[Grim] Best in Show 1

Hutch wasn’t kidding when he said he would take care of the expenses for the Impup. It only took the next day for a huge box of imp-related goods to arrive at his doorstep (Grim would only recall later that he did leave his address when he first became a member at the Imporium–at the owner’s behest, because that meant discounts and whatnot). He dragged the box inside the living room with a bit of difficulty, which immediately alerted the Impup he had living with him.

Paroli had yet to forgive him after being bunhandled quite a bit yesterday, and so it was curled up somewhere in his bedroom, away from prying eyes. It did give Grim more time to get to know the imp he named Ante, who always seemed to want to stay by his side. Definitely a change of pace compared to his first imp, though he wasn’t quite sure what the pup wanted, exactly. More pets?

He patted the imp on the head before getting a knife to open the box. Cutting through the tape, he opened it to find a number of items: a few different types of imp brushes, black sesame treat bags, a pillow for Ante, some bathing stuff, and others. He hadn’t thought about giving his imps a bath, since Paroli wasn’t a fan of water (the best he could do was rub it down with a wet cloth, as sometimes the Sceil would get into dusty places).

His excitement had died a little at the thought of a messy bath, but he should ask Hutch on how often these little guys even needed to be bathed. Ante was still wagging its tiny tail, so Grim pulled out the pillow for it to try.

It was a soft and velvety square pillow and Ante took to it immediately, climbing on top of it, kneading on it with its black paws, and then plopping belly first on the plush cushion. It let out a small contented whine before rolling around onto its back. Grim couldn’t resist scratching its exposed belly, which the imp reacted with its back leg kicking the air.

He supposed this was a good time to try brushing Ante while he was here and not moving around. The purple bun reached into the box to pull out one of the brushes (the one that had softer bristles; he had no idea when those metal looking ones would be necessary). He then turned to the Impup, who was still laying on his back, legs curled up.

“You don’t mind if I brush you now, would you?”

Ante looked at him and blinked, wagging its tail. Was that a no? Seemed like it, so he started to brush, gently gliding it over whatever ‘fur’ was on the imp. The Impup appeared to like the sensation, relaxing even further into the pillow, so Grim kept on going. He eventually tried to brush other parts of Ante, so he had to gently nudge him to move around the pillow, to which the imp obliged. He was surprised to find some kind of black fur on the bristles.

“I guess I need to ask Hutch about how often to brush you too.”

Mostly he said that to himself, but Ante let out a tiny bark, seemingly very happy to be doted on. The purple bun really wondered how Hutch seemed all too prepared to just hand him a puppy after that training session, as if expecting that he was going to have a hard time with Paroli. Or maybe this was a new type of business scheme he hadn’t heard of? One that involved imps??

Hm, he supposed he might be overthinking it. At least his Sceil hadn’t tried to nip or show aggression to the new arrival so far, but that was probably because it was still mad at him. Ante managed to nudge its head into Grim’s hand, so he ended up scratching the Impup’s head and behind its ears.

Without him knowing, there was something peeking out of his bedroom door. White eyes squinted at the scene in the living room, with Paroli letting out a hiss of disapproval at not only its tranquil life stolen, but potentially feeling jealous for being ignored as well.