You are- It's admitably quite strange to see anyone get surprised when they found out Aquila's chosen partner was a man. Such a thing was perfectly normal and the only one who had ever tried to deny it was Aquila himself in his youth. And then it was not for lack of pride or concern, but worries of rejection and the same sorts of feelings anyone might experience when love blossomed. Where it's easier to deny than know the answer is 'no'. Aquila narrows his eyes a little at @Iofiel's quiet and gentle face. Be it a stranger there would be reason to be concerned this was an issue. But Aquila trusted Iofiel plenty and trusted this was just earnest surprise. I am gay yes. He finishes out the words steadily when it seemed at last Iofiel was not going to say it.

I suppose he does. I suspect most of the family knew before me. Although it had not been with the man he was privileged to love today they would all have seen him and Caeso 'flirt' around feelings. No one has ever given me issue with it, not family, not Vermeda, not even strangers I've met. Although it hadn't exactly come up with each and every lion Aquila crossed paths with.

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The medic flinched when that word was spoken as if it had been a physical assault rather than a verbal confirmation. But where he had grown up there were physical repercussions for even being accused of being such a way. It was the exact reason that Iofiel had no family. The reason he had trouble even building strong ties with others. He was worried someone else would find out and he would have to start over all over again. He was too old to start over.

"But you are a High Sovereign. Do you not find it odd? Others are meant to look up to you and respect you. How can you be respected when you are like that?" It was an honest question even if it sounded as if Iofiel was putting down Aquila's lifestyle. The medic was curious for himself.

"My family didn't..." The pale male shook his head. "I hadn't been allowed to remain in the pride. I had to leave. I could tell no one." He had been disowned and shunned at barely a year old.

@Aquila

"Like that" ? The phrasing illicits a reaction from Aquila. He's never needed to defend his life, who he chose to love and find affection with. This is new and strange, and leaves him feeling vulnerable and angry. Because it's never mattered before, he's never dreamed that it would to someone. "Watch yourself." Aquila warns with a little snarl, a turn of his lips. That sort of talk was not ok and Aquila wasn't finding much room to tolerate or entertain such a backwards idea.

But it begins to make more sense as @Iofiel continued. The world could be cruel. Aquila knew this. At least this is one aspect of it's cruelty that hadn't seemed to be brought into Amaryllis by strangers. "My family doesn't care. It's normal." He's become a little withdrawn, seeking safety in himself and guarding more vulnerable parts of him now.

ART BY NICOLEXV , CODE BY LARS

Iofiel winced at the snarl and lowered his head even further. "I... understand." Except not really. He didn't get that the wording is what bothered Aquila. But that was the only wording he knew. It was how he had been raised. He had been taught that it was wrong to be that way, a disgrace on everyone to even be interacted with. It simply was not allowed.

"I will bother you no further." Based on previous experiences he could only assume that Aquila was shunning him as well. This was why he told no one. Why he couldn't allow himself to get close to anyone. Once they found out he was always tossed aside.

"At least allow me the chance to tell Daario that I will be unable to visit further." Because he hadn't been allowed to tell his friends in his youth that he had to leave. Instead rumors were spread of how he had tried to harm the Heir Apparent and that was why he was gone. So since, as he assumed, Aquila wanted nothing more to do with him that he would also have to cut ties with the rest of the Valours. That was just the way that things worked.

@Aquila

He flexed his claws on the ground, feeling the earth shift around the force of his extending weapons. Tension shifted out of his body and he eventually let out a heavy sigh, shoulder slumping and face calming.

Tell Daario what you want, but it's nothing you need to stop speaking to him over unless that's what he wants. No telling how the lion would take the same questions and verbiage. Maybe the dead had time and patience Aquila did not. The bronze lion's heart hurt a little... There wasn't a world in which he would ever worry what another thought over who he loved. The only one whose opinion mattered was Caligula. As long as he was happy there was no dishonor, no lack of pride. And Daario was an adult who could make his own decisions._{ART — CODE}

Did Aquila not understand how it worked? He should since he was High Sovereign. "One is no longer permitted to speak with the offended's family once the offense has been brought to light. One is no longer permitted to share the same space as the offended or their family." The rules were spoken in a tone that showed Iofiel was just parroting back lessons of long ago. There was no passion to the words at all. These were rules that the large male continued to live by.

Because Aquila now hated him he was no longer allowed to have anything more to do with any Valour. "Someone else would need to start visiting Daario. He misses his family and gets lonely there." And it seemed that Iofiel remained his only constant visitor as of late. He didn't want the Valour patriarch to get forgotten all about now that he was banished from visiting the Spectre any longer.

@Aquila

He hears @Iofiel but it seems like the lion himself wasn't saying the words himself. It wasn't all that much unlike when Aquila heard Talisa pray to Maua, but with far far far less love. There was knowing and factual understanding beyond conscious comprehension, there was intimate and innate trust that it was all true. When Aquila heard that sort of speech come out of Iofiel he felt pity. The bronze lion's frown deepened further. Feeling bad for this lion but fighting with that angry urge to shout. Why must the world, these strangers, keep coming into his home and telling him how the world worked? My family members- He began.

But paused and took a deep breath. When he resumed his voice sounded more controlled, less like he was holding something in. - makes their own decisions about who to associate with. I don't know where you came from, how things worked, but that's not here. That's not me, that's not Nymeria, that's not Maua, that's not Daario. So go tell him if you feel it's necessary but if you stop seeing him it's your own doing not any expectation of mine. And then another, full, inhale into a long exhale._{ART — CODE}

"I do not know this Maua." The other names were ones that he was familiar with. He knew Nymeria to be Daario's daughter but he knew of no Valour named Maua. Still this Maua must be an important member of the Valour family for Aquila to name them off.

"In my birth pride to be as I am is seen as an offense. One is not allowed to interact with others lest they become infected as well." Which is why Iofiel had worked so hard at keeping his sexuality a secret. he had finally started to feel at home in the Oasis and didn't want to have to abandon it. He also did wish to abandon Daario either, the one being he considered to be a friend.

@Aquila

Having to introduce Maua here might have been just the littlest bit humorour if Aquila were not feeling so sour. He glanced away from @Iofiel and into the sky over head. They are a god, they created this land. They gave me and my husband our children. Ours. Not that blood truly mattered when it came to family, but Aquila tried to place due emphasis on it here as he looked back to Iofiel. That not only was he welcome to love whomever but that one of the most powerful beings around actively facilitated those unions, gave them a chance to have exactly what others did.

We are not an infection. We are not sick. His voice steeled and grew just a bit in volume, as if noise could hammer the point home and undo years of being taught otherwise. Visibly Aquila was upset, he felt a slight tremor creep into his limbs and chest where his heart beats away out of rythmn. There is a pain from where he is clenching his jaw._{ART — CODE}

"What is god?" It was a term he was unfamiliar with. He had no creation story with a singular deity in his culture. Instead it was believed that all things had a spirit, all things were equal with none better or above the rest. So having a singular all powerful being was an oddity to him.

"How is that possible?" Though perhaps he shouldn't be asking Aquila about the logistics of how it worked for two males to have children together. He had already upset the High Sovereign enough as is. He hadn't meant to. It was simply hard to break indoctrination. And really, he meant nothing against Aquila at all. He simple would have never guessed that the other was like he was. It just went against everything that Iofiel had been taught.

The pale male winced and ducked his head down, ears having folded themselves into his mane. "I didn't mean that you are sick..." He spoke the words even more softly than he normally spoke as his voice was the barest of whispers. He was attempting not to raise the ire of the other lion any further. It simply seemed that all he said was wrong though.

@Aquila