[Elise]

New Alexandria and Espur each had their own portals, which made travel between the cities extremely convenient. Thus, Elise often spent her weekends in New Alexandria and other cities to have fun away from home. For this particular weekend, she’d even brought her cat and had plans to get something for him.

The cat in question sat lazily in her arms as Elise strolled down the street. She glanced at the paper in her hand to find if she were heading toward the right direction. Somebody had told her of a pet store in Alexandria that stocked many things, and Elise was curious to visit it. She finally came across the store, and after a quick glance through the windows, Elise stepped onto the green tiled floors.

As she walked past the fish tanks, she felt Rusty tense up in her arms. He was looking curiously at the little golden things that were swimming in the large boxes of water. “They’re not for you…” she grinned and petted the cat’s head affectionately.

After a quick glance through the store, Elise realized that there were few animal supplies sitting around. Wondering why, she walked toward the back of the store to read the signs above the register.

→ Piper's Boutique — the-butterfly.de — Kristen Bell

[Lani]

Lani had installed self-feeding bowls, so the animals could get food when they want, and filters in the water animal's section, which had greatly cut down the amount of work she had to do during the day, something she enjoyed profusely. Truth be told, although other pet shops she'd seen had always been busy, she'd only gotten a few customers come in, and almost none had purchased anything. Only one had gotten a pet.

Shrugging, she grabbed an avian treat off the counter and whistled before throwing the treat up in the air, which Frightful dived for; grabbing it right before it hit the ground and then flying to one of the few perches Lani had set up. She had to admit, she was getting awfully attached to the bird, and although her canine personality had been itching to do something about the prey, she'd gotten good at ignoring it. Running a pet shop while wanting to kill eighty percent of stock, and control the other twenty was never good for buisness.

She was flipping through a magazine at the main desk, pondering about what kinds of stock she should consider adding when a blonde woman walked in. Perking up, she noticed the cat with her and smiled. Growing up with other Therians had done wonders for being okay with felines. "Welcome to The Ark! How may I help you ma'm?"

PB | DaFont | Esaudrae | HG B.D | Swear | Katherine Moennig | Wolf

[Elise]

As she reached the register, Elise noticed the shopkeeper and smiled back in greeting. Actually, the store made her kind of nervous. Although she wasn’t at all afraid of rodents and domesticated animals, she’d noticed that the store had larger animals as well…ones that she’d usually see in a zoo on Earth. “Wow, there are so many animals in here...are they all for sale?” They probably were, but Elise found it slightly daunting for one to care for a tiger, or even an owl. “Erm, I’m here to pick up treats for my cat,” she replied.

She had a few bags of kitty treats left at home, but she thought she’d see what New Alexandria had to offer. There were only two pet stores that Elise knew of in Espur, and they unfortunately did not stock a lot of things. She supposed she could order things on the internet, but Elise hated waiting for things and getting disappointed when what she ordered wasn’t as good as she thought it would be.

Thinking of her mostly empty home, Elise added in afterthought, “I’d like to get some playthings for Rusty too.” The dolphin stuffed animal that Rusty liked to play with was beginning to look ugly, and Elise knew that her cat would appreciate new toys.

→ Piper's Boutique — the-butterfly.de — Kristen Bell

[Lani]

Lani smiled at the girl. She seemed kind of skittish, and she had been in the beginning but was fairly okay with it now. The larger animals seemed to be making her nervous, and she hoped nothing bad would happen. At the question she replied: "Yes ma'am, all of our larger and more exotic stock is domesticated from birth by professionals. That wolf is only around four times more difficult to train then a kitten."

At the request, she punched some buttons on the register and shuffled around underneath the counter, procuring a bag of cat treats, which she gingerly set on the counter. "Hrrmmmm.....hold on a minute please..." Lani said before going into the back and coming out with a catalog, It listed all toys treats and animals in stock via animal genus. "Feel free to walk around and pick out a toy, or pick one or two out from here."

This was actually getting to be fun!

(ooc: I apoligize about the wait!)

PB | DaFont | Esaudrae | HG B.D | Swear | Katherine Moennig | Wolf

[Elise]

As the shopkeeper spoke, Elise glanced toward the wolves. They were unquestionably beautiful and well groomed, and despite her fears, Elise toyed with the idea of keeping a wolf for a pet. In her imagination's eye, however, the wolf looked out of place beside her. And...“Woaaah. Four times as difficult? That sounds very difficult,” she smiled and inquired, “Are you saying that from first hand experience?” Rusty had been easy enough to potty-train when she first got him, but it wasn't until recently that the cat began to take her commands (don't rip that up, please leave my sandwich alone) to heart. The only person she knew of who owned a wolf was Piper, and Comet was very well behaved. Suddenly, Elise felt a large amount of respect for Piper's animal-care-skills.

Upon seeing the bag of cat treats that the shopkeeper set down, Rusty let out a delighted mew and turned in Elise's arms. She tightened her hold on him to prevent him from dropping to the floor. “He thinks it's yummy. Erm, holdasec...” she shifted Rusty to one arm only and flipped through the catalog for the list of toys. She found a fluffy catnip toy squirrel with a long brown tail and pointed at it. “Can I have one of those catnip toys, and...” Her fingers drifted toward an image of a brown wind up toy mouse. She wondered if those things broke easily. Considering Rusty's overenthusiastic play habits, she'd have to get more than one. “That looks fun too...can I have three of those?” As she glimpsed further through the catalog, she remembered about Rusty's tattered collar. By now the shopkeeper was probably getting tired of Elise's choppy sentences, so Elise smiled apologetically before saying, “Sorry, can I also see the collars and tags in stock?”

→ Piper's Boutique — the-butterfly.de — Kristen Bell

[Lani]

Lani gave a knowing chuckle to the girl. Zev was a nightmare to train, but he was also undomesticated. She shuddered to think of what would happen when Zev was fully healed and had all his energy back. The vet said he was 'lethargic' and if this was lethargic she didnt want to know what energetic was. She had little scrapes and bitemarks all in various stages of healing on her arms and legs, and a wicked scratch on her back from bathtime, but as difficult as Zev was to care for, she loved the censored. Smiling at the woman, who seemed suprised she said: "From experiance, I can assure you that the domesticated wolves are far easier to train than an undomesticated one, I have one myself." The wolf she was speaking of was sleeping in the back on a mound of ripped up pillows (his nest, no doubt.)

Smiling at the cat that seemed overly eager to get a treat, she took one out from under the counter, and offered it to the ownder, unsure if she would take it or not. "He's had lovely manners since he walked in. Thought he deserved a reward." As the woman picked out the toy, Lani mentally added the cost so far. The toy was seven xanthos, being medium sized, three wind up mice for five xanthos each, and the bag of treats was ten. "Of course, here's the catalog for collars and tags, mix and match them, any two are ten dollars."

PB | DaFont | Esaudrae | HG B.D | Swear | Katherine Moennig | Wolf

[Elise]

Hearing about the shopkeeper's first hand wolf-raising experience, Elise nodded with a grin. “Yeah, my friend used to have two grey wolves. One was a handful and eventually ran away. The other one's still with her though and he's so adorable.” Comet might be a wolf, but he was very young and very friendly, so perhaps that explained why Elise didn't feel nervous around him. She wondered if a trained wolf would be as friendly as Comet, or if Comet was just an outlier.

The woman reached under the counter and pulled out a cat treat. As the treat was extended toward Elise, she smiled and fed it to Rusty. “Oh, thank you very much! He's probably being so good because he knows I'm shopping for him. Thank you though.” She scratched the cat's head affectionately and glanced again at the catalog. “So erm...collars.” Flipping quickly, Elise made a decision and said, “I'll take one of those collars with the light blue and green diamond patterns. For the tag, I'd like it to be circular and silver.”

→ Piper's Boutique — the-butterfly.de — Kristen Bell

[Lani]

Zev woke up from his nap and followed her behind the counter, ears perked up with interest, and sat by her, looking at the woman and her cat interestedly. Before he could escape and try to play with Rusty, she closed the small wood door that led to the registar, causing a small puppy growl of discontemt to come from her companion. Grabbing a treat, she gave it to him and let him sulk in the corner of the register area, on his doggy bed before turning her attention back towards Elise. "Really? Wow! One's a handfull, I couldnt imagine raising two at once!"

Chuckling at the statement about how the cat was nice because it knew it was getting something (as Zev often did when he knew he would get a treat) Lani pulled out a paper pad and started writing down and adding up the purchases. "A collar and tag set, a medium toy, three wind up mice and a bag of treats is..." typing the numbers into the register, she said: "Forty-two xanthos total." She ducked behind the counter to grab the toys, before going to the back and getting the collar and tag. She'd made good choices, and the tag would look great against the fur of the cat she called Rusty. "The collar's going to look lovely on him. Would you like a bag for your purchases ma'am?"

PB | DaFont | Esaudrae | HG B.D | Swear | Katherine Moennig | Wolf

[Elise]

From the room behind emerged a grey wolf puppy that trailed after the shopkeeper. It was too small too be considered an adult, or even an adolescent. Upon seeing the adorable puppy, Elise decided that she’d change her opinions on wolves. They may be scary, but they were so cute when they were young! She reluctantly drew her gaze from the wolf munching on the treat to reply to the shopkeeper. “Well actually, it was her and her boyfriend raising two, so one person each? Last I heard, one ran away though…she was so wild,” she said ruefully as she remembered the time when Kashii tried to attack Rusty. Then she wondered what the shopkeeper would think. She was afraid that the other woman would think of Wolf as a bad owner.

She watched the woman tally the prices, and then remembered that she should get her money out. Pulling out her wallet, she counted the money and handed it to the woman. It felt weird to be called a “ma’am” by somebody only a few years younger, so Elise smiled in a friendly manner and replid, “Erm, just Elise will do. I’m Elise by the way.” Her smile spread into a silly grin that mocked how she just repeated herself. “And thanks, Rusty will be happy to have a new collar. The old was getting tattered. And yes, could you please place those in a bag?”

→ Piper's Boutique — the-butterfly.de — Kristen Bell

[Lani]

The fact that is was two people raising them did not lower the amount of admiration she had for these two people she had never met. She was raising a wild wolf who was (at the moment) handicapped. They where raising two that where not. This in itself was enough to gain her admiration. Frowning sadly she said: "Yeah. I've gotten a couple people in here to report that wolves or the like have run away, and these guys are domesticated. I can't imagine being able to do that."

"Oh! My apoligies Ma'...Elise. Its a forsive habit." She said with a smile. Her Pa had raised her and her brothers to always be polite to a lady, and she would continue to call a lady by the correct suffix unless asked otherwise. "I can get rid of that old one for ya, make it a little easier. And course, just gimme a minute." She grabbed a bag from the corner at the same time she noticed Zev eyeing it in a way that couldnt mean anything good. Loading up her purchases; Lani took the money and loaded it into the register, printing out a reciept and putting it into the bag before handing it to her. "Have a nice day!"

(ooc: you have gmod permission to have Lani help you put Rustys collar on. )