Post by Curiosity on Aug 11, 2011 13:57:59 GMT -5
Characters Involved:
Arroyo, adolescent female cougar
Wiraqu, male cougar
=== Calm River ===
What is it she's looking for? Arroyo's been out here on her journey for a couple of moons now, and she feels as though she's only been aimlessly wandering in circles, waiting for something to happen. There haven't been any dream-visits from the spirits yet, nor any miraculous signs revealing her personal guide...but even still, the young cougaress continues on, hoping and believing that she will find whatever it is she's been sent out here to find. Her mother and grandmother had both said it was 'hard to describe'...and now she understands why. A little hint might be nice at this point, though. The pale-furred adolescent tracks north along the river, having let her paws carry her this way of seemingly their own accord, and appearing somewhat lost in thought as she quietly pads along the bank.
Aimlessly wandering in circles? Why, that's exactly what Wiraqu's been doing, quite intentionally! He finds it tends to work nearly as well as having a direction in mind. Serendipity is a pleasant thing indeed. Just now, he's coming toward the riverbank as part of that rambling, and as he pads toward the bank to take a drink - he's here, after all, he might as well - he catches a glimpse of pale fur retreating northward. Well! What a fine coincidence, indeed.
Her grandmother followed the water as well, while her mother listened to the wind...and the Amaranth side of her heritage often found spirit guides in the form of birds. In attempting to follow every possible lead, Arroyo's certainly felt a little overwhelmed -- but at least this time they're all present. The river rippling calmly nearby, the cool autumn breeze ruffling her fur, the lovely chirps of songbirds coming from the surrounding trees...it all helps to calm Arroyo's anxiety over her expectations. She slows a bit in her pace, attempting to quiet her thoughts and listen to what her environment has to say.
Wiraqu takes that drink, lapping up some of the calm water. Once he's done so, he pads after Arroyo at a not overly hurried pace. With her slowing down, though, he's definitely gaining on her. So says the wind, catching up his scent and carrying it toward her, so says his reflection in the water, and so say the sharper chirps of the songbirds when they notice a large predator slipping beneath them, for Wiraqu is making no particular effort at stealth beyond the natural sneakiness of a cougar.
Arroyo's amber eyes close after a moment, focusing more on what her other senses deliver to her mental perception. It's not long, however, until her ears prick at the sound of agitated birds and her nose twitches at the scent of an approaching male puma. Eyes blinking open to scan her surroundings, she turns about in a slow circle as she attempts to locate the source of the vaguely familiar smell, soon landing on the larger form of the cougar who'd followed her before. Although initially on-guard at the sudden nearness of a stranger, Arroyo does relax somewhat, and her neutrally-worded greeting works to subtly convey this mix of emotions: "I see you found me again."
Wiraqu chuckles softly as the female cougar turns and detects him, then pads his way to a stop at a reasonable distance from Arroyo. Close enough he doesn't have to shout, but far enough to not be an immediate threat. Though it seems he's let that circle creep in a little closer from the last time he encountered her. Not much, just... a pace or two. "Why, so I have. Or perhaps you're the one who found me. Were you looking?"
Arroyo's gaze slips away at that question, turning to consider the course of the river flowing nearby. "I was looking for something, yes," she admits, although she adds soon after: "...though not specifically for you." Even still, it doesn't rule out the possibility of her subconscious thoughts. "Are you sure you weren't the one following me?" the creamy-coated female then inquires, with only the slightest hint of teasing under that somewhat suspicious tone.
Looking for something, looking for him... oh, what difference does it make? Wiraqu grins, regardless. Why bother figuring out the tangled chain of whys when there's a moment to live in? "No," he replies to Arroyo's question. "I'm hardly sure of that. But if I had been, I should hope I could have found an easier way than the one that led me over a rotting log and through a briar-patch."
Arroyo takes a slow pair of steps closer to the river at Wiraqu's words, the adolescent pausing for a moment before nimbly leaping across the river to the other bank. "Perhaps I simply didn't wish to be so easily found," she calls over to the male, a little smirk just starting to tug at her maw as she considers his response. "Was it worth the effort?" Such a playful demeanor, even one this muted, is rather uncommon for Arroyo, as it has been since she was a young cub.
Wiraqu laughs. Ah, so this serious adolescent does have a sense of humor after all! He thought there might be one, hidden down there somewhere. "A bird in the jaws is worth two in the bush," he retorts, and his rump wiggles from side to side as Arroyo leaps. He pads a few steps of his own, putting on his best imitation of her serious comtemplative look, and then breaks the impression to grin widely. "But I've never seen a second bird like you." With that, he gathers himself and makes a leap of his own, parallel to hers.
Amber eyes closely consider the other mountain lion as he grins and struts about on the other side, before jumping across the river to meet Arroyo on the eastern bank. Something about the male's sudden pursuit triggers an internal response in the young adolescent, and without a word she turns to dash away towards the northeast, into the midst of the foggy woods found there. She did say she might not want be so easily found, after all.
=== Foggy Path ===
Wiraqu lands easily on the shore, leaving pronounced puma-prints in the soft mud there - only to have Arroyo dash off. Not so easily found, indeed. Wiraqu laughs, then bounds after her. The stalk is over, it seems; now begins the hunt. It's only proper for it to begin with a pounce - followed by the chase. As he enters the lingering fog of this area, he slows his steps, his whiskers twitching as he searches for other signs of the female he follows. She's picked her terrain well; the fog dampens scent and conceals sight nearly as well as the spray of the waterfall. Mist, once more, surrounds their meetings.
The fog is especially thick now that the damp chill of autumn's begun to set in, and Arroyo's paler coat seems to blend in all the easier in the smoke-white clouds hovering over the forest floor. Even so, she's not hiding exceptionally well, merely standing stock-still and slightly crouched behind the thick base of a shadowy tree, almost ghost-like with her pale color in the ethereal fog. Her amber eyes intently watch the male's pursuit as best she can see him as well, though he too is somewhat camouflaged by the shady mist.
Now where could Arroyo have gone? Wiraqu slowly pads along, his head sweeping from side to side to examine the fog for signs of mountain lion. Hmmmm... Ah. His body freezes for a moment. Those eyes are the giveaway, as it turns out; too bright to hide among the pale mist like her pelt. His own paler amber ones meet them, and the cougar's muzzle curves up in a grin. He turns his steps toward her, keeping his eyes fixed. Even having found her, it's hard to see where her body ends and the fog begins - just those gleaming eyes.
Arroyo does not move even after it's obvious that Wiraqu has spotted her, continuing to watch him stalk closer with her almost eerily unblinking gaze. It's not until he draws within a bound's distance that she turns to leap away to the opposite side of the path, leaving wisps of fog curling about wildly in her wake, before ducking away behind a tree as before. She's silent all the while as she evades the male's approach, whether from playing coy or simply not knowing what she'd say if she did speak.
As Arroyo leaps away, Wiraqu stretches his own legs. He bounds after her, but too late - all he can see, as he twists round the tree, is the swirls of disturbed mist from her passing. The cat gives voice, though not to words; simply to a laugh. He twists himself around, looking back across the path, and chuckles. After a moment, the cat sets out again, strolling across the path as though he hasn't a care in the world. Well, except for the bright gleam in his eyes.
Arroyo's ears cup forward at the sound of the male's laughter, though aside from this she makes no other movement while Wiraqu attempts his approach once more...at least until he's gotten just about a cougar's length away from her. Then the pale-furred adolescent jumps straight up, onto one of the thick lower branches of the fiery-leafed tree above them. With thick claws dug into the bark to hold her steady, Arroyo peers down at Wiraqu from her higher vantage point. Her expression is rather silently stoic once more, perhaps merely waiting to see how the male reacts to her youthful attempts to play hard-to-get.
Wiraqu continues forward, as Arroyo leaps up, and curls his way around the tree she's amongst the branches of. He actually rubs his body against the bark, stroking his cheek along it and leaving his scent and bits of his golden fur clinging to it. His tree, now. Once he's finished his circuit, he looks up, peering to see Arroyo. Oh, look. There's a cougar in his tree. Well. How about that!
Arroyo watches Wiraqu quizzically as he simply winds around the base of the tree she's taken temporary refuge in, before recollection at seeing her father rub against the trees near their home comes to mind. At the realization that this bold male has essentially staked her out at his territory, the adolescent's pale pelt ruffles up with an flustered little 'huff' before she indignantly leaps down out of the tree once more, landing a short distance from Wiraqu. Arroyo lifts her chin high, looking down the bridge of her nose at the older male, and though she hardly looks very intimidating to the larger cougar, she does her very best to make it clear that she's not exactly pleased with his behavior.
Wiraqu turns his head to follow Arroyo as she leaps to the ground. Oh, hello. He grins, seeming not at all offput by her indignant glare. Still his tree, yes. But now there's no more pretty cougaress in it, and so what's the point? He strolls away from it, padding toward the pale-furred puma a few paces. "You could have stayed there, you know," he says. Now there's a multi-layered offer, which his expression does nothing to disentangle. In the tree? Of course she could have. In 'his territory'? Now that's a rather more serious flirt. Or is it a question further removed? She could have stayed in the mountains. In her father's territory. In her cubhood home. "But you didn't." He tilts his head the the side, considering for a moment, then grins. "You're still looking."
Arroyo seems to at least grasp the breadth of the male's vaguely worded phrasing, if not all the finer details of its innuendos. "I am," she admits, finally breaking her silence to respond to his claims. For what, though, she still doesn't really know, and so she says nothing further. "Are you?" Two can play the mysterious speech game, it seems. At least the young female's stopped running away...for now.
Wiraqu nods his head slightly. He expected as much as her answer, it seems. To her returned question, he laughs, and shakes his head. "No. I am finding. I always find. Perhaps what I have found does not last, but I have still found it. In every moment, there is something to be found." He smiles, trying to catch her eyes with his own. "Today, I have found you. Tomorrow? Perhaps tomorrow you will be gone. Perhaps I will never find you again. I will never look for you. But I will be glad when I find you."
Arroyo considers the older male's words, rounded ears lifted forward as she listens openly. For as ambiguous and jesting as his words are...they still make sense to her, somehow. At least until the end, when she turns to look away, back towards the foggy path that continues along nearby. She's quiet again for a short while, perhaps at a temporary loss for words in response to his eloquently coquetry. As though to prove this theory, when she does speak again a moment later, returning her gaze to his, the adolescent has made an attempt to return to the original subject at paw: "I was sent out to find something...something within myself, I suppose. I must return again to my family's homelands once I have found it."
Wiraqu regards Arroyo during her silence, his own pose calm. He's at once entirely lighthearted and quite serious - though it's a very different form of serious than the one that overtakes Arroyo once again. At her reply, he tilts his head to the side inquisitively, still returning her smoky gaze with his pale one. "A something. Hmm." He pauses a moment, then laughs. "How will you know when you've found it?"
Arroyo's ears flick back for but a brief moment at the question, as she's not quite positive about the answer herself. "Well, they said it's different for everyone," the young female finally starts, attempting to explain her quest a little better to the outsider male. "My mother listened to the winds, my grandmother followed the waters...or I might be visited by the spirit of the Great Mother, whose own guide was an eagle." She gives a little shrug of her shoulders afterwards to express her overall uncertainty about the situation. "But...I will know it when I find it."
So, she's looking for something, only she doesn't know what it is, but she thinks she'll know it when she finds it. It sounds like a perfect fit for Arroyo. Wiraqu laughs, lifting up his head as his tail gives a cheerful flick. "Winds and waters and eagles, oh my!" After the moment's laughter, he settles down again, simply regarding her with his amused gaze. "Perhaps it's not about finding something," he suggests. Here he goes, a total outsider and yet willing to contradict what she's been told. "It might be about deciding."
"Deciding?" Arroyo pipes up in simple inquiry, before she realizes what he's referring to a moment later. "Oh, it's not just something I can pick for myself. The spirits decide that for me...I simply have to discover their choice," she protests with a shake of her head, wholeheartedly believing in the spiritual mentality both her ancestral family tribes share, and that she was raised to become an essential part of. "I just have to look and listen, and then I will learn," the adolescent continues, repeating some of her grandmother's speech from before she set off on her own those few moons ago.
Spirits. Destiny. Wiraqu shakes his head slowly, as though it's caught in spiderwebs and he needs to clear it. He's seen enough of mysticism near him to have gained a powerful dose of skepticism. So much of it, to him, seems a matter of finding justification for instinct and guesswork. "So. Why don't the spirits just tell you?" asks the male, regarding the younger cougar levelly.
"Because...because I have to find it out myself!" Arroyo chirps in a somewhat flustered reply, as though it's something clearly obvious despite Wiraqu's contrary response to her own. "A matron has to be able to figure things out on her own." The adolescent stands as tall and firm as she can before the older male, assuming a leader's seriousness despite her young age.
Wiraqu laughs, and lowers his head slightly; not in submission, for his perked ears and bright grin give the lie to that, but more the posture of a stalking cat, ready to pounce. "So. You have to find it for yourself. You have to figure it out." A pause. He lets that seeming agreement sink in, and then he makes the verbal pounce he's been stalking toward. "You have to decide."
Arroyo looks down the bridge of her nose at Wiraqu as he bows slightly before her, then launches his logical attack. Her lightly-dotted brow furrows, and she utters another little protesting 'huff' -- how dare he try to analyze her spiritual quest! "No, you don't understand. It's...hard to describe," she murmurs, finding herself repeating both her mother and grandmother's description of the experience once more. So much is obvious, though, by her lack of further explanation about it.
It's true. Wiraqu doesn't understand. But then... he's fairly sure Arroyo doesn't, either. Further argument now will get him nowhere; but he's planted the thought in her head. It will be there, if she chooses to think on it later. Thoughts are like that; and Arroyo, if he is any judge of her, is the sort who can't help but think a great deal. That - and any decisions she makes - will come later. For now, the grown cat finds he's been serious for far too long. He grins, and in a sudden change of topic, asks, "Are you hungry? I am."
Arroyo seems to welcome the shift in topic, visibly releasing her pent-up tension as her slender muscles relax. "A meal would be nice." It's getting cooler already, and prey won't be quite so plentiful in the coming winter. "Do you know a game trail near here?" She's primarily been hunting for smaller mammals and fish in her time outside the mountain, and she always enjoys the chance of a rare deer for dinner.
"I do," says Wiraqu, and grins. "This way." With that, he slips off, bounding in cheerful fashion from one spot to the next and leading the way to a small hill nearby, overlooking a deer path to the river. Once there, with the trail in view but the cougars still far enough away to not panic the game, he grins to Arroyo, giving a bow that's entangled somewhere confusingly between mocking and serious before turning off again to search his own prey. Cougars, in the end, hunt alone.
Arroyo, adolescent female cougar
Wiraqu, male cougar
=== Calm River ===
What is it she's looking for? Arroyo's been out here on her journey for a couple of moons now, and she feels as though she's only been aimlessly wandering in circles, waiting for something to happen. There haven't been any dream-visits from the spirits yet, nor any miraculous signs revealing her personal guide...but even still, the young cougaress continues on, hoping and believing that she will find whatever it is she's been sent out here to find. Her mother and grandmother had both said it was 'hard to describe'...and now she understands why. A little hint might be nice at this point, though. The pale-furred adolescent tracks north along the river, having let her paws carry her this way of seemingly their own accord, and appearing somewhat lost in thought as she quietly pads along the bank.
Aimlessly wandering in circles? Why, that's exactly what Wiraqu's been doing, quite intentionally! He finds it tends to work nearly as well as having a direction in mind. Serendipity is a pleasant thing indeed. Just now, he's coming toward the riverbank as part of that rambling, and as he pads toward the bank to take a drink - he's here, after all, he might as well - he catches a glimpse of pale fur retreating northward. Well! What a fine coincidence, indeed.
Her grandmother followed the water as well, while her mother listened to the wind...and the Amaranth side of her heritage often found spirit guides in the form of birds. In attempting to follow every possible lead, Arroyo's certainly felt a little overwhelmed -- but at least this time they're all present. The river rippling calmly nearby, the cool autumn breeze ruffling her fur, the lovely chirps of songbirds coming from the surrounding trees...it all helps to calm Arroyo's anxiety over her expectations. She slows a bit in her pace, attempting to quiet her thoughts and listen to what her environment has to say.
Wiraqu takes that drink, lapping up some of the calm water. Once he's done so, he pads after Arroyo at a not overly hurried pace. With her slowing down, though, he's definitely gaining on her. So says the wind, catching up his scent and carrying it toward her, so says his reflection in the water, and so say the sharper chirps of the songbirds when they notice a large predator slipping beneath them, for Wiraqu is making no particular effort at stealth beyond the natural sneakiness of a cougar.
Arroyo's amber eyes close after a moment, focusing more on what her other senses deliver to her mental perception. It's not long, however, until her ears prick at the sound of agitated birds and her nose twitches at the scent of an approaching male puma. Eyes blinking open to scan her surroundings, she turns about in a slow circle as she attempts to locate the source of the vaguely familiar smell, soon landing on the larger form of the cougar who'd followed her before. Although initially on-guard at the sudden nearness of a stranger, Arroyo does relax somewhat, and her neutrally-worded greeting works to subtly convey this mix of emotions: "I see you found me again."
Wiraqu chuckles softly as the female cougar turns and detects him, then pads his way to a stop at a reasonable distance from Arroyo. Close enough he doesn't have to shout, but far enough to not be an immediate threat. Though it seems he's let that circle creep in a little closer from the last time he encountered her. Not much, just... a pace or two. "Why, so I have. Or perhaps you're the one who found me. Were you looking?"
Arroyo's gaze slips away at that question, turning to consider the course of the river flowing nearby. "I was looking for something, yes," she admits, although she adds soon after: "...though not specifically for you." Even still, it doesn't rule out the possibility of her subconscious thoughts. "Are you sure you weren't the one following me?" the creamy-coated female then inquires, with only the slightest hint of teasing under that somewhat suspicious tone.
Looking for something, looking for him... oh, what difference does it make? Wiraqu grins, regardless. Why bother figuring out the tangled chain of whys when there's a moment to live in? "No," he replies to Arroyo's question. "I'm hardly sure of that. But if I had been, I should hope I could have found an easier way than the one that led me over a rotting log and through a briar-patch."
Arroyo takes a slow pair of steps closer to the river at Wiraqu's words, the adolescent pausing for a moment before nimbly leaping across the river to the other bank. "Perhaps I simply didn't wish to be so easily found," she calls over to the male, a little smirk just starting to tug at her maw as she considers his response. "Was it worth the effort?" Such a playful demeanor, even one this muted, is rather uncommon for Arroyo, as it has been since she was a young cub.
Wiraqu laughs. Ah, so this serious adolescent does have a sense of humor after all! He thought there might be one, hidden down there somewhere. "A bird in the jaws is worth two in the bush," he retorts, and his rump wiggles from side to side as Arroyo leaps. He pads a few steps of his own, putting on his best imitation of her serious comtemplative look, and then breaks the impression to grin widely. "But I've never seen a second bird like you." With that, he gathers himself and makes a leap of his own, parallel to hers.
Amber eyes closely consider the other mountain lion as he grins and struts about on the other side, before jumping across the river to meet Arroyo on the eastern bank. Something about the male's sudden pursuit triggers an internal response in the young adolescent, and without a word she turns to dash away towards the northeast, into the midst of the foggy woods found there. She did say she might not want be so easily found, after all.
=== Foggy Path ===
Wiraqu lands easily on the shore, leaving pronounced puma-prints in the soft mud there - only to have Arroyo dash off. Not so easily found, indeed. Wiraqu laughs, then bounds after her. The stalk is over, it seems; now begins the hunt. It's only proper for it to begin with a pounce - followed by the chase. As he enters the lingering fog of this area, he slows his steps, his whiskers twitching as he searches for other signs of the female he follows. She's picked her terrain well; the fog dampens scent and conceals sight nearly as well as the spray of the waterfall. Mist, once more, surrounds their meetings.
The fog is especially thick now that the damp chill of autumn's begun to set in, and Arroyo's paler coat seems to blend in all the easier in the smoke-white clouds hovering over the forest floor. Even so, she's not hiding exceptionally well, merely standing stock-still and slightly crouched behind the thick base of a shadowy tree, almost ghost-like with her pale color in the ethereal fog. Her amber eyes intently watch the male's pursuit as best she can see him as well, though he too is somewhat camouflaged by the shady mist.
Now where could Arroyo have gone? Wiraqu slowly pads along, his head sweeping from side to side to examine the fog for signs of mountain lion. Hmmmm... Ah. His body freezes for a moment. Those eyes are the giveaway, as it turns out; too bright to hide among the pale mist like her pelt. His own paler amber ones meet them, and the cougar's muzzle curves up in a grin. He turns his steps toward her, keeping his eyes fixed. Even having found her, it's hard to see where her body ends and the fog begins - just those gleaming eyes.
Arroyo does not move even after it's obvious that Wiraqu has spotted her, continuing to watch him stalk closer with her almost eerily unblinking gaze. It's not until he draws within a bound's distance that she turns to leap away to the opposite side of the path, leaving wisps of fog curling about wildly in her wake, before ducking away behind a tree as before. She's silent all the while as she evades the male's approach, whether from playing coy or simply not knowing what she'd say if she did speak.
As Arroyo leaps away, Wiraqu stretches his own legs. He bounds after her, but too late - all he can see, as he twists round the tree, is the swirls of disturbed mist from her passing. The cat gives voice, though not to words; simply to a laugh. He twists himself around, looking back across the path, and chuckles. After a moment, the cat sets out again, strolling across the path as though he hasn't a care in the world. Well, except for the bright gleam in his eyes.
Arroyo's ears cup forward at the sound of the male's laughter, though aside from this she makes no other movement while Wiraqu attempts his approach once more...at least until he's gotten just about a cougar's length away from her. Then the pale-furred adolescent jumps straight up, onto one of the thick lower branches of the fiery-leafed tree above them. With thick claws dug into the bark to hold her steady, Arroyo peers down at Wiraqu from her higher vantage point. Her expression is rather silently stoic once more, perhaps merely waiting to see how the male reacts to her youthful attempts to play hard-to-get.
Wiraqu continues forward, as Arroyo leaps up, and curls his way around the tree she's amongst the branches of. He actually rubs his body against the bark, stroking his cheek along it and leaving his scent and bits of his golden fur clinging to it. His tree, now. Once he's finished his circuit, he looks up, peering to see Arroyo. Oh, look. There's a cougar in his tree. Well. How about that!
Arroyo watches Wiraqu quizzically as he simply winds around the base of the tree she's taken temporary refuge in, before recollection at seeing her father rub against the trees near their home comes to mind. At the realization that this bold male has essentially staked her out at his territory, the adolescent's pale pelt ruffles up with an flustered little 'huff' before she indignantly leaps down out of the tree once more, landing a short distance from Wiraqu. Arroyo lifts her chin high, looking down the bridge of her nose at the older male, and though she hardly looks very intimidating to the larger cougar, she does her very best to make it clear that she's not exactly pleased with his behavior.
Wiraqu turns his head to follow Arroyo as she leaps to the ground. Oh, hello. He grins, seeming not at all offput by her indignant glare. Still his tree, yes. But now there's no more pretty cougaress in it, and so what's the point? He strolls away from it, padding toward the pale-furred puma a few paces. "You could have stayed there, you know," he says. Now there's a multi-layered offer, which his expression does nothing to disentangle. In the tree? Of course she could have. In 'his territory'? Now that's a rather more serious flirt. Or is it a question further removed? She could have stayed in the mountains. In her father's territory. In her cubhood home. "But you didn't." He tilts his head the the side, considering for a moment, then grins. "You're still looking."
Arroyo seems to at least grasp the breadth of the male's vaguely worded phrasing, if not all the finer details of its innuendos. "I am," she admits, finally breaking her silence to respond to his claims. For what, though, she still doesn't really know, and so she says nothing further. "Are you?" Two can play the mysterious speech game, it seems. At least the young female's stopped running away...for now.
Wiraqu nods his head slightly. He expected as much as her answer, it seems. To her returned question, he laughs, and shakes his head. "No. I am finding. I always find. Perhaps what I have found does not last, but I have still found it. In every moment, there is something to be found." He smiles, trying to catch her eyes with his own. "Today, I have found you. Tomorrow? Perhaps tomorrow you will be gone. Perhaps I will never find you again. I will never look for you. But I will be glad when I find you."
Arroyo considers the older male's words, rounded ears lifted forward as she listens openly. For as ambiguous and jesting as his words are...they still make sense to her, somehow. At least until the end, when she turns to look away, back towards the foggy path that continues along nearby. She's quiet again for a short while, perhaps at a temporary loss for words in response to his eloquently coquetry. As though to prove this theory, when she does speak again a moment later, returning her gaze to his, the adolescent has made an attempt to return to the original subject at paw: "I was sent out to find something...something within myself, I suppose. I must return again to my family's homelands once I have found it."
Wiraqu regards Arroyo during her silence, his own pose calm. He's at once entirely lighthearted and quite serious - though it's a very different form of serious than the one that overtakes Arroyo once again. At her reply, he tilts his head to the side inquisitively, still returning her smoky gaze with his pale one. "A something. Hmm." He pauses a moment, then laughs. "How will you know when you've found it?"
Arroyo's ears flick back for but a brief moment at the question, as she's not quite positive about the answer herself. "Well, they said it's different for everyone," the young female finally starts, attempting to explain her quest a little better to the outsider male. "My mother listened to the winds, my grandmother followed the waters...or I might be visited by the spirit of the Great Mother, whose own guide was an eagle." She gives a little shrug of her shoulders afterwards to express her overall uncertainty about the situation. "But...I will know it when I find it."
So, she's looking for something, only she doesn't know what it is, but she thinks she'll know it when she finds it. It sounds like a perfect fit for Arroyo. Wiraqu laughs, lifting up his head as his tail gives a cheerful flick. "Winds and waters and eagles, oh my!" After the moment's laughter, he settles down again, simply regarding her with his amused gaze. "Perhaps it's not about finding something," he suggests. Here he goes, a total outsider and yet willing to contradict what she's been told. "It might be about deciding."
"Deciding?" Arroyo pipes up in simple inquiry, before she realizes what he's referring to a moment later. "Oh, it's not just something I can pick for myself. The spirits decide that for me...I simply have to discover their choice," she protests with a shake of her head, wholeheartedly believing in the spiritual mentality both her ancestral family tribes share, and that she was raised to become an essential part of. "I just have to look and listen, and then I will learn," the adolescent continues, repeating some of her grandmother's speech from before she set off on her own those few moons ago.
Spirits. Destiny. Wiraqu shakes his head slowly, as though it's caught in spiderwebs and he needs to clear it. He's seen enough of mysticism near him to have gained a powerful dose of skepticism. So much of it, to him, seems a matter of finding justification for instinct and guesswork. "So. Why don't the spirits just tell you?" asks the male, regarding the younger cougar levelly.
"Because...because I have to find it out myself!" Arroyo chirps in a somewhat flustered reply, as though it's something clearly obvious despite Wiraqu's contrary response to her own. "A matron has to be able to figure things out on her own." The adolescent stands as tall and firm as she can before the older male, assuming a leader's seriousness despite her young age.
Wiraqu laughs, and lowers his head slightly; not in submission, for his perked ears and bright grin give the lie to that, but more the posture of a stalking cat, ready to pounce. "So. You have to find it for yourself. You have to figure it out." A pause. He lets that seeming agreement sink in, and then he makes the verbal pounce he's been stalking toward. "You have to decide."
Arroyo looks down the bridge of her nose at Wiraqu as he bows slightly before her, then launches his logical attack. Her lightly-dotted brow furrows, and she utters another little protesting 'huff' -- how dare he try to analyze her spiritual quest! "No, you don't understand. It's...hard to describe," she murmurs, finding herself repeating both her mother and grandmother's description of the experience once more. So much is obvious, though, by her lack of further explanation about it.
It's true. Wiraqu doesn't understand. But then... he's fairly sure Arroyo doesn't, either. Further argument now will get him nowhere; but he's planted the thought in her head. It will be there, if she chooses to think on it later. Thoughts are like that; and Arroyo, if he is any judge of her, is the sort who can't help but think a great deal. That - and any decisions she makes - will come later. For now, the grown cat finds he's been serious for far too long. He grins, and in a sudden change of topic, asks, "Are you hungry? I am."
Arroyo seems to welcome the shift in topic, visibly releasing her pent-up tension as her slender muscles relax. "A meal would be nice." It's getting cooler already, and prey won't be quite so plentiful in the coming winter. "Do you know a game trail near here?" She's primarily been hunting for smaller mammals and fish in her time outside the mountain, and she always enjoys the chance of a rare deer for dinner.
"I do," says Wiraqu, and grins. "This way." With that, he slips off, bounding in cheerful fashion from one spot to the next and leading the way to a small hill nearby, overlooking a deer path to the river. Once there, with the trail in view but the cougars still far enough away to not panic the game, he grins to Arroyo, giving a bow that's entangled somewhere confusingly between mocking and serious before turning off again to search his own prey. Cougars, in the end, hunt alone.