She hadn't expected to be called... It wasn't something that she was terribly well known for. She was no confidante and she had certainly never been sought out for advise. In many respects, the young deity was so naive when it came to certain aspects of the mortal psyche that she was ill suited to the role. However, the cub had come to her little 'den' within the nursery and after a number of taps on her ceiling, had summoned her out. Whatever his reasons might have been, his expression had been grave and his mannerisms grim - it didn't take a genius to realise that something was amiss and apparently neither of his parents was capable of helping him out. Thus he had come to her - an odd choice to be sure, but he had his reasons.
You see... Arimathras was a 'magic rabbit'.
Somehow, she managed to spawn fruit and other plants with a gentle pat of her paw. Where she stepped, occasionally something would bloom faster or grow healthy. It didn't happen all the time, but when it did, the lions within the pride noticed... If she could do that, then what else could she do?
*************
"They're really weird," the cub confessed, shuffling his paws against the dust. His nose wrinkled and he struggled to meet the gaze of the curious white rabbit. He was still a cub and when it came to such things, there were very few in the world that could help him.
"Weird in what way?" she prompted, lifting a paw to rub at his nose.
"I see things...like daddy and a strange lion, but they're fighting," he murmured softly. "But daddy is fine, it's the other that gets hurt - he..." Euphrates trailed off quietly and released a soft sigh, it was at this point that he closed his eyes. "He falls down really badly and then he...he doesn't get up again."
"I see," she replied, her lips pursed in thought. "That seems to be a rather bad dream to have, but fortunately, that's all it really is," she concluded with a small smile. She rubbed at hise nose a little more and then sat back, resting her paws on her belly. She was no all-knowing entity and her influence was limited in this field. She had a suspicion there was more to the cub than met the eye, but until something came of his dreams, even slightly, it was better for her to encourage positivity. If he grew too concerned at this age, then he would have an awkward time as he matured.
"But it seems so real!" the cub mewed and shook his head. "It always seems so real..."
"Sign of creativity!" Arimathras replied, casting her paws into the air dramatically - it was then that she smiled. "I have dreams too - really interesting ones," she continued and leant forward as if she had a great secret to tell. "For example, in one dream, all the coconuts came to life and started to chase after all the crabs. Thenn, when they'd caught them, they started building them into this huge castle."
"What's a coconut?" the cub interrupted in confusion, causing the rabbit to pause with her mouth open - a terribly unflattering pose indeed.
"It's a round, hard, furry fruit..." she explained.
"So it doesn't have any paws...?" he could see flaws in this dream already.
"Not usually, but these ones were special," she continued smoothly. "Of course, the coconuts were left very disappointed because the castle moved into the ocean and well...coconuts float, so they couldn't get their castle back..."
"So what did they do?"
"Built a sand castle instead which they were very happy with until it was washed away."
"Those were unlucky coconuts," Euphrates concluded in a slow voice, his expression unusually serious based on the subject. Arimathras was quick to not in agreement, her ears clapping with dull 'thumps' against the top of her head.
"But no more unlucky than the pineapple and her romance with the corn."
"Bad result?"
"Horrid, it was an absolute tragedy," Ari murmured sadly and shook her head once more. "But you see, everyone has their own strange dreams, you don't need to be too worried about them," she continued. Wiggling a paw to emphasize her point, she adopted the expression of one of the teachers and clucked her tongue. "Only time you need to worry is if the coconuts come to life."
"And build crab castles."
"Exactly," she agreed with a curt nod. "More so if they steal your tail hair."
"They do that too!" the cub gasped, shaking his head in horror. "They deserved to lose their sand castle if they did that!" he growled.
"Oh! That wasn't the coconuts, that was the Radish bandits," Ari corrected him with a gentle pat to the nose. "They also kidnapped the potato damsel which was a terrible time for the Tuber family," she added and then grinned impishly. "But it's okay, because Captain Tomato saved her."
"You're making this up!" Euphrates pointed his paw at the rabbit accusingly and took a little swipe.
"Am not," she replied defensively. "I just have weird dreams," she continued in a wistful manner, casting a smile in his direction as she spoke. "And so do you, so don't worry about it, okay?"
"Okay," Euphrates agreed, hazarding a small and hesitant smile at the knowledge that things weren't as bad as his childish mind assumed.
"Good, now are you hungry? I have loads of supplies!" The rabbit announced, taking another few hops towards a small group of bushes where she tended to stash most of her favoured foods. Feline she might have been in true form, but she utterly adored fruit. Unsurprisingly, it had been of great disappointment to her to discover that so few in the world appreciated them. Unfortunately, Euphrates would be one of those sort...At least for now.
"Silly bunny, lions can't eat fruit, remember?" he pointed out with a giggle and sure enough, she did. It was a moment in which her enthusiasm deflated a little and she heaved a world weary sigh.
...Was anyone going to like her fruit?
"Well fine then, what would you rather do?" the deity enquired, casting the cub a sidelong glance - she could at least take comfort in the fact that he was in a much better mood now.
"Fish!" he announced.
"With this tiny paws?" she remarked dubiously, a brow raising.
"You can catc the really tiny fish," the cub pointed out, nodding in encouragement as he spoke. It was with this in mind that he gave her no further opportunities to argue. It appeared that the 'rabbit' had no choice and as a result, her only option was to follow him.
"Well okay then," she murmured with a sigh.
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