Eden Suburbs: The Local Pet Shop

[Leda]

The door opened with a gentle jingling noise as the motion rattled the small bell at the top. Scents of bedding, litter, food, and despite the establishment's best efforts, even whiffs of waste wafted through the air. Phoebe drew a deep breath of the mixed aroma; it was almost intoxicating.

Stepping past the threshhold, the young woman glanced for the pet showrooms, yet idly pondered back to the days of her childhood. She'd had a tight bond with their family beast, Diggory, all the way through her adolescence. Even after moving out, she still pined for his presence, and would frequently go home to visit him. It was exactly why it'd been such a devestating blow when her sister Zoe had called to inform her that their beloved friend and servant had passed away. Despite the fact that a few months had passed since that difficult conversation, the loss still tugged at Phoebe's heart each day.

While Diggory could never be replaced, his passing had given her the incentive to look into getting a beast of her own. While a florist's salary didn't grant much to work with, she was sure something could be worked out if she did some careful planning. Phoebe had already aquired a pet bed, some toys, an early supply of food, and other necessary items, to be ready for when she did take the plunge. Now that all was prepared and she'd saved up a modest amount of money to make the final purchase, the time had come to browse.

Three rooms awaited her arrival: rooms for mixed, pedigree, and purebred beasts. Phoebe had never doubted that she would most likely be purchasing a crossbreed; the more refined the breeding, the more damaging the price. Even so, she couldn't stop herself from wanting to at least take a look at the purebred room. Beasts with pure bloodlines tended to just have a majestic sort of elegance about them. The stray traits that sprang up so often in those of mixed breeding were absent in wake of purity; Phoebe frequently found them almost angelic.

Many yips and purrs and other assorted noises filled the air as she stepped into the room, and a smile spread across her fair face. They really were beautiful animals. Phoebe slowly paced her way around the room, complimenting those with exotic coats, exchanging passing greetings with those that seemed talkative... until coming across something utterly unexpected.

Phoebe knelt down to the floor level and peered into the pen at her feet. What had initially caught her attention was the drastically reduced price -- less than half its original mark-up. Taking a look past the bars, there wasn't really much to see; all that could be discerned was a ball of spikes, some an earthy brown, others a faded sort of yellow.

Well, the florist silently reasoned, I didn't PLAN on a purebred beast, but this one IS in my price range... Deciding it would be worth it to at least check things out, Phoebe smiled and tapped gently on a couple of the kennel's bars. "Hey there."1

[DB]

The mound of spines seemed to jump slightly, and after a moment a face was revealed peeking up from behind the raggedy blanket that had been supplied to the kennel's occupant- though a rather tired, worried, and seemingly bit frightened face... one also baring line of stitches down one cheek.


"W-who, me?", Dash mummbled, puffing his spines out slightly, giving his non-intentional impression of a dandelion puff. It wasn't to intimidate, persay, but more just his species' natural reaction to... well, fear, among other things.

And it wasn't even that this lady was particularly frightening (though the simple fact she was an overlander made his stomach flip flop a bit), but more the combination of events. The boat ride, the checkup and ensuing surgery, the nightmaric 'training' sessions, ending up here with who knows what in store for him in the future...

So it really shouldn't come to a surprise that he wasn't entirely thrilled over ... anything, really, at the moment. Occasionally an overlander would pass through, and while this brought a good deal of excitement to some of the others being kept here, it only brought him dread- the thoughts Duke set into his mind and Sarah's ominous warning were still weighing heavily on his mind, and even when a overlander child would bound up to his cage he found himself cringing.

This was a strange, strange place, and he still had no idea exactly what to think about it... other than... well, he didn't like it.

[Leda]

When the timid beast peeked his head up, Phoebe's smile almost immediately morphed into a grimace. "Oh my gosh, are you okay??" she urgently asked, her eyes locked on the stitches.

[DB]

The tenrec fumbled to sit up, his joints protesting after resting on the hard floor. And once in an upright position, he sorta... jammed himself into the corner, tracing his fingers on the stitches on his cheek.

"Ya, 'm jush fine."

To be honest, he was much, much less concerned about that compared to everything else going on right now.

Nervously, he looked the overlander over. At least, what he could see from here.

Didn't look like a 'Duke', but you probably couldn't see that sort of thing right away anyway.

He shuddered.

[Leda]

Said overlander frowned. She'd never seen such a frightened beast before, and found the image almost disturbing. Glancing at the tag on his pen a second time, she did notice that he was a domesticated feral.

Phoebe almost immediately found herself at odds. Truth be told, she had a rather deep-seeded fear of the feral world, and was never able to understand how a person could bring themselves to purchase a wild beast, even if they had been 'trained'. She'd heard plenty of stories before about thought-to-be tamed beasts turning on their owners, and found the very idea of willingly walking into that kind of danger to be mind-boggling.

However, this creature didn't seem even remotely likely to do something like that; in fact, he seemed far more afraid of her than she was of him. Was this typical of trained ferals? Did they just start this way and later snap? Or was this one unusual?

Those panicked, ever-fearful eyes of his tugged at her heartstrings, and regardless of her reservations, Phoebe could not bring herself to resume her browsing. Feral or not, this one was... special. The florist took a seat on the cold floor tiles and crossed her legs. "I'm not going to hurt you. Please come here and talk to me?"

[DB]

"We're talhking now."

From a nice, safe distance- though the fact she was apparently settling down to stick around for awhile ... well, unsettled him... more so, somehow.

[Leda]

". . . True," Phoebe had to concede, even if it wasn't what she'd meant. Regardless, he was obviously intimidated, so forcing him out of what comfort zone he could muster wouldn't be a good idea, anyway.

"Well, my name's Phoebe," the overlander continued, forcing herself to smile while leaning her chin into one hand. "Do you have a given name?"

[DB]

The tenrec grimaced, an ear twitching in a somewhat agitated manner.

"Doesh... doesh it matter around here?"

He sighed, turning his gaze downward as he shook his head, pushing himself deeper into the corner.

"Dash ish what everyone calls meh."

[Leda]

"Nice name," the overlander commented, mostly just to be nice. Phoebe paused then, her brows furrowing as she pondered over the tenrec's increasingly closed behavior. Was there any way she could put him more at ease? Maybe if I show him what kind of person I am...

"Well," she eventually began again, "I work in a flower shop. I really like plants... You can find some real beauty in the most unlikely places."

[DB]

...

Well, that wasn't very intimidating. Plus, that made him fairly more sure she wasn't anything like Duke.


...

Duke with flowers.

...

The mental image alone was enough to make him chuckle.

[Leda]

Well, she sure hadn't MEANT to be amusing, but the tenrec seemed to have snerked. Looking hopeful at the perk in his mood, Phoebe asked, "What? What are you laughing about?"

[DB]

Oops. Did he do that out loud?

Bristling, he tried to back into the wall more, only to wince as he had inadvertently stuck himself with his own spines.

"I-I didn't... I mean it'sh not y-you..."

...
Fidget.

[Leda]

"I don't care if you were laughing at me. I don't care if you think my job is silly, and I'm glad to even see you laugh." Though she was still smiling, the overlander still seemed... sad. "Something really awful must have happened to you..."

[DB]

"..."
Dash didn't say much, instead glancing around at the rather small space he was stuck in.

This was awful, yes. Everything previously was also awful.

What was to come... he didn't know. But he was sure it'd be awful too.

Because he's Dash.

And these kind of things happened to him.

Grumble.

[Leda]

Since he didn't seem so interested in talking about himself, Phoebe decided to go back to her previous tactic.

"I had a beast when I was a child," she began again. "He was a reddish squirrel, and his name was Diggory. We got him when I was 10 years old." Placing both hands over her breast, Phoebe continued, "Ohhhh, I loved him so much! I always saw him as something more than a pet or a servant. He was... well, a member of the family. He was older than my sister and I, so, he was almost like the big brother we never had. He was always there for us... He was always there for me." Although she hadn't actually begun to cry, the florist gently dabbed at her moist eyes with the back of her index finger. "I miss him... very, very much."

[DB]

The tenrec squirmed a bit, frowning.

"... where was he from?"

Was 'Diggory' a prisoner here too? Was it a sign that he was going to live here the rest of his life, until he died?

At the very least, now he was less worried about the overlander (Phoebe, she said her name was?) herself, but back on his situation. Either way, he seemed to relax a bit around her...

[Leda]

"Well, he told me once that before us, he belonged to an old woman that ran a daycare center. That was why when he was in the shelter after she died, he specifically asked the people shopping not to consider him unless they had kids." Smiling wistfully, she added, "He was very devoted. It takes a lot of dedication to pass up possible adoptions just to be sure you can do your best..." Phoebe let out a forced chuckle, and tried to hide a slight wipe at her right eye. "Oh, but listen to me ramble. I'm sorry if this is bothering you."

[DB]

Rubbing at his arm a bit self consciously, Dash shook his head.

"Uh... no... ish fine..."

Though her answer didn't really give him the information he wanted...

Slumping in the corner he'd picked for himself, he sighed, ears drooping.

"I'm gonna be shtuck here forever...", he muttered to himself.

[Leda]

Phoebe scrunched her mouth to one side. "At least you're much safer here than you are out there. It could be much, much worse..."

[DB]

The tenrec's mouth scrunched.

"I don't know if it was safer it but it wash much free-er."

More slumping.

...

And maybe a sniffle.

[Leda]

The overlander's heart practically plummeted to the floor. "Dash? Please don't cry... It's really not as bad as all that! I know it's probably really scary now, but, I'll bet it's just because it's all so unfamiliar. Being different doesn't necessarily mean something is bad... Right?"

It was breaking. Her heart sincerely felt like it was breaking in two as she gazed at the tenrec, so utterly hopeless and broken. It made her want to weep even more than the memories of her beloved childhood beast. Doing her best to blink back tears, she softly stated, "I'll take care of you... If you let me..."

[DB]

The tenrec quickly sat up, a somewhat defensive (and at the same time sheepish) expression on his face.

"I'm not crying! It... it jusht stinks in here."

...
And then back to slumping.

It all stinks.

He paused, looking up a bit confused.

"'n what wash that?"

[Leda]

"Heh," the florist forced herself to laugh, trying to discreetly dab her eyes while turned aside. Apparently she was in denial about her own tears as well.

Once she was mildly confident her face was dry, Phoebe glanced back into the pen and asked, "What was what?"

[DB]

"The lasht bit?"

[Leda]

"I said, I'll take care of you if you let me." Allowing her fake smile to drop, Phoebe's expression became a glum mix of sympathy and yearning. She reached out a hand, and rather than snake it between the cold, metallic bars as she'd been pining to do for some time, the overlander instead wrapped her fingers around one of them. "I'd like to take you home with me, but I'm not going to force you. It wouldn't be right for me to buy a beast that didn't feel comfortable with me.

"But... if you did, I promise I would never hurt you. And I'd never let anyone else hurt you, either." Her eyes shifted to her lap. She opened her mouth to say something else, but after a slight pause, closed it again without saying anything.

[DB]

... Ah. This was a conundrum.

Squirming slightly, he glanced around the kennel again.

He... didn't forsee himself leaving anytime soon if he didn't take her up on the offer, and who was to say that the other people coming in would be more... Dukes than Sarahs. And that was a terrifying thought.

"... I... I guesh..."

[Leda]

Her eyes focused on the tenrec once more. He hadn't moved an inch from his corner there, and despite her longing to pet and cuddle and comfort him, she couldn't do so even if she tried. He may have been agreeing to her suggestion, but, it was probably hollow.

"I can't say I blame you for not trusting me," she suddenly blurted out. "I can't know what happened to you, but it's pretty clear you're afraid of humans, and there has to be a reason why. No one cowers and trembles the way you do without cause..." Releasing a disheartened sigh, Phoebe grabbed her bag and rose to her feet, dusting off her rear once upright. "I hope you can find an owner that makes you feel welcome and loved, Dash... even though it looks like that's not me."

[DB]

The tenrec's ears turned back as he frowned.

Partly because he felt as if he'd just been called a coward (cowering?? Trembling??), but mostly because what was probably his best bet in this crazy place was getting up to leave...

And so he got out of his corner and approached the bars, though a bit timidly (not cowardly! NOT COWARDLY!), until finally he was close enough to peer out.

"I trusth you... at leasth, a lot more than everyone elsh here..."

[Leda]

Though she'd been about to turn and head for the mixed room, Dash's pleas caught her ear, and the florist knelt at his cage a second time. "Are you sure? You don't have to come with me if you don't want to, you know." Phoebe started to reach through the bars to pet him, but paused before contacting the top of his head. Instead, her hand simply hovered there, inches away.

[DB]

He frowned, gripping the bars.

...

"Yeah. I'm shure."