Hey Nico, thanks for reading this. I wanted to try something a little different. I hope you like for everything you do for us as a community.

~Affa9262

Hey, it's me, Bagles. I hope you're all having a nice night. Especially those who are in time zones that make it really late right now.

Today I want to tell you a story that's a little more serious than my usual goofy banter.

And maybe it can be multi part! Wouldn't that be cool!

With like a complicated plot and all that!

So...here we go!

I am one, and I am many.

A representation and culmination of thousands of people.

But above all, I am a traveler.

I am a protector.

What do I protect?

There's a ship somewhere in the universe. I don't know where it is, but I know my must protect it.

It's called the S.S. LP. The name came to me in a dream.

I don't know if it truly exists. That's what I'm traveling to find out.

Heh...it might turn out that I'm just being delusional, that there is no ship...that I'm not supposed to protect people...that I'm just some goofy little penguin that isn't special at all.

But that won't stop me from trying, not by a long shot.

It all started in the Antarctic.

"Come on Bagels, you can't leave us!" Lox cried out. I put a wing on her head as a sign of affection.

"It's ok, baby. I'll be back. I just have to find the ship!" she smacked me across the face.

"Won't you get it through your thick skull! There is no ship!"

"There is! There's got to be." I rubbed the spot where she smacked me. "I want you to understand. I have to do this..."

"Then...let me come with you!" she cried. I just shook my head.

"Too dangerous."

"Don't leave me!" she was on the verge of tears. It hurt me to see her like that...but I needed to do this. I needed to. I wanted to see the world and...she just didn't understand. This wasn't just a dream or delusion...it was my destiny...like the universe itself was calling me, pulling me toward the ship. I turned my back on her.

"Please...stop. I'm going. I've already decided. I'm going alone." And I started waddling off.

"Fine! I'll stay here alone! I'll stay here and hurt! Is that what you want?!" The words hurt me, but I kept waddling.

She snuck up behind me, turned me around, and kissed me. It was...she was...wow. I blinked.

"...You can come." I said.

"Excellent." Lox smiled, and together we waddled toward the horizon.

Lox had been a friend of mine since I was a hatchling. She was...amazing. I was lucky to have her. Still...would she be able to handle whatever the outside world handed us? I didn't know. Whatever it was, though, I would protect her. It would be great practice for protecting the ship!

"So...how exactly did you plan on getting to this ship?" Lox asked.

"Oh...I don't know-"

"You don't know?!"

"Huh?" Why was she suddenly so angry?

"You've been talking non-stop about this ship! You don't even have a plan?!" Lox rubbed her temples with her wing. "I swear...what am I going to do with you?"

"Well...there are some ships that come over this way." Lox pointed. "Maybe the one you're looking for is there?"

"Maybe." I scratched my head. "It's worth a try."

And so we waddled in silence for a little bit. It was a comfortable silence, not awkward at all. Lox and I in the vast ice ice...and at the end of it the ocean, and the ships.

"What were you going to do without me?" Lox asked.

"I dunno, wander, I guess." I replied.

We waddled all the way to the ocean, and there were ships!

"So...are any of these yours?" Lox asked.

I looked at all of them...then another question occurred to me. How was I supposed to know what the S.S. LP would look like? Even if I found it, would I be able to tell I found it? Man...this mission was getting more and more impossible.

"Bagels?" Lox asked.

"I...-"

I gasped as two hands clasped around my stomach, human hands! I squeaked in surprise and so did Lox. Suddenly we were off the ground! The shoved into something with rough texture. A sack? And and...

Everything was dark.

To be continued...next livestream.