Did we just become best friends!?

Her name struck him as if she were electricity personified and his heart a lightning rod. It was only the gentleness of Otem's mention of it that kept him from physically flinching, the ache so deep it wouldn't surprise him if his chest visibly clenched in on itself. He set his teeth on the edges of each other, the grit of them keeping something down inside where it belonged. He didn't want her sympathy after all - well he probably did, but he didn't want to want it. Maybe that's what made it so easy for him to subdue his own feelings when hers started to surface. It was there in the way she trailed off after saying mine. Iskra's gaze lifted back to her, holding her with a firm understanding that brought a certain automatic kinship. She waited, thinking, and Iskra held his breath in the silence. He was afraid for her to feel the same soul-crumbling tragedy that was eroding him, but knew they were already on that precipice and whether they deserved it or not stopped mattering a long time ago. Life doesn't give you what you deserve. It gives you everything, and you either handle it or you don't. "The demi goddess?" he asked gently after she spoke her mother's name, much braver than him to be able to say it, something he was proud of for her but had no idea why. "I heard stories about her, and I met her when she gave birth to my nephew Mauna," he explained. "I guess that'd make you his sister!" he said after a pause, brightening at this knowledge. "You know, what she and the gods did saved us," he murmured, grateful for it, though he knew that wouldn't really make it any better that she was gone He wanted to reach out to her. Wanted to comfort her, or save her, or do something to just make it better because feeling awful was nothing short of the worst. Being able to focus on her, on anyone else but himself, made it easier to bury his own pain. He'd been taking care of Ampere pretty much since he'd hatched, so if anything it was just a routine, one he could hold onto no matter what realm he was in. Otem found a better way though, her abrupt yell startling him. His neck rippled with the quick snap of his head, the edges of his crest feathers managing to unfurl slightly from behind his ears with the excitement. Just as quickly though he burst out laughing; a true, honest, deep laugh that shook off all the grime with its vibrations and its impenetrable joy. She looked at him with a shy, demure smile, and he grinned broadly, not hesitating to join in and belt out his own, "IIIIIIIIIIT SUUUUUUUUUUHUUUUUUCKS!" Castiel even joined in with a high squeal whistling from his blow hole, although he had no notion as to why they were doing what they were doing. After they'd shouted their breath and their energy out, Iskra fell back into a rolling giggle that slowly faded into quiet, hungry breaths. He glanced at Otem with a brilliant smile. "That was fun," he admitted. "I guess this place isn't so bad if you can still have fun sometimes. Although it changed some stuff for me... I'm not sure I like them." He lifted his wings as he mentioned it, neck curling around to watch the little sparks arc from beneath his feathers; the sulfur smell intensified like an armpit being opened up, and he made a face at it and quickly slapped his wings to his sides. "Now my wings stink and they hurt people. And there's something on my back but I don't know what," he glanced over his shoulder, trying to see the frilly gills that had grown there. Carry on my wayward son There'll be peace when you are done Lay your weary head to rest Don't you cry no more

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