Punchau flared his elbows out as he strutted down the irritatingly immaculate street in Dalaran. After spending an hour with Kirin Tor customs outside the portal he'd taken, he was almost considering whether the penalty for drop kicking a sentry would be worth it. They'd harassed him so much for licensing for wild-caught animals that he found himself hating every spotless inch of the city.
At least, that was what he was hating at that moment. A few minutes prior, he'd been hating the other member of the Unseen Path who'd accused him of poaching. And prior to that, he'd been hating the other poachers he'd had to kill for muscling in on his territory with the prized chicks. By the time he walked through the door of the Magical Menagerie, he was almost to the point of issuing drop kicks all around for anyone who looked at him the wrong way.
Fortunately, Dalaran's denizens had changed in the past few years, and he found a relatively warm reception inside the exotic pet shop. Even the staff members who were citizens of the Alliance generally welcomed him knowing the specimens he regularly brought to them. Lio, a worgen woman who worked the cash register, even clapped her hands when she saw the container he was cradling. Her insistence on trying to be friends with Horde citizens to show off how open-minded she was felt patronizing, but the jungle troll tolerated her overdone behavior for the sake of business relations.
"Ooohhh," she whined in a voice so high pitched that he winced, "you did it! Nobody else has brought in hyacinth macaw chicks after promising too. Good job!"
Punchau set the container down on the counter delicately, deftly avoiding her weird attempt to pat him anywhere within the vicinity of his arm. "Yeah, uh...thanks." He tried to find other things to look at as he talked, because Lio had an annoying habit of locking eye contact with anybody she spoke to without blinking.
Naïveté shined in her eyes as she sidestepped to remain near his field of vision. "No wonder - it's so hard to obtain proper licensing to raise hyacinths!" she cooed, more at the chicks than at him.
His eyes widened for a fraction of a second, but he quickly pretended to be staring at an irradiated fel rabbit taking a dump in the corner of its cage. "Sorts hard I guess," he mumbled, hoping she'd find the colorful baby birds more fascinating than anything he could say.
"Uh huh, uh huh, that's good. This is a really good job!"
"Yeah."
"Nobody else was ever able to find live chicks before!"
"You said that."
"So how did you-"
"Hey, great deal! Listen, can you both shut up for a second?"
'Yes, please,' Punchau thought to himself at the sound of a voice he actually didn't mind hearing. Giada, a goblin member of the staff and one of the few who actually understood his work, walked in top of the counter and mercifully broke up their conversation.
"Giada, look at what he brought!" Lio practically whined through her nose. The worgen at least did her job well, and carefully inspected the health of the chicks inside the container.
When Punchau met Giada's eyes, he realized that he wasn't the only one desperate to escape the checkout counter. Her entire face was knitted in tight worry unlike any time he'd seen her before. She tried to hide it, and was doing reasonably well, but the way she almost looked shaken when she stared up at him spoke of drama he couldn't imagine considering that he didn't know her particularly well. He normally would have made an excuse to leave at the first hint of drama, but he and Giada actually respect each other, and so he shut up as she'd asked.
"Lio, our supplier here had trouble cashing our check the last time he worked with us. I need to take him to the back room and explain to him again how bank notes function."
Clinging to them both to the very last minute, Lio practically tore herself in half to keep one hand in the container of baby parrots and the other attempting to pat Giada's head and neck area. "I know how checking works, too! See, it's not money, but it's like a promise-"
"Well, look at the time, we better get this fellow serviced before he blows a gasket!" Giada nearly yelled as she grabbed Punchau by the finger and dragged him toward the back area of the pet shop. One of the gnomish employees snickered at her wording, but the jungle troll ignored it, wondering what exactly had spooked the person who signed his checks so much. "Just calm down sir, I know you're in a hurry!"
"He doesn't look like he's in a hurry," Lio nearly asked, her mind split between trying to care for the chicks and trying to insert herself in every discussion.
"No, I'm kinda in a hurry," he said as the goblin managed to pull his entire weight through the back door. He wondered if she'd seen a ghost back there given her nervousness.