[Tomio] My First Imp

“No, you can’t pawn an imp.”

Intrusive thoughts flooded the little bun’s mind: What are we, a charity case? Doesn’t this bun see that we only trade inanimate objects? How is an imp even supposed to be of value? They’re pests!

The customer clicked their tongue, muttering something about how it was a waste of time, and Tomio only continued to lose respect for them. Just a few moments ago they were begging and harping a sob story about how little possessions they had. So much for that sob story.

After that, the customer threw their hands up and just decided to leave, but Tomio furrowed their figurative brows and called out, “Wait! Take the imp with you!” they even stood up from their seat and slammed their hooves on the table (not too hard, because that would hurt)! But the bun was already out the door and blended into the crowd, leaving the pawnbroker in-training with a carrier on the counter.

“What the hell…”

Flustered, they sat back down and rubbed their temples, thinking of what to do next. Glancing at the carrier, the lighting of the shop made it look like there was nothing inside, but that was probably also because the imp inside was black, as they usually were. Sighing, Tomio turned the carrier’s entrance in their direction.

They could faintly see movement. Shaking. The imp was understandably scared. They imagined that they were probably swiped off the street, or worse, stolen from another bun. After all, imps were becoming more and more like house pets nowadays, and Tomio had seen many a bun walk around with them on the streets, leashed or unleashed. 

“...do you have an owner?”

As if the imp would respond, but Tomio had been hoping for something like a nod or shake of…err, its whole body? Wait, could imps even understand words? But it hadn’t moved from its spot; they couldn’t even see its white eyes.

Tomio exhaled sharply once more. “Fine, I guess we’re going to visit an expert after the end of my shift.”

✲

They had heard about this bun in passing, about how the Imporium was getting more and more popular lately. Before it was kind of exclusive, and one needed the owner’s permission to adopt the imps in his menagerie, but it looked like things have eased up since then. Probably correlated to the fact that the amount of pet imps wandering around have increased considerably. They supposed if they were more business inclined, they could think of ways to capitalize on this upcoming and booming industry, but they weren’t, and they were certainly not the type to kidnap imps for a quick buck.

Upon entering the building, they had to sit down in the waiting room, surrounded by other buns that also had carriers and/or leashes and imps. Lots of imps. Many imps of different kinds; most they had never seen before (then again, they only knew, what, the flying one? And the one that stole into their garbage multiple times a week?) Tomio felt out of place with their dinged up carrier (that wasn’t even theirs) and fussy owners. As far as they knew, the imp inside the carrier hadn’t moved all that much.

Eventually it was their turn, so trying to be as careful as they could, they carried the unidentified imp to another room where Hutch was waiting. It looked like a clinic (well, he did ask for a check up), and the owner looked very much worried as Tomio placed the carrier on the table.

It would be the first time that the carrier door would be opened since the bun had gotten it. The imp, however, refused to come out. Hutch was shaking his head and had a very worried look on his face, asking Tomio questions on where he got the poor little thing. Once the pawnbroker relayed the necessary information, the Imporium owner could only grimace.

“I feel so sorry for this poor imp. It will be hard to figure out where it originally came from and if it had a home, but we should still try to put up posters for it just in case. For now, uhm…” he reached for a container full of gray bone-shaped biscuits and lightly waved it in front of the open carrier. At first, nothing happened, but then not long afterward, two white eyes could be seen, and then a round ball of fluff with two horns. The fur looked like it had many things stuck on it, like dirt and random tiny objects. Tomio swore they could see a piece of candy somewhere in there.

“Oh, you poor thing.” Hutch gave the imp the treat, to which it ate happily (how that worked, Tomio had no idea. It looked like it was being sucked into the void that was its fur). Afterward, he said that he would wash the imp, but as much as possible it would be better if the Phloof (that was what he called it) could recuperate in a quieter environment, like Tomio’s place, if that was alright.

Well, Hutch was correct to assume that Tomio was a pretty quiet bun in a quiet home, but they didn’t know anything about imp care. Wouldn’t it be better if it were left with an expert? Well, yes, but there were lots of imps here that needed his care, so if fostering was an option, it was preferred. The egg bun couldn’t hide that he was grimacing, but they did feel bad about it, and it didn’t look like it was in any shape to get kicked out on the streets again.

“Let’s put those posters up and give it a week. After that, let me know if you’re willing to keep the Phloof or if you need adoption services. Here, I can give you a full starter package! It comes with a manual on how to care for your imp. There’s also a phone number there for any questions.”

It felt like there was suddenly so much being dropped onto Tomio’s plate, but what could they do? They didn’t have the heart to say no to someone who looked like they deeply cared for imps. They could pull a straight face on customers, but this was a completely different situation. It made Tomio deflate a little, but after the Phloof was washed up and dried with a towel, it looked exhausted and just fell asleep. The carrier was dirty, so it was donated to Hutch. With that, the bun took the imp home, and it slept on a pillow he had to purchase specifically for it all the way back.

Tomio lived in a small studio apartment that was pretty common for younger buns while they were still accumulating wealth. It was tiny, but it was home in Burrowgatory.

“Hey, you.” they were supposed to be fostering this imp, so why should they give it a name? “You can stay here until your owner finds you, but don’t knock things over or make a mess, got it?”

The Phloof was awake at this point and looking around. It jumped off the pillow once it was lowered to the ground and immediately squished itself underneath his secondhand couch. Oh.

“Hey wait, if you stay under there you’ll get dirty, then I’ll need to give you another bath.” their tone was even but subtly annoyed. They knelt down and tried to look through the gap, but all they could see were a pair of white eyes staring back at them. Tomio sighed and decided that maybe it needed some alone time for now. It did go through a rather traumatizing experience, after all.

So the bun spent the rest of their day as if they didn’t willingly have an imp in their apartment. They never concerned themselves with imps inside their home before, and so far it felt like they were easy to forget…that was until they thought to walk to their kitchen counter, passing through the couch, only to suddenly feel something soft and plush under their hoof. They yelped and immediately recoiled; the tail that was sticking out did the same. Tomio did apologize, but the scene underneath the couch was similar to how it looked when it was in the carrier. The bun let out a worried and tired noise before going through the starter package and getting some black sesame treats (the same ones that Hutch was using earlier).

“Sorry, you can have this, though you should come out–it’s hard to see you from there.”

Well, it was also their fault in a way; they weren’t used to having to watch where they were stepping. They hoped that the biscuit was enough of a peace offering, and they knew that they had to be patient with this little guy.

Two minutes would pass before they would finally see horns and fluff coming out from underneath the couch. It tentatively moved closer, but Tomio had to hand the treat to it before it seemed to relax a little. Ugh, the Phloof was already covered in dust. Maybe not a bath, but it did need a brushing.

“Can I brush your fur?”

Can an imp even understand what they were saying? Maybe not exactly, but the Phloof looked at them and surprisingly didn’t run off, even if they raised the brush to show what he was talking about. After the imp ate the treat, Tomio began to gently brush its fur, getting the dust off from its poof. They supposed that it at least collected some of the dust that they needed to clean out.

It seemed relaxed, at least. And Tomio figured that this wasn’t so bad.

Over the course of the week, the bun would find that the Phloof was rather well behaved, if not shy. Their boss was also okay with having the imp around so long as it didn’t knock things over in the shop, and honestly, majority of the time it was just napping on their lap or on the pillow they bought. Once the week was up, Hutch called and said that no one came forward, and it was clear that he was worried about what to do with the Phloof.

“It’s okay, I’ll take him in.”

They could hear the relief and joy in his voice through the phone. “Really?! Thank you thank you thank you! I’m sure the little one will be taken care of well in your hands. Feel free to stop by if you need more supplies!”

And that was that. Well, there was the matter of a name (they couldn’t simply refer to the Phloof as “you” or “hey” forever), but that would be for another time. Maybe they could ask the boss for ideas. The bun gave a few gentle pats on the Phloof’s head, smiling softly.