Welcome to Gaia! ::

The view before Callick was astounding. Nothing like he had seen before. The vibrant purples, the brilliant greens and blues, even the violent reds were soothing in this place. He squinted, seeing a female in the distance. He ran toward her, but she never got closer. He found himself yelling, "Mom! Mom!" He received no answer. No neglect, no attention, just nothingness. He kept running, he position never moved, neither did the distance which she sat at. "Mom! Come back!" He continued running. "Don't you want me? It's me, Callick!" Tears ran down his bright blue eyes. "Save me, Mom, save me!" Nothing changed.

After almost ten minutes of running, a sudden darkness fell over the colorful terrain. Blackness fell over all of them, until they were indistinguishable. He felt himself falling, but some light shed from above him. He looked up, seeing the same female lion looking down at him. "Why don't you want me, Mom?" He cried. "I want you."

"Gaahh!!" Callick awoke in a cold sweat. "Mom?" he called out. Getting no response, except, perhaps a odd look from his new friend. He was afraid to look. He lay there a moment, catching his breath, trying to find a way to explain what just happened, both to Aandag and himself. "A-Aandag?" He asked, head spinning.

Callick was surprised with Aandag's patience regarding the dream. More like a nightmare. He slowly got to his feet, trying to stay off the ground. He walked toward the dog, half expecting him to repeat what the female did in his dream, or to start falling into darkness. He approached with caution. Sniffing the bone before taking it in his mouth. It was a little big.

He spat out the bone to talk. "Uh ... i-it was ... nothing ... just a ... nigh- bad dream ..." He sniffed the bone again, not sure what to do with it. "So ... you just chew on it? ... Why?" He started imitating what the wild dog did, chewing chewing chewing ... huh, this was fun.

He was right, it DID taste good, but every bite, made the young lion think he was eating meat, and thus bit down a bit too hard once or twice. Aside from the occasional toothache, it really was fun. Callick got a bit too into it by the time Aandag started talking again. "Wvell, Vie vwasn't gooing ..." Callick spit the bone out of his mouth. "I dunno ..." he finally said, looking at his paws. "I don't really do much ..."

This pathetic demeanor wasn't too attractive, and it wasn't likely that Aandag wanted to have a total downer travel with him. He thought a moment. "Hey Aandag ... um ... I-I was wondering ... can you point me in the direction of more of the prey-things ... I really need practice." He lowered his head, looking up at his bigger friend.

He looked back at the bone, "I really need practice."

"F-f-fishing?" Callick repeated. He had heard of it, but never saw anyone do it, not to mention never tried it before. "I-I guess I could learn ... I don't know how to swim ... if that's important." He looked at his paws. These weren't fins, nor were they webbed. He had no chance of learning to swim, and even if he tried, it'd probably take a long time. But fishing was another story. He might not need to swim for fishing.

"Uhh ... yeah ... that'd be great ... if you could teach me ... please." He watched the dog get to his feet. Taking one last lick of the bone before leaving it behind. Fishing, he thought to himself, It'd be worth a try, i guess. Couldn't be more dangerous than hunter, right? He followed the dog for a moment, before turning back. He dashed back to his bone, grasping it with his mouth.

He ran back up to Aandag, "Cun i 'ake dis wit me?" he asked the dog, smiling.

Scared. The word came out. He WAS scared, scared of everything. He was scared of being alone, and yet afraid of people. He was frightened by lightning and rain, but was still afraid of drought. He was an ocean of phobias and contradictions. He listened to the dog talk about the great abilities of some of Callick's distant relatives. "They can??" He asked in amazement. His blue eyes widened immensely. Well, if other cats could do it, maybe he could too.

He eagerly gripped his bone, and followed Aandag. After what seemed like a long time to the young cub, they found some water. It wasn't moving fast, but it sure was moving. He dropped his bone a few paws away from Aandag's.

"Like this?" Callick whispered, raising his short, little arm as much as he could like his canine friend. He watched closely, spotting a few small disturbances in the water. Where those fish? They certainly moved fast enough. He attempted swooping down, arching his arm as he swung. His paw slapped the water, doing a belly-flop effect. His arm stopped by the water's power. Fish scattered away, fleeing Callick's "awesome" power.

Callick sighed. He wasn't any good at this. "Again?" he repeated, frustrated. "I-I'll give it a try ..." He approached the water once again, waited for the ripples to fade. He watched the fish go by again, quick as before. He listened to the water, watching it roll through the lowered ground. Maybe it'll work ...

He slid himself down, as Aandag had done. He raised his arm again, as he had been told, sticking his small claws out, and holding his paw into sort of a scooping tool. He took a deep breath, watching the shadowy figures fly by, until finally ... -SPLOOSH!- His hand flowed through the water, connecting with a heavy, leathery surface. His paw shook in recoil, as did his face as something heavy smacked him in the snout.

He shook his head, which dripped a little from the splashing. He opened his eyes to see a small silver-ish fish flopping though the air. "What do I do? What do I do?" he asked in a panic.

"Catch it? How?" Callick panicked, trying to think of what help he could be. Aandag jump through the air, for the fish, landing in the water himself. Callick jumped to the edge, searching for his friend. "Aandag" he yelled, moments before the dog resurfaced. Not only did the dog emerge, but the fish was trapped securely in his jaws.

"You got it! You go- ..." A sudden drenching cut him off. The dog shook the water off, disregarding location of other previously dry lions. Callick shook, eliminating some of the wetness he just acquired. "Nice catch," Callick said, excitingly. "How'd you do it?"

"Again?" Callick smiled a bit. This whole fishing thing was a bit hard, but it sure was fun, at least when he stays dry. "O-okay, maybe this time, I'll catch it," he laughed.