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Everything But the Monkey: Wednesday afternoon [2-10-10]

Helen met Hinata in the dorms and they made their way to the pet shop. Helen still had absolutely no idea what she wanted to get. The whole concept of pets was still quite foreign to her. And when they walked in the door and were confronted with such a huge selection, she had to admit to being a little overwhelmed.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

[For the enabler, though it is a pet store and anyone's welcome to come put their two cents in.]

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Hinata was not an enabler.

Even if she did rather think it was quite a lovely idea for Helen to obtain a pet of some sort. And had been the one to bring it up. And had offered to come along to help her look and make decisions.

Okay, so she wasn't an evil enabler. She'd been very pleasant about the whole thing, really.

"D-Don't let the store overwhelm you," she said soothingly. "It's very well laid out and th-there's entire parts we can avoid by eliminating species from your possible potentials."

"Entire species?" Helen said dubiously. "Hinata... I have no idea what I want. Except... something smallish. And, well... cuddly."

That last was very hard to admit.

"No fish then!" Hinata said brightly. "So th-that," she gestured to the right, "entire section of the store we can avoid."

Fish were not, by any definition, cuddly. Some of them were cute, though.

"Fish?" Helen blinked. "Who would buy a fish as a pet?"

She must be excused as her mind immediately went to fish like cod or haddock.

"They're fairly popular," Hinata said, glancing at her. "They come in all types and colours and a lot of them are easy to care for. Many ch-children in this world get them as their first pets."

"Aren't they rather, well... large?" Helen asked. "Where does one keep them?"

"Oh!" she flushed slightly and shook her head. "No no, they come in all sizes. Many are less than an inch long and while some may grow, a lot of them don't get much larger than that."

Names of these fish, on the other hand, were a bit more than Hinata knew.

"As I understand it, some of it depends on the environment th-they live in--they have aquariums for them, glass homes filled with water that can be opened only from the top to feed them or clean their habitat--and they'll only grow so large as their home can support them."

From her understanding, of course, which could be entirely wrong.

And didn't she feel foolish. "Oh," she said quietly. "Well, no, not a fish then. I want something I can hold."

Hinata smiled at her reassuringly.

"No birds then?" she checked, with a tilt of her head towards their area of the store. "You can hold them, th-though I admit I don't know how cuddly they are."

Helen considered. "No. No birds."

She didn't like the idea of containing a flying creature inside a small room.

She nodded at that.

"Did you want to begin with looking at the puppies and kittens?" Hinata suggested gently. "Th-There's many varieties to look at."

Also, they were practically made for snuggling and cuddling, yes.

Helen nodded, though she had to admit there was some part of her that didn't want a pet just like the ones everyone else had. "That would probably be a good place to look, yes. Are those all the choices? Cats, dogs, fish, and birds?"

"There's many more choices," Hinata assured her. "Th-Those are just the common ones--oh, and small rodents? Gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs..."

She smiled a bit and leaned over to inspect the nearest enclosure. "Some people get bugs," she added, remembering what Helen had said. "Spiders and the like. Th-There's lizards and snakes too. Probably more, if we look."

"I do like bugs," Helen mused. "But their minds aren't very complex and they're certainly not, well... cuddly. Small rodents might be nice, though I would like something more furry than rats."

She wrinkled her nose. "It would seem silly to buy insects or rodents when I simply call them to me whenever I choose already."

Hinata laughed softly. "True enough," she took a few steps forward and glanced back. "Should we just wander and see wh-what we find then?"

Helen nodded and made her way through the aisles. The dogs, well, the ones she found intriguing looked as if they would grow too big and should she ever be allowed home she would not want to leave a pet behind. It would have to be something small and useful.

The cats were nice, but did seem rather common. Still... they'd be better than nothing.

She made her way to the rodent section, but nothing seemed quiet right. She was shaking her head in disappointment as they headed towards the exotic section. "I just... I thought perhaps I'd juts know when I saw the right thing."

Hinata looked up from double checking the cat toys she'd picked up while Helen had searched the kittens.

Yei was not spoilt, what were you talking about?

(She really was.)

"We're not done the store," she said reasonably. "And th-there's always the mainland if no one here catches your eye."

Helen was shaking her head. "I don't really want -" And then something caught her eye. Something tiny. With ears. Huge ears.

Hinata followed Helen's gaze when the other girl cut off and had to stifle the urge to awww at the... creature.

"Wh-What is it?" she wondered, looking for a sign. "A fennec fox?"

That answered absolutely nothing.

Helen was already reaching for the pamphlet (http://www.juliesjungle.com/fennecfox.php) on the animal though she was hardly able to take her eyes off of it.

She read through it quickly and handed it to Hinata so she could focus once more on the tiny creature. She could hear it- her - easily in her mind. Bright, intelligent, curious. It meeped at her, placing one paw on the bars of the cage as if reaching out to her.

The salesperson was quickly there to take the creature out, rambling on about what an escape artist the fennec fox was, how cute but difficult they could be... Helen heard nothing. She'd read all of that, but she was focused on touching the mind of the creature.

"It's her," she said absently to Hinata, never taking her eyes off the tiny cuddly creature. "This is what I want."

Hinata smiled and nodded to the salesperson. "Sh-She'll need the basics to take care of her," she said, with shy authority. "If you wouldn't mind...?"

The salesperson, delighted to be making a sale, vanished to gather things they'd need for basic care.

She took a moment to flip through the pamphlet. "Does she have a name?"

"Kianah," Helen said absently, gently stroking the tiny creature. "Ki for short."

She snuggled it in close to her neck and it nuzzled in making quiet contented noises. "I can make a pocket for her and bring her with me everywhere while she's still this tiny. Not that she'll ever get very large."

"And sh-she's absolutely darling," Hinata said, smiling. "So all of the objectives are completed in finding you a companion."

"I'm sorry," Helen said suddenly, blushing. "Do you, would you like to hold her?" She offered the small creature to Hinata.

Hinata was hardly going to say no as she reached tentatively for the tiny fox.

"Th-There is nothing to apologize for," she said serenely. "And hello, Kianah."

The little creature meeped plaintively at Helen, but allowed herself to be passed over to Hinata.

Carefully she cradled the fox in her hands, holding her carefully.

"Hello," she said again. "How are you? You're v-very cute, yes you are."

Hinata spent a lot of time talking to cuddly animals like that, yes.

"Helen will take good care of you," Hinata continued. "So you h-have to do the same for her, do you understand?" She might. Who knew?

Ki sat up straight in Hinata's hand, one paw carefully placed on her wrist, and made an odd sort of chirruping noise. It was for all the world as if she was assuring Hinate that she would do just that.

Hinata laughed softly.

"Th-Thank you," she said. "And I do apologize in advance for my kitten. I am sure she will be most interested in playing with you. She's very enthusiastic."

She glanced up at Helen. "I th-think you'll do just fine with Kianah."

Hinata didn't really... do... the whole nicknames thing, no.

Helen nodded. "I do believe I will."

And had a sudden image of Hinata's kitten playing with Ki...

Kitten and Fennec Fox (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvzg0NplkLE&feature=player_embedded)

Edited 2010-02-11 02:57 (UTC)

[Cute!]

Hinata offered Kianah back to Helen gently. "I wonder wh-where the salesperson went," she mused. "Maybe they're giving you time to get to know her?"

Helen took Ki back, snuggling her back in and laughing at the contented happy noises the little fox made. "Maybe," she said. "Why don't we head toward the front to look for them. We can pick up a few things I might need on the way."

"And toys," she said brightly. "You have to get her toys."

Helen nodded thoughtfully, then laughed when Kianah chirruped in agreement. "Yes," she said. "Perhaps some of these small mice and this hedgehog."

The hedgehog was actually a bit bigger than Ki at the moment, but it would be a nice furry thing for her to snuggle with.

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Everything But the Monkey: Wednesday afternoon [2-10-10]

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