milliways_bar | (no subject)

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zhaan

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It's that time of year again! Zhaan is outside in the garden, breaking the frosted soil of her garden plot with a hoe and mixing in compost from a nearby wheelbarrow. When this task is done, it will be time to arrange the soil into furrows - or little mounds, depending upon what she intends to plant where.

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Zaknafein smiled at her tentatively. "Can I help?" he asked. Around his shins, a pint-sized (metaphorically speaking) feather-and-furball of a griffin waved a tail at her, as it sniffed at the grass, the freshly turned earth and Zhaan in particular.

"Certainly," Zhaan says. She points at a small shovel sticking out of the wheelbarrow. "If you could distribute a few shovelfuls of that around the plot..." She notices the small griffin. "Ah, I see you brought a friend."

"He's new to the Bar." Zak smiled at her wryly as he picked up the shovel and bent to work. "I just hope he doesn't widdle on your work."

Zhaan chuckles. "At this point I do not think it would be much of a problem, unless his leavings will make the soil toxic. Does he have a name?"

"Not yet?" Zak said tentatively, still working, gently swatting the bouncy griffin out of the way whenever he had to. "He's supposed to be a present for someone, but they haven't been in Bar lately."

"A pet, then?" Zhaan asks. "I hope you warned the intended recipient. It's best to be prepared before you bring a companion animal home."

"The intended recipient expressed a deep love for this species of creature and that he was sad they no longer existed on his home-world." Zak said sheepishly. "Also he said his Order used to raise these for war-beasts and companions. So I think he should be prepared enough?"

Zhaan looks concerned. "If they have been extinct, I hope the knowledge about how to care for them still exists - and that your friend has access to it," Zhaan says. "Also, I must admit I feel a bit sorry for it, if it is to be the only one of its kind in the entire world."

Having not seen another of her kind for a very long time, Zhaan can relate.

Zak shifted uncomfortably but continued working. "I hadn't thought that far." He confessed, embarrassed. "But the recipient is very kind and is good with animals. And the person who I got it from says I can likely get another, some other time, and has given me some pointers on its requirements.."

Once he'd saved up for it, that was...

"Likely if the intended recipient is happy, then I will get him a second, so he will have a breeding pair on hand and it will not be so lonely?"

"If you intend to rebuild that world's griffon population, you will need more than a single breeding pair," Zhaan says. "But for now, it would be prudent to start with just the one."

Zak tilted his head slightly, inquisitively. Kept working.
"Yes, I thought so too. How many breeding pairs would it take to rebuild a population anyway?"

He's sure he doesn't have that much money!

"That depends upon a number of factors," Zhaan says. "For example, do they pair-bond for life? Switch mates every breeding cycle? Do individuals of one sex compete amongst themselves to mate with ad many members of the opposite sex as they can?" Zhaan looks directly at Zaknafein. "Do you know?"

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