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Tiira_Misu the rainbow Usul sat contentedly by the fire
on a cool spring night reading a novel. The small sliver of the moon visible
that night illuminated her living room window and a few dim lamps around the
room kept it bright enough for reading. Save the soft sounds of the crackling
fire in front of her, the room was completely quiet.
They were nights like these that Tiira_Misu adored:
quiet, clear, and good enough for reading. The fire was warm, and she smiled
at the thought of being in her favorite Cybunny slippers and white fluffy robe.
After a long day of poses and cameramen at the Donna Kacheek modeling agency,
Tiira_Misu thought that she deserved this time to herself.
That was her line of thinking, at least.
Suddenly, as Tiira_Misu was still sitting cozily
by the fire, a loud combination of cheers and music erupted from the window.
Startled, her glasses crooked, Tiira_Misu stood up to investigate. "What the--?"
She started towards the window and quickly shut
it, which muted the deafening noise somewhat. Tiira_Misu sighed as she leaned
against the window. "Peace and quiet," she murmured as she sat down on her couch
by the fire once more. She picked up her novel. "Oh, great. I lost my p--"
Before she could so much as finish her sentence,
the music blasted, louder than before. Tiira_Misu stood up, enraged.
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF CHET FLASH IS GOING ON
OUT THERE?" she screamed, tightening her robe and stepping out the living room.
She looked around the foyer confusedly for a second, and then stamped her foot
irately.
"ICHI_DERU, FUNAME, KUNAO, ONE OF YOU
IS DISRUPTING MY READING!" she finally exclaimed up the staircase, throwing
her paws and her book into the air. "And if I don't find out WHICH one of you
it is in FIVE seconds, YOU'RE ALL GETTIN' IT!"
A Faerie Meerca, spotted Blumaroo and split Aisha
peeked over the staircase railing gingerly, music still playing loudly from
an undetermined source. "What?" inquired the Aisha.
"That... that MUSIC! That LOUD, IRRITATING MUSIC!"
Tiira_Misu exclaimed. "Where IS it coming from? Is it one of you?"
"You want to calm down?" asked the Meerca. "You
DO know the neighbors are throwing a party, right? If that's the music you're
referring to, anyway."
"Is that what it is?" Tiira_Misu murmured.
"Well. Pretend this never happened."
Tiira_Misu scuttled back into the den and sat
on the couch. She buried her head under a pillow to drown out the noise, but
that failed to help her any. She squirmed uncomfortably, groping for her novel.
Her glasses were nearly crushed as she virtually dug her face into the couch.
Finally, she threw the pillow across the room in fury. "I CAN'T READ IN PEACE
LIKE THIS!" she exclaimed.
Tiira_Misu straightened her glasses and brushed
through her hair with her paws. She rushed to her closet, donned her fur coat
and headed out the door. She made her way down the street to her neighbors'
residence, strode up the driveway and knocked on the door.
A blue Scorchio quickly opened it and glanced
at Tiira_Misu. "Oh, hi, Tiira! What brings you here so late?"
"Oh, it's SO LATE, now, is it? If it's SO LATE,
then why are you blasting that music SO LOUD?" Tiira_Misu inquired. "I understand
you're throwing a party and all, but can you please be so kind as to keep it
down? Just a little bit? A teensy-tiny bit?"
"Oh, sure! Gladly!" the Scorchio replied. "Sorry
if it was a little disruptive. Were you in the laboratory?"
"No. Actually, tonight's one of those rare occasions
where I set time off for MYSELF to enjoy!" Tiira_Misu exclaimed. "I apologize
about the interruption, and I hope it won't happen again tonight."
"Of course it won't. Good night, Tiira!" The
Scorchio closed the door.
Tiira_Misu made her way down the sidewalk once
more, but towards her house. As she reached home, she headed straight for the
living room and returned to her place by the fireplace. Suddenly, the fireplace
went out.
"Oh, GREAT!" she exclaimed in exasperation, stepping
up from the couch. She crouched down by the fireplace to light it again. "Uh...
uh-huh, I know how to do this... I KNOW how to do this--GAH!" Samba music blasted
from the neighbors' party, sending Tiira_Misu straight into the fireplace in
shock. She coughed, ashes blowing everywhere. As she crawled from the fireplace,
her face was completely black and she saw nothing but black.
"MY EYES! I CAN'T SEE A THING! HELP! HEEEEELP!"
Tiira_Misu wiped her glasses with the sleeve of her robe and instantly saw the
living room again. The cream couches and curtains were dusted with gray ashes,
and everything looked instantly dingy, a few clouds of dust still floating around
the room. Tiira_Misu, reeling in shock, squeaked in terror. "MY DÉCOR! My beautiful
décooooor... oh, the horror of it aaallll..." Tiira_Misu buried her soot-covered
head in her soot-covered hands as the samba still played next door.
"Oh, SOMEBODY is going DOWN!"
Later...
Tiira_Misu stormed up to her neighbors' home
and beat the door with her paw furiously. "I DEMAND that this door be opened
THIS INSTANT!" she shrieked against the blaring music.
Suddenly, the door swung open, but no one stood
in the doorway. Instead, Tiira_Misu was given a clear view of the raging party
going on indoors. Tiira_Misu, in a fit of rage, stepped inside, trying to make
her voice heard. "Excuse me!" she exclaimed. The party guests continued dancing
and cheering, oblivious to her dilemma. "EXCUSE ME!" she cried even louder,
but in vain. Infuriated, she stormed towards the stereo next to her and turned
it off.
The party came to an abrupt halt. Everyone looked
around in confusion, trying to spot the source of the sudden silence. A red
Kacheek ran towards the stereo and turned it on again, and then ran back into
the now-dancing crowd.
"I just can't win here."
Outside...
Tiira_Misu, a crowbar in tow, headed around her
neighbors' home to the right side. Spotting the power box on the side of the
house, she smiled inwardly. "If these partygoers aren't going to shut up of
their own accord, I'll MAKE them shut up!" she exclaimed, waving her crowbar
in exasperation.
"DIE, YOU ACCURSED PARTY-ROUSER! DIE!" Tiira_Misu
exclaimed, beating the power box with her crowbar repeatedly. The power box
promptly made a loud fizzling noise and sparked, sending Tiira_Misu back in
surprise. "Uh... ohhhh..."
ZZZZZZZZZZAP!
Tiira_Misu's hair stood on end, her coat tattered
and her glasses crooked and cracked. "This is just a fashion NIGHTMARE for me
tonight, isn't it?!" she inquired as the blue Scorchio stepped outside again.
"Tiira_Misu?" he inquired.
"Tom? Uh... hi! This is... uh... nothing... I
was taking out the trash, and the WEIRDEST thing happened to the phone lines!"
Tiira_Misu explained to her neighbor. "I have... no... idea how all of THIS
happened..."
"So that explains why the lights suddenly went
out?" asked Tom. "Well... I guess I should disregard all of this and try to
figure out something we can do."
"Oh, sure! You go ahead, I'm just gonna... er...
head back into... my house... down there... next to this lawn... bye!" Tiira_Misu
ran off through the bushes and up her driveway, flinging the door open and darting
inside.
She ran back to her place by the fire, smoothed
down her hair and hung up her coat. "Ah, FINALLY I can get back to reading in
peace!" she exclaimed. "Oh... wait... that line is normally an invitation for
something bad to happen."
Silence.
"Oh, who am I kidding? It'll take them weeks
to start that music again!" Tiira_Misu reassured herself, reading once more.
"The photoelectric effect. Wait... is that where I left off? I could have sworn
I was already at wave-particle duality... oh, well! Anyway, 'Chapter 192
of Quantum Physics are your Best Friend: The Photoelectric Effect.'
Ohhhh, yeah. Nothing like reading about quantum physics on a cool spring night,
with no noise but the crackling fire and hip-hop music."
Tiira_Misu paused, slamming her book against
her lap. "Hip-hop music?" Tiira_Misu inquired, rushing to the window. What she
saw amazed her. The neighbors' lights were on, and the party was still raging.
"What the--how did they--BUT--UGH!" Tiira_Misu cried, throwing her paws into
the air with frustration. "THAT'S IT! THAT IS THE STRAW THAT BROKE THE APIS'
BACK! I AM FINISHING THIS BOOK IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"
Tiira_Misu rushed out the room and down the hallway
to her laboratory, slamming the door in fury. She paraded down the steps, a
sincere frown on her face. Snuggles the Harris looked up from a beaker with
interest.
"Yes, I know where that loud music is coming
from, and it's not pretty," Tiira_Misu told him, as if he had asked. "The neighbors
are throwing a party, and I can't BELIEVE I can here that music ALL THE WAY
DOWN HERE IN MY LABORATORY!" Tiira_Misu shouted. She finally sighed. "What am
I going to do?"
Tiira_Misu sulked, her head buried in her paws.
Suddenly, she got an idea. "I've got an idea!" she exclaimed. She rushed to
a desk lined with beakers and searched through the drawers relentlessly. "Let's
see... nope... not this... a yo-yo?! What's that doing in here? Hmmm... where
is--Ah! Ah-HA!"
At the Party...
Tiira_Misu, finding the door wide open, casually
strolled into the house, where the party was still raging. She trotted to the
stereo a second time, and quickly took the disc playing out of it, replacing
it with another. A slow waltz started up.
Needless to say, the party came to an abrupt
halt. The guests glanced around curiously as Tiira_Misu darted out the open
front door, beaming.
Running towards her house, she twirled the disc
in her paws absentmindedly. "HA!" she shouted in jubilation. "Score ONE for
the Usul next door! Let's see them throw such a loud party with a WALTZ to dance
to!"
She cackled as she swung her front door open
and ran back to the living room. She laid the disk on a table and sat on the
couch, squirming a bit and clutching her book. "Ah. So. Chapter 94. The--WAIT
A SECOND!" Tiira_Misu flipped through her book with discontent, her frown becoming
more perceptible with each page she viewed. "I read this already! UGH! I lost
my place!"
Leaning back into a few pillows, she crossed
her arms in disgust. "I can't believe this. All this trouble to get back to
a book I'm reading, and I can't even remember where I left off." She sighed.
"Well... I suppose I should do something with
this most-probably short but quiet time I have." Tiira_Misu headed off to her
laboratory. As she shut the door behind her and went down the staircase, she
remembered something. "Oh! Right!" she exclaimed. "That new printer I made today!
I haven't tested that out yet. That gives me something to do, at least."
She sat down in a chair in front of a large monitor.
Snuggles looked up at her from her desk. "Hey, Snuggles, listen. This is my
very first voice-operated printer ever, so I'm not really sure if it works right.
So... shut up."
Snuggles frowned, disappointed with Tiira_Misu's
harsh command. "Well, I don't know what'll happen if it doesn't receive
commands right!"
Snuggles disregarded this comment, and ran off
to play in the laboratory. "H-hey! Wait--oh, for goodness' sakes. Okay, so,"
she began, looking up at the monitor, "I read in a magazine that voice-operated
machinery improves efficiency by at LEAST twenty percent! So, printer, you're
going to be a big part of my life for the next few days! And as long as you're
going to tag along in my life, you'd better make yourself useful." She opened
a file which showed up on the screen. "So, you're going to need to print this
article out for me!"
*THUD!*
"What the--?" Tiira_Misu inquired, as the article
was printed out. "Well, anyway..." Tiira_Misu reviewed the print-out, and glanced
at it with disdain. On the papers were pictures of King Coltzan III, and a body
of text in a variety of strange symbols. "What? I told you to print out THIS
article! On the SCREEN! What is THIS? Didn't I say it clearly enough?"
Everything in the laboratory shook violently.
"Oh, what now?" Outraged, she ran up the stairs from her laboratory and
to the living room. The party next door was still raging, and the waltz music
as loud as it could be.
"WHAT ON NEOPIA IS GOING ON HERE?!" Tiira_Misu
queried loudly, stamping her feet on the floor. "THAT MUSIC WAS INTENDED TO
STOP THE PARTY!" She sighed in frustration. "Well, no wonder the printer
gave me this. It didn't hear me well enough."
She finally looked out the window, infuriated.
"THIS PARTY HAS GOT TO STOP! RIGHT NOW!" As if in reply, the music
suddenly came to a halt. A few pets at first, and then a larger number left
the neighbors' house. The party had ended.
Tiira_Misu looked out the window oddly and bewildered.
"Huh. Well. There we go. I guess I can get back to reading, then." She sat on
the couch and searched for her place in her book before the doorbell suddenly
rang. "What the--? Oh, who could that be?"
Tiira_Misu rushed to the door curiously, and,
upon opening it, saw Tom the Scorchio. "Oh, hiya, neighbor! Heh-heh-heh..."
she greeted.
"Hi, Tiira_Misu," he replied. "I just came over
to... to thank you for tonight."
"Th--wha--Thank me? Why?" she inquired.
"For the waltz, of course! The party would have
never been the same without it! The guests enjoyed it immensely," Tom commented.
"Anyway, you should really come back the next time we throw a party. It just
won't be the same without you! So, good night!" He stepped down from the porch
and strolled away.
Tiira_Misu shut the door slowly and in disbelief.
She said nothing, but merely stared wide-eyed at the shut door. She ran to the
living room and picked up the Quantum Physics book, staring at it for a little
while.
"Well, I know what I'm never doing again,"
she said. She threw the book into the fire.
The End
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