Take caution they told her. Be wary they warned her. Did she listen? Did she heed the good words of advice? Did Damu the leopard adventuress' extraordinaire dare to listen to the strangers who approached her? No, as a matter of fact she did not. Gators are there! Don't go to the river! They ate my lunch, MY lunch... All lessons that she had been so bold to as ignore. How important were they after all? Damu could take care of herself.
Well, apparently not. As a result of not taking care of herself and not heeding the directions Damu had landed at the river they all cawed at her to avoid. And although she was now at the river, more specifically now where was she?
Damu looked with a gulp in her throat at the river as it moved and swayed beneath her. She was standing, or well grasping a log in the center of it as she gently bobbed around the riverbank.
It was no shock that Damu had bad luck with Crocodiles and alligators, that was a history she was familiar with. They often tried to munch her up or toy with her until she came close enough to become prey- only Damu would slash them across the face and run away feeling smug. As an adventurer she could honestly say she had spent more than one afternoon collecting a small bag of alligator teeth for her collection. She quite prided herself on being able to avoid them. But this? Why it was just ridiculous.
"Come on Borko, you know it was just a joke." The leopardess attempted to ease the main alligator, and regrettably her main enemy, into softening up just a tad. He in return scoffed at her attempt to be friendly, sarcastic even. Her stone face betrayed her and Damu was left glaring into the eyes of a very unimpressed gator.
"Tthis. Is no joke." He hissed. One of his reptilian fingers pointed to the deep wound across his left eye.
Damu gulped. She didn't like making enemies, and she certainly didn't enjoy having Borko as one. "To be fair, you were trying to eat me." She pointed out.
"Oo." Borko cooed, a laugh showed how much concern this was to him. "But did you have to sscratch up my pretty face?" He licked where one of his teeth were missing. Damu, held it strung along a necklace. She had a few smaller teeth strung along the simple line. Overall mixed with her feathers the other necklaces also bore a few scares earned on her journeys.
"Self-defense." She snorted, to which the gator seemed to accept.
"Al'ight." He swarm around her log, a circle to which his three companions followed. "Then I would scar yoou." He spoke deeply. Damu sighed in relief, a smile if she could manage one was hidden under her breath.
Borko was more sensible than some gators, and he often had 'other means' of dealing with intruders. One of which was giving his trespassers a potential escape from death, so to speak. Now Damu wasn't a trespasser, but she had ruined Borko's eye. Clearly she had to participate in his little death games if she wanted to not find her own demise. "So what challenge is it today?" Damu asked him with her curiosity now piqued.
"Bwhahaha!" Borko laughed, his friends also amused joined in. Perhaps he had not expected to hear Damu says such, or for that matter say such a fact so seriously. It must have been quite the scene she decided later on.
"Yoour fun leopard. I'll tell you what. Beat me to that rock over there and you go freee."
"That's it?" Damu looked to where Borko pointed. A boulder smudged it's way out of the water and sat perfectly along the edge of the riverbank. It was a good distance from where Damu was, but she had confidence that she could beat Borko, even with his alligator speed. "Alright, let's do it." She agreed to his terms.
"Hehe, very well leopard."
"3." She knew where to run.
"2" And it wasn't where Borko thought.
"1" No, it was the opposite direction!
"Go!"
Damu stood and turned right away. She raced behind her and the company following her every move. Reaching the other side of the river initially Borko gave a hiss. That was until, to his disbelief, Damu turned back around. Bouncing off of a tree she had leap through the air, and used her original log as merely a bouncing-off point.
Her second leap was not nearly as graceful, but thankfully she did not crash into water but used a second gators back as a spring board. "Thanks a lot." She said earnestly. Dancing her way to the shoreline and the rock the leopardess looked at Borko for a moment and gave a grin.
"I believe I win." she said to him.
"Heh." Borko spoke. "Your a funny one, leopard."
"I'll see you around then." Damu turned tail with a wink in her violet eyes. Quick entertaining, she rarely had the chance to play dangerous games with other animals. Usually they feared too much, or too little and proved less than satisfactory when looking for trouble. The leopardess was quick pleased at her interaction with Borko.
When had it been previously after all, that a gator played games with her and did not automatically try to snap her in their jaws?
Leaving the river which stretched to the next watering hole Damu was pleased to be out in the Savannah sun and away from the shade of the cool trees. Her entertainment for the time being had ended, and so now she was to find some new entertainment. To name one that meant, to find new adventures.
Though the thought remained in her head for quite some time after the encounter, after many adventures and through many nights to come. Never discredit the word of the wise. Stranger or not, listening to them might just be for the better!
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