gabbogabbo12356789
Legacy Name: gabbogabbo12356789

Adopt R Us is a really nice place...

...the staff are nice, the food is yummy, and the other pets are mostly decent (even those weird, blood-covered ones), but I always feel... sort-of hopeless. I know, optimism gets you adopted around here, but it's hard to keep a chipper attitude with a name like... like... gabbogabbo12356789. Listen, I know how the pet market goes: people go for the pets with pretty names, or those who are super old, or whatever. What kind of hope is there for a basic, boring Kumos like me?

At least I'm not alone. I have a bunch of friends here that are stuck in similar situations, with names eerily similar to mine but with more or less numbers, or other bizarre combinations of letters that don't even form a logical name. We're all Kumos too, which is weird... and kind-of creepy. We don't really remember how we got here, just that one second we were outside the building, and now we're living in it.

Bah.

I've come to accept my fate, honestly. I don't have any skills, I'm not battle savvy in the slightest, nor is my coat any fancy shade of Silver, or Gold, or "Graveyard". Why anyone would want a rotting pet, I'll never know. At least my fur is clean! But that never matters, does it? I see people walk past my pen every day, take one look at my name, and leave... or laugh! It's so rude! I didn't pick this name, and I bet some of them have equally bad ones... like this guy staring at me. He thinks he's funny, saying his name is "War". See? What kind of name is that?

...Wait, he's talking to me?

“Huh?” I snapped out of my stupor, lifting my head off my paws and blinking at the man in front of my pen. He was looking at me funny. “Wait, what?”

The man grinned. “I said, my name is War.” He repeated, leaning on the gate to my pen. “How long have you been here?”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know.” I muttered, flopping my head back down onto my paws. If this guy was just going to goad me, then I wasn’t going to bother with him. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Ouch.” War mused, resting his chin on one of his palms. “Well this little plaque here says you’ve been here for a while.” He pointed at the plaque with his free hand.

“What of it?” I growled, leering up at him. If he didn’t get to the point soon, I was going to lose it.

He held his hands up in front of him. “Woah, easy now. I’m just curious.” War chuckled, slowly folding his arms. He still had an odd glint in his eye, I couldn’t place it. “What’s your story?”

“Story?” I looked at him incredulously. This guy can’t be serious, right? “What story? I wake up every morning with a nice little bowl of food set out for me, and eat it while watching other pets get adopted. Some of them only stay here for an hour or two, and ooooh how I'd kill to sink my teeth into their prissy little-"

War’s laughing interrupted me, and I glared at him. “Easy, Tigrean.” He mused, to which I huffed. “I meant before coming here.”

“First, I’m a Kumos, not a stupid Tigrean.” I growled irritably, “Second, I don’t have one. I remember being outside, then being inside. I don’t even remember what my last owner looked like.” I paused, trying to recall a face, or name; Nope, nothing. “I was only a pup then, so I don’t really remember much of anything.”

War frowned at that, and I blinked at him. What was that about? “So you’re still pretty young, eh?”

“I guess so.” I looked back at myself, swishing my tail once. I suppose I was pretty small for a Kumos, considering those I saw with their owners sometimes as they walked the aisles. “…Why are you talking to me, anyway?”

“Haa?” War seemed taken aback by that, shrugging a little. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“You’ve seen my name. Don’t lie.” I stood and walked to the gate, lifting myself up with my front paws to peer at the plaque next to my pen. “Look at that. 'gabbogabbo12356789’. Why would anyone adopt a pet with a name like that?”

“Because it’s interesting.” War answered quickly, this time taking me aback. “And it’s unique. And because the character of a person, or pet, shouldn’t be determined by their name.” He snorted, making a gesture to himself. “My name is ‘War’. Do I look like a tyrant to you?”

“Uh...” I… he had a point. I gave him a good look up and down and a small sniff; he… didn’t smell like a bad guy. I shrugged and fell back to the floor. “So you’re different. That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Sure it does.” War replied calmly, a warmness in his voice. I looked up at him. “The fact of the matter is, I chose to talk to you because you were different. It’s not a bad thing. Actually...” He paused, looking at my plaque, and reached for it.

“H-hey, what are you doing?” I stammered, looking back and forth between War and the plaque. People only took them if they were…!

“I think it’s about time someone showed you Subeta.” War said, removing my plaque from its spot. “I can tell you haven’t seen much of the world, which is a real shame. And you seem like the perfect fit to hassle my Darkonite. Shinwa knows he needs a distraction from bothering me all the time-”

I couldn’t help it. I lunged for the man, clearing the gate entirely and sending us toppling over. I was being adopted! By an actual person! I never thought it would happen, especially after having watched pet after pet get adopted before me. I thought my name was a curse, but… maybe it wasn’t.

“Oh thank you, thank you!” I cried, licking War’s face. He laughed the entire time. “I- ah, uh.” I blinked and looked around, realizing people were staring. With an awkward cough, I hopped off War and stretched, pretending that’s what I meant to do. Obviously. But one thing still nagged me… “So what are you going to call me? I know it’s a… mouthful.”

“Hmm? Well..." War hummed as he stood, dusting himself off. He looked down at my plaque, rubbing his chin. “How about ‘gabbo’? It’s short and rolls off the tongue.”

My tail couldn’t stop wagging. “I love it.” I bounced around him in circles, excited. “I’ll race you to the desk!” I grinned, taking off without giving War- my new owner, any notice.

“That’s not fair!” He called after me with a chuckle.

After going through the papers and process, I was officially adopted. I said goodbye to all my friends, who had been given new hope after seeing what had happened, and returned to War’s side. He knelt down and clasped a collar around my neck, the medallion hanging from it embroidered with the name ‘gabbo’. Side by side, we passed through the Adopt R Us doors into an unknown world, a world waiting to be explored. And we would explore it - together.

I finally had a home.

Credits:
Profile by: Ringo
Story by: War