"No, this warm place is a cave." Hog mused, tilting her head to the side, letting an ear flop over. "It's warm because of the food and people, I think." She explains with a hum.

She sat and waited, hopeful for the cooked mushrooms, but much to her chagrin, it didn't seem like that was happening. "Can I make things hot?" She echoed, the question more so to herself rather than her companion.

Could she?

Well, fire needed warmth and something to catch, at least when it wasn't magic. There were some dry leaves not too far. So, she trotted about, gathering dry leaves and sticks into a small pile.

Then, she needed something to make heat. That took some brain power. When she strained to do magic, she'd felt hot. With one of her sticks in her mouth, she rolled it into the pile of light kindling with her tongue. "B'ow on ert." She asks her friend with her mouth full.

@October

October had a feeling there was a misunderstanding somewhere—Hydra was a cave too; every place was a cave—but the more important thing was that it was not warm because of the orb light but because of food and people. So not like Hydra, then, which had decidedly little of either.

It watched in fascination as Hog gathered her supplies. True! Gathering fuel would make fire burn much more easily. Why hadn't it thought of this? —Well, it'd learn from her now. It took note of the types of kindling she gathered, and the way she piled them up. Finally, it was time for the spark that would start the fire.

It knew the spell to blow on things and make them fiery—it was a rather difficult one, but it could try. It gathered air in its lungs, making it hot, and then exhaled right onto the kindling Hog pointed out. —Nothing but air came out, instead of the jet of flame it'd hoped for. "Sorry," it mumbled despairingly.

@Hog

Hog's brows furrow as she continues the movements; perhaps they didn't need the fire starter...

As she continued, something eventually sparked, and the kindling caught. Though the hog was starting to look exhausted keeping up the actions by the time the fire started. She panted as she dropped her stick into the little fire and slumped down on her backside.

"We did it! It's okay!" She smiled despite the tiredness. She certainly didn't want her friend to feel bad about itself. "We can make some hot food now-- And you don't have to keep using up all your fire!"

Only half a beat passed before she quickly added, "unless you want to!"

@October

October stared in awe as before its eyes, a fire sparked and sprang to life from the stick in Hog's mouth. "Oh wow," it breathed, eyelids fluttering as it leaned in to enjoy the hot air against its face. "That was so amazing."

It did want to keep using its fire, actually, and it didn't think it could ever use it up—actually, that was a horrifying thought. What if it had already used it up, and this was the result? It struggled to even make a spark in the most magically charged of rooms. October swallowed nervously. Maybe it was best to take a pause.

"Okay," it agreed. Holding down a cluster of the mushrooms Hog had picked with one foot, it tugged and broke off a piece with several caps and took it in its beak. It hopped close to the fire Hog had made and held the mushrooms over the flames, hopping around and rotating it occasionally to make sure no side of it remained un-flametouched. It withdrew the mushrooms from the fire once it started smelling smoke coming off of it—some of the cluster was slightly blackened and burnt, but most of it was a promising warm brown. It nudged the piece toward Hog. "Try it!" it encouraged, and then pecked at some of the caps itself.

Its eyes widened. "Mmm!" The still-hot mushrooms burned the inside of its bill, but that was less important than the flavor. "It's so interesting. I've never had anything like it before."

@Hog do you want to fade off into an exit sometime here?

Hog snorfed up the offered cooked mushroom and made a very enthusiastic mmmm as she did so! Only a little bit dressed up to make her friend feel better. "This is really good!"

So, she sat. And she enjoyed the good company and good food.

She didn't know everything yet, but, she had an inkling that this was important too. Good food with good friends. Perhaps even a cornerstone to life. Something utterly irreplaceable.

She was content.

@October

;;exit? unless you have more you want to do!