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“You think Dj Peck Neck will make a movie that's even remotely as good? I think not!” The Conductor laughed and the kid in front of him giggled a little. That surely was reassuring after… what just happened.
The bird (?) coughed and broke the ungraceful silence he left, reaching inside of his pitch black coat to fetch something. A single, soft, yet iridescent beam of light broke through and bounced off the ceiling as soon as he grasped what he was looking for.
“Here, take this thingamajig and get outta here!” He blurted out. The time piece he was holding started floating. The little girl hastily reached towards it, levitating as soon as she touched it. As she levitated, a jingle echoed from the time piece and across the wagon.
The owls just stood there, not really sure what to do. They tried to treat the scene as normal, but watching the girl almost freeze everyone to have her little achievement “cutscene” only left them to wonder if she was some sort of protagonist.
And as soon as the jingle ended, alongside her cheeky twirl and time piece fidgeting (all of that while being in the air), she just vanished.
Conductor shivered.
Not a trail left behind.
In a millisecond.
Just poof.
…Aliens sure were weird!!
⊱══⊰
After the peculiar event with the hat kid, the owls were packing their things and tidying up the train. Camera lids were being put back, lightings were being shut off, and Conductor was perplexed. Sure, the lassy distracted him, but that only lasted a few minutes. He still needed to address the elephant in the room.
He wasn't particularly bad at doing that. The last elephant to be addressed was quite sympathetic at the fact he was completely out of place in a bird studio, but this time was a case of its own. It was a metaphorical elephant.
The worst kind of elephants!!
He examined the cardboard cutout. There was a mechanical object attached to it – a speaker. But that meant it also had a listener (“Speaker, listener, it's the reasonable choice”, Conductor reflected), otherwise Grooves wouldn't be able to hear the cue for his revelation.
The yellow “owl” knocked on the cardboard cutout, treating it like a door. He held it with his other hand so it wouldn't fall due to the strength of his knocking.
“Peck neck!! Can you hear me?? I know you can!! Come here right now!!”
There was silence. Then suddenly, Conductor heard a small, smug laugh coming from the speaker.
“Alright, darling, just wait a s-” And static took place.
It didn't take long for the Conductor to acknowledge the sound of rhythmic steps – which, from knowledge, he could categorize as the signature dance-walking from his rival – approaching. Soon enough, the flamboyant penguin was moonwalking his way to Conductor, and when he twirled, a raised leg kicked the owl's knees and knocked him down.
“Oh, hello. Didn't see you there.” Peck neck.
“What the peck were you doing in my movie!?” He exclaimed with a faltering voice, reaching a high pitch in his anger. His rival just laughed his utopic commercial laugh again. Peckity peck.
“Conductor,” Grooves extended his flipper, which the grumpy bird grabbed harshly, “darling, I am more than aware of the joys of highlighting how miserable your life is.”
“And I you.”
“But we're… friends.” Grooves tried his best to let that word out in a confident tone, and smiled the fakest smile Conductor ever saw.
“Friends, schmends.”
“And friends help each other out!”
“Help, schmelp.”
“Darling, will you stop with that nonsense?”
Conductor laughed in victory. It was very simple to rile his rival up. In a sense, they had the same patience and same tactics as petty little kids trying to figure out who is the king of the world.
And it is impossible to deny that each still held the belief that they were indubitably the king of the world.
“Grrrrrroooooooooves, let's have a heart to heart for a second. If you saw me on the dirt you would kick me deeper with those pecking heels of yours and would wipe the dirt from it down after.”
“Very true.”
“I would do the same.”
“Very true.”
“Except without the heels I guess.”
“Let's see.”
“Whadijja mean “let's see?””
Maybe now it's time to reinforce the argument – perhaps it should already be considered a fact! – that elephants were much easier to address than Grooves. Elephants didn't say “Let's see.” Elephants didn't say “darling” every nanosecond. Elephants didn't try to turn you into a painting and burn you alive. Oops, wrong person, that was his ex.
“... This is not about friendship,” schmendship, “this is about… attention! Peck neck, it was all about attention all along! You don't want to help me, you just want to be the hero!” Conductor was now hopping and stomping in place. He didn't know if it was because of his triumphant moment of eureka or of the indignation that he should have thought of that sooner, coming from someone like his rival.
Grooves muttered something and waved his flipper, his brows were more furrowed than they used to be in their other arguments. That was weird.
“Do you know what that means?” Conductor added smirkly.
“Entertain me, darling.”
“I'm gonna have to make an appearance in one of your terrible movies too.”
“Oh, that would be terrible.” Grooves spat in disgust.
“And in the worst way you can imagine.” The owl's smile grew devilish. Yes, it wasn't weird anymore.
“You are vile!” Now he was the one stomping his foot. Great reversal of fortune. Everything's well again.
…
Then it was just that.
It ended sooner than they expected. They definitely thought another remark would be added, someone would feel deeply offended, there would be a slap or a kick or something. But nothing. Not even another “peck” from Conductor. Groove adjusted the belt on his jorts and tapped his foot as if he was waiting for something. What could that possibly mean? An elephant would have said it by now!
“... You wanna eat something?”
“Sure, darling.”
⊱══⊰
Conductor can now affirm he is very good at addressing the obnoxious penguin in the room.