(Rose)
I'm not sure of the difference between squids and octopuses, but I'm pretty confident they are octopuses.
Land and forest ones.
Still dripping wet with ink all over, I find myself surrounded by dozens of not really hostile beings.
Seeing how they step back when I step ahead, they're more scared than me, a lot more.
R - I don't mean you any harm, we just were curious and want to leave your lair now.
I do my best impressions of Blume to express that in words, and in thoughts that relate to magic. I'm blind on that part, I don't know if I do the thing right, but I try my earnest.
I did good enough, because one of them starts to speak.
It mutters a sound of ''you'', over and over again.
Another then mutters another sound that could be a word, and so on, until they build up a sentence together that roughly makes sense to me.
- You. Know. Fire. See. You. Help.
And thus began one of the weirdest weeks of my life.
Helping octopuses build something related with fire, and befriending them.
Because we agreed to help them of course.
They somehow had managed to learn our language, from the few things Bleue and I chatted about since we entered their lair.
They needed, well, they surely could have use some help, to build their flying hot-air balloon. I'm sure they could have managed by themselves.
The help of a species that knew well how to handle fire, build sturdy things, and restrain eating them on sight, it certainly was welcome to speed things up.
As they understood we could refrain from hunting them down to eat them, they became as friendly as puppies. Cold clammy oozing puppies.
They didn't understand that humans like to stay dry, so we always had a few of them sticking onto us, climbing onto our arms, legs, shoulders and even head. That's being friendly for them.
As they each spoke only one word in every sentence, it was as if we were conversing with a single wider entity, but it was an illusion. They were individuals cooperating, and it was difficult for them to mimic many sounds at talking speed. So since they could communicate another way between them, they were spreading the work.
As did Bleue and I.
They wanted a Montgolfier style hot-air balloon.
Maybe they wanted to fly back to the sea. Less risky to them than travelling on land.
But I think they just wanted to fly.
Always with one or two of them clinging to my arms and shoulders, I began building a basket.
Instead of burning wood and charcoal, as they tried before, we will use oil. Bleue found a few bottles in the kitchens.
She began sewing the balloon, sitting in the park, surrounded by curious octopuses. Usually with one or two smaller ones on top of her head. Their children wanted to have a better view at what the strange thing was doing.
Sewing was something challenging to them, and easy to Bleue.
Between two jokes from Bleue, using some of these animals as a new hairstyle, or even dresses, we discussed a little with them.
They all were offspring of a single old one, many generations ago. Over the years, they had climbed a stream upward, as a slowly growing population. They were hunted down by various predators along the way, for their extra tasty flesh they claimed. Their words.
So pushed from behind into fleeing forward inland, generation over generation, they went further and ended up in there, where they settled, eating grass and herbs like herbivorous animals. And being preyed upon by many other land animals.
Obviously their fast evolution had a few other surprises given what they now were.
They became highly intelligent, well, even more than they already were probably.
But still not good at building things or avoid burning themselves to death while working with fire.
Many of them had learnt the hard way the strength of fire, and the weakness of their slimy body against it. They lost a few of their siblings and another amount of tentacles.
So we built them their hot-air balloon, while being constantly tucked by the sleeve or skin, to play with the younger puppies.
Needless to say, all of our clothes, our hair and our skin was stained with a mixture of ink and mucus up to a point we didn't try to wash it anymore. Living for a while with what essentially are sea creatures, we gave up the idea of keeping ourselves dry and clean. Though at least we could sleep in the parts of the castles that were, why they were located in the streams and water rooms.
I think it was fun and interesting to them, in more ways than one.
They met another species.
We didn't sleep nor eat very well during our time there. Always feeling damp and slimy, our skin soaked all the time.
It was an experience, and we don't regret doing it.
They did catch a rabbit for us to eat at some point. It came to us dead, strangled as if they had learnt to hunt from constricting snakes.
Bleue was pulling away one of them who held tight on her left thigh. I can tell you it's hard to get off an octopus who wants to stay somewhere. And they can squeeze really strongly as well if they want to.
We were really getting annoyed at the end, as they really were clingy all the time. So tiring...
As were putting the work together, we prayed to Gülnihal for it to work. Please...
We did a test with rocks, and it worked, it flew off slowly.
As it was slowly coming down, once the fire shut, the octopuses began to gather for departure.
I was having a last talk with them.
They were telling me they liked bees, and felt close to them, though they had nothing in common.
The point was, they were able to create inks and mucus with different properties according to their wishes and needs. I understood better what it meant.
As a matter of thanks for our trouble, they had taken upon them to prepare for us a gift.
They also had helped us with their strength, unsealing some of the windows for us to enjoy this place more to our liking after they leave.
Then they gathered in the basket as an overflowing mass of mucus and squishy flesh. The fire above them was lit. And soon, they were going away, waving even some of their arms like us to say goodbye.
B - So, what was their gift?
I feared the answer.
In the bathroom, the window now open lits-up a very large bathtub, almost a small pool, overflowing with deep dark ink.
You could tell from the smell it had been filled with the most precious and valuable ink of all, infused with some specific properties I'm not sure I really want to fathom.
Bleue was beaming though.
B - Shall we get in?
R - ... You... go first.
I sighed as she began undressing me first.
~