Under the surface

Normally Samael was pretty calm and level headed, like a rock and Draven liked that. Recently though, he's been a little more...edgy and he wasn't sure he disliked it. Actually, it was kind of sexy.

"Alright, alright, I'm comin', keep yer pants on!" Draven called with with an obvious playful tone, peeling off his own shirt. "Or don't, that's cool with me too..." He added in, followed by a string of laughter and the shirt being tossed behind him. Coming up behind the red head, he scooped him up off the ground bridal style.

"Yer frisky today....I like it." He growled under his breath, stealing a playful nip at Samael's neck and carrying him into the water.

The ocean. He missed it.

In what seemed liked a needlessly cruel addendum to his exile, Lelei was forbidden from even entering the waters of the ocean again without express permission from the kingdom. But how was he supposed to get permission when no emissaries or representatives ever came to him on the land? He suspected that was no mere bureaucratic oversight, and it was specifically made to keep him out of the waters permanently. It could also be said that Lelei was also simply free to enter it anyway, since no one seemed assigned to actually enforce that rule. But Lelei was a creature to abide by the rules, and he kept himself sequestered to any inland bodies of water if he wanted a swim.

Still, a large lake could not compared to the vastness of the salty deep and the inhabitants therein. At best, Lelei could stand on the beach and let his claws be licked by the cool waves as the salty air carried a familiar scent to his nose.

He took a big whiff and sighed nostalgically.A thought popped into his head. He had been a loyal guard for years, always doing as he was told and acting in the best way to represent the kingdom. He had always been a model citizen, save for the one incident that put him on the land. He... He had earned his chance to break a rule or two, especially if it was glaringly obvious that no one would catch him. If he stayed near the shore, surely no one of importance would spot him.

Thus, Lelei divested himself of all his clothes and he walked right into the waves, savoring the coolness of the waters. He might not be able to risk swimming in the clear blue deep ocean, but he could still swim up and down the shore near the surface. Closer to a pair of young men frolicking in the waves. With his fin poking clearly above the surface.

Draven was about to give something of a snarky or flirty response to the first of what Sameal said when suddenly he found the red head's lips up against his and fell silent. It was easy to welcome to soft feel of his boyfriend's lips but to only have him push away before it could truly be called a kiss. And suddenly he was gone under the water and the longer he stayed under, the more worried he became and the question of whither or not Samael could actually swim came to mind. Just when he was about to dive in after him though, he surfaced and a wave of relief washed over the hell hound who's smirk returned. Now sure that Samael could indeed swim and wasn't about to drown, he wasted no time in diving after him, completely submerging under the water to surface next to the red head. Approaching Samael, the tattooed teen slipped an arm around his waist and pulled him in close once more.

"Dun freak me out like that." He chided, moving in to finish that kiss when something in the near distance caught his attention. Almost instantaneously as a response to a potential threat, a low and territorial growl started up in the pit of his chest and he pulled Samael behind him, keeping a firm hold of him as he did. Reacting on pure instinct, his eyes shifted to that angry red as he moved to put himself between the threat and Samael. Never having dealt with a shark before, he wasn't entirely sure what to do but emitting a low, rumbling warning growl was automatic and so was protecting Samael.

The ocean water felt so nice! Lelei had not been exiled for a very long time. His life on the surface had been relatively short and he still swam in the lakes. But there was just a certain quality to the salty ocean water that felt more than nostalgic to him, like he had been away for far longer than he had actually been. It was the right kind of cool and it had a nice texture to it from the salt. The color was just right, even so close to the shore, and even the low rumble of the waves was welcoming to him. Everything overtook his senses and he lost himself in the beauty.

Unfortunately, he completely forgot that his mere presence in the water could be alarming to other people. He did not even see the two young men in the water because he was swimming with his eyes closed so he could feel the ocean better on his skin and how it glided across his gills.

While he had the chance, he dipped lower in the water, pulling his fin from view and seemingly leaving the two young man alone. But the dip was only a set up for him to rush upwards and breach the surface with a large splash and satisfied gasp.

Lelei held his arms up and wide as he felt the water dripping from his naked skin, and his maw hung wide open as he let the remaining sea water pour down his mouth and out his gills. Standing just waist high in the water, his valuables were still hidden beneath the water, but everything else about him was shown.

"Ahhhh~ Huh?"

The growling was what caught his ears, and Lelei finally looked down to see where it was coming from, and that was when he spotted the two young men. For the first time in a long time, Lelei was startled and he froze in place for a moment.

"Uh... Hi? Am I interrupting something?"

'what is it?' He wasn't quite sure how to respond to that anymore as the growling ceased only for him to stare in confusion at what he thought was a shark. Well....it was a shark...kind of...but with a human's body? He's never seen anything like this before...and in all of his nineteen years, he's seen some pretty weird shit. But this...this was a whole other level of weird. He didn't know whither to growl at him or maybe bust out laughing. A fish.....a fish with a human body?! Just the idea made him want to howl with laughter. Where does nature come up with these things?! He cracked a momentary grin in response to his inner musings, only to bust out laughing when he couldn't help it any longer.

"It's a-a-a!" He laughed even harder in his attempt to express just what he was seeing. "I can't be-ahah-elieve I ac-hah-ac-haha-tually was- HAHAHA!" The laughing fit only became more hysterical as it continued and if he weren't in the water at the moment, he would have fallen over backward by now. A moment ago he was concerned for Samael's safety and was ready to pounce on the shark and tear it to shreds if need be but now....even though the creature was much larger and even potentially more dangerous, he couldn't help his hysterical reaction. Before was a problem considering there could be no communication with an actual shark and he would have had to defend he and Samael in anyway he could but seeing as this..thing spoke there was the possibility of talking things out. That...and the look on the...sharks? face was just downright comical to him.

Well, suffice it to say, Lelei was not expecting the reaction he got out of the strange tattoo-covered young man. Laughter was a totally new reaction to his appearance. Far and away the most common reactions were in the Fear category, no doubt caused by his very dangerous appearance. He was so used to that kind of response that Lelei almost thought it was just a hysterical laughing fit caused by fear. Like the young man was going through one of those moments where he lost control of himself from the sight of a giant shark man.

But no. The laughing was entirely real, and the tattooed young man's partner seemed to attest to that. Lelei's initially stunned appearance softened as the laughing went on, and he put on the closest thing to a raised eyebrow that he could muster.

"Okay... Well, I hope your friend here stops laughing at some point. He's liable to gulp down some sea water.

But if I may. I am Lelei..."

Lelei had taken to not mentioning his last name. It was too long and unweildy for most.

"... And I suppose you two boys are just enjoying the waves too, hm?"