Gryphon's Pride

Meeting the First Hen

1 - On Call

Tuesdays, that magical day that isn't a Monday full of meetings where one can actually get work done such as completing work orders in more remote locations. Although the link flapping fiber node was not the first thing on an engineer's mind as she packed for a hotel stay once she had securely packed her tools. No, it was the buzzing phone that reminded her she would not get to see someone very important to her until the weekend. "Hey babe." She merrily replied as she answered her phone, typing out her reply " Yes I saw the report, I packed clothes for the motel just in case. Will go shopping for toys later. Love you Melody." as she climbed into the road dust covered with truck laden with fiber optics and cabling. She grinned at the smiley she received back, doctors have such good hands.

As she drove on. mountains rose to meet her small truck, pavement threading in and out of the slopes as she drove on to her last ticket of the day. After bouncing along several different winding mountain roads, Ariana caught sight of the microwave relay's mast. The gravel lined path was poorly marked and weeds dotted the fringes. On the low post and cable fence a small metal sign read "Valewood Eyrie Communications, deliveries 10am to 2pm only." After knocking on the heavy metal door, the engineer felt unnervingly like she was being watched for a moment and then brushed it off. Of course, she just knocked on the door so someone had to be looking. She observed how the building nestled on a cliff face was a blend of hardened communications building and almost resort like lodging overlooking the vista below. Humming to herself and lost in a small world of erotic thoughts of how she would play with her medical friend this weekend, Ariana went back to the truck looking for one of her line testers enjoying the dull throb the naughty thought coaxed.

She placed one foot on the right of the path, snagging her boot on a lichen encrusted boulder concealed by scrubby weeds. The jolt shook Ariana from her revelry as her lower body was arrested while her top continued on. With an 'oof' her shoulder made contact with the damp and icy grasses, her momentum however greeted the slick ice in passing and carried on down the steep grade toward the ravine. Her eyes closed and Ariana thought to herself "I'll miss her lips..." as she felt the floating sensation of freefall overtake her. As she dropped past the escarpment a shadow loomed over her and Ariana felt a searing jolt and crushing pressure in her shoulders. This iron grip was followed by a snap that made bungee jumping with her paramore feel reasonable as she screamed in terror. The sensation of gravity or inertia playing billiards with her stomach was only kept in check by the continued shrieking. After a brief swerve left and up, she plowed to a stop on a gravel surface.

Her shoulder burning and her pants tattered from the rough arresting of her motion, Ariana slowly opened her eyes feeling solid ground beneath her again. She looked around in a panic trying to determine how on earth she was not dashed against the ravine floor. Once again a shadow loomed over her and Ariana heard the snap of something going taut in the wind. She lifted her eyes up and saw an impossibly large set of raptor talons and a broad set of wings over three times her height in its breadth. She sucked in her breath anticipating a sharp strike only to see the torso tilt up in a steep angle of attack, revealing a longer body as leonine paws touched the earth. Tiny pebbles and grass tillings buffeted Ariana's face momentarily as the beast before her alighted on the path with it. Ariana's eyes traced the form before her slowly as it leaned forward. She watched its avian head cock to the side, clacking its sharp hooked beak while feather tufted ears stood up and swiveled toward her. Ruffling feathers accompanied the creatures wings snuggled up against a lean torso as is came to rest on its haunches mere feet from her. Sliding from the broad barreled avian chest down lean flanks and feline hindquarters, she caught a brief glance of a heavy sheath. Ariana gasped as her conscious mind drug up the word for the creature before her, gryphon.

A gryphon.

"I'm dead." Ariana murmured. The gryphon rotated its head slightly and the swiveling ears snapped to her again. His head lowered to inches in front of her and the edges of the beak curled up ever so slightly almost into a grin. "No." a rough baritone growl issued from the beak. "You were almost dead." it continued "Another... 45 seconds roughly and then you would be dead, or close enough to make it purely academic." The gryphon lifted one of its scaled talons, pointing with the claw at her aching shoulder. "No no no.. no please don't eat me... I .. I don't want to .." Ariana stuttered in a panic at the predatory limb drawing closer inch by inch. "Eat you? " The gryphon tugged at her top where his talon had pierced it previously. "Oh no, I don't talk to my food. Bad manners." With a sharp tug the fabric yielded and both hissed. "OUCH! What are you doing?!" Ariana demanded trying to scoot back with little in the way of options. "I'm taking a look." The gryphon replied tersely. "We should get that patched up...I'm sorry I wasn't as gentle as I would have liked." The gryphon rose to all fours at a sedate pace, the muscles beneath the feathers and fur sliding over one another with firm tone. "You, you caught me? How? Who... who are you?" Ariana asked as she started to get up. Turning toward the building he flicked his tail up in a question mark as he looked back. "Oh I'm Merv and you I presume are the field engineer who is servicing this relay site, correct?" As he strode away slowly the tail swished again and Merv chirped "Or was there something else that needed to be serviced?"

Ariana stared slack jawed as she picked up her meters and spare cable terminator bag. "No I've lost my mind... Seriously." She kept muttering as she trundled into the building. "I've got a concussion.. And something is about to eat me." She set the bag down and adjusted the strap. "No.. I'm not going to eat you. For the last time, do you know how rude that would be?" The gryphon stopped and wheeled about to look at her, his feathered brow furrowing, pinning her with the hard stare of not just a predator but a force of nature. "The agency had you sign the NDA right?" Ariana stared at Merv and muttered "Yes..." she blinked and forcefully continued "So what is this? Some insane costume factory? A movie set?" With that Merv crouched and left the ground, covering the 6 meters before she could blink. "A movie?" His beak darted down and hooked her ID badge, pulling it to his talon. "Elearian Contracting, Fiber Optics. Wait, they said I was being sent an Orb team for thissss link isssssue!" He screeched and hissed the last part out, a growl rolling like a distant storm in the back of his throat. Once again convinced she was either unconscious or mad. "This isn't real..." she said flatly while staring at the beast before her. Merv let go of the badge and let it zip back up to her lanyard. "Oh, I'm real. Ma'am... " and with that he unceremoniously licked Ariana's face then attacked her hair and began preening it. At this distance, there was no doubt, that was a beak, a tongue, and a throat. "There, less messed up. If I have to take your picture and read you into things... " Merv paused for a moment, catching a brief tang he had not experienced in ages. "You should at least look presentable for them." He demurred. Merv was not sure what had done it, but work was not on her mind at some point recently.

"You're real... not a costume. Wow... you're really..." Ariana gasped out "You are a real, honest to God, Gryphon. Right here... with me." Merv floofed his chest feathers and gave his most noble pose he could manage. "Yes Ma'am, I am Merv DeGriff: A Gryphon." He then bowed forward, fanning his wings wide and low. Looking up he chirped "And you are?" After a moment of tense silence Ariana identified herself "Ariana ... Ariana Green. Merv if you, you're a gryphon so ... what do you want from me?" Merv's tail lashed back and forth as he took her proffered hand. His talons dwarfed her fingers and he took care to be gentle as he chirped. "Well that is pretty straight forward, I need fiber cables retipped after a failure. Follow the path on your right and it will take you to front of the facility, I'll lead you up to the nest." With that the gryphon rose from its haunches and strode forward, brushing against her as he passed. His proximity let her feel the smooth transition from feather to fur as firm and toned muscle rippled beneath. Ariana was not sure why she shuddered briefly, but she hoped it had gone unnoticed. Merv was definitely part cat, she thought as the gravel crunched beneath her boots. The beast in front of her held its tail high, giving her a show all the way up the trail. Her mind already drifting south from her paramour's promise, she kept having to pry her eyes away. Shaking her head at the strange thoughts she trudged along the gravel path in a daze.

At the door to the facility Ariana saw a familiar numeric key lock pad as Merv tapped out a code with his talon. A click and buzz later, the door swung open. Merv held it with the back side of his wing and gestured for her to enter. She followed nearly bumping into a workbench or desk in the lobby area as she was torn between watching the impossibility in front of her and the pieces of equipment, networking, electrical, mechanical, and some she could not nail down that appeared to be in the processes of repair or refurbishment. Next to one such object was a stand with what looked like a prop from some roleplaying game, a dusty hand scribed tome of velum bound in leather, not something that belonged in a wireless relay station's maintenance shop. On yet another shelf, a fiber optic GbIC was somehow stuffed into a gently glowing sphere. The transmit and receive lights flickering away in a flurry of silent work. Ariana took note of the fiber lines connected to oddities that she did not expect to be a network appliance.

As the workspace gave way to rack mounts, Merv stopped short. Ariana's mind was still stuttering as she tried to process the events leading to this, the workshop of apocrypha, and the furred and feathered beast leading her around. Distracted, she failed to notice his motion arresting so silently. Ariana raised her hands to guard herself from the impending collision, only to firmly place them on Merv's hind quarters. Her fingers ran through the course guard hairs and silky under fur to feel the solid musculature under the gryphon's hide. Merv shifted slightly to look back at her with a cocked eye and as he moved she could feel the toned muscles slide and flow like corded steel before she lowered her hands. A chuckling caw of "Well then, do watch your step." broke Ariana from her fuge. A pleasant flicker of thought about this mythical creature's build passed through her mind as did Melody's love of all things cat.

"There is a lot of..." Merv paused " ... non standard equipment. If we keep you on call, you might get to know some of it." The beast gingerly stepped around the server racks with his wings tightly folded against his barreled torso. "Over here is the set of GbIC's that need re tipping. " He gestured to the next to last rack. Ariana looked over his flank only to see a genuine IT nightmare. 6 bundles of fiber with light leaking from the cladding, dangling tattered from a tray. "I have spools of fresh fiber over here. You can just tape and pull the new bundle through using the old. It's a write off." A talon gestured to the raised floor panels, one bearing a large duct tape "x" on it the floor adjacent had deep, parallel gouges in the tiles and frame. "Watch out for that panel, it's loose." Ariana looked mortified, this was a job for a team not one person. With that much slashed fiber, all of the switching fabric on this and the adjacent rack was definitely out. The rent fiber and gouged floor slowly sank in and left her feeling cold and miniscule next to the creature talking to her. "That fiber. Did you..." She squeaked out "Did you get mad at it?" The gryphon looked aghast or what Ariana thought passed for aghast on a raptorial face. "No no no no! I ... well." Merv's feathers dropped slightly, his tail limp, and ears swiveled back slightly. "I slipped. The tile is loose and... claws only get you traction if there is a floor to get traction on." Ariana stared blankly, the absurdity slowly sinking in with relief that the several hundred pounds of apex predator in front of her was not a rage prone monster, but fallible just like everyone else. She chuckled gently. "Oh you poor.. You poor. Gryphon?" Merv rolled his eyes in an expression that needed no translation. "Yes, gryphon. Look I was tired, it was 2 am and I made a fledgling mistake ok?" The beast was now exasperated looking as he walked past her. "Feel free to put on some music or something. Get started tipping this end and I'll get the safety mitts so I can help you pull it through the tray to the MUX over there and help stage your spools. Did you bring more?." Ariana fell back into her professional demeanor as she set to work on identifying, labeling, and tipping the first few fibers. "Yes, it's on the truck I left it unlocked... You are the only thing here other than me, right?" The gryphon chuckled and headed back the way she came in chirping "Yes for now. I'd like to get this done before Iggy gets back. I don't want to deal with the crap he's going to give me..." With that he left and began fetching spools. Ariana set to her task as well, sparing a moment to run her finger across the deep gouges in the steel framing of the floor tiles.

As Merv came back in with yet another box of fiber spools he could hear the sound of big band jazz blaring from the server racks. While she was definitely in shock over having met a creature like himself while almost dying, the mundane task at hand had clearly helped soothe her nerves. Now as he entered Merv was treated to Ariana's broad hips and backside swaying to the music as she hummed along. Taking a break from transporting even more materials in from the declining weather to expedite her work, Merv layed on the floor, feet tucked under his body and resting his head in beak on his talons. After a few minutes of savoring the warm indoors, he too had relaxed and was swaying slightly as his tail twitched as well. "Ok, Merv. If you don't mind sir I think I'm going to.." Shouted Ariana as she stood up. "What are you... doing?" She queried as she looked at the gryphon. Beginning to understand some of his expressions better, she almost swore he was looking smug and daydreaming. "Just enjoying your music and warming back up. It's starting to pile up out there." he chirped and purred in response as he gave himself a small preen. Ariana had a fleeting thought but dismissed it as being absurd. That gryphon, he wasn't staring at her ass was he? No way, she thought to herself as she also had another fleeting thought of her Melody. Shaking her head Ariana realized she was getting pent up. That week or two of vacation was starting to sound good.

In the office and work bench area, the coffee pot was bubbling away on another pot while Ariana sat down in a chair near the gryphon. He had laid out the block diagrams of the facilities switching fabric and had marked off what was down, repaired, and undamaged. They were about a half of the way through the work. While Merv could not do the finest of detail work to tip fiber optics, she had found he was able to identify patch panels and walk through the MUX setup as she replaced damaged GbIC components. As they continued on with the repairs she finally saw they "safety mitts" a silicone contraption somewhere between a pair of crocs for birds and finger cotlets. Merv did not seem happy to be wearing them, let alone around others. "No even for all the advances in the last two centuries PPE is still damn ugly..." Ariana giggled at the sight of a miserable myth, but the comment stuck with her for a bit. How old was this creature she had just met? Despite spending the day working with him, all she had learned was he was far less affected by the weather outside than her, and he was a competent problem solver and technician for all the limits of his less dexterous talons. She had not learned much about what he was despite his clear enjoyment of their conversation. Merv returned with more parts from her truck and a couple tool kits she asked for, pausing to shake off snow on the oversized doormat. After downing her coffee and making note of the next bundles to pull she hauled herself up and followed the gryphon back once again.

2 - Dinner and a Gryphon

As night fell the last few racks of switching fabric came back online. As a minor benefit, Ariana's phone also beeped and vibrated as the site's GSM repeater came back with it. She could now see two things were very clear. It was late, it was dinner time, and based on the wall of Emergency Broadcast System texts that made her phone wail like a banshee, the pass and it's one road out of this site, were now closed. With a glance at the creature she had met earlier in the day Ariana wondered how she had gone from thinking she had lost her mind in a fall to simply accepting several hundred pounds of mythical predator as a customer.

Merv sat in the kitchen area chirping and growling at one of the strange floaty orbs near the refrigerator. She had a slight rumble of hunger as she sauntered over cautiously. "Sooo..." she began to ask "what are you doing? I was going to start looking at..." "Dinnerrr!" Merv excitedly purred back to her trilling the r slightly eyes wide and bright. Ariana was taken aback and for a brief moment gripped by a pang of fear at the sharp beak that had swung toward her in a mere instant. "I have not had a guest in some time. I'm not used to cooking for others, but it is a nice hoby." His beak swung back to the fridge as he spun around, tail and tuft flowing behind him. Passing the door's handle from his beak to talons he stuffed his head in searching for something. "Are you going to make me dinner? I could just microwave something. I see instant noodles. Really, you don't have to." Ariana began to suggest. Merv's trilling response was immediate "I may be your customer, but the work is done. You are my guest and I am not having a guest in my nest live off of cup noodles!" Ariana watched as his feathers raised and the excited creature looked indignant. She was coming to realize that while the beak and brow made for a stern countenance, his real expressions were in his eyes, ears, plumage and posture.

"I... oh. This is going to be more of a trick. You probably don't want your vegetables cut by beak." Ariana paused at the sound of this, looking from the potato and celery the gryphon was setting on the counter. "Do you normally, you know, cook?" She wondered looking at the gryphon trying to grip a large kitchen knife carefully. The knife appeared to have an oversized silicone grip unlike the rest in the butcherblock. "Now and then, normally I just hunt. Sometimes I feel like something different or lose a bet with the gnome. You have any allergies?" Merv responded. "Allergies?. Uh no. I mean I'm a little lactose intolerant but I take something.for that. When did you learn to cook?" Ariana asked, the civilized pastime of culinary arts seeming at odds with the large beast in front of her. "Oh a century almost two ago. Sorry if most of my dishes seem rustic. I learned from pioneers when I first took over this post as a young gryphon." Merv responded proudly. "Wait. What?" Ariana sputtered. "Did you say centuries?" A look of shock crossed her face. A giant mythical beast she somehow accepted if not by virtue of its very real physical presence, but being centuries old stopped her dead in her tracks for such a vibrant creature. "How..." She stuttered for a moment. "Oh, right. Human. Yes.. humans. Sorry not many guests, and none who are... What is the best word... Uninitiated?" Merv stopped and sat on his haunches. "I'm not that old. I'm only an adult. Once my kind reaches adulthood we really don't age. I mean we're not immortal in the sense we can't die, but we really don't fit the proper description of 'mortal'." Ariana stared and sat in a chair by the table perplexed. "Then how old are you?" Merv's ears perked back up. "Oh, I believe your calendar dates that around 1740, so 273 years."

Ariana watched as he roughly cut vegetables and then began pulling what looked like a package of chicken breasts out of the fridge. He effortlessly snagged the wrapper on the point of a talon and began dropping 3 into the earthenware dish. Merv glanced back at Ariana and with what she assumed amounted to a shrug, tossed one raw breast into his beak. "Wait.. don't you need to... uh." she started to ask concerned while Merv made a few happy trills and purred out sillibants. "Oh that'sss a nice sssnack. Oh, Sorrrrrry I uhm. No it's fine. Large hunty predator, remember?" A bass rumble of purring contentment gently sounding as he went back to tossing the last of the veggies in. Ariana watched the tail tuft lash back and forth and could swear that somehow he looked smug. "Right... so what do you normally eat?" She asked, feeling that small ice ball forming in her gut again like when she first met this gryphon. "Deer mainly, cow when I can get some alone time with a free ranged herd. Only a couple farmers will sell whole outside a stockyard. Rabbit's a good snack, a bit small though. How about you? What's your favorite?" Ariana fumbled for a moment and realized how matter of fact this beast was about hunting and then thought about where her hamburger came from. "Oh uh, I really like most things, uh Indian, Italian, a really good burger." Perhaps it was just part of life's cycle she thought as Merv loaded the dish of chicken into the oven. Once closed he simply crouched and watched the oven and timer, tail still flicking and hinquarters coiled like springs. Merv was otherwise rather still.

"You seem very excited about this. Do you get out much?" Ariana wondered as the gryphon sat still as if he was stalking the oven. Stretched along the floor, he took up most of the space in the small kitchen. "Outside my nest? Often! Outside my duties? Not so much. It's nice having you here. Since you're in this mess now we both can just make the most of it." Ariana perked up for a moment. "Stuck in this mess? You don't just mean the snow do you." Merv nodded his feathered head "Yes, when it snows this bad the pass can be closed for up to a week, which gives us time to handle the fact you were not supposed to be here." "About that... I uh.." Ariana stuttered in worry only to suddenly have the gryphon suddenly upon her as she stumbled on her chair. "Oh no... no no no. You arrrrrrrrrree not in any dangerrrrr." he trilled as he placed a talon on her to steady her. "This is not your fault. Not at all... you will be fine." His beak darted out and retrieved her dropped phone dropping it in her hand. "We ... I mean creatures like me that you think are myths ... we have an arrangement. We stay out of most normal human lives and in return, your goverments mostly leave us alone and the religious crazies won't try to hunt us." Ariana looked a little less agitated. "So is someone going to wipe my mind or something? You can just make .." She gestured at the gryphon from head to tail. " ...all this just go away. You are kind of unforgettable." Merv's head rotated in response as he took this in and proceeded to wiggle slightly fluff and preen a little. "Why yes, I am. " She gave the slight boast a groan and chuckled as he continued. " I don't plan on letting that happen at all. I was thinking of simply asking them to send you again later... assuming you can be trusted and all." Ariana finished pouring another cup of coffee and nodded. "Besides I'm not an alien so Will Smith isn't going to flashy thing you." She sprayed a tiny amount of coffee at the joke as she giggled.

"So what exactly do you do here?" Ariana asked as she tried to take in the beast in front of her now that she wasn't busy or in shock. She noted his head and front was patterned like a small falcon, barring the very feline ears, and his abdomen on down, or back, was very much a lion. He lacked a hard defining line between the feline and avian aspects of his form. Merv's head swiveled after his ears snapped to her as she spoke. "Well this is my home you know. As for the business of Valewood Eyrie? Well that's straight forward. I am ostensibly the security for the standing stones and the relay here. I also help out on technology integration, quality, and spatial issues." She paused for a moment "Security? I'd be amazed anyone knows where this place is, you're not on the beaten path you know. I mean... you probably don't care with the flying and all but you're hard to get to. Who'd come out here?" Ariana chuckled at the thought. The gryphon's tone changed subtly and his eyes hardened a bit. "Not come out, come through. The who or what is something I hope you don't see anytime soon." Merv sighed, his barrel chest rising and falling with his closed eyes. "Sorry. I don't mean to be all grim and dark, but those stones mark a special place and sometimes things come through that are not friendly. Also once in a while you do get some wacko cultist." "So why all the gear? This place has almost enough switching fabric to be a small telco" Ariana seemed puzzled. "We are. Normally we pass transmissions and things through to places folks left for in the renaissance. This one is large enough for a gryphon if you put some effort in, but not much larger. So small things, data, emails, spam, stupid Facebook posts, porn, and cat pictures. You know telecom life." "Oh, you said something about an Iggy .." Merv had relaxed and was reflexively preening a little by his pinion. "Oh he's the gnome that works here on the telecom kit. He went home on vacation for family matters... nothing bad, just some 3rd cousin's nephew's baby or something like that. Big family."

A ding like tone came from the Orb on the counter, Ariana heard it but could have sworn the echo she heard came from everywhere and nowhere. A chill ran down her spine and was quickly forgotten as the gryphon perked up and whirled around, tail trailing his sudden movement. "SCRAW!" Merv fussed with and worried on an oddly silicone oven mitt and hooked the door handle in his beak. Mitt secured he removed the dish and set it on the counter and inhaled. "So how does it smell?" he chirped to his guest. Ariana could feel her mouth watering slightly as she realized how hungry she was. Merv looked at the red headed human as she took a deep breath and swallowed a tiny bit. "Oh that smells wonderful.. Can I try some?"

Merv back peddled a little before slinking around the table. "Sure, serve yourself. Plates are up and to the right... silverware is in... 2nd from the left. Yes. second one there." With some guidance she found the needed utensils and began making a plate and having a modest dinner. While not horribly complicated, Ariana was impressed with the moist chicken and savory vegetables in the dish. "This is ... pretty good." she said between bites as she became aware of the relaxed gryphon's continued gaze. "Thank you so much. Seriously, I did not expect this." As she continued in on the meal she mentioned "If you can provide a good meal like this, I'm surprised you don't have company more often! I'd come back." Merv visibly beamed with happiness at the compliment and purred.

Soon the plate was emptied and Ariana was relaxing on the only couch in the room with a book she had brought with her. It had a large flat almost futon or bed-like segment with sturdy fabric flanked by more normal cushioned seating. She wondered if it was for guests until Merv hopped up onto the bed like portion and curled up, the heavier fabric was for him. "This couch is pretty interesting Merv... where did you get this or was it some kind of custom thing?" "Oh Iggy made it so there was a 'normal' part - subjective as it is - for guestsssss." came the purred response. She watched as he got comfortable only a foot or two from her, talons flexing and hind paws kneading at the surface. Unlike a house cat or a falconer's pet, those long sharp extensions of his appendages were massive. Once more resting with his unblinking gaze locked on to her, the raptoral face seemed relaxed despite it's more intense look. Ariana felt like she was being hunted for a brief moment and felt a brief shiver. Vague unbidden thoughts of her girlfriend rolled through Ariana's mind and predatory pounces. She shook and they passed briefly and she wrote the warmth she felt off to the heat coming off the large beast next to her as she read and missing her partner. She noticed a message on her phone "Have a good night and tell me how the chef is! ;) " she cleared it quickly and resumed her reading.

"Merv.. do you blink?" Ariana asked as she set the Star Wars book she was reading into her satchel. The gryphon stopped still for a moment as if puzzled. "Yes... I blink. Everyone does." "Are you sure you do? I mean.." She got nervous for a second "I don't mind you or anything..it's just I never see you blink." Merv tilted his head a bit looking curious. "I just did." Ariana looked confused "But, your eye didn't close." A chuckle like chuff and twitter came from him as he slowly closed and reopened his eyes. "Come closer... Do you know how many eyelids birds and some other creatures have?" Merv leaned his head in while Ariana inched closer. With his head tilting to the side she was able to see the much larger eye up close. "And... Now." He grinned by gaping his beak slightly and Ariana saw it, a nictitating membrane whisked across his eye. "Woah..." she now realized she was also close enough to see and hear his slow, deep breaths. "It's not good to close your eyes while diving at prey or flying in general. I mean that ground... oof." he cuffed. "What's it like? Flying, I mean." Merv saw her hand slightly raise as curiosity gripped her. "For me I imagine it's how you view walking or running. I do it all day, but yes I do love to stretch my wings. It is as freeing for us as I imagine it would be for you."

Merv lifted his head back up, but Ariana stayed close. Another buzz from her phone was silenced and she asked "Do you mind, she's pretty worried about me?" With half lidded eyes the gryphon nodded. "You've behaved so far... thanks." As he settled in again she replied to her partner "He's pretty unique. Food was good... and he's behaving." The immediate response of "If he's that interesting, you thinking about kids again? Ok, if you're safe I'll stop being a brat. G'night!" made her blush a bit and stuff the phone back in her satchel. Ariana silently prayed the gryphon next to her did not see that. As the blood slowly left her cheeks, she had a fleeting thought. Wouldn't he have a family? Curious she turned and asked "Uhm.. if you don't mind me asking, are there other gryphons here?" Merv's ears swiveled to her "Here? No... I'm the only one in the area. Most of the Eyries and Flocks relocated during the early renaissance. That's another reason I'm here, this was well. It's one way to get there." She looked at him and paused "Oh so... are you lonely? I Mean.." He chuckled and chuffed a bit "No, I can visit them you know... besides the space to hunt without having to work so hard to manage herd stock is lovely." Merv turned his head to her, ears perked up "Having someone to talk to is a treat though. Thank you. I didn't plan on your company for dinner but it is a treat." She grinned a bit, "Yeah, It messes up our plans for the weekend, but this is just ... wow."

Ariana looked at the gryphon a foot away from her questioningly. "I have to ask... and I'm super sorry if it's not ok. It's just that I kinda just...." Merv's brow scrunched slightly as his head rotated to the side, the ears tracking his guest. "Just what? Oh... is it because you just outed yourself? Ma'am, the nice thing about not being human is I don't have your societies hang ups about..." Ariana's face flushed white and then a bright red as she blushed. "No! I mean I guess but that's not ... oooohhh.." The gryphon blinked wondering what had her so flustered. Her romantic plans being up ended explained some things, but now he was genuinely confused by this human beside him. "What then? You're not some crazy cultist are you?" She stopped as his head turned again to the other side looking quizzical as any bird could. "What? No. I just... can I just touch you? I just want to make sure this is real." Merv blinked, first with the nictitating membrane and then his eyelids. "Yes... just mind how the feathers lay." With that he leaned into her. Unlike the desperate grab to halt her fall, this contact was gentle. "You know when you have a hair out of place and it itches and annoys you? That times a few dozen is how a misplaced plume feels." Ariana ran her hand gently along his head, barely touching the smaller feathers by his brow and the larger ones by his ears whispering. "Wow." Merv pressed into her hand with his head reminding Ariana of her pet cat. "You can put some pressure on me, I'm not fragile." And so she began to work around the gryphon gently petting him and examining with curious eyes the predator she had dinner with. One hand absently began petting him out of habit as she looked at his talons. Her fist dwarfed by the deadly appendages. Merv began to make a rhythmic rumbling sound she realized was a genuine purr and paused. His half lidded eyes opened and he looked interrupted. "Oh, just so you know... prrrrreeeenning is a parrrrt of how we show or share affection. I don't want you to get the wrong idea, but this feels lovely." Merv trilled and purred to her. "If you want to stop, I understand." She placed her hand back on his flank "Ok, but I am growing fond of you if you keep cooking and being kind ..." Ariana smirked as she resumed the gentle petting of where fur and feather blended into a soft cloud like fluff. "You are also ... so soft." Merv chuckled back and extended a wing for her to inspect. "Then continue, you are great company and I appreciate it."

As the evening wore into night, the two continued to look over the gryphon's form as he explained the basics of flight, locomotion on all fours, and just how he typed on a keyboard without destroying it. With a yawn Ariana asked "Sooooo... where did gryphons come from then? I mean old legends say one thing... but you know right?" Merv nuzzled into the sleepy guest as he answered "Oh they are right somewhat... like all legends. Zeus made us. Not as magical as the legends describe it... the old pantheons they mixed things. Magic, technology, things advanced enough they could be either. So they made us... Guards, shock troops, and companions for the titanomachy." Looking drowsy as she sipped the last of her tea Ariana asked "So.. how much is true... and how much is just made up?" Merv rustled as he seemed to settle restfully. "All of it. None of it. Especially the parts about Zeus... total hornball." She paused thinking "But he made you..." Merv chucked slowly with a half beaked grin. "Yes, he did, but people saw divinity differently back then." The gryphon gave her a slow lick and preened her hair as she took off her glasses. "You're lucky. No one made you. You might spend your life looking for meaning, gods, laws, whatever. But what do you do when your creator is done with you? We had a purpose, now we find our own." Yawning and wondering where Merv got a blanket from Ariana began to doze. "You got a point there... thanks." She felt him adjust the blanket a bit as she continued. "Just surprised you are lonely... you're a good guy, bird, cat... gryphon. You should be happy." With a final tap on the underside of his hind paw by her sock clad foot, "Engineered toe beans." she dozed off.