⤿ ✹ ʙᴀɴǫᴜᴇᴛ ʜᴀʟʟ

@✹ ᴅᴏᴠᴇ sᴀɴɢᴜɪɴᴀʀ The assassin's head cocked to the side as if to mirror his actions, taking slow and purposeful strides forward as a beautiful and pitch blade katana was gripped in one hand. Now that he had turned around, Zen could get a better look at him and... he quickly found himself just sort of standing there, staring. The recognition had flooded into his system and all of the flashbacks was hitting him one by one. Zen scowls behind his mask once he realized just who it was he's looking at; Dove Sanguinar. A name belonging to a very dear friend stemming years back to his younger days. They were good friends, despite their families never getting along -- it was sort of... taboo for a prince to be spotted with a barbarian, since they didn't have a good reputation and were known to be violent people while Dove and his family were dainty, rich, powerful in status. Their families couldn't be any more different, yet the two eldest sons seemed to drift toward each other mysteriously. Thing is... Zen had spent the entire time thinking Dove had been killed, seeing as there's suddenly a different guy taking the role as King.

"You..." Zen trailed off, now more confused than anything and yet he's still completely rooted to the spot, still rendered speechless, breathless, because... he hadn't expected to this. This... /This/ changed things. The bullseyes that had been painted on Dove's forehead was now starting to crumble. Zen's grip on the katana tightens until his hand starts to shake. "Blíðr...?" His native language -- an ancient and long forgotten Old Norse -- had slipped off his tongue as if he hadn't spent years not speaking it. Blíðr; meaning softness of the eyes, a term typically used for endearment towards a lover. The nickname he used to call the other male had came to mind so easily. Before Zen could do or say anything else, the sudden noise of footsteps quickly approaching snapped him out of whatever spell he had been bewitched in. His head snaps towards the door, taking note of the group of people who were currently marching their way to them. The assassin quickly sheathes his katana and moves to the same window he crawled through, managing to slip out unnoticed just as the door swung door. Zen takes a glance up at the window with a grim expression and a longing gaze hidden behind his mask. Eventually, he turns around and fades into the treeline.

@✹ ᴢᴇɴ sʜᴀᴅᴏᴡsᴛᴇᴘ Pursing his lips, Dove mumbled a comment about every name that he was fitting into the seating chart, not being a fan of many family members or far away guests; maybe he disliked people a lot more than he realized? He knew he was going to be in for a night of loud, annoying laughter, too high of voices and far too many people wanting to bother and be condescending towards him and he wasn't looking forward to it. Being so in his own world, he nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden voice, of course having the automatic instinct to turn and look at whoever it was; he wasn't sure why, as that was fruitless. It took the raven a second to collect his thoughts and honestly, he didn't panic for very long because, why would he? Bringing a hand to his chest to feel his heartbeat, he couldn't help but let out a low groan. 'What is with you people and needing to scare the absolute heavens out of someone?' He hissed out, slowly becoming more annoyed than scared.

'Please tell me you mean that and you're going to kill me,' he finally said, not a single drop of sarcasm or joking to his tone as he straightened up. His head fell into a tilt and he eyed the other, or well, what was covering his face. 'That's why you're here, right? To kill me? Please say you're going to go through with it.'

@✹ ᴅᴏᴠᴇ sᴀɴɢᴜɪɴᴀʀ Stepping further into the room with noiseless steps, Zen was able to get a better look of what was in the banquet hall, always having a habit of making notes of his surroundings if/when things went south. He always needed to map his escape routes out in his head before the show began that way every step, every move was calculated. The assassin moved stealthily behind the unsuspecting victim until he was able to edge closer and closer, distinguishing the mumbles that were unintelligible from afar to be frustrated ramblings. Zen crouches down to listen intently, head cocked to the side like a curious puppy. Why did… his voice sound so familiar? It’s like the answer was right on the tip of his tongue but… nothing came to mind. It made him scowl behind the mask he wore, confused and frustrated. This sense of familiarity made him pause, and pausing led to hesitating and hesitating led to poor decisions and poor decisions led to mistakes.

Zen does his best to try to shake it off and continue on with the mission. He pushes forward, reaching for one of his hidden daggers to unsheath it, keeping it tucked behind him for now while creeping up behind the oblivious male. The assassin steps forward slowly until he’s hovering right over his shoulder. “Damn right it will,” his voice is husky and thick, like honey. “You really shouldn’t keep your back towards an open window, ya’know.”

@✹ ᴢᴇɴ sʜᴀᴅᴏᴡsᴛᴇᴘ Frustration was the only possible word to explain how the raven was feeling as he stared at the papers in his hand, setting them on one of the large tables to look over. He wouldn't be in the position had anyone listened to him when he said the event planner was a snake because of course, why would anyone listen to an /advisor/? Making mocking comments under his breath, he flipped through the pages and glanced around the room, knowing he was going to have to plan such a large scale event on his own. Moments of the sort made him question why he'd hadn't left entirely when he made his choice and why he'd stayed behind just to still not be listened to; he reminded himself that family was still important to him. 'Don't even need to be having this event,' he mumbled, rolling his eyes, 'it's not like it's going to change anything.. if someone just learned to listen to the only person with the ability to read people, we wouldn't be in this situation.'

Letting out a bitter sigh, he raised his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. He was ready to take all of the papers, set them on fire and tell them they didn't need to have an event. That option didn't stand considering his siblings would both probably tell him something about it and despite everything, he couldn't really go against either of them. He muttered something about being the oldest and not being treated like it but brushed the thought aside, oblivious to the entire world as he began figuring out what would go where, who couldn't sit by who and how he was going to make himself disappear off the face of the planet by the time it was over. Considering how often he'd blocked out things when he was much younger, Dove had grown accustomed to forgetting anything around him. 'Definitely going to get me killed one day,' he mused, tossing a sketch onto the ground beside him.

@✹ ᴅᴏᴠᴇ sᴀɴɢᴜɪɴᴀʀ Observing and waiting for the right time to strike was always the most grueling part of the job. Sometimes, it tested his patience -- and his patience was slim to come by. Other times, it was a rather smooth process and he'd be able to get off without much of a hitch. Zen waited amongst the darkness, hidden in the shadows until the time was right to make a move. The target at hand was someone named Dove, and whoever this dude pissed off gave him the largest sum of money Zen had ever seen since he started this... career choice. Normally people only paid heaps of money like this if they /really/ wanted the target dead. It was contracts like these that made it feel more like a personal vendetta rather than dirty work. Regardless of the reason, it wasn't Zen's job to found the how's and the why's. It was his job to neutralize the target given to him. No questions asked.

Movement caught his attention and then the assassin is moving quickly, silently through the night until wandering up to the window. It was unlocked. Tsk tsk. Zen opened the window so carefully that it made no noise and he was able to slip through stealthily, feet touching the ground toe first as he delicately made landing. This area seemed to be banquet hall with a large, wide open room and high ceilings. He could see Dove moving around in the distance, back aimed towards him, and starts moving forward, remember to keep low and keep quiet.