A Shelter

Ding Ding

The bell attached to the door of the little pet shop rang, sounds of roaring wind came through until the it shut again with a bang, announcing the arrival of a customer.  They appeared to be a student, albeit a rather short one. She was still wearing her thick coat from being outside in a snowstorm, piles of white on her shoulders and head, her boots wet from frost. For a moment the blonde girl didn't seem to recognize where she was, only trying to find some shelter. The sounds of a puppy whimpering in surprise caught her attention.

'Am I dreaming?' Amelia approached the pens and peered inside, watching a few splotched puppies romp around on the floor, adorably tripping on each other's paws and tails. She seemed to have stars in her eyes as she stared at them, reaching for them. An idea came to her. She looked around the store, and upon noticing that no employees or other customers were in sight, stepped into the pen. Immediately the five pups rushed towards her, pawing at her boots and licking the water on them. It was too much. She couldn't play with them all at once, could she?

...Could she?

All across the floor were little toys, some of them that resembled animals. She could! She'd have to be careful that no one saw, however, lest someone nongifted saw her. She could risk it. Her eyes focused on two tiny creatures and brought them to life.

A purple, rubber hippo woke first. She didn't put much of a thought process in it; it would get chewed on and she would rather not have it feel pain. Second was a soft, red pig made of thick, fluffy fabric. The puppies didn't react immediately, but the moment the toys began to move, they went berserk on the little animals. She watched the dogs play for a few minutes, making the toys zoom around the pen as if they had rockets attached to their feet.

A noise behind the counter made her freeze up, and the toys became motionless again. She turned her head to face the source, and ever so slowly she locked eyes with the person who had just seen her in a pen with puppies, magically making their toys run around. 'Crap.'

Although he considered working at the petstore a true job and a lot of work, Louis never got many visitors and when he did, it was a nice treat. Besides, it was always a good opportunity for the animals of the petstore to get accustomed to people and what a better way than for them to hang out with visitors.

With some of the reptile tanks open, the tall blonde was in the middle of feeding his friends when the bell that hung on the door jingled, signalling that someone had arrived and that meant that he needed to great them, seeing he was the representative for the quaint little shop.

"I'll be right back," he whispered to the reptiles and amphibians who sat patiently in their tanks lined against the wall, all looking up at him and waiting to be fed. A fat bearded dragon that lounged on its log gave a nod in reply and closed his eyes, being one of the more patient creatures.

Leaving the tanks open and everything where it was, Louis made his way to the front of the store to see a girl playing with some puppies. "Hello there," the resident started with his usual soft smile.

"I think they like you," he chuckled, watching as a puppy attempted to jump on the girl's lap but it's short legs were too much for it. The litter of husky puppies was one of the few litters that he'd received in a while and although they were adorable and cute, no one seemed up for adopting a puppy at the moment and he couldn't disagree, seeing that school was a huge chore in of itself and having a puppy to take care of would be yet another time consuming task.