(A/N: A huge thank you to the wonderful artist Grimmelkin, who created a picture of Skarlet for this chapter)

Mikel's POV:

„By the holy Mothership, Marco is going to pay for setting this up!", Mikel muttered to himself, while walking through the chill morning air.

He was heading towards the flat, where Isa and Marco lived. Because he let Skarlet stay over there, so he and his colleagues could start preparing the bar for her birthday, without the fear of her showing up in the middle of the preparations.

But the time was tight and Isa still needed to bring over the decorations with a few other things like a birthday flag. So, yesterday they mostly cleaned up the whole place and went to buy drinks as well as ingredients to cook everything that needed to be served at a birthday party. Especially cake.....

Mikel sighted deeply as he thought back at the insane amount of trial and error he went through, just to bake one "key lime pie".

"Man, it's easier to steal golden eggs from under a stinger's eye, than finding the perfect balance in a cake, that should taste sweet and sour at the same time."

Flashback

At first, he put far too much lemon juice into the cream and when he tasted it, his face turned into a grimace. Then he over sweetened it so much, that the taste of the lemons completely disappeared.

Finally, late into the night he finished baking a small cake that tasted sweet, but with a fine sour node coming from the lemons inside.

In the end he made a "key lime cake" instead of a pie, but who cares, because it looked very tasty.

Afterwards he fell asleep on the kitchen floor, because he had been completely exhausted from everything that happened.

Flashback end:

Now he was in Inkopolis, just a few minutes away from Isa's flat. He had a quick and very rare visit to Andrew's house to fresh himself up.

Mikel wore a large dark blue navy-jacket with a red sweater under it. Along with blue jeans and a pair of new heavy black leather boots. He looked quite Fresh in this outfit and a bit intimidating.

The clothes were recommended by Andrew and Lea and despite not wanting to admit it, Mikel was grateful for their assistance, because he had a terrible sense for fashion.

"I wonder how Isa and Marco are doing? I just hope Skarlet went easy on them.", he thought to himself.

Now the door to their apartment was right in front of him: "Well, here goes nothing.........."

The doorbell rang and moments later Mikel could hear footsteps furiously stomping towards the door.

"OH SHIT!"

Just as he had finished his tough, the door swung open and revealed a heavily breathing Marco with a blood red eye.

"Finally,..........-", he took a few deep breaths and looked straight into Mikel's eyes. "Can you imagine what I went through this night?"

"Uuuuuuh,..... a little?", the not so surprised Inkling answered. "Uff what happened to him? Did Skarlet want to join him and Isa into their bed?", he though.

"No, you don't!", Marco blasted out. "I could barely sleep because of those two!"

"Don't tell me she raped you together with your wife?", Mikel's thoughts exploded. Then he heard loud talking and giggling coming nonstop from the living room.

"-.......... And then he had to walk back home with only one leg covered by his trousers.", Isa's voice echoed through the flat.

"Hahahaha! For eel?", a very familiar voice asked.

"Yeah, the Maw might've not enjoyed the taste of fashion for a long time, but it did a wonderful job. He had to walk the whole way back home with one of his legs being completely exposed. You could even make out his underpants.", Isa talked with a cheerful voice.

Mikel looked into Marco's tired eye: "My condolence......" Marco just nodded. "Besides, what are they talking about? This sounds awfully familiar.", he added.

Just before Marco was able to answer, the voice of Skarlet blasted through the whole apartment: "What was the color of Mikel's underpants?"

Marco looked up at his paralyzed brother: "Well aside from the color of your underpants, Skarlet seems to now know all about your misadventures in your life."

Isa then began to speak: "Well because he's not much of a fashion guy he wore.........-"

"STOP THIS MADNESS AT ONCE!", Mikel shouted as he stormed into the living room.

Both of the girls looked up and Isa had a displeased look on her face: "Hey, it's rude to interrupt a lady and you know that."

Meanwhile Skarlet had her yellow eyes all over the freshly dressed Inkling: "My my, aren't you a Hotstuff now?", she then looked towards Isa with a lewd expression: "Hey Isa, can we use your bedroom for a few minutes?" I want to thoroughly examine that hot guy over here." -wink-

"No! That's out of question.", Mikel shouted with a bright red face while having a closer look at the busty Octoling.

She wore casual blue jeans, a pair of white sneakers, a white sweatshirt, which made hear breasts bulge out even more than usual and the leather jacket he had given to her. The casual clothes really pointed out her features compared to some of the oversexualized stuff she normally wore.

"Damn, she's hot.", Mikel though.

"Hihihihi, oh my thank you.", Skarlet giggled with a mischievous smile, while Isa and Marco slapped their foreheads. -smack-

Mikel then noticed he had said that sentence out loud and his face turned as red as Skarlet's tentacles.

"Hahahahahaha, well looks like you two lovebirds are ready for your date at Wahoo World.", Marco grinned.

"Hey, we're not a couple!", Mikel quickly denied. "And I have no intention for us to become one ........ yet."

"Ouch, that hurts!", Skarlet playfully acted as if someone had stabbed her chest.

"Now look at what you've done.", Isa said with a threatening voice while smiling as she played along. "You know it's rude to treat todays birthdaychild like this?", her smile grew even wider. "If it's like this I might need to tell her about that one time you nearly burned down the whole kitchen at your place."

Skarlet's eyes went wide: "Oooooooh, I wanna hear how this Hotstuff burned something.", and with a -wink- towards Mikel she added: "While we're at it, I might just tell you about my favorite song."

"NO, NO, NO, we're off right now!", Mikel shouted with a desperate voice. "I won't let you two ruin the last bit of privacy I still got left."

He quickly grabbed Skarlet and rushed out of the flat with her.

All while the Octoling let out a loud: "Veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemoooooo!"

Narrator's POV:

Marco and Isa laughed, till they had tears in their eyes and after both of them were able to pull themselves together, they went on preparing the final steps for Skarlet's birthday party.

--- Timeskip with Mikel and Skarlet checking in at Wahoo World---

https://youtu.be/CQiiqPoBJgA

Narrator's POV:

Wahoo World was a famous theme park in Inkopolis, due to the many attractions it had. From rollercoasters, to a Ferris – wheel it had everything. Heck it even had its own Turf war stage build in.

Amongst the many visitors stood a certain Octoling, looking all around this wonderland with sparks in her eyes.

All there was to hear from her were things like: "Ooooooh!" and: "Aaaaaah!" While Skarlet was busy eyeballing all the attractions, a tall Inkling moved towards her with unsteady steps, as if he was feeling uncomfortable with this many squids and octos around him.

"Well, how's your first visit at a theme park?", Mikel asked with a joyful voice, despite still being nervous.

Skarlet looked at him with bright eyes: "It's freaking awesome! I've never seen anything like this! I wanna try out everything!", she said while jumping up and down.

While Mikel had to grin, seeing the Octoling being so excited, she already discovered something else: "Hey Hotstuff, what's that those two lovesquids are eating?"

"By the goddamn Flyfish, don't call me Hots ....... Oh-", Mikel followed her gesture with his eyes: "That's called cotton candy. It's colored sugar made into very thin strings and wrapped around a string."

Skarlet ran towards a booth that sold them and waved towards Mikel: "Over heeeeere~ I want one too."

Mikel just shook his head while laughing: "Hahahaha, this girl is crazy.", then he walked towards the impatient Octoling.

-Short timeskip with a chibi Mikel standing into a line, while a chibi Skarlet relaxes on a bench-

Skarlet's POV:

Moments later, Skarlet was impatiently sitting on a bench, waiting for Mikel who was still standing at a short line for her.

"C'mon sugar hurry up!", she started daydreaming about how both of them would eat through the candy until their lips would meet and cling together. But then her thoughts were rudely interrupted by two feisty Inklings that were approaching her.

"Hey there babe, did you get lost?", one guy asked.

"Urgh, I never though an Inklingboy could be this ugly. Looks like I was mistaken.", Skarlet though as she compared them to her Hotshot Leon and even Mikel looked better that those hipsters.

"Ya know, Octolings may be accepted around here, but that doesn't mean it counts for Octarians. Ain't I right brah?", the second one said.

"Ya're damn right brah.", the first one answered.

Skarlet got seriously pissed by their rasistic comments: "Excuse me? Who the squid would believe this bullshit?".

Then the second Inkling started to speak up again: "So how about this babe? Ya're staying with us and we tell everyone you're alright? Ain't that right brah?"

"Of course, brah.", the first one eyed her body: "You wouldn't want any trouble, right?"

Skarlet immediately caught on at what they were scheming: "Ah, so that's how it goes!", she took a quick glimpse towards the booth, where Mikel was just placing his order and a devilish smile appeared on her face: "Let's have some fun, shall we?"

She straightened her back, while letting her breasts bounce in front of those Inklings, who were ogling these with big eyes: "Oh my, I didn't know that, what am I going to do?", she said with a high-pitched voice.

"Don't worry babe, you'll be having a great time with us.", the first Inkling said with a smile that grossed Skarlet out.

"Yeah babe, you'll never forget it.", the second one added.

"You're disgusting, you little chums." Still Skarlet kept a sweet smile and said: "Thank you so much, this is a wonderful idea." While the two hipsters though they had her Skarlet added one more line: "But.....-"

Both guys: "But?"

"-.... we should ask my boyfriend first.", she said while someone appeared from behind them, as her grin got even wider.

"YOUR BOYFRIEND?!", they squeaked as Mikel looked down on them.

"By the holy Mothership, could anyone explain to me what's going on here?", he sweared while holding up a stick with pink cotton candy.

"Hahahahaha, this is hilarious!", Skarlet bit her lips, so she wouldn't laugh and ruin her play. She just played innocent and said with her usual voice: "Not much, they just said Octarians are not welcomed here."

Mikel: "WHAT?!"

Frightened by Mikel's stature and his deep voice, the two hipsters did their best to run away. One managed to run off, but the second one was stopped with Mikel's hand on his neck.

"It was just a prank bro.", he said with a scared voice.

Mikel looked at Skarlet with a questioning face, while the Octoling bursted out into laughter: "Hihihihihi, no worries Hotstuff. I think they learned their lesson." She then hinted at the poor guys trousers: "And you should let him go to the bathroom."

Mikel immediately let go of the Inkling, who started to wet himself.

"Wait for meeeeee brah!", the second hipster yelled while running towards the exit with wet pants.

Now Skarlet couldn't hold herself anymore and bend over, while laughing so hard that her breasts bounced around: "Hahahahahaha ..... did you ...... hahaha ...... did you see their faces?" -crylaugh-

Mikel just stood there, still holding the cotton candy and shook his head: "Great...... we're here for just a few minutes and you already get hit on. At least you seem to enjoy yourself."

"Of course I do. I got a sexy boyfriend who's watching over me and had a bunch of idiots at my feet."

"I'm not your boyfriend!", Mikel quickly denied.

"Suuuuuuuuure~.", she said with a flirty smile. "We'll see about that." Skarlet then shifted her attention towards the pink cotton candy: "Mmmmmmh, that looks delicious. Now if you wouldn't mind?", she opened her mouth and let her large tounge hang out. "Aaaaaaah."

Mikel stood there for a few moments and let out a deep sigh: "Haaaaah...... fine, but only because it's your birthday." He then sat next to the Octoling, pulled off some candy and placed it into her mouth.

As fast as she could, Skarlet closed her mouth and licked over Mikel's fingers, who quickly pulled them away. Then the sweet taste spread all over her mouth, as the cotton candy dissolved and sparks appeared in her eyes: "If your candy also tastes this good, I don't know if I'll be able to hold myself back."

Mikel just facepalmed himself, while a few bypassing Inkling guys quickly went away with blushing faces.

"Hey, stop hitting yourself and feed me the rest of the candy!", Skarlet demanded.

Mikel's POV:

After a few minutes, Skarlet was nearly finished eating up the cotton candy along with his fingers.

But as he placed the last bit in her mouth, a loud click came from beside him. "What he bloody Griller was that?" When he looked there, he could see Skarlet holding up Isa's old Squidphone, then he shifted his gaze back to the Octoling, which was still sucking on his fingers. Mikel quickly pulled them away: "Where did you get that?"

She quickly pulled it back and pressed a few buttons, while doing so: "Isa gave it to me as a birthday present for some memories.", she then held the phone towards him with a big smile: "Looks like it turned out pretty nicely. They all seem to like it."

"They like it?!", Mikel got really worried and nearly freaked out when it said "sent to all" and the first reply came from Drew.

Andrew: "Looks like Skarlet has a nice lollipop :D"

With a deep moan, Mikel sank his face into his hands: "Uaaaaaahhhh........ Drew's never going to stop teasing me with this."

Skarlet jumped up: "Ah, I bet it can't be that baaaaaaad. Now then-", she grabbed Mikel by his hand: "- let's hurry up! I wanna go through all the attractions that Isa told me about!"

The Octoling pulled the tall Inkling towards the first rollercoaster, while he was just thinking: "This girl is going to kill meeeeee!"

-Timeskip with Skarlet enjoying all the attractions, while pulling Mikel along with her-

Narrator's POV:

During their trip they went through everything they could find. From rollercoasters, different shooting booths, towards an Inkslide everything was there. Still the most fun Skarlet seemed to have was at the audronom booth, where you could crash at each other. Skarlet just dominated there, while Mikel was clenching into his seat, being scared out of his mind from the crazy driving skills Skarlet had.

After going through nearly every attraction the Wahoo World had to offer and enjoying themselves to their fullest, the unequal pair arrived at their final destination.

Mikel's biggest nightmare......

.....the glasshouse.

Before entering it Mikel yelled: "No, everything but that!", but Skarlet insisted on it, as she really wanted to try it out and it also was also her birthday. Thus, Mikel went along with her.

Skarlet's POV:

Skarlet was having a great time in the glasshouse. Well she hit a few walls, but her breasts always softened the impact when she moved into a wall. "Those two sure come in handy.", she smiled to herself. Then she took a look towards Mikel, who seemed to struggle a lot: "Hey Hotstuff, can't you see where you're going?"

He didn't seem to hear her, so she went closer till she was on the opposing side of a glass as Mikel: "You're having a rough time over there? Want me to help you out~?" She then seductively pressed her chest against the glass.

Mikel promptly ignored the pair of burstbombs right in front of him and looked straight into her eyes: "Skarlet, I don't have a good eyesight, so I would really appreciate it if you could help me out."

"Oh my, what you don't say. Hm, I wonder how I should charge you for this service~?", she licked around her lips.

"Haaaaah, we should also get going soon. I'm sure everything is prepared until now for your party. So Skarlet, pleeeeease?", he looked at her with an exhausted face.

"Grrrrrrrrr, don't you look at me like that!" The Octoling gritted her teeth: "Fine, but you owe me Sugar." Skarlet then went around a few corners, grabbed the relieved Inkling and pulled him right through the whole maze.

-Short timeskip with a chibi Skarlet leading a chibi Mikel through a large maze-

Narrator's POV:

Mikel was leaning against a wall, while Skarlet could snuggle against him all she wanted. But after a short minute Mikel's phone rang.

Marco: "Hey there, you two enjoyed yourself?"

Mikel: "Shut the Hell up!"

Skarlet: "Hihihihi!"

Marco: "Whatever, you can come over now, we're nearly finished with everything so far. You can start coming out in about half an hour, I'll pick you two up."

Mikel: "Alright, thanks Marco."

Marco: "All good and Mikel."

Mikel: "Yes?"

Marco: "You looked so sweet on the photo with Skarlet."

Mikel: "Maaaaaaaaarcoooooo!"

Marco: "Tut.....Tut.......Tut......"

Skarlet clinged onto Mikel's arm: "Did you hear that? They liiiiiked the picture~." Then she jumped onto his back.

"Hey! Uffffff! What's gotten into you?", Mikel complained as he nearly toppled over.

"C'mon, for helping you out, you can at least carry your Queen towards her destination.", she said while being excited for another piggyback from Mikel.

"You're just abusing me, just be honest.", the tall Inkling sighted.

"Yup, I am. Now get a move on!", she yelled while moving her hands through Mikel's short tentacle hair.

-Timeskip with a laughing Marco picking up the strange couple in front of Wahoo World-

Narrator's POV:

As the sun started to set, the two Inklings and the Octoling arrived at the "Tired Harbor". Marco quickly headed towards the back entrance, after everyone got out of the car.

Now there were only Mikel and Skarlet left standing in front of the bar.

"So, you're ready for your first birthday party?", Mikel asked the busty Octoling.

"I'm not so sure anymore........", Skarlet said with an anxious voice.

"Oh, don't worry it'll be fine.", Mikel said with a reassuring voice and started shoving her towards the entrance.

"Hey! Wait! What are you do-"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

-peng-

The voice of all the attendances echoed through the whole building, as confetti was flying all over, making the place spark in the process.

Skarlet's POV:

Skarlet stood there with wide eyes and was holding her mouth in awe.

Everybody was there Marco, Isa, Andrew, Lea, all of Mikel's co-workers and even old fat Mr. Grizz was there.

(Grizzlo looks towards Rhybgaro: "I'll get you for that!")

Mikel went over to Skarlet's side and grabbed her hand, while putting on a warm smile: "Well, shall we head to YOUR party?"

Still awestruck the Octoling just nodded and they headed towards a large table that was filled with food and cakes of all kind.

Isa then went to Skarlet while she was eying all the goodies: "Looking delicious right? Well in an ancient tradition it says that if you blow out all the candles on your birthday cake in one go, you get a free wish." Isa then held out a small slightly green colored cake, with a sweet lime-flavored scent. It also had a candle and a big 20 written on it.

"Well SOMEONE needed a few more attempts and came only up with a small cake!", Andrew shouted through the crowd.

"Hey!", Mikel whispered towards him with a red face. But Skarlet still was able to make out his voice.

"Seriously? He went through all this and baked a cake for me? How sweet~." A big smile appeared on her face: "Hihihihihihi well, since it's my first birthday party, I don't mind." She did a -wink- towards Mikel: "It just means I'm going to have an easy wish." Skarlet then took a deep breath and blew out the candle on the cake as everyone cheered at her.

Narrator's POV:

Then the party went up with a bang. Loud music was playing, while everyone was enjoying the cakes and the other food that was served. A small tower of champagne glasses were brought in and distributed to everyone.

And of course, a few co-workers of Mikel smuggled in some beer, despite Isa being really mad about it and started to make a small drinking contest. Which good ol' Mr. Grizz won for himself.

Andrew boarded the stage and started singing, while Marco was playing the guitar and one of the workers went on the drums.

Skarlet just laughed while doing her best at a game that Lea had brough with for the party. It was called Twister and the goal was to put the right limb on the corresponding color that was randomly chosen each round. All while she was chatting with the other Octoling commander and a few of her soldiers.

Thanks to all her training she was quite flexible and easily kept up with most of the soldiers and in the last round she just fell over because she tried to let her butt stick out towards Mikel, who was sitting at a table and laughing at the spectacle.

Then they had a nailing contest, where you had to hit a nail with a hammer that had been holed out and whoever misses had to drink a shot. Before she would get too drunk, Skarlet quickly decided to grab Mikel for drinking everything. But it turned out that instead of his bad eyesight, he had a perfect feeling of where the nail is and hit every time it was their turn.

Skarlet just shouted: "Yay, take that!" Then she placed a slight kiss on Mikel's cheek: "I didn't know you could hit this precise. I wonder how "precise" you're in bed?"

Mikel just muttered something and went to sit towards the table with bright red cheeks.

Isa and Marco looked at each other and just shook their heads at Mikel's reaction, as he didn't seem able to give himself a push. Thus, they came up with an idea.

-Small timeskip with a chibi Mikel feeding cake to a chibi Skarlet-

Later in the night when the party was still going on, with everyone enjoying it to their fullest, Marco announced: "Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we have something special planned for our birthday Octoling." Everyone looked at the stage, where Marco and Isa were standing.

Isa then followed up: "How about we spice things up? Everybody grab yourself a dance partner and get on the floor!" Which a smirk she added: "As for our birthday Octoling. She can pick anyone she wants!"

Immediately a lot of Inkling girls and guys as well as some Octarians flooded the dance-floor. However, despite enjoying to dance with a few random Inklings, Skarlet wasn't having so much fun as the one she wanted to dance with quickly sat himself a few tables away.

Skarlet's POV:

Skarlet just left a few of the Inklings she was dancing with just now and slipped through the crowd in her Octoling form. Then she headed straight towards the table where the tall Inkling sat, that made all this even possible.

"Hey there Skarlet, you're enjoying yourself?", Mikel asked.

"Of course, I do! This is a wonderful party! I never thought it would be this much fun to celebrate a birthday.", she joyfully answered.

Mikel smiled happily: "Well, that's great to hear. So, what are you doing here? The dancing is still going on and I don't think you want to miss it."

The tall, busty Octoling looked at Mikel: "Well there's still something I want right now."

He looked at her with big eyes: "Oh what is it? I'll get it right away."

"Actually, there are many things I want, but are you just playing dumb, or are you nervous?", she thought to herself. "I want you to dance with me."

Mikel seemed to freeze at her demand and started to stumble: "Uh, well......... I don't know...... I'm not that good .......uh at..... dancing..... yeah that's it...." He seemed to sweat a little and quickly looked from left to right.

"So, it is as Isa said...... The wounds that his Ex left are really deep." Skarlet remembered a talk she had with Isa about Mikel's belongings, where she carefully explained everything to her. "But I am Skarlet Rose and I'll get what I want!" She made up her mind and went in on one step closer to Mikel. "I know what happened, but I have to say I don't care about it one bit. All I know is that it's my birthday and I want to dance with the guy I like. So, SHUT UP AND DANCE WITH ME!", she yelled the last part through the whole building as she grabbed Mikel at his hand and pulled him towards the dance-floor.

Narrator's POV:

As Skarlet was pulling Mikel through the crowd, Isa gave a thumbs up to Marco and Andrew and on her signal, Andrew started to sing:

https://youtu.be/MgUIlh2h7CQ

Mikel's POV:

Mikel was taken aback from what Skarlet just plainly declared in front of everyone and the Octoling leaded with her moves as soon as the song started.

He just followed her movement as she looked at him and whispered: "Don't you dare to look back, just keep your eyes on me."

Mikel kept his look at the Octoling. He noticed her bright red freshened tentacles, the leather jacket he bought for her, her chest that slightly rubbed his.

Helpless to the bass and the fading light, he looked at her and lost the will to fight.

He started to see what this girl means to him: "Deep in her eyes, I think i see the future. I realize this is my last chance."

Then as the music slowed down a bit and Skarlet just kept dancing along with it, he quietly asked her: "You're holding yourself back?"

"Och, just shut up and dance with me.", she whispered back as both of them had to grin.

After that short exchange the music suddenly picked up and everyone shouted:

"SHUT UP AND DANCE!"

Then the crowd started to clap along with the rhythm as the song went onto it's peak.

As great as the song went one, it sadly had to end with everyone stopping their clapping along with it.

Mikel only now realized that they were the only ones dancing the whole time and Skarlet had a broad grin on her face, while doing a -wink- towards Mikel.

Taking all his courage, so he wouldn't make a fool of himself, Mikel asked Skarlet in a gentle voice: "And? How did you like your birthday present?" "This was a tough one...... yet I'm actually glad I went along with it..... for her."

Narrator's POV:

Skarlet looked at him, while everyone was expecting something to happen. "What are you talking about?", was all she had to say.

.

.

.

Everyone was shocked at her sudden comment as small muttering went through the guests like "Don't tell me?" and "Not again...."

Worst of all Mikel stood there, being completely paralyzed, as if a world was breaking down for him.

Then Skarlet suddenly closed in on Mikel. "I'M JUST ABOUT TO GET IT NOW!", she said with a loud voice, grabbed him by his ears and pressed a long and affectionate kiss onto his lips.

After being shocked out of his mind for a few seconds Mikel slowly responded to her kiss and when their lips parted Skarlet added: "My birthday wish was just one thing." She looked deep into his dark eyes: "All I wanted was you."

Narrator's POV:

The Party outbreak that came after, nearly blew up the whole bar. Everyone was cheering at the two of them and Skarlet's smile was brighter than ever. As for Mikel, he finally let go of the trauma he had and accepted that he fell in love with Skarlet.

For many hours the party went on, till early in the morning.

After being exhausted from dancing around and having so much fun Skarlet fell asleep on Mikel's lap. Thus, Mikel carried the sleeping Octoling back home. Smiling that he found someone he could love again and that he was able to make a wonderful birthday party for Skarlet Rose.

(A/N: This chapter took waaaaaay longer than I ever expected it to be, but in the end I just wanted it to be perfect. Just for all of you to know, the reason why I even started with this story was that one scene I had inside my head while I was accidently listening to the song "Shut up and dance". I am so glad that I finally made it this far and I wanted to thank all of you for joining me this far on the journey. Now there'll be only a few chapters left to go and I hope everyone joyfully sees, that back then..... it was truly "A fateful Salmon Run")