Jin blinked. "It's fine. Uhm…" he thought for a moment. "I don't know very much about them. They…tend to avoid me. Most people do." he shrugged. "They usually try to find ways to combine our magic with their different inventions, using shadows or starlight or the moon to fuel or whatever their inventions. I've seen a few completed ones that draw energy from the moon, and they're actually pretty impressive." He thought of a silvery, metal object, that looked like nothing much in the daytime, but at night it caught the moon's light and magnified it tenfold.
“Oh, kind of like our lights!” Miyaki said, pointing to the light fixtures on the walls, much like the one in the kitchens, though these seemed almost more advanced. Prototypes.
“Ketharius, I would love to get my hands on some of their tech. Or one of their inventors. Imagine what we could do if we teamed up.” Aster mused, juggling a set of wrenches before picking one of them and hitting some device with it.
"You are not kidnapping any of my inventors, thank you." Jin replied firmly. "You are welcome to send a missive requesting that one come to work with you for a while, but no kidnapping them. Or our inventions." He gave a small smile, and looked at the lights. He tipped his head. "I suppose so."
"No no no, I didn't-did I say kidnap? Did I do the thing again?" Aster turned to look worriedly at Myaki, who was trying not to laugh, as though there was an actual possibility he could have.
"No, you just kind of implied you wanted to steal tech or an inventor." Miyaki said, pressing a hand to her mouth to muffle her laughter as she continued working. "He didn't mean it like that, Jin. Aster has chronic foot in mouth disease, that's all. His words sound sketchier than he means them to sometimes."
Jin chuckled softly. "Mm. Alright." He replied. He looked over at Aster. "Like I said: send a missive to invite them, and I'm sure at least one will be curious enough to come." He squinted a little. "So long as you guarantee their safety; the Dawn Court isn't always safe for my kind." By "my kind" he meant Night Fae, of course. No court was perfectly safe for mixes like himself.
“Orion would accompany them everywhere. Like a body guard. He’s big.” Aster promised, nodding excitedly. “I’m definitely sending a missive now.”
If I went with Jin, I’d get first hand experience with his inventors. Miyaki mused silently, expression growing a tiny bit somber as her hands slowed their work. But I’d lose what I’ve got here. And there’s no guarantee anyone in his Court would be willing to speak to me, let alone associate with me.
Jin smiled lightly. "I'm sure one would accept. I know a lot of them have been curious about the other courts inventors and inventions." he replied, looking at Aster with a small smile. He hoped that one of the inventors would accept; he was sure they could all benefit from it.
Miyaki’s hands came to a stop as she finished, heart feeling heavy as she put a smile on her face. “Any self respecting inventor would accept. You can only learn so much in one environment, and from the same people.”
“Good point. I’ll start that up later today.” Aster said, bouncing on his heels as he moved to the other side of the room. “You’ve been up here a while, Miyaki. When’s the last time you ate?”
“I had dinner last night. Been too busy to eat.”
Jin frowned a little. "Last night?" He replied, arching his eyebrows. "Nope. You're coming to dinner with me, then." He replied. "Not letting you starve yourself or something." He wrinkled his nose for a moment, thinking.
“I-no, Jin, really. It’s fine. I’m fine.” Miyaki assures, twisting in his gold to look down at him. “I’ve not been super hungry, nor have I had much time to eat. It’s alright.”
"Nope. You're coming to dinner. You can call it another lesson." He replied. "I'll find somebody in this gods-forsaken court who can cook Night Court food, and you can eat that and it'll be another lesson." He grinned wolfishly at her.
Part of her, for whatever reason she couldn't figure out, wanted to ask if this lesson was going to end the same as the last one. "I highly doubt anyone here can cook Night Court food, Jin. And lesson or not, you really shouldn't worry about me."
Jin made a face. "That's why this place sucks ass, Miyaki." he replied. "I'll find somebody. And if necessary, I'll do the cooking. Even though I hate it." he looked at her carefully. "And too late. I'm worrying." he crossed his arms and looked down at her.
She snorted in surprise at him saying the Court sucked ass, and it seemed Aster and Orion found that funny, as well, each of them laughing from where they were in the room. "You don't have to go through all that work. And anyway, you should stop worrying. Worrying about me is fairly useless."
"Nah. The food here is terrible." The High Lord of the Night Court examined his fingernails. "You should taste some real food for once, not the bland junk they serve here." he picked at a hangnail for a moment, his wavy black hair hanging down into his face. He looked, just for a moment, like he could have been anyone on the street, not the High Lord that he was. Then he straightened, dropping his hands, and he looked like a High Lord again. "And did I ask if worrying was useless? No, I didn't. Now. You're going to eat some real food if it's the last thing you do."
"The food here is just fine if you know who to ask to make it, and I happen to." Miyaki countered, placing her hands on her hips and drawing herself to her full height, which wasn't really much, especially compared to him. "And how exactly are you going to make me? What if I decide not to go? What if I don't want to eat? You can't exactly make me."
"I can too." Jin threatened, also drawing to his full height. Which was far more impressive than her own height. "I'm bigger than you, and I have magic. I can make you if I need to." he smirked slightly.
Miyaki narrowed her eyes, stepping forward and poking his chest as she tilted her head back to look up at him. "I'd like to see you try, your Highness." She challenged, tossing her hair back from her face.
Jin grinned, and lightly tugged on her collar, finger brushing against one of the hickeys. "Haven't I already proved I can get you to do anything?" he arched an eyebrow, and let go of the collar, looking faintly amused. "And it's majesty to you."
Miyaki's eyes widened, her cheeks flaming almost immediately. His touch sent a small shiver down her spine, half thanks to just him, and half thanks to the already sensitive skin. "I-I…that was different. Those have nothing to do with making me eat. And oh, of course. My bad, your Majesty."
Jin smirked slightly. "How so?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at her. "If I can do that, than certainly I can get you to eat. You need to eat Night Court food at some point, miss Miyaki. Why not make that tonight, hm? Unless, of course, you're scared?"
"I-it just is." Miyaki muttered, the red in her cheeks growing. She scowled when he insinuated that she was scared, the expression adorable and not really that menacing. "Why would I be scared of eating food? Night Court or no, it is just food. I'm just not interested in putting on any-I'm not hungry." A quick and failed back track. She just hoped it escaped his notice.
Jin's eyes narrowed. "Not interested in putting on any what, Miyaki?" he asked in a voice that had dropped to a deadly soft tone. He took a step closer, brushing a finger against her chin as he looked down at her. "What were you going to say?"
Miyaki avoided his eyes, looking instead to the side, her head turning a bit with the motion. "I-nothing. I wasn't going to say anything." She said, shaking her head and shifting half a step back. Her voice was quiet, like his, though more a hiding-something quiet.
Jin took another step closer to her. "Miyaki." he said firmly. "Tell me the truth, please." he studied her carefully, wishing she was a full Fae. If she was, she wouldn't have been able to lie to him like this. Wouldn't have been able to hide the truth quite so well.
Despite how hard Miyaki tried to bite her tongue, a combination of the Fae part of her and the strange pull Jin had on her brought the words up. “Extra weight. I don’t-I don’t want to put on any more weight. I’ve been too lax about it lately, and I need to go back to watching that.”
Jin narrowed his eyes a little, eyes raking over her before returning to her face. He shook his head. "Why? Why is this important?" he asked, looking at her carefully.
“Because I’m overweight.” Miyaki mumbled, looking down at the ground and shifting on her feet. Her arms moved to wrap around herself, a not great idea considering it just made it more obvious, to her, how much weight she needed to lose.
"You are not." Jin replied immediately. He lifted her chin with his finger, forcing her to look at him. "You are not overweight, Miyaki. You are perfect." his voice was still quiet, though it had lost the edge that it had had earlier.
Miyaki met his eyes hesitantly, surprised by the surety in his voice. Another impossible thing from him. “No, no I’m-I’m not. Whatever it is you think you see…it’s not right. I’m the farthest thing from.” She whispered, hunching her shoulders slightly.
