<A> It's No Secret (Adi/Xun)

[Meepfur]

Rio was gone, and this was weird. Officially weird.

Adi had known he was going, of course, but it didn't change how profoundly weird it was to not have him somewhere around the Pantheon. Shy and Ishkha and Nashwa were all still here, of course, as he'd only taken Leo and Caoin, but visitng Love's rooms when there was no Love and he wasn't going to be back sometime that day was profoundly strange. Was this kind of what it had felt like for him when she'd gone away? She didn't like it, not one bit!

Something she was currently telling Phlox and Rhodos while they made their way to her tree for a visit. The ridgeback balanced on her head and the winged floox perched on her shoulder chipped in occasionally with sympathetic noises.  

[A Wandering Esper]

Xun Jiang had gone on a walk.

Really, he was trying to find Elik - through he really had no idea where his son actually was at this point in time. He stayed in the forests close to the pantheon, yes, but that was still a very broad definition. He had some interesting information to reveal to the druid, information involving a certain young lady and her birthday, and plans he would doubtlessly wish to be involved in.

So the currently undercover dragon king was looking up the trees for a giant cat that night be dozing in them. What he found, however, was the young lady herself.

"Adi ! Hey !" It was a blessing his voice was the same, really.  

[Meepfur]

A voice Adi recognized immediately, and she turned to greet the Dragon King with a bright smile, his name already half-formed...and abruptly stopped, head tilted and expression comically bewildered. "Xun...?"

He sounded like Xun, and he smelled like Xun, but he definitely did not look like Xun.  

[A Wandering Esper]

The puzzled looks never got old. It was funny, really ! "Yes, I know. The short story is that one should not expect things that work on mortals to work the exact same way on someone who's a god and a mortal both, I figure." Still, he had to be figured out.

It was a good thing that he had found Adi, through. That meant they could talk about... certain things. Certain things he could hopefully convince the young lady to reveal.  

[Meepfur]

The werewolf frowned, bemused but curious. The only thing to do, of course, was to investigate, which meant crowding the god's personal space to peer at him...and maybe poke a little. "What were you trying to do? You look just like a plain old human!"

Phlox took the opportunity the close quarters provided to hop to another perch - namely, Xun's head.  

[A Wandering Esper]

Ah, curious werewolf time. Xun Jiang bore the peering and the poking with grace and elegance.

"That was kind of the point." Well, kind of. The potion had been supposed to turn him into a night elf - that is, not exactly too different than he usually looked. In theory. "I wanted to see if Whisteria's potions still worked on me."

He figured they would not when he was stronger... But if the other gods he knew were any indication, then he would not need it anymore, and would be able to shapeshift more or less freely.

The sudden weight on his head made him blink, and one hand raised to scritch the floox behind it's little furry ears.  

[Meepfur]

"...Whisteria has potions that turn you into things?" Adi gaped. How could everyone have neglected to tell her such an awesome, important piece of information? Magic stuff was, as always, of great interest to the werewolf.

Phlox settled himself comfortably on his new vantage point, chrring appreciatively when scritched.  

[A Wandering Esper]

Quite suddenly, Xun Jiang realized that this probably had not been the wisest thing to say.He had a feeling Whisteria would be swamped in short order.

...No, actually. This was an amazing idea. If Adi ever did it to become a night elf, he wanted to be there to see Elik's face. Because HOLY s**t that would be amazing.

Ahem.

"Yes. They are quite hard to make through, I think." He had never asked, really. He had simply been lucky that Whisteria had some on hand.  

[Meepfur]

"Oh, are they?" The enthusiasm in Adi's expression dampened a little, but not for too long. "Is it the ingredients, or something? I'm good at finding things!" And if there were potions to turn into things, she was all over that. It was way too cool not to be.  

[A Wandering Esper]

Yep. They were all in trouble. Hopefully Whisteria would not figure out where Adi's sudden interest came from, but he doubted that could actually happen. "I am not an alchemist, so I am not sure, actually." The Dragon King admitted. "You best bet would be to ask Whisteria... I was never allowed too close while she was working with things."

Because he was always too damn curious for his own good, that was why.

Through this was awkward, really. The floox on his head was taken and rested into his arms instead, where it could be more easily petted. There, much better. "So I, well... I had something I wanted to talk to you about, actually."

Really, it needed to be done - and he hoped Adi would heed his advice. Because if Elik heard it from anyone else... Well, this was the way he could see the situation getting messy.  

[Meepfur]

Adi would have inquired further about this 'alchemist' thing - that was a New Word! - but then Xun got all serious and said he wanted to talk to her about something. It didn't really worry her, though, just made her very curious. Again. "What is it?"

The floox squeaked in fleeting dismay when the god removed him from his nice perch, but...well, increased pettings were an acceptable trade-off, and so he sighed and resettled himself.  

[A Wandering Esper]

The little creature's squeaking amused the god, but the floox seemed to understand the plan quickly enough, and found it to be to it's advantage.

"Well." It was bound to worry Adi at first, and he had come up with what he hoped would be a valid way to tackle any objection the young lady might have. He was used to this, after all. She had seen how difficult Elik could be ! "As much as it is rude to ask a lady her age... I really think you should tell Elik."

There they went. "Honestly, I do not think he will mind as much as you fear he might. He might mind, however, if he learns it from someone that isn't you."

Of course, he had a specific reason to bring it up now. It was very likely to come up at the party.... But Adi could not know that yet, of course.  

[Meepfur]

That was certainly not the sort of thing Adi had had in mind when Xun expressed a need to talk to her, nor was it something she was happy to hear. She frowned, and her ears fell. "But...but what if he does mind? He's so much older, and I'm not!"

Jealous of the attention Phlox was receiving, Rhodos nuzzled Adi in an attempt to elicit some as well, but she was far too distracted to pay him much mind.  

[A Wandering Esper]

"Age is just a number, Adi. It is how you behave that matters." The floox was flopped on it's back so that it's belly could be scritched, probably to the little creature's delight. If the Dragon King did not watch it, he might very well end up with another fuzzy passenger before he knew it. "Do you think he will mind ?"

They had been together for a few months now, so he thought Adi might be able to find the answer herself if she put her fear aside and thought about it.  

[Meepfur]

"I don't know!" Adi answered, throwing her hands up. "That why I thought it would be safer just to not tell him. Do you think he'd mind?"

Xun was partially right about the floox situation, though. Rhodos fluttered off of Adi's shoulder to attempt to land on the dragon; Phlox did not want to share, though, and grumped at the winged floox from his upside-down position.