[Kitsumi]

"He's just pecking because he likes you," Rebi claimed, although in all honesty she knew nothing about these strange birds. "Squeaker? I have no idea... let me look it up, though."

Balancing Slippy in one arm, she grabbed her phone from her back pocket and typed the word into the search bar, looking for images. As soon as the results popped up, her face went pale, and then red with anger. "They were going to eat Skippy and Slippy!" she screamed, so loudly that the bird in her arms began struggling and squeaking loudly. "Oh, we are definitely keeping these two." She cuddled the bird tightly, it's eyes going wide as it continued trying to escape.

[Jedi]

His face went pale as soon as he saw the images on Rebi's phone. He couldn't even imagine these birds being turned into food. He felt even worse that he'd suggest they find the owners. Had he been more firm on that, they would've been doomed for sure.

He set down the menu on one of the counters. "I'm not hungry anymore. How about we finish the movie?" He hadn't even realized it was still playing, now about to show the first bloody scene. The excitement had distracted them from the movie, and now he felt like he needed a distraction from the obscene thought of something happening to these penguin creatures.

[Kitsumi]

"Sure," Rebi said, realizing that she had lost her appetite as well. "We'll just order something later. Hopefully the sandwich will keep these little guys full until dinnertime." There was an unspoken understanding between the two, that they would not be returning the squeakers to the kitchen where they had come from. They would protect the little birds, no matter how much trouble they proved to be.

Sitting down on the couch, the girl watched as Slippy nestled against her in her lap, seeming content and sleepy. She wasn't sure how much of the movie was left, but it would hopefully be long enough to provide a distraction for her and Komo.

[Jedi]

Komo sat down next to his partner, picking up the bowl of popcorn. He wasn't particularly hungry anymore, but he did toss a piece down to his squeaker every minute or so. It had followed behind, continuing to pick at his pants ankles. He set the bowl down between the two of them so as to share with Rebi.

About halfway through the movie, he had to look away from the screen. He always felt awkward when love scenes came on, so naturally his face was bright red. At this point, he felt a second pull on his other ankle. "Rebi, can you control your squeaker? That one's pecking my feet too now." But when he went to look down he instead saw too completely different penguin creatures.

[Kitsumi]

Completely engrossed in the movie, Rebi didn't notice when her partner suddenly looked away. However, she did notice when he suddenly began blaming her innocent little baby for something that he obviously wasn't doing. Turning to look at Komo, the young woman frowned.

"What are you talking about? He's right- oof!"

Suddenly, the squeaker in her lap became much heavier. Looking back, she was confused and somewhat disturbed to find that her 'baby' was now much bigger... and it was no longer alone.

"What... what the heck is going on?" Rebi screamed, jumping up and startling the pengu as it spilled off of her lap. "Did you just... grow up? In the span of two seconds? And how did that one get in here?"

[Jedi]

Komo reached down and picked up both of the birds down by his feet. He held them in his arms and looked worried at her. "What is happening? Are they multiplying? Or did they get in earlier and we didn't notice it?" He stood up, no longer paying any attention to the movie.

He paced for around a minute, the gears in his head stopped as if they were jammed. "What are we suppose to do? I mean, if they keep multiplying like this, we'll be drowning in these birds. And what are we suppose to name these two other birds?" He looked at Rebi, desperate for any kind of solution. Before she even had the chance to answer, the birds started pecking angrily at each other, hitting him in the crossfire.

[Kitsumi]

Still feeling stunned, Rebi had no idea how to respond. She simply stood there, mouth agape, staring from one bird to the next. Four. There were four of them now!

Suddenly, a fight began to break out between the two that Komo held in his arms. Gasping, Rebi lunged to try to help... but tripped over the birds at her own feet, who squawked angrily in response. Despite her attempts to catch herself, she went careening into Komo. The two angry birds were knocked out of his arms, while the humans went tumbling to the floor with the female on top.

And that was when all hell really broke loose.

[Jedi]

He could barely tell what was going on. The two birds were pecking and squawking wildly at each other. And before he knew it, he saw Rebi tumbling toward him.

Komo's head hit the ground, leaving him slightly dazed. He opened his eyes to see Rebi's face in his. He felt incredibly uncomfortable, but didn't address it as chaos was still ensuing. He helped Rebi off of him as respectfully as he could, careful not to put his hands anywhere awkward.

As he stood up, he ran and grappled the two pink birds, hoping that separating the two types of birds would calm the situation. They were still squawking at the black birds, but weren't attacking each other.

[Kitsumi]

With her nose touching his, Rebi was close enough to Komo to feel incredibly self-conscious and embarrassed. She quickly began to pull away, blushing furiously. "S-sorry!" she stammered, as the male helped her into her own space.

Turning back to the chaos, the girl watched as Komo tackled two of the birds - the pink ones - in order to hold them back. Realizing the wisdom in separation, Rebi jumped in to help. She didn't think she would be strong enough to lift both of the darker colored penguins, so instead she began trying to herd them into a separate room.

"This way," she said, shuffling her feet and guiding them away. "Come on, I think you guys need a time-out." Once they were in her bedroom, she slammed the door shut, leaning back against it tiredly.

[Jedi]

Komo waited for Rebi to guide the dark penguins into her room before Komo carried the other two into his room. He closed them in as well and looked over to Rebi, his eyes wide with stress and exhaustion. "I think we may be biting off more than we can chew."

As he said the words, it gave him the idea. "Oh, weren't we going to get them something to eat?" Maybe they were acting out from hunger. Or perhaps that wouldn't matter. It was worth a shot, in his opinion. "And we could figure out if there's a way for the two pairs to co-mingle. I'd hate to cause some sort of scene in the hotel and hint them to their runaways." If they could get the birds under control, maybe no one would notice them and they could help them escape.

[Kitsumi]

It pained Rebi to see Komo so beaten up and exhausted. He had been attacked by these strange birds multiple times in a very short time span. The poor boy was probably ready to throw in the towel.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, sighing. "I feel like this is my fault, somehow..." She had a tendency to blame herself for everything, and this was no different. After all, it had been her idea to order room service. If she had never asked for that menu, they wouldn't be in this situation.

Thankfully, Komo seemed to have come up with something of a plan. Eyes brightening, Rebi nodded hard. "Oh, that's a great idea!" she said. "It's like introducing two cats... they can be really territorial, and it's hard to get them to get along. But if you feed them nearby each other, they'll come to associate the pleasant experience of getting food with the other cat, and so they might get used to each other. If it works for cats, maybe it'll work for penguins?"

She grabbed the menu that she had previously discarded. "Now, come help me find something that they might like to eat on this menu..."

[Jedi]

Komo strolled up beside Rebi and read from over her shoulder. He pointed out with his finger at the fish options. "I feel like, them being penguins... or something... They'd want some sort of fish. I mean, they liked your sandwich, right?" Reading through the options, he rested his finger on one option that seemed perfect.

"Smoked salmon. I think they'd like that." He walked over and picked up the phone, then held it out to Rebi. "Do you want me to order, or would you want to ask?" He ignored the pecking and  scratching that he could hear coming from the two rooms. Obviously, they weren't happy with being locked in the rooms.

[Kitsumi]

Following Komo's finger as he pointed, she nodded. "Oh yeah, smoked salmon should be great." She took the phone that he offered her. "Since we're putting it on my mom's card, I should be the one to order." She knew that her mother would never blame Komo - she was too eager to make the boy her son-in-law someday - but Rebi didn't want to risk any issues, just in case.

Dialing the number for room service, she put in an order for a few servings of the smoked salmon. Then, on a whim, she asked for two banana splits, with all the possible ice cream toppings. Once she had hung up, she turned to face her partner. "I think splitting the two groups of birds up made me hungry again," she explained. "I hope you don't mind if I decided to bypass dinner and go straight to dessert."

[Jedi]

He listened as she put in the order for the salmon. But when she added in he ice cream, his eyes went wide with surprise... and excitement. He didn't interrupt her as she finished the call, but when she asked him about it, he assured her. "No, that actually sounds really good. I think the hour we spent since then has piqued my appetite too."

He walked over to the doors and listened to the birds. They stopped pecking for a few seconds, but he could still hear them preening and rooming themselves. Possibly each other. "It sounds like they calmed down for now. I guess they needed to be separated for the moment. After we feed them, they should be fine, right?"

[Kitsumi]

Rebi smiled, feeling happy that Komo liked her idea. She had hoped that the treat might lift both of their spirits, but honestly just seeing him so excited was enough to make her happy. "Good," she said. "I think we both deserve a reward after those pain in the butt birds." Despite the harshness of her words, she actually spoke them in a fond tone, showing that she did care about the strange penguin-like creatures.

"Thank goodness," she said, upon hearing that the birds had calmed. "I think they should be okay after they eat. If we feed them together, it'll help put them in a good mood towards each other. At least, I think that's how it works."