Octo-Sprouts

Names

Barnacles grunted, rubbing his back a little as he finished setting up the last bed. The Octopod had a few guest rooms, and they had chosen the largest one to accommodate all the little children. The baby Vegimals, it seemed, would be staying with them for good. He hated to take them away from their beloved parent.

Shellington juggled a few of the small ones while Dashi placed bedding into the little cradles. Barnacles glanced around at the drab white room. Dashi would clearly have no trouble decorating it into a nursery. And getting the needed supplies for babies would be a particularly enjoyable adventure. He knew how much she loved small children, or any children in general really. It was a caring, soft part of her that always made the captain smile.

He felt a bump in his leg, and glanced down. The little red vegimal was peering into her new bed. He chuckled softly. "Yes, little one; this is your bed." He lifted her up and placed her in, letting her explore the soft terrain of baby sheets and fluffy pillows, giggling in delight. Barnacles smiled to himself. She certainly was cute.

Which reminded him of something...

"We still have to name them," Shellington reminded the group, voicing Barnacles' thoughts. Yes, that they did.

"But what do you name a species that's never been seen before?" Kwazii asked incredulously, looking up from where he'd been helping Tweak to set up some shelves. Peso giggled, as if the question was silly. "Anything you want, of course! Shellington discovered them--he should name them!"

Shellington blushed, trying to settle the little ones down, doing a sort of funny dance as he tried to release the four that had climbed into his arms "Well, we should probably figure out what exactly they ARE first." He sat down, letting the eight small ones clamber up into his lap. Dashi giggled, coming to sit with him. "What do you mean?"

"I've run some tests to figure out exactly what fish and what vegetable they are."

"So?" Kwazii cam to join the group, and soon all of the Octonauts were sitting amongst the little funny ones. The Vegimals glanced up at them, almost glaring into the light that poured from the window, it was so bright. Barnacles set a self reminder to get some curtains.

"Well," Shellington picked up the oldest--a tiny yellow Vegimal, bigger than some, smaller than others. "This one, for example, is half tuna, half turnip."

"That kind of sounds similar." Peso observed, and Barnacles gave him an encouraging smile. This was the same kid who used to speak only one word per sentence? He was really making up for it. The arrival of these babies seemed to give him a little boost of confidence somehow.

"It does!" Shellington agreed. "SO, I was thinking we'd name him..."

"Tunip!" Peso cheered, the realization of how similar the words sounded seeming to please him. Barnacles chuckled softly. Peso was just like a cute little kid sometimes, and he seemed happy to become a big brother...again. It must have seemed pretty fascinating to his innocent little mind how the words could be merged.

Shellington laughed at his adorable antis. "Yes, Tunip! I think it sounds quite fitting." Barnacles could have sworn the little yellow Vegimal, Tunip, could understand them, because he seemed to be considering the name, and liking it as well. It cooed in fascination, looking at Shellington with a smile.

Tweak chuckled. "Sounds like he likes that idea, Shellington." Inkling moved to lift another one. "I think I see where we're going with this."  The orange Vegimals in his grip struggled to flee, and go back to running around through the whole room. He seemed to be a certainly energetic little spike. "So if this one is half carrot, from the looks of it..."

"And half bass." Shellington informed him.

"Then we could call him...Barrot!" Tweak deduced. Inkling put the giggling little Barrot down, only for him to go zooming off again. The other laughed at this, and went about naming the tiny Vegimals. It was surprisingly easy, now that they had  a pattern. And they were all so different, so easy to tell apart--there was Grouber, with his never-ending appetite, Codish with his clumsy cheerfulness, and Charchard, with his grumpy demeanor. Soon, all that was left was...

A sweet, familiar little whimper drew Barnacles attention. The little red one was looking at them from behind her bed, uncertainty clear on her face. He smiled. "Oh there you are! I guess we almost forgot about you!" He gently gestured for her to come closer, trying to be friendly. She clearly needed a lot of support, being the runt and all. She cautiously came closer, looking at him with uncertainty in her face. Finally, she broke, and ran crying to Shellington, who gently cuddled her.

"Oh my," Barnacles muttered, looking and feeling a little sheepish. Shellington smiled at him. "It's okay, I'm sure she's just not used to you yet." He went about trying to comfort her. Dashi stroked her head. "Aww, poor little thing. What do you think?"

"I think she's half tomato, half..." he looked closely at her..."Minnow, maybe?"

"Tomminnow." Peso stated simply, smiling to himself, proudly. Barnacles chuckled. "Yes Tomminnow. Good idea, Peso." The little penguin beamed with pride.

This looked like the start of something fantastic.