Catafay had slept again. He'd done that often. He wanted something that brought him verve... something that brought him to LIFE! You know what brought people to life? Lightning? No. God? No! Try: FISHING!!!! Fishing could bring anybody to life. It brought about the want of the women, the fear of the fish... Catafay wasn't really that interested in either of those things, but fishing sounded like a nice, fun activity. Maybe it would even help with that thing he had agreed to do. What was that thing again?

Well, anyways. The tea kettle of a puffin would sally forth to the stream running through this big open field room. You know, I just realized that maybe we should wonder about whether or not the creatures of Origin are flat earthers-- Catafay dipped his footsies into the waters, withdrawing clumsily and goofily the instant he actually made contact. The temperature and the rush made it feel like the river would just eat up his foot, dissolve it into particles...

What was he doing here? OH RIGHT, fishing. Fishing? How about diving? Oohohoho yes... pog. Wait, wait- fishing? Fishing sounded good. But diving sounded cool... Dive like the little star bomb you are, puffin man! Catafay couldn't really fly because of his stone placement, but he could try his best at jumping! Making big splash!

Plop! Unfortunately, Catafay's splash was not as big as he would've wanted it to be. In fact, it wasn't big enough at all. It was hardly even a splash. Hardly even a thing. Not a splash! Nope. Calling that a splash was actually slander, a besmirching of Catafay's fantastic name. So you know what? Catafay was going to try again!

It might take him a while to find fish after this. But it would be worth it! Once known as SPLOOSHINO ROCKASAURUS THE SOMETHING-ETH, Catafay could simply not risk anything less than the MOST impressive, MOST immersive, and MOST highly impactful splashes. He had to live up to his names as best he could, even if they weren't actually his.

But then, why the heck weren't they his? Who else was named Splooshino Rockasaurus the Something-eth?? They should be his. All the names. If every name was his... that meant... that everyone had to depend on HIM for names. Because he would own them all. Therefore, if someone claimed a name he didn't want them to have... they simply couldn't have it!! Like Garnet-Delta!!!! That weird boring cat thing!!!!! If he owned its name, it could never try to attack him for saying that wasn't its name!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my gosh. He had to own all the names.

After he made a good splash, though. Of course.

Splash!

Okay. Okay. Decent. Decent, though, was pretty much just as much of a problem. Catafay couldn't be the Splooshino Rockasaurus if he didn't have the best splash game ever. And if he couldn't be ONE name, how the heck did he become any other name?? And then how could he own ALL the names?!?! Alright, that settled it. Another attempt! Decent was unacceptable. Absolutely deplorable, even.

Wait but if it was deplorable, how could it be decent? Decent and deplorable at the same time??? Hm...

Catafay would think on that as he swam his little way out of the gentle river to try splash attempt number three.

Splaaash!

Nah. That wasn't it. That was almost the exact same as the last splash! No!!! Not enough. Catafay needed... MORE splash.

You know, all this splashing was reminding him of being born. Well, not actually the instant he'd been born -- he didn't have many memories of that. He'd probably-- in fact, he'd definitely just screamed when he was born and nothing else. But after he'd hatched, he'd found Boo... and Boo had slept longer than him! Long long time of sleeping. That was fine though. Boo was kind, and liked to sleep, and that was kind of their whole deal. But then they had paired up, like a knight-- a king and his noble steed! And then they'd found BOO! No, not the same Boo, the Abra Boo. Who wasn't here right now...

Seemed Catafay was a bit lonely. Huh.

Well, nothing to cheer up the spirit like... A SPLENDIFEROUS SPLASH! Followed up by the monopolization of every single name in existence.

Waddle out, shake your tail feathers, and again you begin!

SPLAAAAAASH!!!

HEY!! That was pretty darn GOOD!!! Grand!! Now, if he could adjust the technique a little bit to be... nothing short of absolute perfection! Easy enough, right? Well, for Splooshino it HAD to be.

As Catafay swam back out to let the whims of chaos guide his path re-attempt his most perfect technique, a song popped into Catafay's head. Was it a song if it didn't have any words? I don't think that's a song, I think that's just music. Regardless, there was something in Catafay's head that wasn't a brain. Made him want to tap his footsies on the land...

Maybe he'd quit while he was ahead temporarily so that he could try tipping and tapping like a funny little bird.

So Catafay hopped back ashore and began to.. tip. And tap. There was a beat in his head, erasing any and all other thought. Honestly, his thoughts rarely ever went anywhere. If they went somewhere, they better be a good where, or else he didn't want them. Head empty, feets a-tippity-tapping! That was the best way to LIVE!!!

NOW THAT WAS THE STUFF OF LEGEND!!!!!!!

Catafay was tippity-tapping so good!!!! My gosh, the ground couldn't even KEEP UP! He was going mad!!! Bonkers!!!! If there had been a frog now, they would be pogging at this!!! My goodness, my gracious, it was such a delightful twirling and bopping! His feets were pattering so fast across the grass, it was hard to keep track of them, but somehow Catafay was managing! He added some wing flaps and the puffin equivalent of a pirouette for flavor. Perhaps he ought to add the puffin equivalent of singing too...

What would he sing about? What was this music? If he could imagine, like, lyrics or something...

Rose-colored--

What? What? WHat what what??? Something about... roses??? Um. Okay!

"Bah bah ba-a-a-h, I wish we were bah bah bah bah ba-ah~! Something roses and stuff!" So maybe the lyrics weren't great but Catafay was rocking it. His voice was sounding really good today!! Maybe Splooshino should become a dancing singer or something. A career change might be good for him. And for Catafay!

Pretty soon, Catafay's "something's" and "bah bah's" transformed into words, actual lyrics-- well, from a distance they could be construed as such. They were nonsense lyrics, words structures designed to entirely rhyme and nothing more. Stuff like "Once ate a rat, can't see a bat," and other such masterful poems.

Nonetheless, Catafay was finding himself... really good at this. Which, you know, wasn't too too surprising, but nevertheless, impressive. Maybe, if he scrambled his singular absent braincell together, he could come up with actual lyrics that worked!

"I am a little bird!"

That's a good start!

"I eat a little word!"

What.

"I'd love to be a... sword."

No.

"I'd love to be, um. Heard!"

NO NO NO, this was all going wrong. Bad. Terrible. Splooshino-- no, NO alias in Catafay's possession would stand for this. CATAFAY wouldn't stand for this. GOODNESS!!! GOODNESS!!!!! He ought to start AGAIN!!!

Maybe if he perfected this talent and became a singing master, he could retire the cumbersome crown of Splooshino Rockasaurus in favor of... P... Pi pi pi pi-- haha, pee pee-- no, Pickett!! What? Pippit! No. Pickett was a nice name. Pickett the SINGING MASTER EXTRAORDINAIRE!!!! He'd be known... GLOBALLY!!!! Globally? Again, I ask, is Catafay a flat earther??? No clue, but anyways, GLOBALLY!!! WHATEVER THAT MEANT!!!!! Adored at large, power in all senses. Beautiful! Performances every night-- what the heck is night? It would be incredible. SUPERB! MAGNANIFEROUS!!!!

Catafay would have to try again, since singing and dancing was fun, while splooshing and splashing made him miss his friends.

"I've got a... rose! It's in-- it has-- looks like my toes!" Okay, give that a shot. "Sits in my nose. Golly it glows." Nope. Cut. Try that again.

"I'd like to sing!" Yeah he would. "And yet I can't!" Tell us why! "'Cause I'm a rat." Wow, okay-- "And this song sucks." Well now you're just giving up!!

Lyrics were hard. Very very hard. Pickett the professional singer dancer songwriter extraordinaire would be able to write a better gosh darn song than that. Maybe Catafay need music, a song outside his head. Or maybe he needed something to actually sing about-- WAIT!! Catafay had a LOT to sing about!!!! He just had to think back on his life. What adventures really touched his heart and moved his tongue. That sounded weird--

"When I was young! I made a friend. Their name was Boo. We-- um. Went 'round the-- OH, we played pretend!" There we go. "Now they're asleep! And I am here. I wish that I..." Uhhhhhh ummmmmmm okay. Okay. What? What rhymed with-- what was this song about?!

Catafay didn't really know about songs. He'd never seen or heard one be performed! So what was music for? To express something? Maybe it just existed... to dance to! He just had to really think. Pause his tapping, sit in some gras... and think! Catafay also didn't really know about thinking, at least not thoughts, but... maybe if he tried it! Just a little bit! He could find something to sing... about!