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Detailed Depictions of Bug Eating

Hog makes a little excited sound as her friend leaps into action! A squeal of delight as she leaned a little closer to watch the stomping. Though not too close, she'd developed enough of a sense of preservation during her cycles.

When offered, she moved closer to try one of the bugs. She toyed with it, pressing it to the roof of her mouth and pushing it around with her tongue. Then, finally took a bite. It was charred, certainly. It made the shell easier to crunch through, while the insides were still chewy and earthy tasting.

The legs were still stuck between her teeth; perhaps they could be removed in future attempts. Yet, it still tasted good, almost like nuts. Perhaps they could be treated like nuts too, something with a little more flavour could be added to them...

Cutting through her thoughts was the smell of burning meat. It was enough to break Hog out of her food-thoughts to look around for the source. Leading her eyes towards her new friend's feet. "Are you hurt?"

@October

Satisfied that its friend was also enjoying the fruits of their combined labor, October pecked up several more charred bugs in quick succession. It found the taste unexpectedly addictive, the contrast between the crunchy scorched shells and warm soft innards (warm food! That was a novelty!) rich on its tongue. "We should do this more often," it began, but its thoughts were interrupted by a question. Hurt?

"Noooo," it trilled, torn between whether to sound reassuring or proud. "It's just fire!" Well, yes, it hurt, but that was a secondary point to the whole thing where it could conjure fire from its own body! "It is a mark of the fire magic that I can do! And it's proof I'm getting stronger." Okay, that was definitely proud.

It spotted tangled insect legs stuck in Hog's teeth, and tilted its head, hopping closer. "Legs in your teeth," it said suddenly, and offered: "Want me to help get them out?"

@Hog

Hog's eyes narrowed as she considered the 'mark of fire'. Was it some sort of trial for fire users to prove themselves strong enough to be worthy of the flame? It seemed a little unfair to be born with magic but have to prove you're getting stronger.

She didn't consider that she might have misinterpreted her new friend's words. "Does that mean you have to be hurt to be the strongest? I don't think I have the fire.. stuff, so I don't know how it's supposed to work."

The piglet's brows drew together as she consulted her new friend. It seemed strange not to worry about a friend being hurt; wasn't that supposed to be how friends worked?

"Oh! Yes, please!" Hog nods her head eagerly before opening her mouth with a "aaaaah," for her dentist checkup.

@October

October considered its new friend's chain of logic and nodded approvingly. "I guess so! Can't get stronger without making fire, can't make fire without getting hurt." It did not seem particularly concerned about this. "You should try it!" In fact, it seemed that despite the painful experience, it was still Very Likely to recommend this 10/10 Experience to its Family and Friends.

Cheerfully, it hopped up to Hog's opened mouth and stuck its head inside, grabbing at leg fragments and tugging them out with swift, precise motions of its slender yellow bill. In a few moments it had gotten everything it could see. "All done," it warbled, hopping back. "What next?"

@Hog

Hog frowned as her new friend plucked her teeth clean. Was magic supposed to hurt? She'd never tried it herself, it was all one large floating question mark in her mind. Could she make fire? She considered it for a moment before concluding that she didn't know.

Once her friend was done, she tilted her head away before closing her mouth; apparently worried she might accidentally close it on her new friend's head. She hummed as she looked about. "We can try making something with more ingredients! At the hot-food place they put plants on it--"

Then, she paused her mouth still agape. No, that was rude, she mentally scolded herself. She should consider her new friend's interests. Yes, that's exactly how you make new friends.

"How do I try the fire? I'm not sure I'm strong-- but you like it so it must be good!" Hog reasoned, another perfectly sound logic.

@October

It listened to Hog intently, eager to hear her ideas on how to make more delicious hot-food, since their first try had turned out so good. But it tilted its head in confusion when she suddenly cut herself off. "Plants?" it prompted, confused. Plants were good! It liked fruit and berries which came from plants. It wanted to hear about how to set them on fire and eat them too!

But then Hog continued, and the answer became clear. Ohhh, of course, she wanted to try fire too! Naturally, as fire was the best magic in the world. It approved of Hog's conclusion completely! How to try it, though? "Ummmmm," October began thoughtfully. It didn't really know how to teach this, it just did magic and magic happened. Fierily. But it would do its best! "Try to make your feet really hot!" it suggested. "It hurts but then when they get hot enough you can burn things!" Ohhh, or another option: "Or try to make your insides really hot! Then you see the light of FIRE in your eyes! This one hurts less," it added helpfully. So maybe the second one would be a good way to start.

Since it had already used the first spell on those grubs, October tried to demonstrate the second in case Hog needed an example. It puffed up its chest and opened its eyes wide, trying to make itself very warm and glowing fierily. But nothing happened, and it coughed awkwardly as it let out its breath. Oops.

@Hog

Try making her feet hot? Or her insides? That sounded possible. Hog knew she wouldn't be able to do it as well as her friend, whom she openly gaped at as if she were waiting for it to combust into a resplendent phoenix.

She blinked as it coughed. Then smiled brightly, "maybe the fire is still in your feet?" She reasoned, after all, she'd never seen a fast-moving fire.

Then, she parted her trotters to steady herself as she stared directly ahead. "Make my eyes really hot..." She murmured mostly to herself as she furrowed her brows. The concentration was palpable, her teeth grit together, the deep scowl, the little tremble as she clenched all over...

...She could almost feel it. Burning behind her eyes. Yes! Yes! Fire was also her friend! She could feel it as the shadows were barely illuminated before her eyes. "Did I do it too?!" She practically shouted at her friend in her excitement.

The reality was, there wasn't a fire, just a reflective tissue within her eyes. It reflected the lights much like cat's eyes, but it was definitely not fire.

@October

October made a doubtful gurgle. "Maybe!" Its feet didn't feel hot anymore, though. It fell into thoughtful silence as it tried to think of another possible explanation. Nothing came up. So maybe Hog was right after all.

It watched closely as Hog concentrated. Soon flashes of light began to glint from her eyes, but their aura was weaker than it was used to seeing. Well, not that it could talk, seeing as it'd just failed its own attempt to start glowing. "THAT'S IT," it encouraged loudly. "Now just keep trying to make it warmer! So the glow is even stronger!" It puffed up its feathers again and tried to demonstrate, but again nothing happened. A cool breeze swept past, ruffling its feathers and cementing October's disappointment.

"How do you feel? Warm? Hot? Magical?" it asked hopefully. If this little piglet who'd never cast fire before was still doing better than it was, maybe she could teach it something.

@Hog

Hog made a straggled noise as she really tried to make it hot, her whole body tensed like a coiled spring. "Rrrrgh! Am I," Hog gasped for a breath, "doing it?" She barely managed to squeeze out as she really tried to make her eyes ignite, hotter! Hotter!

Truthfully, she did feel hotter, though perhaps she'd yet to realise it was from the amount of exertion she was putting into this rather than creating fire. Not that the piglet could tell. As she concentrated more and more, she found herself seeing more and more of the dark; more of her eyes reflected the light.

"I feel really warm!" She announced before holding her breath to exert herself further. Her whole tiny piglet body was trembling with the effort. To do what? Who knows... But to her, she was channelling the fire.

Eventually, when her eyes started to bug out from the lack of oxygen, she gasped and went slack again. "How was that?" She said breathlessly, her eyes smiling up at her new friend.

@October

October stared wide-eyed as Hog strained and trembled with the effort. Was... was that why she could make her eyes glow and it kept failing? Did it need to try that much harder? The light beaming from her eyes got brighter and brighter, and apparently Hog was also getting warmer and warmer, so clearly it was working. Huh! Despite its previous efforts, clearly, it was still not trying hard enough. But now that it knew what to do differently, it could fix that and improve! Truly, there was something to learn from everyone.

"That worked great!" it exclaimed. "I could see the way your eyes flashed and glowed in the shadows! I'm going to try it too!" It danced from foot to foot eagerly, then hunkered down and concentrated. WARM. HOT. WARM HOT INSIDES. WARMER! HOTTER! FIERIER! Its eyes seemed to bug out from its face as it too strained to try to channel firelight through them.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light and sudden, searing pain. October cried out, falling backward. Steam rose from its eyes as it tried to blink away the burning sensation. Its world had gone black. This spell had never hurt this much before! Was it because it was having a breakthrough? More pain came with more powerful magic, after all. It struggled back to its feet. "I'm- I'm okay!" it warbled tremulously. Flecks of light, blurred through tears, began to return to its vision. "Did- did it work? I never felt that before!" If it could get used to this, could it harness even greater heights of power?

@Hog