Art and El Toro belong to Yours Truly
MallowGryph belongs to  zandenel

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After yet another incredible win in the wrestling ring, and waving to his hundreds upon hundreds of adoring fans, the mighty luchadore and part-time superhero El Toro shoved open the locker room door with a smile on his face. His matches against his fellow wrestlers were becoming almost -too- easy, thanks to all the training he'd undergone with his Papa, but he couldn't feel too bad; after all, his opponents all had the honor of being in the ring with him in the first place! Shrugging out of his matador-themed jacket as he strode across the otherwise empty room to his locker, the bare-chested bull twiddled with the combination lock, broad back stooped and handsome brow furrowed in concentration.

He paused, however, as he heard the door to the locker room creak open. One of his fellow wrestlers? Perhaps it was Hurricane Hugo, or Tectonic Shift, or the Mortician? What rounded the corner, however was none of those men... but about as large as all three put together! The gryphon's feathers and fur were as white as snow, and his figure was as round as a snowball, with a mammoth belly that could not be contained by his colorful sweater-vest, and big chubby cheeks that seemed to hug his small black beak. His wings looked too terribly small to even think about carrying all that weight aloft, though his rolling gait and puffing breath indicated he wasn't exactly a fan of walking, either. Upon spotting El Toro, the gryphon's feathered ears perked and his yellow eyes twinkled.

"Ah, there you are! I was hoping to find you here." The gryphon's voice was deep and silky smooth and there was a hint of a Russian accent to it, certainly pleasant enough to make the bull smile in return.

"Si, senor? How can Jose help joo? Are joo a fan? Did joo want an autograph...?"

The gryphon laughed at that, his belly bouncing and causing his sweater-vest to ride a bit higher. "I most certainly am, and I'd be delighted! Forgive me for the intrusion, but my name is Allinav Medsoved, and I've been watching your wrestling matches for some time now. I have to say that I am very impressed."

The bull puffed out his chest with pride, his smile widening. "Ah, gracias! Jose makes sure he is always as impressive as possible, for his fans!"

The fat gryphon's smile held as he nodded gently. "Oh, indeed. Though... Well, you don't mind if I'm a bit forward, do you? Offer a bit of friendly advice?"

Jose blinked, cocking his head a bit to one side. "Advice, senor? What advice?"

Placing a hand on El Toro's shoulder, the gryphon's voice... changed. It wasn't much, but Jose found himself suddenly much more interested, hanging on every word. "Well, my friend, I think that as impressive as you are, you still have the potential to become even more impressive. Tell me, it must take quite a bit of food to fuel that amazingly muscular body of yours, yes?"

Jose nodded slowly, feeling... relaxed, at ease, like he could confide in this stranger. "Si, senor. Three square meals a day, and a power snack before he works out, or has a match."

Allinav chuckled. "Wonderful, but doesn't it follow that if you want to fuel your body even more, make it even bigger and more impressive, that you should eat more...? Why not make time for a fourth meal? And you don't need the excuse of working out or having a wrestling match to need the extra energy a snack provides, hm?"

Jose nodded again, and stroked his squared jaw. What the gryphon said made perfect sense. "Si... Jose wants to be big and impressive... He will take joor advice, senor!"

The gryphon patted Jose's shoulder. "Wonderful! I'm sure you'll make a lot of your fans very happy. And please, call me Mallow. All my friends do. We are friends, aren't we?

Jose's eye lit, happy to have made a new friend. "Si, amigo! Of course!"

Mallow chuckled, the resonance in his voice returning to the more silky smooth tone it had before. "Excellent! I look forward to seeing big things from you, Jose! Now, about that autograph...?"