Chapter Text
•
Ink splatters and fades
Feelings of betrayal must stay
For we will long stay caged
•
It was another warm summer afternoon in Inkoctolis. The Octarian prince sat in the royal gardens with a string instrument laying on the wooden bench. He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the season. The buzz of phytoplankton resting on tree stumps. The overlapping conversations of the townsfolk. The crashing waves of the sea...
"Sigh..."
Safe to say, he was bored out of his non-existent skull...
Suddenly, he heard a commotion, just outside the walls of the garden. Frantic footsteps and thud, as if someone had run straight into a bush.
"Augh!"
He turned in the direction of the sound. After a minute, he heard someone... climbing? Up a brick wall??
A little while later, an inkling popped over the top of the wall...
And then, came crashing down...
The prince was, to say the least, surprised. The inkling had landed some 15 feet away from him, face down in a patch of grass. He sat in shock for a second, unsure of what to do.
After gathering his nerves, he cautiously made his way over to the inkling's crash site. He squatted down and poked at the inkling with a long stick he had picked up.
"Hello...? Are you alive?"
The inkling only softly grunted in response.
"This inkling must have some type of injury."
The prince started to think.
"He just fell over a ten-foot wall...SURELY he has some type of injury."
The prince, whose name just happened to be Octavio Takowasa, repeated his question:
"Are you alive?? Blink twice if yes, and don't do anything if no!"
"..."
With no response, he started to consider that the inkling just might be dead. Octavio started to brainstorm about how he should handle this situation. He also wondered, if perhaps he was dreaming, because he was stumped as to how this situation could have happened in the first place.
As Octavio pondered, the inkling began to stir. He sat up slowly and looked at his surroundings while rubbing his head.
"Augh.... my head..."
Then, Octavio and the inkling boy made eye contact. They stared at each other for a moment, before Octavio jumped back in surprise.
"Wh-who are you? I de-demand to know!" Octavio threatened the inkling with the (quite pointy) stick.
The inkling scooted back and started to speak rather quickly. "Ah, Uhm, I'm sorry... My name is Craig Cuttlefish, but I go by Cap'n!"
Octavio kept the stick raised and eyed him suspiciously.
"I'm uh...sorry if I trespassed on your land, but I would be pretty dead right now if I hadn't come over your wall..." He chuckled awkwardly.
"Ah, anyways, what's your name...?" The inkling looked expectantly at him.
The inkling, or Craig, seemed to be surprisingly lively and airheaded for someone who supposedly almost just died. Though he seemed genuine in his reasoning, so Octavio lowered the stick and instead studied Craig.
He had warm brown eyes that faded into a golden color around the edges. His tentacles were pale green and faded into a unique warm purple color at the tips. They were short and messily pulled back with a red tie. He wore a shirt that seemed similar to a Navy uniform, but it had short sleeves and was a light beige color, with a red sailor ribbon to match. His baggy pants flared out below the knee and covered his umber lace-up boots. However the most notable thing, Octavio decided was the captain's cap he wore, with a proud squid anchor motif sitting on the front. He wanted a hat like that...
"Uhm, ya in there bud...?"
"Eh?" Craig pulled Octavio out of his thoughts. He had been staring at Craig for a while.
"I asked what your name was."
"Oh... Uhm..."
Octavio, embarrassed, scrambled to his feet and tried to look sophisticated.
"My name is Prince DJ Octavio Takowasa." Octavio looked pretty proud of himself.
Craig cocked his head. "That's a pretty long name, I think I'll just call you...Tavi, for short."
Octavio stared blankly. "Whatever, call me whatever you want, you're not going be here for very long anyway. Now tell me, just why are you here in the first place?" The interrogation continued.
Craig quickly stood up and replied. "Oh, well, it's a pretty long story, but the short version is that I was being chased by a stray chum and I had to climb over your wall to escape!"
"I see... "
Craig suddenly pointed behind Octavio. "Hey, what's that thing over there? Is that a mandolin?"
"Uh...Yes? I was practicing before you came."
Craig seemed extremely interested. "May I see it?".
"Ok, sure, I guess you can, weird request though." Although confused, Octavio diligently retrieved the mandolin. Craig was ecstatic! He almost immediately started gushing over it.
"Wow, that's like, the most beautiful mandolin I've ever seen!"
The mandolin had been carefully carved from dark oak wood, with gold metal that accented its complex form. Even the strings added an extra "bling" factor to it. It was, admittedly, pretty nice.
"Well, of course it is! Nothing less than expected from authentic Octarian carpentry and craftsmanship." Octavio replied matter-of-factly.
"Would you maybe...play it for me? I'm a massive instrument nerd, if you didn't know." Craig chuckled.
Octavio didn't reply and instead started to gently strum the strings. A look of deep concentration fell on his face, and he plucked out a short song.
When he was done, the inkling started clapping. Octavio felt satisfied with his mini-performance.
Craig started bombarding him with questions, such as "Wow, you're really good!! I wish I could play the mandolin like that." or "Did you write that piece yourself? I've never heard it before! Like ever!".
"Uh...Wow.". Thought Octavio. "Are all inklings this bubbly? And...annoying??".
"No offense, but you, talk a lot. Like, kinda too much."
"Wow, that's like, totally rude." Craig pouted, and Octavio instantly felt bad. "But yeah, people always say that, but I just talk a lot to the people I find interesting, I guess!" Craig admitted.
Octavio broke his gaze, embarrassed by the praise.
"Ooh, can I come back tomorrow? I have something I'd like to show you! I think you would like it a whole lot."
Octavio considered this for a second, then replied. "Sure, I guess. But don't fall from a ten-foot wall again, at least try to climb down next time. ".
"Alright then. See you tomorrow, Tavi!" Craig turned and ran towards the wall he had fallen from.
"Goodbye. Wait, how are you gonna-"But Craig was already making his way up the wall. Octavio watched him go up and over until he landed safely on the other side.
•••
Octavio was, weirded out, to say the least, but he was somewhat excited for Craig to potentially return the next day.
"Oh, who am I kidding? There's no way that...THAT...just happened." He turned and resumed his spot on the bench.
"Sigh..."