"Thanks for coming out to meet me today." Kaylynn says as she prepares a seat for herself. Her cup of coffee in hand, freshly brewed and still hot.

"Of course!" Samantha replies hospitably, already seated at the table, "Though, frankly, I'm surprised you still wanted to talk to me at all...given what happened last time..." She added, hiding her embarrassment with a smile.

The two girls sat at a table inside one of the less popular, less crowded, cafes in town. Not necessarily the one she worked for, she preferred a more quiet place for the time being. Kaylynn had called the she-gargoyle ahead of time to have another meet up, in the hopes to have a proper time with Samantha, and, mostly, to have a breather from the most current adventures that had occurred, and still are occurring, at the house. You would think she would have chosen to talk to one of her more familiar friends, such as any of the employees from the cafe she employed in, but in this case, she too felt embarrassed for what had transpired the last time they went out, and felt the need to reassure Samantha and herself that there was no bad blood between them.

"That was hardly your fault!" Kaylynn responds with honest sincerity, "I mean, I was the one that suggested we go to that bar in the first place. Besides, I still had fun."

"You did?" Samantha seemed genuinely surprised.

"I mean, sure the ending of that got...a little out of hand...and it resulted in the barkeep forbidding us to set foot inside his joint for the next 6 months...BUT HEY, 6 months aint so bad!"

"I'm pretty sure he was just punishing me." Sam said, her pointed ears drooping in shame.

Kaylynn tries to remain optimistic, "Hey now! We're here now aren't we? Don't worry about that so much. I asked you to come here because I still think you're a fun person to be with."

The she-gargoyle makes a genuine smile at that remark, then remembers to ask, "Oh, what about your friend, the bird-looking guy, is he alright?"

"Hm, Ozzie? Yeah he's fine. He's surprisingly sturdy for someone with hollow bones...'least I think he has hollow bones."

"Well, that's good at least. I should probably come to the house today and apologize...He must be terrified of me after what happened."

Kaylynn made an expression that suggested that may not be the best idea as she continued to enforce that notion as she said, "Yeeeaaah, this may not be the best time for that."

"I see...so he still holds that against me, hugh?" Sam assumes bleakly.

"It's not that...actually I don't even think he remembers, or maybe he does and just doesn't care...or maybe he does and he just doesn't-Look the guy's harder to read than an Egyptian tablet!"

Sam let's out a genuine laugh of amusement as she retorts, "You poor thing."

"Point I'm trying to make is that right now is a bad time because...we got another roommate."

"As in, another extra-species? You're kidding?"

"Nope. Same story as the first one; weird shit went down, ended up getting another roommate in the deal."

"And I take it...the newbie is not taking to the new place so well...?"

"It would definitely be an understatement."

Meanwhile at the residence...

"For the last time...GET OUT OF KAY'S ROOM!" Ray shouts at the door of his roommate's bedroom where it is currently locked and barricaded by the latest addition to the household.

Paprika, ignoring Ray's demands, a reoccurring theme for the unfortunate jersey devil, is in the process of undoing the lock on the window, preparing her daring escape. When she successfully did so with minimal effort she opened the seal and prepared her leap to freedom, "Adios idiotas!" she cries in mid jump

But just as her body was in the air, her legs sprung from the edge of the window, she suddenly felt the tight grip of talons clutch her biceps and snatch her away in midair. Before she realized it, she had dropped onto the porch where Ozzie was now looking down at her with his usual wide, blank, but always intimidating red eyes.

"That...is...dangerous." He said, meaning to be more sincere but most likely appeared more eerie than intended.

The feisty basilisco refused to relent, and tried another attempt to escape as she darted around the owlman to the open driveway only to feel her locomotion suddenly lurch and her body fell to the ground as she felt Ozzie's talon again but this time anchoring her tail.

"Estupido cola inutil!" she curses in her native tongue with a disdainful growl.

Ray had followed and exited the house through the front door, arriving on the scene almost as though he was expecting Ozzie to have caught her before she could try to escape and says with a stern look in his eyes, "You can't keep doing this, Paprika. If you just follow through with this agreement, things will go a lot smoother for you in the long run...! And where the hell is your tracker? Godammit, that is the third one this week!"

"So she's under house arrest...at your house?" Sam concluded quizzically.

"Well, they were going to send her to a different department to have her be processed into a foster home...but it turns out that she only agreed to the terms of her prior deal so that she could get an easy pass into the states. Once she had made it she ran off only to eventually meet us." Kaylynn admits honestly.

"So, why is she at your place now?"

Kaylynn takes a moment to scratch the back of her head before answering the complicated question with an equally complicated answer. "We requested to. Well, actually, Ray was the one that came up with the idea."

"Ray? The...big one? The guy that looks like an angry horse dragon?"

Kaylynn almost snickered at that description but replies and says, "Yeah, honestly it surprised me. Considering how he has been behaving around Ozzie, I would think he'd hate the idea of another roommate."

"He doesn't like Ozzie?"

"I think he's warming up to him...little by little. But yeah I still find it odd that of all people it would be him that would suggest we'd keep a semi-fugitive in the house."

"I'm more surprised that the M.O.N. department aloud it."

"Honestly, despite reading the contract and having been told all the procedures and protocols and regulations and rules and yadayadayada...I have no idea what is going on when M.O.N. is involved."

Sam merely nods at that sentiment before reverting the subject to an earlier curiosity, "So why did Ray suggest this idea?"

"Well, he thinks that keeping her in our company might help her with compulsions, says that he has dealt with this kind of person before and knows how to help them. He was vague about it, sure, but...Ray and I have shared the same roof for a while now and I've come to trust him more than I had before, I mean yeah he can be a grump, but when he suggested the idea, he was being genuine about wanting to help her. And I think that's a quality I really...admire about him. He told me once that he use to work in his family's tavern and how it was this safe haven for liminals before M.O.N. made their existence known to the world, and I get the feeling that that just became part of his personality. I think he suggested it because he likes to help others if he thinks he can..." Kaylynn stopped for a moment, noticing a strange expression on Sam's face, "Why are you giving me that look...?"

Sam's smile was stretching more and more with each word, it was a suggestive smile, the same smile you'd see in an intuitive relative or friend. "Oh nothing..." The she-gargoyle replies teasingly as she takes a sip of her coffee.

Meanwhile back at the house, Ray and Ozzie are standing in the middle of the living room, both staring down at a very angry Basilisco whom had been officially grounded to the sofa until further notice. The feathered reptoid simply stews in the furniture, sulking and pouting with sharp, hardened eyes as she glared at the two cryptids, possibly contemplating about shooting her blinding acid at them.

Ray, arms folded over his chest, was looking back at her with the same eyes only less malicious and more stoic, like a parent waiting for their child to apologize.

Breaking the silence, ironically enough, was Ozzie, whom was inclined to tilt over towards Ray and ask curiously, "What do...we...do now...?"

"We wait until she calms down." Ray says. Still locking eyes with Paprika's.

Ozzie's giant red eyes suddenly blink as he retorts, his tone almost giving off the slight hint of bewilderment, "...That... is your...plan...?"

"At least I'm not the only one that thinks you're a moron..." Paprika says bitterly at the hulking devil.

Her jagged words bounce harmlessly off of Ray like tennis balls off a brick wall as he continues to talk to Ozzie, "You have any siblings, featherhead?"

Ozzie didn't appreciate the nickname and was more annoyed at how often it has reoccurred, but he follows Ray's example and instead of allowing himself to be offended he responds with a simple "No".

"That's why you don't get my plan." Ray says, coming off more coldly put than intended, then he adds to the retort before Ozzie could argue further and says, "How bout this? Let me sit here with the little one for a bit, one on one, and I'll let you play around on my laptop, deal?"

Any animosity that Ozzie did or could have had was suddenly eradicated from his mind as the tufts upon his fluffy head suddenly erected and perked up with excitement, yet his tone remained the same usual low and slow octane as he said, "You...will...let me..."

"Just take the damn thing will ya. And give me and Pap here some privacy."

Ozzie made one final glance at Paprika before leaving the room, eager to see what other secrets he could uncover from the magical device. Once the owlman was gone, Ray lowered his body to the ground and sat on the carpet, making himself comfortable before looking directly at Paprika.

After a small pause of silence, Ray gathered his thoughts and spoke first. "So just how true was that story...?" Ray asks, suspecting her intent.

Paprika remained silent still as she sat in the sofa with her scaly legs crossed.

Ray continued on, "That had a double meaning you know..."

Paprika's face showed a slight hint of contortion, a crack of confusion she failed to cover as she looked at him, remaining evermore quiet.

"What my Pops said. "Always look out for the little ones." What he meant by that was, while little ones can be craftier, smarter, faster, and more devious, they are also the more vulnerable ones, it's why the compensate. I use to work at a tavern you see. A safe place for liminals and cryptids before their existence was revealed to the human public. In those days, I got to meet a lot of different people, and it was the small ones that were always the most distant, the most secretive. A lot of them would take one look at me and think that I was just a dumb brute, kinda like how you're looking at me right now...But eventually some of those small folk would learn fast that I was nothing to be afraid. And it was those people that got helped the most from me...See, my Pops taught me that, being bigger, or stronger, than someone else shouldn't be a privilege, but a responsibility."

"Is there a point to this story?" Paprika said sharply.

"They were going to send you back." Ray's words were sharper yet more precise and swift, making Paprika's eyes gape a little wider.

"Back to Brazil. For violating the contract you signed with them. Now I don't completely believe your story but I know for a fact that you don't want to stay in South America anymore. So, that's why we requested that you stay here with us. I knew something was wrong, and it was something you weren't ready to share with a stranger."

"And you think that, what, you telling me that since you were buddies with so many small folk that you suddenly get me? Yeah, you're definitely a moron."

Ray simply shrugged, his folded wings following the same movement of his shoulders, "I'm saying that this house is my tavern now, and that makes it your safe place. So long as you allow yourself to see it that way. Instead of constantly trying to run away, take a moment to relax, have a few drinks...metaphorically speaking, we agreed as a household to not have liquor in the house...point is, is that there are people here that are willing to listen if you are honest with them. Doesn't have to be me." He then rises from the carpet and says one final statement as his face began to soften and says, "Just think about it for now...And if you can excuse me, I need to go stop Ozzie before he downloads porn by accident or something..."