A Rainy Day with Rather Odd Visits

      "It's raining again," my Neopet sighed.

      "And?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. My Neopet was a reflection of myself. Sometimes she's reads books and doesn't listen; sometimes she is too excited about something, just like me.

      "I can't go outside and play," she whined. I coughed a little bit. That wasn't true. We lived in the snowy Terror Mountains, and you could play in the snow all year round.

      "You can. In fact, it's the perfect time for slushy snow," I said with a faked patient voice. She had lived long enough with me to know that I wasn't that patient.

      "It's all so boring!" the Peophin exclaimed. I sighed. Oh great, this would be one of those whiny days. And the rain was a very good reason. Just great.

      "Let's read a book," I suggested.

      "Out loud," she glared at me. It wasn't fair. I loved to read books, but I hated to read out loud. She knew that. Oh well, I had to be a good example so I took out a book out of the bookshelf and opened it.

      Aurora sat down at the chair beside the snow sculpture and looked at me.

      "This is the story of Peophey the Peophin," I proclaimed slowly, dragging out each syllable. My pet glared at me.

      "I'll read it myself, thank you!" she snapped and snatched the book out of my hands. Then she stormed off to her own room.

      I grinned with satisfaction. At least she would have something to do for an hour. I sat down at my writing desk, took out a quill and put a piece of paper on the wooden surface. I bit at the top of my feathered friend for a little while, and then I began to write.

      "Things to do on a Rainy Day," I put as a header. Then I sucked at the quill (a bad habit) and started to write some more.

      "1. Make your pet read a book," I wrote. I continued to scribble down some ideas, pausing to check my pet once a while. At last she had finished the book and ran into my room.

      "Let's do something!" Aurora said with the whiny tone. Oh no, not again!

      "What?" I said, trying to remain calm.

      "Well…" she looked outside, "It's so boring to make sculptures of Abominable Snowballs every single day."

      "Let's make a day-trip," I said, putting my papers and the quill into a small bag.

      "Okay!" the Peophin said happily, having something to do.

      We walked outside. Usually the Terror Mountain had lots of blizzards and snowy weather, but today it was all just… rain. The snow was thick and wet, sticking to our feet as we walked. My pet practically swam through it, being a somewhat aquatic pet.

      The sign said 'Mystery Shop'. I hadn't really thought of where we would be going, but obviously Aurora wanted to visit the shop. She had never been here before, since this particular shop was rather new. We walked inside.

      I was hit with dazzling smells, one of faint paint and the other of faint dung. I shuddered, thinking of how horrible it would be to stick your hand into a bag and get a Pile of Dung. Aurora didn't seem to notice my little vision as she walked forward to the shopkeeper.

      "Would you like to have a mystery?" Tarla smiled. My pet nodded and pointed at a blue velvet bag.

      "It costs…" the Ixi said, but she was interrupted by my impatient pet.

      "Shadow! That one!" Aurora called out. I walked closer and inspected the price tag. It said 10232. If I hadn't had those glasses right then, I think my eyes would've popped out.

      "I'm sorry," I told the shopkeeper, "but I don't have enough Neopoints for that item."

      "It's okay," she said and gently led my pet to the door. At least someone here was sensible to see what I wanted.

      "I really wanted that one," my pet complained when we got out of the shop and into the drizzle again.

      "Let's go somewhere else," I said, and dragged her over to the Garage Sale.

      "Hurry up, they're going fast!" Mika called out as we entered the Igloo. I saw several different items, but decided on a Ring Vine.

      "This one?" Carassa asked me.

      "Yes," I replied and handed over the NP. When we got out of the shop, Aurora did some more whining.

      "Why did you buy that plant for yourself and nothing for me?" she demanded angrily.

      "Well, I'm a shopkeeper," I answered, "and I bought that to sell for profit."

      "Why don't we play and have some fun?" I said.

      "It's just not fair," she grumbled, apparently still sore at the fact that I hadn't bought her anything.

      "You can only be angry if you let yourself to be," I said wisely. I knew how she would react. Steam poured from her ears as she glared sourly at me.

      "Humph!" she said and walked very fast, without looking at anything.

      I followed her. After all, she was my pet and I had to take care of her. Aurora could be real stubborn sometimes, and this was one of those times. I tried to cheer her up and get her thinking other things, but she just wouldn't.

      After a few hours, we reached Krawk Island. I walked over and handed 200 NP to play Buried Treasure as the Peophin sat down at the beach and wallowed in self-pity.

      I opened my piece of paper and saw that I had won a Dubloon.

      "Come over here!" I yelled at Aurora with excitement.

      "It's still raining," was the only thing she said when she got there. She looked at the dubloon with a careless expression on her face and frowned. But I knew that she was secretly pleased. We both liked things that could train statistics, especially Codestones and Dubloons.

      With no warning, the Peophin showed up.

      "Don't be so sad!" she told my pet and gave us a Roo Island Crystal. "Here's something to cheer you up!"

      Peophey's actions accomplished it all in a few seconds, while my mere efforts had failed. Aurora, happy to meet another Peophin, grasped the Crystal and thanked Peophey. She looked much happier when we walked back to our home on Alpine Avenue.

      "Do you still want to do something?" I asked her.

      "Yeah! Let's have a rainy day race!" she said. Somehow I knew she would think of that idea. I packed some cookies and a thermos filled hot chocolate before we left.

      The drizzle had turned into a downpour, but Aurora didn't mind. As expected, she beat me. She grinned happily as she received a golden chocolate coin for her efforts. After we had raced five times and run around quite a bit, my Peophin decided to make some more snow sculptures of Abominable Snowballs.

      I sat down and wrote in my little green, lined notebook.

      Today's Lesson: When persuading your pet to do something, be indirect. Giving fruit baskets and various other presents will help.

      I looked up to find my pet smiling at me. I grinned back.

      "This is such a great day!" she said.

      "No more whine because of the rain?" My voice was dripping of sarcasm as Aurora glared at me.

      "Typical Shadow…" -

The End

Author's Note: This is the first story ever starring my pet Aurora_Adina (who is currently a Starry Peophin, but may change by the wishes of the Lab Ray). Please Neomail your questions, comments or concerns to me regarding this story. Thanks for reading!