[Jedi]

He set the bowl on the stovetop under the microwave, waiting for the last thirty seconds or so. When the popping slowed to two seconds in between, he interrupted the cooking. He'd had way too many incidents where letting it cook the whole time would burn it.

He emptied the contents into the bowl, then walked over to Rebi, tossing the bag in the trash on the way. "Decide to change seats?" he joked. Komo laid down longways on the couch, resting his head on her lap and setting the popcorn on his chest. "Sorry, is this too awkward," he said only after choosing this positioning? "I mean, I don't want to make you uncomfortable." He started to get up, hesitant to see what she was okay with.

[Kitsumi]

"Yeah, turns out sitting on the arm of a chair isn't so comfortable," Rebi replied. She was happy to see that Komo immediately came to sit next to her. When he tried to sit up, she grabbed his shoulders, holding him down. "No, it's fine!" she said, perhaps a bit too quickly. "I mean... I kinda like when we sit close together and stuff." She could feel her face heating up, but pushed forward anyways. "Maybe it's just because of our bond, but I always feel comforted when you're close to me. I don't want to smother you or anything... but I'm happier when I'm close to you, like this."

[Jedi]

He was satisfied to find that she wanted him to lay down like this. And though he was staring at the screen, he could see the blood rushing to her face. He didn't let her know, to save her embarrassment. "I enjoy your company too. And don't worry about smothering me. I'm not as soft as when we met." He picked a couple pieces of popcorn, lifting them to feed Rebi.

It was about half an hour into the movie when he heard a knock on the door. "I'll get that," Komo said, picking up the bowl so that it wouldn't spill. He handed it to Rebi, then walked to the door and looked through the peep hole. "It's not your mom," he said aloud, then opened the door. "Menu sir," the man beyond the door said, handing him a pamphlet. "Thank you," Komo said as he closed the door.

[Kitsumi]

Unsure of how to respond, the girl simply remained silent. She moved on autopilot as Komo fed her some of the popcorn, eating numbly without really tasting it. Rebi had convinced herself that this weekend would make it clear to her how her sacrifice felt about her... but somehow, now she was even more confused than before. He seemed so casual and comfortable with her, which made her question if maybe he didn't like her the way that she liked him. After all, if he had feelings for her, wouldn't he be as nervous about all of this as she was?

When her partner stood up to open the door, Rebi knelt on the couch, trying to watch what was happening. As the door opened and the menu was offered, the girl suddenly noticed two strange pink figures dart between Komo's legs and into the room. Her jaw dropped, and she blinked in surprise as neither male seemed to notice what had just happened.

"Uh, Komo?" she called out once the door was closed. "I think something just came into the room. Two somethings, actually."

[Jedi]

"What?" he said as he closed the door, not sure exactly what she meant. But when he turned around, he saw a flash of pink as well. He set the menu down on the couch on his way toward the room with the two queen size beds. "There's one in here!" he called out.

On the bed is where he saw it. It was jumping on the mattress, messing up the sheets and shaking around a pillow in it's mouth. "It's like some sort of penguin or something!" Komo rushed forward and dived onto the bed, but the rosy bird avoided his grasp and trudged out of the room, bashing the pillow against the walls and spilling feathers everywhere.

[Kitsumi]

For a moment, Rebi was frozen in shock. She allowed Komo to enter the bedroom on his own, listening as he called out to her. But when she heard a thumping under the couch that she was sitting on, she shot up. Kneeling down, she peered beneath the furniture. There was nothing but darkness, and a little dust.

"Huh," she murmured to herself. "I was pretty sure that I saw-" her sentence was cut off by a scream as she lifted her head and found herself face to face with a little pink penguin-like creature.

In response to the girl's scream, the penguin let out a terrified squeak and launched itself at her. Out of instinct, Rebi put up her arms to catch it, not wanting the creature to get hurt. It immediately began scrabbling up her shoulder, and then began tangling itself in her hair, squeaking continuously as she tried pulling it away from her head.

"Komo, help!" she called. "It's in my hair!"

[Jedi]

By the time Komo had righted himself, he heard her scream. He rushed out of the room, hoping that Rebi was okay. He saw the pink bird tangling and ripping at her hair. He rushed forward, trying to grab the penguin. It had a clump of her hair in its mouth, so when he pulled it away, it also pulled on her head. "Shoot! Sorry, Rebi!"

He wedged his fingers into it's beak, trying to pry it open. After a few seconds, he managed to free her. It was now intent on attacking him, screeching and squawking at him. "What do I do?" he asked in a rushed confusion. He felt something biting his leg as well. When he gazed down, he saw another one with it's beak on his ankle. The pillow next to him made him guess that it was the one that was in his room.

[Kitsumi]

The rush of relief that Rebi felt at seeing Komo coming to her rescue, quickly vanished when she felt a sharp pain coming from her scalp. "Ah!" she shouted, more in frustration than actual pain. "What the heck are these things? And how the heck did they get in this hotel?!"

Luckily, she was finally freed from the pink bird... but it was now attacking the male, and it wasn't alone. There were now two angry pink birds tearing into Komo. Rebi knew that she had to do something to help him... the only question was, what?

After a moment, she suddenly thought of something. "Wait here!" she said to Komo. "I'll be right back!" Running into the bedroom with the king-sized bed, she grabbed her suitcase and opened it as quickly as possible. There, in the front pocket, was the tuna-sandwich that she had packed as a snack during the journey, but had failed to eat. Hoping that the birds would like it, she ran back out into the living area.

"Here, birdy birdies!" she said, ripping a couple of pieces from the sandwich and offering them to the penguin-like creatures. "You guys hungry? You want a snack?"

[Jedi]

Komo watched her carefully, hoping to keep the birds attention on him as she walked by him. He kept pushing the bird on the floor away with his foot, hoping to save himself a few seconds of pecking.

The bird on his leg was the first to notice the scent. It gave a few more bites before turning toward Rebi and chasing after her. It seemed to desire the food more than it wanted to harm either of the fighter unit. Then the second noticed the smell of fish as well. It went erratic trying to escape to get toward the food as well. Seeing that it was no longer after the two, he let it go on the floor.

"I guess that works," he stated with a few peck marks on his face. The ends of his pant legs were riddled with small holes and a little blood from his shins.

[Kitsumi]

Although she was definitely concerned about Komo, Rebi found that she was becoming captivated by the pink birds. She knelt on the ground, and they allowed her to feed them from her hands. Their loud, angry squeaking dulled to contented chirps as they seemed to be enjoying the food.

"Aww, they're actually kind of cute when they aren't attacking," she commented quietly. "I bet they're babies. Maybe they were orphaned or something. Losing my mom and being unable to find any food would make me cranky too." Tentatively, she reached out to pet one of the birds. It allowed her to do so, leaning up to gently nibble her finger, causing her to giggle.

Looking up at Komo, her eyes became almost as big as saucers as she asked the question that would probably doom them both:

"Can we keep them?"

[Jedi]

Komo watched as the mood changed in a matter of seconds. What started as a frantic chase and effort to wrangle the penguin creatures, became akin to that of a petting zoo session. Komo approached them and reached down to pet one himself. It gave a little nip at his finger, but then let him slowly approach with his hand.

He heard Rebi's words, but took a second to process. "Well..." He hesitated. "We don't know what these things are. They could be someone's pet, or they could've escaped from a zoo or something." He stood up, and thought for a second. "Maybe, if they don't belong to anyone, we could keep them."

[Kitsumi]

Completely enamored with the little pink birds, Rebi was only really half listening to her partner's response. The only part she heard clearly was, 'we could keep them' and she reacted with excitement. "Do you hear that, little guys? I'm gonna be your new momma!"

Any sign of her normal, harsh demeanor seemed to vanish in the presence of these adorable creatures. They had awoken a maternal instinct that she hadn't known she possessed. As one of the birds began to stumble, she quickly caught it and scooped it up in her arms like a baby. It relaxed against her, squeaking happily as she gently patted it's downy feathers.

"What should we call them?" she asked.

[Jedi]

He was a little stunned when he heard her say those four words, quoting him way out of context. "No," he interjected, feeling a little timid as he once had been. "I didn't say that." He took a breath, trying to remind himself not to be so timid around her as he once had been. "I said if no one else already owns them, we could. We should put up a found pet poster, or something."

Hearing the last question she posed, he realized he wouldn't be able to reel her in. He knew that if they named them, they'd get attached to them. That would make things difficult if they found their owner and them both. Without even realizing it though, he muttered out a couple cute names for them. "I don't know... Slippy? Skippy? What would we even name them?"

[Kitsumi]

This time, Komo's words managed to reach Rebi. But by this time, she was too far gone. "Oh come on, look at them!" she held up the squeaker in her arms. "These things clearly don't have an owner. No tags, no chips, nothing! And even if they did have an owner, how would they have gotten loose, huh? They were probably being neglected, if they were being owned."

The names that he suggested caused her to smile brightly. "I love it! This one is Slippy, and yours is Skippy." She pointed down towards his feet, where the other pink bird had nestled between his legs and was falling asleep while standing up, leaning against his leg for support.

Still carrying Slippy, she made a move to grab the menu from where he had dropped it earlier. "Let's see if they have any fish on the menu," she said. "I'm sure these guys need to eat more than a few bites of an old tuna fish sandwich."

[Jedi]

As soon as he realized that she took his suggestions seriously, he tried to interject; "No, I-" but he let it go immediately. There was no talking her out of this, and now he'd given them these ridiculous names. And what did she mean by his being named Skippy? The penguin still on the ground, nestled in between his feet, was pecking at his shoes. "Ow," he said to it as he picked it up. "That still hurts, Skippy." Great, now he was confirming their names.

He walked over to Rebi, cradling the other bird in his arms as it lightly pecked his shirt. Komo looked over her shoulder, reading the menu as well. He saw a rather unusual food item under poultry. Country Fried what? "What's a Squeaker?"