"Is that why you're called that? The Bonebound?" James asked, and started to trot off towards his house, tail raised as he practically pranced towards home.

"What do the Bonebound do?" he asked, head turning to look behind him and at Eythan, slowing down a bit to allow the other to catch up, "Do you protect people? Train them? I'm being trained by Pride right now, he's my mentor!"

James seemed very happy to be Pride's pupil. It was fulfilling in a way he never thought he needed. It allowed him to flourish and be himself while also honing his abilities and his mind. Growing stronger every day.

@Eythan

"Is that why you're called that?" "Mostly, yeah - it was our dad's group. It's kinda like... we're all bound to our bones. They're what's left of us." Way to skirt around "people die forever."

Eythan trailed the colt with a much more leisurely gait, electing to just trot after, tail kinked in slight curiosity. "We do whatever, I guess? It's more of a family than what Pride's runnin'." His wings adjusted at his sides. "But, we protect anyone that needs it and train, yeah - just not as much as your Seven does."

Bright eyes stared eagerly at James, "what're you trainin' in? Fightin' and kickin'?"

@James

"Fighting? No... I'm being trained in magic!
Pride says I'm good at it- but I fail my spells a lot more than he does- but not as much now," James explained and turned to try and lift a rock to demonstrate.

James watched the rock... do nothing. It didn't even budge. He tried again and again until he got so frustrated that he snorted and kicked it, sending it flying instead. His head dropped and his ears pinned, upset that he couldn't even show the other that he had any ability at all. The least that rock could do was move... but no.

"I swear I can do magic," he said, brows furrowed as his tail thrashed from side to side.

Maybe he could try again, but later. They were only halfway to his house by now.

@Eythan

"Ah, gotcha!" he chirped, pausing to watch the show that never happened and - "'least y'got magic. I can hardly do more than a gust of air and some weirder sh - thing." (Caught the slip-up that time.)

Eythan shuffled his wings, "I do better with just m'own claws 'n self." Bright eyes flicked to the colt, "mostly protecting nowadays, though. I used to fight a lot just for the sake of it. All angry and angsty, y'know?"

People still had angsty teenager phases, right? That wasn't just him?

@James

"You don't have magic?" James said, surprised, "I thought everyone did... everyone I've met so far has had some form of it..."

Fighting sounded... not very fun, especially when it was done on purpose to hurt another. That was definitely a pastime James wanted to skip on, thank you very much.

"Why were you so angry?" James asked Eythan, brown eyes flicking up to face the larger, "Was it something someone else did? Whydo you fight?"

@Eythan

cw for anxiety and very vague allusion to aza'zel's death

Ears pricked forwards, his face the picture perfect accompaniment to his "I do, I do - it's just not very good." Eythan shook himself off, focusing in. "Just a couple of breezes like... ah, here -" and here came a slight tousling of his own feathers and the colt's mane. "My brother's way better at it than me."

"Why were you so angry?"

The gryphon deflated visibly.

"Was it something someone else did?"

"No, no... it was me. It was a whole thing." (The breeze he'd stirred up wasn't helping the creeping sensation of dread and blood roaring in his ears and sputtering onto him -) "I'm not really gonna get into it, though - if that's okay with you kiddo?" It was a question without any room to say yes. "I'm not as angry as I used to be, and I like to put my skills to good use - y'know... just fightin' to protect rather than vent."

@James

There was something in the colt's eyes that said he didn't quite believe the other, but he nodded and left it alone. There were things some people just couldn't talk about, and this seemed to be something of Eythan's.

James stopped suddenly, realizing they were at his home... but for some reason, he didn't quite feel ready to go home yet.

"To protect..." he mumbled, thinking for a moment, "Could you show me? How to protect people?"

Essentially, he'd just renamed the act of fighting to something more child-friendly, but it was for his own comfort since, so far, all the fighting he'd ever done was completely unfair and up against a 2-ton kaiju who liked to traumatize children for fun. But learning to defend himself would ensure that nothing like that happened ever again.

Hopefully.

@Eythan

Good job James, you good 'ol boy. Respecting boundaries'll get you far in life.

Eythan stopped at the same time as the colt, ears quirking in muted interest while he continued to stomp down that ugliness deep within himself.

"Could you show me? How to protect people?" The roaring in his head was put on old to give a response: a very eager "sure, kiddo!"

Glancing at the nearest house - and it's rather sorry state - the gryphon shuffled sidelong, fixing himself in the center of the alleyway. "Do y'mind if y'hurt the other person to protect yourself or a friend?" That was important to know; it'd determine how he went about teaching.

@James

"It depends," James said, looking at Eythan curiously, "Do I know them?
Are they friend or foe? If they're a foe, then yes. If it's a mystery, I'd rather... disarm. Meaning that I find a way to defeat them without serious injury."

James stamped a foot down and exhaled slowly, before inhaling and facing Eythan head-on, "I never want to hurt anyone if I can help it. But I will defend if I must, and... I have needed to, though I didn't know how."

He looked down, clearly troubled, "There was a monster in the ruins. It's name was Alpha and I stumbled upon it. Scared, I lashed out, and it wasn't happy about it. I was so... helpless. I couldn't do anything but run, and when that failed me, I... I cowered."

James looked away in shame, mouth down-turned and brows furrowed, tears of embarrassment in his eyes.

"I'm... I'm a coward, you see," he explained softly, horribly ashamed of himself.

@Eythan

"Disarming's good, yeah, I'll show y'some stuff to disarm and get away, then - and y'can try 'em on me. How's that sound?" Eythan paused, waiting for an answer before moving on, "if you're protectin' yourself, y'might have to hurt the other person, especially if they're not gonna stop. There's no shame in attackin' back and hurtin' outta self-defense."

The gryphon's demeanor softened, briefly breaking out of combat teacher stance and striding closer - he didn't know of anything named Alpha, quite yet, but... damn; "hey, I don't blame you for cowering, kiddo. It's okay. There's some scary sh - things in the caves." (Again? Almost slipping...) "Learning how to protect yourself and surrounding yourself with good people'll help with that. Can't get too scared if you can put a hurtin' on what scares you, eh?"

A beat. "Y'ready?" He was letting James set the pace, of course.

@James