[Cali] Pet Play

“I’m not one to give into peer pressure!” Cali had thought, as she stood in front of the Imporium, succumbing to peer pressure.

She fancied herself a nocturnal bun, hissing if a stray breeze would rustle the blinds open, letting a single godray hit her closed eyes (or maybe that was her tossing and turning and hitting the blinds, but no matter, this paragraph was about her hating sunlight). The sunlight burned! Or so the trope went, recounting a particularly popular kink amongst the fanged ones in Burrowgatory. But today she was outside in the broad daylight, hating every second of it, yet she would persevere for her to get what she wanted: a bonafide, tiny lil’ Imp.

The short version: it was because of BunTok. Also because a customer had actually brought an Imp once to the store, and it was such a highlight for the evening that she couldn’t stop thinking about what if she had one of her own. Sure the apartment she was staying in specifically said NO IMPS ALLOWED, but when had she ever followed rules that she didn’t agree with? They were just too cute! And seemed pretty low maintenance? Depending on what type she got, she supposed, but ohhh, she didn’t get to nap this morning because she spent it scrolling through all of those videos with other buns showing them off. Argh! She felt the flames in her ears puff up.

Well, there was no use standing around here. She woke up early just for this, after all! So she went inside and was immediately greeted with all sorts of accessories and whatnot; things that she would adore to put on her Imp (hopefully they wouldn’t squabble about it) and other little things. And a little further in were…ah, the little darlings! With big, big eyes and elegant black bodies that were shuffling away from her for some reason, she still couldn’t decide which one to bring home!

“Hello!” 

Cali almost jumped out of her fur, turning to the counter. Oh, was that the owner?

“Are you, ow, interested in adopting one of the Imps? I don’t think, hey, stop that, I’ve seen you around before.”

He was trying to keep a pleasant, professional smile on his face (Cali knew that smile all too well, as she too worked behind the counter), but she couldn’t ignore the rat-shaped Imp that was squirming around and pulling on the bun’s clothes and skin.

Cali let out a small laugh, “I think, dear owner, you need some help with that Imp first.”

The other bun let out a sigh, “I didn’t have enough time to put this little one back in the pen before I heard someone come in. Sorry about this, training Imps is quite a time-consuming task…”

“No worries, you’re right that I’m new to Imps, so maybe you can teach me how to help you with that lil’ one?”

“Oh! Are you sure? I wouldn’t want, hey!, to impose…”

“I wanted to talk to you anyway–” she glanced at the nameplate, “--Hutch! I still need some help deciding my first Imp, after all.”

“Well, I really appreciate it! I believe they’re just asking for more food. I only found them recently so they’re still very food aggressive. Can you come with me to the back? I’ll just point out to you which of the food containers I need for them.”

“Sure, no problem!” the task seemed easy enough. She waited for him first before following suit, as the place around that area was kind of small. The rooms at the back were much bigger than she expected, however, with rows upon rows of plastic containers and catching equipment (? how else was she going to describe those nets?), not to mention the additional cages, with some of them occupied. Cali could tell that these imps were being taken care of as best as one bun could manage, which each of them having a pillow to sleep on (it was said somewhere that imps actually do not need to sleep, but that could’ve fooled Cali, with how many napping videos she saw of them…)

Hutch tried to place down the imp he was holding (which she learned that this one was called a Remil) but was unsuccessful, as they scurried around to a place where neither of his hands could reach, which was somewhere on his back. He let out a frustrated noise before giving up and pointing to the bin that held black sesame seeds. Take a cupful of that and put it in one of the clean bowls over there, he instructed. Cali did as told, noting that some of the other imps in the cages were curiously watching what was going on, or maybe that was because she was moving towards the food. The sound of the seeds hitting the metal bowl certainly jostled them, and even the Remil was about to jump before Hutch finally caught them with his hands.

“Okay, just set it over there…”

This particularly food aggressive imp needed to learn not to be so aggressive around food - even if imps didn’t need to eat, that didn’t mean that they didn’t want to eat. Remils were particularly notorious for stealing, so Hutch was trying to hand feed him slowly as a start, as the imp didn’t seem scared of his presence. Cali would watch closely across the several attempts of trying to get the Remil not to scarf down the seeds. To her pleasant surprise, after much gentle coaxing from Hutch, the imp was actually getting the hint.

“Ah, sorry that I couldn’t actually teach you hands on, but I hope that what I was doing was a helpful demonstration?”

“Yeah!” Cali clapped her hands together in amazement. “So are they no longer aggressive?”

“Afraid not,” Hutch lightly shook his head, “I would still need to work with this Remil before they can be adopted, but at least this shows they’re willing to learn.”

Cali nodded with a smile on her face, “Amazing! You’re such a good boy, Hutch.”

She meant it as a genuine compliment, but perhaps the lack of sleep was getting to her, since that definitely sounded a little closer to her job tone rather than her casual tone. To make matters worse (or better? oho), the owner was clearly affected by the wording, reacting audibly and blushing madly. Cali couldn’t help but let her lips curl to a devilish grin. 

“Hutch, have I told you what my job is?”

“Err, no?”

“Well,” her tail was swishing around, clearly considering whether she would indulge or let it go. Hutch’s face was pleading otherwise, and since the fiery bun was feeling generous today, she decided to let it slide. “It’s not important.” she turned away, still holding that smirk. “You’re really amazing with imps though, I mean it.”

Hutch let out a bashful chuckle; his blush still lingering. “Thanks, and oh, I should thank you for helping! Do you still want to buy something?”

“Hmm. I think I’ll need more time to decide which one I want, but I’m definitely coming back! Maybe I’ll even adopt this lil guy?”

The Remil raised their head while eating another seed.

“Ahhh, maybe not for a beginner. I have other Imps that will be easy for you to start with.”

And so was the start of a beautiful customer-seller relationship. At the back of her mind, Cali was still curious on what would’ve happened if she pushed those buttons a little more, but the daylight was not only painful to the eyes, but it also dampened those spirits of hers ever so slightly. She supposed she would have to wait for her opportunity another day. If such an opportunity arose, at least she knew what to say to get things going.