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.
The sight of a penguin just standing in the middle of the street had Sodalite pausing just long enough in the middle of draining the unfortunate individual that had caught his gaze on this chilly December night. How very unusual. The critter had no real sense of self-preservation as it continued to just stand in the road and caused cars to swerve around it. What sort of trickery was this? Was it simply some sort of animatronic? Some kids toy robot? What was it? Figuring that the mystery of the bird was better than continuing to gather energy for his quota Sodalite moved out of the alleyway before standing on the side of the street to simply observe everything that was going on before he would try to intervene.
Dropping his victim onto the ground and out of sight the Lieutenant meandered just a little bit closer to get a better take on the situation. It was not until he was nearly on top of the unknown object that it simply turned around and squawked at him before waddling forward towards the other side of the road. Rude, someone should teach this thing the proper respect that we members of the negaverse deserve. Even as he recovered from his shock at realizing that this penguin was not a mere toy did his attention because laser-focused on where the creature might be heading. He sighed only once as the black and white bird, which only seemed a foot tall, waddled into the nearest park.
Taking out the journal that General Jet had given him as a Christmas Exchange gift did Sodalite detach the pen before flipping to the next available blank page. He glanced down to the book in his hands before glancing back up at the penguin that now decided it wanted to mess around with the play structure that was in this particular park. He felt his eyes widen at the sight of the penguin climbing towards the top of a slide before simply sliding down the plastic chute while on its stomach. It let out another one of its squawking sounds that almost sounded like a clarion call that was mixed with laughter. Well, that at least seemed rather typical penguin behavior from what he knew of them. But what he was not prepared to see was an assorted line of penguins march out from the foliage that surrounded the play area. Each one was making the same annoying sound that this one made. They all made their way to the structure that contained the slide and almost as if it was encouraging the others did the original penguin seem to exhort the rest to climb up the structure and slide down the slide before repeating the procedure.
This was definitely not your typical behavior from penguins now. Just the fact that these birds were hanging out around a park that was way far away from the Antarctic made Sodalite worry that they were not real penguins at all. They were not youma though that was for sure. Even as he sat himself down on a bench and began to idly sketch a design of one of the birds that seemed too scared to slide down the slide did Sodalite have to smile. This bird seemed a lot more timid than its peers and it made the most horrendous noise in protest as it was shuffled towards the slide before it leaped up onto a railing and then down to the ground before running towards the safety of a human presence. "Oh," even as Sodalite watched did the penguin flap its short little wings up in the pantomime of wanting to be picked up that the lieutenant could not help but oblige the creature. "What is the matter, too afraid to try the slide like your friends?" Having the penguin nestle into his chest made Sodalite wonder if his guess was a little to on the mark. Idly he ran his hand down the creature's back before sighing, "I do not believe that this is the best place for you though, I guess though that you can linger here with me while your friends continue to frolic."
Almost as if it were in agreement with the words that Sodalite had spoken did the little penguin continue to try and burrow further into the lieutenant's side. There was something to be said for this little trusting soul that it believed it could find sanctuary at his side. How odd that the penguin could not determine just how dangerous he could be, at least in his dealings with the members of order or random people that he encountered on the street. He pocketed his pen and journal before turning all of his attention to the young bird, "you are entirely too trusting of me. How can you just nestle into my side like a chick nestling into their parents' side with no worry or care? Can you not realize that this is probably the worst move that you could make?"
Hearing what he decided was a soft crooning sound did Sodalite look down at the bird that had now decided it was time for a nap. Oh, well, he could renege on things just a little bit longer, could he not? It was just too cute of a moment to let go unmarked and Sodalite carefully withdrew the pen that he transformed into the tablet before focusing the sight of the little bird nestled against his side, sleeping into the device's picture frame before hitting record. He spoke softly in the direction that the built-in microphone would be to dictate the events as he was seeing them, and recording them.
Considering this video would probably never be shown to anyone else on the team he was loosely affiliated with did Sodalite express the disbelief he was experiencing with the sight of a march of penguins going in a complete repetitive motion of climbing up stairs, sliding down slides, and repeating the motion all over again while one lone penguin had decided to adopt him as a surrogate parent it seemed. Chuckling softly Sodalite realized that he was gently petting the sleeping bird at his side. He just could not stop the gentle ministration of this petting motion. He did not wish for the little bird to wake up and be distressed further by the fact that he would eventually have to go. Perhaps he could take the bird with him. Almost immediately was that thought banished from his mind. If folks to the north got in trouble for trying to keep geese as pets, then there were probably rules against keeping penguins as pets. For a moment he considered the idea once more before realizing that trying to keep this little bird a secret pet just would not work out. Almost with a sadness did Sodalite rouse the smallest bird that was still sleeping and felt his heart melt a little at the confused noise it made before he tapped it on the head. "I do not know what you see me as and as much as it pains me to tell you this, but I cannot be seen as an adoptive parent of your kind. I do not have the know how to take care of you and I think it would end up getting me in a lot of trouble. Look, your friends seem really nice. They know how to have fun and you can have that same sort of fun experience if you can just believe in yourself. You have the courage to do whatever it is you want to do. But if you do not want to try the slide then I get it. Just stand up for yourself, be assertive and aggressive, and your friends will not be able to bully you around anymore."
Feeling as if the entire colony of birds had stopped in their sliding activity to take in what he was saying to his little friend Sodalite merely shook his head in disbelief. It was perhaps the strangest feeling to have dozens of beady little eyes locked on his form. The 'leader' of the group, as Sodalite had come to dub him, suddenly squawked a long and awful sound, and suddenly all the other birds turned as one. Another squawking sound and the birds all began to move as one unit. Sodalite became alarmed as the penguins now all seemed to want to converge on the bench that he had taken a seat on. What the heck? Was the group so incensed at what he had told their friend that they were now going to attack? Was "March of the Penguins" going to become, "Attack of the Penguins?"
Putting the small bird that had been nestled against his side down onto the ground Sodalite began to step backwards at a sedate pace before one more commanding squawk from the leader saw the largest contingent of black and white birds waddle their way towards him, did Sodalite turn tail and run at the fastest speed he could manage out of the park and away from the dangerous birds. Destiny City needed better animal control. He was going to have to write in and complain. Although that one young bird had made a lasting impression.
