#wussabi

“Why did you build a spaceship?”

It’s a sunny spring day in the Splatlands, but Sabi and Tay are in the shade. A conveniently large boulder casts a shadow over the sand, where the Octarian Emperor has parked the modified Octobot King to be worked on.

“Seemed like a good idea,” Tay replies, his focus entirely on tightening something inside the mechanism.

“Because Ribbon had a dream about it?” Sabi scratches his ear. He passes his brother a screwdriver when his hand is held out for it. “Can this even safely leave the atmosphere?”

“It was a cool dream—and if it looks like a spaceship, it might as well be a spaceship. It’s all about the aesthetic. I have no doubt that I could make a fully functional spacecraft, it would just, er, take much more time. I have a lot of responsibilities, you know.”

“Which is why we’re out here fixing this, and not back underground??”

Tay stops, though not because of anything his brother has said. “Did you hear that?”

Sabi’s ears prick up slightly, though whatever his brother heard is no longer audible. Still, he asks, “Is—is someone there…?”

“Hey mister, I like your tail!” says a voice.

This wasn’t a compliment Tay liked to hear. Eventhough it was freeing to not have to hide it when visiting Inkopolis, he still preferredhis tail to go unnoticed. Perhaps it was a knee-jerk reaction, perhaps it wasits nature as a mutation, but whatever it was, it always made him uncomfortable.

He frowns, turning, prepared to make a comeback.Instead, his expression softens.

Oh. A child.

Was she an inkling? He wasn’t sure. She wasmaskless, and her tentacles had an unusual yellow contour.

“I have a tail too,” she continues, giving hima beaky smile. “Yours is way longer though, I bet you can pick things up withit.”

“I can,” Tay replies, still quite taken abackby this child’s sudden appearance, as well as her sheer boldness. “But don’t touch.”

“I wasn’tgonna. That’d be bad.”

She makes this promise, but a glint in her eyessuggests she’s using every shred of willpower to avoid grabbing and yanking it.The Octoling tucks his tail around his leg as a precautionary measure.

“What’s your name, little one? Where are yourparents?”

“I’m Ribbon!” the young hybrid beams, wilfullyignoring the second question. “I came to see Mr. Wussah’by. He lives in thishouse here. Did you come to see him too?”

The next pause marks the longest Tay has ever had tothink of a response. This child – this possibly Inkling child, parentless,has come wandering over to greet Sabi? Was this the norm? Surely Sabi wouldnever allow something so… unsafe.

“…Nnnnnot exactly. Does Sabi know you’re coming?I’m with him. We stopped here to pick something up,” he explains, his browsknitting in concern. He adds hastily, “I’m Tay.”

“Oh! You must be a Tay-vio,” Ribbon gasps. “Don’tworry. I know it’s a big secret. You can trust me, I’m an ace detective.”

“Is that so,” Tay can’t help but twitch asmile. This child was surprisingly perceptive. It must be true that she knew his brother,then, through and through. “But Miss Detective, you haven’t answered myquestion.”

“Whoops, sorry. Uhm, no, not really. I wasn’t asked to come. But Mr. Sah-beyis always at home, so I thought it would be fine.”

“Well, he’s not home today. He’ll be coming outin a moment, and then we’re going into town.” Tay crouches down andremoves his sunglasses, giving Ribbon a sincere look. “But first, I think weshould take you back to your family. Mr. Sabi’s not going to be happy knowingyou’ve run away, is he?”

Ribbon’s smile is replaced with a look of guilt.She hangs her head and tugs at the zip on her cardigan.

“Awwwww… I thought it would be okay if I wentto someone who looks after me anyway,” she mopes. “I just wanna look for clues.Adults are always too busy to help.”

Tay sighs.

“You can come with us and look for ‘clues’… butyou have to ask your parents first.”

“Yaaaayy!”

The Octoling stands, turning back to look atthe tiny house. He had just made an empty promise. Sure, she could come, if herparents weren’t going to ground her until the next century for runningoff.  

The About and Muse pages have finally been updated! The last thing to do is cover the recent story developments. 

After Tay went through his identity crisis, there was still a lot to take care of.

The test is in five minutes

"There's a test? But I haven't had the chance to study!" Sabi wails.

"It's all good! Me and Aqua have been talking all friendly again, and now I'm in charge of Cuttlefish Cabin~ I'm like, a big responsible adult now!"

"I'm glad you're all good, Sabi. I know it can be hard to talk to others sometimes - Tay?!?! OMC!!! Mr. Tay, it's me, Emmy! I wanna say hi!!! I wanna catch up it's been such a long time!!! Come back!!!"

“I’m so relieved to hear that.” Sabi relaxes his shoulders—he hadn’t even realised he’d been tensing them. “I’m getting better at going out, but um yes, it can be very exhausting.” Turning to look at Tay, he’s surprised how much distance he’s made already. But the emperor isn’t looking where he’s going.

“I know who it is!! You’ll never catch me alive!!” Tay yells behind him, right before tumbling over a cooling box.

"LULU!!" Tay responds with just as much enthusiasm, opening his arms wide and, unusually, being first to go for a hug. "We're fine, except that I haven't seen you in forever! I'll have to send you to the dungeon for that!"

"Oh--hello, Miss Lulu. And another Lulu?" Sabi greets, somewhat confused.

This was just a joke regarding [a certain RP] but it was highly approved and therefore I need to actually post it here on the blog.