Private Finished Friendship Knows No Bounds

Junchi noticed the wary look of the doll, but swore he just imagined it until Kadasha spoke. He was worried that she was at a lost of words. Being the talkative type often left the shyer and quieter kids overwhelmed or annoyed by how long-winded Junchi could be, but he enjoyed taking the lead in conversations. And already, his thoughts were derailing from Kadasha's original question. That was the issue he had when he did not speak: his thoughts would just keep going.

"Why would they?" he responded. "They're friends. Daddy said they play-bite, but it doesn't hurt, so don't worry! They only play-fight if you want to. Some people here don't like play-fighting though, so I'll be careful. I promise." Junchi was confident that if griffons were violent, they would be a horrible choice for a pet. Never mind the fact that Air oricenta kids adopt them as well. Junchi could take anything a baby griffon gave, but they still had to be trained to behave well.

Excited giggling was the only response Junchi could give to Kadasha for a few seconds. "Yeah! I wanna show everyone. We can fly on them together! They're real big, and we're small. We'll fit." He looked at Kadasha eagerly, hoping she would accept his invitation. He was already putting together a list of people he would show his griffon to and allow to ride it.

Giggling some more, he could not stop himself from bouncing up and down. "Should I bring it to you? Do you wanna come over? My daddies will be happy if I bring someone over. We can play games together or go exploring in the forest. Pleeease? It'll be fun. Promise." A wide smile would be on his face if not for the mask cover it. He was smiling so much, his face began to hurt.

Seeing Kadasha smile only made Junchi happier. She was such a timid girl, and when it came to timid people, he found that their smiles were even more genuine. Usually. They were also more likely to give forced polite smiles, but Junchi was good at telling when someone was faking their emotions. It was also clear that she was surprised when Junchi mentioned his home. Was he going too far? He must have come off as pushy with that one.

"U-Uh, yeah! Why wouldn't they be? You don't have to go if you don't wanna. My daddies will be to have people I like over. They just gotta be good. You're nice though, so it'll be okay! Oh, you could even ride my hybrid from! I can't fly, but it'll be like riding a deer." He knew he must have sounded pushy again, but his excitement was getting to him. He wanted to show off to his new friend and make them feel more comfortable, and the only way he knew to do that was by listing all the ideas in his mind so they could pick their favorite.

Junchi tried not to let confusion show on his face, but the question Kadasha asked came off as too bizarre to him. "Yeah! Are... you not nice? You're nice to me. You're shy and quiet, but you're not mean to me or make fun of me." Ever since coming here, there were quite a few kids who called Junchi mean names, asked him questions he had no way of answer, then looked at him like he was stupid. His appearance did not help either, with kids saying his eyes were sharp and scary and his teeth were unnatural. Luckily, it was natural for oricenta to make their eyes look closed when relaxed or happy, which was Junchi's usual mood. His teeth, however, had to be covered with his a mask to keep kids from mocking him or keeping their distance from him in fear.

Those thoughts that soured Junchi's mind disappeared when Kadasha asked about his hybrid form. Excited to show off his rapidly improving shape-shifting skills, he stood tall, took a few deep breaths in and out, then went to work, but not before warning Kadasha, "I can't talk in my hybrid form. I'll change back later." Afterward, his body turned a glowing pink, almost looking cellular in structure as his body shifted forms. It took him about a minute and a half to finish, and by the time the glowing stopped his body had already taken on the more stable and fleshy appearance of a winged deer about three-two in height. His fur was entirely white, aside from the back being pink with orange dots littering him, just like his pathetically small wings. The fur inside of his ears was the same shade as pink, as were his hooves, horns, secondary feathers for his ear tufts, nose, and the markings on his face.

The small fawn with wings hopped around Kadasha excitedly. After calming down, Junchi lowered his body, trying to get Kadasha to climb onto his back. She did not look like an Earth elemental, so Junchi was confident he could carry her body. If only he could fly. That would have made him seem even more impressive. Being capable of speech in this form would have been nice too.

Junchi could tell he was being admired and reveled in it. He was surprised she did not pet him. He enjoyed people petting him, but because some of the shyer kids disliked being touched, he had to ask for permission first or wait for them to touch him first. With him being incapable of speech, the latter was his only option. Although, touching did not seem to be a problem with Kadasha. She looked just fine climbing onto Junchi's back and adjusting herself.

Just as he expected, she was easy to carry. In response to her question, he nodded, only pacing around at first to get her comfortable. When he was confident she was safe on top of him, he began speeding up. First, he made a small jump. Nothing that Kadasha could not do herself. Then he got higher. And high. And higher. So high that he forgot that she might have had a fear of heights he did not realize.

After jumping for about the fifth time, he stopped, looking back to make sure the girl he was carrying was okay. Aside from jumping high enough to reach a tree and running somewhere fast, there was not a lot he could do. Not like he could take Kadasha away anyway. This looked to be her home, and someone may think he was kidnapping her if he ran off too far. Junchi would have taken her home after some time, but not all parents here were as comfortable letting their children go off alone as back home.