(open)

[just_another]

Despite his mother's warnings, Joel has found himself on the beach once again, not far from where he sailed straight into a storm not three days earlier. She would be furious if she found him here, but this is where he feels most calm, where he's always felt most able to think clearly and lately it seems he's in desperate need of thinking clearly.

So much has happened over the past several days and while Joel is completely certain what he feels for Spencer is real and genuine, he's also truly conflicted for the first time in his life. He has duties. There are expectations that have been placed upon him and in less than two weeks time, he is expected to have picked a bride.

That's something Joel knows he simply cannot do.

Walking along the sand, he looks out into the water for a moment, then begins to shed his clothes. He doesn't care how it might look, if there's anyone nearby to see. His fingers fly over the buttons of his shirt and he drops it to the sand. A moment later his pants follow and he wades into the water in only his breeches, pushing through the waves and then diving under, cutting through with strong strokes. The cold water clears his head and he turns over, floating on his back for what feels like forever before he finally makes his way back to shore.

It's as he's dressing again, his pants once more fastened and his shirt half done up that his vision suddenly goes dark. It's like he's under water, he realizes. Shafts of sun cut through the gently rolling waves, but the deeper he sinks, the darker it gets. There's a flash of a shimmering tail, too big to be a fish, too small to be a shark. Dark laughter. A brief glimpse of a beautiful woman with long, black hair. She's smiling, but Joel doesn't much like what he sees in that smile.

She's saying something, her lips moving, but the voice that comes out isn't hers. It's Spencer's. It's the voice he remembers from that day on the beach and Joel stumbles in the sand, only realizing then that he's still standing on the beach. All of this, everything he's seeing, it isn't really happening.

He directs his attention back to the woman with the tail just in time to hear Spencer's voice whisper two words. A promise.

He doesn't know what any of it means, but as soon as it's begun, it's gone. Joel is left standing on the beach, his hands still on the buttons of his shirt, staring off into the waves as if they can give him some kind of answer.

[Joel's an adopted prince who doesn't know he's also a witch and has no idea he's just had a premonition while on the beach anywhere you want to find him. Enjoy? :D]

Comments

[davin]

It's sort of weird, just conversing casually with a prince, but Davin gets over it quickly. He spent a night in the Thornton's palace, after all, and James and Joel are both just people. They're both easy to talk to.

He listens to Joel's story and his eyes widen slightly, because that matches up with Spencer's story, and the flashes of images that he saw in Spencer's mind. Not to mention that Spencer flat out told him that it was a prince that he was trying to woo. Davin blinks and thinks hard about what he should say. Part of him thinks he should tell Joel the truth, but he also doesn't want to betray Spencer's trust.

But maybe he can help them both.

"You think one o' the merfolk saved ya?" Davin says carefully, looking out at the sea and then back at Joel. "They're known t'do that, I've heard."

[just_another]

"When I was younger, I wanted so badly to believe in them, but I spent so much time out in the water and I never saw anything and I guess I stopped being able to believe they were real," Joel says. "But I'm sure... I know what I saw that day."

And what he'd seen just now, though he's not so sure that hadn't been entirely in his mind. It had seemed like the same sort of thing that has happened to him several times in the past, usually in moments of stress when he's needed an answer to a question that feels enormous. They've never been easy to decipher and in the end he's always written them off as nothing but his imagination.

"I think he's here now," he says, then laughs. "Sorry, not here, but staying in the palace."

[davin]

Well, that cements it then. Davin grins and then bites it back, not wanting to appear too eager. "Isn't that somethin'. Pretty serendipitous, I'd say."

Davin looks around and toes at the sand, lifting an eyebrow when he finds a shiny blue shell. It reminds him of the flashes of thought he saw in Spencer's mind of merfolk trading shells to show their affection. He bends over and picks up the shell, rubbing the sand away with his thumb.

"Forgive my candor, prince, but ya seem a bit smitten." Davin smirks warmly at him, eyes shining with mirth.

[just_another]

He's barely been able to speak of this to his family, barely able to even admit his feelings to Caden, but something about speaking to a near stranger is almost easier. He flushes, pink creeping over his cheeks, but he doesn't shake his head or try to deny what he's feeling. He's more than just smitten, he's in love with Spencer in a way he's never even known is possible.

"I think that would be a same assumption to make," Joel agrees, as if he had any hope of denying it when his cheeks have turned flushed so deeply. "Though when a prince is just shy of his thirtieth birthday and is expected to soon pick a wife, even if his brother offers to take his place, it does make things a bit complicated."

[davin]

"Aye, I would suppose so. That's nice of him, though. Your brother, I mean." Davin wants so badly to tell the prince about the ticking clock on Spencer's time here on land, and how to stop it from counting down, but he's afraid that doing so will mess with the spell, not to mention betraying Spencer's trust in Davin. So no, he can't tell Joel, but he can hint. Heavily. "Ya oughta tell your merman how ya feel, prince. Time has a funny way of slippin' away from ya if you're not careful."

Davin looks down at the shell in his hands and he thinks it's quite pretty, what with the way it shines and reflects the light. It almost shimmers. He polishes it up on his trousers and holds it out to Joel. "Y'know, I read somethin' somewhere about merfolk an' pretty shells."

He does his best to keep his expression neutral, not wanting to appear too eager. But god, he wants this all to work out. Not just because of Joel and Spencer and this epic love story they've found themselves in, but because Davin has found a good friend in Spencer, he thinks. He doesn't have many of those, and he doesn't want Spencer to go away.

"They trade shells kinda like we trade rings," Davin tells him, holding the shell out in his palm so that Joel can see how it shines. "It's how they court one another, apparently. Maybe ya could clean this up and give it t'him. It'd be a good way t'show him that ya respect where he came from, y'know? Even if ya want him t'stay."

[just_another]

"It does," he agrees, his smile fading a little. "But I still have responsibilities to my family. Duties. There are complications that I need to deal with before I can... deal with other complications." And he hates it. He hates that there's this part of him that feels so strongly for someone without being able to act on it right away. He wants nothing more than to wrap his arms around Spencer and pull him into a kiss, but he knows he must speak with his parents first. He needs to be able to go into this with a clear conscience, without worrying that anything else is going to prevent them from following through with everything they want.

At what Davin says next, though, Joel perks up, his expression interested. "Shells," he echoes, his voice soft as he takes it from Davin's hand and turns it over in his fingers. It's beautiful, sparkling under the sun, and he really doesn't know how this is going to end, but maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing. It would be a start anyway, a place for him to begin so he can tell Spencer all the things he thinks he's coming to understand.

"Thank you," he says, his smile soft. "That's... well, thank you."

[davin]

"You're welcome," Davin says with a shy little shrug, wiping his hands on his trousers after Joel takes the shell. "I truly hope it all works out."

He smiles up at him, squinting against the sun a bit. Joel and Spencer have something truly special, and Davin would love to see it flourish, but he knows that he probably won't. He's unimportant, and over time they'll forget about him, and that's okay. They'll have each other and Davin will have helped to make that happen, in the smallest of ways. That's enough for him.

"Just don't wait too long t'tell him, aye?" Davin says again. "Ya might regret it."

[just_another]

Truthfully, Joel already regrets that he hasn't said anything. It's been three days and Spencer is the only thing he can think of and while he's afraid his affections might not be returned, it's worse to think he might just never know because he's too scared. So he knows he has to, he knows he can't just pretend there's nothing here between them.

It's important he say something, he knows that, and so he nods.

"You're right," he says. Something about the vision he's just had, if that's what he can call it, makes him really believe that. He might lose the chance if he waits too long. "He did tell me he'll be around to attend the ball, so hopefully by then I'll have everything worked out."

[davin]

"Ah, then maybe I'll see ya there." Davin grins, cheeks a little pink as he winks playfully. "You're not the only prince in my life, if ya can believe it."

He's going to the ball with James, and he has a fitting later in the day for some clothes to wear. It's sort of a crazy whirlwind, but he's enjoying it.

[just_another]

Joel still thinks anyone should be able to attend any ball in the kingdom, regardless of who they are or who they know, but he knows that sentiment isn't shared by many. He smiles at the news that Davin will be attending the ball, though, and he pauses to think of who might have invited him. Another prince, apparently, though there are plenty of those.

"Not my brother, I assume he would have told me that," he says. "There are the Thortons, of course. One of them?" He doesn't know them well, mostly in passing.

[davin]

"No, not him. Though I'm sure he's lovely." Davin laughs and then ducks his head at the mention of the Thortons, cheeks flushing pink. "Aye, yeah. It's James. We, uh, ran into each other the other day."

For a moment, he wants to tell Joel what James has told him, how he thinks none of this is real, but it still sounds so crazy. He doesn't want to say anything without being sure, doesn't want to burden anyone. "He's... somethin'."