Chapter 6: Recovery
Part 1: Mind and Body
Shiver couldn't sleep. Frye's shallow breaths terrified the Octoling. Every once in awhile the inkling would grunt but when she gasped for air Shiver sprung out of her sleeping bag. "Frye!" Shiver quickly sat the limp one up and patted her back in desperation. She relaxed when a few coughs passed Frye's lips. "Cod Frye. You gave two of my hearts heart attacks." Shiver hissed, laying her head on the back of Frye's neck. She wasn't expecting a response, but she could swear Frye mumbled something. "Hu? Are you awake?" Carefully, Shiver laid the yellow one back down. Her breath hitched and another cough passed her lips. It had a gurgling noise that wasn't normal for an inkling, so instinctively Shiver locked lips with her. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Shiver added her own air to Frye's lungs. Quickly, she released and began to press on her chest. To her surprise, green oozing ink shot out of her mouth. "Shit! You swallowed some?!" Shiver wiped the ink away but turned her attention when a hand touched her cheek. "Frye?" She nuzzled into the hand but froze when green eyes met her red. Fear consumed her when the yellow hues faded to a sick green. "Frye
Shiver shot up with a gasp. Quickly the Octoling crawled onto the inkling. She forced the eyelids open to reveal glossy honey yellow eyes. With a sigh of relief Shiver relaxed. "Don't ever use green ink ok? Your yellow fits you perfectly." She leaned forward with a gentle kiss connecting to the other's nose. The inkling huffed, causing Shiver to panic. 'No! Not like my dream! Please!' She thought, as she slid off to not disturb her. "Shiv?" The Inkling breathed as her eyes gently fluttered open. "Good morning Frye!" Shiver teared up a little as she flung herself onto the inkling. She grunted before lifting a limp arm over her crush. "Hey there. You ok?" Frye's voice was raspy but Shiver was just happy to see her awake. "Am I ok?! What about you!? Taking on Thrash and his Shark! What were you thinking!" Shiver was going to punch the other's shoulder, but decided to nuzzle into her neck instead. "I didn't want you to fight your clan buddy. Couldn't have that weigh on you."
With a look in shock, Shiver's head lifted. A blush of ink tinted her face. Her hearts raced as she watched Frye's lips turn to a smirk. "Shiv, you're so cute when you're surprised."
"S-Shut up. You don't know what you did."
"Hu?"
Shiver looked away as her blush subsided. "From the look of the turf, you won. Correct?"
Frye tried to sit up but needed help, Shiver willingly assisted. They sat on the floor in front of one another. "Yeah? Why?"
Shiver looked away, thinking of what information she should give. "He was my best friend... and fiancé."
Frye gasped, "W-What?! Shiv I'm so sorry!"
"No! No. It's alright. He wasn't himself, I don't blame you darling."
"Well, to be honest... W-wait! What did you call me?!"
Nothing but 6 heartbeats filled the tent. Both girls had massive about of ink flooding to their faces. "Are you hungry? I'm starving! I'll see if BigMan made breakfast." Shiver picked herself up, and quickly crawled out of the tent, leaving Frye alone and confused.
"Ay! Ay?" (Hey Shiver! Frye awake?) BigMan asked as he prepared a plate for his friend. "Actually yes... but I need to stay away from her for a moment."
"Ay?" (Okay?) The ray looked confused as he handed her the food. He slowly prepared another as he shot Shiver a concerned look. "What?! I'm sorting through my thoughts! I've ran through like 6 different emotions in the last 10 minutes!" Shiver shoved the food in her face as Frye limped out of the tent. "You're telling me." Frye chuckled weakly as she slowly made her way to sit next to Shiver. She was surprised when a couple of her eels tackled her with loving nuzzles and kisses. "Hey! Gently!" Shiver barked at the eels in shark. They apologetically helped their master up and wiggled over to Shiver for her approval. Shiver rolled her eyes but patted their heads. "Wow, taking over my eels hu?" Frye pouted playfully. "I don't know! They just started nuzzling up to me. Ask them not me."
Frye chattered her teeth and watched how the eels moved as they chattered back. Frye cleared her throat as she came to understand the eels thought of Shiver as her mate. Frye chattered back a bit frantically, looking over at Shiver's questioning gaze. "What is it?" Shiver asked. "They um... like you. That's all. " Frye chuckled at her own half lie. "Oh, I see. They are charming, but I do prefer my sharks."
Frye chuckled a bit louder this time, "Well, I find you're sharks kinda cute. Just like their tamer."
The happy ray tried to contain his laughter as the two of his closest friends started to bicker and blush at one another's flirting attempts.
Packing became difficult between the three of them. Frye's body was hardly strong enough to stand let alone pack anything, Shiver kept getting distracted with her own thoughts to the point of stopping and starting at something until someone snapped her out of it, and BigMan had gone to the beach to pick up any treasure he could get his flippers on. This trip wasn't going to end with them empty handed if he could help it.
Shiver insisted on carrying Frye's share even though Frye offered her eels as help. BigMan helped the inkling walk as Shiver lingered behind just in case they needed any help. The weight started getting to her about halfway back to their apartment. It would be a few more hours until they would make it back. BigMan sat Frye down for a break when he noticed Shiver was barley in sight. "Ay!?" (Shiver, you alright?!) he called out to her. Frye tried to get up and run to her but BigMan put up a flipper to halt her. "I'm good! Be there in a sec!" Shiver huffed back. "I told her she couldn't handle it." Frye grumbled under her breath.
"Ay, Ay Ay." (She'll be ok. She was determined to help you out.)
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean she should hurt herself."
"Ay... Ay-Ay." (I agree... but she really wanted to make it up to you and your eels.)
Frye huffed in defeat but a smile slowly creeped onto her face. "Alright, that means I should toughen up and walk myself. We'll catch up with you later big guy."
"Ay?" (You sure?)
"Yeah. I can walk at her pace. Don't worry I'll text you if something goes wrong."
"Ay, Ay." (Alright, but don't tease her too much.)
"I won't."
And with that BigMan was off. He wasn't particularly fast when he walked but he could keep up a good pace. "Come on Sharky. I'm starting to get hungry." Frye teased as Shiver started to catch up. "Whatever... hey where did BigMan go?"
"I told him I wanted to keep you company. Now about food~ can I treat ya to something?"
Shiver looked down as they walked, she wasn't quite sure what she should say. "You really shouldn't, I can pay for myself."
"Well, that wasn't a no. Can I call it a date?"
"Mm, Frye." Shiver stopped and looked up at her travel companion. "I appreciate the thought, but I don't want you to call this a date."
Disappointment painted over Frye's face, "Oh... sorry. Was I too straightforward?"
"N-No? I just..." Shiver sighed, "I have too much on my mind to think about dating. I do like you Frye, but I need a little more time."
"So yes and no?" Frye gave Shiver an infectious smile. The Octo couldn't resist a giggle. "That's a good way of putting it. How about we drop off our gear and say we're hanging out?" Frye sighed in defeat, "Fine. Sounds like fun, but just the two of us?"
"We can invite BigMan if you want."
"No! No... Just us is fine with me if you are."
Shiver giggled softly, she snuck a glance at the giddy Inkling. Wanting nothing more then to grab her hand.
Part 2: Envious Inkling
Frye was happy to wake up in her own bed. Her musicals felt better after a good long stretch. "Morning BigMan!" She chimed as she reached into the fridge for the jug of orange juice. "Ay!" (Morning!) the ray greeted from the table. Frye took a good look around but noticed Shiver was nowhere to be found. "Where's Shiv? I would have thought she would sleep in after the wild night we had." She chuckled. "Ay... Ay-Ay." (She went on a trip... she told me she would text us when she was on her way back.)
Juice nearly escaped Frye's mouth as she growled, "What the Fuck?! She told you! Why didn't she tell me!"
"Ay..." (She didn't want you to try and follow her...)
"What?! Of course I would go with her! Her crazy ex tried to kill her!"
"Ay." (She took Master Mega with her.)
"The ink affected Sharks too you know!"
"Ay. Ay-Ay." (Frye, your over reacting. She can handle herself. You know her better then anyone.)
"I'm starting to think that isn't true." Frye stormed out of the kitchen and plopped back down onto her hammock. Her muscles screamed at her to move around more, but she ignored their complaints. A thumb hovered over the text box on her phone, wondering what to type. She already deleted several unsent messages.
'It's not nice to sneak out! Where are you?' *deleted*
'I miss you, when are you coming home?' *deleted*
'Why did you tell BigMan you had plans and not me!' *deleted*
'Was I not good enough for you last night?' * definitely deleted*
She huffed at her attempts and right when she laid her phone down on her chest, it went off. It was Shiver! She automatically opened it without hesitation. It read, 'Morning Frye! Sorry for not telling you about my trip but I wanted you to focus on getting better. I'm fine and plan on being back in a few days. Wish me luck! Text you soon, I promise.'
A smile formed on the inkling's face as she texted back. 'What are you up to Sharky? You're being really sneaky~'
Yellow eyes stared at the Home Screen, waiting on a new message. A sigh passed her lips, "She said soon... but knowing her..." She was interrupted but a small buzz of her phone. "That was quick!" She opened the message hastily.
'I went to visit my old village. I needed to see if my suspicions were true. I didn't mean to upset you.'
'It's alright Shiv. I just wished you would have told me. Please be safe.'
It didn't take long for another message to pop up.
'I will. Master Mega is on the top of his game! I promise to make it up to you when I get back.'
'How about another "hang out"? I had a lot of fun.'
'We will see. I had fun too. I need to be alert here, so I may not answer for a moment.'
'Ok Sharky. Stay safe!'
She figured Shiver wouldn't answer back. After a few more minutes she slipped back out of bed and shuffled down the hall. Finding BigMan in his chair, Frye stood nearby rocking on her toes. "I'm sorry for getting mad... you're my best friend and I shouldn't have snapped like that."
"Ay. Ay-Ay." (It's alright Frye. I know how deeply you care about Shiver.)
A light blush dusted the inkling's face, "Yeah yeah... Thanks big guy."
Day's have passed slowly by. Simple mornings and goodnights had been exchanged between the two female bandmates, but other then that Frye was in the dark. Her mood had seemed to sink while BigMan's seemed to have improved. Frye missed Shiver more then anyone in her whole life, to the point it was semi comforting to lay in the bed at night. She made sure to fix the sheets every morning when she got up, and that was normally a struggle for her. "Ay! Ay Ay! Ay?" (Morning Frye! Let's go shopping today! What do you say?)
The inkling raised a brow to the ray as she brewed herself a cup of coffee. She normally didn't drink the stuff, but her pulsing head and weary feet begged her to stay up. "Do we have a splatfest coming up?" She asked eagerly. "Ay." (Nope. You haven't treated yourself lately, and I think you need to feel special.)
"Special Hu? My birthday isn't for a couple more months..."
"Ay! Ay." (Don't worry about it! Let's get your mind away from any unwanted thoughts.)
"Fine... but only to make you happy."
"Ay." (I can live with that.)
The first couple of stores didn't really fit Frye's style. They were more of a hiphop or K-pop fashion that most of the younger generation found fresh. BigMan walked past a strong smelling store that Frye couldn't help but glance inside. "Hey, big guy. I wanna go in here."
"Ay.Ay?" (Sure. But I don't think they sell many clothes.)
"That's fine. I could use some more incense anyway."
"Ay?" (Missing home?)
"A little. It's to help me sleep."
"Ay." (Oh...)
The inkling hopped inside and swiftly moved to a shelf filled with drawers. Reading the labels, she quickly began to sniff each stick that was picked out. As she put a stick labeled "Love and Harmony" to her nose she quickly noticed a yellow poof of a sleeve poking out of a clothing rack. She slowly made her way to the curious looking article and held up the hanger. It was a beautiful orange gown with yellow poofy sleeves that hooked around one's middle finger. A yellow bow hung at the back and yellow lace decorated the frilly bottom. Frye fell in love with it instantly. "BigMan!" She called out. The ray quickly shuffled inside. When he saw the dress his face softened. "Ay?" (Wanna try it on?)
"Definitely!" The inkling quickly ran into a stall. Within seconds her clothes were tossed to the side with her attempting to slip the dress on. She had to untie the bow when her chest got in the way, but other then that it fit like magic. She spun in the mirror and noticed how perfect it flowed with her feet movements. "It's perfect! I love it!" Frye yelled behind the door to BigMan. "Ay?" (Do I get to see?) He asked, slightly giddy in anticipation. The inkling unlatched the door and spun out of the small room. Lace flowing at her feet as the rest of the dress clung to her figure, excluding the sleeves that kept their poofy shape. She began to dance and the dress fit the movement perfectly like it was practically made for her. "Ay!" (Gorgeous!) The ray cheered his friend on as she continued to dance. This was the happiest BigMan has seen her in a while, but suddenly her mood dropped. "But when would I wear it? It would be a waste if it just stayed in my closet."
"Ay? Ay-Ay?" (What about our splatfest performance? Or perhaps catch the eye of a lucky inkling or octoling?)
"Na. The only one I'm interested in right now already rejected me."
"Ay? Ay?" (Rejected? Do you think the dress would help?)
"It's a lovely dress, it shouldn't be wasted on me."
"Ay?! Ay-Ay!" (Wasted?! Never! You are a beautiful Inkling Frye!)
"Thanks big guy, but I'll be alright. I don't need a dress to make others like me."
"Ay..." (True...)
The pair picked up a few incense's for Frye and headed back the the apartment. Not expecting a warm, loving surprise greeting them at the door.
Notes: Sleep?! Who needs that?! Frye is such a ball of fire! Am I right? She didn't mean to hurt BigMan, she was just frustrated. I wrote this one quickly so we could get to Shiver tbh. Don't get me wrong I love Frye and BigMan but the group isn't the same without their Shark tamer!
