He's quickly nibbled as well. Pradnakt progresses to petting - they're as fluffy as they look, with a hint of oiliness - and when that goes well, she scoops up the littlest one, and he burrows into her arms. Adorable.

!!!!

He looks up when she scoops the little one – he doesn't really trust himself to try with just the one arm – and reaches out hesitantly to scratch him on his head.

He's nervous at first, but when it becomes clear that he's not going to be hurt, he gives a sound that's rougher than a purr but clearly no less happy.

I hope these guys do okay on spaceships.

me too.

They'll have to keep him very very safe. And very very loved. Nothing bad is allowed to happen to this small creature, ever.

Yeah.

It doesn't take long to get the clerk's attention, and she's happy to tell them about komopee care. They're carnivores, and do best on a diet of fish, but they do fine on a processed diet with a few easy-to-find supplements. They do best in pairs, and tend to get depressed if they aren't allowed to swim at least occasionally - this makes them a poor choice for long voyages on human ships, but they do well enough on shorter ones, or on larger Dorfu ships, which have pools available. And they do have a tendency to be aggressive as adults if they aren't well-socialized as pups, but they're easy to train, which makes this a fairly minor problem most of the time.

so i guess we have to have a pool. or live near water. and feed them fish...

The closest he got to having a pet before he left home was stubbornly feeding strays and wild animals, and he kept that habit up a little when he left but he couldn't keep an animal in his actual apartment.

And keep our space jaunts short. Might be hard when we're tracking Him down, unless we find someone to leave them with.

...right.

He had, somehow, been very effectively not thinking about that. He had separated out the two lives in his mind, the one that they escaped Him for and the one that has them returning.

He tries to reconcile the two.

it might not be okay to have them.

He strokes the little one's head with his fingertip.

She pulls him in for a hug. We can find someone to watch them. But it's a choice we have to make, whether to take on this responsibility too.

we should decide while we're not looking at them. and come back, if we pick that.

There is absolutely no way he can look directly at a baby komopee and say "no thanks".

He's so good. Yeah, okay.

"We shouldn't make it an impulse buy. Can you hold a couple for us for a few days?"

    "Yes, Ma'am. Do you have them picked out?"

"Mmhmm." The clerk takes their information and gives each of the pups a collar to mark that they're reserved.

Do you want to look around some more?

She's good. If it weren't for her he would just be rolling in komopees totally heedless of consequences.

yeah, let's.

They have plenty more animals, though none quite so endearing - little mouse-sized creatures snoring away in the corner of their cage, frogs the size of two fists together that watch them with surprising intelligence, slate-blue bats that watch them with beady eyes and hiss when they get too close, and a tank full of bright flowers with something lurking among them that they can feel, but not see.

He loves them all individually.

He's especially charmed by whatever creature is in the flowery tank – how are you hiding? – and keeps peering at it trying to get even a glimpse.

She pushes the flowers aside with her telekinesis, carefully, to reveal a coil of iridescent black scales. A snake of some kind?

!

"You're very pretty," he says, quietly.

He is very pretty. She wonders if he's the kind of snake you can drape around your neck as an accessory.

we should ask.

Snake-necklace seems like it'd be intimidating enough for their image while still being an adorable snake.

He's a vlais constrictor; quite docile, and easy to care for as long as they don't mind handling rodents. He will get fairly big, but he's an excellent choice for a spaceship pet otherwise. (They'll have to watch the komopees around him if they get both, though.) And while she can't recommend making a habit of wearing him, a few hours once in a while shouldn't hurt him at all.

Pradnakt turns the conversation to supplies; the cost of them adds up quickly, even though the snake himself is a quarter the price of the pups.

He tries to let Pradnakt handle the financial concerns and occupy himself in the meantime with images of both of them draped in giant snake.

She handles it smoothly, until the clerk offers her a training module for Daisy, to teach her how to take care of the snake - she doesn't let her alarm show, but she's not sure whether Daisy would be okay with that or not, or want it or not, and she can't exactly ask, here in front of this stranger.

we can come back later if Daisy's okay with it. she doesn't know how big our budget is.

Yeah. Good point.

The rest of the transaction goes smoothly, and she arranges for everything to be delivered to their ship tomorrow afternoon.

Done here, Love?

He nods.

sit tight, baby animals.

Yeah.

Back out onto the street, then, and now she's keeping an eye out for someplace private to stop and talk to Daisy - she pauses to window-shop at a place with a window display full of sculptures made of scrap metal, though, first.