Benjamin Barnacles was tapping his claws on the make-shift desk he and Professor Inkling had concocted, anxiously.
"I don't know what you're worried for." Inkling said, happily. "We did much better than we thought we would, didn't we?"
Barnacles nodded. The frown didn't leave his face. "I know...and now we have to cut this lot down to a manageable size!" He waved his paw at the masses of Polar Bears, Penguins, Seals and various other animals taking up the entirety of the iceberg they were on. "I don't know where to start. There's to many of them to use my original plan."
"Which was?"
Barnacles described his plan and Inkling considered. "I don't think it's un-doable. Let's try it. Do you want to take the lead, or shall I?"
"I will." Barnacles said, determined to start as meant to go on. He reached into the bag he'd brought with him and pulled out a megaphone. "Everyone!" He announced, gaining the attention of absolutely everyone, including an orca who had turned up. "Can you just confirm you are all here for the 'Octonouts'?"
They did so.
The polar bear wasted no time in separating the attendees into the categories, then he, Inkling and Bianca - who he'd brought in to help - took a section each.
Inkling had the medics.
"Good morning." He greeted. "May I please see evidence of your current qualifications?"
He spent some time sifting through the applicants folders [of which there were twenty] and dismissed five as not having high enough grades. One of these was a young Sea Otter who got quite upset.
"I've nearly graduated!" He protested, when Inkling told him the news. "Can't you hold the position open? I'm really interested in the Octonauts, it sounds perfect! Helping sea creatures and everything, and I know a lot about sea creatures. Seriously - test me, ask me anything!"
"That's not the point, Mr Sea Otter." Inkling said, kindly but firmly. "The guidelines are there for a reason. I'm sorry."
The otter looked dejected and slunk away.
Sighing, Inkling turned his attention to the 15 remaining applicants. "Right. Take a short break and we'll carry on."
Peso took a deep breath and walked off, thanking his lucky stars he did so well at school. "Looks like all that studying paid off." He muttered. He wondered what was coming next...
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At the same time as Peso was musing to himself, Bianca sighed deeply and composed herself. She had just finished cutting the 17 applicants down to 14. You would have thought after about a decade of explaining to children why they hadn't passed various badges that she would be immune to tears. Clearly not. Then again it was a forty-year old Artic wolf who had already had an impressive career getting upset so...
She smiled at the applicants and said, politely. "Well done so far. We'll resume in ten minutes." As the applicants drifted off she looked across to Benjamin who was still leafing through the files.
She rolled her eyes and looked for Dashi. The younger girl was standing a little away from the group biting her nails.
Bianca waved to get her attention and gave her a thumbs up.
Dashi smiled shyly back and nodded.
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It took a while but Benjamin was pleased with his decision. Aware he'd taken the longest he apologised to the candidates - of which there were 28 - and explained. "You will notice when I hand your portfolios back to you that there is either a green sticker or a red sticker on them. If you have a green sticker you are through to the next part of the interview, which will be the first of two practical tests. If you have a red sticker you haven't passed, but I feel I should say all the portfolios are good. Some are just better than others."
Dashi took a sharp breath at this. This Captain Barnacles was clearly a bear who, although fundamentally kind, was not the kind to mess around. Some were better than others indeed. This confirmed her theory he was at least a decade older than her. Wait, hold on...
She looked over at Bianca who was now talking with Professor Inkling. They were twins, weren't they? Barnacles must be late 30's then. He had the air of someone older.
Her folder was handed to her and she looked at it. Green sticker. Her heart leapt and she squealed and spun around, happily.
Unfortunately not everyone was as pleased, as ten candidates had been given red stickers, and one got quite upset.
"Do you know how long I've been studying, man?" Demanded the walrus, waving his folder aggressively at Barnacles.
Barnacle's looked a straight face and patiently explained that although the walrus's portfolio was good, it wasn't good enough.
"Why not, Man!?" The walrus yelled.
Barnacles took the folder off of him and, flicking through it, outlined. "Out of focus, to in focus, missed the subject completely in this case-"
"I wanted the carol reef!"
Barnacles sighed. "Well, why is there the tail of a shark just out of shot then? I argue you were trying to get a full shot of it and it was to fast for you. You need to work on your speed." He handed the folder back to the walrus. "Any other questions?"
The walrus let out a low growl and shuffled off.
Dashi had been watching this exchange with interest, but what fascinated her was Barnacles reaction. She'd initially thought him very confident, but now the walrus was going away she saw him exhale and steady himself. Used to conflict - which made sense if he'd been in the same job as Bianca - but was probably not a naturally confident bear.
Barnacles steadied himself. Why some people couldn't just take criticism he would never know...
He turned to the rest of his group and announced. "Alright everyone. Please come back in ten minutes and we'll carry on. You'll be provided with camera's."