Otem's head bobbed yes to indicate that her mother was indeed the demi-goddess. She might have said more until the boy mentioned his Nephew - and her brother. Otem still didn't know how she felt about her youngest sibling (Was he even her youngest? Volterra had so many offspring it was hard to keep them in line). On any account, he was her mother's youngest anyways. Despite the fact that he was young, Otem had never really felt about him the way she felt about Vulkán. Only her twin inspired any sort of loyalty or love in her. Mauna and all the others were just ... an ever growing branch on her family tree. "Wait, does that make us related?" Otem frowned and furrowed her brow for a moment. She would be awfully annoyed if every single boy she met ended up being her half brother (which had already happened to her a few times). Slowly Otem pieced together the pieces, and a semi-relieved smile crossed her face as she shook her head. "Wait no, nevermind. Volterra is my Father-" She added with a sheepish smile, "-so that means I'm basically related to everyone."
{screaming times}
The same breathless giddiness had come over Otem as well. Her screams had made colour return to her cheeks and small tears of laughter had even sprung from her eyes. The girl hadn't realized how long it had been since she had cried happy tears, and for a second her euphoria caused a shadow of sadness to shade her heart. Guilt trickled in, and although Iskra pointed out that they could still have fun in this place, she wondered how long it would take before she felt like she was allowed to. How long did one have to mourn for? Was she betraying her mother and Iskra's mother, and all the others who had died, by being happy?
Otem wrinkled her nose as if she was only just now noticing the putrid stench wafting off of Iskra. "That's unfortunate.." She murmured awkwardly, unsure how to agree that he smelled like a locker room filled with rotten eggs without sounding like a total asshole. "Maybe it'll just ... stop? None of my magic changed. Not really anyways." Otem continued, standing on the edges of her hooves to peer over Iskra's shoulders at the gulping gills. Although the sight of them made her want to shiver and cover them up, she forced her face to remain neutral, not wanting to make Iskra feel uncomfortable about his mutations. "Do they do anything?"
Riptide Isles
Blu
