Hedgehog: Fantasy

"Noooo!" the hedgehog squeaked as it tumbled posterior over teakettle. (I say posterior because my mother really, really didn't like me to swear. She said it made us look poor.)

I stopped. I'd only been rolling it away from the bonding circle, but then, I'd never heard a hedgehog say something that sounded like...well, that sounded so much like it was actually saying something before. I began to have a really worried feeling about how this particular bonding ceremony was going to end up. Sure, everyone says that what you get is representative of your personality in some way, but I’d been hoping for a predatory cat or something else with sleek fur and sharp claws, that could be decorative or defensive. A hedgehog--I imagined what the other girls in the school would come up with to decorate a hedgehog, and I winced. Bows on every quill, no doubt, should the hedgehog sit still for it. I resolved then and there that I would make sure *my* hedgehog never got forced to sit still for such things, and it was only after I decided that that I realized what I'd done. I'd gone and accepted a hedgehog.

"Thank you," it said, as it rolled over and sprawled its feet out until it could stand up and waddle back into the circle.

"Don't thank me!" I denied hastily. "I didn't accept you!"

"Oh, yes you did."


Inspiration: http://www.flickr.com/photos/__pjm__/9257319074/ Too cute!
Story potential: Medium-high
Notes: It really is ridiculously cute. And I like the idea that it indicates something in her that will be able to stand up to things a whole lot bigger than she is.