Henry Snuggington was a rotund gentleman with a particular fondness for dipping his thick fingers into his smart-looking jacket and pulling out small caramel bonbons which he would plop between his cheeks at regular intervals.
His suit was a simple Bannerman tweed, which I thought was very stylish. I made a note to ask Bannerman about it next time I was near his shop.
The shop itself seemed very small. Only a little counter in a small room with a few caged birds on a shelf by the window.
"Welcome to Snuggington's pets," Henry greeted us with a hearty smile. He wide face looked from Poppy to myself. "Have you been running? You shouldn't be running in the streets, you know. The guard get very tetchy about that sort of thing."
"I know," I said, breathing deeply as I tried not to pant. But everything ached and I was already tired. "Unfortunately, it was necessary."
"We don't close for a few more hours, you know."
"I know that, too." I felt Poppy dragging at my arm as she tried to stay on her feet. Her face was bright red. I felt a bit guilty about it. A lady shouldn't have to run as far as she had. I patted her head and earned a wan little smile. "Poppy here is looking for a small, and manageable, manabeast."
"Oh?" He brightened at that. "Don't tell me it will be her first?"
"It will."
"Oh, that's positively delightful!" He zoomed out from behind the counter, and took both our hands. "I do so adore helping people find their very first manabeast! Is it for Guild classes?"
"Yes, sir," Poppy managed to squeeze out between breaths.
"There's no need for such formalities," Henry said with a wide smile as he started to drag us towards a door by the counter. "Please just call me Henry. Let's go visit the menagerie, shall we? Have you given some thought to what sort of beast you're looking for?"
"I'm not sure," Poppy said. "Taran has a void cat at home. I was hoping to be able to talk to him one day."
"A void cat?" Henry froze with his hand on the door handle. "Did you say you have a void cat?"
"Taran does."
Henry glanced at me, his eyes wide. I felt a need to clarify for him. "Technically," I said. "He's his own. There's no way to tame a void beast."
Henry nodded, looking a little disappointed. "I had hoped you'd found the secret."
"If there's any secret to managing Noodle, it'd be giving him plenty of tuna and the odd mook," I said drily. "Other than that, I spend most of my time trying to convince him not to consume the planet."
"Curious little creatures," he said softly. "I met a void beast once. A cow. I tried to milk it."
"Ah." I remembered Mary had once managed a herd of the grumpy little beggars. "You're lucky to be alive."
"Every day, I pray to Sidras for saving me."
"But Noodle isn't that bad," Poppy said defensively. "He's so cute and adorable! And he loves scritches so much."
Henry gave her a look which could only be described as the kind of expression one gives someone whom they believe has completely lost their mind.
I understood the reason for it.
"She's only seen him on his good days," I told the pet shop owner before he had the chance to have a heart attack. "Which is why I brought her here. To get a more appropriate companion."
"Appropriate?" He blinked, suddenly remembering why he was here. "Oh, my, yes! I have plenty of those!"
He flung the door open to reveal a large warehouse full of clean cages and gleaming aquariums filled with mana beasts waiting for their forever homes. There were beasts of all variety. Common ones such as owls and puppies. More uncommon ones such as reptiles and turtles.
I saw a phoenix preening its burning feathers. A tiny baby dragon curled around a small gold bar which served as the beginnings of his horde.
A fox with nine tails stood proudly within its cage, its gleaming eyes bright as it caught sight of Poppy. It let out a happy yip and Poppy's answering yip was almost identical.
She took a step towards it, but I snatched her collar and shook my head. "Don't even think about it," I warned.
"But it's so floofy! Look at the tails!"
"You ought to listen to him, miss," Henry said with a kind chuckle. "Foxes are tricksome things, and the nine-tailed even more so. It takes a strong and experienced hand to keep them from tearing up your house."
The fox's ears flicked and it gave both myself and Henry a sour look.
"I think you made it said," Poppy said as the fox did its best to indeed look abandoned, alone, and very frightened.
Each of which caused Poppy's innocent little heart to rupture.
"That's enough of that," I hissed at the fox. "If you keep it up, I'll buy you."
The fox cocked its head as if to consider the benefits.
I let the violet light of the void shine in my eyes in a way I knew the fox would understand. "And then I'll give you as a gift to my sister. She likes foxes."
The fox scrambled away from the front of its cage and promptly curled up with its tails covering its face.
"Taran," Poppy cried in shock. "That was very mean."
"She's a fox," I said, knowing that explained everything. I patted her head. "When we get home, you can read all about them in the library. Then you can thank me later."
"He's not wrong," Henry admitted, when she turned her look to him. "Although I can't say I like my merchandise being traumatised."
"She'll be fine," I said, throwing the fox one last scowl. Then I turned to the rest of the cages. "Do you have something docile?"
"A bunny?" Poppy asked hopefully.
Henry shuddered. "Bunnies are an advanced species, miss. You might want to leave getting one of those until you've had a lot of experience."
"What? Bunnies are scary, too?"
"Very," he said seriously. "Only hamsters are worse. I'd sell you a dragon before I sold you a bunny."
"I think you're both making fun of me," she pouted. And my heart skipped a beat. How can a pout look so pretty? It defied all convention.
"Mana beasts are very different to common animals," I explained. "The mana warps them in unpredictable ways, Poppy. Bunnies are often transformed into Vorpal Bunnies, or Stormwind Bunnies. Both of which are highly destructive and prone to berserker rages."
"Ah," Henry smiled approvingly. "You've had a lot of experience, I see."
"I had a Vorpal Bunny, once," I told him.
"What happened to it?"
"I fed it to my void cat."
Henry blinked. Then thought about. And shrugged. "Understandable," he said slowly. "How about over here? I have some of the more passive beasts in this section. It's what I would normally recommend students."
Poppy's frown deepened as she saw the selection.
A lizard sat on a rock, managing only a single slow blink of its reptilian eyes as we approached. In the cage next to it, looked to be a couple of twigs stuck in the dirt. But a careful search revealed it to be a stick insect.
It didn't even pretend to know we existed.
A few beetles climbed over some leaves within their glass box.
As Poppy moved from cage to cage, her expression grew more disheartened.
"There's nothing floofy," she said, looking up at me with wide eyes which looked too close to tears for comfort. If she started to cry, I don't know what I would do. "Why isn't there anything floofy?"
"Most floofy things develop extreme skills," I said. "There's a theory they're compensating for their lack of power in their normal form."
"That's what Finkle thought," Henry said, a little doubtfully. "Ballard preferred a more evolutionary approach."
"And one I wouldn't ignore," I said amiably. "But I feel the truth lies somewhere in the middle."
"Possibly," he said. I had a feeling I should invite him to tea so we could discuss our theories some more. "I wouldn't normally offer, of course, but I do have one uncommon mana-beast which might suit."
"Oh?"
"I have a lamb."
"A lamb?" Poppy clapped her hands together with glee. "Lambs are so cute! Taran, can I get a lamb? I promise I'll look after it and everything. And give it so many squeezes!"
"Is it a Lightning Lamb?"
"It is," he said with a little wince.
"Then she'd be dead by lunch time…"
Poppy swallowed hard. "Eep!"
"Normally, I'd agree with you," he said. "But this might be different."
"How so?"
"It's defective."
"How defective?"
"Well, it's not so much a Lightning Lamb as it is a Static Electricity Lamb," he said with a chuckle at what he thought was a joke. I, however, didn't think Lightning was very funny. "Its power has been measured at barely a 1."
"The Ephrahim or the Gerrick Scale?"
He gave me a hurt look. "Gerrick, of course."
"I didn't mean to imply you were trying to fool us," I said with a wave of my hand. "But I was told my Vorpal Bunny was a 5. It turned out it was a 5, on the Ephrahim scale. So, a 15 on the Gerrick. I only found this out after it almost took off my hand at the wrist. I have always thought it best to double check."
"I'll let it pass, then," he said. "But I assure you this one is relatively harmless. Unless the young miss learns how to overcharge her pet. But that's normally something introduced in Third Year. At which point, it won't matter what pet she uses, they'll all be dangerous."
"Point," I said. "Very well. I think Poppy is very focused on ensuring her pet is floofy. Let's have a look at the thing."
After all, being only a 1 on the Gerrick scale, how bad could it be?