She frowned in confusion before the evenings memories came rushing back at her. She remembered that she really had arrived late, and as a result, Skipper had made her swim fifty laps around the pool as punishment. After that, she was so tired that she skipped dinner completely and fell asleep instead.
Private gave as silent as a growl as she could. Not only had the other girls made her incredibly late, but all the talk about her and her potential crush on Skipper made her have that crazy, erotic dream.
She leaned back and stared at the top of her bunk. And the worse thing to top it all off? Her body didn't seem to get the memo that the dream was over and it was back in reality. In fact, it was as if it was urging her to call back the male she was 'supposedly' about to mate with.
The young soldier could feel the call bubbling up in her throat, just begging to be let out.
Private clenched her beak when she came to the frustrating conclusion that she was going to have to go out for a while.
Peaking over the edges, Private saw that the boys were all still fast asleep, and she took the opportunity to reach over to the ladder and scurry out of the HQ.
After quietly covering the entrance, she was alerted to the sound of soft talking coming from the lemur habitat.
An idea sprung into her head and wasting no time, she made her way to the lemur habitat.
As she expected, the three mammals were still awake and not too far from them was Julien's beloved boom box.
Excellent.
It only took seconds for Private to scamper up to the trio.
The instant Julien saw the penguin, he automatically went on the defense, "Woah tiny penguin, before you are to be saying anything, my boomy box is already on soft mode…see?" he held the device in front of Private's face and she could in fact here the soft music emitting from it.
"Yes Julien see uh…hear that." She nodded with a small smile.
Julien crossed his arms and stood as tall as he could, trying and failing to make himself look imposing, "Good, so you can be telling the bossy penguin to leave me alone!"
Private shook her head, "Well actually Julien, that's not why I'm here. I actually came to ask you to raise the volume."
The ring-tail tilted his head, "Say what?"
"At least for a little while…just while I get something out of my system." Private assured.
The lemurs shared a look. "You…want us to raise the volume? Are you sure?" Maurice questioned suspiciously.
Private gave a single confirming nod.
"Why?"
The young woman sighed, "It's really hard to explain-"
"Then I'm thinking maybe I won't do it." Julien replied.
Private balled her flippers at her sides. Her patience was running out and the urges were becoming unbearable. "Fine! I need you to make enough noise while I let out a few mating calls alright?!" she snapped.
The males regarded her with wide eyes.
'If they're shocked now, I can only imagine what their reaction would be if I told them I was a female.' Private thought.
"Ooookaaay…and what will you be giving me in return?" Of course Julien would want to make a deal out of this.
"I'll make sure Skippah won't yell at you or interrupt your parties for a week."
"Make it two and we have a deal."
Private sighed again. She really wasn't sure if she would be here for the next two consecutive weeks, given she would probably take up her uncle on his offer, but she figured she could leave Julien an I.O.U.
"Alright fine." She agreed and shook the king's paw. "Just…don't tell Skippah or the others." She added.
Whether Julien heard the last part or not, Private didn't know as his only response was a hearty laugh, "Maurice, turn it up!"
The aye-aye shrugged and did as he was told, raising the volume to an annoyingly high level. Private pointed to one of the corners of the habitat, "I'll just be over there then!" she called over the music before sliding away.
If this was going to work as a cover up, she was going to have to be fast.
Time: 11:45 P.M. Location: Penguin HQ
Skipper growled as he buried his head under his pillow, his flippers pinning the small bedding over his ears.
After a moment, he tore it off his head and glared up at the entrance of his home.
It had been such a peaceful night until a few moments ago when the irritating music started.
"I thought I warned them to keep it down!" he rumbled.
"It would seem your words went in one ear and out the other." Kowalski stated from his bunk, obviously having been woken up as well.
Rico grunted in agreement.
Skipper rolled out of bed. "I guess we're going to have to go give that self-proclaimed, wanna be king another reminder." He announced as he made his way up the ladder.
As he passed Private's bunk, he was surprised to see that it was empty.
"I guess he's already over there." Kowalski guessed as he and Rico followed their leader out the entrance.
Time: 11:47 P.M. Location: Lemur Habitat.
Julien laughed as he shook his tail to the music, ignoring the annoyed and angry shouts from the other zoo patrons to turn the music down.
He was so into his music that he didn't notice the penguins standing mere inches from him until Maurice tapped his shoulder and pointed behind him.
"Oh hello silly penguins!" he greeted casually.
"Ring-tail! Do you have any idea what time it is?" Skipper barked.
"Party time?"
"No! It's almost midnight! Animals are trying to sleep!" Skipper yelled while pointing to the tower clock for emphasis. "Turn off the music, or I'll turn it off for you!" he warned, glaring up at the taller mammal.
As the two argued back and forth, Kowalski swore he could hear something else going on in the back ground…a very familiar sound.
"Skipper," he said over the music.
"What?!" the captain barked back.
"I…I think I can hear a mating call."
Skipper gave the scientist a doubtful look, "You're hearing things Kowalski." He said dismissively.
"No really!" the tall penguin paused as if remembering something and looked around, "Where's Private?" had the young member heard the call and gone off to investigate it as well?
At the mention of the youngest member, Skipper turned back to Kowalski, though before he said anything else, he reached over and turned off the boom box.
"Hey!" came the protest of the lemur king.
Skipper ignored him and turned back to Kowalski, "What was that about Pri-"
He was cut off as the sound of a penguin mating call reverberated through the lemur habitat.
"Told you." The lieutenant retorted before frowning. "However…call me crazy but…that sounded a lot like a female mating call…"
Skipper turned in the direction the sound came from, "Private is going to have to wait, right now we need to check this out. Who knows, maybe Private might be there too." With that he led his troops in the direction of the calls.
The lemurs watched them go. "Did they say female?" Maurice wondered in confusion. The only penguin that had entered the habitat was Private and though he had admitted to be there to make some mating calls, he most certainly wasn't female…or was he…?
Turning to Julien he motioned after the penguins, "Come on your majesty, I smell something fishy." He said before running after the birds.
"Oh it's just the silly penguins. They always smell like that." Julien replied though he followed after the aye-aye.
Location: Far corner of Lemur Habitat
Private was aware that the music had stopped. Whether it was due to dead batteries or someone coming and turning off or breaking the device, she didn't know. And at the moment, it seemed like she didn't care. Even without the cover up noise, her instincts still urged her to call out for a potential mate, and against her better judgment, she obliged.
'I'll just stay out for a few more moments…hopefully I'll tire myself out by then.' She thought as she gave another loud honk.
However, she never heard the approaching footsteps coming up behind her, what with her cries covering up any soft, nearly inaudible sounds. And since she was facing towards the wall, she didn't notice the stunned group of males staring at her as she sent out another invitation.
It wasn't till she paused to take a breath when the voice of the last person she wanted to hear, sounded out from behind her.
"Private?!"
Swirling around, she soon found herself staring into the eyes of six dumbfounded males.
She practically fainted when Skipper stepped forward and asked the question she had been dreading,
"What in Sam Hill is going on?!"
A/N: Woo hoo! Finally the boys have discovered her only to be left with a cliff hanger!
I really hope I didn't scare anyone with the dream sequence…I just really needed something to urge Private to leave the base for a while.
Everyone's reaction will be revealed in the next chapter and that will definitely be the one to set this story into motion.
I also hope I got down Julien enough…he's kinda hard to write what with his accent and word placement. But hey, I guess he's good practice since I'm gonna introduce some characters with heavy accents later on in this story.;)
As I've said before and I'll say again; thanks for reading and reviews are always appreciated. :)
Chapter 6 will be up soon! Sit tight! :D