When Damu looked upon the glossy riverbed, freshly cleared hours earlier from the aching sun, the leopardess was stilled, and looked at what remained of the water with a piqued curiosity. Her deep colored mahogany paws touched the ground as if to check if it would burst under the pressure of her foot. A slight ping made her long for this, as it would bring forth a danger she found satisfactory to go along with her pleasure.Alas, the river was secure. Her weight was held firmly and should it even threaten to break she was so light of a leopardess that Damu doubted it would. Her violet eyes curved in an upwards slant, having followed the twist of her left ear, the one that twitched upon knowing she was no longer alone.
"Whose there?" She asked frailly, attempting to sound less threatening but her stone face made her come of as scared or nervous for it. Thankfully this edged in her favor as the approaching individual wasn't particular pleased in his mood on that given day when the sun hung low.
Lindani limped forward from the grass. He remained mostly hidden, but allowed the stems that still batted along his face to push back and reveal his good eye to the stranger. A low growl which was in fact his breathing, seethed and poisoned by the smoke he had breathed in so long ago; would no doubt aid the leopardess in finding his location.
Indeed, this was the case, and Damu was oblivious to the injuries caressing the cheetah's back. She did not view the scratches and the burns nor did she pick up on the fact that the beautiful tip of cheetah's tail, was mainly missing in this one's case. Fire had long corroded it, and the tip had vanished to the charred flame.
"Hello, stranger." The leopardess' soothing voice pierced through Lindani's thoughts of his own macabre and rather ugly appearance. "My name is Damu. Damu Chui, I'm an explorer." She curled the tips of her lips up earnestly. The best she could manage of a smile, if such a thing was a smile. The curse of her stoic expression lingered on she found with a sigh for the thought.
Damu wanted to make new friends, not new enemies or rivals. She had enough of those as it was between lions and crocodiles who wished to eat her up. It was always a blessing when in the area she was able to scrounge up a new recruit who was willing to follow her until she left the premises. She quite enjoyed chatting with others. Even when they couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not.
Lindani narrowed his good eye, it being slightly clouded with a premature blind spot that threatened to steal his sight. He blinked a few times and managed to see clear again, identifying the leopardess where she stood. "An... Explorer?" He questioned in a soft and fragile tone. His voice had a certain rasp to it, prevalent from the trauma he had gone through. "There is no treasure here explorer. If there was I would have found it." The last few words were extra soft and calming in tone.
However, this riled the leopardess up. Her eyes lifted with a peak of joy and her face, although not changing, seemed to reflect this in some way. "Are you an explorer too?!" She exclaimed with the need to know. In fact Damu had met one, another leopard such as herself and perhaps a lion who were quick to label themselves as explorers or treasure seekers. To find a third was most amusing and exciting to her. The leopardess crossed the riverbed that had no water and stood upon the edge of the tall, lifeless yellow grass where Lindani had taken a few steps back in an effort to remain hidden.
"I..." He stared, as Damu approached with a tang of youth and curiosity that reminded him of his fallen children. "I am not." He looked away, not able to fight tears should they dare build as he thought of his lost family.
Damu invaded the edge of the tall grass and with a twitch of her salmon tail awaited to hear more of an explanation. When she did not receive one, to Lindani's relief the leopardess backed away and sat upon the cracked ground beneath her. "Then how would you find treasure if your not an explorer?" She asked with a faint smile or grin.
Cheeky. Lindani thought and allowed himself to relax and speak normally now that Damu had less of a chance at seeing his broken frame. "I was once an explorer, treasure runs into me not the other way around."
"Ahh. So you're a good luck charm?" The leopardess joked, and although it was beginning to bother Lin that her face never moved he reminded himself what he looked like before judging her too harshly.
Her comparing him to a good luck charm made the cheetah crawl back a few steps further, a mistake he learned as the red leopard followed him. "I would not say I am that." He informed her, as Damu shoved the grass away and allowed herself to gaze at his ugly face.
"Oh." She said upon seeing the scare that ran through his mouth, and the burns that caused his left eyelid to not open as fully as they should.
He snarled and reversed into the yellow grass even further.
"I'm sorry!" Damu called. "Look, I-... Can we start again, I won't look at your face I promise!"
The friendless of Damu caused Lin to halt. Few were brave to look at his face. Fewer were not scared off by the rest of his beaten appearance. "What is it you want explorer?" He asked in a half demanding way.
"I... A friend." Damu had paused to think up her reasoning to bother the cheetah before her. "A companion for a while. As I travel."
"And you think I'm good for this?" He asked her in a sarcastic way.
Damu ran to his side. "Yes." She informed him. "I do. I'll keep you out of danger and you help me find treasure, alright?"
Was she serious, Lin turned to gaze at her face. She seemed serious enough, though he doubted her stone face was an act. It was hard to tell if she was, indeed true to her word about this. "I guess so." He told her casually as they treaded away from the dry river and more into the deep grass that lead to a smaller and thinner brushes of the savannah.
"What's your name then, fellow explorer?" She seemed to be in a chipper mood.
"Lin." He told her with slight remorse in his voice. "Lindani."
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