Of course, just his luck. Not only dead but straight as well. He really should have known better. Family simply wasn't in the cards for him, especially at his age. But even though Daario wasn't like him the other male hadn't made him feel abnormal for it. But then the Spectre's family suffered from the same afflictions. Or perhaps affliction isn't the right word because Aquila had gotten so upset over it.

"You have been blessed in your own way." Just not the same as Aquila or Talisa had been.

"I fear that I have upset Aquila with my questions so I would understand if you wish me to make my visits infrequent." Might as well get it over with. Daario was easily his only friend in this entire land and he had managed to screw that up. Nothing unusual for Iofiel though, he never seemed able to keep a good thing. All of his connections eventually shattered.

@Daario

Mmm. Daario hummed, knowing that he had been rather luck in his past life but that was exactly what it felt like. A past life and one that had very little to do with him nowadays. Unless he was making the effort, no one came knocking to visit; try as hard as he might to will them into existence.

As for Aquila, well, without knowing exactly what was said it was hard to know what consequences would come of it but he held firm in knowing that his pseudo son surely would not hold a grudge. I see. Well, perhaps it would be a good start to apologize to him? Not recognizing that @Iofiel had meant that hurting Aquila made him believe that Daario would no longer wish to see him. Thinking that he meant his trips to Vermeda. Your family did not accept you as you are. Were hurtful, ignorant and demeaning to you in teaching you that you were wrong for who your heart chose to love. Explain that to Aquila, perhaps? Daario thought to suggest to show that he was willing to learn and that his questions came from a good place. A desire to know and to understand.

table by sentinel / lion + brook

"I had attempted to do all of that. I am afraid none of it came out properly. The more that I had tried to explain the madder he got. It simply seemed best to just leave him be after awhile." It was the only thing that he could think to do. No matter how hard he had tried to make it better he had only continued to make it worse.

Iofiel had been used to that sort of ire. That sort of ire made others cut you out of their lives. "I will understand if you wish to see less of me. There is no need to upset your family further." Because not only did you cut ties with the individual but also with that individual's family, at least that is how it went with where he had been born.

@Daario

Daario hummed, sad and disappointed but also hopeful. Aquila would forgive, he had hope, but his nephew was also resolute, too. Stubborn, even. The lion would not be boxed in no matter the situation but still, they were Valours and he believed that @Iofiel would not be shunned or having been put in a box himself. Perhaps just give it time. Fresh wounds and all that. Best to let it simmer and die down but he couldn't shake the feeling of wanting to be optimistic.

As for the suggestion from the only friend that he had, Daario narrowed his eyes and metaphorically stomped his ghostly paw to the ground. You will do no such thing. He practically demanded that his friend not disappear in any lesser form. My choices are my own. You are my friend and I know that you mean well, but simply come from a different experience. Daario wasn't about to let the only friend that had ever bothered to actually give a shit walk away. No one was going to inadvertently make that choice for him.

table by sentinel / lion + brook

"I do not wish to cause further strife between your family and yourself." He already knew that the family didn't visit as much as the Spectre would have liked so he didn't want them to remain away because of him. Perhaps if he stayed away then they would visit more. Perhaps it was a foolish hope but if that is what it took...

"What if Aquila doesn't bring his family to visit because of me?" He didn't want to deprive Daario of seeing the latest generation of Valours. If Aquila fretted about running into him here then he might not visit at all.

@Daario

As far as he was concerned, there was no strife between the Valour members. Perhaps if any of them deigned to visit every once in a while or tried to send someone for them, he might be more willing to see it otherwise. Alas, not a single one of them had ever deigned to visit him. Perhaps he was becoming a bitter bitter and resentful about it but he tried to push that down far. They have never visited before, he points out to @Iofiel without hesitation, so I doubt that will change anything. If he could have reached out to touch his friend he might have, in an attempt to reassure him that he did not wish for his friend to go. Instead he had to speak with words - always words. You're the only lion who has given their time to come see me. You would think out of his big, gigantic family that at least one of them might drop by but no -- far too busy.

table by sentinel / lion + brook

Iofiel frowned lightly when the Spectre said that Aquila hadn't visited before. Maybe that would change. He had told the once High Sovereign that Daario missed his family and wished that they would visit more. It hurt thinking that he had never come to visit before. "I told him that you are here and desire to visit with family." Iofiel could only hope that would make a difference. The pale medic hoped that Aquila would return to the Brook and round up the family so that a reunion could take place.

"It hurts to think of you alone in this place with no one to talk to and nothing to occupy your time with." The sand cat answered honestly. "The desert will always be my home but you make this area a secondary place that I am comfortable being." But he could never give up the desert. It was more so to do with those new to the setting. He couldn't let them just struggle in the desert without knowing the hazards of living there. It was his job to ensure their survival.

@Daario

The last thing he wanted to be was a broken record whose only goal in life was to reiterate that his family never came. It wasn't like any of them were afraid of the afterlife (they shouldn't be) so the only excuse he could come up with for them was that they were too busy. Unfortunately, @Iofiel wasn't too far off the mark. He was tired of being in this one place with no one to talk to and nothing to put his mind and body to. All he could do was watch lions come and go. Lions that he did not know nor they knew him. I must sound terribly droll sometimes... not ever having anything new to tell you. He didn't expect the sandcat to accept his self-negativity but Daario could not help but feel enslaved to the Grotto. Every day that passed, he felt more and more chained. More and more like a tiny rock that was wedged so far into the riverbed that it could never be removed.

table by sentinel / lion + brook

"I do not expect you to have news to share. Unless there are secrets from the other side that are able to be passed on." It was an attempt at a joke and was presented with a brief smile. He wasn't certain if things worked that way or not. But what was the truth was that he held no expectations for Daario.

"Instead you should be ashamed of me and my lack of updates." But then the pale lion had never been the social butterfly. Still he tried to pick up bits of information where it concerned the spirit's family. Of course he didn't have that strong connection with the Valours and had none, that he knew of, where he lived.

@Daario

Secrets from the other side... Daario furrowed his brow and looked up a bit to ponder if there was anything that he could give to @Iofiel by means of information. I suppose I can tell you that there are more spirits here than just myself to speak to. Daario didn't know the majority of them personally but he knew them at least by name. One of my daughters from my second litter, Bijou, lives within. She doesn't come out very often. There's also Pypar who was a child of a family friend. Both young, few months old at least. Maua had ferried them into the afterlife so that they could have some semblance of one but it was hard enough for an adult to be tethered to one place, so it must be even harder for a child.

Though, as for his friend's comment that he should be shamed for not giving enough information either, Daario offered a shake of his head. Perhaps both of us simply lack the means. After all, they couldn't be everywhere and anywhere all at once. Iofiel liked his side of the land where the desert lay and Daario had little choice but to explore the Grotto every now and then. Though, he could feel his own energy buzzing low in this realm as though he was losing power to provide a clear image.

table by sentinel / lion + brook