Octonauts Oneshots

Dashi's therapy club

Double whammy today. Scheduling issues. Hard when you got more than one part stories. Sorry. Anyways. I should shut up now.

Crash

Dashi had woken up that morning with a strange and insatiable urge for mental health. Strange urge, yes, but true.

"Captain," was the first thing she said as she rode the lift up into HQ. "You look tired. Have you had enough sleep?"

"Uh... Well, to be honest, um, it's quite unprofessional but, um, well..."

"Spit it out Captain!"

"Okay Dashi, you win. I haven't been getting as much sleep as I would like. I admit it. Why are you so interested in my sleep schedule though?"

"As Captain, it's important to be alert and ready for anything. You're more alert when you just wake up than when you haven't slept for a day."

Shellington climbed up the ladder into HQ. 

"Hey Shellington," Dashi said, turning her mental heath awareness powers on the sea otter. "How have you being feeling recently? Feeling better since that tiredness episode on Monday?"

Shellington frowned.

"Uh, no? It's... It's gotten better actually, thanks to Peso's treatment."

"That's great! How about you Tweak?"

The mint-green bunny froze as she rode the lift up. At first, Dashi thought that Tweak had stopped in response to her question, but then the engineer started sniffing the air.

"S...S... Smoke?"

Dashi narrowed her eyes. What was wrong with her friend? 

"Tweakster. You okay? You seem a little... off..."

"I'm... I'm fine. It's just that... Look, could I talk to you alone?"

Dashi and the Captain shared a glance. It seemed that Dashi's wellbeing obsession wasn't wasted.

***

"So Tweak? What's wrong?" Dashi made sure her voice was as gentle and calm as possible. 

"It's... It's..."

"Yes?"

"I've been having nightmares, Dashi. About... About the fires. The Ring of Fire..."

Dashi thought back to what Kwazii had told her about the fires; Tweak had been hesitant to divulge any details. The two had been trapped in a simultaneously flooding and burning repair station, and Tweak had gotten them past a fire. And it wasn't like she hadn't dealt with fires before, Tweak was a welder and had grown up in the Everglades. So... why was Tweak having nightmares about the flames?

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry, I can't do this anymore. I... I can't... I'm terrified of the flames. I... The nightmares have been too much lately. I need help, Dashi. Can you help me?"

Dashi stared at her best friend. Tweak's hair was a mess, her eyes were red and sleepless and her paws were shaking as they gripped Dashi's.

"Of course," she whispered. "Of course I can help you. Now, tell me about it."

Tweak whimpered, a sound that Dashi had never heard from her tomboy, engineer friend. She thought back to the first time they had met. The green bunny had been scary at first, and definitely not vulnerable. In fact, Tweak had made sure to rub this in to various members of the crew over and over again, until they had accepted it as part of daily life. Tweak didn't need helping, she could handle herself, that was it. So why was she practically crying now?