He instinctually tensed as Saira swam around him to catch a glimpse of his tail, but unlike before he didn't retract further back into his hiding spot. She was only looking as he had with her, so he supposed it was only fair. She called herself a tiger, was that a different kind of cat? It certainly explained the discrepancies between them, and Delta hummed thoughtfully; what kind of cat was he, then? Loch had jokingly called him a catfish, was that name more truthful than he'd initially thought?
Saira leaned in, and Delta shuffled backwards to avoid their noses brushing as he flared his nostrils and sniffed her again. She was even larger up close, dwarfing him as her baritone rumbling sent the water around his whiskers quaking. Frightening indeed, but so far unthreatening. She certainly smelled like a cat, though there was a strange, almost spicy tang to her that the little cat couldn't recognize as he flared his whiskers and waved them out to feel the space between them. He blinked with surprise at her statement and tilted his head again, letting out a questioning little trill.
"I am from the ocean. We all swim there," he looked again at her gills and then back down to her striped sides where no fins sprouted. "You, ah, are the first cat I have seen here. Are you, um, like the wolves? Land-wolves?" He had to specify--he'd always thought wolves were a land-specific animal, but that too had recently been proven false. Delta's ears pricked at her next question, and they quickly pinned again he shrunk into himself with nervous hesitance. "Ah, do you mean to come out? Of the rocks?" 'proper form' was certainly a new way of phrasing that, but what else could she have meant?
Saira's next statement confused him even further. He could already see her proper form, she was floating out right in front of him. Unless...?
"Do your fins hide like your gills?" Delta asked, slowly extending his head out again as he nervously considered her request. Yes, she was a cat, but she was absolutely massive. If she wanted to, she could send him to Tsillah with a single bite. What if this was just all a ploy to get him out so she could eat him? He kept his form tense and ready to jerk back into the stones' cracks, dark eyes flicking up and down her body for any sign of aggression as he choked out his next words. "If, ah--if I come out, are you going to eat me, Saira?"
Saira leaned in, and Delta shuffled backwards to avoid their noses brushing as he flared his nostrils and sniffed her again. She was even larger up close, dwarfing him as her baritone rumbling sent the water around his whiskers quaking. Frightening indeed, but so far unthreatening. She certainly smelled like a cat, though there was a strange, almost spicy tang to her that the little cat couldn't recognize as he flared his whiskers and waved them out to feel the space between them. He blinked with surprise at her statement and tilted his head again, letting out a questioning little trill.
"I am from the ocean. We all swim there," he looked again at her gills and then back down to her striped sides where no fins sprouted. "You, ah, are the first cat I have seen here. Are you, um, like the wolves? Land-wolves?" He had to specify--he'd always thought wolves were a land-specific animal, but that too had recently been proven false. Delta's ears pricked at her next question, and they quickly pinned again he shrunk into himself with nervous hesitance. "Ah, do you mean to come out? Of the rocks?" 'proper form' was certainly a new way of phrasing that, but what else could she have meant?
Saira's next statement confused him even further. He could already see her proper form, she was floating out right in front of him. Unless...?
"Do your fins hide like your gills?" Delta asked, slowly extending his head out again as he nervously considered her request. Yes, she was a cat, but she was absolutely massive. If she wanted to, she could send him to Tsillah with a single bite. What if this was just all a ploy to get him out so she could eat him? He kept his form tense and ready to jerk back into the stones' cracks, dark eyes flicking up and down her body for any sign of aggression as he choked out his next words. "If, ah--if I come out, are you going to eat me, Saira?"