Some Things Just Can't Be Understood

"Uh..." Maple began, glancing at Dalios. "What do griffins eat?"

"Everything," Dalios answered. "Including rocks."

Rolly got closer to the cat, who swiped at him and hit him on the nose. The Corgi yelped and whimpered, drawing back.

Pheobie frowned down at the cat. "Mr. Kitty! Play nice!" She scolded.

The cat yawned lazily at her request. Then he fluffed up when the griffin came bounding over to play.

"Rolly, this is why you don't bother cats," Dalios said, scooping up the orange pup. "Griffin, don't eat the cat."

The griffin pup seemed more interested in playing than eating, pawing playfully at the small feline. The cat retreated behind Pheobie.

This could be a problem thought Maple, watching the casual chaos. And we haven't even unfroze the other animals yet.

"Goldie, no." Pheobie scolded lightly. "Leave Mr. Kitty alone."

It seemed she had named the griffin in favor of its gold tinted plumage.

Pheobie squatted down to pet the griffin and tell it no sternly again.

Maple thought of Goldie as more of a dog's name, but then again Goldie kind of acted like a dog, so it fit. The newly christened griffin lowered its ears and then flopped onto the floor, demanding a belly rub. Mr. Kitty walked away to a safer distance, tail twitching.

"Well that should be everyone and everything then," said Maple, looking around. "Guess it's time to get ready to unfreeze things."

"I think we should see if we can hypnotize Goldie here," suggested Dalios. "We don't need him romping around while we're dealing with the other animals, and we should make sure this hypnotism is actually going to work."

"You have doubts?" Maple answered a little crossly.

"Yes," Dalios replied flatly.

Pheobie rubbed Goldie's belly for a minute before making the griffin roll over. "Goldie, lookie here" She directed, holding his face still and making him look her in the eye. "Be a good griffin and stay still" She murmured.

The others couldn't see, but her irises were changing color faster than sonic boom. The basic idea was to keep to soothing colors, and keep the transitions fast to knock the ideal target out.

Sure enough, a moment later Goldie sagged to his side, totally asleep.

"Better?" She asked with a big smile up at the boys/men.

Dalios came over to make sure the griffin was asleep.

"Ah, stop being such a wet blanket," said Razekar, scooping up the ten-year-old despite his protests. "Looks like it works to me. Can you only do it one animal at a time though?"

"I can use a wall as my medium rather than my eyes to do more than one at a time but it takes longer." Pheobie replied.

"Which means that we should be facing away from said wall when it happens, right?" asked Maple. "Otherwise we'll be out cold too. No need for forty winks or counting sheep."

"Right." Pheobie nodded. "But I can do it seperately for all the rooms. I would need to start with the carnivores. Its easier to use something on my person..." She looked thoughtful "Maple, can I borrow a big plain t-shirt?"

"Uh, sure," answered Maple. "Should have one around somewhere. Let me look."

He had to sift through his messy closet for a while, but he finally found one he thought would do the job and brought it back.

"So how long have you been traveling with the professor?" Razekar was asking Pheobie. Though the question was innocent, Maple felt a little pang of jealousy.

Pheobie smiled. "Since yesterday. He crashed on my world"

Maple thought about it. Had it really been just yesterday since he met her? It didn't feel like it.

"I see," said Razekar. He glanced over to Maple and gave a small smirk. "The professor doesn't usually just pick up hitchikers for the hell of it. Did something happen?"

"Ah, not really," replied Maple a little awkwardly. He handed Pheobie the T-Shirt. "It's a little dirty since it's been at the bottom of my closet. Will that work?"

"Nope." Pheobie replied. "I just don't like g'byes." she pulled the t-shirt over her head. "This works fine Maple, So long as its just one color."

"Alright then, guess we better go downstairs," said Maple. "Carnivores first, right?"

Pheobie nodded. "Big carnivores, then little carnivores. Then I can do the herbivores in any order."

"Then downstairs to the carnivorous beasts it is," Maple announced as he headed, though he felt uneasy. He didn't want Pheobie to get hurt while trying to subdue multiple dangerous creatures. There was always the GS, but there was always risk as well.

Razekar was the first to follow, soon trialed by Dalios and then Falcon.

Pheobie stopped at the door and held out her arm with the GS. "Okay, make everything normal" She smiled. "Then I'll go in, colors blaring."

"Right away," replied Maple, entering the null code on his GS. For a moment he was afarid that it had no effect, but then he began to hear the confused cries of the animals. "Everything's unfroze. Be careful dear."

Pheobie smiled and took a deep breath. She hurried into the room, closing the door firmly behind her.

For a moment it seemed like nothing was happening, but then the room quieted.

Pheobie came out a second later. "Okay, next room."

Maple let out a sigh of relief. She appeared to be alright, and that was the most dangerous room. "Just down there then. You're the one who picked the rooms."

"I know" Pheobie smiled. "I was just letting you know." She skipped off to the next room.

Each room was finished sooner than the last until all the animals were asleep.

"Okay, I'm all done" Pheobie smiled as she tried to pull the shirt off. Her shirt was sticking to it and she was having a time trying to get it off and not flash them all.

"Hold on, let me help," said Maple, coming over. "...Turn around in case this doesn't work."

"Kay." Pheobie mumbled. She turned and nearly tripped. "Like this?"

"Yeah," said Maple. He helped to take off the shirt, which luckily did not take her own shirt in the process. "There we go!"