(wooo!!)
Kaz laughed a little bit. "I cannot just change our alphabet, my dear." he replied, watching Will for a moment before he too began to lather up his hair, running water through it and then some shampoo, soaking it through his dark, wavy hair. He tried to take good care of his hair, skin, and body; people were less intimidated if they thought he didn't take care of himself.
Will hums softly, leaning into Kazimir's touch. With whatever combined efforts they have, they end up finishing bathing relatively quickly, and Will reaches for the drain. The water on his skin will soon turn him cold, so he stands and grabs ahold of the nearest towel. It's a soft green and fluffier than anything William had thought possible. He steps out of the tub and goes still for a moment as he allows the spots to finish swimming in his vision. "Mmm," he hums softly. "I'm tired."
Kaz got out of the tub as well, pulling the plug so that it would drain, and wrapped a towel around his body. "I can tell you are tired." he replied with a soft smile, getting to work to dry himself off. He was quiet for a long moment, before he added, "Oh, I nearly forgot. I recieved word from the tailor that your clothes are nearly finished. They should be ready tomorrow, though he may need to do a final fitting."
"Mm. I'm glad." Will brings the towel up to dry his hair before wrapping it around his body. "You're clothes are fine, but you are a head taller than me and twice as broad." He stifles a yawn behind his hand as he makes his way slowly to Kazimir's closet. He doesn't take long finding whatever clothes he think will vaguely fit and dresses. With a sigh, he turns back to Kazimir. "Anything particularly interesting happening tomorrow?"
Kaz hummed faintly, moving over to the closet and putting on a pair of soft pajamas. "Mm…there is nothing of too much importance happening." he replied after a moment of thought. "Why?" he looked over at Will, raising an eyebrow faintly as he studied his Martyr. It never took th e two of them long to fall back into each other's company, with an ease born of thousands of years together.
"I was just curious," Will admits, swiping fingers through his dampened hair as he approaches the bed. Outside, the moon rises from behind the gardens. The evening is chased away with night, and Will can't help but wonder if there's any nocturnal plants inhabiting the gardens. "I want to know more of your country," he says. "Since this is a castle, I'm assuming there's villages nearby. You have to rule over something to be considered a king, no?" The Martyr approaches the bed and turns down the covers of what he had elected becoming his side of the bed.
"I am an emperor, my Martyr." he replied, sitting down on the bed and stretching. "There is a lot of land that I call mine." he studied Will for a long moment, considering the young man's words. "Are you asking because you are planning on running away and amassing an army to kill me with?" he asked, amusement bleeding into his tone.
A sinking feeling settles deep into the core of William's chest at the suggestion. "No," He says coolly, allowing his body to relax into the mattress. "No, I just want to see your kingdom." The sheets are soft against his skin, the pillow already drawing him off to sleep. William finds it odd how easily he is to fall asleep here when formerly he dreaded to sleep and deal eith the accompanying nightmares. "I don't want to do that yet," He murmurs, near drunk with sleepiness.
Kaz hummed for a moment. "We might have time." he replied. "I shall think about it." taking Will out of the palace could be dangerous. For Will's safety, even, it might have been difficult. Fae did not always react well to the presence of a human, and seeing one by the emperor's side would be something strange to behold.
"Alright," Will says sleepily. "I look forward to it." These castle walls could only hold his interest for so long. No matter how many books he would read, Will would always wish to be able to see the events they told in reality. Are the Fae markets really home to magical objects? Are the people really as otherworldly as the texts paint them to be? As sleep slowly begins to take hold, William quietly ponders these questions. Good night, he wants to say, but he's already too far gone.
Kaz lay quietly for a while, eventually dropping off to sleep as well, laying on his side with the blankets pulled close around his body.
(timeskip?)
(aldjks yeah that sounds good)
When William is slowly roused from his sleep by the sun shining directly on his face, the first thing he notices is the fact that instead if the lush mattress of the bedroom, he's laying in grass. "What–" He grumbles sitting upright as he takes in his surroundings. Hes in the gardens, and not a section for recognizes. There's tall bushes and well sculpted trees, the sound of a stream mixing with the morning birdsong. He's still in pajamas. He doesn't remember waking and taking the trip there.
When Kaz awoke, he woke up alone. Just like the morning before. He frowned, sitting up and looking over to the bathroom to see if perhaps Will was in there? No…so where? He went over to the closet and quickly got dressed, brows gathered. The library again, perhaps? But he really wasn't sure where his Martyr could have gone to. And why?
William slowly sits up, blinking away the sleep in his eyes. His fingers tighten around the grass he's laying in, careful to keep it rooted to the ground. Strange… Hoping to see the palace, Will raises a hand and allows a loose tendril of a tree to wrap around the limb offered. Gently, the tree lifts him from the ground and into the canopy. To his relief, the palace isn't too far. He must be off the main path, just a little bit. Before he can descend, a sharp chirp catches his attention–too guttural to be a bird, too young to be a threat. Something dark and black shifts in the leaves beside him, his heart dropping with a prayer that his final moments won't be spent in a treetop clad in ill-fitting pajamas.
Kaz headed first to the library, frowning still. This was strange. Twice in a row, Will had somehow left the room without Kaz awaking? The emperor was not a heavy sleeper. There was no way Will should have been able to leave without Kaz somehow hearing him and waking up, even a little bit.
Will stares into the canopy, stilling his breath and gripping a sharp branch for balance. Something shifts again. The Martyr's heart stutters in his chest. Something lunges. A strangled cry escapes William's lips as he stumbles backwards. He can't find the time to scream as he falls from the tree–but instead of hitting the hard ground he was bracing himself for, soft grass that had rapidly overgrown had rushed to meet his falling form. Something small lands on his stomach. Will eventually musters the courage to look.
It's a small little reptile–shining black-green scales, wide marble eyes, and two wings, one of them looking crumpled and lame. A dragon.
(!! Tadpole!!)
(sorry for the waittt)
The emperor opened the doors the library, and did not see the Martyr inside. Not at first glance, anyway. So he began to move through the library, moving in a smooth pattern to figure out where Will could be. If not in the library, then where would the Martyr possibly have gone?
(TADPOLE!!! akdhsj and no worries my guy!!)
Staring directly at a dragon, William is about four seconds away from screaming, but Will considers himself to be somewhat put together and resists the urge to shout. "Hello?" He days in a meek voice as the dragon inches closer to his face. "My name is William and you're a dragon–" He cuts his sentence short with a sharp inhale as the small creature extends its neck, sniffing at Will's face. "Kazimir…?" He calls, though the chance of the Snake being near is grim.
(fghbjdfhbg Will is so scared of this itty bitty baby–)
Kaz combed through the library, checking each nook and cranny and little spots to hide. But he didn't see Will anywhere at all. He left the library, pausing for a moment as he considered. The garden? Is that where Will would have gone? Perhaps. He wasn't sure where, but that was the best place to check.
(alskdfj this is the first dragon he's ever encountered, give him a break–)
The dragon licks Will's neck; he's convinced that this is what the cold kiss of death feels like. Every muscle of his body tense, his eyes screwed shut, Will waits for the end to come. Except. Well. It never does. Carefully, William opens an eye, allowing himself to breathe, albeit rigidly. "You haven't killed me–" Will says almost conversationally as he slowly wriggles away from the dragon's hold. The dragon playfully hops away, stumbling over its foot. It tilts its head, blinking up at William with the largest, brownest, sweetest eyes– "Holy shit. You're adorable."
(skjdhfbjs also I'm just. picturing Tadpole with that like, Tiktok audio that's like "i only a baby, i just a baby")
Kaz's pace picked up a bit as he moved through the halls, eyes narrowed as he came to the garden doors, throwing them open and stepping out onto those carefully kept paths. Where had WIll gone? And why had this happened for two days in a row now, that Will had vanished from his room without waking Kaz?
(Tadpole is THE most baby ever and I love him)
The dragon once again bounds over to William, and the man has to compare the reptile to the energy of a puppy. He laughs as the small dragon leaps on his chest, huffing a little bit of warm breath right into his face. Will brings his hands up to scratch at the dragon's chin. Too engrossed in his new favorite creature, Will doesn't heat the footsteps approaching.
(hhhhh same)
Kaz eventually did find Will, and he looked down at the human with a slightly amused expression on his face. "Did you make a friend?" he asked, crouching and examining the little dragon with a raised brow. "And…where have you been? I woke up and you were not there."
Will finally sits up from the grass, pieces of it stuck in his dark hair. "Good morning," he says softly. "I didn't know you had dragons here." Said dragon nips playfully at William's hand. With a smile, he scratches at its chin. Will sighs, folding his legs under him as he slowly stands. "And I have no idea how I got here, Kazimir. It was just like yesterday–I awoke and I was not in bed." The dragon chirps and Will, feeling pity for the poor creature, bends over to lift it up, holding it like one would hold a newborn.
"We do." Kaz said, eyeing the small creature. "They are usually larger than that, though." the dragon aside, he frowned a little as Will told him that he did not know how he had gotten here. "That is strange. I shall inquire about placing some sort of tracking spell on you. Perhaps you are somehow sleepwalking in the night?" though that still did not answer the question of why Kaz had not awoken. The emperor was a light sleeper, and he knew he would have awoken had the door been opened or closed at any point during the night.