Gentle Giants And Hothead

Weird that Baste liked wolves but not dogs, since dogs were basically a tamer version of wolves. But guess everyone has their own phobias, Ava wasn't going to judge. Besides, all that Baste was saying about wolves was true.
"Oh yeah, nothing beats howling with a pack of wolves on a clear night. Kind of like this one."
She admitted, adjusting her position so she was sitting cross-legged.
"Though you probably shouldn't approach them on your own, they're pretty vary of strangers. If Sauron and I come with then they wouldn't attack and you might be able to touch and even pet them."

Baste had seemed kinda out of it before, but she was starting to shake it off. She even gestured for Sauron to come closer, and Sauron happily obliged. He had gotten a bit impatient waiting for his chance to bask in the warmth Ava was emitting. And he even got some snugs, which made his tail wag happily, and he panted with a big smile on his face. Ava grinned as she watched Baste hug Sauron, it was kind of a cute image.
"Look like you really warmed up to him, huh?"
Ava said with a chuckle, her heat pun not intended.

Baste explained further about her fear of dogs, and Ava just nodded along. She had no idea what goddess Baste was talking about, since Ava had never heard of Bastet, but when Baste commented she got some hair in her mouth Ava laughed heartily.
"Oh yeah, that happens a lot with him. Hell, I wake up with hair in my mouth."
Sauron on the other hand was enjoying himself to the fullest, and he turned his head so he could sniff at this new friend that was giving him cuddles.

Baste shifted to talking about werewolves, since Ava assumed that she wasn't talking about a pack of normal wolves, those didn't talk. But her story made Ava snicker.
"I assume you're the cuddle train, judging from how you're clinging to Sauron. Those poor bastards, never saw it coming."
Ava laughed, and then leaned forward a bit.
"Who's that mentor of yours? Or more like mentor of what? You said misbehaving yokai and that you were scouting for werewolves, are you some kind of monster hunter or something?"
Ava got a bit vary at that point, since MC was probably a monster hunter's playground with all the supernatural creatures running around. Though Ava had mentioned her species and Baste hadn't done anything.

Baste really wasn't the most jokey type, huh? That much was obvious when Ava couldn't really seem to get the girl to laugh. That kind of irritated Ava, but Baste was otherwise nice or at least seemed so, so the irritation was easy to brush aside.
Sauron, after giving Baste a good sniffing, panted happily and gave the girl a couple of greeting licks, his tail wagging so hard it was almost hitting his flanks.

"Oh, so one of those more honorable type of monster hunters. Okay, I see. Well, you probably won't find any evil werewolf tribes around here, for all I know there's only one pack around and they just mind their own business."
Ava shrugged and shifted one of her hands from wrist up back to human so she could give Sauron a scratch behind the ears. Sauron closed his eyes from delight, when he was showered in affection by two different individuals.
"Unless you wanted to unleash the power of the cuddle train upon them, in that case you're better off befriending a werewolf that allows you to cuddle them all you want."
Ava added with a snicker.

Ava was a realist, and that's why she disagreed with the idealogy that "everyone can change". Because no, there were people and creatures that were beyond help and hope. Most people could change, but not everyone.
But Ava wasn't about to start debating that, it was too late for it. No matter how much Ava wanted to. So she just nodded and let the topic go.

It felt strangely satisfying to be able to make Baste laugh, and Ava had a content smile on her face as she chuckled along with Baste.
"Oh no, Sauron's cuddliness is a disease, I tell you. I can't bring him anywhere, if you're a cuddle train he's a cuddle space shuttle."
Ava was greatly exaggerating, and laughed after she finished. But it wasn't a hard exaggeration to believe, Sauron really did love snuggles and pets.

To where?? That question made Ava snort and cackle a bit, and she stood up as well when Baste did.
"Into the arms of the closest cuddleable person or object, of course."
Ava answered jokily with a grin, and then looked up at Baste. Damn, she was even taller when Ava stood beside her like this. Ava felt lot smaller than usually, and it irritated her.
"Goddamn, what did you eat to be that big? Stop it."

Sauron had officially become Baste's own professional cuddle buddy, and Sauron didn't mind at all. Ava felt a bit salty that Sauron was giving Baste more attention than he was giving her, but as most of the time Ava just pushed the irritation down.
"I don't really need to scout it, I know this forest like the back of my hand."
Ava answered confidently, and grinned. She still kept her torso partially shifted, shedding some dim light around them and still warming the area around herself.