Welcome to Gaia! ::

Much in the same way that Katurian had found Tupol on Lex's doorstep, a couple of days ago he had found a note inviting Tupol back to visit with the people who had left him there in the first place. Since Katurian hadn't known anyone had actually been responsible for that, this was quite a shock.

It's a doctor's appointment, Michal said, reading the note from her perch on Katurian's shoulder. Maybe he has...special needs or something.

That thought made Kat even more nervous. What if he hadn't been treating Tupol right? What if they took him away? He had become attached to the little horse... bird... thing.

Once they arrived and Tupol caught sight of the food, Kat was sure there were problems ahead.

"Hot dog?" the little boy said, gazing excitedly at the grill.

"First you need to... have your appointment inside," Kat said, his backbone bolstered by Michal's stern glare. "I don't think they're going to let you have food in there."

Tupol's bottom lip began to wibble and his eyes got shiny with tears. "Hot dog," he said dejectedly. He was moments away from a complete breakdown. Katurian didn't want to make a scene. He relented.

"All right. Hot dog. Here." The trio hurried over to the food table. Katurian picked out a hot dog and handed it down to Tupol. "Come on."

A few minutes later, Katurian, Michal and Tupol were sitting in the waiting area, the child happily munching on grilled mystery meat while Katurian looked nervously on.

Tupol smiled up at the woman, at least as much as a horse-face would allow. He nodded, then hopped off of the chair he had been sitting on.

"I wasn't sure if he could take that in with him, but he insisted..." Katurian said, jumping to his feet as well. "I can try to get it away from him now..." he offered, though the worried expression on his face indicated how he thought that would go. "But yes, we're here for the appointment. This is Tupol and I'm Katurian." For once Michal stayed silent over being slighted. It would take too long to explain why Kat could talk to a hyena, so she chose to just be a pet for the time being.

Kat nodded. "Yeah, that's fine." He sat down again, relieved that it appeared Tupol was going to be allowed to keep his slobbery processed meat snack. "I'll be out here," he said reassuringly, but the child didn't appear to be listening anymore.

"Go in?" Tupol asked, reaching up for Apoxi's hand and folding his wings as close to his back as they would go.

"Noms!" he said with a giggle, licking the last of the hot dog taste off of a pinky. Tupol nodded, his shaggy hair flopping over his eyes for a moment. He shook his head to move it back out of the way and smiled up at the woman. "Awl done!"