So, you're a griffon... {Gilda, Jack Frost}

[leontrifera]

Jack sat against his chair, in front of a nice restaurant. Apparently, he got somepony named "Gilda". That was an odd name for a pony. But, he wasn't one to judge. He just... needed to figure out what to do. Was he smooth? Polite? Dreadfully handsome? Of course he was, but that was besides the point!

What was he beyond that? What could he be? He could be an Ifillian romantic... He could be a shy type... He could be the bad colt type... Eh... Lately the gimmicks weren't doing it for him... He'd just... He'd be Jack. Yeah...

Jack sighed, flicking the straw in his drink. He turned around, and came face to face with a griffon. "Gilda?"

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Jack Frost? What kinda name was that?! Gilda knew she was gonna get stuck with a pony on this silly date thing, but she had really been hoping that they could fly. While the name 'Frost' had some promise, she suspected it wasn't a pegasus. Just a gut feeling, she usually trusted those, it was something that just came with hunting.

She had also gotten a semi nice restaurant chosen for the place to meet her 'date.' Not her first choice, but hey, it couldn't be all bad, maybe he or she would be cool and pay the bill for her. Probably not though, they had just met and she wasn't even dressed up, or at all. What would a griffon wear to a date that wouldn't look ridiculous anyways? Nothing, that's what.

She had only signed up to this to convince her boss back in Cloudsdale that she was actually trying to have some sort of social life. He seemed weirded out by her lack of connections sometimes. She had gotten the idea that having this, in paper, would convince him to let her continue her job.

It probably wouldn't work anyways, but it was a shot.

She walked into the restaurant and looked around, not much to see other than one of the nicer restaurants she had ever been to. A griffon didn't really get a plethora of options for eating in Equestria. None of them served meat, not even fish! But it wasn't that bad, griffons could eat vegetables and even enjoy them. Gilda preferred fruit though, much tastier, and sweet.

She was quickly led to a table, the second she opened her beak to ask the waitress where her 'date' would be. She shut her beak and followed with an unamused expression. As she approached the table she could see the back of the stallion, no wings. Darn. Too bad, when he turned to her she gave a weak smile and nodded "So you're Jack Frost?" she commented while sitting down and glancing at her menu, then back to the stallion. "So...uh...Hi" she was slightly bashful, not a norm for her, neither was dating though "Ummm....yeah, I'm Gilda, like you said." smooth Gilda, way to act chill, mindless repetitiveness was always chill, not. "You ever been here before?"

[leontrifera]

Jack shrugged, glancing at the menu. "I've probably eaten here before... I'm just... Not feeling myself today." Which was true. He wasn't feeling up to his habits today. No gimmicks, no nothing... All this luvvy-duvvy stuff was reminding him of where he'd be for a long time... Probably alone, drinking, telling himself how great his life was...

Don't get him wrong, he loved his life. It was just, around this time of year, he doubted himself. A lot. One time, he even swore off his lifestyle, and joined a college. One party later, he was back to his old self...

Jack sighed, looking up and down the choices. Nothing seemed to even remotely interest him. They would've done better to provide him with something like ice skating. That would've been perfect! But, no. They give a fancy restaurant. Which at any other time of the year would have been great. But when he was at his most vulnerable? Pfft...

As soon as the waiter came over, he pulled him down to eye level. "I need a shot of something strong. Nothing else... No, scratch that, also get me a plate of strawberries. Nothing else than that, I'm not feeling that hungry." He needed to at least eat something while they were here. Jack let go of the waiter.

The waiter walked over to Gilda, and while he took care of her, Jack contemplated. Alright, you probably look like a mess to this griffon... She doesn't seem too bad... Maybe you can turn yourself around before this night's over. At least walk out of it with some nice conversation, and having met a griffon.

[Deleted]

"Actually, I haven't...I don't really come to these sort of places often." she scanned the menu, trying to find whatever was the last leafy "Or....ever actually." well....at least there was a lot of fruit. She'd just order...same as he was getting, strawberries. Course that wouldn't fill her up, so maybe a side? She could have...a banana or something.

He wasn't particularly striking to her. The stark white mane and light blue was a bit boring for her. It seemed so...normal. Maybe it just wasn't colorful enough or something, yeah, that sounded right. Not that he was ugly or anything. He just didn't seem all too exciting so far.

Gilda typically didn't like to sit around and do nothing. The lack of conversation was making it a billion times worse though. This was probably the second worst date she had ever been on. That wasn't saying much though. Gilda had been on no more than 6 dates in her entire life. None of those dates had the same pony in them either. Each and every one was a different pony. Most had the same problems, boring, dumb, or both.

"I'll...have...the same as him, without the shot." she said, allowing the waiter to leave, finally. "So, what do you do other than....this." she wasn't used to starting conversation...it was weird. She was beginning to regret this whole thing. "I deliver mail, long range and...yeah" maybe she should have taken that shot.

[leontrifera]

"Oh, um, I'm a Winter Specialist. I deal with keeping snow and ice from building up. I also play a large part in organizing the Hearth Warming holiday. The rest of the year, I don't really do much."

Okay, Jack, you obviously just want to be friends, so, make an effort. You don't have many friends, so any that you can manage would be nice. "You said you deliver mail? What's that like? Any stories?

The waiter came by, setting down two plates of strawberries, and handing Jack the shot. Jack took it, and downed it. Wrrruh! That'll add some hairs on your chest! Much better. Jack smiled, setting down the shot. He took a strawberry, biting into the juicy sweetness.

[Deleted]

Winter specialist? So was he just jobless during all the other seasons or maybe he just ran up north to some small village where it was always snowing or something. She was pretty sure there were at least a few griffon villages up there, though they were reaaaallllly small. She didn't know how big the pony villages would be or if there even were pony villages very far north. She knew there were Yak villages. They apparently hadn't gotten along with the Griffons up there. Something about stealing milk and cheese while hunting too much.

"Delivering is interesting. It keeps my wings busy and keeps me in shape too." those were two of the most important things about her job for her. She did meet a lot of ponies thought, mostly ponies anyways. She never hung around them long though and most the time she got to know them through arguing.

Sometimes it was better though. Sometimes she had an awesome night before flying back to Cloudsdale and never seeing whoever she had met again. "Lets see, there was one time in Fillydelphia. It got real wild." she stopped and impaled a strawberry on one of her talons before shearing it off with her beak. "I ended up having to catch down a train as it left the station with a sprained wing and-" she paused, looking at the plate of strawberries and then shivered as she said: "being chased down by Diamond Dogs."

Boy she hated Diamond Dogs "Apparently I was carrying some rich family's jewels and they had belonged to a Diamond Dog pack leader until he was defeated in battle a while ago." she looked at him "And I mean a while ago." she didn't know the exact time. Maybe 100 years ago or something? "How 'bout you?" she popped another strawberry into her mouth "Any...Winter Specializing stories?" Okay that sounded dumb, but she had to ask...it was supposed to be a date right? Even if she had no serious intention of dating this guy.

[leontrifera]

Jack Frost actually found himself leaning forward in interest as she told her story. He chuckled at the end, leaning himself back again. "Well, I don't have anything as exciting as Diamond Dogs chasing me down while I'm injured, going for a train. Let's see if I can scrounge up something interesting..."

He created a ice cane in the air, tapping it against his chin. There we go... You might actually enjoy yourself! "Well... The most interesting thing I ever experienced as a Winter Specialist, was a snow storm about a year ago. I was out there, trying to keep the water from freezing for the entire town, and I was forced to take refuge in a random house. Magic takes a lot out of you... I looked around, and the house seemed empty, except this weird sound I heard in the basement. So, I went to check on it. Well, I happened to walk in on some sort of dark magic ritual..."

Jack nervously chuckled. "Those unicorns were not the friendliest. They chased after me with knives, chanting some freaky spell stuff. I managed to freeze their mouths shut before I could get out of there... And then, to make sure they didn't do anything else, I maneuvered a snow drift through all of their windows."

[/b]

Jack shrugged, taking a bite of strawberry. "After the storm, I went to check if they were still there, but they were gone. I still hear chanting sometimes... Freaks the heck out of me. Probably sounds like a ghost story, and sometimes when I've had too much to drink I wish it was. Scares the crap out of me walking down an alley and you hear somepony chanting those dark things."[/blockquote]

[Deleted]

Did he just magic up a cane of ice? Unicorns could do that? That was actually sorta cool, no pun intended. Gilda stared at the cane, watching it gleam in the light. She sorta had a thing for shiny objects. They were just pretty and tended to catch her eye and sometimes her attention too.

Gilda wasn't really well versed on magical matters so magic was a pretty big mystery to her. She had very little experience with it, barring the magic that allowed her to stand on clouds and move the clouds around. That barely counted though, she didn't have to try to do either of those. She had never really hung out with Unicorns or Earth ponies for that matter. The most complicated magic that she usually saw was when unicorns were holding something and she flew by, far above them.

"Wow that's...weird?" she cocked her head to the side slightly. "Dark magic is the bad kind right?" she said with a sheepish smile. She was pretty sure it was the bad kind. It sounded bad at the very least. "Quick thinking though, sounds scary too...not that anything scares me." She puffed out her chest proudly. She wasn't scared of much, nothing that this guy would find out about anyways.

She shuffled her wings and smiled, skewering another strawberry on her talons before flicking it off and up to her beak. She caught it between the very tip of her upper and lower beak before using her tongue to pull it into her mouth and swallow. "So, what're you doing here? On the date I mean, why'd ya sign up?"