Nushi – The Cryptidery

Uncomfortable

Posted on July 23, 2021 - July 4, 2021 by The Cryptidery

This morning, as I was unlocking the doors to enter the Cryptidery, I heard strange noises above my head. I backed up so I could get a better look at the roof.

I try not to look up there too often because that is where the silver chimeras live. I find them unsettling. I know it is strange coming from someone like me, but they seem so unnatural. They do not move during the day, so I have learned to pretend they are not there. Looking at them makes me uncomfortable.

Of course, in looking at the roof, I saw the silver chimeras lined up and frozen at the edge of the roof as they typically are during the day. But today something was different. One of the chimeras was standing awkwardly, holding its arms out in front and possibly holding something in each of its hands. I considered my options. The silver chimeras were definitely not going anywhere. I could wait until someone else arrived. I could send someone else up to the roof. But then I would have to explain why I did not just go look myself. And there was still a noise I could not explain, definitely not being made by the silver chimeras.

I let myself into the building and went looking for Mohammed. He is usually here overnight, and I hoped that in asking him for a ladder I could also have him accompany me when I ventured onto the roof.

I felt fortunate that Mohammed was still working when I found him. However, he informed me that I did not need a ladder to access the roof. It seems we have a hidden staircase and a door. So, no need for someone to accompany me. I thanked him for the information and silently reminded myself that it was daytime and the silver chimeras would not be moving in the daytime as I made my way to the roof.

Having successfully found my way onto the roof, I slowly made my way to the edge where the silver chimeras usually sit. I saw the same one I had noticed from the ground, holding its hands out awkwardly, and I tried to see what it was holding without getting too close. The noise was definitely coming from that direction.

To my surprise, I found that the chimera was holding the remaining two escaped shriles. Unfortunately, there is no way to remove them. We will have to wait until tonight when the silver chimeras reanimate. All I could do was make sure the shriles were safe for the day.

I found Mohammed again and told him that I needed to create some form of shelter on the roof. He helped me construct a tent around the chimera holding the shriles. I was glad to have his company. I could not avoid being that close to the chimeras, but having someone with me made it easier. I left dishes of food and water within reach of the shriles, who are now protected from the sun. I am sure they will not be comfortable today, but they will remain alive.

As soon as Jose arrived, I asked if he could stay past dark to retrieve the shriles and return them to their enclosure. After all the times I have helped him, he should have been willing to do this favour for me. However, it seems he is still working on the paperwork from last week’s “adventure”. He would not stay unless I agreed to do the paperwork. I did not argue, although I wanted to. I do not like to go near the chimeras during the day. I do not want to go near them at night.

So now I have piles of paperwork to do. Again. Jose told me he had started, but if he has done any work I have not found it yet.

At least Maria is happy. She made a point to thank me for my work this morning. I think she must know my opinion of the silver chimeras. The grungles will be happy, too, when we can return them to their normal enclosure tomorrow.
Nushi

A Bad Day to be a Grungle

Posted on June 25, 2021 - June 13, 2021 by The Cryptidery

We have a problem. A problem I believe was caused by Jose’s lack of responsibility.

For nearly two weeks after he got back from finding the space octopus, he hid. Shirking his responsibilities, playing a trick on me, making me think a grungle had escaped, and then making me not check the security of the enclosure because of his trick. The hole could have been there the whole time, and I would not have noticed, because I was too busy doing his work to spend time in the enclosure. Maybe he knew about the hole. Maybe he was using it to get in and out when he was playing his trick!

I suppose that is not a fair accusation. Jose has his flaws, but he would not knowingly endanger a creature. Though he may not have seen the danger. The grungles have no interest in leaving their enclosure.

But the shriles… they will take any opportunity to escape.

I went into the grungle enclosure yesterday with the usual buckets of food. The grungles all came running out of the trees as usual, but they were acting different. Quieter, almost nervous. I counted them and thought there was one less than normal. So I counted them again. Thanks to Jose’s trick, I doubted myself for a moment. I thought that maybe I was remembering the wrong number, because there was one extra last week. I am still surprised that I did not notice one extra grungle, but with so much work to do I never stopped to count. I only stopped yesterday because the grungles were not their normal playful selves.

I decided that there was definitely one missing. I started walking along the perimeter of the enclosure, watching the trees for movement. I was so focused on the tree tops that I did not notice the barrel in my path until I ran into it, almost causing me to fall over. But if I had not run into it, I might not have noticed the hole hidden behind it.
I ran out of the enclosure to sound the alarm, still watching the tree tops as I slid open the alarm panel, inserted my key and flipped the switch.

I heard the alarm sound throughout the building and hoped some of my coworkers were nearby, and that some of them were good climbers.

We have procedures in place for situations like these. As caretakers arrived, I instructed them each to take a grungle or two to an empty enclosure nearby, where they could be entertained while we searched. Those who were able started to climb the trees. Others helped Mohammed repair the hole in the enclosure.

It was not long before someone spotted movement in the tree tops. The caretakers who were climbing made their way towards the movement. From the ground, it sounded like they had found a grungle somehow stuck in the tree. They were talking to it, trying to coax it out and determine if it was hurt. One of the caretakers made their way to the ground and told me it was not a grungle at all, but a shrile that had somehow found its way into the enclosure. Worst of all, it looked like it had already eaten a grungle.

Shriles are the grungles’ only natural predator. We keep their enclosures as far apart as we can, so that they cannot hear or smell each other. But somehow this shrile had made its way into the grungle enclosure and eaten a grungle without anyone noticing.

We quietly left the grungle enclosure to find a cage we could use to transport the shrile back to its enclosure. The other caretakers kept the shrile distracted while we got the cage into the tree, but as soon as it saw the cage it became agressive. It took us nearly an hour to get it into the cage. When we finally captured it, we were all exhausted, but the work was not done yet.

I left the other caretakers to clean up the grungle enclosure and bring the grungles back in while I returned the shrile to its enclosure. I was looking forward to the end of this stressful day.

But it was not over yet. In fact, it is still not over.

The shrile enclosure was quiet. Not just quiet, but completely silent.

I did not sense any movement as I entered. I set the shrile down, still in its cage, and waited. I did not see or hear anything for several minutes. As I scanned the trees, I noticed something on the ceiling. An air vent that was somehow broken open.

I walked dejectedly out of the shrile enclosure, slid open the alarm panel, inserted my key and flipped the switch.

Nushi

1436 Minutes

Posted on June 11, 2021 - June 13, 2021 by The Cryptidery

It is starting to become difficult for me to do my job and Jose’s. He continues to avoid everyone for the most part. I have not seen him since he once again gave me his paperwork to do last week. Maria keeps giving me more work and Jose keeps not doing his work and I am reaching the limits of what I can accomplish in a day. I am trying not to let it bother me. I am focusing on the jobs that affect the well-being of the creatures in our care first. Then I focus on my jobs, which are usually in the lab helping Maria with her research. And then I do any other jobs Jose has not done that cannot wait any longer.

As the list of jobs has become longer, I have had to limit my leisure time. There are only 1436 minutes in a day, and I had been spending too many of them playing with the grungles to keep up with the increased workload. Even without taking leisure time, I cannot do all of my work and Jose’s. I have been avoiding bringing this subject up with Maria. She has been less angry recently. Yesterday, when I briefly entered the office in search of some work gloves, she even complimented me on how hard I have been working recently. It is nice to have my work recognized, even if it is work I should not have to do.

It is perhaps because of my limited time that I had not noticed my new favourite grungle until recently. When I brought in the food buckets for the grungles a few days ago I was greeted by an especially bright grungle. It dropped out of the trees right on top of me! It then tried to wrestle one of the buckets of grubs from my grasp. I always try to make sure all the grungles have equal access to the food, so I pushed it away and waited for the other grungles to gather before I put the buckets down. Then I noticed that the other grungles give this one space. I have not caught it bullying the others, but it seems to have made its way to the top of the pecking order in the enclosure. The others will not come near it unless invited.

If I was simply a visitor, I might think that we had acquired a new grungle, but I know this is not the case. This grungle has just reached maturity and therefore has grown a new coat. I have seen other grungles do this before, but this particular grungle has an especially beautiful adult coat. This will make it popular during breeding time. I am worried that our normally peaceful grungle enclosure might have some fighting as a result. I have mentioned this to the other caretakers so they can help me watch for any aggression, since I cannot spend a lot of time in the enclosure at the moment.

I think this is enough blogging for now. Mohammed needs help with repairs of some sort.
Nushi

Grungles

Posted on June 4, 2021 - June 13, 2021 by The Cryptidery

I have been spending a lot of time in the grungle enclosure lately. That is where I like to go when I need time to think. Maria was upset with me for helping Jose to hide from her, and also for doing his paperwork for him. I was upset at myself, too. I do not know why I let Jose give me his work all the time. It only ends in frustration. I always tell myself that next time I will say “no”, but when he asks again, I always say “yes”.

The grungles do not have these problems. They are simple. They like to eat and play games and hang in the trees. They do not have to worry about friends being angry with them. If a grungle upsets another grungle, they will act upset for a short time, but then one will start a game and it will be like nothing negative happened.

Grungles play a lot of games that small human children play. They play hide and seek. They have fun jumping out to scare each other or a passing caretaker like myself. They seem to especially like simple percussion instruments like drums and shakers. We need to replace the instruments often. The grungles do not understand that the instruments can break. They will take them into the trees in their enclosure, some of which are 30 feet tall. A shaker does not survive many falls from that height.

Recently, I brought a new box of shakers into the enclosure. When the grungles saw me with a box, they all came down from the trees and jumped all over me, causing me to trip and drop the box. All the grungles jumped off of me, picked up as many of the shakers as they could, and returned to the trees. I stayed on the ground, watching them in the trees as they playfully fought over the new toys. One grungle managed to take a shaker away from another. I watched as it threw the shaker into the air and jumped after it. The grungle caught the shaker in the air, but missed the branch it was aiming for. It slid down the trunk of the tree and landed awkwardly at the bottom.

Sometimes a grungle will act like an injury is worse than it is to get attention from a caretaker. Knowing this, I continued to focus my attention on the tops of the trees, but I kept the grungle that had fallen at the edge of my field of vision and waited for it to climb up again. It did not climb up. Instead, it crawled to a corner of the enclosure and sat there, tapping the shaker it had worked so hard to get. As it crawled away I noticed one of its feet dragging. I hoped it had not injured it badly.

The grungles were starting to calm down again. The initial excitement over new toys does not last long. I left the enclosure and returned with buckets full of the live grubs and beetles that we feed the grungles. My entrance with the buckets caused all the grungles to jump on me again. I set the buckets down and backed away, looking to the corner where the injured grungle still sat. It showed no interest in the food, which worried me.

Leaving the other grungles to their meal, I slowly approached the injured one. It turned its back to me, purposely making it difficult for me to see the injured foot. I picked it up, ignoring its complaints, and gently checked that the injured foot was not broken.The problem was actually a sprained ankle. It would just need time to heal.
I spent the next three days almost entirely in the grungle enclosure. At first, the injured grungle would not accept any food and would turn away from me when I tried to engage it in a game. I tried to get the other grungles to start a game with the injured one but it ignored them too and they eventually got bored and returned to the trees. But I did not give up. I brought a small bowl of food over to the corner whenever I brought in the food buckets and I continued to try and engage it in games, but I continued to be ignored.

Grungles are normally very active. I thought that maybe it did not know how to play with an injured ankle. So I set out to teach the grungles a new game. Since the injured grungle would not engage, I brought another grungle to the corner and showed it how to play catch with a shaker. We were both sitting, throwing the shaker back and forth, when the injured grungle threw the shaker it had been clutching for three days at me. I was momentarily surprised. The injured grungle howled at me impatiently. I picked up the shaker it had thrown and threw it back. Suddenly we were playing a three way game of catch with 2 shakers. Before long, the other grungles brought their shakers down from the trees to join in the game.

Tonight, when I brought the food buckets in, the injured grungle limped over to eat with the other grungles. It will likely be a few days before it is comfortable climbing again, but otherwise it seems to be back to normal. The other grungles seem willing to play on the ground for now, and it seems they have discovered “monkey in the middle” on their own.
That grungle reminded me of why I work here, at the Cryptidery. It reminded me that I am good at my job, even if Maria is sometimes upset. I decided that I would try to do better. That I would put all my efforts into my research and the creatures in my care, and that I would not let Jose distract me. That next time he asked me to do his paper work, or to help him hide something from Maria, I would say “no” because I have more important things to do. I felt at peace with this decision. I spent some time watching the grungles play their new games before deciding to go get some of my own paper work done.

When I left the enclosure, Jose was standing in the hallway. He looked like he was going to ask me to do something. I reminded myself, as I walked towards him, that this time I would say “no”.
Jose held out some papers. He said he had forgotten to give me the expenses for his trip, which Maria needs us to keep records of for tax purposes.

“I am far too busy with my own work to be doing yours as well. It will take you no more than ten minutes. Do it yourself.” Is what I said in my head as I took the papers from him. As I looked through them quickly to be sure he had not forgotten anything else, I told him “It should not take me more than three minutes” and started to walk away. Then, remembering something I had seen on the television once, I turned back and said “but you owe me one”.

If Jose wants to give me the jobs he does not like, maybe I will give him the jobs I do not like.
Nushi

Hello. My name is Nushi.

Posted on April 9, 2021 - June 13, 2021 by The Cryptidery

Maria has asked that I also post on this weblog from time to time.

My job at the Cryptidery is to organize the feeding of the creatures. I also help Maria with research. Information on the creatures we house is often hard to find. We sometimes have to learn about them after we have acquired them.

We try to gather as much information as we can before we acquire them so that we can care for them as well as possible and keep ourselves safe as well. Jose will sometimes spend days or weeks following a creature before capturing it to gather information on its chosen habitat, food, and abilities.

Sometimes your reports help us. When you submit a report through the website about a strange creature you have observed, it is best to tell us everything you have noticed, even if it seems unimportant. When we had visitors come in with information, we would often ask a lot of questions, but this is more difficult through the internet. Photographs and drawings can also be useful.

However, it is important to always keep your distance from these creatures. These are not domestic animals. They may be dangerous. Do not put yourself in danger to get a photograph. Do not follow the creature. Some of them have above-average senses and may react negatively if they feel threatened. Leave the potentially dangerous work to Jose.

Thank you for reading.
Nushi