Another Imp To Take Home

Astro fumbled his way into the Imporium, clutching onto the door handle to avoid falling as he had just leaned forward too much, but then overcompensated when leaning back to avoid falling and now he was flailing one arm around to try and balance himself as the other was clutching the door, which unfortunately was not as reliable to hold onto as a wall since it was designed to move when pulled- which it did, smacking into Astro's leg as he managed to at least land in a sitting position rather than having his skull get acquainted with the floor.

Picking himself up and walking past the door with far less shenanigans the second time around, Astro brushed non-existent dirt off from the back of his pants, feeling embarrassed to see the owner of the store staring at him.

Performing some quick calculations in his mind, Astro decided that walking up to Hutch would be a better option than bolting back out the door, so although his brain was screaming for him to get out of there to save himself from further embarrassment, he brought forward all the bravado he had to act like he hadn't just looked like an idiot while already being several minutes late.

"Hey Hutch! Sorry I'm late, I got lost"

"...You, um, you got lost for twenty minutes?"

"More like an hour and a bit? I also forgot what I was doing halfway so I had started walking to Dan's instead. I'm not sure if that really counts as getting lost but it was definitely the wrong way. I got here eventually"

The look of bafflement on Hutch's face reminded Astro that most people do not, in fact, just know that there is something fundamentally wrong with his brain from only interacting with him once. He briefly considered telling Hutch more about the cause for his lateness, but he was already tired and it wasn't even afternoon yet. He'd rather just get on with what he had spent the last several hours getting here for in the first place rather than explaining the intricacies of his medical history.

"So, imp handling lessons?"

"Ah, right, yes! So ah, I thought it would be good to start with learning how to care for a chirop? I know you have a uniqor, but I don't have any here at the moment and they're often a little difficult to work with, not ideal for beginners, but chirops are quite simple to train as long as you're patient enough-"

Standing and listening to the brunette ramble as to why a chirop would be an ideal first imp to handle, Astro wondered if this is how it felt for people to talk to him. If it was he understood why people stuck around, he was enjoying listening to Hutch. The topic was interesting as Hutch lightly bounced up and down with what was either nerves or excitement, fidgeting with their hands. And they were looking everywhere but at Astro, their awkwardness somehow being really adorable...

"So! That's why! I think a chirop would be ideal!"

Astro startled at the abrupt end. "Uh, yeah, works for me. You're the expert here"

"Ah, I'm sorry I rambled on like that, it was probably annoying and-"

Astro cut them off before they could work themselves up more. "Hey hey, no, I enjoyed listening. You're cute when you're passionate. I came here to learn about imps, the more you tell me the better, really"

"Oh, well, I... I guess it's fine then. Um. So here's one of my newer chirops, we'll be working with her today"

Astro watched the chirop bounce around Hutch, the imp looking perfectly happy to exist in the bun's space. It looked surprisingly calm for what Astro had been told was a mischievous creature, but maybe it had already had a recent bout of mischief so it was satisfied at the moment?

When Hutch handed Astro the chirop, gently plucking it from the air and placing it in his hands, the gluttony-horned bun froze, kind of just staring at the little pitch black winged ball now sitting in his palms.

He managed with gentle encouragement from Hutch to give the imp gentle scratches just under where the wings sprouted, the creature letting out happy little chirps that gave Astro the confidence to properly pet the little being, getting more happy noises out of it.

"D'aww, aren't you such a little cutie? I'm gonna name you Glimmer"

Realising that the name officially means that he will not be leaving the store without this chirping thing in tow, Astro accepted his proclivity for getting easily attached to anything he's given a title to and listened as Hutch gave him further instructions and advice.

A couple hours and only one cartoonishly destructive incident caused by the mischievous imp later, Astro waved goodbye to Hutch and exited the Imporium, pet carrier in hand. Hopefully Meteor didn’t mind the new addition to the burrow. Maybe he should see about getting a bigger space if he was going to keep naming every imp he interacted with.