Post by gemma on Oct 30, 2011 15:55:10 GMT -8
It was hard for Gemma not to literally squeal over how cute the rat was acting. She'd never really appreciated rodents that much before, she realized; they'd always somehow slipped through her ideas on what animals were considered attractive and which weren't. Cats had always been her favorites, but rats were swiftly rising in the ranks, if this one was anything to go by.
It climbed into her hand, and Gemma let out her breath sharply, delighted that it had responded the way she'd wanted it to. Moving as slowly as she could, she pulled her hand back out, taking the rat with it; the poor thing barely fit through the door, but she endured the feeling of the bars scraping roughly against the back of her hand in order to flatten it enough that the rat could exit in comfort.
"There we are... don't run off, now," she murmured, then lifted the cage off her bed and set it on the floor, keeping her hand steady as she did so. The rat was sniffing at her wrist, but she didn't mind: only if it tried to gnaw on her engagement ring or something would she mind, she knew.... or if it tried to bite her. But since it hadn't tried to far, she suspected that if she was gentle she might escape such a fate.
She gently cupped her other hand over the rat to keep it from falling and climbed onto her bed, kneeling on the very edge before scooting forward and lightly collapsing onto her side, her arms held out stiffly to prevent squishing the rat. She twisted over onto her back, not caring that her uniform was being mussed; since Andrew was gone and they didn't have a replacement Herbology teacher yet, she had no nine o'clock class, so she would have plenty of time to straighten up again before she would see more people.
She held the rat up above her face, smiling up at it, then set it down on her chest, the way she was used to doing with Eclipse. The thing was so large that it nearly took up the same amount of room as Eclipse did when he curled up, but she didn't mind: it still wasn't all that heavy, and with her head propped up on her pillow she could keep an eye on it quite easily in this position. She idly stroked its back again, a little grin curling her lips. Why had she never dealt with rats before this? They were enchanting!
"All settled?" she whispered, "I wonder if you have a name... did your owner ever give you a name? I'll have to think of something to call you, rat, until I can find this Frederick..." Her grin grew and she couldn't help another little giggle. "Perhaps I'll call you simply that... Rat. Yes... it's not an insult, since that's what you are, but it keeps things on a professional level, so to speak, since you're not actually mine... what do you think?" She wasn't sure why she was asking the rat its opinion -- this wasn't Eclipse, after all, who was quite capable of expressing his opinion -- but it seemed the right thing to do, somehow.
It climbed into her hand, and Gemma let out her breath sharply, delighted that it had responded the way she'd wanted it to. Moving as slowly as she could, she pulled her hand back out, taking the rat with it; the poor thing barely fit through the door, but she endured the feeling of the bars scraping roughly against the back of her hand in order to flatten it enough that the rat could exit in comfort.
"There we are... don't run off, now," she murmured, then lifted the cage off her bed and set it on the floor, keeping her hand steady as she did so. The rat was sniffing at her wrist, but she didn't mind: only if it tried to gnaw on her engagement ring or something would she mind, she knew.... or if it tried to bite her. But since it hadn't tried to far, she suspected that if she was gentle she might escape such a fate.
She gently cupped her other hand over the rat to keep it from falling and climbed onto her bed, kneeling on the very edge before scooting forward and lightly collapsing onto her side, her arms held out stiffly to prevent squishing the rat. She twisted over onto her back, not caring that her uniform was being mussed; since Andrew was gone and they didn't have a replacement Herbology teacher yet, she had no nine o'clock class, so she would have plenty of time to straighten up again before she would see more people.
She held the rat up above her face, smiling up at it, then set it down on her chest, the way she was used to doing with Eclipse. The thing was so large that it nearly took up the same amount of room as Eclipse did when he curled up, but she didn't mind: it still wasn't all that heavy, and with her head propped up on her pillow she could keep an eye on it quite easily in this position. She idly stroked its back again, a little grin curling her lips. Why had she never dealt with rats before this? They were enchanting!
"All settled?" she whispered, "I wonder if you have a name... did your owner ever give you a name? I'll have to think of something to call you, rat, until I can find this Frederick..." Her grin grew and she couldn't help another little giggle. "Perhaps I'll call you simply that... Rat. Yes... it's not an insult, since that's what you are, but it keeps things on a professional level, so to speak, since you're not actually mine... what do you think?" She wasn't sure why she was asking the rat its opinion -- this wasn't Eclipse, after all, who was quite capable of expressing his opinion -- but it seemed the right thing to do, somehow.