Two quick comments before anyone gets too far into this:
1: This may kinda come off as though I'm against zoos . I'm really not, especially since I'm sure not all zoos do what this fictional one does. If they did, they should be closed down.
2: Welcome to the weird corner of my mind. And I mean weird. You have been warned.
Gilbert stretched lazily from where he lay on his back on the ground. The sun was warm and the last of the visitors had left for the day and the evening meal would soon make its way to the enclosures. Gilbert closed his eyes and sighed as he relaxed in the grass.
"Amigo! Have you heard?" A cheerful voice called from the enclosure to the right. Gilbert lifted one heavy eyelid to peer at his Spanish friend. He was sitting in his enclosure up against the fence dividing them, and was smiling widely.
"And what would be the latest gossip, Toni?" Gilbert closed his eyes again. Antonio was always one to keep up on the latest of zoo gossip, although he, himself was never one to keep up with the latest drama between the selkies and mermaids, the newest disputes between the yeren and yeti, or the tales of another failed escape attempt by the resident jenglot. There was no stopping his cheerful neighbor and was encouraged further by the third of their trio who would swoop down with extra insights in the evenings.
"They brought in a new harpy!" Antonio announced, waiting for a reaction equaling his own.
"Harpies are common, Toni. I don't see why you're so excited over it."
Antonio shook his head, the large bull horns on top swaying dangerously back and forth. "Not this one. He was wild and they caught him."
Gilbert opened his eyes again to look at Antonio who was eagerly awaiting a response. A wild harpy was rare these days. Around the same time that it became legal for the mythical creature zoos to exist, they also passed laws that allowed the prostitution of certain species. Harpies were included on that list, and most had flocked to the zoos to turn themselves in. Rather than having to seduce travelers to their lands, they could have willing participants. There were a few rare ones that, unlike the majority of their compatriots, did not have the same wanton spirit.
"So let me get this straight. The humans caught another one of us that was minding their own business, not bothering them much, and dragged them here against their free will to live in this verdammt place, just like a certain awesome individual you know?" Gilbert narrowed his eyes, knowing the answer would just provoke him more. His calm and relaxing evening was already over.
"Exactly!" Antonio practically cheered. Gilbert's grin grew dangerous, now having just the thing to push him over the edge. He rolled over and got to his hands and knees eyeing Antonio with a piercing red gaze. Antonio smiled broadly, still not understanding the situation.
"Exactly." Gilbert repeated. From Antonio's perspective, he was gazing upon the human form of his friend one moment, and upon blinking was now staring down a massive silver wolf that was lunging and snapping at the dividing fence. Antonio quickly jumped up on his hooves and backed away, lowering his horns in warning and glaring at his neighbor.
"Bonsoir mon ami~! My, my, can't even get along while I'm gone." There was the loud beating of wings as their friend landed beside Antonio. One wing he tucked gracefully along his side and the other he placed on his friend's shoulder. Gilbert sighed and shifted back, sitting comfortably on the grass and Antonio's large grin was already back in place.
"Francis, do you have any more news on that new harpy?" Antonio inquired, all memories of the earlier argument seemingly forgotten. Gilbert shook his head at his gossiping friends and leaned back on hands watching them.
"Only that they are looking to get rid of him. Won't come near any one or eat. Last I heard they are going to throw him into someone's pen and let the inhabitant take care of him and have a bit of fun while they're at it." Francis quickly told his friends, preening a few of his bronze feathers while he discussed the impending doom of one of his own kind. Gilbert growled lowly. Humans and their morals about things considered not human enough.
Gilbert listened absent-mindedly to the rest of the gossip Francis brought. The Koschei was causing problems again, terrifying his neighbors, and had to be subdued, and one of the hrimthurs had frozen his companion because he annoyed him. While they were talking, there was loud commotion from the side of Gilbert's enclosure. Assuming that the noise from behind him was the keepers delivering food, he paid no attention to it, until the harpy and minotaur next to him stopped talking and simply stared in that direction. Curious, Gilbert turned himself around so he could also see.
A large metal cage had been rolled up to the door that separated Gilbert from the outside world and people were in the process of shifting gates and doors from the outside. Francis hummed something low in French and Antonio kept looking from the door to his friends in confusion. Gilbert kept an eye on the door and shifted into his wolf form, keeping low to the ground and preparing for whatever his keepers had in store for him. He strategized plans quickly in his mind should they try to take him.
With a final clang, the door separating the smaller cage from the larger one opened and the trio all peered into the dark hole to catch a glimpse of something shifting around inside. That something was pushed out by the keepers and it stumbled and blinked at the sudden bright light, taking a few tentative steps out on shaky claws.
Gilbert remained frozen in his hunched position and watched as the new arrival glanced around the open pen, his large wings wrapped around his torso and even from the distance they could see the he was shaking. The new arrival slowly moved further in, keeping a watchful eye to his surroundings and stretched his wings out as far as they could go, testing them slightly. Gilbert narrowed his eyes further at the jagged edges of the clipped feathers lining the harpy's wings. Humans, he thought bitterly, letting out a low growl.
The harpy's head snapped quickly to the form of the large wolf and began to panic. He furiously beat his wings attempting to lift himself to the uncovered sky just above him but could not get anywhere with his damaged wings. With the exertion and hysteria, he blacked out, falling face first into the mud.
When the creature stilled, Gilbert stood up slowly and padded forward towards the unconscious harpy. He nudged the harpy's shoulder with his nose and when he didn't get a response rolled him onto his back. He gazed down at the form lying on the ground before him. The harpy had blonde hair with a slight wave and a single curl in the front. The hair melded into the golden feathers that trailed from the back of his neck across his shoulders to form his wings. He looks young, Gilbert thought as he watched the male in front of him and considered how pitiful the other looked coated in mud. Gilbert shifted back and carefully picked up the harpy.
A laugh reminded Gilbert of his friends and he looked back at them who were still watching him. Antonio, as cheerful as ever, commented on how great it was Gil would have a new friend to play with and Francis winked at him before taking off to tell the rest of the zoo about where the new harpy had ended up.
Ignoring Antonio, Gilbert carried the limp harpy towards the small cave at the back of his yard. The blonde head lolled and rested on the albino's chest and Gilbert glanced down at the contact, considering what he was going to do to have to care for his extra guest. He walked through the entrance of his simple home and laid the harpy down on his bed. He then turned and began digging through his things, discovering a relatively clean cloth and worked to remove the worst of the mud off and threw one the blankets over the top. With a final glance, Gilbert left to claim the dinner that had surely arrived while he was tending to his new room-mate.
Halfway through his meal, Gilbert heard his companion begin to stir where he had left him. He watched as the harpy's eyes blinked open and looked around his surroundings in confusion. When his gaze found the albino sitting across the room from him, he gasped and shuffled back to the corner searching for an exit.
"Calm down, will ya? I'm not going to hurt you." The words had little effect on the harpy, as he continued to shake nervously where he was. Gilbert sighed, "Hey? Can you even understand what I'm saying?" He waited a moment for a reaction but when he got none decided to try again. "Sprichst du Deutsch?" This time, he thought he noticed a little more confusion at the words. "No? Alright, so you must speak English. Well, I hope you do cause I don't know anything else." Gilbert paused for a moment trying to gauge the others reaction.
"You have a name?" Gilbert tried. He was met with silence and he watched as the harpy showed no intention to move. "I think it would be helpful for me to call you by your name when I talk to you." Still nothing. "I could tell you mine first. I am the awesome Gilbert. I pretty much run things here." He jabbed this thumb towards his chest and grinned although they fell as he still couldn't get the other to react. "Well, if you can't tell me your name, I'm going to have to come up with something for you and I should warn you, people say I'm terrible at picking out names." He sighed again when he was still met with silence. "Alright then. Your choice." Gilbert paused and thought it over. "I know, I'm going to call you Birdie. Do you like that?" He thought he noticed one of the eyebrows on his new friend twitch slightly in irritation, but he may have also imagined it. "I'm going to take that as a yes."
Gilbert looked down at his unfinished meal. "Hey Birdie, you want something to eat?" he called out. He picked up the plate and stood up slowly. The wide violet eyes watched every step Gilbert took as he approached the bed holding out the food. As he neared, the harpy stiffened and tried to draw further away. "Calm down, Birdie. I'll just leave this here and you can take it when you want." He placed the plate down on the edge of the bed and backed towards the entrance. "Look, you can have the bed, I'm going to sleep outside. It's a nice enough night and with fur I won't get too cold. Gute nacht Birdie!" And with that, Gilbert disappeared outside, leaving Birdie alone to cautiously take the food left for him.
Once outside Gilbert shifted and took a moment to gaze around the quiet zoo. A gentle breeze ruffled his thick fur as he stood in the growing darkness. Antonio was nowhere to be seen and had probably gone inside his own place to sleep and the other pens were quiet with the residents all turning in for the night. Choosing a spot near the entrance he turned a few times before settling down. He also studied the sky briefly, although the lack of stars made him depressed and he tucked his nose beneath his tail, shutting his eyes to prepare for sleep.
Here's a quick reference to some of the creatures I mentioned:
Selkie: From Iceland, Ireland, and Scotland, they look like seals when in water but can shed the skins and walk around on land looking like humans.
Yeren: Also known as the Chinese Wildman. Kinda like their version of Big Foot.
Jenglot: This little vampire thing from Indonesia.
Koschei: A terrifying creature from Russia that cannot be killed because it stores its soul inside a needle hidden inside an egg, a duck, a rabbit, and a chest. If you somehow manage to get to the egg, you can control the thing.
Hrimthur: Norse ice giants. And yeah they can freeze people.