another mind, another soul, another body to grow old. it's not complicated.
Although Castiella's sudden bursts of giggles and the way her voice seemed to rise and fall, as if part of some bizarre sound, made her sound fairly untrustworthy, what she had to say did make a lot of sense. Nothing had happened to Otem when she came through the Rift, but that was probably more of an exception than the norm. Most she had seen and talk to had suffered from some sort of mishap, from small mutations to losing their magic all together. As Otem listened, still offput by her new companion's bizarre way of acting, she had to admit the girl probably had a point.
"Wait, a cat? That's so.." She was about to say weird, but as Castiella said this place is fucking sick, Otem could only nod her head in agreement.
"I'm Otem. And this is Pandora." Otem replied, watching as the girl pranced around the tree. Inside she was praying that the pink girl didn't ask her to play tag or hide and seek or something else equally childish. Otem could feel her muscles tension just at the thought of having to pretend to enjoy such tedious games, when all of a sudden Castiella stopped and grinned at her from just behind the tree. Her expression was chilling and so unlike the sugary-sweet facade she had previously been wearing. Otem wanted to stare - to take in every single detail, but that would be rude. But this sudden change of expression was so interesting, that Otem had to fight with herself to pull her gaze away, as if pretending she hadn't even noticed the abrupt change in Cas's expression. As the girl asked whether or not the sudden rumbling sound had come from Pandora, Otem shook her head, her words flat, boarding on the sarcastic: "She's an owl. She doesn't make sounds like a whale stuck in a mountain."
Otem might have said more, but suddenly the ground began to shake. The girl extended her wings to both help with balance and to prepare to flee should that prove necessary. After all, none of them really knew what to expect from this place.
What appeared through the mist looked like a the bastard lovechild of a rhino and a fish. It was so unbelievable that at first Otem didn't head Cas's warning to run - she was far too enthralled by such wildly miraculous looking creatures. Their bellows continued as their massive bodies solidified in the mists, meaning only one thing: they were really close now. She watched with awe and surprise as Castiella suddenly produced a chain and through it towards the closest creature. On her back, Pandora took flight rising high into the trees. The owl hooted from above, sending mental images from her new vantage point. Between the larger creatures were smaller ones - ones who were being surrounded and protected by the larger creatures. Understanding dawned on Otem (or what she thought was understanding), for she'd seen some of the animals display this same behaviour back in the Throat.
"No wait! There are babies!"
Otem staggered backwards, her head low trying to appear as though she wasn't a threat. Although she wanted to keep an eye on what was happening, she also knew that staring anything in the face would likely be interpreted as a hostile act. "We must have disturbed them. Maybe this tree is theirs or something ... If we go away slowly-" Otem didn't dare look up, but just in case these creatures did have their eyes on her, she decided to give them something else to look at. Scrounging what she had come across from her memories, mourning flowers and glowing stones began to coat the ground. The stones didn't really belong in this sort of terrain, and so they hardly glowed at all. Still, Otem hoped that if they didn't see her organic gift as a peace offering, that they might be distracted by it long enough for she and Castiella to make their escape.
Uwaritace
