Iqniq fluffed out her coat and yawned as she woke. Her mind was fuzzy with sleep, but her growling stomach dragged her into alertness. She blinked her eyes open and glanced around, seeing if there were any mice or rats visible. Nothing immediately showed itself. "Dang..." She grumbled, "gotta actually look for a meal." Maybe Bartos will join me. Surely he's hungry too so early. She thought and looked around for her friend. "Bartos? You around?" She asked rather loudly, hoping he was within earshot. Maybe he would practive a bit more magic with her as well. Magic was her favorite thing to do in her free time, but she really didn't have much else to do since she didn't go exploring or any of that stuff. She usually just spent her time wandering around Orion waiting for something to look at, eat, or talk to. @Bartos

Bartos managed to wake up a little earlier than his cheetah friend, and it was for the most part because his rocks and his recent research had begun to haunt his dreams. He woke up in a bit of a haze with the thought of granite composition in his head, rolled over and snuck a glance over at Iqniq before deciding that she was still asleep enough that he could drift away and satisfy his curiosity. He'd found a good chunk of granite earlier with a few flecks of rock he hadn't seen before; it was pink, and he almost wondered if it was similar to the tourmaline he'd found before. Upon inspecting it, he decided that it couldn't be. Bartos had no idea what it was, but he wouldn't have time to figure it out. Iqniq's voice rose up from nearby, indicating that she had woken.

Waving his tail, Bartos bounced back to her. Paws picked up pace as he neared the cheetah - who was starting to look quite a bit bigger than him - and launched at her side, laughing playfully. He was too small to knock her over, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try! "Good morning!" The cat mewed, batting at her.

@Iqniq

Iqniq purred when she saw Bartos coming at her, and lifted her tail. She braced herself for his jump at her side, then comically fell when he hit her, knowing it would have been very easy to just stand and take the hit, but that was no fun at all. "You got me..." She said pitifully and flopped her head onto the ground, letting her tongue hang out and her opal teeth show in fake death. She was slowly getting closer and closer to being a full grown cheetah, but nobody ever said she had to completely grow up or give up playing silly games with a friend. After a few dramatic moments of stillness, she picked her head back up again. "Mornin Bartos." She chirped happily. "What were ya out lookin' for?" the cheetah asked, batting back at him with a big soft paw. "And do you wanna go with me to find somethin' to eat?" Her stomach growled again at the thought of food. @Bartos

Much to his surprise, she completely collapsed when he had collided with her, claiming that he got her - the cat suspended disbelief for a moment and laughed out, purring loudly at his victory. "Hah-hah! Another victory for Bartos, the Clever Cat of Orion!" He spouted, waving his tail back and forth above his spine with a wide grin. Flopped over her side, Bartos cast a glance down at her just to make sure she was actually okay, but he knew that his small size was hardly enough to cause any real damage to the cheetah. He relished his victory for a few seconds more before she started to move and Bartos withdrew to the ground next to her, still purring as loud as a motor as she lifted her head to look at him and finally return his good morning.

As she reached over to bat at him, he giggled and pulled away in an attempt to avoid her paw. "Oh just rocks, you know, like usual." Bartos answered matter-of-factly, huffing and laughing again. It was hard to tell if anybody else was as interested in the rocks as he was, so for the most part he just assumed they weren't until they said otherwise. "Yeah! You know, I could go for something to eat too. I haven't eaten all day!" The cat said, wide-eyed, then laughed again. It was only morning, so it would stand to reason that he hadn't eaten all day. For a second he considered explaining this to her, but then he remembered that she was probably better at humor than he was.

Eager to fill his stomach, Bartos jumped onto his paws and bounced around her, trying to think of where to go to look for food first.

@Iqniq