[Azura Rayume]

Why did everything she liked have to be dangerous? Her pets were violent, poisonous, or a combination of the two. She wanted things like Hunters and Mekkayena and all sorts of things that could kill her. Schizophrenic, twitchy robots and cute little teddy bears that wanted to tear every living thing to pieces. He wondered why she couldn't just be a child again, someone he could just hold and keep safe without worrying about her running off on some crazy adventure.

The Bruma lumbered through the undergrowth, not entirely sure he would be able to find what he was looking for out here. He wanted a present for Azura, something that would possibly win the bear back into her good graces. After he had forbidden her from headed off on some gods-forsaken adventure she had been angry at him. That had been almost two weeks.

She never managed to stay angry at him that long.

So here he was, in the middle of a place most aptly named "the Slums," looking for a snail. He knew she had wanted one of these snail things for a while, and snails didn't seem all that dangerous. Plus, these ones looked kinda cute despite the spikes. That should get her to call him Squishy again.

[Azura Rayume]

Baladeva glanced back over his shoulder to where the bushes had just shaken back together and frowned. Maybe bringing that beast was a bad idea after all. The monster had such a short attention span and more energy than it could possibly know what to do with that it couldn't concentrate on following anything moving slower than a fly. Which is probably what had distracted it in the first place.

"Jacob!" Bala shouted back at the bush, hoping to catch what little attention there was in that tiny brain for a moment. He just needed it to follow long enough to root out one of those snails. Things would go faster if he could get some help. After all, he was never very good at tracking anything at all, much less slimy things slithering through even slimier things.

With another growl, he shouted at the bush again, growing irritated at the stupid thing he had decided to drag along.

[Azura Rayume]

Jacob trotted along to his own accord, unable to pay much attention to anything. Here there was a bird, there a bug, over there something scurrying through the leaf litter. That something ran smack dab into a can, startled itself, and squeaked out of pure terror at its own mishap. Everything was interesting enough to distract him but boring enough to be easily forgotten.

The Leamoo's tail dragged along behind him, the tufted end finding every stray leaf, string, and other small piece of garbage it could. His mismatched feet were unsuited for the slightly spongy ground, hooves sinking while paws allowed dirt to press almost uncomfortably between his toes, but the beast failed to truly take notice. Every time such steps began to feel annoying enough to get his attention, some bug would buzz by his face and distract him again.

"Jacob!" His name was one of the few things that could catch his attention. The beast's ears perked up, the spines pulling up slightly as well. His head swiveled toward the voice just as his name rang out again. A foolish grin broke over his square maw, tail raising high like a flag and shedding the debris in a rain of muck. He ran through the bushes, odd gate a kind of galumph instead of even a semi-graceful run.

[Azura Rayume]

Bala swung his head back and forth, ears flicking in an attempt to figure out where the stupid animal could possibly be coming from. He heard the beats almost too late to move. Somehow he managed to side step just before Jacob came barreling out of the bushes at full speed.

The klutz tripped over his own hooves and tumbled head over heels, horns catching in the dirt enough for him to land on his back. The entire accidental acrobatic act was almost comical enough to make the bear laugh if he hadn't been so agitated. Jake's gaze locked onto Bala's familiar face, and his tongue lolled out so he could pant in his almost endearing way.

"Oh, get up," Bala scolded, though he immediately regretted it with the look that monster gave him. How something that was meant to be so frightening be so... pitiful at the same time? "Don't look at me like that. We're here for Azura, and I need you to help me with something."

[Azura Rayume]

Jake tried his best to right himself, clumsily rolling over with his legs flailing about in the most awkward way possible as if he aimed for such an effect. He managed to get his legs under him somehow despite all the kicking and pushed his frame back to a standing position. He stared at Bala with an intent expression, tail wagging like a dog eager to please. He recognized this bear as boss-man, and when boss-man wanted something to do with Azura, it had to be important. Even if he didn't exactly know what he was doing.

Bala sighed and rolled his eyes. For a monster with the attention span of a dead goldfish, Jacob could listen surprisingly well when Azura was involved. He supposed this beast was a kind of living testament to how well his adopted daughter communicated with animals, and not just the intelligent ones such as himself.

"Okay," he said, hoping that the creature would understand what he was about to explain. "Azura wants this thing called a Snicky. It looks like a snail with spikes. Do you think you can find one of those?

[Azura Rayume]

Jacob stared at the bear for a moment, the word "snail" drifting through his mind in search of a picture for him to look for. After blinking a few times, he was pretty sure he knew what to do. He nodded vigorously, mouth open, his tongue flopping aimlessly. He thumped his tail on the ground a few times in his excitement, then charged off again in some apparently important direction.

Hooves and paws thudded on the soft ground, carrying his muscled frame deeper into the underbrush. His nose pressed to the ground, it took him only a few minutes to find what he was looking for. Or, at least, what he thought he was looking for. Excited and sure he was about to do a good job, he snatched the thing up in his jaws and trotted back to Bala, tail held high like a flag.

He pushed his way through the bushes behind Bala and nudged the bear with his muzzle, panting and grinning around the object he had retrieved.

[Azura Rayume]

Bala jumped at the touch, even though he heard the thumping footsteps long before the beast was anywhere near. Still, the feeling of such a large face suddenly pressed against his back was surprising.

"There you are," he said after turning about to stare at the monster. He glanced at the thing in Jake's mouth. "I thought it would take you longer than that to find one. Let me see what you've got."

Jake wagged his tail vigorously, thrashing the bushes thoroughly, and dropped the thing with a metallic clang.

Bala blinked at it. A can. The stupid thing had brought him a tin can. Well, maybe there was a snail inside it; after all, he didn't know how big these things were supposed to be. He held the piece of trash up, peering inside in search of one of those apparently elusive things.

[Azura Rayume]

Of course it was empty. If there had been a snail, the thing had probably fallen out when Jacob had come galumphing back through the woods. He sighed. Nothing was ever that easy, was it? He had probably been a fool to think that just because the Leamoo had appeared to know what he was doing he would get to go home all the faster. He should have known better than that.

"Well, nothing we can do about it now," he said with a growl. "We should probably look somewhere else. There's no telling where these little buggers could be hiding." Jake blinked at him, apparently completely unaware of what he was saying. "That means we're going this way." He gestured with a paw before lumbering off in that same direction. He hoped he was going toward where he could find some of these snails so he could go home.

Jake watched the bear for a moment, thinking that maybe he would go running off into the bushes and come back with a prize, too. Even when Bala's furry backside disappeared into the brush, he stayed put, head tilted slightly. Something clicked in his brain though, sending a shot of worry through his simple thoughts. He whimpered, thinking that the bear had abandoned him. Whining pitifully, he bolted for the bushes to find his master's friend again.

[Azura Rayume]

Jacob came barreling through the bushes, whimpering, head down the entire way. If the monster had one fear, it was being abandoned. He would have hated that more than... well... more than he had ever hated anything in his life. That fear coupled with the fact that the bear didn't exactly love him made his simple mind worry. Hence the charging.

He managed to ram right into Bala's backside, sending both the beast and the bear sprawling into a small clearing. Bala landed with an"oomph," while Jake went rolling four more feet and smashed his face into a tree. He whined and pulled back, struggling until he pulled himself (and a few bits of bark and leaves) loose. He turned to face his companion, sat back on his haunches, and thumped his tail on the ground while grinning foolishly.

"Why did you do that?" Bala snapped, shaking the dirt from his fur and glaring at the beast. He didn't know what might possibly be going through that thing's mind, but it couldn't be much. After all, most people who thought things through wouldn't go barreling through the forest and knocking others flat on their faces.