you say you're okay, you're faking

i bank on the funeral

Loren stares at him and Sunjata shrugs lightly. “They’re like dolphins.” He explains, lifting a hand out of the water to wave it around in his gesture. “But they have magic from what I’ve learned. Aside from that they’re just playful like normal dolphins are.” Though the annoyance through Loren is thick and nearly tangible.

A bark of laughter does leave him at Loren’s next comment though, shaking his head. “No, I’m fine.” He answers. Besides, Maea certainly wouldn’t approve of that in any sense. Not with his track record, at least. Still, he lets Loren go when the summoner pushes away, slipping toward the edge of the pool to the shore.

I’m fine. The orca shift is a good shock absorber. He rumbles with amusement down the bond, drifting to follow Loren as his flat black and white tail splashes in the water. “You did pretty well at the end though before they got involved.”

'cause i learned all my lessons that way

SUNJATA

there's a fire starting in my heart

reaching a fever pitch

Still staring at Sunjata, Loren sighed. "And what are dolphins?" The healer glanced almost suspiciously out at the ocean as the bartender explained there were more creatures out there like it. The mention of magic caused the Launceleyn's eyes to widen. "Playful?" It was quite clear he disagreed with the other man's assessment of the animals' behavior.

Stepping out of the water, Loren nodded when Sunjata said he was fine. Settling down on the ground, the healer turned to stare out across the water, his feet still in the pool. "Did I?" He ran an annoyed hand through his hair, trying to push it out of the way (and trying to get rid of the frustration he was feeling).

and it's bringing me out the dark

LOREN

i bank on the funeral

“They’re mammals that live in the ocean.” He says at first, coming up to the edge of the pool and bracing his arms along the edge of it as the waves lap against his tattooed skin. “They’re really social and you can find them following ships and messing with them too. It’s kind of what they do.” He huffs a quiet laugh. “They’re playful dicks, though.” He sends a pulse of understanding to the Launceleyn.

The question of whether Loren did improve is granted with a wide grin. “You did. You can’t really control the water, but you can in small ways like keeping yourself relaxed and using your arms to cut through it. Which you did, you were plenty relaxed at the end before they showed up.” His shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. “Practice makes perfect, though. Once you get that one down we can try out other strokes.”

'cause i learned all my lessons that way

SUNJATA

there's a fire starting in my heart

reaching a fever pitch

Loren blinked at Sunjata's comment. "They are mammals that live in the ocean?" Frowning the healer gave the bartender a confused look. "Those looked like fish to me." Letting out a huff of laughter, the Launceleyn shook his head. "Definitely dicks, though." Though he was annoyed, there was a hint of wry amusement un hid voice and mind,

As the other man spoke, Loren sighed. Staring out at the water, he bit his lip. "Not sure I'm willing to practice again." Giving Sunjata an apologetic look, the healer's fingers drummed a nervous beat against his thigh. His reluctance filtered through his bond, as did the slight fear of getting back in the water.

and it's bringing me out the dark

LOREN

i bank on the funeral

“Yes.” Sunjata says, putting it simply with a rogue grin. “Look like fish but aren’t. They don’t lay eggs. They do, however, breathe air and have live births. Like whales.” He adds, some small part of pride at knowing this much about the creatures. Still, he smirks to Loren at the mention of them being dicks, until the reluctance from the summoner causes it to fade.

Sunjata dips from the ledge, to shift fully into his whale shift before popping his head out a ways down from the summoner as to not surprise him, his dorsal fin sticking out like a shark, but he glances toward Loren with familiar steel eyes. Not today… But maybe we could find a more controlled place. He suggests, tail flicking idly in the water as he breathes, spouting some water from his back as he does so.

Once you get the hang of it, it’s freeing… Like flying is but with so much more to explore. He pulses his understanding toward Loren, flickering a feeling of when he had been young and nearly drowned during his swim test.

'cause i learned all my lessons that way

SUNJATA

there's a fire starting in my heart

reaching a fever pitch

Loren frowned a little at Sunjata's explanation about the dolphins and Encantados. However, one word caused the healer's eyes to widen. "Whales are mammals too?" His voice was clearly confused, and he pinched the bridge of his nose.

As the bartender shifted fully into an aquatic form, the Launceleyn lowered his hand to give the other man a fuller examination. So which one are you, mammal or fish? Loren couldn't remembered if he'd ever actually spoken to Sunjata about his shifts.

However, the bartender's suggestion caused the healer to shake his head. I think I might just not be cut out for swimming. Sighing, he pushed the hair back from his forehead again. I actually like flying. And I got the hang of it pretty quickly. Shifting into a goose, he found himself paddling out towards the other man.

and it's bringing me out the dark

LOREN

i bank on the funeral

“Yep. Breathe air and all that.” He tells the summoner with a softer smile before he shifts a small amount away from the man. As Loren examines him, he drifts closer, extending a fin out toward the man before he shifts into a goose. He can hear the question and he smirks internally to that, angling his back so the blowhole focuses toward Loren. Mammal. He rumbles through the bond.

But Loren’s turned into a goose now and Sunjata sits a bit more straight in the water, nose poking up to the side of the pool toward him as he opens his mouth to reveal a sharp row of teeth. I almost drowned the first time I swam. It was for my test in Korofi, and they just tossed us in when we were really young. If we drowned, then we drowned. A pulse of unhappiness courses through him.

My foot got caught under a log… And I did drown for a little bit. But I managed to get unstuck, managed to get out. It took me a year before I could stand getting in water again. He offers in case it helps. He’d learned that he didn’t want it to control him, that fear of water. Learned to embrace it.

'cause i learned all my lessons that way

SUNJATA

there's a fire starting in my heart

reaching a fever pitch

Loren let out an honk as Sunjata extended a fin. Paddling closer, the healer examined it, as if to confirm the bartender's claim that he was, in fact, a mammal. Huh. Weird. The Launceleyn's confusion was evident, though there was curiosity buried deep in his mind. Never really spent much time by the sea.

However, as the other man started recounting his own experiences learning to swim, Loren feel silent. Unfortunately, he couldn't help  his dawning horror and sympathy as Sunjata explained what he'd been through. I'm sorry that happened to you. There was a great deal of understanding behind the healer's thoughts.

He found himself paddling around the edge of the pool. My own family had a similar sink or swim philosophy when it came to its children. Though they made sure we'd...survive our trials. Now it was his grief that welled up and spilled over through the bond.

and it's bringing me out the dark

LOREN

i bank on the funeral

The sea was my escape, usually. He offers a bit offhandedly, a similar feeling to a shrug as if it holds some indifference, though Loren would realize soon after that it wasn’t entirely the case. Still, the apology from the Launceleyn was not particularly needed, and he clamps his maw shut with a small tilt of his whale head, blinking slow at the goose as he follows him around the edge of the pool. Nothing to be sorry for. He answers, and its truthful.

But he listens, pulses some understanding to Loren at that, wanting to know what kind of trials they’d gone through if it were similar to his own… It didn’t sound like it from the idea that they made sure they lived. He’s not sure which he’d prefer, at the end of the day. Do you wanna talk about it? Your trials? He asks, drifting through the water easily. How’d they make you survive them? Because it’s clear he doesn’t understand, comparing it too much to his own where the last man standing won.

'cause i learned all my lessons that way

SUNJATA

there's a fire starting in my heart

reaching a fever pitch

I used to hide in the library and read. It came out with all the trappings of a closely held secret, though anyone who'd known Loren in the past would have guessed as much. Giving a mental shrug back, he honked in disagreement with Sunjata as well. I know. I can still be sorry to hear about it. That was true too.

As the bartender understandably asked if the healer wanted to talk about it, he stilled. Letting the water just push him, he drifted for a long moment. Finally, he paddled to the edge and climbed out, shifting back to human as he did. "Alright. It's a...long story though." It came out quietly, and the other man would feel the Launceleyn's mental walls creeping up.

When he spoke, it was in the hushed tones of someone who'd told this sad tale more times than he cared to. "A long, long time ago, my family grew strong in magic. This threatened the king and queen of the time, so our families came to an agreement. My ancestors and their children and their children's children and so on were bound to the royal bloodline with an oath of total obedience." Sighing, he looked out at the distant horizon. "Breaking it meant instant death."

and it's bringing me out the dark

LOREN

i bank on the funeral

It sounds like a secret, but Sunjata had only figured that was the case with how familiar the Launceleyn had been with the Atheneum, the comfort that the library seemed to bring him. He’s glad that Loren has something like that to go back to, even a small amount of normalcy helped in the hardest of cases. But he settles in, regardless, at the question of the story – hearing the tones recited as if he’d spoken of them multiple times before.

And so he shifts back into his half orca half man self, hopping up the side of the pool to lay back in the sand and let his tail remain in the water – folding his arms behind his head to listen. He doesn’t interrupt, simply listens – how similar yet how different the worlds had been. His own father had been threatened by the rebellion, sought to snuff them out before they began, until the prince had fallen in love with the daughter of the resistance and only blood was left in its wake. “A magical bond?” He asks, raising his brow, steel gaze flitting to Loren as his tail flicks in the water.

'cause i learned all my lessons that way

SUNJATA

there's a fire starting in my heart

reaching a fever pitch

Nodding absently, Loren glanced down at Sunjata. "A magical bond." The healer rubbed his temples. "An oath, created through blood and magic. The Launceleyns could never disobey a direct order from a royal, had to serve the throne's best interests, and could never harm one of the royal bloodline, even inadvertently. To disobey or to harm was death, as I said." This time, he spoke as if reciting words that had been drilled into him (probably because he was).

"Any time magic manifested in the children of my family, they were bound to the oath. And because even a stray word might spell disaster, they...we were...tortured into compliance." Swallowing, he found himself once again dashing the back of his hand against his eyes, preventing the tears from falling.

and it's bringing me out the dark

LOREN

i bank on the funeral

He catches Loren’s glance, listens to the explanation over the oath, of the family, of how they couldn’t ever try to harm one of the royals bloodlines for the certain death that might befall them. And his lip feathers slightly, to have that much power over someone was terrible – and yet his own father had held a similar grip, a similar grasp.

As he continues, however, his frown deepens as Loren swallows hard, rubbing at his eyes and Sunjata finds his gaze flitting to the sky. “I’m sorry Loren.” He offers, a pulse of understanding granted to the summoner. And in no way of trying to steal any of the thunder, he tries to offer his own experience by a means of understanding. “The royals in Korofi, at least my county, were only ever allowed two children. They’d often put the boys through many different trials to ensure the strongest of us survived, but because of that we weren’t shown any love until we passed our final trial.” He explains somewhat, a hand lifting from his chest to wave around in the air - a sign of his issues with it? At least the start at a surface level.

His room had been white, plain, and had he not been there, there was no way to signify that it was his, just on the off chance that he’d die and they’d have to start over again.

“There’s… A lot of trauma that comes from something like that. A lot to sort through.” His gaze slips back to Loren then. “How long did it go on for you?” Because for him, it had gone on until he’d switched sides – until he’d shifted from his royal ties to the rebellion when he was nineteen.

'cause i learned all my lessons that way

SUNJATA

there's a fire starting in my heart

reaching a fever pitch

Shaking his head, Loren smiled sadly. "Nothing to be sorry for." As Sunjata began to speak further, the healer fell silent. Swallowing a bit, he kicked at the water, needing to do something with the restless and slightly anxious energy stealing upon him. "What kind of trials?" He gave the bartender an understanding look, the Launceleyn figuring from the other man's tone (and the fact that he'd brought it up to begin with, and the word survive) that they were bad.

"In order to enforce the oath, my family valued strength above all else. Except for obedience, of course. So the most powerful mage with the most destructive magics was at the head of the family, and there was a strict hierarchy under that." Loren bit his lip. "I was always the weakest." Even now, it came out as an ashamed whisper.

"I know." In the face of Sunjata's question, the healer was quiet for a long while. Finally he sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "My magic manifested when I was five. I was in Northaven until I was twenty. I'm twenty-two now." Hopefully the bartender could do the math.

and it's bringing me out the dark

LOREN