'That was great, dinner and a show all for free, what a steal. Welp, it's time to dine and dash.'
As soon as I saw the what was its name? Hold on, give me a second, was it Fown? CLOWN, it was clown, yeah. As soon as I saw the clown, I knew he was a good mark. He is already wearing a strange set of clothes, so anything else that seems off will just slip by, and the fact that he is by himself helps a lot. But most of all, he is moving faster than anyone else to get out of here.
'now's my shot'
I went down to the few rocks that offered cover and pretended to be resting. I have done this a few times when the acts were less interesting, so them not seeing me would be believable. After about 20 seconds of hiding in the rocks, I went translucent and started swimming very quickly to the top of the tank. Then I stopped right before exiting the water, I can't be making a splash as that might alert the guards, so I slowly moved out of the water without making a disturbance and clung to the outside of the glass. The clown was fast approaching me, so I had to position myself to fall on his current path, so I slowly descended the side of the tank.
'Phase one, complete'
While moving down, I made sure none of the guards or undercover guards were moving in, and they weren't. After about one minute, I made it to the floor, and now I have a new problem: feet. People are very entranced in the magician's performance, but there are still people moving about, so I have to be careful not to get stepped on. Now I just have to wait about twenty seconds, then phase two can begin. After about 25 seconds, he arrives. 'Ah, my ride is here, it's a little late, but I'm fine with that'
The clown was looking down, but he didn't seem to be paying attention to the floor.
'perfect'
The clown slipped on something and dropped his briefcase to catch himself on the ground. He looked at where his foot was, but didn't see anything. He shakes it off, grabs his briefcase, and continues walking. Never suspecting the octopus now on the side of his luggage.
'Phase two, complete'
My plan worked. I went under his foot and had him slip on me so he would fall over, then I would get on the underside of his briefcase and hop aboard. The plan was always to get on his briefcase, anywhere else, and he might feel it when I climbed aboard. I contemplated going in the briefcase, but then I couldn't be aware of what's happening around me, so that was quickly disregarded. Now time to coast to freedom.
...
After finishing directing the servants and chatting with influential people, Mirth finally got some time to rest with her family and enjoy the party. She went to the seating where her mother, father, and sisters were all hanging out. She immediately collapsed into her chair and just lay down. Her sister Titi looked over at her from her chair and asked.
"Are you done with your work, Mir?"
"Yes, I am. Where's your husband, Ti?"
"Oh, he's with Muk, making sure he doesn't get too drunk as not to repeat the last party's ending."
Mirth laughs to herself at the thought of Beau taking drinks from their father.
"At first, I didn't support your guys' relationship, but Beau is very good at dealing with Father. Where is Miera, by the way?"
"Oh, she went back to her room just after that clown's act."
"Meira, she has always been so introverted, I had to bribe her with research funds just to attend this party."
"She is a handful; hopefully, she enjoys that new research subject she got."
"They're a match made in heaven, in my book."
Before Titi could ask about that comment, Beau and a very drunk Muk came stumbling in. Muk keeps whistling the tune of the softer Sundays song from the beginning of the festivities, albeit very poorly. Titi, looking more confused than surprised, asks.
"What happened, Beau-tifully? Why is Dad drunk?"
"While I was taking a leak, he entered a drinking competition of 'who can finish 30 pints of beer first' and he won."
Tit just shakes her head and tells Beau to place him in his chair next to them. Beau sits down next to them as well and asks what they were talking about. Titi responds
"We were talking about that octopus you guys brought in, it's very pretty, I must say."
"It can do other things too. It can shrink and stretch to great lengths, even become see-through to some degree."
"WHAT!"
Mirth, like an alarm just went off, asks again if the octopus can go see-through.
"On the boat, while we were transporting it, it matched the opacity of the water a few times. Why do you ask?"
"GOD DAMN IT"
She immediately jumps out of her chair and starts walking to the nearest hidden guard meant to be watching the tank.
"Status report, where is it now?"
The guard looked a little flustered at the sudden question and hostile tone, and after a second, responded to the question.
"About twenty minutes ago, it went to the rocks at the bottom of the tank and hid inside one of them; it's most likely resting."
Before he finished talking, she walked up to the tank and put her face to the glass to look at the bottom of the tank.
"It's not there."
She turns around and walks back to the guard with a face more angry than he has ever seen on her before.
"Alert all guards that the octopus has escaped. Search the entire house, and inspect everyone leaving the party. NOW!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Mirth speed walked outside to the backyard where the dogs were kept. She ignored all the dogs and people on the way until she reached where Precious was.
"Find the octopus precious."
Precious, the giant behemoth of a dog, whimpers at the sound of Mirth being this mad but runs off, listening to her command. It still can't see, but its nose is strong enough to compensate for that.
"That octopus won't see the light of day after tonight."
...
After I got on the clown, he continued moving to exit the party. As we moved further from the stage, there were more and more people just standing and talking, and we did get a few strange looks, but all of them were directed to the clown and not me. But there weren't just less people, but also less guards, which really made me relax.
We continued on, and eventually we made it outside. It took me forty minutes last time to get this far; that's progress. But after we got outside, the clown stopped after seeing the triplet dancers in front of him. The three sisters stopped and started walking towards him.
"Please leave me alone, Vattelle."
He was about to push past them, but then she said.
"Nero asked us to approach you."
The clown stopped again after hearing that.
"What? Why would he do that?"
"he wanted to sabotage your act so he would have an easier time upstaging you, something about how 'going after an easier act was good for the audience engagement' or something."
The clown, not even looking sad, just deflated, asks them
"Why did you go along with it?"
"Because I meant what I said. You got lucky and don't deserve to be here, but I thought telling you was only fair."
'these assholes'
I would spray them with ink for insulting my ride, but I learned my lesson from last time; if I do that, I will get caught. But I do have something in mind to mess with them. The clown just says under his breath, "Okay," and continues walking. We get to the gate out of the property, and two guards are there.
'Uh oh'
We got on the line, and they didn't seem to be inspecting anyone or stopping anyone. I think there's just so no one comes back into the party. We got closer to the end of the line, and three more guards walked up to the gate and talked with the two guards out front. Suddenly, they start inspecting everyone with head-to-toe pat downs and luggage searches.
'fuck, they noticed. That's okay, I planned for this. Emergency phase four activate.'
As we got to the inspection point, two guards patted down the clown and checked every pocket of his. Another guard took his briefcase with me, not on it. I dropped to the floor and hid behind his leg when he handed the briefcase away. He probably won't notice me grabbing on because of all the touching from the guards. The last guard finished the pat down and yelled, "clear" before we could keep walking. My old friend Precious walks up to the line and starts sniffing everyone. Starting from the back of the line, eventually leading to us. Very quickly, it ran up the line, getting closer and closer to the gate until it eventually stopped. It then pounced on Vattelle.
Earlier, I disconnected one of my tentacles and placed it in her pocket so if Precious came, they would go after her. Vattelle dodged the dog's attack and began running away from it towards the house, and the three new guards went chasing after them as well. We were let through, and I was finally out of the Roslin estate.
We continued walking for a couple of miles. I was still on his leg, but then I accidentally let go at the apex of his walk, and he stepped directly on my head, knocking me unconscious.
"Not again," the clown said. He looked at what he stepped on, and it was a color-changing octopus just like the one he saw at the party. He ran over to it to check if it was alive, and it was still alive, probably just unconscious. After taking a second to think, he realized it must have hitched a ride on him to get out of the party, and now he had a question.
"What do I do with you now?"
...
Mirth after about 2 hours of searching and the party almost over, she accepted that the octopus probably escaped. She was furious at herself for being played by it, but still, she calmed down and decided what to do. Mirth with Meira next to her told her everything she knew about the octopus, from all its abilities, its intelligence, and its escape. And Mirth, for the first time in a while, saw a beaming smile of excitement appear on her sister's face.
"Meira, I'm tasking you with finding that octopus. Use any means necessary to find, but don't let others know it's loose, otherwise we might have everyone in the city trying to catch it."
Meira, still in her thoughts, nodded and walked away, headed back to her room to formulate a plan. Mirth steps on stage after the final act and, with her usual fake smile, gives the closing regards of the party. But before she can leave, a random audience member asks her.
"What is the name of the octopus species called?"
Before she can make up some excuse to give, she spots the deflated octopus balloon on the floor.
"Its official name for study will be something determined later, but its local name will be a Clown octopus."