I Should Give Myself Hazard Pay [Open]

[Gunnar Frey]

One thing that Gunnar hated more than many other things was having to split up fights in the store. Thankfully they didn't happen all that often and even when they did erupt they were usually over in moments, but they were always such a colossal pain to deal with if they didn't abate quickly. The staff in the store had all been given strict instruction to never interfere with any fights and always let Gunnar split them up, purely for their own safety. The last thing he wanted was one of his team getting injured when it could have been prevented.

This time the fight was a big one and one he should have seen coming. The tension had been building up for days, but he had hoped that careful management of the set-up would prevent any drama until the pair had been properly split up and gone to separate new homes. The fat-tailed duprasi were normally tolerant of the company of one another, but one of the males had been a bit of a bully as it was maturing and Gunnar had been forced to split up fights between him and his siblings on more than one occasion. The wave of baby rodents from spring and early summer had meant that Gunnar had been faced with little choice other than to put him in with a female while they were on display on the shop floor. They were still far too young for breeding to be a risk, but usually mixed sex pairs resulted in less fights.

Apparently, that had not worked this time.

One of the sales assistants had run over to grab Gunnar's attention, and the Brit had heard the squealing before he had arrived at the cages. Inside the duprasi tank was chaos, with the poor male screaming in distress as the female pelted around after him and did her damnedest to take chunks out of his tail. The squealing sent awful sharp orange and yellow spikes jutting across his vision, Gunnar frowning as he tried in vain to block them out. With the amount of blood already clearly visible in the cage Gunnar knew he didn't have time to get a glove, and so he bit his lip as he ducked his bare hand into the tank to scoop out the aggressive female before she killed her tankmate.

Twenty minutes later, and Gunnar was fidgeting with the bandage wrapped around two of his fingers. The female had never bitten before but in her wired state she had latched on to the invading hand like it was going to kill her if she didn't maul it to death first. The result had been... unpleasant, to say the least, but Gunnar had patched himself up quickly so that he could make sure the male would be okay. His tail was a horrific mess and he was visibly stressed but he would live, no doubt with a new respect for others of his own kind. He probably wouldn't be able to be sold to a new home due to his mutilated appendage, but Gunnar didn't really mind that too much. They were not exactly common critters and another breeding male was never really a bad thing. He'd keep the female for a couple of days to make sure savaging his hand was just a one-off due to her stressed state, and if she reverted back to her usual friendly self she would go to a home where she could be loved and cherished by someone who didn't mind keeping a single duprasi.

Tightening the bandage and grumping under his breath at it, Gunnar made his way back out onto the shop floor while one of the assistants refreshed the tank that had been the scene of rodent warfare. After a few minutes he spotted someone looking a little lost, like they were trying to find something. He put on a polite smile, even though the ache in his fingers was massively distracting. “Hi there, can I help you with something?”

[Elliot Morrow]

Elliot hadn't left his boyfriend's apartment in a good mood. Really, it was warranted. He was just getting over being sick, only to have his tree frog, Gamatatsu, pass away. He knew that Tatsu had been getting on in years, but when he'd checked in on him last, he'd been his usual active, bright self. To say the least, the news had been unexpected.

It hadn't helped that Caleb had made a Big Freaking Deal about it. That including holding a small impromptu funeral and burial in the courtyard of the apartment complex. Elliot had suffered through it for Cale's sake, knowing his boyfriend was only trying to help. All he had wanted was to deal with it quietly on his own. Tatsu had been a friend, yes, but despite having him since his sophomore year in high school, he hadn't been entirely broken up about it. Sad, yes, but not devastated.

That had been almost two weeks ago, and Tatsu's empty tank was only serving as a reminder that he'd lost the little frog. Cale, in his caring way, had kept asking how he was, but it was only serving to frustrate the Irish-born young man.

He had originally gone downtown to hit the bookstore, but he'd paused outside The Ark briefly. Most of Tatsu's things he'd gotten in Burlington, so he wasn't familiar with the store.

On the bright side, that meant that the employees wouldn't recognize him either. No one would be asking if he needed the normal cricket order or anything. .... Maybe this would be good for him. Who knew? Maybe he'd find a new friend.

As he browsed around the aquarium area, he glanced up when he heard a question. Managing a smile, he shrugged slightly. "I'm not sure yet. Just looking at the moment." After a moment, he let a somewhat weary expression cross his face. "I had a tree frog for about eight years, and recently lost him. I was thinking about a new pet, I'm just not sure where to start anymore." Maybe the other man had an idea of where to help.

[Gunnar Frey]

Getting bitten was an occupational hazard that Gunnar had long since come to accept and not make a fuss about. It was just one of those things; if you worked with animals on a daily basis like he did you would eventually get bitten. It didn’t really matter how many precautions were put in place or how careful you were about handling them, sometimes all it took was for one of the critters to get spooked a bit and you ended up with a new hole in your hand. It sucked sure, but the benefits of working with the critters outweighed the occasional nip. Thankfully the duprassi were pretty small and tended to just bite and then let go. Gunnar still bore the marks on his wrist from getting badly tagged by a grown adult Burmese python a few years ago. Four hours in the hospital and twelve stitches later, he had decided that the female was a great breeding snake but wouldn’t be handled any more. He had no want to ever repeat that experience.

The brand new bites on his hand would heal quickly enough, they were just bleeding like hell now because rodents have chisels for teeth. He’d keep it clean and well wrapped until it had healed over a bit; he knew the drill well by now. In two weeks he’d have forgotten all about it. He just hoped that the female would settle back to her usual sweet self so she would be able to go to a new forever home.

The throbbing in his hand was annoying but Gunnar did his best to ignore it. He had never been the sort to piss and moan over a few cuts, although he was a bit more wary of stomach-aches now than he had been in his younger years. It was amazing what a near-death experience could do for one’s sensibilities. The younger man that he saw looking a bit out of sorts near the fish was not a face that Gunnar recognised, and he offered him a polite smile when he said he was just looking for now. “That’s fine, just let me know if you need a hand with anything.” It wasn’t long at all though before the boy spoke again, and Gunnar couldn’t help but notice the soft, melancholic blue waves that accompanied the slightly sad tone.

Even after all these years, Gunnar still found it tough when he lost an animal. In this line of work it happened pretty often, but he had never really hardened to it. Sure it got a little easier, but it was never something he could just brush off. He had long ago told himself that the day he was apathetic to the death of one of his animals would be the day he gave them all up. He would never want to be one of those pet storeowners who saw numbers instead of little lives. His polite smile turned sympathetic. “Sorry to hear that. Eight is a really good age for a tree frog though; he must have had a great life.” Brown eyes roamed across the store, in the vague direction of where the reptiles and amphibians were kept. “Were you considering another frog, or did you want to try with something a bit different? If you wanted to use the same setup, there’s quite a few species that would live happily in a vivarium like that.”

[Elliot Morrow]

Elliot was lucky in that the biggest occupational hazard in his eventual job would be something like carpal tunnel from the manic amounts of typing it would require. That, and ergonomic hazards, being that he sat like a hunchback 90% of the time with the occasional foot tucked underneath him. It was a wonder he hadn’t given himself permanent damage already.

As far as animals went, there was only so much damage a frog could do, and he’d been lucky in that Tatsu had always been a very good natured frog, taking to things like handling like a pro. Sometimes it had been nice just to have him out and let him hop around his desk for a few minutes. To that end, he knew that his dorm wasn’t going to be the same without Tatsu when school started up again. Even a new pet wouldn’t make things the same, even if it made things less lonely.

As much as he’d tried to put up a tough front with his boyfriend, he really did miss the little frog. Sure, he wasn’t like a cat or dog that could curl in a lap, or a hamster you could take out and handle and pet. But he had still been a friend for 8 years, and yes, it hurt. Not quite to the levels that Caleb had insisted on taking it, but hurt nonetheless.

“Thank you,” Elliot murmured quietly. “I tried. He was a good little frog.” Even if Cale had teased him that the originally shortened ‘Gamma’ nickname sounded like Grandma, prompting him to start referring to the frog properly as Gamatatsu, or as Tatsu if he really had to shorten it. Not that Tatsu had really seemed to mind. As long as he was fed, cared for, and paid attention to, he’d been happy, regardless of what he was called.

The older man’s question gave him pause. What did he really want? Another frog to take Tatsu’s place? “Uh. I hadn’t quite decided,” he offered up. “What other species would be okay in a small tank like that?” After a moment, he pulled his phone out to show him one of the pictures he’d taken of Tatsu sitting on a small branch above his little water pool to show him the small tank. “That’s what I have now. It seemed to work okay in a dorm setting.” Anything he got, he wouldn’t want to have to leave with his mother, or Caleb, to look after for him. It had to stay in the dorm, and be okay to move over the summer back home. He just didn’t know what that came under.

[Gunnar Frey]

For as much as Gunnar got bitten and scratched in his job now, it was nothing compared to the hazards that he'd gone through in his past life. Being savaged by an unruly rodent was something he would probably forget about completely in a few days, once the small cuts had healed over and the offending rodent was (hopefully) settled back down and ready to go off to a new home. However he still bore the scars of his past life, when he was quite literally a different person, and he would take getting bitten by a boa over that any day.

"People always tend to underestimate frogs. They've got a lot going for them, and they can make really great pets if you put the time in with them, which it sounds like you did." Whilst they were far from being his favourite animals, Gunnar did rather like frogs and toads. They were fascinating in an odd, slightly alien way that he appreciated. They were never big sellers but he was able to sell enough of them to be able to keep a few different species in stock at a time. Besides, a lot of people seemed to rather enjoy looking at them even if they had no interest in buying one.

As the boy pulled out his phone to show Gunnar the set-up he had owned for the frog, the Brit looked over it with calm interest. It always fascinated him to see how other people arranged their tanks and how well (or poorly) the were decorated. One of the great joys of getting a new animal was getting to decorate and set up their new environment. It was especially true for the climbing species, because then he got to get creative with the layout of branches and perches. "Looks good; quite a few of the smaller species would be happy enough in there. Here, I'll show ya."

Gunnar led the way over to where the mass of terrarium tanks were, each one elaborately decorated to show off the animals inside to their absolute best as well as provide potential new owners with an idea of the kind of set-up the animals require. "We've got a few different frog and toad species, but fire bellied newts would be really happy in their too. If you wanna go for something really different, a green anole, leopard gecko or gargoyle gecko would be my recommendations."

[Elliot Morrow]

Elliot didn’t really have a penchant for the species that liked to bite and scratch. Mostly because he was allergic to 99% of them. Ever since he was little, dogs, cats, rodents, they all seemed to serve to make him itch and sneeze and generally make him miserable. Most of the time he tried to avoid them, even the ones his friends insisted were hypoallergenic. Allergy attacks weren’t fun by any stretch of the imagination, and scratches and bites that went along with furred animals seemed even less fun than that. He’d take a reptile or amphibian any day. Sure, they weren’t as ‘fun’ as something furry, but they had a quietness to them that Elliot liked.

He managed a little half smile at Gunnar. Clearly he knew what he was talking about. “He was pretty great. My mother couldn’t pull me away from watching him when I first got him. Even when he was older he was still nice to have around and watch move around.” Especially when he chose to nap at the very far end of his branch, never actually falling into his little pond.

He’d tried to keep Tatsu’s environment interesting, adding new elements when he could. Often he’d thought about a bigger tank for him, but that would just take up more room in his dorm and he was fairly certain that his RA would get after him for anything bigger than Tatsu had. Since the frog had passed, he’d purged the tank and cleaned it thoroughly, but the empty glass shell somehow looked sadder like that than it had full. Well, if he found something new, it would just be a chance to pick up some new things as well.

Elliot followed Gunnar to the tanks, hoping he’d be able to hide any fresh sadness flare ups if he saw any new, young tree frogs. At least he was able to focus on what the older man was saying. “I’ve never kept anything but a frog. How different would care be for, say, a newt?” He wasn’t opposed to a new species, but he wanted fully understand what he was getting himself into. Out of curiosity, he peered into the tank holding the newts. They were different, yes, but not offensively so. Almost cute, in the same way Tatsu had been cute. They seemed curious, too. Offering a little smile, he gently touched his finger to the glass, watching one scuttle up to look closer. Definitely not offensive, and perhaps not a terrible idea.

[Gunnar Frey]

Gunnar gave a soft smile and nod of his head in understanding. “I get that. My first pet was a corn snake, and I’d spend hours just sat watching him, even when he was just sleeping. There’s a certain… serenity about it.” He gave a quiet breath of a laugh. “My parents used to say that if it wasn’t for my snakes, I’d never have gone home at night.” To this day he sometimes found himself wondering if they ever realised just how true that was.

Over the past couple of years the store had gone from strength to strength and it was Gunnar’s pride and joy. He spared no expense with the décor and luxuries of the place; it wasn’t exactly like money was much of an obstacle for him. Even without the resource pool of his rather substantial bank account to tap into, the place kept enough cash rolling over that it would likely never face financial difficulty unless Gunnar did something really stupid to cock it all up.

As such, whilst many pet store animal exhibits were kept with the minimum of furnishings and décor to keep the costs to a minimum, the ones in the Ark were elaborate. The tanks housing the small reptiles and amphibians were filled with both live and artificial plants, with naturalistic backdrops and plenty of climbing branches, hides and water pools. Gunnar expected the animals bought from him to be kept to a high standard, so it made nothing but sense to him to keep them here to those same ideals. “A newt? They can be a little awkward at first, but you kept a tree frog for a while so you shouldn’t have an issue.”

The Ark always kept fire-bellied and Mandarin newts in stock, and Alpine newts when Gunnar could get the awkward little bastards to breed. “You’d need a bigger water dish, ‘cos they’ll spend a lot of their time in it, but they’re interesting and have pretty long lifespans. You won’t need a heater or anything unless it gets really cold indoors, and they’re not fussy eaters. Mine get a variety; reptile sticks, brine shrimp, blood worms, little bits of fish food. The main problem is, you can’t handle them for too long at a time or they’ll dry out, which can kill them. You also need to make sure the tank lid is secure, or they will climb out.” Gunnar’s gaze idly drifted between the boy greeting the newt through the tank, and the African bullfrog in the tank next to where the Brit was stood. It was good seeing a youngster so interested in the amphibians. It made a nice change from them all wanting to try to buy a cobra or wolf.

[Elliot Morrow]

Ah, finally someone who understood. Even Elliot’s roommates at University were constantly baffled by his interest in his frog, because things that lived in tanks were ‘boring.’ Unless they were some sort of snake. But a frog? Boring, apparently. But to Elliot, Tatsu had been far from boring. He’d also been relatively easy to care for, and didn’t need things like walks to keep him happy. All good things for a student taking as many classes as he was. “My mother never had to worry about me not coming home. It was more extracting me from my room for anything outside Tatsu or my computer.” No, he hadn’t ever had much of a life, not even in high school.

Much like he had with Tatsu, he wanted to know what he was getting into with a new pet. It seemed like Gunnar knew a lot about his stock, and Elliot was going to use that to his advantage. Sure, he could go home and read for hours on reptile forums and sites, but this seemed a better solution. And God didn’t he know about awkward pets at first. Tatsu had been somewhat reclusive for his first few weeks home, and it had taken a lot of time and patience to get him as hand-tame as he’d become. “I have the time to spare with socializing them. I’m usually up pretty late after classes.” He could slip in time between homework assignments to work with a new pet.

He wouldn’t mind changing up his tank set up to fit with something different. The newts were definitely different, but sort of interesting. They seemed to want to interact a little more than some of the other amphibians and reptiles. Feeding also wasn’t an issue. The things holding him back from something like a snake was mostly that their diet tended to consist of furry animals. Not that that bothered him. Everything had to eat. It was more fearing allergic reactions from handling a snake’s dinner. A newt’s diet seemed fairly easy to work with, especially after having a tree frog. Sometimes it was nice having allergies. They limited what he could feasibly handle owning.

The newts were definitely appealing. Especially the little guy right up front staring at his finger, though the others seemed to be gaining interest. “Are they solitary, or do they like having companionship?” Two wouldn’t be that much more work if they did better with company. Funny, he’d only come to look, but there was something drawing him to the little guys. Better yet, it was making him feel just a little better.

[Gunnar Frey]

Gunnar gave a soft breath of a laugh, nodding slightly. “I get that too. I didn't get a computer til my mid-teens, but I got attached to it pretty quickly. If I wasn't out or sorting out the snakes, I was on there.” To this day Gunnar still had an attachment to his computer. Sure it was nowhere near as powerful as some of the gaming rigs that the pro-gamers had, but it ran well enough for him. He was hardly a computer whizz, but he did very much enjoy gaming and it helped him wind down in the evenings after a long, difficult shift. He might even try a speed-run of something tonight, if his mangled hand would let him.

It was good to hear that the kid was willing to put in the time necessary to socialise them, since a lot of people seemed to believe that you could just pick up any animal and just go with it. “These are usually pretty good, but if you do go for them you'll want to let them settle in for at least a week before you try to do much handling with them. They can be quite sensitive, and sudden change is unsettling for them.”

All the questions about their care and upkeep were also promising, and they were helping Gunnar to feel more confident about the kid as an owner. Whilst most stores were desperate sales-hunters and would be prepared to part with any of their stock if the money presented itself, Gunnar was picky. He only sold to people he was confident would take good care of the animals in their charge, and he had numerous times before refused sales on the grounds of not liking or trusting the potential owner. Sure he lost a sale, but it was better than feeling the guilt of sending an animal off to an uncertain fate and the sadness of discovering that it had fallen victim to yet another careless owner.

“They can be kept on their own but they do tend to prefer being in either pairs or small groups, as long as they are about the same size. If there's a big size difference the larger ones often bully the small ones and stop them feeding. I'd say, in a tank that size, no more than three at the most or they might start getting a bit territorial.”

[Elliot Morrow]

Elliot actually managed a little grin at that. Most of his classmates got it, because they were almost all in the same boat. “I think my mother probably preferred it to me being out causing trouble like half my classmates did. Really, I think they only reason I had my own was because she was tired of me trying to take hers apart.” He’d had a strong curiosity of how the magic computer box worked as a child, and had more than once been caught prying the covers off the tower. He’d never particularly caught on with the online gaming world, but he did like going through the internet and reading everything he could about his interests.

“Sudden change is hard on anything, really. Or anyone.” It was hard feeling like a fish out of water. He’d felt it acutely when he’d moved to the dorms and started university. Even worse was when he’d moved from Ireland to America. Things were so different, and even though he’d been young, he’d felt it. Perhaps that was why he was able to let things settle before trying anything with them. That, and he was a patient person.

As an owner, Elliot always wanted to know what he was getting himself into. In his campaign to win his mother over to a pet – especially one that wasn’t exactly fluffy and conventionally ‘cute’ – he had thrown himself into research in high school, looking up everything from habitat to care to costs involved, as well as the best amphibians for first time owners. She’d seemed suitably impressed, enough so to agree, anyway. And so Tatsu had come into his life. He wanted to do the same for the newts. He understood that unless circumstances were dire and it was better to part with a pet, they were your responsibility for life. He took that seriously.

So pairs were okay. Elliot tipped his head slightly in thought. “Do females or males generally do best together?” He didn’t really want a breeding pair, so it was probably best to ask in advance. He had no idea if the one close to the front was male or female, but he really did like the little guy. ... Girl. Whichever. “Do you know if you have two that seem fairly bonded, or are they all just one big, happy group?” The more he talked about it, the more he was finding himself convinced that he would be going home with them. The tank was already cleaned from Tatsu’s stay, and ready to be set up for new creatures. Which made this all the easier... Cale might be coming home to two new friends.

[Gunnar Frey]

The chatter might have seemed idle, but for Gunnar it was serving many purposes. As much as he was often picky about the people buying animals from him, he knew that people tended to be willing to buy if they were happy and comfortable with the seller. The Ark staff was trained not to harass for a sale, but to be polite and friendly and converse like a normal person. He applied that rule to himself as much as he did to everyone else. It also gave him a chance to scope the kid out a bit and see if he was likely to be responsible enough to care for the newts or if they’d be just left in a tank and forgotten. He gave a quiet breath of a laugh. “Ah, see. That’s where it’s different. I was always the one out getting in trouble.”

The idle chatter also did go some way towards alleviating some of the very bitter loneliness that he felt.

When the kid commented on the effects of sudden change, Gunnar was able to hold back all comments on the matter and respond simply with a quiet “You’re not wrong there.” Sudden change had been pretty much the definition for Gunnar’s life for the past decade or so. One thing had led to another as his life had flown from one catastrophe to another, and even now it was rarely settled. Things were, however, far more stable now than they had been for a very, very long time.

Some people would probably have gotten fed up with the constant stream of questions, but to Gunnar it was reassuring. It showed the kid was actually prepared to learn about the newts before getting them, and the questions were all intelligent and not just inane crap like ‘can I not just feed it toast; it?’ Needless to say, that particular teenager had not gone home with a rabbit that day. “Some people think females get along better than males, but I’ve been owning them for years and never noticed much difference, as long as there’s enough space. I’d say it’s up to your preference, really.”

Gunnar looked into the tank as Elliot asked if any of them seemed particularly well bonded. “They’re mostly just one big group, but I’ve seen that one submerged quite often with the one with the red marking over its eye, over there by the red plant.”

[Elliot Morrow]

Elliot had to laugh too, albeit quietly. “I think my mother might have preferred that. Then I wouldn’t have been home trying to take things apart.” Granted, he was sure his mother had appreciated his company, even if he’d been slinking around with electronics. At least he hadn’t been out doing drugs or drinking or defacing property. Even without a male role model around, he thought he’d done an okay job of growing up. Okay, so Cale liked to call him a creepy shut in from time to time, but Elliot just blamed his schoolwork. And his general dislike of being outside, but that was beside the point.

He was trying to ask intelligent questions. Normally he’d have just hopped on a wifi signal and looked up the information himself before committing to anything, but Gunnar seemed remarkably well informed, and a good supply of accurate information. That was the trouble with the internet. Anyone with a computer and a few brain cells could put together something that looked legitimate, but was entirely wrong. Too often he’d stumbled across such things in doing research for assignments at school. The last thing he wanted was for an animal to suffer at his hand because of something as simple and stupid as misinformation.

From behind his glasses, Elliot studied the little creatures a little longer before movement in the next tank caught his eye. Shifting slightly, he gazed at the reptile currently staring back at him. It was spotted, and a quick glance at the marker on the tank made him raise an eyebrow. So this was a leopard gecko. “... How different are geckos and newts in terms of care?” He was still feeling out his options, after all. His mind liked to go a mile a minute, being that it was used to processing lines and lines of computer code for his programming classes. Switching from one topic to another was easy for him. Hopefully, it didn’t throw Gunnar off too badly.

[Gunnar Frey]

Well, taking things apart is still preferable to tearing yourself apart. Of course, Gunnar did not voice his thoughts but they were very much there. He wondered sometimes what could've made things happen differently. Maybe if he'd have gotten more into computers than music, or not had synaesthesia, or met different people or never been signed... But in truth, he knew it was none of those things. The world was full of musicians and synaesthites and a whole variety of people, but not all of them made the dumb mistakes he had. He had no-one and nothing to blame but himself and his own stupidity, and that was a truth he was slowly coming to terms with.

The change in animal that the boy was focussing on did not at all catch Gunnar unawares. He'd been doing this long enough to realise that most people who didn't come in already committed to one thing usually ended up changing their minds at least once or twice while they were checking out the livestock. He gave a small smile. “You wouldn't need a bigger water dish, for one. Geckos need to be able to drink but they don't tend to bathe all that much. You'd need a small heat mat though, and a shelter, but they're just as easy to feed and care for. They're better for handling too; they're usually pretty docile.”

Gunnar moved around to the other side of Elliot, indicating into one of the tanks. “We don't breed them here, but they come from a really good breeder not too far away who's got some really exciting lines going. We've got a couple of different colour morphs here, depending on what takes your fancy. And your price range, obviously.”

[Elliot Morrow]

Elliot was glad that the sudden switch in interest didn't seem to throw Gunnar off too badly. He still wasn't fully convinced that he would be leaving with a new animal, but at least he was narrowing it down. Generally he liked to do his own research, taking his time and evaluating the data he collected. Doing it on the fly like this made him the slightest bit uncomfortable, only because he was afraid of missing something. All he had to go on was the questions he was able to come up with at the time, and he was honestly worried about making a decision, only to find out a critical piece of care information too late. Not that he thought Gunnar would let him leave without some sort of guideline on how to care for something new. ... Maybe it was best for him to stick to what he knew.

But the little spotted geckos looked so inviting. He understood a little about morphs, and he could certainly see some differences. Oddly, the ones most appealing to him weren't the fancy ones milling around, but rather the seemingly standard sandy colored, spotted ones. "And do they do best as solitary animals, or in pairs?" They seemed fairly similar to looking after a tree frog, apart from needing a shelter and heat mat. All things he was sure were manageable. "How much do the sandy colored ones generally run?" So much of the cost tended to be the equipment for them, which thankfully he already had a lot of. All he'd need really was something for a shelter, some substrate for it, and a heat mat... plus food.

God, he really was thinking about this, wasn't he? He probably should be calling Caleb to confirm he'd be okay with another creature in the apartment... not that he thought his boyfriend would mind, but still. ... In reality, Caleb would probably be thrilled for him. That did not make this any easier. There really wasn't any reason for him not to do this, beyond feeling disloyal to Tatsu, however silly that was. But financially if he could swing it... yeah. He was getting sucked in. There was something about the little geckos that was remarkably appealing.

[Gunnar Frey]

Gunnar could understand the switching around and mind-changing because he was often the same way, especially with the reptiles. So many times he’d gone out with his mind set on getting X morph of Y species, and ended up coming back with D morph of E species. It was so difficult to not get sucked into the hobby, especially since he more than had the finances to back it up. Even with people who were just starting out, they would often come in and get one lizard or snake, convinced they would only have the one, then end up coming back a few months later because they just have to have another. Reptiles were like tattoos in that respect, though he did not at all regret his reptiles in the way he regretted all but one of his tattoos.

“Unless you’ve got a really big tank these do best on their own. They can get very territorial and food-aggressive, the males especially. They’re fine on their own though, especially if you’re going to be handling them a fair bit.” Gunnar did pride himself on the amount of knowledge he had about the reptiles and mammals that he sold. The birds and aquatics he wasn’t as great with, but he was learning, and that’s what the specialist staff were for anyway.

Gunnar looked into the tank at the one the boy was indicating since a couple of the morphs had some ‘sandy’ elements. “Those are the normal colour, and they start at thirty for a sub-adult, up to forty-five for an adult female.” Gunnar knew his prices were not the cheapest around, but he also knew that his reptiles were among the highest quality available. In his mind, if people weren’t prepared to pay a little more for a quality animal then they should get a plushie and spare the animal the misery of having owners not prepared to spend the money to care for it. However, this kid seemed smart and genuinely concerned about the welfare of whatever critter he may end up with, so he was prepared to offer a little leeway. “If you get the heat mat and stuff here, I can give ya a discount on the overall price.”