The Secret Admirer, Chapter 2: Hoo dun it?
Here's chapter 2 of my fanfic! Big thank you to my friend Astro and my partner for beta reading this!
“It’s true, my darling, I love you.” Flora crooned.
“CUUUUUUUUT!!!” The Conductor screamed through his megaphone. “What the peck was that? Chester! I saw you blinking on the ground when you’re supposed to be dead! And Flora! It’s “It’s true, my DEAREST, I love you!”
The Conductor slouched in his chair and put his face in his palms.
“Conductor?” Chester asked, “So uh… can I get up now?”
The Conductor waved him off and Chester got up, dusting himself off from being on the ground.
For today’s shooting session, Flora (playing the damsel in distress), was supposed to be thanking Arthur (the hero) and confessing her love to him. Meanwhile, Chester (the bad guy) was supposed to be dead on the ground. The fact that he kept squirming around and blinking when he should have his eyes open was beginning to aggravate the Conductor. How hard was it to not blink for a minute or two?
“Fine! We’re taking a lunch break! 30 minutes, and not a second longer!” The Conductor called out.
As the crew and actors began to make their way off the set, The Conductor got down from his directing chair and set down his megaphone. It had been a day since he had received the secret admirer’s present, and his thoughts were still swirling around to who could’ve given it to him. But now was the time for action, and he knew just who to ask first.
Flora stood by the craft services table, swirling around a stir stick in her coffee. She was a beautiful owl, with light brown feathers that swirled and framed her face and piercing green eyes. She was elegant in her work, taking the Conductor’s criticisms in stride, and altering her acting accordingly. Overall, she was a good actress, one that the Conductor had worked with for a long time.
‘A perfectly reasonable candidate for a secret admirer,’ the Conductor thought to himself.
The Conductor approached Flora, who was drinking her coffee and munching on a sprinkled donut from the table.
“Hello there, lassie.” The Conductor said, with a smile on his face.
“Good morning, Conductor.” Flora replied, smiling back. “Today’s been interesting so far, hasn’t it?” She continued, sipping more of her coffee.
“Ah, yes.” The Conductor responded, “That Chester… sometimes I wonder why I keep him around!” he laughed.
“He certainly loves to squirm around when he’s not supposed to, maybe he should audition to be a worm for your next picture!” She chuckled to herself.
The Conductor chuckled with her, and looked at her once more. He wouldn’t mind if she was the one who gave the present to him, she was quite pretty. But a relationship between a movie director and actress? That just spells trouble. That, and she reminded him of his ex-wife a little bit.
“Ah, lass? There’s something I’d like to ask you.” The Conductor began.
“Oh, is it about earlier? Darling, Dearest, they’re just so similar it’s hard to remember the difference!” She professed, finishing off the donut she had in her hand.
“Oh no, not about that…” The Conductor said, suddenly feeling hot.
“What is it about then? Don’t tell me it’s about my hair, I told the hairdresser that my curls are bouncier than this!” Flora argued.
“No, no, your curls are fine!” The Conductor expressed. “It’s just that… well, you see…”
The Conductor began to fiddle with his hands as he gathered the courage to ask his question.
“Yesterday, on the Owl Express, I received a gift from a secret admirer and… I was wondering if you were…” The Conductor trailed off.
Flora’s eyes widened as she froze.
“M-me?” She questioned, pointing to herself.
The Conductor nodded, looking away.
“Ah… ahahahaha!” Flora giggled, moving her hand to her mouth. “Oh Conductor! What a riot! I didn’t realize you were capable of pranks!”
The Conductor began to frown as Flora continued to laugh.
“Lass… This isn’t a prank.” The Conductor said gravely.
Flora began to quiet down once she heard this, and eventually stopped laughing.
“Oh, Conductor…” She said, delicately putting her hand on his shoulder, “I’m flattered that you would think that I would give something like that to you, but our relationship is purely professional.” She cooed.
The Conductor’s heart sank when he heard this, but at the same time, was relieved that she wasn’t the one who gave it to him.
“Well, lassie,” The Conductor replied, “I appreciate your honesty.”
“I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings, Conductor.”
“No, no. I had a feeling it wasn’t you anyways; no need to fret.”
“Thank you, Conductor. I appreciate that.” Flora said wistfully. She smiled sweetly at the Conductor and removed her hand from his shoulder.
An express owl cast member came up behind Flora and tapped on her shoulder.
“Pardon me, Conductor. Flora? Chester needs to speak to you. Something about acting tips?” he asked.
“Oh do pardon me Conductor, I need to go. I do hope you find who gave you that present!” Flora chimed, walking away from the Conductor and joining the express owl to go find Chester.
“W-wait lass!” The Conductor yelled, stopping Flora in her tracks. “You wouldn’t happen to know of anyone that would give this to me would you?”
“No, none that I can think of!” Flora responded, before disappearing through a doorway.
‘Well, that lead nowhere.’ The Conductor thought. ‘But if it wasn’t Flora, then who?’
The Conductor thought to himself again as he grabbed a bird seed granola bar from the table. There weren’t too many other leading ladies that he was well acquainted with, at least ones that he had known for many years. His movies were mainly action themed, not usually focused on romance or drama. But if it wasn’t a movie star, who could it be?
The side door swung open, and out popped an express owl. Carrying an armful of various documents, he began walking briskly across the set, unaware of the Conductor standing right in front of him.
Crash!
As papers flew through the air, the express owl fell flat on his face. His glasses sprawled across the floor.
“Ow…” he groaned, rubbing his head where it hit the floor. “O-oh no. no no no no! Conductor! Are you alright?” He cried, helping the Conductor sit up from the fall.
The Conductor shook his head, and looked to see who in the peck just ran into him. To no one’s surprise, it was the Editor.
The Conductor’s anger began to rise, as he rose up from the ground.
“I-I’m so sorry Conductor! I didn’t see you and-”
“And what?” The Conductor growled.
“And… the report! How could I forget?” The Editor laughed, picking up his glasses and sifting through the various papers on the floor.
“Ah! Here it is. The report!” The Editor smiled, handing over a packet of papers quickly shoved in a manilla folder.
The Conductor grabbed the report from the Editor and began to rifle through it. But there was nothing but bad news. On the Owl Express side, the train has been consistently late throughout the past month, due to a variety of issues. But even worse was the movie side, with the report stating that the reviews for the Conductor’s past movie was barely passing 2 ½ stars.
“So? Is it good news, Conductor?” The Editor asked excitedly.
The Conductor sighed and shook his head.
“Oh.” The Editor frowned.
“Laddie, this news could not be any worse. These reviews, what a load of peck. Oh, ‘The plot could’ve been better’ and ‘I didn’t like the main actors acting!’ These birds don’t know the first thing about movie making!”
“I agree!” The Editor remarked, sorting through the rest of the papers on the ground. “Editing is a fine art, just like playing a musical instrument!”
The Conductor nods and, after seeing the Editor collect the rest of the papers on the ground, helps him up from the floor.
“Thank you, Conductor.” He said gratefully.
“Ah, nothing to it.” The Conductor responded.
“Well, I gotta go back to the editing room. The movies don’t edit themselves! Ahaha… ahem.”
The Conductor was about to let the Editor go, when he remembered the present.
“Before you go lad, might I ask you something?”
“Oh, well sure! But not too long, I gotta call my husband in a few.” The Editor said, through a hole formed between the two stacks of paper he was carrying.
‘His husband!’ The Conductor thought, ‘How could I forget? He’s married after all. He couldn’t give me that present, regardless of how long we’ve known each other. That is, unless something was going on between him and the husband he didn’t know about.’
“Actually, never mind. Go call your hubby. My question can wait.”
“Oh, ok! Well, I’ll see you after shooting is done! Can’t wait for the new footage to come in!” The Editor replied, shuffling off around the corner and into another doorway.
‘Well, that was another dud.’ The Conductor thought to himself. He felt a little sheepish for assuming his Editor would have feelings for him, but he decided to push those embarrassing thoughts out of his mind before they got too big.
Well, there were two birds who didn’t have romantic feelings for him. But he was still no closer to finding out who gave the present to him, and he was beginning to run out of options. Everyone else he knew he wouldn’t consider to be close to, or was in a committed relationship.
‘15 minutes ‘til shooting resumes, maybe I should take a walk and clear my head. If I run into the Editor again I can ask him if he knows anyone that could’ve given the present to me.’
And so, the Conductor took a walk past DJ Grooves’ set (which regrettably was fairly close to his) and into the main lobby of Dead Bird Studios.
The lobby was in its usual state. Quiet, and mostly empty, except for a single tourist who was talking to the Receptionist about something.
“Have ya seen the moon lately? Boy, you think it’s pretty down here, you should see this planet from up there! I swear, I took so many photos I had to keep buying new film for my camera!”
The Receptionist put his hand over his mouth and yawned, looking quite bored with the Tourist’s ramblings about the moon.
“Oh, but Steve! He’s kind of a work rival ya see. A while ago he sent me a picture of him on the sun! Well, I tried to go to the sun on the Conductor’s train but he just yelled at me! That guy I tell ya.” He continued, unaware of the Conductor standing a few feet away from him.
“Anyways, you guys have a bathroom in this place? My tour starts in a few and I gotta go!”
The Receptionist lazily pointed to the door to his right and remarked “Go down the hall, second door on your left.”
“Alright pal, thanks a bunch!” The Tourist said, jogging to the door.
As the door shut, the only sounds that could be heard were the clacking of the Receptionist’s typing and the mellow music playing through the speakers.
‘Looks like he’s not busy anymore. I guess I’ll ask if he saw the Editor.’ The Conductor thought.
“Hey-” The Conductor began.
The Receptionist straightened up when he heard the Conductor speak.
“Oh! Heyo, Conductor!” The Receptionist responds, “Did you receive the package?”
“Package?”
“Yeah, it should’ve been delivered to you on your train! Like, a day or two ago, on Valentine’s day?”
Wait.
Did he say Valentine’s day?
The Receptionist looked at the Conductor curiously as he began to put some pieces together.
Was the Receptionist the one who gave him the present? No, it couldn’t be… Could it? It’s not like he knew him very well, or knew if he was committed. But he did say he gave him a package, and the dates lined up.
The Conductor’s face began to sweat as his palms became clammy. Was this guy really the one who gave it to him?
As the Conductor’s mind began to race with wild accusation, the door behind him opened. The familiar sound of webbed feet flopping on the floor signalled all too well that moon penguins were here. Not only that, but one in particular:
DJ Grooves.
