of hunters get the honor of being FAT! Even most of the greatest hunters are not bestowed such an honor! I will not get fat, I have not earned such a blessing and good fortune' Art protested. Adriel seemed to pause.

"Art... how do you think uh cats get fat?" Adriel asked.

'The best hunters, those only truly gifted with the blessing of the hunt by the green dumpster god, who have hunted the most, and found the most garbage and given sacrifice to the dumpster god, has the honor of being fat and not needing to constantly be on the search for food' Art explained. Adriel simply nodded.

"Right. Um. Why don't you tell me about yourself?" Adriel asked. Art frowned.

'Why would I do that?' he asked.

"Because you are my familiar" Adriel explained. Art hissed again.

'By that rule would you tell me more about yourself?' Art asked huffily.

"Sure" Adriel said and went and sat down on the couch. Art gave his best cat frown and plodded over and sat down in front of Adriel since the couch was far too big for him to be able to get up on. Adriel looked down at him. "Do you want me to pick you up and put you on the couch?" he asked. Art frowned. No, he didn't want Adriel touching him. But... he did at the same time. He felt it just as he thought it, it wasn't true. He did want Adriel to touch him. Art swished his tail back and forth as he thought about it.

'fine" he said and Adriel carefully picked him up and Art had to use every bit of will power not to snuggle up to his hand. And then he was placed on the couch. Adriel told him all about his life, as a wizard and being English and American and explained what that all meant, and about what his tribe was like, what England was like, what some other countries were like. Art... coulnd't even imagine such a big... world. Before his world included just a few streets, some alleys... he couldn't beieve such things even existed. In turn though, Art did keep his end of bargain and told Adriel about himself. How he was raised in the alley his mother with a few siblings. How he never grew much, and stayed the size of a kitten that was only a few weeks old. How he had been bullied by the other cats, about hunting and how difficult it was being this small. How he had seen other cats be taken and not return at the hands of humans, thus them being eaten by the humans of course. And some other things, like where the best dumpster in his few block radius was, and which cats to avoid like the one eyed cat and his alley. And which humans to avoid the most, like the scary one that made the horrible thunder noises.

They spnt the rest of the day together, talking and Adriel explaining about human life. And how muggles won't know hes a familiar, but other witches and wizards would be able to tell when he became human due to his eyes. Art did not like the idea of becoming human. He was a cat! But he was starting to like Adriel, which he didn't like. He also felt... safe here. He had food, water, shelter, no one to hurt him or steal his food and someone who was taking care of him... it was.... nice. Not that Art would ever admit that! And Adriel was nice too. He knew so much about things Art previously didn't even know existed.

Adriel didn't leave the apartment for three days. During that they talked, and Art tried his best to stay away from Adriel. But the lonliness... it was so oppressive when Adriel wasn't around. He resisted all he could, but the urge to be around Adriel was so strong. Especially as he was eating more and gaining strenght. He found himself following Adriel around the apartment for no reason. Walking from the couch to the fridge. And then stopping himself. Following Adriel into the odd room called the bathroom. And then stopping himself and waiting by the door. Night time hough was the hardest. He tried to sty in his bed, but it was awful. He cried the first two nights. The third Adriel came back after an hour, filled with his cries, and picked up the box with him in it and brought into his bedroom and set it by his human bed and then went back to sleep without saying anything. Well Adriel did keep his word and didn't touch him. Touch was also difficult. He didn't want to be touched! Touch HURT! It was full of claws and nastiness. But he found himself craving Adriels touch. And occasionally, he would find himself slightly brushin up against Adriels foot and ankle in order to sate the urge without really touching him. It didn't really work too well but it was as much as he could take right now.

However the mornng of the fourthday came. "I need to go to the grocery store to get some food, we are running out of milk, and I need some things" Adriel. Art made sure to ask what a grocery store was, and its purpose. Art... liked the idea of alone time. At least he normally would. KNowing the oppressive horrible lonliness that came with being away from Adriel... And having no idea how long it would be without him... he didn't like that idea. Maybe... he could go with Adriel. But he hated that idea too. Art followed Adriel as he headed into his bedroom.

'Perhaps... human, I could go with you' Art said, using the 'human' term to show his obvious inderference, as well as a bored tone. As if Adriel couldn't read his thoughts, and didn't know about the conflict he was feeling about asking. Adriel smiled down at him.

"Sure, I could take you" Adriel said. The grocery store was an interesting visit. Many of the 'muggle' woman cooed at him and wanted to touch him and so he had to roar at them in his viscious and ferascious manor! 'Mew!!' which seemed to only make them coo harder. But Adriel protected him from being touched. And as for the grocery store itself... Art was amazed that so much food even EXISTED! Let alone was all in the same space! Humans didn't need to hunt for their food! It was even pre hunted, pre killed, and wrapped up for them to take home and 'cook'. Art had to admit if there were any perks to being human, that would be one. He made sure to ask where the mice were, but Adriel shook his head. No mice?? What kind of weirdos were these humans! But other then that it was uneventful. They went home, and spent the rest of the day together.

By the morning of the fifth day, Art was liking this a bit more. It felt nice here. It felt very nice here! Though he still didn't want to admit it. But that day someone else came over and Art hissed at them in his angry worm way but Adriel shushed him and introduced the man as Antione. The two men sat on the couch and talked. At ffirst nothing happened. But then a hand was placed on Adriels thigh. A hand on Antiones shoulder. And then suddenly their mouths were attacking each other! Art watched with conflicted feelings as clothes started to come off. Adriel was HIS human and NO ONE elses! How dare this Antione TOUCH his human! And he was angry, that after Adriel explained they could be soulmates and explaining what soulmates were, that he would let this other human dare touch him. But he also still didn't want to be human. ANd didn't want this, any of this. But yet he couldn't help but... yearn for it. Yearned for Adriels touch and affection. Antiones hand went on Adriels pants and Art couldn't take it. He took a running jump and used his claws to make it onto the couch, hissing and snarling and roaring the entire way up and then attacked Antione, his tiny paws of fury attacking him the way hundreds of cats had attacked him, all while insulting him "GET OFF OF MY HUMAN! GET YOUR OWN HUMAN! YOU FOUL BEAST! I WILL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB WITH MY CLAWS!! TASTE FLUFFY FURRY!!! FOUL CAT EATING SCUM! INEDIBLE TRASH!! MOUSES TAIL! YOUR BLOOD SHALL SPILL ON THIS GROUND MARKING MY VICTORY!!"

Unfortunately that was... how it happened in Art's POV. Antione simply sat there and frowned "Adriel why is your cat batting at me? I do not like it at all! It is being rude!" Antione said sounding offended. Adriel gently picked up Art which caused Art spew horrible profanties at Adriel for daring to go against his deal of not touching him and earned some scratches on his hand.

"I uh... I think you should go Antione, perhaps we could... get together later" Adriel said as he held Art, who secretly was rather enjoying being held and that it seemed as though Adriel was picking him over this disgusting human. Of course, Adriel knew exactly what Art was thinking so it wasn't that secret.

Even more offended, Antione left. Adriel frowned and set Art down on the couch. "Bad Art!"

Art froze... bad?

"Yes, very BAD Art! You do not attack people because they do something you don't like. Once you are human you can not solve your problems by pounching people!" Adriel explained. Art swihed his tail.

'You should have let me spill his blood before dismissing him' Art said. Adriel frowned.

"I wasn't even looking for a familar, I wasn't looking for a soulmate and I end up with one that doesn't even KNOW its a famiiar or ANYTHING regarding human culture! And you didn't even seem to notice what you did wrong" Adriel said, exasperated.

Art felt as if he has eaten ice, a horrible cold feeeling growing in his stomach. He felt horribly sad like he was going to cry. 'I did not ask for this either, I was perfectly fine in my alley. And if that is how you feel, I would like to go back' he said. No, he didn't want to go back. He liked it here. And the idea of leaving filled him with the sense of doom again. But he had been under the impression he had been wanted here, when that was obviously not the case.

Adriel sighed "You can't go back, with your strength coming back to you it should ony be a couple of days before you can turn into your human self." Adriel said in resignation.

'I do not care, I do not want to be human.' Art said, which was true. Adriel frowned.

"I'm sorry, I should not have said what I said. I was not looking for a familiar, but it is not your fault that you did not know you were a familiar. Or that you do not know human culture, since you were raised by regular cats. I do want you here. I... feel lonely when you are gone as well." Adriel said. Art swished his tail unhappily. He did not want to go, he wanted to stay and be with Adriel.

'i will stay' Art said finally.

The two of them spent the next two days together as well. And Art even let Adriel touch him a little, pet him and such. ANd finally with a full belly and full of energy, no longer held back by not being able to hunt for food, Art had to make the choice. Try to become human or stay a cat. But... as much as he did not want to admit it, he liked this life, and Adriel. And...his life as a cat was.... bad. Full of pain and hunger. So, he turned human. And Art stood in front of Adriel, naked. Adriel handded Art some clothes and Art frowned but took them and tried to put them on since he supposed all humans wore this fake and interchangable fur. However he hated it and took it off immediately.

"It feels funny" Art said. Adriel frowned.

"I know but you will get used to it!" Adriel promised. Art frowned and shook his head.

"I don't like it. Why must I wear such things anyway?" Art asked. Adriel frowned.

"Well.. most humans feel very self conscious about being naked. It differs culturally, in my tribe showing a lot of skin is expected. However here in England being improperly dressed is an insult and can offend others" Adriel explained. Art frowned.

"Well I do not wish to wear it. We can go to your tribe where I can be in my own skin" Art said. ADriel frowned at that. Adriel tried to explain that even in his tribe the genitals were covered, and they were currently in ENgland, but Art was not having it. He did not want to wear the clothes.

Art sat at Adriels table, trying his first bit of food as a human, learning how to use his new human 'fingers' and 'hands' not paws or claws, and learning how to chew and swallow properly with these very... dull teeth. ANd he couldn't help but wonder...

What now?

Epilogue

Art was glad to be back to his and Adriel's home in AMerica, in Adriels tribe. As much as Art was loving traveling the world and seeing things he didn't know existed before a few years ago, he liked Adriels tribe a lot. He didn't have to wear more then a loin cloth if he didn't want to, which was not acceptable in most of the world. Adriel tribe also completely accepted him as what he was, a cat at heart and also Adriel's wife. Art got some cat food and went outside and put it in a few bowls he had set out, for any stray cats that might be around and had a hard time hunting their own food. He stretched a bit and walked back into the home where Adriel was unpacking their things.

It had taken a while for Art and Adriel to accept their feelings for each other, but being apart was something neither of them could do and love grew between them. Art walked over and wrapped his arms around Adriel and leaned up to kiss his cheek.

"Are we staying for winter?" Art asked. Adriel gave a nod.

"Perhaps... longer" Adriel said. Art was puzzled, Adriel loved traveling and he could feel how unsure Adriel was through their bond.

"There is something wrong" Art said. Adriel shook his head.

"No, there is nothing wrong." he turned to face him. "My mother wrote me of a woman in a tribe close to us, who is pregnant and is in ill health and is not expected to survive the labor of the child. And our... situation came up. We are seen as man and wife in my tribe but we, since we are both male, can not have a child. And if the child lives, it could be adopted and raised by us. But we would need to put our travels on hold for a few years to raise it, until it is old enough to travel with us and learn about the world. Probably three or four years. I did not give my mother an answer and wished to discuss it with you first"

Art was surprised, but grinned. "I would love to raise a child with you, like true man and wife" Art said. Adriel smiled and kissed his forehead.

"I love you, Art" he said. Art looked up at him adoringly.

"I love you too, Adriel"