[lio]

The appearance of yet another cat could have scared Aristotle out of his fur. He flinched, looking up at the branch where the unfamiliar she-cat had decided to sit. Flattening his ears in embarrassment, Aristotle looked back and forth between the two, still frozen in place. Her words left a sense of discomfort in his chest, knowing that she was apparently entertained by the sight of a cat that was probably drowning.

"Uhh... I..." he began, only for the black tom to resurface and begin speaking, effectively cutting off whatever thought process he had begun to speak aloud. That is, if he had any sort of thought process. He swallowed through the lump in his throat, internally thankful that the cat wasn't drowning because of him. However, with the exclamation, Aristotle looked down at his paws then back to the other tom.

"O-Oh- uhm- maybe?" he responded dumbly, his voice strained, "I, uhm, didn't realize that the river wasn't as deep as I thought it was..."

@pathos @Willow_Tree