Private Finished Friendship Knows No Bounds

[This takes place a few weeks after the start of the Interdimensional Creatures event.]

Junchi was careful to avoid any of the monsters out. After his last encounter with them with Ursa, every time he went out Henghai came with him, and when Henghai was at work, Anrong took his place. It was only recently that Junchi was allowed to venture out alone now that more people were fighting against the monsters and less of the creatures were coming in than the weeks before. Still, Junchi was explicitly ordered to stick to more calm areas, and if people were hurt, not to rush to save them but to instead find help in a safe place if he could. His safety was more important than strangers, and his healing was not potent enough to give people the support they needed.

Even with all of this chaos going on, Junchi was still a child and an animal. He needed to go outside to hunt, but most importantly, play. That was why his dads were more lenient with where he went, as long as he told them beforehand and kept to safe areas with many witnesses. Today he was going out to the city, staying near shops in case he needed to hide. Unsure of what he was looking to do, he skipped down the sidewalk, bumping into strangers accidentally along the way. That was mostly his fault. It was not very busy, but unlike a few weeks ago, citizens were feeling safe enough to come out more.

Not finding anything interesting to do started to aggravate Junchi. He wanted something exciting. Something that got his adrenaline rushing. Nevertheless, he still had his cheery demeanor on. Continuing the skip down the streets, Junchi almost thought about going home, thinking there was nothing to do here. That was until he noticed a building with kids running around. There were not many outside, and they kept close to the building, but that was to be expected with everything going on. Excited to see kids his age, Junchi approached the small group of kids, only hesitating when he noticed a young girl sitting alone in the distance with a doll. She had long green hair trailing down her back, reminding him of healthy grass. Junchi approached her instead, wondering why she was by herself. With an eager skip of his four legs, the boy smiled down at her, though it was not very noticeable with the mask covering his face. "Hiya! I'm Junchi Mei. Why are you alone?" Afterward, he sat down next to her, his eyes doing most of the smiling for him. "I like your doll," he continued.

@Nameless

Was she crying? Why was she crying? "Are you okay?" He furrowed his eyebrows, concern spreading throughout his face. Being timid was one thing, but wiping her face of tears and pretending like she was not weeping earlier was another. What hurt Junchi more was that she looked at him with fear. He could understand surprise, but it was like she was judging him. His legs, his mask, his everything. Not that this would have been the first time kids looked at him like he was the strange one or pointed out his mask, or even worse, his teeth. Unlike his closest friends, he was getting better at ignoring people's comments on his appearance. They made him a bit insecure, but as long as his mask was safely on his face, it was all fine.

A better question to ask was, "Did . . . Did your doll move? That's so cool!" Kadasha's doll looked at him, then looked back at its owner. It must have been the reason why she was acting more comfortable around him now. The hurt and worry on Junchi's face earlier were replaced with excitement and wonder. She must have been like his daddy, but with dolls instead. What a lucky ability to have. All Junchi could do was manipulate flower petals and turn his body into them.

He kept watching the doll, trying to see what else it would do. Can it speak? Can it do tricks? How smart is it? were all questions he thought about, but with how gentle the girl looked, he tried to hold back. Timid people were hard on this island. People who were not Earth oricenta were hard to deal with in general. He could not act like usual, like pushing kids over or hitting their arm without being called a bully, rough, or mean. Some kids could handle it here, but most of the time he had to talk to his teacher or his dads about his behavior.

"Oh! Like a dog! Can it do tricks?" Junchi bent over a bit to look at the doll, amazed by how it was moving. How did she do that? It could have been a gift given to her by someone else. It would not be the first time Junchi heard of magically-enhanced objects given life. The possibility of her making it herself seemed just as likely, however. "Did you make it?"

One of the most fun things to do on this island was watching other kids use their powers. Not everyone here was born limited to the elements, and for some, they could wield multiple. Some kids had terrifying powers, like being able to control spirits or destroy things instantly. Junchi would be lying if he said he was not jealous, but lying was something he was good at.

Ignoring Kadasha's stares, Junchi focused on the doll moving around, it looking at him as well. They both must not have been used to something like him. New to the island, perhaps. He understood oricenta were an uncommon species, but taurs and humans with animal features were surely more common around here. Never mind all of that though. The thing Junchi actually wanted to think about was Kadasha's cool doll. Slowly, he went to pet it, hoping it would not fight back, but what could a doll do against him?

In a way, that was the answer Junchi expected. He did not think Kadasha made the actual doll from scratch. What he thought was that she was the reason it was alive. He was too distracted to think more about her answer, however. Whether she brought it to life or someone else did, Junchi did not care. He did not even want his own if he was being truthful. Maybe one as a gift for Arjean, but they were not allowed to have pets, and he agreed with that decision.

"I'm gonna get my own pet soon," he announced excitedly, all the while enjoying the soft texture of Kadasha's doll. He expected it to feel like a real creature, but now that he thought about it, that was silly. Even if it moved and acted like a smart animal, it still had the body of a doll. "It's gonna be an owlgriff, but I have to behave to get one. It's gonna be my first. I hope mine's smart like yours."

Now that Junchi thought about it, Kadasha's pet was smart. It nodded in response to what she said like it could understand her completely. Other animals could do that as well, but whatever gave her doll life must have been impressively skilled at magic. A sharp stab of jealousy went through Junchi, but he tried to ignore it, with the only sign of his jealously being him furrowing his eyebrows for a second. Kadasha was lucky to get a gift like that.

That was just the question Junchi wanted to be asked. His excitement to receive an owlgirff made him struggle to sit in place. All he wanted to do was bounce around and play until he got his pet. Then he would bounce around and play with his pet. "They're, like, cat owls. Cats with the head and wings of owls or owls with the body of cats. Daddy wants me to have a baby one, so I can ride them and fly. My wings are small," he flapped them, "but owlgriffs are really big and strong!" He stopped petting the doll to throw his arms out wide. "Soft too."

The only issue Junchi encountered was playing roughly at school. There was still a stigma about him bullying kids when he was just trying to play with them. He needed to get rid of that as soon as possible if he was going to get the owlgriff. The best solution was to make as many friends as possible, that way his dads knew for sure he was behaving well, but he also got a lot of friends and his pet as a reward.