Octonauts Q&A

AHA!

"YES!" Amy yelled triumphantly, causing everyone in the room to jump. Kwazii knocked over a glass of water that he had requested earlier. Crash waved a hand and the water sucked itself back into the cup. He shrugged, as if he hadn't just performed a definite act of Waterbending straight from the Avatar handbook.

"Magic."

"Anyways, why'd ya have to scare me like that?" Kwazii asked, annoyed.

"I found it!"

"Found what?" Princess asked.

"My questions for Bud!" Amy said. The paper was sodden, and seemed to be flipping around, like there was something inside of the folded stack. Amy unfolded it, the ink bleeding only a little. 

Most people didn't notice that, given that there was a zebra fish flipping around inside.

Dashi was shaking her head quietly.

"I'm tossing up whether to even ask where you got that from."

"Oh this? I just found it in that, um, that tank in the Octopod's lab."

"You found this in the lab tank?" Shellington asked with a slight tremble in his voice, head in his paws. "What... Why..." He struggled for a moment to formulate a question, then settled for: "how are you going to get the Zebra fish back?"

Crash shrugged, reached over and conjured a bottle of orange juice. He dropped the fish in the bottle.

"You want it?" he asked Amy, who took it somewhat hesitantly. She took a tentative sip, then proceeded to down the whole thing. It wasn't a large bottle of orange juice or anything. Either way, the zebra fish had disappeared.

"Where'd it go?" Shellington asked.

"Back to the lab tank," Crash said. "Anyways, the questions for Bud?"

"Yup," Amy said, drying the paper on a towel that had fallen from the sky and landed on her face. "Still... moderately legible. Do you want to do the honours Princess?"

"With pleasure," the wolf-girl said, taking the paper from Amy's outstretched hand. "Ahem. Question one. What was your first invention?"

"Actually," Bud said with a proud puff of his chest. "I designed the latest Octofloat for the cameras."

"Is that the first?"

"Well, yeah," Bud admitted. "It hasn't changed for a while."

"That's cool!" Amy said, excited as always. "Next question Princess?"

"How old are you? Your consent is, apparently, required for this question," Princess asked.

"I am..." Bud paused for a moment. "Nineteen this summer."

"That's... You're only nineteen?" Tweak asked, almost incredulous that one of her childhood friends was that age.

"Yeah," he shrugged. "What of it?"

"I feel so old," Tweak said with a shake of her head. "Never have I felt so old." Almost like she was talking to herself. "Anyways, next question for Bud, Princess?"

"Yeah. Are you the only one with an interest like yours? Engineering, I mean?"

"Absolutely not," Bud replied. "My parents taught Tweak! We're beavers. We build things. It kind of runs in the family, you know?"

"What sort of things do your parents build?" Crash asked. "Engineering's a very broad term."

"Dams mainly," Bud shrugged. "I'm more into the technological side than my folks are. They're very... old fashioned, ya'know?"

"Yeah, I know the type," Dashi said with a smile and a glance at the older members of the Octonauts, who replied with annoyed looks at the floor.

"Anyways," Princess laughed. "How's Tweak as a teacher? I actually asked the question myself but I'm glad Amy included it in her list too."

"Tweak is an excellent teacher," Bud smiled. "Always very encouraging, and really good at engineering!"

"I should hope so," the Captain nodded. "Otherwise I hired the wrong person."

"Bud's also a great student," Tweak grinned. "I'll have to watch my back in case he starts designing more Octonauts gear!"

Crash, Amy and Princess shared a little "awwwww" moment. From the emotions in the room, they weren't the only ones who thought that Tweak and Bud had a very sweet (and PLATONIC) relationship.

"Any more questions?" Crash asked, evidently excited to get on with his next little game.

"Just one more," Princess said. Then she smiled. "Ooh, this is going to be a good one. Ahem. Have you ever had a crush, or do you currently have one?" She paused, then a ">:)" appeared in the air.

"How'd ya do that?" Kwazii asked.

"Magic," grinned Princess. "Anyways, you're question Bud?"

"Um..."

"That's a yes then," Shellington nodded. "The question is, who?"

"Daniela," he said quickly, then looked ashamed of himself.

"Who's that?" Dashi asked hesitantly.

"Just... a girl I used to know."

"What was she like?" Shellington asked quietly.

"She was smart. Nice. Amazingly arty. Always had time for you, even if she was having a bad day herself, she always had time to listen."

"Sounds like... someone I know," Shellington said with a brief look at a certain dachshund photographer. Not brief enough for Crash and Amy to miss i, though. Shellington barely let out a dreamy sigh. "She sounds wonderful."

"Well, let's say hello then," Crash smiled. A click of a finger and a beaver appeared, confused and bewildered, on the beanbag that the jar-head had conjured up just moments before. Next to Bud, of course.

"Dani!" said the shocked Bud.

"Bud?" replied the equally shocked Daniela. "Haven't seen you for years."

"I..." Bud was almost lost for words. Then, the two of them started conversing quietly. Sharing contacts, comparing designs, catching up on life. Perhaps there was hope for the two after all?

It wasn't hard to see that, as the two beavers discussed, a flash of... longing appeared in Shellington Sea Otter's eyes...