A.N.: A short transition before the next chapter: Jarvan goes to retrieve his lance, but stops to ask for directions.
Jarvan Lightshield IV. definitely did not sneak down the corridor. And he most definitely did not do it to avoid Xin Zhao's notice. The loyal seneschal could be overprotective of his prince at times. Well, most of the time. He would not approve of Jarvan lending one of his lances to the tyrant of Noxus or venturing out alone to retrieve it.
He passed the Demacian quarters and arrived into a small hall. While on the same floor, the Noxian and Demacian rooms were not in the same corridor which presented a slight problem: all the doors looked the same on the whole floor and he had no idea which room belonged to who.
Jarvan decided to wing it and turned to corner, only to facecheck a mostly naked Darius.
From the looks of it, the man had just recently had a shower and was walking from one room to another in nothing but a towel. Jarvan was not someone easily intimidated by nudity, but that was a lot of bare skin to suddenly get an eyeful of. And scars and tattoos… it was so plain to see that the prince was staring that he didn't even try to hide it. Tattoos were something that had fascinated him a great deal, but were greatly frowned upon among Demacians, so he never really got to see them up clo… ooh, was that a stylized lion he spied there? For a moment, Jarvan entertained the thought of sporting something like that, only with a dragon.
"I told you to put on a shirt at least. Look, you broke him," came a smooth voice from the still open door that dragged him back to the present. Vladimir was leaning on the doorframe, remarkably chipper for this early in the morning. He looked almost normal without the flashy clothes and the metal claws and Jarvan found the lack of blood a reassuring sign.
"'Morning. Looking for Jericho?" Darius asked, not in the least fazed by the staring.
It took a moment to connect 'Jericho' with 'Swain' this early into the day, but Jarvan nodded. "Yes. He told me to meet him before breakfast."
The warrior pointed a finger down the corridor. "Room 38, just at the end. Can't be missed."
"Thank you." He had half a mind to just go and get it over with, but his curiosity won over his practicality. "May I ask…?"
Darius regarded him suspiciously for a moment, but deemed the question harmless enough.
"I overslept and didn't get to the shower before Draven hogged the bathroom for his morning routine." He said that with frown that told more about what he thought of his brother's vanity than a ten thousand word essay could. "Vladimir allowed me to use his shower instead."
That was such a mundane explanation that Jarvan almost laughed out aloud. He then gave the hemomancer a dubious glance. It was well know that Vladimir was almost as vain as the Draven.
"No need to look at me like that," said the caster defensively. "Not everyone needs four hours in front of a mirror to look fabulous." There was a glint in his eye before he next opened his mouth to speak, but Darius interrupted him, raising a warning finger.
"Any blood themed joke and I'm breaking your jaw. It's far too early for your puns."
The not-quite-vampire made an offended noise. "Well then, be on your way. I have no more time for you this morning," he declared with a wave of his hand and retreated into his room.
"He spends too much of his free time coming up with those horrible puns," murmured Darius after the door closed behind Vladimir.
"Everybody needs a hobby," offered Jarvan. Darius just snorted at that.
"Sports like basketball are good hobby. Coming up with blood-puns is like collecting anti-jokes about firewood: it just makes you weird."
"Why would anyone want to collect anti-jokes about firewood?"
"That is a topic where ignorance is bliss." Darius fell silent and Jarvan realized that this was the most he had talked to the man so far. "There was a storm this night, so I expect Jericho to be a bit…," he fished for words before settled on one." grumpy. Wouldn't keep him waiting if I were you."
Jarvan couldn't see the correlation between the storm and the tyrant's mood, but he felt he could take the advice to hearth just this once. "Thank you. I'll be going then."
Darius made a grunt that could have been approval before disappearing behind a door, hopefully to finally get dressed. Jarvan started walking down the corridor.
Room 38, just at the end of the corridor. It can't be that hard to find, now can it?
Can it?
A.N.: I want to keep the updates up, so a shorter one this time. Anyway, thanks for everyone who left a review or will do so in the future. It's great to hear if you enjoy these shorts.
Anyway, I'm trying to include less popular champions who do not have that much limelight, so you can throw ideas at me, who would you like to see included in one way or another.