Room 420. Thursday Afternoon

[refused2berescued]

Octopuses were smart. Devious. Tricky. Even without Uma's actual thoughts behind it, the octopus that Uma had turned into still had a lot in common with the girl she'd been, including a propensity to wander off into other people's rooms and make free with their belongings. It was probably for the best none of the rooms she'd gone exploring into over the past ten or so days had had aquariums for her to plunder, or there would be a lot of sad pet owners with no idea what had happened to their fish.

Today, Uma had escaped the tank that Bobby had made for her and gone exploring, an absurd picture of pink and teal tentacles dragging her down the hall. Feeling vibrations in the floor that signaled someone was walking around nearby, she let herself into a room--and stopped dead.

There was a tank in here! A big one! Much bigger than the one she'd been staying in. And there were things to explore and play with!

It took her a very few minutes to figure out how to gain entrance to the new tank and then she was in, cheerfully swimming and splashing about. This was hers now. She claimed it!

[Room and tank modded with permission!]

Comments

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Sidon wasn't expecting to stay long in his room when he finished with his shift at the shelter, just long enough to drop off the new filter he'd picked up for the tank. It was much too nice to stick around inside changing it right away when he could be taking a nice long swim to usher in a beautiful evening. He hoped to catch Paris, too, to invite her on the trip, but it seemed he'd just missed her. Or maybe not. It looked like she was working on all those spreadsheets, but those spreadsheets were always up on her computer...

...he generally tried to avoid her area, anyway.

Paris wasn't there, it seemed, but...something...else...was. Sidon had almost missed it, but something bright and colorful in his tank that he certainly didn't put there was hard to miss once you noticed it. "Err," he said, frowning slightly as he approached slowly, easily picking out tentacles and a cephalopod body. "Hello?"

[refused2berescued]

Uma was having a perfectly lovely time, thank you. So much so that it took her a moment to realize that there was someone new looking at her. So when she finally did notice, she startled a little, leaving a cloud of ink behind as she jetted for another part of the tank where she could plan her next move. This was her tank now. She wasn't going to give it up just because there was a scary predator there.

No matter how impressive his teeth were.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Oh.

Oh no.

Well, it was a good thing Sidon had gotten a new filter, because now there was octopus ink in his tank. He tried not to groan, but that was going to be...quite the task to clean out. He would probably have to drain the whole thing, refill it...it would be a day-long task, at the very least...good thing it was much nicer out, he could stay in the pond if he needed to...

But a better question at the moment might be looming over his broad shoulders just then: who was the octopus and what was it doing in his tank? He had clearly frightened the creature so he tried to calm the situation.

"Oh, goodness, no need to be alarmed, my eight-tentacled friend, but I'm afraid there is a bit of a...misunderstanding. You see, this tank, it belongs to me, and, while I am not against the idea of sharing it with another water-based entity in need, I would very much like to perhaps discuss some terms of the matter first..."

[refused2berescued]

Uma peeked out from behind two of her tentacles at that. Because whaaaaaaat? No way! This was her tank now, buddy! She swam up to right in front of his face and spread herself out, taking up as much space as possible.

No. Her tank. You go find somewhere else, Toothy.

...Sorry, Sidon.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

There was no mistaking body language like that! Sidon pulled back with the shock of his offense; not even octoroks were so blatantly rude. Sure, they spit giant rocks at you when you were trying to innocently swim around, but they were more than willing to share the water.

"Now, listen here," Sidon admonished, "I am trying to be reasonable here, but if you are not willing to cooperate, I will warn you, I am not afraid to defend my territory if need be. And I have defeated an octorok as tall as this school! A battle with you would be like a swim in calm and undisturbed waters of Lake Hylia!"

[refused2berescued]

Was Sidon familiar with the octopus body language for bring it? Because that was definitely what this little one was displaying.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Oh, he most certainly did, and Sidon shook his head. "Well, then, do not claim I did not warn you!" he declared.

"But, do try to be careful about splashing, my roommate will be most upset if we damage her spreadsheets with water."

And, with that disclaimer, he jumped in to better reach the octopus, ready to wrangle with it as much as needed until it was forcibly removed from tank.

[refused2berescued]

The octopus squirted another cloud of ink, trying to confuse the predator. If she could just get around behind, maybe she could get her tentacles around him...!

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Oh, blast that infernal filter, which he should have changed weeks ago! To Sidon's credit, he never expected that octopus ink would ever be a concern of his here in the tank, and get there they were, another blast shot into the water. He didn't think it would effect him much, bolstered by his own hubris and the sense that he was infallibly correct, and when he surged forward with his claws ready to snag onto the soft body of the octopus, it was not there at all! It may be smaller, but perhaps it was also faster, at least in the confined space of the tank. He waved his hand, waved his head tail, trying to clear some of the ink. Where was it? Perhaps if he could only just grab it, find a tentacle, put that toothy grin of his to good use...

[refused2berescued]

Aha! Either some of Uma's sneaky tricks were bleeding through or perhaps octopuses were just naturally devious fighters, but the octopus had darted around behind Sidon and was trying to wrap its tentacles around his face and neck, attempting to avoid those very big teeth.

Well, that was the original plan. And then those tentacles abruptly transformed into purely human arms and legs, the beak that had been trying to nip at Sidon, turning into a normal human mouth with tiny little human teeth.

It was vary bizarre, going from an octopus trying to grapple to a human trying to cling because she had no idea what was going on.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Now things were certainly getting interesting! And Sidon had thought that even before he realized that it was not tentacles wrapping around him from behind any more, but rather human-like arms. That certainly put a pause to his plan of bucking enough to get in a position where he might take care of the tentacle around him by biting it off!

He didn't have time to think about it, and, besides, the ink was still making it difficult to see what might have happened, anyway. Very few humans could breathe well underwater, anyway, so he held onto the arm (although the arm seemed to have a good grip on him anyway) and made for the surface.

If anything, he could see more clearly what was going on up there...and maybe toss that octopus right out on the floor!

[[blarg, sorry! ~~life~~ ]]

[refused2berescued]

Uma broke the surface of the tank, gasping for air, still clinging to Sidon like a particularly persistent barnacle. She could swim, of course, but her brain was still busy trying to sort out 'octopus' from 'girl' and holding on just seemed like the best course of action.

She no longer had tentacle, but her wet braids were long and wrapped around damn near everything. If she'd been the kind of girl who cared about modesty, she'd probably appreciate how helpful they were in that regard. But she didn't really care that much, especially not compared to something important like breathing.

And octopus was an ocean-dwelling creature. Uma herself could stay underwater for almost ten minutes. And yet, somehow, between the transition from one to the other, her lungs had just decided on a hard no.

[No worries!]

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Well, the braids helped answer at least one question before Sidon craned his neck for a better look. Of course, that one question was just a mere droplet in a veritable ocean of bewilderment.

Or at least one large sleeping tank's worth.

"U-uma?" he managed to speak his shock. "When did you...? And wherever has that blasted octopus gone off to? Did you frighten it off?"

[refused2berescued]

"That was me," Uma croaked. Then coughed a little bit. "That--I was the octopus?"

To her credit, she almost sounded a little sheepish about it. Or, at least, mirroring some of Sidon's bewilderment.

"What the hell kind of sorcery does this island have?"

Half-squid girl? Check! Giant half-squid girl? Double check! Non-sapient octopus for a week and a half? What was that?

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"One with a very interesting sense of humor, I'd wager," Sidon said, as dryly as a shark-man in a giant tank could manage.

"Hold on tight," he added, as if she wasn't already. "Let us get out of this ink-infested water."

Not only did he figure it might be easier to catch her bearings, but it might help him as well. Smooth as could be, he dipped into the water just enough to give him the leverage to get over the edge and land gracefully on the floor with the bare minimum of water splash, kneeling down so that Uma could easily reach the floor while on his back.

[refused2berescued]

"Sorry 'bout that," she muttered, realizing belatedly that inking in someone's sleeping tank was probably a jerk thing to do.

Even Uma was fairly impressed with the grace that Sidon showed, leaping out of the tank and the gentleness of his landing. She slid off him, her braids spraying more water around than she intended, and stood, very much Birth of Venus though without the giant shell.

"Uhh..." She honestly had no idea what to say. She'd already apologized, which was weird enough. Should she do so again? "So, about your tank..."

[in_sidon_we_trust]

It was a rather striking image, really, though perhaps not for the same reasons that others might things. For Sidon, he mostly marveled how, in that moment, with the dark water glistening and dripping off of Uma, she looked...almost Zora-like.

But he shook his head, diverting his eyes tactfully to the tank. While his culture thought nothing of going about with nothing but a few accessories for a personal touch and maybe a bit of armor, he knew well enough that most human cultures thought quite differently about their natural skin. He cleared his throat, feeling a slight knot in his stomach of worry that he'd been...inappropriate without realizing it.

"Ah, yes!" he said, glad to jump into a different matter. "The tank!" At least some of the ink was dissipating a little, but what a bleak sight it was all the same. "Not to worry, my now bi-pedal friend; it was...rather overdue for a thorough cleaning, anyway. I had just picked up a filter, in fact, since the old one seems to have grown quite inadequate for the job. I just...feel terrible to have frightened you so to have caused the ink in the first place!"

Here he laughed, chuckling a little before it grew into something a little more boisterous. "Can you imagine? I actually thought you were trying to claim it as your own! But that, of course, would be absurd! I don't know what in the world came over me!"

[refused2berescued]

"Oh nah, I was," Uma said, with little evidence of shame or concern over any kind of inappropriateness. "Bobby was keeping me in a tank barely big enough to turn around in. I liked yours better."

And, in a very Uma-like way, had decided to claim it for her very own.

"I, uhh, as an octopus, I didn't really know it was yours?" she shrugged. "Sorry."

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"Oh." Well, then, someone was looking a little crestfallen at that revelation, but Sidon was still assuring himself that, surely, that wouldn't have been the case if she had been more Uma in this situation that she was octopus.

And then he shook his head. "No, no, no," he insisted, hands in front of him as if to placate any doubts, "think nothing of it! Nothing worse than being a big octopus in a small tank; I can't say I wouldn't have done the same in your situation, Uma. It was rather progressive and clever to have located the biggest tank you could, and you put up a very good fight for in, the brief time in which we scuffled!"

He was still rather certain he would have won, in the long run, but it would have been very hard earned, to be sure.

"And, as I said, it was overdue for a cleaning, anyway. In fact, the timing couldn't be better!" Well, it could be a little better, but a few nights in the pond actually sounded a bit pleasant, now that the weather was more suitable for it. "I was headed back home for a few days next week; perhaps I could have someone come in and take care of it while I'm gone."

[refused2berescued]

Uma felt inexplicably, unexpectedly bad. For a moment, Sidon had kind of...drooped a little there. Enough that the offer was out of her mouth before she had a chance to think about it. "You want some help cleaning it?"

...That was weird. But eh. It wasn't like she wasn't familiar with scouring stuff. And besided, she could probably just, like, barely help and still keep Sidon happy.

Yeah, that was it. She hadn't offered out of niceness or anything stupid like that! It was just...expedient. Yeah, obviously.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Honestly, she wasn't too far off. Even the offer to help made Sidon chuckle a little, his spirits already seeming to lift...just as long as he didn't look over at the tank and his old filter's utter failure to continue to do its job well.

"No, no," he said, "that's entirely unnecessary. As I said, I'll be going away next week; I will simply have someone take care of it then, it will be no trouble at all. I...suppose, if you truly wished to help, you could help them in the matter, but..."

And here was that trademark toothy grin, his fist pumping slightly, feeling incredibly proud of this nice little transition here. "I'd much rather you didn't help, because you'll be in Hyrule with me! Perhaps this encounter is a bit fortuitous, certainly not for the tank, but for myself, as I have been meaning to speak with you, Uma. I wanted to invite some of my dearest friends here at Fandom High to come with me on this trip next week, and though I have not known you for as long as some of the others, I certainly count you among them. Do you think you'd be interested in accompanying me?

"Unless, of course," he playfully waved a hand, "you'd rather stay here and clean my tank, I'd understand wholeheartedly!"

[refused2berescued]

Well, that was one way to catch Uma's attention. Get out of helping and visit a new world? After a lifetime of being trapped in one place, she almost ached to see new places, drink in new worlds. Being called a closest friend was weird, but she could overlook it for the chance for adventure.

"Well, who am I to turn down a pretty invitation like that?" she asked, hands on her hips. She...still wasn't wearing clothes, no. Shame, not her thing. "You said next week? Well, I got nothing going on."

[in_sidon_we_trust]

And perhaps the importance of clothing was not as significant as Sidon had been lead to believe, but it didn't matter. She had accepted his invitation!

"Wonderful!" he said, opening his arms in a grand, sweeping gesture, as if he could not hold all his excitement. "That is excellent news, a marvelous addition to our thrilling journey! Our portal opens on Tuesday morning. Oh, and I believe you will quite enjoy Zora's Domain, Uma, one of the most marvelous places in Hyrule, though I suppose I am a little biased. And while we are gone, what a perfect opportunity for the tank to be cleaned. So fortuitous timing!"

[refused2berescued]

"Glad to be human for it," Uma said, too excited to pretend to be unimpressed by the idea. "See you Tuesday then."

She should...probably grab something to walk through the halls back to her room. "Got a towel?"