"Well, I didn't see anyone when I was looking for this", the sphinx said and tapped the plastic box, "so clearly, your Gabriel the Snob isn't here. And I have no use for pets." She had never had one, anyway. And there was the fact that many members of her family had lived - and died - as someone else's pet... "I was merely trying to get a look at the rodent. It did not wish to cooperate." She would let it go. Eventually. When she had got what she wanted.