Mission Imp-possible with Afina!

“I understand,” Afina commiserated solemnly with the imp as it rolled onto its back and stuck its legs in the air, refusing to perform the trick she’d been tasked with teaching it. She reached out and tickled its belly. The legs wriggled. “You don’t have to.”

When she peeked a glance at him, Hutch was watching from nearby, probably judging her efforts, though his expression was a simple one of soft amusement. The imps he had with him were well-behaved model citizens, one curled up on his shoulder and two clinging to his socks, pulling them down to his ankles whenever he tried to pull them up.

The last thing she had expected after finding a naughty imp in her rubbish bin and delivering it to Hutch in a cardboard box was to get a sudden crash course on how to care for them. It had taken all of a minute before he'd begun to explain everything that went into looking after an imp and Afina, being too lazy to walk home right away and also generally eager to please and vaguely curious about the inky little guys, had simply gone along with it.

Afina was pretty new to Burrowgatory and her contact with imps so far had been them sneaking 

into her roof to clatter around noisily, raiding her garbage and most heinously, stealing her blueberries right off the bushes. But apparently there was a lot more to them than just being pests. After only a brief time with Hutch, she could now confirm that, yes, they were really rather cute. 

After the basics of imp care, Hutch had gotten quieter, seemingly a little shy. He’d held out the imp, a chirop he’d called it, and asked to see her train it to shake hands. 

Which was how they’d ended up on the ground, the chirop on its back, refusing to listen, and her eventually rolling over into the same position, right beside the smaller creature, mimicking its wriggly legged form. “Hey, this is fun!” She giggled. “You’re right, this is much better!” 

They stayed that way for a few more minutes before she rolled onto her side, popped her chin on her paw and looked at Hutch. “I don’t think we’re doing any tricks today.”

Hutch stepped closer and kneeled down, reaching out a finger to stroke the top of the chirop’s head. “T-that’s alright.” He was smiling, clearly pleased. “Not all imps are the same, just like us. Some learn faster, some slower, and some will only do it for the right bun and need a connection first.”

So she hadn’t messed up. That was nice.

“I-I like to ask people to try because that will show me if they have the patience for an imp. If they get angry or frustrated when it isn’t doing what they want, they’re better off not having a pet.” His head tilted thoughtfully. “And sometimes the imps do respond to someone fast and that’s always someone I want to know.”

The imp had righted itself and hopped over to Afina, settling in her warm ears, among the gentle flames.

Her heart melted.

She clearly wasn’t a naturally gifted trainer but she thought that with time she could certainly make good friends with the right imp. Another little buddy at home to talk to. They didn’t need to do tricks or perform tasks. She’d settle for just being adorable. 

“Maybe... I can come back and try again?” She offered eagerly. ‘I’m patient. It takes so so long for blueberry bushes to grow but that doesn’t daunt me at all.”

Hutch gave an adorable little laugh, smothering it behind his hand. “Of course you can. I think you would make an excellent imp owner. Just... don’t feed them too much sugar.” At the word sugar, all the imps in the vicinity seemed to perk up.

Afina thought of her blueberry stuffed fridge, the containers of sugar in every corner and the constant mountain of sweets she made sure to have on hand. “Um, yeah, I’ll have to work on that one.”

Ready to move, Afina put a paw out, planning to gently nudge the chirop from her ear but as she did, instead a little black wing came down to meet her touch. She froze in surprise then very slowly, very gently, they shook.

“Oh!” Both Afina and Hutch exclaimed at the same time.

Maybe she was a natural after all.