Okay. Macawi had been… gone… for two cycles, and now there was a whole ‘nother room to explore? When had this happened? The coyote shrugged, not really caring in the slightest. She may have gotten older in her absence, but she wasn’t any less crazy than she had been since birth. Where had she been exactly? Even she wasn’t quite sure. Randomly exploring, perhaps? Or maybe just dreaming for months? The two-cycle gap in her memory would have been disconcerting had she been a normal Gembound, but when was Macawi ever normal?

Luckily, Tangak still seemed to be fluttering by her side. He seemed older, too. Well, why wouldn’t he seem older? Just because she couldn’t remember anything didn’t mean she had just… stopped growing. Or did it…? She gave a chuckle as she looked around the room full of water and islands and fun. Did she remember how to swim? Well, she’d have to give it a shot, wouldn’t she? “Come, Little Rainbow Bird!” she called, lifting her face towards the ceiling and watching Tangak twitter around happily. “Macawi is back, and it is time to explore!”

"Speech"

A voice sang out across the rippling surface. Though the noise was muffled as it brushed against the waves, it sank deep and quickly, disturbing the beast that lurked in the depths bellow. A low pitched grumble, like a whale wheezing, came from bellow the dark waters, the still young monster leaving its usual path. It pulled away from where it usually swam and approached the shore, a memory of its birth rippling through its young mind.

Something had intruded on its home. It rose from the depths but stayed bellow the surface-- appearing like little more than a shadowed shape with many tentacles. A glisten of starlight came from the translucent, hovering shape under the waves-- a speckle of a trapped night sky bellow the surface.

And it reached out towards the voice with its mind, anger penetrating its voice. The magic did not sustain it's voice this time, however, and the bubble of sound hardly broke the surface-- another rumbling snarl, wordless, hateful.

This thing had dared to intrude on the creature of the depths. If it entered its waters, it would find more than empty roaring threats.

@Macawi

Macawi began to look around, wondering if she should tread the water, or try to find a way around to the other side without swimming. The last time she’d gone swimming had been… so long ago, it seemed. Cycles ago, when she’d sat silently at the back of a meeting in Cetus, and had to swim the muddy waters of the swamp to get to the center of the room. Back then she hadn’t given a single thought to whether or not there was anything in the water other than her. Or, perhaps she had, and just not cared. In reality, she still didn’t really care, but this much moving, sloshing water made her curious. She wondered if she could send a light down into its depths and if that would illuminate what might be down there.

She concentrated, and felt a slight tingle in the gem embedded into her cheekbone as an orb of light began to collect in front of her. It wasn’t very strong, and it flickered as she continued to concentrate. She hadn’t used her Magic in two cycles, and she could tell. She was definitely rusty. She moved her head to look down at the water, and the orb followed her line of vision. Her brows furrowed as she pushed the light down into the water, but it was too weak to give very much detail. She never saw the creature lurking below…

"Speech"

Words: ~240 @Orarian

The voice died with the shadow's mumbling rumbles, silence fading into the gentle waves that crashed at the shore. It was impossible to tell if the thing above still prowled across the monster's territory, but it wasn't about to wander back to the depths without being sure.

While Macawi's light tried to probe the inky blackness, the blind water dweller reached out with its own magic. Like an autopsy, the tendrils of magic reached out, prodding fingers towards the cultures that belonged above the swash of bacteria in the sea. Above the surface, the air held less-- and picking out individual creatures was an easy task...

As long as the creature could get its magic to break the surface. Blind and frustrated, the sea beast rose closer to the surface, tentative to touch the barrier between the world it knew and the air above. Instead, it simply rose to the very lip of the surface, its sparkling, starlit face scanning blindly as it tried, fruitlessly, to grasp for any of the hot white things that signaled life.

If the trespasser has left, then... Perhaps it could return to the depths. A low hum, long and drawn out, played from the slimy skin, long fingers scooping through water, considering its options. It waited for a moment, unable to see anything, expecting the outsider to reveal itself with a pinch of patience.

@Macawi