A pang of guilt struck the little cat as understanding flashed across Saira's face, and he nodded shakily as she repeated his observation. He almost wanted to apologize again, but for what exactly he couldn't find the words for. Instead he watched through frightened eyes as the tigress wilted back into her feline form, an instinctual relief washing over him despite the gnawing anxiety building in his belly that he'd offended her. At least his brain was no longer firing off every signal at once to scream that there was a predator staring him down, even if the logical part of him knew that Saira could likely just as easily snap back to that form again.
"Sorry," he finally coughed, managing to find his voice again. He remained firmly wedged under the rocks, though unhooked his aching claws from the stone as his adrenaline petered and he found the wits to hold a conversation again. "I'm, ah--I have never seen a...body like that. The unknown tends to...hunger."
For us, especially, Delta thought sardonically. His ears pricked as Saira spoke again, relieved again that her voice no longer rumbled through the stone or tickled his whiskers with the sheer power of her lungs. Power seemed to be something dragons were known for, according to her explanation. He almost chuckled disbelievingly at her assumption that he could be such a creature, but any amusement he'd felt was quickly swept away by both a pang of jealousy and shortly after that, guilt for feeling jealous.
Tsillah made him the way he was for a reason, he shouldn't wish to be something he wasn't. Even if that thing seemed arguably better in every way.
"N...no. I am not a dragon. I just..." he thought back to her snapping that he'd looked strange. He hadn't paid it much notice in the moment, too preoccupied thinking that she was going to eat him, but he averted his gaze then as he relayed the words through his memory and shuffled his fins self-consciously. "...look like this."
Delta had never thought of himself as strange looking; everyone he'd known had looked like him. He'd never felt much envy for the appearances of others until he'd met creatures such as Loch or Saira--it was an uncomfortable, unfamiliar feeling he'd rather live without. How bad must it have felt then for poor Saira when he'd hissed at her other form? He dipped his head towards the tigress and apologized again, properly this time.
"I am sorry Saira, for my re--ah, reaction. It was rude of me."
"Sorry," he finally coughed, managing to find his voice again. He remained firmly wedged under the rocks, though unhooked his aching claws from the stone as his adrenaline petered and he found the wits to hold a conversation again. "I'm, ah--I have never seen a...body like that. The unknown tends to...hunger."
For us, especially, Delta thought sardonically. His ears pricked as Saira spoke again, relieved again that her voice no longer rumbled through the stone or tickled his whiskers with the sheer power of her lungs. Power seemed to be something dragons were known for, according to her explanation. He almost chuckled disbelievingly at her assumption that he could be such a creature, but any amusement he'd felt was quickly swept away by both a pang of jealousy and shortly after that, guilt for feeling jealous.
Tsillah made him the way he was for a reason, he shouldn't wish to be something he wasn't. Even if that thing seemed arguably better in every way.
"N...no. I am not a dragon. I just..." he thought back to her snapping that he'd looked strange. He hadn't paid it much notice in the moment, too preoccupied thinking that she was going to eat him, but he averted his gaze then as he relayed the words through his memory and shuffled his fins self-consciously. "...look like this."
Delta had never thought of himself as strange looking; everyone he'd known had looked like him. He'd never felt much envy for the appearances of others until he'd met creatures such as Loch or Saira--it was an uncomfortable, unfamiliar feeling he'd rather live without. How bad must it have felt then for poor Saira when he'd hissed at her other form? He dipped his head towards the tigress and apologized again, properly this time.
"I am sorry Saira, for my re--ah, reaction. It was rude of me."