The Rain

     "Ah, rain..." Flameteria, a red Xweetok sighed. She was sitting on a comfy pumpkin bean bag, gazing out of her window from her Neohome.

     "Argh, I hate this rain," her sister Charmeteria, a blue Kacheek complained. It's getting me cooped up at home. I want to go out!"

     "Rain is amazing," Flameteria murmured, ignoring her sister's complaints.

     The red Xweetok took a deep breath. She loved the smell of rain. It was fresh, almost indescribable. It was calming, soothing, especially with the cooling breeze. She loved the gentle sound of the raindrops, and how it gradually got heavier.

     There was lightning, then thunder. Charmeteria jumped, then quickly composed herself. "I wanted to go to town. I love going to town. Now I can't."

     The Kacheek's hobby was wandering around town and window shopping. She loved looking around shops and getting to know the shop keepers. She loved making friends. It was pretty useful as well, as she knew where to get the best bargains in Neopia. Since Charmeteria was close friends with some of the shop keepers, she usually got to buy things at a lower price.

     On the other hand, Flameteria preferred to stay at home to read a book. She was pretty much an introvert, though happy to make friends. Flameteria wouldn't have minded if she was alone, as long as she had a book to accompany her. There were times though, when Flameteria explored the lands in Neopia. It was practically bound to happen, since the red Xweetok loved reading adventure books. It was her favourite genre.

     Charmeteria was walking around the house, muttering about how her fur was getting frizzy. Flameteria chuckled. She never knew her sister cared about her looks so much.

     "Well, then, Flameteria, what are you going to do now? You're not just going to look out of the window for the rest of the day, are you? Who knows when the rain will stop?" Charmeteria asked.

     "Hmm... I suppose I could read a book." Flameteria got off her comfy pumpkin bean bag and skipped towards the bookshelf. "Let's see, there's All About Air Faeries. Maybe I'll read this."

     "Seriously, Flameteria? I'm sure there's something more interesting than that. Let's play Plushie Attack!" Charmeteria suggested.

     Plushie Attack was a game the two sisters created. It was a sort of pretend game, whereby each player chose one plushie. One of the plushies was the villain, while the other was the hero. The villain caused trouble in the 'town', while the hero saved the day.

     It was originally a game Flameteria made up just to occupy Charmeteria when she was bored. It surprised the Xweetok when her sister loved the game so much. Flameteria thought that the blue Kacheek would call the game "childish". It was ironic that although Charmeteria liked to appear mature, she loved to play such games.

     "OK," Flameteria agreed. "I'll be the villain."

     "Not fair! You were the villain last time!" the blue Kacheek complained. "Plus, I wanted to choose Darigan Faellie as the villain!"

     "Darigan Faellie is an action figure, Charme," Flameteria chuckled.

     Charmeteria pouted. "It doesn't matter!"

     "It does," Flameteria insisted. "The game is called 'Plushie Attack' after all."

     "All right," Charmeteria gave in. "I'll choose..." She looked around. "Faerie Cybunny!"

     "As the villain?" Flameteria was surprised.

     "Yup!" Charmeteria smiled. "Evil Faerie Cybunny!"

     "She doesn't look evil to me," Flameteria grinned as Charmeteria frowned. It was fun to tease her sister sometimes. "Anyway, I'm choosing Halloween Ixi as the hero."

     The game started anyway. Evil Faerie Cybunny was attacking the innocent plushies, while Halloween Ixi was swooping around, fighting the Evil Faerie Cybunny.

     "You can't catch me!" Charmeteria taunted. "I'm the Evil Faerie Cybunny!"

     Flameteria rolled her eyes (that is, if Xweetoks can possibly roll their eyes).

     The Evil Faerie Cybunny was approaching the petpet pen. A very frightened Weeble stopped in its tracks as Charmeteria moved closer to it.

     "Leave innocent petpets alone, Charme," Flameteria warned.

     The petpets were, after all, left in their Neohome by their owner, who instructed the Neopets to take care of them. There were six petpets there, namely Weeble, Ditsy, Tapira, Quetzal, Altachuck and Yorkie. Although only the Altachuck and Yorkie belonged to the Neopets, they were responsible for the rest as well. Attacking them with plushies, even if it's just pretending, was certainly not what their owner wanted. In fact, it was probably petpet abuse.

     "Oh come on, Flameteria." Charmeteria was annoyed. "It's not like I would have really hurt them." But she turned around and went back to where the plushies were.

     "Yeah probably, Charmeteria," Flameteria said, pronouncing the Kacheek's name as 'Charmieteria'.

     "It's pronounced as 'Charmteria'! Only my nickname "Charme" is pronounced "Charmie" and you know that!" the Kacheek snapped.

     Flameteria was taken aback. She never knew Charmeteria was so touchy about her name. Had she gone too far with her teasing? She never meant to. How would she know that her sister would react like that?

     Charmeteria seemed to be in a really bad mood and refused to speak to her sister. She stopped the game to play with her petpet, Yorkie the Yoakie. The petpet wasn't able to talk, let alone tease her after all.

     Flameteria sighed. It was not common for the two of them to disagree so much. She hoped that it was all due to the rain.

     Maybe it would have been better if it did not rain, she thought. But the Xweetok loved the rain. It would sadden her to wish that the rain did not come. "I hope it will be better when the rain ends," she prayed.

     Flameteria ended up reading All About Air Faeries after all, since Charmeteria was still ignoring her. It was a pretty good book. Plus, reading helped her forget about her troubles. (At least, for a while.) She was too absorbed in reading and was getting oblivious to her surroundings. She didn't even know that the rain had stopped.

     Suddenly, she felt a tiny nudge on her leg. It was her petpet, Allie the Altachuck. The shy petpet was looking at her with concerned eyes. Then it turned to look at the window. Flameteria followed her petpet's gaze. Then she saw it.

     It was a rainbow. A colourful rainbow. Flameteria had seen the Rainbow Fountain in Faerieland, but had never seen a real rainbow as beautiful as the rainbow she saw right then.

     "Charme! Charme!" She called her sister. "Look! A rainbow!" Flameteria pointed to the window.

     Charmeteria forgot about her annoyance with her sister and looked out of the window. She smiled. Then she said, "Forget about the window! Let's go outside!"

     They rushed out of their Neohome with their petpets.

     The sky was no longer a dreary shade of grey. Instead, it was a lovely shade of blue. The sun was out, cheerfully welcoming the two Neopets. But the rainbow was the best thing of all.

     "It's beautiful," Charmeteria gasped. "Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet! Just like you told me!"

     With that, the sisters forgot about their argument. The rain had stopped, and there was a big, beautiful rainbow in the sky.

     "You know what?" Charmeteria asked. "I think rain is wonderful after all. How would you get to see a rainbow without rain?"

     Flameteria smiled. "Of course."

The End