I don't wanna talk, I wanna be alone

The scent that seemed to emanate from the cavern walls was strong, though not quite cloying, as she descended further down into the earth. It didn't smell like anything she could place, the odor rich and sulfuric, almost like meat that had long since gone bad but not quite. Though this place was strange, and had a mildly foreboding aura to it, it didn't strike her as something catastrophically dangerous. It seemed like these caves had been here for far, far longer than she could ever imagine. Tethys made a note to ask some of the older members of the Armada if they've ever ventured this way once she went back home. Surely her mother knew something about it.

Briefly lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice the stranger's arrival until it was too late to evade his attention. Stiffening slightly, made ever-uncomfortable by the presence of those she didn't know, she tried to study him from what little light she had... which really wasn't much, her eyes still struggling to adjust to the darkness of the tunnels. At first she couldn't quite tell if his markings truly were glowing, or if it was just a strange trick of the eye, but studying him for a moment longer told her that she wasn't just seeing things. This stranger was, in fact, glowing. And his colors seemed quite bright too, though she couldn't really get a good look at him yet, both due to the darkness and the distance between them.

His tone was lost on her. Tethys interpreted most things as matter-of-factly as she could. His question seemed a simple one to her. "No," she answered easily enough. "Are you familiar with this place?" Her own question was curious, though her tone was rather neutral, not exactly friendly but not even a little bit hostile either. Maybe he knew something about the heat that seemed to be growing stronger with each step she took.