Tail Four

Claws and Teeth

Shortly after the JSDF arrived, no more than a week into their half year stay, the Manor got a special visitor.

Gros, in his usual way, grumbled at the guest. Even though he was quite free to talk to people, or not, as he pleased, his rumbled greetings had become not just habit, but useful to those inside the manor. The person stepping onto the property however, wasn't just a guest, but a Friend, and her arrival was given the 'I approve of this person' grumble (that only three people in all of Orario were given).

And to those who are curious about that? Shakti, Eina, and newest to the list, Giselle, who was the one visiting today.

But, being the Hearthstone Manor, where being polite to the Guests was important, Giselle had hardly made it half way towards Gros's enclosure before one half of the big double door of the Manor opened a crack, just wide enough to permit a little fox eared head. Sharp eyes spotted the dark blue skin of the dragon-newt, and quickly vanished back inside the Manor.

Only for a moment though, as seven fox eared children dashed out to meet the Guest, cheering happy cheers of 'Aunt Giselle!'

It wasn't long after that Kodori and Haruhime came out to find the city's only half dragon trying to hug, wrestle, and out tickle seven Kitsune children half way up the walk. She was vastly outnumbered, but was making a good showing for herself. This was of course why she was so popular.

"Need help?" Kodori asked, amused at the pile of struggling fur and scales that was giggling and cackling.

"No O-ma!" One of the children replied, "Rawr!"

"Eep! Who's got my tail?" Giselle fretted, "Ah! That tickles! I give! I give!"

And just like that, the children stopped, got off of Giselle, and helped her to sit up once she'd taken a moment to catch her breath. She didn't stand immediately, but instead gave them all a huge hug first.

"That was fun." She said, standing up, "But I am actually here with a message today!"

The two other adults looked at her with mirrored five degree head tilts, "Oh? What brings you here today then, Giselle-san?" Haruhime asked, giving headpats to the children as they gathered around Kodori and her.

"They hatched." Giselle replied.

"They?" Kodori asked, "The Phoenix? Wyvern? Dragons?"

"All of them actually." She said with a smile, "Not all at once mind you, but I can explain."


Of course, visiting the I AM GANESHA zoo became an 'anyone who wanted to visit' affair. So now, Takemikazuchi, Aisha and Lilly were tagging along.

"So why the delay?" Kodori asked, her tails holding Lilly against her back, just so she didn't get lost among the other children (who were as tall as she was now).

"Well, the birds, as far as anyone can tell, hatched a while ago. But they'd become so territorial that the other keepers only knew when they saw the chicks walking around outside the nests." Giselle explained, "They are adorable! And now that they're wandering about, the adults have calmed down a bit, thankfully..."

"Lilly is glad they were put in the zoo..."

"Might have to lower the output on the element zone cards..." Kodori mumbled to herself.

"And the dragons, Giselle-san?" Haruhime asked.

"They've been hatching over the past few days. Even with a Den Mother, the oldest will bully the youngest. So we've been keeping a super close eye on them, separating them as they hatch, letting them get their feet under them first, then putting them back in with the Mother."

"Does that stop them from fighting?" Takemikazuchi asked, his hands at his sides, holding Tatsuo and Tatsuko's hands.

"Well, there will still be fighting, but they won't be hungry while they do it." Giselle said.

"Right... Cannibals." Kodori said.

"O-ma? What's 'cannabals'?" One of the children asked.

Kodori looked to Haruhime, who looked down to the one who asked, "It is where an animal eats another of its own kind."

"Like when Aisha-san bites your ear?"

"Like this?"

"Ahh my ear!"

"Rawr!"

The group paused as five of the seven children started to run around the adult's legs. But, Aisha stopped it all and with a growl of "Rawr ears!" she picked up Kei and Nom nom nom'ed at their ears. "No, that doesn't count. It's when an animal consumes one of its own kind. Playing doesn't count."

Kei fended off Aisha's nom's by giving her a hug, then wiggling around a little to be put back down. "But we're not animals." Kei said.

"Yes we are." Kodori said, "The only one who isn't an animal here, is Takemikazuchi-sama."

"But we're Kitsune!" This was followed by a bunch of 'yeah!' and 'that's us!'.

"That is a bird." Haruhime said, pointing at a bird that was idling on a windowsill. "That is a cat." She pointed at a cat who was taking great interest in the snoozing bird. "She is an Amazon." She pointed to Aisha, "We are Kitsune."

"But we are all animals." Kodori said. "We just happen to be able to do things most animals can't."

"Like laugh?"

"Play?"

"Make cookies?"

"Eat cookies!"

"I was thinking more like 'make tools', but making cookies sounds good." Kodori laughed, "When we get back."

"Yay!"


Feeding time at the zoo was much like one imagined. And even though they were very young, the dragon whelps were still larger than the children. They looked kind of silly, with heads almost as large as the rest of them, their stubby tails only grown just enough to give them rudimentary balance. If it wasn't for their smaller yet not insubstantial front legs, the mastiff sized reptiles would have rolled more than walked.

The wyvern chicks (yes, the land based ones were 'whelps' and the air based ones were 'chicks'), didn't seem to have the same problem as their terrestrial cousins, their natural posture more low to the ground. At the moment, they looked more like iguana with beaks, and the only sign they would be anything but that, were the start of wing membranes growing down the length of their forward limbs.

Both dragon types, under the watchful gaze of the Ganesha handlers, and the Old Mother, were... well they weren't unfriendly it was just that friendly currently involved more 'are you food' nibbles than curious sniffs or nudges with their bony foreheads. Still, once they'd all made an absolute bloody mess of the feeding troughs, and the mostly raw strips of meat that were put into them, it was nap time.


"Gently gently." Giselle said as she stood over the 'dragon twins' Tatsuo and Tatsuko. "If you are too rough, they'll wake up all the way. Yeah, just brush your hands over their heads, not near those holes there, though, those are their ears."

"Fuzzy ears are better." Tatsuko commented.

"O-ma and A-ma taught us how to be gentle." Tatsuo added.

"But Chime made sure we remembered." Tatsuko giggled, "Will they all get as big as her?"

Of course, the Old Mother was nearby, but napping just the the rest of them (like any parent would when the noisy children finally went for a nap).

"They should." Giselle said, "And we'll do our best to see that they do."


The birds were... Less easy to get along with. The proud parents weren't just watchful, but attempted to kick, peck and throw magic at the zoo keepers. But simple (at least for Orario) safety equipment and a watchful gaze was all that was needed to foil their initial attempts to enter. For the black feathered lightning birds, iron rods had been placed along the walk towards the feeding troughs, and leather suits that had wires trailing to the ground that didn't touch the skin were worn for anything that got past that.

Those who tended the frost feathered ice birds only needed to wear cold weather gear. Natural adventurer toughness, and the birds seeming inability to throw around 'meaningful' shards of ice meant they were just full of very cold air.

The Swol-birds, the horse size, muscle bound Phoenix hybrids just needed someone with long arms and a reasonable amount of experience as an adventurer. They were strong and hardy, but still no match for a level one adventurer with a bit of dungeon time. Of the three breeds, they were also the most friendly. Once they figured out they couldn't push you over and kick you, they settled down for a while. It probably helped that all you needed to do to keep them from kicking or pushing you over, was put a hand on their chest, kinda like the tall kid keeping the short kid from punching them by putting a hand on their forehead.

The children still got to pet them though. After the birds had eaten, figured out/were reminded that the people was where the food came from, they were much more social.

The chicks of all three birds however, were just like the originals had been. Super alert, curious, and always looking for snacks in your pockets, ears, hair or anywhere else they thought you might have them.


"We'll have to get Delly back here." Kodori said, keeping a watchful eye on the children as they mingled with the Swol-birds. "Careful Chie."

"It's okay O-ma." The little Haruhime look-alike said quietly, her hands someplace under the downy feathers of one of the adults. The big bid towered over her, but its eyes were half closed and its neck was slowly lowering as it relaxed.

Toshi, took the opportunity to give the bird's feathery head a pat, very gently of course. "A-ma? Do these have magic like the others?"

"They do." Haruhime replied, also keeping careful watch, just in case. "But we think it is like Ko-san's magic. It just makes them stronger and tougher, like an adventurer."

There was seven little, "Ohhhhhh."'s from the children.

"Still not as scary as a wire-hawk." Aisha said, squinting at the other adult bird, the two of them having a staring contest, "Still, if this were that Falmart place, they'd fit right in, if you could convince one to let you ride it."

"Lilly thinks they'd need to be bigger. But Palum could ride them." She was getting all the curious pokes from the chicks, "You already ate all of Lilly's snacks." She pouted, though she was giving out headpats, "They're less scary than dogs. Eat less than horses."

"And smell someplace in between." Giselle said, getting a sudden peck in the shin by a chick, "Don't try and deny it." She pointed at the culprit, who tried to look innocent.

"Ko-san?"

Kodori only half turned from her vigil over the children, "Just noticing something. The chicks seem more... no... less like the ostrich we mixed the phoenix with. Look at the feet."

The parents had wide 'three front one back' toes, and the 'claws' were more like 'sharp toenails'. There was no doubt they were more 'raptor' than an actual ostrich. But all of the chicks had the beginnings of real claws. Still in the same 'three front one back' formation, but the toenails were actual hooks.

"And there." Kodori pointed.

One of the chicks was scratching behind its head with its foot, the toes bending much like a hand, or the foot of a parrot.

"Maybe I'll try and contact Steve." She mused, "Well children? What do you think? Think you can be friends with these guys too?"


After their visit to the zoo, the children were all given a little something to remember it by. This was the other reason Giselle was one of their favourite people. She had made all of them a little pendant, a super simple ornament that could be either a necklace pendant, or maybe a single earring. These were made of a scale from each of the dragons whelps/chicks, and a bit of down feathers from all three types of birds. The children were suitably thankful, and were sure to give Giselle all kinds of hugs for the gift.

"Keep those safe." She said, "The next ones I made for you will be made out of their cast off claws and teeth."


Notes

Giselle is still my favourite Gate character.

Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!

aKAQg4bnYu for the discord!

And my actual book, Were Too? is on Inkitt.

And! I'm looking into getting some story themed merchandise made. Join the Discord to find out more!