Speaking: Olive Thinking: darkgreen
To say that Jaz was a bit grumpy was an understatement, to say the least. It was raining, he'd been out of the road a few days with no sign of shelter, and to top it all off he was starving. Food! Not tree bark or flowers or insects. They were edible, yes, but not tasty. And although Stein chomped up dandelions and beetles with great relish, right often in front of Jaz's eyes, Jaz wasn't so eager to find out what caterpillars or beetles or other such insect delicacies tasted like.
And to top it all off, Stein had wriggled out of Jaz's jacket and was now running off to who knows where. "Stein!" Jaz yelled, running after his pet the best he could. It was still raining, and the drizzle had started to grow harder, although there was still some time before it grew to fullon rain. Bounding forward, the short animal didn't pay attention to Jaz's calls, although he moved slow enough that Jaz never lost sight of him, despite always being a couple of steps ahead.
"STEIN!" Jaz yelled again, forcing his legs to pump even faster. As if in response, Stein twitched his ears and ran faster, until finally it came to a sudden stop at the edge of a hill and chirped cheerfully at Jaz.
"What're you doing, running forward like that?" Jaz called, increasing his pace to catch up with his pet. Phew, turned out he just wanted to show him... an exit? Excitement took a hold of him, and Jaz jogged towards Stein. "Wait, did you really - AAGGHH!"
Tripping on a tree root as he neared the edge, Jaz took a tumble forward right off it, Eyes wide, Jaz let out a yelp as Stein gave an alarmed shrill and darted forward, grabbing onto Jaz's arm with its teeth as he yanked upwards in an attempt to keep the boy from tumbling down a steep slope.
The action proved futile.
What happened next could have been considered comedy. Boy and animal tumbled together down a hill before flying up an incline like a surfing board before landing down onto another steep incline with a grunt, rolling down again until it fell off - directly into a small covering, still in the forest.
Jaz had just enough time to notice that there was a boy with dark hair in the way before squeezing his eyes shut and curling himself into a tighter ball around Stein, hoping against hope that it wasn't going to hurt as much as he thought it would.