[FIN] There's No Harm In Looking [Kari]

[Vyn]

Millie was a precocious child.

She was smart and curious but her eagerness to learn more often than not got her in trouble. In wanting to know what everything was, she usually ended up touching everything. Whether or not it broke, however, was entirely up to luck and the stability of the item in particular.

Luckily, that was not a problem while window shopping.

Unlike the task of discovering the secrets of the world, window shopping was a safe hobby so long as it didn't make it inside of the store in which case Millie more frequently tried to break daddy's checkbook. Mysteriously, she had developed her mother's love of grandeur and expensive gifts without ever having known the woman.

"Oh Qwin! Lookit that one! It's beautiful!" A mannequin of a bipedal weasel stood in the window display, draped elegantly in a long winter coat. It reminded Millie of the pictures of mom in her beautiful feather-lined coat. "That looks like my size too, don't you think Qwin... I bet it'd be... perfect...?" Even as Millie eyed the coat, something else was drawing her attention and her last couple words trailed away in thought.

The little smoky pink ghost bander that always accompanied her had paused and was leaning away to investigate something. Instantly Millie's interest in the coat was dropped. "Qwin, Qwin... a bander! That man has a bander!" This was Millie's true love.

Everything she did revolved around the hope that one day she would be allowed to have her own. Every visit to the Capital, every token she saved up... One day she'd have her very own breeding pair of Highland Champs, just like Mama had wanted.

"Let's see where he's going, he may have more banders!" Daddy was in the coffee shop nearby having lunch with someone over some boring business and his only rules had been to stay in sight and not talk to strangers. Bander Man was still in sight and so long as they didn't talk to him they weren't breaking any rules. After all, there was no harm in just looking. Right?

[Kari Muffin]

Qwin wanted to listen to Daddy's conversation. He always said absolutely weird stuff when he was having a business conversation. She found it fascinating to some degree, or maybe it was just her voice? Either way it was more interesting than listening to her sister talk about coats.

It was pretty, she would admit, but she wasn't one for clothing. After all she didn't have a bipedal form like her darling sister so clothing was out of questions. She gave a small sigh as she looked up at the figure in the window.

And then her attention snapped to her sister again. A bander? What? "Millie, Daddy's going to get upset if you go to far!" she said puffing up slightly. Her sister always had a habit of making trouble.

But in all honesty Qwin was just as bad. Always trying to out do her sister when it came to just about everything. Banders though, she wasn't all that fond of.

Ultimately the girl hopped behind her sister. "And anyway, that's not as pretty as the one Uncle Ez has!"

[Vyn]

Millie paused at Qwin's exclamation, pouting a little. Millie did not like breaking rules but there wasn't anything wrong with bending them a little... right? "It's not too far... He won't even notice." With banders on the brain it was a lot easier to bend rules. "We'll be right back, anyway, let's just go peek at it!"

Qwin was right, it was not as pretty as Uncle Ez's bander but it was still a bander.

"Maybe he has more? I bet he does. Please, Qwin... Just a peek? We won't be gone more than a couple minutes, Daddy will never know. Even Ana wants to go, please?" She motioned to the ghostly pink bander who was leaning a little heavily on the ethereal tendril between them. Logically Ana was only pulling because Millie subconsciously wanted her to but even though Millie was well aware of that fact she preferred to feign ignorance.

Pretending Ana's opinion mattered gave her a second vote of 'reason' against Qwin. "Pleasse?"

[Kari Muffin]

Qwin knew full well that she was going to lose this battle. She always lost all the battles. She gave a small disappointed chirp as she looked from her father in the coffee shop to the bander in the distance. What was her sisters obsession with them? They weren't even that nice half the time!

"I doubt we're going to find out if he has more if we stay in Daddy's sight!" she said with a huff. All of her feathers puffed up as she glared at her sister. Why did she even put up a fight when she knew she was going to get dragged along anyway. Her sister always had to have her way!

And that pink ghostly bander was a clear indication that she was going to go in that direction. "Fine. Have it your way. But next time we get to do what I want during one of Daddy's business meetings!"

[Vyn]

Millie didn't mean to be bad, though she could see well enough that Qwin wasn't happy with her. She smiled sweetly and curled the long feathers on her tail, giving Qwin the biggest 'puppy eyes' she could muster until finally she gave in.

"We will though. It's just a peek and then we can come back and you can listen to business talk, if that's what you want." Millie enjoyed clothes and banders more than business talk, but she liked making Daddy happy and so staying nearby wasn't as hard for that sake.

Of course, unless a bander trundled by. At least she'd stopped trying to catch strays... She'd learned her lesson with that one. Ana couldn't protect her all the time, just sometimes, and risking that 'sometime' on a stray hadn't turned out well.

"Deal! Thank you Qwin!" The little bipedal Quetzal glomped her sister and, with a happy chirp, scampered after Ana and the Bander Man.

To keep true to her word, Millie kept a close eye on the coffee shop as she moved further and further away. She couldn't see Daddy through the window anymore, but she could still see the shop so he could probably see her. The streets in this area were less packed than usual. Daddy stayed fully in mind every step of the way to the window of the building where the Bander Man had disappeared and then, in an instant, she forgot all about staying in sight and being good.

"There are more Banders in there!" It wasn't Ashwinn's, Millie recognized that, but there were still a couple of banders inside in the little window displays and what not. They didn't look show quality, most were actually pretty terrible quality like Qwin had suspected, but Millie saw a few rough gems in there and that was what caught her eye.

[Kari Muffin]

Qwin really didn't want to do this. She glanced back at the shop while her sister almost smothered her. Daddy was going to be so angry if he caught them... but she followed her sister anyway. "Fine... let's just go before Daddy notices."

And she was right when they turned the corner. Qwin made a rather disappointed sound as she looked at all of the banders through the window. Wow, these were really awful. But her sister just seemed to love all the banders they ever came across.

"They aren't all that impressive.... I mean some of them look ind of sick," She pointed with one of her wing claws to a bander that was sitting in the corner. "And none of them really have nice coats like Uncle Ez's have... wouldn't it just be better to convince Daddy to go to Aswhin's later?"

[Vyn]

Millie hated admitting it, but Qwin really was right. These banders were terrible. The poor things look sick and listless and their coats were dull and lacking luster. The little Quetzal pouted terribly and shook her head.

"The poor things! What a terrible breeder!" Millie's brows knitted into righteous rage and, for a moment, she thought about bursting inside and telling a thing or two to the breeder that had put their banders through such terrible conditions. "I... guess it would be better to go visit Mr. Ashwin..." Despite this, Millie couldn't pull herself away from the window.

And then she saw the saddest little fluff ball of them all.

It was tiny and white with beady red eyes and the man she had followed was holding it by the scruff and yelling something at the shopkeeper. The bander was squalling something awful, blotting out most of the conversation between the cards in the shop, but Millie did hear one horrifying string: "will have to be destroyed".

"They're going to kill it Qwin!" Despite its terribly mangled little paw, Millie couldn't see a single problem. "I... can't let them kill it!" As desperately as she wished to burst in and stop everything, she waited and looked to Qwin first. As impulsive as she knew she was around Banders, Qwin was always the voice of reason.

If she had a lip she'd have been biting it, instead she glanced back into the shop, sizing up the shopkeeper. He was just a Club... maybe she could use her charm...?

[Kari Muffin]

Yes. They were pretty terrible. Some of them looked rather sick. No wonder no one seemed to be bothering with this place. She didn't notice the rather fantastically horrible looking bander until her sister spoke in outrage.

Qwin stared at her sister for a very long moment.

Was she being serious?

"It looks pretty sick. And we don't know what could actually be wrong with it. I mean... even if you convince them not to kill it... Daddy won't let us keep it. He says we're not allowed to have any pets until we're older and can take care of them ourselves. And what happens if it gets sicker and dies in our care?" She frowned.

But would her sister bother to listen to logic when it came to banders? Not like she ever listened to anything she said. Even when what she said was perfectly valid her sister tended to blow it off until Daddy stopped her from doing something silly. Daddy couldn't help them now.

[Vyn]

There was a desperate hesitance between the urge to act and the knowledge that Qwin was very very right. The young avian rung her hands together as her brows knitted into the very image of worry.

She would not want a bander to die in her care, that would be very tragic indeed, but she also really terribly wanted to help. Her impulse control around banders was only a hairpin trigger and the tether of Qwin's logic could only hold it for so long.

"Why..." the wheels were turning and Millie was quickly rationalizing a way to save this poor bander without angering Daddy or Qwin. "Why don't we just go talk to the shopkeeper. We'll find out what's wrong and if it is too much to handle, you can drag me out." But no, no... Then there was Daddy to worry about. He would say no. Banders were bitey and mean, he said, even if Millie had Ana to control them and (honestly) she didn't mind being bitten all that much.

Maybe, if Qwin was willing, they could hide it?

Millie didn't usually break rules like this but Bander Death was an urgent matter.

[Kari Muffin]

Yep. She was going to lose this battle.

They were going to do this her way though. She wasn't going to sit by and play second fiddle to her sister. Considering she was the one that could manage being logical when it came to Banders, she was going to be the one who handled this situation. Her sister would probably trip up and just be adorable at the man, hoping for the best.

It worked a lot of times, but considering they were intending to kill the thing, why take the risk?

"Open the door, I'll take care of talking to them so you don't gush your love of banders at them. I'm fairly sure they won't be interested in that sort of thing. Though, one thing before we go in, do you have the little bit of money that Dad gave you? It might come in handy."