The Throne of Flame: Chapter Eight


In the end, Skipper's decision to leave Mort back at the zoo with Marlene proved to be a good one. It was a long trip to the ocean and a difficult maneuver to hijack a vehicle; having Mort by their side could have compromised the entire situation. Not to mention that Julien was already very clearly on edge. Having Mort nearby would have certainly triggered some shouting, which Skipper didn't want to deal with. He was sure his feelings were reflected by the rest of his team.

They managed to cut down a lot of time by sneaking onto a subway at first, but after they got much closer to the shore, a parked jeep was easily shortwired and commandeered. Poor sucker who owned it wouldn't know what hit them. Kowalski also managed to gather quite a bit of equipment, much of which Rico expunged from his stomach. How the two of them seemed to always be on the same page, Skipper wasn't entirely sure, but he was thankful for it.

Trekking to the beach itself, regardless of how much land they'd covered via subway, was a bothersome procedure. Not because Maurice and Kowalksi seemed to never stop talking, or even that Skipper had road rage (he didn't, no matter what Private said), but simply because Julien was looming over him relentlessly. Breathing down his neck, practically.

It was as though the king had forgotten the meaning of personal space. He managed to squirm his way onto Skipper's driver seat with him, and because Private sat in the passenger seat (with Rico at the pedals), he couldn't exactly tell Julien to shift over to that seat. Maurice and Kowalski were beginning to construct something that might have been a motor from the backseat already, which took up a great portion of room, so he couldn't send him there either.

Skipper stared at the road with a thin frown, somewhat rigid from just how close Julien managed to get to him. To say it was a distraction would be an understatement. He was practically nestled up against Skipper's side, resting his chin on the commando's head as he lazily stared ahead at the distance they covered. His arms hung down, fingers limply brushing against Skipper's feathers every time they would take a turn. He was warm - so warm, that it put Skipper more on edge than he already was. It was like being surrounded by a soft, plush blanket, and it would have been nice if it weren't for the fact that it was just… Weird. He felt bad telling Julien to back off, being that the lemur had almost been murdered twice the night prior, but even he had his limits.

When Julien's tail swept over his stomach and elicited an undignified shiver, Skipper decided he'd had enough. "...Do you mind, ringtail?"

Though Skipper continued to keep his eyes on the road, he felt Julien look down on him. He was silent in contemplation for the moment, before he snorted quietly. "No."

If Skipper had teeth, he'd be gritting them. "Let me rephrase. Can you move over?" He muttered out now, tone somewhat strained. He really didn't want to draw attention to the two of them. The position was embarrassing enough.

Julien didn't answer at first, but then, he seemed to perk up. "Hey, I am having an idea. Maybe I can be helping you with your shortliness to be seeing the road, yes?"

Skipper was having trouble seeing, true, but he'd been fine up until then. The worst of it had been a few awkward jerks when he realized that he couldn't merge lanes yet - due to not being able to see the lines - but they were alive, weren't they? Still, he wasn't even entirely sure what Julien was attempting to insinuate. How could he help Skipper see better? Before he so much as had the chance to ask, however, he was being lifted up.

"Hey - what!?" He exclaimed in surprise.

Julien's fingers skimmed over his sides and under his wings, eliciting a strange ticklish feeling, and suddenly Skipper was being propped up onto the mammal's furry lap. His rear end was positioned firmly against Julien's mid-section, and they were melded together with a strange closeness. The warmth radiating off of Julien was almost enough to shock Skipper more than the action itself, his eyes wide and beak hanging open. His first experiencing with spooning, and it was with Julien. The king was cozied up against him in the driver's seat, and if it weren't for the fact that Skipper's body had locked up, he probably would've let go of the wheel in his complete and utter surprise.

It was… Almost nice.

"There, you see? I can be the usefulness too, silly bird." Julien's breath was warm against his cheek, voice tender.

His fingers squeezed against Skipper's sides as though to punctuate his sentiment, fingers trailing down slightly over the ebony feathers. Skipper was speechless, to say the very least. He'd gotten a taste of the warmth radiating off of the kingly mammal and it was… Strangely tantalizing. He had no idea what to do with that information, or if it was even something he had wanted to be aware of. He probably could have gone his entire life without knowing how nice it felt to cuddle King Julien.

Fortunately, Private was less speechless and more mortified. He waved his flippers around as he exclaimed, "Oh, dear, um! Julien, Skipper isn't really the hugging type!"

"Ay, wuzz 'appenin'?" Rico piped up from the floor. He glanced up in interest, only to see Skipper pressed tightly into Julien's lap. He then shrugged it off, as though it were the most normal thing in the world, and went back to playing with the pedals.

Skipper snapped out of his stupor, and the car swerved slightly as he nearly startled himself into molting. "Ringtail! Unhand me now, mammal!" He seethed out the command, stamping out the waver from his voice.

Julien seemed reluctant to follow this order, but with much hesitance, his arms unwrapped from Skipper's torso - sliding against his body in a way that couldn't have been unintentional - and he squirmed his way out from under the bird. The wiggling motion garnered Skipper's face to heat up and he inhaled heavily through his nostrils, arching away from the lemur. Julien cleared his throat. He looked rather disappointed, but said nothing, instead sighing silently.

What was that about?

Skipper swallowed thickly as he realized that Julien had ignited something akin to excitement within him. He didn't know what for, but he felt strange about it, and immediately waved the feeling away. After a moment or so, he'd managed to cool himself down. This was no time to think about… Whatever weirdness was going on in Julien's head. He had to focus on keeping the lemur king safe, no matter how strange he was.

When he glanced to Julien, who had merely resumed his previous position, he noted that the lemur was staring at Private this time. It was a very blank gaze, as though he was looking through him, but for a moment Julien's brow twitched and it almost resembled contempt. Skipper decided not to dwell too much on Julien's thought process. He was a weird one, that was all he could decipher on the matter.

As they neared the shore, Julien hunched down slightly to whisper to Skipper so that only the head penguin could hear his words. His tone wasn't particularly contrite, yet it was full of demure.

"...I am sorry for maybe being too much with my closeness. I am being very… Nervous." He said the last word as though it was foreign to him.

"It's fine," Skipper muttered before he could stop himself, even though he wasn't sure what he said was entirely honest. "Care to explain why you're so close to me in particular, though?"

Julien was quiet, long enough that Skipper felt drawn to glance over at him. When he did, he saw that the lemur had taken on a thoughtful, slightly cryptic expression. Upon meeting Skipper's eyes, he smiled, and Skipper felt surprise bubble up within him once more. Perhaps it was the way that the sun filtered in through the windows, but he could've sworn he'd never seen a smile more plaintive and weary.

"It is best that the throne be kept in the safest of hands." He murmured, and his tone was unfathomable.

Skipper was about to reply, but before he could, Private piped up. "Ooh! Look everyone, we're here!"

All eyes followed Private's pointing flipper to see that they were, indeed, at the beach. Skipper filed away Julien's puzzling words to decode later, instead parking their jeep close to the sand. With the help of his three boys and Maurice, they managed to effectively lug out all of the materials Kowalski and Rico had gathered. Those two also began to take apart their vehicle to use it's spare parts as well, which brought a grin to Skipper's beak. He loved when his men were resourceful.

Julien was no help in the building process. Not only didn't he exactly want to help, but Skipper realized part of it had to do with the fact that he literally had no idea what went where or how to even attach things. That was a good enough excuse for the leader and the rest of them worked hard on fixing up a decent submarine. Obviously it wouldn't be big, what with the few assets they had, but it would take them to Madagascar and that was the most important part.

As he was constructing the rudder, he began to second guess his previous decision. He knew that whoever attempted to murder Julien had already tried twice, both of which were very serious attempts, but even to Skipper it still seemed to be a bit much to travel across the globe. Sure, Madagascar was a nice vacation spot, but he wasn't particularly fond of dropping everything for a sudden cruise. Especially when Julien didn't seem terribly bothered by his near-death-experiences. He claimed nervousness, but it didn't reflect in his actions. Either he really trusted Skipper with his life, or he honestly didn't know how serious the matter was.

He was taken from his thoughts as he saw that Julien was fidgeting with some scrap metal pieces. Julien was an actor. Not always the best one, but maybe that in itself was an act. He definitely showed signs of anxiety, and after a little bit of distracted watching of the king, Skipper realized that Julien refused to leave the penguin's line of sight. He was staying where Skipper could see him if he so much as lifted his gaze, assuming he was looking down at what he was tinkering with prior.

That, and Julien kept his back to a surface at all times. At first, Skipper thought he was reclining, but the suspicious glances tossed over his shoulder said otherwise. He was trying to make sure no one could sneak up on him. A classic paranoid move, one Skipper had acted out himself countless times in the past.

Okay, so maybe the ringtail did take the matter seriously. Why did he treat it like yesterday's news? Did he not want to worry them, or some rubbish like that? Did he not want to appear weak?

Skipper didn't want to dwell too much on the inner workings of Julien's mind, reminding himself how… Confusing the lemur could be, with a wince as his cheeks flooded with heat again. That car ride was more memorable than some of the most intense chases he'd been involved in.

That aside, Julien feeling freaked out by what may have been the grim reaper coming for him did make Skipper feel more sure about the mission, more specifically, the resolution to go to Madagascar.

When it came down to it, all that mattered was that Julien came out alive by the end of this whole mess.