After they slurped me up, they covered my tank in a black cloth. I can still hear them, it's just less clear, like I'm underwater... wait, that makes no sense.
"Beau, I understand why I'm bringing it up, but why are you here too?"
"I was told because I'm the one who found it, so they wanted to acknowledge my contribution, also having Meira's brother-in-law would look good to establish Titi."
"Ok, that makes sense. Mirth has always been clever, like her mother."
I could vaguely tell we were walking upstairs, and I heard the loud chattering of people talking getting louder. Eventually, the flight of stairs ended, and I faintly heard Beau mutter under his breath, "Here we go." Then they removed the black veil over my tank, they opened a large ornate double door, and all hell broke loose.
'Here we go'
The clamoring and chaotic room full of people in dresses and suits was now all focused directly on me, the final gift of the evening. Everyone's eyes couldn't look away from the color-changing octopus that seemed to just draw everyone into its little tentacles. Even the bored children or performers preparing their routines all stopped to look at this little octopus. Then began the whispers.
People kept speaking in hushed tones about "what a beautiful creature." Or, "I have never seen anything like it."
After the commenting came the next phase, the questioning. "What is it?" and "Who caught it?".
And, the final part of gossip is assumptions, "was it caught by Meira's father?" or, "is it a new species?"
Muk and Beau continued their walk all the way to the other side of the room, where they handed me over to the devil herself, Mirth.
"This new species of octopus was first found by Titi's husband, Beau, while he was bottoming with my father. It has the unique trait of constantly changing a myriad of colors. It is to be the first official creature my sister studies as the newest lake researcher employed by House Roslin."
After saying this, the crowd broke out in applause, and I was passed over to Meira. She had a monocle and long brown hair.
'It's her. I saw her while being toyed with by the dogs; if it wasn't for her, I could have escaped'
She grabbed my tank and lifted it to her eye level to thoroughly inspect every inch of my body. She muttered under her breath.
"I see it's missing a few tentacles. I'd better test later if it can regenerate from any kind of injury like burning or electrocution."
I shuddered in fear at the thought of this creepy teenager burning and shocking me with a big smile across her face.
'Yeah, hard pass.'
She handed me back to Mirth, who then gave another announcement.
"This octopus's species name will be announced at the end of the party. Until then, it will be kept in the large tank for everyone to enjoy."
Before she handed me back to Beau to take me to the public tank, she whispered to me, "We have seven guards watching you, and every party goer is as well. Any escape attempts and you will be cut up into pieces, so it will be harder to escape again."
She resumed her false smile and then handed me to Beau. Beau took me to the ginormous cylindrical tank that was about 12 feet high and 8 feet in diameter, with a ladder attached to the side of it. He climbed the side of the tank, one arm around my container and another helping him climb up the ladder. He eventually got to the top of the tank, and surprisingly, there was no lid on this tank; it was completely open, so that made my escape that much easier. Beau placed my container upside down, and only when he pressed a button on the side of the tank did the water and I drop down.
As soon as I enter the tank, I scouted out everything in here and I have come to a shocking conclusion, this place sucks. There are barely any rocks or areas to hide in, and all the fish are colorful but not very big fish, so I can't hide behind them at all. Let's move past this and get on to watching for good marks.
I moved to the glass side of the tank, and of course, the tank is currently completely swarmed with people. Everyone wants to get a good look at the pretty new octopus,
'What a bunch of peeping toms, what if I was changing in here? Well, I don't have clothes, also I'm a fish, but still, it's rude.'
I was the last gift of the evening, so next we moved onto the most important part of the hour, the entertainment.
...
On stage, a strange smoke starts to slowly spread and eventually topples over onto the floor below. Music starts to play from musicians, and then one person in the crowd yells, "Look up there!"
Immediately after yelling that, a spot light is pointing at a masked man slowly descending from a wire attached to the ceiling. That masked man was none other than Oscar, wearing a black mask covering his eyes holding a microphone in one hand and the wire in another.
"Hello, ladies and gentlemen, I am your host for the evening, Oscar Booth. I'm not a fan of long introductions, so let's get the first act underway, folks. Tonight we have the lovely Abigail Boreal performing her hit song Softer Sundays."
Muk, sitting next to his beautiful wife Eleanor, with an incredibly embarrassed expression plastered on his face. Eleanor ask Muk
"Remind me, why is your Shipmate Oscar hosting this event tonight, Muk?"
"My darling, I'm very sorry, but I lost a bet with him, and the stakes were that he gets to be the host at the next family party. Have I mentioned how radiant you look today?"
Eleanor just shakes her head at her husband, not even surprised at all that this happened. She looks back at Oscar and smiles with a devilish grin almost identical to Mirth's.
"You know he is doing surprisingly well, we might have to ask him to present for our next party too."
"Please, dear, anything but that. Have I mentioned how beautiful your hair is, too?"
Eleanor chuckles to herself and continues observing the performances.
...
Okay, I hate to admit it, but the performances were actually very entertaining. After a few of the dancers' feats, I found myself clapping too, but I had to quickly stop myself as that would garner a lot of attention. To give you a quick run through of all the acts so far they were a singer, an acrobat pair, one comedian, a sword swallower and Dragonbreather together, and the most recent one was asset of triplet dancers called the thunder sister. I haven't seen any good opportunities for escape yet, but I have analyzed a few things. One, some of the performers walk past my tank on their way out, so that makes things more convenient for me. Two, there are guards all keeping a constant eye on me, but Mirth did not tell me everything; there are twelve of them instead of seven.
Seven of them are dressed as guards, all positioned around the tank, but the other five are all pulling a play out of my book and are dressed as normal people among the crowd. But whenever I move closer to the top of the tank, they all start moving in towards me, so it was pretty easy to figure out what they're doing.
The next act will be on after a short intermission, and my exit stage left will be here shortly, so might as well get a farewell snack at this all-you-can-eat buffet.
...
Huso backstage is holding his briefcase full of props and is ready to go on stage with his signature purple and black outfit and broken hat. He takes in one big breath and walks on stage.
"People, please welcome onto the stage Huso the clown, he will perform for you tonight a unique act that is based on a foreign profession from long ago. Let's see if we are seeing history in the making, folks."
Huso, with a smile and a confident look, walks onto the center of the stage, bells jingling with each step, waving to the crowd in front of him, the suddenly he trips and lands flat on his face, making a squeaking sound when he lands.
He pushes off the ground with his hands and is doing a perfect handstand, the entire crowd oohs and awes at this performance. While still upside down, he grabs one ball from his pockets and throws it up, landing square on his foot. With his other hand, he grabs another ball from the other side and repeats the same stunt with his other foot. As he is precariously balancing it on both feet, his glove slips and he falls flat on his face, but this time unintentional.
He gets up, a little worse for wear, but he moves on quickly to his next gag. He pulls out of his sleeve a deflated balloon and yells to the audience to shout out any animal. Quickly, tons of requests come in, but he hears a specific one he thinks will be a real hit.
"worm? Oh, that one's a bit tough, but I can manage."
He pulls out 8 different balloons of differing colors and blows them all up in front of the crowd. He quickly turns around and starts stretching and pulling those balloons into some weird shapes, but the audience can't see the whole thing. Then the twisting stops, he slowly turns around, and in his hands is just a blown-up pencil balloon. The audience laughs at the joke, but he raises his hand to settle them.
"I think I heard someone say octopus as well?"
He then pulls from behind his back a rainbow octopus made from seven different balloons, all folded in differing shapes. The audience oohs and awes, but then the balloon starts to deflate in front of everyone, and people start whispering. Before Huso can pull out another gag, Nero the magician walks out on stage and yells.
"Why don't we hear it for our rising star, Huso, and his lovable attempt here tonight?"
Nero puts out his hand to Huso and whispers in his ear, "Thank you for the setup, Huso. I wanted an easy act to go before me so I look good, thank you."
And just like that, Huso was sidelined and his limelight was stolen. He couldn't even argue as Oscar came to escort him off stage. Huso had a sour expression on his face. Oscar noticed this and asked him, "Are you ok, buddy?"
Huso turns to Oscar and smiles, "I'm fine, thank you."