Theoric worked out the maps with Anna's help after mindlessly drifting while they had their fun, once again setting course for the island having wasted more than enough time messing around.
Sitting at the dining table they ate quietly, still having plenty of food thanks to no crew.
Anna felt the most shameful out of everyone there, having to be stopped by Theoric so they could complete what she believes to be her mission in order to redeem her mother's name. Io however felt similar after being so against it, thinking Theoric was nothing but a sex-starved fiend, but now he was the one who stopped things from continuing no thanks to her.
Theoric decided to break the silence- "Since we're all together now, and decent, I think nows the perfect chance to get to know each other better, please tell us more about yourself Lydia if you don't mind, I am particularly interested in why you don't look all fishy like the others."
Anna not wishing to get distracted again spoke up first- "Are you sure you wish her to speak?" She asked thinking about the consequences if her power leaked out.
Lydia blushed as she sent subtle glances towards Theoric's crotch- "I'll do my best to control myself better until I'm mentally prepared." she softly replied for the first time since receiving her punishment. She's been staying mostly quiet on the boat, not yet comfortable with everyone as well as trying to better control her power and not let it leak out affecting Theoric without his wish.
Sigyn looked at her confused not exactly understanding what she meant, she didn't get why Lydia needed to be mentally prepared, after all, she was always ready for Theoric in whatever compacity he wished her to be in.
Io and Anna on the other hand understood as they gave the siren a knowing smirk. Theoric could be a beast sometimes and they weren't always prepared like Sigyn for such intense pleasure.
Lydia then began to explain how her race functioned- "The reason I'm not 'fishy' or fish-like as you put it, is because I'm a queen of our race... The queen of our species are born to be as attractive as possible so that we can further appeal to our possible mates though not all sirens are humanoid like us though, there are different species of siren who feed and mate with different creatures and we appear in whatever form they may be.
Our species specializes in human sailors, which is why we have the form of an attractive female, and no we can't change form this is what our species are... The queen will find her own territory after being chosen by a mate over that of her queen mother, proving that she can now survive on her own. The queen will then keep the sperm of the donor inside her and use it to create the first batch of workers, the fish types you've seen. It's the worker's job to protect the queen and territory as well as provide the queen food.
The queen will let out her enchanting song to lure in prey and potential mates, its the worker's job then to kill them and distribute the food as well as being the obstacle to prove that any that pass them are superior and of good mating breed so that the next generation of workers can be stronger than the last.
Then after a period of time, the queen will give birth to more queens and the cycle will repeat. As for our abilities, we can control our voice to either be enchanting or deadly, and of course, we can swim fast and breathe underwater."
Anna- "So they're like ants."
Theoric agreed- "You're right, they are like ants, as for their form, it might be related to who gives them sperm, so whoever they mated with will be what they look like, one must have mated with a human at one point and created the humanoid sirens or stole their sperm." he said thinking out loud.
Lydia tilted her head- "Ants?"
Anna- "Ants are..."
Io interrupted her not wishing to listen to a detailed description of bugs- "That's not important, what I want to know is will this be a problem? I mean your goal is to go set up a new nest or whatever, but you're with us now and I doubt Theo will let you use his sperm to make a butch of fish babies."
Theoric- "Um, yeah, that's not happening."
Lydia honestly didn't know- "I'm not sure, but what I do know is I'm enjoying myself and while at first I did feel a need to collect his sperm, I no longer feel it as strongly as I once did."
Sigyn then asked the most important question to date- "What happens to the men who mate? I didn't see anyone."
Lydia avoided everyone's gaze as they all locked eyes on her waiting to hear.
Lydia looking back winced when Theoric asked- "Well?"
Lydia twirling her fingers while looking down answered- "We, um, we (...)" she spoke so softly they asked her again.
Io- "I'm sorry what? speak up please."
Theoric who heard leaned back wondering how he should address this.
Lydia said more loudly- "We eat them! there I said it, what did you expect when we eat everyone else, the mates are the same, just another source of food after we get what we wanted from them, they are in fact the best kind nutrition for the queen and the new brood."
Io and Sigyn's eyes widened, they just couldn't understand how you could eat someone you slept with.
Anna then asked another tough question- "How many men have you eaten?" she asked giving Lydia a strange look along with the other women.
Lydia's face went pale, she was really happy with the way things were going and didn't wish to be thrown out, she didn't even know if she could go back now that she was alone without a way to even produce workers like she was supposed to be doing.
Theoric simply asked- "Do you have the intention to keep eating men or is eating like this fine for you?"
Lydia panicked- "No, no, no, I'll never eat men again, please don't abandon me, I can and will eat like this from now on."
Theoric shook his head- "Stop panicking, calm down and answer the question, can you survive like this or do you need to eat humans?"
Lydia took a deep breath as she calmed herself before answering- "I can survive like this, I'm similar enough to humans."
Io then snapped- "Then why do you all continue to eat humans if you can survive like this!"
Lydia looked sad- "I don't know, it's all we've ever known, I don't know if our species can survive this way or not, I really don't know."
Theoric patted Io's head- "Calm down, it's not her fault, this was the way she was born and raised, it's never easy to invite change when you're raised a certain way and never learn any better, but if it is possible, we should try and sway them when we can."
Io calmed down liking what she heard, she was becoming more reasonable after losing her misplaced aggressive attitude towards him.
Theoric seeing Lydia still scared eased her fears- "Lydia, as long as you wish to stay by my side, you can stay by me, I will never throw a woman who wishes to be with me out."
Io perked up- "Never you say? How many women are you planning on having? Are we not enough?" she asked squinting her eyes at him.
Sigyn- "Oh my, you still have no idea how crazy Theoric can get..." she said recalling when Gaea saved her, telling them all about it.
The girls began to blush, Io, Anna, and Lydia began to wonder if they could have survived such an event.
Theoric laughed- "Hahaha, good times, but to answer your question Io, I plan on having many for I can handle many, ever heard the expression variety is the spice of life." he said with a huge grin showing his teeth.
Io not liking how smug he was being wanted to bring him down a peg- "Oh, variety is the spice of life, huh? So then you wouldn't mind me sleeping with lots of different men."
Theoric lost his grin- "Of course I mind, I'll never allow my women to sleep with any other men."
Io snorted- "Then you're being a hypocrite."
Theoric grinned again- "How so? I also don't sleep with men and you girls are also free to sleep with as many women as you want just like me, I'm not being Hypocritical at all."
Io lips twitched at his twisted logic which only made Theoric laugh again as he stuck his hand down her pants and began rubbing her ass, soon making her become putty in his hands as he took the fight out of her only to stop moments later causing her to frown at his teasing.
Theoric smiled as he gave her ass a quick slap- "Now, now, none of that, we just stopped because it was going on too long, besides I believe we have arrived." he said making his way outside after hearing the sounds of waves crashing against rock.