[Freezair]

"Are you going to keep mentally kissing the prodigal son's tentacled ^#@, or are we gonna do what we came here to do?" Cuddles catcalled. Without waiting for her brother's response, she skipped towards the counter. From somewhere within the folds of her body, she procured a reciept and tracking code. She'd pick up the package herself if HEO was going to keep acting hypnotized.

[23]

[Freezair]

HEO chose not to rise to that particular bait. For once, he was going to be nice and quiet and let Cuddles have that last word she always wanted. He was, in turn, going to refuse to let her get to him. Cadpig, bored of his silent stoop, ran off to go annoy a mailman. Playfully, of course--unlike most of her kin, she had no problems with letter carriers. She began to chase after a Polly's brightly-colored tail.

It was an interesting article. Something about the Imperial's Interrogation Center. He didn't fully understand it, but HEO read it anyway. Cuddles wanted to take care of the package? Let her, then.

[24]

[Freezair]

The attendant catering to Cuddles--a Gorgeel anthro with a purple dewlap of skin wobbling off his neck--gulped a little at her comments. Wincing, he went to grab their package.

He set the brown box in front of the Rabbot and took her reciept. He thanked her with a stutter. "Um... th-th-thank you, ma'am."

Cuddles snapped it up and set it down on the floor by their fish.

[24]

[Freezair]

HEO took the fish as they left the post office. Just to keep Cuddles' hands free.

According to his internal clock, it was still only ELEVEN HUNDRED HOURS. There was plenty of time for them to kick around. Cadpig was still full of energy, so they could always futz about town to complete that MISSION OBJECTIVE. And perhaps a few more grocery items were needed. He checked his mental list.

"Hmm... We still have to shop at Groceries SUPER for cooking stuff," HEO said. "Baking soda and powder, salt, flour, sugar... And pasta, crackers... lotta carbs, basically."

[25]

[Freezair]

"Fantastic," Cuddles said emptily. "Where's the grocery store, anyway?"

She scanned up and down the streets. In this old-fashioned hickville of a town, an actual grocery store would be a surprise. If there was one, how did the little farmer's stands possibly survive?

[Freezair]

"Oh, only about--ten blocks thataway," HEO said, pointing. Cadpig chased in the direction his finger offered. HEO turned to his sister and grinned sheepishly.

[26]

[Freezair]

"TEN BLOCKS?! Oy vey! Don't forget, we have to CARRY all this stuff home too! Good grief." Grumbling to herself, she followed Cadpig down the road.

Yes, yes, the MISSION OBJECTIVES and all that. She didn't like FAILing them, but that didn't mean she had to like DOing them either.

[26]

[Freezair]

HEO tut-tutted his sister. "We're robots, sis! Our solar panels'll generate more than enough energy to keep us going. You won't even feel tired."

HEO yanked Cadpig back by her ribbon as she tried to nose around in a toppled garbage can. With his other hand, he waved to a pair of familiar figures he saw down the street. "Hi Fire! Hi Ice!"

[27]

[Freezair]

Cuddles waved too, trying not to look like a complete harddrive. The two Terratops cast their frills in their direction, growling happily. Their son--what was his name again? She could never remember, and didn't feel like running a search on her memory banks to find it--barked at them.

Down, down the streets they went, looking for the supermarket. Cuddles was glad her feet couldn't feel sore. And they were already flat, so that wasn't a problem either.

[27]

[Freezair]

Cadpig suddenly yelped, and she came running. She buried herself in HEO's tail.

The Rabbot tried to bend down to watch her. She kept avoiding his eyes, scurring just out of sight. He eventually snagged her by the ribbon again. "What is it, girl? What's the matter?"

As if in answer, several more shouts came from down the streets. Pedestrians rushed out of the way. Clunking and wheezing, an old-fashioned, beat-up car puttered down the street.

[28]

[Freezair]

"What the blazes...? Should he even be doing that?" Cuddles asked. HEO nodded, then shook his head, then nodded and shook again.

"Should've known you wouldn't know," she sighed. "That's gotta be dangerous something fierce."

[28]

[Freezair]

There were no parking lots in Nabias, so the car puttered and chuffed to a stop wherever it saw fit. It eased itself into a space near a pottery store, spewing foul-smelling smoke as its driver put it in park. HEO's chemical analyzers detected a wretched cocktail of poisonous chemicals coming out of the car's tailpipe. The beast really needed some maitenence.

Cadpig sardonically played dead. When you got snarked by a puppy, HEO thought, that was when you really needed repairs.

A toothpick of a woman--tall and pale--mummified in a large red scarf and embalmed with several pints of makeup, stepped out of the car.

[29]

[Freezair]

Cuddles regarded this woman suspiciously. Even she wasn't callous enough to try and tear up and entire street, even if she HAD had a car.

"Erm. Nice driving, lady," Cuddles remarked. Quietly, she hoped. But the odd woman heard her.

"Oh, why thank you, darling," the woman replied thickly. "Whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to?"

Why did she even answer? "Cuddles. Cuddles Dashall," she said through clenched teeth.

"Oh? How charming. I had a poodle by that name once."

"Diss," Cuddles thought she heard HEO mutter.

[29]

[Freezair]

"So what were you doing out here in Nabias with a car, ma'am?" HEO asked, hopefully polite.

"Oh, just out for a little Sunday drive," she responded.

Well, it certainly wasn't Sunday. But HEO thought that "Sunday driving" was a good description for what she'd been doing.

"That's nice," HEO said conversationally, trying to cover up his own insulting thoughts. "But there aren't really any roads built for that kinda thing out here. You gotta walk everywhere."

"Like ten blocks, down to the nearest grocery store," Cuddles muttered off to the side.

"Oh! Are you walking all that way? Poor dears! Here, let me give you a lift up thataway. I just have to make a uey, it's no big deal. Come on! Let me give you a ride!"

Cadpig growled at the lady.

[30]

[Freezair]

Cuddles, though, was eager. Any chance to get off her feet and get done in a hurry.

"Sure thing!" she said. Without waiting for HEO's confirmation, she yanked open the back of the car and pulled him down inside with her. Cadpig, frightened but eager, leapt up in back with them with a quick yip.

HEO and Cuddles tried to right themselves inside, and they fought with the seatbelts. Their tails weren't exactly meant to be sat on. They ended up piling the unruly appendages in a heap in the center of the seat. Cadpig got buried in them, somehow.

The scarf-wearing woman tossed herself into the front seat. She revved the engine.

"Are you ready to go for a ride, darlings?" she asked.

"Yes," HEO and Cuddles affirmed.

"Good," she said. She put her foot to the gas and took off down the street.

Cuddles looked out the back window behind them. "Wait. Didn't you say you were going to make a uey?"

The woman laughed.

"What?"

"Oh, you silly, silly thing, you," she said. "Don't know know?

"You should never believe an agent of Black Khimera."

[30]

((Done.))