As soon as he steps foot through the doors and into the gardens, Will draws a long breath of the fresh morning air. He sweeps a loose strand of hair behind his ear before making his way down the constructed path. "Are you coming?" He asks eventually, looking over his shoulder at the Snake. "You have to see some of my favorite flowers."
He laughed a little. "Your favorites? Will, you have only been here for a day or so." he replied, shaking his head a little bit and following Will out into the gardens. "How could you possibly have favorite flowers already?"
"You have some of my favorites," Will briefly elaborates. "I saw them when I was in the willow yesterday." He glances over his shoulder. Eventually he stops, kneeling in front of a flowerbed. Beautiful purple, red and white flowers coat the soil, all of them nearly perking up as Will arrives. "Hyacinths."
Kaz watched as the flowers reacted to Will's presence, smiling faintly at the sight. He stayed back a little bit, watching, his wavy white hair falling in soft curls over his forehead. His gardens were lovely, yes, but he didn't usually spend a lot of time in them. Not like this. But, if they made WIll happy…maybe he would.
Without even thinking, Will has the hyacinths grow towards him, their long stems expanding and twisting around his hand. Soon enough, there's a bouquet in his hand with their stems looking through his fingers like rings. "Do you have a favorite flower?" Will asks as he stands, taking the rapidly growing flowers with him. He ensures they're still rooted with a small tug. After all, he does hate to uproot them when they're so content living in the ground.
Kaz watched the flowers grow, and shook his head slightly. "No." he replied softly. "Not right now." sometimes he did, sometimes he didn't, but generally…no. Flowers were not something he usually devoted a lot of time to thinking about, if he was honest. "Not that I can think of, in any case."
"You remind me of a red bougainvillea," Will says nonchalantly, as if he's complimenting the clouds on a pleasant overcast day. "They're quite beautiful… Covered in thorns." A small smile tugs at his lips at the last statement. "I haven't seen enough of the gardens to know if you have any." Will flattens his palm, letting the hyacinths slither back to their regular height near the ground.
Kaz's brows gathered together for a moment at Will's remark, and he shrugged faintly. "We may have some. You would have to ask the gardeners to know for sure, as I do not really know." he replied, stepping to the side to inspect some of the otehr flowers and bushes taht grew in the garden, bending to inhale the sweet scent radiating from some of them.
Will slightly straightens at the mention of gardeners. Back in the village, the only horticulturist around was grouchy Madam Snuller; Will avoided her at all costs. (She would always snip her oversized shears around his ears, mumbling this and that about a haircut.) "Do you think I could meet them?" He asks, fully prepared to find them anyways if Kazimir said no.
Kaz cleared his thraot softly, cocking his head and considering the question. "Probably." he replied, thinking. He didn't really know where the gardeners were, at the moment, but he could likely find a way to help Will meet up with one of them. "Not right at this moment, though."
(love how Will asked but wasn't planning on listening unless it was a yes lmao)
("Can I do this?" "No." "Cool because I already did it.")
He hums quietly, fern eyes sweeping over the various different landscapes and presentations the gardeners created. "Do you have a rose garden?" He inquires, standing on his tip-toes to try to see over a massive hedge. "Or a lake with more aquatic flora?"
(Will: can we get a cat?
Kaz: no
Will, holding up a cat: too bad his name is simon)
He nodded, taking a step back along the gravel pathway. "We have both, yes. Which would you like to see?" luckily, he didn't have any meetings for another few hours. And even if he had, well. He was the emperor. If he decided that the meetings weren't going to happen, who would tell him no?
(aldkks Will simply cannot be stopped)
"Whichever one's closest," He answers swiftly, his smile already blossoming into a larger one. To think forty-eight hours ago he was busy thinking about how to avoid the village loudmouths on the way to the bakery. Twenty-four he was debating homicide over a breakfast he hardly touched. His stomach rumbles just thinking of the meal. (If Kaz was going to kill him, he would have already done so. The fact only proves to Will that the Snake's in this life for the long run.)
(Will gets everything he wants bc even if Kaz says no he does it anyway, and what's Kaz gonna do about it? kill him? 'n all the servants and court people think Will is super super spoiled, but no it's just bc he doesn't listen (but he's also spoiled))
"That would be the rose gardens. The pond is on the outskirts of the gardens." there were a few water features throughout the gardens, but the pond was on the outskirts, out of the way of the other garden areas. He heard Will's stomach rumble, and raised his eyebrows faintly. "Do you want lunch first?"
("sire… why do you keep spending so much on your concubine?" "oh I dont. he just takes what he wants.")
"No, I want to see these first," Will shakes his head and presses down the gravel path. Lunch can wait, especially with the promises of rose gardens and ponds. He ignores his internal cuckoo clock (it resembles his favorite one his father made when he was a child) telling him its been nearly twenty-four hours since he last ate.
("Your majesty, your concubine is entirely too spoiled" "Have you tried telling him no?")
"Alright, darling." he replied, leading Will along the pathways as they wound through the gardens until they reached the roses. They could smell the roses before they could see them, and they soon rounded a corner and the roses came into view, blooming and beautiful, in a multitude of colors. Some of the colors were of an impossible tone, a type never seen in Will's home world.
("W- I uh- I could try-" "If you say no to William, you will lose your head.")
As soon as the roses come into view, Will halts, all the breath leaving his lungs at once. "Oh my god-" He whispers before breaking off down the path to the garden. Butterflies flutter past his hair and beautiful briars lace through his fingers. "How do you get this coloration?" He muses, entirely in awe of the vibrant fuscha rose in his hand.
(no one but Kaz is allowed to tell him no but Kaz rarely tells him no anyway–)
He smiled faintly, watching his partner and wishing that they could stay just like this. That their relationship could stay just like this, soft and less guarded. But eventually they would grow bitter and angry and someone would have to die. He could see it, even now, the Martyr's bodies over the eons, bloodied and dead and always, always his fault. He shook himself, and shrugged. "I don't really know."
Will glances up at the Snake, his eyes wide with wonder. "I think it's magic…" He looks back down to the rose in hand before bringing it up to his nose. It smells sweet and heavy, like a dense, vintage perfume and causes him to blink rapidly. "Smells magic–" He observes quietly. Before he can forget such a fantastical detail, Will gently trades the rose for his sketchbook. There's a page somewhere near the front cover dedicated to his mother's white roses outside their small house. (The sight causes his heart to lurch.) With his favorite fountain pen, Will signs the notes in quick, looping cursive crammed in the bottom corner of the page.
Kaz watched, smiling faintly. "It probably is." he replied, stepping over to some roses whose petals were a shimmering silver, gently running his fingers along the petals and watching as the morning sun glinted off the metallic colors, sending small flashes of light everywhere. Further along, other roses in all sorts of colors glittered and shone and caught the light in beautiful sprays of color.
Brushing the hair out of his face, Will finishes his notes and looks over to Kazimir. The glimmering roses frame him… quite poetically. He looks like the stained glass window in the village cathedral in the morning light. Light shines from his pale hair and skin; the vibrant petals glisten. "How much do you know of the roses?"
"What do you mean?" he asked, cocking his head faintly as he studied Will. His movement was sharp and quick; he had slowed down a bit while interacting with Will, but his movements and mannerisms were still, at their core, that of a Fae. Sharp, quick, dangerous. A predator in every way.
"How long have they been there? Old roses are often… Sweeter smelling and stronger." He trails off, refocusing on the rose. They're truly beautiful and, to be frank, Will wouldn't mind spending hours sitting amongst them. "And were they crossbred for the color? Is it a fertilizer, a water, magic even?" He stops his rambling. The chance Kazimir actually has information is… slim.
Kaz just blinked at him, very clearly having no idea how to answer Will's questions. "I do not know, darling." he replied, shrugging his shoulders faintly. "But there is very likely a good degree of magic involved in their coloration." he brushed his fingers against the petals of a silvery rose.
"Magic roses," Will says aloud, more for the confirmation than anything. Of course he knew such a thing was possible, but he never thought he'd be seeing them with his own eyes. "Can we see the pond now?" He flips his sketchbook closed and tucks it beneath his arm.