Brian sometimes didn't quite like the owlery, simply because Hermes was rather popular and always seemed to be surrounded by girl!birds. Or at least he assumed they were girl!birds, but he would be open to Hermes being surrounded by boy!birds or even a mixture or just birds in general. The main thing was that Hermes - that was his owl, by the way - was always hard to find.

Looking around for a particularly arrogant-looking barn owl, Brian probably looked really weird as he called out for it. "Here, Hermes!" he called at the owls in general. "I have a letter and you get snuggles if you decide to show up." Because Hermes liked snuggles. Always had. And preening. He was a very vain, affectionate owl. And Brian needed this very vain, affectionate owl to come down here pronto so he could owl his other and ask for help with the best friend's birthday present because to this day, girls were still the weirdest thing about the world and he would probably never understand anything about them. Ever. So complicated.