Iron bars were holding my captive again. This was never a good sign. Most of my story so far has been made of the opposite of good signs, so I took it in stride to be a captive again.

We really need to stop meeting like this. Gilda quipped from the back of my mind. I could almost feel her tired sarcasm like a wet towel on my head.

Well Gee, you think? I quipped back in much the same way. There were things to be tired about, and the added strain of fighting a war in my head... er, her head, or our heads? Or... How is this even described?

Whatever. The added strain of this mental nightmare was not helping with adjusting to be being a girl and a griffon.

Oh, and add ‘in heat’ to that list, and honestly I can’t wait to watch you make an absolute fool of yourself since you would never ever drop your ego to ask me for help. I can feel my face drawing into a smirk of her doing.

I forced the smirk away. “And what the hell do you mean by your help?” I growled out loud.

Crap. I didn’t mean to say that out loud. Wait, where am I again? I walked over to the edge of the cage, curious. I looked around. Right... Back in the Ranger’s hut. That’s good. Or bad. I’m still locked up. Hope they don’t dissect me. Or shove me into a breeding program or something or...

I shook my head hard and managed to crack my neck.

Yeah, thoughts like that. You are going to have a lot of trouble thinking of much else for a while, and I know how to make it easier on the both of us, maybe save some of my already shattered dignity. Maybe keep you from trying to mate with every living thing in your path. She seemed to be having a lot more fun with this than I would have liked.

I ducked my head low to the cage floor, feeling humiliated. ...Fuck you. I sent the thought in her general direction. I’ll figure this out myself.

Okay. Oh, you should probably stop pressing yourself against the bar of the cage, the ranger might walk in. She mentally laughed as I felt something cold on my hindquarters and realized what I had been doing with a furious blush and an even angrier scowl. I hope you like being out of control. I nearly broke a tree in half on my first time. Thankfully I could tell she was exaggerating, but that still didn’t help much.

With a single move, I sat on my rear. Look... Maybe I’ve been a little stubborn... PLEASE HELP ME BEFORE I DO SOMETHING I REGRET?!!?

Dear lord, this was freaky as hell.

Let me take control. I won’t shove you away or anything like that, but let me take control enough to move. She said, forcing herself to be as civil about it as possible.

Surprisingly, I was more than willing to retreat from control. Seriously, some things were just NOT right. There. Control. HAPPY?

I felt myself slip away from the forefront.

Unlike before though, I wasn’t sent to that dark unbreathing place, and I could watch and feel as Gilda moved her talons into view and flexed them before closing her eyes and taking a few steadying breaths.

“The key is to force yourself to be aware of your own body. Unless you have medicine, you simply have to impose your will on your body, which is ironic since there are two of us and we still can’t do it any better than before.” She took a claw and pricked her arm. Not hard enough to bleed or really hurt but a sharp sensation that made me very aware of that point of contact.

She kept her breathing steady as she pricked herself across her wings, neck, arms, and stomach, not saying a thing.

I forced myself to try and figure out what was going on. Nope. No idea. Nada. Zero. Zip.

“My mind, or yours, whatever, is now more focused on that sensation than mating. For a time. Now we can pinch ourselves if we start sliding downhill again and it might help. Again, this is all we can do without medicine.” She took the time to stretch leisurely.

And uh... what if we run into a male griffon?

“Oh then we mate with him. No choice really. I mean, even with your reluctance, you wouldn’t put up a fight against these hormones, would you?” She laughs, examining her talons again and scratching away a bit of dirt from our previous hard landing.

That is disgusting! I shuddered, or would have shuddered. Ugh...

“Really? Huh, and here I was thinking that you were enjoying the thought, even if just a little. Oh nevermind, that was me.” She says with a smile as she curls up on the floor.

Sh-shut... U-up...

“Fine.” She says with a sigh. “We don’t need to make this any worse than it already is. So she just locked us up in here and leave or something?”

I don’t even know... I frowned. Or... You know what, you get the idea when I say I frowned, but I didn’t actually frowned because I wasn’t in control, right? I would’ve shaken my head. Tell me there is another way out of heat... Odds are, we are going to run into a griffon, just because the world hates us or something.

“Getting pregnant or running away at that point are the only real options. Running away sounds pretty damn good if you ask me, I don’t want to be raising the most awesome kid on the planet with a messed up head.”

… Shit.

That pretty much summed up that part. Shall we wake up the ranger or something? OR DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER THINGS YOU WANT TO TELL ME?

“Oh, you are asking for my help?” She perked up, grinning.

YES. PRIDE IS GONE, I AM FREAKED OUT.

“Okay, okay. Don’t scream in my head.” She sighed. “So first off, you nearly killed me when you locked up my wings, that was a terrible idea. I get that you were upset but you don’t just snip my feathers to make a point.” She growled. “Second, if you are stuck in my head then you really should stop seeing me as some terrible monster that you want to domina... defeat.” She said, pinching herself on the arm.

… What. I caught that. Dominate?...

“Yeah, that’s how you’ve been acting, some hot shot male that thinks he has all the answers. I used to beat the crap out of guys like you just to make a point. Well that isn’t an option anymore.” She grumbles.

Fine. Fine. I’m a pathetic little eggling, or cub, or whatever who has no idea what’s going on and is trying to make sense of things. HAPPY? There. You want me to do anything else? Or do you want me to grovel?

She pinched our arm for me to dispel the mental image that conjured.

“No. I also don’t need an apology. I just need you to see me as someone who is stuck in the same situation, okay? I didn’t ask for this any more than you did, and I am not trying to ruin your life, like you seem to think I am.”

Fine. Fine. Fine. Where do we go from here, then? How are you going to help me, or how can I help you, or I am so fucking scared right now...

I heard a rare bit of sympathy from the griffon as she replied. “Hey... It’s okay dude. I’m scared too... Do you want to be in control again? Stretch and relax? I know it helps me. Wow I feel pathetic for being so nice to you... But we can’t deal with being in heat and ripping into eachother at the same time.”

No. You take control. It feels better here, I can blame you if anything goes wrong.

She shook her head with a sharp laugh. “Fair enough dude. Fair enough. So... there is one other thing we can do-”

I cut her off, so amazing was my joy. WHAT IS IT?

“You aren’t going to like it... Seriously, that’s why I didn’t mention it before.” She said glumly.

I paused. ...Is it better than getting raped by a random griffon?

“Depends. How freaked out are you by being in a female body?” She says with a grin.

Oh... oh no, nonono, not that. Anything but that.

Half an hour later, we lay half asleep on the floor of the cage in a semi comatose state, but at least our shared body wasn’t screaming at us to mate anymore.

On another note, I now had a surprising knowledge of griffon anatomy. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing, but I felt a bit like vomiting.

“Nah that’s just because we haven’t had any good food for a while, your... stomach? Our stomach will settle once we get in a good raw meal.” She purrs.

… She was purring. That was creepy. Oh god. I felt so dirty.

“RANGER WAKE UP!” I took control of our mouth and shouted on a whim. Please please distract me!...

I could hear footsteps in the distance and a moment later the door opened. “Oh, good morning. How are you feeling?”

Gilda had apparently decided to let me share control for as long as I wanted.

“Rough...” I muttered. What am I supposed to say?

I don’t know. Tell her that we need raw meat or something. Gilda replied lazily.

“Meat. I want meat...” I felt a bit like screaming. ...Can you not be... that content? It’s weird...

“Oh... okay, I’ll get you some food. Raw or cooked?” She asked as Gilda chuckled mentally.

Hey, if I feel good, I enjoy it. Why put on a fake front when it doesn’t matter anyway?

… I hate logic. “Raw. Yeah, raw.”

“Okay, I’ll get some for you. Not letting you out of the cage yet though, I have gotten in touch with command and they say you have all the rights of a person, but that I have to keep you in a cage until they can get someone out to do a psych eval on you. Standard practice for cases where we find a wild griffin wandering the woods.” She says with a smile.

“...They have a standard for griffons?” I asked, a little confused.

The ranger laughed. “It was a joke, but yeah we do now. Be right back.” And she left, closing the door behind her.

… Well. That happened. Kinda.

The purring started up after another minute or two

So uh... What now?

Well, I’m happy. Do whatever you want. Gilda said with a smile.

… You’re kinda... not angry when you’re like this. I pointed out.

She casually took control of her body to yawn and stretch again. “Why would I be angry? I feel fine, we are getting food hand delivered, in my opinion this is better than equestria.”

Well. For one, you’re stuck with me.

She laughed as she rolled on her back and splayed her wings out across the cage floor. “And? We are cool now, no biggie, right? After all, we did just....”

YEAH, stuff, anyway.... I cut her off.

Wait, seriously, you think we’re cool now?

“You could have made this a lot worse, but you finally stopped acting like a dweeb and I think this could work out, so yeah.” The door opened and the ranger returned with a plate on which rested the most beautiful of sights. An uncooked new york steak. “Oh hell yeah.” Gilda muttered as it was set down in front of the cage.

Oh hell yeah...

Author's Notes: