As soon as you shake hands with Tia, a social, chatty, cute little kacheek, you realize something is wrong.

There is nothing suspicious about the weather, nor with the clothes you are wearing – it’s something else...

It may take time to find out what is odd when you meet her; she appears to be an ordinary, very kind, striped kacheek. But the truth always comes out, and the truth about this one is that she is no striped neopet. A kacheek, yes, but not a striped one. Tia is a robot kacheek!

Well, of course, you may find this very odd and don’t understand how it is possible for a robot to act so real, but that is obviously the reason why this was written: To tell the story of Tia. Your not-so-everyday robot friend.

-----

Tia was originally invented by the oldest lupe in her family of four. Her mission was to cook food, clean the house and take their Puppyblew for a walk once in a while. Simply all that work others don’t have time to do or which they find boring, was put on Tia's shoulders.

At first, this was the busy work she did. You would probably find it more boring than waiting for the prize shop to open after an exciting plot has ended on a rainy day, but this was truthfully the only mission she was built for, nothing else.

While the family went for their dailies, she finished her daily chores, washing their clothes and cooking their food.

But as long as she lived with the other pets around her, Tia soon grew closer to the family. The neopets were very greatful for all the work the little robot did for them, and Tia was always happy and smiled with all of her robot-like face every time she heard the words Thank You.

-----

The oldest lupe was such a skilled inventor that his creation was easy to mistake for a real neopet. Her personality grew every day and visitors had no idea that they were conversing with a fake kacheek.

There seemed to be something magical about the robot, because she appeared more and more, every day, to be morping (without any potion) into a real, actual neopet! The truth about this nobody knows.

The family could not leave her alone anymore while they went for their adventures; it would feel like leaving a true member of the family.

So Tia came with them, dressed in neopet-clothes of course, and got for the first time to see Neopia with her own two eyes: Tia was taken out of the old house on Terror Mountain where she played in the snow with other neopets. The younger pets welcomed the very social, but a bit shy, kacheek warmly into their play, and Tia became quite popular among others.

They went to Mystery Island and Shenkuu. All around Neopia Tia travelled.

Fond of exploring and discovering as she was, Tia made many friends. Many of them never found out about her secret, and treated her as any other kacheek.

Tia never does the housework alone nowadays, but it all is shared among the family members of course.

-----