hobbies

It was a Saturday, and the pair of former-elite and student-samurai octolings walked up the steps of Shellendorf Institute. Moss was very familiar with this place due to the requirement for in-field work for their college degree. Yarrow, however, never took the time to properly visit.

“Moss, do you have any hobbies I don’t know about?” Yarrow asked as the older octoling went through the motions of flashing their work badge to the front desk and getting them both in under their work discount.

“Nope, not really!” They chimed, earning a pout from Yarrow.

“Yet you’re telling me to get some hobbies.”

“I thought it might be somethin’ we could figure out as a team!” Moss was an expert. They knew Yarrow being part of a ‘team’ in any sense usually made him feel better. They were proved right as his little angular pout turned into a soft smile.

“I see. Still, I do not think going to your place of work really counts as hobby seeking.” 

Moss laughed at that. “Maybe, but I think there are some things here that you’d like.”

The first floor of the museum held ancient fossils and artifacts from time periods that Yarrow really couldn’t remember from history class. Generally, he could only remember things if he saw them in pictures, which is why he gravitated toward some very old looking inklish martial weapons he'd seen before. They were presumably from before the Great Turf War and the invention of ink-based weaponry.

“So predictable, Yarrow~!” Moss teased him, but there wasn’t any malice in it. They guided the two of them around a small crowd so Yarrow could see the glass case up close. The weapons didn’t look all that different from the types of wrapped handled, thin bladed swords that he knew ancient octarian samurai used. It was a reminder that octolings and inklings had shared things like this before the war.

“I wish I could use them.” Yarrow mused wistfully. 

“I think they might crumble to dust if you did.” Moss chuckled at the idea.

Not much else in the exhibit held Yarrow’s attention for more than a moment or two. It was definitely cool seeing such old things up close and personal, but it wasn’t anything he’d be thinking about much after this. Moss was totally the opposite, stopping just to admire things for a moment longer and to read the plaques next to them.

The further back they went into the museum, the more current the exhibits became. The one they were in now was mostly specimen examples from all over the world. Cuttings from trees, bones from animals, and insects pinned in glass cases.

The insects caught Yarrows attention, but only because he recognized them.

“Beetle does this as a hobby.” Yarrow stated, turning Moss’s attention to the entomology cases. They’d gotten to know their Agent 4 friend well enough to learn that the guy really did live up to his nickname by surrounding himself with everything having to do with bugs.

“You’re right about that! Pinning insects is a delicate art that takes a lot of practice to do right.” Moss explained happily.

It must be nice to dedicate time to an art form, Yarrow thought. He really couldn’t think of one that he would like, though. He could be gentle, but his motor skills had been trained to wield weapons… not to do the hand-shakingly precise work of manipulating a fragile insect.

With most of the museum explored, Moss gave him a mischievous grin before ‘sneaking’ him into the backrooms of the museum. Yarrow was pretty sure he was actually just a normal VIP guest judging by his admission ticket.

There were tons of rooms back where the public generally wasn’t allowed, but Moss lead him down a few hallways to a very specific room. They opened the door to find an inkling woman sitting at a desk in the middle of a large sort of live specimen area. There were tanks full of small animals all over the place. He could see some turtles, crabs, and one aquarium full of creatures too small to see but clearly creating a cloud in the water.

“Yo, Boss!” Moss greeted the inkling, and she simply put up a hand in a half-assed wave as she read over some papers. Yarrow just looked at her. Her pale blue eyes were huge and her deadpan face didn’t budge at all. She looked kind of… creepy.

“So, this is where I am all day most days.” Moss seemed pretty proud of the fact. Yarrow noted that it did look like the kind of place a nerd like Moss would like spending time in.

“I don’t understand what sort of hobby I could gain from this place.” Yarrow looked a little lost.

“Bein' interested in an academic topic can be a hobby! Like, if you enjoyed studying historical topics like what’s out there on the museum floor, or if you think that the stuff here in the lab looks cool, you could get into science.”

Ah. Moss was showing him what they enjoyed. Even if he wasn’t really taking to anything himself, he could at least indulge them a little like they did for his martial arts interests. 

“This is all very interesting, but I’m afraid I have never been very academically gifted.”

The taller octoling opened their mouth to rebut that, but they just closed it again and put a hand to their chin. They both knew that Yarrow was right. He struggled in many classes and his grades weren’t anything to write home about. In fact, he wished the school would stop writing home about them.

“Moss.” The collective train of thought stopped as Boss’s clear but heavily accented voice commanded the room. “Teenagers, generally speaking, do not enjoy having interests forced upon them. You must simply introduce them to many things and see what they naturally gravitate to.”

“Since when are you good with kids?” Moss tacked on a little hesitant laugh to the end of the question.

“I am not. But I do know the psychology of these things.” The inkling stood from her chair; she was shorter than Moss but managed to look ten times more intimidating. “I also know that if you do not find something to do that isn’t more research in your off-hours, one of us will go insane.” She didn’t seem too happy that Moss was in here on one of their days off.

Sensing some coworker tension in the air, Yarrow decided to diffuse it the best he could.
“Ms. Boss, what do you like to do when you aren’t working?”

She turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow at the question… wait. She didn’t have any eyebrows? “Well, I often play videogames to unwind. I spend time with my family, friends, and boyfriend; usually we just enjoy each other’s company or we do ink battle.”

Yarrow faltered a little under the awkwardness of having this woman’s attention on him now. “I-I like watching videogame streams online… I have Moss, and Moss’s family. And I have my sister. I also have a pet axolotl. I don’t have many friends.” He held up his fists a little, trying to sound enthusiastic. “I recently picked up ink battling, but I spend most of my time outside of school practicing weapon-based martial arts! As is customary for a trained samurai.”

Boss’s near immovable face actually shifted at that. The flat line of her mouth twitched into something like a frown, and her round doll-like eyes softened. Yarrow got a lot of weird looks from adults. Sometimes annoyance. Sometimes pity. He really wasn’t sure what was going on with this adult. She almost looked melancholy.

“I see.” She murmured, and she in fact did see. She was looking over Yarrow like he was a specimen. Her gaze fixated on the X-shaped scar on his forehead. A traitor’s mark, one that is traditional for octo samurai to inflict upon themselves when betraying their service to the shogunate. He'd given it to himself just before he left for the surface. Did she… did she know about that?

“He really liked those old swords in the artifacts section up front.” Moss interrupted the tense silence that followed.

Boss straightened back up; she’d started leaning in to look at him closer at some point, and he’d started to lean backwards subconsciously to avoid her. 

“Hm. Would you like to hold one?” She asked after a moment’s consideration, and any ill feelings Yarrow had toward her were gone an instant.

“May I? Really?” There were practically stars in his eyes. He was going to get to hold an old sword? An old real sword?

“I would not have asked if you couldn’t, yes?” Boss let out a puff of air that sounded almost like a laugh before turning around and promptly leaving the room.

Yarrow just kind of stood there and watched her go, until Moss patted his back hard enough to make him stumble a step forward.

“Follow her!” They whispered and Yarrow nodded before running out of the room to find her.

She was actually being honest about letting him hold an ancient sword. There was one that happened to be in the process of being cleaned right now, and with enough acting like she knew what she was doing, she was able to convince the people that worked on artifact restoration to let a kid into the room.

Boss decked him out in an apron and gloves before another institute worker gently placed the old katana in his hands. The metal was dulled with age, so he didn’t need to worry about being cut, but up close he could really see how much loving craftsmanship went into honing the blade and wrapping fabric around the golden, decorative hilt.

Both the staff member and Boss hovered close by as he carefully shifted his grip to wield the sword in a stance one might use at the beginning of battle. They thought he was going to drop it, but like that would ever happen. He was a trained professional and a damn good one!

While Yarrow couldn’t see himself delicately cleaning specimens like everyone here was doing or spending his days in a stuffy lab for fun, but he did like this. Wielding something that some samurai centuries before him used to uphold the same things that he did. It made him feel a special way to be able to interact with something from a lineage that not many people understood as intimately as he did. Boss watched him with a fond look as he moved through some kata with a huge grin on his face.

Maybe history was kind of cool.