Theriotype Introduction: Snow Leopard

There is no separating me from Snow Leopard; it defines me. I will refer to Snow Leopard as “her” because I am physically female, but most felines don’t have a true understanding of gender. Technically that means I’m writing in third person, but whatever.

Snow leopard is silver, darker on top and white below. Her eyes are a soft green, and her nose is tinted with a red-pink, the same color as the pads of her paws. These are the only traces of color on her. She has only one distinctive marking: a white tail tip, followed by a black half-stripe, and then an even smaller white stripe. Her paws are large and covered in fur, her front legs are short, and her back legs are long. Her ears are small and set back on her head, and her nose is rounded to take in the thin mountain air.

Snow Leopard likes the cold, the snow, and the energy of dawn and dusk. She feels at home on bare cliffs, on shifting rocks, in sparse subalpine forests twisted by the wind. She longs to look from above, to wait, to spring, her heavy tail keeping her balanced as she runs down the mountainside.

Snow Leopard is a paradox, always fluid yet never changing. She is the definition of introversion but is not shy. She does only what she wants, when she wants to. She is not above or below hierarchies, simply outside them. She abhors conflict and will avoid it whenever possible, but she will not be a bystander if something close to her is threatened. She is never petty, and is often quick to forgive. She sees no point in harboring negative energy.

Snow Leopard is self-aware and in control at all times. She constantly observes everything - even her own thoughts and actions. She is not critical, however: she is only a watcher. Everything she does is purposeful but not necessarily with a goal in mind; often she will do something simply because it seems like the right thing to do. From the outside she may appear to have two selves: one frivolous and energetic, the other secluded and serious. In truth, however, she is always both.

Snow Leopard is not a physical being, for the landscape she lives in is barren. It is not uncommon for her to go long stretches without seeing another living thing, but she is never lonely. The rocks and the sky are close friends, and they are the only ones she needs. Even in such a deserted place she is never bored because the world around her is full of movement and detail. She is content to sit and become part of the mountains, her mind riding on the wind.

Snow Leopard feels the world in shades of silver. She does not have what many would call “emotions” because emotions have color. Instead she has subtle variations of the same flowing texture - to her they hold the full range of experience and more. Human emotions are harsh and overwhelming, and she does not know what to do with them when they decide to pass through.

Her outer mind is like flowing water, but in the center there is an unshakable calm.

Snow Leopard is at peace with the world.