Two rivers flow over a series of cliffs into a massive lake and water system. Jungle and tropical foliage surround the waterfalls. The sound of the falls can be heard from far around and a thick mist hangs in the air.
Delta had grown so accustomed to the ice that the lack of it was almost...uncomfortable. It had been like a shell, protecting him beneath the water from whatever hungry land-beasts tried to fish for him. Without its cover came the familiar fear of being watched, and the little cat hesitantly poked his eyes above the water's surface to glimpse his strange new surroundings.
The land east to the cove was unfamiliar to him, filled with broad leaves and warm mist even in the coldest of winter months; only the thinnest of ice could form on the river's shallow edges, and the water as a whole was temperate--a far cry from the frigid temperatures he'd swam from. He ran his tongue around his fangs nervously before diving beneath the surface again, lazily flapping his fins against the muddy riverbed and letting himself be pulled along by the current.
It certainly was pretty here, both above and beneath the water. Aquatic plants and shiny little fish wove around his fur, dappled sunlight falling through the canopy above and glittering against their iridescent scales. Ancient trees that had toppled and long since absorbed into the bank provided an intricate maze of roots and algae to wind through, and Delta allowed himself a moment to play among the foliage as he chased little black crabs and diving beetles. It was a strange place, but it was nice. A secret little sliver of spring in an otherwise winter wonderland.
Eventually he abandoned his play, continuing to follow the current as the sun rose higher and brightened the clear green water. He could feel the water changing against his whiskers as he swam, recognizing a dull vibration followed soon after by a distant rumbling in his ears. Waterfall, he recognized, but his flash of fear was short lived. It felt like the waterfall was pouring into the river he swam in now, and the tingle at his whiskers further told him that the river would be widening into a basin soon. He had nothing to fear, he was swimming towards it, not down it.
Sure enough, Delta's whiskers were correct. The riverbank dipped harshly and the current widened, feeding into a massive lake filled with cool, emerald water churned by the force of twin waterfalls tumbling down the impressive cliffsides. He poked his eyes above the water and blinked rapidly to adjust to the light, taking in the gorgeous view with awestruck fear.
Delta had never seen a place like it before. It was beautiful, and so many more of those strange summer plants and twisted trees wound their way around the scenery. Though the mist shrouded his little face, beneath the surface he tucked his paws to his belly and dove again with a pump of his wide fins, resembling nothing more than a strange little fish as he explored the green water.
Saira had to admit, she'd been pretty skeptical when her mother had finally begun posturing and nipping; insisting that she was old enough to spread her wings and establish a territory of her own but it was starting to seem that her mother had been right again. As far as territories for recently independent tigeresses went, the den in the cliffs appeared to have been a stroke of immaculate fortune on her part. It seemed to be laid dead-center of anything the tigeress could ever want - a thick tangled jungle as a home-range, water in practically every direction and decorated in various trinkets and glimmering collectables to add to her budding hoard. Her first two attempts at establishing ahome (first near her mother, until she was confident enough she could defend her own land) hadn't been nearly no luxurious.
The striped tigeress padded through the tangled underbrush, stalking more out of habit than seeking any true prey to hunt as her green eyes skimmed the undergrowth. It was full of colorful birds in every branch, with equally striking flowers sprouting along the ground.
Saira followed her ears toward the ever-present rumble echoing through the foliage, seeking the source of the river she would now rely on as the major source that fed the various streams in her home-range. Ezhil had beaten that into her head too - a hunter was only as efficient as they were aware of their resources. If her territory entered a drought, or the fish started floating, the problem would like source from further upstream. Plus, Saira was eager to see another waterfall - she had learned a lesson about trying too establish a den directly behind one, but they were still incredible sights that she was drawn to. Knowing what she would see still did nothing for her amazement at the sheer scale of magnificent she was looking upon.
Oh what a kingdom this would be mother...
She shook out her thick pelt, the ever-present fog serving to dampen her the longer she loitered though she didn't much mind. If anything, the idea of potentially riding the river from it's waterfall source all the way down to her newly established home appealed immensely. The idea would catch two birds with one swipe even - it would allow her to still become more aware of her territory while also being a lot of fun. Three birds really, because it would save her the trouble of walking or flying home as well.
She stepped out onto the larger gray stones in the pool, safely away the heavy rumbling of the waterfall as she ducked her head to drink from the pool.
Then blinked in confusion at a strange gray form twisting in the clear waters.
...what a strange fish, Saira thought, absently raising a large paw and swiped curiously at its form, though lacking any real interest in catching it. It was a lot bigger than the creatures she usually targeted in the water and she didn't know if it was potentially poisonous - the glimmer it had was off too, it was still shiny but it was a different sort of shiny than the shine that fish-scales held. Upon closer inspection, it even appeared to have legs. Wonder if it's any good. That new crab hadn't been half-bad.
Delta's investigations took him further from the lake's center, scooting cautiously along the lakebed to make sure no predators were swimming past before darting up again to float in open water. The currents felt different in the lake, a consistent pulse thrumming out from the twin waterfalls and pushing all around and against his whiskers in ways the river's simply couldn't. The cove's water had been much gentler than this, and saltier as well. Delta couldn't decide which of them he preferred, though he found a small smile creeping onto his muzzle as he took breaks between his anxious leering to spin and twirl through the water.
Slowly, his antics led him further towards the shoreline. The water was still rather deep here, several yards from where the lakebed would rise and turn into proper shallows, but a series of long, dark boulders piled from the earth to rise above the water's surface. They cast a hazy shadow over the water as the sun glinted overhead, and Delta missed the shape of the tiger slinking across their flat tops as he shimmied his way through underwater crevices in the stones to explore. Clouds of minnows scattered as he twisted and turned between the rocks, rubbing his muzzle up and down algae and aquatic stems to mark his scent before finally pulling himself back out into the open water with a tiny, rasping giggle.
He liked it here. It reminded him of home.
Delta didn't see the swipe, but he felt the water break above him like a strike to his whiskers. Instantly he whirled backwards, instincts taking reign as he lashed his tail hard and dove with all the speed he could muster. He hit the earth hard and pressed himself down against the lake's sandy bottom, shuffling his fins wildly to hide himself beneath the earth as his dark eyes scoured the water's rippling surface above. His heart thudded wildly against his ribs, thoughts of play abandoned as he attempted to hide himself from whatever had struck out from the land.
He wished then, desperately, that the water was not as pretty and clear as it was. Go to the rocks! he thought, hide in a crack! But he couldn't move; instinct told him to hide and freeze now, and his whole body felt like lead. With his brow peeking above the sand, he struggled to make shape of what was crouching above him past the stone's shadow and the sunlight's rippling glare. Was it one of the land predators that had tried to eat him before? The huge, shaggy beast with brown fur and tiny round ears? Delta shuddered at the thought and pressed himself further down, not wanting to be on the receiving end again of those frighteningly long claws again.
DICE ROLL: Stealth
Success: Delta buries himself successfully beneath the sand. He clearly dove down to hide, but can Saira find him?
Failure: Poor guy tried his best, but he's totally visible still in the clear water.
Character Diceroll 1: Success Diceroll must be above 500 to be successful.
0 was added for Stealth.
556 was added for Level 5.
0 was added for A. No Enchantment.
3 was deducted for C. Vagrant Penalty.
Saira's ears immediately swivelled forward to match whiskers now pointing in the same direction as she stared down at the clear waters with amazement. This land was full of so many fascinating new creatures - delicious crabs, delicous strange deer and now, a strange fish-creature with legs that could vanish into thin water. She watched for a moment, eyes intent on catching even the faintest sign of movement but try as she might, the tigeress couldn't see that far beneath the water - even such clear water - without making getting a closer look with all of that loose earth being stirred into the current.
And a closer look she did decide on. It would be a complete waste to find such a good pool of fresh water and not even play in it a little.
So Saira slid into the water easily, allowing its cool viscousness to envelop her with a pleased chuff and started pleasantly paddling around. She was tempted to slip under the waterfall itself but it would probably be a lot less fun that it sounded until she was a bit bigger, like her mom so for the moment, she just enjoyed swimming against the current.
She released a throaty laugh at the sight of some long leafy plant that had been washed away and didn't hesitate to grab it and started tossing it around. She flung it with her jawsm watching it splash and sink a little as she paddled over in an almost casual motion to catch it and swim it back to the surface, thoughts of the strange fish-thing pushed to the back of her mind. She tossed it one more time, watching it splash a bit further away than anticipated and begin to sink. Unbeneownst to her, it was sinking right in front of the hidden friend in the water and Sara began swimming toward her newfound toy.
---
OOC - Saira isn't hunting him so she lost interest fairly quicky when she couldn't see him anymore XD
He held his breath, body frozen as he gazed fearfully up towards the water's surface. The shape of the creature had stilled as well, and he wondered for a moment if it would abandon its hunt and leave him be.
Instead however, its dark shape slid forward and cut through the water with an explosion of bubbles. Against the sun's reflection he could not discern much--only that one, it was large, and two, it was coming towards him. Delta's heart thrummed wildly against his chest, anticipation building in his unsheathed claws as he tensed his muscles and prepared to snap from his hiding place and take off into deeper water. He sent a prayer to Tsillah that he would escape its fangs as he readied himself, eyeing the cracks in the stone in front of him with desperation as his gaze flicked between it and the danger above him.
Except, in his panicked state, it took a moment for him to realize that the apparent danger was swimming away from him. Delta blinked, forcing his head to keep still as he watched the shape paddle away to the corner of his vision. Had it given up its hunt? Had it been the same beast as before? A cautious relief washed over him, and he eased his grip on the soil and fluttered his gills beneath the sand with his soft breath. Slowly he turned his head and watched it paddle further away, not taking his eyes off the shape as he inched forwards closer towards the stones it had previously crouched upon.
He could only really see its paws under the water, and a long, rounded tail which swept out behind it as it began wrestling with a clump of tall riverweed. When it seemed distracted enough, he lunged forwards and crammed himself between the stones, practically folding over himself to turn in the tight space so he could peek out into the open water from his new hiding spot. He waited a while there, recollecting himself in the reassurring darkness. Now that his initial anxiety had passed, he felt the stirrings of a dangerous curiosity. He wanted to know what it was--it didn't seem to be wolf nor beast, but something about it almost felt familiar.
Delta leered out and watched as it flung the riverweed into the air, hesitantly poking out his head and squinting in a vain attempt to watch where it'd land only to flinch backward harshly as it crashed into the water in front of him. It sunk with a flurry of bubbles, and behind its shroud he spotted the shape paddling closer again to reclaim the toy. As it grew closer he made out its shape more clearly; long and muscled with a bright, fiery sort of pelt. A familiar fear squeezed at its lungs as it neared and he retreated, and he wondered if perhaps he should ready his screeching, but then it dove. Now underwater, a face all too similar to his own came into focus, and his eyes widened.
It was absolutely huge and lacking any sort of fins, but it was a cat, like him! A strange flurry of emotions passed through him all at once, watching through wide, disbelieving eyes as he watched it slowly approach. When had been the last time he'd seen another like himself? Could some cats live out of the water like how some wolves could live in it? Why was it in the lake, then?
A million questions shot through his brain and he felt his mouth dry, torn between disbelief and an anxious giddiness that sent his whiskers trembling. Slowly, before he could overthink and convince himself overwise, he pushed his head out of his cranny in the rocks. He moved cautiously, eyes still fixated on the strange, massive cat as he extended a shaking paw out to the riverweed. He scooped it clumsily off the lakebed and batted it towards them in a hesitant gesture of play before once again quickly retreating into the rocks. Could it understand him like other cats or Loch could?
"Hello," Delta tried, his voice a clicking, alien hum in the thick water.
Saira did an extra flourishing spin as she approached her prize for no other reason than she could, absently contemplating if this little pool was big enough for her to shift safely in. The water was cool but not cold, the current present but not overpowering and she could see herself spending days just floating in the water, letting the bubbles foam around her form. She stretched out her neck, a slow trail of bubbles flowing from her mouth to grasp the flowing leaves of her toy only to jolt back in surprise at the gray face that appeared to her
It's the strange fish! Saira realized immediately, although now that she was looking at it up-close, it was definitely not a fish. It had fins like one, but its ears were exposed and rounded like her own and it had long, feathery whiskers. It was mostly the nose that clarified things to her though - because it was very similar to the one on her own face.
Then she blinked when it spoke, tilting her large head. She opened her mouth to response, only a trail of bubbles leaving her mouth reminding her of the predicament but rather than panicking, she wordlessly allowed some of the fur on her neck to tangle inward, the sides becoming a fleshy-red that was immediately covered over by sleek fur as her newly created gills took a breath in. She coughed reflexively - Saira was a flyer more than a diver, it wasn't often she used her 'water-lungs' as her mother called them and she frequently forgot to empty her air-lungs before she used them.
"Hello," Saira offered, briefly fascinated by the gentle rumble of her own voice. Is that just what underwater voices sound like? Of course, her attention was immediately redirected once more by the grass floating toward her, presumably tossed by the strange-cat before her. "I'm Saira - what are you?"
They were nearly close enough to touch now, and their scent--her scent, it seemed, washed through his nostrils as he sniffed curiously in her direction. Delta curled his claws into the stone beneath him to keep his legs from shaking as the massive cat tilted her head and opened jaws to reveal a mouthful of frighteningly long fangs, but thankfully, she didn't lunge.
Instead she sent forth a trail of bubbles which Delta only ever-so-slightly flinched back from; had she tried to speak with the air in her lungs? He wondered then if she'd even understood him underwater, dark eyes flicking across their finless form with concern before motion caught his attention at the sides of her neck. The flesh there split as if slit with invisible claws, but no blood clouded the water as they flexed against her fur.
Gills! He realized, wonder crossing his expression as he watched the strange cat sputter with her newest breaths. How amazing it was to be able to grow gills whenever one wanted! Did it make the transition from water to land easier? Were her fins just hidden as well? Delta took a peek at her tail again, but with some disappointment noted that it seemed unchanged from how it was before. Still, she was a cat! She was like him!
She spoke again, and with the water filling her lungs her voice rumbled heavily through the water and sent tickles down his whiskers. She had understood him, and his gills fluttered with relief as he sagged against the rocks.
"Sai-ra," he mirrored, testing her name. She'd asked not who he was, but what he was, but no offense crossed his expression as he blinked in thought. He was a cat, of course, but he was also him."I am River Delta," he said simply. He looked Saira up and down, unfamiliar to any social faux pas he may be committing as an awed curiosity made itself evident on his face. "You are unlike us,"me, his thoughts corrected with a pang of longing. "But...you are a cat as well?" His tone lilted with a shy hopefulness, practically in disbelief that despite her differences, he was finally meeting another feline again.
Saira tilted her head with awed amazement, jade eyes scanning over the strange water-creature's form. She swam a bit to his side, looking curiously at his tail - that was why she'd assumed it was a fish even despite it- his, paws. It was large and equally striped as the rest of him and reminded her of the cat-fish that used to live in her mother's territory. He'd even burrowed into the earth in much the same way. She wondered if she could manipulate her form to mimic that - she'd never tried, just shifting between her usual self and her dragon self. She made a mental note to test it at some point - it would be incredibly convenient if she could adopt a better swimming form. And the sail-fins on the salt-water fish she'd been sparingly introduced to had been beautiful. Saira thinks she'd look equally striking with a flowing set of fins of her own.
"I am a cat - a tiger," Saira agreed, almost disbelieving but the proof was in the paws and the familiar nose. She stretched out her neck, almost close enough to brush noses with this other cat, River Delta. Wasn't that a landmark? She almost wanted to call that a strange name except the only other tiger she'd met in her life was named 'Summit' after the mountain she (the other tiger) was raised near so maybe landmark references were normal and names like hers were more characteristic of her own, noble heritage as a dragon? She pondered it for a moment before dismissing the thought and rumbled pleasantly, "You're a cat too? But you swim! I haven't met many other cats who swim..."
In fact, usually when Saira tried to coax another feline to swim with her, all but the jaguars have looked at her like she was completely insane. The tigeress didn't really understand the aversion - the water was often refreshingly cool and filled with delicious fish and the mediocre flesh of crocodile if you swam well enough. A perfect combination for her.
"May I see your proper form?" Saira asked, praising herself for asking instead of demanding. It seemed her mother's lessons were working. She'd only seen a few sea-dragons in her life and almost none of them had allowed her to see their land-shapes. Was this why? Did they not have proper land-shapes? That would make sense she supposes - Saira was a land-dragon and so, she had a shape suited for more than just flying, she had one for stalking, for pouncing and power. Maybe sea-dragons had forms meant for swimming and diving. "I'll show mine too, it's only fair."
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?"
