The little cat nodded quickly, relieved that Saira could understand his dilemma as he slowly unpinned himself from the stone floor. Her newly finned tail rippled behind her as she flipped to float upside down, and his eyes were drawn to the familiar shape as he watched her adjust. Logically, he knew that it wasn't a real part of her--or at least one she'd live with normally, but even if it looked different to the fins he'd seen on his own peers, seeing her with it gave him a sad sense of comfort. She really was the closest thing he'd met to his species, whatever his species really was considering how different cats seemed to be on land.
Delta gave the great tigress a small smile as she accepted his apology, and a fresh interest glittered in his eyes as his gaze snapped to follow the seagrass she'd begun batting at again. He paused, expression conflicted as he weighed the option of having to leave his burrow, but...
...well, she'd accepted his apology, and even in her more frightening form she'd made no move to attack him. Carefully he crept out from under the rocks and unfurled his fins from where they hugged against his sides, sliding across the dark lakebed with a slow wave of his tail as he approached the much larger cat and her toy. It fluttered tantalizingly in the water, and he looked back and forth between it and Saira before nodding again, hoping the trembling of his paws wasn't as apparent to her as it was to himself.
"Okay," he meowed softly, and suddenly he was off. His fins slammed down as he kicked off the mud, sending a dark cloud of sediment spraying around him as he lunged forwards and snapped the grass between his jaws. He pumped his tail and cut down through the water until his paws touched the lakebed again, alternating between hops and glides to quickly dart away through the lake as nervous excitement channeled itself into adrenaline. He almost didn't want to look behind him, knowing that while he was inviting the tigress to chase him, he didn't know if his heart could take actually seeing her lunging after him.
Delta squeezed his eyes shut and reared back, letting go of the plant and smacking it up towards the surface with a forceful swipe of his tail as he swiveled and dropped back to the lakebed.
Delta gave the great tigress a small smile as she accepted his apology, and a fresh interest glittered in his eyes as his gaze snapped to follow the seagrass she'd begun batting at again. He paused, expression conflicted as he weighed the option of having to leave his burrow, but...
...well, she'd accepted his apology, and even in her more frightening form she'd made no move to attack him. Carefully he crept out from under the rocks and unfurled his fins from where they hugged against his sides, sliding across the dark lakebed with a slow wave of his tail as he approached the much larger cat and her toy. It fluttered tantalizingly in the water, and he looked back and forth between it and Saira before nodding again, hoping the trembling of his paws wasn't as apparent to her as it was to himself.
"Okay," he meowed softly, and suddenly he was off. His fins slammed down as he kicked off the mud, sending a dark cloud of sediment spraying around him as he lunged forwards and snapped the grass between his jaws. He pumped his tail and cut down through the water until his paws touched the lakebed again, alternating between hops and glides to quickly dart away through the lake as nervous excitement channeled itself into adrenaline. He almost didn't want to look behind him, knowing that while he was inviting the tigress to chase him, he didn't know if his heart could take actually seeing her lunging after him.
Delta squeezed his eyes shut and reared back, letting go of the plant and smacking it up towards the surface with a forceful swipe of his tail as he swiveled and dropped back to the lakebed.