The recently-hatched dragon had wasted no time in exploring his surroundings and outside of the nest. Curiosity ran in his DNA, and keeping him cooped up inside was not an option. It would be a matter of time before he would feel the itch to travel out of camp, but for now, he was focused on exploring his natural instincts. Right now, playing the hunter was his favorite game.

Someone had been nice enough to gift the youngster a bouncy ball in the hopes that it would prove to be entertaining for him. Thankfully, it was indeed entertaining for the dragon, and he had spent a few good minutes playing with it. Fresh, goopy slobber coated the ball and tracked more dirt onto it each time it rolled across the ground. Was this unsanitary? Highly, but the hatchling didn't know any better. Dirty or not, the ball was the only object of his eye at the current moment.

The baby dragon growled and trilled in a playful manner as he concentrated on "hunting" the ball. He instinctively layed low before pouncing and wrapping his short arms and legs around it. He tumbled onto the ground and rolled around, wrapping his jaws around the toy and gnawing at it with his stubby teeth. Saliva rolled down the sides as he attempted to bite into his "prey", his blue eyes squinting in concentration, though in reality he looked quite ridiculous (and rather cute).

Aurum could definitely remember being a very curious child. Hell, even before he had been a cub and he had been up among the clouds, he had always heen curious to see what was outside the carefully constructed cage that he was kept in for so long. However, his curiosity had always been punished, both as an angel and as a cub, and it had made it so that for a long time, he had been bitter and felt utterly alone in the world, even with Poet alongside him. This was why it made him feel happy, seeing both the new hatchling and Piers out and about in camp, enjoying themselves and having fun, even if Piers was choosing to do it in a bit of a sneaky way. It reminded him of back when he and Poet would tussle over toys in the nursery, until Judith would yell at him and made him move away while Poet played. He was glad that the hatchling and Piers didn't have to go through such things, so much so that he felt a smile curling on his muzzle. Moving over to Arrow's side, the lion sat back on his haunches and flicked his tail from side to side, watching the children in amusement, "They certainly seem to be having fun, don't they? Kinda makes me wish that I had grown up in Tanglewood." He really did mean that, considering how awful his childhood in the pride had been. Perhaps if he had grown up from a little child into an adult within the swamp, it might not have taken him so long to become the warm and fatherly person he was today. Part of the guardsman wanted to cheer the hatchling on and tell him to get his revenge on Piers for stealing his toy away, but he doubted that the child would understand him enough to find it amusing.