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It was warm upon the mountainside, but the brawny grey pup could not have been more oblivious. There was far too much to do, far too much to see, and way too many places to explore. But Mom was a worrier; as much as he wanted to go barreling through the forests and confronting everything that he came upon within their home territory of Mount Volkan - something he was sure Warja would have been happy to tag along for - she would not allow it. And Dad was a stickler for rules. There was nothing to be done about it.

He had pouted and grumbled for all of two seconds before he gave up on it and began poking around outside of the den, growling quietly as he crept around. His front end was lowered, crouched with his rosy pink eyes narrowed and his black nose skimming the ground. There was Dad's scent, Mom's, and a little of Warja and Keiki. And... What was this? Eirik's black ears turned and pinned slightly as he drew back with a puzzled look, setting them forward alertly as he crawled another step while sniffing again at the ground. Wholly curious, he followed it, brow knit with concentration and determination.

Oh. Was that it? He had really expected the trail to go further than this. Or at least he had been hoping it would. Where was the fun in trailing a smell if you never got to find out what made it? With a disappointed scowl and huff, Eirik straightened himself out, squaring his shoulders and lifting his head with a self-appointed authority. Stupid smell. But as he turned his rosy gaze around him and finally took stock of where he was he wondered if maybe the trail had not been as super short as he had thought. If he turned around he would end up back at the den, back where he was supposed to be. But if he stayed here...he might find the scent again.

Daring to stay, he grinned mischievously and went back to sniffing, tail wagging over the excitement of finally doing what he wanted regardless of repercussions.

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From higher up on the mountain the pup had grabbed her attention. Her sapphire blue eyes watched him stalk around with his nose seemingly pressed to the rocky ground. If he was looking for something to eat, he wouldn't find anything...nothing worth catching anyway. The active volcano above usually kept all away, for her the only thing that made her want to leave was the heat it radiated.

It wasn't until the pup had stopped sniffing and looked around that she considered he might be following her scent. At that her tail flipped mischievously and looked around for any pups or even this one's parents. Would she try to corrupt this one, use him to get what she wanted or would simply make lunch out of him.

The ivory and onyx spotted woman was off of her ledge within seconds. With a few of her leaps from ledge to ledge she was behind the child. She didn't stand very tall but that was the only small thing a bout her. "Why is it a child is tracking me" her voice rang out from behind the tiny lad. Her front right leg outstretched and her large paw landed on the boys back, using her claws not to hurt the boy but to keep him from running from her

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He had hardly gotten more than a few feet before he heard the sound of something nearby. It was faint at first, followed by a small space of silence, and then it repeated again but louder than the time before. And incredibly close. With it came the sense of being watched, of someone suddenly being behind him, and while the fur upon the back of his neck bristled he held still, listening as a smooth voice spoke out to him, his ears turning upon his head to listen to the stranger. That was not a normal voice. There was something distinctly off about it, something that made his skin crawl in ways that not even a stern look from his mother could do.

Was he in trouble here too?

Before he had a chance to turn and take in the appearance of the figure behind him, he felt a weight upon his back. His burly little frame shuddered once beneath the foreign touch, skin prickling in the places that the claws touched, and his heart began to race. His parents did not have paws like this. He had been pawed at before by his father, and it had never felt like that. This was wrong. This was not good for him at all. Instinct told him to run, but even as he shifted a little he could feel the tug of those claws against his skin, daring him to move further and shred himself in the process. No, he was stuck at the hands of this strange creature who was not a wolf. But that did not mean he was entirely defenseless.

His fur bristled more as he dared to growl, his childish threat hardly impressive if not for the fact he had been able to muster it at all. "Let me go," he argued, turning his muzzle slightly as he drew back his lip and bared what little fang he did have at the unknown cat who held him in place. "My dad roams this place. You'll be sorry if he finds you." An empty threat in every sense, but he spoke boldly, not wanting the creature to read through his bluff too easily and hoping that it might have at least a little positive effect to his benefit.

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She could not have planned the boys capture better. Coming up behind the pup while he was tracking caused him to stop in his tracks. She had watched the fur on his neck rise as her voice had rang out and laughter found its way out of her at his reaction to her paw on his back. let me go the childish growl had only succeeded in causing her to laugh a bit more.

Him bearing his teeth at her would do nothing to make her release him. At the mention of the boy's father, Kathleen grew silent and pulled the boy into her. "You are mistaken if you think your father could save you if harm is what id intended for you boy." in pulling him closer to her she had removed her claws from his back and rapped her leg around him. She had brought her face to just above his head.

If he wanted to he could easily dig his baby teeth into her face giving him time to escape her grasp however he wouldn't make it far. In doing what she did, it also gave him the opportunity to see who or rather what she was. "Besides, if id wanted to make a meal of you I would not be speeking to you, you would be as limp as a rabbit one of your parents my have captured for you to taste"

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She laughed at his bravado, a scathing sound that wounded his poor pride though he was far too invested to give up on it completely. He had turned his ears to listen but now they nearly pinned against his head, betraying him as they revealed somewhat the worry that was beginning to grow inside of him if she was inclined to take notice. She should not have laughed, she was not supposed to laugh. How could she feel so little threat from running across a wolf whose pup she currently had pinned beneath her paw? How was he going to get away now?

The claw upon his back was lifted from his frame but stayed close, snaking around him to wrap around his front and draw him in to the creature who had stopped him in his tracks. Eirik's little paws skipped across the ground as he moved with its guidance, trying to keep his footing while he turned his head to get his first look at his temporary captor while her strange voice so easily wrote off his warning. And now he knew why. This was no wolf like his father, mother, and siblings. In fact, she did not resemble any creature that he had ever come across during his travels from the island upon which he had been born to here. But it was evident in the prickly claws of her feet and the gleam of sharpened canines as she spoke to him that she was no prey easily spooked by the right word or phrase. If anything, he was.

A quick shudder raced through his frame as he tried the shrug off her paw, the gesture a combination of fright and defiance. He wanted very much to get away, to be clear of this dangerous cat and her threats, but the fear was visible in his rosy pink eyes: this was not a situation easily weaseled out of. The grey and black youth tried his darnedest to harden his expression but there was no hiding the minute wobble that his lower lip gave though his voice was strong despite its low volume. "I said," he repeated, "Let me go," each word spoken singularly with his effort of maintaining control over himself. He could not crumble, not now when this cat had made it crystal clear she was in charge. He needed to be strong, like he thought his dad would be, and he had no intention of disappointing him.

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The feline could feel the boy's terror, it was practically radiating off of him. The way his muscles moved beneath her paw and the tremor on his lip gave way the fear within him as well. His voice however was the strongest thing the child radiated at the moment. Well he was stubborn she would give him that.

Again he had demanded to be released. She would comply...eventually. For now she would hold him where he stood, or rather trembled with fear. He was right to be afraid of her, but he was also wrong. Sure she was a terrifying cat, but that was only because of what had been done to her and her siblings. She almost felt bad that the child would never know her kindness.

"And I asked you why a child is tracking me." her voice had a slight growl of irritation in it. A moment passed and Kathleen reclaimed her scary calm. "Perhaps I should make you call your father or maybe ill do it myself, He should know his son was tracking a creature of great danger alone." she spoke in a softer tone.

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It seemed his defiance had at last touched a nerve, even though it had not been his intent. Just as stubbornly as he refused to let her see how frightened she had made him, she refused to leave him be, refused to drop the question she had originally posed to him. He had nearly forgotten the insignificant inquiry in the face of this creature entirely capable of ripping him to pieces with a swipe of a paw and a quick snap of practiced jaws, most importantly because she had managed to sneak up on him and quite literally hold him hostage. What did it matter that he had been tracking her scent without realizing it would lead to her? Did she honestly think he was fool enough to take on a grown leopard at his young age? Did she think a pup following her could possibly be dangerous?

"I didn't know!" he cried out, the suddenness of his outburst drawing some of his fear into his words and giving voice to it despite how well he had been doing in keeping it hidden. But the situation was progressing somewhere that he did not want it to go. He had been too long in this cat's company, and the longer he stayed the more the danger seemed to grow. It was becoming more and more difficult to keep a level head let alone maintain an outward show of bravery. "I didn't know I was following you. I just found a weird smell." The brazen posture he had been keeping slowly began to crumple as he spoke, his ears folding back as he backed away from the cat and into the paw that still wrapped around him as if to urge her to release him yet again as much as it was to keep himself away from her sharp fangs. If I'd known, I'd've run.

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The woman hadn't meant to scare the boy near as much as she had. At his outburst of fear, the decent part of her she kept hidden felt bad. That part of her broke through her shell and shined through a bit. Who would have thought that the fear of a child could cause her cruelness to slide out of place.

Part of her wanted to laugh, another part wished to act as a mother. So she did nether. She stayed silent and unmoving for a moment as her ears lay back and then pricked forward once more. Her tail would flick back and forth as she thought on what to do next...simply release the child and have him fear her forever or attempt to fix it.

She would decide on neither and both all at once. "Child you do not have to quiver so." Her voice was soft, almost the tone she would have used with someone she cared for...but not quite. "If I'd wanted to harm you I would have done so already.

To prove to him what she spoke her hind end found the ground and her long fluffy tail wrapped around her and lay over the top of her left paw. When she was sure he'd seen that she was sitting and had no intentions of harming him she removed her right paw from his side and placed it on the ground next to her left. There her tail covered it as well and she waited.

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The boy's rosy pink eyes were fixed upward upon the large cat's expression, looking upward into her focused gaze in a vain attempt to see what his chances were of surviving his run in with her. Unfortunately for him, she was more or less unreadable, just a teeny suggestion of what might have been pity or confusion. Eirik was too young to know for sure, and the uncertainty caused him to shudder again and draw away from her outstretched paw in the hopes that she had not noticed. Where are you, Dad? he begged to the universe at large, willing the strongest wolf he knew to rescue him. Even having to listen to a huge lecture from both of his parents, even dealing with whatever punishment they could think to dish out for him running off on his own, would have been better than this.

When at last she spoke, her tone had changed, no longer threatening or gruff but strangely kind. Eirik shifted his weight around on his paws where he stood, still closely watching the woman who held him captive and scared that this new play at niceness was nothing more than a ruse. How could he trust her? She had pinned him and threatened him within the first few moments of their meeting, and as much as he hated to admit it, even in thought, he was not strong enough or big enough to take her. And yet again, through the niceness, the subtle hint remained, still leaving the poor grey youth confused and scared and completely at a loss. She did have a point - she could have easily done away with him at any point thus far - but how was he to know she would not yet do so?

The great cat moved - Eirik flinched - but nothing bad happened. Slowly, almost as if conscious an considerate of the effect she was starting to have on the child, she seated herself in place, coiling that long, powerful tail of hers all the way around herself and then across her forepaw. Eirik watched it closely, as if it might suddenly grow a mouth and sharp teeth and snap at him, which made him jump again when he felt the paw against his side shift to draw away from him and join the other thee before the large feline. Freedom! The poor boy could not help himself; immediately he backed away a few steps though still remained facing the leopard. Something about running sounded like a bad idea, even if it was the first thing that came to mind. He wanted to be strong and brave. He was not allowed to run, but neither could he think of a thing to say, afraid that anything he might try would just ruin this momentary freedom he had gained and fearful of losing it so fast.

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He had flinched at her movement and at his release he took a few steps backward. Yet he did not run. For a child who was showing as much fear as he was it was brave of him to not run from her. She had a small amount of respect for that bravery that he displayed.

Rosy pink optics would give away his thoughts as well as the fear he emitted. Refusing to speak for fear of loosing the freedom she had only just returned to him and not running for fear she would chase him down. The fear in his features nearly mirrored the fear she had held the day her father threw her and her siblings over the dens edge.

She would not however allow that small factor let her go to mush in front of the boy. That side of her was reserved for friends and family...and she had neither. Again she would move but this time she would stretch out until she was laying on her stomach. In doing so she had a paw on either side of the grey child and her head was just above his. Though she was still looking down at him she held her head up so that her head was a good six inches above his and her claws were sheathed.

In a last second thought she figured that would only worry him more so she crawled backward until her head was no longer above him and her paws were in front of him rather than next to him. "See, not going to hurt you." her voice had remained as she had used it last.

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The boy continued to stare upward at the cat while trying to reign in the fear he had been feeling and that he had accidentally exposed in his desire to appease her anger. He wished to be anywhere but here, anywhere that he could possibly be more safe than this, than a step away from death. At least she appeared more sedate now, less threat within her face as she continued to eye him just as closely as he did her. What did she see? His bravery? His fear? An easy meal? A toy that could also double as a snack?

She moved and though he did not visibly flinch this time, as the action had not been one toward himself, Eirik did tense anxiously. Thankfully it had only been to stretch herself enough to lie upon the ground, her large head hovering closely to where he stood. His pink eyes continued to stare up into her face as she watched him, and after a moment it seemed she reconsidered her position and shifted back some where she lay, adding a little more space between them. Was it a means to make him feel more comfortable? He was not entirely sure it was enough.

Still no move was made toward him but a statement was made, bringing to his attention her efforts at distancing herself from him. Maybe she had no more intentions of hurting him or threatening him. Maybe he would even get to leave safely and return to his family. What a story he would have to tell in that case! "Can I go?" he dared to ask, his voice finally back under his control and not wobbling with fright anymore.

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It took the small boy several moments to calm his nerves, but still he stopped shaking with fear. With her every movement the child had watched her like a hock. Prepared to run as quickly as he could to get away from her..or at least that's what it had looked like.

When she had moved away only a few seconds would pass before he would ask permission. To leave, his voice was no longer shaky yet she still knew the boy was terrified of her. Her icy blue eyes would watch him for only a moment longer before she would role to her side and play her head down as well.

It was only when she closed her eyes that she would give her answer. "I have not told you that you had to stay nor am I holding you down. Your free to do as you please. Hopefully the next time we cross paths you wont remind me of a maracca"

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The cat, though already lying comfortably upon the ground, relaxed further and rolled herself onto her side, large paws outstretched as she did so. Eirik's rosy eyes stared at the appendages assessingly, remembering the feel of her forepaw upon his side holding him in place and the feel of her claws as they ensured he had no intentions of trying to get away before she was ready. At least now she did not seem prepared to attack or detain him. She looked much like she intended to sleep now, comfortable and calm and seemingly disinterested. Maybe if he was quiet enough she would even fall asleep and he could slip away without her being any wiser to it.

He felt his body ease a little more as the leopard's ice blue eyes fell shut, feeling then a sudden invisibility. If she was not watching then he could get away, right? The pale grey pup had not even gathered enough courage to take a tentative step away before the cat spoke, surprising him as she said nothing in response to his inquiry that suggested she intended to keep him there longer. I'm free? It was almost too good to be true. But she really did seem not to care anymore... Carefully, still mindful of how she would react, if she would at all, Eirik stepped backward, and then again, creeping further away from his captor and sensing his freedom returning the further he got away from her.

But rather than turn and dart off to the den where he knew he would be safe, the boy hesitated. He wanted to talk about this event later when he was alone with his sisters - how amazed they would be! - but how was he going to get through the telling of the tale if he did not know what or who his momentary captor had been? It was brazen of him to ask, but now that he knew she would let him leave the curious, quiet question came forth with more ease, "Who...what are you?"

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It had been a few moments, after she had assured the boy that she was not going to force him to stay there, before he would gain the courage to move away from her. Her ears moved at the sound on his small paws shifting softly in the ash and rock. Aside from her ears and the tapping of the tip of her tail she did not react to his moving.

The sound his paws had been making had faltered. He was hesitating to leave but for what reason she was not sure. His voice came forth, quietly but not as full of fear as it had been only moments ago. At the question the woman would raise her head and look at him once more with her icy blue eyes.

A few seconds would pass but for the boy it could have seemed like eternity as he stood in her gaze. Her eyebrow would raise and then lower as a small smile would find its way to her face. "A brave boy you are." she would think aloud before answering his question. "My name is Kathleen Namera. What I am is a feline, a cat, but to be more specific I am a Snow Leopard."

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Maybe he had been too bold. He had had a perfect chance to get away, the perfect opportunity to run home and seek shelter with his parents, but instead he had messed up his chances. He just had to ask one more question, one more question that turned the cat from the relaxed, lazy looking feline she had been with her eyes closed to a wakeful, watchful predator. He swallowed hard and fought the urge of his ears to fold back, assuring himself that the cat had already agreed to let him leave. He was safe; he just needed an answer.

To his relief she merely raised her brows over her light blue eyes and then offered her title. Kathleen. Feline. Cat. Snow leopard. Was that so? Had he really survived an encounter with a snow leopard? Oh, Keiki and Warja were not going to believe this!

He was stunned, not only because of the creature whose species he could now name but because he now knew her proper name as well. Only just did he stop himself from trying to say the name as a sort of test, unsure whether his offers of freedom had a time limit on them that he had no interest in pushing. With the answers he had been hoping for - and more - Eirik turned hesitantly in place, pausing a moment to be sure Kathleen did not follow, before he began to walk and then run away into the woods and back toward his den, all the while casting glances over his shoulder as if expecting her to pop up at any random moment along the way.

-Exit Eirik-

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