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“We need… a mascot.” Bettel suddenly brought up. His random thought filled the silence of the saloon, catching both Magni’s and Phantom’s attention. Well, Phantom not too much, he was on the bar table nearby, half-asleep. He was close to sleeping, but he was slightly listening.
“What? Why?” Magni asked, putting down the shot glass he was cleaning and placed it on the counter behind him. He turned back around and looked at the table in front of him. One down… nearly twenty more to go. The blond heaved out a heavy sigh at the realization on how much he had to clean. He glanced over at Bettel before looking away and picking up another glass.
“Because, imagine this!” Bettel started, putting down his cloth he was using to clean the table. He turned towards Magni. “We do great business already, that’s given, but can you imagine how much we can accomplish if we had a mascot?“ He said, sounding excited at the thought. “We already have a small, cute, mascot-like animal on our hands!”
Bettel lifted his arm and pointed with his thumb behind him and directly at Phantom, who finally fell asleep and was blissfully unaware, still sleeping like a baby.
“Phantom?” Magni questioned, putting down the glass and rag as he turned towards the other. “I’m… interested.” he mumbled, putting his full attention onto Bettel, already thinking about what they could do to make their saloon gain a new mascot to up their sales.
Before Bettel could even open his mouth to say more, he got interrupted by Magni snapping his fingers. “Oh, I know! Bettel, why don’t we dress up Phantom as a little cowboy?” he suggested, a grin on his face.
Bettel was slightly taken off guard by how fast Magni was able to think about that, but he wasn’t complaining. It was honestly better than any idea he had in mind at the moment. He nodded his head, grinning. “Yeah, yeah! That’s a good idea!”
He turned around and started to walk towards Phantom - but quickly stopped in his tracks. “Wait, Magni. Where will we even get stuff that’s in the size of Phantom? Like... is there anyone out there that can even make stuff like that?” he questioned.
“Oh, don’t worry, you see… I suggested that idea for a reason. I happen to have a pair of little boots and a cowboy hat from when I got them made by a friend of mine for my cat! She’s grown out of them, but they should fit Phantom since he’s about the size of a small kitten.” Magni reassured.
He walked over to his bag and started to dig through it before pulling out a small outfit containing a tiny vest, two pair of small boots (enough for all the paws), and of course, a cowboy hat. He turned towards Bettel with the outfit in hand. He gave a small nod in Bettel's direction; a serious look on his face. "You know what to do.”
Bettel nodded his head in return and walked over to Phantom, looming over him with Magni behind. Menacingly.
Phantom’s eye opened slightly, stretching his body as he woke up. His body deflated as he let out a small sound akin to a sigh. He glanced over at Bettel and Magni, confused on why they were staring at him. Bettel smiled and reached out towards Phantom, giving him a small pat on his body.
The creature closed his eye again, basking in the attention he was receiving from his owner.
He had no idea what was coming.
---
After a few minutes of struggling and clawing and Bettel getting scratched up like hell from trying to put the outfit on Phantom; whining and crying about how badly it hurt and how he was dying (he was being over-dramatic), it was finally done.
They did it.
Phantom was successfully put into the outfit; he looked amazing. He looked like a little guy, he looked awesome. Bettel kept staring at the… dog, letting out small noises of awe and happiness. He felt his heart melting. His son, his dear, dear son. He was absolutely killing it.
“Magni…” Bettel started, not taking his eyes off of Phantom. “This is the best thing we’ve done. Ever.” he mumbled. He reached out to Phantom and picked him up, holding him in the air and looking at him with nothing but loving eyes. He stared to tear up in happiness at the sight of Phantom.
Magni nodded in agreement, putting his hands on his hips, feeling proud of what the two bartenders accomplished today. Tomorrow will surely bring in a ton of customers when they hear about the new mascot.
(To say the least, it did bring in a lot of customers. Phantom hated it at first, but ended up liked it more than he thought he would. He did get a lot of attention, after all. It’s a win-win for all three of them.)