'When the animals talk it will look like this. Remember, Kat can't understand them!'
'Count D's' The sign read. My friend Jowen had told me about this pet shop. She said she almost
bought a pet there, but her mom wouldn't let her. I had snuck there; I was supposed to be at the library.
I pushed open the door and stepped inside, looking around curiously. There were cages hanging from
the ceiling, and animals everywhere, most of them outside the cages.
"Aww!" I reached down to pet a raccoon-thing standing next to me.
"Welcome to Count D's pet shop," A very feminine-looking man in some sort of an Asian dress-thing
greeted me. "Our store has everything from the ordinary dog or cat, to animals which barely clear the Washington treaty." I didn't know what that was, but I assumed it meant they were rare.
"This place is amazing!" I grinned. "Could I look around?"
"Of course," He smiled. It was a little creepy, but seemed mostly nice. "Feel free to explore the shop. If you see something you'd like, please tell me." Then the man- Count D, I assumed- sat down at a table and started drinking tea.
I walked down the hallway, peeking into rooms and watching the animals around me. The little raccoon followed me. Soon I was hopelessly lost. I had no idea the store was this big! It seemed a lot smaller on the outside…
"I hope you know the way back…" I said, sitting down next to the raccoon. She (I think it was a girl..) tugged on my pant leg, pointing in another direction. "You do?" I sighed in relief. I stood up and followed her down the hallways and through doors.
I heard something following us and stopped, looking behind me. There was a weird goat-like thing standing there. It had shaggy reddish fur and curvy goat horns on each side of its head. Its face looked sort of catlike, and so did its legs. I walked over and held out me hand to it. The goat thing just stared at me like 'What? You expect me to sniff it or something?'
"Well fine! I was gonna see if you liked me or not, but now I'll pet you anyway!" I started to touch one of the horns when the thing growled and snapped at my hand with sharp teeth!
'Pon-chan, I hope you aren't too attached to this girl, 'cuz she's gonna be my lunch.'
"AAAH!" I backed up. The raccoon chattered at the goat angrily.
'No! She's a customer! And she's nice! Leave her alone.'
'Fine…I never get to eat the customers..' It rolled its eyes and walked away into one of the other rooms. "Heh… Um, thanks, little raccoon thing. I owe you one. You want to go back to the Count now?" She nodded and I followed her into the room where I came in. The count was sitting on a couch with a bunch of different animals surrounding him.
"Have you made a decision?" He asked. I nodded.
"Well, I think it would probably be too much for me to afford…" I sighed, looking at the cats on the couch.
"We'll see. Now, which pet would you like?" He smiled again.
"Um…I'd really like the goat….cat…what's it called?"
"It's a Totetsu, and I'm afraid he is not for sale." Speak of the devil; the totetsu walked into the room and sat down next to the couch.
'If you let her buy me, can I eat her?'
"No, T-chan!" Count D hushed the little goat-thing.
"Well…" I fished some money out of my pockets. "I have $23 dollars… And I swear I'd take really good care of him….Maybe I could just borrow him? Please? I've never seen anything like a totetsu…But I mean, it's okay if you say no….And I'm pretty good with animals…I think…" I knew it probably wouldn't work, but I was desperate. It would be awesome to have a pet like that, even for just a day!
"Very well." Count D said. I noticed a strange smell filling the room. It was sweet, kind of like perfume, but less fake-smelling. "Although this may change your mind."
I blinked, and suddenly all the animals were gone. In their places were people- oddly dressed, and some with animal parts- gorgeous people. Where the totetsu sat was a boy a year or two older than me, with wild red hair, goat horns, and yellow eyes. He had an animal tooth necklace and was wearing a gold and white vest with gold pants. He had several gold bracelets on his arms.
"This…" I could tell that the people expected me to yell or something. "This is so cool!"
"Really?" Count D looked surprised.
"Yeah! But.. they're still pets, right? 'Cuz selling them as slaves would be…bad…"
"Of course. And I do not sell them to any customer without their consent." He confirmed my hopes.
I walked up to the totetsu, glaring.
"You tried to eat me!"
"Who says I won't try again?" He grinned evilly. "I'm still hungry, you know."
"If you bite me, I swear I'll kick you into next week!" I warned him. I wasn't going to let myself get eaten by a weird goat-boy-thing!
"Not if you're already ripped to pieces." He said, looking at me like my cat looked at the fridge. So I went by my natural instinct and slapped him.
"Oh dear," Count D said quietly. "It seems T-Chan has met his match."