A Sweet Mission

As the owner of an imp cafe and most of the imps within it, Sugar liked to believe he knew what he was doing. Or at least in the terms of him knowing how to care for and train his imps to behave for customers. He still remembered the first week of his cafe being open, when his phloof spilled coffee on three customers and kept eating any dessert that will left unattended. It was a harsh wake-up call and  he had spent weeks after learning everything he could about imps.

Maybe that’s why he let Spice and Tootsie convince him to train one of his many imps with their own at Hutch’s imporium.

Sugar tilted his head, holding his stroodle, Cupcake, in his arms, as he turned to Hutch. “So should we set our imps down?”

Across from him, Spice held her mamoo, Milk, and Tootsie held her own stroodle, Cheri. The both of them seemed to be waiting patiently for Hutch to give them the all clear.

Hutch clapped their hands together, seeming excited as they looked at each imp. “Yes, I think we should do some of the basics and then see if we can get your imps to try harder tricks.”

Spice let out a little squeak of excitement, blushing when the others looked at her, “Oh I’m sorry! It’s just Milk has gotten so good at some of his training, I got excited to show how smart he is!”

Sugar rolled his eyes. “I already know how smart he is, Spice, he chewed a hold through one of the bags of coffee beans. The expensive ones too.”

“That wasn’t his fault! You forgot them on the floor.”

“Me?! You’re the one who forgot the-”

Sugar was swiftly cut off by Tootsie’s laughter as she set Cheri down. “Hey we’re here to train our imps, not worry about coffee bags. Hmm is that the right name for that?” She paused before shaking her head, “Doesn’t matter! Just put down Cupcake, Sugar, let’s see whose training is the best.”

Hutch laughed a bit nervously. “This isn’t a competition.” They had a feeling Sugar was the competitive type and they really didn’t need any of the imps exposed to that kind of energy. There were already a few Bonezo that fought with each other when Hutch wasn’t looking. “Time for the basics okay?”

Sugar sighed and set Cupcake down. “Fine, something simple.”

He stood up straight and held up his hand, “Cupcake, sit.”

With barely a flourish, Cupcake neatly sat down, her tail wagging as she looked up at her owner.

Sugar smiled, “See, easy.”

Spice scoffed playfully, “Okay mister showoff, how about this! Milk, twirl!” She gestured with her hand in a circle, looking at her mamoo.

Milk nearly tripped over himself in excitement, making a soft mooing sound as he spun around in circles.

Tootsie cheered, “Look at him go! I didn’t know mamoos could learn tricks like that.”

Sugar crossed his arms, once again rolling his eyes, “Just how did you teach him to do that?”

“Nuh uh, that’s my secret.” Spice grinned, looking at Tootsie. “Now Tootsie can show us what Cheri knows.” Plus poor little Milk looked dizzy now, he would need to take a break.

Tootsie was quick to take the bait. “Yeah! You’ll like this one, Sugar!”

She grinned, calling out her pet’s name. “Cheri! Pose!” She held up her hands, making little hearts with her fingers.

The stroodle instantly stopped, stretching out one of their little legs and puffing up their chest.

It was a wonder how Tootsie even taught her pet how to pose for a picture, but Spice absolutely loved it. “Oh my Murmur! That’s so adorable!”

Sugar couldn’t even help his own smile. “You know that would be great advertising for the cafe if we could teach our imps that, Spice.”

“That would be! We could take pictures and post them on the website.”

“I could help,” Tootsie interjected, “I think it would be a lot of fun.”

As the trio gushed over the idea, Hutch took that moment to interrupt. “I have a trick I would like to show you all.”

As if on cue, Hutch’s chirop, Reginald, began an aerial dance, swooping in long spins and turns. Their little wings working hard as they followed a few gestures from Hutch. Eventually they landed on top of their owner’s head.

Hutch bowed, “Ta da.”

There was a moment of silence, before Sugar burst. “Hey! I thought you said basic tricks, that wasn’t basic. I have never seen a chirop do that before.”

Spice agreed, “It was incredible, Hutch! You really know how to train your pets.”

Even Tootsie seemed impressed, clasping her hands together. “Seriously! You must be one of the best trainers.”

Hutch blushed, their head ducking down as their tail wagged quickly behind them. “Thank you.” They couldn’t help being happy, a little praise always made them feel validated. “Let’s go over a few more tricks.”

The trio agreed and Sugar couldn’t help but admit that he was making a lot more fun that he thought he would. He did love his imps but he never considered the fact he would feel good about training them. But he felt pride when he saw Cupcake getting tricks right. He was even excited to see Milk and Cheri succeeding at their tricks.

Maybe he knew a lot about imps because of both his pets and his friends.