Submission (#1008) Approved

Words: 501
ES Reward should be 10

“Nothing is working!”
Marquise bent over his worktable, his hands shaking as he once again failed to set the stones of a particularly difficult ring.
“Curse me, why did you think you could do this? Marquise, you fool,” he took a deep breath, slapping his cheeks hard as he tried to calm down.
He was close to tears and he didn’t want to react so emotionally, but he tried so hard to make this work and it seems like he just won’t be able to do it. And here he thought he was a great jeweler, he didn’t like making mistakes or having to completely redo his work.
Suddenly there was a tugging at his fur, pulling his leg with how eager whatever was pulling on him was. He looked down.
“My jewel!”
There was his dearest one, his beloved jumpie devil, looking up at him with her four beautiful eyes. She was such a delicate creature, with eight nimble little legs that were folded over each as she sat at his paws.
She rubbed her head against him.
“Ah, my little gem, could you tell I was upset?” He leaned down to pick her up, “I’m sorry sweetest, it must not be fun to watch me being silly.”
She nuzzled his cheek, cuddling in close. She never liked her master being upset, in her small eyes, he was perfect and all of the shiny things he would show her were amazing. She had no thoughts about insecurities, all she knew was the love she had for her owner.
Marquise sighed, hugging her close, “You’re right, my muse, there is no point in being so upset. I just have to try again and this time I’ll take it slower.”
She made a soft chitter, nearly catching her collar on Marquise as she tried to climb him.
Marquise broke out in laughter, his chest nearly heaving as he tried to pull her away. It was hard to stop her when she had eight legs and the kind of energy that only a jumpie devil could have. “Bad girl, stop that!”
He reached up, tickling her belly as she playfully bit at his horns. “Honestly, you are a wild thing. You’re trying to get those candies in my horns, aren’t you?”
He shook his head, “Bad news for you, they’re just an illusion my dear, no candy.”
That didn’t seem to deter her, instead, she tried even harder to crawl up onto his head. He gasped and nearly tripped as she did. “My jewel, careful!”
As he did his best to control his wild devil, Marquise didn’t even seem to notice that he no longer felt upset about his work. He was too busy playing around and laughing. That was the wonder of pets, even at his darkest moments of doubt, just a few minutes with his pet and he felt like a new kebanzu. He didn’t need to worry when he had a pet that thought everything about him was just perfect.