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It seemed that, at last, this gryphon had decided that now was the time. Kalarune's jar began to glow, the physical feather and hard giraffe horn melting into a thick haze which pressed on the side of the bottle. It's safe glass crickled in a hexagonal design as it began to split.

The whole seemed to pulse in and out momentarily, as if breathing, before it expanded explosively into tiny shards. The gryphon which formed from the ether was exceptionally lanky and unfurled as it stood. Long legs, then a short body followed by a sinuous neck. She stood around hesitantly for a moment before noisily making her presence known.



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"CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!"

Progolo jumped in his chair, accidentally letting a cuss word slip. Kinsei tumbled out of his lap where he'd been playing with Progolo's sleeve, and all the others either perked up curiously or shuddered at the sound.

"What was that?" Progolo demanded. He hated having his stream of thoughts interrupted, especially when he was writing English.

Below, tappping noises could be heard, followed by a loud rustle and a short squawk.

Progolo glanced around his room quickly. Every creature was up here...

He slid out of his chair and was going as speedily down the ladder as safety would permit before his companions quite understood what was happening. Yaraif buzzed after him. "Bottle Break? Bottle Break!? More birdy kitties?" she demanded, wild with excitement.

"Sh...sh!" Progolo ordered. "Stay up here."

Yaraif pouted.

Progolo looked over the larger room from his perch on the ladder. The Jar had been on the dining table...the glowing had bothered him so much at night that he'd put it down here...Well, the shards of the jar were on the table, but where...

"Oh, you poor thing!" Progolo lept down off the ladder and ran to where a small heap of vividly pink feathers lay crumpled on the floor. As he drew closer, an appendage unraveled itself from the mass of dazzling pink and cried out.

Progolo gasped quietly at the sight of its eyes. Two beautiful grayish orbs, scrutinizing him from behind a long, bent beak. He approached carefully.

Kalarune fluffed her wings, her long neck swaying like a snake's as she seemed to scramble desperately throughout her own mind, wondering whether to attack the oncoming man or cower in fear...or invite him over. But he was so biiiiiiiigggg...surely he could want nothing more than to hurt her?

Progolo crouched, hoping to make himself look less intimidating to the little creature. She folded her neck against her body and waited for him to make the first move...

"I'm not going to hurt you...did you fall off the table? Poor thing," the man said softly, hoping his voice was soothing. He held out his hand, an inch from Kalarune's beak. Kalarune stared at it.

There was a moment of tense silence.

Finally, Kalarune lifted her head and rubbed her beak lightly against Progolo's finger.

Once Kalarune noticed the pan of water, she toddled over to it, her squawks dying. She lowered her serpentine neck into the pan and examined the clear liquid, before suddenly plunging her whole head into the water. Progolo watched, his lips pursed and his eyebrows raised.

"Is that what you wanted?"

He was answered by the sounds of frantic sloshing and slurping.

Yaraif alighted on Progolo's shoulder, frowning. "Wierd. Lookie...head be 'upaside'-down..."

"Mm. That's the wany flamingos drink," the man nodded. The trace of a smile was tugging at his lips. Kalarune was certainly a peculiar creature. Her legs were so long she had to splay them out to reach the pan.

"Flamgos? That be flamgo?" asked Yaraif. "Not kitty-birdy like K'ei?"

Progolo briefly wondered who "k'ei" was, before remembering Yaraif tended to drop syllables from every word she could. "Kala's kind of like Kinsei, but she's more of...a Giraffe-Flamingo."

"Jerflamgo? Wierd. Kala be Jeflamgo's name?"

Proglo marveled that Yaraif had managed to drop two syllables from 'Giraffe-Flamingo,' but didn't point it out. "Yes, Yaraif. Her name is actually Kalarune, but you can call her Kala."

"That ugly name! Yauf not like!" Yaraif pouted.

"It means 'graceful beauty' in my original language," retorted Progolo.

Yaraif didn't answer. She was still trying to get her head around the large English words Progolo had used.

"Besides, what would you name her? Pinky?"

The Kun-kun's face lit up. "Yes! That pretty name! Yauf call Jerflamgo 'Pee'!"

Progolo flinched. "Pinky. Pronounce the WHOLE word. You can't name someone 'pee'..."

"Yauf will call her PEE!" Yaraif yelled, her bluish face turning purple in her fury.

"Yaraif, do you have any idea what pee is?"

-Report-

Myrrh's saintly patience was wearing thin. She was tired of getting picked up by that big red bully, Taal, and she didn't like having her feet touched by Progolo. She didn't know what all the fuss was about. All she knew was that they were bugging her. When she tried to scoot away from them by digging her claws into the rug and dragging herself across the floor, Taal and Progolo just acted happy.

So, when something brushed against her toes during her afternoon nap, she cracked. She raised her head and snapped her silver beak at the perpetrator.

Kala jumped and tripped backwards over her long legs. Cool! The blue fluffy thing moved!

"Hey now," Progolo's voice said warningly. He rose from his place on the bed and hurried over to Myrrh and Kala. "What's the matter, Myrrh? I've never seen you bite before..."

Myrrh was more than a little startled herself. She'd never seen that pink and brown thing...It was long and skinny everywhere, but it wasn't bigger than she was. She cheeped in question as Progolo scooped her up into his arm and the the pink creature in the other.

"What's wrong, hm? Here. You two might as well get to know each other , now that you've already been...um, accquainted."

Neither Myrrh or Kala answered, of course, too busy staring intently at each other. Whereas Myrrh was fluffy and rather thick-set, (mostly composed of baby-fat and fur) Kala was small and fragile.

"Coo?" Myrrh finally voiced, nudging Kala's frail body with her beak. The Aerandir started, but boldly nudged Myrrh back.

A smile tugged at Progolo's lips. A shoving match. Very unlike Myrrh in all of her cuddliness.

Kalarune butted Myrrh full-force, surprising her. It hadn't exactly hurt, but...She blinked a few times, then started to purr, as if explaining to Kalarune that she didn't want to fight anymore, and to please leave her alone.

Kalarune did not. She began shoving a little more forcefully. Progolo's brow wrinkled in interest. What in the world was she doing...?

Finally, with a squawk, Myrrh actually stood up. She arched her back like an angry cat, then scuttled behind Progolo, and flopped back on her belly again.

Kala looked up at Progolo, who was speechless. A little glint of mischief came into her yellow eyes.

"Rawrk..." she gurgled, twisting her lanky neck around Progolo to look at Myrrh. Myrrh hissed. Then, suddenly, she jumped up, and bolted across the room, as if she'd been able to run her whole life.

"Myrrh!" Progolo gasped, standing and striding to where she sat huddled in the corner. "Good girl! You can run! You can run better than you can walk! That's...that's amazing!" he gushed, giving the disrtaught Nyokii a good back-rub.

Myrrh was bewildered by all the praise she was getting...not to mention what had just happened. She'd never moved so fast in her life. Actually...that had been kind of...fun! She purred and twisted around Progolo's legs, without wobbling or staggering at all.

Kala preened her wing.

Progolo started from his doze, having heard a crash and an stream of angry oaths. He realized it was coming from upstairs, and hurried to the ladder.

"Yaraif?" he called in kunkunese, bewildered. "What's the matter, Yaraif?"

To his surprise, something blue and slimy bolted into his arms, attempting to scramble over his shoulder in a frenzy. He managed to catch ahold of it before it could escape, and found that it was Kinsei, coated in a layer of thick fluid.

"Kin?! What the...?" Progolo pulled the Aerandir away from his body to look at him more closely. His dark eyes were panic-stricken.

"BAD KIN!" Yaraif bellowed as she came into view, fluttering in the ladder well. Her face was screwed up with fury, but her eyes were glistening with tears. "Stupid, bad kitty!"

Kin tried to flee from her, writhing in Progolo's grip. The man hardly managed to keep his grip on him. "Yaraif, what happened? What is this?" he demanded.

"All of Yauf's blue paaaaaaaaaaint!" Yaraif wailed. "Stupid kitty break paint bottle! Now Yauf has no bluuuuuuue...!"

"Hush...I'll get you some more paint, alright? Just calm down...I'm sure he didn't mean it."

Yaraif sobbed and hiccupped, unable to reply.

"Look. Look at him. See?" Progolo chided, turning the kitten so Yaraif could see his face. "Doesn't he look sorry? Poor thing...he's going to have to have a bath..."

Yaraif was not pleased with Progolo's sympathy for Kinsei, but didn't interject. Besides, she couldn't think of a worse punishment than a bath. She wiped the tears from her eyes. "You gonna give Kin baff?" She whipered, hiding her glee.

Progolo didn't miss the brief look of vengence that crossed Yaraif's face. His eyebrows contorted. "Yes. Now make sure you move your other paint bottles, where Kinsei won't be able to knock them over." Tucking the unhappy Kinsei under his arm, he moved towards the bathroom. The little Aerandir, distraught at the oily substance plastering his beautiful fur and feathers, hastily tried to preen them. The paint smeared all over his face.

As he stooped beside the tub to draw the water, Kala came galloping into the bathroom. She'd never gotten to see this room before! She sidled up beside Progolo excitedly, craning her neck to see over the lip of the tub.

"Where've you been, Kala?" Progolo smiled at her. Chasing poor Myrrh around, I supose?"

Kala didn't answer. Too short to see what was making the strange crashing noise, she circled around Progolo to his other side. There, pinned beneath his arm, was Kinsei. She cocked her head. The Aerandir looked...different, somehow. She nudged Progolo's leg questioningly.

"Kin's getting a bath," he explained. He turned the tap when the water had become a few inches deep, and immediately wondered why he hadn't just used the sink. "See the blue stuff, Kala? That's called paint. We have to wash it off before he poisons himself," Progolo continued matter-of-factly. Kala's ears swivelled, his words going over her head.