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"Ahh, Underworldsss?" she perked up at the sound of that, unfeigned interest suffusing her features. "Do your people worsssship the Great Old Onesss?" The reverence was evident in tone as she asked, her voice trailing off into a whisper as if it was almost too holy to speak of. Deep Ones had their own forms of mysticism, so she actually found this idea of veils between the worlds unsurprising.

She smirked sideways at him as he moved of from her, but didn't try to touch him again. "Both land and water, that mussst be an interesssting way of life," she waxed thoughtful again, considering the ramifications of this dual citizenship. "You belong to both worldsss and neither," was her simple conclusion.

As he went downward and deeper, she followed at a lazier pace, turning gracefully to hang upside down before him, drifting away and then paddling back as the water moved her. "You are not curiousss about other watersss?" Inquisitiveness was pretty close to the heart of her nature, she couldn't fathom being content not knowing about something. At his pointed question, she grinned again, as happy to satisfy another's curiosity. "It wasss my SSSCABA sssuit. It letssss me breathe water when I am on land. You ssssee, I cannot be in the air for very long." She touched her face near her eyes, fishlike but still lidded, and gestured to her hip fins. "Deep Onesss become more like Father Dagon and Mother Hyrdra asss we grow old." The explanation left a lot out, but it didn't occur to her that anyone wouldn't know the gods and their function.

She was off on the next topic without a worry in the world, "If you are a panther, then what are the hornsss for? They are not ornamentsss or rank marksss?" Nevermind the fins, scales... No, only that part confused her for whatever reason. Her logic fell far short of flawless.

"Hrrrr, deitiessss yourssselves," she mused aloud. She felt that this had been quite an admission for him, seeing as how his kind had diminished over time. "We are jussst ssstoriess ourssselvesss now. Humansss do not fear the ssssea and the unknown deepsss like they sssshould. No offeringsss, not sssacrifice. No fear." The clarity of her pronunciation of the last bit made it stand out all the more.

The ideas were not irreconcilable to the Deep One. "Yess, both and neither," she repeated, bobbing her head. "You are not life or death, you mussst be both. And thusss, you are outsssside the two, making you alsssso neither. Sssssort of a..." she literally clutched at the water, trying to come up with the word she wanted, "one who walksss linesss. Liminal." Sometimes being a bit archaic in knowledge did have its advantages. She couldn't think of a modern word that felt right.

"Perhapsss one day we might on a field trip," she considered. But that was a long way off and hardly important now. She perked up at his question, "Father Dagon, Mother Hydra," there was a certain amount of gravity in her tone, but also a suppressed excitement. "We become perfect water creaturesss, asss much fisssh asss anything else, thanksss to them, our Elder Godsss. Deep Onesss are anccient fisssh peoplesss, and following the waysss the Father and Mother set for usss hasss kept usss alive in sssspite of humankind'sss thoughtlesssnesssss." She gestured toward him. "You know the ssssentiment."

Ys blinked as he laughed, a slower smile creeping across her face at the sound. "Ssssuch a ssstrange combination, but I can sssee a sssort of balanccce to it." She nodded in agreement, "You will have a fine crown when thisss time comess!" Crown. That reminded her of what she had been thinking of earlier and her smile turned sly. "Sssspeaking of crownsss, were you one of the boilsss trying for Prom King?"

She nodded enthusiastically. It seemed that not being able to move about on land agreed with her well enough. "Yess, yess! It isss not needed anymore at that point. It isss more important to go forth to the great cccitiesss and ssserve there." She pointed at herself, "We young onesss mussst learn what we wisssh of the world of the landwalkersss while we can. Of courssse, our time runss long. It will be yearsss and yearsss, many yearss, before that isss an option for me."

Ys shrugged, at a loss as to how to convey the deeper meaning of the transformation. "To become like our godsss is like getting our antlersss. Eldersss are to be ressspected and feared, asss well asss knowersss of many sssecretsss." She sighed, a hissing, bubbly little sigh. "I would like to sssee the greater cccitiesss of the deep. Ssssome of them did not originally belong to usss, you sssee. My short-name? It isss one of them. Ys." Her pride in the name was quite obvious, her narrow chest puffed out as she explained, "It wasss a vassst human placcce taken by the ssssea. They ssstill remember it asss a ssstory, but it wasss real."

In reply to his annoyance, she added, "Sssstrange isss a good thing, yess? I think it iss a good thing," she trailed off, not wanting to press his ego further on that point. Returning her attention to the subject of the prom, she shook her head at him, smiling at a myriad of small jokes she could have made at his expense, but sparing his pride for the moment. "Ohh, I don't know, it could be interessssting, even without ssso much attention asss a king. Ssssurely there is a ghoul or two you might like to impresss? At the leassst, there ought to be sssuch deliccciousss food." A timely rumble of her stomach made it obvious why she was on that train of thought.

She pursed her lips, considering the question. "I would sssay four main onesss, other ssssmaller habitatttions are sssscattered about in ssstrategic areass. Good for FEAR collecting." She didn't mention what else made them strategic. It didn't do to talk too much of the gods, seeing as how not all of them slumbered.

"Heh!" His response startled another laugh out of her. He certainly had no doubts about his prowess, this one. "Well, I think it would be ssssomething fun, getting to sssee everyone all dresssed up and fancccy looking," she mused. "I am going, I think it isss a good opportunity to make alliancccesss." She gave him a measuring look. "You ssshould come, it might be fun even for ssssomeone who already impresssessss the ressst."

She eyed the (too) curious fish about them at that comment. "Care to join in a sssnack then?" With surprising speed for a humanoid shape, she darted out and caught a small one, devouring it in a bite. Not so much as a scale remained.

She shrugged, thinking that there may be more to it than just boredom keeping him away from the prom. "Weeell," she drew out the word, "If you do happen to sssshow up, come sssay hello, eh?" The ghoul watched as he caught himself a snack too, admiring the feline grace with which he did so. Hardly anyone around here was so at home in the water, it was a refreshing thing to see. The fish were probably on to them now, since she didn't see nearly so many of them about anymore. Some of the remaining specimens looked a bit too brave, suggesting that they might have something up their figurative sleeves.

When he went up to the surface, she watched, wondering what he was about. The invitation surprised her, but she found herself delightedly accepting, "That isss a good idea, I think I will take you up on it." She swam up alongside, poking her head out for a moment to get her bearings so she could get her gear as soon as possible once on land and then striking out in that direction. "What classs?" she called back over her shoulder as she stepped out of the water and began buckling on the various bits of the contraption.

As the last bits and bobbles were snapped in place and the helm filled with water, she took a deep breath, turning to look at him with her hands on her hips. "I am off to ssssee what I can ssscrounge up to eat then. I have no classs yet, but I am ssssupposssed to try out for musssic." She'd probably end up with castanets or something, since a wind instrument was out of the question. Anyway, how did he know to go to class if he didn't know which class? What an odd school.

"I will ssssee you later, Dekana." She made it a statement, sure that she would. Even if they didn't run into each other at one of the various bodies of water around the campus, there was always class or the dorms. She gave him a friendly wave and started off, intent on something a little more filling than lake fry.