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Post by The Dark Lady on Sept 8, 2024 4:49:27 GMT
Build-A-BearMarch 5th, 2002 When Art popped into Diagon Alley, he sighed as he forced his aching joints to keep moving. He was not fond of going out in public - he never had been - but Adriel's birthday was tomorrow and he wanted to get the right gift. His great great grand niece had excitedly told him about the new teddy bear shop that had opened up a few weeks ago, and it made him think about Adriel's first present to him - Mr. Bear. Of course, going out in public meant he had needed to take a calming draught, but because of that, he was not able to take his arthritis potion. He was able to make the journey with the walking cane Adriel had made him a couple decades ago when his bones first started aching - a wood and silver replica of the scepter they had found in Naxos - but it was a struggle. He had not been active enough in his youth and far too active in his middle to late years, and the combination had caused a lot of problems for his joints. Adriel had not had that problem since he had been active from early on, but there had been health problems for him, too. He managed to hobble to the build-a-bear shop and was relieved when he found nobody else inside. It was a shop that catered only by appointment so it wasn't a surprise, but there was a small public area where regular plushies were sold. It was March, so Hogwarts and regular school was in session, so that was probably why there were no customers at the moment. "Mr. Chee?" a witch in her 20s asked and Art gave a small nod. She had light brows hair that fell in curls barely past her shoulder blades, a lot of freckles on her face that pointed at an Irish heritage, and pale blue eyes. She was also wearing jeans and a T-shirt that said 'A Fluffy Friend That Will Always Make You Smile!' "Please come this way, sir." Art followed and mused how there was a time when his name would have sparked recognition, but this young witch did not seem to know him at all. A very small smile briefly showed up, but it was gone as fast as it had appeared as he used his cane to follow her. He and Adriel had been very famous and heads used to always turn when they went out together, and he hated it back then but he missed it now. As he was led to a private room where there was already tea waiting for them, he reflected how at one time such a private setting would have also felt very strange but now it was something he expected to happen. Adriel spoiled him far too much for him to have gotten used to private boutiques such as this. "So what kind of bear do you have in mind, sir?" the witch asked once Art was settled in and the tea was served. "It doesn't need to be bears, either. Our shop is based off the muggle store which only does teddy bears, but we can do other things like dragons and such, too." Art briefly toyed with the idea of a mustang since it was Adriel's favorite animal, but he shook his head no since he already had the perfect teddy bear in mind. He pulled out a small locked that was clipped to his pocket watch chain, unclipped it, then opened it and showed her the lock of hair he always carried that showed the color of Adriel's hair before it had turned grey with age. "I would like a teddy bear with very long hair that is this color," he quietly said. "And it needs to have a red silk ribbon." The witch waited for a couple seconds, but she seemed to realize that that was the whole request. "Er, we can enchant the teddy bear to do things, sir," she politely offered. "We can animate them to sing and dance, and other such things. They can also be spelled with protections or-" "No," Art briskly cut in, then he grimaced as Adriel's voice in his head told him not to be so rude. "Sorry, I mean... I just want a regular teddy bear. With a red ribbon. But he needs to match the color of the hair and be as soft as possible without magic, and he needs the red ribbon." "We can do that, sir," the witch said in a friendly but professional tone. "I do have some mink fur that matches that hair color, but there is some lighter brown in it as well. Let me show you a sample." She flicked her wand and a shallow wood box came flying in that she opened to reveal three pelts. Art knew that most would be unhappy to see raw pelts, but having lived with Adriel, Art was very used to seeing and handling them. He reached out to pick one up and began to go over it with a critical eye. "The darker fur matches the color you are looking for, however these three are the only ones we have of that shade," the witch explained in an apologetic tone. "I can use the lighter fur around the muzzle, ears, and face and that should work. Will that be okay?" "His hair is softer," Art wistfully sighed as he pet the very soft fur. "Or it was before it became grey with age. This will suffice." The witch smiled. "Wonderful!" she exclaimed. "And a red silk ribbon. Is the special occasion for an anniversary or a birthday?" Art swallowed hard as he dropped his eyes down to the fur he was petting. "A birthday," he said around the lump in his throat while he thanked the calming potion since he would definitely be crying now. "The first birthday without him. I plan to leave it in his tomb. He needs something to hold until we can be together again, and... the first gift he got me was a teddy bear. It wasn't even my birthday." "I'm so sorry, sir," the witch quietly replied. Art wanted to snap, but the voice in his head that sounded like Adriel told him to be nice since it wasn't her fault so he bit his tongue. "We can enchant it to be warm and never deteriorate if that will help." Art grit his teeth for a moment so a sob wouldn't escape past it. "That would be appreciated," he managed to say in a small voice. "I... need a moment, please." "Of course, sir," she said, and Art handed her back the fur in his hand as she gathered up the box with the other two in it. "Take your time. I will have your bear ready in half an hour, so please relax and drink as much tea as you would like." Art nodded, and once he was alone, he pulled out a handkerchief - one of the many Adriel had bought him for him to always carry around - and he silently wept into it. Adriel would have a bear with him, and Art wanted Mr. Bear to be in his own coffin when he was laid next to Adriel in their tomb one day.
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Post by The Dark Lady on Sept 9, 2024 11:29:29 GMT
Art was nervous when Adriel wanted him to meet Antoine, but he was also very interested since it would be his first time interacting with another omega. He had spent his life staying away from Betas, and the only alphas he had ever known were Christos and Adriel, but while alphas under protection were more inclined to be in public, omegas typically did not leave their safe little spaces if they had it. Those that didn't have safe spaces were literally trapped in whatever shackles they were kept in. In that, Art knew he had been lucky, and he had been even luckier to have been accidentally found by the one alpha powerful enough to have kept his own freedom without needing to become a contract stud to a powerful family. Adriel was strong enough to protect him, too. Adriel was strong enough to protect a small country if Art wanted to actually make one. Adriel was also politically minded, so Art really could rule a country, but he was still thinking about it and really wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not since there were many things he did not think he would like. This omega was a Lord... One of the last nobles left in France that still had his title even if it was only on the magical side. Art had never considered that an omega could hold such a position of power, and Adriel told him he should talk to Antoine about it. However, Antoine was an omega that was Adriel's friend, and Art wasn't happy with the idea that Adriel was so close to another omega. Or had been. Adriel had not spoken with Antoine for a few years, and now he wanted Art to speak with Antoine without speaking to the French lord himself. Art thought that was very strange, but some deeper part of him found it mildly acceptable. Adriel had explained to him that his instincts would probably make him attack Antoine, Adriel, or both of them if Adriel tried to approach Antoine without Art's approval. Art insisted that Adriel could do it if he wanted since he wasn't going to control who Adriel was friends with, but his stupid mate had laughed and pointed out that he was already pouting and getting cranky over the thought. Which was true, but it was normal jealousy! Not because he was an omega! He was a scholar, not some silly omega controlled by his hormones and feelings! Adriel had still insisted that Art needed to go talk to him, so they made a tea date in a private room while Adriel lounged in the public area to keep an eye open for any trouble. He had even bribed him with sweets, and since Art had been on a diet that limited his sweet intake the past few weeks, he caved in. Adriel had been teaching him table manners for over a month as well, so Art had also had to listen to the rules like taking small bites and savoring each one, not speaking with his mouth full, and making sure to express interest in the topics he and his conversation partner (Antoine in this case) were talking about. Honestly, his sugar and chocolate withdrawals were bad enough that he was completely willing to abide by those rules. It was also good that Adriel would help him settle in the private room - which meant he was playing host which meant he would have to serve the tea and the cake to the other omega before he was allowed to sip or nibble on things, but it also meant he got first pick. When Adriel sat him down, he was reminded that Art needed to pick out the tastier morsels for Antoine first, but when he saw the spread it really wasn't too much of a hardship. "Artemio Reyes, oui?" a bubbly blonde and very pretty french man greeted as soon as he walked in. Art felt a very sudden need to grab the fork to stab out the pretty blue eyes at the thought of them looking at HIS Adriel and stealing his mate. The blonde froze and held up his hands. "Oh, I see why Adriel likes you so much! Relax, I am 'ere to speak with only you." If Art had hackles like Hati did, they would be up. He had maintained his completely neutral expression, but he mentally cursed Adriel for not letting him use the charm for this meeting. Adriel had been very specific that he didn't want Art to hide his scent at all so he could get used to his own scent and learn to control it, but it was a struggle made worse by his pregnancy! Now he wanted to stab Adriel with the fork in his hand, but he very carefully set it down and cleared his throat. "I know," he said, trying not to sound petulant but knowing he had failed at it since it sounded a bit whiny even to his own ears. That made him frown for a moment before he forced his expression back to a neutral one. "He told me you two were friends." Antoine nodded, then he slowly approached the table to take the chair opposite of Art. "Yes, and I 'ope to 'ave your blessings to resume ze friendship," he replied once he was able to sit down without Art protesting the other omega being in his space. Which wasn't his space. Adriel had made sure to scent the stupid room to remind Art that it wasn't his space. Art hated how right Adriel was about his instincts... Stupid omega-ness. "Oh, but were are my manners? My name is Antoine Vincent Duc de Trefle-Picques! Eet ees a pleasure to meet you!" "Artemio Jose Miller Reyes," Art replied as he reached out to accept the handshake though he kept it very brief. Cakes. They were the bribe. He picked up the teapot and began to pour it into Antoine's cup. "Adriel said you wanted him to be your mate." Art wanted to kick himself since he hadn't meant to bring that up as a topic. He was pretty sure that was actually one of those topics he wasn't allowed to bring up during a polite tea party - nothing that would cause strife or anything. But all he could think about was this pretty French omega that could probably give Adriel all the love and affection that Art was still learning to properly give! "Oui, at one time I did," Antoine cautiously replied, then he reached out to stop Art from overflowing the tea cup. "'E 'as made eet very clear zat 'e would only take 'is own mate so you do not need to be upset. Eet 'as been years wizzout my best friend, and I worried about 'im. I am very relieved 'e 'as found you, and I would razzer see 'im wiz anozzer omega zen see 'im dead." The reminder of how close Adriel had been to suicide was like a splash of cold water, and Art's jealous anger died down. "Oh, right," Art mumbled in agreement as he finished filling his own cup so he could set the tea down. "One lump or two?" "Trois, s'il vous plaît," Antoine replied, and Art understood the word 'three' only because it was French. He added three cubes of sugar to Antoine's cup, then slowly began to pour the cream in until the other omega said "Merci." Art nodded then put to lumps into his tea and began to stir it. Topic... Topic... "So Adriel said you are a lord?" he cautiously asked, and when Antoine smiled and nodded, he took that as a safe topic and continued. "How is an omega able to be a lord?" "Being an omega does not mean we are weak, monsieur Reyes," Antoine replied with an impish smile. "Eet only means we can 'ave children. Before I met Adriel, ze man zat 'ad guardianship over me taught me zat one day I would 'ave an alpha zat would take over my titles and fortune. I 'ated it and I 'ated heem, so as soon as I was of age, I demanded to travel to see ze world! 'E would not 'ear of any of zat, but I did manage to talk 'im into letting me form an expedition to Iraq for ze ancient city of Nineveh. Ze family steward 'ad very strong Christian beliefs, and to 'im, it was a proper subject for ladies and omegas. 'E would not let me put ze team togezzer, but David Pennington was ze leading biblical magi-archeologists at zat time so 'e was contacted. 'E sent 'is son, Adriel, and Adriel saved me from the cruel steward! 'E taught me zat women and omegas are very strong - we 'ave magic and can be physically strong if we work at it, non? So I fired ze steward right zen and zere and Adriel taught me 'ow to be strong and to lead! 'Is culture 'as very strong women, so it was very enlightening." Antoine paused long enough to take a sip while Art served the small chocolate slices of cake first. They were one bite, maybe to bites at most, but they were chocolate and the next one was tiramisu with a large and thin piece of chocolate that he would get to eat next! "So I keep my position wiz gold," Antoine continued just as Art placed his piece into his own plate. He was anticipating it so much that it nearly wobbled off the serving fork, but he didn't drop it! "Adriel does not 'ave much of a head for gold, so you should consider managing the household finances. 'E knows 'ow to save it, but when it comes to spending, 'e only buys the finest quality. 'E is very very good at 'aggling and knowing when something is of great quality, but 'e does not know middle or lower class living. 'E knows 'ow to live with nozzink and turn it into somezing, too. A very unusual person, your Adriel." Art had just placed a tiny corner of the chocolate cake into his mouth when Antoine said 'your Adriel,' and he felt his cheeks heat up while warmth spread out in his chest. He was... pleased? Yes, he was very pleased. He looked at Antoine with big eyes, and Antoine smiled at him. "Where was I?" Antoine wondered out loud, then he nodded. "Ah yes, money! Or more specifically, gold. You and Adriel have a wolf-based ancestry according to 'is letter, but I 'ave an ancestry closer tied to nifflers in a way. In my family lore, and even in Ancient Greek lore, zere was once 'gold diggng ants.' Zey weren't ants, of course. Herodotus even claimed zey were covered in fur and ze size of dogs. Zey were ancestors of ze nifflers, but zey made 'omes in gold dust. Eef zey still exist, eet ees deep wizzin ze earth where gold remains untouched, but my 'eritage means I am very good at sniffing out gold and opportunities zat will make me more gold. And when you 'ave so much money, you can pay for all types of security and protection, and indebt people or even bankrupt zem if zey angrer you." Art blinked at how ruthless that sounded, but he was glad that Antoine seemed to talk even more than Adriel did since he was able to finish his cake in those tiny nibbles without interruption. However, he needed to speak now since Antoine still had his whole piece which meant that Art could not serve the tiramisu until Antoine finished it. "I noticed that Adriel does not seem to understand the value of gold," Art agreed as he stared hard at the fork that Antoine was beginning to pick up. "He likes to collect trash like broken glass and thinks a shiny and cheap bauble is more valuable than a gold coin. Or rather, it is more valuable to him even if he is aware that gold is more valuable in general. He carries around gold ingots and spends them freely, but he is stingy about his silver! And now he has solid gold scale male armor, but he values the protective properties of it and doesn't really care that it is gold. Actually, he values that it is gold, but only in that gold doesn't rust nor does it need to be oiled or anything, just buffed if he wants it to be shiny! And he has been buying me so many clothes even though I don't need it and keeps saying that it is just pocket change even though he has spent more money than I make a year!" Even though Art was very aggrieved there towards the end, Antoine giggled and Art frowned. "Oui, 'e is a very silly man," Antoine replied. Art vehemently nodded, glad that there was finally someone that seemed to understand the gold problem. "'Is culture is very gift-heavy. Ze value of ze gifts does not matter - eet eez ze care of what you pick zat matters most. Eef you want to pay 'im back but don't 'ave zee money, you should go and find very shiny antique perfume bottles and jewelry boxes inlaid wiz abalone or mozzer of pearl. Eet can be very cheap in second 'and shops and at estate and yard sales, but 'e will value zem greatly. You already know what 'e likes! 'E does not like conventional money except in 'ow it can make life easier for 'is mate. 'E likes shiny zings, tools and materials zat can be used for 'is 'obbies, pillows zat he can lounge and nap on, and attention. 'E eez a very seemple creature." Art was stunned - Antoine made a very good point. Things that made Adriel happy were very simple. He was always happy if Art kissed or cuddled him without a reason. If he sat down next to Adriel when Adriel was napping, he would wiggle into Art's lap in his sleep. Art had made him a very pretty and shiny bracelet, and Adriel wore it every day even though Art had used Adriel's beads to make it. And any time they passed broken glass on the street, if it was colored glass, he would collect the largest pieces and tuck them away. He treasured all of the presents that Art had given them even though they were very few and worthless, and the few times Adriel had gotten angry, it was because Art was not giving him proper attention. It kind of stung that another omega seemed to know his mate a lot better than he did. "Why would you want make a bond with him even if he wasn't your mate?" Art asked in a sour tone, then he frowned and picked up the serving fork to serve the tiramisu since Antoine was done with his cake. "Why not look for your own alpha?" Why are you so interested in my alpha? Antoine seemed to pick up the unasked question. "Part of zat goes back to my ancestry per'aps," Antoine replied with a slightly amused smile as he watched Art serve the next piece of cake. "From what little I know of ze gold digging ants, zey actually did 'ave an 'ive colony run by ze queen. A new Queen would get males from ozzer queens, and she would pick the strongest of zem to mate. Ze rest would serve as private guards. Sometimes, a Queen would take an 'uman, but zose queens often did not live long since zey could only bear one or two children before zey perished from a lack of an 'ive to support zem. In those cases, it would be an ancient wizard zat charmed ze queen so zey could take ze gold mine, and children of zose unions rarely survived since zey were usually offered as sacrifices to ze gods for blessings." Antoine paused to cut off a piece of cake to eat it. "Any third genders in my family line 'as always been omegas - or Queens - and we 'ave never 'ad an alpha to bond to. Bonding is very rare, but my family records go back fifteen 'undred years. In zat time, zere 'as been five omegas, including me, and never 'ave we 'ad an urge to seek out an alpha for anything except to breed wiz. We do fall een love, but our biology is interested only in ze strongest of wizards. Adriel is... both. Not only zat, but I do love 'im. I can love 'im as family and friend instead of a lover, but I 'ad 'oped zat if 'e found 'is omega, they might not be adverse to sharing. 'Owever, I know you would not allow zat, and Adriel would not allow it, eizzer." Art managed to wrestle his jealousy down when Antoine said that he knew that neither Art nor Adriel would be inclined to 'sharing.' Which was good. Art would probably rip off both of Antoine's hands after stabbing out his eyeballs if he tried to touch Adriel. Then Art blushed and scowled at his mangled cake since he was not trying to get jealous or angry. He had eaten the chocolate parts of his cake, but he wasn't interested in the coffee cream parts. Adriel had been right - there would have been no way that Art would have let Antoine live if Adriel had decided to take Antoine out for tea like this 'as friends.' "So what of you, Monsieur Reyes?" Antoine asked as he finished his cake properly. "An omega in archeology to travel ze world is unusual as well. Why not stay in a safe place?" Art realized the mistake he had made with his cake - he had a messy plate and couldn't put the white chocolate macaroon on his. "I love history more than I care about a safe place," Art thoughtlessly replied as he wondered if it would be rude to vanish the cake on his plate. He blinked when Antoine giggled, thought about what he had said, then blushed. "I mean... I don't walk into trouble on purpose like Adriel seems to think!" "Adriel did not say zat in ze letter!" Antoine replied in a delighted tone, and Art blushed harder but scowled as he wondered what Adriel wrote. "'E asked me to meet you, warned you are pregnant, and asked me to answer any questions you 'ave. Ze letter was very short, and I know you are wolf since my position in ze government means I can look at ze records and see ze marks you both carry." Then Antoine gave Art a gentler and more genuine but slightly sad smile. "I truly am 'appy zat 'e found you. I am not envious at all. I very much understand 'ow difficult it must be for you to decide if you will even allow a friendship to continue, but you should also trust your mate. Now zat 'e 'as found you, eef I make even one inappropriate move on 'im, 'e will attack me since 'e is yours. I only want to be friends... With ze both of you." Something inside of Art eased a little when Antoine said that, and he gave the blond a look of surprise. "Why would you want to be friends with me?" he asked. Antoine was Adriel's friend and barely even knew Art at all! Adriel had also helped the blond figure out how to be strong and stand on his own - something Art was also a bit jealous since he wanted to be that strong as well. "I'm not strong like you and Adriel." Antoine laughed, and Art bristled since he thought he was being laughed at. "Non, I am not laughing at you, mon petit!" he giggled. "Or maybe a little, but not to make fun of you! You are very strong - even ministers would fear sit down to tea wiz me! And you left safety for history! Even when I first left, it was with ze steward zat arranged everyzing. 'E was not aware zat David Pennington's son was an alpha or zat Adriel 'ad very very strong opinions on 'ow omegas and women are natural leaders! Magical Paris 'as a ministry, but I now rule eet wiz money and influence because of Adriel's points. I see France 'as my 'ome, the people in it 'as those I must watch over like zey are my children and my 'erds, and I manage the accounts and make sure ze gold is spent in ways to make Magical France stronger. Also regular France to some extent since we suffered so much to win ze Great War. 'Owever, I was once very scared to leave my castle and only did so because I could not stand the steward that was trying to force me to marry and give everyzing to someone zat was not a Duc de Trefle-Picques! Ze very nerve - to give my family seat to someone unworzy? Non, even zough 'e 'ad me believing I was a weak omega, I knew inside zat was very wrong! And when I fired 'im, I found ze ancient family records 'e 'ad kept 'idden in ze part of ze library 'e told me I was not allowed to be in. You also - Adriel is waiting for you to figure out 'ow to be the leader of your family!" Art frowned. "But how?" he asked, now confused and upset since it made no sense. "He is the one that is strong and the one with all the gold! I don't... have anything. I'm just... carrying the babies. I am still learning how to open up and love him." "Adriel is patient," Antoine replied with a flippant wave of his hand. "'Remember zat 'e doesn't care about gold! Just make sure 'e feels loved, and you can order 'im to do anyzing you want as long as 'e agrees with it. Zere ees very leetle 'e won't do for you, Monsieur Reyes. Eef you want to conquer Russia, 'e will conquer Russia or die trying if he believes it will be a good home for you to 'ave." Art blinked. "Oh," Art dumbly replied. "He... wants to conquer the magical Aegean and make a new country for me." Antoine giggled. "You poor dear, 'e can be very irrésistible, non?" he asked, and Art gave a numb nod. "Okay, I will share everyzing I know wiz you, Monsieur Reyes-" "Art." "Art, zen!" Antoine enthusiastically agreed. "So first, lesson - Adriel eez not an 'uman. Yes, 'e can talk like one and act like one, but so too can goblins or veela! Adriel grew up marked as a magical being, so he embraced zat belief even after MACUSA acknowledged 'im as a wizard when 'e got 'is masteries seven years ago. 'Is mind ees very convoluted - 'e is a wild 'uman in one way - tribesman - but also a magical creature because of 'is alpha and dire wolf form. 'E can act with high society - but it is all an act. 'E is a wolf zat 'as been trained to act like a man, to walk in a man's skin, but 'e is a wolf. Zat means zat a secure 'ome, a steady food supply, a mate, and pups to care for is his priority. Even ze pups are optional - if you 'ad not wanted kids, 'e would be 'appy spoiling only you. Antoine pulled out his wand and vanished the mess on Art's plate, then took it upon himself to serve Art both of the white chocolate maroons and one of the yogurts while he took the other yogurt, and Art blushed since he had completely forgotten that he was the host. "Adriel is cunning and smart like a wolf, and he will use every 'uman knowledge and resource 'e can to make his wolfy dreams come true," Antoine continued as he served the snacks. "'E will also try to make you strong and confident, too. If you tell him you do not want to be responsible and just want to poke in the dirt for artifacts, zen 'e will come up with ozzer ideas zat don't include making a whole new country. Or maybe eet still would since magical Aegean no doubt has a lot of hidden knowledge, oui? If anyone could tame zat wild magic, it would be Adriel since 'e is just as wild as eet ees..." Antoine shook his head then gestured for Art to eat. He picked up his macaroon and nibbled on it. "Anyway, a wolf is strong, and maybe it has a cave filled with gold," Antoine said. "Maybe ze wolf can also speak and pretend to be a human sometimes. 'Owever, a wolf is still a wolf, especially eef eet ees a wild wolf only acting like a civilized 'uman to find 'is mate. A wild wolf does not want to build a territory for his mate in civilized lands. A wild wolf would rather take his mate back into the safe wilds, then either tame the wilderness for his mate or strengthen and teach his mate to live in the wilderness with him. Adriel isn't just a wolf and knows you need civilization, so he wants create a civilization for you that won't be a danger which is where that 'new country' idea is from. Very simple, non? If zat is not what you want, you need to tell him what you want in a home, but you must also remember that he is a wild wolf so some options are not acceptable for him, too." "I just want to live in London, but he already said he can't because he's a wolf and needs territory that London won't let him have," Art slowly replied feeling a little bit guiltier now that it had been explained like this. He had originally felt a little insulted when Antoine had said that Adriel was not human, but as he explained it, he realized that it was true and that Adriel didn't really identify as a human. He more identified as a wolf or as a Navajo and seemed to greatly dislike 'white man tribe' beliefs and cultures. "Making a new country is not simple." "Oui, making a new country is not simple," Antoine agreed. Art was confused since the other man had just said that it was very simple. "Ze idea of making one is simple, but Adriel 'as probably imagined many times the types of governments that would be good for a country as well. Remember zat 'e ees a very well travelled wold zat 'as learned ze ways of high society, and 'e 'ates governments. 'E eez not ze type to stew on 'is 'atred, zough. 'E eez ze type to want to fix ze problem zough 'e won't 'ave to keep dealing wiz it. 'Owever, building a new country eez easier and simpler zan fixing a country, so een ees 'ead, zat is ze most logical. Especially if ze area 'as zings you would love like archeology sites. Eet already 'as somezing 'e loves - ancient and wild magics." Art knew Antoine didn't know about Atlantis being in there, let alone the other islands that had untamed forests, merfolk cities, and all the new and interesting magical creatures they seemed stumble across. Yet, the way he was breaking it down actually made sense if that was how Adriel was thinking. It really was easier but... "He wouldn't be the one writing up laws and stuff," he griped. "Non," Antoine laughed with agreement. "If you do not wish to, 'e would 'ire someone to do it - probably ze goblins. 'E would use all 'is talents in diplomacy to make alliances, 'is knowledge in trade to make sure ze country 'ad income, 'is studies in ancient politics and cultures to put together a stable structure, and 'is knowledge of ancient magic to create formidable wards that would be able to protect the magical marvels 'e would want to build just to impress you. 'E 'as always enjoyed attention, but 'e would blatantly show off because 'e would love it from you." Art blushed since he already knew that was true. Adriel was always doing something new every day just to try to get his attention! "So I wouldn't have to deal with people every day if we had a country?" he asked as pushed all that other stuff to the side to think about later. "'E would make sure you were not bothered wiz ze every day paperwork and such if you did not want to rule a country," Antoine replied. "'E would make sure you were okay wiz everyzing 'e was doing, and if you wanted something specific, 'e would probably add zat in or tell you why eet would not be a good idea. 'E would make sure ze right people were overseeing everyzing. 'E would make sure zings were set up so 'e could spend all ze time wiz you. Knowing 'im, 'e would set up a council of the most respected people and 'ave zem guide ze community similar to 'ow 'is own tribes are run, but 'e would also ensure zat you and 'im 'ave ze power to step in and change zings, too. You should speak wiz 'em about zese ideas - zey can be very good and very feasible for a small and new country. Or eef you want to stay in London, zen you might want to consider a plot of land zat can be magically expanded similar to what my castle is on. I can show you if you would like to visit?" "Oh, uh..." Art hesitated. Were they friends? Was he comfortable? He met Antoine's blue eyes and he no longer felt like stabbing them out so maybe... "Okay?"
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Post by lilgiastar on Sept 10, 2024 5:16:53 GMT
“Adriel, it’s just one night and we can look for a home to rent tomorrow, it’s late” Art said for the hundred time. Adriel sighed, he supposed Art had a point, it was too late to look for a home to rent. But they were going into white chapel in the middle of the night! He had every right to be on edge! And to suggest a hotel! “And besides, I need to pack up my stuff anyway. I can do that tomorrow morning and then we can throw away the other stuff and we never have to see this place again” Art promised him. He… liked that idea.
“One night, and then you are never ever stepping into white chapel again” Adriel said and Art nodded in agreement.
Art’s apartment was right on the edge of white chapel, another couple of blocks and he wouldn’t be in White Chapel. It didn’t make Adriel feel better but it was… a small, miniscule comfort in this time that at least they weren’t in the heart of white chapel or anything. The apartment building was a nice size and… had probably ten women of the night hanging around by it. A couple of them gave Art a friendly smile but most ignored him, and were oggling him instead. They walked inside the ground floor and Adriel was immediately hit with the stench of piss.
This is where his beloved lived for the past eleven years?!
“This way” Art said and Adriel followed him up some rickety stairs, with some questionable looking.. liquids on them that they both were careful not to step in. And they kept going up! They finally made it to the fifth and top floor, there was only two apartments up here.
“Why are we so high up?” Adriel asked. Art got out his key.
“It doesn’t smell up here, and its furthest from the street, and it being so high up with all those steps it is cheaper then the lower apartments” Art said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He finally opened the apartment door and walked in. Adriel followed him.
To the right was a small and old beat up orange couch that was dirty, ripped and sagging. The twenty year old second hand couch Art had mentioned he could only assume. His eyes also landed on an almost as old but nicer looking brown arm chair. A small muggle radio was precariously perched on the window sill to the one small window. And surrounding were piles of books, all neatly stacked into columns. There wasn’t even an end table for a cup of tea. No shelves or anything for the books.
To the left was a very small kitchen that someone who loved to cook, like he knew Art did, didn’t have much room or counter space to work with. Across from the front door he was by, was a door way. To the left of it, near the kitchen, was a very small wooden table and a single matching wooden chair. They were both incredibly beat up and Adriel had no doubt they too were about twenty years old or even older. The wood table was so small it looked as though it could be used as a night stand instead of a dining table. He could see through the door a bed and could assume that was Art’s bedroom.
It was incredible small. The boat was bigger then this. The boat not including both bedrooms was bigger then this. No wonder Art had wanted to live on the boat. And the walls were bare, not a single… anything. No paintings, no family photos, nothing at all.
“Uh this is the living room and the kitchen and the bedroom and bathroom are through there” Art awkwardly said and pointed. “I’ll make us something to eat and you can… get settled in for the night” Art said.
Adriel gave a nod “I’m going to use the bathroom” he said and Art nodded and headed into the tiny kitchen. Adriel walked into the bedroom and was met with an old and sagging bed, with the nicest things in the entire apartment being the sheets and bedding, with the exception of the books. The room was so small that the twin sized bed could barely fit. There was a small closet. But no night stands, no dresser or anything. No shelves. No anything but a bed and a closet with clothes.
Adriel walked into the bathroom that was so small he could barely fit with the door closed, unless he wanted to stand in the shower. He splashed some water on his face. He was expecting bad, terrible, awful. But it was somehow worse then he ever imagined.
He walked out of the tiny bathroom and through the awful bedroom to the kitchen were Art was and couldn’t help but wrap his arms around his dear mate. “I love you and I will make sure you never, ever have to live like this again.” Adriel mumbled. Art sighed and leaned back into Adriels chest.
“I love you too” he said softly, knowing better then to argue.
And Adriel kept his promise, they settled down and Adriel always made sure Art had a nice lifestyle full of nice things.
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Post by The Dark Lady on Sept 10, 2024 6:59:54 GMT
“Adriel, it’s just one night and we can look for a home to rent tomorrow, it’s late,” Art tiredly sighed for the hundred time.
Adriel also sighed, he supposed Art had a point. It really was too late to look for a home to rent, but they were going into white chapel in the middle of the night! He wished Art would at least allow him to rent a room at a nice hotel. The Leaky was not a nice hotel.
“And besides, I need to pack up my stuff anyway," Art continued as Adriel silently lamented having a stubborn mate who wanted to foil every sensible plan. "I can do that tomorrow morning and then we can throw away the other stuff and we never have to see this place again.”
Tomorrow morning couldn't come fast enough for Adriel, but it was a good idea. "If we don't find an apartment tomorrow, then we will be staying at a hotel," he said to put in his own two knuts. "We should also make sure it is in a magical area since you are pregnant. A muggle landlord will be very very suspicious if he sees your belly grow, so let's stick to the magical side of things tomorrow."
Art frowned, but he nodded and led the way. His apartment was right on the edge of White Chapel. In another couple of blocks, they wouldn’t even be in White Chapel. It didn’t make Adriel feel better, but it was a small, miniscule comfort that they weren’t in the heart of white chapel.
The apartment building was a decent size, but it had probably ten women of the night hanging around by it. A couple of them gave Art a friendly smile but most ignored his mate to oggle him instead. Art briskly walks past them, and Adriel was relieved when they stepped inside the ground floor. That relief lasted only for a very split second since he was immediately hit with the stench of piss.
Adriel pulled out a handkerchief and held it to his nose as he tried not to crinkle his nose up with disgust or cringe away. This was where his beloved had lived for over a decade?! He followed Art some rickety stairs with some questionable looking fluids on them that Art seemed to easily bypass while Adriel tried to figure out how to get around them, and he quickly started placing his feel where Art did since Art seemed to know these horrid dangers just as well as Adriel knew the dangers of the wilderness.
They kept going up, and Adriel was terribly worried about the stairs collapsing the whole time. When they finally made it to the fifth and top floor, there was only two apartments. Art moved to the one on the left and pulled out his keys.
"Why are we so high up?" Adriel asked with a fearful look behind him at the dangerous stairs they had just traversed, then added the next part as a quiet mumble. "Those stairs need to be replaced."
“It doesn’t smell up here, it is furthest from the street, and it being so high up with all those steps it is cheaper then the lower apartments,” Art answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world as he got the door open.
Adriel followed Art in and didn't think that the answer was very obvious at all. All it would take was one hot summer, and all the stench would fill Art's apartment with the rising heat along with the stench of rot, sweat, and everything else a horrid London summer could bring. The winters would have the evil smell of cheap and toxic paraffin as people below tried to keep their rooms warm, and those would also be stuck in Art's apartment. He wondered how dead Art's nose must be to think it didn't smell up here - it smelled plenty.
Adriel discreetly cast a quick cleaning charm that freshened the air from the stagnating smell that an un-aired apartment surrounded by disgusting White Chapel residents had. Art was probably so used to it that it just smelled like 'home' to him. Nice country air in the Americas when they went to see his tribe would cure that - Art would really understand the difference between good quality air and this stink.
Art's apartment looked very sad, too. An orange couch sagged like celery left in the sun for too long, and it had brown stains, tears, and areas where the fabric was so thin that he could nearly see the lumpy yellow cotton inside. The armchair was in better condition, but that wasn't saying anything seeing as how the couch really should have been sent in to he upholstered ten years ago - five at the very least - and it looked like it was about time to also be reupholstered or gotten rid of. Art had gone on about how much he loved his armchair, so Adriel made a mental note that it would be kept but he would have it reupholstered, repaired, and restuffed before it could be moved into their new apartment.
The couch was not coming. He would rather bring crates to sit on than that couch.
Speaking of crates, he wondered why Art hadn't at least picked those up. The docks often got rid of old wood crates for very cheap, and it only took a few spells to pull them apart and reassemble them into basic shelves. He could have stored his books on them, then he could have picked up a small marble or granite slab and put it on top of another normal crate to make an end table for his reading chair. Perhaps Art did not know any building charms, though. Adriel did, but that was because they were excellent to use for survival reasons when a fast shelter needed to be put up. Just because it was fast didn't mean it had to be bare and completely uncomfortable and muddy.
The lack of paintings or any other nice things was a given - if Art wouldn't get shelves for his beloved books, there was no way he would pick up a painting or a picture frame. Still, the place was incredibly small and painfully bare. It was no wonder that Art preferred the boat - it was easily twice the size of the apartment, came nicely furnished, and it didn't smell funny, either.
“Uh this is the living room and the kitchen and the bedroom and bathroom are through there,” Art awkwardly said as he pointed at every bit, and Adriel gave Art a reassuring smile since he realized he might have been quiet for a little bit too long. “I’ll make us something to eat and you can… get settled in for the night.”
"I'll use the bathroom," he said in a friendly tone to try to make up for his stunned (appalled) silence, then he gave Art another reassuring smile and went to the bedroom as Art turned to enter his tiny kitchen.
The bedroom was even more sad than the living room had been - there was one very old and sagging bed and a wardrobe that most likely housed Art's humble attire. Art's new clothes would not fit into that tiny wardrobe even if he tossed out his old clothes, so Adriel made a mental note that they would need large wardrobes and dressers for their new place. It was too bad that old places like these did not have build in closets, but he would make sure there were plenty of closets in whatever home they ended up in or built.
He walked into the
Adriel squeezed himself into the tiny bathroom and kept the door open while he washed his face in the sink - he would have needed to step into the shower stall to move in far enough to close it. There was no towel to dry his face, but that was probably because Art had not been living here. He pulled a small hand towel out of his pouch, a small and unused bar of soap he had picked up gods knows where, and he set the soap down on the sink and put the towel on the hook meant for hand towels then dried his face.
When he wiggled out of the bathroom, he frowned at the bed. If he and Art tried to sleep on it tonight, Art would have to use him as a mattress and it would probably collapse under their combined weight. He pulled out his wand, transfigured it into a nice and new looking queen sized bed, then he cast another couple cleaning charms both in the bedroom and the bathroom to get rid of months worth of dust and insects by gathering them into a ball then vanishing it.
When he stepped out into the living room, he used the same cleaning charm, and he did it again as he entered the kitchen. Art was standing at his sink, and Adriel's heart ached at the thought of Art standing there night after night making his own dinner all alone, and he had probably feeling unsafe and worthless as he did so. He had probably felt stuck in such a tiny little apartment, had not wanted to turn to his parents for help, did not have anyone else he could turn to for comfort or fun, and had been paid peanuts so he couldn't get out of this situation.
Honestly, there was something very wrong with how Oxford treated a master archivist, ancient language expert, magical and muggle historian and librarian, and cartographer. Let alone all the other credentials Art held.
He silently walked up behind Art and wrapped his arms around his beloved. “I love you and I will make sure you never, ever have to live like this again,” he mumbled.
Art sighed and leaned back into his chest. “I love you too,” Art replied, and Adriel held him tighter to him.
He was never going to let go of his mate. Never going to let Art spend weeks and months all alone. Never going to let Art live in such a horrible location surrounded by the trash and piss of the worst sorts of criminals. The prostitutes outside seemed to have taken a pity on Art and had been friendly towards him - genuinely friendly rather than client friendly - however they would have sold Art out or left him to fend for himself just as everyone else in this area would have.
No, he was going to get Art a nice place that Art could make a home with, make sure it was filled with nice items, shower Art with more love, and tear apart any idiot that made Art or their children feel unsafe. That Art found the last attractive was also a bonus for the both of them, and maybe the triplets would have a younger sibling one day because of it.
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Post by The Dark Lady on Sept 10, 2024 9:23:08 GMT
Prequel to above stories When Adriel and Art got back to London, Art insisted that the first thing they needed to do was to go to Oxford to check in. Adriel insisted that they needed a good night of rest and could go the next day, but his precious mate was very stubborn and very pregnant, so he very much won since Adriel very much did not want to escalate it into a tantrum in the middle of the ministry. They were both feeling tired and cranky, so it was a pretty good chance it would have happened if he had tried to push for a hotel room first, but he did manage to wrestle a promise from Art that they would look at a couple apartments after that they might be able to immediately move into so they could avoid White Chapel. "What are you going to do while I'm at Oxford?" Art asked as they stepped outside. "It won't take me long." Adriel held Art's hand and stopped. "I'm going with you," Adriel firmly stated, and when Art looked like he was going to protest, he raised an eyebrow. "I am not leaving you alone just because we are here." Art frowned, then he gave a curt nod and they resumed walking. They had to stop holding hands since it was unacceptable in muggle London, and it made Adriel want to snarl. However, the journey there was fairly uneventful - there was a mounted constable that approached them, but Adriel struck up a conversation about the horse and complimented the good care it was under and whatever the constable had originally approached them for was forgotten in the five minute exchange. Art looked a bit more bent out of shape, but since nothing else stopped Art's little mission, he didn't complain. They entered the main university building rather than the library that Art worked in, and Art led him up to the third floor. There was a receptionist in the lobby that both the stairs and the elevator exited out to, and Adriel followed Art as Art approached the desk. "Artemio Reyes to turn in my report," he said as he pulled out a journal. "Oh, uhm, wait a moment!" the witch said as she startled at the name. Her eyes darted back and forth between Art and Adriel, and Adriel could see Art getting impatient when she didn't do anything. He cleared his throat, she flushed, then she opened up a calenderbook and thumbed through it. "Oh, uhm, the board wants to talk to you immediately. Please take a seat at the bench and I will let them know you are here." Art gave a curt nod, but as soon as she got up and fled the room, he groaned as he grabbed his journal and dragged his feet towards the bench. "I just want to go home!" he whined, and Adriel caught him and pulled him into his lap as he sat down before Art could harshly plop himself down. "Or get the apartment. I want to go home!" "Shhh," Adriel soothed as he nuzzled Art's neck. "I can take care of it if they bother you too much, okay?" "Okay," Art grumbled as he curled up against Adriel's chest. "As long as you don't make me lose my job." "Of course not," Adriel purred, and he wrapped his arms around his little mate to keep Art steady in his lap. "Besides, it is much better that I take care of it. You might rip off one of their arms if they say the wrong thing. Let me handle it before you make a board-member dismembered. Art snorted as he gave Adriel's shoulder a small smack for such a terrible pun, but he relaxed and that was all Adriel wanted. A few minutes later, the witch was back and Adriel set Art on his feet so they could follow her in. "We were not aware you were here as well, Mr. Chee," was the first words to greet them, and even though the words were meant for Adriel, the board leader was glaring at the receptionist who flinched. "You are not needed for this meeting - we wished to speak with our employee rather than a contractor." "I disagree," Adriel replied as he wrapped an arm around Art to tuck him into his side before Art could say anything. The way the meeting began boded very bad for Art, and he had a feeling that rather than a congratulations for the find like Art deserved, they were going to try to rip everything away from him claiming he was an omega. "You know the magical British laws as well as I. There is no gender or race discrimination, and an alpha has say over his omega. You wished to speak of the find, however Art belongs to me which means Atlantis belongs to me. Worse, you would never be able to find Atlantis without him and I since it lies within the magical Aegean, and I am sure you have heard rumors about how we are the first to be able to enter and exit without repercussions." The sallow man with a hooked nose that led the board looked like he had swallowed a bug. Adriel glanced away only to read the name plate - Victus Virdian - and when he looked up again, it was with a lazy half-lidded gaze. "Your omega lied to us about his gender," he spat. "Therefor the contract is void." "Funny, we spoke with the goblins and showed them both his employee contract and the contract for the grant. Nowhere did it specify that the omegas that Oxford hires is not allowed rights over their own properties and discoveries. As a matter of fact, since he has a masters contract, it says all discoveries and findings belong to him, and the only thing he was required to do was to cite the Oxford resources he had used while doing his research. The grant also says the only thing he is required to do is to publish things about his finding if there were any, and to bring back some objects for further study if he wanted a new grant approved. We have brought back other objects, but I am sure that Harvard, Cambridge, Michigan U, or even the University of Athens would be more than happy to sponsor a dig for us. All of them, really. We were going to grant Oxford the option to bid first, but if this is how they treat their omegas, I am not sure if I am willing to deal with this establishment at all." Art was clinging to his shirt and had buried his face into his chest, and Adriel could feel it his shirt getting damp. He held Art to him tighter as another board member hexed Virdian with a silencing spell. "Please forgive our esteemed head," one of the other board members wheedled. This one was wearing tacky tweed robes, was wearing a brown toupee that covered the top of his bald head, but the rest of his hair was grey with age so it looked rather awful. The name on his plaque was 'Samuel Sampson.' "He is very traditional. We mean no insult to your omega." Art trembled in his arms, and when the board flinched back, he knew his eyes must have shifted to the amber/gold of his direwolf form for a moment. " Werewolf!" a middle-aged witch in purple robes hissed. "Creature!" "Hardly," Adriel snapped. "I'm worse - a Dire Wolf animagus. Unlike a werewolf, I can crush the skill of an elephant in my jaws! Be silent, or I will silence you myself." He scowled at Samuel next. "If he gets off his podium and apologizes to my mate for the offense he has caused, I might be inclined to forgive. Otherwise, we will be going to Cambridge to give them the privelege of first bid, then we will move on to Glasgow and go on to the Americas and my other contacts around the Mediterranean. Or perhaps I will just cut all of the middlemen out and offer the French first dibs while I tell both the English Ministry and the royal Court through my grandmother why we decided to cut out the English altogether!" Several board members gasped in horror and the witch that had called him a werewolf swooned then dramatically fainted. She was ignored. Victus Virdian scowled down at him like he was daring him to take that course. "I will also accept a vote of no confidence and a removal of Victus Virdian from this esteemed board," Adriel continued in a smoother tone. "There is no need to make a highly respectable establishment suffer for the dishonorable words of one man and his actions to try to separate a bonded pair. I may be further appeased and would consider completely ruining his life and any other prospects he might have as part of a first bid were that to happen since he seems disinclined to bow his head. My mate loves Oxford and my late father was often a guest lecturer, so I truly do not wish to cause problems for this establishment." He paused. "However, I will do so if Mr. Virdian does not get on his knees and beg for forgiveness or if he is not removed from Oxford and everything related to Oxford." "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Victus shouted as he broke through the silencing charm. "You are too full of yourself if-" "I call for a vote of no confidence!" An old witch in periwinkle robes called out as she stood up. Adriel smiled as he saw the name 'Johanette Appel.' Grams had mentioned her a couple times - she was another witch that had ties to nobility though she came from common stock. A once talented ballerina that performed main solos, and when she retired, her younger non-magical sister took over as the premier ballerina and married the German duke. "I second it," Samuel quickly said. "Further, I motion to strip him of his pension as the funds are better used to go towards the bid for Atlantis." Adriel was rather glad that Art's face was buried in his shirt since Art couldn't see how the toupeed idiot was greedily looking at his mate. He was very lucky that Adriel understood that he was coveting Atlantis, not Art, or Adriel would have castrated him by now. As it was, he peeled back his upper lip in a sneer that flashed his dire wolf fangs, and the man paled as he looked away. "That's illegal, Sampson, however he can be blacklisted," a different wizard said in an unimpressed tone. He wore black and looked to be in his 40s. "I will second Appel's motion to vote." "TRAITORS!" Victus screamed. He started to stand up, but Adriel whipped out his wand and hit him with a petrificus totalus and he joined the fainted witch on the floor. Unlike her, he was fully conscious and able to listen in. "Votes to remove Victus Virdian from the board?" Appel asked, and out of the seven remaining board members, five of them raised their hands. "Motion passed, Victus Virdian is no longer working for the board." "Vote to bar Victus Virdian from Oxford, Oxford-related projects, and request all Oxford partners to also blacklist him from their events?" the unimpressed wizard asked. Adriel read 'Chadwick Broadmoor' on his nameplate, and Adriel thought that might he a half blood name at best since it wasn't one he was familiar with. "Motion tied - I cast final vote and vote to have him blacklisted. Is this enough, Mr. Chee?" "And if my mate still wishes to work for Oxford?" Adriel asked. He couldn't keep the distaste out of his voice for it, but Art wanted him to make sure he would still have a job here. "I will not waste a brilliant mind like his by making him bear my pups when he could do so much more." " They aren't pups!" Art angrily hissed. He had also quietly hissed it, but this was a board room and a board room was meant to carry sounds so that everyone could hear, and a couple people quietly snorted in amusement. Art gripped his shirt tighter and peeked up enough to glare. " Children," Adriel corrected in a fond tone, then he raised a hand to smooth Art's hair back when Art buried his face into his chest once again. "He will need a larger office since his research will have to branch out more - Atlantis used three different writing systems and he is trying to decipher two of them while I work on the magical writing system. His pay has also been laughable for a master archivist, and I cannot believe that he was paid barely above the poverty level at only a hundred galleons a year so he was forced to live in White Chapel for over a decade! Surely someone made a mistake when they left his wages as that of a part time janitor?" "We will do a full audit, Mr. Chee," Appel said in a much graver tone. "You are correct, there is something very wrong with those numbers. Why was it never brought to our attention?" Adriel nudged Art. "Why didn't you file a complaint when you only received that one raise shortly after your internship but didn't gain any raises as you got more titles?" he asked. "I didn't know I could and I didn't want any attention," Art wetly mumbled into his shirt. Adriel realized Art was shaking so he hugged him tightly. "He stayed under the radar so he wouldn't be discriminated or assaulted for being an omega," Adriel clearly stated as he pointedly glared at the spot that Victus had been at until Adriel's spell had made him fall back. "However, we are a bonded pair, and the master archivist of Istanbul's magical government let him know all of his protections by ICW laws. He also let Artemio know what protections he would have if we decide to settle in Turkey. The Mavros of Greece also let Artemio know what kind of protections he would be given should he settle in Greece. Yet despite the poor treatment, he is very loyal to Oxford. We only just returned to the country and came straight here. There was only one pause - a five minute conversation with a muggle constable about how nice his horse was - and that was it. We have not been able to rest or eat, we still need to find an apartment or hotel since I refuse to let my mate stay in White Chapel or the Leaky, but we were pulled into a meeting. I thank this board for removing the main source of our irritation, however unless there is more information that is needed right now, I would like to get my pregnant mate some ice cream to settle his nerves somewhere where we can rest and relax so we have the energy to seek proper accommodations for tonight." "Ah, no, nothing is needed for the moment," Ms. Appel said. "Nor will anything be needed tomorrow, either. It will take around one week to conduct audits and to get Mr. Reyes a proper office to work from. When I saw his file, I thought it was strange that he was in a room meant to store surplus books." Adriel rubbed Art's back as his shaking got worse and the wet spot in his shirt got bigger. "Thank you, Ms. Appel and all of the board members," he said with a polite nod at her. "I will endeavor to make sure that my mate settles down during this period so that he is ready to work in a week. Come on, love. Thank the board and let us go." "Thank you," Art said, though his voice was a mumble since he refused to remove his face. Adriel smiled down at the top of his curly head, removed a hand to pull out a Navajo blanket from his pouch, then draped it over Art's head so he could lead him out without people seeing his tears. Once they got to the elevator and the doors closed, Art threw himself back into Adriel's arms and started sobbing. "I am sorry I didn't know!" he cried. "I should have told someone about my salary! Why did you fire Virdian?! I didn't understand that part! He was only being rude!" "No, he was trying to get rid of me so he could force you to hand Atlantis over to him," Adriel explained as he rubbed circles on Art's lower back with one hand while he hit the stop button with the other so the elevator stopped moving. "He had no claim over it or over you, so he was going to intimidate you into it and most of the board would have gone along. Ms. Appel and Mr. Broadmoor seem to have integrity and morals, so if you ever find yourself in there without me, you look to them if you are not sure what to do. That won't come for a while, though. You don't know anything about politics, but I do so I will go to every board meeting with you for a while until I am sure you understand how not to be taken advantage of, okay? And Virdian is very lucky he was fired - I was starting to consider hunting him down and dragging his half dead body back to you as a prize tonight. As is, ruining his name in the academic and political circles is enough as long as he doesn't bother or even look at you ever again. Now we just need to find out who has been deliberately trying to sabotage your career - there are too many things for it to be a 'coincidence' - and hopefully things here can be solved without bloodshed. Either way, they will be very grateful to you since I made it clear that it was only your love and loyalty to Oxford that stayed my hand. Anyway, no more thinking about this for now, love. Let's get ice cream and pickles." "Okay," Art sniffled. Adriel kissed the top of Art's head, wrapped the blanket around him a little tighter, then released the stop button so the elevator could continue its journey down to the ground floor. The ice cream would cheer Art up, and when the board finished their investigation, he would go over and explain things to Art more thoroughly then. For now, they needed to get a place for the night because he did not want Art to spend another night in White Chapel!
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Post by lilgiastar on Sept 12, 2024 4:47:08 GMT
Coffee Shop AU Art was nineteen years old, and had worked hard all throughout high school to get into Oxford university. His dream school. He had made sure his grades were all A’s, he took on extra curricular’s like tutoring once a week and he not join a club oh no that was not good enough for Oxford he created a history club and was the club president and made banners and posters to hang around the school to get members and organized history related things for them to do and research to be fun and educational, and on top of it all he also had a weekend job at the library sorting books. And also when he could he would do volunteer work, usually in the summer, and would make sure to alternate what he was doing volunteer wise. One summer he read to the elderly, another he volunteered at a soup kitchen, another he volunteered at the local parked helping keep it clean, and yet another he volunteered at an animal shelter. That last one had been the worst, he was not an animal person. But it created a wonderful record, full of perfect scores and varied interests and showed him as a well rounded individual. And that had all paid off. He had gotten into Oxford. And on a partial scholarship at that! His dream school, his first choice. Of course he had taken the advice from his guidance counselors and had applied to some lesser schools that were obviously with his amazing school records would admit him. Oxford was the one that was impossible. But he had done it. Unfortunately despite Oxford being his dream school since probably primary school, a partial scholarship was… not the best. He still had some student loans and with living on campus he needed to pay for food and such. And the money he had been saving from working weekends for the past four years did not go far at all and Art knew he would need a job. So, at eighteen he moved in and said good bye to his parents and got a part time job at a local coffee shop right near the college. In fact it was the local hot spot. Professors came to grab a drink, students would trudge in at six, seven, eight and grab coffee, couples would come here for dates, and everyone always had their laptops to work on essays and such. Art thought it would be… easy great. It was only a maybe ten minute walk from his dorm house, and the manager knew that everyone working there was attending Oxford and so schedules were very flexible and the manager worked with everyones class schedules. And it was one job, versus everything he had been doing in high school. How hard could it be? Art was also not a people person, and now at nineteen after a year of hating every moment of his job, he was incredibly unhappy. Art had never really been happy, he always working towards his goal. He didn’t have time for friendships or romantic interests or even any social life at all. He was always lucky if he got twenty minutes to read before bed, if his younger sister or brother didn’t bother him. But… he felt he should be happy now. He was here. He had done it. He wanted to get his dual major, archeaology and history, and then be able to work in one of the Oxford museums or the library. He had grand dreams of being a world famous archeologist with finds to rival Pompeii and the Acropolis. But this was… worse. It was awful. Art trudged on to his job, morning shift. The worst. Opening he supposed was never as difficult as closing but it was all just… terrible. He walked in through the backdoor, open by the manager, and grabbed his apron and slung it on and clocked in. Four thirty, just enough time for him and Britney to do all the opening duties while the manager, Josh, did some inventory and ordering for the week. At least Britney was stereotypically attractive, for a woman at least, so tips were usually pretty good when she was working. Flash a pretty smile at some old guy, flirt with another college student, and the tips came rolling in. And they pooled tips so that was nice. Once everything was taken care of, Art unlocked the front door and turned on the ‘OPEN’ neon sign in the window, promptly at five. Twelve thirty could not come soon enough. The morning went as good as it possibly could. A group of gossipy ‘mean girl’ types came in and tripped him with an entire tray of dirty mugs and he got absolutely covered in the little ends and drops of many drinks. Luckily they were all cold so he wasn’t burned, again. But he also broke a ton of mugs that he then had to sweep. An older professor berated him for not making her drink right for a good five minutes. When he could have just remade it quicker then her yelling at him. And the creepy old guy who was a regular was looking for Britney and he got yelled at and accused of ‘hiding her’ from him. Luckily Josh kicked that guy out. It had been a horrible day. As per usual. He just wanted to go home, shower, take a small nap and do some homework and maybe maybe if his horrible room mate went out to party could get a little reading done. It was twelve fifteen, just fifteen minutes until he could clock on out. And three more years until he could clock out for the last time and never see this place again. Luckily, even though most other places this would be the lunch rush, there were very few people in the coffee shop at this time since class was going on. The place was pretty empty, except a few places. And that was when Adriel Chee walked in. Art recognized him from the school paper. He was incredibly popular, and smart, and insanely attractive and while Art had never seen him before he always imagined Adriel had a swarm of attractive girls around him. He did not. Art was tired, covered in disgusting coffee, and had already dealt with enough. He really did not want to deal with some popular kid who probably got into the school via nepotism since his father was a guest lecturer. One that Art constantly tried to get in to see because David Pennington was an archeology marvel but they always filled up incredibly fast. Art forced a smile at the boy as he came to the register. “Welcome to the Roast House, how may I help you today?” he asked in a very dull voice. He really was not in the mood. Adriel however smiled at him “Oh you could definitely help me a lot” Adriel glanced down and then back at him “Art, is that short for something?” he asked. “That’s what I like to be called” he said simply. “What can I get for you, sir?” he asked. Adriel smirked “Sir, I like that. I’ll take a medium light roast with extra cream and extra sugar” he said. Art tapped on the little monitor. “Alright that will be four twenty seven, can I get you anything else today?” he asked. “How about your number? I’d love to see outside of this place with a smile” Adriel said. Art scowled. He had had a terrible day as is, he did not need to deal with some attractive jock mocking him. He wasn’t attractive, and to top it off he was covered in old coffee. There was no way this guy was doing anything other then mocking him. Art had had enough. “What, so you and all your popular, attractive friends can laugh that you were able to get some dweeby nerds number and that I’m such a dope for actually giving it to you? Or maybe you’ll actually text me and ask me for a date and then do something to laugh at me like not show up or something else embarrasing to laugh at me with? No, I’m not stupid. That is four twenty seven, will that be cash or card or apple pay?” he asked obviously not amused. Adriel seemed a bit taken a back, but Art didn’t feel bad. He wasn’t going to let this guy take advantage of him or manipulate him or make a joke of him. Adriel tapped his card on the pin pad and then walked over to go wait for his drink. Art huffed, good riddance. Adriel left. “he was flirting with you, why were you so mean? Don’t you find him attractive?” Britney asked. Art frowned. “Do you find every single guy attractive?” he asked her. She frowned “No, but I sure find him attractive” she said. “Well I don’t” yes he did, physically wise anyway but he didn’t have any interest in him “besides I’m not looking for someone to date right now” he said. She shrugged “You didn’t have to be mean” she said and walked off to go make another drink. Art sighed, he probably did have to be mean. Guys like that never took no as an answer. Art was indeed very gay. It took him a bit to figure out, and he only really realized it once he was about sixteen. But there were signs. At twelve he watched Star Wars and while most men were attracted to Princess Leia in the golden bikini that shes put in while captured by the hutts, Art ended up drawing fan art of Han Solo in skimpy gold underwear. He should have known then. Art went to class the next day but the day after he worked another opening shift. He truly hated working here. Why did people think it was alright to yell at him because it was six AM and everyone had to get to work and class so there was obviously a long wait for drinks? Did people think he was the coffee fairy and could just wave a magic wand to get their order to just appear in their hands instantaniously? He hated people. And he also got a drink thrown at him because he got the order wrong. Burning hot coffee. He sighed, it was luckily about eleven so he didn’t have too long until he could go home and shower. But he was absolutely dripping went as the cranky karen left. He needed to clean up the coffee all over the floor and then clean himself up. He got out the mop and then that was when he heard “Good morning handsome.” Art frowned and turned to see… Adriel Chee to make his day all the worse. However as he turned to him Adriels face changed. “What happened?” he asked. Arts frown turned into a full on scowl. “Like you care, take a picture it will last longer” he said and then started to mop up the coffee on the floor. He put the mop away but Adriel was at the register and he had to deal with that before he could clean up a bit in the bathroom. He grabbed some paper towels and dabbed his face and his hair as he walked over to the register. “Welcome to the Roast House, how may I help you today” he said sounding very cranky. “Your hair is all curly, thats cute” Adriel said instead of his order. Art frowned. “Coffee and sugar will tend to wash out the product in it. Your order?” he said sounding annoyed. “Light roast, medium, extra cream extra sugar” Adriel said. Art nodded and put it into the monitor. “That’s four twenty seven will there be anything else for you today?” he asked. Adriel got out his card and paid. “I’m Adriel by the way, since I know your name it feels right you know mine” he said. Art frowned. “I know who you are” he said still annoyed. Adriel perked up with a smile. “Really? Someone so handsome knowing who I am, I feel flattered” Adriel cooed. Art looked at him blankly. “It’s hard not to know who you are when your father is a guest lecturer so your constantly in the papers and everyone knows you got in because of your father and not years of hard work. Excuse me” he said and turned away to head into the employee bathroom to clean up a bit. And when he came out, Adriel was gone. “You know if you keep being so rude to him he won’t come back” Britney said. Art frowned. “That’s the point” he said flatly. “But I don’t understand why, he’s flirting with you, he likes you” she said. He sighed. “No, he doesn’t. Guys like that do not like guys like me.” he said. The next day was saturday and he was working a ‘clopen’ to make extra money. A horrible double shift, opening, working all day and then closing. It was evil. But it meant money and he was horribly low on groceries and had been sustaining off of ramen the past couple of days. He totally needed the extra money. Morning was awful as always. A mother brought her three screaming children in, all wanting teas and stuff and the mother had an insane order with tons of extra pumps of things and extra espresso shots and such. And saturday meant tons of Oxford students were there on dates and stuff. It was about noon and there was an absolutely insufferable girl at the register, one of the ones that were clearly here on daddy’s wallet and spent too much time taking selfies and trying to be an ‘influencer’. She was making a big fuss about her drink being made right. And e kept pausing her order to take a photo. Art stared at her. “Ma’am will there be anything else?” he asked. “Mm I don’t know read it back to me” he said as she moved her phone around trying to do… something. Art sighed “A medium caramel latte, caramel lining on the cup, four shots of caramel, four shots of brown sugar syrup, six pumps of liquid sugar, four shots of dark caramel, oat milk, cold foam with caramel drizzle and add caramel crunchies on top. Does that right ma’am?” he asked. He hated people like this. “mmm yeah that sounds good” she said and barely seemed to be listening to him. He sighed. “Alright that is eleven fifty” he said. He watched as she took some more photos. He cleared his throat “Cash or card?” he asked. “mm? What? Oh right” she said and tapped her phone to the pin pad. He sighed and pressed the button for apple pay and there was the ding. And then she walked away and… Adriel. Art frowned. “Welcome to the Roast House how may I help you?” he said. “Do you ever smile? I bet you would look so much cuter with one” Adriel said. Art frowned at him. “What can I get for you?” he asked. “Maybe an apology?” Adriel asked. Art was… a bit surprised honestly. “For what?” he asked him. “Well what you said last time was mean, that I didn’t get here because of my own hard work. But you had a really bad day and were still dripping wet with coffee from someone throwing it at you… So I wanted to give you another chance” Adriel said. Art frowned at him. “This is my dream school. I have wanted to study here, and eventually also work here, since primary. I spent every second of my high school experience working towards having a stellar, a perfect, resume to submit. I got perfect grades, I volunteer tutored, I didn’t join a club I created one and also did all the recruiting to get members, funding, everything for the club. I worked during the weekends at the local library. Every summer I volunteered in different places. I curated a perfect resume to get into this school and didn’t have any time for… anything else. I have worked my entire life to be here. What did you do to get here?” he asked him. Adriel smiled at him “I’m glad you asked! You can say I got in because of my father. My father took me on digs as young as six, and I am one of the worlds leading experts in Ancient Runes. I am one of the few people in the world who can read it and translate it. But my grades are pretty shit so I probably wouldn’t be able to get in without that” Adriel told him. Art stared at him. He was one of the handful of people in the world who could translate ancient runes?! Adriel Chee who was… incredibly attractive. And popular. And… obviously not a nerd at all in the slightest? And went on archeological digs from SIX years old? “I… I’m sorry” he said, really not knowing what else he could say. He… made a fool of himself. Adriel gave him a warm smile “It’s alright. Maybe you could make it up to me with a smile” he said. Art gave him a very small and very forced smile. Adriel tilted his head “You could do better then that. But I suppose tht will do for now. I’ll also take a light roast, extra cream, extra sugar, medium” he said. Art nodded and typed it in “It’s uh… it’s on me today” he said softly. “You don’t have to do that” Adriel said. Art shrugged. “We get one free drink a shift and I don’t drink coffee, I barely use it and if I do its for tea. It’s fine” he assured him. Adriel smiled at him and for a moment Art’s frown went into a more neutral expression. “Uh! ExCUSE ME Barista man, you messed up my drink, I barely taste the caramel in it I demand it be remade NOW” the girl from earlier came back waving her latte in his face. Art blinked and sighed. “Yes Ma’am, of course” he said and took the drink back from her and went to go remake it. When he came back, Adriel was gone. But he felt… different about it now. About Adriel now. From then on Adriel kept coming in every day during his shift and would order his usual and they would talk a little. Britney kept saying Adriel was flirting with him but he didn’t really believe it. Even if the guy was actually a bit of a history nerd, he was far too attractive and popular to actually like him. And they would talk about all sorts of things from history to Star Wars to Terminator to actual space and theories on black holes and spaghettification and time travel. It was… nice actually having someone to talk to about these things that actually seemed interested in them and talking about them and sharing theories and evidence and such. It went on for about a month and a half, it was early October. And things were going nice. Art actually felt like he had a friend sort of. He never really had the chance to have friends before, always busy working and such. And he hadn’t made any friends here at Oxford yet either. However Art’s shift came and went and no Adriel. He tried not to think much of it. Maybe he was busy. And besides it wasn’t like they were real friends. They never saw each other outside of the coffee shop and a few minutes talking. Adriel probably just had some important… rune related thing pop up. And then Adriel didn’t show up again. And again. And then again. Four days in a row without Adriel and Art was… totally not worried haha no he was definitely not. Maybe he was sick. Or maybe Adriel just finally realized he was spending all this time talking to some unattractive dork while he could be talking to some.. hot, blonde, female cheerleader or something. One that actually tried to make an effort to see Adriel outside of cheer practice or whatever. Five days and whatever he didn’t need to see Adriel if Adriel didn’t want to see him. Six days and what did he do or say to make Adriel mad at him? He couldn’t even apologize if Adriel didn’t come to in the coffee shop. And he was quickly realizing how little he knew about Adriel. Like all the places he could possibly look for him like his classes or schedule or his dorm building or literally anything at all. His father was a guest lecturer so he didn’t even know where his temporary office would be! Seven days and that was… it. He was never going to see Adriel again. He would never know what he did, or if Adriel was alright or lying dead in some ditch or… anything. He was not worried! And he was not upset! He was fine! Perfectly fine! He walked into work on day eight and opened the coffee house and worked as usual. Part of him was worried about what happened and why Adriel just disappeared. Another part of him didn’t think he needed to see Adriel ever again. “Good morning handsome” a familiar voice said and Art looked up with a small smile. A real smile. “Adriel” he said his voice actually sounding happy, relieved, excited. Adriel smiled at him “Are you actually smiling? You look absolutely adorable.” He said. Art blushed and looked down. “Uh no no I’m not. Uh you were gone for a while, are you alright?” he asked trying not to sound worried. Adriel nodded. “I had to go back to America for a bit, they thought my mom had cancer. Luckily it was just a rare, but treatable, form of meningitis since they caught it early. I stayed with her for a bit to make sure she was alright” he said. Art looked up “I’m sorry about your mother. I’m glad she’s feeling better. But I… wondered what happened to you. Or that I upset you somehow. You could have let me know somehow that you were going to be gone” he said softly. He had no been worried. He just was wondering if Adriel was alright. Not worrying. Adriel grinned at him “Well I could have let you know if I had your number” he said. Art froze for a second. It had been a few weeks since Adriel had asked for his number. Before they started talking and getting to know each other. Back when Art thought it was some prank. But now they knew each other a bit. But some small part of him still said it had to be a trick. But he also knew Adriel wouldn’t do something like that. Art took a deep breath “And you want my number because you think I’m attractive?” he asked. Adriel tilted his head with an amused smile “That’s the idea, so I can talk you outside of the coffee shop” Adriel said. “Like… a date?” Art asked. Art had never been on a date before. Adriel smiled. “If you would like it to be. If not it can just be two friends hanging out” Adriel explained. Art slowly took out his phone and went to the add a new contact screen and handed his phone to Adriel to put his number in “I… I think I would like a date” he admitted. Adriel took his phone and added his number in and Art took it back and sent him a quick text to make sure it went through. “I’d like a date too, your very handsome. And so far I’ve liked our conversations” Adriel said. Art gave a soft smile at that. “I’ve enjoyed them too. A medium light roast, extra cream extra sugar. On me. And we are not coming here or going to any coffee shop for a date” Art said. Adriel smiled at him with a soft laugh and a nod. “Agreed” he said.
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Post by The Dark Lady on Sept 13, 2024 23:46:40 GMT
Art would cross the street if he saw Adriel and didn't know him... Suuuuuuure you would, Art... Art tried not to bounce with excitement as he got to Diagon Alley, and as he walked to Gringotts, he went over his savings in his head. He had 87 galleons, 75 sickles (which meant four galleons and seven sickles), and no knuts since he kept his knuts on him to spend for basic things like food or converted them to sickles which he then deposited into his vault. All so he could save up for Atlantis. Of course, there was no way he could afford a whole expedition on less than a hundred galleons, but! But!! The board had finally approved his grant! After years of trying! Finally, he would get to go to Greece! Ten thousand galleons which would mean he could hire a bodyguard, buy camping supplies like a wizarding tent that would fit him and his bodyguard, hire a boat once he got to Greece and! And! And!!! The Explorer's Outfit! The very article of clothing complete with a pith helmet that he had dreamt of wearing as he explored unknown and exotic ruins when he was a boy! With the beautiful paisley tie he had bought for himself on his seventeenth birthday that was for his first archeology dig! Art silently squealed in his head with excitement as he did not bounce up the steps of Gringotts. He was now an archeologist! He just needed to get his bodyguard since it wasn't like he could protect himself from all those icky horrible wild lizards that would try to eat him, and hopefully there would be no cats in the wild, and also from any dangerous magical beasts like the manticore that lived in Greece. And sea serpents. The books said they only ate seaweed, but they would definitely try to eat him or his explorer's outfit! Art continued to silently be gleeful as the goblin cart took him down to his vault which was stuffed with more gold than he had ever seen outside of pictures, and he stuffed a lot into the expandable pouch on his chest belt that he had quickly charmed before his trip. The bags would be properly enchanted later, but he had bought this yesterday on the way home from work after the board had told him his grant was approved because it was perfect to store all his books, scrolls, and tools! The chest belt would keep everything important in his life - Atlantis and the research materials for it - against his chest and close to his heart. It was poetic, really. Art loved the new chest belt and he couldn't wait to enchant it. Still, just because he could afford things didn't mean he wouldn't be frugal. Actually, he had to be extra frugal now. He didn't want his funds running out halfway through his search in Greece since it might mean he would be stranded there. He also had to arrange for a two-way portkey for two people, and with the rising costs of international portkeys because of tensions in Europe increasing again meant that the price could be twice again as high next week. Really, the state of the world was horrible! And so he did his shopping in a secondhand shop just inside of knockturn alley since it had the best prices for things like this. It was as Art stepped out of the store and into Knockturn alley that his attention was caught by something that had nothing to do with his expedition. It was a man that was standing there because they had nearly collided, but what a man. The very very first thing Art noticed were the arms - they were so muscular that Art could see them lovingly carved out of marble by Apollo himself. And of course the god chiseled his way up to carve out some perfect collar bones that made Art lick his lips as he wondered how they tasted. Art's eyes couldn't decide if it wanted to trail down that bronze chest or up to the face, but the temptation of seeing the abs deliciously hidden by a nearly skin-tight shirt was too much so his eyes went south where the silver jewelry pointed. Art felt his fingers twitch because he wanted to reach out and touch - to see if the abs were also carved to protection - but the wind blew and a shimmering dark curtain caught his attention. Long, silky dark hair with natural chestnut brown highlights danced in a tantalizing way before they went inert. They looked so soft, and Art's eyes trailed up until he saw high cheekbones and full, pouting lips turned up a little with amusement, then he blushed when his eyes met the stranger's eyes because he realized he had been staring. Staring! At a stranger in Knockturn Alley! For who knew how long! Oh god, he was going to die he was going to die he was going to die-"You're catchin' flies, darlin'," the man drawled in an American accent as his smile widened into a smirk that had Art wanting to melt into a puddle right there. He would stain the brick, and that would be the only thing that would remain of him. A smear on the ground. Because he couldn't move as the stranger reached out towards him. To grab his throat. Or no, there was gentle pressure under his chin and the stranger closed his mouth which he hadn't known was even open at all! "Let's get you safely back to Diagon Alley, hmm?" Art gave a jerky nod, but aside from that, he still couldn't move. Or speak. Then the stranger looped their arms together and Art finally squeaked when he was gently pulled away because it made him trip and crash against that chest dear god he was in hell or in heaven because he had never felt such soft skin before! And what was this crazy American doing barely even dressed in Knockturn Alley?! Art had heard that Americans were insane, but dear god he thought that it was just a stereotypical rumor! "Oopsy daisy," the stranger playfully said as he set Art to rights, and this time Art was able to make his feet move when the other man began to lead him out of the alley. "Such a delicate and cute wizard such as you shouldn't be in a place like this, darlin'. Come along now, that's a good boy." Art whimpered as he felt pleasure zing down his spine from being called a good boy. He knew he should be arguing. He should be running. He should be doing anything but allowing himself to be docilely led around. However, it was like he left his voice and his functioning brain behind in the shop since he couldn't do anything at all! He wasn't even sure they were heading to Diagon Alley! It seemed like the only thing he could do was remember how soft the skin was while 'good boy' echoed around in his head... And then he stumbled again only to be caught. "Oh dear," the man said, and then Art was set properly up on his feet. He looked up and up until he was staring at the man, and this dark version of Hercules smiled down at him before patting him on top of the head. "There we go, all safe and sound in Diagon Alley. You are so adorable, but I sadly do not have time at the moment to ask you out on a date. Maybe if I catch you again later, hm?" Art's head was stuck on the word adorable so it took him several seconds to realize the man had also mentioned a date, but he didn't even have a chance to formulate a reply to the last question. The man turned back around in a twirl of feathery soft black hair that flowed like spider silk in the wind, and he turned for Gringotts and left Art standing there right next to the Apothecary which was the shop that was at the corner of Diagon and Knockturn. Oh... And the wizard was wearing bluejeans that was tight around his butt. Art swallowed hard since he couldn't look away - every step the man took flexed a glute, and they were so perfectly in shape that he could practically see how the muscles there and in the man's thighs would ripple were the muggle pants not in the way. Muggle pants. American accent. Not a Dark wizard, definitely not the most handsome vampire since he was in the sun, but a crazy American who probably didn't know how dangerous Knockturn was. Then he was gone inside of Gringotts and the world came rushing right back in...
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Post by lilgiastar on Sept 14, 2024 2:56:04 GMT
Captured
Art sighed as he sat on his bed. Everything hurt. He was… he didn’t know how many months pregnant it was impossible to tell time here and its not like they told him anything. But his stomach looked as big as a hot air balloon. His three rows of breasts were so swollen and sore as they hung low, red and full. He was forced to be shirtless in his cell, he was far too big for the regular shirt they usually gave him and his nipples were far too sensitive and painful for the fabric anyway.
He was in a very large room, in a small cell just big enough for a bed, a bucket for his wastes, and some walking room. Normally he didn’t even have the bed but they were slightly kinder to him while pregnant. A bed. A little more food then normal. The room was filled with dozens more cages just like his. Filled with Omegas and alphas. He could hear and smell sex in the air, one of the omega’s were in heat and thus were locked in with one of the alphas. He was numb to it. He tried to lay down, the chain on his ankle, the other end attached to one of the bars on his cage, jingled as he did.
He couldn’t possibly get comfortable.
He looked down at his full stomach. He wondered what it would be like if he got his hands on a knife. He fantasized about stabbing his stomach, over and over again. It would kill them, and probably himself. And even if it didn’t, they might do something to prevent him from doing it again. A lobotomy maybe. At least then it would be just his body stuck in this awful prison. It would be a form of freedom either way. And he didn’t care about killing the things inside of him. Not any more. And besides, it would be saving them from whatever horrible fate these were going to be sold into.
He sighed and closed his eyes. It was the impossible dream, getting out of here. He just had to wait until he went into menopause or something. And it would probably be sooner rather then later given all the pregnancies. They would kill him then. It couldn’t come quick enough…
Art’s eyes shot open as a scent permeated through the scents of waste, sex, misery and what not that filled the room. He sat up.
Mate.
Art didn’t know what to feel. His poor mate whoever it was, was here which could only mean he was captured. Forced to suffer the same horrible fate as him. He felt bad about that. But if they knew there was a true bond match here…. Who knew what they would do, to them, to the children…
Snarls filled the air, light filled the place as wizards with wands drawn flooded the place. Suddenly a giant black wolf came out of no where, tackling one of the horrible men who ran the place. Art gasped in fear as the creature ripped into him, screams filling the air, the scent of blood on his tongue.
Once the creature was done with the man, his amber eyes turned onto him and for a moment all he could smell was his own fear before the scent of mate filled his nose. Art… didn’t know what to feel. His mate was a… wolf?
The creature let out a pained and forlorn moan. The world felt like it was shaking and then the one of the cage walls literally ripped off its hinges and clattered to the ground with a BOOM. Art scrambled up onto his bed, trying to curl in on himself and seem small and far away. His leg stuck out, the chain only went so far.
The wolf lunged and for a moment Art thought his fantasy was coming true, death was freedom. But with the fighting going on and actual freedom so close… Art didn’t flinch though. But the wolf bit down on the chain and it snapped. It fell off his ankle, but his ankle looked deformed from years of being shackled. He.. didn’t know if he could even walk on it without the support of the shackle any more.
The wolf seemed to… notice this. And much to Art’s surprise slowly walked to the bed and… offered him its back? Art froze. He glanced around at all the wizards fighting and letting omegas and alphas out of cages. He looked back at the wolf. His mate. Was he just trading one cage for another if he accepted? But he had no where else to go…
He slowly and carefully climbed onto the wolf’s back. He wobbled a bit, his center of gravity was off being so full of babies. But he was able to get on and held on and the wolf took off right through the front door that was broken off its hinges.
Art was blinded by the sun. Sun. Sunlight. The breeze on his face. Grass and trees around them. He hadn’t seen any of these in years.
Freedom
But each step the wolf made juggled his swollen breasts, constantly reminding him he was now trapped again. Who knew what a wolf as a mate would want from him. What it would do to him.
He didn’t know how long they rode for. Or how far away they were from the warehouse. But the wolf slowed to stop at a little campsite, a fire, a tent. He laid down and Art slowly climbed down to sit on the ground. He was glad he still had on underwear. But… now what? He was scared and alone with a wolf and he couldn’t even walk!
The wolf suddenly turned into a man. Not any man. The manliest of men. Tall, broad shouldered, rippling muscles, and long flowing black hair. His mate. Art tried to curl into himself to make himself smaller, fear oozing off of him. But he could only smell worry and heartbreak from the other man.
The man slowly sat down where he was standing and Art eyed him cautiously.
“Hello. I’m Adriel, Adriel Chee from the Navajo Tribe in New Mexico, America” the man introduced himself in a soft voice. Art stared at him. “May I ask your name?” Adriel asked him.
“592” Art softly said. Adriel shook his head.
“Your real name, from before you were taken” he explained. Art seemed nervous.
“Art” he said softly. Adriel nodded. Adriel slowly moved his hands to around his own neck and slowly made a blanket appear from thin air. He slowly then held it out to him. Art eyed it before slowly taking it and carefully wrapping it around his shoulders, but being careful of his pained and sensitive breasts. “What are you going to do to me?” he asked.
Adriel shook his head “Nothing you don’t want. If this is all you want, me setting you free, and you never wish to see me again I understand and respect your decision. If you wish I bring you to the hospital to deliver your pups and fix your ankle I will. If you wish I take you home, I will.” Adriel said softly.
Art was quiet for a few moments. “I don’t want to go to the hospital. I don’t have a home to go to. And I don’t want these babies” he said softly. Adriel nodded.
“The tent is magical, you can have your own room until you can walk on your ankle. And you can go when you wish to” Adriel said softly.
Art shook his head. “I can’t go. I don’t have any where to go” he said softly. “My grandfather sold me once I presented at thirteen. I don’t have a home to go back to. I don’t know if my parents are looking for me but I can’t see him again. I can’t do any magic. I only got two years of Hogwarts. I barely know any magic. And they took my wand. I… can’t do anything” he said softly.
There were a few moments of silence. “How old are you?” Adriel asked.
“I don’t know in years. It’s… hard to keep track. But this is my eleventh pregnancy. Without any breaks. My first one was my first heat at thirteen. And then once I gave birth and then I had the next one they made me pregnant again…” Art explained.
It was quiet again. “When is your birth date?” Adriel asked.
“June tenth, 1900” he said softly.
“Your twenty four, your going to be twenty five in a couple months” Adriel said. “I’ll help you inside the tent, and then you can sit and rest, and I’ll make you something to eat” Adriel said.
“I don’t want to go inside!” Art frantically said in a panic. Adriel nodded.
“I will go inside and make something to eat and bring it out here” Adriel amneded. He slowly got up and headed into the tent.
Art relaxed a little and looked around. He never liked nature but it was now the most beautiful thing in the world. The brown of the tree bark. The green leaves and grass. How blue the sky was. The nice breeze on his skin.
Adriel eventually came back with something that made Arts mouth water. Adriel gave him the plate and Art took it practically snarling and started devouring whatever it was just using his hands and mouth. Meat, juicy delicious meat. He didn’t know what it was. Didn’t care what it was. His teeth ripped into it. And variety! He practically moaned as he licked the remains of whatever it was off his fingers. It had been so long since he had real food. Adriel then slid him over the other plate that was supposed to be his and Art actually was able to look at it.
Steak. Steak. Ugh steak. Juicy, meaty, tender steak. And were those potatoes? Oh he missed potatoes. And brocolli. He hated brocolli as a kid but now it was the most delicious thing on the planet. Art slowly ate, actually being able to taste the food this time. He glanced up at Adriel.
“Thank you by the way… for saving me. If you didn’t… I don’t know how much longer I would have lasted before I did… something drastic.” Art admitted. He had been imagining killing himself an hour or two ago. And now he was here. Outside. Eating real food. “And thank you for the food.” he added softly. Which he now realized he had basically stolen Adriels dinner.
“It was a lot harder waiting for the Mavros as backup then actually saving you but it gave me the time I needed to set this up. I follow omega and alpha smuggling paths to try to break them up and maybe find my mate. But I’ve never actually gone in one before, its too risky. But I smelled you and I knew I had to save you” Adriel admitted.
Art was quiet for a few minutes. “Just because we are mates does not mean I wish to bond to you. I am not trading one cell for another, slightly nicer, cell.. I just… don’t have any where else to go right now.” he said softly. Or the ability to do anything. He only had two years of Hogwarts. He didn’t have a wand. He couldn’t do anything in the wizarding community. And he only had until he was eleven in primary school. He couldn’t do much in the muggle world either.
“Me saving you is not about bonding. It’s about saving you. I said I wouldn’t do anything you didn’t want to and I mean it. If you do not wish to bond we will not bond. If you wish to walk away the second you can I will not follow you.” Adriel promised.
Art nodded. But he didn’t know what he wanted. He felt… safe with Adriel, And he couldn’t go anywhere. He couldn’t walk. And he was also shirtless with six swollen and sensitive breasts hanging down from his chest. Even if he wanted to he couldn’t go anywhere. “I’ll stay for now. And figure out what I want to do later” he said.
He would have to go inside the tent to the sleep.
Adriel nodded “You can stay as long as you wish” he said and then took the two empty plates inside. Art watched him go. And while he didn’t know what to do with his new found freedom, and its restrictions based on his body, he knew one thing.
He was safe.
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Post by lilgiastar on Sept 21, 2024 0:26:32 GMT
Art Would Cross The Street if He Saw Adriel and Didn’t Know Him Part 2
It had been about two weeks since he had run into the handsome mysterious stranger. The crazy American in those tight jeans with those buldging arm muscles. Art was busy with getting things ready for the expedition, getting camping supplies and the portkey and interviewing potential body guards. But he was never able to get the man out of his mind. Every time he went into Diagon Alley he couldn’t help but glance around, wondering if he would get a glimpse of the man.
He hadn’t even gotten the mans name. And he had been far too… enamored to tell the man his name!
But, the interview process for the body guard position was… not going well. So a couple days prior he had put an ad in the Daily Prophet, hoping someone might answer. It was the last morning the ad would run and if he couldn’t find someone, he couldn’t go. He was worried, but there was nothing he could do except try to put it out of his mind and hope that someone answered the ad. He picked up a book to read.
It wasn’t too long later that there was a knock at the door “Come in!” he said trying not to sound too excited. He set his book down and looked up as the door was opened…
In the doorway stood the handsome mysterious stranger, only this time instead of dressing like some insane American he was dressed approrpiately in dress robes. His flowing long hair cascaded around him like dark rivers of ink, draping around him and his dress robes.
The man seemed surprised for a second before he smirked. He walked in and closed the door behind him and walked up to him and gently touched his chin, closing his slack jawed mouth. Again. He hadn’t realized his mouth was open, yet again. The man smirked down at him.
“Hello darling, I suppose you are Artemio Reyes? With the ad in the paper?” the man asked with his American Southern drawl, still carrassing his chin and jaw. Art stared up at the perfectly carved face, the beautiful pools of liquid chocolate eyes, and no words could be said. If he wasn’t a wizard he was sure he would be wondering what sort of sorcery this man had used on him.
The man chuckled and finally pulled away to sit in the chair, across from him at the desk. “I am Adriel Chee and I am here about the body guard and guide position” he said, suddenly in an English accent. Art blinked, finally coming to his senses. At least a little.
“Yes, Art Reyes about the body guard and guide position.” he said. “Uh…” his mind was blank, what could he even ask the man before him? It was as if Apollo wanted to create a person to remind him of Hyacinths beauty while he had been alive. How could he even be expected to be able to form sentences, let alone think coherently? “Experience?” he asked, grasping for straws at this point.
Adriel smirked at him “Oh yes I have plenty of experience, both as a body guard and a guide. As well as romantically” he said oh so nonchalantly.
Ar practically squeaked when Adriel mentioned romantic experience and coughed trying to cover it and again was absolutely floundering for words and speechless. How did this man have experience in anything at all? How was anyone able to even function around him to be able to give him experience! “Uh good, good experience is… good” he said.
Part of him thought hiring this being, for with this beauty he could not be a simple man, was a horrible idea. How would he manage to get anything done! And he was absolutely destroying this interview and couldn’t even think of another question to ask the man! But… this was his last chance. Adriel was the only one who had even answered the ad at all, and today was its last day running. If he turned the man away all his dreams of Atlantis would be destroyed…
“Your… hired?” he said sounding unsure.
Adriel smirked “Well before I accept I would like to learn more about the position, where we will be going, what we will be doing, how much it pays and how long the expedition will be” he said. Oh right. Those were… good things to discuss.
Art had no idea how he had gotten through the conversation, or even said anything that made sense. But whatever he said, Adriel had agreed. And gave him a wink before he got up and left. With Adriel gone he could finally think again. But the most important thing was….
He was going to Atlantis! He was going to find Atlantis! He had his bodyguard and everything was in place! He was so excited!
And… he was going to get to spend plenty of time learning how to think in Adriels presence.
It was going to be… an experience for sure!
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Post by The Dark Lady on Sept 21, 2024 11:52:09 GMT
When Adriel had come to London this time, it was because the MacDuffs had needed a break for a few days to collect more information on the Stone Circle they were searching for. He had gotten a room at the White Wyvern to wait it out since a cheap pub because he had taken the job out of personal interest and his employers had had no accommodations for him. When the third day without a word had come around, he started to suspect he had been abandoned, but since he wasn't sure, he decided to head out to Tracklehshanks Locksmith to pick up a few locks to pull apart for parts in his latest puzzle box project. It was mostly the poor, the Dark, the criminals, and the outcasts that roamed the streets of Knockturn. Since he had been here for a few days, the locals gave him wide berth. There had been a bit of a tussle with a vampire on his first night - one that ended in the undead monster's final death - so people had been very cautious with his presence. Every time he stayed in Knockturn, it was often like that. Not that he stayed there often - he preferred to rent a room in a muggle country tavern. Waiting for an owl meant that he couldn't go muggle, though, and Knockturn was far better than the Leaky since the Leaky was on Charing Crossroad which meant waking up to the scent of pollution every morning. Killing a couple vampires or roughing up a pick pocket was well worth avoiding the stench of London. He was just getting to the shop Wizarding Supplies - a second hand shop that also sold cheap dark items - when a cute twink came out then stopped and stared at him. He paused to look on with amusement as the mixed ethnic man gaped at him and seemed to be undressing him with his eyes, so Adriel gave him a second look over since a bit of fun sounded like a good idea. The man did not stop staring, though, and Adriel realized the poor guy was far too soft for an area like here. He definitely had an aura that also screamed "I AM AN INNOCENT LITTLE BUNNY!!!" aura about him when he turned beet red when their eyes finally met. "You're catchin' flies, darlin," he drawled. Since there was still no reaction but shock, terror, and lust, he took a step forward with a smirk of amusement to help the poor guy close his mouth. When the little lamb still seemed incapable of replying or even looking away, he decided he would escort him back to a safer area just to be nice. He couldn't try to coax the guy to his bed - not with the fear in his eyes - but that didn't stop him from teasing him a little more. It was the best entertainment he had had in a while - the man had whimpered when he had been praised, he seemed incapable of walking on his own feet, and he couldn't seem to say a single thing as Adriel teased those cute little reactions out of him. All of that also screamed that the wizard was a virgin, so he was glad he had decided to escort him out rather than escort him to his room. He had even swooned a little like a lovestruck girl in a bodice ripper when he had suggested that perhaps there could be a date in the future, and Adriel had to turn and leave before he decided to give in to temptation to steal a kiss in the middle of Diagon Alley. He stayed in Knockturn for a few more days after that, but the MacDuffs didn't reply to a letter he had sent out to enquire about time so he knew that the job was a bust. He had gotten half his pay beforehand, but it had not been much at all. He needed to find another job, so he decided to go up north to the country to stay at a pub in a small village just to get out of London. The pub he had picked out didn't have rooms available - it was the end of summer so they usually scrubbed the rooms and got them ready for winter since there were little to no travellers for this time of year. However, the family that ran the pub suggested that he ask an elderly widow who live on the edge of town for board, and that she would probably put him up for free if he could help her prepare her home for the winter. That was a very appealing option since he would have things to do, so that was what he did. Mrs. Luhanne was an energetic old woman with a four bedroom farm house. She had sold the extra acres to her two neighbors when her husband had gotten crippled from a farming accident because she couldn't take care of all the land and their children had moved off to the city decades ago. Her husband had caught pneumonia that winter and had perished, and this had been the first summer on her own. Adriel had fixed up the roof, painted the fences, dug a new pit to move the outhouse to - the current one wasn't quite full yet, but he thought it would be good to take care of before it became a problem, and chopped plenty of firewood for winter. He had also cut back some overgrowth and suggested that she borrow a couple goats from her neighbors the next year since they could take care of those things, though she would have to watch over them. He had finished by filling up the potholes in the dirt path that let to her house and washed all her windows, and by then all of the big things were done. He had also looked for work, but he didn't use owls and there had been nothing in the papers he had particularly wanted to follow. He was thinking about moving on to another location so he could pop to Gringotts to see if they had anything when she had showed him the ad in the papers. Thinking that it looked like an interesting job, he decided he would check it out since he wanted more money to help his tribe not just for the winter, but also for the oil rights battle they were preparing for. He was exceptionally amused when it was the twink from Knockturn Alley that had put out the ad, and even though it was unprofessional he decided to stick with the southern drawl so he could flirt some more. A librarian or a researcher wouldn't be able to pay much, and the jobs were usually very short so he figured it wouldn't hurt at all. The man was obviously intelligent - Adriel could tell from a glance around the room that he was because of the type of books that lined the shelves and were on his dest - but he seemed incapable of thought. It would be fun to see if he was capable of words, though. He got his name, but Art could only parrot at that point. It took everything he had to not laugh when the cute researcher said 'Uh good, good experience is… good.' The silly man then tried to hire him, so it was Adriel that had to gently prod him for more information on what the job was. "Uh... Atlantis?" Art had said in an uncertain tone. "Atlantis is also good. And my body! No, wait, bodyguard! I need you to bodyguard my body and I will pay for your food, room, and everything! All expenses! And I will pay you to watch my body - be my bodyguard. Uh... For ten thousand galleons! One thousand now and the rest after." Adriel forgot how to breathe at the amount of money he was being offered... that was three to four years worth of work just being thrown out there. The explanation had not been coherent at all, but he just needed to be a bodyguard and maybe have some sex? He wasn't a prostitute or anything like that, but Art was cute and looking for Atlantis sounded fun even if he wasn't sure where they were going. "Sweetheart, for that amount I'd help you look for the edge of the world," he drawled. "I will be back at five at the end of your shift. I'll sign the employment contract then we can head out to go shoppin' together. That sound good, sweet pea?" Art gave a dazed nod, so Adriel stood up and winked at him. "I'll be back this afternoon, then."
The second trip to Diagon Alley was just as funny as the first time they had met. "So, Gringotts first?" he purred close to Art's ear while Art tapped the bricks. Art nodded, but the sequence seemed to fly out of the librarian's brain so he had held Art's wand hand and helped him finish it. It put him in the perfect position to catch Art as he tripped on the very first step he took, and once he had the blushing man upright, he let go of his wand hand and slid his arm around Art's waist. "Just to help you walk - you seem a bit off balance. Perhaps you are tired? You were working even on a Sunday after all." "Tired!" Art squeaked as he nodded, but he kept his face down. A shame since Adriel wanted to see more of that blushing. "So when was your last day off, darlin'?" "Uh... I don't know?" "Oh my, they really have you workin' hard, don't they," Adriel teased as he rubbed a circle into Art's belly with his thumb. "I'll work extra hard for you so you can take it a bit easy. Where we headin' for your adventure, sweetheart?" "Uh... Greece?" Adriel blinked. Greece? "To the underwater ruins of Akrotiri on Santorini?" he asked. There had been nothing about the adventure being an underwater one, but he could work with that. It also sounded like fun. "I have a Guide license for Greece, Upper and Lower Anatolia, and all the territories of the old Ottoman empire, and Egypt. I know all[/p] the best places we can go." "Uh..." Art started to say, except he tried to trip again. Tried, but Adriel's arm was already around him and he looked up with huge doe-like eyes. Such a funny little cutie. "Aegean sea! Not the islands!" Adriel furrowed his brows a little - hm, definitely looked like an underwater expedition. "What kind of boat are we taking?" he curiously asked, but Art's eyes got bigger and helpless like he hadn't really thought of that. "Do we have a boat?" "I uh... No?" Art asked once again, then he shook his head. "Charter! I'm going to charter one!" "How much do we have on funds?" he asked, this time a little more seriously since it seemed like this was Art's first time leading an expedition. "And who is managing supplies?" "I... gave it to you?" Art slowly replied, then little gears finally began to churn behind Art's eyes. "And I've already bought a tent and food so we have our supplies. I needed a bodyguard, but if you didn't come, the expedition would have been over before it started! Everyone else said no or just laughed, and since you were my last chance to go, I paid you everything!" Adriel stared at Art. "Where in the Aegean Sea are we going?" he asked as his stomach sank with dread. Oh no - he had signed on with a complete greenhorn that had no idea what to do. "It's a large area, and there are still some problems between Turkey and Greece." "We don't need to worry about the muggles," Art said in a dismissive tone. "It's the magical Aegean." Adriel groaned and pulled Art between two shops before he threw up some privacy charms. "There is no wixen in the region that is experience who would be willing to travel into the magical Aegean Sea," he said in an urgent tone, then he nearly reeled back when Art looked up at him with the most heartbroken expression in the world. "Uh... I mean... Look, I know how to use small crafts so I could technically drive us, but it is a deadly region where you cannot use your wand, Art. Do you know how to navigate? I can navigate by the stars, but I cannot read a map." "I'm a certified cartographer," Art immediately volunteered in a panicked tone as he reached out to grab Adriel's forearms. "I can do it! I can navigate! I even made my own map! Please please don't quit? I'm sorry!" "Hey, hey," Adriel coaxed. "It will be dangerous, Art. Very dangerous. Who else is coming on the expedition? I would like to meet the team." Art's lower lip trembled a little as his eyes got bigger. "Me... and you?" Adriel sucked on his lower lip and rocked back on his heels. Damn. Art was worse than a greenhorn - he was a sheltered idealist with imagination and zero knowledge of the real world. He seemed to have enough awareness to know that he needed a bodyguard, but wow. Adriel had never been in this position before. "Okay, we are pulling out two thousand, not one," Adriel said, then he pressed a finger to Art's lips when he opened his mouth to probably protest. It made Art squeak and turn red, but he pretended to not notice as he kept talking. "We are going to go to the shipyard here in London and see what Ogden's Ships and Supplies might have. A branch of the family went into ship making a couple generations ago - they figured they had some of the best watertight barrels, so they wanted to expand into ships. On the muggle side, they are known for fishing boats and small pleasure crafts, but they have magical boats that can be customized and rented. We are also going to need muggle supplies since we don't know how sensitive areas might be to any magic. That means brass equipment and waxed canvases, a forty to sixty foot long boat with proper quarters, a large enough deck for a laundry line if we are going to be out to sea for long periods of time... How long are we going out there, Art?" "Months...?" "Storm season starts in October, so no later than that," Adriel sighed. At Art's crestfallen look, he reached out and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, darlin'. I'll get us a nice and cozy boat that will be safe from anything natural, take care of the unnatural things myself since I am very proficient with non-magical weapons like bows and spears, and we can pick up some ocean equipment in Heraklion on Crete. Once we are on the boat, I'll teach you everything I know about the different types of expeditions, what kind of people you need to hire for what, where you obtain licenses for digs once your scouting is finished, how much people should be paid and where to hire them, and other things like that that expedition leaders need to learn. However, you should join a few expeditions as a personal assistant to the leader so you can get hands on experience on what needs to be done to... Earth to Art?" "Uh... you can use spears?" Art asked in a breathless tone, his eyes one again devouring Adriel's chest area even if it was covered up in robes this time. "Like Achilles? What about a mace like Herakles?" "Swords, axes, maces, clubs, machetes, rifles, knives, blowguns... I know many weapons, Art," Adriel said with a smile of amusement. Seemed like the librarian felt safe now that he knew Adriel wasn't just going to walk away and had zoned out as soon as he talked about weapons and might have thought about Herakles when he had mentioned Heraklion. "Okay, let's go to the bank, get the money, and buy the boat. Simple, right?" "Right, simple," Art agreed. Adriel slipped an arm around the librarian's waist and led him to the bank. Looked like his new job was going to be a pain in the ass, but ten thousand was worth it and he might keep the boat for himself if he liked it. Right, so bodyguard, prostitute, and expedition leader without the title... the librarian was very lucky he was so experience and was one of the few outside of organizations like the Mavros that might be able to through the trip. If it was rougher than expected or impossible to do, he should be able to pull them out as well. Just in case, though, he would update his will while Art was down in the vaults to include that this job's money go to his tribe should he not return.
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