ORIGIN - No One Puts Baby In A Corner!

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Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

A bright and cheerful laugh left the young lion as James explained himself. It’s not that bad, I mean they’re warmer so it’s yummy, and they aren’t as hard to chew and don’t get stuck between my teeth. Aristotle explained himself and his reasoning for why he didn’t find the guts gross. Well there were certain times that the insides weren’t the best, and that was usually because the creature he had consumed had been sick. A single rounded audit gave a quick flick as if shooing away something but it was merely in thought. The only time they are actually really squishy though, is if the animal has been sick. Then it has a funky after taste, but that’s all creatures. Aristotle mused to his friend.

Another amused laugh left the young lion as his friend got a rather disgusted look on his face and a shiver ran through his body. It was funny, the way his friend reacted when it came to eating innard.

As they entered James’ home Aristotle looked around his friend’s home. It was very well decorated, where his was barren and needed some work badly. That would come in time. The main room would be where he focused most of his time. It was the one that needed to be cleaned out the worst. Aristotle trotted around the main room a moment taking everything in, especially James’ stair shelf thing. It was very well decorated and the lovely mosaic of gems on the wall.

Flicking an ear Aristotle followed James into the room where he had his “bed”. Aristotle gazed at the thing. The outer ring had been made of stones and the inner was layered with soft grasses. This got Aristotle’s mind turning, what if he put a layer of rabbit furs on top of the grass? Would that be better than just sleeping putting it under his head? I see, It looks cozy. Though I wonder if I used rabbit fur on top of the grass, do you think it would softer and warmer?The last sentence mostly musing to himself. He wouldn’t need to change out the furs very often, but he knew that grass deteriorated rather quickly so he would have to change that out every few days. However collecting that many furs would be a long process as he refused to hunt unless he was hungry.

Aristotle looked up James and smiled. Well then shall we get started that looks like it’s gonna take us a little bit to collect all of the things we need. The young lion asked eagerly. If James found a bed worth sleeping in, then he probably would too.

@James

"EW- Don't describe it!!" James exclaimed with a whinny, grossed out by Ari's description, "It's- It's gross!"

He tossed his head and snorted, ears pinned as he trotted to his room to pout, "Well grass doesn't get stuck between my teeth..."

He nosed the edge of his bed, the grasses flattened where he'd slept on them, but otherwise healthy. He watered the bed in the morning before he left for the day, and came back to a dry sleeping place, the grasses rejuvenated by the water and the light streaming in through the bedroom window.

"I grow the grass so it doesn't get all brown and dry," James explained, "But putting the furs on top isn't a bad idea. You'd have to catch a lot of rabbits, though..."

He turned to face Ari again, ears perked up, "We can't put anything in your house until we clear the debris out. We can go get Pride to help us, he's super nice. I haven't seen him in a while, though... I hope he's okay."

He was awfully excited to show Ari his mentor, whom had been teaching him magic ever since he came to Orion (with some help from Eythan, who'd shown him the basics of fighting). A thought crossed his mind that perhaps... Ari might like a mentor too. Not Pride, he didn't think, but someone who would be able to help Ari use his hyper energy to do good.

Hm...

@Aristotle

Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

Aristotle did his best to hold in a snicker, a tiny snort coming out of his nose, he then cleared his throat and flashed the horse a sheepish grin. He felt bad, but he wasn’t sorry. James’ reaction was hysterical. The young lion kept a light smile on his muzzle. As much as James vied for grass, after tasting the vine, he wasn’t putting grass anywhere near his mouth. It didn’t matter how adventurous he was, grass was off the list.

The young lion followed his friend into his bedroom where he was nosing his bed. He grew his bed? Well that was… Inventive. He honestly had to say that he never would have thought of that. Not to mention one thing. Well I mean, I guess if you get hungry you could eat part of your bed and it’d just grow back. The young lion nudged his friend with his nose.

As James said he’d have to catch a lot of rabbits he smiled brightly. Well I happen to be a pretty good hunter, but I’m not going to kill just for their fur. I’ll wait till I need to eat, then I’ll collect their pelt. That was what he had taken to calling the skins with fur that he took off rabbits.

Why couldn’t they? They had just gotten the gem-egg in there. He didn’t understand why, they could walk around the pile of stuff in the main room and make him a bed at least.Why not Aristotle asked genuinely confused as to why they couldn’t do as they had with the gem. Then James suggested bringing another in to help. He jumped up and looked at his friend.No! We can’t bring others here. I don’t want anyone knowing about Precious. He spoke sternly, not angrily but as if it was dire that they not bring anyone in to help. Unless we can hide her, do you think there’s a way to hide her? He asked looking at his friend hope glimmering in his brilliant baby blues. Hope that his friend would understand.

@James

James stared at Ari like he'd grown a second head, maintaining his gaze for a good minute before he looked down, half in disbelief and half in dismay. Ari was protective over an inactive stone. Not an egg, a pretty-looking rock.

"I don't... I don't have a lot of magic, Ari," he tried to explain, "I only have so much energy to do things, I don't even know what will happen if I push myself too far..."

James shook his head and exited the room, silently making his way to Ari's house, ears pinned to his skull. He wasn't happy, that was for sure. In fact, he found it a bit ridiculous that Ari was so overly protective of the thing. It wasn't alive. Not yet, if it were to be.

He entered the house and snorted, preparing a spell to try and lift the worst of the rubble. He strained and struggled until sweat drenched his fur, the largest pieces of rubble floating up, wobbling as they made their way above him, falling to the ground beside the house with a thud. James let out a gasp as he managed to get it out, legs shaking for a moment before he regained his composure and walked forward, trying to push as much as he could out of the house. It was a good way to work off his anger, that was for sure.

@Aristotle

Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

James didn’t understand it at all. The young lion’s shoulders dropped and so did his head. James stammered as he spoke. Aristotle knew James didn’t have a lot of magic that wasn’t what he was asking of him. The young lion didn’t want his friend pushing himself too far either.

Then James stormed out of his own house. J...James! Wait! The young lion begged, James had misunderstood him and clearly hadn’t heard Aristotle’s suggestion to hide.

Aristotle watched James straining himself to move things, the young lion jumped in front of the colt and looked at him. You didn’t hear what else I said. Aristotle said calmly. I said we could try and hide it. Aristotle began, he was thinking, something that could hide it. Branches, plants, leaves, small trees. Aristotle began speaking aloud but it seemed he was thinking as he looked past James. A smile spread across his muzzle as he looked up at James. We can gather these things and keep them around the egg and maybe say it’s for something I have planned for my room and the rest of the house. The young lion explained, hoping maybe the fact that he had a fully formulated plan now would soothe his friend.

The young lion reached up, licking some of the sweat from his friend's forehead. It was really salty and he wasn’t sure how he felt about the taste of his best friend either. But he wanted to comfort him, Aristotle knew he had upset him and he wanted to calm him down.

@James

James snorted as the other licked him, and stubbornly turned around, showing Ari his rump as she walked over to a slab and nudged it up so that it leaned against a wall instead, "I don't understand. You don't want anyone here, you said. But to go and find leaves and branches, we'd have to go all the way to Eridanus to get them, after we lugged that egg here already. We can say all we want to Pride but he's not dumb, Ari. He'll know we're hiding something. We're not old enough to know how to lie."

He finally sat down with a frustrated huff, ears down and a glare on his face, "... And who knows if that stone holds life, Ari? It won't not until we're older and can learn a spell to give it life. I heard at the meeting a few days ago... Gaul, a creature like the both of us, with hooves and paws, they told me that you can put life into a gem to create a being like us. But not until we're older, and then what? We'll have to take care of it."

That was what bothered him. Being dragged into taking care of a whole being. A living creature. It... scared him. What if they messed up?

"I'm scared," he admitted, averting his eyes, "You assumed I'd help you, and... I would. I will. But it doesn't make me less upset and scared about the fact that we might have to raise a whole child. We're not even adults yet! You're losing your baby teeth and mine just grew in... and already we're thinking about parenting. It was a month ago that we learned how to talk. I would love to suggest just putting the stone up on a shelf and enjoying it as decoration until we're really ready, but we both know you're already basically fathering the stone- the baby, already."

James stood up and turned around, his form looking rather frail as he huddled in on himself, "... Will we be able to even protect it, like you want to? What if something happens- what if we fail?"

Tears welled up in his eyes and he walked forward, pressing his head to Ari's chest, "... I don't want to fail at this."

@Aristotle

Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

Aristotle snorted in frustration at James. Fine if he didn’t understand then he didn’t have to. The young lion let out an annoyed growl as he backed up from James. He didn’t want to be kicked by those hard things he called hooves. This time the young lion slid around in front of James and began walking forward in an attempt to nudge the much bigger but young child back.

Then James sat down on his rump. Clearly that tactic wasn’t going to work. Aristotle huffed out a puff of air as he let his tail sway in irritation. He began pacing back and forth near the rubble pile. It wasn’t huge, it wasn’t small but only the center of the floor had collapsed so there was still quite a bit of room to move around. The young lion paced back and forth across the room listening to his friend. He was very irritated himself. James didn’t care to try to understand that this was important to him. Or at least that’s how it felt to Aristotle.

So what if it holds life, that makes it all the more important. The young lion blurted out before anything else. If it does then I’ll take care of it, I’ll teach it. If you don’t want that responsibility then fine, I’ll ask Aunty for help. I’m sure she would teach me how to care for a young one. James had other friends, so did Aristotle. She had been the first other gembound he had ever met. She had been wonderful to him and now when he needed or wanted he sought her out in Eridanus the place where he had been born.

Aristotle let out a deep growl this time stopping his pacing. I only asked you to help bring it here. I didn’t ask you to help with anything else. It’s mine I wanted it, you hold no responsibility for it. You can walk away whenever you want. The young lion stated bounty as he turned his head to look at the sitting horse.Aristotle narrowed his eyes at James. I didn’t call it a baby, it was an expression when I called it a baby. If you recall I’ve actually been calling it precious. Honestly I DON’T think it’s alive. He stated simply. He didn’t, well he wasn’t sure what he thought. If you look inside it there’s no light anymore. I think the light inside that cave was what was causing that. The light orb was really close to the gem that may also have been what was causing it to be warm because, now it’s barely our temperature. Aristotle looked away from James.

He didn’t want to rope James into anything, and he wasn’t going to. If the egg had life then he would care for and ask Aunty Elspet how to do it. She seemed really smart and knew so much, maybe she could help him. Aristotle flicked an ear in thought and picked up his right paw and began rubbing his left foreleg, he took a deep breath and let it out calming himself. You can’t expect to fail or you will. Hunting for my food taught me that. If you don’t try you don’t eat. I can’t eat grass and it’s everywhere you have food literally EVERYWHERE. I have to chase and possibly not actually catch my food. Do you know how often I actually catch something, I’ve learned, it’s maybe once out of every ten attempts do I actually catch something, but I keep trying. The young lion filled the horse in on his food situation and how he lived, probably more than he should have.

Aristotle sighed as he lifted a paw wrapping it around the underside of the colt's head he nuzzled his own head into James’ forehead and licked up under mane. But we’ll never know unless we try. He also realized that he hadn’t told James anything about Elspet or Elspet about him. Welp that was his little screw up. Oh well that could till a different time.

@James

"That's the thing," he mumbled quietly, pressed up to Ari's fur, ears down but not pinned, "It's important. It's really important, in general and to you."

James looked up and snorted in surprise when he got a tongue across his face, scrunching his nose before gazing at Ari with his sad eyes, "It's important to you and it'll be a.. It will be a baby someday. And you do call it baby, you big sap. But it'll be a baby and you'll have to care for it, and I want to help but at the same time... it's so scary. It's nothing like having a friend, and not knowing things kind of... bugs me."

The colt sighed and lifted a leg to hug Ari, burying his face in the other's wispy mane, "I'm sorry I got angry..."

Maybe he was jealous. Maybe he was scared. Maybe he didn't want to lose Ari, or for Ari to suffer because he was alone. Maybe he didn't want Ari to make a mistake and have to face it without a friend to support him. Maybe it wouldn't be a mistake...

There were too many maybe's for James' comfort. And Ari was right, you'd never know until you tried. But there was always a what-if and a maybe looming over every decision, a doubt festering, laying in wait to spring like a hidden predator.

"Grown-upping is hard," James suddenly complained, tearing up again, "I just want to be your friend and to run around like idiots. And run around like idiots with Baby, too."

"And her name is not Precious- wait, when did 'she' become a girl, huh?" he asked, still teary-eyed but trying to smile, to cheer the both of them up somehow.

@Aristotle

Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

Aristotle huffed, still fuming slightly. I doubt it’s important to anyone BUT me. The young lion bit back. He wasn’t easily angered but he had been pushed. James just hadn’t understood. So what if it does become a baby? I don’t care, I'll still take care of it. Aristotle wanted to drive that point home. So what if he called it baby. It was a pretty precious stone, and calling something baby was an expression also, not that it really mattered. The young lion looked at his friend.

A bright laugh left the young lion as left the young lion as James pulled back in surprise and somewhat disgust. A brilliant smile spread across his muzzle. James apparently didn’t like the feeling of his rough feline tongue on his short fur. I understand that you’re scared. I really do, but you can’t keep being scared. You have to face your fears my friend. Aristotle chided to his best friend.

Feeling the gentle hug Aristotle nestled into his friend’s chest and gave a rough large feline purr, though it sounded kind of like a growl but happy.It’s okay, I’m sorry too. Came the muffled reply from in James’ chest. Aristotle briefly wondered what that felt like.

Aristotle gave a light chuckle as he pulled back from his friend and sat on his rump. Yeah it is, but I think the word you’re looking for is “adulting” He grinned brightly looking up at his friend as they sat in his home. That’s what I want too James. Aristotle agreed simply, it was after all what he wanted.

The young lion squinted at James, no it didn’t have a name yet. I haven’t named her yet actually. Though I was thinking the name Abraxas would be pretty. Aristotle mused the last sentence more to himself. But looking up at James’ teary eyes the young lion lifted up partially on his hind legs and licked the young stallion's cheeks.

@James

It was certainly an odd relationship. Not only were they prey and predator, but so different in how they acted, too. James was nervous and doubted everything, Ari was more comfortable just going for it. They balanced each other out.

James leaned up against the other and nodded into his fur, ears down as he pulled away, "... I know I really ought to... doesn't make it any easier.
Though, you being here with me does."

In retaliation for the licking, he dragged his sloppy, wet tongue across Ari's face with a mischievous cackle, clicking his hooves on the ground in glee. He settled down at the sound of Ari purring, ears flicking forward in interest. He narrowed his eyes and hummed, before making a weird noise in the back of his throat, as if he were trying to purr too. He nudged Ari gently as the other provided comfort and slid down onto his knees, laying up against the other.

"Ah-brax-as..." he said, humming happily, "I like it. It sounds... interesting."

@Aristotle

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