It had only been a mere few days perhaps a week at most since he had left his chrysalis. His curiosity had kept him close to the place where he had been born into the world. But now his curiosity was pulling him deeper into this strange jungle. So many thoughts ran through the young man’s mind as he took in the sights and sounds around him. Every now and again he would stop and his pale pink nostrils would take in the scents coming to him on the winds. Gradually as he wandered the well worn path he had come across, a deep thirst once again took hold of him as he walked along. He needed to drink again. These new bodily functions were strange to him though he was quickly getting used to them. Though the whole having to stop because of the need to urinate or defecate was absolutely irritating.

Closing his eyes he once again stopped closing his eyes as he inhaled taking in every scent around him. There to his left just a little ways into the brush, he could smell the water he was looking for. Without much more thought about it he broke off from the main path, his now hardening pads crushing the underbrush beneath them. It was rough and still hurt to break twigs with just his weight but he knew that it wouldn’t get any better unless he kept doing what he was.

With a grunt he threw his weight against a vine that had caught around his chest and forelegs. It snapped sending him onto his muzzle and toppling onto his back. With a grunt and an exasperated sigh the young man rolled onto his belly and pushed back up onto his paws. He was glad no one could see him right now. Though he wasn’t sure if there were others. He had been free for several days now and he had yet to run into any others who seemed intelligent like him.

It took merely minutes to come to the small crystal clear pond, it was the first thing larger than a small puddle with mud in it he had found. For a moment however, admiring the clear pool could wait, as he dipped his muzzle to the water and drank his fill. After this he noticed that this pool reflected a visage of himself back at him. It was strange he had been free for several days but this was the first time he had ever seen himself. His own eyes caught him in a stare. His eyes were almost the same blue as the water he was looking into, only it was just a bit paler. A lighter blue than water that was stunning in their own right. These eyes were set in a light mocha face, this face was framed by a long soft latte colored mane. Turning to the side he noted that much of his body was the same mocha brown, Swinging his whip like tail around he noted that his tail was tipped with a tuft that matched the mane, with this he gave a light smile as he admired himself.

He was handsome, but he felt his body was missing something. His pelt seemed to lack a certain flair. Looking into the water he imagined himself with lines the same color as his mane covering his body in striking swirls and lines. He lifted a forepaw admiring it in the water before imagining it covered in that soft latte color.

Somehow he knew this would entail dying his fur, but he was actually alright with that. It would be a rather daunting task to apply it, but he was rather confident he could handle it. At least making the dye shouldn't be too hard. It was just finding the ingredients. With a curious cursory look around the young lion spotted nothing he could possibly use. However he figured that if he looked hard enough he would find the colors of ingredients he required. Without much more thought to the pool of water the young lion began searching the nearby area for anything orange, yellow, or white. Particularly berries and ochre.


"Speech"
Notes:Currently searching for
Ochre or Orange Feather
Yellow Berries or Yellow feather
White Berries or White Feather
The Philosopher
The Alchemist
Aristotle

The young lion loosely knew what he was looking for. The first item on his list was a brownish orange pigmented type of clay. The young lion walked the edge of the pond knowing that some clays could be found around or near a water source, the young man kept his eyes on the edge of the water. It seemed that he should give up on this pond and go elsewhere to find the ochre he was looking for. However just as he was about to turn to leave the young man’s eyes caught the perfect brown orange color he was looking for.

Casting his gaze about he found a broad leafed elephant ear plant and used his claws to slice the stem. He watched the huge leaf fall to the ground. This would make a perfect item to carry his ingredients on. With a proud smile the young man trotted back over to the ochre colored clay. Giving a minorly irritated grunt at having to get his paws dirty in the mud to dig out the clay. It was wet and sticky almost to thick to dig. Heew pressed down hard digging his large powerful paw through the thick clay as he pulled up a paw full. He reached forward placing the glob of ochre on the elephant ear leaf, unsure of how much he was going to need he sunk his paw back into the clay pulling out another paw full of clay and placed it next to the other.

With two large mounds of clay on the leaf, the young lion gathered up four pieces of the leaf in his mouth to carry. With the Ochre found he knew his next step was to find yellow berries and white berries. The yellow to make a deep brown, the white to lighten to his desired color to match his mane. He cast his gaze around the pond once more. A cursory glance to see if he had missed any berries. Not seeing any he turned to head off into the jungle. He kept his gaze on the vegetation in his search for berries.


"Speech"
Notes: Searching for:
Yellow Berries or Yellow feather
White Berries or White Feather
The Philosopher
The Alchemist
Aristotle

The young man had taken his time combing through the underbrush, however try as he might he seemed to be unable to find anything for which he was searching. It seemed that this area around the pond was not at all going to give him what he needed. Turning around he headed back towards the pond. With a ginger hop to his step he trotted around the perimeter of the pond until he was exactly on the side opposite of where he started.

Here he thought maybe there he might have better luck as the underbrush didn’t seem as thick as it did on the other side of the pond. In fact over here there were quite a few trees. Something inside told him to search near the tree’s bases. At the base of the trees in the forest there were small thorny bushes growing that seemed to be flowering. Curiously the young man trotted closer to the bushes inspecting them for berries.


"Speech"
Notes:
Searching for:
Yellow Berries or Yellow feather
White Berries or White feather
The Philosopher
The Alchemist
Aristotle

Once he was on the other side of the pond the young man began making his way into the thicker parts of the forest.The young man kept his nose lifted giving occasional deep inhales looking for the scent of the berries. Though he honestly didn’t know what a yellow berry would smell like. In any case he was still keeping his nose to the air, his brilliant blue eyes were kept to the bushes growing low against the bases of the trees.

This was taking forever, he wished deeply that he knew what he was looking for smelled like. That would make things so much easier. As he wasn’t paying attention to the ground, he managed to step in a small mud filled hole. The second his paw met the ground he had sank into the mud up to his ankle. Giving an irritated groan the young lion pulled his now mud covered paw from the hole, the leaf carrying his ochre still held in his jaws. Grumbling to himself as he shook the mud from his paw and leg. ”Jush my ruck.” the young lion complained.

In his attempts to free himself of the mud, his eyes scanned the bush near the base of a nearby tree. He could have sworn he had seen a flash of yellow. His mud covered leg now forgotten the young lion trotted over to the bush he had spotted and sat his little package down on the ground. Using his clean paw he moved aside an outer layer of leaves and found exactly what he thought he had seen. There, dangling from the bushes inner branches was what he had been looking for. Gently he began pulling the berries from the bush using his teeth and sat them on the leaf with the small pile of ochre clay. Once he had finished plucking the berries he looked at his little pile he had managed to find twelve berries that would suffice for the dye. Unfortunately he knew he couldn’t be lucky enough to find white berries on the same bush as his yellow ones. That meant he would probably need to go deeper into the forest.

Now finished getting his yellow berries, the young lion gathered up the edges of his make-shift bag, gently in his teeth as he prepared to delve deeper into the forest. With a deep inhale through his nose he released the breathe in a big puff through his nose, and took off deeper into the forest, scanning each bush carefully as he passed it looking for the white berries.


"Speech"
Notes:
Still searching for White Berries or White feathers.
The Philosopher
The Alchemist
Aristotle

As the young lion slowly strolled through the forest, his eyes keen on each bush he passed. His slow pace was a test of patience as the underbrush continued to grow thicker the farther he went into the forest. The young lion somehow managed to walk too close to one of the thorny bushes that failed to bear berries, or any sort of fruit. All they seemed good for was getting snagged on. With a mild growl the young lion pulled his back leg free from the irritating thing. Turning his head, he lifted his back leg inspecting the area where a small clump of fur on his thigh had been pulled out.

Well that was irritating. Giving a frustrated grunt he turned his attention back to his task at hand. He didn’t like how thick the brush and thorny bushes were getting as the trees grew closer together. Well this leg of his search seemed to be proving mildly infuriating with how dense the underbrush had become. He was now having to pick his path carefully as he wound his way through the thorny bushes, his brilliant blue eyes still searching for any signs of white.

Finally to the young lion’s relief he spotted a bush not far away bearing small snow white berries just ahead. Grunting with effort as he tried to keep from getting tangled in the last few thorny bushes. He found himself in a small clearing dotted with bushes bearing brilliant snow white berries. Joyously the young lion trotted forward to one of the bushes where he sat down his little bundle of Ochre and Yellow Berries he had already managed to acquire. With a pleased swish of his tufted tail he set to gently pulling the berries from the bush with his teeth and setting them in his little bundle of ingredients.

After gathering the edges of his little bundle in his teeth he looked for abetter way out that wouldn’t threaten his bundle. He scanned the area for a moment and found a small path off the left that seemed to lead back towards the pond where he hoped to find a rock with a shallow bowl like surface or flat surface for him to work.




"Speech"
Notes:
The Philosopher
The Alchemist
Aristotle

As the young man trotted back down the new path he had found leading back towards the pond. The new path being clear of the thick underbrush he had, had to trounce through to get to the white berries he had found, it was much easier going and much quicker. The young lion proudly trotted down the trail his prizes dangling in the leaf bundle he had made. He was rather pleased with himself as he brought his gaze back towards the pond, now that it was coming into view.

He had chosen right, it had only taken a few moments to get back to the cool waters of the pond. Now he was on the search for something else. A work space with which to do his little experiment.

That as well didn’t take him very long. As if it had been placed there just for him. Seeing it from afar it looked perfect, and the closer he got to the rock the more perfect it became. It was large rock, but not large enough for it to be impossible to move if he so decided. Though it was in a well lit area so why he would move it was pondering thought. The rocks upper surface had a flat area perfect for laying out ingredients and working upon and laying upon the surface of the rock was another strange rock like bowl. The young lion lay his bundle out on top of the rock, as he found a nearby stick to mix the ingredients.

First the young man started with a paw full of ochre, he placed it in the bowl. Next he spread the ochre out a bit and set that aside. Next he began crushing berries of both white and yellow. His step after that was to place some of the crushed yellow berries in the bowl with the ochre and mixed it with the stick held curled in his paw. Setting aside the stick he crushed and mushed together the two dye ingredients bringing about a deep brown. But the dye was too thick.

This color he liked that the dye was just slightly darker than his body color. He decided that this color would make for a good start and smeared it around his muzzle. Something told him that the colors would have to sit as he dipped all four paws to half way up his legs. With that done, he set to making the much lighter color he was going to decorate himself with.

Now with the last of the ochre and yellow berries he repeated the process from before this time adding in the crushed white berries gradually. This took time to find the right latte colored beige. This one seemed as if it were going to be harder as he started to make the lines on his forelegs with the stick. Unfortunately he seemed to be having a bit of trouble.

"Speech"
Notes:
*does summon dance* The Lion requires help!
@elspet
The Philosopher
The Alchemist
Aristotle

Meanwhile, there was a great ape continuing to experiment with odd dyes - bound determined to fill her many bottles with as vast a variety of magically-impressed paints as possible. Elspet'd worked on it for some time, come up with some colors here and there, but they tended to separate back out, mix strangely, the like; she tended to pour those out. A particular bipedal friend had given her the suggestion of writing down what did work, as well as some hide about two odd feet long when completely unrolled.

She'd started to mark it with sharpened stones she'd find lying about, scraping away the velvet in an impromptu form of etching. For visibility, she'd smear dye in the carved lines, and clean it off the rest. Before long, she had a pretty sizable reel of recipes. So far, there were about four - though one was debatable. The dragon'd made that one, and she'd have to test again if she remembered that one correctly.

"Hm," she thought aloud, trawling through the shallows of a river, fingers idly picking through stones and shoving them aside. Nothing of interest. Her hand raised up, adjusting the strap of her fresh leaf satchel with a soft clinking of glasses, and she trudged on.

Electric eyes flitted up to a rock, then to the figure atop it. Elspet tilted her head, picking up the pace on all four with no small amount of curious glances. It was some sort of feline, fairly large and thick-limbed. Maybe not too different from that white fella that used to wander 'round here... she thought. He was half twisted around himself, trying to - scratch himself with that stick? He looked absolutely filthy up to his legs.

"Fear not, l'il one," she crooned on her approach, "for auntie Elspet is here!" A boisterous laugh echoed from her, showing no teeth even as she threw her head back for it. The ape monkeyed up onto the rock, distantly noting the crushed berries and leaves laid out, instead asking, "got'n itch you can't scratch, kiddo?" A dexterous hand came up, fingers waggling in offer.

There didn't seem to be any indication that she'd leave soon, since she rocked back onto her buttocks and waited eagerly for an answer.

@Aristotle

The young lion grunted in effort as he continued in his attempt to apply the more intricate lines on his forelegs, but to no avail. Unfortunately for the young lion he had not learned to keep a guard up or to leave himself prone. He wasn’t even listening for anyone else. For as far as he knew there was no one else. The young lion had no idea just how awkward he looked to anyone else that might be strolling by, but again he didn’t know there was anyone else. So sitting there in front of his rock work table he attempted to no avail to make the light color design as he imagined.

Lost in his own little world and completely oblivious to his surroundings, especially to the creature approaching him. That is until she spoke up in a strange voice. Drifted into his latte colored audits. An instant reaction from the young lion was sitting up rigid as he crunched the stick in two between his teeth, part of the stick falling to the ground as the other part tried to venture further back into his throat. This resulted in him coughing and spitting out the piece of stick. Well there goes that… Not that it was really working to begin with.

The voice continued calling itself Aunty Elspet. Well at least it was a friendly voice was it not? The young lion cleared his throat in embarrassment as he heard the voice laugh as he turned to greet the owner of said voice. Finally the creature as he was referring to it, made its way up onto his rock. This was a very strange creature indeed. For a moment he just sat taking in the creature’s form. She was strange at least he thought it was a she. It smelled like a she to him.

He was taken aback as the creature lifted a paw with elongated paw pads with no claws, and they moved independently of each other. Now he was curious. ”Actually.” He looked at those fingers again. Perhaps she could be of assistance with applying the dye. ”I was trying to apply color to my fur. A design not my entire body, but my stick method seems flawed and unusable. Do you think maybe you could help me apply the designs with those interesting paws of yours? Miss Elspet was it?” The young lion asked in a sweetly gentle tenor chord. ”I can scratch the designs into the dirt on the ground for you, though I should probably wash off the current brown dye on my muzzle and paws.” He said with a sheepish grin standing as he moved to the nearby pond he used the water to rinse away the current layer of dye.

Trotting out of the water he shook himself dry. ”I’m asking a favor of you and I haven’t even introduced myself yet.” He now felt a little stupid, though this was the first other he had met so manners hadn’t become a custom to him yet. Giving a slight wiggle of his entire body he straightened up and put on a charming smile. ”My name is Aristotle, it’s a pleasure to meet you miss Elspet.” The young lion finally introduced himself though even though he was trying to be charming, he was more awkward than anything.

"Speech"
Notes:
@Elspet
The Philosopher
The Alchemist
Aristotle

The cub just about choked on half a stick - and Elspet was glad she wouldn't have it on her conscience that he actually did. It'd be a shame to have watched a kid croak and her not having done any animal-based Heimlichs and stuff like that. Crisis was over before she'd even heaved up to reach an arm out, anyways.

Her attention flitted back to the paste set into the bowl, picking up already that he'd been trying to paint on himself. The stick method had certainly not worked out well, since absolutely none of it looked like it actually stuck to the "brush" and was transferred to his coat. He just looked like he'd been playing in a mud puddle. Well, it was just good that she was here to help - Elspet nodded eagerly, giving a toothy grin, "these're called hands, boy! Not paws." Her fingers waggled again, and she shook her head. "Playin' 'round with dyes though, huh? Seems like the artistic streak starts real early nowadays, eh?"

Elspet had a way of making every conversation seem familiar and sweet, what with her warm voice and spirited gestures.

"Oh, you've even got a design in mind? I'd love to see it before I start slathering it on." Apparently, she would be happy to apply tattoos. Her resume was her forearms, fairly heavily tattooed in sparking purple and yellow.

When the kid went off to give her a blank slate, Elspet made a not-so-covert beeline for the bowl of pasty dye. Her fingers smushed it around some, and she shook her head. He would've wasted so much trying to spread that out on himself and washing it back off after application. Reaching into her bag, she uncorked a water bottle and upended a fair amount of it into the stone. Flicking her wrist back and forth rapidly, she stirred it until it had a fairly smooth (if lumpy) consistency. Much better.

She brightened visibly when he came back and introduced himself. Her hand went over her heart - leaving a dusty-brown print on a breast - and she bowed her head, equally as charismatic and graceful (which wasn't very.) "Pleased to meetcha too, Aristotle! No need for all the miss; I'm definitely not a missus." Another wide-toothed grin. "Now, how 'bout that pattern, eh?"

@Aristotle

Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

Sitting there talking to miss Elspet the young man realized how undignified he looked covered in the brown Ochre. He could feel the pretty much mud mask drying and stiffening in his fur and on his paws. It was getting to be rather uncomfortable. However he didn’t want to seem rude by just going to the pond to take a bath, and there was no way he was going to lick it off. She told him they weren’t paws but rather were named hands. Now that was interesting. There were different types of appendage endings more than just paw like. He watched her waggle her fingers again. He gave them a rather interested look watching how they moved. Though as she continued speaking he gave a thoughtful flick of his tail as he watched her speak. She also asked him about playing with dyes. ”Well yes, at least I’m trying. As you can see it’s not going very well.” He responded thinking that he had just said that hadn’t he?

”I suppose it does, Though my reason for the decoration is that I feel my coat though lovely on its own, could use a bit of something to make it more.” He explained, he didn’t see a reason not to tell her why he wanted to dye himself. It wasn’t something to hide, every now and again you wanted to be pretty didn’t you? He just wanted it to be permanent and he wasn’t quite sure how to go about making that happen either. It was strange sitting here talking to this creature, it seemed like he had known her for longer than the weeks he had been alive.

The young man’s ears perked eagerly as a bright smile spread across his muzzle at her enthusiasm for his design. Pushing himself to his paws, the young lion hopped down from the rock. Finding a nice large area of cleared dirt he set to work. He started by digging four small areas to represent his paws. Then coming from the four holes on what would have been considered the back he drew straight lines two of them coming from two of the “front” holes, Then continued by scraping out two curved marks above them making the center of the downward arch fatter. Stopping for a moment he looked at what he had so far and gave a thoughtful flick of his tail before moving on. Picking up at the “back” holes he started by drawing swirls quite a bit away from the holes, finally taking care he made a small thin line leading down to the hole. Finished, he stepped back and looked at his dirt drawing. It was crude but it got the point across of what he had been attempting to do. ”Here, do you think you can do this?” He asked looking up at the ape on the rock. He realized how stupid of a question that turned out to be, as he eyed the apes forearms They were vibrantly decorated. They were done in beautiful patterns.

Sitting in the shallows of the pond the young lion rubbed his face with both paws washing away the failed attempt. As he finished washing up he left the pond noticing that he left a muddy discoloration to the water where he had been and he cringed. That had not been planned. Standing on dry land he shook himself hard to free his pelt and mane of water. Trotting back to Eslpet he hopped back up onto the rock beside the ape. The young man smiled despite himself as she greeted him She made a joke he didn’t quite understand but her smile was infectious and despite himself, he felt a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. ”How do you want to do this? Should I just lay down or do you want me sitting for now?” He asked tilting his head as he watched the ape.

@Elspet