Chet Flash wuz here Circulation: 192,452,310 Issue: 643 | 2nd day of Hunting, Y16
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Perky


by airarbil

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"Morning!" Anodynia chirped. Her room mate, a small female Kacheek who liked to be called Olive, groaned loudly.

      "Dy, please, sleep!" Olive said, her voice scratchy from coughing. She had been sick ever since she arrived in the pound. Most pets in the pound were sick, starving, or both. Anodynia winced a bit, picking up her blanket and draping it over Olive.

      "Sorry, sorry, sleep," Anodynia said, smoothing the blankets down. Olive rolled over to look at her.

      "It's fine, Dy. Why are you so perky? You're in the pound for goodness's sake," Olive asked.

      "Well," Anodynia said, smoothing out the edges of the faded grey dress she was wearing. She had stitched a small lace-like trim along the edge using bits of cloth the pound volunteers gave her to make the threads. "I decided a long time ago that if I'm miserable, everyone around me will be miserable, and I don't want to do that to people." She smoothed down her frizzy ginger curls. Anodynia was the only blue Xweetok Olive had ever seen with brilliantly red hair.

      "Honestly, how you got stuck here is beyond me. Everyone should want you," Olive said, sighing and looking at the ceiling. She started coughing violently. Anodynia filled a chipped mug with water from the nearby faucet and brought it over to Olive. Olive looked up. "Yeah, there is no justice in Neopia," Olive said, sipping the water and falling back under the covers.

      "Come on, Olive! The lack of justice isn't everywhere!"

      "Just here," Olive said, sighing. "Look, Dy, you're really sweet and your optimism is nice when it's not seven in the morning, but the world is mean." Olive's eyes drooped closed. Anodynia moved away quietly and pressed the small red button on the far wall. A door leading to a dusty hall way opened. "ACTIVE POUND DUTY" was written on a sign on the wall. Anodynia skipped down the hall way, humming to herself as she joined the long line of pets moving towards the main floor.

      "I don't get why they only let three out per user," a large Grarrl was saying. "Most of us never make it to the doors on a slow day. And on a fast day we're passed by. Those surfers are the worst. They never stop to look at our faces, just our colors."

      "Morning, everybody!" Anodynia said, waving. She tripped over her own tail and stumbled forwards. "Whoops, sorry, morning, hi!" She giggled.

      "Uh-oh, here comes Miss Chatterbox," a Quiggle grumbled. Anodynia bristled visibly. She kept her head down as she merged into the line.

      "Leave her be, Max, she's just being nice. You could learn from her," a red Lupe somewhere in front of Anodynia said.

      "She could learn about reality and get her frizzy hair out of the clouds," the Quiggle said, glaring at Anodynia. "She's not leaving any sooner than any of us. Besides, owner's don't want a friend, they want a trophy. And she's not anything special." A few of the other pets around the Quiggle nodded their heads. Anodynia looked down for a moment.

      "One candy cane for a meepit, two cookies for a meepit, three hugs for a sad baby pet, four smiles for an Elderly pet..." she mumbled under her breath. When she had reached ten, she looked up. She was grinning from ear to ear.

      "Come on guys, I have a good feeling about today!" she said, her voice singing out across the pound. The group of older pets surrounding the red Lupe smiled at her.

      "Yeah, so do I!" the Quiggle interrupted. "Today we'll leave you behind, Perky! You're never leaving here."

      "Ignore them." Anodynia jumped at a paw on her shoulder. A red Xweetok was standing next to her. "They've been trapped here for less time. They'll get it later. I'm Xeeik."

      "Anodynia," Anodynia said, smiling. "Nice to meet you!" Xeeik smiled.

      "Same," he said as they walked towards the active doors. "Look, do me a favor," Xeeik said, looking at her for a moment.

      "Sure! What do you need?" Anodynia asked.

      "Keep smiling. It makes me less scared," Xeeik said, giving her a a nervous half smile. Anodynia grinned.

      "That I can do."

     ...

      The active pound doors closed behind them. Anodynia was on the left side, Xeeik was in the middle, and a green Grarrl was on the right. In front of them was a glass window where owners moved by. After a set amount of time, the room would rotate to new owners. This happened twice before they were removed from the room and sorted back into their rooms. Some pets chose to go back into rotation all day, others never came to the windows.

      Xeeik was shaking like a leaf. He laughed, his voice breaking a bit.

      "For a tough guy, I'm a real wimp," he whispered, looking down for a moment.

      "You're not a wimp," Anodynia said, shocked. "You're still standing there, aren't you?"

      "Wimp is kinda the wrong word," he whispered, looking over at her. "Ever heard of Neophobia?"

      "You're sick?" Anodynia asked, looking at him quickly. He moved to the side a bit, nodding.

      "Yeah, I don't usually... say anything. It makes people move out of the way." He looked down. "This is terrifying." He gestured to the owners moving past. Anodynia looked out the window for a moment, then at Xeeik. She moved over to him and grabbed his paw.

      "Hey, they're not all scary," she whispered. Xeeik looked up. A little girl waved at him, her face covered in melted chocolate. Xeeik looked down quickly before moving away from Anodynia.

      "I might get you sick," he said. "You're so happy, getting Neophobia would... I dunno... destroy you."

      "I think I'm immune," Anodynia said, smiling. "I've had a room mate with Kikoughela for about two years now. I think if I was going to get sick, I would have already." A voice blared over the speakers, jumping Xeeik out of his skin.

      "ANODYNIA AND XEEIK EXIT TO THE LEFT PLEASE."

      "What's that?" Xeeik asked, shaking even more.

      "I don't know," Anodynia said, moving to the left. She tugged on Xeeik. "Come on, we'll be fine!"

      "Are you sure?" Xeeik asked. Anodynia tugged him out the door.

      "Sure, why wouldn't we be?" Anodynia said, ignoring the butterflies in her own stomach. They were met by a human girl of medium height. She had on a long woolen coat, an even longer knit scarf, and big glasses. Her hair was brown except for the bangs, which were obviously dyed blond.

      "Xeeik, Anodynia," the girl said, smiling. "My name is Gail. I'll be adopting you."

      "Really?" Xeeik asked, his eyes wide. Gail nodded.

      "Both of us?" Anodynia asked, her voice getting slightly higher in excitement. Gail nodded again. Anodynia let out a high pitched shriek of joy and hugged Gail. Gail laughed.

      "Hey there, Perky!" She said, smiling. Anodynia moved back for a moment. "Come on, let's get Xeeik his cure and then we'll all go get something to eat."

      "Sorry," Anodynia said, looking at Gail. Gail stopped, confused.

      "For what?" Gail asked.

      "You called me Perky," Anodynia said.

      "Yeah?"

      "Well that's not usually a good thing," Anodynia said. Gail looked at her for a moment before wrapping her in a bear hug.

      "With me, Perky is a very good thing."

The End

 
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