Snow Day

The air was cold as can be. A blanket of snow covered the ground wonderfully. Along came, Tripod lazily padding along and out of his den. Most of the other cats in the zoo didn't like the cold, much less the snow like he did. This was his favorite time of year! Seeing the freshly powdered white all around, he took a few steps and suddenly leapt up. Landing smack in the middle of the thick coat, his ears could barely be seen out of the shape he made. Suddenly, the little cougar heard giggling.

Sticking his head out of the snow gently, he peaked out to find the source. A little boy kept sat quietly behind the gates and railing. Tripod liked the attention too, so when he realized the boy was focused on him, he did a little digging. Tossing up snow "violently" and then silence. He sprung up again, falling deep into the snow once more. The boy's laughter grew louder and sure enough it began to attract more people and even some staff that heard the commotion.

"Look mommy, the leopard came out to play!" A small voice called out.

Tripod's ears pinned down. He was no mere leopard! How dare they? He is the stunning Tripod! Suddenly as he began to hear a few more kids draw close he noticed they were looking back at something...something behind them. He turned just to see Teeth coming out grumpily behind him. Oh that leopard, he thought. WAIT. He had an idea! Suddenly he began to get low, hiding in the sea of white. Unethusiastically, she came to a halt at it's very edge. With a huff, she sat there pondering how to get across.

"I don't think she likes the snow very much..." Their little disappointed voices called out. One of the staff members chuckled in response.

"Yeah, that's our Teeth! Nothin' like Tripod here. Surpisingly for her species, she's not a fan of the snow." He pointed at the small cougar.

Slowly, but surely, the little man was on the move. Tripod made his way up to her, close as he could. And suddenly, BAM! He lunged at the poor leopard and took her down with himself and into the snow. You could hear her growling as he grumbled, play fighting until she managed to dart away from him. She disappeared faster than she had come out to take a look. That left Tripod all by his lonesome again. Only poking his head out of the snow sadly since his friend did not want to play with him.

"Hey Mister, is it okay for Tripod to be with the leopard? She's much bigger than him?" It's true, that was a very odd thing to do normally and honestly could be risky. However, the whole ordeal was an accident after all.

"Well, normally, the two would probably avoid each other and it's not always safe to keep different big cats in the same enclosure. But these two share a little bit of a different story and bond. We've tried to separate the two, but Tripod gets very lonely without Teeth and she on the other hand, gets very...um, upset. Definitely really mean if we try to take him away from her too. So we thought it's best to keep these two as they are for now." Well that was the best way he could put it anyway.

"Oh, that makes sense. I'd be sad to be away from my friend too." The kid murmured.

It's not exactly well seen to say that one of these animals hopped over the fence one night and that was the end of it...specially one missing a leg. It raised more questions about the zoo, althought it was funny on paper. These two were just an anomaly and a cute one at that. Without another word, he peered down at Tripod who was aimlessly still trotting about through the snow. However, his attention was no longer on the zoo visitors. He was completely facing the den entrance. He'd roll around, kick up snow, and sometimes near their deck, it even seemed like he was strutting.

At one point, he decided to try and climb up their tree. It didn't work quite well though as he would cling to the sides, but his running starts and leaps would shake the snow off. It'd fall and covered his face to the point he'd have to left himself slide down to shake it off. He began to yowl, upset, and turning to look for his friend. Yet, she never came back out. Disappointed, Tripod began to paw at the snow a bit. Everything would have been perfect if he had more playmates to enjoy it all. Eventually, he gave up and slowly made his way back to the den. Oh well, there's always next time to try again!