Little Penguin Bits

The Simple Little Things

Leaving Peso alone on the Octopod had not always worked out.

There was the fact that something always seemed to go wrong when they least expected it, so leaving Peso home alone at such a tender age seemed like child endangerment.

Peso often felt outcasted because of this. He had a very agile mind with a special gift for remembering things, both a blessing and a curse. So he had graduated college at age ten and become a medic by age ten and a half. When he was just about twelve, he met the professor and became an Octonaut.

And there was a problem with being twelve. He often felt like he didn't fit in among theses Strange adults, like he wasn't an equal to them. So he was a little sensitive about his age. Yes, he was a child and he often felt like one--he didn't really feel ready to grow up, never had, and had been often behind his classmates in terms of certain maturities. But he didn't want it to get in the way of his job, and while he liked being coddled and protected, (though he would never admit it) he didn't like  being treated as if he were inferior or couldn't do things by himself.

And that had been his life.

So upon coming to the Octopod, there had been a lot for him to learn. Mostly, he needed to understand that the Octonauts weren't going to hurt him. He quickly realized that while they were caring and protective, they didn't act like most of the adults he'd met. Usually, adults could be really mean and selfish and often treated Peso like he wasn't meant to exist, like he didn't matter. Like thy were scared to hear his voice.

It still hurt.

And while they understood Peso was a child and needed to be treated like one from time to time, they also knew parts of his mind was way beyond his years. This could make things ni the world really complex and stressful for Peso. And according to the law, someone needed to take care of him since his mother had given her parental consent to let him go on this voyage, thus loaning the responsibility of Peso's childcare to the Octonauts. These conflicting parts of peso could make things difficult, but after finally learning that the Octonauts meant him no harm, wanted quite the opposite, in fact, it had become easier to rely on them. And Peso did so much for him. He would never understand how much he really meant to them.

So Peso's safety was a priority, even if it was difficult for him sometimes to remember and come to terms with his own age.

So leaving him home alone was sort of a compromise. With them being Octonauts, things were sure to go wrong at any moment. That was the ocean life--wild, untamable, unpredictable and free. It was nice but it could make things frustrating like the time peso had been carried away by a comb jelly. It was times like these that made the Octonauts want to leave him home, safe on the Octopod, but leaving him home alone was not a prime option either. 

For one, he was still too young to understand some things he needed to understand. There were parts of him too childish to be left unsupervised. For another, he was simply too small. Not just in terms of childhood but in terms of stature. He couldn't reach anything without a stepstool in the med bay, and they didn't want to have any accidents happen because of this. So despite Peso's protests, they often left him with a companion.

A babysitter, to him.

What kid likes a babysitter? Even though peso liked them and it usually ended up feeling like just another day on the Octopod it was still frustrating. It made him feel inferior to them in some ways. He was surely smart enough to take care of himself. Nobody ever seemed willing to give him a chance.

He often swore it was his mother, trying to ruin his life again. Once, they had gone out to a busy shopping center, only for Peso to find that the captain had promised his mother he'd keep a close eye on Peso in busy places. He couldn't go anywhere alone. It felt kind of invasive. Not to mention, he could still feel the invisible child's leash tugging on him, the jeers and laughter of his teammates and the disapproving stares of adults...