Family Feud
Disclaimer: I don't own neopets cot com yadda yadda
Sarah the Blue Kacheek smiled in admiration at her latest triumph. Dangling from her paw was a necklace of pure white seashells, collected over the course of an entire month from the shores of her Mystery Island home. Each shell had been carefully threaded and they clinked and rattled softly together. This would look very pretty with her shell earrings.
"Geez. What a weirdo," Sarah looked up to see a Mainlander walk out of the Haiku Kougra's grass hut shaking his head, "That Haiku doesn't even make sense."
Sarah smiled slightly, feeling a pang of sympathy for the slightly eccentric but generally kind Green Kougra. Her eyes flicked up to the hut, then down to the shell necklace in her paw.
Almost without thought, Sarah walked over to the hut and knocked on the driftwood door. At the sound of paw steps approaching the door, she was abruptly overcome with a wave of intense shyness. Quickly she put the necklace down on the doorstep and bolted, ducking behind a tall bush.
The door opened with a creak and she peeked through the branches and watched the Kougra step outside. He looked around, a puzzled expression coming to his face when he found no one waiting. He started to go back inside when he caught sight of the necklace at his feet.
The Haiku Kougra smiled warmly and picked up the gift, noting how each shell was pure white and the same size as its neighbor. He looked around slowly, but didn't seem to see Sarah peeking through the branches. Finally he lifted the necklace up and made a show of putting it on. It slipped past his ears and settled around his neck perfectly, rattling rhythmically as it settled into place. Then he silently went inside.
Sarah smiled, feeling an odd sort of pleasure at seeing her month-long project around the Kougra's neck. A tiny part of her exclaimed, 'But it took a whole month to make that!' But a bigger part of her insisted, 'He likes it, that's what's important.'
Quietly she turned away and made her way back home. Free time was over. Now she had to get ready for a family get-together. She sighed wearily; these get-togethers were hardly pleasant and she always viewed them with a combination of dread and resignation.
Some family she had; they didn't give a Miamouse's tail about her feelings or what she had to say, it seemed. And she wasn't alone either. Her cousins Daylar and Jerla had the same complaint; and at family meetings, the only "family" they ever really socialized with was each other.
Social time at the meeting tonight was almost physically painful, and mealtime was just the same. Silently, she sat, picking at her food and listening to the chatter going on around her as family conversed with everyone else but her. She was sitting next to Daylar, who was chatting with his uncle.
"Well it seems that the Robot Petpet Repair shop that I've been working for the past six months has gone belly up. We showed up at work and were all handed our last paychecks, saying goodbye, good luck and good riddance. Do you know if they have any spots open on the-"
"Here Daylar, try some of these," Kaycee, his step-grandmother interrupted loudly, pushing a bowl of food items at his dinner plate.
Daylar scowled, as he did whenever she ran over the top of him, which was often, "…No thank you…" he finally grumbled; after half muttering, half trying not to blurt out an angry retort.
"Are you sure?" she insisted, now standing and bringing another bowl of food items to the table and hanging over him like a Lupe eyeing a chocolate Chia.
"I'm sure…just tying to talk…" Daylar managed, still holding on to his temper. This was only the sixth or seventh time she had done something similar to him tonight.
When Kaycee wandered back to the counter to slice the turkey dinner waiting there, Daylar made a very fine imitation of an angry Lupe's growl and muttered, "How rude," to Sarah, who nodded mutely, before he turned back to his uncle again, "Anyway… do you know if they have any spot available in the Robot Petpet Shop on the Virtupets Space Station? I really need a job so I can afford to buy my sister a really special birthday present she's been hinting at…"
"So Sarah," her grandfather encouraged her from her other side, "How's Neoschool? Got any Exams coming up?"
"Well… actually no. We do have a project in art, but it's easy. I just have-" Sarah started. Her voice had gotten softer over the years, not because her voice changed, but because she had given up trying to be heard or listened to.
"Oh tsk!" Kaycee cut Sarah off in mid-sentence as usual, "Schools are too easy. They don't challenge the mind or skills of the pet."
"Well I-" Sarah tried again but was again run over verbally.
"I mean really," Kaycee said, still loudly enough to drown Sarah out, "If the projects are so easy they're obviously not TEACHING anything are they?"
"Excuse me-" Sarah tried once last time, feeling a spark of anger swelling inside her.
"EXCUSE ME child but I was talking before you so RUDELY interrupted me!" Kaycee half shouted, "That's VERY RUDE young lady and I will NOT tolerate it in this house!"
Her now browbeaten emotions shattering, Sarah slammed her fork down on her half finished plate of food, "Excuse me…" she managed, then stormed out of the house and slammed the door behind her.
There was a moment of absolute silence at the table.
"Well can you believe how rude she was being tonight?" Kaycee demanded of the table.
Mutters of agreement came from around the table, the other adults having been too busy talking to each other to have noticed the reality of what had gone on.
"Excuse me," Daylar growled, and got up, leaving the table and walking outside after his cousin.
"Me too," Jerla, said acidly, and she followed her brother in pursuit of their younger cousin.
Daylar found Sara in her usual place; the house was built on a hill screened by a high, wild bush. In the younger days, the cousins escaped here and hollowed out and shaped the branches to form a kind of bushy cave facing away from the house and giving them a view of their small, hilly town. Now Sarah sat in the dirt, her head buried in her arms, crying softly.
Daylar awkwardly put his arm around his little cousin, only ten days younger than he was, and gave her a gentle shake, pulling her into a huggle. "Hey you… c'mon, that old wrinkled Korbat ain't worth wastin' any of your tears over, got that?"
"Hey Sarah," Jerla said gently, sitting down on her other side and rubbing her back soothingly. Jerla was several years older than the two younger cousins, and alternated between being too proper to bond easily with, and being a loudmouthed, opinionated Kacheek who could be counted on to take your side and be laughed and talked with any time.
"How can they not notice! They always take her side!" Sarah exploded finally, sniffling and accepting Daylar's offered box of Neopkins.
"I wish I knew," growled Daylar, "If I hadn't been taught that family-wide arguments at a family gathering would get me in deep dung heaps, I would have exploded long ago. This is why I don't like Kaycee. She weaseled her way in to the family, treats half the family like garbage and butters up the other half for support."
"Mom went out one Christmas and bought Kaycee a gift that cost her almost ten thousand Neopoints." Jarla said quietly, "Do you know what Kaycee gave mom? A couple of sand bottles from the Tombola Booby Prize that she had pulled out of a dusty closet somewhere! We sold it for a total of twenty Neopoints in our shop."
"They don't defend me when that old bat runs me over… and they ruined my birthday…" Sarah said miserably, wiping her eyes with a Neopkin.
"WHAT!" Exploded her cousins together; they had missed the birthday due to a case of Neoflu and hadn't wanted to give it to everyone else there.
"Remember our family tradition? The Birthday Person picks the restaurant for dinner?" Sarah asked wearily.
The others nodded. Until now, they had thought that rule had been unbreakable. The birthday person chose. That was it. That was the rule. No negotiations.
"HA!" Sarah said bitterly, "I was planning on dinner at the Golden Dubloon. Do you know they have something called the "Fruitopia Extravaganza"? It's a bowl two feet deep filled beyond the brim with a fruit salad composed of every delectable fruit known to Neopia, extra specially made for Pets who are having Birthday parties. It's so huge that it feeds families of up to ten. Anyway… I told mom I wanted to go there. They have a discount for family groups so the price was cheap for very good food. Do you know what they overrode me with? Marrow's. That cheap Tyrannian place that uses chunks of meat that are poorly cooked, not seasoned, tough, all that. When I asked why, they told me that Kaycee said they were having some sort of special on steaks where everyone could have a steak for cheap. So we were going there instead, and no arguing accepted. My mom lectured me for ten minutes when I complained. The one I got was mostly fat, the meat there was available was greasy and made my tummy upset for hours, plus I was still very hungry…It didn't matter that it was my birthday. Kaycee had said we should go to Marrows so we did… When the waitress asked if we wanted desert, they all said no, drowning out my yes for a milkshake, which is supposedly the only good thing they have. So I didn't get desert either. I ate a mere omelette to fill up that night."
Her cousins fell silent, processing that injustice.
"Am omelette dinner…? On your Birthday?" Daylar said softly, still trying to grasp the idea.
"Yeah…"
Daylar bowed his head, his lip slowly curling into an angry snarl on his cousin's behalf.
"You know Sarah…" Jarla broke in gently, "You don't have to come to family meetings."
"sniff What?" Sarah looked up.
Jarla looked Sarah in the eyes, "You don't have to come. Family meetings obviously aren't doing you any good. You get insulted, yelled at and hurt. Arguing your case doesn't help, obviously. Limit your appearance to major holidays and that's it. There's no point otherwise."
"But what about you two?" Sarah asked, looking from one cousin to the other.
Daylar's eyebrow twitched dangerously, "One day Kaycee will push it too far. I'll blow up and we'll have a royal row at the meeting. It's prolly better if you ain't there to witness the end of the world argument in that household anyway."
"And I'll join in. Trust me kiddo, when the two of us present our cases, there will be nothing left out. We will make it a fight and a vicious one at that. Then Kaycee will get what's coming to her. You on the other hand…" Jarla's face softened and she squeezed Sarah's shoulder, "You're the soft one. You're the good Kacheek, and the less they link you to that fight, the better off you'll be. Hang out with your friends or something on the nights when family meetings happen. Do something you'll enjoy instead."
"C'mon," Daylar grunted, getting to his feet and dusting the dirt off of himself, "I'll take ya home. You have no reason to stay here any more tonight."
Later than night, Sarah brooded in her home. Her mind kept going over and over how everyone was either oblivious to Kaycee's treatment or hating her with every breath they took but not daring to rant about it. Around and around. Back and forth.
Finally Sarah clutched the sides of her head in frustration and left her still empty home to take a walk along the moonlit Mystery Island beach.
She trudged along, staring at the waves as they washed ashore, flowing over sand with a soft hiss, and pulling back again. The never-ending ebb and flow of obsidian black highlighted with Kreludor's orange gleam. Sarah sighed and sat down in the damp sand. Sometimes she wondered if her family could ever be as smooth and flowing as the tide.
"Your eyes are quite sad.
Something weighs upon your heart.
Tell me your troubles?"
Sarah looked up in surprise to see the Haiku Kougra kneeling next to her; the feline's eyes kind and concerned.
Sarah thought about saying "Nothing." She considered asking, "What could you possibly do to help?" Instead, the whole story tumbled from her. At first, she stumbled, and the words were halting. Then the words came easier for her as the story rolled off her chest. By the time she was finished, Sarah was crying into her Neopkins again while the Kougra patted her shoulder reassuringly.
For a few minutes both were silent, letting the rhythm of the waves wash and hiss in the air between them.
Finally the Kougra rose to his paws with a grunt;
"I can not help much,
I am no wise-man Kougra.
Perhaps another."
"Who?" Sarah sniffed, looking up at the big feline.
"The Island Mystic;
He may have answers you seek.
Go there and ask him."
Slowly Sarah built up a watery smile. Normally, the Kougra spouted general nonsense to the public who visited him and was of no help at all.
As if seeing the knowledge in her eyes, the Kougra touched a paw to his lips to encourage her not to tell anyone, and then wandered off, chanting in a loud but deadpan voice…
"Her Cybunny flies
Elephante, timeliness looks
neighborhood thinks nice."
…while people on the paths just shook their heads in bewilderment and made gestures to indicate the Kougra's insanity.
Sarah let her sniffling subside while she thought over the Kougra's advice. Finally, deciding she had nothing to lose, Sarah got to her feet and asked a friendly coconut native to give her a lift to and from the Island Mystic's little hut on its small piece of land.
The Mystic listened to her story, and this time she managed not to collapse into sobbing again. The old Kyrii rubbed his chin thoughtfully then settled into a comfortable chair made from grasses and soft fur that had been woven into a warm blanket ("No pets were harmed in the making of these blankets," he assured her when she stared at them in horror.)
Finally he sighed and shook his head, "Sometimes, little one, the path of greatest resistance is the only path you can take. And the worst seeming course of action becomes the best in the end."
Sarah shuddered. The worst course of action seemed to be starting a fight within the family. And Jarla was right; Sarah was not the kind of pet who could normally stand such a shout fest. A royal family row indeed. There would be harsh words, accusations and anger directed at everyone. Still it also did seem to be the only course to take since nothing else was working.
For now, Sarah decided not to start anything. Christmas was approaching and the family wouldn't get together until then.
Sarah walked stiffly into her grandfather's house, her eyes narrowed slightly. In her head, she predicted the evening and counted off the actions silently. There went the adults into the kitchen to cook and laugh loudly amongst themselves. Here came Kaycee with her cheap welcome hug and that smile that never reached her eyes.
Sarah remained silent as the family separated into groups. Her cousins sought her out immediately, their eyes sullen. Sarah's aunt and the family members who had grudges against Kaycee soon drifted in to join them and to snack on the little foods. Tension rippled silently through them; and everyone in that group seemed to sense that if Kaycee pulled anything tonight, someone would snap.
Still, there was some conversation that seemed normal. Wish lists for Christmas had passed back and forth in the family. Many of the younger members wished to be painted a particular color. Their wish lists had been simple and clear.
"This paintbrush, or something I can use to get this paint brush. Neopoints are fine too."
Sarah herself was eagerly hoping for either the cuddly plushie look or the tribal Mystery Island look.
Jarla and her (giggle, giggle) 'BOYFRIEND!' of four months were answering the curious questions about the new 'addition' to the group. Sarah smiled softly, the family rule made it clear that as long as a family member was dating someone, that someone was essentially adopted into the family.
Kaycee bustled in and out between groups, often putting in her usual rude and unwelcome remarks in a tone that was just borderline enough to be begged off as "didn't mean anything by it" if anyone tried to object.
Daylar was scowling with his arm in a cast, falling down the stairs tended to do that to bones, and trying clumsily with the other paw to snack on cheese and crackers. It would, of course, be the arm that he used the most that was stuck in that stupid thing.
Sarah signed Daylar's cast with a cheery note of, "Good thing your name isn't 'Grace,' or you'd be in trouble. Get better soon, Sarah XOXO"
Daylar smirked at his cousin and managed to muss the little tuft of fur on top of her head. Then he pulled out a sketchpad and handed it to her with a secretive smile, "Hey, what do you think?"
Sarah paged through and gazed in awe at the sketches within. There was Fyora in the full Faerie Court, the light blazing down upon her from the windows. Here was a swarthy Pirate Kougra, poised dramatically on the fore side of his ship with his blade drawn and his muzzle open in a battle cry. And there… at the back of the sketchbook was a very familiar Kacheek, painted Plushie and sitting in a warm summer field, surrounded by butterflies and flowers.
Sarah immediately blushed and slowly closed the book, "Do you think I would really look like that?" she asked her cousin shyly.
Daylar grinned, "I bet you would. I know I don't really have a say in what you choose, little cousin, but I would love to see you painted plushie."
With her usual bad timing, Kaycee bustled into the room and snatched up the sketchbook, ignoring Daylar's protesting "Hey! Ask first next time!"
She ruffled through the sketchbook recklessly, causing the corners to bend and ruffle, "These are good pictures Daylar. You should get off your lazy butt and draw more pictures."
Sarah's mouth fell open; from what she knew, Daylar drew once a day, every day. That was hardly lazy!
Daylar glared, "I have a reason not to draw," he said with an edge in his voice, and moved his broken arm slightly.
"There is no excuse for laziness," Kaycee snapped, "learn to use the other arm," and she bustled out again before Daylar's angry growl would escalate to 'Ka-boom' level.
Sarah clutched Daylar's good arm and shook her head frantically, trying to beg him with her eyes not to get into trouble while his arm was still healing. Daylar looked around at the now silent Kaycee haters glowering darkly after the vicious Kacheek. Satisfied that many others witnessed this latest tidbit of poison, he slowly eased back while Sarah retrieved the sketchbook and tried to smooth down the damaged corners.
Everyone else bustled into the room with cheery calls of "Time for presents! Everyone pick a spot!"
Presents were passed around and the rustle and tearing of paper filled the room.
Jerla looked sarcastic as she pulled out a bunch of cheap plastic grapes. Plastic grapes for a present? Come on! Jerla's boyfriend didn't get anything from Kaycee at all. Daylar sneered and pulled five whole Neopoints out of his own box.
With a sinking heart, Sarah watched all the Kaycee haters got junk for gifts while those she buttered up got wonderful and expensive gifts. Sarah's own mom got a magnificent pot from Osiri's that had to be worth thousands of Neopoints.
Sarah's shoulders hunched as she opened her gift to find a five Neopoint gift certificate to Marrows. Her ruined birthday at that horrible place flashed in her mind.
Daylar curled his lip in fury as his cousin pulled the offending certificate from its box. Anger burned in Sarah's eyes and it rolled off of her in waves, noticed of course, ONLY by the Kaycee haters.
"So dear, did you get a nice present?" Sarah's mom asked, oblivious to the anger in Sara's eyes.
Slowly, Sarah raised the eyes to Kaycee. Cold triumph coiled in the cruel Kacheek's face; she thought Sarah would take the blatant insult quietly in order to avoid making a scene.
Sarah's temper lit like a fuse, burning…. Burning… KABOOOM! Sarah's temper snapped.
"No I did not!" Sarah snarled, and everyone jumped about a foot into the air.
"Sarah, what on Neopia…?" her mom asked, turning.
"I've had it! I'm sick and tired of being treated like trash in front of everybody's noses and nobody doing anything about it!" Sarah yelled in fury, "That… that Magtile over there treats me like dirt! She interrupts me REPEATEDLY before I've said two words in any conversation. She openly insults my cousins, and me, and then butters everyone else up for support. AND YOU GIVE IT TO HER!" she roared, causing Pteri in the trees outside to take flight with terrified squawks, "Then she ruins my birthday by overriding my dinner decision and EVERYONE LETS HER DO IT! Now she butters everyone up again and she gives those of us who see her for what she truly is nothing but garbage for Christmas!"
"Sarah lower your voice, you're overreacting and I've had enough-" Kaycee started, but Daylar cut her off.
"Shut up! I'm sick of hearing you spread poison in our ears and turning family against each other," Daylar snarled, "As far as I'm concerned, you're not family and you don't belong in this house."
"I'm not putting up with your cruelties any more," Jerla spat, "I've had enough too!"
"Yeah! Why don't you stop acting like a Petpetpet, you parasite!" shouted Daylar's mom.
And the Royal Family Row had begun.
Sarah slammed out of the house and into the drizzly Christmas air to cool her temper. She was shaking hard from nerves and anger. Cool Mystery Island rain poured over her, helping to ease the frustration and misery she now felt for blowing up.
She walked along the sodden path toward the beach, stopping well away from the storm tossed waves. With a sigh, she sank down in the mud, hugging her knees to her chest. Now that her anger had drained away from her… she just felt tired. So tired she could take a nap right here, right now.
Abruptly an umbrella made from Palm Fronds and a shaft of Bamboo was extended over her head.
"You did the right thing;
now your voices will be heard.
Come out of this rain."
Sarah smiled weakly at the kindly Haiku Kougra, "Thank you… But why are you so nice to me?"
A tiny smile came to his muzzle,
"A kindness repaid
For tiny gifts at my door
And sweet innocence."
Sarah blushed, noticing that the Haiku Kougra was still wearing the beautiful shells. Apparently he HAD seen her hiding behind the bush.
"You are soaking wet
Let's get warm with hot chocolate
And a crackling fire."
The Haiku Kougra slung a warm furry arm around Sarah's shoulder and guided her to his hut. A warm yellow glow blazed out of the windows and the heat of the simple yet sturdy hut wrapped around her as the door opened. Sarah chanced one last look up the beach at the beachside house she had left. The fight was still going on; she could see Daylar shaking a paw emphatically at Kaycee while he shouted at her.
With a final swish of her white tufted tail, Sarah stepped into the welcoming hut and closed the door behind her. Christmas or not, it felt good to be out of that house.
The end.