Chapter 24 - Skyfire Pet Shop
[A/N: MANY THANKS FOR @MO.FI.SA. ON ******* FOR THE FIRST DONATION ON THIS NOVEL EVER, LET'S CARVE HIS NAME ON THE WALL OF WINDHELM AND GIVE HIM A FREE TICKET TO SOVENGARDE]
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"Kitty kitty kitties, fufufufu kitty kitty kitty kitties." A strange heavy voice sounded, "Excuse me, do you sell kitty kitty kitties." It came from the entrance direction.
A girl stood in the store wearing expensive clothes and had a tied hair. She turned around to see who came in to her family's store.
But what she saw scared Oblivion out of her. A huge shadow blocked the light of day that comes from the entrance, it gave a powerful aura, the candles in the shop went down from that aura, the animals in the cages quieted down as well, the figure walked slowly making some weird laughs.
The girl was scared, she was about to scream, but suddenly the huge figure fell on the ground turning into three smaller figures.
The place was dark and the girl couldn't see any of the figures' features clearly.
A voice came from behind the figures, "Finally, he's down." It was a girl's voice.
"If he wasn't originally tired, by Ysmir! He would have dragged us through the whole town." a young man's voice sounded out.
But after a second the atmosphere froze, the strange voice could be heard once again, "Fufufufu, Sticks and stones may break my bones, but kitty kitty kitties will revive me."
The figure in the middle bended its limbs in a weird direction and stood on all four, it suddenly creeped like a spider towards the girl with high speed. "Do you sell kitty kitty kittieeeeees?" The girl was about to scream and fall back once again, but suddenly one of the figures on the ground jumped and fell directly on the creeping figure.
"Caught him, sorry about that, are you alrig...." A strong voice of a young man spoke to the store girl but it suddenly halted.
The boy saw a ginger girl, with sky blue eyes and pure beautiful face. The girl saw a boy with strong build, dark hair and brown eyes.
Something sparkled in their eyes, but that's a story for a bit later.
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[A/N: Five minutes earlier, outside the pet shop]
"Hey, these shops are for milk drinkers, you can't just go in." Battle-Born was trying to stop Jon.
"He won't listen, look at his eyes." Wulfur said.
"His eyes are turning into that of a cat, his mouth too, he is not listening at all." Svidi was pointing from a far.
[A/N: Basically like this ( 'ω' )]
"That doesn't look good to me. Wulfur press him from above." Battle-Born said.
"How?" Wulfur replied.
"I don't know, climb on him."
"Fine, and you cling to his legs."
"Alright, Svidi give us a hand."
"Leave me out of this."
"Dammit, he is moving."
"Press him harder."
"I can't, watch out we are going in."
The appearance was that of three young men, one was walking and the other two were restraining him, one clinging on his shoulders, and the other from his legs.
There was a girl too but she didn't get involved.
Finally they entered a shop.
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[A/N: Back to the present.]
"I, I, I am alright, very alright." The girl was speaking without concentration while looking at the boy.
"Give me kitty kitt...." Jon was about to rise again but Wulfer punched him back to Oblivion without breaking eye contact with the girl.
It seemed like even Jon can't break the pink atmosphere that was forming right now.
"Hey, is Jon alright?" Svidi asked Wulfur while giving a hand to Battle-Born on the ground.
"... He is, he is very alright!" Wulfur replied in a soft voice and a slow manner.
For some reason, Svidi and Battle-Born felt shivers, even Jon stopped resisting.
"Wulfur, what happened to Jon?" Battle-Born asked.
".... I punched him." Wulfur said.
"What! Is he alright?" Svidi asked and came be side Wulfur who was still on Jon.
Wulfur was looking at a girl and the girl was looking back at him.
Svidi waved her palm between them and they suddenly reacted, the girl looked away and blushed red, Wulfur looked left and right with a pale face, then he finally looked down.
"Oi, Jon, Jon, what happened to this guy?" Wulfur shook him, "Answer me!"
Battle-Born and Svidi looked at each other and their faces turned serious, this was a scary moment in the history of Wulfur.
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Dammit! My head feels very heavy! I remember that feeling! Once I played a prank on Ysolda but I mistook her and it was a different girl, after that someone punched me, I got familiar with Wulfur and Svidi after that day.
This punch is just identical, was it Wulfur again? I'll have his ass this time.
I could open my eyes finally, it's a bit dark but I see light.
What is that, I sat but the place around me was strange, I was sleeping on fur, but I was in a cage.
Yes, a cage.
Wait! what's going on here? I was heading home after the fight and something about cats happened, my memory is not really clear.
"Hey, anyone here?" I called.
"Ah, you finally awake!" Battle-Born voice came from somewhere.
"He awoke, can we get him out now?" A girl spoke but I didn't recognize her voice.
"Just leave him until we confirm his sanity." Svidi said.
Four figures came front of the cage.
"Seriously! You knock out I, your old daddy and put me in a cage." I could understand what happened now.
"We can't afford you to go berserk again." Battle-Born replied, "Just to make sure, did your head cooldown?"
"Get me out or else." I was in a grumpy mood.
Battle-Born just touched the door and it opened, so it wasn't locked, how embarrassing!
I got out of the cage and looked around, this is a store I kinda remember.
"Sorry for just now." I looked a the girl who looked like the clerk, "Mental fatigue must have accumulated after the match and I berserked out."
"Ah! Your friends have told me, congratulations for the win." The girl talked in a shy manner.
She was a beautiful girl with light ginger hair and blue eyes, kinda similar to me but she has her charm.
"I am Jon, sorry for the trouble." I said.
"I am Bjorna, welcome to Skyfire Pet Store." The girl called Bjorna said.
"Oh! Pet Store! Right? Cats! Kitties!" my memories came back all of a sudden.
"Don't even think about it." Svidi warned me, she actually was scary, Bjorna was hiding behind her.
"Ah! My bad! sorry, Do you have cats?" I asked holding myself to the limit.
The girl looked at me and smiled wryly, "This store is more focused on exotic and expensive animals, especially those which has magical properties and those which can fight and hunt."
Oh! So that kind of store existed, this is really like some MMOs.
Why didn a game feature like that come to the world? Was it a mod? Let's think of that later?
"Magical properties, Does Nords even like that?" I felt it strange.
"They crave for it, we don't really say they are magical put if it's from nature, then Nords won't think of it as anything strange." The girl said.
"But you just said that to a Nord." I said.
"And not just any Nord." Bjorna said. "It's Jon Dare, the one who defeated the mages in their own game."
"Oh! You know about that?" Of course I was famous.
"Yes, I was there that day, most of the girls went to see the match of Argir Swift-Hilt and I was lucky I was there that day." She said.
"Anyway, may I interest you in one of our creatures?" Bjorna said. Wow! Just like Ysolda, this girl has a merchant face too.
"What kind of animals do you sell?" I asked.
"Anything that can be trained. My clan trained most of these animals so they are friendly and all, I also have some recommendations for you and you warrior friends here." She said.
"You clan?" I asked.
"Half of us are tamer, weird hobby for Nords ,eh? But we were brought up many of these beautiful creatures." She said, "I normally manage the store but my ma goes back to the clan for the other ones, the big ones that can't be sold in a city, you see."
Ah! Why is this world turning too mystical all of a sudden?
"So what's do you normally sell?" I asked.
"You finally asked, follow me." She said while turning around, but when she faced Wulfur she clearly blushed. The hell?
I looked at Svidi, she shrugged and was unusually silent.
Let's ask later, following the girl we arrived at some small cages.
"This a Dragonfrog, cute isn't it? Mages buy dozens of these beauties." She pointed at something.
That thing was a frog, a big one. But it had two wings and it looked like it can use them, it also had scales like that of a lizard.
I have seen these things in books, this creature also made an appearance in the 'Elder Scrolls Online', I think it's weird but they really sell it!
"Why do mages like these?" I asked.
"They are clean, airborne and magical, the can evolve into a magical creature once they adapt to a certain element." She said.
"Hmm, what else is there?" I asked.
"There are canines like the Alik'r Dune Hounds and Bravil Retrievers which are preferred by hunters." She said pointing at a cage.
"There are also the Bear-Dogs." She pointed at a cage.
"There are also Morthal Mastiff, a true fearless beast."
I like that one.
"Skyrim Wolfhounds."
Oh! The ones from the game.
"There are also wolves and bears cubs but we don't display them here. You can order them though."
Bears? Sign me up.
"There are also Guars, we import them from Morrowind, some like to pick them as mounts, but their prices are a bit high in Skyrim."
Oh! I know that one, they are Bipedal Reptilians from Morrowind and Black Marsh, they are the replacement for horses there, I also see them as some sort of dinosaurs. Nurina used to raise one when she was young.
"There are also Foxes right over here, many kinds from Skyrim, Hammerfell and Elsweyr. They are my favorite."
"Also there mounts in our outer store, Horses and Ponies, Guars and also Goats, Elks and Rams that can be mounted, I think we had a War Boar once but Da cried like a baby and took it to himself." She said.
What an interesting father!
"Finally on our tour and the thing that might interest you the most are the Felines." She finally said it.
"Finally" I couldn't help but let it out.
"Time for his kitten heaven." Battle-Born laughed.
"Let's call it Kittengarde." Wulfur said.
He actually cracked a funny joke, people laughed at it too. Something changed about that guy.
"Seeing the Felines as only cats is belittling the might of one of the scariest breeds ever lived, Cats by the way are favored by Dibella, the goddess of love. There also is a breed of cats which is considered very cute is also the favorite pet in the old magic guild, even the college now has tens of them around." Bjorna said.
Everyone made a serious face when she made a speech.
"Wait a minute! You are speaking about the Mage Sentry Cats, right? They are in the College?" I asked.
"More than the mages themselves." She said. "They tend to cling to people with purer Magicka and also no one can escape their senses." She said, "So if you are going to the college then just buy something more expensi.. ehem, suitable."
I heard that!
"There are a wide variety of Cats and Dragonfrogs, but most can only be found in the College due to evolutions based on magic." She said, "We on the other hand can sell you Lynxes which are more honest than cats if they were raised well."
"The clan also imported half Senche breeds." She said.
Seriously say that earlier.
"As you may know, Senches are sort Khajiits that comes from Elsweyr, unlike their Bipedal brothers and sisters and they may breed with Felines like tigers and lions giving us many variants like Senche-Lions, Senche-Tigers, Senche-Leopards and Senche-Panthers."
"But the best choice in my opinion are the Sabercats, they are faster and can adapt to Skyrim better." She came to a halt when she reached an office. We also stopped after her.
"So, dear customers. Have you made your mind?" Bjorna said while making a merchant smile.
"I am gratified from the amount of the stuff you guys sell." I couldn't help but say.
"What are you talking about? This is a small just pet shop. The real business is done by almost half of my clan. We tame, hunt and fight. This shop is only a place for youngsters to manage and a place to make deals, most of our the stables in Skyrim deal with us." She proudly said.
Dammit! This girl is not simple.
"Anyway you guys can be patient, most of the orders take a lot of time." She said, "And also you need to wait for my mother to come from the arena, she knows what's in stock better than me."
"One question, please!" Someone finally interrupted her, oh that was me, sorry I am just dizzy.
"Does your shop sell Pokemon Balls?" I asked.
"No, what is that?" She asked back.
"It's a magical device from my past life, people who had many pets kept them within these small balls." I said with complete honesty.
"Woaaah! I want some of these myself, that's so handy. But wait a minute what past life?" She said.
"Ah! That's one of his usual jokes when he is not sure about something, he normally involves past lives and dragons for some reason." Svidi cut in.
"Dragons?" Bjorna was taken aback.
"Dragons are real you know." I said.
"Seriously?!" Bjorna was full of wonder.
"""They are not.""" Wulfur, Battle-Born and Svidi said in unison.
"They are." I said, "Five years from now they will return."
This is a normal argument we always go in since the time of the orphanage.
"He just loves dragons too much, don't take him seriously." Svidi assured Bjorna.
"Nah! I always wanted to see one when I was young." Bjorna said.
Hah! Joke's on you guys.
"Maybe dragons should be real after all." Wulfur who was unusually silent spoke.
"Pffft!" I couldn't hold myself anymore, this guy has fallen, and fallen hard.
Svidi and Battle-Born looked at Wulfur as if they looked at a traitor.
This was really fun, but that fun didn't last that long. We could hear footsteps of someone coming to our direction, we were deep into the store so we couldn't tell who was coming.
Suddenly Bjorna ran to that direction and looked, "Oh! it's Ma." That's what she said. Look good Wulfur, aunt-in-law arrived.
Few breathes later the woman came in.
The woman that arrived was tall, red hair, blue eyes.
I couldn't help but stare.
I couldn't help but freeze.
Why is she here?
Why does Bjorna call her mother?
I looked at the woman and she looked at me, she also froze.
I couldn't help but to look at Bjorna once again who was telling her that there were customers.
Words were stuck.
Stuck in my throat.
As if they were wrestling which one to come first.
Why are you here ..... ?
Who is that girl ..... ?
Why didn't you tell me ..... ?
What's going on ..... ?
All these words couldn't break free from each other but one word from each sentence brock out.
"... Hilda?"