He had dipped his muzzle back into the cool waters of the river once more, slowly lapping up the fresh liquid and savoring the feeling of the cold as it went down his throat. He had dropped his guard for just a moment - a moment too long it seemed - so when a voice entered his head, he lifted his own with a jolt and stared around, trying to locate the source of the sound. It didn't at first register to Ridley that the voice had been inside his head. He expected to look around and see a creature standing beside him, staring up at him (or down, but that was far less common) with an expectant look on their face, waiting for the returned pleasantries. Pleasantries that Ridley never bothered with himself.
However, there was no creature in his immediate area. He was unfamiliar with telepathic communication, so he did not immediately put two and two together. His silver gaze shifted out further to see if perhaps someone had yelled the word and he had mistaken it's distance. Nothing across the river that he could see. Nothing to his left. Nothing to his ri- wait. There was a figure standing there behind him, a figure that hadn't been there before, or at least, he hadn't noticed it before. His silver gaze locked onto the stranger with intensity. With interest. With an incredible curiosity.
This must be the creature that had shouted hello to him, he concluded. He didn't return the word, and instead started to stalk forward, his gaze fixated on the white figure that kept a distance away. His approach was fully a stalk, his head level with his spine, his reptilian tail held out behind him and twitching with excitement. As he gained distance, he felt an emotion bubble within him, something that masked part of the curiosity that drove him to inspect the being. It was the feeling of calmness, something rather common within Ridley, and hardly needed encouragement.
As he approached the creature, his eyes deciphered it in full. It looked canid, but... something was peculiar with it. Namely, it's lack of fur and flesh. An immediate fascination grew within Ridley and the curiosity within him became near irresistible. Nay, it was irresistible. He approached the stranger, ignoring any sort of personal boundaries a normal individual may have, and leaned in closer to inspect the being. With a whisper of amazement, the only words that came from his muzzle were: "What are you?"