Beasts and Feasts 2

Tsubaki had heard from an extremely irritated Hutch about the new imp shop that had opened up across from them. She didn’t know much since Hutch had rambled on for a while and she had elected to tune them out when she couldn’t understand their rantings, but from what little she could gather, it seemed that Hutch disagreed with the new owner about imp care.

Tsubaki didn’t care to get in the middle of their debate or whatever it was going on between them, but she did want to check out the new shop. ‘Pedigree Pets’ the shop read as she entered.

“Welcome!” A boisterous woman greeted her. “The name’s Quince.”

“Tsubaki,” Tsubaki nodded to her. “I take it you are the owner of this shop?”

“Sure am!” Quince grinned, “Did ya come to look at my imps?”

“Mm, no, more so to meet you.” Tsubaki admitted. She was still warming up to the idea of imps living alongside buns as pets after so long of seeing them as pests. However, she did like to keep up with the comings and goings of Burrowgatory, so a new business that was all the gossip was something she needed to see for herself. It also helped to know who people were; connections could take anyone places.

“Me instead of the imps? That’s a new one.” Quince chuckled. “Well if you don’t want to see the imps, how about you and I make a parfait and get to know each other?”

Tsubaki raised an eyebrow. “Why a parfait?”

“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun! That’s reason enough!” Quince gestured for her to follow her to the back.

The back, as it turned out, was a kitchen area where Quince could prepare treats for the imps as well as for herself.

“What kind of ice cream do you like?” Quince asked as she opened the freezer. “I have all kinds if you want to come over and take a look.”

“I like vanilla,” Tsubaki answered, not needing to look.

“Basic but still good.” Quince grinned and took out the vanilla. “I’ll scoop this into the glass if you want to get some fruits and other sweets for it.”

“Sure,” Tsubaki walked over to where Quince seemed to keep the fruit. Figuring she’d keep it simple, she picked up some bananas and strawberries before looking around for what else might go with fruit and ice cream. They could always use caramel, or perhaps chocolate or strawberry syrup. Hm, but perhaps strawberry syrup and strawberries themselves might be too much strawberry flavor? If she were to keep it simple, perhaps she should just go with chocolate syrup and they could have a banana split parfait. In that case, they would also need cherries. Tsubaki went back to the fruit for some cherries, then considered what last thing they could add to make it pop. Deciding that pocky would give the exact look she wanted, Tsubaki picked it up and returned to Quince with their parfait add-ons.

“A mix of banana split with some strawberries and strawberry pocky? Sounds good! Give them here.” Quince took the ingredients from Tsubaki, and soon the two would be enjoying a delicious parfait.