A Most Peculiar Family!

     ....

     "Please stop that."

     ....

     "I'm trying to read, Bawarria!"

     .....

     "Ugh. If you wouldn't mind, that really is quite irritating!"

      The Eyrie did not seem at all amused. His eyes glowed bright cyan as the Kougra seemed undeterred by his requests to stop poking him. She looked up at him with an expression of awe.

     "But you're a robot - it's not like it hurts," she responded, half questioningly.

     "It hurts me that you consider that reason enough to disregard my right to remain un-poked," he replied seamlessly. The reply had appeared to be too complex for the baby Kougra to understand, and so after a tiresome sigh (for a robot, it sounds more like a disgruntled echo) Omt reconstructed his reply.

     "Just because I'm a robot, it doesn't mean I don't have feelings."

     Bawarria finally stopped poking the Eyrie and remained content to sit and stare intently at him instead.

     "Patche said that, if you wanted to, you could destroy the WHOLE of Neopia Central!" she blurted out childishly. "With one paw! Or a karate kick! Or-or- a swoop of your gig-an-to-NORMOUS wings!"

     Omt put his book down and stared at Bawarria with an expression that inclined he was not sure how to respond. Bawarria was overwhelmed by her ideas and had taken to trudging on the couch around the Eyrie, making screeching noises as if she were stamping on a city, and then re-enacting explosions with assisting whooshing noises.

     "I would do nothing of the sort," Omt responded. "I am here to spend time with the family, and because Neopia Central has a wonderful library."

     "Do you ever feel lonely sometimes?" Bawarria asked. She slumped down on the couch and wriggled closer to Omt, who had tried to continue reading, but defeatedly given up and put the book down altogether.

     "Why would I feel lonely?" he asked. Bawarria shrugged.

     "I don't know - because you're kind of alone? I mean, you don't have a mother or father - or brothers or sisters - or even cousins!" Bawarria folded her ears down sadly. "Does it make you sad sometimes?"

     Omt's calculating eyes were still for a moment. He didn't move, either; he stayed perfectly still.

     "I admit, sometimes the life of a robotic pet is - different. At least, different to other sorts of pets," he replied finally. "And yes - you are right - I would classify that as 'lonely' at times. I don't respond or experience things the way you do." he shrugged. "But it's never for a very long time, and part of me always knows I'm never truly alone as long as I have pets in my life that I care for."

     "Like me?!" Bawarria asked hopefully, jumping up. Omt flinched back as she did so. She truly was a classic example of a Baby Kougra.

     "Albeit you are one of the younger and more eccentric of those I referred to, but - yes, you are."

     "It's okay," Bawarria said. "I don't have a mother or father - or even cousins - either."

     "You live with Perrie, though?" Omt asked sadly. "That Water Wocky loves you very much."

     Bawarria's face stretched into a giant grin, but she insisted on the topic.

     "But what about you? You still don't have a real family," she continued. "I'm not sure robot families work quite the same as other pet families - unless you were zapped by that ray! Or-or evil Dr. Sloth turned you into some robot destroying machine! What is your real family? Do you have one?"

     Omt looked around the room they were in; it was a little cozy lounge room where the two of them had seated themselves atop a squishy, brown sofa that neighbored a crackling fire in the corner. The whole room was lit in auburn reds, beiges and golds. In the adjacent room, where no door rested as a boundary, Sueid and Spiderlegs were in deep thought over a game of Kacheekers, both continuing a casual conversation over the top; which included many giggles and snorts.

     Omt looked to his left where, beyond the open styled kitchen, he could see out the window to a beautiful Neopia Central garden where Sueid was consumed by a dozen blooming flowers and fruit trees. Her Plushie Noil, Tea, dozed under a lovely blossom tree next to her, purring as happily as ever.

     Omt could also hear Patche and Perrie playing Yooyuball outside in the front garden, where their own laughter filled whole street. Connait could be heard singing to the petpets near the pond as they also lazed under the hot sunshine, and Tiffnae was swooping in and amongst the various activities whilst she baked. The entire room smelled of berry pies, chocolate slices and coconut cakes. A warm ambiance filled every nook and cranny.

     "Bawarria," Omt began happily, "this is my family - our family. Family isn't always determined by your relation or blood - or in my case, I suppose programming - but about what pets you care about. I mean," he chuckled to himself, "I can't imagine Dr. Sloth being a very good family member."

     Bawarria looked about. She began to understand, and it dawned across her little face. Finally she smiled, and gave Omt a fuzzy hug. "Sometimes I forget I have a family all around me. I don't just need a mother and a father when I have everything and more.."

     Omt pondered contently. He had never really considered his family before that day - and he was surprised, too, to find how much of a family he had come to be a part of. Besides those tense moments where Patche ate all the pie in an attempt to avenge his lost dignity after being beaten fourteen times in Cheat!, these pets , although a funny bunch, were the closest thing Omt had ever had to a family.

     "I'm really glad I have you as my family," Bawarria said suddenly.

     "Lots of other pets have mothers and fathers and aunts and uncles - with lots of cousins too! ...But... I don't think any of them have a family as interesting as mine... Right?"

     Omt smiled. "Probably not."

     He got up slowly, taking Bawarria's paw as he did, and the two of them strolled outside into a beautiful, Spring day. Omt had to duck a few times as Bindi, Spiderlegs Christmas Yooyu, flew past, and he marveled at the beautiful street that was filled with busy and cheerful pets who had taken advantage of the beautiful weather. Many families played games, laughed and congregated for a friendly lunch, and the Neopian Plaza was bubbling with the atmosphere of overwhelming delight.

     "And..." Omt began, flinging Bawarria onto his back, spreading his wings and glowing an epic shade of glimmering silver,

     "I don't believe any family has a rocket-powered robot in it who can do this-" and just in time for Bawarria to clutch on tight with all her claws, he took off into the sky in a cloud of firework-like sparks; right way, way up until she could almost taste the clouds.

     "Nope," he said. "I don't think I'm ever really lonely - not with my family!"

     Your family can sometimes come in the strangest of pets, but not always the ones you are related to. Family care about each other, and are always there to keep you smiling. Neopia is one of those amazing places where your family can be anyone; especially rocket-powered Robot Eyries.

The End