Gentle Giants And Hothead

"Nah, those are too far, he just gotta ram straight into the closest thing that has the ability to give him cuddles and scratches."
Ava in turn retorted, and it was like Sauron could tell what they were talking about as he gave a happy borf, his tail still wagging.
"See? He agrees."
Ava said, and bent down to give Sauron a good and thorough scratch after turning her arms back to normal.

"It's better that I don't see your dad, I'd feel like kicking his ankles for being too much bigger than me."
Ava answered with a snicker, but she was pretty serious. Even now Ava felt like giving Baste's ankles one kick, as a punishment for making Ava feel small.
"You're my age? Fuck you, why do I gotta get stuck with this height? You and Sauron can just keep growing by yourselves, I don't even care anymore."
Ava gave a fake pout and started walking forward, her arms crossed. Well, in truth it was clear that Ava was just messing around. Ava could almost feel Sauron's judging eyes on her back.

"Depends on your definition of good, really. But I won't reveal any more fluffy heavens, I can't just feed into you two's cuddle addictions, now can I."
Ava turned her head and narrowed her eyes on both Baste and Sauron with a playful grin on her face.

"One of the pros is also that you can look intimidating without even trying and patting people's head condescendingly is so easy."
Ava added with a snicker. She honestly couldn't even imagine being mistaken for being a different age than she was, she had lived in the mountains, not many people around there.
"I've never been mistaken for an adult, but I was once mistaken for a human by a bear, that was his last mistake."

As Baste described what kind of areas she liked Ava considered, and slowly a smile crept up on her face. She snapped her fingers and spun around to point at Baste.
"This is your lucky night, I have just the thing for you. Follow me. Sauron, let's run!"
Ava began jogging into the woods, going at human speed in case Baste couldn't run at supernatural speed. Sauron barked excitedly and ran after Ava, but stayed near Baste.

Ava jogged, and if Baste kept up she would start running, still in human speed. The place Ava had in mind was deeper in the forest and some ways away.
It was clear from the way Ava moved through the forest that it wasn't new to her. She slid and hopped and dodged like she was born to do it. And if Ava got too much into it and started running too fast Sauron would bark and drag her back to this moment, reminding Ava that there was someone with her now.
And when they'd arrive at their destination Baste would see before her a clearing, that had a small stream flowing across it that started at a spring at the edge of the clearing. The spring had a small pond around it, and reeds and other water plants growing on the edges, and the clearing itself had patches of wildflowers here and there, giving the place slightly sweet and fresh smell
"There we go, just about everything you wanted. Sauron and I come here to hang whenever we need to chill. Taste the water from that pond, it's fresh spring water, it's really refreshing."
Ava ran forward, did a cartwheel and a flip and flopped down onto the ground on her back. Ah, this was good. Ava rarely came here at night, it was nice in a whole different way.

Ava did wonder a bit about Baste's miraculous invigoration, but didn't dwell on it too deeply. This was a magic island full of magical, miraculous stuff, so if you didn't learn to just go with the flow you were going to drive yourself crazy.

Baste seemed impressed by Ava's little sanctuary, or so Ava spied with a slightly smug smile on her face. Yes, this place was great, and it was great to have someone else appreciate it too.
"Yes, you can really. It's not like I own this place or anything. No one can own mother nature."
Ava said with a sage nod. Nature provided for everyone equally, and no one had the right to claim it as their own. Everyone just loaned what it gave out generously and without hesitation.

Ava was just lounging, her hair spread out in wild curls around her head, when Baste joined her. And Sauron joined them as well after he went and got himself some water, plopping down right between Ava and Baste so he could get maximum scratches.
"If you think this looks like that then you should go check out the northern parts of the island, where there are small mountains. The valleys there look pretty mystical. Though I don't go there much, cold isn't really my friend."

Baste and Ava were both giving Sauron plenty of affection, and he was panting happily and wagging his tail so it made Ava's curls even more messy by making them float around. But Ava couldn't care less, she was listening to Baste talk and hummed a bit in thought.
"So the cold was the reason you were so stiff and sleepy. You're kind of like a lizard, or a frog or something. There was a weird cloak or shape around you earlier too that was shaped kind of like a lizard. Are you secretly a giant lizard with a human shape charm? I have an acquaintance that is a giant lizard man, his name is Kaiju."

Baste launched into a long explanation about how she was, and Ava didn't mind listening to it. Though when Baste talked about her dad Ava felt strange melancholy, and she could guess that Baste's dad wasn't around anymore. Maybe dead, maybe missing, but just...not present.
"Guess it's good that I didn't mention how the apple tree at the edge of this clearing over there has some great apples in the fall then."
Ava said with a small snicker, but there was still the strange knot in her guts that made her bit sad and thus irritated. It made her remember her mom, and even her dad briefly even though Ava had never met the guy.

"It isn't really weird for things to get all mixed with hybrids, there are a ton on the island and I've seen some wacky combinations. I'm a hybrid too, in a way. Elemental hybrid. My folks were both dragons, but mom was fire and my father was earth. Thus, lava."
Ava created some lava in her palm to kind of illustrate the point, but she put it away quickly enough since she didn't want to burn down her favourite clearing.
"My mom had ton of trouble with me as a baby, or you could say she burned her hands with me, since she didn't know much how lava worked. But she was amazing when it came to controlling fire, it was a part of her."
Ava said this all with a grin, but she still couldn't help but feel sad, and it showed a bit in her tone. Well, sad and irritated, and the latter showed up a bit too. Ava had gotten her fiery temper from her mom as well.