Sprig knew that his sisters had been very busy going out and doing things, and he decided that today he would be doing something special! He had been spending his time mostly looking around to see if there were any berries and food that he could use and combine to make even more delicious things. Looking around the treehouse, he spotted James sleeping peacefully. Oh! Perhaps he could do some yummy food making with him! Jogging over on slightly wobbly paws, he tripped at the last moment, landing hard on top of the horse with a loud "Oof!"

@James

James had been laying down, lazily grazing, his joints sore from flying so much. His head shot up as a little cub rammed into his body, turning his head to blink at the little grub.

"Oh, hello dear," he said, "Are you alright?"

The horse craned his neck to sniff at Sprig, ears perked forward, eyes wide with worry, "Still getting the hang of your paws, I see?"

They were so massive on the cub that he wasn't surprised that the child would have trouble with it.

@Sprig

Dazed, Sprig stumbled onto his feet. "Ye... I'm okay." He allowed the horse to crane his head forward to sniff him, and the small cub sniffed him right back. Shaking his head to clear it, he focused his eyes on James. "Comet told me I'd grow into them e-ven-tu-al-ly. But it ain't too bad."

His mind was brought back to why he had come over to James in the first place. "Oh yeah! Do you want to make some yummy food with me? I'm learnin'." He wondered what yummy things the horse knew how to make. "Wanna go renny? It'll be fun!"

@James

James huffed softly, "Sometimes I wish you and your siblings never will... you're too cute as you are. But alas..."

Adults were much more fun.

He looked down at the boy, ears forward, "Oh! I know how to make fruit rolls. Though... we'd have to go back to Orion, or find a bowl."

James stood up and shook himself off, tail flicking to get any stray grass off of himself. He stretched and looked towards the Eyes, wondering if there were stones there.

"Come," he said, "First we need a vessel, a bowl. A rock with a dip in the center, where water or liquid can collect."

@Sprig

Sprig hadn't been to Orion before, and he didn't feel too comfortable about going to a new cave. If they had too, he was glad that James would be with him! Fruit rolls sounded yummy indeed, although he didn't really understand the 'roll' part. Sprig knew fruit, but how would you roll a fruit? Wouldn't that just break it? But either way, he was sure that James would show him later, so he didn't ask.

"Okay!" Following the horse's gaze, he looked towards the Eyes. They wouldn't have to go all the way to Orion to find a stone if he could just find one here! Looking around, he found a decent rock like James told him about. "Is this good renny?" It was a bit shallow, but he didn't know if a deep one would be needed. He noted that the rock could also be of good use for other things.

@James

James scooped up the bowl and pushed it into a dry spot, "Excellent! This is perfect."

He flapped his wings and grabbed peaches off of a tree, dropping them and putting them into the bowl. He landed and grabbed dry wood, piling it under the bowl.

"You crush these peaches so that their juice fills the bowl," he said, "I'll go find a flat rock."

He galloped off, tail raised and ears forward, showing his happiness. He hunted around the pond for the rock he wanted, humming softly to himself. He looked elsewhere when his search came up with nothing, trotting around the pond instead.

@Sprig

Sprig watched James fly up and grab peaches out of a tree, zooming on the fluid motion of his wings, like it happened in slow motion. Each feather, tilted at a certain angle allowed flight. Cool! He had seen birds do it, but their flapping was much too fast for him to be able to observe them. The dry wood was piled under the bowl, and Sprig was left with the job of crushing the peaches into the bowl which he happily accepted.

His antennae twitched in excitement, he liked where this was going! Placing his paw on a peach, he noticed it was rather hard, but still juicy. Sprig dropped it into the bowl, and tried putting all his weight into his paws to squish the peach. It was easier than he thought it would be, but it was still hard work. In the end, he was left with very stained paws, and a some crushed peach, although there were some rather large chunks still left in the bowl.

"Done!" he looked around for James, awaiting further instruction. Sitting down, he licked his paws, waiting for the horse to return.

@James

James searched up and down for flint and a coarse stone. He'd need both to start a fire. He rolled a rock over and managed to find them, scooping them up and trotting back over.

"Excellent!", he praised, putting dry grass and leaves to use as tinder, "Now we start a fire. It'll heat the bowl and the juice inside, and when it turns thick and syrup-y, we'll pour it onto a rock to cool."

He set both down and checked to make sure the peaches were crushed, picking out pits and crushing thicker pieces. Once that was done, he stepped back, satisfied.

"Now I'm going to use these stones to create a spark," he said, "If you strike them just right, they'll spark, catch on dry tinder, and make a flame."

@Sprig

Sprig smiled at James's praise and watched as the horse put some dry grass and leaves. What was he doing? It was soon revealed, and he didn't quite know what to feel about it. "F-- fire?" he looked around nervously. "What if we accidentally burn down the forest?" His eyestalks twitched anxiously as he fidgeted his paws. Maybe he was just overreacting, but he didn't want his home to be burnt down.

@James

James pointed at the dry dirt beneath the wood, "Fire can't burn if there's no fuel for it. As long as there isn't anything above, below, or around the fire that it can burn aside from what you give it, nothing bad will happen."

He tried to strike the stones together in an attempt to light the tinder, struggling for a moment before a spark caught and the tinder started to burn. After a few tedious moments, the wood started to burn, and he smiled.

"There!", he said, "Now we can cook the fruit juice. I saw in a scroll once that you can do this to extract the sweetness from a plant, but I subtracted a few steps and decided to make these instead. I believe they're tastier."

@Sprig