The collected water pattered lightly, almost but a trickle, on the leaves of the hot, muggy forest Damu called home. They danced their way down and splatted onto her nose soundly, earning only but a sniffle from the leopardess. Her ear twitched as the sound of a bug calling out to the forest captivated her senses. She could feel herself stirring awake, and yet her eyes still screamed no. Not yet. Just a little bit more sleep.
Even the sun rebelled against her desire for more rejuvenating rest though. It shone brightly through the trees and poured delicately over Damu's face. Yet she still quarrelled and toyed with the idea of waking. Even when the delicious scene in front of her had painted itself for her very satisfaction. An adventure waiting to be had. Yet- what then? Should she even bother rising? She was so much more comfortable here, and as the day had barely even begun she already had given up. The relaxing sound of a running waterfall mixed with a light hot breeze swirled around her ankles. The purr of sunlight drenched her coat and the rustling of leaves around Damu's head made her thoughts dream on. Ah- relaxing like this; it was remarkably comforting.
Although, her crimson eyes flashed open, it was not for her. A stretch confirmed this, with her desire for adrenalin and instant satisfaction of muscle movement beginning to seep back into her veins. A whole night she had wasted on relaxing and not anymore was she to fall victim to her own lazy nature.
Leopard's were meant for so much more, she reassured herself. For jumping and climbing. For swimming and walking. For jogging and running, and fighting. They were made to be creatures of promise. So such more potential did leopards have then they cared to realize. Damu was certain of this. That they were all made for something better. That she was meant for so much more. Lions on the other hand she was beginning to doubt. She they ruled but from what she knew Renzi had been gone almost a week now. Damu had patiently waited all the time for her. On and on and on she waited and swished her tail around in boredom. Chasing prey gave some sort of excitement but, enough was enough. The leopardess walked a few paces ahead to make her grand decision. What decision? The decision on where she would go now. She'd make sure to turn around and come back of course. No use leaving Renzi by herself when she was proving to be a fun travel companion. So of course Damu would make a full circle of her excursion back to the same place she sat at this very moment. Or maybe she'd travel a bit more to the south where she could be seen. Well, anyways, it was going to be in this area.
The mountains, her head tilted left. A bland, almost stoic expression was conveying her unpleasantness for the current situation. Yet Damu was thrilled. One would think otherwise but the perked ears and swish of her tail made her body posture at least seem to be anticipating something. Her face, it would never be such a way. Not nearly as keen on expressing her emotions well, she was cursed to look like she had swallowed a crab apple. (Guess her idea on trying to work her face muscles more didn't last long.) The solid pillar of sheer rock and foot cutting grey loomed to the south, the direction of which she had come.
As Damu had observed before, the entire valley was a dip in the earth. A collection of unrivaled mountainous ranges, back to back with only a lush forest to separate them. It was often foggy, most days rainy, down here. When the fog did calm the forest busted to life. Creatures stirred madly, day in and day out for the entire week of which Damu had loitered around. She ran her tongue over her lips; she had managed to snag quite a few meals with the help fog receding.
She turned to her right. The rock she had baked on this morning was large, but stable. Moss hugged it's crevasses and the sunlight prettily glared upon it's surface. The ground was further down away from her feet then had she chose to rest upon a normal rock. It was promptly hoisted up further to touch the air, or maybe the rock was just bigger than typical. It prodded out of the earth like an iceberg would on a lake of frozen water. No telling how big the rock actually was, but from Damu's standpoint is was just big. Big, oddly shaped and moss covered. As said already the light hit it soundly and the rush of water streamed nearby made Damu like it and choose it well as her resting spot. She felt very proud it was hers too, she had to fight off another leopard for this spot! Thankfully the other was willing to go without it and Damu rushed to take it over before a monkey hung on. Whew!
Regardless, to her right Damu spotted another mountain, one that stood taller than the rest in the distance as nothing but a shadow. Tree barricaded her sight from viewing where the base of it was. She also noted to herself the very idea that unless she stood where she did, the mountain would all but be invisible to her. Trees sprouted which way and that madly and more times than she noticed cleared out her ability to view the sky. "Let's go there, shall we?" She asked aloud. Her voice was dry from lack of talking and she struggled to recall who was talking too. Her own shadow maybe? She had become accustom to being alone; but with Renzi talking was just so natural (even when Renzi was not much of a talker herself) of an activity. So Damu had decided to exercise her voice. Keep it fresh and in the slightest possibility, attract a new guest for her own amusement. "Hmm..." The forest seemed dense where she had pointed her body towards. Deep, dark and mysterious. A perfect chance of unpredictable, delicious and adrenalin rushing danger. The smallest of smirks turned Damu's lip. "What are we waiting for, let's go."
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