The start of Efagti's stay wasn't as bad as they thought it'd be. The man, while friendly, wasn't too friendly and he didn't bother them but so much. Hazaar was his usual, cranky self for half of the morning of the seventeenth; when he cooled down, he practically led the man to his room. He showed both it and his pet turtles off once they got there. During that day's supper, Efagti surprised them by saying that he went through a phase were he brought home more than enough turtles to cause his parents to start calling him the Turtle Wrangler. Hazaar's room was the only one in the house that Efagti was shown on that day; along with being shown that room, and its displayed items and animals, the man was included in playing a few video games, and watching about an hour's worth of both his and Lhaklar's favorite shows. Eshal also showed him the "mermaid" pillows that she was still raving over; though retaining his masculine side, their uncle did show an interest in them after seeing what could be done on them.
Efagti spent the rest of the seventeenth with either their father or on his own. Judging by how he was using his cellular on the times that he passed by the room that he was given to stay in, he guessed that he gave his parents the scoop on what was going on and how everyone in the house was faring.
The day following their uncle's visit's start, Lazeer warmed up to him. With the rain falling, and the wind being a bit too strong for anyone to go out, they just stayed inside on the eighteenth; in a way, Lazeer used that to his advantage in both grabbing their uncle's attention and then showing him his room and pets. While Efagti was said to be very interested in the Glass Frogs that their brother had, he was said to have a "small" interest in the Emperor Newts. While Efagti had no tales to tell on how he caught and then brought any amphibians home during supper on that night, he did say that he had a female friend who about drove her parents insane with the many frogs that she decided to pick up, stuff in her pocket, then bring home—this friend of his was said to be working in a zoo now. As one of its top zookeepers and animal experts.
A small bit of hot water was experienced between Efagti and Lhaklar on that day. Even though the door to Lhaklar's room was half-ajar, he should of knocked before sliding it open then going in. Lhaklar, who just came in from having a session in one of the area's water sources with his friends, was only barely clothed before their uncle came in to say hello. After speaking some of his displeasure on their uncle barging in on him, Lhaklar showed him his room—as was natural, he showed him his vast collection of vintage model cars while doing so. A spell was done to obscure the poster that was on his closet door after their uncle started making his rounds of checking things out. While their uncle made no motion to remove anything that was deemed "inappropriate" for one of Lhaklar's age, he did caution Lhaklar on what he was "getting himself into" and on what he was "interested in displaying at his age".
The following day, Efagti came into his room. It was just after lunch was served, and most of his family went off to do as they wanted with the rest of the day. Seeing as he was given the scoop on what the man said on his brother's posters, he was fast in doing the spell that'd obscure the ones that he owned that he thought he might find fault with. Except being a little vocal on some of his models, his uncle was very favoring towards how his room was set-up—while the interest was minimal, the man did show an interest in his knives and swords.
Eshal showed Efagti her room after his was seen and then given a tour. Their uncle, while being an adult with her on what she was showing him, had looked a bit bored with the tour that he was given. With Eshal being a girl, and being interested in girl-related things, it was understandable on why he was bored. The room that came off the basement was shown next; Efagti and he, then Efagti, he, and his father, did a round of weight-lifting before calling it a day then going upstairs. When his mother came home a few hours later, both Guyunis and Efagti helped her in making the meal that'd be eaten that night—the fact that Guyunis was so close to Efagti during the process of doing that was astounding! Guyunis had plain refused to be anywhere near the man on the two previous days; while they weren't talking to one another yet, they were glad to see that they were getting along and that no regressions had happened.
While the twentieth started out bleak, it grew into being a rather beautiful day that most of them couldn't wait to be out in. Guyunis went out to spend some time with Giovanni and some of his friends, while Hazaar went out with Efagti. Lazeer was the only one of them to be having a solo-outing—what he was doing none of them knew; before leaving the house, he was given ample warning of what'd befall him if he was discovered as doing something illegal, or not allowed by their peers. Only he, Lhaklar, Eshal, and their father were home; with it being a Tuesday, their mother was at work.
While their father was inside, cleaning the stove after accidentally making a mess on it, he and his siblings were in the backyard.
"They're rather pretty." Eshal said of the Red-tipped Photinias, that were to either side of the semi-circle of yellow-flowing Guayacan trees.
"Just one of the more known and yard-planted foliage out there." Lhaklar said.
"Do they stay that color after they bloom, or do they lose it after a while?" Eshal asked.
"The leaves turn a glossy green color as they age; the newer, fresher growth is red, and is what you're seeing." Bile said.
"Oh," Eshal seemed disappointed. For only two seconds, that was. After getting over her disappointment, she went past the trees; it wasn't until after she was halfway past the trees when she stopped then questioned what she was seeing. "What's this tree?"
Since he was busy in taking advantage of the shade that was coming from the Guayacan trees, which he was lying in the middle of, he let Lhaklar go see what she was asking about. While there was a bench behind him—one of them stone-made types, that had accent legs—, he found himself as wanting to lie on the grass. Along with being calm and peaceful, he had a mind to take the joint out from his pocket then smoke it. If not for his sister, and father, he would of done so; seeing as they were nearby, and could see him, he decided to leave it where it was. Later on, he promised himself, he'd smoke it.
The one Tilia cordata, or small-leaved linden, sat just before the boundary line of the house's backyard. While it was a new tree, of an estimated five to six years, it was rather branchy and leafy. Its leaves were small; they were also heart-shaped, mostly hairless, and green. The small flowers, that were on them, were white; they were intermingling among the leaves.
Lhaklar and Guyunis were frequent users of that tree. Whenever the weather was nice, and they had nothing of real interest to do, they took a book from their collection then went outside; they sat then leaned against the tree while reading what they had on them. Hazaar was one to use the semi-circle as the place where he rigged his turtles' exercise area in; he had yet to use the rest of the yard for that purpose. On the days where the weather was nice, and where he had or could find nothing to do, he came out then either lay where he was or climbed the Linden then sat on one of its branches.
Since he made the decision to not go to any sort of civilized setting—a building, where specific stuff was sold in, meaning—, he was staying home today. Lhaklar, from what he heard a few hours ago, had plans to take Efagti and Eshal to the mall where he "worked" at. Seeing as he and the old man were to be the only ones at home in a few hours, he had a mind to break open one of the games that were compatible with one of the house's game consoles then invite him to play it with him for a spell before going upstairs to dive into the model that he bought on the eighth.
"I'm speechless when it comes to what I'm seeing on that box's lid." his father said after the model was removed from its bag then handed from one member of his family to the next.
"Dude, can I buy this from you af-k-ter its built?" Guyunis asked after his turn came to hold the model.
"No, 'cause he won't have a chance to build it before selling it." Hazaar had an evil look on his face that nearly all of them laughed at.
Even though Hazaar was there when he bought it, he still had to say something on the subject of who was to "buy" his model either before or after it was built. On the first of the month, immediately after getting his allowance, he went to Amsterdam for his monthly supply of pot; upon coming back, he saved the rest of what he had. He spell-sent—stole; yes, he, the oldest son of Angel Irene, stole from a store—his monthly magazine editions home a few hours later, which saved him the €15 that he had left. With the money that he made after going to the flea market in Karlsruhe, he found himself as going from being on the brink of being near-poor to rather rich in nothing flat, so a few splurge-trips could be done without his running the risk of being poor for the rest of the month. While in the Ettlinger Tor Shopping Center, he came across a few things that he couldn't bypass—the model of the headless horseman, that was holding a severed head, and astride his black steed, was cool but the diorama of the 4071 film, Fetish, was even cooler. Fetish had a huge audience of both mid-teenagers and adults watch it on its debut; it was still a fan-favorite to that day. He saw it about a week after it was put in theaters; like with the others that watched it, he was a big fan of it. The model's box depicted the scene where the skeletalized race of under-Earthlings were being "documented" by the three humans who found a way into their odd realm—the dark and bleak crater was surrounded on three sides by mountainous peaks; there was a collection of bones before the side that had no peaks on it, and there were these two, bovine-like skulls on either end of them; and there were a bunch of rather busty, and near-naked, skeletal-like beings either dancing, kneeling, or moving about the village-like setting that was positioned to the crater's far back corner.
While the box didn't include the humans on its depicted image, three human-like figurines were in it. He made sure to put them near the one bovine-like skull—in the movie, the humans, wearing something akin to astronaut suits, had used the very salty, chemical and acid-laced "ocean" that sat before the settlement to get there; they stationed themselves before one of them skulls right after leaving their rubber raft.
"Need to get yourself a copy of that movie." Lhaklar said after giving the model back.
"It's always listed as being "out-of-stock" in the stores that I go in, so I can't get a copy of it."
The Fetish diorama was done in five days time; he had yet to get to the headless horseman model. He was honestly holding onto it for when an especially rainy day came around—after building it, he hoped to watch some of the many movies that revolved around the figure that it was based on.
"And no one's allowed to lay a finger on either the diorama or horseman model. They can look, but they can't touch." Bile thought while gathering himself up from where he was.
While Bile gave the back of his pants a quick brushing with his hands, she was taking notice of the movement that was happening under the yard's one bench. Lhaklar had spoken on both the tree and other things that she saw and then asked about before making the motion to go speak with one of the Klied girls; if not for her assumption of his having a crush on the older of the girls, she would of thought that he was trying to put some distance between them by feigning his interest in wanting to talk to one of the neighbors. Seeing as she was all alone in the yard, she back-tracked to where Bile was; she was just going towards him when the grass underneath the bench parted and something that looked oddly colored was seen.
Except for Guyunis, who was experiencing one of them periods were he was being both rude but not really rude at all, all of her brothers had accepted their uncle's company. She couldn't help but be proud of them—if her brothers were this good in accepting Efagti then, maybe, when the rest of the Ubalki clan saw them, or came over for a short or lengthy stay, they'd do the same with them. She was very aware of how the Surfeit side of her family was, so she knew that the meeting and then company-attending with them wasn't to be done as quickly as with the Ubalki's.
The Surfeit members of her family were a little more headstrong and mouthy. They also got to thinking that they knew everything that happened in either life or child-raising. A few years ago, when they came over after receiving their accidentally sent invites, her mother and brothers weren't as open or stress-free with them. With everyone in the Surfeit side of her family jumping at them for how they lived their lives, and with most of their children bullying her brothers, things went from being very cool and pleasant to stressful and annoying. Her father had sure had enough of it and, really, so had she. She was really grateful to her father for the talk that he gave her—she was turning into one of them, surprisingly. Instead of acting like a normal big sister, she was acting like a spoiled brat and bad sister.
While she still thought that her brothers were too into their porn-stuff, and shouldn't be smoking at their age, and should limit their time in being away from home, she didn't voice it anymore. The same on her not thinking but so much on it. She was giving them the privacy that she should of given them from the start.
"Can't be a cat, or puppy—too small." she thought while edging past Bile.
While going towards the thing that was moving in the grass, which did need to be mowed here and soon, she thought about the trip that she, Lhaklar, and Efagti were to take in a few hours. Along with looking forward to going to the mall where her brother worked at, she was looking forward to seeing the store where he worked at and then seeing and meeting his boss and some of his co-workers. Her brother's boss was a near-constant caller of the house; while he spoke mostly to Lhaklar, he had spoken once or twice with their father. It did seem legit on where her brother was earning his paycheck from, which was a load and a half off her and her father's shoulders.
No more worrying about where the money for the bills was coming from, or where Lhaklar was getting the revenue that he was putting in the envelope. His paycheck was normal, as were his hours, and it did seem that his boss was very straight-forward and nice. She was very glad for the latter—the last she wanted was for her baby brother to be working for some slob, or for someone who was constantly yelling at the ones who worked for him.
Lhaklar no longer had to worry about giving most of his paycheck to their mother for when the bills needed to be paid—with their father helping in paying them, he could now spend what he earned on himself. While he was keeping most of his paycheck, she had yet to see him spend more than twenty or so dollars of it. As always, he spent most of his allowance on the first week of the month; he either limited his spending during the rest of the month or did the occasional buy thing whenever something of interest was seen or an activity was going on that required a certain amount of funds to be used to get in.
"What is..." she lunged after getting to within a foot of the bench. While Bile made a sound behind her, he didn't go to her aid or see what was up. She was just sticking her hand under the bench, and was just touching something that was both bristly, warm, and definitely on a living body, when Lhaklar came into view. Her brother was coming towards her when she suddenly issued a small gasp, then scream, then pulled back.
Bile reached her before Lhaklar did. He checked her hand for injuries, then gave the bench a simple glance, then looked at her. Lhaklar, on the other hand, walked past then went right to where the bench was. After dropping to his knee, he reached under it then pulled out this odd-looking thing that resembled something that was on one of her brothers' video games—while not a big fan of playing them boy-games, she did have a small fancy for watching Lazeer play Super Mario Bros; the creature, that her brother pulled out from under the bench, looked very similar to one of them enemies from the game that had spikes on its shell... only, this thing didn't look to possess a shell on it.
The creature was between five and six inches long. The sense of her feeling something bristly while reaching under the bench was confirmed when she saw that its back and sides were covered in spines—which didn't look to be very sharp, or fazing Lhaklar any. When she came closer to it, she saw it was all "tucked" into itself. After a few minutes passed, and the animal was placed on the ground, she saw it stick its long, pointed head out; it had very short legs, that she was only barely able to see, and there looked to be no tail on it. The color of the spines was very "blonde", which she did find herself as liking, while the seeable underparts looked to be white or cream. The last thing that she noticed was that it had black eyes.
What was this cute creature? Was it one of the area's local animals, or someone's pet that got loose then wandered into her family's yard? Was it dangerous, or friendly? She was wondering these questions and more while reaching forward to both stroke and pick the animal up. While the animal rolled itself into a ball after she picked it up, it didn't stay that way for long; once it was on her lap, it unraveled itself then started crawling around.
"Go get a box." Bile said to his brother, who had since relocated to being slightly behind him.
While their father questioned his quick entrance to the house, he found himself as being a bit too shocked to answer him. There were a few boxes in the basement, which came from either produce or the things that he and his brothers bought over the months; he picked one of the bigger ones up then went back upstairs. The old man, instead of asking him what was going on, followed him to nearly the sliding glass patio door before stopping, shrugging his shoulders, then going back to the table.
When he returned to where Eshal was, he found that she was still fooling around with the animal that he removed from under the bench. While he had never seen a color variant of this type of hedgehog before, he wasn't all that interested in it; Eshal, on the other hand, seemed to be more than a little enamored with the animal. While she was quiet, she was also acting in a very gentle way with the animal—he saw Bile's reason in the box needing to be retrieved right after returning to where they were.
After placing the box beside his sister, he took the animal from her then went to put it in it. He was about to remove his hand from the animal when he decided, just for the hell of it, to check it for a gender—with the weather shaping up, the animals were coming out of hibernation. They were both replenishing themselves and looking for someone to make the next generation with. Once he saw what one would perceive as a belly button, he nodded his head then put it in the box. Eshal, at once, stood up, hugged him, then grabbed the box; she rushed it to the house as quickly as she could.
"Oh boy, what have we gotten started?" Lhaklar said aloud.
"Good question, but we made for one happy sister." Bile returned while going towards the house.
Hazaar and Efagti came back from their trip to the park. According to their brother, Efagti was very enthusiastic about flying the helicopter that he owned; after they used the helicopter, they took out a baseball then threw it between themselves before deciding to get an ice cream then come home. Lazeer walked in about fifty minutes later; judging by the armload of snacks that he had in his arms, he went to see a movie—later on, after everyone was calm, and supper was consumed, Lhaklar would discover that the snacks were just a thing to get everyone off his back on what he really did that day... which was visit the hole that was in the side of the Rheinschule and then do a little, behind-their-mother's-back, hunting.
The trip to the Ettlinger Tor Shopping Center was postponed for nearly five hours after Eshal came in with the hedgehog. Along with showing it to their father, she named it then started going on and on about how she needed to go to the town's library—he took her there, then waited until she was done in finding the material that she wanted to find, then brought her back to the house. Eshal was fast in making out a list of things that she'd need for her pet while at the library, and she was also fast in tallying what she had left of her allowance; after finding herself as being a little low in funds for her new pet—a little low was an understatement, since she spent all but five euros in the superregional center that was in the nearby town of Durmersheim on the fourth—, she went to ask their father for some cash.
Their father, rather surprisingly, seemed to be against her having the animal that she brought in. Along with saying how the animal needed to be returned to where it was found, he refused to give a coin of his money to her for any of what she needed for her pet. Seeing as the man was being so mean in regards to the animal, he fronted Eshal €60 then said that she didn't need to pay him back.
The old man was, naturally, flabbergasted at his generosity. Along with being against her having the animal, he was also against Eshal being taken anywhere near a petstore. Efagti, while shocked over the funds that he gave to Eshal, was happy with what he did; he also seemed to like the idea of Eshal having a pet.
About thirty minutes before he, his sister, and Efagti went to Karlsruhe, Bile pulled him to the side then said that he was planning on spending some time with the Klieds, Carvers, and Abbings while they were at the mall where he was said to work in. When he questioned him on why he was doing this, his brother responded by saying that he might as well talk to the neighbors while checking their yards for a "companion" for their sister's pet. He asked no more after this was said. At around one in the afternoon, he gave his brother the signal that he was leaving the house; he collected the ones who were to go with him then did as he signaled he was. He and his two tag-alongs were teleporting to Karlsruhe when Bile left the house via its back door.
"Whoa! This is Karlsruhe, and the place where your father says you and your brothers sometimes go to sell what you find at the dumps that you ransack?" Efagti said after they appeared in the center of the city.
"Yep. Very old city, but holding up well." Lhaklar answered.
"Looks a bit tacky to me," Eshal said.
Of course, to his sister, who knew none of its history, it would look tacky. With it being over two thousand years old, it was one of the oldest cities in Germany; Karlsruhe was founded by Charles III William, who was the Margrave of Baden-Durlach in the 1770's, on June 17, 1715. According to the book that he read, it was founded after a dispute occurred between the citizens of Mr. William's capital, Durlach.
The city was made to look very similar to the construction of the Karlsruhe Palace. A palace tower was in its center with thirty-two streets radiating from it like the spokes of a wheel, or ribs of a folding fan. Due to the city's layout, travel was only possible along the radial streets and the circular avenues that were around its center. The city's center was the oldest part of town—it lay south of the palace in the quadrant defined by nine of the radial streets. The central part of the palace ran east-west, with two wings, each at forty-five degree angles, directed southeast and southwest or parallel with the streets making the boundaries of the quadrant defining the city's center. The market square was on the street that ran south from the palace to Ettlingen. The town hall, or Rathaus, was to the west of the market square; the main Lutheran church, or Evangelische Stadtkirche, was to the east of the square; and the pyramid-style tomb of Margrave Charles III William was in the center of the square.
Thanks to the placement of the town hall, church, and tomb, Karlsruhe was considered as being one of Germany's three-known neoclassically styled cities.
The area north of the palace was park and forest. The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, founded in 1825, Wildparkstadion, and many residential areas covered the area east of the palace, where gardens and forests use to be. Even though the city was two thousand, three hundred, and eighty-six years old, and had seen more than two wars, most of the streets that were built in 1715 were still around.
Along with having an oil refinery to the south, and a zoo to the east, the city had several museums, parks, and libraries in it. Tourists, while wanting to see the city for its ancient splendor, were fast in going to the two shopping areas—both were big in size and offered a lot of stuff to the ones who decided to visit them.
"I've seen a lot of cities in my life, Lhaklar, but never of this volume before." Efagti said while positioning himself behind Eshal and he. "What part are we in?"
"Where the two shopping centers are." Lhaklar replied. "The one behind us is the Kaiserstrasse—after the third World War, it was combined with the Post Galerie Shopping Center."
"The what?"
"There use to be four shopping centers here. After the third World War, the Kaiserstrasse was combined with the Post Galerie Shopping Center and the Ettlinger Tor Shopping Center with the Südliche Waldstraße."
"Did the humans have a reason to do that?" Efagti asked.
"Yeah. After the war, the Kaiserstrasse and Post Galerie Shopping Center were combined to save money on repairs. The combining of the Ettlinger Tor Shopping Center with the Südliche Waldstraße was based on the humans wanting to save space, resources, and money on building and street repairs."
The two shopping centers took up a span of three miles. They were evenly divided, with the Kaiserstrasse taking up a mile and a half of the street and the Ettlinger Tor Shopping Center taking up the rest. Kaiserstrasse's mall was found to be damaged after the third World War; after the war ended, and repairs were underway, it took a little while to repair it. Even though it took two to three years to repair it, it was still going strong today. So were the other shopping venues.
The Kaiserstrasse was the more visited of the two shopping centers; this wasn't based on it being the better of the two shopping areas, or on it being a bad place. It was packed with retail outlets, shops, cafes and snack bars, and restaurants; the mall was situated in the middle of this. The Ettlinger Tor Shopping Center had nothing but shops featuring items like handcrafts, furniture, designer products, bike gear, sailing and outdoor equipment, clothing, jewelry shops, cafes, and restaurants in it; unlike the Kaiserstrasse, the mall in this section of the center was near its start.
What made the Ettlinger Tor Shopping Center not like the Kaiserstrasse was the fact that it had a section of nothing but bars and strip joints in it. They were all located in its center; they boasted a questionable clientele that some didn't want to be associated with.
Due to the mall being close-by, he didn't have to worry about his uncle or sister seeing the strip joints or bars. He just led them to the towering, mirror-glass building that was two to three buildings down the street.
"And here I thought the superregional center in Durmershiem was big!" Eshal came close to exclaiming after entering the building.
The building had at least four or five levels on it, and was very uniform in design. The mirrored-glass exterior wasn't present on the inside; instead, the walls were a painted blue color from the middle on down while, from the middle on up to the ceiling of the next level, they had scale-like, blue wall tile on them. Arctic blue vinyl flooring was under her feet. The air was very rich with excitement, and there looked to be more than four koisks lining the middle of the hall that she, her uncle, and Lhaklar were on. She couldn't help but smile, or go towards the hologram image of the building's interior; after taking all of what was in the building in, she grabbed one of the booklets from the available table that was under the hologram then went to the first petstore that she saw.
While her hedgehog was small, she didn't want to put him in a cage that was a little over double the size that he was. After she entered the petstore, she searched for the aisle that the cages were on then set to work in finding one that felt right. In five minutes time, she settled on a three-foot long wire cage, that had a foot and a half long second level on it; this cage, while made of metal, had a white coating on it that'd protect her pet from consuming any elements that might harm him. The plastic tray, that was on its bottom, would help her in the cleaning process. With there being a ramp leading down from the second level, her pet would have ease of access to where his food, water, and some of his toys were.
After picking the cage out, she went to look at the beds. It was an almost instant thing that she took up the felt-interior, suede exterior, pocket cozy bed; a few toys were picked next before she saw and then took up the fleece-covered tunnel, that was on the same shelf as they. The next item that she found was the last one that she picked from the store. It was one of them eleven-inch, blue-colored bucket wheels—her pet would need to exercise during the periods when he was in his cage; why not get him something that he could do this with?
This all amounted to €75, which was over her budget. She was about to return the toys when Lhaklar stepped forward; he slid some of the money that had on him towards the cashier then gave her a smile. If not for their being out in public, she would of grabbed him in a hug. After buying what she found in the store, she spell-sent it to where her family were staying then started looking for another store to buy some stuff from that'd benefit her pet. Before going far, a hand landed on her arm; upon turning, she found that Lhaklar wasn't only behind her but was also sliding a few bills her way. After counting what she was given—€125; again, she struggled to not choke him in a hug—, then thanking her brother for his second-given generosity of the day, she led both he and their uncle to the next store.
The bedding, a mushroom-shaped and colored hide, some treats that were said to be specifically for hedgehogs, a water bottle, a ceramic food bowl, and some more toys were purchased from the next store.
"Think that's it." she announced after the second allotment of pet-care items were purchased then sent to the house.
"Yoswi will be more than happy with what you've bought for him." Efagti said.
She wished her brother and uncle well after saying that she wanted to get home to get Yoswi's cage fixed up, then him in it, then teleported. Lhaklar, seeing as his sister didn't get any food for her pet, went out of his way to buy her some dry cat food that was mostly meat and had little meat by-product in it—before buying the two bags of food that he found, he checked the fiber, protein, and fat content; according to the book that Eshal looked at in the library, hedgehogs could eat dry cat food but only when its protein content was higher than 30%, its fat content no greater than 12%, and its fiber being at 10 to 12%. Since there was chicken, turkey, beef, and pork in the fridge, he didn't buy any of that—hedgehogs were known to eat them types of food too. The same went with fruits and vegetables.
Eshal might hate him for this but he also got her more than five of the big cans of dried bug mixes—they consisted of meal worms, wax worms, and beetles; the book at the library said that these could be given to a hedgehog as treats. That was why he purchased them.
Following these purchases, he spell-sent them to the house then led his uncle to the store where he was said to work at. With it being on the building's second level, and with their being close to where a set of escalators were, they did and didn't have to do any lengthy walks to get to it.
"Along with having a bit of energy to yourself, you're a good little brother." Efagti said after they left the escalator then went halfway down the hallway that it was on.
"Think the energy comes from me being a teenager, the rest comes from me wanting my sister to be happy and content." Lhaklar replied.
While on the way to the Shoe Bot, they came across a bookstore that looked to have a good collection of books in it. With his sister having an animal that she was virtually clueless on, and with his only knowing what was seen in that book in the library, he decided to put a stall to going to his supposed place of work. Efagti, along with following him into the store, followed him as he went down the aisle that said it had animal and pet-related books on it. He also watched as he took more than five of the books on hedgehogs down from the shelf that they were on. €30 was spent on them; after they were bagged, he and his uncle left the store then went to where the Shoe Bot was.
The Shoe Bot was as its name said it was. A shoe retail store, where more than enough varieties of shoes were sold to the masses. If he had actually adhered to his mother's order in going and getting a job at a regular store, the current salary that was accepted nowadays would of brought him around €40 a workday; after the week, and follow three to four days of the following one, was done, he was suppose to bring home €280, which was pale in comparison to what he was actually making at his real job.
He led his uncle around the blue and lime green carpeted store, that had pale green and blue painted walls, for a short while before giving him the quick slip then going to find the man who was said to be his boss. Efagti, who was currently absorbed in what was being offered on one of the shelves, never noticed that he was gone... but he more than noticed that he was coming towards him with a stockily built man who had curly, brown hair and gray eyes a few minutes later.
"Hello," his uncle said to the man.
"Hello there. I'm told that you're his uncle. You sure that I was mis-told your connection to my employee—look a bit too similar to him to be called a plain uncle." Horst Klenz returned.
"Funny, but quite flattering, mister. The only connection that we have is in his father's mother. I have a different father than his." Efagti returned.
"Really? Well, that mutter of his fader must be putting out some fine stuff because you're rather attractive. Course, so is Mr. Surfeit." Horst, who he knew was very gay, but pleasant to just about everyone who wandered into the store, or came up to talk to him, gestured at him.
"Thank you, sir, and I do believe that the ladies see the same." Efagti must of noticed the man's orientation, because he was fast in noting what he was.
"Can't stay long, but just wanted to say hello and say a few words with you." Horst shook Efagti's hand before turning to look at him. "Mr. Surfeit, you have a good day now, and don't forget to come in for your scheduled time tomorrow. With Lena not coming in, we'll be short a hand and will need some help in restocking the shelves and manning the cashiers."
"Thank you, and I'll be here."
They spent around twenty more minutes in the mall before going home. Along with showing his uncle around, he bought a few things for himself and watched as his uncle did the same in the stores that either caught his fancy or they went into. After appearing before the house, then going in, they stopped; from the sounds of things, a sort of commotion was going on between Eshal and their parents in the kitchen.
After moving past the door, then going into the living room, he placed the bags that he had on him on the coffee table. Once that matter was squared away, he went to where the ones who were bickering among themselves were. While on the way to the kitchen, he noticed that his uncle was going up the stairs; he guessed that he wanted to put his purchases in either his room's dresser or suitcase before grabbing his cellular then calling his parents to tell them what he witnessed in the mall. Once he was in the kitchen, he noticed that his father looked displeased while his mother looked happy and very insistent on something.
Bile was in the dining room, and had a better than good seat to watch what was going on. Along with being seated at the table, he had Kurt Klied and his oldest daughter, Petra, with him; it looked like they had glasses of lemonade in front of them, which were barely touched. After noticing them, then moving to the side ever so slightly, he saw that there was a small, cardboard box on the counter bar. His curiously having been piqued by that box, he stepped forward to see if he could both see what was going on and add his two cents to it, or take the side of one who was involved in it.
"I see no problem in her having two, Tazzy. Better for the one that she already has... it'll also teach her responsibility on certain things." Angel said to her husband, who seemed to be steadfast on their daughter not having the animals that she just acquired as pets.
"With us moving in less than two months, her having a pet shouldn't happen right now." TazirVile said.
"I see no issue in her having any sort of animal before a move is done. She's set-up on Moas, and will continue as she usually does when we get there, so her having a pet or two shouldn't complicate things."
"While I understand why she wants to have a pet, I can't understand why she wants one now. And why one of these animals, when she can get one from a store that's been captive bred and specifically created or domesticated for life in a home."
"And what's so wrong in her wanting to give a small, wild animal a home? Hazaar and Lazeer have done so, and you've not spoken a word on what they own." Angel pointed out.
She clocked-out about twenty minutes early, so she was able to get in just in time before her husband told Eshal to put the animal that was just brought in out. From what she was able to gather from her daughter, who was next to emotional over what was happening, Lhaklar pulled a blond-colored hedgehog out from under the bench that was in the backyard; she fell instantly in love with it. Along with wanting to keep it as a pet, Eshal went with her brother and Efagti to one of Karlsruhe's malls then did some shopping for it. The animal had a better than adequate cage, furnishing for that cage, and food appropriate for it; while the owner would have ample help in the animal's care, her father wasn't happy with the choice of pet that she took on. He was also not happy with how one of his sons had "dragged the issue to what it was now".
She was proud of Lhaklar for helping his sister in fronting her the cash for what she needed for her pet and she was also proud of Bile for going out of his way to find another hedgehog to keep the already present one company. Guyunis, Hazaar, and Lazeer, while not helping their sister any on her pet, had given her the support that she needed to face up against the one who was out to rid her of her pet. Along with interacting with the animal, they agreed that the name of Yoswi was a good one for him.
Of the ones in her house, she was only miffed at one. Efagti, she was told, was also for Eshal having the animal as a pet; his brother, on the other hand, wasn't. She was no more ten minutes home before finding herself as being thrust into a brawl; while this was annoying to her, and while there were witnesses to what was happening between her, her daughter, and her husband, she was standing very firm on her decision to let Eshal have the two animals that were in her care.
Bile spent more than an hour in the yards that were owned by the Carvers and Abbings. From what she gathered from him, he looked in them yards for a female hedgehog to keep the male company before making the decision to go to the Klieds. After approaching their neighbors, he asked if he could look through their yard for the animal that he was searching for; after hearing that he could, he found himself as having someone to help him in his chore. It took about thirty minutes of searching before the animal in the box was found. The animal was of the female gender; while its face was half-dark, its body was mostly white. It had just two or three dark patches on its back and sides. Like with the first animal, Eshal was instantly smitten with it—the name of Elassi was just picked for her when Tazir came along, saying that Eshal couldn't have it or the other one that she was all set-up for.
"Leave the animals be, Tazir. I'm only going to say it once before getting angry with you—Eshal has the same rights as her brothers in being able to have a pet." Angel said, effectively closing the matter.