https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/octopus-intelligence
Rupa and Lily: From the Deep to New York
A Story Rising From the Wellspring of Stories
1. The Deep, Where Light Bends into Dreams
In the dark sapphire depths of the ocean, where light arrived bent and refracted into strange mosaics, two octopuses lived—Rupa and Lily.
Here the whole sky shimmered underwater like a drifting memory. Stories floated past them the way plankton drifted past coral.
Their eight strong arms, each with the intelligence of a clever child, made them capable of everything from delicate weaving to deep strategic plotting. Their combined IQ hovered around 140—if anyone in the deep bothered to measure such things.
They were scheming most of the time.
And dreaming all the time.
Their greatest tool was not their strength, nor their camouflage, but the ink they released—
not ordinary ink, but ink filled with memory, swirling like living calligraphy in the water.
2. The Tanker Above, and the Whale Beside
One day, with their powerful arms contracting in perfect rhythm, Rupa and Lily rose upward. A vast silhouette moved east above them—
a white-hulled oil tanker, cutting through the sea with the arrogance of a drifting continent.
Using their swivelling eyes, they spotted a gentle giant moving beside it:
A peaceful Moby Dick, pale and ancient, surfacing for air.
He spouted a great plume that glittered like a crown of sunlight before rolling back into the sea with the patience of a mountain.
Behind him rushed a shimmering shoal of fish, chasing nutrients in the tanker’s shadow.
Rupa murmured,
“Stories cling to this ship.”
Lily nodded.
“Let’s see where it goes.”
They tucked themselves beneath the tanker’s warm, noisy underbelly and let the steel mountain pull them across the world.
3. Riding the Ocean Crest Across the World
The tanker—Ocean Crest—groaned like a sleeping titan as it moved eastward.
Rupa and Lily journeyed with it:
- past the Cape of Good Hope
- over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
- through glowing jellyfish blooms
- beside the slow, sorrowful songs of humpback whales
Days and nights blurred. In the deep, time is only a suggestion.
At dawn one morning, Lily pointed upward.
“Rupa… look.”
Above them, the water brightened with strange shadows—grids, towers, bridges, motions too fast for the sea.
They had arrived.
4. New York Harbor
The water erupted with life:
- ferries slicing through waves
- tugs grumbling like territorial seals
- skyscrapers rising from the sea like silver kelp
- and at the center of it all, the torch-bearing silhouette of the Statue of Liberty
Rupa whispered,
“She holds only one arm, yet an entire idea.”
Lily added,
“I want to taste this city.”
5. Dressing for the Surface World
Within days, floating debris offered them a strange gift—
a pair of perfectly serviceable suits, hats, and Ray-Ban sunglasses.
With gleeful precision:
- four arms filled the torso of the suit
- one arm each slipped into the pant legs
- one arm into each sleeve
- hats perched on top
- Ray-Bans clicked into place
The transformation was complete.
No New Yorker even blinked.
6. Dinner in the City
They walked into a restaurant with admirable confidence, placed a tentacle on:
- Shark Meat Special
- Cold-Pressed Green Algae Drink
The waiter hesitated only a second.
New York had seen stranger things.
They became instant celebrities.
Selfies. TikToks. Memes. Headlines at a bar called Hangman’s that read:
“Gentle Octo From the Deep.”
The bar even changed its neon sign—
the old hanged man now hung beside an octopus in a fedora.
7. Life in a Luxury Suite
I opened a super-luxury suite for them:
- a seawater swimming pool
- bioluminescent mood lights
- a sofa large enough for ten arms
- sardines in glass bowls
- seaweed snacks in silver tins
Journalists swarmed.
A magazine declared:
“THE NEXT STEP IN EVOLUTION:
Spoon-and-Fork-Using Octopii.”
The cover photo showed Lily twirling a fork like a chef and Rupa holding a spoon like royalty.
8. The Final Days
They toured the city:
- Central Park, where raccoons saluted them
- The American Museum of Natural History, where they admired dinosaur bones
- The Hudson River at twilight, where they watched lights shimmer like plankton
One night in Hangman’s, the chef prepared a farewell dish:
“Eight-Armed Tribute: Seaweed Terrine with Citrus Mist.”
He gifted them a gold-plated spoon and fork engraved:
FOR RUPA & LILY
WHO TAUGHT US TO WONDER
9. Return to the Deep
At dawn the next day, the Hudson trembled—
a whisper only creatures of the deep could hear.
“The ocean,” Lily said softly.
“She’s calling.”
They left their suits neatly folded on the bed.
Hats tipped.
Ray-Bans resting like sleep.
Then they slipped from the balcony into the river below.
Their city colors—browns and blacks—dissolved into:
- violet ink
- blue luminescence
- silver ripples
They swam under the Statue of Liberty,
past ferries and piers,
westward into the Atlantic.
With one final synchronized sweep of their arms,
Rupa and Lily disappeared into the deep,
back to the place where all stories begin.
End of Part: The Handsome Octopii in New York.