CHAOTIC catch
Dialogue markers: Nix; Attendant; Hades;
It was late afternoon in the town of Whistler Crest, the golden sun hung over the colorful stalls and fluttering flags of the Star Sail festival. Lots of finley strolled through the ornate streets wearing their star-themed coats, some eating delicious food or playing festival games. Above all, everyone was having fun. Nix, a Draken who always catches attention wherever he goes, was wandering around the stalls, acting mysterious thinking he was emanating an aura of wisdom and respect... although he was visibly masking while just being excited like a puppy at the festival, he was not giving aura at all.
While casually enjoying some sweets by himself, he looked under on a stall embroidered with some colorful paws, and something caught the draken's attention: little baby Snoos. Oh yes, those project of pieshus in miniature are truly adorable, all off them wagging their little tails restlessly with their tongues out, some biting eachothers paws and others begging for some finley attention.
That was it, the tall draken felt a sudden urge to go and pet the little babies. He graciously shoved the rest off the sweets into his mouth and went straight to the stall, it wasn't on his today's plans to take a pet home but maybe it wasn't necessarily a bad idea... he has a lot of children running around the house so a dog-ish creature could be a perfect company for them to spend energy.
He reached out to pat the head of one of the snoos, and as he did so, three others crowded around his hand seeking some pats too. 'Woah, calm down little fluffballs, i'll pet everyone!' the draken proudly said while alternating the pets among the creatures. One of the Snoos gently bit his hand, as if claiming the hand for itself. 'Aww it seems like he likes you!' The attendant giggled and smiled to him, 'It is claiming your hands for itself, what a jealous boy' she spoke with a sweet, gentle voice. Nix melted inside while looking the small creature pulling his hand with its tiny little teeth, It seemed to have quite hectic personality, it kept pulling the hand as if he was playing tug of war. Looking in the creature's yellow big eyes, the draken decided it was extremely necessary to bring this little guy home. 'You will be called Hades from now on, and just like the ruler of hell, you will be served by your subordinates, uh, I mean... you'll be really spoiled by your family'.
The draken picked it up from the pieshu pit and held it with one arm, using the other one to sign the papers for the pet adoption while chit chatting the attendant about pet-related subjects and curiosities. As Nix filled out the papers carefully with his claws, something unexpected happened: Hades, driven by some mischievous impulse or tempting scent, darted into the ground and ran free around the festival, zigzagging between stalls, legs and colorful patterns.
'Eh? hEY??!! HADES COME BACK HERE!' Nix shouted, nearly knocking over the table as he ran after it.
The festival turned into comical chaos for him, a seven-foot-tall draken chasing a baby pieshu amid people carrying food and hearing giggles from the crowd. Hades ran past a stage where musicians were playing instruments, disrupting the local soundtrack for a moment, then crashed through a drinks stall, knocking over part of the display making an unpleasantly smelly mess. Finally, the devilish purple creature ran towards a more open field among the stalls.
Nix took a deep breath and used his Distant freezing technique: ice crystals began to form in front of his paws from the surrounding air, dancing around his arm like swirling snow. While still chasing it, he extended one hand in Hades direction in a desperate but still elegant way. Ice stalagmites rose from the ground, quickly forming a circle of icy spikes in front and around the snoo. The ice was firm enough to keep it from scaping, but not sharp enough to hurt the creature.
Hades tried to dodge the ice but was completely surrounded. It stared at the reflex in the shimmering ice walls and then sat up, panting and smiling with his tongue lolling out, as if all of this were all just one big catch game. The draken approached, laughing and panting as well. He knelt beside the makeshift enclosure and stroked the little demon's head tenderly.
'You have plenty of energy, huh? You silly freak.' Nix joked around and sighed while lifting it up by the scruff of its neck, Hades barked in response wagging its tail. 'Arf!' a thin and shrill bark. Back in the stall with the creature under his arm, Nix finally managed to finish the paperwork.
'This is our contract, demonic creature.' said the draken as he put a shiny collar with a small metallic bell on its neck, impossible for mischievous paws to remove. As the sun set and the sky turned purple, Nix walked between the stalls with Hades trotting beside him, still wagging its unstoppable tail. He couldn't wait to see his chilndren reaction to the new family member.