Tanith

"Crap! Crrrraaapppp! Crap, crap, CRAP!" I rushed myself as fast as I could go, opening all the drawers in my kitchen, frantically looking for it.

"Why does this happen?" I muttered to myself, looking back at the potion stand. The bottle's bubbling was only growing worse and it even began to shake in the stand, rapidly changing colors. "Where's a stabilizer when you need it?"

Finally pulling out the thyme, I dashed back towards the potion but I was too late. By the time I reached the couch, it exploded and the shock sent me into an alarmed phase. The world spun and suddenly, I didn't feel safe.

Backing up, I hit the table and quickly put myself into a corner. All I wanted to do was curl up and get away from all the fear deep inside of me. I felt like I was a step away from falling into something dark.

And then the door knocked.

At first I hesitated but then stumbled quickly towards it and yanked it open. When I did, my eyes turned to slits as I gazed on the figure.

The guy had short but curly, brown hair. His eyes were a warm hazel color, but glared back when I did. He had a skinny form, definitely not nearly as strong as more than half the people in Atlantis. He wore thin rimmed, gray glasses that were in the shape of a rectangle. On bottom, he wore jeans with a black belt and a plaid sweater on top. An Atlantean no doubt. I knew him all too well. He was my neighbor, but he tended to be a little more than that.

"Bartholomew." I gave a simple nod but held a hard gaze.

"T." He returned it. Without waiting for me to do anything, he let himself in, pushing past me and looking around. "I see you messed up with your potions again. A pity. You should have all the ingredients and backups before you start doing it. But, here we are at mess up number... 24 is it?"

"25 now. You're slipping Bartholomew. How'd you know anyways?"

He stifled a laugh. "Please, the whole neighborhood could hear it. I came to make sure that I still have a Thursday night."

I rolled my eyes, leaning against the doorway. "I'm surprised. Here I was, thinking a coward like you would hear it and run for your life. Maybe I do have a positive influence on you."

"Don't pride yourself T."

Bartholomew and I had an... Interesting relationship to say the least. We absolutely hated each other, but it was a special kind of hate. We loved to hate each other. In fact, it was a great stress reliever. Every Thursday night, one of us would visit the other and we'd just scream at each other. Strange, but it really helped get whatever feelings we had built up, out. In fact, in the end, we'd just be screaming nice things about each other and leave. This concerned most of the neighbors, but we kept assuring them we were fine.

Bartholomew was insufferable to me, but I guess he might be okay to others. For some reason, our personalities just didn't work together.

On top of all this, Bartholomew just might have been the one person I knew who had a long name that I didn't have a nickname for. Then again, nicknames were often signs of affection, and I certainly didn't have enough for him. For him, it was vice versa, he never used nicknames so I was the one person he did for.

Bartholomew strolled over to the potion stand and examined it. Though the potion had exploded and broke the bottle, the stand itself was fine. "Seems to be alright. Just clean it up and don't cut yourself while you do. Farewell." He said simply and strolled out of the room.

I closed the door behind him and huffed. "Like I needed your help..." I muttered but proceeded to do exactly what he said. He might have been a prick but I couldn't deny he was right.

I quickly wiped the potion stand down and threw away all glass I could find. Then, I grabbed some coins and went out the door.

Since that last experimental potion failed, I needed more ingredients and the market was just the place. Going down, there was a place where they sold all sorts of obscure things, and that's where I often found ingredients. The shop was full of fishing stuff, having nets around the top and fish on the shelves, but I knew for a fact that behind the man at the desk, was a fridge full of seemingly everything you could need, and then some.

The man at the desk looked up and smiled once he saw me coming. After all, this wasn't my first time here. He had brown hair and a goatee. His blue eyes shined as I stopped right in front of him.

"Sheldon, are you in stock with these?" I slipped him my shopping list, allowing him to look it over. Sheldon gave a nod.

"Potions I see! It's been awhile since you stocked up, I was beginning to think you gave up the hobby!"

I chuckled and hastily shook my head. "Of course not! I've just been busy and haven't got around to it. How much for it all?"

Humming to himself, Sheldon stood up and quickly started to snatch things from within the fridge behind him. "I'd say around... 25 coins today. Supply had been good and I do enjoy my regulars coming back, even though you've been slacking. Keep it up, and maybe further discounts will come!" Sheldon shot me a grin before putting all items in a bag and handing it over. I took it with one hand, and with the other, handed him the money and bid him farewell.

As I left, a strangely dressed woman caught my eye, as well as the new shop she was setting up.

The woman had tan skin, far tanner than mine. She wore tribal clothes with some golden bracelet, one on her ankle and the other, her wrist, the pair of them being adjacent of each other. She wore a mask over her head but I could still see her eyes, gleaming in the light. On her shoulders was a bit of reptilian armor, which did disturb me in a way I couldn't explain.

I paused before veering off of my original plan and speeding towards what she had set up.

In the middle of the square, where grass would normally be was a bunch of cages, filled with creatures I had both seen before, and others I only heard of. Iron Golems, Snow Golems, a cat or two, and even a weird looking puffer fish.

The woman greeted me with a nod. "Hello Atlantean! I am a seller of exotic animals, care to look? They are 20 iron coins per animal. Though they vary in difficulty of care, I promise that all make great pets, and fighters as well!" She offered, waving her hand over the many options.

Shifting toward the cages, I approached the Iron Golem's, peeking through the bars. It stared back, eyes blinking slowly and didn't stop staring at me until I moved away and to the next one. The Snow Golem was a little more lively but I once I found out it was better to keep it in a colder home, I had to say no. Cold whether was never my strong suit. 

Though I do like cats, both seemed a bit too interested in my tail and trying to claw at it that I had to pass on it as well. 

The puffer fish? It... Tolerated me but still kept its red eye on me suspiciously. I found that it did that to pretty much every Atlantean that passed by, though it glared at most people.

I started to hum to myself to think when the lady came by. "See anything you like? That one seems to like you a whole lot more than the rest!" She nodded towards the puffer fish.

I nodded. "I noticed but... It seemed a bit hard to take care of and a bit aggressive. I need something... Easier! I've never had a pet myself so starting low would be nice!"

The exotic animal seller thought to herself, when one of my nether warts dropped out of my bag and tumbled a little ways away. I slithered forward to grab it when something else did it for me.

Out from behind, what appeared to be a walking chest skidded forward, using many little orange legs to propel itself to the item and bent down, eating it and making a little clicking sound as it did. When it turned, I found that it was identical to a regular chest, minus the legs on the bottom. There seemed to be over twenty legs. Though it had no eyes, it seemed to look up at me and grin. It rushed back over and opened its mouth, showing a completely intact nether wart.

I blinked in surprise but took it anyways, smiling as I did. "Thanks little guy!" The mimic actually smiled, just a little and hard to notice, but it was there.

"Hmm!" I glanced over at the merchant besides me and she flashed a grin. "Now that I think about it, Luggage would be the perfect pet for a beginner like you!" She bent down and rubbed the top of the mimic's head, making it relax, much like in the same way a dog would. "He doesn't have a name yet, and is looking for an owner! Only twenty coins if you want him!"

I hesitated but got down to his level, staring him right where his mouth was, and probably eyes if he had them, and then finally smiled softly. "I'll take him." I got up and dug out the necessary money before handing it over.

"Excellent! Now, you just need to bond with him!"

I gave her a strange look. How did she know about my powers? "I can't control that power though..."

The merchant stared at me for a long time. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but to bond with him in the way I'm talking about, you just need to give him something personal of yours to carry! When these guys are young, they'll follow just about anyone who does that but once you have them for a while, he'll learn to listen only to you."

I nodded along before I took out my staff and held it out. The luggage gladly took it and soon, started to rub against my tail affectionately.

"There you go! You're all set! Be sure to feed him actual food every day! He doesn't need to eat much and isn't picky, but he does need food. These guys also act a lot like a dog, so they do love to be pet, and love to sit in your lap. Got it?" I nodded again before setting off, luggage scuffling behind me.

"This is your new home!" I announced, swinging the doors open and standing there proud as the mimic rushed in and started to run around, checking it out. I giggled at his excitement before deciding something. "You really need a name huh? How about... Bob? No... Parva? Nah..." Each time I suggested a name, the mimic would pause and respond negatively to it. "How about... Larry!"

Larry perked up and appeared to like his new name. I grinned at my work. "Larry it is! Okay Larry, let's get to work!"

With my new companion by my side, I started to work on the potion again. For some reason, when I tried to strengthen the healing potion with my magic last time, it decided to explode, but now with Larry having all the ingredients and bringing them to me, the potion turned a dark orange and stabilized. I let out a laugh and gave Larry a loving pat. "Nice work buddy!" Larry just smiled back.

A knock at the door startled us both. I glanced but before returning to my new buddy. "Stay here." I told him before answering it. My eyes narrowed onto the visitor.

"Bartholomew, what a nice surprise. Two visits in one day? How lucky am I..."

His eyes rolled. "Greeting T. I came to make sure that no more explosions will be going off today. Am I correct into assume you finally learned your lesson?" Bartholomew adjusted his sweater and glasses.

"You are. In fact, I have a friend here to help me!"

His eyebrows lifted before he let out a sigh. "Don't tell me... Is it who I think it is?"

"Actually, no. I still can't believe I accidentally told you about him but no. I don't want him to risk himself getting all the way over here, just to help me with potions of all things. I got a pet, thank you very much."

"A pet?" He laughed in disbelief. "You aren't responsible enough to own a pet. You can barely take care of yourself, much less another being."

"You and I both know why that sorta things happens!" I hissed, glaring at him for bringing it up. "Besides, Larry's someone I really care about and I plan on-" As I turned to look at Larry, I nearly had a heart attack.

Not only was Larry nowhere to be found, but the back door was wide open. "NO!" I cried out. "I forgot to lock that! Why did you have to distract me?" I bolted out onto the balcony and searched around. My rival chased after me, doing the same until we both spotted him.

Larry, in the span of mere minutes, had managed to somehow anger a bunch of local stingrays that surrounded him. I let out a scream and jumped to his rescue, scaring off the stingrays with wild movement and some swings of a weapon. The local stingrays weren't very brave and were all too scared of Atlanteans to get close to them, so that was all pretty easy. I huffed and examined Larry as my neighbor joined me.

"See what I mean? You have to keep an eye on them, and you aren't great at noticing everything."

"At least I notice at what matters. You might understand books, but I get human beings!"

"Your mimic isn't human." His eyes rolled.

"So? He's smart enough to be one! Besides, I just started out with this whole, "Having a pet" thing. I'll get better at it. Stop nagging me, you don't need to point out all of my mistakes! Pets are supposed to be great for your mental health!"

Bartholomew sighed in defeat after I brought up the facts. "Fine, fine. Have fun with your... Little guy." He gave a light pat on Larry's head before leaving. I smirked as he did. Finally! It had been a while since he let me do my things on my own without giving much of a fight.

I started to stroke Larry a little more, getting him to almost purr. "Who's a good Larry?" I grinned.

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I have to say, when I mention this chapter on my "Episode Guide" thingy, I didn't think anyone would get even remotely close to it, but I believe Iceshard1011 got it completely right on the first try. Props to you!

Yayyyy! Larry! I've been wanting to introduce him for a while, as well as Bartholomew! I planned on making small mentions to Bartholomew in other chapter but never seemed to remember to make it. He'll probably appear a couple more times in other chapters.

Plus, I might have made a reference to a very certain creature that should defiantly NOT be in Atlantis when talking about all the creatures... I didn't have a whole lot of reason to it, but it is there.

I hope you liked it! Be sure to comment your thoughts and goodbye!

--JustAnAtlantisWriter