she'd been watching them for a while. or more accurately, she'd been watching huge ships, reminiscent of those that desecrated her home yet lacking the pollution and the rough hand of man. these ships were respectful in their treatment of the ocean, and that intrigued the beast. she had never spent much time on land, but she had studied its inhabitants enough to have a vague idea of how their society worked. these strange creatures, occupying both land and the waters, appeared to be welcoming of newcomers. she didn't know if there were any prerequisites. paws, fur, lungs? she supposed it made sense to have those attributes if they spent most of their interacting on the island itself and not in the water around it. no matter, she was sure that she could replicate those features accurately enough.

coils upon coils of armored scales twisted up from the depths of the ocean, paddle-like flippers moving her behemothian body through the waters with a surprising grace. she was used to this environment and somewhat reluctant to leave, but the siren song of curiosity was almost as alluring as her own. light began to glimmer in pillars around her as she neared the surface. she didn't come up this far often, only when she was following ships or observing the land critters from a distance. lots of little changes slowly rippled across her shrinking body, tufts of fur peeking from between scales and clawed flippers arranging themselves into a more suitable shape. By the time she finally washed upon the shore, pushed forwards by a wave of unnatural proportion, she was almost completely mammalian in appearance. it wasn't perfect, but her flippers and tail had become more seal-like than sea serpent, so it was passable. the gills that remained on her neck fluttered uselessly as she attempted to make the switch to lungs. the brief feeling of suffocation wasn't pleasant in the least, so it came as a relief when water poured violently from her mouth, freeing her airways and new lungs. the feeling was ever so strange, but she would adapt. her flippers pushed her chest up from the sand as she coughed and spluttered up the last of the water, shocking blue claws digging into the soft, golden bed beneath her. — my secret friend, i'll take you to the river

After her attempt at slaying her 'enemy', who she wished was never born, she had spent a lot of time on shore. Her eyes had watched the waters endlessly, thinking, pondering- what should she do? She didn't know. Her heart hurt, keeping it from Goldie, but yet, she didn't want to make it the Captain's problems. Her gold and silver eye blinked, the lioness's tail flicking behind her. Had she looked down at that moment, she would've missed the warning sign of something approaching the shore. Deldrach's eyes, however trained, didn't seem to miss it though.

Her eyes raised up, watching light and skin alike bubble to the surface, revealing what was normally in the depths of the ocean. The grizzled lioness pushed to her paws, stepping back and tail lashing. She was tempted to tilt her head and unsheathe the sword at her side. She ignore the gut feeling, watching the body thrash ashore. Deldrach blinked as it seemed to struggle to breathe, frozen as if it couldn't see her yet. When water burst from it's maw- she guessed- she exhaled. It was breathing, at least, so Deldrach didn't have to witness a fish flopping out of water. Whatever it was, she guessed, it wasn't a quite traditional way of arriving.

[color=#A90000]"You, uh.. alright there?" She asked, still tensed.

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the first two that came into view were both golden like the sand below her. they were about what she expected for land creatures, although the wings on the brighter one were somewhat out of the ordinary. he tongue, blue and forked, flicked curiously out her mouth as she observed them. hearing them speak was so strange, completely different to the communication that she was used to. in the ocean she only ever spoke with telekinesis or long, wordless songs. her jaws parted, closed, and parted again. "eh- hrm." her face scrunched up in thought. learning to speak on the fly wasn't going to be as easy as she had first hoped. for now she'd have to settle with her old ways; hopefully it wouldn't be too jarring for the poor air breathers. after all, she had heard that they possessed similar abilities.

'sorry, i am not used to the land,' she responded to deldrach. although she was only addressing the first land-dweller, she broadcasted her speech for all of those close enough to hear her naturally. 'i am okay now.' her eyes closed in a full-faced smile. goldenluxury's question caused that to fall away however, eyes reopening in a light kind of shock. 'it is that obvious, just by looking?' she asked, echoing voice laced with disappointment. she'd been hoping to mesh more effortlessly with the other mammals. apparently that wouldn't be the case. she shifted a little, using her fully formed back paws to stand. it was a shaky process, the unfamiliarity of the action blatantly obvious. 'i did come from the ocean,' she said as she moved. 'i am not often called a fish though. leviathan, behemoth, dinosaur, those are more common!' she slipped a little, but regained her footing quickly with a faint pout. this method of moving seemed awfully inefficient, the land-born did it so much more smoothly. her elegance was unmatched in the water, but on land she was just another blundering fool.

finally, she was greeted by a shape much different to the others. alas, she had seen this one, soaring above the waves. the sky did parallel her own world in many ways, but it was one that she had no desire to join. still, she found herself curious about the beast, and those giant wings that sat where her own extra limbs did. 'greetings,' she chimed. 'you are all the typhoon, yes? you let outsiders join you?' — my secret friend, i'll take you to the river

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