"Ok, I'm Laminol. My project was to try and make a better breed of endurance horses. My main goal was to try and make a new breed that had the strength like a Clydesdale but was slender like a thoroughbred. Perfect for riding and could plow an entire field without breaking a sweat. I'd offer to try it out for myself but I still need to keep my pride."

No kidding. From his waist down he looked like a satyr but instead of goat legs it was a horse. Hooves, tail the whole nine yards! The fur color matched his hair, a palomino blonde. He'd tied a piece of cloth around his waist to hide what needed to be hidden since regular jeans weren't meant to hold horse legs. Once his self-introduction was over he turned it over to the young lady.

"I guess it's my turn. I'm Ancarana but if you don't want a hand shaped tattoo on your face don't call me anything else but Annie. My goal was to make macaws and other birds that have been known to 'speak' actually learn, understand and respond intelligently to the human language."

Much like Chanticleer she had clawed fingers and feet. A few large red feathers made their way from outside her shirt but most were found in her hair. Mainly behind her ears but it was cool how she'd managed to fit a few long ones into her golden braid. Next up…

"Hey, my name's Clengar but I'm ok with Clen. I was trying to create some kind hypoallergenic cat…"

"What was that word!" Lucus yelped.

"Hypoallergenic? It means that the fur doesn't contain whatever makes people allergic to it. So you can keep precious kitty kitty without having your eyes swell up and water every time he walks in the room."

I'm sure it's obvious to everybody that Al knew he and Clen were going to end up good friends. The guy had a tail; whiskers and his feet had that padded stuff on the soles. If that wasn't enough (even though you couldn't see it at the time) the skin across his shoulders had become loose and covered with a thin layer of orange fur to match his fiery red hair. Oh yeah, scruff. That's the word.

Finally it came to dark haired teen that hadn't spoken a word since they left the manor basement. Knowing it was his turn he exhaled deeply pushed his long bangs out of his face and looked up. Chanticleer's shoulder devil had to kick itself in the teeth for jumping to conclusions about him and Clen holding hands.

Staring at no one in particular empty eyes with snowy white pupils shined in the light of a lamp next to him.

He was blind.

"My name's Goxlin. I tired to make a similar form of a bats echolocation to make it easier for blind people like me to get around without the assistance of others. I now have that ability but I'm currently not sure how to use it."

Man of few yet honest words obviously. Slowly he drummed long, skinny-clawed fingers on the arm of the couch and large bat ears twitched whenever an annoying fly buzzed by them. Clen obviously held his hand on the trip over as a guide.

Even though what happened to him wasn't something to laugh about it was impossible not to giggle when Dixie noticed the ears and started to paw at them just to see them twitch.

"Kun." The tone sounded like, HOLD STILL! Goxlin managed to crack a small smile. The simplicity of the innocence seemed to lighten his mood.

Flick…flick…swat.

"Dixie that's enough."

"(whine) Kun!"

"Well then." Chanticleer said, hands on hips. "Now I'm feeling more at home by the second."

"Does that mean the family's gotten bigger?" Brody asked.

"I guess that's entirely possible." Mark said. He turned to the newcomers. "What do you think?"

Everyone except Goxlin who was trying to keep Dixie away from his ears and Dixie who was trying to get to his ears looked at Mark.

"You'd let us stay with you?" Laminol asked. "You don't care at all about what happened to us and what people might think of you if you're housing a group of freaks?"

"Are you kidding?" Lucus said. "I've lived with hurricane hair most of my life and I never cared about what happened to him. None of us have ever cared what other people think of us, what they think is their problem not ours and It's just the four of us that live here at yoyo manor so…"

"Yoyo manor?" Chanticleer repeated. "How fitting."

"Did you think I was serious?"

"I don't know but I like it."

"Don't you dare start calling it that!"

"Actually I think it's very appropriate." Luke inquired.

"Oh come on, not you too."

Well, Al thought. Might as well let people know what you're like to begin with.

"Al,"

"Yeah?"

"Best two out of three."

"What?"

"Rock, paper, scissors."

"For what?"

"To determine who delivers the news to Mustang."

"Can't do it."

"Why not?"

"You're the State Alchemist not me."

"Dang it I was hoping to slip out of this one."

"Nice try."

"Deliver what to who?" Annie cocked her head. "The only person that resembles a mustang is Lame."

"Colonel Roy Mustang." Edward said. "AKA the Flame Alchemist and I'll have to admit lame is sometimes the best word that comes to mind when I think of him."

"Well that's nice to know but I was talking about Lame being a horse."

"Lame?"

"Laminol. We call him Lame for short."

"So everyone has a shorter version of their name or a nickname?" Al said simply. He turned to Goxlin. "So what about you?"

No response.

"Um, what about you?" he repeated.

Clen nudged Goxlin on the knee. "Al's talkin' to ya."

"Sorry. I can't tell when people are talking to me if they don't use my name. But I don't really have a nickname unless you insist on saying 'Gox' then I don't care."

"Ya know," Brody said quietly. He motioned for his brother to come in closer. "With all the talk of shorter things I couldn't help but think of something kinda mean."

"Lay it on me."

Brody expressed his cruel thought in a whisper and you would have thought Chanticleer would die laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Mark asked puzzled.

"He can't tell you right now and I'm not saying a word."

Chibi me –Slurp, slurrrrp!

Me- Sluurp, sluuuurrrrp!

Chibi me – Sluuuurrrr-cough! Cough! BRAINFREEZE!

Me- I told you I'd win. Excuse us we're 'bonding' over a milkshake. When it comes to chocolate that's about the one rock-solid thing we can agree on.

Mark – Mind if I cut in and ask what Brody said that made Chanty laugh like that?

Me – Ohhh! It was awful! He said (giggle) in connection to the 'shortness' of names and the whole issue with the chimeras, he said (giggle)

Mark – Come on.

Me – (giggle) He wondered if Edward was somehow fused with a fairy penguin!

Chibi me – Oww. While she's laughing I'll do my best to give you the preview. Chanty tells Mustang, (ow) about the present situation and it turns out Caradon is a big time low-life. (Ouch!) And a fairy penguin for those who don't know doesn't get much taller than 12 inches. And…OH WOW! This is quite the twist you've got here! (Ouch, ouch, ouch)

Me – SHUT UP! Don't let anything slip that isn't supposed to be revealed until later! You don't, well; I don't want you to mess up a good story.