[My First Imp] Intruder Alert

With a heavy sigh, Lotus lowered his upper body down to the surface of the counter. It was a rather slow day at the shop and the onsen. Which was weird – considering it was a weekend and a lot of buns would line up to get a nice hot spring bath and then treat themselves to some cute souvenirs and some ice cream. But alas, only a handful of people came and went in the last several hours. 

Lotus listened to the wind chimes sing outside of the front doors as he boredly tapped his pink painted fingernails on the counter. That was until he heard something in the back of the store fall over. The sound made Lotus jolt and stand straight up. Ugh, did one of the other employees forget to properly stock or balance some of the merchandise? 

“Whatever that was better not be fucking broken,” Lotus grumbled to himself before going over to the source of the noise.

Thankfully it just sounded like a box and not anything fragile. The blue doll got closer to investigate whatever it was, and upon reaching his destination, his eyebrows shot up in surprise. The merchandise that had fallen over was an assortment of bagged snacks, and they appeared to be… tampered with? Part of the opening on one of the bags was nearly torn open. This struck slight anxiety into Lotus’ heart. 

Lotus rushed over to the back of the store, returning with a broom and a simultaneously threatening and cautious demeanor. “Okay… whoever you are, I’m not afraid of you! I’ve chased out intruders with less!” He raised the broom in a defensive stance as he prowled around the store in search of the culprit.

That was until he saw something run behind one of the shelves in the middle of the store. It couldn’t have been a bun in their doll form… it was too small. Perhaps just a bun? Either way, Lotus wasn’t in the mood for petty thieves, and he snuck around to where he saw the figure hide.

“Listen… I’ve had a long day, so if you come out now, I’ll go easy on you,” Lotus warily warned whoever he might be talking to, aiming the end of the broom at the shelf.

Two round, white eyes peeked out from behind the corner of the shelf. A black little head with two horns and ears showed themselves, as well. Wait a minute, this wasn’t a bun… it was one of those strange little creatures that other buns keep as pets, right? An imp! Lotus had never owned one before… Let alone see one in his shop.

“Huh… hey there, buddy… what’re ya doin’ in my store? Causin’ mischief?” he questioned the odd thing, lowering his broom and awkwardly setting it against a nearby wall.

Lotus kneeled down and tilted his head. Surprisingly, the soot-colored creature began making its way over to him – albeit carefully. It made sniffing noises and lowered its head, as if checking the doll out.

He giggled and looked around, wondering if he had anything to… oh! Lotus reached into one of his pockets and fished out a small bag of fish crackers he had been snacking on, plucking one out and motioning it towards the little creature. “Want one? They’re pretty good… I dunno what you eat. But I’m sure this won’t hurt. Or… if you even ea-”

Before Lotus could finish his sentence, the imp scurried forward and consumed — well, absorbed the fish cracker. The doll jolted in surprise at the feeling of unknown matter touching his hand. It felt soft and fuzzy, but not quite like fur? It was hard to tell. He giggled nonetheless and watched the imp squeak in delight at the taste, looking up at him as if expecting more.

“I figured you’d like that… hm. I don’t see a collar on you. I wonder if you belong to anyone,” Lotus wondered out loud. 

The imp curiously looked up at him, raising an ear as if attempting to understand what he was saying.

“Bah… I guess you can stay with me until we figure that out…”

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

About a day or so passed by, and after putting up a few ‘missing imp’ posters, nobody called in or came to Lotus. He had been stuck with learning how to take care of the little guy while seeing if it had run away from anywhere. Then again, there were Murmur-knows-how-many of them running around Burrowgatory. This poor thing was probably just a stray looking for a place to hide or stay. 

After some solo research, Lotus had discovered that this particular imp type was an ‘Impup’… so creative, he thought. Turns out they were labeled by some guy named Hutch after further internet sleuthing. Maybe soon enough, Lotus would seek him out and ask for advice.

At the moment, Lotus was in the apartment he owned above his shop, lounging in a beanbag chair and surfing the web on his smartphone. The little Impup was currently playing with a bouncy ball that Lotus borrowed from a friend who owned some imps of their own. 

“Let’s see… it says here on Bungle that you don’t even need to eat. That makes things easier, I guess.”

Lotus looked over to the imp, who wasn’t paying attention to anything other than the ball. The doll laughed to himself and looked back to his phone, hoisting himself up from the beanbag. “Though, I remember you did somehow consume that little snack I gave you… didn’t seem to do anything though. Guess you guys enjoy it anyway?” 

He went over to his pantry and browsed his stash. There wasn’t really anything in here that he’d think the Impup would enjoy. Perhaps it could just be anything? Lotus pulled out the same box of fishy crackers he fed the mysterious creature a while back, then closed the pantry door. At the sound of Lotus shaking the box, small paws scurrying could be heard from the living room.

The Impup halted at Lotus’ feet, looking up at him expectantly. He giggled and shook the box a little with a little more purpose this time, then opened it to pour a handful into his palm. “You guys must like eating anyway…” He knelt down and held his hand out. The Impup leaned forward and absorbed the all fishy crackers almost as a whole into its face. The mouthless head consuming it into the substance the creature was made of. Again, it was an odd sensation to Lotus’ hand. It almost tickled, and he shuddered. It wasn’t bad, though. 

Lotus stood back up and wiggled his hand around as if trying to shake the feeling off. “Mkay… soooo… you don’t need to eat, but you like food anyway. Do you need rest…?” He pulled his phone back out of his pocket and opened up the tab he had about imp care. In another paragraph, it listed more information that said they didn’t need sleep either. Oh boy. Lotus scratched his head and scrunched his nose. Did this mean that imps would just stay up all night? This thing didn’t seem all too trained, but it hadn’t caused him issues yet. No chewed furniture or broken vases… In fact it was rather tame for a runaway or stray. Maybe it was used to buns. 

“Well… it’s been a few days now and nobody’s come looking for you,” Lotus spoke allowed again, then yawned. It was getting late, and he was sleepy. “I’m gonna take a bath…”

Lotus dragged his feet to the bathroom, undressed and took a nice long soak. His chin and mouth sunk under the water, and he closed his eyes… until he heard what sounded like a scratching noise on the door. It snapped him out of his meditative state and he sat up more in the bath. “Oi… you can’t come in here while I’m cleaning up!” he griped. The scratching continued anyway. As if it were really trying to get in. Lotus tried ignoring it, but it persisted even after 5-10 minutes. He sighed loudly and began sitting up, then standing. The bath water dripping off of every inch of him as he reached for a towel on the rack near him and began drying off. The scratching still didn’t cease.

After drying off and getting freshened up more (brushing his teeth, blow drying his hair, etc.), Lotus opened the door to find the Impup sitting right in front of him. It tilted its head and looked up at him with those same expectant, round, big eyes. Lotus shook his head. “Couldn’t wait more than a few minutes to see me again, huh?” he joked, leaning down and patting the creatures head. It seemed to enjoy that, leaning into the touch. 

Lotus wandered to his bedroom, of course hearing the imp follow him. He gathered a bunch of pillows and a blanket, making a small nest at the foot of his bed. Then the doll turned to look at the imp and pointed to the small makeshift bed. “You sleep there, okay?” The Impup of course tilted its head, listening to his words. “Stayyyy. There. Okay?” Again, Lotus pointed to the tiny pillow pile before stretching, then crawling into bed.

As he reached over to turn the lamp off and pulled the covers up to him, Lotus felt a small thump on the top of the comforter. His expression fell blank, and he peeked at the foot of his bed. “Of course…” Lotus mumbled, seeing the Impup laying down at staring at him in the dark. This thing was clingy, but… darn was it cute. How could he be mad?

“Fiiiine… fine… you can sleep here tonight,” Lotus conceded, turning over under the covers. As he closed his eyes, he felt the tiny body of the imp shimmy its way closer to the upper part of the bed, trying to get comfortable. It continued staring at him with seemingly intrigue and wonder. Like it just wanted to be near him. 

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it stayed with Lotus permanently… He’d have to see about getting one do those fancy collars. And a proper pet bed… and more toys. Yeah, that would be fine. Lotus smiled to himself as he drifted off to sleep with his new companion cuddled up next to him, not sharing his slumber but getting as comfortable as it could in its new home.