Dashi sat in front of the dashboard, gaze focused on the computer screens above her. There was a slight twinge in her neck for looking up so much, so she occasionally stretched her short neck around, giving a satisfying crack.
Shellington came into the HQ, holding some sort of large bowl. Dashi glanced back briefly. What is that? But she shrugged the question off mentally. It had nothing to do with her current task, so it was of no concern to her.
Shellington carefully put the bowl on the counter and pushed a couple of buttons. He was right next to her.
...But Shellington was interested in it. She had fun talking to him earlier, after the photo shoot and interview. She wasn't the best at keeping friends, but she reached out on a limb.
"What do you have there?"
Shellington looked to the left, startled, then grinned. "Oh this?" He said, bringing the bowl over to her. It smelled of sea salt and mucous, and she couldn't help but scrunch her nose. Shellington didn't seem to notice the smell.
"I found some fascinating limpets on the mission..."
Sure enough, upon looking into the bowl, there were a small group of four or five sea mollusks. Their shells were a pretty gray, with ridges circling all around it. The limpets smiled at her
"You mean the one from yesterday?" Dashi clarified.
"Yes. But for the life of me, I just can't seem to remember what species they are," He chuckled. "I just want to find out, or else it'll be killing me." He turned back to his task.
"Good luck with that," Dashi encouraged, then went back to her own work. Well, that was quick. But he is busy, so I might as well not disturb him.
There was silence for a moment, then.
"What are you up to?"
Dashi perked her ears at that, and glanced to the side. "I'm checking the weather and water currents in the area," she replied, not showing how surprised she was. But maybe she shouldn't be. They have talked before. Why would she be surprised that her friend wanted to talk to her?
She stopped.
They were friends. It seemed out of the blue, but they were, right? This was how friendships worked. Talking to each other, spending time together.
"Making sure everything's safe for our upcoming expedition, aren't you?" He said cheekily.
Dashi breathed out, just realizing that she had been holding her breath.
"Yes," she said a bit quietly, a slight smile appearing.
"Today's going to be fantastic!" Shellington declared. She reveled in her friend's voice. "We're going to the midnight zone today. Oh, I hope we find something new!"
Her eyes grew fond. "I'm sure you will."
"Phenacolepas."
"What?" She stared at him.
"I found the species. It's Phenacolepas. Gah, I can't believe I actually forgot that!"
A bubble appeared in Dashi's chest, swelling up within her. She couldn't help it; she had to let it out.
Now it was Shellington's turn to stare at her as she laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"Don't ever change," Dashi finally choked out as the laughter died down. She patted him on his arm. "Don't ever change."
"Dashi," the intercom went on. Tweak's face appeared on the monitor.
"I'm here," the dog replied. She hadn't moved from her post ever since Shellington came earlier that morning.
"We need your help with something," she said, holding up a couple rock pieces. Dashi noticed that most of the crew was with the engineer, save for Professor Inkling. "Shellington and the others brought back these rock samples from the mission to the Midnight Zone. They didn't realize it, but they accidentally brought a worm with them too. It's his house, and so we need to figure out a way to put the rocks back together."
"Ok," Dashi replied, puzzled, "but what does that have to do with me?
"Remember that camera you told me about? The really small one that you made before? If we have the worm wear it and go inside the rocks, we will be able to have a visual on the inside. It'll be easier to make the tunnels match up."
Dashi wondered about how tunnels in rock could be created by a worm, but it barely scratched the back of her mind as the rest of the words sank in.
"You want me to do what?" No, she wasn't having her voice uncertain. She was calm.
"Build a new camera. You have the blueprints, right?" Tweak seemed to notice her hidden discomfort (It had to be hidden, right?) and she seemed to still, her face becoming concerned. "I can help you out, if ya want."
Dashi could feel a familiar wave rise within her, the excitement like when the professor told her about the Octonauts. True, she had been the leader of the high school group that had done this, but she had not physically had a paw in every step of the process, start to finish. This seemed challenging, exciting.
But would it be too much for me, though?
She realized everyone was looking at her.
"Oh," she cleared her throat. "I'm more than happy to send you the blueprints. I'm not sure I would be of much help, though. I have not build the entire camera."
"An extra set of paws would definitely help," Tweak countered. "We need to make the camera as fast as possible. Peso made a temporary home for the worm, but the sooner we get this rock fixed, the better." Tweak had a knowing look in her eye. "It'll be fun."
Dashi couldn't resist it. She nodded.
"I'll be right there."
"Tweak, hand over the pliers."
"You got it."
The camera lay before her on the desk, the insides of it spilled all over. It looked like a mess now, but bit by bit, it was coming together.
"Can I get a bit more wire?"
"Sure thang. Here you go."
Dashi surprised herself by jumping right in and tackling the inner workings of the camera. The blue prints were a comfortable friend to her, something that had stayed nearby her throughout the years. She never really treasured it, just had it in her hard drive; but now there was something almost nostalgic to it. Looking at the blueprints again, the inner workings of the camera became understandable again. She felt she had more insight to it then she normally would have because of the experience of the high school project. What she did not necessarily do before, she figured out how to do it. Like fashioning the lens to the rim of the camera. Tweak stepped in occasionally when she was stuck, but the rabbit was mainly doing her own thing. The more experienced engineer was doing the back part of the camera, setting up the framework and welding those parts together. Once done with that, she helped Dashi by giving her parts.
They were a team. An actual team. She thought about her conversation with Shellington from earlier. Tweak and her were hanging out together as well. She helped Tweak with that Gup, and now they were working on this together. The camera was for work technically, but... It did not feel like it.
Dashi delicately inserted the lens into the camera. Then she attached the elastic band on either side of the camera, making the head band.
"Finished," Dashi announced, wiping her paws contentedly.
"We did good work here," Tweak declared, munching on a rewarding carrot. She put a paw on Dashi's shoulder.
That fondness grew again. She could not believe that she missed it, but it was there. She didn't just have one friend, she had two of them. And she marveled at that.
"You were right. That was fun." She said, turning to the rabbit.
"Yeah, I'd never lie to you," Tweak said, taking another munch of her carrot. "You really got a knack for this stuff."
"It's very interesting," she replied. "Wonder why I stopped in the first place."
Tweak shrugged, "Only you could answer that," she said, finishing up the carrot with a final chomp. She wiped her paws on her stomach's fur and then carefully picked up the camera. "Let's get to the others. We'll fix that rock faster than you could say 'Bunch of munchy, crunchy carrots!"
"Yeah," Dashi said noncommitingly, following Tweak to where the others were in the Launch Bay, deep in thought.
Dashi tried to knock on the door, she really did, but they opened before she could even land a paw on it. They swooshed open, ruffling her ears and short fur a bit. She tensed as the scientist looked up his work, raising an eyebrow quizzically.
"Sorry, Shellington. I hope I'm not disturbing you...?
The confusion melted away into a serene expression. "Not at all. Do come in. Is there anything you need?"
"No, not really," Dashi began, as she walked into the lab. She went right next to where Shellington sat, peering over his shoulder.
"Same old question, but what do you have there?"
"These," he said proudly, as he lifted up what looked like see-through glass, "are cells from jellyfish. These specimens are from the jellyfish bloom we observed recently."
"Um, what... exactly..."
"Huh?"
"Is it like, from the flesh of the jellyfish..."
He must of understood what she was saying, because his face blanched.
"No, of course not! We didn't kill any. This is just a sample of their stings. They just had to lightly touch the cotton swabs, and it was good to go."
"Oh. Ok." She said. She shifted, noticing the awkward atmosphere creeping in.
"Sorry. I-uh, should've known." Hopefully she can fix this.
"No, no. It's fine."
There was silence, just silence. Dashi shifted a bit. Maybe they're not actually friends. Maybe she just read the signs wrong and just made things awkward. Work was what she was good at. She was always reliable, and on time, and organized. She thrived on structure. This...
Shellington looked at her expectantly.
This... social interaction. This was never her thing.
She tried to find a topic, and her gaze fell on the equipment in front of the sea otter.
"Would you mind if I have a look through the microscope?"
He gave her a look that she didn't quite understand. But after a quick moment, he said, "Sure," and moved his chair away a bit so Dashi could go in front of the equipment in question.
She looked through the eyepiece. "This is amazing!" There were countless cells next to each other, wriggling and moving as if they were alive.
"These are called cnidocytes." Shellington shifted a bit closer so he could get a better view of the side of the microscope, the awkward moment gone. "They should look long and crooked, with a small ball at the end of it. The long part is a small needle. When a jellyfish stings another creature, the cells discharge this needle into their victim, which releases venom. That is what causes the stinging sensation. Before then, the cells are actually completely circular."
"Interesting, and very painful," she commented.
"If you don't mind me asking, why exactly are you here?"
Dashi snapped her head towards him.
"I mean, I don't mind your company, but I'm just curious."
Don't show you're nervous. She tried to tell herself. She balled her paws in the fabric of her skirt, taking an inconspicuous breath. I mean really, what's there to be nervous about.
"I just wanted to hang out, is all," she said. "I enjoyed our conversations from before, and your work is interesting. I was wondering maybe you could teach me a bit of this stuff?"
"Oh, so you want lessons, is all?" He said, "then sure, I'll just-"
"-not just that," she cut in. "I didn't mean it like that. With the camera I had to build, I can feel myself getting interested in science again. I would love to learn. But I could always do that in my own time. The Internet's always there; I could take online classes or something. But that's not it." She looked at Shellington. "You and Tweak are fun to be around. You're all so interesting, and nice, and-" she cut herself off from saying too much. "And I want to be a part of the world that you guys are in. I want to learn, but I want to learn beside you. I had asked Tweak about this, and she said yes. I was wondering if you would be interested in it too."
She hoped he understood what she was trying to say. It had all come out so quickly and unexpectedly (that cursed social interaction) that she wasn't entirely sure exactly what came out of her mouth.
But Shellington smiled softly. "Of course. Why did you have to ask? We're friends, aren't we?"
And at this, she sighed in relief. She wasn't wrong.
She really did have friends.
A/N: In the show, Dashi gets more and more involved in scientific endeavors, like helping Shellington with equipment and helping build robots. I noticed this change happened after the episode where Dashi introduced that small camera for the worm. This chapter and concept was the result haha.