Tail held straight in the air like a fluffy exclamation point the cat minced confidently along the river's edge. A chilly autumn breeze ruffled his striped coat but the cold hardly reached through the heavy pelt. Tricolor eyes gleamed and glimmered in the dimming twilight. The scent of canines was heavy in these lands, but not as heavy as it was in some. Even if it had been he would have displayed no more caution than he did now, openly marching through without a care. Why should he care that wolves had claimed the lands as their own? They were beneath him, beneath his notice and he had no need to heed their scent markers. This land held none anyway, but it also had few trees. The cat's confidence was unswayed, but he automatically noted the few arboreal escape routes, calculated his distance from each as he moved jauntily along. Wolves were lesser, but the uncouth creatures lack of respect could at times be... physically uncomfortable. He had no wish to have his coat mussed and gummed up with nasty canine slobber. It was disgusting and took forever to clean. Bleck. ""

The girl had needed a bit of a break, and taking a nice walk seemed to be the best medicine. She took a deep breath of the crisp autumn air and let it line her lungs, savoring the sweet bite it offered them. It felt nice to be able to breath, she felt like she was suffocating in the pack lands. She hadn't had much experience with packs, and she was finding it a bit hard to deal with. She had grown used to her space once she wandered away from home, and she felt like she deserved a little break. So she had slipped away from her caretaker, not an easy thing to do, and started on a little trek. She was not quite a year yet, but still stood at her full 38 inches of height. There was hardly a wolf that she met taller than her, except for their bear-wolf leader. But he was part bear, so it was all good. Letting out a huff, she puffed out her coat as the night began to darken. Purple eyes gleamed at the sight of a new land, the sense of adventure bubbling up within her. As she entered the Rio Grande, there was a new scent was crossed her nose. Head tilted to the side as she scanned the area. A small creature was picking their way through the land like they owned the place, although she wasn't quite certain what it was. Curiosity got the best of her as she carefully picked her way towards the fluffy critter, eyes wide as she took in his little form. Flabbergasted, she dipped her front half down so that she was in a play bow, closer to see the strange animal. "What are you?"

Pawsteps caused large ears to swivel, and his sharp claws unsheathed instinctively, though he really wasn't overly concerned. His forward-swept whiskers quivered as his nose twitched vaguely. His scenting ability may not have been up to par with a wolf (though he was offended at the thought, truly he was) but even he could smell the fresh odor of an approaching canine. His path was blocked by a monster-sized mutt and Borealis stopped. His eyes narrowed consideringly at the beast as his tail lashed behind him but it didn't seem to be interested in trouble as it bowed - quite as it should be - before him and asked what he was. If the enormous beast was so ignorant, so badly brought up that it didn't even know what he was... tsk tsk. Well he had no problem with explaining. Seating himself lightly upon the earth, triangular head held high in arrogance and fluffy tail curved delicately around snowy paws he fixed the pup with a benevolent gaze. "I," he declared expansively, "am a cat." ""

The little fluff ball sat down, tail curling around its paws as it rose its head, stating that it was a cat. Mercy's head tilted even further as her hind end plopped down, head resting on her massive paws as she eyes him. A cat? It just couldn't be! She had seen a cat once, but it had been much larger than this one. A lot bigger. "You arr much too small to be a cat, the one I saw was big and black! You seem to be a lot smaller than that cat. Unless that wasn't a cat... Either way one of you is lying to me." She said matter-of-factly, those purple eyes of hers squinting. But if this thing was a cat, he had very pretty eyes. She couldn't help but feel drawn to them, causing her to wiggle closer to it. "You do have very pretty eyes, whatever you may be. I've never seen anything quite like them before..." She had seen eyes of all different colours, but not some with a bunch of colors hidden within them. They were very hard to not stare in to.

Borealis

The cat's pelt prickled in offense when the pup said he was too small to be a cat. "There are cats, and then there are cats. I am a cat. What you saw may have been feline but I, wolf-thing, am a superior breed. Larger does not mean better." The canine wiggled even closer and the cat aimed a baleful stare at her, lifting his right paw and shoved forward in a 'cease and desist' manner, aiming to bop the wolf in the nose and hold it at arm's length. A hint of claw curled from his paws, a rather pointed hint to keep back. The girl-pup's obvious infatuation with his eyes was deeply flattering - they were a point of pride for him, to be sure - but he continued to stiff arm the beast in the hopes of avoiding any unfortunate drool issues. The creatures simply could not seem to control their copious salivation, after all. "And likely you never will." Well, unless she managed to run into one of his numerous siblings, but that was rather unlikely. "It is a trait unique to my family among cats." He studied her own gaze indifferently and with an arrogantly off-hand manner added, "Your eyes are not terribly hideous, I suppose." To be fair, they were rather unusually colored for a wolf, but they still had the weird and unattractively round pupils that canines possessed. How unfortunate for her - she must have been devastatingly humiliated to have been born a dog, the poor thing. ""

She eyed the cat, watching as he got thicker as his fur stood on end. Her head tilted, it was like he was raising his hackles, but everywhere fluffed out. Well, he was quite the fluffy creature anyways. He made a comment about how there were many different cats, and she nodded her head slowly. She supposed that there were many different wolves as well, comparing herself and Dione of course. He said larger didn't mean better, which had Mercy looking at herself. She was one of the biggest wolves around, except for her bear-wolf leader. But he was a bear, so. It was different. She didn't think that she was better because of her size, but it did help in some ways. "Are you faster than big cats?" She asked, knowing that although some smaller wolves had shorter legs, they were more agile than she was. She lumbered about at times, and wondered if this small cat at the opposite effect on his size. She wiggled closer to the smaller being, but didn't get too far before a cool paw was placed on her nose, little dagger like claws poking into it. A warning. Okay, so don't go close to the cat was apparently a rule here. She swallowed hard, not moving from the earth as she gazed at those pretty eyes. The cat told her that it was a trait that only his family held, so unless she ran into someone related to him she would not see them again. She let out a small huff, her breath tickling the cat's chest hair. She was too afraid to move backwards though, she didn't want to lose a chunk of her nose. He commented on her eyes, saying that they weren't quite terrible. She giggled softly, a smile spreading across her maw. She rather liked her eyes as well, the only good thing she got from her mother. The black marks around her eyes made them stand out like a sore thumb, but nothing like his did. Blinking slowly, she realized that she had never learned the cats name, or even what kind of cat he was. The one that she had met said that he was a panther, but this cat didn't look anything like a panther. "I'm Mercy, by the way. If you let go of my nose, I promise to back up." She said, the position growing uncomfortable anyways.