The troubles of knowing yourself

The king's request

Three and Eight came through the grate hand-in-hand, turned their ink yellow, and stared down the snow globe.

Surprisingly enough, Octavio was already staring at them, and when they made eye contact, Eight visibly flinched.

He seemed deeply upset by that, but he didn't say anything.

Three lead the Octoling carefully over to the Octarian King, staring at him with purpose.

He simply leered back, but after glancing sideways at Eight, his look softened to one that was...almost guilty.

".........what?" He asked tentatively, carefully, like he was still afraid of scaring the former elite guard.

Eight took a deep breath, then another, let them both out slowly. She looked the DJ in the eyes, determined yet cautious. "I...wanted to ask you some questions. About myself. If...if that's ok."

Octavio's eyes lit up. "I...! Yes, yes I can do that!" He immediately replied. He curled himself up at he bottom of the snow globe, pressed his forehead against the glass, and cleared his throat. "What did you want to know?"

Three released Eight's hand as she sat on the ground in front of Octavio. She wrung her hands together. "Well, it came up recently and...I was wondering if...you knew my birthday." She inquired quietly.

Octavio gave a thoughtful hum. "Well....." He gave another concentrated sound. "I'd have to check my records to know the exact date, but I believe it was the middle of February. You turned 17 this year, I think?"

Eight blinked. "Huh...I guess I'm the youngest then...you turn 18 this year, right Three?"

Three, getting tired of standing already, nodded and took a seat next to her girlfriend. "It's not as specific as you wanted, but it's nice to know. It's too bad your birthday already passed. We would've thrown you a party."

Eight frowned. "Hmm..."

Octavio observed them with continued caution. "You know, if you let me out I could go find your file and figure out the exact date..."

Eight gave him a pathetic look, and he looked away. "Worth a shot." He turned back, and she was still pouting at him. "Uugh, s-stop looking at me like that."

Three took out her phone and began typing something. "You know, I'm sure Cuttlefish could also find her file if he looked hard enough. He found Marina's." She spoke, not looking up from her phone.

Octavio turned to Three very, very slowly. "I'm sorry, could you do me a favor and repeat that name for me?"

Still texting, Three complied, her lip upturned in a slight smirk. "Marina?"

He looked like he wanted to scream. "Her last name. Wouldn't. Happen to be. Ida. Would it?" He hissed out, eye twitching.

Eight squinted a little, looking confused as to what the big deal was. "Yeah...?"

Octavio very much looked like he wanted to scream. "Are you. Serious?!" He hissed, pressing his face against the glass. "What! Is she doing! On the surface?!" He questioned loudly, exasperated.

"She and Pearl do the news." Three replied, eyes still glued to her phone. "Stage rotations, Splatfests, that sorta thing." She looked up for a moment to look at him with a mocking expression. "What, didn't you know that she abandoned ship? There's plenty of Octolings on the surface nowadays."

"I!! I thought..!" He crossed his arms. "Why in the world...I thought everyone was lying to me when they said Octarians were defecting..." He grumbled.