The Perils of a New Brother: Part One

     Silence filled the room. Steel, the human, was eased back on the fresh bamboo bed, staring at the ceiling, while Jaeger, the green Lupe with a lucky bone necklace, was resting in a traditional bone throne, looking thoughtfully out of a small, round, Tyrannian-style window. A rather large Quetzal was carefully watching the jelly conveyer sitting on the floor, its large yellow eyes in a trance. Simultaneously, both Steel and Jaeger expressed a contented sigh.

     “Jaeger, I’ve been thinking.” Steel said at last, breaking the silence.

     “Wow, that’s new,” Jaeger muttered sarcastically.

     Ignoring the comment, Steel went on. “Now that we have a neohome, it seems like we can add something else to our lives.”

     “Furniture?” Jaeger asked, a little confused as to where Steel was going with this.

     “Well, yeah... but I was thinking something that would become part of our family.” Steel hinted subtly, waiting for Jaeger to catch on.

     “You can only have one petpet per neopet,” Jaeger stated.

     “I wasn’t talking about a petpet. I was talking about another neopet -- a little brother for you.”

     “A little brother? Whoa, Steel, what makes you think that’s necessary?” Jaeger sat up straight in his chair, looking at his human with worry in his eyes.

     “Well, a lot of neopets have siblings. And you’ve been alone all your life... maybe a little brother would be good for you.” Steel had expected this response from the Lupe, but he was convinced that Jaeger would gradually warm up to the idea. Another silence ensued as Jaeger thought about the prospect with a frown.

     “I was thinking a Kougra,” Steel uttered after several seconds.

     “Kougra? No, no, no. If anything, a little brother would have to be a Lupe,” Jaeger insisted, getting up from his seat.

     “Why is that?” Steel inquired.

     “Because... well...” The Lupe stumbled, a little off guard. “You can’t go Chia hunting with a Kougra.”

     “Is that what it’s all about? That’s nonsense, anyway. Any young neopet with a big, cool Lupe brother to look up to could learn to hunt Chias.” Steel made sure to include some flattery if he was to get on his rather self-obsessed Lupe’s good side.

     “How long have you been thinking about this?” Jaeger asked.

     “Quite a while. And you know if I’ve been dwelling on something for a few days, it isn’t an impulse decision.” Steel looked into the green Lupe’s eyes seriously. Perhaps he would win over his pet yet. After a few moments of good staring, he knew that an answer was coming.

     “I’m going for a walk.”

     “What? Is that a yes?” Steel blurted, impatient for an answer.

     “It’s an ‘I’m going for a walk’.”

     Before Steel could edge in another word, the door was closed and Jaeger was walking briskly down their piece of untamed Shenkuu property. Steel sat back against the bed and drew in a breath. He knew this meant that Jaeger was accepting the idea of having a Kougra brother.

***

     A while later, Jaeger came back through the door carrying a couple bags of food. Without turning to look at Steel, he spoke while unloading the items and starting to prepare the food.

     “You know, I guess I could get used to having a brother,” Jaeger said while plopping a generous serving of tentacle rice into a bowl.

     “Great!” Steel exclaimed, jumping up from his seat on the bed.

     Jaeger handed a bowl of tentacle rice to Steel before promptly sitting himself down and eating his own. Steel’s happy expression transformed into one of distaste as he looked down at the wriggling bowl. He didn’t know when or if he was going to get used to Shenkuu food.

     “I think I’ll head down to Neopia Central now. Not really hungry, you know?” Steel set the tentacle rice on the tree stump table and headed out the door.

***

     About an hour later, Steel came back in through the door carrying an adorable ball of sleeping red fur. Jaeger rushed over to check out the new family member. He had to admit, the small red Kougra cub was cute as it slept contentedly in Steel’s arms. Kar, Jaeger’s Quetzal, came slithering hurriedly over to investigate the cub, flicking his slender forked tongue against the Kougra’s cheek. Slowly the cub’s head turned and his big golden eyes opened. As he took in the setting around him, his eyes became sharper, more alert. And then, unexpectedly, he gave a huge grin and sat up straight in Steel’s arms.

     “Wow! Are you my brother?” the Kougra inquired eagerly, looking up at Jaeger with reverential awe.

     “Well, I don’t know if I would call it that...” Jaeger began to respond, only to be cut off by Steel.

     “Yes, this is Jaeger. Jaeger, this is Seth.” Steel gave Jaeger a subtle but stern look, wanting him to be nice to the new family member.

     Seth still wore a bracelet from the Adopt-a-Pet agency with his full name written on it, Seth__Cooper. Jaeger hardly had time to examine it, though, because the Kougra was bouncing around on all fours with uncontrollable excitement. He hopped out of Steel’s arms and began exploring the one room bamboo neohome.

     “Wow... wow...” were Seth’s only uttered words as he inspected every item in the house. First the curvy sand sculpture, then the red Geraptiku vases, and then the stained glass sai window, until he had seen everything. Finally, he stopped and stood on his four paws, looking up at Steel and Jaeger with thrill evident in his eyes. “Is this going to be my neohome?”

     “Take it easy, kid,” Jaeger said quickly to try and quell the cub’s excitement, “you’re just new here. Don’t you go claiming anything as your own just yet.”

     “What he means to say is,” Steel added, “it’s our neohome. Jaeger’s, mine, and yours. And Kar’s.”

     The Quetzal snaked up to Seth, raising his upper body so that he was as tall as the young Kougra. The brilliant blue feathers adorning the serpentine petpet’s head raised up slightly as he examined Seth, his mouth curved in a little smile. Seth stared back at the petpet in equal amazement and inquisitiveness.

     “Whoa,” Seth said with a smile without taking his eyes off of Kar, “where is he from?”

     “He’s from Geraptiku,” Jaeger answered brusquely. “It’s an abandoned jungle city on Mystery Island.”

     “Wow,” Seth breathed, which seemed to be his response to everything. “Is he mine too?”

     “No,” Jaeger answered quickly, motioning for the Quetzal to climb up his body and perch on his shoulder. “And you’ll be lucky if you even get to be near him.”

     “Oh,” the Kougra replied quietly. But Jaeger’s rudeness didn’t keep him quiet for long. “Hey, what’s that necklace you’re wearing?” Seth stared up at Jaeger’s lucky bone necklace.

     “It’s also from Geraptiku.”

     “Can I try it on?”

     “No.”

***

     For several days after Seth’s introduction to the family, things went on like this. The typical conversation between Seth and Jaeger involved Seth asking questions and Jaeger responding with either a blunt answer or a “no”. Steel had another room built for their neohome so that Jaeger could have some privacy once in a while -- a single room directly above the ground room, connected with a simply made rope ladder instead of a flight of stairs. Even the second room wasn’t helpful to Jaeger’s abrasiveness, though, and Steel couldn’t tolerate his Lupe anymore. The human and Lupe climbed the rope ladder into the second room, away from Seth, who was playing in the backyard comprised of Shenkuu forest.

     “What is wrong with you, Jaeger? I’ve never seen you be so rude to a young neopet. And Seth is a part of the family now!” Steel said with an exasperated expression.

     “He’s just so... undisciplined,” the green Lupe muttered, folding his muscular arms stubbornly.

     “And that’s to say you weren’t undisciplined when you were his age? Face it, Jaeger, you were uncontrollable, a lot more so than him.”

     “I don’t see what I have to do with this,” Jaeger retorted.

     “I’m saying, why can’t you see yourself in Seth?”

     “Because he’s a Kougra!” Jaeger almost yelled what he saw to be obvious.

     “Is that why you’re acting this way? Are you prejudiced?”

     “No, it’s just that...” Jaeger began, but Seth’s young voice was yelling in a thrilled voice from downstairs.

     “Steel, Jaeger, look what I found!”

     The Lupe and human stuck their heads through the opening where the rope ladder went, looking at the ground level room. Seth was howling with excitement, while a very muddy Juma bounded happily through the room, making a terrible mess. As it zipped circles around the room with what seemed to be endless energy, it tapped a red Geraptiku vase, causing it to tip over. Before it could shatter, though, Jaeger dropped to the floor with a shaking thud and caught it. The thud from his landing made both Seth and the hyperactive Juma freeze in their places, staring at the very angry and large Lupe.

     “Where did it come from?” Jaeger asked Seth sternly.

     “I found her outside. Well, she found me. I was playing in the forest and she came up and poked me with her nose, wanting to play, so I found a stick, and...” Seth began to ramble before Jaeger interrupted him.

     “Yeah, I get it. But look at this mess! Get her out of the house, now.” The Lupe pointed a thick finger towards the east door, his facial expression as cold as ice.

     “But... I was wondering if I could keep her.” Seth’s innocence made him not very good at judging the right time to ask a question. But Steel saved him from another lambasting from Jaeger.

     “Seth, that Juma has a tattoo in her ear. That means that someone owns her. You wouldn’t want some unfortunate neopet crying at night because they lost their petpet, would you?” Steel reasoned with the young Kougra, who lowered his head and swiveled his ears back.

     “No, I wouldn’t,” Seth replied quietly.

     “Then I’ll do a search to find the owner and then neomail them.”

     As Steel left the house, Seth padded up to Jaeger with a smile. “You know, Jae, you don’t smile very much.”

     “Don’t call me Jae,” Jaeger growled, leaving Seth to climb the rope ladder up to his room.

     “Can I come up?” Seth asked, but Jaeger responded by pulling the ladder up into his room and slamming the trapdoor shut.

***

     The Kougra cub was amazingly difficult to offend, though. Despite all of Jaeger’s downright rude behavior since Seth’s arrival, he hadn’t shown hurt feelings at all. Shaking it off, Seth went outside and played with the new Juma in the backyard.

     “Wouldn’t it be great if I could keep you? I think I would call you Taze.” Seth sat on his haunches on the dirt forest floor. He lifted a massive red paw that didn’t fit his body to ruffle the Juma’s soft fur. Kar slithered down from a tree above them, wearing a smile as he sniffed the muddy little Juma and flicked his tongue against her cheek. Taze responded by wagging her whole rear end and licking the Quetzal in the face. Seth laughed.

     “Well, you two sure like each other.” The Kougra’s smiling face slowly turned into one of sadness. “I wish Jaeger acted that way to me. I don’t think he likes me. I love having a big brother, but...” the cub’s voice trailed off, and he stared into space as a lone tear rolled down his red cheek. The two petpets were the only ones to act consolingly to him, as Kar wrapped his muscular body around the Kougra and Taze licked his forelegs.

     Unbeknownst to Seth, Jaeger was watching and listening from a window in his room. The Lupe turned away with mixed feelings. He hadn’t been acting like himself these past few days. Before he could think about it further, Steel came in through the front door. Jaeger slipped down the rope ladder to greet his owner and learn what he found out.

     “I found the owner, but it turns out that this Juma was no beloved petpet. They were just going to throw her into some trading lot with nine other neglected petpets. Sooo...” Steel whipped out a pink piece of paper. “...I bought her for 9000 neopoints.”

     “Do you really think Seth should have a petpet so soon?” Jaeger said apprehensively. “I didn’t get Kar until I was older.”

     “Having a petpet will be good for Seth. It will teach him responsibility, and at least he’ll have a companion, since you haven’t exactly been acting brotherly to him.” Steel and Jaeger just looked at each other for a moment. It was impossible for Steel to tell what was going on inside his Lupe’s head, despite owning several Lupes in the past and reading and re-reading Inside the Mind of a Lupe. “Besides, you love Jumas. Remember when you were first looking to get a petpet? That playful little Juma in the store was your first choice. But back then, they cost 90k, so you moved on and found Kar instead.”

     “Yeah, I know.” Jaeger was very quiet, and Steel wondered what had gotten into him to make him so different.

     “You haven’t really been yourself lately, Jaeger.”

     “Yeah, I know.”

     There was a bit of a silence, and then Steel spoke up. “Where’s Seth? I want to give him the good news.”

     “He’s outside with Kar and Taze.”

     “Taze?”

     “That’s what he called the Juma,” Jaeger explained.

     Jaeger watched Steel rush outside with the bright pink ownership paper and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. He had been thinking about his actions toward Seth, and was starting to feel regretful. If pride would let him, he needed to find some way to lighten up on the cub.

     Suddenly, Steel burst through the door.

     “Seth’s gone.”

     Eyes wide, Jaeger and his owner ran outside, checking the bushes where he was last seen and yelling out the Kougra’s name. After a few minutes of futile searching, Jaeger came across something on the ground. It was a note on a piece of paper. Calling Steel over, Jaeger read it aloud:

      “Dear Steel and Jaeger,

      I am runnung away bekause iverything I do is kussed at by Jieger, eben though I try to be good. I’m going to Mystiry Iland. Don’t try to find me.

      Seth Cooper”

     Jaeger looked up from the message with a thoughtful expression on his face, while Steel just stared at the letter looking truly hurt.

     “Why were there so many spelling errors?” Jaeger thought aloud.

     “Jaeger, he’s a kid. Of course he’s not a perfect speller,” Steel replied frankly.

     “Yeah, but these look deliberate. I mean, look at how he spelled my name -- the first time it says ‘Jaeger’, and the second time it says ‘Jieger’. What do you think it means?”

     “Honestly, I think he’s a kid with bad, inconsistent spelling. We’ve got to go to Mystery Island and find him.” Steel rushed back to the house.

     Jaeger, on the other hand, wasn’t content to go to Mystery Island. Something was wrong here; there had to be something behind this letter. With a look of determination bent in his face, he headed off to someone that he knew could help find the answer.

To be continued...