Dangerous Animal Safety - Teething Toy

    Bloody sat her pencil down upon the open pages of her journal and took a second to look over her work.  The speech she had drafted seemed as though it would suffice for an oral presentation.  Good.  That meant that she could move on to her last and final assignment--creating some means of defense against a dangerous animal.  This one would prove interesting.  Usually if Bloody had to be near any beasts that posed a threat, she would stay air-bound rather than grounded.  Either that, or she would utilize her speed to keep away from any threat that the animal in question posed.  However she supposed that in this class she'd be required to handle or be in close proximity to dangerous creatures without being given the option of fighting and subduing them.  No, she'd have to think of something. . .

    The answer came to her in a rather roundabout way.  Haze, her faithful familiar, had begun to feel rather restless.  It was already late evening and Bloody hadn't even taken him out for a walk yet!  True, they'd gone that morning and sometimes Stella would guide him outside for a few minutes of fresh air and exercise if Bloody was more busy than usual, but he really wanted to go out and do something now!

    Rising and meowing aloud to Bloody when he saw her finally cease in her busy adult-work, he padded over and began kneading her boots.  The she-demon blinked and peered at him as he sat under her desk, claws working the fabric of her shoes.  "Mrrrrow!" he complained.  I wanna go DOOOO something!  C'mon, Bloody!  Let's go and play! he practically begged.

    Bloody gave an airy, bemused laugh.  Of course this little fuzzball wanted to get out--he'd been cooped up all day doing practically nothing but sleep.  It was only fair that she took him outside to dispose of some of that energy before they turned in finally for the night.

    "Alright, alright," she relented gently, scooting her chair back and standing to push it in again.  "Let's go out, then before you have an aneurysm," she joked.  Ecstatically, the cub began to shoot around her legs and bound in circles around her as she proceeded towards the door to her room, grabbing her hoodie and zipping it up before she opened the door.  Almost immediately, Haze shot out the door and began pacing in the hall.

    Before exiting, however, Bloody looked over to her other animal companion, Stella.  "Hey, Stell.  You wanna come with us?" Bloody offered the scarab.  A tiny twitch of her antenna signaled that no, she did not, and with that the beetle scuttled under one of the two beds in the dorm room to probably rest up before she went out for the night.

    Shrugging in response, Bloody began to exit the room.  "Alright.  See you when we get back, then."  Closing the door soundly behind her, she put her hands in her pockets and strolled up to Haze's side.  "Hey, don't run away from me like that, okay?  I don't want you getting under anyone's feet.  Just stay by me until we're outside, got it?" she murmured to him, a slightly serious glint entering her gaze.

    Haze, of course, said nothing verbally in response, but gave Bloody an ear flick of understanding before resuming his happy saunter.  Bloody lightly shook her head.  "Cubs," she muttered fondly to herself.

    The trip outside was over soon enough, and as soon as they came free of the building and Bloody had a look around, she nodded in approval to her familiar.  "Alright, buddy.  Run wild."  And with that, the cub took off.  He sprinted this way and that, doubling back on his trail a few times to hare towards his master only to suddenly turn tail and bolt off in a different direction.  Bloody couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of him, and made her way over to a cold stone bench to take a load off.

    Transitioning back to life at OtherWorlde had really taken a lot out of her . . . that and everything else she'd been through while she had spent so much time away.  And what had been gained from that time?  Nothing but injured pride and a wounded heart.  Another sharp pang went through her chest as she watched the Hellcat cub prance and play in the tufts long, dead grass on the school grounds, chasing crickets and millers as they sprang from their hiding places.  She'd left Haze behind at the school for a majority of the time she'd spent away.  Of course she had come back to feed him and play with him to ensure he stayed healthy, but most of his time had been spent with Stella while she was out filling her head with senseless disillusions of a love that could never work.  How could she be so selfish?  Haze deserved her attention more than any two-faced love interest.

    Bloody sighed and ran a hand through her bangs to her ponytail, closing her eyes.  Seeming to sense her emotional distress from his position across the courtyard, Haze skidded to a halt and sat erect, focusing on his master.  Something about her was off.  Before she'd started going off into the woods every night and almost every morning, Bloody had been giving off some seriously unhappy vibes.  She seemed paranoid and distracted, not to mention just absent altogether.  Then all of a sudden she started to seem more and more happy and even excited?  Then she just . .  started to show up less and less.  A few times she had brought him with her when she went off into the wilds.  They had to fly a long time to get to wherever it was she always would go--a scary-looking building in the middle of the woods filled with strange-smelling creatures and beasts of all walks of life.  Haze didn't know how he felt about the place, until Bloody started to show him around and introduce him to a few of the other grown-folk there.

    There was one in particular that Bloody seemed to spend most of her time with.  A red-haired male who wore glasses and funny, floppy hates and hoodies.  He was pretty nice and his face turned red a lot, especially when he was around Bloody.  But then something happened and Bloody started to come back for longer than she spent away before just putting an end to her nightly disappearances altogether.  She seemed kind of sad after that, and Haze had been doing his best to keep his master, his mamma happy and active.  In fact, that's exactly what he needed to do right now!

    Setting his sights on Bloody's feet, the cub charged over the ground, keeping low and extending his small yet powerful legs to eat up the ground in a blur and arrive at the place where she sat sooner.  All those times she'd taken him out to run and hunt had proven effective as they'd taught him just how to move his legs and hold his head in a way that would let him get places faster.  In fact, he was currently approaching her so quickly that she'd have little to no time to react to his sneak attack!

~~~

    "What the- !?" Bloody exclaimed when a heavy weight seemed to suddenly plow into her legs out of nowhere and proceed to unleash a series of heavy paw-blows and bites to her calves.  "HAZE!" she exclaimed a little too loudly perhaps, as it caused the cub to flinch and freeze, looking up at her in shocked confusion.  Taking a second to compose herself, Bloody leaned over and rubbed her leg, letting her tone relax a little.  "Sorry, buddy.  It's just . . . damn.  Your teeth are really coming in sharp, aren't they?"  It was true, it seemed that his teeth were growing longer and sharper everyday, and Bloody was always reminded of that fact whenever Haze went to her and nibbled on her limbs or boots.  He was like a little puppy at this point, what with all the teething.  It was a wonder Bloody didn't have scarred legs by now. . . 

    Something in her mind seemed to click and her ears pricked up, causing Haze to give her another confused, and slightly uneasy, look.  There was always a moment when something finally became clear to Bloody or she grasped a very illusive concept that her mind just suddenly went still.  It wasn't quite a sense of emptiness or blankness . . . it just sort of . . . froze and held that thought, and it was very strange to the cub.  He couldn't always pinpoint what she'd suddenly put all of her focus on, and was never really sure where her thoughts would take her next.

    Luckily, he didn't have long to wonder, and didn't even have to worry about being sent back up to her room as she went out and worked out whatever was on her mind.  "Haze, that's it!  You brilliant cub!" she enthused, giving him an affectionate scalp rubbing.  Giving a startled yet welcomed purr, Haze watched her with curious, wide eyes.  What had made her so happy suddenly?  Didn't she make a pain noise just a moment ago?  Did he do something to her nerves to make her brain go funny?

    In an instant, Haze's curiosity was forgotten and replaced by surprise once more when Bloody suddenly scooped him up and rubbed his belly.  "You and those magnificent teeth of yours have given me an idea!" she declared, playfully nudging the side of his muzzle with a knuckle.  "I think I know what to about your teasing, but first . . . we've got to go shopping."  Oh boy!  Haze loved going into the different little shops around the school grounds with Bloody!  They always smelled really interesting and had lots of pretty things to look at and play with--if no one saw, that is.

    Looking onward, Haze scanned the rows of darkened shop windows, wondering what on earth it was Bloody wanted to buy at this hour, and what she'd do with it.

~~~

    It was almost an hour later by the time Bloody had brought Haze back to her dorm room.  In one hand she carried a small cloth bag of different herbs and powders she'd picked up from the Magical Linguistics building.  In the other she carried a long, leather . . . glove?  The odd accessory looked as though it were woven from strips of rawhide and stretched up to her elbow when worn.  It was a dark red-brown in color, and smelled of tanning chemicals that made Haze a little dizzy if he breathed them in for too long.  Hopefully the strange-smelling plants Bloody had taken from Razik's storage would make it smell better. . .  Good old Razik!  Always happy to entertain visits with his students and their familiars while letting said familiars climb and play on him and his furniture!  Haze missed him a lot.

    Having been sat down, Haze watched Bloody closely as she laid out the glove and the different supplies she'd brought with her and began placing them about, setting some of them burning as she murmured her strange-sounding power words.  "Power words," as Haze liked to call them were runs and latin phrases that carried heavy magical significance for spell-casting.  He didn't really understand what they all meant, but there were a few runs he could recognize by name and they way they made things react when used.  Intently he watched the glove as Bloody worked her magic, literally, and hunkered down in anticipation for the outcome.

~~~

    Some fair amount of time later, she was finally done.  Haze sat up abruptly when she dusted off her hands on the sides of her pants and called him over to her side.  He wanted to know why she was so excited over a glove when she gave him a surprising order.  "Haze, I want you to bit the Hell out of my arm, okay?" she said, holding out the gloved limb.  Haze looked up at her in silence for a moment, wondering if this was really a good idea before receiving a nod of reassurance from her.  Blinking a little, he sniffed the glove up and down.  It didn't smell as bad as before . . . hopefully it wouldn't taste bad, either.  Taking an experimental nibble, Haze found that it didn't taste half that bad, and the leather actually felt . . . really nice on his gums.

    Getting excited, Haze began biting harder and shook his head a few times to really teach the glove a lesson in cub ferocity, giving playful growls and even going so far as to digging his front claws in to hold it better in place.  Bloody watched him as he played, looking over the glove at how it held up and made sure that the magic she'd put on it didn't have any flaws, but she couldn't be sure until the final part of their test.

    "Haze," she spoke again, earning his attention and immediate halt to his play.  "You're doing great so far, buddy.  I just want you to try one more thing, okay?"  Haze gave a tiny nod and snort as a way of signaling he understood and she swept on.  "Okay, good.  Then what I want you to do is light yourself on fire."  Haze immediately sat upright and flared his ears and nose, eyes going wide.  Didn't Bloody always warn him against doing that when they played?

    She seemed to sense his trepidation for she furthered her explanation.  "It's okay, Haze.  I just want you to summon your fire magics and keep them up with you bite and claw this glove.  Can you do that for me real quick?  I have to make sure that this thing works how it's supposed to."  Haze hesitated again, looking doubtful.  He did like getting to use his magic, but it could damage things if he kept at it for too long. . .  He didn't want to hurt Bloody . . .or light their room on fire.  But, with another reassuring murmur and scratch over the ears from his companion, he relented and focused his energy.

    Sure enough, a ridge of fire sparked up on his back and grew brighter and bigger as it spread over his fur, down to his paws.  Padding over then to the glove, Haze gingerly took the accessory in his teeth and placed a paw on it.  Nothing.  No flames caught the material, and no sound of pain or displeasure came from Bloody.  Haze became a little more excited at this and began to chew harder, working the material in his teeth and poking his claws in and out of the mesh.  Still, no unpleasant sounds were heard from Bloody.  Instead, the she-demon watched on in a proud, motherly way as the cub played.

    The experiment was another success.  The glove, with the proper enchantments proved to withstand the cub's efforts of damaging it.  However, that answer what questions she had about how it would hold up to a larger, stronger animal.  Ah well, at least she could use it for Haze's teething whenever he really wanted to play with experiencing anymore pain . . . hopefully.