ORIGIN - Sea creatures meet in an underwater world

The young seal pup was deep beneath the surface of the water, having a lot of fun. She flipped in the water gracefully, letting out seal noises every now and then that carried throughout the water. At such a young age, Tethys knew she belonged in the water. She did have flippers after all. Living under the water was very fun, and the seal was as happy as can be. Tethys already knew how to hunt for herself, and was proud of it. She liked to eat fish, squid, and cave rats. When she is at four cycles, however, she will move on to bigger prey such as cave deer who stray to close to the waters edge. Though, the seal knew strictly not to eat other gembounds. Tethys was able to travel to other rooms, thanks to the water tunnels in the caves connecting to some of the rooms. Tethys may have been having fun, but wondered if there was anyone like her who lived in the water. She wished to meet such gembounds. She knew there were plenty of gembounds who lived on the land. But she wanted to know if there was those in the water.

@Lamia

In the time Lamia had spent alone under the cold waves of Pisces, she'd never once met another creature that'd willingly dived to such depths that she usually existed within. Every so often she'd pop her head above water, sure, sometimes she'd even try to get herself on land. But that never really worked well - she simply wasn't accustomed to it.

So she cut her losses and stayed in the deep and the dark, flitting between caves, snagging fish with her sharp fangs, and tending to a small, humble underwater garden. It'd actually become a very fulfilling hobby - all sorts of kelp and underwater weeds were growing in her little corner of Pisces's lagoon. She was there now, checking on the progress of the latest sample of flora she'd picked from the far corner of the ponds.

Something was coming. Something bigger then a fish and, from what Lamia could tell, not something that usually hung around in these waters. Her bulbous eyes looked up and caught sight of the silhouette of a creature frolicking in the waters above. Curiosity gripped her immediately and she abandoned her garden in favor of slowly swimming upwards towards that mystery creature. Her mouth opened and a wondering groan sang through the water as she approached from below.

@Tethys

The seal pup was starting to feel a bit lonely, up until she saw a creature approaching from below. The new creature let out a groan that filled the water. Quite quickly, Tethys perked up immediately and swam down to meet the creature. Once she got closer, she could see the stranger clearly. It was a pretty sea creature with a long tail, fins, and what looked like hands. Tethys let out a happy trill that could be heard throughout the water, excited to see another sea creature. She swam around the stranger for a bit, her deep blue aquamarine stone shining proudly on her chest. Then the seal pup swam up to the stranger, and attempted to touch her nose to the creature's forehead. Tethys wanted to be the creature's friend. The creature appeared to be a female, but Tethys did not assume that, as it would be rude if it wasn't female. She wondered if the stranger understood speech. She hoped it did.

@Lamia

It seemed to see her and, as it turned and came over towards her, for a moment Lamia considered leaving. That'd probably be the safest option. But as it got close, letting out chirps and such, she wondered if it was, like the other gembounds she met, intelligent. She opened her jaws and let out a haunting call into the water, vibrations shifting through the water like waves. Who are you? Perhaps it would understand her like Tenzin and Orarian had, but perhaps not. Maybe it wasn't intelligent at all and she may as well have been speaking to a fish.

As it bumped its head against her forehead she let out a tiny cry of surprise, but didn't swim away. Instead, she reached out a spindly webbed hand and touched its side. It felt weird - not like a fish at all. A little more like her slippery, smooth skin but...warmer. Weird.

@Tethys

it didn't take much to realize that the creature was trying to talk to her. Tethys could not understand what in the caves she was saying! Tethys put two and two together, and decided that if she couldn't understand the creature, then the creature could not understand her. So if words would not do it, maybe actions would. The seal shook her head at the creature's haunting calls, as if to say, 'I don't understand you'. Tethys felt a hand on her side, not minding the contact at all. She swam closer, gently attempting to put her nose to the stranger's hand. Then suddenly, her gem glowed as she used her arcane magic for the first time. Hindsight activated, and she saw a vision. The realization on what her magic was became clear to her. She hoped that it wouldn't scare the creature off.

@Lamia

The seal shook its head but just the simply action seemed to be beyond Lamia's comprehension. It meant no but no to what? Did it not like that she was touching it? She pulled her hand away, but then it jerked its head forward, nosing the inside of her hand. She tilted her head, quite confused by this.

Tethys would see a dark, murky place. There was water everywhere, thick and muddy. Before them was a mass of absolute black, save for a glowing red eye staring out from within its jaws. But there wasn't any fear. No, only curiosity. Vibrations beyond her comprehension rolled through the water, one deep and baritone, the other haunting and familiar - Lamia's voice.

An idea came to Lamia's mind. She'd been learning to speak a lot above the water, but down here she'd never bothered to try - why do that when her echoes and chimes was all she needed? But if this thing couldn't understand her, well, then, might as well try the other option.

She opened her jaws, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth, and a horrible, screeching noise, dampened and muted by the water, came from her throat, barely comprehensible. "Cgaaawn uyooo umnndearsdaand mme?"

@Tethys

The creature opened its mouth to speak to her, and it took a moment to understand what it was saying. Nonetheless, Tethys was able to understand what it was she said. She gave the creature a friendly nod as to say, 'yes I can'. The pup then decided to do something she was sure the creature could understand. Tethys used her front flipper to point at the creature first, then at herself. Then finally, pointed at her chest where her heart was. She hoped that the creature would understand that she wanted to be friends. To further establish what she was saying, the pup swam around Lamia again, stopping in front of her. Though the seal leopard pup was a friendly one at times, she knew that not all gembounds were kind. Though it seemed this one was.

@Lamia

Amazing that the seal could understand her, even if it took a moment. Lamia could barely understand her own voice, but that might just be because she wasn't the most intelligent. At least they had a way to communicate now! The seal had nodded her head - that meant yes! It was still moderately frustrating that only other unnatural, eldritch creatures could understand her voice.

Well, at least that was what she thought. The seal, it seemed, couldn't really talk back, or maybe it didn't know how, instead settling on gestures, pointing with her flipper at Lamia, then at herself, then at her heart. What? That completely escaped Lamia's understanding, made even more confusing by swimming around her. She watched its movements with confusion. Did it want her to do the same?

Might as well try. Leaning forward, she swam a quick loop around the seal. She tilted her head - was that what she wanted?

@Tethys

It seemed that the creature did not understand her. So Tethys decided to speak just as the creature did. The pup hoped it would work though. "Waaaaant toooooo beeee friieends?" Tethys hoped that speaking those words would help get her point across. Tethys thought if she should ask another question. She wanted to know what the creature's name was. No, she didn't want to make this even more confusing for the stranger. She would ask her name, after she made sure that the stranger knew what she was trying to ask.

@Lamia