Gentle Giants And Hothead

"Come on Sauron, you're falling behind!"
Ava yelled over her shoulder as she jumped over a fallen tree. Her dog, a giant ball of fur named Sauron, hopped over right after her and barked with excitement as he tried to catch up to Ava. Naturally Ava was much faster, Sauron was just a normal dog, but Ava liked running together with her dog so she went easy on him and ran at a moderate speed.
To think Sauron was already almost one year old. He was approaching adulthood much faster than Ava was, and yet he was still growing. When he was fully grown he'd be as tall as Titus when on his hind legs.
Ava couldn't wait to make Sauron jump on Titus when that day came. It'd be hilarious.

Ava swatted away a tree branch, and some sticks and leaves got tangled in her hair. But Ava's hair was so wild and untamed she didn't even bother stopping and clearing them. She'd have plenty of time for that later. Now she was too busy enjoying the speed, the sights, the sounds, and the-
Sauron smelled the scent at the same time as Ava did, and they both stopped. Sauron jogged over to Ava's side and they both sniffed the air. This was an unfamiliar scent. It wasn't Azure, Ava would recognize his scent anywhere.
"Shall we go greet this new intruder on our turf?"
Ava asked Sauron with a grin, and Sauron barked back happily. And with that Ava let Sauron lead the way, it was always funny to see a new person's reaction to a giant fulffball jumping from the bushes to greet them.

Perhaps letting a giant dog surprise someone at night in the woods wasn't the best idea. But Manta Carlos was full of nocturnal people, and people who could see in the dark and lived in the night, they could handle one gentle giant. Besides, if anyone dared to dent even a hair on Sauron's fur Ava's vengeance would be like an erupting volcano.

But as Sauron reached the person first and Ava got to hear their initial response all Ava heard was...nope?
Ava stepped out of the bushes and joined Sauron, as the confused dog looked at a rather big girl that was currently in the tree, showcasing how many types of nopes she could say.
"Uh, hi there. Good to meet you."
Ava greeted, looked down at Sauron, he looked at her, and then they both looked up at this girl.
"And Sauron is happy to meet you too. But he can't exactly give you a greeting handshake if you're up in the tree like that. Plus that doesn't look comfortable at all."

Oh great, a dog hater. Or more like dog fearer, a dog hater would've probably hit Sauron or something and then hell would've been broken loose. No one lays a hand on a dragon's hoard without permission.
Sauron was just chilling, he was smart but just a dog and thus wasn't aware what the two were talking about. Though Ava bet that he could kind of sense that this giant girl was afraid of him, which was why he wasn't more excited and rambunctious as he usually was when meeting new friends.

"Listen, Sauron might look as intimidating as his name, but he's the most chill doggo you'll ever meet. Seriously, watch."
Ava proceeded to kneel down and give Sauron a big, maybe a bit rough hug, and Sauron just took it like nothing was happening. Ava even opened his mouth and put her hand and even face between his jaws, to show that he didn't even bite.
"See? He won't do anything unless I tell him to, and I got nothing against you since you didn't hurt me or my dog. Now come down, if you're drowsy you shouldn't be climbing trees. Unless you're actually planning to sleep up there."
Ava wanted to avoid making Sauron go away, he was a gentle soul and whenever he was forced to leave some situation he got the most hurt look on his face and it made Ava's heart ache.

Before Ava was even barely done with trying to convince this girl that Sauron was an angel she began falling from the tree. Ava didn't waste any time and quickly moved in to catch her. Ava watched with wonder when some green whip-like things suddenly emerged and cleared out any branches that were in the girl's way. And that was how she fell neatly right into Ava's expecting arms. Ava was pretty damn strong, so holding a big girl like this wasn't really that hard of a task.

The strange layer or whatever around the girl was strange, Ava wondered what it was made of. It made the girl look kinda like a big lizardperson, like Travis was. Heh, maybe the two were related.
"Damn, you really weren't kidding about being drowsy."
Ava said with a grin, still holding the girl. She felt kind of cold, alarmingly so, but maybe that was just her constitution. So Ava didn't start warming herself up or anything, in case it hurt this girl accidentally.

Ava set the girl down when she asked if she was done for, which made Ava snort. She looked over at Sauron, who was being considerate and staying few meters away from the two.
"Oh yeah, you're totally done for, Sauron just likes being polite and giving his prey space before he gobbles them up."
Ava said in a sarcastic way that made it obvious she was joking, and patted the girl's shoulder.
"You're pretty cold there, by the way. Need some heat? I've got plenty of that if you need some, I'm a lava dragon."

Wow, there was actually someone who took Ava's sarcasm seriously. Who would've known. Ava just laughed and shook her head a bit, still grinning.
"Seriously, he won't do anything, he's a complete softie both inside and out."
Ava said, gesturing to the good doggo that was patiently waiting a safe distance away for a permission to approach and say hi to this weird new friend.

What do you know, this girl actually did want some heat. Ava nodded and with a confident smile she partial shifted her upper body. Her skin turned to magma, covered from some parts with hardened lava rock that formed kind of scales. All her clothes were fireproof so there was no fear of them catching some flame, and Ava took off her jacket so she only had her tank top on. She adjusted the lava temperature, so it was around 60 or 70 degrees celsius, and just let the warmth radiate from herself. She inched bit closer to the girl, but not so close she could've burned her.
"There we go. Just sit back and enjoy. And if this isn't enough you can hug me too and get real toasty."
Ava joked, and snickered a bit.

"Werewolves, huh? I'm Ava. And I'm currently the only one running around this area, didn't spot anyone else. Sometimes I run with my buddy Azure, he's a werewolf, but he isn't here tonight."
Why on Earth was this chick looking for werewolves? Not that she'd have to look that hard, there were like two or three on Ava's class alone.
"If normal wolves would do it I know a pack deeper in the woods, they're acquaintances of mine."