Can't a gryphon get any alone time?!

The doorbell must have been broken. Laverna pressed it a few times, but there was no answer. She looked to the charming woman next to her, smiled and shrugged her shoulders playfully. Tired of carrying the plate, she rapped on the door lightly. She supported the weight of the plate close to her hip.

She made lavender shortbread biscuits. Hearing that the new tenant was a supernatural creature, she tried to avoid chocolate or anything too exotic. It might have been poisonous, as the rich food of the Aztecs were toxic to both dogs, cats and other animals.

"Hi, it's Laverna Reva here, your neighbour, sort of. I heard you just moved in. It's just me and my assistant and partner, Délise. May we come in?"

Délise was excited. She had never met a gryphon before! Or really, any kind of supernatural creature. While she supposed the academy was full of them, she had no shortage of excitement and curiosity whenever the prospect of meeting one came along.

Laverna did advise her not to ask too many questions or try to stare, but Délise wasn't sure how well she could manage that. It wasn't every day she'd get to meet a supernatural creature, and it wouldn't do her thirst for knowledge any justice if she didn't ask questions!

Délise looked to the lovely woman next to her, smiling almost uncontrollably. “We brought some biscuits over, if you'd like some. We baked it ourselves.”

"I hope we didn't interrupt anything important," Laverna said. She set the plate down and uncovered the cling wrap. The shortbread biscuits had a nice, soothing fragrant smell to them. They were perfectly round and disc-shaped, almost as though you could find them in plastic packaging on a supermarket shelf.

"I'm also not sure what you like to eat, so I made something with a mild flavour. This is Délise, she studies at SA and is my teaching assistant for Chemistry. She helped with the baking. You are?"

Laverna took a biscuit. The lavender sugar and the icing were just right. The shortbread crumbled in the mouth, but its texture wasn't gritty. Good. She looked around Evander's apartment.

"Wow. This decor is kind of funky." Laverna inspected the rug and the wallpaper thoughtfully. Everything else seemed like it was recently packaged out of boxes. Especially that plasma screen TV.

"I've got some extra wallpaper left if you want any help to redo the walls, but it might not be your taste. I suppose painting it over would be easier."

Délise's grin was as wide as it could go the moment she spotted the gryphon. A real life gryphon! Imagine that. She tried not to show her younger age by nearly breaking into a fit of giggles right then and there, certainly not in front of Laverna.

However, she couldn't help but fawn over the half cat, half eagle. “You are so cute!” She took a biscuit from the plate and knelt down next to Evander's beak. She offered the buiscuit right out of her hand. If he would let her, Délise would be more than happy to pet him and feel his feathers and fur. It was like fawning over two whole animals in one, except this was a special creature. And one that could learn, no less.

Délise seemed to have forgotten Evander was more than just a pet, but she was rather overexcited. “Where are you from? Were you born this way, too? Can you like, turn into a human too?” Délise knew some people who could change in and out of some forms. Délise herself could manage it, though she kept that to more private functions.

"I saw some prints the other day in a home decor store. Not my usual taste but they could totally fit in here for cheap. And maybe some pillows here, and there..." Délise seemed to amplify Laverna's own interests. It didn't take long to forget she wasn't in her own dorm.

"I understand where you're coming from," Laverna would have inserted a name for the Gryphon, but he still hadn't introduced himself yet. Especially not after being cooed over by Délise like he was a kitten.

Laverna may not have felt so uncomfortable as the Gryphon, but after years of being asked for her history and background in dimly-lit bars and seedy establishments, Laverna developed her own way of coping with uncomfortable questions.

"The past is past. Not everyone is comfortable about talking about their origins, and that's fine. I'm the same way."

She didn't chide and scold Délise to back off; Laverna treated her as an equal in age. She wasn't aware of the younger succubus' true age, thinking she was merely Eric's more useful, beautiful and intelligent older sister.

"Yeah. Décor. I suppose you could use with some helping hands for the finicky bits. Let's really change the subject to something more interesting. We might as well be talking about still life."

She fired a quick smile at Délise. It was a second chance to make up for her faux-pas. Besides, the young woman really knew how to get a conversation going.

Délise sighed. It was hard to treat a gryphon like a human when he was clearly not human. Sorry if he didn't want to be treated like a big cat, but he was half that already. Denied her answers and silently scolded by Laverna, Délise composed herself and retracted the biscuit. She bit into it herself. “They're really good though,” She invited after swallowing her first bite.

She returned to Laverna's side, taking her cue to start something a little more relevant to all their interests. Délise didn't miss a beat, “Have you taken the time to look through Starlight Academy yet? You can find us in Laverna's office most of the time, if you have any questions. Just remember to knock first,” Délise shot a knowing, sideways glance to Laverna.

“As said before, we are part of the Chemistry department. I study Maths too, so I'm all over the place in there. Are you...” Délise stopped a moment. Evander seemed well-spoken enough to be a college student, perhaps. She knew nothing about gryphons of course, aside from the fact they didn't like to be pet. Still, she made her guess, “a college student? What are you studying?”