Tristan’s tactful response leaves Thoth both happy and oblivious to his blunder. He heaves the enormous book off Tristan’s lap and, not finding any room for it on his bedside table, places it carefully on the floor next to the bed. He knows the book backwards by now and, thanks to his polylingual abilities, doesn’t technically need it anyway – but it’s such a nice book. Leather-bound, with that wonderful early 20th century language and the beautiful illustrated reference list of hieroglyphs at the back. Hieroglyphic is the same alphabet used by the ancient language but, assuming Tristan already knows this, Thoth doesn’t bother to mention it.
He’s so busy trying to grab the creature that he doesn’t notice the brief expression of pain flicker across Tristan’s face. As Celidon pads over, the creature pokes her nose out from under the blanket to get a good look at him and Thoth is able to snatch her up by her overlong tail. Unhurt, she curls around and pats his hand playfully with her front left paw – the only paw which is yellow. Since the damage is already done, he grimly deposits her back onto the bed and she immediately trots over to Celidon, cocking her head and peering into his face. She bats at his nose with her paw and leaps backwards instantly, like a kitten searching for a game. After a moment she takes a couple of steps towards him, before leaping back again and crouching down on the bed. Her rear end sticks up in the air and her tail waves furiously through the air like a whip; she’s distracted from Cel only when her tail accidentally hits Thoth’s hand, whereupon she twists around to look at him. It doesn’t hurt, but he rubs his hand absently.
“Couple of weeks ago, found her in the ocean,” he frowns vaguely at her. “She won’t leave me alone – she just jumped in my boat, and she’s been following me around ever since. I don’t even know what she is.” He leans on the bed with his elbows, reaches into his back pocket and pulls out the trading card, which he hands to Tristan. “My sister thinks she’s one of those – a ‘vaporeon’ – but I can’t find any references in any books… not even the ones which document shamanimals.”
The little animal had been watching him talk, but is now apparently bored of that. Noticing her waving tail apparently for the first time, she crouches down, leaps on top of it and attacks it with her teeth and tiny claws. Almost instantly, she squeals with pain and lets go, eying it suspiciously. With retracted claws, she pats at her flicking tail lightly and starts to chase it in circles around the bed like a puppy. After a minute or two she succeeds in grabbing it, trots over to Thoth with it in her mouth and drops it proudly in front of him. She doesn’t wait for acknowledgement of her achievement from him, but rather leaps backwards energetically and runs back up the bed towards Tristan, whom she clearly considers an extension of the bed; she races up his arm and over his shoulder, where she pauses briefly, sniffing his hair. Finding nothing of interest there, she steps gingerly onto his collarbone, rubbing against his face, and lies down precariously across his neck, watching Celidon thoughtfully. Thoth reaches over, picks her up and places her on Tristan’s lap instead.
“It’s all a bit odd,” he continues, eying the creature suspiciously. “Normally animals only follow me around to talk to me, but she’s never said a single word – I don’t even know what language she speaks. But she’s definitely got some magic,” he reaches over and strokes her gently, causing her to make her happy ‘brr’ noise again. “It’s like… I always know what she’s feeling. I don’t even have to be in the same room as her, and I always know when she’s hungry or tired or excited. Think maybe she has some kind of reverse empathy?”
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