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He felt more comfortable like this. The trip to the jungle and the shadows of his past had been a mistake; he didn't plan to make a repeat of it any time soon. The choking memories and the claustrophobic closeness of the trees still made him shudder if he let himself think too deeply on them, and he relished the open space he now moved through, even if this place his paws had carried him to today had a population of trees. It wasn't the trees that bothered him, not really; it was just that jungle. He had felt suffocated there, and had made sure he was back out in joyous freedom again as soon as possible. It didn't get better than moving across the plains in the cool of dusk, the tall grass brushing against his legs as he moved, the breeze running its fingers through his scruffy fur without being obstructed by dense foliage.

But he'd been travelling for hours without fluids now, and when he caught sunlight glinting off water not far off out the corner of his eye, he altered his direction to head straight for it. Sitirika had a moment's pause as he noticed the younger female's presence, but he decided to crouch by the water's edge (on the opposite side of this body of water, mind) and take the risk - though he considered the chance of conversation to be a risk, just like attack.

Siti paused in lapping at the water and raised his head as Kwaruza approached, his dark golden eyes passing over her with only slight interest, noting in particular the scars at the young lioness's neck. It seemed to him that she'd had a fight of some sort. She was perhaps prone to conflict with others, or was it just a one-off fluke? There seemed to be no other scars on her body, but perhaps those scars had just been from the first clash that had led to violence. He frowned slightly. He never had any wish for violence, and if this female was the type who did, he would leave right this instant and seek water out somewhere else. Always the path of least resistance.

Her voice gave him a moment's pause, though; she didn't sound like the violent type, more like the sweet and innocent kind he'd rather spend his time with if given no choice but to have company. But, he supposed, someone's voice didn't always have to match their personality, and so he stayed alert as he dipped his head a bit in return. A little good manners never hurt anyone, and might in fact keep one from getting hurt by others.

"Sitirika," he replied, his frown flicking upwards into a brief, small smile before he again lowered his head to take a drink. If he was going to have to leave for any reason, and there were many he might urge his paws to take him further way for, he was going to quench his thirst as much as he could first.

He eyed her again as she laid close by him, wondering just why she stared at him so. Did he, perhaps, have a burr or two stuck in his fur that had escaped his notice? Or was he even, gods forbid it, developing a bald patch of some sort? The feel of her eyes on him gave him a somewhat uneasy itch between his shoulder blades, but they were her eyes, after all. He did not own her, and thus could not tell her where to direct her eyes.

He rolled that itch, though, as he sat back, curling his tail around his body and then coiling it around his left foreleg. He was a reasonably tall leopard - nothing shocking, just among the tallest of his species - so he had to tilt his head down to look at her now as he spoke. "I've been travelling since not long after sunup, and I've found water only once before this."

He felt that itch even out to nothing as her eyes fell away from him, not noticing how she watched his reflection, and his shoulders settled. He didn't like being stared at by strangers, didn't like the attention. He always tried to avoid attention and notice, trying to slide by others like a shadow so that he wasn't even remembered after. He'd been alone all his life; he'd gotten used to it, and he'd gotten good at it, too.

For a moment, he just looked at her, wondering if he found her inquisitiveness annoying or not. Eventually deciding that if he did think it annoying, it was obviously not much, so a few more answers wouldn't kill him just yet. "I'm looking for some place I can settle and be happy." Oh, yes; the great conversationalist. One sentence answers, and no prompting for conversations to continue. The smallest amount of input necessary.

At her compliment, though, he looked taken aback, his eyebrows climbing higher and his golden eyes widening. He thought his colouring looked rough and plain, and his fur always seemed to end up scruffy just a few minutes after grooming. He knew it was probably his ceaseless travel that had done this to him, but he wasn't going to settle until he found that place he was imagining in his mind, that place where he felt comfortable.

But he wasn't made uncomfortable or irritated by what she said. Blatant, brazen flirting would turn him off quicker than a dunk under a cold waterfall, but sincere flattery always got his attention. When he was younger, he might have even blushed, but he was too old for that nonsense now. "Uh... thank you, my dear." He almost winced at that. It had slipped out without warning of any kind. But he needed to say something in return, didn't he? Otherwise he'd be seen as some insensitive brute, and if he was going to be in someone's company and they were going to remember him after, he liked them to have the right impression. "Your eyes... I've never seen quite that shade of blue before. I like it." It was simple, truthful. He wouldn't lie to her and say they were the most beautiful eyes ever to grace a female. He wasn't like that.

His look turned thoughtful for a moment. What place was he looking for? He honestly.. hadn't thought much about it. He had just figured he would know the place he wanted to stay in once he found it. A sort of instinctive thing. He just knew he didn't want trees where he was going. At least, not as many as there were in that damned jungle. He was still a leopard at heart, and preferred to sleep on a branch than on the ground. "What place?" he repeated quietly, brow furrowing. "I'm not sure yet. Somewhere that... feels right, I suppose."

He turned his eyes to look at her once more, tilting his head a tiny bit. "Surely you are old enough to make your own choices now? You can't give up on a dream because you think someone wouldn't approve.. even if that someone is your mother." He flicked one of his ears lightly.

Something of a smile touched his face, and his eyes flicked down to his dark paws momentarily before back up at her. "Pretty eyes run in your family, then?" Not quite as suave as before, but hey, he wasn't used to complimenting others.

For a moment, Sitirika just stared at Kwaruza, unable to really believe that which he was hearing. Weak? What kind of mother did this young lioness have? He had to wonder. "In my opinion," he began slowly, trying to word his statement carefully, so as not to offend Kwaruza and also to give away as little as possible, "it is not weak to love, or even to want love. It takes courage and strength to love someone. You take a leap of faith and trust that someone not to hurt you. To risk facing the pain that follows if your heart is broken will never be weak, as I look at it." He tried to keep his tone mild and conversational as he said this, but at a few points his voice had wavered slightly with some indeterminable feeling.

He nodded slowly, understanding what she said about being alone. He'd suffered the sting himself. "It's terrible to walk away from the familiarity and safety of family... or have family walk away from you. But it gets better with time." His eyes had moved away from her to stare at his reflection in the water. It was a shadow of his past, this topic, that he rarely allowed himself to think about. He had to wonder why his tongue was so loose today. Perhaps the lack of decent conversation for so long had done this to him.

"I never met mine, either," he murmured, that being all he can think of to say to Kwaruza's words. What more was there to add?

Sitirika's ear flicked sharply and he suffered a moment of panic. Had she figured something out? No, she couldn't have, why would she? He'd given nothing away with his little speech, he was sure of it. He had better not've. He wasn't going to talk about that with anyone, let alone a little girl he'd just met. If she said anything sensitive, he was going to walk away. His past was not coming to light this day or any other.

With a flick of his tail, calming himself, he murmured in reply, "Mm, perhaps. But perhaps not." Most likely not, in his opinion. Despite what he'd said mere moments ago, he wasn't sure if he was going to risk it again. Ever.