It's a good day, Mikhaila Ilyushina thought.
Her paraplexis wasn't giving her that much grief today, so she could walk without needing crutches. She decided to make it even better by having a relaxing time in a hot tub, which she was currently making her way towards, a glass of freshly-made steaming tea in hand. Real tea.
Yes, it was a good day.
Depositing the tea mug on the tiled top next to the tub, she put a hand into the water to check its temperature… only to notice a suspicious object that hadn't been there minutes ago.
The cheery face of a small yellow rubber duck stared back at her, bobbing gently atop the bubbly water.
Mikhaila blinked, then blinked again. Letting her breath out through her nose, she shook her head.
The ducky squeaked.
Mika couldn't help but grin. "Where did you even find one of those?" she queried.
The bright yellow duck's perpetual smile revealed no mysteries.
The engineer took off her remaining clothes, chucking them into the laundry hamper. She lowered herself into the hot water on one end of the tub.
The duck began to slowly make its way closer to her.
"You know, if you wanted to bathe with me, you could have just asked," Mika suggested.
The garish toy did a forward roll, coming back upright to face her.
"Is only polite," Mika added.
Squeak.
"I do not speak duck, Morgan," she pointed out.
Squeak.
"I'll give you 'squeak'," Mika said playfully as she grabbed the ducky and squeezed.
Squeak! the duck squeaked angrily.
"If you will be duck, I will treat you like duck," Mika told the rubber toy, wagging her index finger at it. Surely it saw the undeniable logic.
The duck turned away from her, facing the woman with its tail.
Mika snickered. "That's not very nice," she chastised. Raising a hand above it, she dropped it onto the ducky, submerging it beneath the unforgiving bubbly ocean.
A minute later, the toy duck broke the surface, its buoyancy giving it a little jump before it settled back onto the surface. It squeaked rather loudly in protest.
Mikhaila's laughter rolled on as she launched a wad of foamy water at the critter.
Good day.
