Watched a silly TV animation late at night. Silly show led to silly idea, which led to silly omake...

'Ianthe' looked at 'Saurial', who looked back.

Both of them turned their heads to watch the group of people wandering in a loose circle shouting slogans, while waving signs. After a moment, they exchanged a glance again, before heading over to investigate what was going on.

"Strange place, this town," Amy said as they approached. "Is it me or are the people a little… dim?"

"Oh, I'm glad it's not just me," Taylor said in relief. "I didn't want to be rude, but for god's sake, some of these guys are as thick as a thick thing. And I can hardly understand a word they're saying, which for me is unusual."

"Colorado is odd at the best of times. Must be the altitude."

They stopped and watched from closer, trying to understand what the group of men, with only a couple of women, were shouting. Something about 'jerbs', whatever they were.

Amy, in the form of Ianthe, stepped forward after a moment and tapped on of the men on the shoulder. He looked around, having apparently not noticed them before, and flinched violently. "Jeebus!" he yelped.

"No, just me."

Taylor smirked a little, but said nothing.

"What's going on?"

"They took our jerbs!" the man, who had rallied when his grievance was brought up, yelled. He pointed at the large factory they were milling around outside. "Them bastards took our jerbs!"

Amy scratched her head. "Really?"

"Yep, yep, they took our jerbs. We wants our jerbs back!" He turned around again and raised his sign, his fellows all doing the same in a weird synchronized motion.

"They took our jerbs!" the crowd roared. "We wants our jerbs back!"

"I can do that," Amy said brightly. "Got any onions?"

The crowd, as one, turned to her. Taylor put a hand over her eyes. "The purple lizard says she can give us jerbs!" one of the milling multitude of militant muddlewits cried.

"JERBS!" they all roared.

Amy smiled.

Four hours later, there were a lot of puzzled people looking at the very strange animal she handed to one of them. More of the things were sitting in the back room of the bar they'd all, for some reason, ended up in. Taylor was watching from a nearby table, shaking her head and smiling a little at the commentary from the Varga in her head, who had been laughing more or less constantly for the entire time. When he wasn't muttering about how 'She truly is one of us...'"

The dog-sized creature, something like a cross between a lizard and a rodent, looked around alertly, then lifted its head and made a cry that sounded like 'Jeeerrrbbb,' before jumping down off the table and scuttling over to the man who'd started all this. Rubbing against his leg, it purred, the soft scales making a rasping sound. He uncertainly reached down and stroked the head of the thing, feeling the feathery fur that ran down the back.

"What is it?" he asked.

"A Jerb, of course. They'll guard your house, they lay eggs that are a perfect human food, they're very smart and interacting with them is a good way to keep yourself busy, and they'll lower your blood pressure and provide companionship."

"Um..."

He looked somewhat confused. More of the Jerbs came out, each one looking around then picking a person, before heading over to them and making friends. Shortly the entire bar full of people were each stroking a happy Jerb, all of them looking very relaxed. The odd purring sound the creatures made seemed to strike right into the heart of the human mind, causing sensations of comfort and happiness.

Everyone was still looking a little puzzled, though, like they couldn't work out what had happened.

Amy pulled a notebook from her armor, flipping through it to the relevant form, which she quickly filled in. Tearing off one page she handed it to the first man, the one who was now feeding his Jerb some snacks. He took it, looked at it, shrugged, and handed her five dollars. Taylor watched with a raised eye ridge.

When they were heading out of the weird little town, she looked at her friend. "What was that form at the end for?" she asked curiously.

"I had to charge something for all that work," Amy replied with a shrug. "Otherwise people wouldn't take it seriously."

"So, you wrote out..." Taylor started giggling.

"Yep." Amy looked smug. "I gave him the Jerb bill. Nice of him to pay up on the spot."

Snickering, both of them went on their way.