Prompt 14 (Plight of the Penguin): Most birds migrate south for the winter. Destiny City is hardly a tourist destination for any migratory bird–much less penguins. They don’t even fly! And yet, Destiny City has a colony of roughly a thousand penguins that have decided to take a winter vacation in the metropolis. One evening, the horde of penguins waddled into town, and though they’ve broken up into smaller groups for the time being, there are still so many of them. They are friendly and they are foolish. They don't know anything about city life. They waddle into stores, hang out in the road, and stare at decorative lights. They look like they’re having the time of their life, and they are not afraid of people, at all. They will follow you home. They’ll croak at you. They’ll try to eat whatever you have in your hands. The penguins look like Adélie penguins, but they are only about a foot and a half tall and some are far more plump than others. All sorts of rumors have been going around about these penguins–they’re migrating because of climate change, they escaped the zoo and bred in the forests of Destiny City, they’re escaped from a lab attempting to create a new wave of pets, they’re aliens–to be honest, no one really seems to know. The city is corralling them and attempting to relocate them somewhere safer, but the friendly little penguins are happy to be involved for as long as they can. By the end of the season, Destiny City will have safely recovered all of these cute little birds, so they cannot be kept as a pet and will escape if you attempt to confine one, but they are mostly friendly and like to be involved in whatever you’re doing. Their calls can be either cute or creepy, and they look like funny little monsters if you manage to agitate them enough to get them chasing you. They almost always travel in small groups and always look after each other.
This was a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. How had Destiny City let this happen? Who in their right minds would have allowed penguins to roam free and unchecked? Oh, at first it had been nothing but fun and games. People would admire the birds and let them eat the food they held onto but that just gave the stupid creatures more confidence. They were emboldened now to just go up to anyone and snatch what it was that they were holding, even if it wasn't food. Illyria sniffed silently as she stared down at the destroyed casing of her GPS unit that only a while ago had been fully functional. Damn the penguins. Damn the season. Just damn everything. Sure, it wouldn't have taken much to simply order another unit but Illyria had gotten quite attached to this one. It'd held precious memories and she treasured each one of them.
No, replacing the unit wasn't going to be the route that she would take. First things first though. Reverting back to her cat form under the shelter of an alleyway did the Mauvian cause the damaged GPS device back into the safety of her subspace pocket before spotting the penguin that had committed the vile act of trying to eat her sole functioning GPS device. It still looked a little shocked that what it had tried to eat had turned out to not be edible at all. As Illyria crept closer to the culprit she debated her next move before simply deciding to stalk her target. There was something to be said though about her plan: it just wasn't going to work. The penguin goon squad, as she had taken to calling them in her mind, all turned around at once to stare at the feline that was sneaking up on one of their own. The croaking noise they all emitted at once was enough to have Illyria wish she still had hands so that she could cover her ears. The one that had tried to eat her device simply waddled towards her before Illyria broke the stare down she was entertaining. Figuring that the best option that was left open to her, considering the pack of penguins that was closing in on her position, Illyria turned tail and fled down the street in which she had been on. Her breath came in ragged gulps even as her paws started slowly down the frenetic pace before she stopped at once. Her gaze took in the emptying streets before she once more summoned her broken device out onto the pavement before her and nosed at it. It was almost like Illyria had lost a best friend to a tragic accident.
Her paws itched. Her gaze narrowed thoughtfully. Maybe she could fix things so that the unit ran smoother, more efficient. Then she could truly call herself a Mauvian. Gathering up the smaller pieces that had come loose as a result of penguin interference did Illyria press on towards the place that she called home. She would fix this and then deal with those penguins, once and for all. They were just birds after all ... and she was a cat. Cats chased, caught, and killed such nuisance animals. Oh, Illyria wasn't going to kill the birds though, but they did need to be taught a lesson.
