"Sometimes the greatest adventure is simply a conversation"
― Amadeus Wolfe
"I make a left on this street, right?"
Kowalski tilts his phone with a nod. "I think so?"
With a nod, Bridget swings around the curve of the street gracefully, not having any trouble, despite how tight of a turn it was.
And without hesitation, she skates on cautiously, yet hastily. This ribald section of the city is unfamiliar to her. Bridget just hopes she isn't being led to a junkyard.
With the penguins riding inside her bag, the only time conversation picks up is among whispering from the penguins or the topic of directions.
Otherwise, the journey from the zoo to wherever these birds were narrating her to go has been quiet. Not much from Bridget, and not much from them.
To Bridget, she doesn't mind the silence, she probably even prefers it. At the moment she isn't in the mood to chat, particularly to penguins who she hasn't grown comfortable too. No, she's focused on traveling to the desired location, to get the gear and fittings they (or, mostly Kumquat) require so everything can revert to normal...or at least, feel normal-ish. So she thought to herself in silence, topics of 'Did I get all my questions answered?' or 'So are all animals not stupid but intelligent?' come up in her mind.
Besides, even if she does try to make an effort of a conversation, what is she supposed to say?
'Hello, nice to finally meet you, thanks for kidnapping me and now taking me somewhere in the city I probably wanted to avoid. Also, how are you?'
It wouldn't be a lie to say a part of Bridget slightly regrets making a deal. But...a deal is a deal. And so she doesn't complain.
After a few minutes of silence, there's a small throat clearing from the backpack. "So...Brigid, right?" Kumquat asks.
Snapping out of thought, her head slightly turns to glance at the tallest penguin. "Uh...Bridget," she corrects, before biting her lips and awkwardly turning her head forward.
"Ah right, my apologies. I suppose we owe you an introduction. I'm Kowalski."
"And I'm Private." Private waves.
Skipper rolls his eyes.
"Skipper...you've met, and Rico's the quiet one."
"Yep." Rico nods.
Bridget glances back again, nodding at them.
"Uh...nice to...meet you?" She tries to greet friendly...' tries'. But instead, she comes off awkward and confused, and Bridget herself realizes this, her head faces forward again.
'C'mon, knock it off. Just stop talkin, you're makin this weird'
One would think being forced to go to gathering social parties by your Aunt would make you better at talking to people. Then again, she's not talking to people.
Kowalski nods, pulling out his clipboard. "... Would you mind if I asked you a few questions? About what abnormalities you may have encountered since that explosion?"
Biting her lip again, Bridget recognized it was time to socialize, sighing as she thinks a moment of her conditions.
"...With what I know so far? ...Hearin animals talk, feathers, moments of headaches or sore body...uhh..." She hesitates with her last one.
"...A tail" she mumbles out.
The penguin nods, jotting this down before pausing with furrowed brows. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that last item?"
Bridget squints her eyes. She huffs and repeats louder. "A...tail."
"...So that is what you said." He chews slightly on his pencil eraser as he thinks. "Huh. That is...unexpected."
With a nod, the human changes the subject. "And...what about you? Any... side effects?"
"Oddly, none that we've noted so far...And I won't lie, I find that highly improbable that you would get all of the side effects." He scratched his head. "So my guess is that ours are going to be belated in some way."
"Great." Skipper groaned.
Bridget bites her lip in thought.
"With how things seem ta add up, it's probably somethin human-related,"
"... I don't scare easy, but something about that sentence just sent a chill down my spine." Skipper mutters. "Kowalski. If I grow a second head, you're toast."
"If you grow a second head, sir, I'll provide the toaster."
For a moment, Bridget looks back at them, noting the distressed expressions they hold. Bridget exactly doesn't care if they're scared, but the anxious vibe around the four...she could feel it. And...she greatly understands them for it.
Who wouldn't be scared?
Not wanting to bear these emotions, she sighs. "I...don't think it'll involve growin two heads...I think it's somethin not ta worry about. Clearly whatever abnormalities are inside ya are takin its time...best that time is taken advantage of before it develops,"
Kowalski nods with a sigh. "Yeah... And who knows, could be something minor like hair growth."
"And what would a penguin do with hair?"
"I guess we could brush it?" Private suggests.
Skipper gives him a look. "Ha ha."
Bridget rolls her eyes at the boys' conversation, at least satisfied knowing they're in somewhat better spirits. She focuses again on the streets.
After a few more minutes of bickering, for a little while, things are quiet again.
Quiet enough that the clicks of glasses being messed with are pretty audible.
Audible enough that the owner of those said glasses hears.
"Hey, quick touch my glasses. You're gonna smudge the lens," calls out the human transportation.
"... But I'm not holding them by the lenses."
"...Just don't touch them...please?" As frustrated as she comes off, Bridget's voice is mostly tired sounding.
Kowalski folds them and puts them back with a small nod. "Sorry... I won't touch them again, promise."
Nodding, Bridget ignores the small guilt she felt, noting how sad he sounded. But again...she doesn't care.
Bridget glances down at her silver watch, glad it was back on her wrist again.
And her slingshot from the boys...but the watch more importantly.
Checking the time, she made a small hum.
'Damn, it's about ta get dark'
And indeed, was the city and her surroundings slowly becoming darker. They need to hurry up.
Bridget looks straightforward at the street. "Uh, how much longer til we're there?"
"Uhhh..." Kowalski looks at his phone again before tapping her shoulder. "Here. It may be easier if you just see the map for yourself. It's marked at the red dot."
'Penguins...penguins have phones...animals can use technology?'
Bridget had to mentally put that question aside to take the gestured phone. But sadly, her eyes squint at the bright screen. "Ack-fuck it's bright,"
"Sorry, it's turned up so I could see it during the daylight. You know sun glare makes it almost impossible to read anything on a screen."
Turning down the brightness, Bridget blinks before rubbing her eyes. She then reaches behind in her bag for the glasses.
Her hand meets feathers.
"Do you mind?" Skipper snorts.
Her hand immediately flinches away. "Ah, not glasses. Just a fat penguin. Sorry."
Her hands finally find her glasses, grabbing them and putting them on.
"I'm not fat. That's pure muscle." He snorts.
Private clears his voice. "...Could have asked, we could have passed them up to you more easily."
There was a pause.
"...I was...fine doin it by myself," Bridget comments, before she analyzes the map on the phone.
"I think what Private means to say is, that would have been more polite." Kowalski clears his throat.
"...Alright," is all she could respond back.
And then once again, things are quiet.
After a while, the skates on purpose stop gradually, Bridget pausing at a big closed story. Her eyes wince up at the faintly glowing sign on the building;
"Robinson Electronics"
"'Das Logo können Sie nicht lesen'"
'...A German Best Buy?...at least it's not a junkyard'
"I uh...think we're here," she announces, handing back the phone to Kowalski.
Kowalski takes back his phone with a nod. "Yep, this is it. Should have newer electronics than we could find at the junkyard."
Nodding, she tries to see inside through the glass, noting how empty and dark it is inside. "And...do ya have a plan on gettin inside?"
The penguins climb up on her head and shoulders and also look through the window.
"Likely have alarms and all that on the doors and windows." Skipper nods. "Kowalski, options."
Kowalski looks at his clipboard. "I'd recommend entering from the roof and dropping down the ventilation system."
"Can I also recommend that ya please get off me?" Bridget deadpans, not like being touched.
Skipper looks down at her from her head. "Can't help your height makes for a good vantage point."
"Oh I'm sorry, please, stay there all ya want. Would ya like some crackers too? Birdy want a cracker?"
"...I am a little peckish." Private mumbles.
The others roll their eyes and they hop down from her.
"Alright, now I want options for getting roof side."
Bridget bites her lip as she notes and studies the height of the store. After thinking it out, she starts digging into her bag and pulls out the makeshift ladder.
The penguins look up and watch her with interest.
"What's the catch of the day, Mary Poppins?"
"A ladder ta climb up the roof and go Chim chimney,"
She then looks at the homemade ladder and makes a face. "Expect...don't have a longer hooker ta latch itself onta the roof..." Bridget bites her lips again.
Nonexistent penguin eyebrows shoot up with surprise. Skipper then nods to Rico. "Rico, hook her, will ya?"
The other penguin nods and horks up a few hook options and offers them to her. "'Ere go."
What greets the penguin however is a very concerned and horrified face of the human, her eyes glancing at him, the hook, and then back at him.
Her face then becomes one of confusion, as she questions this before her face squinting.
"...Do I...even wanna question this?"
"Honestly? Probably not." Kowalski shakes his head.
Bridget blinks, looks at the hook again...before reaching down for the hook. "Uh...thank you." She nods at Rico, before taking the hook and connecting it to the tip of the ladder. Rico nods to her, taking the other hooks and re-swallowing them.
'Okay, ignorin that birds can swallow shit up, that's fine. That's normal'
With the hook now attached, she whirls around the ladder's rope, swinging up the hook. Over the roof of the building, it goes, and a clack could be heard. With a firm grip, she pulls the ladder to secure it.
Without a word, the penguins were already scaling the ladder up.
And follow suit, so does Bridget.
At the top, the penguins slid across the roof to the largest vent shaft. Rico then popped the grid off the top and the four looked down.
Skipper looked over at Bridget. "You think you'd fit or you want to wait up here?"
It only took one look at the vent shaft for Bridget to answer.
"I...think I'll wait." She nods.
'No way in hell I'm gonna get my ass stuck in a small vent with a bunch of penguins. Don't have ta be claustrophobic ta know that's a bad idea'
The penguins nod at that and drop down the shaft one after the other.
And the human watches them.
'So...are all animals secret spies...or only a certain few...like jobs...like service animals?'
She sits nicely on the gravel roof, allowing herself at the moment to be lost in thought.
'And if animals could have jobs or be spies...then there must be more like them, aren't there? Are all animals intelligent or sentient?... Or am I just overthinkin it?'
Bridget, however, doesn't notice that she's slowly sinking into the roof, the surface creaking from the weight.
'I mean...animals can't be that smart, right? They're just...dumb...or...maybe I'm wrong? What if we're all just the same...except the only difference is they got claws or paws?... What if-'
The surface of the roof breaks, and Bridget falls in.
"HOOVER DAM, WOMAN. WE WERE WORKING ON UNLOCKING THE DOOR," Skipper exclaims, looking from her to the roof.
"...ow." Landing on the ground of the store is not pleasant. That's not an assumption; that's a fact. She gets up from the ground and shakes her head a little.
At this point being sore was a common expectation.
"...Ya say that as if I wanted ta fall in,"
Kowalski winces and waddles over.
"Are you okay, miss? I'm sure that hurt." Private frowns.
Bridget sighs. "Yeah, I'm fine, been through worse," Quickly, she notes to check her leg, and was relieved that it wasn't broken...again.
She picks up her glasses that fell off and gets up, glaring at the roof.
'Shit roof'
"What about your glasses? Are they okay?" Kowalski asks.
...Slowly, Bridget glances down at Kowalski, giving him a look.
"... I just know they are expensive equipment so they wouldn't be cheap to replace if they were damaged." He clears his throat awkwardly.
"...It's fine." She puts the speckles in her bag.
Kowalski awkwardly nods and waddles away again, towards the electronics.
Skipper and Rico meanwhile slide over to the door and unlock it so that their exit will be simple.
Bridget, carefully trying to not step on Private as she walks past him, follows Kowalski. She's just a little curious on what gear he wants to rebuild his laser...
Not that she's not into nerdy machinery but...it's cool.
Kowalski waddles along, first to the radios where he grabs two boxes before continuing on to the computer electronics section.
Bridget watches him for a bit, before looking at a few things herself. She found herself eyeing a spark plug...hesitating before grabbing it from the shelf. A spark plug could come in handy.
'One day I gotta come back here and pay for it...as well as that muffin from the cart guy'
Kowalski looks around for a moment. "Need something that can replace a satellite dish. Doesn't have to be an actual one but something dish-shaped."
Hearing the tall penguin she once called Kumquat's muttering, the ginger (realizing she's in the car parts section of the store) looks around her aisle.
Her eyes light up at a woofer speaker and calls out.
"Hey, could this do?"
Kowalski makes a face. "What is it? Describe it; I can't see it from here."
Bridget lifts up the speaker for Kowalski to see.
"Oh yeah, that could work."
She walks around towards him with the device. "I'd check the wirin in case, I think the pole piece is a lil loose."
"Eh, I'll be stripping it down to the cone frame anyway. That'll be fine." He nods. "Still going to need some other parts, but those I can get from the junkyard." He takes out his abacus, eyeing his electronics, and doing a calculation.
Seeing the abacus, her black eyes lit up.
"Is...that a Chinese abacus?"
Kowalski blinked and looked at the beaded device in his flippers. "... Perhaps?"
She raises an eyebrow. "Looks like one...although you're holdin it like it's Russian,"
"...I'm holding it the way I know to hold one..."
'...Shit I'm makin things awkward again'
Bridget darts her eyes away, taking a step back from the penguin. "I think I'll...go check something else..." she turns the other way and heads for a different location.
"Didn't realize there were other ways of holding it..." he says after her, but after a moment just shakes his head and returns to adding up his total.
'Ugh, Jesus, what's goin on with me? I haven't been like this in a long time'
Skating away from the computers, she checks out...batteries. Because that's fun.
Meanwhile, Kowalski writes a check and lays it on the cash register, waving to Rico to come to pick up his supplies.
Bridget takes some batteries, and skates over to where the regrouping is.
Her eyes scan around a bit, however. Everything...minus the fall, has been easy. Too easy. And that made Bridget suspicious.
"Got what you needed?" Skipper asks, waddling over.
Kowalski nods. "Everything I needed from here at least."
"Is there another place ya wanna go?" Bridget's voice pipes up, although she was still looking around.
"Metal scrap from a junkyard. Could either go tonight or tomorrow." He nods.
Her eyes check her watch.
"The nights still young...might as well swing there,"
'uggggh, junkyaarrddd'
"Uggghh, might as well." Skipper groans, shaking his head.
Bridget nods. "K then, let's-"
There was the sound of footsteps distant in the store.
"Shh. Someone's coming. Scatter!" Skipper orders.
The penguins scatter to various hiding spots for cover.
Bridget confused yet startled by the sudden shout, scrambles for an area to hide.
A big man in a security outfit walks in and sniffs the air. "...Penguins."