Brit looked up when she heard talking. More people? If they kept this up they'd upset the gryphons. And an upset gryphon was nothing to trifle with.

Snorting quietly, Brit pushed some of her plain brown hair behind her ears, mis-matched eyes taking stock of the animals. The dragons were being lazy, as was warranted by a warm day, the unicorn herd was relaxed and grazing, and the gryphons were sprawled out, too. Good. All was in order.

Princess trotted up to her, sitting next to her and barking once at Leia, the smaller of the two female guard dogs. Lady huffed and trotted over to check on the unicorns again, and Luke sat silently watching them all. Brit shook her head at them and went to go hop the fence so she could check the water level in the pond. Whatever was happening up at the house could wait.

"For the last time, just leave me alone!"

Clearly, Hazel was annoyed. Not only had her grandfather passed away and left her in charge of his menagerie (a completely inappropriate term for what was clearly not just a collection), but now the people who ran the place kept trying to follow her around, metaphorically licking her boots. All she wanted to do was look around in peace and see what exactly her grandfather had saddled her with, not fend off a bunch of suck-ups.

Finally, she was able to evade them long enough to make her way towards one of the fences. She wasn't dumb enough to try to go in, but she did want to look for a bit.

Brit glanced over when she heard the yell, but she didn't move over or try to get Hazel's attention. She just tended to one of the four mares. The Master's herd hadn't been very big when he'd died, but she knew he'd been planning on getting more animals. He was something of a meddling breeder and a collector. He only had a few of each of what he had, but he had things good enough to breed and make profit off of.

She did look up when one of the dogs looked over at Hazel, growling just a little. The stranger was getting too close to the herd. A sharp whistle brought the dog back into line, and she moved away from Hazel again.

Hazel jumped a bit when she heard the growling and the whistle. Looking over, she barely managed not to roll her eyes when she saw another person wearing clothes that proclaimed her to be a worker in the menagerie.

"Are you going to try to kiss up to me, too?" she asked moodily. One of her hands rested on the fence, but she made no move to get closer. Herding dogs were known to be fiercely protective of their 'charges,' as far as Hazel knew, and she had no intention of provoking the dog with the worker.

Brit looked over at the new girl and blinked before she shrugged. She didn't know what Hazel was talking about, so she didn't even bother trying to respond. If she was another worker, she'd learn Brit's sign language eventually. If she wasn't, well, probably not.

Brit looked at Hazel once more before she returned to brushing the mare in front of her, pampering the mare a little. The mare preened, nudging her shoulder.

Hazen blinked when the other girl didn't answer her. That was something she wasn't used to. After all the butt-kissing from the people in charge of the ranch, though, it was oddly refreshing. The silence was strangely appealing, and she actually basked in it for a few moments more.

"My name is Hazel," she offered after a moment. "Hazel d'Loncré."

Brit blinked. Hazel, huh? She moved away from the mare and over to the fence, staying a few feet back. She bowed to Hazel, though not too low, the traditional greeting of the area. After a moment she smiled faintly and held one hand in front of her, motioning to herself and then to the herd. She wasn't sure how else to communicate with Hazel.

Hazel blinked when her introduction wasn't returned. Why was the other girl speaking...? Then it occurred to her; maybe she couldn't?

"So... you take care of the menagerie?" she asked. She didn't like calling it that, but that was what her grandfather named the ranch, and that was all Hazel knew it as. "Well, with those flunkies up in the main building, I guess."

Brit shrugged. She did most of the work, but that was okay. The others took care of the breeding arrangements and the finances and such; things that Brit had no interest in whatsoever.

After a moment she coaxed one of the mares over to the fence, close enough so Hazel could get a better look at the unicorn.

Hazel took a small step closer to admire the unicorn. She had no idea how to tell males and females apart, really, but she was more than happy to admire them just the same. She'd never gotten the chance to get close to any sort of creature, aside from her nekotama at home, so she was fascinated. It was partially why she hadn't outright objected and sold the menagerie when it was given to her.

"Grandpap had taste, if nothing else," she commented softly after a moment.

Brit nodded and patted the mare's neck, brushing her fingers through the off-white mane. She may not own the animals, but she was fond of them all. And she rather liked Hazel more than her previous Master. He hadn't come outside much the last few years, and he certainly hadn't tried talking to her.

After a little while longer of admiring the unicorns, Hazel reluctantly took a step back.

"I have to see the rest of the menagerie before I leave," she said. "They want me to take a look at everything before any decisions are made about the place."

Brit nodded and hopped over the fence easily, motioning for Hazel to follow her. She went to the dragons first, since the dragons weren't very aggressive. She glanced back once in a while to make sure Hazel was keeping up before she got the dragon cage. She opened the door and made her way inside.

All four dragons were lounging on various rocks strewn across the cage, wings spread. One of them, a friendly little dark green female with brown stripes, lifted her head to look at them curiously.

Hazel followed, although she picked her way across the ground rather than just walking. No matter what she'd inherited, she was still a spoiled rich girl, and didn't want to get anything unsavory on her shoes. Thoughts of nastiness on her shoes were forgotten, however, when she saw the dragons.

"Wow," she murmured as she peeked inside the cage.

Brit grinned briefly and beckoned her inside, moving over to the friendly female, starting to scratch above her eye ridges. The little dragon relaxed, her wings spreading further as her eyes closed. She was a happy dragon now. One of the males, dark orange with dark red markings, moved over to see if he could get some attention too.

Hazel ventured into the cage cautiously, not sure what to do. The dragons seemed calm enough... Almost cuddly, in a way. She didn't reach out to touch any of them, though, even when Brit did.

Brit motioned her over. If Hazel was going to be here, she figured she might as well have the young woman get used to the creatures. They did require some getting used to, after all. Even the calmest ones.

Hazel picked her way over to where Brit was standing, still a bit hesitant. She did get closer, but she still didn't try to touch the dragons. Somehow, it still seemed like a bad idea to her to just stick her hand out to something that could potentially bite it off.

Brit extended the male's wing so that it was close to Hazel. The male, in turn, moved around to sniff at Hazel, curious about the new two-legged pink thing.

Hazel watched, a bit wary, as the dragon turned to face her. To her credit, however, she didn't back away. Instead, she stayed where she was and let the dragon examine her. Hesitantly, she slowly extended a hand.

Immediately, the dragon rubbed against the profferred hand, rather like a cat. Brit grinned, pleased, and continued lavishing the female with attention. These little dragons liked attention. She'd heard of fairy dragons, which were even smaller, and apparently acted more like lapdogs than anything.

Once Hazel was sure that she wasn't going to lose her hand or anything, she carefully started to pet the dragon. Its scales were smooth and dry, and slid against her skin easily. The dragon seemed to react much like a cat would, and that set Hazel a little more at ease.

Brit smiled. Though the creatures all seemed strange to someone not used to them, some of them had characteristics much like house pets.

Except for some of the bigger things. Like gryphons. The gryphons were difficult to get used to for most people unless you got one as a hatchling.

Hazel was slowly relaxing a bit around the dragons, but she would no doubt be a bit high-strung again once they moved on to something else. And they would have to move on to something else, since she had to see the majority of the ranch before making a decision about it.

"What else is there?" she asked quietly.

Brit moved away and led the way out of the cage again, waiting until Hazel was following before she moved over to the gryphon cage.

One of the gryphons looked over at them as they entered, the other three spread around the cage. They weren't very cuddly creatures, and they all still had sharp beaks and claws. But the one that looked at them made no move to attack, instead tilting its head and surveying Brit first, since he knew her. Then he looked at Hazel.