A little after that whole fiasco ended, Terrell, now with a bandaged arm, carried the half-conscious inkling back into the guest bedroom bridal style after washing off his hands in the bathroom. The kid was mumbling something in his language under his breath, looking exhausted and much sicker than before now that the adrenaline was fading away. Settling the inkling back into the bed, Terrell sighed and backed away, resting his hands against his hips and scolding the inkling.

"You see what happens when you overexert yourself? Now you're back in bed, probably feeling worse than you did before. I understand you're scared, but that's no reason to completely flip out like that after we fed you. You're still a little sick." He berated the inkling gently. Despite the language barrier, the boy knew he was being scolded and had a guilty look on his face, refusing to make eye contact with Terrell.

My brother closed his eyes in frustration, putting a hand against his face and dragging it down slowly.

He then turned to me, "Will, could you watch him while I clean up the hallway? I'd get Alyssa to help out but she's downstairs making him a small sandwich to fill up his stomach again."

"No prob." I lied, flashing him a thumbs up. Of course it was a goddamn "Prob," this little asshole just fucking gave me the famous Kick of Infertility. I'd be lucky if I could even piss after this.

My brother sighed, "I'll try to remember to get you some ice so you can sit comfortably. Try not to be harsh with him, alright? You would've done the same thing in his situation."

I scoffed, "No, I would've sat on my bed and tried to get along with the strangers who took me into their home like a good houseguest."

"Will, you see his bandages? He's been hurt, he's scared, and he's sick. He may have kicked you and bit me, but for all we know he could've been in deep trouble before he 'flew in here'. Speaking of which, did he really…?"

I nodded, "Yeah, flew right into me from the TV and knocked me out faster than a John Cena playing Punch Out."

Terrell chuckled as he started heading for the door, "I'm pretty sure John Cena's wrestling abilities has no relevance to a boxing game."

I stared at the door once he was gone.

...There's a difference between wrestling and boxing? Oh...my God, I thought they were interchangeable this entire time. What the fuck.

Deciding to leave that thought for later, I looked back at the inkling on the guest bed. He was looking around the room, studying every detail before his gaze eventually met mine. I hate to say it but he actually looked...cute, despite the fact that he kicked me in the good ol' penis necklace. Credits to my sis for that one.

After a short period of time, the inkling sighed and pushed the covers of the bed off of him. I was prepared to run in case he was thinking about doing another one of those 'escape plans' of his, but instead he just crawled along the bed over in my direction and sat on the edge. His feet hanged off the side and he kicked them back and forth as if he was a kindergartener while he stared down at the floor in awkward silence.

"Uh...hi?" I hesitantly greeted him, to which he replied with what I assume was a greeting in his language too. Another awkward pause passed and afterwards I sat on the edge of the bed next to him, my feet reaching the floor with ease. The inkling briefly glanced up at me but quickly stared back down at his lap as he twiddled his thumbs and swung his feet back and forth.

I looked down at him for a moment, taking it all in. A living, breathing inkling was in the same room as me, sitting on the same bed as me. He was real and he somehow can survive and he's sitting right next to me, twiddling his thumbs. And he was an asshole.

I slowly raised my hand and held it over to his face, the inkling turning his gaze and staring at it curiously. After a bit of staring, his eyes flickered to me and he let out a confused chirp.

Then I flicked his forehead. He deserved some kind of punishment for earlier, and honestly this was the bare minimum. He yelped and rubbed the area on his forehead with his hand while bitterly glaring at me, then stuck his tongue out.

Can't say he was expecting to be promptly shoved off the bed in retaliation with a startled scream. He landed on the floor with a harsh thump and cried out in pain, which made me realize that this dude was still injured and I could get in trouble for doing that. However, there seemed to be no sore feelings and instead the inkling rolled onto his back and looked up at me with a playful pout, understanding that I was just messing with him. Then he held his arms up, asking to be lifted from the floor since it'd probably ache for him to get up himself.

Instead of doing that, I got up and left the room to leave him to die.

…

…

…..Fine, I won't leave him to die. Extremely tempting, though. I actually just slowly walked out and shut the door and kept my laughter to myself as I heard him angrily chattering something in his gurgly language after me. Honestly, he deserved this.

Now that I was in the hallway, I turned around and saw Terrell crouched down on the carpet floor with cleaning supplies surround him, finishing up cleaning the slightly ingested pancakes the little dude spewed out earlier. He noticed me standing there and raised his eyebrows, most likely wondering why I left the inkling in his room by himself.

"...Is he alright?"

"Oh. Yeah, he's fine."

There was a pause.

Rightfully suspicious, Terrell stood up and walked to the guest room door, twisting the doorknob and opening it. He peeked into the room and started chuckling, which made me curious enough to look in myself.

The inkling was still laying on the floor, bitterly staring up at the ceiling with his arms to his side and his fists clenched. He didn't even spare us a glance as we peeked in, though I could tell he heard us from his ear twitching ever so slightly. Terrell walked into the room and stood above the inkling with amusement, and watched as the inkling looked up at him and held his arms up, begging to be helped from the floor.

My brother's kind nature made him give in and I frowned as he bent down and helped the inkling to his feet. Turning around, the inkling caught my gaze and again stuck his tongue out at me, though it was Terrell this time who flicked his forehead, disapproving of his behavior. When Terrell averted his gaze from the two of us for a millisecond, I quickly stuck my tongue out at the inkling and snickered at his offended expression.

Terrell stepped over to the door and let out a gentle sigh, "I'll go put the cleaning supplies away and get you the ice. You two, stay out of trouble and don't do anything stupid. You," He pointed at the inkling, who shrank back at the gesture, "don't get yourself sick again, you need to rest." He then pointed at the bed.

Catching the gist of what he was saying based on his tone, the inkling shyly looked down at the floor and nodded before plopping himself back onto the bed with no complaints. Terrell gave him a quick smile and then looked in my direction.

"Try not to agitate him too much, alright? Knowing you, you'd probably get him running around the house in ten minutes at least."

"That's a lie, I could get him running in five." I joked, to which he laughed and patted my shoulder before going out the door and shutting it.

Now that he was gone, I glanced back at the inkling sitting on the bed, who caught my gaze and stuck his tongue back out at me. Naturally, I shoved him off the bed onto the floor and took his place, laying back and closing my eyes.

He whined for a little bit while on the floor, then suddenly stopped. I thought nothing of it until I heard what sounded like crying, and immediately sat up and looked down at the floor. The guy was sitting on his back with watery, lime green eyes staring right up at me. His mouth was trembling and he look like he was going to straight up burst into tears.

Feeling guilty, I rolled myself to the edge of the bed and swung my legs over the side before standing up and stretching briefly. Sighing, I trudged over to the inkling and looked down at him with a sympathetic expression, bending down and pulling him to his feet because he looked too goddamn pitiful just laying there.

I helped him onto the bed and cleaned off his outfit of any bits of lint or dust that may have gotten onto it, the inkling staying silent the entire time. Once I was done, I patted the dude's head to say I was sorry and then laid back onto the bed and shut my eyes.

...

Without warning, I felt myself being quickly shoved off the bed and onto the floor, not given enough time to react. I yelped as I hit the carpet, the shock leaving me stunned for a moment. As I got my bearings, I heard high pitched laughter coming from on top of the bed and looked up to see that asshole looking down at me with a large grin. Fucking dickbag used crocodile tears and actually fooled me!

Standing up, I glowered down at the inkling and watched as his laughter died down and he looked up at me in fear. That's right, you're gonna pay, you little shit.

I immediately pinned one of the inkling's arms down and tickled his sides, causing him to start shrieking and desperately kick the air in an attempt to get me off of him. His shrieks turned into laughter and he started to claw at me with his free hand, resulting in me pinning that one down too. Due to both of my arms being taken up, I had to stop for a second and think of another way to get back at him as he caught his breath. The inkling's face was completely flushed and joyful tears were pricking in the corners of his eyes, his chest heaved with every breath and his eyes were closed tightly shut.

After a moment, a genius idea came to mind. In the midst of him recovering, I let go of one of his arms and rolled up his shirt before taking in a giant breath and blew raspberries on his stomach. The results were immediate, the inkling literally screamed and started giggling rapidly, kicking his feet even faster and harder than before. Sometimes they actually would hit me in the stomach and I'd have to stop for a second, but I would continue on despite the pain since it was definitely worth it.

Eventually I let up on the inkling, letting him fully catch his breath and lay down on the bed in peace. His tentacles awkwardly bent due to his head laying straight down onto the mattress, so I did him a favor and slipped his tentacle-band off while he was still recovering. It was interesting to see it in real life, as it looked exactly how it did in the game. Green, yellow, and red plastic covering with an elastic band keeping it all together.

The inkling eventually caught his breath and sat up, tentacles flopping down to the sides of his head, looking exhausted most likely due to being excessively tickled plus still being a little ill. He closed his eyes and yawned before shaking his head and blinking his eyes open, prolonging his need to pass out. He looked over at me and stared for a moment, before pointing at me and saying something in a demanding tone.

I furrowed my brow and gave him a weird look, "What? What do you want?"

He groaned and shuffled closer to me on the bed before taking his finger and thrusting it against my chest and saying the same thing in a more insistent tone. Was he...asking for my name?

"You do realize I don't speak your language, right? I don't understand your weird little 'drowning while speaking' gurgly voice. You probably wouldn't be able to pronounce my name no matter how much you tried and same for me." I pointed out, earning nothing but a head tilt in reply.

I sighed, feeling a little exasperated. I pointed at myself, thinking that I might as well humor him and at least let him attempt my name. "William. Wiiiill-iiii-aaaam." I pronounced, saying it once normally and then slowly sounding it out.

The inkling had an iffy look on his face, unsure as to what he heard. He murmured something in his language, his ears twitching in slight irritation. Then he looked up at me, hesitantly saying my name and getting it wrong.

"Will-ee-ehm?" He uttered unsurely, a noticeable gurgling sound in his speech. I shook my head, saying my name once more in a patient tone. It was most likely the first time he ever said something that was close to the English language.

"Will-ee-ehm!" He chirped louder, a hint of confusion hidden in his gurgly voice. I shrugged, choosing to accept what he could give me. I made a mental note to teach him my name once he was more accustomed to English and its words.

"Close enough."

I then pointed at him, "What's your name, then?"

He proceeded to make the most ungodly, scratchiest, weirdest fucking noise I've ever heard. I shrunk back for a second, disbelieving what I heard. I made a gesture for him to say it again, and got the same exact results.

"Yeah, okay. I'm not calling you that." I stated bluntly. Tilting my head in contemplation, I thought about a name to call the inkling in the meantime until I found out his real name. Spot? Fuck no, that's dehumanizing him to an animal. Well, he sorta was an animal, but he was also human too. But then again, he wasn't a human, he was a squid. But he was a squid that over time evolved into a human-like creature capable of sentient thought akin to ours. What?

Choosing not to think about it, I decided to name him something simple.

"Tenta." I pointed at the inkling, now named Tenta. He scowled, angrily gurgling something at me, probably cursing. I smirked, "That's your name now. Tenta."

He didn't like the name, apparently. I got the hint when he hissed distastefully and crossed his arms. I shrugged nonchalantly, flashing a sly, mocking smile at him. I knew he could tell that I named him something stupid.

Suddenly, the door to the guest room opened back up and my sister poked her head inside. We all held eye contact with each other for a moment before she stepped into the room, one hand holding a plate with a sandwich and the other holding a bag of ice.

"Sup."

"Yo." As you can see, we both had very formal and educated vocabularies used among those with the highest intelligence on earth.

She slowly walked up to Tenta, holding out the sandwich to him, "I know you spat God knows what into my mouth and have possibly given me many fish diseases, but I'm willing to put that aside and give you a second chance. Here's a peace offering, a delicious tuna sandwich. Also, you look stupid with your tentacles by your face like that."

"Why the hell would you use tu-" I attempted to complain.

"'Cuz he's an inkling. It was a thought process, y'know? Make sandwich for inkling. Inkling is a squid. Squids like fish. Tuna is fish. Therefore, inklings must love tuna because they're squids."

"How do you know? Maybe Tenta's more of a beef fan."

"I-Will-How do yo-No. First of all, he's eating the sandwich and seems to like it and I highly doubt they have cows after ten thousand years of flooded oceans and land war." She deadpanned, "Second of all- Really, Will? Really? That's the name you come up with? I mean, I knew your creativity was dead since kindergarten when you drew literally nothing but yourself, but this is a whole new level. Third of all-"

A stream of pink ink flew directly into her face from Tenta's mouth, cutting her off. We both gawked in surprise and turned our attention to Tenta, seeing him sitting there with a bitter look on his face, glaring at Alyssa.

Oh.

"..."

"..."

After a pause, Alyssa proceeded to spit the ink into my face and held out her other hand that held the bag of ice to me, "Here's your frozen dick water."

She then turned to the inkling, jabbing her finger into his forehead, "You're on thin ice, buddy. I made you a sandwich and you literally spat in my face. Fuck you."

I scoffed, "Oh so when you spit in my face it's fine, but when an innocent little sweetheart mistakenly gets a little saliva into yours it's suddenly offensive?"

Alyssa wiped off the ink on her face with her bare hands. Looking around for something to clean her hands off with, she eventually decided to choose my face and shirt to clean off her hands. She was delicate with it too, forcefully smearing it into my face and trying to suffocate me with the pent up anger and rage every little sister has.

"'INNOCENT LITTLE SWEETHEART' MY ASS!" My sister hissed as she fought to cover my face in Tenta's weird mouth ink. I desperately tried to pry her away from me because Sensitive Dick On Board, but she managed to nearly completely cover my face in the pink ink. So now we were two weird black kids covered in pink goo.

There was a quick silence.

"...Y'know, in the inkling world-" I started.

"No."

I bursted out laughing, "N-No! Seriously, I'm being serious. Swear on it."

My sister huffed through her nose, the pink ink covering it flying off onto the carpet, "I don't care."

"So- uh- ink that comes from inklings…evaporates."

"Oh! Oh yeah," My sister exclaimed sarcastically, "I'm totally going to wait for like twenty minutes for this ink to evaporate. I'll sit in the sun if I have to, just to get this stuff right off my face instead of washing it off with water and drying myself off with a towel like a normal person."

"Actually it takes just three minutes, presumably more if-"

She stood up and walked out the door, "Bye."

A slightly awkward silence filled the room. I turned to the inkling, who glanced up at me before looking back at the door. Then looked back at me, face seeming to ask 'what's her deal?'

I then put my hand on his face and promptly shoved him off the bed. While him having a dislike for my sister was funny, it still was a little dickish of him to go at her like that. This was gonna be my prime form of punishment from now on. Shoving him off beds.

"I know you don't seem to like her much, but she's my sis and you gotta ease up on her a bit. She may be sarcastic and rude, plus a bit of a bitch at times, but she's still my sis and you should get along with her."

Tenta just stared at me blankly from the floor. Right, language barrier. Forgot all about that.

I sighed, "Forget it. Also, I'm still pissed at you for kicking my nuts. I'm also a little impressed; how the hell did you and your noodle limbs manage to fucking obliterate my nutsack?"

Tenta gave me nothing but an odd stare and a confused chirp.

I scratched my ear to get rid of a mild itch, "We really gotta teach you English, or some key words at least. Y'know, like 'eat' or 'stay' or 'hello', little things like that. Well, it'd be more like training you like a pet since we don't have an 'English to Inkese' dictionary or whatever to teach you better. How fast do you pick up words?"

Tenta hummed, seeming to just go with whatever I was saying. Okay, yes, I was talking to him even though it's a one-sided conversation. Sue me, it enhances the learning process. I definitely didn't say that to try and sound smart.

"Tenta."

He chirped in acknowledgement. Great, despite his bitterness towards his new name he still accepted it.

"Tenta, come." I instructed, patting the empty space next to me on the bed. Little things first.

I heard him groan and saw him slowly pick himself up off the floor. He winced a bit -the injuries must've been agitated- before climbing onto the bed next to me and flopping down face first. Alright, 'come' was the first officially taught word. Progress has been made and I deserve at least three trophies. Four for having a crushed dick and still managing to live.

After a moment, I touched my face, briefly remembering that Alyssa so graciously decided to share the fate she had endured with me. I didn't feel any pink goop on my face, plus I didn't see any on my shirt, so I assume the right to...assume that...that shit evaporated. Y'know, on second thought, maybe I should get an actual English expert to teach him how to speak since I'm absolute shit at it.

Wanting to get off my ass and go downstairs, I took in a small breath and slowly stood up. The bag of ice fell to my feet and I took a couple of experimental steps to judge the amount of pain I would have. Good news, my dick was perfect.

I turned to Tenta, who was still face down into the blankets. "Let's go." I ordered, shaking him gently.

No response.

I shook him harder.

Still no response.

"Fuck, fuck! Please don't tell me I killed you!" I panicked, urgently rolling him off his stomach and onto his back. Inklings are so much more fragile than I thought, what if I caused some sort of fatal internal bleeding?

Oh, nope, he was just sleeping. His limbs were awkwardly sprawled out on the bed, his mouth open with little snores coming from it. He did seem a little tired earlier, but I didn't think he'd fall asleep that fast. I pressed my hands to my face and slid them down my cheeks, embarrassed that I flipped out over something so minor.

I had a couple of options here. One, leave him to die peacefully. Two, revive him and force him to come downstairs with me. And three, carry his corpse on my back downstairs and let him rot on the couch.

I decided to go with option one. At this point I was sure he trusted me and siblings not to hurt him, and I trusted him not to try and escape out the window like he initially planned. Plus, he could definitely use the sleep. Despite being on a constant snooze cruise until recently, Tenta looked exhausted and still was recovering from...whatever he went through.

As I quietly stepped out the room to not wake the inkling, I made a mental note to ask him about whatever he went through before he flew in when he learned enough words. A small pang of guilt hit me square in the chest as I thought about his injuries and just how terrified he was when we first met. He shouldn't have bit Terrell, spat in Alyssa's face, nor kicked me in the nuts...but on that first day when he first came, he clearly looked like he faced some sort of abuse. The worst part about it is that it may have come from the Octarians.

What did they do to him? Why did they do it? Do they not understand that he's only fourteen? He's so young and doing so much...Is there more to Splatoon than what's shown on the screen?

I pondered the thought as I stepped down the stairs, mind completely zoned out from the outside world. I didn't even notice my brother snapping his fingers in front of my face until he did it around five times.

"Will? You okay?" He asked with a concerned tone, "You don't normally space out like that."

I shook my head, "It's fine, it's fine. I was just thinking about Tenta's perspective in all this."

"Who?"

"Tenta."

"Could you be a little more specific?"

"...His name is Tenta?"

My brother chuckled, "You keep saying the name but you haven't told me who specifically you're talking about. Is that the inkling's name or something?"

Oh. "Yeah. I named him that."

"..."

"..."

"...William." Shit.

"Yes?"

"You-"

"Uh-huh?"

"You...named hi-"

"Absolutely!"

My brother gave me the most exasperated look he could muster. It was times like these I felt just a little bad for him having to put up with me.

"...Right. Alright." He sighed in defeat. I win.

I couldn't help but mess with him a little more. "In case you didn't know, the name stemmed from the word te-"

"Tentacle. Yes, I've realized that." Terrell deadpanned, pinching the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb. After a moment, he sighed once more and walked to the couch, slouching on it and looking ready to pass out. I sat down right beside him and enjoyed the peaceful almost-silence with the TV running but not on a channel we cared about.

Eventually, Alyssa came into the room as well from upstairs, looking bored out of her mind. She looked around warily for Tenta in case he was with us and let out a relieved sigh when she realized he wasn't there. Then she plopped down on the couch on the other side of Terrell, completing the list of necessary materials we needed for the satanic ritual.

Salt and Pepper came into the room after a little while too, playing around on the floor and mock fighting each other. Salt would swat at Pepper's snout while on her back and Pepper would awkwardly raise a paw and bop the kitten on the head. While they had a very big size difference, they both still loved each other and constantly played when they could.

I had zoned out yet again when Terrell tapped me on the shoulder and pointed toward the stairs. I glanced up and spotted Tenta coming down the stairs still looking drowsy. He rubbed his eyes with a hand in an attempt to wake himself up, but judging by the light sway on his feet and the yawns leaving his mouth I could tell he still needed a bit more rest.

The seasonings (a nickname for Salt and Pepper) both stopped in their playtime and immediately went to investigate the new presence in the room. Salt was slow in her approach to Tenta, curious but cautious. Pepper was more reckless, jogging with a pep in her step toward the inkling, sniffing the air for new scents.

Tenta immediately halted any moment when he spotted the two animals, looking at the two warily. He glanced up at us for a split second before staring down the seasonings with an unreadable expression, slowly inching back up the stairs backwards. Was he scared of them?

Unfortunately for him, the seasonings picked up on what was happening and slowly followed, their little paws taking small steps for each inch Tenta moved back. Clearly they both thought it was a game, Salt's tail swirling around playfully and Pepper's tail excitedly swinging back and forth. Tenta, however, looked more and more apprehensive at each coming second. He was looking up at us now, silently pleading for us to help him. Thing was, I didn't wanna help him 'cuz he was a bastard.

Terrell had stood and was making his way over to them, but as soon as Pepper barked, the inkling bolted up the stairs with a loud yelp, speed surprisingly fast. Both of the seasonings moved to chase after him, but the more evil of the two was stopped by Terrell, the dog desperately trying to wriggle out of his grip and barking nonstop but to no avail. Salt was still on the loose however, and was definitely faster than Pepper and could catch up to the inkling if she wanted, but she liked to toy with her victims first.

It took a minute, but eventually Tenta came racing back down the stairs, Salt following after him. The inkling dashed towards us all with a panicked expression and quickly turned his gaze to me, the person sitting on the couch and minding his damn business. Once he was close enough, Tenta immediately leaped off the carpet floor and onto the couch, before proceeding to climb on top of me and despite my protests and yelps of pain, held a death grip on me while seated awkwardly on my shoulders.

Salt was at my feet, meowing loudly in displeasure now that her prey was out of reach. She leaped onto the couch and tried to climb up my goddamn body just like Tenta did, but I adamantly refused and placed her back onto the floor since she had sharp claws that could dig into my flesh and kill me. Plus, as soon as she even got close to my foot, Tenta started snarling exactly like a wolf and I was terrified for both her and my life in that moment. What kind of inkling can snarl and sound just like a wolf who woke up on the wrong side of the ground? Geez.

It took a lot of coaxing to get Tenta to climb off my shoulders and even try to get to know the Seasonings. We introduced Pepper first, keeping her in Terrell's arms so she wouldn't go overboard and potentially make Tenta lose it. She wiggled eagerly in his grasp and just wanted to get loose and play with the inkling, but her attitude could be overbearing for a creature who's never seen a dog before in his life. Lots of people love dogs, though, so would an inkling really be an exception?

Yeah. An inkling would, as a matter of fact. Tenta hated Pepper's guts. He despised her, didn't want another second with poor Pepper in his personal space. Anytime she leaned in to try and lick him or at least get a good sniff in he'd get this dark look on his face and while it was cute, it was also the face of danger. At least he didn't seem scared of her anymore, just agitated and ready to rip her to shreds. The dog eventually got the message from his body language towards her and kept her distance, knowing she'd be up against some serious shit if she tried anything. It wasn't often we would see someone have a large distaste for dogs, but I didn't blame Tenta at all considering this was his first time meeting one and he didn't start off on the right foot with it.

With Salt, however, they were instant best friends. It took significantly less effort to get Tenta to warm up to the kitten, plus she was much calmer and softer looking than Pepper. Tenta went from shying away from Salt and trying to hastily climb onto my shoulders again to laying on the couch with her and playing with her using one of her mouse toys. He even knew the sweet spot behind her ears when he petted her, which made me wonder if he had previous experience with a ca- Oh riiiiight. Still, I wonder why he was so apprehensive about her since she was a cat just like Judd.

With that situation handled and dealt with, we all sat back down on the couch, Alyssa seated the furthest away from Tenta of course. Terrell and I watched the tv and made occasional comments about it while Alyssa quietly went on her phone and texted those so called 'friends' of hers. They were absolute assholes if you asked me, but Alyssa had a case of Friendship Stockholm Syndrome and believed they were her best friends and that they were great to her despite being shitheads. If they came at me like they did to her, I'd tell them to shove a stick right up their a-

"William!"

I was snapped out of my thoughts when Terrell called my name, "Wha-Yeah?"

"You've been pretty lost in thought lately. 'Called your name three times before that." He mused, "Is something up?"

I scoffed, "Pshh, nah. I'm good. Did you want something?"

He shrugged, "Nothing in particular. Just thought I'd ask you about our 'guest' now, since we may be housing him for a while. You always play that game I gave you that starred him...Splatoon?"

I was ecstatic. It wasn't often Terrell asked about the video games I played, since he had no interest in them before. While the situation called for him to question about the game and he never would've asked otherwise, I still sorta appreciated it.

"Yeah! He can shapeshift from kid to squid and loves to do these online battles called Turf Wars-"

My brother laughed and shook his head, "I meant more specific facts about his species so we can get him what he needs to be healthy and all that, you can tell me about the game later. From what I know, they're active and squids are their ancestors. Is there anything else?"

I clicked my tongue, trying to think of anything, "I dunno, to be honest. The game doesn't talk much about how inklings work, just that they like fashion and being cool."

"That's it?"

"Oh, I remember it being implied in the game that inklings may be a little more intelligent than us since they got such big heads. They may have a prime diet of fish since they are squid kids and they also seem to like being active but can be very lazy at the same time too. Just like teenagers except a little...better?"

Terrell leaned back into the couch and sighed, "Okay, remind me to pick up some fresh fish from the store. And maybe we can try other seafood, but I'd have to ask people which store is the best to buy from."

I looked back at Tenta, who was filled with bountiful amounts of energy before but now seemed to be on the verge of passing out again. He would move around the mouse toy and let Salt pounce after it for one moment, then he'd start dozing off and would drop the toy from his hand. Then Salt would meow to keep him awake and the cycle kept repeating over and over.

The sight got so stupid and sad that I eventually just took the toy from Tenta and threw it a large distance away from the couch to keep Salt entertained for a little bit. Tenta groaned for a moment and glared at me in irritation, folding his arms and slouching in a pout. I squished his cheeks in response to let him know that his opinion was overruled in this decision and frankly, I didn't care and thought he was a tool.

I turned my attention back to Terrell, "We should get him some new clothes too, though I'm not sure how he's gonna fit his bigass head in the collars of his shirt."

My brother tapped his chin, "I could try and get him some button up shirts but nothing much more than that, really. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it and worry about the present right now."

"Yeah, like how we're gonna get him to take a bath. Tenta fucking reeks."

Terrell frowned, "Why would it be a struggle to get him to take a bath? Every being needs to get clean in some way."

I shrugged, "I dunno, inklings are hydrophobic for some reason. Their bodies seem to immediately dissolve in water and they can't survive in it."

Silence.

"Squids who dissolve in water?"

"Yeah."

"Squids. Squids that dissolve in water."

"Uh-huh."

"I know, I thought it was dumb too when I first heard of it." Alyssa pipped in. "You ain't the only one."

I rolled my eyes, "Am I really the only one who finds it funny from how ironic it is?"

"Yeah." My sister deadpanned, folding her arms across her chest in that sassy way she always did. "Yeah, you are."

"Wow."

I felt something touch my feet and looked down to see Salt sitting there with the mouse toy in her mouth, silently asking me to play with her. I guess she knew Tenta wasn't gonna be a good playmate with how half-dead he seemed to be.

Speak of the devil...I looked over to Tenta and saw him laying down and turned to the inside of the couch. He was curled up ever so slightly and his breaths were slow and quiet. I'm either giving the description of someone who's dying, or someone who fell asleep. This story would be a lot more interesting if it was the former.

Hopefully Tenta's sleeping habits would ease up and he'll be able to stay awake for the whole day soon, but he definitely still needed the rest despite being knocked out for around a week or so. His wounds were almost all the way healed up and Alyssa said a little while ago that she'd take off the bandages a day after tomorrow, so that's also a good plus. I was filled with a bit of dread, wondering what the scars would look like and if they would fade away over time. I didn't see much of his wounds before Alyssa bandaged them up, but based on the glimpse I saw before I passed out, he'd have those scars for a long time.

In the midst of my thoughts, I didn't notice Salt prepping to hop onto my lap until the feline was already there, claws digging into my jeans as she balanced herself. Then, with her little white tail swirling around, she quietly jumped off my lap and moved across the couch to where Tenta slept. She mewed gently as she approached the sleeping inkling, shuffling around and eventually resting in an oddly tight spot between Tenta and the couch. Then again, cats are all about tight spaces.

Alyssa held up her phone, "I'm getting a pic of this. I gotta treasure this moment."

An uneasy feeling washed over me, "Are you sure about that? What if something happens and that picture gets out somewhere?"

She shrugged, "People will just say it's photoshop or somethin'. It's not like a living, breathing inkling who came from who knows where is gonna be world famous with a single picture when there's thousands of media that's been altered to look real. If anything, people would probably ask me the 'drawing process' or whatever behind this pic."

Terrell and I stared blankly at her.

She did the same to us.

…

"You go on the internet too much." I stated. There's nobody out there who would have that thought process unless they were street smart online.

Alyssa gawked, "As if you're any better! You stay cooped up in your room all the time unless either you're hungry or you gotta take a shit!"

I rolled my eyes, "Probably because I can't take your dumbass attitude and overbearing voice, lil' sis."

My sister scoffed and looked ready to retort, but Terrell saved the day by cupping a hand over her mouth and holding his index finger over his lips. Right, Tenta passed the fuck out.

Alyssa huffed and stood from the couch, heading into the kitchen to do...whatever it is teenage girls did in kitchens. Drink milk straight from the carton? Well, she does that but I'm sure that's not really much of a teenage girl stereotype.

"I know you and Alyssa love to bicker, but please remember that our 'guest' is still recovering and all that." My brother sighed.

"...His name is Te-"

"Yes, William. I am aware of that fact." He hissed between his teeth, which made me shrink back. Damn, I was only trying to mess with him a bit. I didn't think he'd get pissed so fast with us, but then again he always tends to become a bit of an ass himself whenever Alyssa and I bicker and fight over something.

I slouched in my seat, suddenly feeling bored and a little negative. I looked back at Tenta, who was now laying on his back with Salt curled up on his chest. His head lolled to the side and I could see a thin line of drool escaping his mouth, which really added some 'grace' points to him. Didn't help that he was starting to snore a bit either, but it was forgivable since they were very light. I just hoped they weren't gonna get louder in time.

After a bit of staring, I felt a happy, fluttering feeling in my stomach. An inkling. A living, breathing inkling in my house. He came in out of the TV, spat on my sister, and he's gonna stay with us.

That's pretty cool.