It was, apparently, a strange sight to see someone walking around New York City with a cat carrier. At least, so Ryan assumed from the strange looks he'd gotten several times on the last walk.

The looks, of course, would have nothing to do with the black jean jacket Ryan was wearing, with a foxsquirrel embroidered on the back and rose petals scattered across all of it, and collecting on the bottom. Or the matching black jeans with pink flames.

Oh, of course they did. And Ryan was thoroughly proud of himself for it, too.

The foxsquirrel, for its--her, if Ryan remembered correctly--part didn't care at all about the looks. She was busy climbing around the wire that made the top and front of the carrier, and at one point tangling herself in the string leash and harness he'd tied around her, since she was far too small for cat harnesses to hold. Even if squirrel harnesses existed, they probably would have been too large; a lot of mass had gone into that tail, and growing the foot back.

Apart from the foxsquirrel being a bit smaller than the already slightly scrawny squirrel she had started as, Ryan thought he'd done pretty well matching the request. She'd turned out affectionate, energetic, and not too mischievous, by foxsquirrel standards. Loyalty would take a bit longer to tell, but she did become more affectionate to people she'd known longer, which was about as good a sign as could be tested without accidentally letting her develop loyalty to Ryan. And using an albino squirrel had paid off, even if he'd had to sacrifice size a bit; she was a pure, soft cream color all over. Somewhat like a large, mischievous marshmallow with yellow-green eyes. Especially when she curled up to sleep with nearly her entire body hidden beneath her tail. It wasn't too clear that the squirrel's scrawniness was from starvation, anyway; she might just have been young, in which case she'd grow a bit more and be exactly what her (probable) new owner had requested.

That probable... well. That was the only problem with selling foxsquirrels, as far as Ryan was concerned. Not everyone was able or willing to deal with a near-human intelligence pet with a fondness for climbing and mischief, no matter how fluffy it might be. When the girl gave her address as the Mansion, though... that was a good sign.

For the squirrel, anyway. And for Ryan, since he knew where it was. Mostly. He was pretty sure.

So maybe he should have looked up directions before he lost track of where he was. Still, he only got there a few minutes late.

Evelyn didn't forget things. At least, she was pretty sure she didn't. Her mutation meant she wasn't supposed to anyway, but this one thing, this particular thing, she was pretty sure she forgot. Maybe she just misplaced that memory, left it on the wayside. Put it in the wrong metal box and left it there for too long, collecting dust. It was a small, insignificant detail that probably shouldn't have mattered, but in the long run, it did.

She had ordered a foxsquirrel. That seemed like something she should have been more aware of...

The phonecall took her by surprise, and she quickly gave Ryan the address of where he could meet her. She could remember the details of the order now that she was thinking about, and she was both nervous and excited about the prospect. As close to white as possible, squirrel sized, loyal... She never had a pet, and back when she lived in her apartment alone, she thought something small would be nice to keep her entertained. Now that she was at the mansion, though, she was somewhat more hesitant. Would it do well here? Would one of the dogs try to eat it? Would it demolish the kitchen?

Could she pay for it? That... that was another important item to take care of...

After paying for some memory removal, hiring an assassin on her parents credit card, and getting Christmas gifts, her funds were on the low side. If she was remembering the cost correctly, she still had enough on one of her credit cards, but it would be eating at the mansion and no fancy restaurants or clothes for awhile if she did. The fox squirrel had to be perfect to be worth it.

She met the guy at the gate and first saw the fuzzy little creature. It was all she could do not to gush like a school girl and maintain her professional attitude. "Sorry for dragging you out this far! I hope this order hasn't been too much trouble for you..." The ears of the foxsquirrel perked up slightly, and Evelyn tried not to stare.

Ryan grinned through the gate, shifted the cage from one hand to the other, then remembered e was supposed to e being professional (which was why he was fidgeting with the cage instead of a lollipop) and left it in the other. "It's no problem! I don't have much else to do today." Except for work on converting a new dog to a foxsquirrel, anyway, but he'd do that before he went to sleep. "And I'm always glad to make sure a foxsquirrel gets a good home."

The foxsquirrel, for her part, was curious. Well, she'd been curious the whole time; that was probably part of why she'd been climbing everywhere, trying to see and smell and hear all the new things. Right now, it meant her back legs clung to the top of the cage, while her front feet and face pressed against the front and peered out at the new voice, and her ears spread open to catch all the sound possible.

There were reasons Evelyn was supposed to be questioning getting a foxsquirrel at this point in her life, but try as she might, she couldn't quite think of them as she unlocked the gate. The little creature's curiosity instantly appealed to her, and the looks, well, he nailed those spot on. Not quite as white as her hair, but certainly pale enough to fit into her little world.

"Well, hopefully the mansion would work for...her?... We have a few other animals here, but it would spend most it's time in my room." She explained, leading the way. Once they reached the main building she pushed open the door and slithered back into the warmth. Much better than standing out in the cold. She glanced back at the little animal again, nervous and excited to get a chance to hold her. Would it like her? Would it hate her? The echoes were trying to piece together it's personality just by watching. It didn't seem vicious, so that was a good thing...

"It should be she, yes. I haven't proven they can't change sex when I change them, but it's never happened yet." Perhaps a bit more honest than Ryan strictly should be, but it was true. It would be worse to say he was sure and have the foxsquirrel turn out to be male. Or something else entirely. And certainly it was better than admitting he didn't remember for sure. Since they seemed to be sterile anyway, it didn't really make a difference.

Besides, if Evelyn wasn't able or inclined to take care of a foxsquirrel, Ryan wanted to know before he sold one to her. A certain amount of uncertainty just came with them.

"That should be fine for her. They generally like exploring, but she's small enough a room is plenty of space." Oh good it was warmer inside. The jacket had helped a lot, but there was still only so long Ryan could spend in the cold before he started feeling it. The foxsquirrel, fortunately, could have survived the arctic quite happily with her fur. "She does like climbing, though. I wouldn't count on shelves to keep fragile things safe."

Evelyn wasn't really sure how the technicalities of identifying sex of sterile fox squirrels worked, but considering she was dating a gender shifter, she was pretty used to 'gender' being a more complicated topic. It didn't matter much in the end. If she called it a she and it was a he, well, sorry, the end. The name she had in mind was fairly neutral anyway. Her brain mentally started thinking through her room and whether or not she should be hiding her art supplies....

"Well, hopefully she wouldn't get into too much. I can handle some of my stuff being terrorized, but if some kids stuff gets ruined I'd have a lot of explaining to do. Can I hold her?" She trailed off, looking wistfully at the little creature. The inventory of her room stalled out as she stared at it's little eyes. Distracted. It was cute an adorable and it could totally destroy the mansion...

"Hopefully." Unlikely, but hopefully. Being small would at least limit the damage she could do to most things. Ryan refrained from laughing, though he didn't entirely succeed in suppressing the amused grin. "It'll be a lot easier if you keep her in your room, anyway."

"Sure." The string leash was looped through the top of the carrier, so Ryan opened that and pulled the string out while she jumped off the front door and scrambled around. He caught her as she tried to jump out, and held her out with the leash dangling from his hand. "Don't mind if she wants to climb around; she's active and they're all pretty curious."

As Evelyn took the little creature, two thoughts raced through her mind. One, she was pretty sure it was going to be almost impossible to keep the foxsquirrel out of trouble. If she escaped Evelyn's room, she was most likely going to chew, claw up, or eat something she shouldn't, as evident by the way she scurried across Evelyn's shoulders and immediately burrowed into her hair. Tiny claws latched on for support as wide eyes took in everything around her.

The second, most important thought, was there was no way Evelyn could get rid of the little creature now. The claws might as well have been clinging to Evelyn's heart, because as soon as she got the little foxsquirrel into her arms, she was sold. "She really is beautiful." Evelyn said with a smile. Her brain was already thinking of what she'd need to buy to properly keep a foxsquirrel. Food... that would be hard to come up with. "So, what would she eat, anyway?" She said quickly before her brain lost track of that thought. A wet nose sniffed her ear.

"She is." There wasn't a whole lot else to add to that, apart from rambling about the rarity of various colors and patterns among foxsquirrels. Evelyn probably didn't really need to know how many tries it took to make a pure white one, though. The albino squirrel had worked; Ryan was going to have to see if that was consistent at all.

Apparently she was interested in keeping the foxsquirrel. And thinking ahead, too; most people didn't realize they didn't know what to feed foxsquirrels until Ryan started to tell them. "They mostly eat meat and insects, fish is generally a favorite. They sometimes eat grass, but that seems to be more digestive than nutritional. Cat food will generally work, though of course they don't prefer it."

Evelyn mentally went through the food options, and nodded thoughtfully. Meat was a bit more expensive than something like cat food, but she couldn't imagine trying to feet the little critter something dry and tasteless like that. At least, that was her thinking. Fish wasn't so hard to get, and while the mansion didn't keep steaks stocked, she could probably get decent food for the little animal without worrying too much about someone eating it all.

"Sounds doable... What about beds and stuff like that? Are we more along the lines of sugar gliders or something with nesting space, or like a cat or a dog where they sort of make themselves comfortable?" Claws in the hair, claws were definitely tangling in the hair... Evelyn carefully freed the little animal and pulled her back into her arms. Big eyes stared up at her momentarily before she started looking back around for a better perch. Evelyn watched carefully in case she made a jump for the nearest armchair.

"It depends a lot on the individual." Lollipops were not particularly professional either. Ryan really needed to figure out some sort of way to eat things while talking to people without them knowing. Finishing the conversation wouldn't kill him, unless the conversation lasted a few hours in which case Ryan was just going to tell her and eat candy anyway, but it was still weird and kind of disturbing to not be eating anything. "This one seems to mostly like soft places. She'll make a nest if you leave fabric or something out, especially if there's a high spot to make it on, but if not she'll just take over your pillow."

And since the unnamed foxsquirrel was looking about to jump.... "She's not the right size for any harness I could find easily, but she's not particularly strong so you can just use string like I've got on her now," even if Evelyn didn't seem to be paying much attention to it, "or sew some fabric strips together. They just slip out of collars, unfortunately."

String. Evelyn glanced at it, then at the foxsquirrel who was eyeballing the big pillow on the armchair. She was half tempted to grab the string, then the echoes mentally chimed in with scenarios of the squirrel only half reaching the chair and crashing into the ground. She stepped closer to the chair just in case. "I'm sure I get can something together. Heck, I could probably custom order something..." A custom order harness wouldn't be bad. Better than the string, in her mind. She ran her hand across the little animal's head, and the name-less squirrel was temporarily distracted by the petting.

"So, I guess the big question is, what would I owe you for her?" It was hard not to blurt out a name right away, but until the deal was sealed, it didn't feel right naming the little critter. As attached as she was getting, she was trying her best not to dive right in. It was hard to think of that as the foxsquirrel made itself comfortable in her arms. It was so adorable....

Ryan grinned. "Probably. You might look around first though; there's probably someone here that could make a nice one." With or without their mutation. Just from statistics someone nearby probably was able to make a foxsquirrel-sized harness. "You might get it faster that way."

"Fifty-five hundred." That was, actually, on the lower end of foxsquirrel prices, but the foxsquirrel was on the smaller and faster to make end of foxsquirrels, even if it had taken several tries to get the color right. It wasn't like Ryan had trouble selling the others.

Evelyn nodded once for the harness idea, and once more for the price. While number like that would make some people hide their paychecks in terror, the upper-class mutant expected nothing less when it came to a custom pet. In fact, it probably could have been worse. While her relationship with her parents was still in the dumps, they were still rather careless about watching their funds, so a few K wasn't so hard to sneak away...

The fuzzy face nuzzling her hand demanded an answer. Evelyn smiled. "Well, I guess it's just a matter of getting the payment to you then. I think Frost turned out lovely. You did a great job." Name set, as was Evelyn's choice. So, a foxsquirrel could be a little bit of a handful. But if she kept it in her room, it would be fine, right? Right.

Frost nested in agreement.