There, in Aife’s hands was the rabbit that she had been chasing. Wait, what? Didn’t the rabbits banish? Why is it still here? “Hey Trina, seems like I got a cool pet” said Aife

Trina frowned “Did you already accept the notice? Sui told us that it’s permanent, and you won’t get a chance to change!” said Trina with some force

Aife winced “No… I mean, I knew you’d say that so I didn’t”

Trina glared at Aife with her hands on her hips. Seems Trina isn’t pleased with the answer… but why not? Aife is clearly correct and Trina did say that.

Trina growled “Sure, so the only reason you didn’t accept binding something to your soul in a permanent and potentially life changing way is because I’d get upset?”

“Yes” said Aife with a nod.

“Ugh” groaned Trina “That’s really not what I want to hear Aife. Can’t you think things through a bit?”

Aife shrugged “Eh, it’s cute, and we know from Sui that picking a pet sooner rather than later is probably a good idea because it gains skills when we do”

When Aife said the word ‘it’ the rabbit in question bit hard into Aife’s hand. She flinched slightly in response but didn’t outwardly react in any other way until she spoke, “I suppose I deserved that one… but how am I supposed to know which you are, you are just known as ‘Unnamed Greater Columbia Basin Pygmy Rabbit’”

“Hmm, see that is important information. Like, why is it a greater variation? Sui, what species is Ito?” asked Trina

“Well, Ito was a Lesser Webweaver Spider, but now she’s a Miniscule Soulweaver instead” said Sui

Trina’s frown deepened “So… is miniscule better or worse than lesser? And what’s more important the suffix or the species?”

Sui shrugged “I dunno” except Ito then proceeded to tap her on the shoulder. Ito lifted up one leg then the other, before doing the spider equivalent of a shrug ‘It’s a mix sort of’

Sui repeated Ito’s insight “How does she know this? Shouldn’t she… oh I dunno, just… not know that?”

Ito shrugged and then tapped herself on the chest a few times ‘It’s just something I know’

“Can you give us any further details?” asked Trina

Ito sighed and then started to move an increasingly complex series of gestures. Trina started looking more and more confused as the gestures got increasingly fast and complex but Sui got the gist. ‘The suffix is in relation to members of the same species, and species is what it says on the tin. You can’t really compare across species. It’s like me trying to compare the difference between a baby elephant and an adult panda without knowing what they were. You just can’t’.

When Sui translated the gestures for Trina, she looked at Sui like she’d just told her that she was a ghost or something else absurd “What?” asked Sui

“How… how did you get anything at all out of that mess” asked Trina “I was willing to believe you could interpret Ito’s other gestures but this is a bit of a stretch”

Sui tilted her head “I don’t see why; it seems an odd place to draw the line”

Trina opened her mouth to protest but closed it and started to consider the things that had happened up to this point “Ok, you know what fair. Now Aife, what the hell are you doing?”

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Sui looked over to find Aife with a carrot she had snuck out of the coolers and was now feeding the rabbit on her palm. Aife turned her gaze to meet Trina’s and asked “What? I don’t see the problem?”

Trina turned back to Sui and gestured a ‘you see this’ “Yes, but what’s the issue?” asked Sui

“Why does the rabbit need to eat? Ito clearly doesn’t so what makes this different?” asked Trina

Sui looked at Ito who just shrugged at her, so Sui turned back to Trina and shrugged. Trina just sighed, realising she wasn’t getting anything better out of the crazy pair. “Ok, so Aife, are you really going through with this?” she asked

Aife put away the carrot in her hand and started to stroke the rabbit it contained “I think so, I mean… he…?” the rabbit prepared to bite Aife again “She?” the rabbit retracted its mouth “She, seems cool and very adorable, and I feel like it’s a neat positive to have a soulbound pet?” said Aife with trepidation.

“Are you asking me my opinion? Or are you telling me Aife!” said Trina with more force

“Telling?” said Aife

Trina just shook her head and sighed “Ok, look, don’t you think maybe you can do better?”

As soon as the words left Trina’s mouth the rabbit became a blur. It ran up to Trina’s feet before climbing up her leg. It continued its journey upwards through her outfit until it reached her shoulder where it went to take a big bite out of Trina’s ears, before Aife said “Wait”

The rabbit paused in mid-air, and let its momentum carry it upwards a moment before dropping back to Trina’s shoulder “If you want to be my companion you can’t be biting my girlfriend on the ear. We have to get in her good books” said Aife with a wink.

The rabbit nodded, somehow with a serious expression and instead of biting tried to nuzzle against Trina’s neck. Trina just groaned “So this is how it is then? You’re just going to gang up on me then?”

Sui looked at Ito who shook her head and gestured for Sui to speak “Me and Ito aren’t. We have no opinion either way”.

“Of course, the crazy pair are doing the sane thing for once. When else would they do the smart thing” said Trina before taking a big breath and continuing “Look, I just think, this is a bigger decision then you think it is. What was the wording again Sui? The warning?”

“Soulbound Contracts are PERMANENT and IRREVOCABLE. Each individual may only have ONE Soulbound pet and while it will grow alongside you it CANNOT be replaced.” Said Sui.

Trina nodded “See, does that sound like the sort of thing you should just jump into?”

Aife shrugged “Look Trina, Kanina is cute, and super-fast, and pretty cool. I really don’t see what else I could want from a companion. Sure, maybe I could potentially one day find a better candidate, but can we make it that far? Remember, this little guy can outrun me when she wants, and the challenges are going to get harder”.

Trina narrowed her eyes “You already gave her a name?” Aife nodded “Of course you did, and I bet you made up all those justifications to placate me, didn’t you?” Aife nodded again “Why am I not surprised?” said Trina

“Cause I love you” said Aife deadly serious, with Kanina nuzzling into Trina for added affect.

Trina went bright red. Sui would swear, in later years, that she could actually see the short burst of smoke that came off Trina in that moment “Y-you can’t just say that” said Trina

Trina seems embarrassed. Does she not feel the same way? No… I think I’ve read this in books for school right… she’s embarrassed because she does like Aife? Sui looked at Ito who shrugged, and Sui nodded along.

“Sure I can, want me to say it again” said Aife still serious.

“Fine, fine, you win. I didn’t even think it was that bad of an idea, I just want you to be sure you know what you’re doing” said Trina “I do care you know” she whispered. Well, not quietly enough for Sui or Aife to miss the words, but Sui didn’t care, and Aife just smiled.

“Sweet, in that case, I name you Kanina and accept you as my soulbound pet” said Aife

And that was when the screaming started. Kanina fell from Trina’s shoulder and Aife started spasming. Trina gasped and went to rush forward, but remembered the rabbit had fallen from her shoulder and picked her up first before running to Aife’s side.

“SUI! What the hell is going on!” said Trina

“Her soul being torn apart a bit” said Sui “Why?”

“Oh, you don’t seem very surprised, at all?” said Trina with some anger “Maybe you should have mentioned this huh?”

Sui shrugged “I didn’t think it mattered. It’s just a bit of pain”

Trina glared “This looks like it’s a lot worse than just ‘a bit’ of pain Sui” said Trina

Sui shrugged “Eh, I was fine afterwards. I didn’t know it would have affected Ito though” said Sui

Ito glared at Sui as if this was some great insult and Sui just shrugged as if Ito should know it wasn’t. Which, to be fair she did in fact know that.