AUTHOR'S NOTE -- BOO-YAH! Hey everybody! I'm glad you like what you've read so far. I really appreciate your reviews/criticisms :) If you'd like to look me up on neopets, the two accounts I'm on most are karma_leafbarer and strawberry_moonbeams and I like making new neofriends ^^;; For those of you who asked me already, Yes! I do have a picture of Karma for you to look at so you can get a better idea of what she looks like ^_^ (http://www.sirkain.net/~finster/renditions/catrakrm.jpg) there she is...quirky girl with orange eyes. That was taken from a huge art battle I did on yerf.com with some other artists. Anyhow, keep me posted on whatcha think :) *snugs*
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The dice clattered to the table, displaying a black arrow.
"AHA!! The fun begins!" King Roo exclaimed, bouncing on his tail excitedly as he took away the yellow dice Karma had been playing with and replaced it with a glistening silver dice. The final one. "Let's see how you fare now!" the blumaroo grinned.
"Gladly." Karma chuckled, picking up the dice and giving it a shake in her palm before letting it fall to the tabletop again.
"We have a winner!" King Roo crowed, reaching into the large bag sitting beside him and producing a small glowing bottle. "Fresh from the clutches of Balthazaar, right into your hands!" he announced with a grin as he handed it to Karma. As she examined it, she noticed some movement amid the azure light.
"Cool, a faerie!!" Yahoo announced.
"Come come, now, you haven't lost yet!" King Roo goaded. Karma handed the faerie to yahoo as she shook the dice again. This was her tenth game of Dice-A-Roo and the first time she had graduated to the higher dice. She released it again, landing on the prize face once again. "Lucky girl!" King Roo exclaimed, producing a large slice of chocopie on a plate and pushing it her way. "Keep playing, keep playing!" he commanded, looking entirely too thrilled with the prospect of her winning. By the time she was finished, she had won another faerie, several more pieces of food, and finally had hit the jackpot of 10,391 neopoints.
"Its usually more, yes, but someone won the bigger prize not long before you came up to try again." the king shrugged as he counted out the money and handed it to her in a small sack. "Now you head straight to the bank with that." he instructed her. "I take no responsibility for ghost muggings and other thefts." Karma thanked him and left, carrying her prizes as best as she was able with Yahoo at her side.
"So where're we taking this stuff?" Yahoo asked.
"Home, but I have somewhere I want to stop first." she informed him as they headed for a shop just south of the large Neolodge complex. On the top of it were large, cheery replicas of a pig-like creature and a small blueish amphibian.
"The petpet shop?" Yahoo groaned. "I don't do so well with petpets..." he recalled the spyder he had been given when he lived with Ashley. He had panicked after seeing a scary movie one night and accidentally crushed it when it climbed into bed with him. He had felt horrible about it for months afterward and had never had the nerve to tell Ashley what had happened. As far as she knew, the spyder had simply run away.
"No we're going to get one for the doc." she informed her cybunny. Yahoo paused and then cackled.
"You don't give up, do you??" he snickered.
"Hey laugh it up. If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't be here right now." she reminded him.
"I know, I know, but the idea of him with a pet just is wrong on so many levels." Yahoo replied, hitching back more laughter. "So what are we going to get him? Something squishy and pink, I hope."
"You shush." Karma smirked. "We'll see what there is first." she added as an afterthought as they made their way into the petpet store.
"Ohhh don't tell me, lemme guess!" a black-haired usul chirped as they stepped inside. "Your cybunny wants its very own Mallard, right?" she asked, sweeping a paw at a cage with a confused-looking green duck inside.
"Wrack?" the Mallard inquired to no one in particular.
"Actually, no this one's a gift for a techo." Karma told the shopkeeper.
"Ohh....well, techos are really fond of these little guys!" the usul offered, reaching under the counter and producing a grumpy-looking green blob with four small prongs protruding from its body. As Karma watched, the usul flung the creature across the shop and watched as it bounced off of the wall and jiggled on the ground for a moment before walking back toward the counter, goggling up at the usul through pinkish eyes. "See? They're a game and a pet all in one."
"Charming..." Karma winced, wondering how the little creature could possibly enjoy the "game". "Actually, is there a display we could look at?" she inquired.
"Well, we're not at full stock right now, but the new shipment should arrive any time now....but here." The usul smiled, handing Karma a pamphlet listing the petpets the store was regularly stocked with. As Karma read through it, the usul disappeared into the back for a moment. The petpets seemed to fall into two categories....uncommonly cute or uncommonly odd.
"Here's a nice one..." she commented, tapping a picture of a small fiery fellow.
"Yeah, lots of luck..." Yahoo snickered incredulously.
"Why? What's wrong with him?" Karma asked.
"Oh nothing at all, unless you like shelling out ridiculous amounts of neopoints. That little guy's called a moltenore and the only people I've seen own one are the rich snobs." Karma sighed and turned the page.
"Well then, here. How about this guy?" she asked, pointing at a plump green bird.
"Pawkeet? Heh...they're alright but they screech a lot." Yahoo pointed out, tugging the booklet in his direction and scanning the images. "Oh here's a nice one." he pointed out, pointing at a blue canine with a large head. "Puppyblews are pretty good. I've never had one myself, but I know one of Ashley's friends used to."
"Hmm...think Dr. Death would like him?" she asked
"Oh I hope I didn't hear you right..." the usul behind the desk said, putting her hands to her mouth melodramatically. "That old grouch?? He'd abuse it for sure!"
"I don't judge books by their covers." Karma replied. "Besides, I owe him something. He saved Yahoo's life today." The usul cast her eyes to the cybunny as though confirming whether or not this was true. Yahoo shrugged and blushed, a bit embarrassed by the whole thing. "And I've been told by more than one person he's not as mean as he looks."
"Humph....I heard he made his labcoat out of elephante skins." the shopkeeper muttered.
"Yeah well, I heard Dr. Sloth likes to run naked through neopia central at 1 am eastern with My Little Uni underpants on his head. Doesn't necessarily mean its true." Yahoo replied...and then leaned closer to the usul and whispered with a wink. "I know, I've stayed up and waited."
"Anyway, do you have any of these in stock?" Karma asked, showing the usul the picture of the puppyblew. The usul gave an exaggerated sigh and went into the back, from which muted yelps and and whines came, signifying that the newest shipment had arrived. After a moment, she emerged, not with a puppyblew in her arms but a small brown vulpine.
"I'm afraid we didn't get any puppyblews this time." she remarked. "But we DID have a doglefox." Karma opened her mouth to say something. "...which are very rare and you would consider yourself lucky to get." the shopkeeper continued before the frog could protest. The doglefox in her arms sniffed at the air surrounding Karma and Yahoo and gave a small whuff as it wagged its tail. "Its a bargain to let it go at...say...fifteen thousand." the shopkeeper smiled.
"But al I've got's---" Karma began. Yahoo interrupted.
"How about five thousand?" the neopet asked. The usul wrinkled her nose in distaste.
"Fourteen." she insisted.
"Five thousand, five hundred." the cybunny retorted.
"Really now! Fourteen is a bargain for this little dear!" the usul said, a bit too sweetly. "But...maybe I can be persuaded to let him go for.....the small sum of twelve thousand, five hundred...."
"Eight thousand." Yahoo smirked. The usul's cheeks flared red with a frustration.
"Tell you what. Eleven thousand." she said, trying to keep her cool.
"Nine thousand's my final offer." he told her, looking at his paw as though discovering something rather interesting about his nails. The usul cast a look about the shop, waiting for someone to save her and run up, offering retail price for the doglefox. However, seeing no one, she gritted her teeth.
"Nine thousand, five hundred..." she growled in a last ditch effort to raise the asking price.
"Done." Yahoo replied, giving Karma a nudge in the side. The frog, mesmerized by their exchange, stood numbly a moment before shoving the sack of neopoints she had won from Dice-A-Roo across the counter. The usul counted out 9500 with some chagrin before giving what was left in the sack back to the frog and handing the doglefox over the counter. The animal yapped and wriggled as Karma picked it up, washing its warm tongue over her nose twice.
"That was pretty impressive..." Karma complimented as they headed outside, the doglefox tucked into the crook of her arm.
"Haggling? Its just something you learn to do after awhile." the cybunny shrugged. "Most of the shopkeepers are pushovers. If they know you have money but don't want to blow it on their high prices, they'll negotiate a little with ya." he explained. "So we going home to drop off this stuff first or do you want to go to the pound now?" Karma contemplated the situation, looking at the sack of neopoints and sum of food balanced on her other arm.
"Well...." she said hesitantly. She had been eager to give the doctor his gift, really.
"Actually..." the cybunny said, rearing up on his hind legs and grappling the items away from her. "I'll go drop the stuff off. You go on ahead. I know the way." he assured her. She looked down at her neopet gratefully and was about to thank him. "Buuuuttt...." he began, a twinkle in his eye. Karma sighed, scolding herself for thinking there wouldn't be a catch. "You gotta let me have one of those faeries." he told her.
"Err...why?" she asked, cocking a brow. The cybunny smiled.
"I've got my reasons." he told her cryptically.
"Alright..." she agreed. "But only if you get it all home with no snacking on the way. We need that food to last us a couple days."
"Not a problem." the blue cybunny agreed eagarly, balancing the slice of chocopie between his ears. "I'll come find ya when I'm done!" he called over his shoulder as he carefully loped away with the food and neopoints. The doglefox cuddled into Karma's arms and gave her a canine grin as she began across Neopia Central with it. She was noticed by a few people as she carried the small petpet with her.
"Hey! Wanna trade your doglefox for some codestones? They're really rare!" a little boy with red hair and a spray of freckles across his nose cried, displaying a pair of vibrating stones with mystic emblems on them. Karma shook her head with a polite smile.
"Thanks, but this guy's already spoken for." she called back. The kid pouted a moment and stuffed his stones back into his pocket.
"Jerk." he muttered before turning and heading off in another direction. Karma shook her head, sighing. Neopians sure were defensive... The doglefox cooed and nuzzled her shoulder, making her smile again. Well...she wouldn't be gotten down THAT easily, she decided as she continued on her way to her destination.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rose looked up as Dr. Death emerged from the washroom, his face still moist with the cold water he had splashed on it.
"You're back." she remarked, managing a smile. He nodded and said nothing as he seated himself. "Mind if I ask where you went to?"
"Needed to get out for awhile..." he grumbled, shifting in his seat. "Sometimes this place really gets to me."
"Believe me, I know what you mean." the uni whickered. "But another day, another neopoint. Isn't that what they say?" she offered. When he failed to answer, she decided to tell him about the revelation she had had earlier about certain pound-goers...if anything made Dr. Death happy, it was being told that he was right...but before she could say anything, the door opened a crack and a head poked inside.
"Anybody home?" a voice asked as an anthro tree frog poked her head inside. Dr. Death, recognizing the girl, rolled his eyes. Why was it she seemed to turn up everyplace he was? Before she could notice him, he quietly got up and excused himself to the back.
"Well hello, dear!" Rose greeted her enthusiastically, not noticing the techo's uneventful absense. "And how's your cybunny doing?"
"Oh! Very well, thanks!" Karma grinned, stepping fully inside. "Actually he's on his way back to the apartment to drop off some dice-a-roo winnings." she cast a hopeful look around. "I don't suppose the...ahh...doctor's come back, has he?" Rose's expression soured the faintest bit.
"You're not here to abandon, are you?" she asked, hoping the tree frog would say no.
"Huh? Oh! No way!!" Karma exclaimed, sounding shocked by the proposal. Rose brightened again.
"Oh good..." she sighed with relief. Karma looked confused. "I just think he's had all of the abandoners he can stand for awhile, dear." Rose explained. "I don't know when the last time is he took an off-day but I'm going to see if I could talk him into putting in for one." she paused a moment. "So you've come to adopt again, I take it?"
"Actually, I came to thank him." Karma told the uni. Rose's eyes widened a bit.
"Thank him?" she inquired. "For what?" Karma bit her lip.
"If he hasn't told you, he probably doesn't want to say." she said at last, shifting her grip a bit on the doglefox. Rose's eyes wandered to the small animal.
"Ohhh....it looks like a certain cybunny's in for a big surprise when you get home." she remarked, reaching out a hoof to the doglefox. "Hello there." she whispered, delighted as the doglefox wagged its tail and batted playfully at her.
"Actually this guy isn't for Yahoo." she explained. "Yahoo really doesn't like petpets very much."
"So I WAS right! You're adopting another!" the uni grinned.
"Well, no not exactly...she cast a look around the front office. "Any idea when Dr. Death might be back?" a look of understanding dawned in the uni's eyes.
"Oh...dear, I don't know that a petpet is the right sort of present for him...." Rose faltered. "I mean, its thoughtful of you, but...." she tried to envision Dr. Death actually accepting such a gift and found it to be impossible. Just what had he done for this girl anyway to possess her to buy such an expensive pet?
"I really don't know." Karma admitted. "It seemed like it was a good idea and---" her voice trailed off, realizing she really had no good argument for buying the doglefox other than a whim had struck her. A moment of silence hung between them, the doglefox breaking it with a quizzical "Yerf?"
There was a stirring in the back and, after a moment, Dr. Death emerged from where he had been looking for something to occupy himself with among the pets awaiting adoption...but he had found nothing. Everyone had been fed, cleaned, and given fresh water an hour ago and, at length, he had taken to standing nearby the door to the main office and waiting for Karma to leave. He couldn't make out what was being said, but the conversation seemed pleasant. The two female voices had gone on for a bit and then there had been silence which he had mistakenly assumed to mean that Karma had left.
He skidded to a dead halt as both girls' eyes fell upon him. Bad timing, he cursed himself. HORRIBLY bad timing.
"Oh, there you are!" Karma smiled as she approached the desk. The techo, still a bit bewildered, realized that he couldn't very well turn and escape again and forced himself to move forward with an air of calmness that he didn't feel and seat himself. Rose, taking the awkwardness in the air as her cue to leave, quickly shot a look at the watch on her wrist.
"Oh dearie my..." she sighed. "Looks like its time for my break."
"Rose, don't you dare...." he began, giving her a warning glance.
"Oh don't be that way!" she scoffed, smiling. "You took your break an hour early and I'm at least ten minutes late for mine."
"But--" he tried to protest but before he could get another word in, Rose had gotten up, taken her shawl off of the hook by the door, and trotted outside. Very slowly, he settled his gaze onto Karma who shifted her weight uncomfortably. "Alright..." he said after clearing his throat and drawing himself up in a professional manner. "...what can I do for you?"
"I just wanted to thank you for helping my cybunny." she said carefully. A shadow of confusion passed over Dr. Death's face. Hadn't they already exchanged gratitude before he had left her by Hubert's? He sighed, shaking his head.
"Don't get the idea that it gives you the right to trail me all over Neopia." he replied stiffly. "I would have done the same for anyone's pet. It was procedure."
"Well, whatever it was....if it wasn't for you, Yahoo wouldn't be with me right now." she smiled. "And...well....this is for you." she said, setting the doglefox on the counter. Its feet slid out from beneath it on the smooth surface as it struggled for a moment before righting itself again. It turned its attention to Dr. Death and, with no sign of fear whatsoever, began thumping its tail as it wriggled excitedly, whining as it puzzled over the edge of the desk, wanting to climb into his lap.
"What!!" he exclaimed, taken utterly offguard as the doglefox plucked up its nerve and leapt clumsily onto his belly, yapping happily and eagerly trying to lick the techo's face. The doctor winced and held the petpet out at arm's length. "I don't have time for this!" he hissed. "I've a tight schedule to run and if I wanted a petpet, I'm perfectly capable of getting one myself!!" He wasn't sure if it was the tone in his voice or the fact that the doglefox truly understood what he was saying, but the cheerfulness of the canine hybrid quickly deflated as it cringed in his hands, beginning to tremble and whimper.
Karma, looking down at her hands, tried to hide how his words stung her. Well...she supposed she had no right to be completely blindsided. The uni had warned her, after all. The yellow techo sighed, rolling his eyes as he sensed the discomfort he had caused and looked down at the petpet that was whimpering and gazing balefully up at him and tried to fight the melting he felt in his resolve. Damn it, why did it seem all petpets had the ability to turn their eyes into pitiful oil puddles when they were upset? It was likely a power that Frank Sloth himself couldn't reckon with.
"I'm sorry..." the tree frog apologized, reaching out to take the doglefox back. "Maybe I can talk Yahoo into keeping it then...."
"No...its...." Dr. Death faltered for a moment, nestling the doglefox into the crook of his arm. Its happy demeanor returned almost instantly as it cooed against his chest. "....that was rude of me." he admitted quietly, keeping his voice down in case anyone walked in. Karma hesitated. "I have to tell you, I'm not used to this sort of thing." He cast another look down at the doglefox that was now kneading at the arm of his labcoat gently, its eyes half-closed.
"What thing?" Karma asked warily.
"Gratitude." the techo replied. Karma almost breathed a sigh of relief, glad he hadn't picked up on her real feelings.
"So, you'll keep it?" she asked hopefully.
"I'll try." he said flatly, looking doubtfully at the doglefox. How long had it been since he'd owned a pet? The last time he could recall was a puppyblew he had taken in when he was a barely a teenager. He hadn't kept it long, either. His mother hadn't approved of pets and the puppyblew had been taken to the trading post, given away for a codestone and a lime elixer while he had been at school.
"If you...you know, can't take care of it, let me know..." Karma offered. "I don't want to give you anymore troubles than you've already got..." the doctor waved his hand dismissively to silence her.
"You meant no harm." he assured her. He no longer sounded guarded and harsh, but rather simply put-out and tired. She decided she had been wrong...and that she wasn't going to find that the doctor was an utter jerk in person, after all. Karma suddenly felt stifled in the front office and wanted----needed to get outside.
"I've got to be going now." she said, sounding rushed as she backed a step toward the door. "Will I see you around?"
"You mean the way you seem to be 'seeing me around' so frequently now?" he asked, cocking a brow. Karma didn't answer as she turned and left abruptly. The doglefox, startled out of its doze by the door closing, looked up, pricking its ears at the techo.
"Mrawf?" it asked.
"I don't know either..." Dr. Death sighed, idly scratching the petpet's head. The doglefox leaned into the skritches, enjoying the attention. "Of all the people you could have fallen in with, it had to be me, didn't it?" he said in a low voice. "Fate is a cruel mistress, wouldn't you agree?" the doglefox, heedless of his self-pity licked his hand softly as it curled up again and let out a deep breath as it trailed off to nap again. Alone, with no one to see him, Dr. Death allowed himself a small smile. It quickly fell from his face as the door banged open again and RoseMadder, back from her "break", appeared.
"Well...that went better than I thought it might..." Rose commented as she stepped back inside, noticing the doglefox sleeping peacefully in the crook of Dr. Death's arm.
"What did?" he asked her, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Oh, doctor!" she laughed, tossing her head as she untied her shawl and hung it back on the hook. "You can't *really* be that blind, can you?" The techo simply blinked in puzzlement.
"I'm not getting you." he told her, his arm growing tired of holding the doglefox as he unbuttoned the breast pocket of his labcoat and slipped the petpet inside. It wriggled a bit, adjusting to its new carrier, and then continued to sleep.
"Its pretty obvious that she has something for you." the pink uni winked. Dr. Death motioned to the doglefox in his front pocket.
"She gave it to me." he shrugged.
"That's not what I meant and you know it." Rose said, in a playfully condescending voice.
"I don't like games, Rose..." he warned her. The smile slipped from Rose's face. Did he honestly have no idea?
"To put it bluntly, Doctor, I think this girl has a deathgrip of a crush on you." Rose told him.
"Congratulations." Dr. Death replied sourly. "That's the single most ridiculous thing I've heard all day." Rose shook her head. "And even if you were right, its not feasible."
"Humor me." Rose told him, pricking her ears.
"For one, we're not the same species." he told her sharply.
"Something that can be overlooked." the uni cut in. "I know lots of neopians who crossed the border of species to find love. And---"
"And for another..." he interrupted. "....the age difference is too big."
"Well now you're just looking for reasons." Rose scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You can't be THAT much older than she is."
"I doubt that." he grumbled, slouching in his chair as he silently willed Rose to just leave him alone. If this day got any more hectic than it already was, he had a feeling he was going to simply go crazy.
"Alright, well, I can't twist your arm and force you to do anything." she said, sounding somewhat defeated. "But just seems a shame to pout about your life and let opportunities pass you by. You might at least try talking to her outside of your job once. At least to update her on that." she said, pointing at the doglefox.
"I am NOT a child." the doctor spat, glaring at her as the hold he had been keeping on his temper slipped. "You have a lot of nerve to lecture me like one, Rose, and if I wanted your advice, I'd rattle the bars of your damned cage, do you understand??" Rose said nothing and cleared her throat as Dr. Death whipped his attention away from her to a black-haired young lady standing before the desk and holding a trembling green zafara.
He completed the abandonment of the zafara wordlessly, the tail of one eye constantly focused on Rose as she shot him a dark glance now and then. "Look, I'm sorry..." he said at last, as he took the zafara from the girl.
"Hmph...." Rose snorted, opening a desk drawer and taking out a book she had been working on reading on-and-off for the past few weeks. He sighed and turned to take the zafara into the containment area, beginning to count the minutes until his shift was over and he could go home. Feh....a crush indeed. How ludicrous.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So! How did it go?" Yahoo asked, looking up from where he had been lounging on a green sofa that hadn't been there when they had left.
"Eh..." the tree frog shrugged. "He wasn't terribly thrilled. I should have expected it." She eyed him curiously. "Where'd the couch come from, Yahoo?"
"Oh..." he grinned and bounced on it twice. "Ya like it? I was going to get a bed but I didn't have enough neopoints. This one's a hideaway though."
"Its nice...what did you use to pay for it?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Yahoo looked sheepish.
"Well, I took the stuff home and waited....when you didn't show up, I decided to take a ferry to Mystery Island and give Tombola a try since I missed out for the past couple of weeks. When I lost out on that, I headed for the trading post and...well...." he wriggled a little, getting comfortable on the sofa. "Somebody didn't want it so I had it delivered."
"You didn't answer my question." Karma told the cybunny firmly. He winced.
"Aww geez, Karma....it only cost the faerie you said I could have!" he whined. "Air faeries don't do me any good at the level I'm at anyway."
"Yeah, why'd you want it, by the way?" she asked, sitting down beside her cybunny.
"Eh....the faeries in those bottles are ones that some idiot keeps catching and taking from their homelands. If you let them out, sometimes they'll bless you. I could do with a couple of abilities, I think." he said, righting himself on his hind legs and pretending to flex muscles that he didn't have. Karma chuckled.
"Alright fair enough...and I bet this is a lot more comfortable than the cots." she added.
"Soooo....he took the doglefox at least. That's good, right?" Yahoo asked, changing the subject back to Dr. Death.
"Yeah but I have a feeling he's going to shove it off onto someone else..." she grumbled. "Oh well....if he does, he does. I'm not going to lose sleep over it."
"You did what you could." the cybunny assured her. "See, this would be so much easier if you were both pteris." he continued.
"Why's that?" she asked.
"Because all they have to do to show another pteri that they like them is go like this:" saying so, Yahoo proceeded to jump wildly up and down, flapping his arms and screeching "BRAWK!! ARRAWKKAWKAWK BRAWKK!!!" Karma dissolved into loud laughter, rolling off of the couch and onto her back on the floor at her neopet's mimicry of pteri courting rituals. When her amusement had trailed off to occasional hitches and snorts, she spoke again.
"That would make it easier, you're right....but I somehow think if I tried that I'd be in an even worse situation with him than I am now."
"Eh, whatever works." he shrugged. "Are you gonna eat that piece of chocopie?"
"Mind if I ask where you're putting all that food?" Karma quipped, poking the blue cybunny's belly. He giggled and climbed off of the couch, heading for the fridge in the kitchen.
"That's for me to know and you not to." he called over his shoulder playfully as he threw open the door and retrieved the chocolate confection, his mouth already watering in anticipation. She watched him with an indulgant smile and in doing so, wondered what had become of the doglefox. Would the doctor keep it or pawn it off onto someone else? She decided, at this point it was out of her hands and whatever happened, happened.
TBC.....
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The dice clattered to the table, displaying a black arrow.
"AHA!! The fun begins!" King Roo exclaimed, bouncing on his tail excitedly as he took away the yellow dice Karma had been playing with and replaced it with a glistening silver dice. The final one. "Let's see how you fare now!" the blumaroo grinned.
"Gladly." Karma chuckled, picking up the dice and giving it a shake in her palm before letting it fall to the tabletop again.
"We have a winner!" King Roo crowed, reaching into the large bag sitting beside him and producing a small glowing bottle. "Fresh from the clutches of Balthazaar, right into your hands!" he announced with a grin as he handed it to Karma. As she examined it, she noticed some movement amid the azure light.
"Cool, a faerie!!" Yahoo announced.
"Come come, now, you haven't lost yet!" King Roo goaded. Karma handed the faerie to yahoo as she shook the dice again. This was her tenth game of Dice-A-Roo and the first time she had graduated to the higher dice. She released it again, landing on the prize face once again. "Lucky girl!" King Roo exclaimed, producing a large slice of chocopie on a plate and pushing it her way. "Keep playing, keep playing!" he commanded, looking entirely too thrilled with the prospect of her winning. By the time she was finished, she had won another faerie, several more pieces of food, and finally had hit the jackpot of 10,391 neopoints.
"Its usually more, yes, but someone won the bigger prize not long before you came up to try again." the king shrugged as he counted out the money and handed it to her in a small sack. "Now you head straight to the bank with that." he instructed her. "I take no responsibility for ghost muggings and other thefts." Karma thanked him and left, carrying her prizes as best as she was able with Yahoo at her side.
"So where're we taking this stuff?" Yahoo asked.
"Home, but I have somewhere I want to stop first." she informed him as they headed for a shop just south of the large Neolodge complex. On the top of it were large, cheery replicas of a pig-like creature and a small blueish amphibian.
"The petpet shop?" Yahoo groaned. "I don't do so well with petpets..." he recalled the spyder he had been given when he lived with Ashley. He had panicked after seeing a scary movie one night and accidentally crushed it when it climbed into bed with him. He had felt horrible about it for months afterward and had never had the nerve to tell Ashley what had happened. As far as she knew, the spyder had simply run away.
"No we're going to get one for the doc." she informed her cybunny. Yahoo paused and then cackled.
"You don't give up, do you??" he snickered.
"Hey laugh it up. If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't be here right now." she reminded him.
"I know, I know, but the idea of him with a pet just is wrong on so many levels." Yahoo replied, hitching back more laughter. "So what are we going to get him? Something squishy and pink, I hope."
"You shush." Karma smirked. "We'll see what there is first." she added as an afterthought as they made their way into the petpet store.
"Ohhh don't tell me, lemme guess!" a black-haired usul chirped as they stepped inside. "Your cybunny wants its very own Mallard, right?" she asked, sweeping a paw at a cage with a confused-looking green duck inside.
"Wrack?" the Mallard inquired to no one in particular.
"Actually, no this one's a gift for a techo." Karma told the shopkeeper.
"Ohh....well, techos are really fond of these little guys!" the usul offered, reaching under the counter and producing a grumpy-looking green blob with four small prongs protruding from its body. As Karma watched, the usul flung the creature across the shop and watched as it bounced off of the wall and jiggled on the ground for a moment before walking back toward the counter, goggling up at the usul through pinkish eyes. "See? They're a game and a pet all in one."
"Charming..." Karma winced, wondering how the little creature could possibly enjoy the "game". "Actually, is there a display we could look at?" she inquired.
"Well, we're not at full stock right now, but the new shipment should arrive any time now....but here." The usul smiled, handing Karma a pamphlet listing the petpets the store was regularly stocked with. As Karma read through it, the usul disappeared into the back for a moment. The petpets seemed to fall into two categories....uncommonly cute or uncommonly odd.
"Here's a nice one..." she commented, tapping a picture of a small fiery fellow.
"Yeah, lots of luck..." Yahoo snickered incredulously.
"Why? What's wrong with him?" Karma asked.
"Oh nothing at all, unless you like shelling out ridiculous amounts of neopoints. That little guy's called a moltenore and the only people I've seen own one are the rich snobs." Karma sighed and turned the page.
"Well then, here. How about this guy?" she asked, pointing at a plump green bird.
"Pawkeet? Heh...they're alright but they screech a lot." Yahoo pointed out, tugging the booklet in his direction and scanning the images. "Oh here's a nice one." he pointed out, pointing at a blue canine with a large head. "Puppyblews are pretty good. I've never had one myself, but I know one of Ashley's friends used to."
"Hmm...think Dr. Death would like him?" she asked
"Oh I hope I didn't hear you right..." the usul behind the desk said, putting her hands to her mouth melodramatically. "That old grouch?? He'd abuse it for sure!"
"I don't judge books by their covers." Karma replied. "Besides, I owe him something. He saved Yahoo's life today." The usul cast her eyes to the cybunny as though confirming whether or not this was true. Yahoo shrugged and blushed, a bit embarrassed by the whole thing. "And I've been told by more than one person he's not as mean as he looks."
"Humph....I heard he made his labcoat out of elephante skins." the shopkeeper muttered.
"Yeah well, I heard Dr. Sloth likes to run naked through neopia central at 1 am eastern with My Little Uni underpants on his head. Doesn't necessarily mean its true." Yahoo replied...and then leaned closer to the usul and whispered with a wink. "I know, I've stayed up and waited."
"Anyway, do you have any of these in stock?" Karma asked, showing the usul the picture of the puppyblew. The usul gave an exaggerated sigh and went into the back, from which muted yelps and and whines came, signifying that the newest shipment had arrived. After a moment, she emerged, not with a puppyblew in her arms but a small brown vulpine.
"I'm afraid we didn't get any puppyblews this time." she remarked. "But we DID have a doglefox." Karma opened her mouth to say something. "...which are very rare and you would consider yourself lucky to get." the shopkeeper continued before the frog could protest. The doglefox in her arms sniffed at the air surrounding Karma and Yahoo and gave a small whuff as it wagged its tail. "Its a bargain to let it go at...say...fifteen thousand." the shopkeeper smiled.
"But al I've got's---" Karma began. Yahoo interrupted.
"How about five thousand?" the neopet asked. The usul wrinkled her nose in distaste.
"Fourteen." she insisted.
"Five thousand, five hundred." the cybunny retorted.
"Really now! Fourteen is a bargain for this little dear!" the usul said, a bit too sweetly. "But...maybe I can be persuaded to let him go for.....the small sum of twelve thousand, five hundred...."
"Eight thousand." Yahoo smirked. The usul's cheeks flared red with a frustration.
"Tell you what. Eleven thousand." she said, trying to keep her cool.
"Nine thousand's my final offer." he told her, looking at his paw as though discovering something rather interesting about his nails. The usul cast a look about the shop, waiting for someone to save her and run up, offering retail price for the doglefox. However, seeing no one, she gritted her teeth.
"Nine thousand, five hundred..." she growled in a last ditch effort to raise the asking price.
"Done." Yahoo replied, giving Karma a nudge in the side. The frog, mesmerized by their exchange, stood numbly a moment before shoving the sack of neopoints she had won from Dice-A-Roo across the counter. The usul counted out 9500 with some chagrin before giving what was left in the sack back to the frog and handing the doglefox over the counter. The animal yapped and wriggled as Karma picked it up, washing its warm tongue over her nose twice.
"That was pretty impressive..." Karma complimented as they headed outside, the doglefox tucked into the crook of her arm.
"Haggling? Its just something you learn to do after awhile." the cybunny shrugged. "Most of the shopkeepers are pushovers. If they know you have money but don't want to blow it on their high prices, they'll negotiate a little with ya." he explained. "So we going home to drop off this stuff first or do you want to go to the pound now?" Karma contemplated the situation, looking at the sack of neopoints and sum of food balanced on her other arm.
"Well...." she said hesitantly. She had been eager to give the doctor his gift, really.
"Actually..." the cybunny said, rearing up on his hind legs and grappling the items away from her. "I'll go drop the stuff off. You go on ahead. I know the way." he assured her. She looked down at her neopet gratefully and was about to thank him. "Buuuuttt...." he began, a twinkle in his eye. Karma sighed, scolding herself for thinking there wouldn't be a catch. "You gotta let me have one of those faeries." he told her.
"Err...why?" she asked, cocking a brow. The cybunny smiled.
"I've got my reasons." he told her cryptically.
"Alright..." she agreed. "But only if you get it all home with no snacking on the way. We need that food to last us a couple days."
"Not a problem." the blue cybunny agreed eagarly, balancing the slice of chocopie between his ears. "I'll come find ya when I'm done!" he called over his shoulder as he carefully loped away with the food and neopoints. The doglefox cuddled into Karma's arms and gave her a canine grin as she began across Neopia Central with it. She was noticed by a few people as she carried the small petpet with her.
"Hey! Wanna trade your doglefox for some codestones? They're really rare!" a little boy with red hair and a spray of freckles across his nose cried, displaying a pair of vibrating stones with mystic emblems on them. Karma shook her head with a polite smile.
"Thanks, but this guy's already spoken for." she called back. The kid pouted a moment and stuffed his stones back into his pocket.
"Jerk." he muttered before turning and heading off in another direction. Karma shook her head, sighing. Neopians sure were defensive... The doglefox cooed and nuzzled her shoulder, making her smile again. Well...she wouldn't be gotten down THAT easily, she decided as she continued on her way to her destination.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rose looked up as Dr. Death emerged from the washroom, his face still moist with the cold water he had splashed on it.
"You're back." she remarked, managing a smile. He nodded and said nothing as he seated himself. "Mind if I ask where you went to?"
"Needed to get out for awhile..." he grumbled, shifting in his seat. "Sometimes this place really gets to me."
"Believe me, I know what you mean." the uni whickered. "But another day, another neopoint. Isn't that what they say?" she offered. When he failed to answer, she decided to tell him about the revelation she had had earlier about certain pound-goers...if anything made Dr. Death happy, it was being told that he was right...but before she could say anything, the door opened a crack and a head poked inside.
"Anybody home?" a voice asked as an anthro tree frog poked her head inside. Dr. Death, recognizing the girl, rolled his eyes. Why was it she seemed to turn up everyplace he was? Before she could notice him, he quietly got up and excused himself to the back.
"Well hello, dear!" Rose greeted her enthusiastically, not noticing the techo's uneventful absense. "And how's your cybunny doing?"
"Oh! Very well, thanks!" Karma grinned, stepping fully inside. "Actually he's on his way back to the apartment to drop off some dice-a-roo winnings." she cast a hopeful look around. "I don't suppose the...ahh...doctor's come back, has he?" Rose's expression soured the faintest bit.
"You're not here to abandon, are you?" she asked, hoping the tree frog would say no.
"Huh? Oh! No way!!" Karma exclaimed, sounding shocked by the proposal. Rose brightened again.
"Oh good..." she sighed with relief. Karma looked confused. "I just think he's had all of the abandoners he can stand for awhile, dear." Rose explained. "I don't know when the last time is he took an off-day but I'm going to see if I could talk him into putting in for one." she paused a moment. "So you've come to adopt again, I take it?"
"Actually, I came to thank him." Karma told the uni. Rose's eyes widened a bit.
"Thank him?" she inquired. "For what?" Karma bit her lip.
"If he hasn't told you, he probably doesn't want to say." she said at last, shifting her grip a bit on the doglefox. Rose's eyes wandered to the small animal.
"Ohhh....it looks like a certain cybunny's in for a big surprise when you get home." she remarked, reaching out a hoof to the doglefox. "Hello there." she whispered, delighted as the doglefox wagged its tail and batted playfully at her.
"Actually this guy isn't for Yahoo." she explained. "Yahoo really doesn't like petpets very much."
"So I WAS right! You're adopting another!" the uni grinned.
"Well, no not exactly...she cast a look around the front office. "Any idea when Dr. Death might be back?" a look of understanding dawned in the uni's eyes.
"Oh...dear, I don't know that a petpet is the right sort of present for him...." Rose faltered. "I mean, its thoughtful of you, but...." she tried to envision Dr. Death actually accepting such a gift and found it to be impossible. Just what had he done for this girl anyway to possess her to buy such an expensive pet?
"I really don't know." Karma admitted. "It seemed like it was a good idea and---" her voice trailed off, realizing she really had no good argument for buying the doglefox other than a whim had struck her. A moment of silence hung between them, the doglefox breaking it with a quizzical "Yerf?"
There was a stirring in the back and, after a moment, Dr. Death emerged from where he had been looking for something to occupy himself with among the pets awaiting adoption...but he had found nothing. Everyone had been fed, cleaned, and given fresh water an hour ago and, at length, he had taken to standing nearby the door to the main office and waiting for Karma to leave. He couldn't make out what was being said, but the conversation seemed pleasant. The two female voices had gone on for a bit and then there had been silence which he had mistakenly assumed to mean that Karma had left.
He skidded to a dead halt as both girls' eyes fell upon him. Bad timing, he cursed himself. HORRIBLY bad timing.
"Oh, there you are!" Karma smiled as she approached the desk. The techo, still a bit bewildered, realized that he couldn't very well turn and escape again and forced himself to move forward with an air of calmness that he didn't feel and seat himself. Rose, taking the awkwardness in the air as her cue to leave, quickly shot a look at the watch on her wrist.
"Oh dearie my..." she sighed. "Looks like its time for my break."
"Rose, don't you dare...." he began, giving her a warning glance.
"Oh don't be that way!" she scoffed, smiling. "You took your break an hour early and I'm at least ten minutes late for mine."
"But--" he tried to protest but before he could get another word in, Rose had gotten up, taken her shawl off of the hook by the door, and trotted outside. Very slowly, he settled his gaze onto Karma who shifted her weight uncomfortably. "Alright..." he said after clearing his throat and drawing himself up in a professional manner. "...what can I do for you?"
"I just wanted to thank you for helping my cybunny." she said carefully. A shadow of confusion passed over Dr. Death's face. Hadn't they already exchanged gratitude before he had left her by Hubert's? He sighed, shaking his head.
"Don't get the idea that it gives you the right to trail me all over Neopia." he replied stiffly. "I would have done the same for anyone's pet. It was procedure."
"Well, whatever it was....if it wasn't for you, Yahoo wouldn't be with me right now." she smiled. "And...well....this is for you." she said, setting the doglefox on the counter. Its feet slid out from beneath it on the smooth surface as it struggled for a moment before righting itself again. It turned its attention to Dr. Death and, with no sign of fear whatsoever, began thumping its tail as it wriggled excitedly, whining as it puzzled over the edge of the desk, wanting to climb into his lap.
"What!!" he exclaimed, taken utterly offguard as the doglefox plucked up its nerve and leapt clumsily onto his belly, yapping happily and eagerly trying to lick the techo's face. The doctor winced and held the petpet out at arm's length. "I don't have time for this!" he hissed. "I've a tight schedule to run and if I wanted a petpet, I'm perfectly capable of getting one myself!!" He wasn't sure if it was the tone in his voice or the fact that the doglefox truly understood what he was saying, but the cheerfulness of the canine hybrid quickly deflated as it cringed in his hands, beginning to tremble and whimper.
Karma, looking down at her hands, tried to hide how his words stung her. Well...she supposed she had no right to be completely blindsided. The uni had warned her, after all. The yellow techo sighed, rolling his eyes as he sensed the discomfort he had caused and looked down at the petpet that was whimpering and gazing balefully up at him and tried to fight the melting he felt in his resolve. Damn it, why did it seem all petpets had the ability to turn their eyes into pitiful oil puddles when they were upset? It was likely a power that Frank Sloth himself couldn't reckon with.
"I'm sorry..." the tree frog apologized, reaching out to take the doglefox back. "Maybe I can talk Yahoo into keeping it then...."
"No...its...." Dr. Death faltered for a moment, nestling the doglefox into the crook of his arm. Its happy demeanor returned almost instantly as it cooed against his chest. "....that was rude of me." he admitted quietly, keeping his voice down in case anyone walked in. Karma hesitated. "I have to tell you, I'm not used to this sort of thing." He cast another look down at the doglefox that was now kneading at the arm of his labcoat gently, its eyes half-closed.
"What thing?" Karma asked warily.
"Gratitude." the techo replied. Karma almost breathed a sigh of relief, glad he hadn't picked up on her real feelings.
"So, you'll keep it?" she asked hopefully.
"I'll try." he said flatly, looking doubtfully at the doglefox. How long had it been since he'd owned a pet? The last time he could recall was a puppyblew he had taken in when he was a barely a teenager. He hadn't kept it long, either. His mother hadn't approved of pets and the puppyblew had been taken to the trading post, given away for a codestone and a lime elixer while he had been at school.
"If you...you know, can't take care of it, let me know..." Karma offered. "I don't want to give you anymore troubles than you've already got..." the doctor waved his hand dismissively to silence her.
"You meant no harm." he assured her. He no longer sounded guarded and harsh, but rather simply put-out and tired. She decided she had been wrong...and that she wasn't going to find that the doctor was an utter jerk in person, after all. Karma suddenly felt stifled in the front office and wanted----needed to get outside.
"I've got to be going now." she said, sounding rushed as she backed a step toward the door. "Will I see you around?"
"You mean the way you seem to be 'seeing me around' so frequently now?" he asked, cocking a brow. Karma didn't answer as she turned and left abruptly. The doglefox, startled out of its doze by the door closing, looked up, pricking its ears at the techo.
"Mrawf?" it asked.
"I don't know either..." Dr. Death sighed, idly scratching the petpet's head. The doglefox leaned into the skritches, enjoying the attention. "Of all the people you could have fallen in with, it had to be me, didn't it?" he said in a low voice. "Fate is a cruel mistress, wouldn't you agree?" the doglefox, heedless of his self-pity licked his hand softly as it curled up again and let out a deep breath as it trailed off to nap again. Alone, with no one to see him, Dr. Death allowed himself a small smile. It quickly fell from his face as the door banged open again and RoseMadder, back from her "break", appeared.
"Well...that went better than I thought it might..." Rose commented as she stepped back inside, noticing the doglefox sleeping peacefully in the crook of Dr. Death's arm.
"What did?" he asked her, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Oh, doctor!" she laughed, tossing her head as she untied her shawl and hung it back on the hook. "You can't *really* be that blind, can you?" The techo simply blinked in puzzlement.
"I'm not getting you." he told her, his arm growing tired of holding the doglefox as he unbuttoned the breast pocket of his labcoat and slipped the petpet inside. It wriggled a bit, adjusting to its new carrier, and then continued to sleep.
"Its pretty obvious that she has something for you." the pink uni winked. Dr. Death motioned to the doglefox in his front pocket.
"She gave it to me." he shrugged.
"That's not what I meant and you know it." Rose said, in a playfully condescending voice.
"I don't like games, Rose..." he warned her. The smile slipped from Rose's face. Did he honestly have no idea?
"To put it bluntly, Doctor, I think this girl has a deathgrip of a crush on you." Rose told him.
"Congratulations." Dr. Death replied sourly. "That's the single most ridiculous thing I've heard all day." Rose shook her head. "And even if you were right, its not feasible."
"Humor me." Rose told him, pricking her ears.
"For one, we're not the same species." he told her sharply.
"Something that can be overlooked." the uni cut in. "I know lots of neopians who crossed the border of species to find love. And---"
"And for another..." he interrupted. "....the age difference is too big."
"Well now you're just looking for reasons." Rose scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You can't be THAT much older than she is."
"I doubt that." he grumbled, slouching in his chair as he silently willed Rose to just leave him alone. If this day got any more hectic than it already was, he had a feeling he was going to simply go crazy.
"Alright, well, I can't twist your arm and force you to do anything." she said, sounding somewhat defeated. "But just seems a shame to pout about your life and let opportunities pass you by. You might at least try talking to her outside of your job once. At least to update her on that." she said, pointing at the doglefox.
"I am NOT a child." the doctor spat, glaring at her as the hold he had been keeping on his temper slipped. "You have a lot of nerve to lecture me like one, Rose, and if I wanted your advice, I'd rattle the bars of your damned cage, do you understand??" Rose said nothing and cleared her throat as Dr. Death whipped his attention away from her to a black-haired young lady standing before the desk and holding a trembling green zafara.
He completed the abandonment of the zafara wordlessly, the tail of one eye constantly focused on Rose as she shot him a dark glance now and then. "Look, I'm sorry..." he said at last, as he took the zafara from the girl.
"Hmph...." Rose snorted, opening a desk drawer and taking out a book she had been working on reading on-and-off for the past few weeks. He sighed and turned to take the zafara into the containment area, beginning to count the minutes until his shift was over and he could go home. Feh....a crush indeed. How ludicrous.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So! How did it go?" Yahoo asked, looking up from where he had been lounging on a green sofa that hadn't been there when they had left.
"Eh..." the tree frog shrugged. "He wasn't terribly thrilled. I should have expected it." She eyed him curiously. "Where'd the couch come from, Yahoo?"
"Oh..." he grinned and bounced on it twice. "Ya like it? I was going to get a bed but I didn't have enough neopoints. This one's a hideaway though."
"Its nice...what did you use to pay for it?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Yahoo looked sheepish.
"Well, I took the stuff home and waited....when you didn't show up, I decided to take a ferry to Mystery Island and give Tombola a try since I missed out for the past couple of weeks. When I lost out on that, I headed for the trading post and...well...." he wriggled a little, getting comfortable on the sofa. "Somebody didn't want it so I had it delivered."
"You didn't answer my question." Karma told the cybunny firmly. He winced.
"Aww geez, Karma....it only cost the faerie you said I could have!" he whined. "Air faeries don't do me any good at the level I'm at anyway."
"Yeah, why'd you want it, by the way?" she asked, sitting down beside her cybunny.
"Eh....the faeries in those bottles are ones that some idiot keeps catching and taking from their homelands. If you let them out, sometimes they'll bless you. I could do with a couple of abilities, I think." he said, righting himself on his hind legs and pretending to flex muscles that he didn't have. Karma chuckled.
"Alright fair enough...and I bet this is a lot more comfortable than the cots." she added.
"Soooo....he took the doglefox at least. That's good, right?" Yahoo asked, changing the subject back to Dr. Death.
"Yeah but I have a feeling he's going to shove it off onto someone else..." she grumbled. "Oh well....if he does, he does. I'm not going to lose sleep over it."
"You did what you could." the cybunny assured her. "See, this would be so much easier if you were both pteris." he continued.
"Why's that?" she asked.
"Because all they have to do to show another pteri that they like them is go like this:" saying so, Yahoo proceeded to jump wildly up and down, flapping his arms and screeching "BRAWK!! ARRAWKKAWKAWK BRAWKK!!!" Karma dissolved into loud laughter, rolling off of the couch and onto her back on the floor at her neopet's mimicry of pteri courting rituals. When her amusement had trailed off to occasional hitches and snorts, she spoke again.
"That would make it easier, you're right....but I somehow think if I tried that I'd be in an even worse situation with him than I am now."
"Eh, whatever works." he shrugged. "Are you gonna eat that piece of chocopie?"
"Mind if I ask where you're putting all that food?" Karma quipped, poking the blue cybunny's belly. He giggled and climbed off of the couch, heading for the fridge in the kitchen.
"That's for me to know and you not to." he called over his shoulder playfully as he threw open the door and retrieved the chocolate confection, his mouth already watering in anticipation. She watched him with an indulgant smile and in doing so, wondered what had become of the doglefox. Would the doctor keep it or pawn it off onto someone else? She decided, at this point it was out of her hands and whatever happened, happened.
TBC.....