Richard is not enjoying this one bit. Which frankly is not new. There's been a lot of things he doesn't enjoy one bit lately, so this just gets added to the growing list with little more than a frustrated sigh.

The surprise is when there's a similar-sounding huff, just at a lower level.

"Who's there?!" he asks immediately, twisting around on the spot.

"Just me!" replies a reassuring voice, much nearer to the ground, and accompanied by the rustling of.. feathers?

Richard kneels down, reaching out towards the voice, and is met with a wet nose and soft fur. A dog?

"Oh, aren't you wonderful!" he reacts immediately, going to pet her as she makes a pleased noise. He then realises that what he thought sounded like feathers actually was feathers. Wings? This dog has wings!

"I'm Victoria," she introduces herself. "I'm Richard," Richard replies happily.

Well, this took a much more pleasant turn all of a sudden. She's small enough that he can pick her up, which he does, and she nuzzles cheerfully into his neck. They both giggle.