(Untitled)

[freakedwithjet]

Date: 26 September 2000
Time: Mid morning
Location: Alecto's Animal Emporium
Characters Involved: Pansy Parkinson, Aurin Helm only
Rating: It is Pansy, so I'm going with PG-ish.

Comments

[golden_armor]

Toviel, who'd been studying a book on setting broken wings for his vet exams, quickly put it away when he saw a customer coming through the door. Putting on a friendly smile and nodding in return to her greeting, he said, "Animals for sale are in the back, cats are on the first aisle to the left. My brother's actually back there now, so if you have any questions about a particular cat, feel free to ask him."

Aurin was indeed in the back of the shop with the animals, having just brought a few down from the clinic. They were rescued animals that people had brought in, and he'd cared for them and tried to find their owners. Those animals whose owners couldn't be found went up for adoption. There were two new cats, a very young, playful tabby and an affectionate adult gray cat he'd taken to calling "Shadow," though of course whatever names owners picked for the animals would be the ones that stuck.

[freakedwithjet]

Pansy followed the assistant's directions to the back of the shop, down the first aisle and sure enough, there was a man, presumably his brother. He was tall and thin and older than Pansy was expecting. For some reason, Pansy seemed to associate retail jobs with young people... unless she was in a top-end boutique when the chic older woman tended to rule with an iron hand.

There were only two cats, and Pansy was a bit disappointed; she was expecting a greater choice. She looked them over before transferring her attention back over to the man. The tabby looked very young and seemed a bit ... active. A nice way of saying "irritating". The grey cat, though, he was larger and more languid. And he had a look of the devil about him that Pansy found appealing.

She reached out to scratch behind his ear as she addressed the man. "Only two cats in a petshop like this? Have they got unpopular or something?" The grey purred and licked her hand and Pansy couldn't stop a smile from escaping. "What can you tell me about this one? Is it male or

[golden_armor]

"The opposite, actually," he said with a friendly smile, "The first couple of months of school term is always a busy time for cats, owls, and toads."

Aurin could see there was a connection between the girl and the cat. They would be good for each other, were she to decide to take the cat home. "That one's a male. He's a rescued stray. He was pretty beat up when he got here, but he still had a lot of fight in him. He's a good judge of people's moods, too, can tell if someone's happy or upset."

[freakedwithjet]

Pansy nodded. Funny how quickly you forgot about school and term dates, when they no longer affected you, no matter how long they had ruled your life.

She listened with interest to the man's description of the cat as she continued to pet him. A stray with a lot of fight? Well, he wasn't displaying much of that at the moment, docilely lowering his head and rubbing his nose against the palm of her hand. Well, maybe he could tell that she was "happy". Pansy had raised an eyebrow at that; she'd always had a hearty scepticism about anything to do with clairvoyancy in animals, even if she did consider cats to be more intelligent animals than most.

And it wasn't hard to tell if someone was happy or upset if you were an animal - either they gave you treats or a kick up the backside. Pansy imagined you'd catch on pretty quickly.

"Well, as long as he's got no residual health problems," her inflection made this a question rather than a comment, "I'll take him. I suppose if he's a stray then he won't have a name?"