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Book Haven, Tuesday

Evan had been all prepared to come into work at the bookstore, which more often than not was at least somewhat more sane for him than his Sunday library shifts tended to be.

Except, quite the opposite of his time at the library on Sunday, today there wasn't a single pop-up book to be seen. Anywhere. And ~~NPC~~ parents kept coming in with their children, asking if they had any. The best that he could do was apologize profusely, and then offer to either place an order, or suggest they check out the school library. They had plenty of pop-up books there.

He was kind of wondering if perhaps these two things were related by way of some sort of shipping error, or if it was just another case of the island messing with him.

Some days, it was hard to tell.

[Open!]

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This was ridiculous. Completely and utterly nonsensical. But she'd been toying with the idea for a while, now, and recent events had only made that longing more pronounced.

That was to say: she'd slept better with a tiny polar bear cub clawing up her abdomen than she had at any other time in her life.

She could hardly ask her friend to resume her ursine shape -- nor would she want to lose Elsa, for that matter -- but maybe ... maybe she could at least look up some books about pet ownership.

Ones that would remind her what a silly idea it was.

She tilted her head curiously when she spotted Evan behind the counter.

"... Do you work at all book-related locations?"

There were worse areas in which to specialize.

"Only most of them," Evan laughed, glancing up from a box that he was unpacking. "Here and the library. I think the magic store sells books too, but they're pretty specialized, and I'm not at all qualified to sell magic stuff."

His genetic predecessor might disagree, but that was mostly narcissism doing the talking, there.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Eleanor?"

"I don't know that I'm qualified to sell music discs, but I do it anyway," Eleanor laughed. That was probably a different sort of 'qualified,' really. Jono appeared to just hire people, anyway.

"I ... I was looking for books about pets," she said, carefully, as though he might raise an eyebrow suspiciously or deny her request. "General knowledge, that sort of thing."

"Oh, yeah?" Evan gave her a small headtilt at just how tentatively she was approaching the topic, and then he allowed himself a soft chuckle. "Thinking about getting a pet, huh? As a guy who lives with not one, but two animals, I think it's pretty safe to say that's an awesome idea. And we have a whole section about them!"

All right, that was rather ... cheerful. But then, he didn't know the circumstances.

"I've never had a pet before," she confessed. "Ever, in my entire life. I watched a friend who changed into a polar bear and was scared the whole time that I would do something terribly wrong and she'd end up malnourished or deformed when she changed back."

Maybe not scared the whole time. It was hard to be scared with an adorable fuzzy polar bear cuddling you to sleep.

"Well... was she any of those things?"

Evan was pretty sure it was safe to assume the answer was no, or else Eleanor wouldn't be here asking about how-to books now, would she?

"No," Eleanor admitted, sheepishly. "Just a little embarrassed. It was only a couple of weeks, though. A pet's rather a more ... significant investment, isn't it?"

Temporary was so much safer than permanent, in these things.

"So you ... enjoy having them, then?" she asked. "Your pets. Is it ... difficult, taking care of them?"

Edited 2014-06-25 00:19 (UTC)

Evan gave her a warm smile as he shook his head.

"No, not difficult at all. I mean, it's a commitment, to be sure. I need to take them both for walks every day - you won't have to do that with every pet, it really depends on what you get - and feed them and play with them and give them clean water. But there's probably not much you'd be doing for a pet that you weren't doing for your friend, you know?"

"I took her down to the beach so she could hunt for fishies," Eleanor said, smiling fondly. "And she insisted on cuddling with me when I slept. I ... miss that."

Was that stupid? It sounded ridiculous, leaving her mouth.

"Ozzy sleeps at the foot of my bed," Evan offered, "and Old Lace usually rests her head on my chest. It's like a whole pile of us in my bed at night, and it's... warm. It's nice, knowing for certain that you're not alone, right? I would miss it, too, if anything happened to either of them."

Nothing was allowed to. Ever. Ignoring conveniently that he was functionally immortal if he played his cards right. Ish. And both pets were decidedly... not.

"It is," Eleanor said. That was it, exactly: knowing one wasn't alone. It was easier to fall asleep in the warm fur of companionship than to agonize about the universe alone.

Being immortal sounded more like a burden than a blessing. Eleanor could never understand why so many people strove for it.

"So what sort of books do you recommend?" she asked. "How much research is necessary for taking on this sort of responsibility?"

Eleanor, most people just went to the pound and picked out something fluffy.

"Well, I didn't do any for either of mine," Evan offered, his smile going a bit wry. Of course, he hadn't really had a chance to, with Old Lace, and it wasn't as though they had care and feeding guides for deinonychus anyway. "I do remember growing up on a farm, but working farm dogs are pretty different from a housepet."

He rubbed at the back of his neck for a moment while he thought.

"Have you figured out what kind of pet you want, yet? We do have books about deciding what sort of pet is for you, something for before you even have to worry about setting up for them."

"No more polar bears," she decided. As if those were popular in animal shelters. Polar bears: just giving them away. "I couldn't handle the ethics of killing baby seals for them, and I don't know how else to fatten up cubs."

"Uh... that seems like a good choice," Evan replied with a blink. "I think you'll have easier luck finding a dog or a cat, though. And plenty of people know how to handle those, since they're so common. No shortage of people to ask for help if you need it."

"Okay," Eleanor said, drawing herself up as though this was a huge, irrevocable sort of decision she had just made. "Then can you -- can you show me where the books are, about cats and dogs?"

What a life-changing decision, that she'd committed to actually looking at books about caring for pets.

"Those would be just over here," Evan replied gently, sliding out from behind the desk and leading her toward the pet section. "Do you have any preference between one or the other at all? Dogs can be very friendly and loyal, and cats are a bit more independent, but since I've never had cats, I can't really be much more helpful than that, I'm afraid."

"That's all right," she said. "I ... don't know for certain. I feel more familiar with cats. There were a few wandering around Rapture, here and there, but I've never had either."

She chewed her lower lip. "Perhaps I take a book on each and weigh the merits."

"That sounds like a good plan," Evan decided, looking over the shelf and then finding two 'for beginners' type books, one on puppies and one on kittens. "These ones are pretty good, I think. Or, at least, the dog one is. I got that one myself before I got Ozzy, because I was kind of nervous about the idea of bringing home a puppy, you know?"

She probably knew, Evan.

"I do," Eleanor said, eagerly. "You're taking responsibility for a life. I know how worried I was about Elsa, and she was only temporarily transformed. What if I don't get the proper food, and she ends up malformed? What if I don't know to crack the window at night, or I crack it too far and he leaps out and shatters his legs?"

She wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering at the mental images.

"Well, for a start, I'm pretty sure a cat or a dog probably isn't going to jump out an open window. Animals come with basic survival instincts, just like the rest of us," Evan offered. "And okay, so some of them are a little dimmer than others, but if they didn't comprehend gravity, they probably wouldn't have evolved far enough for humans to start domesticating them in the first place."

This was in fact his idea of helpful, yes.

"And unless you're making your own food in the common room kitchen, you'll probably be all set there, too. The shelter in town sells bagged and wet kibble for dogs and cats, and it's pretty healthy for them. Made specifically for cats and dogs, you know? Ozzy's been eating the food from there, and he's doing just fine."

It was helpful. It meant she didn't have to worry about cracking the window quite so much. (Not that she was going to leave it open. Best not to tempt fate.)

She reached out, belatedly, to take the books he had offered her.

"They have prepackaged animal food?" she asked. Sorry, Evan, she didn't get out much. "Do you ... go there very often? To the animal shelter."

Because she wanted to see it, but she wasn't sure she could brave it solo.

"Every week or so, for dog food," Evan confirmed. "They don't have a dino-specific kibble there, so Old Lace and I go hunting in the preserve, but for Ozzy, the bagged stuff is his favorite."

Because Ozzy was a special snowflake of a dog and he didn't know any better.

"I'm about due for a run there sometime before the weekend, if you'd like to join me? You don't even have to leave with something, there's no charge to look."

"I ... I would," Eleanor said. Trying not to sound half so terrified as she felt.

It was just a shopping trip. She was just going with him. It didn't have to be a momentous occasion. Really.

In the meantime, she could study up on the books she was getting and decide for certain whether she was getting a cat or a dog.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Evan replied warmly, and then gave her a reassuring pat on her shoulder. "Come on, let's get you all rang in."

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Book Haven, Tuesday

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