The Collector

     “Snivore? When are you going to start putting things on display properly?” his Mutant Meowclops named Jazz asked as he tried walking up to the bed, pushing his way through a bunch of plushies.

     “I think they are fine how they are, Jazz. I’m looking into getting another Neolodge room and starting on another collection – this time, stamps” Snivore said proudly. “I just love having a large collection!”

     “But what if I somehow get lost in this collection?” Jazz asked, imagining himself being buried in the pile of plushies near Snivore’s bed.

     “I won’t let that happen, I promise. I don’t want to even make a pathway as it would make things more difficult. I like how everything is organized now. That pile over there has all my Usuki items, whereas that one has my plushies. I’m missing a few as they were very expensive. I might have to put some on my bed if I were to get more items later on!” Snivore said smiling.

     “That’s bad! How would you get to bed at night?” Jazz asked in confusion.

     “Hm – that’s easy! I’ll buy a tent and put it outside the Neolodge and camp there!” Snivore said proudly.

     “Have you got a favourite collection?” Jazz asked, looking an Aesop Plushie who was sitting on his Wooden Desk with other plushies.

     “No – I buy what catches my attention, and I love all my collection equally hence everything is in such good condition. If I had another Neolodge Room I’d be able to store things properly!” Snivore said, smiling as he looked around his room.

     “Are you even allowed two Neolodge Rooms?” Jazz asked, thinking it was a bit unfair for Snivore to have two.

     Snivore looked at him, he wasn’t too sure on the answer of that himself. “Good question – but no harm in asking especially if all they want is just NeoPoints for a certain amount of nights!” he said proudly. The Xweetok then got up and carefully stepped on a spot that hasn’t been taken yet. He carefully walked to the door, with Jazz following him curiously.

     “What are you going to do now, Snivore?” Jazz asked.

     “Going to ask if I can have another Neolodge room then will see Twumbo and the Super Shop Wizard” Snivore said smiling.

     Jazz simply stared at Snivore in disbelief. He secretly hoped they wouldn’t let him borrow another one, mainly because he felt it was rather greedy that Snivore wanted two rooms.

     “You know, you could get several Violet Shelf Units to put your collection on and remove the draws if you still want to display them” Jazz suggested.

     “Hm that’s a great idea, Jazz” Snivore said, making Jazz look relieved for a moment. “I’ll get an extra set for the extra room too!” he added, smiling, disappointing Jazz at once.

     The two made their way down to the Neolodge Room’s reception which was run by a neatly dressed Cockroach – after all, it was the Cheap Lodge and most of the Cheap Lodge Staff were Cockroaches.

     “Hello, how may I help you?” The Cockroach asked.

     “Hello Mavis, I was wondering if it’s possible for me to have another Neolodge Room – and have two rooms at once” Snivore asked. “Please?”

     Jazz felt embarrassed by Snivore asking that question, he could only imagine if Snivore was allowed another room, it would be cluttered within a day.

     Mavis, the Cockroach shook his head. “I’m sorry, however, Neopets are allowed to have only one room each, why do you ask?” he said.

     “Oh… It’s because mine is too small for my belongings and need another one to make space for it” Snivore said – it was small due to his clutter, however, would’ve been better if he tidied everything up as Jazz suggested.

     Jazz looked up at Snivore then at Mavis.

     “I’m sorry, however as I said, we are out of rooms. If your room is too small perhaps try to use the Safety Deposit Box or consider sheds that have shelves in them. Here’s a list of sheds and Safety Deposit Boxes that are available” Mavis said as he gave Snivore a piece of Old Paper with writing on it. “Is there anything else you would like?”

     Snivore tried to hide his disappointment when Mavis him the Old Paper. “Not that I can think of, thank you, though for everything, Mavis! See you later” he then walked away with Jazz.

     “What do we do now, Snivore?” Jazz asked.

     Snivore looked at Jazz with a smile.

     “Oh no! You found a new item you’re interested in collecting, right?” Jazz asked.

     “I did! This time, stamps. I’m going to ask Twumbo if he could help me get the expensive ones, he’s usually good at finding these things” Snivore answered happily.

     “That’ll take you ages to complete. Which album will you start in?” Jazz asked as the two friends walked to Twumbo’s Neolodge room.

     “I think the most affordable one first” Snivore said happily, thinking stamp collecting should be a breeze. It wasn’t long before they made it to Twumbo’s room, and when they did, Snivore knocked on the door excitedly.

     Moments later, Twumbo, a Pirate Xweetok opened the door with his Snowbunny and Skritch in his arms. “Hi Snivore, how are you?” he asked excitedly.

     “Hello, Twumbo, great thank you and yourself? What have you been doing these days?” Snivore answered, smiling at the Pirate Xweetok.

     “I’ve been busy with doing a few things here and there, how about you? How is your collection going?” Twumbo said. By that, he meant preparing for April Fools Day – he didn’t want Snivore to remember it was coming up as he had a rather big plan for the Halloween Xweetok’s April Fools Day joke.

     “My collection is going really well, I tried asking for another room but Mavis said they’re all out. So I have to find the Safety Deposit Box to store my items in. I’m also going to start collecting stamps and wonder if you can help me with finding a lot of them, please?” Snivore answered – hopeful that he and Twumbo could easily finish the album.

     That request alone gave Twumbo an idea for his April Fools Day joke for Snivore, how he longed to burst into laughter at his idea, however, he managed to put on a straight face expression. “Stamp collection is a rather expensive goal, Snivore. Are you sure you want to do that?” Twumbo asked.

     “Absolutely! I’d love to do it – next will be the TGC’s! I want to collect everything in Neopia after all!” Snivore answered with a smile. He was so excited at the thought of him and Twumbo collecting all the stamps together in Neopia, however, Twumbo had better ideas.

     “Actually – I can get you all the stamps, Snivore. It’ll take a few days for me to gather them all for you, but I know places that have them – I can also give you the TGCs you want!” Twumbo said. He mentioned a few days as it was April Fools Day by the time he gathered up his plans.

     Snivore looked at him in delight. This was such a dream come true for him. “Really? Thank you, so much, Twumbo! What can I give you in return?” he asked.

     “Oh nothing, it’s just a gift for being such a good friend. Well, look at the time, I’d better let you go and do your things, while I start searching for the stamps, meet me here in a few days’ time and I’ll have everything for you!” Twumbo said, eager to play the trick on him.

     “Alright, I’ll head out and do my things – I have training to do in the next few days at Mystery Island Training School – I need to collect more Codestones too for it! Thank you, again, Twumbo and I’ll see you later!” With that, Snivore and Jazz left, chatting away excitedly.

     Twumbo waited a few minutes until Snivore was out of sight, he then looked at Mumbo and Wumbo. “Are you going to do what I think you’re going to do?” Mumbo asked looking at Twumbo.

     “Yep! I need to go to the Super Shop Wizard to get a few things to play a big prank on Snivore” Twumbo smirked at his idea.

     “I’m so looking forward to seeing his face expression when we give him the stamps” Mumbo said with a chuckle, Wumbo nodded in agreement.

     The three friends made their way to the Super Shop Wizard to get three Roll of Drawing Paper, a Basic Pencil, Tombola Pencil Sharpener, Green Faerie Eraser, Silver Scissors, Blue Cybunny Ruler, Blue Super Glue, Deluxe Set of Colouring in Pencils and a few other items he needed. He then returned back to his Neolodge to get stuck into his plan for Snivore’s Stamp Album. Lucky for them, they didn’t run into him on the way back. They closed the door behind them when they got back in Twumbo’s Neolodge Room.

     “Are we going to draw all the stamps and copy them?” Mumbo asked in delight, laughing at Twumbo’s idea as he watched the Xweetok put the items on the Elegant Desk in his room.

     “Yes. I know what all the stamps look like. I can easily draw them and make an album for Snivore. I’ll give it to him on April Fool’s Day along with the Codestone Plushies!” Twumbo said with a smirk then laughed as he imagined Snivore’s reaction. He then got to work on the fake stamps, cutting them into shape, drawing and colouring them in to look as close to the real ones as possible. Mumbo and Wumbo helped him with it. It took him at least a few days to complete and when he did, he was excited.

     Due to training, Snivore wasn’t able to catch up with Twumbo until a few days later – which he didn’t know was April Fools Day.

     “Do you think he’d have all the stamps ready for us now, Snivore?” an excited Jazz asked as he walked with Snivore to Twumbo’s Neolodge Room – it was now time for him to pick up his stamps, oblivious to what day of the month it is.

     “I think so. It has been a few days and he said he’d get it done in time for me. I’m so excited to see them, Jazz. I wonder how he’d go about collecting the expensive ones though” Snivore said, thinking that Twumbo was rich.

     “We’ll find out shortly, here we are” Jazz said excitedly as they arrived at Twumbo’s door.

     Snivore knocked on Twumbo’s door excitedly.

     “HI SNIVORE! HANG ON – I’LL BE READY IN A FEW MINUTES!” Twumbo yelled out through the door – not wanting to open it just yet. He had one more prank to play before he let Snivore in. Smiling, he slightly opened the door and quickly put a Red Bucket full of water on top of the door frame.

     Snivore thought it was strange that Twumbo slightly opened the door, without asking him to come in.

     “Alright – you can open the door now!” Twumbo said.

     Snivore looked at Jazz and picked him up then walked towards the door, excitedly, he opened it and felt a the Red Bucket full of water tip over him – the bucket landed on his head up-side down, causing Twumbo, Mumbo and Wumbo to burst into laughter.

     Snivore quickly took the Red Bucket off his head – which was now empty as he was soaked from head to toe with water. He placed the Red Bucket on the ground next to him. He was confused to why the three were laughing. Just as he started walking, he slipped over, it was almost like someone had used the Slipper Floor Potion on the ground, making the three of them to laugh even more as Snivore’s face expression was priceless. Jazz too was confused about the reason they were laughing.

     Moments later, Twumbo stopped laughing and looked at Snivore. He walked over to the Elegant Desk and took the fake stamp album from it and gave it to Snivore. “Here is your stamp album, Snivore – I hope you like it! Took us days to gather all of them together” Twumbo said, as he handed Snivore the stamp album.

     Though he was wet, Snivore smiled and gently took the album from Twumbo’s paws. He opened the album and when he did, he saw a Pink Squirt Flower on the first page – before he could even ask what it was, the Pink Squirt Flower sprayed water on Snivore’s face, making Twumbo, Mumbo and Wumbo burst into laughter as they looked at Snivore’s shocked and annoyed face expression.

     “Wh-what just happened?!” Snivore asked in confusion – getting no answer from his laughing friends. Confused, he began looking through the album. He noticed something was different about the stamps compared to what he had seen in the stamp shop but wasn’t too sure what it.

     “Why do the stamps look so different?” Snivore asked in confusion, getting no answer again from his laughing friends. Moments later, he got his answer after going through all the pages to notice they were all different.

     “APRIL FOOLS! HAPPY APRIL FOOLS, DAY, SNIVORE! HAHAHA!” Twumbo yelled out in delight – enjoying seeing Snivore’s reaction. “The stamps are fake – we made them up. You can’t get them that easily – the majority of them are really expensive! The real ones anyway!” he said then burst into laughter again. "We didn't end up doing the TGC's but can get you them if you want us to!"

     Snivore simply just stared at him in disbelief. He wasn’t sure how to react, nor did Jazz.

     “There’s a Fuzzy White Towel on my Elegant Table – you can use that” Twumbo said between laughs.

     Snivore didn’t like the idea of using the Fuzzy White Towel – just in case Twumbo planted another trick inside it, imagining there would be some sort of trick to it. “I think I’ll go back to my Neolodge Room and find my own – thank you, though, Twumbo for the album! I’ll keep it as a reminder to save up for the real stamps as for the TGC's I'll earn them too” Snivore said.

     After bidding goodbye to Twumbo, Mumbo and Wumbo, Jazz and Snivore left their room and made their way back to Snivore’s room, leaving behind the three friends who began laughing once they left.

     "Snivore needs to be careful what he wishes for!" Twumbo said with a smile as he watched the Xweetok walk away.

     The End.