Food helper

“Easy there now!” Clem chuckled as he handed a treat to his fairy Uniqor, that flapped its wings excitedly, basically vibrating on the spot in anticipation of the delicious reward. The training session had been a success it appears, after a long time spent trying to teach the little creature to at the very least not dash around like a headless chicken. The bun was satisfied with his current results, albeit he had barely managed to convince it to at least obey two commands, which could be considered a victory, somewhat?

With a content sigh, he walked off to go and find the food for the little creature, before he would head off to help Quince with hers as well. Clem quickly poured a decent portion of food onto the plate before sliding it to the purple miniature horse like imp, who proceeded to prance to it and start devouring its long awaited meal. He gave the uniqor a gentle pat on the back before leaving it alone and starting to look for Quince, as he had promised.

It didn’t take him long to find the woman, her bright orange hair and large stature being hard to miss. She had her back turned to him, busy grooming her orange phloof and pampering it like an overly affectionate pet parent would. The creature seemed to enjoy it, judging from the array of soft purr like chirps that came from its fluffy body while it was lightly being stretched under the brush Quince was using – apparently being gently smooshed felt nice for the imp.

“Don’t mind if I slide in, would you?” Clem announced his presence while also casually slithering to the side, gently reaching out to pet the woman’s pet Stroodle, Mademoisselle, that lay comfortably on a pillow next to the two, with an air of importance. The colorful creamy imp wagged its tail when being touched, happy with the extra pair of hands that had arrived to offer it its own share of pampering.

“Smooth entrance there boy, do you always just pop out of nowhere in people’s presence like that?” Quince laughed, giving her phloof one big squishy pat. Peach thrashed its big tail around for a bit before stealthily hopping on her large shoulder, its big eyes looking down at the blue bun fiddling with his smoking pipe while smiling.

Clem chuckled softly before replying. “Didn’t want to bother you too much, you seemed busy so I took a bit of time.” He looked around, seeing the various colorful pedigree imps playing with one another and rolling around on the grass next to them. “I promised I’d help ya with feeding these exotic lads didn’t i?” Clem gestured at the imps. “Any special thing you want me to give to them?”

“Eh, just the usual for now, I’ve given them enough fancy treats for now, I’d leave the experimenting aside for now.” The woman replied, as she put away the brush and moved over to the excited imps, babying them like one would with a small child. She came back holding a Lepidaisy that waddled its tiny little legs in the air as it was being held.

“What do ya think of this one?” Quince asked, proudly handing the imp to Clematis. “Finished playing with this little darling this morning, look at those pretty leaf wings and daisy mane, isn’t it the cutest little thing you’ve seen all day?”

The blue bun reached out to gently touch the Lepidaisy between its antennae, noting it had closed its large eyes and was wiggling its two front legs. “It surely is, but does it cuddle?”

“I think that Stellaram over there would be more willing to stay in bed with ya, but I think this little fella would have no objections either” Quince smiled, petting the imp. “I think one would fit ya, you know? With the flowers and everything? Unless you are not into matching yourself with a pet imp that is.” She winked at him.

“I told you I’d eventually drop by and buy one of these cuties, just not now” Clematis replied, giving the shy insect imp some dango which it proceeded to chew on, whilst holding it with its tiny front legs. “Don’t want to scare off my Uniqor too fast, im giving it some time to adjust you know? It will probably be jealous when I do eventually bring another one home haha”

Quince had also pulled out several mochi filled sticks and began feeding some to the calm Stellaram while it flapped its wings. Clem eventually put down the Lepidaisy he was holding, to give it some privacy with its favorite dango. He approached the Cribbit, taking a stick of mochi from Quince and starting to pull each mochi bun off the stick before handing it to the frog imp, who somehow produced a tongue out of nowhere, yoinking the mochi from his palm and dragging it into the mystery void where its mouth should have normally been. How any of these imps managed to eat was a mystery for everyone, but Clem found their featureless eating habits quite adorable and dare say, endearing.

“Will this be all for now?” Clem asked as he scratched the blue imp on its back and fur collar, receiving a light clicking noise as a pleased response.

“Not really, this is just the ‘dessert’ as I like to call it” Quince turned around with a smile, holding the sleepy Stellaram. “They were all good today, so I promised them some mochi after the training session as you know, positive reinforcement if ya will.”

“Awww, so you fed them food already without me? Why Quince, I am hurt!” the bun feigned sadness as he put on his little theatrical performance of tragedy, raising one hand dramatically to his head as if he were to faint. The Cribbit next to him laughed in its squeaky imp voice, pretending to die by rolling on one side.

The theatrics made Quince burst into a hearty laughter, especially since the imp apparently had caught on as well to what was happening and had decided to play along for fun.

“Oh you and your dramaticism, you know I wouldn’t have asked you to come over if I had done it all myself already” She grinned his way, wiping away a small tear of laughter. “No, this is merely the afternoon dessert for these lovely well behaved imps. But the ones in the back still need to be fed.”

“You made more?” Clematis asked, as he lifted the food bag and followed the woman.

“I wouldn’t say too many since you last dropped by. Aside from the Stroodle you saw last time, I only made another Stellaram, the rest are all still a bit of a work in progress you know? I want to see what other results I can get with different imps.” The large woman explained, pushing open the door to her shop and entering the room where she kept all the pedigree imps, separated by the degree of features she had managed to obtain with each one. “Now would you please be a dear and take care of that side? Im gonna take care of this one, they are all so excited to see their lunch”

The blue bun did as he was told, offering each imp a balanced portion and watching how the little creatures basically jumped at the plate, devouring it faster than a bat with a plate of fruit. Endearing little things, these imps that were on their way to become a new and wackier version of themselves soon enough.

“If you aint busy in the future, I’d love to have you drop by more often, they seem to like you” Quince commented, gesturing at the imps he’d just fed.

Clematis thought about it for a second. After all, why not? He had time, he liked to play with the little things as well, and if they liked him, then all the better, it did not sound bad at all. Almost like a small part time job in a way.

“I’ll let you know when I’m free then” he replied, smiling as he patted a half colored imp, purring under his hand whilst feasting.