Mission: Banana

Balancing his grocery bags on his hip, Ari dug his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the front door, calling out a greeting to Mosaic. The Lust doll kicked the door closed behind him and headed to the kitchen to put everything away. 

“Ari, come here when your hands are free, please!” 

It didn’t sound like an emergency, so Ari took the time to put the perishables away in the fridge and freezer before abandoning everything else on the counter and heading to his littermate’s room. “Everything okay, Mose?” He stopped midstep when he saw the imp that Mosaic had beside him.”What is Fjord doing down here?” 

Mosaic’s lunar Ryudra was curled around Ari’s pink Harpup, the two imps lifting their heads slightly to look up at him. 

“He must have gotten out of your room when you left,” Mosaic started. “All I know is Kuu helped him down the stairs, and she’s been cuddling with him ever since I picked him up to go in the bed. Don’t worry, he’s okay.” Mosaic pulled his laptop closer, turning it so Ari could easily see the screen. “Has Fjord ever done this?” 

Ari bent over slightly, looking at the screen. Mosaic had pulled up the Imporium’s website, and was looking at a picture sent in by a happy owner of a Harpup. The Harpup was sitting on the floor, curved into a crescent shape. The caption of the photo was ‘Baby’s first banana!’

“Apparently they do this when they’re happy; it’s really cute.” Mosaic looked up at Ari, waiting for his answer. 

“I… No.” Ari looked down at Fjord. The imp didn’t ever look sad… But maybe the reason he got himself into so much trouble was because he was acting out? “It’s an errand day today anyways; I’ll take him to go see Hutch.” Ari gently untangled Kuu from her curl around Fjord and picked up the Harpup. He made a sleepy sound of discontent, burying his face into Ari’s chest. “I’ll see you later.” 

Ari had only been home for a few minutes, but he left again, this time accompanied by the pink imp in his arms. 

He was halfway to the Imporium when he came across a familiar face. 

“Kyril?” 

The Pride doll stopped and turned towards Ari. “Hi Ari.” He looked down at Fjord. “Taking your imp for a walk?” 

Ari raised an eyebrow. “So are you?” Ari came closer, craning his neck a little to see the imp sitting on Kyril’s shoulder, semi-hidden by his horn. 

“Since when have you had a Gargowl?” 

“Since about twelve hours ago.” 

“Oh?” Ari’s tail curled as he got an idea. “Come with me to the Imporium.” 

“What? Why?” 

Ari held up Fjord with both hands. “I’m going to make him banana.” 

“I - I’m not even going to ask.” Kyril rolled his eyes, but fell into step with Ari. 

~ 

When they arrived at the Imporium, Hutch greeted them happily. “Hi everybody!” They seemed to be addressing the imps as well. “What can I do for you all today?” 

Kyril crossed his arms and gestured at Ari with his chin. “He wants a banana.” 

Ari hit Kyril lightly with his tail. “My littermate just told me that Harpups curl themselves into a banana shape when they’re happy, and I’ve never seen Fjord do that… So I want to make sure I’m not mistreating him somehow.” 

“Hmm… How is he in the water?” 

“What?”

“Harpups are quite rare this time of year! Since they like being in the water, they usually only show up in Burrowgatory when the weather gets warmer.”

“Maybe that’s why he’s so clumsy,” Kyril piped in. “You have to admit, Harpups don’t really have legs that look like they’re good for walking.”

Ari frowned down at Fjord. The Harpup was looking up at him with wide, curious eyes, like he could tell they were talking about him. “It… never occurred to me to let him have free access to water. I think I assumed he would hurt himself.” 

“Imps don’t need to breathe, actually!” Hutch assured him. “Yes, there are some imps that prefer land and some that are function better in water, neither will be hurt if you remove them from their habitat.” They took a step closer, expression softening. “You could leave him unsupervised in a bathtub or something and he isn’t going to drown. He isn’t physically capable of it.” Hutch gestured toward the back of the Imporium. “I’ve got a big sink I use for washing imps that get themselves dirty; we could put Fjord in there so you can see how he is?” 

Ari had no concrete reason to refuse, and Hutch was looking up at him so earnestly… “Okay, yeah.” 

Hutch nodded and turned, leading Ari and Kyril into what looked like the Imporium’s laundry room. They went over to a industrial metal sink and turned it on, holding their hand under the water to test the temperature before stoppering it and letting the water fill up. 

As soon as the faucet turned on, Fjord began wiggling excitedly, eyes on the sink. Ari looked down at the Harpup, and back over at Kyril, who raised an eyebrow. 

In a few short minutes Hutch gestured at the two dolls to come over.

Ari didn’t realize he had hesitated until he felt Kyril’s hand on his back. “We’ll both be standing right there to pull him out if we need to, okay? There’s nothing to be afraid of.” 

“I’m not afraid…” Ari shook his head to clear the doubts and stepped up to where Hutch was waiting. Kyril’s Gargowl flew over to land on the faucet and watched as Ari put Fjord on the small metal counter attached to the sink. 

Fjord looked at the sink full of water, then back up at Ari, then back at the sink again… Then curled himself into a crescent.

Ari turned to look at Kyril. “He did it!” Kyril chuckled softly in response and the two watched as Fjord dove into the sink, splashing the Gargowl a little in his enthusiasm. 

Hutch laughed. “See? You could leave him by himself and the only thing you’ll need to worry about is how much of a mess he might make if you fill the tub too high.” 

Ari was practically mesmerized by Fjord. It was like this was a completely different imp; he was fast and graceful, doing twists and spins and little flips out of the water. Ari barely heard Hutch say they would be right back,  and definitely hadn’t heard the bell that had summoned them to the front of the shop.

Kyril leaned over, nudging Ari with his shoulder. “I guess he’ll be getting regular bath times now, hmm?” 

“I guess so.” Ari agreed, tail wagging slowly as he watched his imp enjoy himself. Sensing the dolls’ eyes on him, Fjord jumped out of the water and back onto the counter. The Harpup made several little barking sounds that Ari had never heard from him before, clapping his front limbs together a few times before making the banana pose again.  

Hutch came back, apologizing for leaving them. Ari waved dismissively in their direction; Hutch could’ve stayed gone for an hour and Ari wouldn’t have cared, not with how cute Fjord was being right now. 

Kyril cleared his throat. “I do have stuff to do today.” He said to Ari light-heartedly. “Can I walk you home or are you going to stay here?” 

Ari dragged his eyes from his Harpup to check the time and sighed. “I’ll come with you.” He took the towel that Hutch held out to him and turned back to Fjord. The imp looked up at him with huge eyes and ‘banana-d’ even harder, practically bending himself in half. “C’mon Fjord, it’s okay. We’ll play in the bathtub at home; it’s even bigger than this sink.” Ari unfolded the towel and shook it at Fjord when he didn’t move. “More. Water. Doesn’t that sound fun?” The Harpup definitely seemed to be pouting but he relented, letting Ari come closer and begin drying him off. 

He could hear a short conversation between Hutch and Kyril as the Imporium owner gave him some tips about how to take care of his new Gargowl (‘They will just stand there and stare for hours, so make sure you exercise them!’), but Ari was mostly focused on drying Fjord off. The Harpup stared wistfully at the sink for most of the time, and looked up at Ari with a pleading expression for the rest of it. 

“C’mon now, stop looking at me like that. We’ll play later, I promise.” 

Finally the imp was dry. Ari thanked Hutch as they came to take the wet towel away, and bundled Fjord into his arms as he prepared to leave. He glanced over at Kyril, making sure the other bun was ready. Kyril met his eyes and nodded, and the two thanked Hutch for their time and left the Imporium. 

 ~

“Bye Kyril, see you tomorrow ~” 

Ari got home for the second time that day, opening the door with Fjord tucked under his arm like a football. He called out a greeting to Mosaic, and got a reply not only from his littermate but also Drukyul, Mosaic’s partner.

Ari took his shoes off and went to Mosaic’s room, holding Fjord up victoriously. “He’s fixed!”

Druk looked down at Mosaic, who was nestled in their arms as the two of them watched a movie on Mosaic’s laptop. “Was your imp feeling unwell, Ari?” 

Mosaic laughed, shaking his head. “No, he was trying to get Fjord to do this.” He quickly pulled up the Imporium web page from earlier, showing Druk the picture of the Harpup in the banana pose. Mosaic looked up at Ari, tilting his head curiously. “So, what happened?” 

Ari gave the two blue buns a quick summary of his trip to the Imporium - including his run in with Kyril - and told them what Hutch’s easy solution had been. 

Drukyul nodded slowly. “Now that you know that he would be safe, will you be leaving Fjord down here from now on?” 

Ari scoffed, shaking his head as he brought Fjord up to his face to look in the Harpup’s eyes. “No, absolutely not. There’s still a lot that can hurt him if he’s down here unsupervised. Even if he can’t drown, he’s still stupid.” His tone was affectionate, and he gave Fjord a quick kiss on the forehead. 

“Anyways, I promised him he could play in the bathtub when we got home, so…” 

Drukyul smiled up at him. “Of course, don’t let us keep you. It was nice seeing you again, Ari.” They pulled Mosaic closer to their chest as they two continued their movie, Ari leaving Mosaic’s bedroom door open a crack like it was before he’d come in. 

Ari wasn’t even fully in the bathroom before Fjord started wriggling again, seeing the sink and getting just as excited as he had been at the Imporium. Ari couldn’t help but laugh as he set the Harpup down on the tile. 

“Okay, give me a second.” 

Just like Hutch had done earlier, Ari ran the water until it was lukewarm, then stoppered the tub. He picked Fjord up again and put him in the bathtub, watching as the Harpup splashed in the little bit of water as the tub slowly filled up. Fjord looked up at Ari, banana posing again. 

It was only then that Ari realized that the shape also looked like a smile, and he found himself smiling back.