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“So…. What exactly — is this?” Magni asked, confusion lacing his voice. He looked at Bettel as a small frown decorating his face. He wasn't even sure if it was safe to have this thing in the building.
Bettel blinked as he stopped staring at whatever was in front of him and capturing his attention. His eyes darted up towards his partner when he was asked what the hell be brought into the saloon. The bartender hesitated – opening his mouth and closing it like a fish out of water as he tried to find his words.
After a few more seconds he finally found his words, mumbling a, “Honestly… I am not too sure myself.” in reply.
He let out a sigh and took his eyes off of Magni, looking back at the… animal? That was sitting on the saloon table in front of the duo, having it stare at them with its single eye, seemingly staring into their souls.
The creature was… odd. It was purple and had pink markings on its weirdly shaped long ears that stuck up with the bells hanging off them, a single eye as mentioned, a mysterious zipper on it's back, and a tail that resembled a pink ball on a string attaching to it's body. It didn't look… normal, anyone could see that, and that's why Magni was so hesitant to have this thing in the bar in the first place.
“To be *completely*, honest with you…” Bettel took his eyes off the creature for a second and looked back at the blond once more. “I found this thing on the side of the road when I was taking Brian out for a walk.” he admitted, letting out a small nervous laugh.
Magni's eyes flew wide open as his mouth slightly opened in shock. He whipped his head towards Bettel. “You're telling me you brought in a mysterious creature who doesn't even look like something in this part of Elysium and thought it wasn't dangerous or anything?!”
“Uh… well, I did think it was dangerous, for your information!” Bettel started, slightly scoffing as he put his hand on his hip – pointing at the purple creature with his free hand. It looked back at him, unamused. “I saw it's bright markings, and I thought it was poisonous! But, I'm still here! So, it's not dangerous or poisonous.”
“You—” Magni heaved out a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Whatever, do you plan to keep this- this creature?” he asked, curiously.
The creature's small body deflated, almost like it sighed, as it moved and flopped down onto the bar table and laid there. It could of easily left the bar – no one was here besides the two since they were too busy talking to each other to notice it would of left. Magni would have to probably hold Bettel back from going out and looking for the creature.
“Well— well, yeah!” Bettel nodded his head, smiling as he looked back over to the now resting creature. “I do plan to keep him. Actually, I've already got a name in mind for him!”
“You… you have a name for it?” Magni mumbled. “it's been here for less than an hour and you have a name for it already?”
“Yeah! I'll name him… Phantom.”
The creature — sorry, Phantom perked up in interest, staring at the bartender with interest. Phantom… you know, that name wasn't so bad. Phantom couldn't help to like his own newly given name.
Bettel saw Phantom look at him in interest – smile only getting wider in excitement as it seemed like the mysterious creature liked the name. He was grateful he liked the name. Because honestly… that was the only name he could think of.
The silver haired man turned towards the other and looked at him – slightly smug, he was proud of himself for the naming of the creature. “See? He likes it!” he said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning towards the other – only to be met by a finger on his forehead and pushing him back a smidge.
“I won't even ask why you chose that name out of all the things you could of chosen — but it works.” Magni mumbled, sighing as he took his finger off of Bettel's forehead.
The blond leaned down and looked at Phantom with interest. He hummed, squinting at the purple creature as he examined it. Phantom looked back at Magni without a single care on his face.
(that the two could determine, it’s kind of hard to tell the emotion of a thing with one eye and no mouth, you know?)
“So… if you had to label this thing as an animal or whatever, what would you call it?” Magni asked, looking up at Bettel. “I mean… if you plan to take this thing out with you in public you’re going to at least have to call it something. Besides his name, of course.”
”Uh...” Bettel muttered, tilting his head slightly as he looked towards Phantom. He looked at the creature's long ears, it's small body… it's… tail… “Ah, oh, oh! Dog! It's a dog!” He exclaimed, pointing at Phantom. He felt like he just won the lottery from that realization.
Both Magni and Phantom glanced at each other and then back at Bettel, both of them giving him an unamused look that could probably kill the man, it was almost comedic with the way the both of them looked at one another and back to the bartender, almost having the same thought in mind.
What the hell does he mean by dog?
The three of them stayed silent. Not really knowing what to say. Phantom and Magni were absolutely baffled by Bettel’s weird assumption - Magni didn’t know what the thing was but he knew well it wasn’t a dog? What the hell is he talking about?
Bettel, on the other hand, looked… too confident by the realization.
And, Magni decided to play into Bettel's assumption – they didn't have a name for Phantom, nor do they think there is one for him. So, being called a dog is good enough for the time being.
“Right, right…” he murmured, sighing as he stood up straight. “Because this is totally a dog, and people will recognize it as one. A purple and pink, one eyed dog.” He rolled his eyes, he turned back and resumed what he was doing prior to this surprise visitor – setting up the bar for the day and getting everything ready.
Magni hoped to every God out there that this creature turned out to be completely harmless and not kill them in their sleep, and it seemed harmless. Bettel said it before, joke or not, it didn't seem poisonous because of its bright colors, nor did it appear dangerous.
Like, come on, the thing was the size of a small cat! It could easily sit on Bettel's shoulder and ride along with him – Magni chuckled at the thought, it was kind of like a parrot – there's no way this thing is dangerous.
Bettel, on the other hand, let out a pleased hum, grateful his partner didn't put up a fight and try to rush the creature out of the bar and put it where it originally was. He had no idea why, but the instant he picked this dog up, he felt attached to it. Almost like he's seen it before – like he knew it.
He originally joked to himself that when he laid eyes on it and made contact he secretly sold his soul to the thing, having it be apart of his everyday life and causing him pains through out.
But, that's not real. No way it's real. That's something you'd see in a scary story! A fairly tale, even. He was perfectly fine, and he will be for the rest of his life.
Hopefully. Anyway, Bettel turned towards Phantom, reaching down and grabbing one of its small, pink paws, lifting it up and down almost like he was giving the creature a handshake. A small grin appeared on Bettel's face as he stared at Phantom – Phantom staring blankly back – and the next words spilled out of his mouth without a single thought.
“Welcome aboard, buddy! You're staying with us for God knows how long!”
This totally won't have consequences in his future, or will it ever affect him negatively.