Broken Open

eyes can't shine unless there's something burning bright behind

Any argument Sunjata airs is lost in translation as Aurelia mounts the mysterious creature.

It takes off with her, and she'd had no idea that it could fly, so she lets out a yelp of surprise. "H-Hey-y!" Her voice carries through, but the sky is taken to. All she can do is hold on tight - or else risk falling. The horse she's mounted is all but responsive to her indications of not really liking this. Her heart thuds against her chest, her breath lost as they rise... and rise.

And rise.

"Wha- Wait!" She tries to quell the creature in the only way she knows how, pulling back on its mane, drawing her body backwards. It responds, but not in kind. As if going directly against her wishes, it surges even higher. Until the trees below are smaller, the jungle sprawling out beneath them. Aurelia is only vaguely aware of Sunjata's presence as she looks around for him. Her expression is gritted against it all, but her eyes filled with panic. She had no idea how to stop this, how to get back down to solid ground.

It's in that moment of realizing she's powerless that she gives in to the flight. She lets her tension release, she starts to enjoy it. Because the only way it can go wrong is if she jumps off, right?

Wrong. It all comes crashing down around her, and very suddenly, no warning.

As if nothing more than an apparition, the horse dissipates. Literally. Its solid body becomes nothing more than mist. She doesn't have any time to contemplate or observe, however, since she's falling. At first, there's nothing but fear and panic that jolts through her body, her arms flailing through the air. But then she remembers her magics, and she tries as hard as she can to take control of the air around her.

But she can feel the pressure fall upon her mind, because her magic or her energy or whatever-the-fuck isn't strong enough. It does little to slow her freefall, and all she can do is yell out in fear, "Sunjataaa!"

Aurelia

fire in the ground between my teeth, we're dancing on the poison in their graves
at the end of the night, we'd all seen better days

Oh, he doesn’t trust this for one second. His wings pound against the air, pulling him higher as he follows the water horse with Aurelia mounted upon it, trying to give the creature a bit of room as to not startle it into dropping her. It turns out, however, that he doesn’t have to startle it for it to drop her. He watches the water creature as it grows higher and higher, thinner and thinner, until suddenly there’s nothing and he’s left scrambling in an attempt to try and catch up to her.

A whinny leaves him as he darts toward her, trying to catch up to her flailing arms so she doesn’t simply just drop onto him hard enough to break something. He sidles up, partially beneath her to give her something to latch onto, his multitoned mane easy to grasp and his wings making it easy for her to latch her legs onto once she rights herself. And all he can do is try to descend with her, unable to yell his instructions to her through a bond of any sort, hoping the prodding and nudges will get her to climb on.

Gods, how he hopes she does and he doesn’t have to watch her hit the ground. From this distance, he’s unsure if she’d even manage to make it out combined with the speed she’s going. So he does his best, falling with her but in a controlled form, letting himself try to be a buffer for her until she latches onto him. And when she does (if she does), he’d be able to even out, she’d be able to feel the thundering heart of his own that beats beneath the pale ivory and sapphire pelt of his.

i know you tried, i know you're cursed, i know your best was still your worst

SUNJATA

eyes can't shine unless there's something burning bright behind

His whinny hits her ears. It's not a moment too soon, his shift catching her. Her fingers instincitvely snatch and grapple for him, survival more impertinent to her than his own comfort at that point. She is barely able to catch him, or the other way around. Her body flops against his neck and chest, her arms hanging on for dear life, fingers tangling into his mane. A breathless breath heaves from her chest upon landing into him, or him flying up to meet her.

"Whoa- holy shiiit," Her words, too, are gasped out, relief flooding her alighted senses.

For a moment, it's all she can do to hang on there, hanging from him, and for a moment they're both falling. "Sunjata, stop!" She shouts, gaze veering down at the trees that are suddenly catching up very quick. But he doesn't need much direction.

She can feel the pegasus even out in the wind currents, and her arms nearly give out with the motion. She's clasped on so tight that her nails dig in. For a moment, she thinks she might fall again. She doesn't, and she struggles to right herself upon his more secure back. There's no saddle or reins to latch onto, only wings. After a few attempts, she manages to lift herself.

It's only then that she settles her nerves, digs into his mane, and presses her face into it as well. "Holy shit, thank you," she mumbles into his fur and hair, feeling his own blood soaring just as they are. Her veins ice over with the realization that she's fine, and several heaving breaths leave her own lungs.

"Okay-" she exhales raggedly, lifting her head to look around, "I'll admit, I shouldn't have done that." She lets out a choked bit of a laugh, "but hey-" she pats his neck, "that's what friends are for, ey?"

Aurelia

fire in the ground between my teeth, we're dancing on the poison in their graves
at the end of the night, we'd all seen better days

She latches on and he heaves a breath from his lungs as her body hits against his, an equine version of oomph, before she’s clattering against his neck and they’re both bouncing until he manages to even out. What was wrong with a little bit of turbulence, after all? She tells him to stop and he’s already attempting to – not entirely used to this form let alone with someone on it that’s digging her nails into his neck and his mane, into his wings with a death grip. But he manages it, manages to soar along the tops of the trees before they can crash into them, to spiral and slow their descent until his hooves manage to hit the ground – all of her words both heard and lost over the heartbeat thundering in his ears, the whine of the wind as it beats against him.

But his hooves are on the ground and he slows, just enough to give himself time to shift back into himself with her still settled along his shoulders, his arms lifting to keep her against him as he pants to catch his breath, words attempting to slip from him before he bites them down until he can peer up at her with a bit of a ‘what the actual fuck are you thinking’ look.

“What the fuck.” He begins, his accent thicker now as he tries to get his thoughts in order, forgetting to tamper them down. “Don’t touch the berries, let’s talk about these man eating plants that could be out here, but SURE SUNJATA let’s just climb on a wild fucking mist horse thing and go for a ride.” He manages, cutting apart through the tones in his voice as he catches his breath over and over again. “What could possibly go wrong.”

i know you tried, i know you're cursed, i know your best was still your worst

SUNJATA

eyes can't shine unless there's something burning bright behind

Aurelia's tension diminishes as they near the ground, and she attempts to relax into the landing. It jolts and reverberates through her, summoning an "ooph!" as they go. And she fully expects to get off of him when they finally hit the earth, but suddenly everything shifts underneath her. Quite literally. Sunjata's back, as his original self, and his grip on her tells her not to move.

Oh, shit..., is all she can think, tossing him a confused glance down. "Uh, Sunjata?" Then, the controlled yet frustrated words come out at her, and its then that the consequences of her detrimental mistake come crashing down in tandem.

Her legs gripped against him and she steadied herself with an extra hand as his voice pummeled through his heaving chest. Her own breath is unsteady, too, and she scrambles for answers. Her face turns red. "Well...!" She swallowed, not sure what to actually say.

"Look, man!" She attempted to resolve her voice, but it cracks against his look of 'what the actual fuck', "I don't know!" She splayed her hands frantically, shoulders jutting up with the motion. "It seemed harmless enough, okay!? There's a reason I know all this shit about... all of that other shit, okay!? Experience is the best teacher. Now we know! You should be thanking me for my sacrifice."

She then crossed her arms, stubbornly letting her weight completely befall the man. "Put me down."

Aurelia

SUNJATA

the flood

so put your faith in the devil and the deep blue sea
put your trust in the light that you cannot see

”Uh, Sunjata?” He hears her say before he’s going on his small frustrated rant, peering up at her with a look that both says ‘what the fuck’ and ‘would you care to explain’, stilling beside where the fire they’d created continues to burn thanks to the help of Haai. Sunjata doesn’t put her down, however, instead simply staring up at her, dark brows raising in his surprise at the audacity she gives him in turn. “Look, man?!?” He echoes, his tone shifting in a bit of disbelief, lips clamping shut as she plays her arms and talks about how it seemed harmless.

And then she’s stating that he should be thanking her, then crossing her arms and letting her full weight settle on his shoulders with another demand. “No.” He tells her rather firmly. “I’m not done yet.” Not done with this whole ‘holy shit what the fuck’ feeling that keeps bounding around inside him. “What did you think was going to happen? You’d go for a nice little ride right after you waved a torch at it and it snorted at you?” He asks, shaking his head, shoulders rising and falling with his breaths.

And maybe it’s because he’s feeling a bit like a shit, but she’d scared the life out of him (as she likely did herself), but he finds himself stepping closer to the edge of the water, where the pool is deeper and less rocky. “ek fokken kan dit nie glo nie.” He mutters at first, echoing again in the common tongue, “I can’t fucking believe this.” A bark of unamused laughter leaves him. “But sure. Thank you for your sacrifice.” He offers after, tilting himself suddenly to drop her into the pool.

there's a darkness up ahead
i will see you where the shadow ends

eyes can't shine unless there's something burning bright behind

Aurelia lifted her chin in defiance, until he told her 'No'. The fuck? She peered at him with the most incredulous, narrowed gaze she could muster. The word 'what' formed on her lips but, he was already continuing before she could even say it.

A frazzled sigh raked through her breath, and she shrugged with it. "What was I supposed to do? Get into a fistfight with a horse!?" As dumb as she knew she sounded, she wasn't about to agree with him that he was right and she was wrong. That'd never happen. Obviously. "And how was I supposed to know it could fly!?" After all, it had no wings. Not like his shift had, anyway; nothing visible to give away its ability to float up into the air.

What the fuck was the purpose of that, anyway? Just to fool her? To trick her into a ride of a lifetime and then... kill her? She was fuming, she felt idiotic, and more importantly she was just as confused as Sunjata.

He stepped towards the deep end of the water, though, and she tensed against him. "Hey! I said, put me d-" but then he did. Put her down, that is, after he spoke some sort of language she didn't understand. She didn't have much time to think on it, though. He was thrust her into the water. She landed with a splash, gasping as the cold water flushed over her.

For a moment, she could only stare up at him with narrowed eyes, furrowed brows, and frowning lips. "Hey!" She snapped, stumbling forward and grabbing his shoulder.

Then, she stuck a wet finger right into his ear, even wiggled it around a bit.

"Fuck you, Sunjata! I hope you get an ear infection!" She smirked, sopping wet from head to toe. She poised herself as if preparing for a retaliation.

Aurelia

// tonight my demons come out to play, all my anger goes away, i'm ready for it //

“No. You let me handle it.” He retorts, huffing another unamused laugh as she questions how she should know if it could fly. Well, he supposes, it’s something that they should have taken back to Torchline, researched as she wanted to do with the berries. They had a description, knew what it looked like at the time, and certainly that was enough. But it wasn’t, because she’d had to go and hop onto it.

So he walks, toward the edge of it, muttering in Korofi and the common tongue all the same, putting her down as she asks it again – dropping her right into the water. And he makes the mistake of kneeling by the edge of the pool for when she rises again, dark brows watching her. “What? I put you down.” He responds with a grin, fanged and toothy – both amused and unamused by the recent events of saving her life.

But then she’s grappling for him, a finger stuck in his ear briefly before he’s shrugging out of her grip. “Hey, fuck you Aurelia. I saved your life.” He retorts, shifting from man to panther and diving at her in the water. Not to harm, of course, but to perhaps get his point understood.

SUNJATA

eyes can't shine unless there's something burning bright behind

His toothed grin only spurred her on to do what she did next. Had he let the moment settle, she might've laughed about it just then. But instead he just had to prove his point. "Yeah, yeah-" she waves him off, dismissing the idea that he might retaliate as she attempts to get out of the water.

Only, he doesn't let her get away with it so easily. As if to get back at her tenfold, he shifts into something she's never seen him turn into before. A cat. Well, it's a pretty big fuckin' cat, though. His fur and paws grapple her back into the water. She scrambles to keep herself above the surface, coming face-to-face with this dangerous animal he's unexpectedly turned into.

And her mind simmers with so much frustration that her magic is conjured once again, perhaps intentional, perhaps unbeknownst to her. A puff of air, like a strong breath, stirs the fur between his eyes. Were her magic more advanced, she might've swept him off of her in one great wind. But it wasn't, so that was the most she could do.

She raised a hand up to tentatively push him back. "Okay, be cool," Her voice was shaky with fear in spite of herself, "you win. I said 'thanks' already!" She grinded her teeth and looked away, and in a sudden surge of impulse, she kicked out. A wave came ker-splashing up into his face, and she twisted out of his grasp. She got to her feet and backed up towards the shore with her hands up. "Alright, alright! I'm an idiot, you're the hero, let's just call it even, okay?!"

Aurelia

// tonight my demons come out to play, all my anger goes away, i'm ready for it //

Oh, she tries to wave him off. And oh how he doesn’t let her, shifting into the panther shift of his – one that’s nearly second nature to his temper and his moods as he dives at her in the water – leaving enough room for her to be able to lift herself up so she can breathe. He doesn’t want to drown her, of course, but he does want to teach her a lesson.

His ears are pinned back to avoid any extra bouts of her attempts to try and stick fingers where they don’t belong, and his lips twitch in response as he peers at her through narrowed steel eyes. And then he can feel the wind begin to part the fur between his eyes, a low hum of a growl slipping from him with the sensation that only grows louder as she splashes him in the face. He does scramble, he moves to let her go – but only to let her get to the shore where she seems like she might be safe.

The governor turns in the water, shaking off the water in the fur of his face, before he stares at her again and darts out of the water, aiming to knock her down as he trots back to the fire and shifts into himself, sitting along the rock beside the fire to try and dry off, the dagger pulled from his boot that he points at her with a pointed look. “Now it’s even.” He confirms, clicking his tongue to Haai to have the griffin retrieve the sticks again for the fish.

SUNJATA

eyes can't shine unless there's something burning bright behind

Aurelia relaxed when he came out of the water, thinking it was over then. She lowered her hands and began to dissect herself, to see if anything was wrong other than being soaked. Which was plenty enough to get back at her, in her book, but she'd let that moot point rest. Sunjata was her friend, after all, and now her anger had begun to melt away. She didn't really want to fight with him, she'd just... well, it was hard to admit when you were wrong. Especially with leftover adrenaline coursing through you, spurring you on.

So she doesn't expect it when he trips her up, his stupid fucking head ramming through her knees. She falls over like a sack of potatoes, ass-first into the ground. A fuming breath came snorting out of her nose, but she stifled her temper. At least now she was able to do that, instead of being stimulated and pushed by defensive instincts.

She remained on the ground, huffing, bringing up a leg and resting her arm against it. Settling in the spot he'd dunked her into, she watched as he returned to what he'd been doing before. As if nothing had quite happened. Green eyes lifted up to the horizon, to see that sun had started to descend. It would be sunset in an hour, give or take. Whatever they planned on doing, she didn't intend on being out here in the dark. Or alone, left to find her way back because of some stupid water horse.

So she sighed softly after rubbing the water from her face, and turned her gaze towards Sunjata.

"Okay, I'm sorry," she spoke up against the crackle of a renewed fire, thanks to Haai. Her tone had lost its sharp reluctance. All that was left was defeat. "I should've let you handle it. I'm not used to this..." and she spread her fingers out in gesture - toward herself, toward their surroundings. She averted her gaze, almost bitter, and added quietly, "You're right. It was stupid."

Her eyes tentatively peered back up at him. "I'm lucky I had such a good friend looking out for me."

Aurelia

SUNJATA

the flood

so put your faith in the devil and the deep blue sea
put your trust in the light that you cannot see

His heart continues to thunder in his chest as he bolts from the water, knocking into her legs and bringing her down as he continues to move until he’s reached the fire again. He shifts into himself, casting a glance her way with a raise of his brow once he’s put the dagger away again, pleased to have gotten just a bit more of that frustration out by knocking her on her ass. But, he has a moment to simply just breathe again, to let the adrenaline slip through his system until Haai is returning with the sticks and Sunjata’s pulling wet hair from falling into his eyes, pushing it back as it starts to dry in warped, odd tangles.

“You should be.” He rumbles to her apology, taking one of the sticks and spearing a fish with it so it can cook. But he’s silent for a moment as he goes to work on the other half of the fish with a new stick, swallowing down that Korofi urge to berate her. She’s his friend, after all. Sunjata doesn’t get many of those in his life before they’re taken away from him. So he takes the next half of the fish he’s speared, goes to hand it to her gently as if it were a peace offering.

“You’re right too, you know.” He admits quietly, moving to grab his own fish now to set above the fire Haai’s kept going. “At least now we know not to ride the mist horse thing.” There’s a slight twitch of a smile that grows on his face, his steel gaze focused on the fire and not at her.

there's a darkness up ahead
i will see you where the shadow ends

eyes can't shine unless there's something burning bright behind

"Next time we discover a creature, I'll let you call the shots, okay?"

She was just wringing out her hair when the food was offered. Glancing up at him uncertainly, it took her a moment to accept it. However, once she did, well, the fish just about disappeared in half a second. It wasn't much but, it was better than nothing at all. It would hold them over until they got back home. Suddenly, she got an idea, brows arching at Sunjata thoughtfully.

She scoffed at his comment, though, shrugging her shoulders and tossing the stick over to Haai. "Yeah... really gotta come up with a better name for it than that, though," she mused, glancing back at the pool of water that rippled around the waterfall as if it might return in some wickedly bold second attempt at her life. "Mildew would probably know what they're called," she murmured, more to herself than to Sunjata.

She let some time pass as the fire crackled and Sunjata ate his own bit of fish, not having much more to say for herself. Wanting to forget what had happened already.

However, her gaze grew suddenly darker and she tilted her head at him curiously. "Hey, you follow the Old Gods," she almost sounded accusing with this statement, her brows furrowed. She wasn't really sure how she was trying to put the question, but she knew what she wanted to know and the issue was fizzling in the back of her mind for some time now. At the second mention of Mildew, the witch's words to do Safrin's work brought it up to the front. "How did you.. how'd you know which one to go to? Like, which one was right for you? With the Heralds and everything."

Aurelia

SUNJATA

the flood

so put your faith in the devil and the deep blue sea
put your trust in the light that you cannot see

“Deal.” Sunjata says, agreeing to the terms as he hands her half of the fish. And as they dive in, it doesn’t take them long to finish it either – one Sunjata had managed to pull the bones out of his end. He’s drying off by the fire now, sticks discarded, a hand running through his hair as it starts to curl in a tangled mess of humidity while he focuses on hearing Aurelia’s words. His head tilts back toward her, a half smile crossing his face. “I’m sure we could’ve found out in Torchline had we gone back… But, alas.” He sighs a bit wistfully, before he’s shaking his head and lets the warmth of the fire work to dry off his clothes.

It does a good job for the most part, aside from his back still retaining the liquid of the pool. It’s something he’d rather not deal with on the trek back, and so he shrugs out of his shirt with the silence between them, using the sticks they had used to prop up the shirt to dry. In the meantime, however, her words distract him, something pointed about them that has his brows pinching together.

“I do…” He says slowly, unsure if agreeing to it would mean she’d do something drastic again. But it doesn’t, he soon finds, as she expands on her thoughts. “Oh.” He says at first, because that’s an entire can of worms he’s not sure how much she wants him to delve into. So he leans back against the stone, props his arm up against it, shoulders rising and falling in a small shrug. “To be honest I’m not entirely sure I did pick right.” He says quietly, unsure, the admission worrying to him. “I originally went to Frey which… They were fine. They always helped me out in a pinch, though that was mostly because of Phoebe.” She had been Frey’s favored one at the time, he’d simply just  been a boy dropped in the labyrinth not knowing exactly which way was up.

“Then when I went to attune, I went to the shrine I always saw Frey at. I didn’t specify who I wanted to see and it was Safrin that showed and changed me.” He mulls it over, lips quirking as if he’s unsure whether he wants to smile or frown. Instead, he ends up propping his head with the arm that’s propped up, the hand tangling itself in his dark hair. “So I felt like I owed her a lot for it. Then she kept healing me when I got too in over my head. Then I started doing favors for her – like repairing the shrine in the Temple after Ronin destroyed it.” He pauses here, unsure how much of that was common knowledge.

Oh well. “Then eventually… Well, I asked her to be something for her. Like Ronin was or Amalia. She gave me the quest for these daggers, she gave me these tattoos.” He pulls them from the pack he’d brought, the starry hilt glimmering in the light, one etched with a hint of orange for fire and the other a hint of blue for lightning and hands them out to her to let the star-filled ink in his skin swirl with the movement. “I don’t think… She’s a fan of Nate nor how I’ve chosen to align myself that way. But there isn’t much I can do about it now, hm?” This is said with a bit of feigned amusement, a crooked smile forming on his face that’s both bitter and sweet. “She’s done some fucked up things but she’s always protected me and saved me. So… I don’t really know how to answer that. I guess go with whomever you think suits what you want out of this life the most?”

there's a darkness up ahead
i will see you where the shadow ends