Patiently impatiently tapping her foot on the office's floor, Bridget tiredly sighs as she awaits the older zookeeper to get the last section of the officially hired zookeeper session.
Due to going home early after her zookeeper training, she wasn't able to get this part done. Luckily she decided today was the day to get back to work, and she can finish this nonsense for good…
If only the minutes she was experiencing at the moment weren't so tediously grueling.
"Here's the zookeeper schedule, all vet appointments and shipments are listed and updated—" Alice's monotonous voice rings in the ginger's ears like non-stop sirens.
Biting her lip, Bridget huffs. She knows she should be paying attention, but this was too painful to endure. She kinda wished maybe something would happen. Anything more than this.
Then something miraculous happened. She was saved from this monotone lecture by none other than Alice's phone ringing.
"Ugh, for crying out loud." The older redhead whines, grumbling as she takes out the phone. "Hold on, I got to take this," and answers the phone grumpily.
Oh what a blessing from the heavens…that's more of a curse now. Because with Alice on a call, she's just stuck in her office longer. Great.
'Fuckin hell, why not. Let's not make this shit go longer. While we're at it, the fellas wanna join in for a nice cha—'
Four little penguins then dropped down from the vent and onto her desk.
"Rico, Private, secure the perimeter. Kowalski, get the intel." Skipper orders and they break their landing formation.
'…Wait no, I was bein sarcastic. They don't have ta be here'
Bridget blinks at the arrival of her feathery companions. Squinting at them, she silently stares at them, studying what on earth they're doing.
Kowalski waddles over to the computer and starts typing on the keyboard before taking out his phone and snapping pictures of the screen.
"Sir—" Private clears his throat and points at Bridget.
Skipper shrugs. "She didn't see anything." He says before making the motion over towards her.
Kowalski then looks back at the others with a nod. Skipper nods back and the four bounce off various objects and back up into the vent, closing it behind themselves.
'…Woah'
At the exact same time, coincidentally, Alice's call ends with an irritated groan. "Ugh, anyways. Here, zookeeper keys." The head zookeeper then dangles the keys in front of her.
Bridget stops staring where the penguins disappeared, blinking at the motions, her head up at the keys, and gingerly snatches them.
"Ah… thanks."
00000000
As the usual routine, Bridget skates up to the penguin habitat with a bucket of fish. She wears her gloves still, as well as her watch and newly gifted friendship bracelet. Despite it being bright pink, she still likes her gift.
The penguins are in their habitat, playing cute and cuddly for some of the visitors of the zoo. Almost as though they had never left.
However, their caretaker can see well past their acts, passively waiting for them to as she observes them. There's something very coordinated about their cute antic, as though it has largely been rehearsed.
'I always wondered if they do this for show or somethin else. Clearly, no one around here trained them this shit so, why do they do it? Is it still mainly for treats?'
As though to answer her question, Rico jumps and catches a piece of thrown popcorn in his beak before diving back into the water.
Bridget's eyes widened at that.
'FUCKIN CALLED IT'
Not quite as cute, Kowalski starts a little dance that receives a face-flipper response from Skipper. But that results in the redhead snorting a little and then averting her eyes away from them.
'Jesus Christ these dorks. Padre, you're enjoyin this too much'
She never thought she would label a penguin like a father figure… it felt weird yet… she doesn't stop. Even though she still refers to him as 'Padre'…maybe the nickname sticks. If not that, then she wouldn't know why she keeps calling him that.
'Although, these fellas really have a small exterior habitat… wonder if I could get them a bigger one…somehow. Cheapest might be I built it myself… somehow… I'll add it ta my bucket list'
By this time, most of the visitors surrounding the penguins are gone, only leaving the four dancing birds and their pondering caretaker. With the public gone, the cute antics cease. Private waves over at her.
Bridget's attention is grabbed by the waving, as she turns to face them. "Ah, you're done." She sarcastically teases a bit.
"Yeah, the popco—people left." Kowalski clears his throat.
A brow is raised at them before they gently toss a few fish toward them. "Aren't ya fellas not supposed ta have popcorn durin zoo hours?"
"Oh, what's the harm? The humans get their cute show and we get a snack. It's a win-win." Skipper crosses his flippers.
"Ya say that like I'm gonna rat ya out."
"Well... You do officially work here now, and so that means when Alice is looking you'll have to uphold the no feeding the animals rule—" Private starts.
"Yeah," Bridget shrugs, agreeing. "…But I didn't see anythin."
Skipper side-glances her with an amused snort. "Doesn't work unless you do the motions too, Freckles."
"I don't speak flipperese," She gives him a playful glance.
"It's like this, really easy." He makes his signature motion.
She watches him. "Why ya gotta do the motions?"
"Because. You just gotta do it right." He shrugs.
Bridget deadpans at him and shakes her head before tossing the rest of their meal at them. The four penguins waddle to the spot of their delivered lunch, munching on it.
Private glances up at her to thank her, but stops when noticing the pink bracelet. "Oh! You're wearing the bracelet!" He chirps with a bright grin. "It looks nice on you."
"Oh uh, thanks. I do like it," She shyly nods, holding some truth to those words. Besides the color, the gift itself meant a lot to her.
"Will you always wear it?" His baby blue eyes grow wider.
Bridget bites her lip at that. "… We'll see," She tries to curveball the attempted promise. Which satisfies the youngest penguin enough, as he nods, and starts to chomp on his lunch.
"So did your jobs change much with the promotion?" Kowalski, starting his turn for conversation, tilts his head after eating a few fish.
"A lil bit," She starts the mentality list. "I'm gettin paid. Late mornin ta early evenin shifts, Monday and Fridays, unless I call out,"
Biting her lip, she leans on the fence while eyeing the sky. "In charge of anythin involin you fellas, feedin and appointment wise. And… I got my zookeeper keys and walkie, and access ta the cart." She nods with her eyes closed.
Although that sure is a lot for 'a lil bit'.
"Cart eh?" Skipper chuckles. "Might be game for a rematch against that old thing."
"Whadda mean?"
"Our zoo coupe versus the zoo cart." He looks at her.
"… You have a car?" Bridget squints at him.
She knows she shouldn't be surprised. She knows. After everything and this makes her squint? But she couldn't help it. She always thought they were just 'borrowing' cars.
The penguins have a motherfucking coupe.
"It's small, but it works for four small penguins." Kowalski nods. "I've invented extensive modifications from how it originally was when we acquired it."
"Oh," She nods a little, then thinks about it.
"Well, a modified coup against an old zoo cart, course you're gonna win. But I'm faster on skates anyways." The ginger shrugs… subtlety teasing them.
"Is that a little bet I hear?" Skipper raises a brow with a grin. Rico glances up too, almost excited by the idea of racing.
Bridget was about to answer cockily but paused to stop herself.
'Wait a moment. Don't go gamble with penguins. Am I really gonna race against a modified coupe?'
"… Maybe?" She shrugs, and then gives him the same smile back.
'Oh my fuckin god what the fuck you idiot'
Skipper grins at this.
Kowalski just face-flippers and shakes his head. "Anyway, Bridget, do you think you could leave the Zoovenirs shop unlocked tonight?"
"…Why?" She tilts her head.
"Well, we have a meeting. Like you have HOA, we have zoo inhabitants meetings."
'Oh… interestin. I guess that makes sense. The zoo bein like an apartment complex community?… Minus, the public watchin them durin the day'
Bridget methodically thinks about her thoughts before nodding at him. "K, I'll do that."
"Thank you. We'll lock up when we're done." He nods.
Bridget nods… although looks at him like she wanted to ask more.
He makes eye contact with her. "Yes?"
"… I'm good,'' biting her lip, her eyes avert away from him. "Not really supposed ta ask much… and it's not my birthday anymore."
"Maybe not..." He then jumps on the rails to lean closer. "But maybe you get daughter privilege questions." He whispers.
Now she looks tempted. Why would you do this to her?
"… Is it a monthly thing? Or is this one outta the blue?" Bridget gives into her curiosity, her black eyes shine with wanting answers.
Too late to go back now. She wants to know more.
"It varies. Usually, it's just whenever someone declares they want one." He rubs the back of his neck.
"Huh… and why was this one declared?"
"Hey, guys!" A familiar otter voice then piped up, followed by Marlene's face over the little habitat wall.
The newcomer's inspiring announcement made Bridget jolt with widened eyes, flickering her movements out of reaction only to accidentally start stumbling…and then fall back to the ground.
The penguins flinch at her fall.
Marlene leans over the side of the wall. "Oops, sorry, Bridget. Are you okay?"
"…ow," The caretaker blinks and pulls herself up by the habitat bars. "Y-Yeah, yeah. I'm good." She clears her throat, biting her lips as her eyes avert away.
'Fuckin Jesus. Try not ta be clumsy please'
"Anyway, I was just making sure you boys heard about the meeting tonight because you better be there this time." She looks specifically at Skipper.
"Yeah, yeah, we heard. We'll be there." He waves her off.
"Good, because part of it's about you guys." She nods.
Oh if her attention wasn't grabbed then, it's grabbed now, as she finds her black eyes slicing over at the otter. Her expression is however mixed between intrigued and worried.
"About us?" Skipper raised a brow.
"You don't think we haven't noticed that you boys aren't up to your usual 'night patrols' or whatever anymore." She puts a paw on her hip. "We have questions, you better have some sort of answers prepped."
Bridget, with a guilty expression, glances down. Einstein and her really need to get back to inventing that machine. Once it's fixed then the Moonsquawkers wouldn't get in trouble so much… and everything can return to normal. She can leave…
No more complaints from wolves and otters at them when she's gone.
Skipper gives her a look. "You know what my answer gonna be, Marlene."
She returns the look. "Well, declassify some sort of excuse to at least put the zoo's minds at ease."
"…The community could get somethin brief?" The ginger clears her throat, muttering loud enough for her to be heard.
"Doesn't exactly have ta include… everythin."
"Brief should be just fine." Marlene nods, glancing over at her.
She nods at the otter and gifts the flathead with a 'come on, it's not going to hurt you' glance.
Skipper sighs. "Yeah, yeah. I'll come up with something."
Bridget nods and pretends to mind her business despite how involved she is in the business.
"Nine tonight then, don't forget." She nods.
"Maybe Bridget can come too?" Private chirps.
Marlene looks over at her. "I mean, I don't see why she couldn't. She's technically part of the in-crowd now."
"… Wait what." Suddenly being thrown into the discussion, her eyes switch back and forth between the penguins and otter, her expression very puzzled.
"Suppose that would make sense, seeing as how we've been at her house a lot for... Reasons." Skipper nods.
"So we need to find her a disguise, right?" Kowalski asks. "So she doesn't startle the others?"
"…What's happenin." And now she looks confused and scared.
"You're coming to the meeting too!" Private smiles at her.
'Oh no'
Staring all at them for a moment, the caretaker then slowly rolls backward and away from them.
"Bridget! Come back!" Kowalski squawks after her.
Hearing his cries, Bridget glances back.
Kowalski looks at her with his puppy eyes. "Please?"
While her frown presents how uncomfortable she is with the idea, Padre's expression outweighs her gut feelings. It was only after biting her lip that Bridget gave in with a groan. "Oh fuck me—" she grumbles and rolls back over.
"K fine, I'll join…but only cause I had a hand in why ya fellas weren't around much," The ginger crosses her arms.
"Don't worry! We'll make sure you have a good disguise!"