Private Say Hello to My Little Big Friend

There was so much Tsepha did not understand about this island. It seemed like every day they were meeting helpful people or learning something at school that contradicted everything they knew about how life worked. The only fighting they had been doing was the sparring club, no one had so much as thrown a punch at them to test their reflexes, and even the sparring club was a lot less violent than anything at home.

Of course they obeyed the teachers at school, the closest thing to leadership they could find, but still they knew they must have slipped up a few times, and they hadn't been punished yet.

It was exhausting waiting for something to make sense. And now they were headed to their ally's house, or friend as it seemed to be called here. Another different thing. Tsepha frowned as they hopped from shadow to shadow. They hadn't been to Ava's house or the residential area at all before, so they couldn't just go straight there. At least not without potentially ending up in a place they didn't want to be.

They made good time still, arriving in Avas's yard just as she started wrestling with the dog. Tsepha did not step out of the shadow right away. First to make sure it actually was Ava on the ground and second because they did not want to interrupt what they hoped was a training session and not the dog rebelling against its owner.

Tsepha kept silent and motionless, waiting for Ava to finish, prepared to fight if the dog turned on them instead. They knew Ava and probably the dog could still smell them, even invisible.

"Not too eager I hope," Tsepha called out as they stepped out of the shadow, still wary and keeping their distance from the dog. "You have an interesting training method. Though I have never been this close to a dog, I think, maybe all the trainers do it that way."

Moving a little closer once they were certain Ava was finished and apparently unmauled, Tsepha finally got a good look at the fluffy beast Ava wanted them to meet. Only to notice that it was not wearing a collar. Shocked, Tsepha backed up a couple steps, wanting to be close to an escape route.

"It has no collar! Are you that sure of your training? That dog could turn on you at any moment." Tsepha did not leave, still eyeing both of them, wondering if perhaps they were mistaken and the fur was just covering it up. "Or do you not use a collar because the dogs here are kind of runty? It still seems risky..."

"Playing." Tsepha looked between Ava and Sauron with the most neutral expression they could manage. There were too many questions going through their head about Ava's bizarre behaviour to voice out loud. And they were unsure how good an idea it was to make friends with someone who was quite likely insane. But that was by the standards of their home. For all they knew everyone here played with their animals, since they seemed to not be needed for fighting.

They just shook their head at the idea of a dog that wouldn't attack. Even such a runty dog could be dangerous, and it was as tall as Tsepha or close enough. They glanced around to be sure of the nearest escape route in case Ava was just being overconfident. But then they shrugged. "The... Sauron may come and sniff me. But if it does bite me I will bite back." It was best not to be seen as a coward, and the dog did seem well trained Besides, if it did rebel it had no reason to go after them first, since Ava was the dog's owner.

Tsepha had no experience with the facial expressions or body language of dogs and it made them feel even more on guard not being able to tell if the beast was about to attack. It was a good thing Ava warned them about the licking because their first instinct was to hit it back. Instead, Tsepha backed away a few steps wiping off their hand with a disgusted look.

"That is gross. Why would you let your dog lick people?" They hesitated a moment, not sure what to say now. Ava was definitely strange. And then they had a thought. "Does it lick you? On second thought, I do not want to know." Tsepha stared down at the dog, attempting to keep all their limbs out of its reach now, though they did look slightly less worried about the dog being dangerous.

"I still am not sure why you would want a dog that does not fight. I guess slobbering all over someone is good for a distraction..."