Authoress’ note: Hi folks. This was a story pulled from the blue when I needed to write a story for English class that would be less than two pages. I ended up with three pages, but hey, I tried. Anyway, with Lillian, a Pinocchio parody is inevitable. This isn't really canon, though. Just sort of a goof-off funtime story, with no bearing on real events in the novel. Slightly inspired by AI (yes, the movie with the Sixth Sense kid), some fanfiction I once read, and oh yes, Aidan the flutter-dog. Of course.

On a warm, late-spring night in the mountains, the large puma gryphon Dakota could be found kneeling next to a small bed, reading a storybook to his creation, a small blue bird-like robot dubbed Lillian who was as much a magical oddity as he was himself. It was quite a touching scene, which, unfortunately, didn’t last.

“-And the Blue Fairy touched her wand to the puppet Pinocchio’s head, and with a flash of light, he was turned into a real live boy! And so, Pinocchio and his father Gepetto lived happily ever after. The end.” Dakota closed the book and turned and gape-grinned at Lillian, only to be met with a dubious look.

“Were you trying to imply something by reading me that?”

“No!” Dakota looked at her and then to the storybook he held in his talons. “What do you mean?”

She rolled her eyes in thought. “Well, you could think I lied too much, and had yet to develop a conscience…”

Dakota laughed. “You can say that about a lot of politicians!” Lillian glared at him. “Aww, c’mon, I thought it’d be a cute story to read…”

“Please! You’re going to give me an unnatural standard of beauty! What if I wasn’t happy just being aware but wanted to be a real live girl? What would you do?”

He rubbed her head. “I’ll get you a wig of golden locks, that’ll shut you up.” He winked.

She grasped her head, embarrassed. “Dakota!”

He just chuckled. “You asked for it,” he said, pulling himself up. “Well, I’m going to bed, maybe you can dream up some electric sheep.”

Lillian sneered up at him as he stood in the doorway. “You’re abusing me.”

 “Tough,” he said, and turned out the light.

Within a few minutes the lights were all out in the little mountain house, and the robot and gryphon alike drifted into their own respective forms of sleep. Then suddenly, at midnight, one of the stars brightened in intensity and descended down from the sky to the little house, hovering outside Lillian’s window. With a pop, a fairy materialized within the room. Lillian stirred.

“Onward, mighty stallion! And watch those spurs,” she murmured, but did not awake.

The fairy kneeled down over the small automaton, curly blond locks falling forward as she did so. She was rather tall and lithe. She appeared to be a cape hunting dog, but instead of being tan and black she was a light blue that illuminated the room. True to form, she had delicate crystal wings and was decked in a slim dress that hid her feet.

“Little mechanical puppet,” she whispered, reaching down to touch her. “Wake up, my dear.”

Lillian grumbled and blinked her eyes open. “Oh, what is it….yearg!” She hovered straight off the bed and backed herself up into the corner. “Who are you and what are you doing in my house?”

“Never fear, my darling, I am the Blue Fairy, and I’ve come to see you, my little mechanical puppet,” the fairy said in her sugary-sweet voice.

“Well, that can’t be me, I’m a robot,” Lillian said dubiously.

“A robot? Oh dear,” the fairy mumbled. “Is that one of those spaceships I’ve heard so much about?”

Lillian groaned. It was going to be a long night.

“Well, my dear, whatever you are, I’ve been sent here to turn you into a real live boy!” the fairy squealed, all confusion forgotten as she took joy in her job.

“I’m a girl.”

“Oh! Silly me! You don’t have any hair, so I thought…”

“Oh, what is with people and their fascination with my lack of hair?” Lillian fumed. 

“Well, if I turned you into a real live girl we could fix that…”

“No! I am alive!” Lillian screeched, irritated. “You know that gryphon who created me? He animated me! He’s got his own magic powers, flutter-dog!”

“Oh!” The fairy was rather shocked. “My poor dear, a living being can’t be confined to a metal shell, let me fix that…” She brandished her wand and pointed it towards Lillian, but she bolted forward and knocked it out of her hand.

“Point that thing somewhere else!”

The fairy got down on her hands and knees and searched for her wand. “You’re being awfully stubborn, little robot…” She grasped the wand and pulled herself up, hands on her hips. “Don’t tell me you want to remain a robot!”

Lillian stared her down. “Why shouldn’t I?”

“My dear, imagine being able to laugh, play…”

“I already do!”

“Scrape your knee!”

“And that’s a good thing?”

The fairy fiddled with her wand. “Be accepted?”

Lillian blinked. She had her there. If she were an organism, she would finally fit in…and she wouldn’t be doomed to a life of manual labor. She’d belong, and she’d be able to find herself a place in society, as unstable as it might me, and stay there until she grew old and forgotten or until she did something stupid to ruin it. But would it be worth it, for the brief time in which she was finally accepted?

She looked up to the fairy, who looked like she was about to have a conniption from anticipation and nodded.

The fairy lit up, raised her wand and lowered it to her head and-

“What are you doing?!” A large gryphon came between them and knocked the fairy aside just in the nick of time, the wand sent flying out of her hand.

“Dakota!”

He bounced off the fairy, who was crumpled into the corner, and padded towards Lillian, panting. “Lillian, you weren’t really going to let her change what you are, were you?

“But I could’ve fit in…”

“Oh, honey…” Dakota stood up full height and held her head in his hands. “Trust me, this society isn’t worth it. Besides, I accept you.”

A sniff was heard and they turned around to see the Blue Fairy dabbing her eyes with a tissue. “That’s beautiful, birdie-monster.”

Dakota lifted an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“I can see you two don’t need my services. You should be very proud of yourself, Dakota, you created a being that was proud of what she was.” She raised her wand. “If you two ever need a wish fulfilled, don’t be afraid to drop a line” She tapped it on her head, and she disappeared.

Dakota and Lillian stared after her a bit, not quite sure what to make of what happened. “I suppose in living in a world of magic, a few fairy run-ins would be inevitable,” Dakota said thoughtfully after a moment.

“Can we fairy-proof the house?” Lillian asked.

“Probably, I’d have to look it up…”

“I move we do that first thing next morning.”

Dakota chuckled, nodding. “I second that movement.” He got up and padded towards the door, tail twitching in thought. “Lillian?”

“Hmm?”

“What species would have you been?”

She blinked, and then turned her head shyly. “What else but a gryphon?”

Dakota nodded, trying to not to let her see his nares flushed in embarrassment. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”

“Goodnight.”

Lillian sat in the darkness for a while, feeling subtly pleased with herself. Changing of species would’ve merely been a superficial change, and although she certainly wasn’t wild about being hated or pitied because of her physical form, she realized it was the world’s problem if they couldn’t handle the idea of sentient robot.

Feeling closure, she let herself sink back into sleep and the house remained quiet for the rest of the night.

the end