Yes, a Dave POV chapter! I hope you guys didn't think I would leave out his side of the story. So, like last time, I will indicate a shift over to Dave's POV by writing his name in bold before the chapter. Otherwise, it will be in Kailey's POV.

Chapter 7: Pleasant Dreams and Autumn Nights

Dave

How does one describe happiness?

To most, even for me for what it seemed like an eternity, happiness was only something I could have obtained after hard work. Happiness, a mere six months ago, would have been defined by my revenge. It was an unobtainable, metaphorical object, something I always was reaching for, but never seemed to grasp. An idea of the future to strive for, not something to actually experience.

For the longest time I had thought that happiness just wasn't for me.

But oh! Oh, what a lie that was. What I was feeling then, and even now as I recall it all, that elation… that joy… the experience of not being alone anymore… it had come to me without me even trying, and had been set in front of me when maybe I hadn't even deserved it.

Being with Kailey, and being a part of her family dinner… 'No, way, Dave!' I would've said. I was the old, forgotten octopus. The one passed on to zoo after aquarium, without so much as a blink in my direction.

And yet, there I was, included, regarded with respect. I was more than Dr. Octavius Brine. I was family.

Maybe I'm getting too ahead of myself, but does it hurt to allow yourself to enjoy life for a change? Is it so much to ask that I'd be allowed these moments of peace?

The taste of Kailey's mom's mac and cheese, the shrimp dressing—the pumpkin cheesecake for dessert! I had no idea what it was with humans and pumpkins during the colder months, but I couldn't blame them. Taste to me became associated with wonder, love…

And it all started with that snowglobe.

If I didn't despise Skipper and his posse so much then this would have never happened. If I would have gotten my revenge the first time around, I wouldn't have ended up in that snowglobe, and that little girl wouldn't have found me. I wouldn't have been forgotten, yet again, in an airport to finally, oh finally, to be picked up by the one that really mattered to me.

I am going to marry Kailey, I thought to myself, long after everyone had left Thanksgiving dinner. The busy chatting and feasting was gone, but the feeling of warmth and comfort remained. It was then, in the dark silence of an autumn night, that I began to fantasize about how I was going to ask her again… how I was going to get her to say, 'I do.'

"Kailey, would you come here for a minute?" I heard her mom say from the kitchen. At this point Darren, and her brother had disappeared somewhere upstairs, leaving Kailey and her mother, along with myself, the only ones on the first floor. The home felt full, even though we were the only ones who remained.

"Yeah?" I heard Kailey sigh.

The sound of her footsteps filtered through the halls, the high arches of the wood ceilings in the dining room reminding me of a cathedral; echoes of cheers and laughter spilling from the depths of my consciousness as I projected a brief world of what I would have with her. A moment of the future, and yet came to me as a memory, as if it were something I had already experienced.

"Can you help me with some of the dishes?" her mom asked. "Your dad is tired, and I don't want to bother him."

"Okay," Kailey said. I heard the sink faucet turn on, the sound of dishes ringing together. Clink, clank—bells were added to the sounds of my future as I continued to stare up at the ceiling, the transition of sound smooth like a drift into a dream.

For a brief moment, I saw Kailey there in that dream, dressed in a white dress. In a cathedral, with the bells and laughter and the warmth that I felt inside me and around me becoming my world.

She's my world, I thought. And this is just the beginning…

The sound of silverware being scrapped across a plate caught my attention then, the forks and knives falling from the plate and then to the floor with a loud ring. "Oh, shit!" Kailey hollered.

Yes, that's my girl.

I sat up, dusting my lab coat off, and made my way to the kitchen just behind the open archway. I saw Kailey scramble to the floor at that moment, grabbing hold of the eating utensils, and raise back up to meet her mother.

"I'm a klutz," she said.

"Don't say that about yourself, you're fine," her mom responded. "Go ahead and rinse the rest, can you? You can just load everything into the dishwasher. My back is killing me, and I need to lay down on the couch."

"Okay," Kailey said again.

The two walked past each other, Kailey towards the sink, and her mother towards the hall on the other side of the kitchen, seeing me and acknowledging me as she made her way out. "Hey, Octavius," her mother said with a soft smile. "I'll be in the living room whenever you and Kailey are ready. I still have to show her her room, and I'll go ahead and show you to your room as well."

"Sounds good," I replied.

Once she left I turned my attention to Kailey, her hands in a pair of oversized purple rubber gloves now, buried partially in the soapy water as she rinsed off one plate after another, placing them into the dishwasher as she went.

"Can I help?" I asked.

She paused only a tad, and replied, "You don't have to."

I smiled, that simple phrase carrying with it memories on its own. "But I want to," I said, my smile forcing my response to come out in a half chuckle.

This time, she paused completely. This gave me a chance to walk up next to her, my hand extending next to take hold of the plate that was in hers to put it into the dishwasher for her.

"Promise you won't wobble all over the place?" she joked. "Don't want you tripping all over yourself with dishes."

"Look who's talking," I commented, recalling her dropping the silverware moments earlier.

"Touché," she said, looking up at me then with a playful glare, shoving the wet plate in my hand.

We did this for a few minutes, her rinsing, I placing the dishes in the washer. The silence encouraged me to say, "Your family seems like a nice bunch."

"I'm surprised my dad wasn't as much of an asshole this year," she said. "Usually he's yelling at me and complaining that I'm not helping enough, and fussing about his dumb turkey. I guess with the new house and you being here he had to up his 'appropriate host' levels or something."

I chuckled. "Not surprised. I was worried there for a second when he huffed at your new ring."

"Oh yeah, don't get me started about that. I thought he was going to lose it."

"But it all worked out." I turned to look at her, shooting her another grin. She looked back at me, out of habit I suppose, tensed up again as her cheeks turned pink. I loved making her do that. The grins always did the trick.

"Anyway…" she said, trying to divert the situation like she usually did. "Do you… really want to go to that stupid Renaissance Festival?"

"Of course I do," I placed another dish into the sink just as she handed it off to me. "I've never been, so figured I'd see how these things are."

"It's hell."

"What do you mean? You've obviously been."

"Yeah, but like… ugh… I don't know, dang Da—err ,Octavius. Not only will people probably recognize you, but Ren Fest is like… on a whole different level."

"A whole different level of what?"

"Of idiocy."

"I don't understand, you go all the time but think it's dumb?"

"I go because I like shopping and dressing up," she said with a sigh. "It's just a lot to handle for a first timer I guess. Someone who isn't really from around here, either."

"Well, we can't back out of it now. Maybe you can help me with a costume, huh? I'd love to fit with the theme."

"Okay, then… what kind of character do you want to go as?"

"What's there to choose from?"

She shrugged. "I mean renaissance era. Fantasy stuff. You know: knights, wizards, and all that shit. I'll have to show you a list or something."

The last plate came up out of the water, Kailey handing it to me. I went through the motion of taking it from her and placing it in the dishwasher, the last dish marking the end of chores and rewarding us with a clean kitchen. Kailey then took off her purple gloves and set them down next to the sink to dry.

"Mom, we're ready to see the rooms!" she yelled then. I could hear her mom shuffling around in the living room; Kailey's summoning worked quickly to get her into the kitchen again to meet with us.

"That was fast!" I hear her mother comment. She finally appeared back in the kitchen from the hallway, paused only when she saw us standing next to each other. "Oh, you helped, too, Octavius? That's so sweet!"

"You always taught me that teamwork makes the dream work," Kailey said. "Two sets of hands are better than one."

"True, true…" her mom hummed. "All right, come up the stairs with me. I'll show you around."

Like the shifting of a dream, I had followed them from the kitchen and to the second floor, not quite registering the procession as my mind seemed to cling to different thoughts as I passed through a hallway leading towards a series of personal quarters. The same wooden floors as downstairs acted in a sense as my stream of thought, my imagination momentarily taking me from reality and placing me in the place I imaged I would be in soon—so soon with Kailey. This home was what I could only describe as something I compared to a metaphor of my future... soft, loving... full of hope and comfort.

"Here's Kailey's room," her mom said, smiling softly. She extended her hand outward, and gently turned the door knob, opening the door to reveal the room she had prepared for her daughter. A little meow met my ears, soon my eyes catching a glimpse of the cat making the noise.

"Kiki!" Kailey gasped, rushing into the room to grab and pet the ashy-white feline. She looked around the room then more intently after she had the thing in her arms, surveying everything from her bed, to her dressers, and even some of the interesting tokens and props that she must've had for a while. "Oh, wow, it's nice!" Kailey said. "You even got me some mannequins finally! I can finally have my cosplays out without having to shove them under the bed or something."

"I thought you would appreciate that. You have a bathroom and a walk in closet over there, too," her mom said, pointing toward a partially open door.

"You've got to be shitting me! Hell yeah!"

"Kailey, no. Hell certainly isn't something that should go along with yeah." Her mother turned to look at me for a second, her expression completely serious as she asked, "Does she use her potty mouth around you all the time?"

I raised a brow. "You mean her choice of words? Yeah, so?"

Her mother sighed. "She gets it from her father. Sometimes I joke around and say she's just Darren but a girl." She shifted into a mild chuckle then, trying to alleviate her discomfort.

"Not true," I added, lifting a finger for effect, "her savagery is very much countered by her hard working domineer and helpfulness, as I see she gets from you."

Her mom laughed this time. "Thank you Octavius! I do try." She briefly shifted her attention to her daughter, said, "I'm going to show Octavius to his room, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Kailey replied, her hands stoking over one of her costume props.

Again, the view of this room shifted as I was escorted down the hallway, quickly coming then to what would be designated as my room for the remainder of the weekend. Like before, her mother opened the door gently, revealing my quarters.

"Here you go, Octavius," she said. "Everything has been cleaned up and made ready for you. I wanted your stay to be as comfortable as possible, so you'll find everything you need in here. There's a bathroom attached here as well over there." She pointed over to another door to the opposite end of the room. "Fresh towels are in the cabinet."

"Thank you," I said. I felt that was the least I could say, but I was almost to taken aback to say anything else. It was one thing being catered around by a bunch of strangers and fans, but this was genuine because this was Kailey's mother. This was… dare I say…my family.

"Goodnight, Octavius. Hopefully I'll see you guys off in the morning when Leah comes to get you," she said, and went back down the hallway, leaving me in front of my quarters.

I quickly felt compelled to go meet back with Kailey again, though. As much as I wanted to explore my new space I knew there would be time to do that later. I wanted to plan tomorrow at this point, and see what my dearest could come up with for me, considering I'd never been to one of these festivals before.

So I walked back down the hall, finding myself instantly beside the doorway to Kailey's room, and peered inside. She was still focused on her dressed mannequins; the one in particular that currently had her attention was a strange white and futuristic armor harness and bracers, with purple pants, along with a spiky short wig. At her bed, staring at her, was the cat, Kiki.

"Is that the one you're wearing tomorrow?" I asked.

Kailey turned to look at me. "Umm… no, does this look Renaissance to you?" she paused for a second, her eyes furrowed still as she looked at me with contemplation. "Do you even know what renaissance is?"

"Of course I do!" I said. "It's the knights, wizards—kings and queens sort of thing, right? Historical in terms of human history?"

Kailey's furrowed, confused expression shattered. She started laughing for a long time, managing after a bit to get out a comment through her chuckles. "Sure, wizards are historical figures."

"Okay, so what are you going as then?" I was being persistent. I really wanted to understand this festival and what I was supposed to do.

"Errr… I guess I was just going to wear one of my dresses. I found my elf ears in here too, and my circlet crown, so I'll do that."

"A circlet? So a princess?"

"Uhh, not necessarily, but I guess so?" She wiped her right eye with her palm, removing a stray tear that had settled there from her laughing prior. "Let's see… I have some green and brown fabric in the closet here and some brown leather. I don't have anything for armor, so a knight is out of the question. Tell me, what do you see yourself as, hm, Dave?"

"A wizard would be pretty cool, but I don't have a staff," I said, letting myself slip fully into the room then, closing the door behind me.

"Hold on a second, let me bring up the D&D classes," Kailey said. She took out her little blue phone, started texting something into it. "D&D isn't really historically accurate, I'll have you know, but maybe it'll give you an idea for a costume."

"What's D&D?" I asked.

"Dungeons and Dragons," she stated, but that was all she said before she walked up beside me, showing me the little screen so the two of us could look at it in unison. "See… you have the usual stuff, like the wizard, pfftt, but there's rangers... you know, archers, fighters, kinda like a knight I guess…"

"What's a bard?" I felt like more questions were coming out of me at the time, but being out of the loop, of the sorts, it was necessary. I didn't become a human renowned geneticist without asking questions that was for sure!

"Bards are like poets and musicians…" she said.

"So an entertainer?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

For some reason at her acknowledgement, my mind sent me back in time. I was in the Central Park Zoo; children were propped up against my tank, looking at me happily as I, Dave the octopus, put on a show for them! I had so many tricks up my sleeve, so many dances to show them. Even as Dr. Brine, that was what I did for my fans. The famous geneticist thing was one thing, sure, but putting on the show—that was what I was good at. Making them laugh, cry? Inspiring them? Enchanting the masses?

"I'm a bard!" I gasped then, cutting her off from reading the list any further.

"A bard, eh?" she asked. "Do you know how to play a lute?"

"No, I do not, but I will learn! It can't be that hard, right?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever, Dave," she said. "But look, don't get your hopes up about this thing. When we go to the festival, stay next to me, and don't get lost. Even in a bard costume I'm sure you'll be noticed, and you don't want to run into any of the creeps. Believe me."

"I've already run into my share of weirdoes, dearest!" I said, trying to make her more comfortable with all this by confirming this wasn't new in a sense of meeting not-so-bright humans. "Let me use that fabric you mentioned earlier, and I'll have Penny and Kenny come though my window and help me out tonight."

"Dave, are you crazy?" she heaved then. Seemed me trying to calm her down in one way just made her freak out in a different way. Not that I minded, really. I was used to her overthinking things, but not to worry!

Placing a hand on her shoulder, I said, "Don't worry, dearest! I promise, we'll be careful. Besides, I want to discuss with them some details tonight about what's been going on back at Octo Corp. I may be on holiday, but the building isn't."

"Ugh… true," she said. "Just don't let them get goop everywhere. Mom'll freak out if she sees anything messy." Her arms started giving me a shoo, motion, when she said, "Okay, Dave, get out! I'd like to get to sleep."

"See you in the morning then," I said. I knew to give her space when she was ready for sleep, so I obeyed, turned around and slipped out the door, closing it behind me. When I had made it down the hallway, and back into my quarters, shutting the door behind me, I placed my finger to the small mic device I had been wearing in my ear, and hailed my henchmen.

"You two, meet me up on the second floor, upward left side of the house," I said. "I'll open the window for you. There are things I need to discuss with you."

Kenny gave me a brief acknowledgement, then the line cut. I knew they'd show up any time now, being as thorough and compliant as they were, but while I waited I began to take the time to look around.

A comfy bed, a lovely wooden vanity with a mirror, the room a pleasant temperature, with lingering smells of baked goods from the passing of our feast—the quaint room contrasted the room I used to use in my submarines. While I was now walking on smooth, wooden floors, I remembered my days pacing back and forth, the metal floors of my submarine chiming clanks as I walked in Brine's shoes. Days of working on my Medusa Serum, plotting, wondering… and days of acting for the masses too seemed so vain now.

I wondered how I could have ever been so angry—so cold.

A tap at the window caught my attention then. Snapping out of my constant flashbacks came easy when I saw their orange and pink colors stick out against the darkness behind them.

I walked over and opened the window, softly and quietly, and then allowed them inside. I only shut the window halfway, justifying that if they needed to leave without a moment's notice they could slip out easily this way.

"So, first things first," I began. "Any news back at base?"

Penny was the first to speak, informing me that all seemed to be going smoothly.

However, I was thorough too, and felt this was out of place, so I elaborated, saying, "Any sign of North Wind? Anything… off?" There were many things running across my mind when I said that, but I was subtle in my questioning.

Penny continued. No sign of North Wind spying on Octo Corp, not even the owl. Strange. I wouldn't expect them to call it quits, even on a holiday, but alas. Even while I found some minor relief in the lack of more North Wind sightings in my absence, Penny then started describing a truck that had pulled up next to Octo Corp, parked there for a while, and then after my take-off to Houston, it drove away.

"Weird," I commented, adjusting my glasses as I thought, "but not really out of the ordinary. Probably another fan, as usual…" I trailed off, only for a moment as another thought crossed my mind. I recalled the 'alien ship' that Rayonna had told us about today. I knew for certain that it wasn't one of mine, but I couldn't quite place whose it was. It wasn't like the picture was all that great to begin with, so I couldn't blame myself for my inability to identify it, but still.

"Penny, Kenny, you two be on the lookout for anything else strange. The humans, at least a small portion of them, have reported sightings of a ship. I wouldn't want to think it's our enemies coming up with another plan to stop me, but you can never be too careful."

The two stared at me, concerned for a moment, shifting their gaze back and forth between each other and then back to me in caution, before I moved on to the next subject.

"So, tomorrow is none other than what the humans call the Renaissance Festival!" I said. "I am to become a bard… Penny, do you know what that is?"

Her eyes widened, excitement suddenly overcoming her as she started bouncing up and down.

"Ah, I am so glad you know what I'm talking about. You may be my head engineer, but I should really officially start calling you my expert on human things." I shifted my stance, and kneeled down to get on their level, said, "I'm going to need a costume and a… Kailey said it was a lute. Can you two get those ready for me?"

Penny shook her head up and down, happiness still overcoming her, while calmly Kenny obliged.

"I knew I could count on you guys!" I cheered.

There was time for work, sure, but now was my time to engrain myself more into human culture. What a fun day that was awaiting me—nay, an entire weekend! I trusted my henchman to stay on top of things back in New York, so I tried brushing off my obligations for now.

For once, I was determined to acknowledge that business could wait.