I couldn't say it was a sunny day in Neopia, because
that would be a lie. I also couldn't say that it was rainy, or cloudy, because
that would be exaggerating. It was one of those days when you couldn't see the
sun, but it wasn't cloudy. You get it?
Ryhata had been buzzing all over, excited that
she was going to get a big, cosy Regal Oak Bed to sleep in. She hugged Mr. Shankley*
(her blue fuzzle that she carried everywhere, including through the mud and
into lakes). I, of course, was busy putting up wallpaper in the Kitchen. Ryhata
sat on the floor, with her magical hair Usuki and Mr. Shankley right next to
her, and popped one of her questions I couldn't answer.
"Mommy, what is it like to have wings?"
Ryhata was new to Neopia, she was a little pink
(really red, but she looked pink) Poogle with the most wild imagination a pet
could possess. She always popped questions that couldn't answer, like when we're
going to get rich or when she's going to get that Geisha Girl Usuki. But for
a girl that was very fussy and definitely NOT a morning person, and of course,
not that bright, she did stun me.
"What do you mean?" I asked as a sheet of ripped
blue wallpaper that was hanging loose off the wall fell on my head. I muffled
an "Oof!" and attempted to plaster it back up.
Ryhata looked up at me with those big, black eyes. The kind that make you want
to give your pet all they want, or what on Earth they call "Puppy Face." A big,
wide grin stretched across her face like the Neopian Sea-big, long, and powerful.
Ryhata was not one to be reckoned with.
"I mean, Mommy, I know a lot of pets that are
painted. What would it be like to be painted faerie and fly away-like a Beakadoodle?"
Ryhata asked. Jumpy, her Warf, bounded up to her and licked her, straight across
the face. Jumpy was always happy, no matter what the condition, and attacked
normal pets and humans-with love. No matter who they were, Jumpy was sure to
love them, and be on top of them licking their face endlessly in 5 seconds.
"Mmm…I Mumo," I mumbled as a hammered a
nail into the wall. Building your NeoHome was hard, and I knew because I have
been on Neopets for almost 1 ½ years (the account Ryhata lived in was young,
though). I nearly choked on the nails that I had in my mouth when I accidentally
hit my hand with the hammer. Yikes!
"Mommy, are you listening to me?" Ryhata asked
as she cocked her head to the side, looking in sheer amusement and wonder at
me bouncing upside down and yelping like a Puppyblew.
"Ryhata, we'll discuss this later," I said as
I made a face in the utmost pain one could bear. That was the end of that! Or
so I thought. "Right now, I need to go to the Neopian Hospital…"
The next day, when my hand was all bandaged up
and my NeoHome was halfway completed, Ryhata and I played a few games. Ryhata
loved going to the Game Room, and was constantly begging me to play Meerca Chase.
As soon as we were done, we flopped down on her beanbag as we got home. I was
ready to call it a day when…
"Mommy, can I be a faerie Poogle?"
I didn't expect that she would ask again. Sure,
she nagged me for toys and books but never paintbrushes! But I knew Ryhata was
too stubborn to give up (she rarely gives up on Usuki dolls) and she kept, from
that day on, bugging me about the Faerie Paintbrush.
By the next week, I was rather fed up about her
whines and complains. I once (on my 1st account) had a Uni, who were said to
be as vain as Jhudora the Dark Faerie but she certainly wasn't as vain as Ryhata
was. So one day, I told Ryhata we'll check the price of one. She got me up early
that day (from threatening that she was going to bite off my ear) and we headed
to the Shop Wizard.
I very well knew the price of the Faerie Paintbrush,
and as I said, I have been on Neopets for 1 ½ years, and I knew Neopia from
the bottom of my heart. I knew the cost was outrageous, at 100,000 NP for getting
a glittery, cute Neopet. We weren't rich, believe me, I was struggling to pay
the bills of my NeoHome I also knew the Shop Wiz (as we called him) personally
(after searching Neopia far and wide for items). He was a fairly nice guy, but
a little peeved when everyone begged him mercilessly to search up another item.
Well, when I told him Ryhata wanted (and as Ryhata
would put it "needed") a faerie paintbrush his eyes grew wide and he said, "Are
you sure?"
"Yeah, give me the price," I said as I
winked at him and pointed to Ryhata. He got the message. After seeing thousands
of pets and their owners, no-scratch that, millions of Neopians, he knew how
greedy pets are. He grinned and pulled a big, leather-bound book off the shelf.
"The lowest price of the faerie paintbrush is…" he said as he looked up to
Ryhata and I, "One hundred-thousand Neopoints."
I saw Ryhata's lower lip trembling. This wasn't
going to be easy, breaking the news to her that she couldn't have one. If I
was lucky, I could get away from her massive temper tantrum with my life. That's
why I want her de-clawed…
"All right. C'mon, Ryhata. Let's go get a smoothie,"
I said in that nice tone of voice I get after Ryhata doesn't get what she wants.
Ryhata followed me out of there whimpering.
After getting a strawberry smoothie for both
of us, getting ten plushies from the Toy Store, and stocking up on books and
cosmetics (and also visiting my guild, the best of all, The Cloudless Sky) we
went home. It was late, so I gave Ryhata a bubble bath and feed her, and after
that I read to her from a book I bought at a Bargain Store for half-price, I
tucked her under the big, furry covers of her Regal Oak Bed. I whispered to
her her favourite poem and she (or so I thought) dozed off. I went to click
off the Coconut Lamp, when she said…
"Can we get a Lost Desert Paint Brush?"
The End
Author's Note: Hey! Laulata here, and her pink Poogle Ryhata! I just want
to say the story is true, and Ryhata (being herself) STILL wants a faerie paintbrush!
I'm still saving up for it....
*Her
fuzzle's name is MR. SHANKLEY, not to be confused w/Mr. Shankly the ski lodge
person. She did name it after him but changed the name around. | 
