Housepets!

Hlaoroo wrote:Scotty nods eagerly.
"But will it be that noisy every time?" he writes jokingly.
"I take it you've got some way for him to control it that doesn't involve voice commands?" Frances asks. "And is there some way to make it safe so not just anyone can use the commands? I'd hate for someone to say the wrong thing as Scotty walks down the street and have him collapse. That thing looks heavy..."

Jason was smiling like a pro used cars dealer. "As noise comes, this is the best I can give you. It is also serves as a warning for bystanders. The chair is quite silent during its motion, just a slight whirr like in ay other electric vehicle. 24 hours solar battery, with an emergency 7-hours battery that kicks in the moment the main battery runs dry. So you will have to learn to calculate your distances, young fella. But fear not, an indicator withthe residual charge time will always be visible here..." He pressed on a flippable screen that turned out to be a mini-HUD. "Smart visor, with augmented reality. Every time you set up a destination, Eddie will tell you if you have enough juice to go there. In case you were stuck, you can always call a Deliveroo for your emergency snacks.
"As for the vocal commands, I will deactivate them and replace the interface with the manual input. Touchpad should do.
"And as for your question, miss Frances..." The man sighed. "Walking will be Scotty's greatest challenge. The exoskeleton is light, carbon and aluminium, but it doesn't come with airbags. Your kid will have to train a lot to follow the movement of his artificial legs and to fall with as little damage as possible. And, in case you fell in the water, the skeleton will detach itself automatically so that you don't get dragged under.
"Oh, and I almost forgot: the skeleton comes with proximity sensors and a nice LED light. When a vehicle approaches while you're crossing the roads, here...let me show you..." he touched a button and the thing started wailing and lit up like a christmas tree!
Jason turned off the contraption. "Lifetime warranty included. Updates when available. Other questions?"

Nodding his agreement to the owners' idea, Zachary made himself busy tidying up and getting things ready.

"And what is that love?" Mitch asked her, watching as a hurried dietary expert was rushing up the lane on the side to meet with a pizza place.

Welsh Halfwit wrote:Nodding his agreement to the owners' idea, Zachary made himself busy tidying up and getting things ready.

"And wash your hands when you're done. And help yourself to the snack counter, take something sweet, you'll need your energies."
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xhunterko wrote:"And what is that love?" Mitch asked her, watching as a hurried dietary expert was rushing up the lane on the side to meet with a pizza place.

"I don't know if we can be blessed with the miracle of a new life, but if it comes to adopt, I choose and your gods help anyone who stands in the way," she smiled with an expression between love and a promise of mayhem...

"I'll come." Will's voice had a note of sadness in it, even after all of the others' consoling. "E-even if it amounts to nothing, I s-still want to try. I'll wait until after we g-go to the pet store, though."

Zachary bowed to his boss and took a couple of doughnuts to go with the rolls the Nice Panda had brought him earlier. "I shall have to keep working," the Fox said, swallowing a chunk of roll. "Especially if people keep feeding me!"

ooc: I'm using the old map in the ooc. And I am assuming the town is only 3 miles across. That should allow for an afternoon's walk to the shopping centers. Correct me if I'm wrong.

At a local nearby yet just far enough away road side attraction.

"So, all the horses have individual names? By choice? And they like them?"
"Jerry, for the love of dog, use the toilet! Not the tree!"
"Sweetie, let go of the ponie's tail please."
"So, these apples just, pop out of the tree? And they are safe to eat?"
"I'm allergic to, you do accommodate for that? Wow."
"I'm gonna sit here for a second you don't care? You don't?"
"Has anyone seen my son? He was heading out to the pon...oh dear."
"That's okay miss, we'll hose him down."
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Trello nodded.

"Well, come on then, remember, from here, there's a lot of wests and lefts! You can go straight west on the side road, or follow the highway," Trello said, "The highway is straightforward, but the side roads are quieter. And if my boyfriend shows up, he can give us a ride. It's only 3 miles." She added with a grin.
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Mitch smiled back at her.

"So long as we follow the law love," he said, they came across a wooden platform built into the ground, that was, still being worked on. The workers moved aside as Mitch nodded to them and they stepped onto the platform. The march of the panda's feet could be clearly heard. He kinda liked it. As they got closer, Mitch paused the group at the exit of the trail which had the village in view. He took a deep breath to take it all in.

"It's for the best I suppose," he said, and continued on in.
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Meanwhile, Benjamin was patiently waiting for someone miles away to pick up the phone. He had a few small details to attend to.

If Frances looked in her purse, she'd find a letter there with a golden rim addressed to her from Nora.
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As Zachary was about to sit down, *SPLOTCH*. A nice, fat, water balloon found it's way behind his back! The giggle of a panda kit could be heard coming from somewhere.

"Ack!" Zack jumped back up, with a wet lower half, and looked around urgently, holding a half eaten roll in one handpaw and a broken doughnut in the other. "Who did that," he asked, trying not to laugh as he asked urgently. He sniffed for the culprit but made sure the individual stayed just out of sight as they played. "I'll have to dry that up now!"

xhunterko wrote:Mitch smiled back at her.
"So long as we follow the law love," he said, they came across a wooden platform built into the ground, that was, still being worked on. The workers moved aside as Mitch nodded to them and they stepped onto the platform. The march of the panda's feet could be clearly heard. He kinda liked it. As they got closer, Mitch paused the group at the exit of the trail which had the village in view. He took a deep breath to take it all in.
"It's for the best I suppose," he said, and continued on in.

"And what does the law say in this regard? After all, we *are* the interested parties."

"How much does this thing weigh? What are my chances of dying if it falls on me? It looks heavy..." Scotty writes. "And do I have to type or is there some way I can use it to communicate while walking?"

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"Side roads might be safer den. An' yeah, let's do the shop first so Meeko 'as a collar an' tag afore we talk to animal control. What does yer boyfirend drive, Trello?" The dog gives Will a supportive pat on the shoulder as the group heads off, trying to wordlessly cheer him up.

Hlaoroo wrote:"How much does this thing weigh? What are my chances of dying if it falls on me? It looks heavy..." Scotty writes. "And do I have to type or is there some way I can use it to communicate while walking?"

"The exoskeleton, battery included, weighs 10Kg. Battery takes most of it, until I can come up with a lighter model. The chair weighs 50 Kg, fully equipped. And no, it won't fall on you unless you stand near to it during an earthquake or in front of it on a very steep incline. It won't kill you unless you are really unlucky.
"Yes, it is quite light thanks to every possible light material I could come up with. Unfortunately, it is also very fragile. Try and not use it to bump things, also because it's a unique model. I will leave you some spare parts, but this is not a series model, hm?
"And as for your social interface..." He extracted a sort of large smartphone -or a small tablet from under the tablet laying at the 'driver''s position. A couple of straps protruded from under the device. "Ta_Dahh! How good are you with one paw and a touchscreen?"

Cautiously, Zachary went back to cleaning up. Or, at least, he seemed to as he also ate lunch and kept an eye out for his 'attacker'.

*BEEP*
...
*SPLOOSH!*

Came from inside the nearby trashcan as a puddle slowly pooled out from it. A small sniffle could be heard as the panda almost started to cry.

Then a scruffy built male panda came in from the back door towards the trash can. The tip of his right ear was missing and he was wearing a white neckerchief and a hip pack. He was tisking as if he were scolding a child.

"Now now, you know better than to pick on the locals," he said, "The spymaster's daughter ought to know better!"

A poor, drenched, drooping panda girl carefully walked out of the trash can's latch door. She walked up to Zachary.

"S-sorry sir," she said. A couple of red panda hand maids came in, cleaned up the water mess with mops, and left. Mack Ark, the spymaster, stood behind his daughter with a towel in one hand. Drying her off.

"Sorry sir, younguns don't know better sometimes," he said.
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"Just his two big feet, heh," Trello said, "He's a wolfie. Come on, the store's ain't that far."
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"Well yes," Mitch said, then he looked at her with a grin, "I'm just trying to avoid the really crazy ideas."

"Oh, that's all right, sir," Zachary said before kneeling to look the youngster in the eye. "We do learn more from our mistakes than successes at times, hmm? Are you all right, m'lady," he asked, 'magically' producing a dollar from behind her left ear and giving it to her. "Someone made of money shouldn't cry," he told her. "I'm Zachary."

"I thought it was illegal to use your phone while driving." Scotty jokes.
"So, can I try it out?" he writes, when he stops giggling.

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"A wolf! Cor! Dat's awesome!" Chris exclaims. "Where'd you meet 'im, den? You ever met any wolves, Will?"

Gizmo has just moved in to the neighborhood. Normally he would help his owner with unpacking the boxes, but his owner has decided that since Gizmo barely knew anyone in their last neighborhood that it would be a better idea to have him look around, get a feel for where everything is, and maybe meet people along the way. Gizmo can confidently say he is doing two of those things. After a while of memorizing important locations that he and his owner might need to go to regularly, he finds the forest and being a naturally curious cat decides to see what he can find

Hlaoroo wrote:"I thought it was illegal to use your phone while driving." Scotty jokes.
"So, can I try it out?" he writes, when he stops giggling.

"I thought you'd never ask, kitty. Want a hand to hop in?"

Meanwhile, on the edge of town, in a house- a mansion would be more accurate, perhaps, there sits a cat. He has grey fur, and black spots. His head hair is unusually fluffy. He wears glasses, and a black t shirt, with a lab coat over it. And he's extremely grumpy. This is probably due to the fact that he's stuck in a refrigeration. Or, maybe it's because his milk cereal went bad?

....

Yeah, being stuck in a refrigerator is a good guess.

Anyways, this grumpy cold, and frustrated polydactly's name is Jolty, and he is the pet/son of the Halvensons, who are a world famous entrepreneur enterprise. His family is away on vacation, and he wanted to stay home for a break from the flash mobs of people looking for his brother, Leo, who is a famous pet star. Those mobs usually ended up crushing him.

But, hey, he had gotten a few small kisses before, from what few fans he had generated from being in a few of his brother's songs (He was alright at the drums), so he wasn't complaining. Internally, anyways. Naturally, to save himself the (friendly) harassment of his brother, he had griped about it for at least a sufficient amount of time.

The clouded/snow leopard hybrid, swearing profusely, managed to finally slam the door open, the contents of the vegetable section spilling on top of him.

"...When did we buy kale?"

A few minutes later, with the vegetable section properly organized, Jolty decided to get out of the house. Pulling on a pair of brown jeans to hide his mechanical leg, he quickly yanked open the stubborn door, stuck on the carpet, and walked out into the day.

...The day sucked, as it turns out. The bus treehouse he and his brother had had ordered was boring alone. Looking over, he decided to go into town for a small ice cream trip. Mmm, Peanut Butter Crunch.

Scaling the brick wall, Jolty hopped down the side, and walked along the sidewalk.

After a long while of walking through the forest he ends up back where he started, and not wanting to do it again he opts to just do a bit more walking around the town and head back home, along the way he finds a hybrid coming towards him. He decides to greet him as he still hadn't fulfilled the first part of his owner's requests to make friends and look around. He puts on his best confident smile before greeting him "Hello, it's nice to meet you, my name is Gizmo and I just moved here, what's yours?"

Jolty regarded this new stranger. He isn't quite sure of what to say, feeling his awkwardness kicking in. Uh, what do I say?! 'Hi, my name is Jolty, nice to meet you!' Or.... Maybe 'Oh, hello, I'm Jolty, do you know where the store is?'

What actually came out of his mouth was a garbled noise, and something along the lines of "joltystoreicecream." He face pawed, and quickly ran off to save himself the interaction.

Evasion skills at an all time high I see...

Gizmo is slightly startled by the sudden garbled phrase but he somehow manages to understand the shy gibberish due to also being a kind of shy blob himself, and doing similar things from time to time when he's caught off guard, he tries to catch up to the hybrid as he runs off "You wanted to know where the store is?"

Jolty turned around, eyes widening. "Yeah....uh, I am..."

"Alright then, I'll take you there" he leads the hybrid to the store without another word out of not wanting to force conversation on him, if he talks, he talks, if he doesn't, oh well

Jolty weighs his options as he follows. He could follow this strange cat, actually trusting him, or go off and find it himself. He makes the decision to trust him, and follow him to the store. As they enter the store, which is deceptively big from it's smallish front, Jolty nods, and heads to the frozen section, not particularly sure of what he is looking for.

After leading him to the store he tries to decide whether or not to wait for him or to head home. Would the snow leopard even care if he waited or not, he didn't seem to be one to associate with anyone...at all, mostly out of social anxiety. He probably wouldn't want him to wait. as he continues deliberating in his mind he has stopped paying attention to anything else going on,

Hlaoroo wrote:"A wolf! Cor! Dat's awesome!" Chris exclaims. "Where'd you meet 'im, den? You ever met any wolves, Will?"

Will nodded his head, and smiled. "Yep, I have. V-valiant's mate, Belisarius, is a w-wolf. I had a conversation with h-him when we came back from a l-long legal-related trip in Serene City. He was n-nice. A tad clumsy, though," he finished with a small giggle, remembering how the wolf had tripped while offering a simple handshake.

Jolty picks up a tub of icecream, and a few sugar waffle cones, and headed towards the counter. He glances at Gizmo, and sighs. "Are you coming?"

Gizmo is startled as his focus suddenly becomes external again, "Oh! Uhh, I'll be right there!" he walks over to Jolty, internally scolding himself for overthinking.

Jolty shakes his head. He's just like me. Guess that's how it looks when I talk to most people. Jeez, no wonder Leo doesn't take me anywhere.

....

I should probably work on that.

The cat heads to the counter, reaching into his lab coat, and pulling out a few bills. Tucking the stuff into his bag, he looks a Gizmo. "I should probably get going, I don't want this all to melt."

"Yeah I better head home as well, I don't wanna make my owner worry ya know. See ya around though Jolty! I hope I didn't get your name wrong." he waves and walks off, by all standards that went sort of well. Gizmo thinks this could be a good friendship....or at the very least the start if a lot of awkward trips to the grocery with another person

The royal party was led through the village gate through to the palace. Everyone was busy inside. Things were still being built. Celebration strings were hung out. Fairy lights were being put in place. Pandas were hanging up balloons. Council leaders were helping to organize the chaos. The best part was the royalty was given sway without anyone saying a word. As they got to the palace courtyard the guards dispersed, save for the Left and Rights, taking places at the palace exterior. The handmaids led the party into the simple wooden palace. Into the outer court, where in the back sat a simple wooden chair sets for thrones (they had yet to make fancy ones). Family rooms were to the right and left of the court, connected by a back room for privacy. The right wing of the palace held the guest room, and Mitch's room. The left wing held the parent's room, parlour, and nursery. The backroom behind the court was mostly empty, furnished like an extra parlour room. It was here the party was led and told to wait. There were enough chairs for everyone. All in all, the palace itself was three average trailer park trailers wide. And roughly two and a half trailers tall. They were told to wait in the chairs, then the handmaids left. The backroom, despite it's name, was fairly spacious. High windows and electric lighting lit the place. Mitch sat down in one and sighed. He looked to Bel.

"Well wolf, ready to be mind blown by fabric, heh?" Mitch asked the wolf.
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"Oh he was separated from the pack when I shot a deer out from under him, heh," she said, "He said, if all female pandas are as good a hunters as you than I don't know why they shouldn't all run the place. I told him that's something we're working on. We took a walk and talked and that was enough for me, heh. But if you think Belisaurus is clumsy, Will, heh. Besides, the stores are just three miles away." She stopped for a second to pick up a weed and stuff it into her basket.
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"Ah, she's just upset that daddy got the better of her, again, heh," Mack said. Hannah's expression changed though as the fox pulled the trick.

"Ohhhhh! Daddy loves magic too! But thank you but daddy do Dancing Fingers! The real one not the toss one!" Hannah exclaimed. Mack sighed, but took the coin.

"Ah well, she loves this one," Mack said, pinching the coin in his fingers, as he caused them to dance, going up in the air, switching the coin from one hand to the next, until he got up to shoulder height, opened his paws, and the coin was gone!

"Don't worry though, most just throw the coin away, but she asked for the real one so," he said, reaching towards the fox's ears, and pulling the coin out from behind.

"You've got nice fingers, I'll give you that, if you want some extra work ask a guard about Mack at the palace, I'll know," he said, "Well, come on hon, can't have Mr. Fox's attention all day, he needs to work." He took a step, then paused, waiting for Hannah to have a good bye.

"Bye mister," Hannah said, waiting for the fox before leaving.

Zachary grinned and bowed flamboyantly, drawing his left paw across his stomach and practically sweeping the floor with his right as he bent forward. "My lady," he said grandly.

Jolty sat on his couch, his tub of peanut butter crunch ice cream, and a spoon, in paw. The radio was softly playing some old Beatles song in the background, and all the lights where off, and the shades drawn. He had stripped himself of all clothing, and lay there, tired. He didn’t know what to do. He was immensely bored. He usually went exploring with Lionel, or begrudgingly agreed to help his sister with her dress designs (Jolty was an avid sewer himself), but nothing, nothing at all.

The cat sighed, pushing himself up. He figured he should get dressed, abd maybe go do something fun that evening. Maybe the downtown, find an arcade, or a pizza parlor. Yeah. That’d be nice.

Zachary shook his head after the pair had gone. "I should have tried for a sale," he chided himself, thinking how it was lucky he'd been wearing something with sleeves to put the coin up today. He decided he needed to wear sleeves more often as he cleaned up the last of the water.

Jolty got off the couch, deciding that he would go find something for dinner. Meandering into his room, Jolty observed his clothes, most of them dirty. He didn't really have anything to wear. Well, there was one thing, but...

Jolty sighed to himself. He didn't want to look like a total tool and snob wearing that outfit out and about, but it was a favorite of his....

"Okay, okay...I'll shower, then put it on...."

Jolty pulled the suit, the vest, and the tie from their special place in a glass container. Grabbing a dress shirt and some black pants to go with them, he slowly put on the clothing, adjusting the dark violet colored bow tie that he treasured so much. Pulling on a coat, and some nice brown shoes, he stepped outside, and made his way towards town. On his way towards the main square, he noticed something. Some kind of event was going on, and he decided to find out what. He peeked around, curious. There where well dressed people everywhere. What was this place?

Gizmo is back home helping his owner unpack whatever boxes are left, meanwhile his owner is planning to try to invite a couple of people in the neighborhood to his house for get together in an attempt to get to know some people, and also let Gizmo attempt to make more friends so that he doesn't end up spending all of his time in the house

xhunterko wrote:The royal party was led through the village gate through to the palace. Everyone was busy inside. Things were still being built. Celebration strings were hung out. Fairy lights were being put in place. Pandas were hanging up balloons. Council leaders were helping to organize the chaos. The best part was the royalty was given sway without anyone saying a word. As they got to the palace courtyard the guards dispersed, save for the Left and Rights, taking places at the palace exterior. The handmaids led the party into the simple wooden palace. Into the outer court, where in the back sat a simple wooden chair sets for thrones (they had yet to make fancy ones). Family rooms were to the right and left of the court, connected by a back room for privacy. The right wing of the palace held the guest room, and Mitch's room. The left wing held the parent's room, parlour, and nursery. The backroom behind the court was mostly empty, furnished like an extra parlour room. It was here the party was led and told to wait. There were enough chairs for everyone. All in all, the palace itself was three average trailer park trailers wide. And roughly two and a half trailers tall. They were told to wait in the chairs, then the handmaids left. The backroom, despite it's name, was fairly spacious. High windows and electric lighting lit the place. Mitch sat down in one and sighed. He looked to Bel.
"Well wolf, ready to be mind blown by fabric, heh?" Mitch asked the wolf.

Belisarius nodded. He was quite awed, he hadn't imagined these small creatures could be so well organized. He actually felt ashamed that his proud pack had never tried to do the same...But it was also true that a pack's life in the wild was mostly nomadic.
"I am ready. And what about my Valiant?"

"What do you want me to do next, ma'am," Zachary called back, wondering where the seemingly nice Human owner had gone.

Welsh Halfwit wrote:"What do you want me to do next, ma'am," Zachary called back, wondering where the seemingly nice Human owner had gone.

"Come back to the kitchen. I have a list of things we need you to take from the store."

"OK," Zachary replied, almost skipping into the kitchen. He liked being busy. And fed.