Daminette December 2023: 16-Pet Store
Marinette thanked the kwamis for giving her an advantages around animals. She had moved to Gotham and was working part time at a pet store. Her new apartment still didn't allow animals, but she could still play with them.
Marinette looked up from her desk as an owner and his dog walked up to the counter.
"This is Titus." the boy announced.
"I can take him from here." Mari spoke.
"I insist that I take him to the back." he stated, "You look new. Titus has specific taste."
Marinette rolled her eyes and grabbed the leash out of his hand.
"Come on, Titus." she smiled, "Think you can prove your owner wrong and go by yourself like a good boy?"
Marinette turned and Titus willingly walked along side her to the back. Neither saw Damian's shocked expression. Damian had trained Titus himself. He knew Titus wouldn't trust anyone so easily.
'Something is wrong here.'
When Damian returned, his anger only grew. The same girl had brought Titus back out for him. Titus stood towering over her and licked her cheek. She had smiled and reached behind the counter and handed him a sealed dog biscuit shaped like a bone.
"The ingredients are written down on the back." the girl declared.
Damian turned it over and sure enough there was a sticker on the back.
"The font is misleading." Damian spoke, "It appears to be handwritten."
"It is." Marinette replied, "I made them. I make all the treats."
Damian looked at it again and shoved the treat in his pocket.
"Titus. Come." He spoke.
Titus followed obediently.
'I'll just run analysis on this and see what kind of underground network she is apart of.'
Damian had found no hidden agenda through the biscuit. All ingredients were perfectly healthy for Titus or any dog. He had handed it over to Titus in disappointment. Titus ate it happily.
'Traitor, but I know who won't betray me.'
Oh how wrong he was. Marinette carried a happily purring Alfred the cat in her arms.
'I should bring Goliath. She'd likely be frightened. I would win and she would no longer have power over my pets. I could do that, but then Father would be upset. He already doesn't like Goliath and finds him to be dangerous. This would only further his thinking.'
"Cupcake!" a voice shouted from behind him.
"Uncle Jagged!" Marinette smiled, placing Alfred in his carrier.
Damian turned to see Jagged Stone and his famous pet crocodile walk in. He watched in surprise as she disregarded the reptile and hugged the Rockstar. After, she turned towards the croc. Damian was ready to pull her away, but the croc rolled over and she scratched his stomach as if it as a dog. He was speechless.
'Maybe bringing Goliath would be a mistake. I need to learn her secrets.'
Marinette looked at Damian as he handed over his resume.
"You don't need the money." She spoke, "So why?"
"I prefer animals to human company." He answered honestly.
Mari smiled, "I say anyone who doesn't is a liar."
Marinette turned away and took the resume to the back. Damian realized he had smirked when she left. He quickly brought him emotions under control.
"I don't think there would be a problem, but I'm sure my boss would want to cover her ass, if you somehow got hurt on the job." She declared, coming back.
"Explain." Damian insisted.
Marinette sighed, "Make sure that if you got injured, while on the job, that she isn't sued by a Wayne."
"I would be fine." he growled out.
"And your father?" she asked.
The Wayne heir sighed, "I think his only concern is that I don't bring more animals home." making her giggle.
'Did I pass?'
Damian was called back to the boss' office. He knew they wanted to know his angle; why he wanted to work there. His siblings ad gone through it before when they got jobs. Damian took out an envelope and slid it over the desk.
"Inside is a viable check worth $10,000." Damian stated, "Pair me with Marinette Dupain-Cheng as my mentor. If I am not paired with her, I'll report the check as fake."
The vet just looked at the signed check and nodded, absent-minded. As Damian went looking for Marinette, he heard the boss call out that they had a quick errand to run.
Damian observed how careful she was with the animals. There were times he thought she was trying to flirt, by acting clumsy, but he quickly learned that wasn't the case. Other workers would ask if she had fallen that day or if she needed a bandaid.
Marinette waved off the concern, "It'll just be another bruise. I probably wouldn't notice. I can't keep count."
If he caught her, she'd say thank you and continue ignoring him. Damian had learned from the other workers that Marinette fixated only on the animals. They invited her many times to hang out or even grab a bite to eat after work. Some offered to pay, but the answer was always no. They had later learned that in the past, Marinette's friends had backstabbed her. As a result, she was friendly at work, but once she was off the clock, she didn't give them a chance to get to know her.
"I would like for you to come to my home." Damian declared.
"No. Thank you." Marinette answered, getting ready to leave for the day.
"I have animals." he spoke.
"I've seen them." She replied, "Titus and Alfred, correct?"
"You haven't seen Jerry or Batcow." he remarked.
Marinette froze as she was tying her shoe.
"As in-" she began.
'Gotcha.'
Damian smirked, "Batcow is an actual cow and just so you are aware, Jerry is a turkey."
He could see her trying to figure out how to answer him. Ignore him or see animals she had never seen before.
"I'd like to see the cow." Marinette whispered, embarrassed, "This doesn't mean were friends, all of a sudden!"
"Of course not." Damian agreed, "Just colleges, who share a love of animals."
Marinette smiled as she walked out the door.
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Do you know if there are ways to know if a snake from a pet shop has been properly taken care of or not? Asking since i've been visiting some and i saw one with a boa that had some kind of sinking or deformity on his tail, so i'm kinda wary now.
Hello, friend! I'm sorry to tell you that there is not.
I've worked in multiple areas of the pet industry and I've met the full gamut of types of shop owners, and while I don't consider all of them wicked people, some certainly are. Even the best of them have a bottom line to consider. This means that they won't divulge where their animals are coming from so that you can look into a breeder before making a choice, and they're likely buying animals from backyard breeders or bulk importers. This also means that it's unlikely that the animals they're selling will have established health histories.
Having worked at one of if not The biggest reptile chain in Northern California, I saw some horrors that scarred me for life. Among the lesser sins that took place there:
Folks who bred reptiles but didn't have incubators set up could bring their eggs in for incubation services, the price of which was half of the clutch, and the store owner would then sell the resulting babies as "born on-site," which was technically true! But we didn't know the parentage or health potential of any of these animals. We didn't sell incubators in the store for this specific reason.
Surrenders came in regularly from owners who didn't have the time or resources to care for their pets any longer. They went on the sales floor with a price tag the second the previous owner walked out the door. No veterinary care, no health evaluation, no observation period, nothing. If they looked okay they were priced at regular retail price and we were explicitly told to never admit that they had been surrendered. 100% profit.
Any animal that was injured or sickly, no matter where it came from or how it got injured, was tagged as a "surrender" that we would claim was dropped off by a bad former owner and we'd had them cleared by a vet so that we could rehome them. This was a lie. None of them ever got veterinary care, ever.
Enclosures were cleaned regularly but were never properly sterilized between animals. We sold veterinary-grade cleaner in the store but we were not allowed to use it because it was too expensive. We used diluted Lysol!
Again, this is a large reptile chain with multiple stores and mostly positive online reviews* and I wouldn't trust them with a pet rock, let alone anything breathing.
You're much better off getting a snake from a reputable breeder, or at least someone who can answer reasonable questions about feeding, parentage, genetics, any possible health issues, etc.
*the owner actually reported negative reviews and would have employees write good ones while I was there.
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Hi there! I stumbled upon your blog a while ago and I just wanted to say that I absolutely love your work. I absolutely love your Medusa Reader as well as the interactions between her and Baraka as well as her friendship with Syzoth with the rest of the Earthrealmers and Outworlders and of course the animosity she has for Shang Tsung though he's still attracted to her. I'm also the anonymous person that's been sending you the numerous reactions requests because I wanted to see how you would write out the scenarios that I would ask for and you've never disappointed me. I felt comfortable to reveal myself to you because I was nervous to see what kind of reaction I would get for sending these requests to you. I love the latest scenario that you posted yesterday and I sent you another request though this one is more PG friendly, basically the Outworlders stumbling upon a pet store and them interacting with the animals inside with Medusa Reader and Syzoth encountering the reptiles in the reptile section, Mileena and Kitana as well as Li Mei and Tanya playing with several puppies and kittens and ferrets and Ashrah interacting with several birds while Baraka is asking Johnny why do Earthrealmers keep them as pets and which ones would be delicious to eat scaring the Outworlders and a few customers and maybe Syzoth trying to eat some of the bugs that they sell in the store. You're an amazing writer with incredible talent and I hope to read more from you soon. Keep up the good work, you're awesome!
A/N: Awwwww and I think YOU'RE awesome! Thanks for the asks too as those are fun to write. Sometimes I have to step back from writing since I'm laughing too hard at what I wrote or think about writing with these scenes.😂😂😂 Also, I am SOOOOO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO FINALLY FINISH!!! I hope this makes up for it!!!!
You and the other outworlders plus Ashrah vaguely wondered about what Earthrealm's fauna is like compared to the other realms. You are all given a chance when coming across a pet store while Johnny was giving you another Earthrealm tour, specifically, a "exotic" pet store, that had a painted tropical bird on the sign. The smell of prey and predator bombarding emanating even just outside the door.
Mileena and Kitana were immediately drawn to the softer looking animals, approaching a pen filled with soft puppies yapping in greeting at the newcomers and another filled with mewing fluffy kittens. Mileena laughed as the puppies tripped over their own feet in their pursuit to greet her and Tanya. The latter lightly jokes/suggests that maybe they train some of these hounds to be Umgadi.
Kitana meanwhile is a few yards from her sister contently petting the kittens and letting them climb all over her, with Li Mei acting as her guard, as old habits die hard. Yet, one could see a small smirk from the former Umgadi priestess as she observes one kitten, the runt of the litter, trying to climb her leg. Admiring the small kit's tenacity. Kitana and Mileena later move their attentions to the small glass case containing ferrets.
You and Baraka followed behind Ashrah and Syzoth as the former wanted to check out the colorful birds there, seeing as the Netherealm doesn't contain any colorful ones nor non-scavengers. However, you lagged behind when your snakes started to hiss up a storm as they all lean towards the terraiums displaying mice and rats, snapping their jaws and flicking their tongues in the direction of the tasty snacks.
"Behave! I'll buy some of them later, just calm down!"
You hurriedly grabbed at your snakes to pull them away, as the rodents within their cases started running around in panic. Syzoth notices one of the store's employees giving you an odd look, and then drags you along to the reptile section while Baraka glowers at the employee until they finally lower their head to avoid eye contact with the Tarkatan.
The Reptile section had to be the most interesting part of the tour. Given how many of your snakes seemed to share many similarities with the serpents being sold here, whether that be in snout shape, eyes, length, or scale color and pattern. Although you had to pull your snakes away from more than one caged serpent, as they tried to eat the smaller ones and curled away from a boa.
Syzoth would remark how some of the reptiles vaguely resemble either relatives or associates from Zaterra. He would point at some of the lizards, such as an "ugly" looking reptile with dull scales and say that it's Archduke Mahazzem before hissing in amusement which you shared in.
"It really DOES look like him."
The Zaterran even pointed at a snake basking on a rock under its heating lamp and remarked that it's you. To which you respond by pointing at a tortoise and saying the resemblance between him and Syzoth is uncanny. While you and Syzoth were ribbing each other, Baraka went off on his own to ask Cage if he could purchase some of the animals, specifically some ferrets, birds, and reptiles. Not as pets but as meat to try out later. Much to Cage's disgust and a few other regular customers' horror. Kitana held the ferret in her arms even closer as did Tanya with one of the pups she was growing fond of.
Cage's disgust doesn't end there as he spots you and Syzoth purchasing some crickets and mice before eating them right at the register, for all to see. At the sound of a child crying, did Cage rush to escort all of you out of the store, not caring for Baraka's protests of not getting anything to eat as well.
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