Beist walked through the small village humming happily, his tail swaying behind him. His walking stick tapped on the ground with every other step and the claws on his feet clicked against the flagstone street. He was in a wonderful mood today, thanks to multiple circumstances. First, he was happy to have the company of his friend, Leni-Aura who was hopping along beside him. Second, their goal today was one he was greatly looking forward to.

Wollful! Such big, cute, fluffy creatures! Some even called them representatives of Ginma, the god of the Earth. Their wool was incredibly durable and useful for making clothing, and the alchemist believed it could also be used in alchemy to make certain tools to aid him in his potion making and might even be usable as an ingredient. Woolfuls were such wonderful animals. And today, Beist and Leni were both hoping to befriend one.

"It should be this one." Beist pointed out a building with a sign above the door shaped like a mug of ale. A tavern. "They said they had two woolful they wanted taken away."

SPOILER: Click to show

Creature Quest:
You must complete a topic with at least one other person (they can roleplay the creature if they want) where you must track down, calm, and capture the creature. You can fight it, or trap it, or trick it, you just have to weaken it enough to capture it. Each person in the thread must post at least 4 times with each post being at least 150 words long. Once the quest is over, the creature is yours.

... Why is she here?

Leni-Aura hops along next to Beist, her ears turning back slightly as she looks up towards the sign that the massive beast man points out. She narrows her eyes, following the lines of the text beneath the symbolism; she’s proud of the fact that she can sort of, kind of, guess the name based off of her lessons….

But this is still weird, right?

“Beist, why are they being kept in a tavern?” She looks up quizzically at Beist; she’s mostly here, so she says, to assist in the pickup of the woolful… plus, Orym might be interested in one. Not her. She definitely doesn’t want one, even if woolful are adorably fluffy and soft; and even if her body language and tone completely reveal her interest as otherwise.

Nimbus is, as usual, curled around her shoulders. He yawns drowsily, scratching at his cheek with one of his winged claws.

Nope, that's right. She is most definitely here on business for the caravan, and not because the idea of seeing a woolful in person is extremely tempting. “I would thought they would be in…” she looks for the right word. “...a stable?”

"A stable sounds like it would make sense, but woolfuls usually travel the plains in herds. However, these two split off from theirs and ended up here." Beist started to explain as he ducked down and entered the door. "And apparently, they're..."

He was cut off by the loud thud and the sound of wood scraping against wood. He looked to see a table knocked on its side lying on the wooden floor. A huge, green woolful stood there, its leg still sticking out from kicking the table over. Its curly horns framed the sides of its face as it stared defiantly at the beast man that had just entered the tavern. Behind the green one, a slightly smaller woolful with black wool stood, also with a defiant expression on its face. A chair that had been hit as the table was knocked over wobbled and started to also fall back. The defiant expression suddenly left the black woolful's face and it bit the chair, restabilizing it. It looked relieved for a moment, and then as if it suddenly remembered something. It headbutted the chair it had just saved from falling over, sending it onto its side.

"Baaaad boys." Beist finished his statement with a hearty laugh. If Dora was there, she certainly would have rolled her eyes at his joke.

Leni-Aura furrows her brows, but it makes sense; she’s only seen herds of woolful from afar, usually lingering in the caravan before. “Ah...” she remarks, hopping in after him, when—

Leni-Aura winces, looking perplexed as she witnesses the large green sheep, and a smaller black sheep, terrorize the furniture of the tavern. She blinks, staring at the green sheep, then looking at the black one; it knocks over a chair with a headbutt, then bleats at the newcomers. She blinks, stunned, then offers Beist an unamused look after his pun.

Satisfied with their reign of terror on that particular chair and table set, she watches the two sheep wander off in the same direction to target yet another.

“Oh, thank the gods.” someone states from beyond the countertop; a human man, looks at them with a slight hint of desperation. “Are you the ones asking about the woolful? I don’t care what you do with them, but you can—” Leni-Aura watches the green woolful bump into a table, which causes a glass on the edge to rattle. Alarmed, or maybe nervous, both woolful stare apprehensively at the glass until it stops. They almost seem to sigh with relief when the glass balances itself; and then suddenly, the black one kicks into the table, knocking the glass over.

Crash!

He winces. “—have them.”

Beist nodded to the man and stepped forward, toward the two woolfuls. The big green one turned to look at him. They raised their head, standing tall and striking what was presumably supposed to be an intimidating posture, but Beist just thought they looked so adorable, he couldn't stop his smile from widening even more as he knelt down on one knee.

"Well hello there, my name is-" Beist began speaking gently to the woolful, but the creature suddenly charged forward, ramming directly into his stomach. "Oof!" Beist grunted, but then chuckled as if the strike hadn't hurt in the slightest. "Feisty, aren't we?"

Beist's eyes opened a little wider in surprise as he felt a soothing feeling across his body and looked to see the woolful that had just rammed into his stomach was now healing him with a worried expression on its face. They must have thought they'd hurt him and felt bad about it. Oh, how adorable! These little rebels had hearts!

"I'm fine, but thank you." Beist said as he reached a hand out and patted the woolful on the head. They seemed relieved for a moment, but then backed away and huffed in defiance. "My name is Beist. Would you and your friend like to join me on my travels?"

Leni-Aura blinks, tilting her head towards Beist when he crouches to greet the big, fluffy sheep… but he doesn’t look all that friendly from her perspective. “Beist, are you okay?” she remarks, eyeing the big green sheep and his friend. The little black sheep stomps his hooves from where he stands, tossing his head, and looking like he’s about to mimic the green sheep’s behaviour.

“Ah ah,” Leni-Aura scolds, hands moving to her hips. Her eyes narrow warningly as the sheep snorts. “Try it and see what happens.”

The tone of her voice seems to throw the sheep off for a moment; the rebellious confidence on his little face shifts to a mild look of nervousness, before flicking back to shear anarchy. Like the other woolful, he makes a charge towards Leni-Aura as Beist pats the green woolful on the head.

Leni-Aura reaches out…

…and stops the sheep easily with one hand on his lowered head. ⁽¹⁾

The sheep’s hooves skitter against the planks uselessly, trying to push past Leni-Aura and failing, but eventually he stops and looks up at her, more embarrassed than rebellious as he pants, tired from his pointless run. “I warned you.” Leni-Aura remarks, letting go of his head as he stands there with a mildly confused look. She sighs, looking back to Beist. “They seem a bit…” she cuts off when she gets bumped by the little stormy sheep, apparently unsatisfied with losing against her; Leni-Aura whirls around to bristle at him. “Rude!!”

The woolful steps back in surprise, then bleats apologetically at her.

It's cute, but Leni-Aura still crosses her arms as she eyes the sheep with a mild annoyance. "They've got a weird mean streak." Says the rabbit with an equally weird mean streak.

---

^{(1) Bull's Strength}

Beist couldn't help but chuckle to himself before he spoke in reply to Leni. "Oh, they're just a little.. rambunctious." He let out a nother hearty laugh while rubbing the green woolful's fluffy head. The green woolful bleated in embarrassment, but looked like they were enjoying the attention. Their neck turned to let Beist scratch it. "Oh yes, you're very strong and scary, aren't you!" Beist chuckled.

Beist listened to the woolful's bleating, able to understand the meaning as if they were speaking to him. He nodded along to the words that couldn't be heard by anyone else nearby, listening to the woolful's story. "I see." The woolful let out a long, sad bleat. "Oh no! Why?" Bleat. "That's awful, how could they do that!?" Baaah. "I understand." Bleeat. "That's so sad." Beist said, wiping a tear from his eye before leaning forward to give the woolful a big hug. "You can come with me, I'd be happy to have you!"

Tears streamed from the woolful's eyes as it bleated in Beist's arms. While being hugged, the woolful suddenly rammed forward into Beist's stomach again.

"Oof! I'm alright, it's alright!" Beist just continued to hug the woolful. "Do you have a name?" Bleat. "Hmm. How about.. Leon?" Bah! "Leon it is!"

Both Leni-Aura and the stormy Woolful look at Beist when he gives another pun; the woolful sneezes, while Leni-Aura breathes a sigh and rubs at the back of her neck. “Is that a word?” she ponders, tail flicking as she shares a glance with the woolful; if it could shrug, it probably would. Instead, it just bleats quizzically at her.

The stupid, goofy look on its face kind of reminds her of something….

She blinks when she hears Beist start talking and looks to him as he… has a conversation, with the sheep. She blinks, looking at the little stormy woolful, who looks equally as grim as its companion as it listens. She looks at Nimbus on her shoulder, who looks a bit gloomy as well; is she the only one out of the loop here!? Frowning, she hesitantly reaches out and offers the sheep a pat on the hea— oh, Avasha, that sheep is soft...

The woolful looks up at her and bleats.

“Sorry… for your loss? Beist, what did they say?” she asks in a half-whisper, keeping a hand on the head of the stormy sheep. In the spirit of rebellion, he pulls his head away; but when she doesn't move back, he scoots closer and tips his head beneath her hand sheepishly. Leni-Aura gives him a bemused look and offers him another pat.

Nimbus, on her shoulder squeaks and follows the line of her arm, clamoring over the head of the sheep, and onto its back curiously. The woolful, surprised, bleats and turning its head to look at the drake; Nimbus squawks back at it in turn.

Beist looked to Leni-Aura with tears in his eyes, still hugging the Leon, the newly named big green woolful. Leon also looked at Leni with tears in his eyes.

"They just... wanted to be... tough! But their herd... didn't like it... Kicked them out!" Beist stammered through his tears, sobbingas he tried to tell the story. Honestly, the story wasn't even that sad. The bar owner stood behind the counter, watching the whole scene with a look that said "Really? That's making you cry this much?". But Beist just felt so bad for the adorable, fluffy creatures that were kicked out by their family just for wanting to imitate someone they thought was cool.

Whoever it was, the woolfuls didn't really remember that well. They'd seen someone fight and wreck furniture while they were grazing and wanted to try it themself. They imitated them, playfully kicking the other woolfuls and ramming them along with fences and trees, but the other woolfuls got tired of them quickly and chased them out. They came here sad, with just each other. They thought the best way to survive without their herd was to just try and continue acting tough.

"How mean! They were just playing! You don't have to act tough to survive, I'll take great care of you! And I'd never kick you out!" Beist sobbed, hugging the woolful tighter, his arms sinking into the thick wool. Leon let out a bleat from Beist's arms, also continuing to cry.

Leni-Aura stares at Beist and the green woolful as he explains that their herd kicked them out for being ‘too rough’; although initially she finds the explanation a little silly, her expression is quick to fall when she makes quiet connections. Although… She was chased out of her warren because she wasn’t tough enough.

Leni’s ears flick back, and she blinks. She looks at the little stormy sheep beside her; his ears start to droop a bit. She breathes a little sigh and reaches out hesitantly; she pulls away once, and then reaches out to finally rest a hand on his head. “You do not need them, anyways.” Her voice is soft enough that it might sound like she’s trying to keep her small encouragement under wraps. “So you want to be tough? You learn to be tough. Prove them wrong.”

The stormy sheep looks up at her with a small, curious bleat.

She blinks at him, ears perking towards Beist and the newly dubbed Leon while they sob together in the middle of the tavern. She doesn’t actually know what it’s saying. “If the others push you away, they are not your family to begin with.” The next words are like barbed wire, mumbled quietly enough so that the sheep can hear it. “Real family take you as you are, you just have to find them.”

Or, they’ll find you.

Ugh, emotions.

She offers the sheep a look akin to, ‘You didn’t hear it from me,’ as she ruffles the top of his wool and moves her hand away. He bleats, starry eyed for a moment at her completely opposite advice— advocating for his continued violence if he wants to continue, rather than encouraging him away like Beist was. Either way, not her problem.

She feels a soft bump against the side of her hand, and a rumbling bleat as the woolful looks up at her hopefully. “...What?”

Beist wiped his tears and looked over to Leni and the black-wooled sheep. He regained his composure for a moment. He listened to the woolful's rumbling bleat and gave a small smile, understanding it's words unlike Leni. He looked to her happily.

"Leni, he wants to go with you. He really likes you!"

Beist wiped a few more tears and detangled himself from Leon, the green woolful also regaining their composure and looking up at him for a moment before walking over to the black woolful. The two bleated to each other quietly, having some conversation. Beist walked over to Leni and stood next to her. He leaned down to bring his face closer to her ears.

"They're discussing their plans. Leon wishes to join me, but the other one wants to follow you. They're not quite happy to be splitting up, but they agree it's for the best and are wishing each other farewell." Beist whispered to Leni, translating and summarizing the conversation happening before her.

The two woolful gently rammed their curly horns together with a thud and walked over to face Beist and Leni. The black woolful let out a small bleat, looking at Leni hopefully.

"Oh! He wants you to give him a name."

Leni-Aura offers Beist a baffled expression, “...With me?” she repeats, brows furrowing as Beist wipes tears from his eyes. She looks towards the little black sheep as it begins to head towards Leon, moving away from beneath her hand. She crosses her arms, looking back up at Beist as he begins to translate the two.

“They are saying goodbye?” she remarks quietly, frowning slightly as the two bump heads and turn back to them. Her brows furrow slightly as she looks between the woolful; eventually, she settles on the stormy sheep. “A name…” she trails off. “You are sure you do not want to go with your friend?”

The woolful’s ears wiggle, and he bleats up at her.

“Beist would take very good care of you both,” she adds, ears lowering when the woolful bleats up at her again; he stomps his hoof stubbornly. Even though she cannot understand him, she can tell he’s remaining steadfast in his hope to come along with her. “Mm…” she sets her hands on her hips, looking at Nimbus on her shoulder as if seeking a second opinion.

“You will have to know how to take care of yourself sometimes,” she remarks, looking back at the woolful. It bleats at her, tail beginning to wiggle hopefully. “The wind takes us where she pleases.” Another bleat. “Sometimes we do not have the caravan to rely on for shelter.” The woolful stomps one hoof, then the other, and bleats again.

She sighs, scratching at the back of her neck as she considers this…

The woolful looks up at her hopefully, but she’s not very good at thinking up names on the spot, honestly… wool… Wool kind of sounds like Ul— her face darkens a shade, and she shakes her head, ears pinning back as she immediately throws that thought from her mind and bumbles out the first word she can think of, “Cirrus.”

Yep, that works.

The sheep’s ears perk; and he makes a soft and happy bleating sound at her. He stamps his hooves into the planks, giving a small and excited bounce as he baas at Leon, seemingly thrilled about his new name.

Beist smiled and gave an nodded. He liked the name that Leni had chosen for the woolful, It was a very fitting for her to give, considering Nimbus. Maybe she had a similar naming convention in mind should she befriend any more animals. It was cute, and Cirrus approved of it too.

"Cirrus is a lovely name." he looked at the big, fluffy woolful that wanted to be seen as tough and strong and corrected himself. "A very strong name for a strong boy-" Bahh! "Yes, a strong man!"

With both of the woolful now willing to leave the bar and stop causing trouble, Beist opened a pouch on his waist and pulled two small, metal charms from it. Both were designed to look like a swirling ram's horn with a small, white gem in the center. He may have personally customized their appearances when he found out what he'd hopefully be containing in them. He handed one to Leni sheepishly. 

"I may have prepared these two charms ahead of time when I heard about these two, uh, I think they're quite suiting, aren't they? They should make travelling together a bit easier!"

Beist crouched down in front of Leon and held one charm in his palm toward him.

"This charm is an entrance to a pocket space for you to live in. With this, I can always keep you near to me. Do you wish to join me?" Beist asked. Leon nodded with a short bleat, and Beist tapped the charm on one of his horns. A metallic chime rang out and the woolful disappeared. The gem in the center of the charm turned green.

Beist stoop up and slipped the charm's string over one of his horns, tightening it a bit when it was in a suitable spot to keep it in place. On his other horn, in the same position, another charm hung in the shape of a feather with a yellow gem in the center.

Beist looked at Leni and glanced at Cirrus, indicating it was her turn to do the same as he had just done.

Leni-Aura erases her own embarrassing thoughts from her mind with a shake of her head; her ears pin back as though she’s frustrated with something, although from the outside, it’s unclear what. The rabbitaur raises a clenched fist against her lips and clears her throat before she speaks, shifting her weight from her forelegs, to her back.

“It is very…” she trails off, watching the way Cirrus bleats up at Beist when he comments on his new name. “...Fitting.” she finishes, turning her head to look at Beist when she sees his movement. “Hm?” she hums, brows furrowing as she reaches out with one hand and takes the delicate charm from him. Between her fingers, she pinches the top of the charm and allows it to dangle; she traces the line of its designs with a blink.

“You made this?” she asks, only refocusing her hazel eyes on Beist as he approaches Leon with the charm extended in his hand. She shifts her weight between paws, quietly wrapping the charm between her folding fingers, and clutching it between her palm, as Beist explains that the charm provides the woolful with a pocket of space. She watches as Leon bleats, Beist taps the charm against the woolful’s horn and Leon disappears, leaving behind only the memories of a chime.

She opens her hand to give the charm another glance, and looks back to Beist as he returns her gaze. She follows his eyes towards Cirrus and takes a slow breath as she turns towards the woolful; ineloquently, she decides to skip all of the fluff, and simply offers Cirrus the charm on her open palm. “Will you come with me?” she asks, ears tilting back slightly.

Cirrus bleats at her, stepping forwards, and resting his chin against her outstretched palm; in a flash of blue, the woolful disappears, and the white gem turns a stormy grey. Leni-Aura blinks, pursing her lips as she looks to Beist, and sees the way he’s tied his to his horns; and so in an act of mimicry, Leni-Aura reaches up, removes the flower from her hair, and clips her charm to the back.

She brushes a hand through her hair as she clips the flower back behind her bangs, and looks up at Beist, ears perked contently.