Beist looked as pleased as the winged frog on her should when she said she'd bring the little guy home. They were already making progress on housing all these creatures! One at a time. And now it looked like they'd find a home for another.

"Oh, there's no need to pull her away. Please, we're actually looking for homes for these little creatures, if you'd like to adopt one. They're all very well mannered and very cute." He gave his best sales pitch to the mother who was trying to restrain her daughter. The girl was already enamored with one of the animals, so now it was just a matter of convincing the mother to let her take it home.

"I trust you'll take very good care of them, won't you?" He finished, looking to Ava directly.

"Yes! I promise! Please mom, can I keep one?"

The mother looked unconvinced, but eventually gave in to the pleading, puppy dog eyes looking at her from both above and below. She sighed in defeat.

"Fine, but you'd better take good care of it."

Ava ecstatically ran up to the back of the wagon with a squeal of delight and picked up the critter she'd had her eyes on, the one she thought was the cutest. A black and orange newt with a tiny pair of rabbit's ears and whiskers on its snout.

"Oh, isn't he the cutest! I'm gonna name you Harold!"

“Harold is a very nice name.” Leni-Aura compliments as the girl turns away from the wagon with the little newt-bunny in her cupped hands; the girl nods excitedly, looking at it with sparkling eyes.

“Yeah!” She agrees, grinning brightly at the rabbitaur, before scurrying back towards her mother. She raises the newly dubbed Harold up high for her mother to see, and after a soft sigh, the mother smiles subtly back at her.

After a small back and forth, the mother nods; Ava, giggling happily, lets the little black newt climb onto her shoulder. It sniffs curiously at the air, little bunny ears twitching contently, before it glances back and Beist and Leni and wags its little tail. Leni-Aura offers the little newt a wave as Ava’s mother takes her children’s hands.

“I’ll make sure she takes good care of him; thank you.” She offers them a smile, before returning back into the inn. Copperheart chuckles warmly, watching them go, before looking back at them. “Well, I’ll be right back… suppose I need to think of a name for you while I’m at it, don’t I?” As she walks away, she gives the frog a little scratch beneath the chin again.

As they wait, Leni-Aura steps towards Beist and takes a seat nearby. “That felt like it went well… right?” She murmurs, looking after Copperheart as the dwarves woman disappears inside, before looking up at Beist with perked ears.

It doesn’t take too long after Copperheart enters the inn for the occasional individual to step out and peep towards the wagon; the first of which, appears to be an elderly halfling woman; and then, a boisterous dwarven man; and after him, a small family of humans— each interested in a different creature hoping to find a new home.

"Yes, that went wonderfully!" Beist happily assured Leni with a nod.

He almost regretted letting Harold, the newly named rabbit-newt hybrid, be adopted. He'd actually considered keeping the creature because it reminded him of Nimbus and Leni. But, he knew Ava would take good care of him. Beist's sense of what was cute and what wasn't could be a little off at times, so he didn't think it was odd at all that she had found Harold cute. He had also found the newt with rabbit ears and whiskers adorable, as he thought all of the strange hybrid creatures were.

Beist showed off the creatures wishing to be adopted by their own families as bargoers came out to take a look. Each one eventually settled on one and took it home.

The elderly halfling woman went home with tiny monkey that had a bushy striped tail and the eye markings and ears of a raccoon. A sweet little helper for small tasks she couldn't handle with her aching hands anymore. Ironically, she named him Rascal.

The boisterous Dwarven man left with a cockatiel that had red compound eyes like an insect and feet that looked more like a bug's than a bird's. When the man had come up to the wagon with a corked bottle of ale in his hand, the bug-bird had reached out its neck and popped the cork out with its beak before laughing just as loud as the Dwarf did. Called him Bugger right then and it stuck as its new name.

Finally, the small family of humans took a look at the last couple of critters waiting for a new home. A pair of a cat that had the floppy ears of a dog and a dog that had the long tail of a cat. Other than that, they looked normal, unless they made a sound. The cat barked like a dog while the dog meowed like a cat. The two seemed like they had become friends, so the family took both of them in. Just to make things even more confusing, they named the dog Katrina (Kat for short) and the cat Dougless (Dog for short). Beist just chuckled as he waved goodbye, the family leaving with their new cat-dog Dog, and their new dog-cat, Kat.

"Well, that was a success. Now it looks like it's time to head to the places Miss Copperheart told us about. Which should we go to first, the farm or the orphanage?" Beist asked Leni

Leni smiles over Beist’s glee over the adoption, albeit the quirk of her lips is subtle.

Individual after individual passes by the little wagon, the hybrids, and their caretakers; and Leni is glad to see a few of the creatures finding their homes with what, to her, looks promising. She waves after the small family of humans, who had taken home Dog & Kat (this was extremely confusing for Leni, but she simply nodded as if she knew what anyone was talking about during that conversation).

She lowers her hand, looking up at Beist when he asks where they should go next. She tilts her head and purses her lips, curling a finger against her lips as she ponders the question. “Perhaps… the orphanage?” She considers before looking up at Beist with perked ears. “Then we can take the rest to the farm— it sounds like they may have a lot of room for them…”

She stops speaking when she feels a soft ‘thump’ on her shoulder; and when she glances after the feeling, she notices the winged frog that had accompanied Miss Copperheart earlier. In fact, she sees the dwarf woman stepping outside the door. “Sorry, hon! ‘E got away from me. C’mere, Franky.” The frog croaks, its neck ballooning as it does, before jumping off and gliding back to Miss Copperheart— who seems to be armed with a variety of bags that she tries to hand off with Beist.

There's a wafting smell of sweet and savoury pastries coming from the bags.

“Before y’all go, I got you some goodies from the kitchen.” She offers Beist a playful wink, “On the house, don’t worry ‘bout paying. Got a lot of happy customers in there sharing with their new critters, and you got a lot of mouths to feed— including yourselves! Thought they might like a nice treat like their buddies before they get to their new homes.”

"Yes, you're right. We should see how many the orphanage is willing to take and then head to the farm. Good idea." Beist agreed. He began to close the back of the wagon to start on their journey when Miss Copperheart came back.

"Oh! Thank you very much." Beist replied happily as he took the bag of treats. Without even opening it, he could smell the mix of sweet jams and seasoned meats that filled the different pastries. He couldn't stop himself from drooling just a little as he smelled one that was filled with cheese. "They smell delicious. I'm sure they'll love them."

He opened the wagon door wide again and set down the bag inside the door, opening it up to reveal the plethora of tarts, danishes, turnovers, and empanadas. The animals sniffed curiously and stepped forward to take a look.

"Now now, these are for everyone." Beist warned some of the closer critters and shooed them off as he got a quick count of the deserts to see how they might need to be divided. There weren't as many pastries as there were creatures, but some of the creatures were smaller than the pastries were anyways. He started to cut them into smaller pieces and hand them out, doing his best to make sure everyone got a fair share. He gave a look to a few critters that tried to eat their treat and then come back for seconds.

When all the animals had been fed, he took the remaining pastries and chose a cheese and meat filled empanada for himself and let Leni choose her own before distributing them to his own animal companions. Dora enjoyed a cut of salmon wrapped in a flaky crust.

"Thank you for all your assistance, and the treats. We'll be heading to the orphanage now. If you ever need the services of an alchemist or a healer, I'd be happy to help." Beist thanked Miss Copperheart and finished closing the wagon up to set off.

Miss Copperheart smiles, nodding graciously when Beist thanks her for the food. “Good deeds require good eats,” she jokes, wiping her hands on her apron as Franky toddles his chubby body behind her head, and onto her other shoulder. “I’ve always had a soft spot for the critters, myself; nice to see someone takin’ good care of them, you know?”

She smiles lopsidedly when Nimbus attempts to join the curious animals at the bag; but his attempts are ultimately foiled by Leni-Aura grabbing his tail, “No,” she warns, earning a grumbling squawk of a complaint as he flaps his arms furiously against her grasp. “Wait your turn, Nimbus!”

Miss Copperheart laughs; what a strange gathering this is, but there is something heartwarming about it all the same.

When it comes time to divide the food, Leni-Aura picks out a sweet fruit jam pastry for herself; and then one full of meat for Nimbus. Nimbus stamps his feet on her shoulders excitedly as she plucks their respective pastries from the bag, and Leni-Aura rolls her eyes as she offers him the meat-filled pastry.

He wastes no time gobbling it down, dropping buttery flakes in every crevice of her armour that she will most certainly find later. “Thank you, Miss Copperheart.” Leni-Aura agrees with Beist, offering her as warm of a smile as she can manage— which, is still rather chilly all things considered.

Miss Copperheart doesn’t seem to mind; she offers the two a smile and a nod.

“I’m happy to help; and I’ll keep you in mind, big guy.” She offers Beist an enthusiastic thumbs up, backing away to give them room as they close up to set off. “Travel safe!”

Leni-Aura makes an indecipherable sound of goodbye around the jam pastry in her mouth as she’s climbing back into the seat of the wagon; but does remove it for long enough to bid Miss Copperheart a farewell before they set off to the orphanage— and then, the farm to find the last few animals their own homes.

Beist gave Miss Copperheart a wave as they pulled away in their wagon, heading down the road away from the restaurant.

The trip to the orphanage was short, and the children were ecstatic to see the adorable animals. Several immediately fell in love with one, and the orphanage director could only sigh in defeat when he saw there would be no convincing them to give the animal back. A squirrel with crab claws, a cat with a turtle shell, and a pair of mice whose tails were fused together were taken in happily. Beist and Leni were assured they would be well taken care of before they headed off to the farm with the rest of the animals.

The farm was hesitant to take any of the animals at first, but they had enough room and the little critters grew on them quickly. Several dog and cat hybrids with various other animals were well suited to the farm and took to it immediately. The farm would never be safer from foxes or owls with all its new protectors. A sheepdog with a lizard tail and a pair of horns that Beist was pretty sure he saw sneeze a bit of fire. That was probably nothing to worry about.

Soon, Beist's wagon was empty of all the creatures he and Leni had rescued from that horrible laboratory.

"Thank you, Leni. I couldn't have helped all those animals without you. I think they'll all be happy in their new homes." He thanked Leni, though he couldn't help being just a tiny bit gloomy to see all of them go, though he also knew he couldn't keep them all in his wagon with him. He was happy to see them go to live with others that would cherish them and take care of them. It would be selfish for him to keep them all in such cramped conditions.

And, he wasn't alone without them. He already had Dora and his other companions. Even now, while Leni was with him, he had Nimbus cuddled up against him. He was happy to have their company.