Starving Beasts, ravenous tiger-like creatures, and Ice Beasts, wolf-like creatures that spew ice where they touch, have infiltrated all three major powers of Fódlan. However, though some citizens complain that they are a plague upon these lands, others jump to their defense, saying they do little more than “eat leftovers and are very polite houseguests otherwise.” ...
"It seems," Andrei says to Al, looking upon the scene before them, "That I may have made an error in judgement."
Said scene featuring not one, not two, but three beasts, all of different species but all sitting on their haunches like domesticated animals, tails wagging in unison with hopeful eyes cast down from their impressive heights. A layer of ice coats the ground underneath one of them.
Andrei sighs. When he'd found the one crest beast they'd brought back from patrols (lovingly dubbed Fluffy, apparently, by those who'd stayed in the infirmary with him) sniffing around the rubble of Garreg Mach in the aftermath of the battle, he'd thought giving him back to Al would be the last of his dealings with the beast. The makeshift muzzle those in the infirmary had managed to wrangle onto him had fallen off somewhere during the final battle, but given that Fluffy was back to his docile self and obligingly sat at Andrei's command, the archer had thought it would be fine to leave him there while he went off in search of the boy.
He'd forgotten that wolves could howl over amazing distances to communicate, and that Fluffy having a positive perception of humans might not be the best thing to broadcast to the larger beast population.
"We cannot keep all of them," he emphasizes, half-worried that that might be the first thought running through the young Knight's head, "The monastery will never allow it, and besides— what is in your mouth?"
He directs the last comment towards the striped beast, looking reminiscent of that blacksmith's 'tiger' that he had killed not a week prior, if slightly smaller in size. It makes a deep, rumbling mrrrf sound at the attention and opens its maw, releasing a chewed-up and battered steel-toed boot.
Frowning, Andrei inspects the boot. No blood, no signs that this had been forcibly torn from some unlucky victim's limb... It seems more likely that the beast had stolen it from someone's household. Just like a normal dog. Andrei shoots Al a bemused look.
"...You don't suppose these are also someone's pets, do you?"
