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"Woah! Gyre, don't put that in your mouth!" Lu squealed as Gyre ravenously started chewing on the sheep plushie toy. She drooled and started to carry it away in her mouth. Lu chased after her, retrieving the poor thing.

"Guin gave this to you! You should thank her! Or something...Wait! I have an idea! You. Come with me."

She picked up Gyre, who portested mindlessly and waved her stubby arms after the plush toy. Lu crept back into her room to rummage through her toychest. She set Gyre down on her bed, where she immediatley lept off and landed in the toychest. Lu sighed as Gyre began to swim through all of the plushies. At last, she surfaced with a few choice toys in her mouth.

"We'll have to clean those, but do you want to give them to Guin as a thank-you?"

Gyre nodded repeatedly, the toys bouncing up and down in her mouth.

"Alright, let's get them cleaned up and head on over to Pink's place."

Yesterday, too, Gyre and I dropped in the HQ to visit with other Legends for a while. There, we met Kamiki and Kistumai! Kamiki's a wonderfully nice fox-woman, and Kitsumai is some sort of mix between fox, dragon and centaur...I think.

Gyre said her first word! All thanks to little Kitsu, Gyre's first word was "pony". Well, it sounded more like "pownie", but we understood. It was so cute! Gyre learned to color with Kitsu, using crayons and a drawing pad.

It was a wonderful experience for her. I think she's finally calming down a bit, and has a new friend!

Stunned, worried and horrified, Lu stumbled outside. She thought she saw a trail of baby blankets leading to the large tree that stood watch over her backyard. She held Lucius close, examining the remnants of Gyre's 'nest' sitting beneath the large tree. Dreading it, she looked up the tree.

"Gyre!" she cried, seeing her bird child napping in a real nest atop a plateau in the tree. She dozed quietly, her hair coming loose from her braids and dancing in the wind. Lu could hear the faint cry of a hawk. She got worried.

"Gyre! I'm coming up there to get you down!" Lu knew she probably couldn't understand, but called out the instructions for her own sanity. She set Lucius down at the base of the tree, knowing full well that he would obey her. Starting to climb, she made slow progress to the middle of the tree.

"Hoo!" Lucius called. Gyre's ears twitched and she awoke, blinking her silver eyes in the morning sun. She sat up, watching her guardian cling to the trunk of the tree. She smiled, amused. Lu looked up, shocked. Until this point, she didn't even think about how Gyre got up there. She had no wings, to her knowledge.

Then...how?

Lu couldn't hold on. She started to slip down the tree, her feet scraping the bark. Lucius kept hooting, Gyre watching him. When Lu stood firmly on the ground again, she tried to appeal to Gyre.

"Sweetie, I'm not mad! Just, please come down!" she cried helplessly.

Gyre blinked, watching for Lucius' approval. When it came, she took the mask she always wore into her tiny little hands, placing it over her face. Before their eyes, she transformed. She begame a small falcon, gliding effortlessly down to the ground. A brilliant light came again, and Gyre was herself, mask and all.

"Gyre!" Lu clutched her and her brother (of sorts) close, sighing in relief. She didn't want to think about the paradox that was the mask just yet. She wanted to first make breakfast and quit shaking so much...

Something's wrong with both my babies...

After Gyre's excursion into the giant tree in the backyard, she's been losing feathers like mad. I really hope all it is is molting. I know that birds molt occasionally, but I really don't know under what circumstances.

Gyre's a little annoyed by it, but she seems to be handling it just fine. She's even been collecting the feathers she loses into a pile in her nest. I offered to clean it up, but she hissed at me. As usual, I guess.

I'll have to ask in the HQ if this is normal...

Well, Gyre's done molting, I think. (I hope.) The vacuum cleaner has never had such a workout in its entire life, but it did the job. Gyre's got a few feathers of old piled up in her nest. They're soft, so she enjoys sleeping on them. She's grown new feathers just like th eold ones, except they seem stronger than last time. Maybe because of her excursion into the tree out back?

She still hasn't used the mask since, but I'm still not sure why she did in the first place. It's still a puzzle to me. I don't get any answers, either, since she's still a baby.

She and Lucius have been getting along just fine. Gyre hasn't been speaking too many new words. She likes to stick to "pony", "friend" and "Lushis" (which is her attempt at her little brother's name.) Very cute. Has to be recorded.

Turkey day! Gyre and I cruised on over to the HQ, where Chesai was spazzing out to get everything done. She looked like a phoenix Legend, and could cook turkey with her tail! I thought that was pretty amazing. Gyre had another run-in with Loki, but there wasn't any fighting this time. Thankfully, too, since Gyre's still a little bandaged from their last encounter.

Another Legend I had never seen - Dare - was there as well. He seemed to have grown very recently, since he seemed to be very uneasy and ackward with his new height.

Gyre tackled Guin again. It seems to me that Gyre's very loyal to those she loves. An admirable trait. She's becoming more and more civilized (except around Loki) every day. Makes me proud.

We all sat around and ate Thanksgiving food stuffs. Gyre voraciously dug into the turkey, but Lucius wouldn't touch it. Maybe he thinks it could be cannibalism? Well, whatever the case, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving.

The air was cold and crisp, but the children and their caretaker were clothed in warm jackets and shoes. Patience, the adult Ivysaur now, pushed them along Batron Street in their stroller. Lucius hooed happily at every twinkling light, while Gyre's chubby arms shot out at every Christmas tree. The bird children were delighted beyond all reasoning.

Patience stopped in many stores, including a pet shop, where the children got to gaze at puppies and kittens. Gyre, of course, didn't trust the cats, but Lucius smashed his face up against the plastic cages. Patience took them out of the stroller to carryt them around, looking at bird toys and treats. When Patience wasn't looking, Gyre snatched up a dog bone into her mouth and chewed on it until Patience realized what was going on. She apologized to the stire manager, and he let it slide. They were just too cute.

After some shopping at the mall, they stopped at a candy store, where the children got their first taste of sugary sweets. Gyre didn't like the lollypop's taste very much, but it was tree shaped and she kept it for that. Lucius was busy popping small candies into his mouth on the way back to the store.

Patience picked up several gifts for everyone in the house. The children helped hold some of the smaller items in their laps. Gyre was very happy ot help out, and Lucius was, too. They got along very nicely. Gyre treated him as a younger brother, teaching him all she knew. Patience giggled as they fell asleep on the way back. Not too many heavy items, but her Vine Whip always helped to carry them.

As they slept, visions of Christmas snow, bright lights and Christmas trees danced in their heads.

Yeah, no sugarplums. They don't know what those are. xd