Sprig had started to visit Pegasus more often recently, almost like a home away from home. Although the plant life here was different from what he was used to in Eridanus, it was good to have a change of scenery, not to mention the possibility of discovering new plants that could be useful for cooking. No matter how big the cave was, he had lived in Eridanus for so long that he felt like he had already experimented with a large majority of plants there. Sure, there could be some rarer ones he had never stumbled across, but it was much more worth it to go to other caves at this point to see what they offered.
The lion pulled his sled behind him, loaded up with cooking tools ranging from stone bowls to some rocks that could be struck together to make a fire. Sprig stopped at a spot where the meadow faded into forest, looping the rope around a rock to secure the sled. First, he should sense what plants the area held.
He cast out his senses, and it seemed that he had become familiar enough with this area, or perhaps his magic had strengthened, but it was easy for him to detect where things lay in the area. Grass here, more grass there. Probably because it was a meadow. There were some flowers... could those be used in cooking?

@Cadenza

There was another entity of the opposite edge of the meadow. It was large, the grass flattened under its back feet and where its front limbs touched the ground. It tore up some grass, ate it, and then moved along, grazing.

But, then, suddenly it was moving closer to the other hybrid. And it didn’t stop move closer, each step on flattened grass moving closer and closer still. Until it was right in front of the other being.

”Hello, I am Cadenza,” Their musical voice greeted. Cadenza was indeed huge, being nearly twenty feet without even counting their tail. They were a dragon by nearly all appearances, but large antlers sprouted from their head.

”What do you have with you?” Cadenza asked with genuine curiosity, observing the sled full of cooking tools.

@Sprig

Sprig had noticed from the corner of his eye the huge white dragon on the other side of the meadow. It definitely made him a bit nervous. That thing looked scary. It could probably swallow him in two gulps! And so, as he was working, he did glance over from time to time. He noted that it was eating grass however, so perhaps it was a herbivore? He hoped so.
The lion's attention was captured by a particularly interesting plant that seemed to have some potential for cooking. He was so enraptured by it that he didn't notice how close Cadenza had gotten until they were right in front of him. "Oh!" Sprig jumped backwards at their voice, the lights along his back flashing as surprise and terror jolted through him. He was prepared to run, but Cadenza actually seemed friendly. At least, it wasn't trying to eat him. And seemed to take an interest in his cooking tools too!
"I use these things for cooking." Sprig walked over to the sled, using the eyestalks on his head to point to each item as he spoke, "Bowls for mixing and serving, rocks to start a fire, slabs for cutting, and-" he cut himself off, realizing that the dragon probably didn't want that detailed of a description about what all these things where. He was glowing rather brightly at this point with excitement. This was a trait that actually made it a bit harder for him to catch prey, as adrenaline or strong emotions triggered the lights, giving himself away. Though he didn't really mind. He preferred eating his own concoctions anyway. "Oh, and the name's Sprig." the lion blinked. "What brings you here?"

@Cadenza

Cadenza was confused at why the other being jumped back when they greeted him. It did not occur to them that as a mostly-dragon, they were huge and intimidating. After all, their dragon-dad had never seemed intimidating to them. Instead he was safety, for all that he was named Dread.

"I am very sorry if I startled you?" The dragon-deer hybrid offered, sounding unsure of what they had done to spook the other being.

At the mention of cooking, an unknown word, their antlered head tilted slightly to the side. "Cooking sounds fascinating! I had never heard of it before," Cadenza warmly tells the soon-introduced Sprig.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Sprig. I was curious and I wanted to say hello. ...Still, I did not mean to startle you," Their musical voice was audibly apologetic after their pause.

@Sprig

"No no, it's alright." he took some deep breaths to calm himself down, feeling bad that he had reacted in a such a fashion especially when Cadenza seemed rather nice. Sprig smiled, "Pleasure to meet you too!" The lion started bustling around, taking a a slab of stone from the sled and laying it on the ground. Then he took out a few bowls, laying them out and mumbling a few things to himself as he did so.
"Cooking is..." Sprig thought about this very hard, nose scrunching in concentration. "Taking food, and making better food! I was just about to cook some things if you want to join me. You like fruit?" It wasn't often another gembound took interest in his cooking, and he loved to share his passion with everyone! After all, making food was always more fun when you had someone to share it with.

@Cadenza

Cooking was more fascinating than Cadenza had imagined. "Taking food and making better food?" They repeat, audible intrigue in their voice.

"I would love to join you!" Their musical voice eagerly chimed.

"I do like fruit, yes. Are you going to cook fruit?" The deer-dragon hybrid's curiosity was clear to see. They wanted to see cooking in action.

@Sprig

Sprig was quite excited. This was the first time he had a cooking companion since the time James had first introduced him to the craft! "Yes! We need to find some peaches. It works with any fruit really, but I think peaches tastes best for this." He had made fruit rolls so many times now that it was probably his best recipe, and also the one he was most sure of. Sprig wanted to make the best food possible for Cadenza as a good first impression of cooking.

He closed his eyes, spreading his senses out. Andddd there. "There should be a peach tree in that direction." Sprig tilted his head indicating where. "Let's go collect some." They would probably need a LOT more than he was used to, especially since Cadenza's size meant they probably needed to eat way more fruit rolls.

@Cadenza

"Do all fruits have names?" Cadenza sounded startled. "Which fruit are peaches?" It seemed some concepts had not been provided to them during their growth in hibernation.

Cadenza followed the direction of Sprig to get to the peach tree.

They considered the tree and the fruit it had. It would not be difficult for them to stretch their head to grab some peaches.

But as their head brushed the branches, their magic reached out too, and suddenly they were elsewhere. Or, not elsewhere. Elsewhen.

The deer-dragon did not notice this at first. They were confused why they stood in front of a sapling, that flickered to be various stages of growth, not necessarily in order. And then their mind was back.

"Did you see that?" They asked Sprig, musical tones very confused.

Then they remembered their deer-dad's much more experienced vision. "I think... I think my magic showed me some of the tree's past. My deer-dad could do that with things, but better. I have never... I did not mean to."

@Sprig

"Yeah!" Sprig was a bit surprised that the dragon did not know that there were names for fruits. Though not everyone spent as much time around plants as he did now that he thought about it, and he had never met another gardener. Though Scorch was sort of a gardener, but he hadn't seen them around in a long time. "There are also apples, oranges, pears, blueberries..." he listed some off from the top of his head. "If you want, I can show you some of them! I'm sure there's plenty around here."

Once they arrived at the peach tree, he saw that the peaches were indeed rather far up. But it should be easy for Cadenza to reach. "No?" Sprig tilted his head, confused about what the dragon was talking about. The peach tree looked like, well, a peach tree. He looked around, trying to see what it was. Had they spotted a bird perhaps?

"You can do that?" he sounded amazed, that was so cool! Sprig wondered what the trees past was like. Had anyone come here to pick peaches before him? Who had planted this tree? Or had it grown here of its own accord? "What did you see exactly?"

Meanwhile, he reached out with his magic to bend down the branches so he could reach the peaches himself. The tree was stubborn, but eventually it bent to his will, and he reached up to pluck a few peaches off the tree.

@Cadenza

There were so many plant names! Cadenza was startled but delighted by this discovery. "I would like that. But, after cooking?" They answered the offer of showing them fruits by name. "I am very interesting in your cooking," The deer-dragon added in sincere explanation.

"It was very blurry," Cadenza admitted, recalling the visions. "I believe, because I was not specifically trying to do this magic, it offered random glimpses. I saw it as a sapling, and then at various other growth stages, but not in chronological order. The surroundings were very unclear," They told Sprig. "I think if I had been searching for something specific, if would have been more clear." Like their deer-dad's vision.

Cadenza's eyes widened at Sprig's own display of magic. "That is amazing! I cannot do that. My magic is... Well, I thought it was more temperature based, but I suppose that it is more than that."

But they couldn't let Sprig do all the work, Cadenza realized. After all, he was being kind enough to cook for them. They carefully began to pluck peaches of the branches and put them on the ground where Sprig could reach them.

@Sprig