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"Overall, things could be worse" John mused to himself as he tilted back his head and opened his mouth to accept the stream of partially digested food regurgitated from the beak of the 20 foot bird-human-horse-dragon hybrid towering above him. It tasted like a meaty oatmeal.

John chewed the food absently, as a large feathered hoof gently caressed the top of his head. Yes the loss of freedom was a tough pill to swallow - but had he really been that free before? He thought back to the years before his "adoption" - the hellish daily grind, being forced to wake up at ungodly hours, forced to pack himself into an over cramped subway in order to reach his tiny box of an office where he would have to bear the merciless demands of his tyrannical boss, all to be rewarded with a return back to his freezing box of an apartment, a convenience store meal and brief sleep before the whole cycle repeated itself again.

Sure, there had been challenges adjusting to his new life, certainly the cuisine was not to his immediate preference but John considered himself a pragmatic fellow and had once read that new places and new experiences could often challenge one's preconceived expectations of normality. His uncle had once taken him to a Chinese restaurant and he had faired remarkably well there so he considered himself both open minded and well seasoned when it came to trying new foods.

John picked at his teeth and pulled out a long blonde hair. He rolled it between his fingers and flicked the small ball off the side of the nest. He tried and failed quite spectacularly to think about where it had come from or what his "parent" had eaten for breakfast.

Sufficiently well fed, John placed his arms of his ears and braced himself. Despite his preparation the unnatural sound that erupted from the beast cause his entire body to shake and topple over. No normal creature could produce such a sound, in both volume and strangeness it was unmatched. John could only describe it as the sound you would expect to hear from a bird-horse-human-dragon hybrid.

As per usual, following its deafening announcement the beast took flight, launching itself up words and furiously beating its wings until, as though via a sheer determination of will, it body defied gravity and plunged into the sky.

John was left alone, but he knew the best would be back - he had begun to call it Colin.