Sprig had been spending much of his time gardening, and cooking, and crafting. He had been doing many things. It never fully resolved the ache in his heart for the plants of Eridanus, but he had learned to be content with what he had here. But it was only recently when he was back in the mood for inventing new recipes again. Eating fruit rolls all the time was boring, and coconut ice could be a bit too cold at times. It was time for something new! But still fruit-related of course.

It was no coincidence that it was also at this time that he had discovered a new plant. It was of a medium-size, bigger than apples but smaller than coconuts. Sunset in color, he had named the fruit 'mango'. He was working now on creating more of them so he could collect them to test out some new recipes. The tree before him grew a bit bigger, not quite enough to bear fruit yet, but enough for the flowers to bloom.

@Cadenza

Cadenza admired Sprig's ability to be creative, and they had learned to tell when Sprig was feeling particularly so. Seeing his eagerness to flourish a tree, a fruit tree of some kind that the dragon had not seen before, Cadenza suspected their love was trying something new.

They had just woken up from a nap to this sight, finding it most comfortable to rest near Sprig. A new creative idea was just what they both needed, before Cadenza started feeling the empty nest of their children too profoundly and they ended up with even more children. Not that Cadenza would mind more children, per say, especially with Sprig, but... Five children was a lot, they tried to tell themself, often many times per day.

"How may I assist?" Cadenza's musical voice inquired gently, a hint of playfulness there yet entirely full of fondness. They stretched a bit, carefully so.

@Sprig

Sprig focused once more upon the tree, and felt his magic pulse outwards from the magnesite on his forehead and out into the tree. Its flowers turned to mangos, gleaming golden fruits that tasted as juicy as they looked. But mango trees were of a decent height, and he couldn't quite reach them. "You're awake! I'm testing out a new fruit called 'mangoes'." He walked over to where he had stored several bowls and dragged them over, and found some flat stones that could be used as cutting boards as well. "They're a bit high up there, can you help me pick some? We can try to make a new recipe!" Although he was usually decently energetic, he was unusually energetic for this occasion, fueled by his excitement for potentially creating something new with Cadenza. He recalled the coconut ice from last time, which had turned out amazing.

@Cadenza

The enthusiasm to Sprig was as wonderful as ever, and at an even greater extent than usual, and Cadenza regarded him with their warm orange gaze. "Of course I will do so," they agreed, musical tones full of delight. They loved to help Sprig. They loved that Sprig included them without a pause. They also, just simply, loved Sprig.

Alas, the first mango they grabbed had some strong dragon teeth mark indents on it when Cadenza placed it down. "Much softer than coconuts... but they hold an interesting taste within, from the bit I tasted by accident. I like these 'mangoes'," the dragon voiced.

Then, much more carefully, the dragon extracted the rest of the mangoes from the tree with gentle tugs until they came loose. This worked much better, and these fruits had barely any marks on them, due to their now-cautious grip. "Here we go," they chimed.

@Sprig

"Thank you!" Sprig watched Cadenza take the mangoes off the tree, then lined them up next to the cutting board. He loved just listening them speak, a musical voice that always made him beam a bit brighter. "I'm glad you like them, I can grow more so we have enough to share." Mainly because he was realizing, that one mango true, although it produced a lot of mangoes, did not produce enough for a full-grown lion and dragon to share. In fact, he did not think one batch would be enough for just Cadenza either. You see, the sharing component of eating is the most important. Eating by yourself, you gain the enjoyment of the food. But when you share a food that you made together with someone you love, that greatly added to the enjoyment of it. But this was not restricted to food. He liked doing anything at all with Cadenza.

He focused on the tree once more, trying harder to create more mangoes this time. Sure enough, he felt a stronger pull of magic, which he held onto, then pushed outwards towards the tree. In only a few moments, the tree produced plenty more mangoes, even more than the previous batch. "This should be enough, the skin feels a bit strange, so it should be peeled off." he paused here, thinking. "I don't know what to make from it. We already have fruit rolls, so I wanted to try a different texture. What do you think?"

@Cadenza

Cadenza beamed at Sprig as he thanked them, just happy to hear that he was happy. His happiness was theirs as well, after all. Happiness was a emotion that was best shared by all present, they thought.

"If you would like," they demurred, knowing that it took a lot of fruit to feed them, being a full grown dragon, especially one that preferred to eat plants instead hunting. But they knew Sprig would want to make sure they were well-fed.

That was simply one way of many that Sprig showed he cared.

At the flourishing of another tree, Cadenza laughed with chiming delight at the sight. "You're so wonderful," they expressed with the awe that never faded no matter how many times they witnessed Sprig's magic.

Ever so delicately, they picked each mango off this tree, placing them by Sprig. As they did so, they considered the question of texture. After they had done that, they spoke.

"Well, the coconut ice is a harder texture, being, well... Ice," they laughed yet again, this one simply acknowledging the humor of stating the obvious. "Fruit Rolls are sticky texture... So maybe, something soft in texture, easy to consume?" they idly suggested, considering the possibilities.

@Sprig

"I'd love to." Cadenza's beautiful laugh filled the air at his magic, and he bumped his head against the dragon. "Not as wonderful as you." Sprig moved the mangoes into a pile as Cadenza picked them off the tree, deliberating over how this was all going to work.

"Soft... good idea!" The mangoes right now were softer than coconuts and peaches, but they were soft enough for them to be considered easy to eat. "We'll have to crush them." But simply using his paws would be messy business, not to mention he would waste a lot of the mango juice if it got soaked into his paws. Instead, he found from among his cooking tools a larger bowl than all the rest. Within the bowl was a large rock. "We can roll the rock around to crush the mangoes."

He began to place the mangoes into the bowl for Cadenza to begin crushing if they chose to, or they could help with placing the mangoes inside because there really were a LOT of mangoes at the moment. Between mouthfuls of mango, Sprig questioned, "Is just mango enough? I wonder if we should add anything else to it; I have mint but I don't know if that will taste good."

@Cadenza

Cadenza felt the fondness radiating from their form as Sprig gently bumped his head against them. "You are more wonderful than I could have ever imagined, and somehow even more wonderful every day," Cadenza assured Sprig, voice full of love.

As Sprig began crushing the mangoes, Cadenza contemplated the other nearby ingredients. "Not mint, maybe another something sweet?" they considered, gaze flitting over the options for sweet. "Perhaps the... 'strawberries', as you called them before?"

"Maybe mixing those together?" Cadenza suggested. "More mangoes in proportion, but enough strawberry to add flavor... Can strawberry juices be extracted? Maybe just the juice, if so," Cadenza thoughtfully added.

@Sprig

Sprig could not purr, instead releasing a rumble from deep within his chest. He was so lucky to have Cadenza, something he thought about every day. Sometimes it seemed like fate, considering the rather unlikely circumstances leading up to their meeting.

"Strawberries, good idea!" They were both sweet, yet with different tastes, which would serve to add complexity and enhance the result overall. Sprig paused in the mango mashing to find the strawberry plants, picking them off and using a claw to remove the small green stems.

"Yes," he nodded, "we can crush the strawberries separately and add them at the end." The lion found a smaller bowl than the one that was being used for the mangoes, and added in the strawberries. He got to crushing the strawberries now as well, leaving the larger bowl free for Cadenza to continue crushing the mangoes if they so wished, though they were somewhat mashed already.

old friends and new - echoes of wishes

There was magic here.

It was an old magic, an echo called to this place now, one year after its last flicker through the caves.

Or it was a new magic, a gift in and of itself, in memory of what had come before.

Or it was something else. Something born of connections and magic numbers, time past and time yet to come.

A flicker, as two who had met before, met again. A promise. A whisper of possibility, but only a fraction of what it could have been. Still... it could be something. They had only a flash of time. No chance to discuss. No long minutes of soft debate, or calculation. Only this moment, a whim, the instinct to guide the spark of magic toward a gift. Would they choose something the other truly would like, adore, fall in love with, respect, feel forever grateful for? Or would their gift be a mistake, a misstep, well-intentioned but easily forgotten?

There was no time for second-guessing. Each of them felt it: the offer, for that split second, of making something come true for their companion.

__________

Each Gembound has only an instant to decide upon a Wish for their thread partner. While the players are free to discuss OOCly, the Gembounds themselves are the ones making this Wish: it should not use out-of-character information but should instead reflect the intent and beliefs of the Wish-makers.

Please GM tag a second time to have a Game Master confirm that all Wishes are viable.

@Cadenza @Sprig