New Friend!

Freine made his way through Callasta, having made the trip out from Zhido as although he loves his home in all its grungy glory, it didn’t have the kind of quality ingredients that are stocked within other cities. He’d usually just get any plant ingredients from Klathe, the agricultural area being a far shorter trip, but he had also wanted to visit the spell store he’d been in earlier, so venturing into the capital city it was.

Freine didn’t even think to turn away from the trinkets he was currently looking at, having been distracted by a stall selling some nice pieces of jewellery, but at the vendor’s alarmed face he decided to actually see what the fuss that had started behind him was about.

He turned to see a bunch of cors screaming and running from… a Surret. Just a regular Surret, scuttling about on the tiled pathways. Judging the panicked crowd for freaking out over such a harmless creature, Freine spotted a blonde cor rushing towards the green lizard rather than away from it, though she seemed to be having trouble getting to the creature through all the commotion the others were causing.

“Someone catch them!”

Well, Freine supposed he could do that. Levitating an empty box from beside one of the stalls, he placed the cardboard container over the reptile as it rushed past him, trapping the creature and making sure no one stepped on it as he gently dragged it over to be closer to him.

The one who had called out made her way over, looking only slightly frazzled.

“Ah, thank you! This little one only arrived at the shop quite recently, so she’s still quite confused. I’m Lilian, I own one of the pet shops”

Lilian lifted the box, coaxing the Surret out. The critter easily scurries up her leg and onto her back, making itself comfortable as Lillian continues to talk.

“My shop is the one over there,” she nodded over to a cosy looking building painted in soft colours, “We take care of all sorts of pets, like this lady… perhaps you would like to take a look? You might find a new friend”

Taking in the woman’s warm smile, Freine decided that he may as well, even if it wasn’t originally in his plans, so he smiled back and agreed that he would at least visit the store.

The inside of the store was just as inviting as the exterior, and Freine took his time looking over the different fauna available as Lilian settled the Surret back into the proper enclosure. Freine didn’t have much of an interest in reptiles, so he avoided that area, even if he had nothing against them- they were just not something he found the idea of owning particularly appealing.

The Migarsula were quite cute, despite the scaly tail. Seeing the dropped tail beside the creatures was definitely a little disturbing for Freine though. Just because he witnessed violence as an almost daily occurrence didn’t mean he enjoyed looking at unattached body parts, so he’d quickly moved away from the fuzzy beings.

Pixins weren’t too unusual of a sight within Zhido, as many raised them to save on having to buy eggs, and then feathers and meat once the Pixin was at a good age to butcher. While having eggs would admittedly be a boon considering he was planning to sell baked goods, he didn’t currently have the room, so he made a mental note to perhaps invest in the musical creatures at some point, most of which were a light golden colour with blue wings- which was odd, as when asked Lilian had answered that most actually weren’t related- but moved to spectate the rest of the space, pausing to play with a Cannäti that had approached him with a toy in its mouth.

Having officially spent far longer than he’d intended in the store, Freine was preparing to leave when he thought to look towards a flash of pink, finding himself staring at a bright pink Bloëres that seemed to be glaring directly at him from its perch in a corner of the shop. Catching Lilian’s attention, Freine gestured towards the angry-looking avian.

“Do they always look like that, or did I just become a bird’s mortal enemy?”

“Ah, she seems to always look like that. She doesn’t hate you, she’s actually quite friendly”

Freine took that as an okay to get closer, trotting up to the rosy bird.

…

Twenty minutes later and some crystal shards lighter, Freine made his way out of the pet shop with a new feathery friend perched on his back.