Carry You

It was really hard to contain her excitement as she sat in the car. Animals weresucha big part of her life that it had been awful to not have any for the past little while during her time here on Serlia. She understood why, but it didn’t make it any easier for her. So to be able to have animals again was going to be amajorrelief to her. She did miss her horse terribly and she was going to miss having a pegasus for the next few decades as well. Being here was gonna suck majorly. She missed the large menagerie of animals that existed on Koiria at every manor home. The dog, the cats, and the birds were going to be a small comfort to her, but just…very small. She really wanted to have as many as on the manor as she was used to, but she was pretty sure that’d raise some eyebrows… Ugh, all of this sucked so much. “You look really excited,” Yang said. “I am! I mean whowouldn’tbe excited about getting animals?” Auria glanced over at Whitley who had his arms folded as he stared at the large folder in his lap. Well. That was notwithstanding. “C’mon, Whitley, you should read some of those care guides. I’m sure you’ll findsomethingin there that you’ll click with.” He really needed to learn some empathy for living things and pets would be awonderfulway to introduce him to that. He really didn’t understand people or animals, so letting him get his own would be a wonderful way to have him start developing some empathy. She hoped he would take something to heart and get at least one animal. “I’m just gonna kill anything I get…” he repeated. “I don’t think you will. Honestly, why not look at something like a snake or a lizard? Reptiles are pretty hardy.” Auria had never really kept reptiles before, but she had friends that did. They could be super hardy. Of course, things like enrichment and proper enclosure size were important to any animal. “You could probably even get an adult and not a baby.” She wasn’t sure if it’d be more or less expensive to get an adult, but having an established animal would probably make him feel a little bit better. A baby could be finicky and potentially die on him which was exactly what he was afraid of. She wanted him to get something that would make him feel like he had more control. Reptiles were generally low maintenance after the enclosure was set up, at least as far as Auria was aware. “Snakes are creepy.” Whitley shivered. “And slimy.” Auria wanted to say something, but she knew that it would tip off Yang if she did. She’d held snakes before and they weren’t slimy at all. Scaly, sure, but they were generally pretty smooth. Nothing was wrong with snakes. Unless one struggled with mice and rats… She was pretty sure Serlia would have frozen/thawed here just like Koiria did. She’d seen her friends feed the snakes a few times and the feeders were almost always dead. Though, apparently, some could be incredibly picky and would only take live which was dangerous to the snake itself. Then there were a lot of lizards that could take insect diets, though she wasn’t sure how Whitley would feel about feeding bugs… “What about a lizard?” He made a face. “Still scaly and slimy.” She sighed. She understood why his world was so small, but it was still hard to excuse it. She would have to have patience with him, but it could definitely be trying at times. Like now. He had only ever been in Schnee manor and around Atlas. She was certain Blake and the Belladonnas were struggling with Weiss in the same way. Auria was just glad that she had a reasonable explanation for why she was so different from Whitley. Yang seemed to be buying it at least for now. Auria was struggling big time… But she needed to keep her patience with Whitley. “Would you rather have a dog or a cat or something you have to take outside even in the winter when it’s cold? Or something noisy like a bird?” she asked. A reptile really would be a good start for him. She knew what sort of commitments mammals and birds required. Reptiles were generally less demanding than more intelligent pets and could be kept in a cage their entire lives. At least if it was small. She had seen a couple people with monitor lizards and tegus and those could get big. Iguanas were something she wouldn’t recommend toanybodyunless they could shell out for basically an entire room. Same with large monitors. He sighed. “No…” “How about we go to a reptile store after I get my haircut and see if you can find anything that piques your interest?” “Fine…” He sighed again. It seemed like she’d finally won him over for the time being. She really had no idea what to expect from a reptile store as more specialty places were done in-home on Koiria. It did require networking to find reptiles, but that was honestly for the best. People running in her circles were able to afford the care and upkeep for reptiles. Birds were often sold in specialty stores, though, but cats and dogs were the same as reptiles. Why the difference, she honestly had no idea. It was just how thingsworkedon Koiria. They were all silent and arrived at the salon. Auria had only had the long hair for a couple of hours, but she was honestly anxious to get it all chopped off. She ran through the motions with the hairdresser, telling her the usual sort of hairstyle she had, but framing it as wanting something new and exciting. She didn’t have it bobbed or anything, but a bit shorter than shoulder length. It was a decent length that did require some upkeep but not to the extent that Weiss’ hair would have. It took quite a while to get it all settled and chopped off. Honestly, it was astonishing just how much hair lay on the floor after the session. She knew Weiss’ hair was long, but damn, that was insane. But she feltsomuch lighter afterward. She ran her hand through her hair, glad to have it back at its normal length. It was slightly layered which also did help the weight. Not that shoulder-length hair was super heavy or anything, but still… She was just glad to have it done nicely in a way she preferred. It was still insane to think that Weiss lived with that weight day in and day out for pretty much as long as she could remember… She had all of Weiss’ memories, so she could see the fact that her hair had been that length pretty much her entire life. It was just insane. They left the salon after it was all said and done. Whitley had been studying the care guides while he sulked during the salon trip. He’d set aside some care guides and had whittled them down to reptiles. He was still studying and was looking on his scroll, reading on it. She smiled at him, but he didn’t respond. He just followed her out to the car once she had paid for the salon. She tipped generously as it had definitely been quite a lot of work for the hairdresser to deal withall of thathair. “So what are you learning toward?” Auria asked after they got buckled in. “Mm… I’m honestly looking at maybe pigeons and some reptiles… Pigeons are apparently already domesticated? They aren’t as noisy as parrots, though there is the issue of pigeon fancier’s lung…” he said. “Oh, that’s easy, just get a couple of air purifiers.” She knew that greys were also dusty birds, so she’d have to get some of those for her room as well as where she’d keep the bird. She wasn’t going to keep the grey in her room just because they had such strict requirements when it came to keeping hormone levels down. Blake’s bird, Vona, hadn’t hit birdie puberty yet, but it would hit and it would hit horribly. Auria knew to expect the birds becoming awful and very temperamental compared to their sweet, cuddly baby phase. She did want a baby so that way it could live its whole life with her… But she wasn’t going to hand feed the bird. No, she had asked for a baby that was already weaned. “There’s that, I suppose…” he said with a sigh. “I’m still not sure what to do though. I feel like getting an animal on a whim is a bad idea.” “You are right about that… It generally is. But you’ve been researching quite a bit. Though again, a few hours of research isn’t usually good…” Oh well, Auria really didn’t care. He needed to learn some empathy and an animal would definitely do that. She just missed having animals of her own around… A small flock of starlings was definitely going to be welcome as would the grey. The starlings would need to learn the lay of the house. It wasn’t as bad as the manor home she’d spent most of her life in by any means, but it was still large enough that it’d take time to fully learn the layout. The birds would be able to explore to their hearts’ content and help her be able to find her way around. She just couldn’t keep them in the same room as the grey due to the dust. “Any pigeon breeds catch your eye?” He frowned. “There arebreedsfor pigeons? Also, aren’t they supposed to be rats with wings essentially?” “Wild rats are definitely vectors for disease due to carrying fleas and such, but I’ve heard domestic rats are actuallyquiteclean animals,” Yang said. “I’m not sure about pigeons, though. Never thought to look into birds really. My guess would be it’s probably their poop that carries disease more than anything. But if you’re getting a captive-bred animal rather than just taking one off the streets, it should be relatively clean.” Whitley nodded a bit, frowning. “I see… It does say they poop frequently. I did see parrots need a fresh diet daily and pellets whereas pigeons are granivores that can eat seeds.” “I wouldn’t really know,” Auria said. She had justneverchecked into pigeons before. At one time, they had been used for carrying long-distance messages in Serlia, but technology had come a long way and they didn’t need pigeons anymore. They hadn’t needed pigeons or other message-carrying animals for a long time. Pearls had long taken over the need for anything like that. Some people still kept pigeons as racing animals and as pets, though they were relatively in the minority of people. Even raptors were more popular than pigeons were… But it might be a good companion for Whitley. “My guess is they’re flock birds, aura breeds or not, so having a pair might be a good idea.” Starlings were quite the same. He nodded. “Plus, there’s no telling how things will change in the next few years… From what I’m seeing, any animal is a long-term commitment.” Auria nodded. “Yeah, that’s also true. They are… You shouldn’t give up an animal just because they’ve become inconvenient. I know getting a puppy and some kittens isn’t great but…” She had experience with young animals. She knew how to potty train and such. Plus, she was getting awakened animals; they would already be able to rationalise and tell her what they needed. She would just have to be careful about understanding them. Her translation earring could translateanyspeech more or less which included awakened animals that she hadn’t ever met before. It would take weeks if not months for a normal human to understand an awakened animal. It would be beyond frustrating to have to play along, but she couldn’t arouse Yang’s suspicions that something was up. She seemed to be accepting a lot of things at face value, but with how active her soul was… She couldn’t takeanychances. “I really don’t want to treat an animal badly.” He frowned. Auria ruffled his hair and he tensed. “It’ll be fine, Whitley. We don’t have experience with animals yet, but it should be okay.” Just as long as he didn’t get a bird he had to wean himself. Blake had gotten a weaned bird. Plus, imprinting on people was generally seen as very negative outside of raptors. Raptors could come with their own sets of problems, but she didn’t know all the ins and outs of that as she hadn’t taken a shine to falconry herself. Her family had a family falconer that took care of the day and night crew like every other noble family, but Auria just didn’t know raptor psychology or behavior. Granted, awakened animals werequitedifferent than non-awakened ones… He nodded a bit. “Okay…” “Just don’t get a corvid. I’ve heard they’reincrediblyintelligent, even moreso than parrots.” Whitley blanched and shook his head. “No, no way would I do that. A pigeon will be enough if that’s the route I go.” “Well, we will need some air purifiers anyway…” She looked up where to get some and told the driver to stop at a store where they could get some purifiers. Even fae had air purifiers, though she could tell they didn’t look or act the same way due to the difference in how technology was produced. Fae purifiers tended to look like columns that went along the wall and were highly decorative as well as functional. These ones were just…bricks that sat on the floor. Very unattractive. Functional, she supposed… Then again, fae were pretty big into aesthetics… Whitley nodded and the driver stopped a little while later. Auria was completely at a loss of where to go and asked Yang for help. Using the site, they found where the purifiers were and got a dozen of them, just in case Whitley opted for pigeons. He stayed in the car to start researching breeds. The trip didn’t take too long and they were back in the car in just a little while. Whitley was on his scroll when they came out. “It says a good beginner breed is the Verdant Coeur pigeon, also called the Heart of Vale… It’s apparently almost empathetic. They’re also not as dusty as traditional pigeons.” “Well, we got some air purifiers anyway,” Auria said. “Did you find a breeder?” He nodded a bit. “Yeah…” “Did you contact them?” He shook his head, looking down. He seemed nervous. Which… Fair. She wasn’t sure he hadevercalled somebody before. He hadn’t ever had a scroll before, so she didn’t blame him. She was used to her pearl, though that could only call a limited number of people unless measures were taken to force a false soul bond between people. That was something that happened relatively often due to people being able to want to contact others they were dating. Pearls were incredibly limited, unlike scrolls… Maybe she ought to try to introduce some of the technologies used on scrolls to fae kind… It’d definitely make things less intrusive like forcing false soul bonds… “Want me to call?” Auria asked gently. He nodded and showed her the number. She called the breeder and talked to the man for a while and had to convince him to let them pick up a pair that day. She pretty much had to bribe him by saying she’d pay three times his normal rate. Understandably, he wanted them to go to good homes and not somewhere they’d be neglected or abused. She didn’t blame him at all, but she had experience with birds…though she couldn’t say that. She just promised that they’d be going to a good home with help that would be called on should they need it. After she hung up, she looked at Whitley. “What all have you learned they need?” “The ideal cage for them isn’t a traditional bird cage; it’s generally a large dog crate. Though we might be able to find some modular wire pieces that would allow for a larger cage… The bigger, the better I’ve seen. And pigeons prefer shelves rather than branches like parrots…” Auria smiled. Despite everything, Whitley was clearly being thorough in his research. He showed her the sort of modular wire pieces he was talking about and she nodded. Well, they needed to run to a pet store anyway… Auria told the driver where to go again. Soon enough, they found themselves in a pet store. Auria helped him find what was on a list of pigeon necessities including the modular cage. They picked up several packs of the wire pieces as well as a cat carrier to put the pigeons in when they picked them up. Auria picked up a few more things she needed as well so that way her animals would be safe when they were transporting them. She got a harness and a collar for the dog, though she didn’t get a tag because she had no idea what she wanted to name it… Then again, most breeders did name their awakened animals. But it wouldn’t take too long for an awakened animal to figure out its new name. It felt wrong to call them aura breeds, but she had to… She couldn’t allow Yang to know that she was a fae. She could only imagine what would happen if someone learned she was a fae outside of a small group. With their purchases in hand, they went around and picked up all the animals. The starlings had to go in the front seat in their carrier along with the kittens, grey, and the pigeons. The carriers sat side by side, barely contained within the seat. The main issue was the puppy which was beyond excited. She wasn’t surprised as she had chosen a high-energy working breed which she really did prefer. Her dog back home had been older, and thus less energetic, so dialing things back to the energy of a puppy was definitely going to be quite tough. But she had done it before multiple times and she didn’t regret it. It was just tough to get him to remain in a down/stay on the floor for the duration of the ride back to the manor house. Once back, they had a couple servants help with the various carriers and getting the animals where they needed to go. They also had to get the air purifiers set up as well. She left that to the servants. Auria let the puppy out into the back yard to burn off some energy as well as run around. It was at least fenced in which was good. She was more keen to help Whitley get his pigeons set up. He looked completely lost as to what to do with the modular cage. “C’mon, Whitley; let’s look at the instructions.” She opened one of the boxes and found the instructions inside. Within about half an hour, they had the cage all built. The pigeons cooed softly in their carrier, then were let out into the cage. They hopped around the shelves and stretched their wings, no doubt glad to be out of the cramped little cage. Auria smiled, hearing their soft coos. She had her starlings and had never considered pigeons before, but honestly, this might be fun and interesting to learn about. Whitley looked overwhelmed, so she figured she might as well leave him alone with them for now. Plus, she had her starlings, her grey, her kittens, and her puppy… Quite the menagerie…