Dole, as usual, was hunting around for a decent tree in the sparse, dry savannah. It was hard these days to find a decent tree to lounge about in; even rarer were the ones that were near a water source. Those, of course, were the best ones, but understandably not all over the place.
So the leopard simply continued walking on, wandering and looking for a decent spot. Finally he spotted a lone tree, on a small hill. He loped towards it with a graceful pace.
Ekevu was wandering in silence, musing over his recent encounters. Recently it seemed to be all he could do- but who could blame him? A lot had happened since he had first left his home. As a new adult, he didn't know much of the world, and dealing with so many different encounters was just plain weird for him. He had expected to only meet up with wild dogs. But no. There were lions and weird little things called servals! What else would he meet?
Of course, he had met wild dogs too. Lovely ones and funny little ones. That was pretty awesome.
Sighing, he looked up, spotting something moving towards a tree he happened to be near. It didn't look like a wild dog by any means, but it was too big to be a serval and too small to be a lion. So... what was it this time? Tensing, he watched it get closer.
Dole didn't notice the wild dog moving closer to him; instead, he concentrated on circling the tree and inspecting its branches. It looked pretty sturdy to him, but just in case...
The leopard inspected the bark, the branches, everything. He propped himself up on his hind legs a few times before he hauled himself up to one of the branches. Once he was on his perch, he grinned and surveyed the area around him. This was a decent spot.
"Whoa!" gasped the male, watching the creature spring into the tree. So this guy liked to be in trees like the little serval he had met? That was cool. Ekevu wasn't one to like getting into trees. Mostly because he had never once been able to get up in there. His claws, he found, weren't made for climbing. Not like the cats he had come across.
Still, he hadn't seen a lion in a tree before.
"Hello there," he offered somewhat reluctantly, moving to the tree and looking up into the branches, "what are you doing up there?" Maybe this thing was looking for food or something. In a tree? Maybe it are leaves. Wait, that didn't make sense either.
His ear flicked downward when a voice from down below called up to him. Dole glanced down with a smile ready on his face and found a wild dog at the base of his tree. Now, how often did this scene happen? A cat up in the tree with a dog at the base, barking up to it. He chuckled.
"Hello yourself," he greeted. "Leopards are always in trees. It's where we feel the most comfortable. We sleep and eat up here. What are you doing down there?" he returned with a sense of humor.
"A leopard?" he repeated, taking in the new inforrmation and storing it in his brain so as never to forget it should he come across another leopard in the future. So many creature! It was so odd, coming from a place where he had only known his family of wild dogs and a few things that they had hunted. But the prey he hadn't really gotten to know... it was almost always dead before it got to him and his family members.
"Oh I see! So you like being in trees... I can't imagine why! I can't even climb into one!" He smiled faintly, trying to be friendly though he was nervous. Each encounter brought him a little more out of his shell.
"I'm down here because this is where wild dogs like to be! I've never met a leopard before. My name's Ekevu! What's yours?"
"Yes, leopards. We like trees, or at least I do, because it gives us some privacy," he chuckled. "We aren't the only cats who can climb trees, though. But we are the best ones at what we do." It wasn't a real prideful statement; it was the truth. You didn't see cheetahs up in trees. You saw them running around on the savannah.
"A pleasure to meet you, Ekevu. I am Dole."
He had to shout his reply, so to make things easier on both their throats, he slowly but gracefully leapt from branch to branch until he reached the ground, where he faced the wild dog with a friendly smile. "There, much better for talking, no?"
Ekevu took in everything the other told him, completely willing to think all of it honest-to-God fact. If he had told him that leopards had the power to change their color and become like the trees themselves he wouldn't have called him on it. Ekevu wasn't an idiot, really, but sometimes he could get so interested in learning that he would forget to keep in mind other creature's abilities to stretch the truth.
Which was bad.
"Nice to meet you Dole!" he called, though he found he didn't need to keep shouting once the male joined him on the ground. Chuckling, he nodded and smiled. "Yes, this is much better. I think I would have lost my voice if we kept shouting at each other like that!"
This one was easy to talk to, the leopard thought. Ekevu, his name was.
"Yes, and we wouldn't want that, would we?" he replied. This wasn't the first wild dog Dole had met, but a male one that was interesting at the very least. "What brings you around here today?" It was a dry heat today, one that not many would be out and wandering about it.
"I was just... looking around," the male admitted lightly, "I don't go exploring very much, you see, so I wanted to get out and enjoy myself a little. I... didn't find anything interesting though. Until now, I mean!" He grinned. At least he could say that he had managed to meet yet another animal along the way. A Leopard at that! Such a slick looking guy.
"I'm sorry," he said after a moment, "I didn't mean to disturb you. If you would rather go back into your tree and rest for a while, that's fine. I should probably be gettign back soon anyway... it's going to get pretty hot soon and I don't want to be too far from my home." He knew it got hotter when the day got later.
"That's understandable," Dole laughed. Sometimes it was fun to simply wander around and see what you could find, whether or not it was something worth it or not. It was still fun to go through the adventure anyways.
"Oh, it's fine," he added quickly. "I haven't met a male of your kind before. Although if you need to go, by all means. It was a pleasure meeting you. And while you can, I would walk quickly. The sun doesn't seem like it's going to let up anytime soon." He glared at the sky above.
"I guess so," he said faintly, smiling, "to be honest I'm not a big fan of exploring. Recently, though, things have been changing for me. I've been meeting a lot of others, and not all of the wild dogs! As you... might have guessed. Anyway, I'm starting to think exploring can actually be a good thing. I was nervous about it before, but not anymore!" He grinned at that, if only for a moment.
Still nervous.
He nodded, not looking up at the sun. "I think that's a good idea," he said lightly, "I'll be seeing you! I hope we can meet again when it's a little bit cooler!" He grinned, turning and heading away quickly to get out of the sun. A short encounter, sure, but still one he would remember.
"It's a good thing, as long as you have fun with it." He nodded again.
Dole smiled at the wild dog as he gave a farewell and turned to leave; yes, this had been a short encounter. But sometimes the shortest ones could be the sweetest. The leopard wished Ekevu good luck and health on his future adventures. He was sure that the dog wouldn't be able to keep his paws still after this first taste of exploration. The leopard watched as he became smaller and smaller on the horizon before leaping back into his tree and prepared himself for a nice, afternoon nap.
