Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

Brilliant baby blue eyes half opened letting in the light from the hanging orbs. A soft groan escaped the young lion. He pulled his paws over his face and curled closer in on himself. Both of his large forepaws were pulled over his face as he lay on the ground. This was something he was used to. Beds were still somewhat foreign to him. Being back in the warmth and humidity of Eridanus, the young lion was more comfortable, he had been born here. But he wanted to stay close to his best friend, so he had taken up residence in the cavern with the glimmering roof known as Orion. It was lovely in its own right, but it didn’t have that beautiful lush feeling he was used to. There were little plants or trees to be had in Orion which made hunting a bit awkward as he had to adjust to hunting in a less lush area that provided less cover for hunting.

A deep hungered growl rumbled in the young lion’s stomach. However he remained curled up as if trying to ignore the hunger he was now feeling. He had pushed himself to his limit the day before, he had slept for he didn’t know how long, but he still wasn’t ready to get up yet. He wanted to sleep more, not that he was tired; he just didn’t want to get up yet. He was comfortable under the well shaded tree with the plant with the large leaves growing at its base. The broad leaves of the plant provided a hidden sleeping area for the young lion.

Again his stomach protested him still remaining curled up, it let out another low growl followed by a whine. Finally the young lion pulled his paws from his face and rolled from his side to his belly. The young lion took a deep breath and let it out all at once in an exasperated sigh. He still wasn’t ready to move, but his stomach wasn’t going to let him sleep any longer.

Aristotle stood and pushed his way between the massive plant leaves. He stopped just outside of his hiding spot. He rocked forward on his paws giving a big stretch, then he rocked backward giving another big stretch. Coming back to his standing position, the young lion’s jaws parted in a wide yawn. This morning as he referred to it, he would not groom himself until he had filled his belly.

The young lion lifted his head sniffing the air to see if he could catch the scent of any nearby prey.

Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

It didn’t take long for the scent of a Jungle deer. He wasn’t sure if he could take it down, but he was certainly going to try. The young lion lifted his muzzle following the direction the scent was coming from. Aristotle started travelling deeper into the jungle as he followed the scent of the Jungle deer. It took him about an half an hour of walking to get close to the source of the scent.

There between the trees in a small open hollow filled with tall green grasses. There she stood with her back to him, her muzzle dug in the sweet grasses as she ate. The young lion stood in place hidden within the underbrush of the trees and shrubs.The young lion slowly crept out of his hiding place, his body crouched close to the ground. The deer wasn’t much bigger than he was now. Certainly he could take it down. James would be proud of him. He could make a pillow out of the rabbit pelts, and use a couple deer skins to pad his bed.

Large paws silenced his steps as he moved forward. He readied to lunge shifting his weight around he readied his muscles for the one big spring.

Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

Creeping forward the young lion stepped on a twig causing it to break with a cracking sound. The doe snorted, lifting her head, her yellow tinted ears shifted back listening. Aristotle paused his forward crawl. He waited until she snorted again stamping her front hoof once nervously on the ground. Then she went back to grazing.

That was his chance, the young lion crept forward faster gaining speed as he came up behind the doe. With one coil, the young lion sprang into the air. His whole body weight aimed to come down on top of the small doe, his claws unsheathed so he could catch a grip on the deer’s back. He sailed through the air aiming to come down directly on top of the doe.

Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

The young lion sailed through the air. His aim was nearly perfect as his whole body came down on top of the doe’s back. His front legs closed around the doe's neck, his claws sinking into either side of her neck, his hindpaws landed so that he was standing on the doe’s hips. His limited body weight forced the doe to sit as she let out a terrified bellow. With the young lion’s weight on her back the doe collapsed to the ground unable to support them both.

As the doe hit the ground Aristotle pulled himself in closer on her neck. He wouldn’t need the neck skin so he wasn’t against marring the doe’s throat with his claws. Letting out a growl from deep in his chest the young lion bit down on the back of the doe’s neck breaking it. However the young lion hung on until the doe had stopped moving.

Finally he let her neck go and stood there panting from the work. It was the largest prey he had ever managed to take down. It seemed he was getting pretty good at hunting and using his weird skill as well. The young lion licked the couple of blood spots from his muzzle as he stepped back. He had a lot of work ahead of him. He now needed to skin the doe.

Taking a deep calming breath the young lion set to work using his claws to slowly and carefully remove the skin from the meat of the doe.

Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

It would seem he was also getting rather good at skinning his prey. The young lion lay the pelt out on the ground, with the wet side up. He was going to have to scrape the fat off of it so it would dry right like his rabbit pelts had. He looked at the pelt lay out on the ground and sighed heavily. It had been as daunting of a task as he had thought it would be, but he had managed to get the pelt off in one piece and in pretty good shape. He had only made one hole in it and that was on the hindquarters, something that could easily be covered with another pelt.

He wondered if James would be proud of him for being able to take down one of the quick little jungle deer. It had been a doe, but they still carried quite the powerful kick. He knew that those hooves that deer had were hard, he had gotten a good look at James’ hooves and had also heard them when they hit stone, they were not going to be soft at all, so if a deer was anything like a horse. Then they could really do some damage if they wanted to.

Finally hunger pushed the young lion too far. His stomach growled painfully and he knew he had to eat now or it was going to end up bad. The young lion moved from his prize to his breakfast. It was a big meal, but he would probably eat most of it. He had used way too much energy the day before practicing with his skills. The young lion set to eating what he had managed to take down.

The young lion had eaten almost all of the doe, except for the innards. He was too full to even finish them. He felt bad but he would be leaving this carcass for the scavengers. He was pleased about it, but the doe was simply too big to dig a hole for. And he couldn’t keep eating or he would end up making himself sick. So with breakfast finished, Aristotle set to the task of scraping the deer hide clean of fat and the remaining meat. His claws were perfect for this, so long as he kept his paw on its side. He had learned that early on when he had begun doing the same thing to rabbits. The job however took less time than he had anticipated and had finished rather quickly. Now that he had eaten he was feeling much more energy and strength in his muscles.

With his newly cleaned prize Aristotle began to head back toward the entrance to the connecting tunnel between Eridanus and Orion. He would stash his prize there until he had gotten in contact with Aunty, he was going to stay here in Eridanus, but no reason to lug around a heavy pelt that he could easily stash in the little alcove he had found inside the tunnel. Trotting the three hundred yards down the tunnel he turned off into a dark little corner that if you didn’t know was there you would completely miss. He followed the tunnel back to a small little cavern and placed the pelt inside. Perhaps with the low hanging orb, he could use it to help sprout the seed he found. However there was one problem, he had no seeds. Realizing this Aristotle wandered back out into Eridanus and began looking for any fruits that had fallen to the ground.

Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

It would seem the young lion was in luck, as he exited the tunnel leading to Orion and back into the cavern of Eridanus. As he walked no less than a hundred yards into the forest, his nose was met with the sweet scent of those strange mango-like fruit aunty Elspet had been eating that one time. They weren’t that large so he could carry two or three in his mouth.

Without really much more thought, the young lion picked up three of the mango-like fruits and headed back into the little off-shoot tunnel he had found Abraxas in. This could be his little hidey hole, for when he wanted to be alone with his thoughts. He wondered if some small trees might be able to grow there.

Trotting back inside the small cavern, the young lion set to work. First Aristotle stripped the fruit flesh from the seeds and lay them in a pile. There were only three of them, but that would do nicely for now. He could do a little practice, take a break and look for more plant seeds to grow in here. But first he would start with the trees. He wasn’t sure how long his seedlings lived after he sprouted them, but now he could find out. Perhaps in this little room he could grow dwarf trees to make it more cozy in here.

Aristotle started on the left side of the entrance to his little home away from home. Digging a small hole he placed the seed in the hole and pushed the dirt back into the hole with his nose. Sitting up he shook the small bit of dirt stuck to his nose off. Reaching out with a forepaw the young lion set it gently down on the small mound of dirt. Closing his baby blue eyes, he focused his energy. He felt with his energy for the seed in the ground and sent out that warm wave of energy he had learned to use.

Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

There it was, he could feel the seedling stir inside its shell. Slowly Aristotle sent out a bit more energy to coax the little white seedling out into the dirt. Then slowly he kept the gentle energy flow into the little seedling focusing on making it grow healthy instead of just grow. He fed his energy into the little sprout, it wriggled its way through the dirt, he could feel it moving though he could not see it. He urged the little sprout up and out into the low ceiling room. He lifted his paw to examine his work, and the little seedling he had coaxed into the world.

Aristotle smiled brightly and leaned down. He inspected the little plant joyously. He wondered if he could make them grow together around the orb. However that would be for a later date, when the seedlings had grown into at least saplings. Then he could probably find a way to make their branches twine together around each other.

Musing these things to himself, the young lion moved and picked up another seed. From there he moved to the opposite side of the entrance to the cavern. It wasn’t large but it had ample room to section it in half or whatever he wanted to do with it. Sitting down once more Aristotle used his paw to dig a small hole, which he dropped the seed into and once more placed his paw on the mound of dirt to grow yet another seedling.

Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

There it was, he did it again. He could feel the little sprout wriggle its way through the dirt, following the flow of his energy and out into the air under his paw. Gently the sprout tickled the young lion’s paw pad as he slowly tilted it to one side. He had done it again! There was healthy new sprout in his little home. It was hard to believe that he could make plants grow. It wasn’t something he had expected he could do. It was a strange, but nice feeling to be able to bring life.

He wondered if he could eventually make plants grow around his home in Orion. Perhaps he could have a tree grow in the main room that went through the roof. He could even maybe make it a fruit tree so there would be plenty of fruit if Aunty Elspet decided to make the trek from Eridanus to Orion. It would probably be rare, but he wanted to be prepared. Besides, he was sure James would enjoy the sweetness of some of the fruits Aunty had let him try.

That was it! He could figure out how to build boxes for dirt, and grow plants that bore fruit and berries in his home. That was if he could get them to grow past the seedling stage. However, this was a start. The young lion moved to the far back side of the cave after picking up the third seed. He sat down digging another small hole in the ground. He would try again for a third time. A last tree to make a canopy to hang things from their low branches. He would decorate this little getaway as he pleased. He wasn’t sure he was going to show James, maybe he would. But this was his hiding place, away from the world. Here he could just rest or practice his magic in silence.

With a gentle paw the young lion pushed the dirt back into the hole. The young lion did his usual ritual of taking a deep calming breath as he placed a paw on the little dirt mound, and as he let the breath out. He let a warm wave of energy wash over the ground as he pushed it from his paw.

Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

The young lion pressed, tried forming his energy into a small thread and gently poked it into the shell of the seed to the little seedling within. He gently wrapped the thread around the seedling and began to force little bits of energy into the seedling, making it stir. The little sprout slowly pushed through its shell, and out into the dirt around it. Slowly the young lion used his energy thread to feed and guid the young sprout out of the ground. There it was, that familiar tickle in the bottom of his paw.

The young lion pranced happily in a circle as he looked down at the sprout. It was large and healthy from root to sprout, it seemed strong and willing to grow in the room with the low hanging orb. Taking a moment the young lion spread the deer hide out with the wet side facing up toward the light to dry. After that the young lion headed down the long winding passage back to the main tunnel. He was now on a search for berry bushes and fruit bearing plants.

The young lion trotted through to the more dense parts of the jungle in search of fruit bearing trees. He was searching the ground for more fallen fruit, mostly their seeds for his little room.

Ari

Hope is but a waking dream

The young lion was letting his nose lead him, his nose set to catch the sweet scents it seemed Aunty liked. If he could grow a few bushes and trees that Aunty liked, when he went to visit he could bring her presents. He had seen how she reacted when he had brought the rabbit pelts. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see what would happen if he brought a whole rabbit with him. The young lion shook that thought off, and paid more attention to his nose.

Aristotle stood still for a moment lifting his nose he sniffed several times in search of the scents he was looking for. There was one, an almost sickly sweet scent. But that was probably because it had been sitting on the ground awhile.The young lion turned his head sniffing heavily. There to the left, that's where it was. The young lion dropped his head and scanned the ground for the fruit he was looking for.

There under a bush was a pear shaped fruit with a smooth yellow orange skin. It smelled almost sickly sweet as he poked his nose closer to it. It smelled rather tasty even if it were something not made of meat.

The young lion picked up the fruit in his mouth, and it gave a strange squish. He reeled back spitting out the fruit. That one was rotten and the seeds were no go. How he knew that he was unsure, but something told him the seeds had gone bad inside the fruit. There not far away from the first was one that smelled sweet but not so much as the first one. Picking this one up in his jaws he was greeted with a sweet juice running down his canines and onto his tongue. The fruit was soft but firm at the same time. This one was fresh and had just fallen maybe a day ago at the most. Though it had a distinctly grassy flavor to it from its time resting on the ground.

With his prize held in his jaws the young lion made his way back to his little hidden retreat. It was taking less and less time for the young lion to make it back to his hidey hole as he quickly discerned a path from his own scent and paw prints. Making his way back to his little home, he dropped the fruit on the ground and used his claws to split the fruit open. Inside rested two large seeds, one on each side of the fruit halves.The young lion looked around the room, wondering where the perfect spot for these two would be. He looked to one side and decided placing the sprouts on opposite sides of the cave would make it look nice.

Picking up one half of the fruit Aristotle moved to the left wall first and dug a small hole. He dropped the first half of the whole fruit in the hole. Taking a deep breath he repeated his process again.