In a bar down on the second ring, there are two guys drinking at the bar whilst talking.
"Man, Beau, I still can't believe you married one of the captain's daughters. How did that happen?"
Oscar asks Beau, half-drunk after only two drinks.
"What I can't believe is how you can afford to go drinking after earlier. Wait. You can pay for your drinks, right?"
"Stop dodging the question, lover boy, or I'm telling Captain about you cheating at poker a few days ago- "
"Well, there isn't much to tell. Muk would lose against me in poker, and he would take me back to his place to settle his debts. One day, while he was paying me back, we ran into Titi."
"Was it love at first sight?"
"No, she kicked me in the groin and hog tied me, thinking I was an intruder. But after that old bastard was done laughing to himself, he explained the situation. She felt so bad about the situation, and Muk thought it would be funny if she shot me down, so he recommended she take me on a date as compensation. 4 years later, I'm his son-in-law."
"Speaking of said old bast-captain, where do you think he is? He said he would meet us at the bar when he was done paying the docking costs."
"Oh, every time he comes back from the lake, he always visits his dogs first."
"Oh, that's sweet."
Beau chuckles at the thought of the old man being sweet.
"Then he gets shit faced drunk at the bar with us. His wife is never too happy with him."
"Now that is something I already figured out, Beau."
They clink their drinks together and down another pint.
...
Muk looks directly towards me and starts walking. As he approaches me, I start to look around in a panic to see if I can hide in something. Just before he gets a clear sight of me, I get an idea.
"Hm? Is this a new dog toy?"
I froze in the shape of a bone, the color teal. Since this was a rush job, there are some minor issues. I messed up the coloring at certain parts and you can see some of my suckers if you look hard enough, I'm just hoping he doesn't notice it.
Muk looks me over with one hand to his chin as if he's thinking deeply about what he's seeing.
"There is a slight discoloration on the back and middle of it, and there are a few protruding circle shapes on it."
'How the FUCK is this the same gambler from earlier. Is he a dog toy expert?'
"Welp, better break this new dog toy in."
Muk shrugs and pulls his arm behind his head and shouts.
"Fluffy, Snowball. Fetch!"
He then threw me with all his force to the completely other side of the property without breaking a sweat. I land in the grass, and just before I could get my bearings, I feel a familiar rumbling and barking getting louder and louder as it approaches. I began running as fast as I could because from here, I can see the exit gate. As I'm sprinting, I still hear those dogs chasing me, but I can make it from my current pace. Before I get to the main path there, I see a person entering through the gate, another young lady with a monocle and pigtails. I immediately resumed my mimicry of a dog toy to not get caught by her, but there's the rub. The dogs catch up while she's nearby and grab me.
'NOO. I WAS ALMOST THERE.'
After the greatest frustration I have ever experienced, I get back to reality.
'I'm in a fucking dog's mouth. Welp, it's official, I'm a cat person now.'
Being in a dog's mouth is not as bad as you would think; it's worse. It smells, and these dogs' teeth really lay into me with no mercy, but that's not even the worst part. One word, slobber. It's gross and slippery and just so disgusting, surrounding my whole body. Currently, this dog is running with me in its mouth, currently escorting me back to their master, the bastard. As soon as I got back, he immediately took me out of their mouth and looked me over again.
"Wow, this one is surprisingly durable. Ooh, let's try tug of war next."
'fuuuuuuck.'
...
"Man, this octopus is everywhere."
Mirth has been following Precious, going throughout the house, retracing all its steps since it escaped. The place they started was the hallway to the private aquarium where Wade got inked. They found traces of the black ink on the floor, and Precious kept following the smell, which eventually led to the ballroom for Meira's birthday party. But in the center tank, all the tank-prepping fish were gone. When she looked closer, all there were empty shells and pieces of shells.
"That octopus must have had a good meal."
Mirth was not mad at the loss of the fish as they were going to be eaten by the display fish later today, but it was a little annoying that the octopus got a free meal.
'Meira better like this little shit or its going to be fried.'
They continued to follow the octopus's route, and it eventually led to the servants' break room. They checked everyone there, and as soon as they got there, they saw the head maid covered in ink just like Wade was, being calmed down by an equally stressed-out maid while another maid was unconscious on the floor. Mirth with a migraine already, ask the two maids what happened. The head maid, with tears in her eyes, explained.
"I was teaching this young maid on the floor a lesson when suddenly I was covered in black ink, and then she fainted on the floor. My hair was completely ruined."
Mirth, completely ignoring that last comment, walks over to the still-unconscious maid and tries to wake her up.
"Hello, please wake up."
With a groan, she slowly opens her eyes and sees the young lady holding her in her arms as she wakes up. As soon as she realizes the situation, her eyes roll back in her head, and she passes out again. Mirth begins nursing her continually growing headache.
...
'For the last twenty minutes, I have been the dog toy for these giant monster dogs and this evil human. This situation is much better than the boat, 9/10.'
For the past half hour, my new group of friends and I have played a variety of fun games. We played fetch for most of it, and sometimes I would almost get away, but these guys would still catch me, how cute. Not to mention my favorite game, tug-of-war, they would just bare their teeth as hard as they possibly can and keep pulling until one of them accidentally let go, or more likely the case I rip apart. The last time they did that, one of my tentacles did come off, but one of them ate it quickly, so the evidence was destroyed. But that's actually worse, as now that one knows I taste good. I think these new friends might be toxic. The dog holding me drops me at Muk's feet.
"Hey guys, I'm going to throw this one far, so you better go running."
'Now time to start phase one of the new escape plan. I'm calling this one Toy Misfire.'
As soon as he threw me, I spread my weight out to slow my descent in the air so the dogs below could catch me midair. Why do I do this? So, the dog can bite, of course. The dog in the back of the pack jumps and grabs me midair, almost biting off two of my tentacles, but I kept them together.
'Phase one, complete.'
Just like clockwork, the dog takes me straight back to Muk's cannon of an arms to send me flying again. As Muk pulls back his arm, I accelerate the MP (moss power) in my two weakened tentacles to make them expand to about the size of my whole body. Just as I felt Muks' arm muscles contract, I separated myself from the two tentacles so that the only thing in his hand was those tentacles, and he sent them flying, and the dogs were already running for them, so they don't see me falling.
"Go get it, guys."
'Phase two complete.'
Let me explain my plan now. I knew those dogs didn't watch Muk throw the ball, so I knew if I separated a piece of myself and had him throw it, they couldn't tell the difference. So, I waited until Muk moved closer to the edge of the property before initiating my plan so I would have as much time as possible to escape. Phase one was just getting the right conditions, like the weakened tentacles and the positioning of Muk. Phase two was the tricky part, as I had to perfectly time the throw for when they weren't looking at me and when Muk wouldn't notice the difference in his hand. Time to begin step three, the best, most crucial part of any octopus's plan: running away.
I camouflaged to match the color of the grass below, so Muk won't notice me moving away. As I began my slow escape, a large version of those already massive dogs walked out of the main building with the girl Mirth from earlier right next to it. That monster puts his nose to the ground the lifts his head back up, staring me in the eyes. It began to run straight at me.
'SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!'
I began flying across the field, completely ignoring my camouflage, as it's pointless with the noses those dogs have. That behemoth started running too, beelining straight to me, twice as fast as the other dogs. Since I couldn't escape the other dogs, there was no way I could escape this one, but I had to do something. When it got close to me, I sprayed it in the eyes with my signature ink, completely blinding it, but that didn't do much. It bought me a few seconds as the dog was scratching its eyes and rolling on the ground, but when it eventually realized it couldn't get it off, it still chased me down, but this time its teeth were bared. I kept running, and at this point we were nearing some trees, so I thought to climb one to get away from it, but then, stab. I was impaled on the tree by a knife thrown by Muk, who was currently smirking to himself. The dog pounced on me and ripped me apart, at least that's what he thought he did. I knew as soon as that dog started chasing me, I would have to make sacrifices, so yet again sacrificed another tentacle to distract the dog's nose at least for a bit, and this time it was worth it, as I was right next to the edge of the property. I reached over to my freedom, but at that moment, the two tentacles that went over the line were immediately eviscerated by the blue barrier, and I was sent flying.
I had failed, and this time there was no moss to save me. As I was losing consciousness from the damage from the barrier, I saw Muk standing above me with that same condescending smirk as before.
"Nice try, little octopus, Miera's going to love you."