Small Soup Fan

     The Soup Faerie was used to random pets showing up at her place. It was her whole thing to feed random pets hard on their luck, after all. From gorgeous royal pets to the lone Mutant who wandered up to her soup pot, she fed them all. However, baby pets on their own was a rarity, especially ones quite so small.

     And the JubJub was small. The little puffball was barely the size of a Meepit, and roughly the same color as a katodite, with big eyes full of what could only be described as pure contempt. It was clear this little one was not here for food; she had a mission: to swim in the soup.

     “Oh, I’m sorry, Hun,” the Soup Faerie said, lifting her spoon out of the way of the tiny JubJub, “But this pot is far too hot for swimming lessons!”

     “Soup!” The JubJub insisted, padding around the base of the pot in frustration. “Soup! Soup! Soooooup!”

     “Here, I can make you up a nice bowl of soup if you’re patient,” the Soup Faerie said, taking out a small bowl she kept for baby pets and dishing out as much broth as she could find. She didn’t know if the baby could handle vegetables yet and made a point to avoid anything more suspicious floating in the soup. She set the bowl down in front of the JubJub.

     In a flash, the JubJub sat right in the bowl of hot soup, a contented smile appearing on her face. “Soup!” She said triumphantly, completely oblivious to the temperature of the soup.

     This was, in fact, a first for the Soup Faerie.

     “Morning, Soup Faerie!” An Xweetok sporting a white cane waved in the general direction of the faerie. She had a backpack that seemed filled to bursting. “More donations for you today.”

     “Morning, Anna,” the Soup Faerie replied, not taking her eyes off the Baby JubJub bathing in soup.

     “You don’t sound very happy today, everything alright? Did I pick a bad time?” Anna asked, setting the backpack down and using her cane to sweep in front of her. “I’m not too close to the soup pot again am I?”

     “SOUP!” The JubJub shouted, bobbing up and down in the little bowl of soup.

     Anna tilted her head to one side, “Yes there is usually soup here.”

     “You caught me at a weird time, hun,” the Soup Faerie said, laughing a little, “There’s a Baby JubJub here who seems intent on swimming in my soup.”

     “Soup soup soup!” The Baby JubJub chanted, nodding her head.

     Anna laughed, then paused again, “Wait, you’re serious? Not just messing with me?”

     “Serious as can be,” the Soup Faerie said, giving the giant soup pot a stir, “Tiny little JubJub tried to use my spoon as a catapult!”

     “Soup!” the JubJub added, nodding at the conversation as if to say, “And I would have gotten away with it, too.”

     “Well that is a first,” Anna crossed her arms.

     “And she’s a baby pet, all on her own…” the Soup Faerie said, trailing off. “Doesn’t your owner have extra space at home right now?”

     “I see what you’re doing,” Anna said, sighing, “Listen, it sounds like they’re perfectly content with your soup.”

     “Anna she’s sitting in a bowl of soup,” the Soup Faerie added.

     “Soup!” The JubJub shouted, bobbing up and down for emphasis.

     Anna burst out laughing, “Okay, for the sake of your soup I’ll take the kid home, at least until we find out where they belong.”

     “You’re a gem, hun,” the Soup Faerie said, “I’ve got a little wagon around here somewhere, you can keep her in her soup and bring her home easier.”

     “Soup?” The JubJub asked, tilting her head to one side.

     “Listen if you jump out of the wagon I’m not chasing you down, so you’d better sit tight,” Anna said, wagging her finger in the direction of the JubJub, “Got it?”

     “Soup soup,” the JubJub said, sitting down in the bowl of soup even more forcefully as the Soup Faerie lifted it into the wagon.

     “Man this is going to be weird to explain,” Anna muttered, grabbing the handle of the wagon.

     The Soup Faerie laughed, “You’re telling me!”

     …

     The walk to Anna’s home wasn’t that far from the Soup Kitchen, though Anna had to walk slow, both to make sure she was on the right pathway and to keep the JubJub from shouting at her every time the soup sloshed. The neohome was a ramshackle combination of different home styles, all held together with questionable construction. There was a tree growing out of the second floor, and half of the house was painted rainbow. Outside, a Pirate Xweetok was adding more color to the rainbow side of the house.

     “Oh, morning Anna!” The Xweetok called, waving with a paintbrush and sprinkling paint all over his fur.

     “Morning Seans, making a mess?” Anna asked, pulling the wagon up the garden path and setting the handle down.

     “You can’t see me you have no proof there’s a mess here,” Seans protested, backing into a paint container and splashing more paint on the ground.

     “Yes but I know you,” Anna said teasingly, “And where you are there’s bound to be a mess.”

     “Soup?” The JubJub asked, standing up from the bowl of soup for the first time during the trip. Miraculously the JubJub was soup-free and dry despite her long ride in a soggy broth.

     “Oh hey you brought a friend, hi small friend!” Seans said, dropping his paint brush and running over to the wagon.

     The JubJub eyed the Xweetok cautiously, looking over at Anna. “Soup?”

     “He’s completely harmless,” Anna said.

     “And friendly, too!” A human added, stepping out of the doorway to the house. “I see we’ve got company.”

     “Gail! Gail, Anna brought a tiny JubJub with her can we keep her?” Seans asked, darting around the wagon and jumping up and down.

     “Well we can keep Anna for sure,” Gail said, laughing at her own grammar joke, “But the JubJub’s welcome to stay too.”

     “Soup?” The JubJub said again, looking around the house.

     “I mean, I can make soup,” Gail said, confused.

     “I think she only knows how to say ‘soup,’” Anna added.

     “Soup!” The JubJub nodded, stepping out of the wagon and half-jumping, half-rolling onto the ground.

     “Well, Soup is as good a name as any,” Gail knelt down in front of the JubJub, “You can stay as long as you’d like, small soup fan.”

     “Soup!” The JubJub cheered, running in circles around the yard.

     “Just so you know,” Anna said as the JubJub did laps, “She did try and catapult into the Soup Faerie’s pot today.”

     “Oh good another chaos agent,” Gail said, standing back up again, “Seans needed someone to make him look normal.”

     “Oh so now I’ve got to dive into boiling soup to keep up my reputation, is that it?” Seans said, crossing his arms, “You drive a hard bargain. I’m going to find my swim trunks.”

     “That’s not what they meant and you know it, Seans,” Anna said, shaking her head.

     “Too late, already getting the swim trunks and snorkel.” Seans called, running into the house.

     “Soup!” Soup said, laughing.

     “You said it,” Gail added, shaking her head and smiling. “You said it.”

     The End.