Housepets!

Eris looked around, feeling a little guilty for some reason. She climbed out of the water and sat by the waterside, still pretty close to the others.

Dakotah looked over at Eris, who was sitting next to Destiny and him. "Do you have any ideas?" he asked her, wondering if anyone had something they could do.

The truck had stopped. That was the first thing Paige realized when he opened his eyes. The moving truck was no longer shaky, furniture no longer sliding around... actually, there was less furniture... and the door was open. So I've stopped. Paige thought to himself, looking at the outside setting. I guess this is where I get off. Let's just hope karma sees fit to have made it a good stop.

Making sure no one was looking- after all, he was a stow away- he jumped out of the truck, his backpack the only thing on his back. He pondered a bit where he should go first in a new place- he didn't even know where!- and settled on just walking. Let's just see who or what I come across.

Eris shook her head, "No, I don't really have any ideas. But I don't really want to go home either." She said, "Maybe we can go back to the neighborhood and look around or something? Maybe see if there is anything cool around. And when Shamrock gets better, we can show him the cool things we've found!" Eris said, smiling; Her face starting to fill with happiness again.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, Eris... uh, what do you think Destiny?" He asked, turning towards Destiny.

"I think that's a good idea. It beats sitting around any day." Destiny hopped to her feet, and shook off the water on her fur. "Well, come on slow pokes!" she said, smiling a little half-smile.

Paige was getting slightly hungry... or was it thirsty? Both, he decided. He'd probably been in that truck for a couple of days. Of course, food most likely was out of the question until night, but maybe he could find a source of water. I should probably sit down and save my energy, then, he thought to himself, as he stopped walking.

The Game wrote:"I think that's a good idea. It beats sitting around any day." Destiny hopped to her feet, and shook off the water on her fur. "Well, come on slow pokes!" she said, smiling a little half-smile.

"Alright." Dakotah said, following Destiny. "You coming with us Eris?" Dakotah asked.

Eris stood up and hurried over to them, "Duh! Of course I'm coming with you guys!" She said, as she caught up to them.

Paige lay down onto his back, and started to watch the clouds for a bit. It's so peaceful, he thought. Back at the city, the sky was always clouded with smog. I can see actual clouds now. I can probably see the stars really well, too. He looked to the side. And they actually have trees here. Real, forest trees. Not those small sidewalk markers. Squinting, he saw something else, as he got up again. Wait a minute... there's someone over there! He started to walk over to the small group.

Shamrock lay in his kennel unconscious, his arms and legs still limp. Although his body was unmoving, his mind refused to stay still in time. Shamrock slipped in and out of consciousness, usually just long enough for him to have a dream, but in his time at the vet, he kept having the same dream. And not just a normal dream, but more of an out of body experience set in the past. Every time his mind would rustle up a dream, it was from a different angle.

His dream...... the accident.

The first few times it was just him re-playing the event in his mind, seeing the branch, planning to do a triple backflip cannonball, then the slip and seeing the branch up close and blacking out. Usually the blackout would cause him to go back into the realm of unconsciousness, just to return to see it again. But after 4 times of seeing the event from his perspective, his mind started seeing it from the others'. First from Guy's point of view, then Eris', then Destiny's all the way through every animal's eyes in the group. And not only did he see it, he felt the others pain inside, every emotion, every thought. It was like he took everyone's mind and threw it into a blender and drank the concoction only to see what would become of him.

After reaching everyone in the event, he awoke, slowly, to find himself in a kennel. "Huh? Wh-where am I? And..." Shamrock reached up to his neck to find his collar missing and grabbed at his fur a few times "Where the bloody heck is my collar?" Shamrock eased his way up to the grated metal bars that jailed him within the kennel. He set his paws on the bars and looked around to find several other pets inside their kennels.

He heard a voice just past the door, a very familiar voice, one that made his left ear stand up. "M-Mom? Is that you?" Just as Shamrock uttered these last words, he slipped suddenly back into unconsciousness, his eyes rolling into the back of his head and his paw sliding down the bars with his face coming to rest on the floor sideways. He lay there motionless, his ear flopped back down on his head.

Herman "HD" Grecia suddenly awoke from his daydream and noticed he was in the car. something about jello, i think... he thought as he tried to recall the subject of his daydream. "we're nearly there, honey," Regeana, his mother, informed him. "'mm? oh! oh. 'k" was his absent-minded response. he looked and saw the suburb that was to be his new home. there seemed to be a forest of some sort near. if a glass bottle explodes in the forest, and mom's not around to hear, do i still get in trouble? he thought to himself, and then chuckled softly. he wondered if there were other pets his age. i should think there would be...
"when will nix get here?" HD inquired. "when she decides shes ready to take her final, then they'll evaluate, and she'll either pass or fail, and then she'll decide for herself if she's ready." not satisfied with this response, HD tried again. "when will nix get here?". Regeana sighed. "i dont know-" "then guess." HD snapped a bit quickly. it had been a long day of packing, loading, and driving, and Regeana was tired, so she let him slide. "could be weeks or months, or just days. we'll see. she promised that shed write though." HD sighed, then commenced to wondering how he could make flowers burn without hurting them.
"we're here!" Regeana exclaimed as they pulled up to their brand new house, which was one of the more different ones. different is good, he figured. "unpack at least half your boxes, then you can explore the neiborhood." he did that, making sure to unpack his lighter and electrical wiring equptment. stuffing his lighter in his pocket, he exclaimed "im leaving!" and left before he could hear his mothers threats of grounding if she found he hadn't unpacked.
walking tward the forest, he saw a curious light blue-grey cat in the distance get up and walk twards what might have been more people. with a quick thought of people can be interesting, you know... he ran off to catch up with the cat.

Paige turned as he heard footsteps behind him. "Oh, um, h-hi there, he greeted. The dog behind, or now, in front of him, was a light brown, with spots of different shades of it everywhere, a particularly noticable one over his left eye. "Would you be able to tell me where I'm at?"

"no." was HD's simply reply. seeing as this might not have been as detailed as it could be, he added "i just moved here. like, umm, a half an hour ago. i live up there," pointing in the general directio of his house. umm, where do you live?"

Paige lowered his head, smiling sadly. "I don't have a home. I stowed away in a moving van. I guess you could call me an 'ally' cat." Looking back up, he put his hand out. "The name's Paige. Yours?"

"HD, as in my initials, or ADHD, or HD tv, or Hungry Devils..." HD lost is train of thought for a second, then came back to reality and shook Paige's paw. "so how do you get food and sleep and junk?"

Well, the vans been on the road for a few days, so I actually haven't had anything recently. Paige grinned sheepishly. "Back in the big city, I'd use puddles and faucets for water, and trashes of local restaurants for food. They usually throw stuff out that was just fine, because it'd been out for ten minutes. He shrugged. I'll just need to find a few new sources, is all.

eww! cool though! hes like olver twist or something! thouht HD. "well im sure there's plenty of stuff at the house. we brought dry store foods like, um, spaghetii and crackers and pop tarts and cereal and stuff. if you, like, need food, then... yeah. offered HD

Paige's eyes widened behind his glasses. "R-really? You'd let me eat something?" He couldn't believe it. Back in Serene City (Serene my foot!), the best he'd had was a still wrapped burger from Prince o' Patties! He'd never had anything not from the trash! "Th-thank you..."

HD was oblivious to Paige's enthusiasm. "sure! 'sno problem!" HD said with a smile. "cmon, 's this way" he contiued,and proceeded twards his new house.

Paige followed HD, a slight spring in his step. Karma seemed to finally be giving him his chance at a new life, now he just needed to know where that life was taking place.

when they arrived at the house, HD found a note taped to the door.
HD-
going to try to find the nearest grocery. be back at some point. dont burn anything
-Mom
there was an angry face next to anything. HD opened the door and walked in to see scattered boxes. "this is here. um, just... sit tight. ill see what we have." he went into the kitchen and saw more boxes. he found two labeled "food". after searching he called out "soup, bread, spaghetti, crackers, salt, pepper, and something that might be a peach." why is there a single peach... never mind. "what do you want?"

The Game wrote:"I think that's a good idea. It beats sitting around any day." Destiny hopped to her feet, and shook off the water on her fur. "Well, come on slow pokes!" she said, smiling a little half-smile.

After a few minutes of following Destiny, Dakotah started to get a little concerned, "Uh, Destiny, do you exactly remember the way out?"

"I guess I'll have the peach," Paige answered. Going up to HD, he took the small orange fruit gratefully, and took a bite. "This... this is heaven!" he exclaimed. I've never tasted something so good! It satisfies my hunger, yet at the same time seems to quench my thirst with it succulent juices! How can karma have kept this... peach away from me?" Quickly eating the rest, he turned to HD. "I thank you for introducing me to that wondrous bit of delicacy!

HD went into a fit of giggling. "you're welcome! i guess," he laughed. mm... he must realy not eat a whole lot... thought HD. "your coming to dinner tonight."

Paige's eyes once again widened as he heard these words. "D-dinner?" he asked. "N-no, I couldn't impose that on your family. It just wouldn't sit right with me." He smiled. "You've already given me this wonderful Peach; I couldn't just take anymore."

"i wasn't asking a question" HD said with a little half smile. "for one, my sister usually eats with us, so mom cooks for three. shes not here, so if you joined us, itd still be the same routine. for two, you need to eat. ****, you need a place to sleep! the least you can do is stay for dinner! so there. its non-negotiable." on the last sentence, HD folded his arms and stuck out his toungue.

Paige sighed. He could see he wasn't going to get out of this, but he was going to at least make it even. "Alright, fine," he replied. "However, to make it fair, I'm at least going to give you something in return, even if I don't have much. Taking of his backpack, he looked inside, then frowned. "What? That's not mine. That's not mine either! None of this stuff... Oh no!" he gasped, looking up at HD. "I must have grabbed the wrong pack from the truck!"

"well thats not good." responded HD. "hmm.
...
what did the truck look like, and where did it stop?" HD asked. "comon, lets go, lead the way, all that good stuff." said HD, not waiting for a response.

Paige nodded, and lead the way to a Green moving truck, in front of a simple whit house with lavender trimming, not to far from HD's house. "It's here," Paige stated. "They don't know I was riding in back, though, so can I get you to keep a lookout, while I get my bag and put this back?"

Suzan shook Robert's hand with a firm grip and promptly let go. "Lance, do you mind if I pet you while I fill out this paperwork? I mean, if that's alright with your owner of course." Susan looked back to Robert with a questioning look.

Lance brightened up and his tail began to wag. I would love that. He said smiling. Robert snickered That's fine Lance likes it a lot anyway.

Suzan took her left hand and stroked Lance's head a few times and found a spot behind his ear to scratch at. "In all honesty, paperwork is the worst..... Hey Lance, can you explain to me exactly what happened to Shamrock? He's always had a sort of 'no fear' attitude toward everything. I mean, about a year ago he fractured his leg sliding down the handrail on the stairs in our house."

Lance looked down clearly ashamed Well, you see we were playing in the woods by the Lake and we where having a contest to see who could make the biggest splash by climbing up a tree that was near by and jumping off. Well I said that Shamrock should go next and as he was about to jump off he slipped off the branch and hit it then hit the water. Lance said his voice sounding sad.

Robert looked at Lance and stroked his head It'll be ok Lance he'll be fine.

"'k" HD said as he took the lookout position. "i dont see anyone. go ahaed and get in there and find your backpack and whatever and stuff."

"Okay. I'm going." Paige stepped into the back of the truck. It was a little emptier, now. Most of the small furniture was gone, and a few large pieces were as well. Looking further, he spotted his bag. "Alright. I'll just put this back..."

Swish! A large net came over Paige as he reached for the bag. "Hey dad, I got him!" A young boy's voice came from the end of the net's handle, only around five or six. "It was a kit-kat"

"umm, oh yeah! watch... out..." was all HD could say. gottathinkgottathinkgottathink... Both of them were new to the neighborhood, so noone new who they were, mom was gone, and Paige was a stray! he might go to the pound! untold horrors! so he did something a little stupid.
shouting "LOOK A THING OVER THERE!" he leaped at the child in attempt to knock him down and give Paige a momment of opportunity.

Paige shook his head at HD. "There's obviously been a misunderstanding here," he sighed. "HD, let the kid go." He turned to the kid, looking through the net. "Hey there, kid. What's you're name?"

The kid stuttered slightly in his response. "S-s-sammy Turner. My dad wated me to cach who'd taken his caping bag." He frowned. "Soory..."

"Hey, no need to get upset. I'll come talk to your dad. I'll tell him what happened. And HD'll be nice. Right, HD?" Paige looked at HD, a small smile on his face.

HD let sammy go. "... *cough*" he looked at his feet, embarased.