The Town of Fracs

"What... is this?"

Mumble frowned as he looked at what Clementine indicated: her supper, which consisted of an egg.

She doesn't know what an egg looks like? Mumble sighed. "It's okay. It's not poisoned or anything."

Clementine gave him a hard look.

"Look, if I wanted you dead, I'd have left you in that storm drain- er, with the killer whale."

"But you are the killer whale!" exclaimed Clementine.

Mumble became impatient. "No, I'm a penguin. Emperor. Same as you."

"But you said-"

"Never mind what I said. Just eat."

"But what is it?"

Oh God! Mumble was about to climb the walls. He was going to go insane if she stayed around much longer. But it would be rude to chuck her out now. A pretty penguin like her would be easy prey for any of the various weirdoes hanging around Fracs. She definitely wasn't from around here. Pixieland, maybe?

"It's an e-" he began, but he stopped. It would be kind of fun to tease her a bit.

"An eh?" Clementine tilted her head to one side and blinked her beautiful eyes at him.

"Nope. It's the beginning of a chicken. It's hen cum," he added as Clementine took a tentative bite.

Clementine gagged, coughing and spluttering as she tried not to choke.

"Hey..." Mumble started, reaching out a wing to help her, but she managed to swallow painfully.

"Hen what?" she gasped.

"It's just an egg," Mumble said quickly. "I was just kidding. It's safe."

Clementine sent him a glance but didn't protest as she tucked into the egg with a vengeance.

"Want something to drink?" Mumble asked, feeling a little guilty.

"Sure!" she chirped brightly. Mumble smiled to himself and fetched her a glass of lemonade.

"What's this?" Clementine asked a moment later, whisking the glass away from Mumble and taking a swig before he could say anything.

He couldn't resist. "Melted yellow snow."

Clementine sprayed the lemonade all over Mumble, much to his disgust.

"It was just lemonade," he grumbled, brushing the yellow droplets from his feathers. "I was kidding."

"You kid too much!" Clementine reprimanded him hotly. "What if I had choked on that and died, huh? How would you feel then?"

"Sor-ree," he mumbled, he remorse being swept away by a gust of annoyance.

Clementine squealed suddenly, scaring ten years away from Mumble's life.

"Did you mumble?" she squeaked. "Oh my penguin god! Mumble mumbles! That's so cute!"

Mumble's feathers grew hot. "Cute?" he asked skeptically.

"Yep! It's adorable!" she chirped. She leaped up, abandoning the remains of her traumatized meal. "I'm gonna explore this place, 'kay?" She then shot upstairs in a flurry of feathers.

Mumble followed her more slowly. Lovely. I have a bipolar out-of-town yokel penguin running around my house. And I bet she won't have any money to foot the repair bills.