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dogtoling · 5 years

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Overanalyzing the setting of Octo Expansion: a thread

This is something I thought I’d do in public, since people might actually be interested about it. We’re mostly analyzing surroundings here. While snooping around Inkopolis Square and the subway entrance, I noticed that there are Kamabo Co. flyers on the ground, as well as a CQ-80 remote and one of those ID cards with C.Q. Cumber on it. (I did not take a picture of these, but go see for yourself) What this means for the company itself... no idea, but these are here even before you’ve cleared Octo Expansion. That initially leads me to believe that other test subjects have gotten out this way... except that makes little to no sense considering the only way to actually get out is to break the system and escape, and even then, you’ll find yourself in the middle of the ocean. It might be safe to assume that these are objects left by the agents themselves after they get back to the surface, which would put Octo Expansion to take place some time before the Splatoon 2 hero mode... how much this makes sense is beyond me at the moment. Moving on:

Looking at the interior of the Deepsea Metro, I wanted to figure out whether this really is a metro of solely the Kamabo Co. facility that we still know stupidly little of. How it functions exactly is beyond me, and there might be better information out there, but from all the flyers, posters and equipment around it is obvious that it is a proper facility, somehow. Where it receives funding and materials from, aside from possible human-era leftovers? Beyond me, lol.

(Notice the police tape on the left. What does that mean? Did someone finally start to investigate why there are dozens of weird test chamber stops among the normal commuting routes of deep-sea citizens?)

There is also police tape on the metro itself.) The active timetables showing countdowns of different metro lines more or less prove that this is a mode of public transport, which raises a ton of new questions. If the metro was exclusive to the facility, timetables would probably be useless, as test subjects would be taken to their destinations as they wish (which is also how it works in the game, but we can jot that down to game logic). So this is when I started to wonder exactly how the Metro system works. It is safe to assume that Kamabo Co. is affiliated with the Deepsea Metro, considering C.Q Cumber being the conductor, but also a guide of the facility. Additionally, when Kamabo Co. is shut down at the end of the story, the Deepsea Metro keeps going, implying that it is generally its own thing. Of course, C.Q Cumber could also simply be a guide, not a real conductor, but this is a discussion for another time.

This screenshot is where things start getting interesting. This is the background from the central station, and these are details that we all see in the background, but don’t necessarily pay closert attention to. We can see a sign that reads “Welcome to Deep Sea” on the left, though I’m not sure whether that is Inklish or something else.

What REALLY caught my eye in the picture is the kiosk. Generally, most of the text in the Deep Sea is written in Inkling letters, and presumably the in Inklish. The existence of the kiosk is strange enough: if we weren’t totally sold already, there wouldn’t be a kiosk if there were no passengers here. However, more importantly, the kiosk sign appears to be in Octarian language, unlike all of the other text.

I think it’s the true identity of the Deep Sea is generally unknown. Is this its own country? Is this an extension of Inkopolis? Is this perhaps an extension of the Octarian empire? Judging from most of the text, the latter is not very likely.

At this point, there are more questions in my mind than there probably EXIST answers. Let’s go back to the start of the game and see if we can make a connection.

This is the station that you start the game at. I’m assuming that this is a subway, judging from the gates and the timetables. VERY curiously, we can see Octarian band posters on the wall...

We can see a map of the assumed Inkopolis Metro (or possibly a train) as well as what I assume are machines for purchasing tickets

The station is... not very grand. It is initially quite high up and you can’t really see the whole thing, so I can’t tell whether this is a subway or a railway station. In my experience, though, subway stations tend to be more down-to-earth and railways are typically very distinctly outdoors. I wish there was more imagery or signs here!

From what we can see, I have to assume this is NOT connected to the Deep Sea Metro. This contradicts Iso Padre’s talk about the metro being “on a long and winding path to Inkopolis Station”, but we don’t really know if that is supposed to be taken literally... Let’s go back to the very start of Octo Expansion for some further reference.

We can see what is assumably an employee door, and a ticket machine.

This is what’s interesting: we can see a table of some sort with the name of the location as well as a big list of contents and icons. I have no idea what this is about. It reminds me of something you’d see at a mall... this might be the lobby of the Kamabo Co. facility as there are flyers present, but you can’t see the logo anywhere.

There is a big entrance leading to a staircase right behind where we start our adventure. It really makes me wonder why the hell Agent 8 picked the second option out of a decision between “a comparatively clean and proper-looking entrance” and “abandoned metro track”.

My best guess is that the stairs behind the entrance lead to the facility, but there isn’t much I can say on that.

We can see a vending machine as well as some kind of out-of-order...place. I can’t tell whether this is a kiosk, or what.

However, there is an actual kiosk here, and it is another one with Octarian font! This is of the same kind as the one we see back at the central station, but this is seemingly closed. This is nowhere near the last nod to Octarians in this specific part of the story - the starting area has by far the most from what I can spot.

(Also, curiously, there are umbrellas sold here. I don’t get why they would sell umbrellas underground, so... does this connect to the surface?)

There is much to see at this station specifically. We can see a waiting area for passengers, some signs, a little hut for a guard and a clock. There are also gates here.

We can get a good look at the metro gates here. Most of them are out of order, but we can still see that they work with some kind of scanning system.

This is where we get back to the Octarian lore: The trash can has a figure of an Octopus using it. But THAT’S NOT ALL!

Even the waiting seats are octopus-colored AND -shaped. We can also note that while a lot of the doors around the metro are very big, everything here is built to Octoling scale. This much Octoling imagery leads me to believe that the Deep Sea, and with that the Metro, connects to Octarian domes. Realistically, where would 10,008 (presumably all Octolings) test subjects have found their way to the metro from if there was no link from the Octo hub itself? Of course we could say Tartar individually kidnapped every single one, but still....

Moving on to the out-of-use subway car, we can see a still of the screen text that is shown on the ones in use as well. I can’t tell if this is identical to the Inkopolis station text. Looking at this, I have to say that it seems KIND OF likely for Inkopolis to connect to the metro, considering there is a squid-culture magazine in here. It is also stated in the game that “deep-sea denizens” aren’t allowed on the surface, so it’d be kind of weird if the metro DID lead there, however this was something Tartar says (I think) so it might be a lie for all we know.

After going through the subway car and into the tunnels, we get past this curve in the tunnel. We can immediately tell we are in Kamabo Co. territory, and from what I can tell, this is a storage area of sorts. Boxes are scattered all around, there is medical equipment ...

We can confirm that this is a Kamabo.co storage area by the numerous Kamabo symbols thrown around. (There is also a kelp pool in the floor for some reason.) This brings me back to wondering how Kamabo Co. manages to be as large a company as it is, even if it is supposedly based on human-era remains. You’d assume 12,000 year-old medical equipment doesn’t work too well. Well, that’s enough thinking over this thing. Let me know if you guys got some thoughts from looking at the post. I might do a second part with the Octo Expansion escape sequence for extras at some point. Thanks for looking at my essay.

#rambles #squidthoughts #keep in mind i don't own haikara walker so i know next to nothing if there's actual lore behind some of these.

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nekrotiize · 5 years

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Please tell us of the Octo and Crab, you incredible funky story man

Oh fuck yeah. Strap yourself in, because this is gonna be a ride. Welcome to Graveyard Broadcast, a Splatoon AU where not much has changed except for it being turbo focused on the deeper lore of the series, as well as having some Speculations of mine thrown in there.

Here we go. Putting in a read-more because I talk a lot.

Alright! So the octoling you’re referring to is Atsuko Ashikaga, an Octarian general. She’s Japanese and she comes off as very rude and abrasive but is nice to those she befriends. She looks like this!

She’s 6′1 and absolutely shredded. She finds weaponry to be a very fascinating subject, and while engineering and designing isn’t her strong point at all, she does know her way around weapons in an actually using them sense.

In the first game she was in charge of Area 3, Missions 11, 13, and 14. In the second game she is in charge of Sector 4, Missions 19, 20, and 21. She got lucky circumstantially and got very conveniently relocated. The way ‘generals’ are divided up with Octarians is having one general overseeing three mission areas, which are usually divided up by a very clear line. She has a bit of a found family/childhood friend situation with a couple of other generals, namely Chamberlain Westbrook and Cassian Ramirez (both of which i can talk about later.)

Now, sometimes you get a little bit bored of the same old Octopolis and the same old Octo Valley. And so one day she waltzes her way up to Inkopolis through one of the Several Entry Points of getting up there for Octarians, and on her way to the plaza she runs into Sheldon. Quite literally. He was a bit distracted and smacked face first into her ribs. Yes. Her Ribs.He’s still short as hell. Absolute manlet. 4′7″, to be exact! Which is just two inches shorter than Pearl. Is this introduction painfully anime? Yes. Is that the point? Absolutely.

So she chastises him for not watching where he’s going and being clumsy. Alright. Cool. Great. But then they strike up a conversation, because he was carrying a few blueprints and that totally just dropped on the ground and she Absolutely noticed them. Obviously, if you see a dude who just dropped a bunch of blueprints, the first thing you ask is Oh Shit What Are Those. And so mutual weapon interest is discovered. Cool. Great. Chat for a bit, part ways. But if it was left at that the story wouldn’t exist.She came back and found him again in Ammo Knights. Friendship mode: Engaged. Which is great news for Sheldon, y’know, considering this is all taking place during the first game and man were people absolutely brutal to him during that time period. Jesus Christ. Plus he just. Didn’t really have friends during the first game.

They hang out a lot from then on! And it’s great! Atsuko gets an excuse to leave the valley, Sheldon gets company that does not hate him for existing, they both share several interests and their personalities foil each other and it’s all cool and fun.

Now’s a good time to mention I’ve redesigned Sheldon! Because he’s… Missing things in the game!

Most notably Six Entire Legs and Eight Entire Eyes.

Also had to add a couple things to make that not look… strange. You can find art of him Here and Here. Am I shamelessly promoting myself and my art here? Yes. Do I care? No.

Anyways! You got all that great friendship and spending time together and y’know how it be with that. By that I mean it’s time for absolute heterosexuality. They form a very wholesome relationship. This is all still during the events of the first game, and it carries out to the second. She helps out around Ammo Knights when she can (usually around store closing times because that’s when she’s free for the most part,) and does a lot of weapon prototype testing. It’s a massive help and makes production and all that go by a bit more smoothly. Plus Atsuko gets to try out cool new weapons and sometimes have some minor explosions, both of which are cool! Explode your girlfriend 101!

I like to think they work very well together. She protecc. She attacc. But Most Importantly. she gun.

Little side note, her main is the Bamboozler, and the reason for this being her main and not, like, a regular Octarian weapon, is because it was actually a gift from Sheldon. He isn’t very fond of giving weapons out as gifts at all, and the Bamboozler did have quite a bit of value to him (especially in the first game,) so she, despite this not being her main/preferred weapon class, took it very graciously, practiced with it very vigorously until she got really good at it, and has refused to use any other weapon since.

Now, the reason it was given as a gift in the first place was that she had taken to showing him some Octarian technology and weaponry (in confidence, of course,) knowing he’d lose his absolute mind over it and thinking it might help him with his engineering skills! A nice gesture for a nice gesture. Equivalent exchange.

Now, I have a lot more info on them, this is just a basic rundown, but this is getting long enough as it is. You can ask for more info (be it details or clarification or literally whatever you want to know) at any time!

By the way! All of this shit was written/planned out in the first game, before Nintendo put out the Agent 8 article for the Splatocalypse, implying that Sheldon is gonna have Agent 8 work with him in Ammo Knights in the third game! So that’s great! What the fuck!

Makes me a tad nervous that people are going to accuse me of ripping that bit off, so I’m putting that warning out there. She was already designed and written out and this dynamic was planned out pretty early into the first game. I did this first. Nintendo made my girl canon jsdhgsjdg

#splatoon #splatoon 2 #asks #graveyard broadcast #gybc #this is a long one boyz

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paragon-yoshi · 6 years

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Splatoon - Looking for Japanese Scripts, Interviews and Translations!

I have become very interested in the japanese versions of both Splatoon-games. So much so, that I would love to make a Tumblr-Blog post, listing all the major differences in lore and character-personalities between the localization and the japanese original. Because frankly... The localization is a load of bull! It fails to capture key elements from the original, if it didn't straight up falsify things. Here are some examples of things from the japanese original, that were completely ignored or changed in the localization: - Marie actually being a timid and caring person in the japanese version Yeah, Marie. The sassy squid, actually a being a timid, caring person in the original, instead of a sassy, racist ass. Who would've thought? - Marina being a shy, nerdy technician, who really looks up to Pearl. Marina really loves Pearl in the japanese original. She even calls her "Senpai"! - Splatfest dialogues not having any of the bickering and drama that the localization has. While characters like Pearl do take a jab at things from time to time, it's not nearly as bad as in the english version... In which the whole Splatfest essentially turns into your average internet argument. Characters overall are a lot more respectful in the japanese version. - Mini-Zapfishes actually having a minor role in the plot, instead of just being there. The japanese version actually states that the Octarians stole the Great Zapfish and all of the regular Zapfishes. It's a minor thing. But they were actually mentioned in the story. While in the localization they're just... there... - Octarians being considered "Rivals" rather than outright Villains. Probably one of the more egregious changes in the localization, which villainized all of the Octo's whenever it could. Even the "Squid Research Lab" Blog-Posts always painted them as these demonic hellspawns, that only exist to be evil and rule the world. While in the japanese original, they were always considered "Rivals" instead of straight up villains. The only time the localization lightened up, is when they had no choice but to do so (Sunken Scrolls). And the real kicker is that this probably led to another egregious change down the line. But I'll get to it in a minute... - Callie and Marie actually rooting for each other in the "Callie VS Marie" Splatfest. Seriously, why wasn't it like this in the localization as well?! - Pearl not being oblivious to Marina being an Octoling, knowing full well what she is. - Octolings actually being publicly recognized as such, rather than "Inklings with fresh hairstyles". And this is the change I was talking about, probably being a result from villainizing Octarians so heavily before. Apparently the idea of "Inklings accepting Octolings" has become impossible for the localization team, after all the badmouthing. So they had to create this arbitrary plot point, of Inklings apparently being such brainless dimwits, that they can't even tell the difference between a Squid and an Octopus. Not too surprisingly at this point, this isn't how things went in the japanese original. While Inklings are known to be air-headed, hedonistic and carefree, they're not that stupid. Octolings being mistaken for Inklings, happens here and then. But it's not a mistake that lasts forever. Inklings simply don't give a damn and are happy to have new playmates, if they aren't busy looking cool and fresh. Things like the Great Turf War are Water under the Bridge for them, if they didn't straight up forget about it. - Explanation for Tartar turning rouge, being a software bug. Enough said. There are probably even more changes. But these are the ones that interest me the most. Problem is: I only heard about these from other people. But I would really love to verify these things myself. As well as having actual proof to show, should I make this a blog-post documenting the major differences between versions. So I'd really need the following things for this to come to fruition: - Original japanese scripts, directly translated. Having every dialogue from every character, including Splatfests and Single Player Story Mode. From both Splatoon and Splatoon 2, including Octo Expansion. - Developer Interviews, talking about characters and lore Since these mentioned some interesting things, that weren't said in game. Things like DJ Octavio and his henchmen composing music to control the Octarians and such, were mentioned in these interviews. And these plot points were never mentioned in-game. The only thing I can confirm at this point, is the relationship between Marina and Pearl, through the japanese Splatfest dialogue, which Splatoon-Wiki fortunately translated. Here, see for yourself: https://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/Splatfest/Quotes/Splatoon_2 Splatoon-Wiki has the japanese dialogues for the first game's Splatfests as well. But sadly, no translation for them. Still, seeing these lines from the japanese original make me confident in these things I've listed. Of course, I'd still like to verify these things myself. And also, having proof to show, for those who don't believe me and call bullshit. However, a thorough Google Search only led me to Splatoonwiki and its limited translations. But that's it! If anyone can help me here, I'd really appreciate it. : 3

#Splatoon #splatoon 2 #localization #original #version #japanese #difference #looking for #searching #Help #asking for help #octoling #inkling #octarian #off the hook #pearl and marina #squid sisters #callie and marie

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superjumpintomyheart · 6 years

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Love [Pearl x Marina]

In which Pearl has a hard time coming to terms with the fact that she knows how to love others, but not herself. Slightly angsty but some heartwarming fluff at the end to balance it all out.

For the first time in almost her entire career, Marina was tired of hearing the same techno beat coming from her turntables as she tried to create something fresh to go with Pearls new rap. The key was all wrong and the timing was off, there was one note she couldn’t decide if it needed to be sharp or flat, so needless to say, she was getting rather frustrated. Writing songs usually came to her and her partner naturally, but today was just an off day for the octoling. She sighed and shook her head and looked to Pearl who was on the other side of the sound booth, headphones secure on her head and paper in hand ready to give it another go. But the motion Marina had given her told her they should call it a day now.

Pearl nodded somewhat disappointedly and exited the soundproof recording room, coming out to the other side where Marina was sitting with all the equipment. “I can’t get this one right, nothing is matching up with your rhymes, I think I should scratch the whole thing and start over tomorrow,” she sighed and put her head in her hands.

“Keep the base of the beat,” the inkling commented. “That part sounds good, it’s the fillers that are killing it.”

“I know, I’ve scrapped the fillers three times today though, and nothing has come out right.”

Pearl looked down for a moment, trying to think of what other options they had. “Don’t scrap anything you have now then, we’ll be back tomorrow and we’ll see what we can do about it.”

Marina nodded and stood to her feet, turning off her equipment as she did so. Off the Hook was blowing up in the music industry, they were idols in Inkopolis now, and there were bound to be some octarians down in Octo Valley who were a fan of them because of Marina’s presence. She was glad she could bring some of her culture to the music they wrote, and a lot of that came out in her beats, so getting it just right was something that could quite often be difficult. Finding the perfect balance between inkling music and octarian music was a challenge. Pearl usually ended up being her saving grace, so she figured that she was right, and a good nights sleep would help get her back in the game.

“Let’s go home then,” she said once everything had been turned off and saved. “Can’t wait to lay down after all this.”

“You’re excited to lay down? I was sitting in a stool the whole day, my back is killing me!” Pearl complained, bringing a hand behind her to rub at her lower back.

The taller girl laughed softly, covering her mouth a little as she did so. “Let me rephrase, I’m excited to lay down with you.”

Pearl gave Marina a fond smile, when they were in the studio, they were music partners not romantic partners. But once they got out and the stress of creating just the right sound for their band was gone, they were able to just enjoy each other like regular couples could. It made her happy when they got out after a hard day like this and her usually reserved girlfriend would express her frustrations but claim that Pearl would help her through it just with some simple actions or words. She felt needed, loved, important... words she didn’t hear too often. She must have really gotten lucky to get a girl as sweet and loving as Marina to be hers, someone who could make her feel special without having to say it.

“I am too, ya sap,” the inkling responded. “Got enough energy in that supposedly exhausted body to super jump home or do you need me to carry you back the long way?”

Marina rolled her eyes at the joking question, “I’m fine, Pearlie, don’t worry.”

The pair walked out of the building together and super jumped back to their penthouse, which did take a lot of energy out of them, but they planned on going straight to bed. Once they were inside, Marina slipped off her boots and removed her headphones while Pearl took off her shoes, heading to their bedroom to finish undressing.

The room was obviously a mix of their two styles, pink and teal accessories displayed along the top of a dresser, a Squid Sisters poster hung next to a window (despite them both knowing Callie and Marie personally, the two still fangirled over them whenever they released new music or announced an event), and various other things. Somehow, it fit perfectly together, as if their differences were what made them so special to each other. And maybe that wasn’t too far from the truth.

As Marina sat down on the end of the bed, Pearl stood in front of her between her legs, her hands gently pushing aside the octoling’s tentacles. It was almost uncharacteristic of her to be so... soft, but she knew it was what her girlfriend needed when she got down about something.

“Don’t worry so much about it babe,” she whispered and gave the DJ a short yet sweet kiss on the lips. “It’s gonna work out, it always does.”

Her hands moved down from Marina’s shoulders to the zipper on her top, asking silently if she could help undress her. It wasn’t meant to be taken in the wrong way, she meant it as a completely innocent action, they were both too tired for anything else. When the taller girl gave a bit of a shy smile and a nod, Pearl undid her zipper and slid the leathery material off her shoulders and arms. It would get thrown into (or near) a laundry basket along with the rest of their clothes, and get washed over the weekend.

The octoling lifted her hips off the bed to allow Pearl to slide off her shorts and leggings, which left her almost completely nude save for some underwear. Pearl grabbed her oversized pink and cream colored hoodie from the closet behind her and pulled it over Marina’s head. While it was oversized on her, it would just fit loosely on her girlfriend.

“Good?” She asked, to make sure she didn’t need anything else.

Marina nodded softly and smiled, “Can... I help you too?” It was a simple request, one that she shouldn’t have gotten flustered over, but she couldn’t help the teal tint that spread over her cheeks. After all, she had done it before multiple times, but seeing her Pearlie like that, it never failed to get the ink in her body flowing.

“Don’t even have to ask, Mar,” she teased lightly.

“I like to make sure,” the other girl replied, looking down slightly before she reached up to slide the zipper down Pearl’s dress. Once it was unclasped at the bottom, she pushed it off of her shoulders and, again, couldn’t help the blush on her cheeks. Before she got too shy, she finished undressing her small girlfriend by pulling off her leggings and tossing them aside as well. She had to stand up from her position on the bed to look for something of hers that Pearl could wear to sleep in, even though they slept right next to each other, the inkling liked to be surrounded by Marina in every way possible—which meant stealing quite a few sweatshirts and other things of hers.

After doing a brief scan of her more comfortable clothing items, she pulled out a black to teal gradient sweatshirt (with no hood, since the last time she let Pearl sleep in a hoodie, she woke up complaining about a sore neck from sleeping on it wrong) and helped the smaller girl get into it. Marina kissed the crown of Pearl’s head, “There,” she said in a quiet voice, barely above a whisper, “all done.”

They both chose to sleep without pants or shorts on most nights, it always got too hot between the two of them, and between cooling off and cuddling, they both favored the latter. Besides, neither of them minded the extra skin on skin contact, it felt nice and like they were more connected to each other in a way. So, with each other’s clothes adorned and their eyelids droopy, they crawled into their decently sized bed and turned off the lamps on the sides, sending the room into darkness.

“Marina?” A soft voice asked a few minutes after settling into bed.

“Yeah Pearlie?”

The inkling cuddled into the octoling’s side, “Do you think things will ever get better, the people’s opinions of me?”

Pearl had always been fully aware of the hate towards her, how she was ugly and nothing more than a Callie wannabe. How her raps were terrible and Off the Hook would be great if it was just Marina, and some days stuff like that really got to her.

Marina turned her body to allow herself to wrap an arm around her girlfriend, pulling her in closely, “You cant ever make them stop completely, some squids just won’t change. Trust me, I know a thing or two about that. But... if you find the people who like you for you, all that hate, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“What if those people don’t even exist?”

“Well, I can tell you now that they do exist, even if it’s just one person,”

Pearl smiled and scoffed, “I don’t think you count Mar.”

“I’m your girlfriend, I should count the most,” She retorted, bringing a hand up to play with the smaller girl’s tentacles.

“Okay,” the rapper sighed, “so you count the most, but you’re still just one person. Everybody else... they love you, all our fans are here mainly for you and your beats. I bet if we took out all of my parts in our songs people would say our music is so much better, they would rather listen to you spin turntables for sixty minutes rather than listen to me rap for three.”

Marina frowned, not sure how else she could prove that people really did love her and her raps. Sure, a lot of the inklings (and octarians) liked how Marina looked more than Pearl, but she heard plenty of good things about the rapping portions of their songs. Color Pulse, Ebb and Flow, Acid Hues, all those songs wouldn’t be the same without Pearl’s voice on them. She shook her head lightly, “I’ll prove it to you one day, people do love you, right now let’s just get some sleep.”

Though her thoughts were still filled with hate, Pearl agreed and let herself relax in Marina’s arms. It felt like hours before her breathing became steady and her eyelids no longer fluttered open, even the octoling had fallen asleep before her. As her mind started to clear and she felt herself drift off, she sighed and whispered to her sleeping lover one final sentence before she fell asleep.

“I wish you could, Mar. I really wish you could...”

It had been a week or so since their conversation about Pearl had occurred, and she seemed to be doing okay. Nothing was off when she was announcing stages, she still waved hi to fans that passed by their window, and she hadn’t brought it up again during their free time. Marina was still worried about her though, how could she not be? Even now as she was playing a round of turf war to try and ease her mind, thoughts of her girlfriend still floated in and out while she splatted the enemy team with her Splat Brella. Speaking of Pearl, she usually joined in to play with Marina, but she had opted out this time, saying something about wanting to get a new pair of Duelies before she went in.

When the match ended and the results had been displayed, the octoling set out to find Pearl and make sure she was alright. But as she exited the lobby, she was stopped by a girl inkling with light blue tentacles that were tied up in a bun.

“Hi Marina, so sorry to bother you but I’m such a big fan of Off the Hook and I was wondering if we could take a picture?” The girl asked timidly, which reminded Marina a whole lot of herself.

“Oh, uh sure!” She said with a shy smile. “What’s your name?”

“Parker,” she replied. “I know it kinda sounds like a guy name...”

Marina couldn’t help but frown at that, “N-no your name is... really pretty I think, it’s unique.”

The inkling wore a hopeful grin on her face, as if she hadn’t ever heard something like that before, and the singer wondered what kind of good she had just done in her heart. Parker pulled out her shell phone and turned it sideways to fit them both in the picture, she smiled and Marina did her and Pearl’s signature pose with a smile as well. The picture was snapped and the girl checked her library to make sure it had come out alright.

“This looks so amazing! Thank you for letting me snap that pic,” she put her phone away and turned to the pop star. “Where’s Pearl?”

Marina looked out across the square, “I was actually just going out to find her, I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“Oh, I was really hoping I’d get to see her,” she replied in dejection. “I like you guys both, but I think her rapping is so cool, I want to write my own rhymes like that one day, your band is such an inspiration to me.”

“Really?” The DJ said with excitement, “Pearl’s rapping has inspired you that much?”

Parker laughed nervously, “Well, you too—Off the Hook wouldn’t be the same without either of you guys—but Pearl drops the sickest bars and I’ve loved her raps since your debut concert.”

“Cod, Pearlie would love to be hearing this right now,” Marina mumbled and grabbed her weapon she had just been using in the last round of turf war and started to make her way to Sheldon’s shop. “I’ve gotta go, but it was really nice to meet you, if I see you again I’ll introduce you to Pearl!”

The blue inkling waved at her idol, “Tell her she’s my favorite if you can!”

The octoling waved back and gave a thumbs up, bee-lining for the place she hoped she’d find Pearl. When she walked in, she only saw Sheldon polishing a few different guns.

“Marina! Good to see you, what kind of weapon are you looking for?” He exclaimed and put away the stuff on his counter.

“Oh, well, I’m not looking to buy today... I was just wondering if you had seen Pearl lately,” she questioned.

Sheldon shook his head, “Haven’t seen her, I would have remembered if such talent entered my store.”

“Clam it,” she muttered, “thank you for telling me, I’ll see you next time Sheldon.”

“See ya around!”

Marina felt like she had looked everywhere, her friends list told her she wasn’t in a match, she checked all the shop owners to see if they had her stop by, she even asked Murch if he had seen her in the square. But, all of it was to no avail. She decided to head back home and check if she had just come back instead of playing at all, and she could have sworn her heart was going to beat out of her chest as she unlocked the door.

The living room was empty upon her first glance into their penthouse, as was the kitchen and dining room area. She headed down the hallway to where their room was and quietly opened the door. Inside, sure enough, there was Pearl—a sleeping, tear stained, exhausted Pearl. The blinds hadn’t been shut, which lead Marina to believe her girlfriend had been in here crying and accidentally cried herself to sleep. Her heart ached at the sight, the inkling still in her pajamas from the night before and the blanket draped only halfway around her.

Marina tiptoed to the window that still had sun peaking through it and closed the blinds, sliding a teal curtain over it for good measure. Immediately, the room was a lot darker and more pleasant for sleeping, so she slipped off her shoes and shorts (a different pair than the ones she usually wore, all her current clothing was her turf war gear) leaving on the short sleeved shirt. She fixed the blanket so it was covering all of Pearl’s body and slipped into bed beside her. Just the octoling’s presence was enough for her girlfriend to roll over into her arms, even asleep she craved the attention.

“Oh Pearlie, my precious Pearlie...” she whispered and held her girlfriend close. “If only you knew how much they loved you.”

It felt like forever until Pearl woke up, but Marina had stayed in bed with her the whole time she was napping, she wanted to be there when she woke up. The pink inkling shifted once she started to wake up, confused by the weight next to her. Her eyes peaked open and found the dark skin and tentacles of her partner, she wasn’t there before she fell asleep...

“Marina,” she said and the octoling shook her head.

“I know.” She stated simply.

Pearl didn’t know what else to do besides shrink back down into the bed, as if she was suddenly exhausted again. Her reason for staying home was to get out all her stupid feelings without worrying her girlfriend, but she screwed it up and made her worry even more. What was she supposed to say to that, sorry? No, there wasn’t an excuse for her actions, she was trying to push everyone out and deal with it on her own, but none of that ever worked out, she should’ve known better. Marina was probably mad, disappointed, upset, she hadn’t said anything else and the tension was killing her. She was pondering if she should’ve said something more when the other girl’s voice spoke up.

“There’s a girl, big fan of ours, light blue tentacles and a messy bun with the freshest gear I’ve seen, her name’s Parker, she wanted a picture with me today. After we took it she asked where you were, and she told me all about how your rapping inspired her to write her own. I went to look for you and she told me to tell you that you’re her favorite.

“When I stopped by Sheldon’s place, he told me he would have remembered seeing you come in because you’re so talented. For cod’s sake Pearlie, even Murch was telling me how much he likes your spin on the songs. People. Love. You. I don’t know how else I’m supposed to get that into your head, all those squids are just immature and trying to poke fun at you. So please... believe me when I say I love you, believe me when I say other people love you too. Do you think I would have been able to make it on my own here as an octoling without a partner like you? I couldn’t even imagine it, and all of this... the success, the songs, the fans... they aren’t just here for me. I can guarantee you that.”

Pearl looked up at Marina who’s eyes had glossed over with tears, and she felt so... so stupid for letting this all get to her. She was starting to think that Marina was right, people did love her, but she had gotten caught up in all the bad things people were saying, she didn’t stop and open her eyes.

“Mar,” she tried again, her voice cracking slightly. But she didn’t continue, she couldn’t, the tears had returned to her and before she could stop them, they were spilling over her cheeks like waterfalls. She tried to keep her sobs quiet, she always hated the sound of her own crying, but it reduced her ability to breathe clearly and Marina was gently wiping the tears away with the pad of her thumb and she couldn’t keep back her feelings anymore. She let herself gasp and shudder and cry like she needed too, all while in the safety of her girlfriend’s arms.

Pearl didn’t say anything else, all that was needed to be said was said. So as her tears turned into stains and her gasping turned into quiet, shaky breaths, Marina began to sing quietly to soothe the inkling. Their own songs were a little too upbeat for the moment, so she decided to sing the Squid Sisters’ song Fresh Start. It seemed fitting for the moment, and it was slow and melodic, perfect to relax to. She sang the melody for the most part, only dipping into the harmonics when she felt it sounded nice or for effect. She lengthened the song with some improvised Octarian singing as well, it was mostly just a translation of the original version but she added in her own stuff as well. Pearl had always enjoyed her singing, and if she couldn’t sleep she would ask her to sing to help her fall asleep, and while the goal wasn’t sleep this time around, relaxation was.

“I’m always here for you, Pearlie,” Marina whispered when she was finished with her song, not sure if the inkling was even awake to hear her. “Always.”

The rest of the day was spent cuddling in bed and lounging around the house, all means to record were put off until tomorrow when they had free time after work. Marina had advanced quite a bit on the song she was having trouble on a while ago, it still didn’t sound quite right, but she wasn’t concerned about it too much that she needed to record at that very moment. Her only concern was Pearl and her mental health, her physical health too, but not as much. She didn’t ask or mention any more of what had occurred earlier, she just hoped her words made a deep enough impact to help the inkling see what was really going on around her.

Pearl on the other hand, didn’t like the silence that Marina was giving her. The extended periods of time without talking made being in her mind unbearable, especially with all the thoughts that were bouncing around in there. But she couldn’t start up a conversation herself, if she opened her mouth, all her thoughts would spill out into words and she didn’t need to deal with any of that right now. She just wanted noise to fill the silence and her girlfriend to kiss her until she forgot everything bad about the world and herself. That wouldn’t be too much to ask, would it? Once again, she was afraid of trying to speak, but... maybe she didn’t have to.

As the pair were laying in bed together about an hour or two after their talk, Pearl wiggles herself free from the octoling’s arms and the blankets surrounding them. Her bare legs were hit by a burst of cold air, but it didn’t bother her enough to put pants back on, especially since she’d just get right back into bed.

She didn’t glance back at Marina when she walked over to grab her phone from its place on the dresser, but she could sense there was some confusion coming from her. With her phone in hand, she set up their wireless speaker and connected her phone to shuffle through various songs by all their favorite artists (yes, including themselves). She’d be able to adjust everything from their bed, but she made sure that the volume was at an appropriate level and that they started on a good song.

When she set the phone down on the table next to her side of the bed and crawled back under the covers, Marina simply looked at her with those big, innocent eyes and offered her arms to cuddle into. But when Pearl shook her head, the DJ cocked her head to the side slightly.

“What’s all this for?” She asked, but didn’t receive an answer immediately. The inkling looked like she was debating something, but it was hard to tell what was going on in her mind lately.

The answer, when she did finally get one, was not what she expected. Instead of an explanation, Pearl had just tilted her head downwards and pressed her lips firmly to Marina’s. She wasn’t complaining, just a little confused, but if this was what Pearl wanted then she’d be happy to give it to her.

Her tentacles curled up and swayed slightly as they kissed, indicating that her ink was definitely pumping a little bit. Not too much, but the element of surprise was what had really got her. Pearl began to shift her body so it was now on top of Marina’s, her small frame resting on her girlfriend’s much taller one.

“Just kiss me,” the inkling muttered as she separated their lips momentarily. “That’s all I need.”

“You could have-“ before she could finish her sentence, Pearl was back to locking their lips and Marina swore she felt a smirk on the girl’s face through the kiss. The spontaneous make out session seemed to brighten Pearl’s mood a little, like the kiss was the best medicine for her.

“Next time you’re sad, could you tell me where you’re actually gonna be? I was worried about you,” Marina told the inkling, looking into her eyes as they both took a moment to breathe.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I just—“ didn’t want you to know how I was actually feeling. “I just wanted some time to think.”

The rapper couldn’t keep the eye contact, she felt strange and uncomfortable under her gaze, so her golden eyes darted off to the sides and looked down, anywhere but the blue and pink eyes staring back at her. She didn’t know why she hadn’t told her girlfriend, maybe it was just in fear of how she would react, or something to that extent. Despite feeling bad, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk about her feelings to anyone at all, she had never been the type to be open like Marina was. It was just the way she was raised, she learned to deal with things on her own, including her mental health. She had been able to take care of herself, she didn’t need to rely on other people to get better.

“That’s okay, just tell me next time okay?” Pearl nodded.

A broken bone will heal on its own, but without something to help it properly heal, the injury only gets worse.

After a concert Off the Hook had just performed, the duo were out signing CDs and posters and anything else the fans had for them. They were able to take pictures with some and make quick small talk with others, hearing stories about how they came to love the band and their music, most of them saying they had loved them ever since the debut concert. As they reached the end of the line, a girl with light blue tentacles tied into a bun approached them.

When Marina recognized the inkling, she gasped and ran to hug her, “Parker!”

Parker smiled in shock, surprised that her idol had remembered her from that one day in the square, and her other idol was standing no more than five feet away from her. To say she was a bit star struck was an understatement. The octoling let her free from her embrace and turned to Pearl, waving her hand and motioning for her to come meet the fan.

“Pearlie, this is Parker, probably your number one fan besides me.”

The inkling waved a shy hello to the rapper, blushing a vibrant blue and fiddling with her CD. She glanced up every now and then to try and make eye contact, but it was quite the challenge as she choked out her words, “Um, I really, really look up to you guys—you especially because I want to write my own raps and you have been such an inspiration and influence to my writing and style, I just wanted to say that you’re my favorite rapper in probably the entire world.”

Parker laughed nervously at the end, but she did mean every word she said. She loved Marina as well, but knowing the octoling encouraged her to tell Pearl she was her favorite took a bit of the nerves away from her. The last thing she wanted was for either of them to feel like she didn’t like the other equally, so the support was a big help.

“Well kid, I’ll tell you it’s tough out here in the music biz,” Pearl replied casually, hoping to lighten the mood. “But don’t let it get to you, I... I let it get to me and things didn’t turn out so well. You have to stand your ground, and I bet with your rhymes you’ll be taking our spot in no time.”

“Really? You think I’ll do that good?” The inkling asked, her eyes full of hope as she looked up to the pop star.

“Sure you will, one day when you make it big, we can do a collab together and drop the freshest lines Inkopolis has ever heard.”

Outside, Pearl was her usually calm, collected, laid back self, but on the inside she was freaking out. It was so refreshing and reassuring to hear something like that, she was an inspiration, she meant something to somebody. She glanced at Marina, who was beaming at the two inklings, her tentacles curling in excitement.

“Would you mind signing this for me then?” Parker pulled a pair of studio headphones and a marker out of her backpack. “I use this when I’m recording, so I thought it would be cool to have my idols sign it, for like... good luck maybe?”

Pearl took the marker with a smile, “it’s no problem squiddo, I’d be happy too, and I’m sure Marina would too.”

After she signed her name, she passed the marker to the DJ so she could sign on the other side, adding a little heart along with her name. Cod, with their current status those things could go for a lot of money online, but she got the feeling the blue inkling would keep them as her own treasure forever.

“Hey, I heard last time you got to take a pic with Mar, but not me, so let’s make up for that right now,” Pearl offered, receiving agreement from the other two.

They passed Parker’s phone to a security guard who was nice enough to take the picture for them, and posed for the camera. Parker was in the middle, Marina to her right and Pearl on her left, both of their arms around her. They were all smiling as bright as the sun, and happy as could be.

They took the photo and a few more just for good measure, and bid farewell to Parker, who had to get back to her place before it got too late. As the inkling walked away, Marina couldn’t hardly contain her excitement anymore and hugged Pearl tightly while spinning her around. “I told you! I told you they loved you, baby!” She exclaimed, probably a bit too loudly if they still wanted to keep their relationship secret.

Pear laughed and hugged her back, “Okay, okay, Marina you gotta quiet down, there’s still a few fans around.” She warned her of the bystanders who were fairly far away, but most likely still in earshot. Even if they weren’t, it was still a good idea to be quiet just incase the paparazzi was around.

“Right, sorry,” the octoling apologized and let her lover out of her grasp. “But this is what I was talking about, people adore you, you just have to find their voice in the crowd.”

“I really would like to see Parker again sometime, maybe hear some of her raps too,” Pearl said with a smile as they made their way to the backstage area and their dressing rooms.

“Should’ve gotten her friend code,” Marina commented.

“Clam it, I didn’t even think about that,” the rapper sighed at her lack of thinking ahead, oh well, they’d hopefully see her again one day in a turf war or another concert.

Once they were ready to leave, they thanked the staff and crew members for all their hard work and super jumped back home together, absolutely exhausted for the night. Pearl went straight to their bedroom to get undressed with Marina following just a few steps behind. They look less time getting dressed this time, practically dancing around the room together as they avoided getting in the other’s way. Once they were ready for bed and they had curled up with each other under the warmth of their blankets, Pearl kissed her girlfriend’s cheek.

“You think we’ll finally get that new song done tomorrow?” The inkling asked hopefully.

“I think so, we just need those final recordings done and we should have ourself a new hit.”

There was silence for a moment while Pearl debated on speaking her mind again, sharing her feelings still wasn’t her thing. After a few minutes of convincing herself to squid up and just say it, she whispered—just in case Marina was already asleep, “Thank you for showing me what love really is.”

And after a minute with no response, the rapper figuried the octoling was sleeping and did her best to fall asleep herself. That was, until she heard an equally soft voice whisper, “You’re welcome Pearlie.”

She was so in love with Marina.

#Pearl x Marina #off the hook #fanfiction #splatoon #splatoon 2 #spla2n #writing #head canon #one shot #short fic #they don’t actually cuss lmao #i thought it would be cute to add the sea related curse words #clam it is now part of my vernacular #i cant go back

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splattales · 6 years

Text

“So you’ve been taking back Zapfish from every zone here, like you used to in Octo Valley?”

“Yeah. They get stolen back again sometimes, but we try to replace them with a substitute… it’s not the same, and they’re weaker, but it’s better than nothing.”

Marina stares over the edge of Octo Canyon, barely processing what Finn is saying. She still wasn’t sure how to feel about his Agent work-- after all, it was her home he was fighting against. That said, there were alternatives to theft the underground should’ve been working on – Deepsea and Wetside, for example, took advantage of the water surrounding them and used it to generate electricity. The Canyon and the Valley could always try something inventive and they might have less of a power crisis…heck, they could even start making cutbacks on all the electricity guzzled by the machines down there. But Emperor Octavio…he’d just gone right back to taking the Great Zapfish, hadn’t he? Did he really and truly believe it was his by right?

“You’re fighting the Octoshower next?” she asks, changing the direction of the topic.

“Oh, uh, yep. I’m a little scared to be honest,” Finn sighs heavily, tossing breadcrumbs from a sandwich he was holding at a nearby gathering of sparrows.

“Hah! You should be, you’re gonna come back soaked to your boots in enemy ink,” Marina smiles, but then considers this a moment, “you know, not all the Octoweapons were supposed to be active. They’re war machines. More have been brought back online as ‘Zone Guardians’ but… doesn’t that seem suspicious to you?”

The Inkling shudders at this suggestion.

“Yes, very. Three years ago, that slimy old—er, I mean, that noble DJ told Molly and I that he was going to start another war to take back the surface. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was gonna use the Octoweapons for that purpose. But you told me he never mentioned that to Mrs. Salt or her council friends or anything?”

“Mmmnnnope. Well, if he did, it was quickly shut down. Most of us don’t like Inklings very much down there, but the Squid Sisters changed a lot of people’s perspectives about co-existence. A war is the last thing anyone wants—and if we lost again, there’s a heavy price to pay. It’s worrying, but those cries for war might just have been the ramblings of a crazy old man,” the Octoling pauses to take a bite out of her own sandwich, spending a few moments in silence. “Anyway, I don’t think that’ll be a problem anymore. Something about Octavio has changed, but since he’s closed himself off to the public, I’m not sure what it is. Maybe you’ll find out when you fight him again. If he really has squidnapped Callie for a concert, that’ll just further increase the popularity of you squids, you know? It doesn’t add up.”

“It doesn’t,” Finn agrees, letting out another sigh. He cautiously sneaks a glance at Marie to see how she’s dealing with the fact that he’d brought an Octarian friend to their watchsite, but she’s facing the other way. Obviously not worried about it at all, then…

Little did Finn know, Marie was busy confronting another cephalopod that’d slipped their way through the grate…

“Agent 3, I’m not blind. I saw you sneak behind the cabin.”

“Do me a favour and don’t tell the others…! I wasn’t…I wasn’t expecting Marina to be here, tch!”

Marie obscures the pink squid by standing in front of her, her open parasol blocking the other two’s line of sight should they decide to turn around.

“Did you come to apologise at last~? Finn told me you shoved him. That’s going to take at least thirty ‘sorrys’. Are you going to apologise to gramps too? He’s still waiting, you know. Told me he made you a cape.”

“Ugh! I didn’t realise I’d have to endure this kind of torment...” Molly shakes her head, “I guess I deserve it for being a jerk, though… I’m sorry.”

“Great! Now actually apologise to somebody you need to apologise to,” the idol smirks.

The Inkling seems to struggle with this concept—she still feels like there’s a heavy weight in her gut every time she even considers apologising. Not that she didn’t WANT to, it was the swallowing of pride, the admittance of being wrong; acknowledging she shouldn’t have acted the way she did... She knew there were better ways to talk out her problems with friends instead of shouting at them. Steadily, she nods at Marie, and begins to walk towards the unlikely duo…

…Marina turns to notice her before she even makes it halfway.

“It’s you…”

There’s a sneer behind those eyes, and it causes Molly’s anger to bubble up quickly. Not now, she has to focus, she came to say sorry to FINN…

“Molly? What’re you doing here??”

Naturally, he’s surprised to see her, but doesn’t seem as frightened after their run-in over splatfest.

“…a…apologise,” she manages to mumble, her shoulders hunched. Upon realising this sounds like a demand, she adds, “I came to do that.”

Marina raises an eyebrow knowingly, causing another needle of rage to shoot up Molly’s back. She barely holds it together as Finn furrows his brow in confusion. Staring at the ground, the small Inkling chokes out her apology.

“Finn, I’m sorry for shouting at you. I’m sorry for shoving you. I’m sorry for taking out my frustration on you and Cuttlefish. I’m sorry for being rude about your friend even though I still don’t like her,” she blurts, unable to continue.

“Molly—”

“Pfsh, that’s not much of an apology if you ask me,” Marina quips snappishly.

“Marina—"

Before anything further can be said, Molly dashes back the way she came, leaping through the grate to Inkopolis and hiding her face from view. Finn presses a hand against his forehead in frustration as Marina turns back to stare over the edge of the canyon’s abyss.

“I probably shouldn’t have said that, huh. …Sorry.”

“What am I going to do?! With either of you?!?”

#////ANGSTANGSTANGST #Plotpost #Finn #Molly #Marina #Marie

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splattershotsundae · 6 years

Text

Ink is Thicker Than Water --- Chapter 1: I predict a riot

SQUID SISTERS: FOUND ALIVE! Callie and Marie were found at 1:00AM at inkpolis plaza fallowing the attack of the mechanized weapon upon the city. The sisters were relocated to a hospital where they are in stable condition. They were unavailable for comment, but it has been suggested that they may return to work by the end of the week.

OCTARIANS EXIST, BUT FOR HOW MUCH LONGER?

Shortly after the terror ended, police were approached by an anonymous Octarian official who requested aid in the unearthing of roughly 160,000 individuals from a devastating cave-in. The cave-in is thought to hold about one quarter of the entire species' population, and the course of action as of yet is unknown. The Octarian official was detained; and was unavailable for comment.

OCTARIAN LEADER IN CRITICAL CONDITION

At 1:45; the Mustard Hill Hospital admitted an Octoling who was later discovered to be the Octarian Queen; Master of Ceremonies Ophelia Lunulata. When admitted she was found to have many of her organs filled with ink, though without any internal bleeding. Suspicions rise that it may not even be her ink at all, however DNA results have yet to return. She has yet to awaken, and the cause of her injuries is unknown. Doctors believe that if she does not recover somewhat within 48 hours she may pass away within the week.

It was a few days after what people were calling ‘the attack’, ‘doomsday’, and many other fitting and exciting titles which sounded as though they were out of some sort of movie, and Bato was sitting at the dining table, watching his mothers in the kitchen doing the dishes.

He’d felt so helpless lately, what with his leg in the shape that it was, Hachi was far away, and he wasn’t sure if she was alright. These worries, mingled with Stacey’s offer to become an agent, overwhelmed him. He’d barely been able to sleep at night.

Just then across from him his mother’s phone began to ring, and he was unable to help getting his hopes up as he pulled the phone over and looked at the number. “Mom! It’s an unknown number, can I answer it? It might be Hachi!”

“Okay sweetie, go ahead!” She called over her shoulder.

He nodded his thanks, then lifted the phone to his ear and cleared his throat. “Ahem, Euthis residence, how can I--”

“B-Baaaatooooo!”

He froze, eyes suddenly brimming with tears. “Hachi!” He exclaimed. “Are you okay? How are you!?”

“Bato, Bato they...” She sobbed. “They’re beating us and killing us!”

"They're.. they're what!?" He demanded, attempting to stand, but then falling back into his seat with a wince.

"Th-They were beating us, but now they're k-killing us!!!” She explained. “They keep detaining more and more o-octolings, and the guards hurt u-us for any reason they could, but l-last night they killed one of us, and I don’t think it’s going to-to stop!”

“Hang on.” He said, then pulled the phone away from his ear long enough to shout; “MOM! Get ready to leave!”

“Got it!” She called, then sprinted around the corner and toward the hall, Tanya on her heels.

“B-Bato, they started blaming the other prisoners, the real prisoners, the murderers and thieves and worse, but even they think what’s happening is wr.. is wrong...”

“And they’re right.” He said firmly. “We’re coming, we’re going to get you out of there.”

“H-Hurry.” She said. “I-I managed to get a guard’s phone, and… and the other prisoners are going to break our form stabilizers off, and then throw us over the wall. I’m not going to get far!”

“Stepmom!” He called. “I need help getting to th--”

“Is ‘Achi ‘urt?” Oz interrupted.

He yelped and turned to see the elite octoling right at his side, gaze firm and unyielding. “… She’s in trouble.” He replied. Sometimes he’d forgotten that Oz was still living here, in the past few days he’d taken to moping on the couch for hours on end.

Evidently now was not one of those times. In a flash, Oz had grabbed his arm and hoisted him to his feet, taking care to support his bad leg. “Ya ain’t goin’ witout me.”

“… Okay.” Bato agreed, beginning to limp toward the entryway.

“Bato?” Hachi asked. “Bato do I hear Oz?”

“Yeah.” He replied. “He’s coming too. We’re all coming to get you. We… We’ll...”

She sniffled loudly. “B-Bato, I have to go. William s-says this place is ‘Wolfe Jail’. P-Please hurry...”

“Wolfe Jail, got it.” He said. “W-Wait, who’s William?”

“One of the prisoners.” She explained. “… B-Bato, you’re my best friend, and… and… I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

His breath caught. "... Y-you've been a great friend too." He stammered, then cringed as the phone beeped in his ear. ‘Call ended 4:07’ “Shit...”

Leah came around the corner, slipping on her jacket. “I’ve got the keys, where are we going?”

“Wolfe jail.” He said, handing her phone back to her.

“’Ow’re we gettin’ there?” Oz asked.

“Oh not this again with the car thing...” Tanya gently bemoaned as she stepped up with her 52. Gal. “Just don’t… worry about it, maybe you should just stay here, we can explain when we get back.”

“Nah, ya can’t talk me outta it.” He said firmly. “’Sides, someone’s gotta carry this dead weight.” He continued, then scooped Bato up in his arms with a grunt.

“H-Hey!” He yelped. “Careful!”

“We don’t have time to argue.” Leah decided as she flung open the front door. “Sweetie, can you explain what’s going on on the ride over?”

“Yeah.” He said, wrapping his arms around Oz to keep himself from slipping. “Stepmom, can you navigate?”

“On it.” She agreed, taking point as they raced downstairs and piled into their car.

The drive was frantic and full of explanations. Bato filled his mothers and Oz in on what Hachi had told him, about how much danger she’d been in, then talked to Oz about how cars worked, and about why he should buckle his seatbelt.

“Tha ‘seat belt’ chafes.” He complained. “Do I really gotta wear it?”

“Yes, it’s to keep you safe just in case we crash.” Tanya said.

“Tha’s a fuckin’ option?” He realized with a brief note of panic.

“Wait, look!” Bato exclaimed and pointed out the window. Down the sidewalk an octoling was running as fast as they could, tentacles streaming out behind them. “We have to be close.”

“Take a left turn!” Tanya said, and the car swerved into the turn lane to make it before the light changed.

Ahead of them a long low building stretched, surrounded by multiple layers of barbed fences, which weren’t stopping streaks of purple from hurling over the walls. Octoling after Octoling landed and started running. All of them looked exhausted, battered, bruised. It made Bato’s stomach churn.

“They don’t look so good...” Leah murmured, her grip on the steering wheel tightening. “C’mon sweetie, please be alright...”

Another purple streak shot though the sky, but this one was… lower. An octopus landed, and reverted to humanoid form, chest heaving with heavy breaths, tentacles torn and mangled. “There! I see her!” Bato exclaimed, rolling down his window. “HACHI!” He shouted.

She looked up at the shout, and started limping toward them as the car pulled to a stop. Bato flung open the door, and then his arms as he pulled her into an embrace. She shuddered and sobbed as they held each other tight, and Bato felt his own eyes brim with tears. “It’s okay…” He breathed. “It’s okay, I got you...”

“Close the door and buckle up kids, we’re going home.” Tanya said, looking over her shoulder.

Hachi looked up, then wiped her eyes and sat down in the middle seat. “Thank you...”

“Of course we’d come get you.” Bato said as he closed the door.

“Alright, let’s go.” Leah said as she started to turn the car around.

“WAI, STOP!” Oz shouted.

Leah instinctively slammed on the brakes, causing everyone to lurch in their seats.

"OW!" Bato yelped. "What!?"

Oz flung open the door and leaned outside, tentacles gripping the frame. “OANA! OANA GET IN ‘ERE! QUICK!”

There was a moment’s hesitation, and then a blur of movement as an octoling dove headfirst into the car, and Oz slammed the door shut behind them. “Okay, ya can go now.”

“OW!” Hachi yelped, pulling back as Oana fell on her knees. “… Hey Oana.”

“Hello traitor.” A tingle went down Bato’s spine as Oana propped herself up, and her eyes met his. He remembered her, from the science facility in the domes. She worked security, but this was the first time he’d seen her face. She had sharp eyes, the color of cold steel, which bore into him as she assessed him. “… I’ve met you...” She said.

"Indeed we have." He grimaced. “You two know her?”

“She does some a tha drills for tha barracks.” Oz said.

Oana turned, then looked him up and down. “… Do I know you?”

Oz frowned a little. “Oz. Oswald Croft? Tha… Ya know, tha lovable… goof?”

“… Oh… You.” She grimaced.

“Oana was it?” Tanya said. “Please sit down, it’s safer that way.”

Hachi scooted a bit closer to Bato and patted the empty space next to her. “So what did I miss?” She asked.

Oana swooped her tentacles and sat down in the empty space, leaving the entire backseat awfully cramped.

"1&2 are both still alive." Bato said. "And Ophelia woke up briefly, but they're still don't know for sure if she's going to recover or not."

“Ophelia might be okay?” Oana asked abruptly, sitting up straighter.

“Well, not yet.” Oz said. “Apparently she’s been through a lot. But ‘ey, ‘migh not make it’ is better than ‘is dead’.”

Hachi frowned. “… I don’t know, is it? All of this is her fault…”

“Of course you’d like it if she died, you traitor, our queen means nothing to you.” Oana huffed.

Hachi gripped Bato’s hand, and he held it back, giving her a compassionate look.

After a long pause, Oana continued. “Where are you taking me?”

“These squidlin’s ‘ave been keepin’ me safe from tha pryin eyes a tha police.” Oz said. “Since Ophelia’s shut down, nobody’s protectin’ us from em, so we gotta ‘ide out where it’s safe. Fer us, tha’s this squidlin’s ‘ouse.”

“They smell awful.” Oana concluded.

“They really do.” Oz agreed.

“… Oana, I know you’re hurt too.” Hachi said after a moment. “Tanya can take a look at our wounds, she’s been trained, she knows what to do.”

“Tanya?” She asked.

“That’s me.” Tanya said, raising her hand.

“She makes good food.” Hachi added.

“A chef /and/ a medic?” Oana asked skeptically.

“My stepmother is a jack of many trades.” Bato said.

“Step… mother?” She asked.

“Here we go again...” Tanya sighed, and got to explaining.

“Welcome home Hachi.” Leah said as she opened the front door, stepping aside to usher everyone inside.

“Thank you Leah.” She replied, smiling from ear to ear.

Bato chuckled and leaned on her for a bit more support, his leg was killing him. “H-Hachi, can you get me to the couch…?”

“Oh, yeah, sure.” She said, helping him toward the living room.

“Ugh, this place smells even worse.” Oana said, wrinkling her nose as she crossed the threshold. “Shift after shift of squid stink… A cacophony to the nose.”

“You’ll get used to it, I’m sure.” Leah said. “I’ll go get the first aid kit, you all get settled in.”

“Gladly.” Oana said sarcastically.

“Ya’ll get used ta it.” Oz said, flopping into the armchair and propping his legs up on the armrest.

“You seem to have perked right up...” Bato commented as he left himself sink into the couch.

He paused. “Well, now I ain’t alone in this shitty place.” He said. “I got ‘Achi an Oana ta keep me company.”

“… Sure.” Oana said, apprehensively sitting down on the couch.

“Got the first aid kit.” Leah announced, handing the plastic container off to Tanya.

“Good, Hachi, let’s get you fixed up.” Tanya said, kneeling down in front of the couch, which only a slight cringe.

Hachi paused, then turned in her seat and lifted up her shirt. “The cut on my back popped again...”

“Again!?” Bato asked, sitting up. “You still have that!?”

“It’s hard not to when stuff keeps hurting me...” She grimaced. “I’m so lucky it’s not infected… I think.”

"Someone is going to answer for this..." Tanya muttered as she began to clean the wound.

“As much as I would love that, I have a more pressing question.” Hachi said. “… Do we have Oranges? I’m starving.”

Leah blinked, then laughed. “Yes, yes we do, I’ll go get some sweetie.”

“Thank you!” Hachi smiled.

“Wait wait wait...” Oana said. “How do you just… have food?”

"We don't get our food on a day-by-day basis--or, shift-by-shift," Bato explained.

"Then how /do/ you get it?" Oana asked.

"We buy it." Tanya explained as she moved to treat a cut on Hachi’s shoulder. "From markets and such?"

"Um.. They don't have a currency system down there, Stepmom." Bato said quietly. "Or markets."

"Who is mark-it?" Oana asked.

"It's not a 'who'," Bato explained, "A market is a building where they keep lots of different kinds of food, and inklings can go into these buildings and exchange our currency for that food; that's why we can have several days worth of food in the house at once."

"Doesn't it go bad just laying around?" She grimaced.

"Some of it does." He replied with a small shrug, "But we have ways of keeping it good longer."

“Alright Hachi, here’s the oranges, all nice and peeled.” Leah said, coming back in with a small plate, piled high with orange slices.

“Thank you…!” She said, immediately digging in.

Tanya chuckled. “Okay, I think I got all of them, let me know if they get worse, and take it easy, alright? You’re safe now.”

“And thank you too.” She said around an orange slice.

She just chuckled again and moved on to help Oana.

Bato smiled as he surveyed the room. The atmosphere in here had become so much more relaxed than before. Hachi was home, Oz was lounging, Leah was sitting at the kitchen table and watching with a smile on her face, Oana was… here, and he hardly knew her, but she didn’t seem harmful, just.. confused, and passionate about her people and queen, as she had every right to be. He glanced back at Hachi, enjoying her food, and basked in how happy he was that she was safe. She was home.

“Hey Hachi?” He said. “I’m going to go on Skope and tell the others that you’re okay. Want to hang out in my room with me?”

She looked up, then nodded, mouth full of orange.

He smiled at her, then looked down at his leg. “… I’ll hold your oranges if you help me get there.”

She swallowed, then held out the plate. “Deal.”

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and stood, limping down the hallway while Hachi supported him the best she could. She wasn’t too much better off than him he realized, but they would both heal. It would be okay.

Together they entered his room, and carefully sat down on his bed. “Have I said how good it is that you’re back yet?” He asked.

She chuckled and nodded, leaning back against the wall. “Thank you for saying it again. I felt so alone, even though Oana was there.”

“You actually know her?” He asked, gingerly pulling his laptop onto his lap.”I thought she just recognized you from… well… Stuff.”

She sighed and closed her eyes. “We were childhood friends, but she was the child of another elite and after a while she started to act superior to me… and well, yeah. I guess now we don’t get along.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” He said, booting up his laptop. “If you want to make amends, you could try while she’s here.”

“… We’ll see.” She replied.

“That’s fair.” He said, then booted up Skope. Immediately he was bombarded with notifications from his squad’s chat. He opened it and found that Simon and Toda were talking quite a lot.

S: Jill says she might come on, but she wants a little time to herself too, which I totally get.

T: yeah, absoltly

B: Hey you two.

S: Bato, there you are.

S: Take a look at this.

S: [link]

He frowned and clicked on the link, which took him to a local news site. They already had a page about the prison break that they’d just been at… and sort of helped with. Apparently Hachi and Oana had been lucky, as the prison reported that ‘octolings had been killed in the riot’, and claimed no octolings managed to get away. However, the cameras in the facility were allegedly and conveniently broken. He grimaced and got back to the chat.

B: I was there.

S: Something tells me this is only the beginning.

S: Wait what

T: Wat

B: Hachi was there

B: She called my Mom right before it happened.

S: Oh no is she dead?

B: No, she's not

B: They lied about that in the article

B: She's alive

B: She's here

T: thnk judd

B: Yeah

B: We found her and another Octoling, one named Oana

T: dd they see u?

B: We don't know

S: You picked up another Octoling? Is she trouble? Does she know who we are?

B: She knows who I am; she recognized me from when I was down in the domes

B: I don't know if she would know about you three

S: I'd ask if we can trust her, but I'm not sure how much I trust your capacity to trust people.

B: Yeah, no, I understand

B: ... Though I'm not entirely sure either, to be honest.

"... Do you think we can trust Oana?" He asked Hachi, glancing at her again.

Hachi gave a long pause, then sighed. "... I'm... I don't know... She sounds loyal to Ophelia, which means that she’s not on my side. Don’t get me wrong though… I’m glad Oz picked her up, I wouldn’t want her to die… You know, I’m a little surprised he came with you guys to come get me.”

“He missed you a lot, even though he… knows you killed Orion.” He admitted. “I tried to lie and say I did it so he wouldn’t be mad at you but… I was tired and slipped up.”

She paused. “… He really cares about me, huh?”

“… Yeah, I think he does.” He agreed. “Maybe he can help you keep Oana safe.”

She nodded. “That’s a good idea.”

He nodded, then looked back at the computer.

S: ... Looking back, you said she was alive. Is she ok?

B: ... She's hurt.

B: They've been beating the Octolings they had detained

B: And they recently started killing them, and blaming it on the other prisoners.

T: siht...

T: that explans the 'broken camras'

B: That's why there was a riot, it was a distraction

B: Some of the prisoners were throwing Octolings over the prison walls so they could escape

S: That's just wrong.

S: This is all just wrong.

S: I don’t care what happened to us, this is real fucked up.

B: Yeah...

B: I don't know how many others managed to get away

B: None of them looked very good though...

S: if we werent so deeply involved I would say we go and make sure it doesn't happen again

S: but... We're in way too deep. Who knows what would happen if people found out everything we've done the past few weeks.

B: I almost don't care, to be honest... but you're right.

B: We're sort of stuck right now

T: cold we talk 2 the aegents?

B: I'm not sure if they're really in any position to do much right now either

B: Or condition.

S: if we don't want to draw attention to ourselves we should keep our activism for their rights at a minimum.

S: I don't like it, but we can't get dragged into this.

S: and we're not in much better condition either.

Bato sighed aloud.

B: Yeah, you're right...

T: yeah...

"What?" Hachi asked him.

He shook his head a little, "I just wish there was something we could do for the other Octolings too, this is all so wrong... But as it is, we're pretty stuck right now."

"... You're helping me, and Oana. And Oz... You’re probably way above average in this city.” She said. “Maybe I can still live a moderately long life before they find me.”

"They won't find you." He said firmly. "And if they do, we won't let them hurt you, or take you again."

"... Thanks for trying to be comforting." She said with a sigh. "I don't really believe that though. I wouldn't let anybody hurt you while trying to get to me..."

He glanced at her again, frowning a little. "I'm not going to let them get to you. Whether I get hurt or not."

"Fine, then we'll have to fight them together." She replied.

He paused, then slowly nodded. "... Together."

S: People are -still- trying to get in to interview with Callie and Marie in the hospital seriously just leave them alone.

T: good rgief

B: Can't say I'm surprised... but yeah, they need to recover.

B: ... But Speaking of the agents...

T: yea?

B: I was talking with 3 after we got back that night, and she was talking about how her job was going to change

B: How it would still be about protecting the people, though the difference would be /which/ people.

B: I told her I wanted to help them, once I could walk normally again

B: She didn't seem opposed to the idea, but she wanted me to really think about it first, and to talk with you guys about it.

S: Weren't we... just talking about something...

S: Something about being too involved in things?

S: Like just today, and almost two weeks ago.

S: Is it pointless for me to even try

B: I'm not saying anything for sure, it was just an idea

B: She did talk about how I might not be able to go back once I started, it was part of why she wanted me to think about it.

B: But... I do still want to help

B: Especially after what happened this morning.

S: So you want to be a vigilante.

B: Yeah, I guess I do.

S: It's not going to be like the movies.

S: You're going to get yourself killed.

B: The past week and a half has presented the danger just about as well as anything could; believe me, I know the risks.

S: And you're going to jump right back in

S: Do you understand how crazy you sound?

B: They're killing them, Simon.

B: And it's not like they're all more Orions, there are Octolings just as innocent as anyone up here on the surface

S: I

S: ... Stacey would still have your back, right?

B: The way she talked about it, it sounded like she still intended to do her Agent work

B: So, yeah, I'm pretty sure she would.

"You want to be a Siren?"

He blinked and looked up, seeing Hachi reading over his shoulder. “… Yeah, I do.”

"... I'll get you a mask." She said. "No, I'll /make/ you a mask. There’s tech in there that would help you out there on the field."

"Make one?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. It's not like I'm just going to be able to pull one out of thin air, and I want you to have the best! Something worthy of an Elite!" She said with a grin. "Isn't that practically what the Sirens are?"

"Yeah, I suppose they are," He agreed with a smile.

Hachi gave a sigh. "Ah Elites. Snotty little bossy-pants that are good at what they do."

Bato chuckled a bit. "Indeed."

"Hm..." Hachi paused. "When I put it like that there's no doubt that's what the Sirens are."

Bato considered it, then shrugged a bit. "I guess so." Then frowned as more messages popped up on screen.

S: Plawse fjon't do it

S: Listen too EM

T: simon?

B: Simon...

S: If you doit Jill’s goin to wantto and

B: ... It's not a for sure thing, Simon.

B: It's just talk right now.

T: nd tehy mihgt sat no ven f we d dcid 2

T: jsut cause 3 sida yes dsoent mean 1 nd 2 wil

Bato sat back and sighed as a ‘Simon is typing’ message popped up and lingered for a while. Maybe he should have just gone behind their back and accepted Stacey’s offer without telling them. Then they all wouldn’t worry.

S: Look, unless things escalate even further... just leave it alone for a month. Please.

S: It's too soon.

B: Okay. We'll leave it alone for now.

B: We still need time to recover from all of this, and it's a big thing to talk about.

B: You're right, it's far too soon.

S: Thank you.

“Screens above, make up your mind!” Hachi said. “Are you going to do it, or not?”

He paused. "I'm going to do it; just as soon as I can walk normally again, I'm going to contact either Stacey or Callie, and ask to become an agent. But I'm not going to ask the others to do it with me."

Hachi thought this over. "... Hm... That means I still get to make you a mask, right?"

He smiled. "If you still want to."

"Pfft, to be honest I was going to make you one before you said you were going to be a Siren, you're stuck with it." She smirked.

He chuckled. "Well, if you insist." He said jokingly.

"Ok, first off, do you have gigabytes and megabytes and stuff? Is that how memory is stored on computers up here?" Hachi asked.

"Yup." He nodded. "That's how it's stored up here."

"Ok good!" She said, sitting up and getting into geek mode. "One terrabyte should do it for at least your first mask, and everything you'd put on it over time! We're also going to need steel plating, would that crabby friend of yours be willing to let some go you think? I think I saw some underground. Right, and copper wire-"

He smiled and propped himself up on his pillow as he listened to her and gave her feedback on what he’d like. She was so passionate about this, so excited. He felt lucky to be a part of it.

This story is a sequel! If you are lost, You should start with You’re a Skwidd Now!

Bato, Toda, Leah and Tanya are Knitter’s characters

Hachi, Oswald, Oana, Simon, Jill, and Orion are Shuckle’s characters.

Splatoon belongs to Nintendo.

Please consider liking or reblogging if you enjoyed, it’s nice to know we’re doing things right.

Shuckle has a patreon if you would like to provide additional support!

[<PREV] [INDEX] [NEXT>] (Coming soon)

#Splatoon #Ink is thicker than water #IiTTW #Octoling #inkling #SS Bato #SS Simon #SS Toda #Octo Hachi #Octo oswald #Octo Oana #Misc Tanya #Misc Leah

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cinsdaydreams · 5 years

Text

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been down here...” she mumbled. The Deepsea Metro was as eerie as she had remembered though. Dark. Abandoned. Empty.

That Octoling had said that since the destruction of Commander Tartar all those years ago, the Sanitized Octarians had been still. Completely unopposed to anyone else. They weren’t receiving commands, so there was nothing for them to do. She had said that some were moving, for sure, but for the most part, they were unmoving. Frozen.

And the Inkling could tell that right away. She could see some Octarians, none of which seemed to acknowledge her existence. Usually, they did, usually, they’d shoot at an Inkling, especially since she was unfamiliar, but they didn’t. This didn’t stop her from clutching her Aerospray tightly, just in case.

She sighed. No, this wasn’t the time to forget why she’d come here.

The Octoling had told her of the experiments that had been conducted on her and her friend. She was a trained Octarian soldier, and she had been specifically chosen for this. What she didn’t know was what these experiments were. She told stories of how she sat there, side by side with her fellow soldier. Tubes had been embedded in their arms. Strange, soapy ink had been injected into theirs. It seemed to eat at them, turning their membranes into a strange green. It had affected her friend far more strongly than her. She could tell that something wasn’t right the moment she became ill.

Before these experiments, Octarians had been killed, their ink replaced with this soap. They would move, but only through orders from the Commander. No one knew who the Commander was, nor their intention. Naturally, Octarians became suspicious. Those that escaped with Octavio into the Octo Valley were safe, but not all could be so lucky.

That Octoling and her friend were some of the unlucky ones.

She tried to tell her friend that this ink wasn’t safe, that this ink was doing something strange to them, and that they should break free as soon as possible. Her friend just laughed it off. It was intended to make them better soldiers! Her sickness was just some odd side effect. “Perhaps you’re allergic?” the friend had suggested. But she knew that this wasn’t the case. She begged, pleaded her friend to come with her, to escape to the surface, to find somewhere safe to live, where this experimentation wouldn’t hurt them.

With or without her friend though, the Octoling was determined to escape. In that escape, she’d met him, another Octarian soldier. She was very clear in telling the Inkling that he was a former Octarian soldier, a dropout from his training days. She, him, and two other Octolings had made it to the surface before they were intercepted by Salet and his team.

It was clear their intentions weren’t bad, but Salet was reasonably suspicious. The Inkling made sure that they were taken into safety, where the Octoling had told her of this story. Weeks later, she mentioned not truly knowing what became of her friend.

And so, the Inkling swallowed her fear of the Underground and fell far below. She was going to find what had become of this potentially still alive Octoling... even if it was just to soothe her friend.

#Splatoon!#they don't have names #but that's because they're actually splatoon AU #that i figured i could make ocs if i tried #but i don't have names #the inkling was dumped in the underground once before #it tore apart the membrane on her arms #so her arms are very weak #and she can use nothing heavier than lightweight weapons #(she used to main a dynamo)#the octoling is very important because she and salet are friends #but salet has a prejudice against octos #especially octarians #the sanitized octo is :c

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splattershotsundae · 7 years

Text

Better Eight Than Never --- Chapter 40: Oh shit, the recap one

The car ride to Coral Riff apartments felt incomparably short. One moment the car had been packed, Jill and Simon had clamored into the car, Toda was back to normal, phone calls were being made to parents, and in general it was a total bustle. But then Hachi closed her eyes for just a moment, and when she opened them again It was near silent. Jill and Simon were gone, and the car had just pulled to a stop. Another moment and they were at the apartment’s door, and she was supporting herself against Bato’s shoulder.

"They... would've taken things from you, right?” Tanya’s voice faded in. “What did you have to leave behind? Wallet? Keys? Phone?"

"Yeah, all of those." Bato replied.

"Well, phones and wallets and such can be replaced... them having your keys might be a problem, though..." She murmured as she unlocked the door and stepped inside. "We're back!"

There was the sound of three pairs of feet standing and moving towards the entryway all at once, and Leah, Scott and Anita all came into view, running forward to embrace their children, and Hachi found herself pushed to the side in the rush.

"Oh thank Judd!"

"We thought you might be..."

"Where have you been!?"

She leaned against the wall and watched, a frown forming on her face. This... this was a normal squidling reaction to hearing someone wasn't dead... It wasn't just 'hey, welcome back'. Or 'nice!' It was... she wasn't sure what to think, she just felt alone again… and still dizzy. Ink loss sure was something.

"What on earth happened!?" Leah demanded, examining the nick in Bato's ear with concern. "Where have you both been?"

"I-it's a long story, Mom." Bato said, as he wiped his eyes.

"Right, the sooner we get a full explanation, the better." Tanya said as she glanced at Hachi. “Do you need anything before we begin?”

She paused. “… Pain pills? And… water… and… a chair?”

“We can do that.” She nodded gently.

"... Hachi?" Leah asked after a moment. “Is… that you?”

"Last I checked.” She huffed.

She blinked, and looked like she was about to ask something else, when Tanya stopped her. "Leah, let's all sit down first, alright? It's been a long day for these kids."

Leah paused, then nodded a bit and lead the way to the living room, holding Bato’s hand as if she were to let go she’d lose him again. Hachi felt herself wishing someone would hold her hand like that as she stumbled after them, hanging back as she tried to figure out where to sit. Toda and his parents were busy taking the couch, Antia with her arms still wrapped around her son, and Bato and Leah were busy pulling in chairs from the dining room… That left the soft armchair. She paused a moment more before hobbling over, sinking gratefully into the cushions.

A moment later and Tanya came over to her, handing her a glass and three small red pills. “Take your time… I can fetch you one more pill if that’s not enough.”

She nodded gently and took the medication and water, then looked around at the dozen eyes watching her. “… W… Where should I start?”

“From the beginning.” Bato said. “I’ll help fill in.”

She took a deep breath. “… Okay, so… I’m… I’m Hachi. Though um… Until… today? Actually I was… Olympiah Windsley. I was… a surface reconnaissance agent of mid level classification for… the… the octarian military.” When the parents just stared uncomprehendingly, she pulled the beanie off her head, cringing as she moved her tentacle stubs.

This time the reaction was more what she expected, gasps arose from Leah and Anita, and Scott’s eyes widened so much that it looked like they were about to pop. “Octarian?” Anita asked, gripping Toda tighter. “But aren’t they…?”

“Extinct? No.” Hachi said. “I was… shocked when I found out you thought we were gone. Your war over our lands in the cataclysm-- er, the ‘great turf war’--” She couldn’t say that with a straight face. “--forced us deep underground, into the domes we built. The domes are running down now, so we… might not be alive much longer if we don’t take action. It started simple, at… at least from what I’ve been told… We stole zapfish, to power our domes, but it… wasn’t enough, so we stole the great zapfish to power our home. The ‘sea sirens’, your ‘agents’ stole it back, and… killed king Octavio in the process, may he rest in peace...” She paused for a moment, formulating her next words. "We... Needed a different approach. There were talks of a device which could change ink into other colors, but word died quickly. There were no applications other than the revolvers... or so we were told. I was sent to the surface to find the location and nature of the main threat to our operations, the Sea Sirens, They'd been stopping us for hundreds of shifts, killing us, destroying some of our kettles... Ah, ways up to the surface, and... in general just hoping to kill us all off. We hoped with them out of the way we could find out how to survive. As well; If I were to find out any information of so called 'associates' of a particular squidling named 'Yuri', I was to report back immediately."

At the mention of Yuri, Leah sharply inhaled a little, Anita frowned, and Scott straightened up a bit, almost simultaneously. "Yuri?" Scott asked, "How would... how would your people know about him?"

"It was their device that was behind his... condition." Bato explained. "They were the ones that turned his ink into water."

“Well, not me personally...” She continued. "I only had limited knowledge of what it could do, but I was aware that he was.. made of water. At least for a time... Progress was slow in my work until... Well, I crossed paths with Bato's splatoon. Err, Squad. They figured out what I was, and accidentally brought me right to the Sirens. The Sirens made them all take care of me. Keep me under wraps, but alive, since I might have info. And that's how I came to stay in your houses... Everything went fine for the first shift, then Orion, my superior officer, came to the surface to retrieve me. It didn't go well."

"... Shift?" Leah asked with a small frown.

"A day, more or less." Bato explained.

"So... wait, when was it that your.. 'superior officer' came? What happened?" Scott asked.

"That was... Wednesday, I think... it's been a long week." Toda answered. "And... well, Jill and I were going to meet up at Humu mall to hang out for a while, since Hachi wasn't feeling well that morning. But before she got there, she realized she was being followed by this Orion fellow, who took her captive; I managed to find where he was keeping her, but I wasn't able to fight him--I'd left the house so fast that I left my weapon at home--So he ended up taking me prisoner instead, letting Jill go so she could bring Hachi her mask."

"Mask...? Why would he want her to have a mask?" Leah asked.

"An octoling mask is everything. I had mine taken away from me by the sirens.” Hachi said, avoiding eye contact. Her face felt so barren. “It works like your 'phones', allowing for textual and vocal communication, as well as low light vision, vital readings, optical focus, identification, calculating, note keeping, information storage, threat detection, maps, and several others. An octoling without a mask is... Unheard of. Even disgraces have one, with minimal functions."

Leah nodded slowly. "I see… Wait, disgraces?"

She sort of froze. “… I… Can we go back to Toda’s part in the story?”

“Oh, ah...” Toda said. "So... yeah, he took me hostage, then told Jill to get the mask to Hachi so she could contact them, let them know she was still alive."

"So, wait, why did he take you and Jill captive to begin with?" Scott asked, frowning a little himself.

"At first, it was so they could get Hachi back." Bato explained. "The plan was to exchange hostages and leave it at that, or so they told us... but when Hachi got the mask back and contacted them, she told them that we'd met Yuri, and... that's when things really went south."

"Wait... Wednesday..." Anita said slowly, starting to grip Toda tighter. "That was... I thought you said that was when you went to Port Mackerel, and you got run over by the forklift?"

"Yeah... that wasn't a forklift. That was Orion," Toda muttered sheepishly.

Hachi swallowed. "Bato and 'the twins' found one of the sirens again, then made me take them all to the hideout I suspected they were keeping him at. I was right. I wanted to go home so badly, so I alerted my allies inside that we were coming. At the time my actions were completely reasonable, but then they stole the siren and abandoned me.” She pressed her palm against her eye, trying to keep it dry.

"So it... it was just you, Bato, the two twins, and one of these... Sirens? You just went in there?" Scott demanded.

"You should have called the police!" Anita said. "Or us!"

"We were told not to." Bato said. "Bringing the authorities into this would likely have just put Toda in more danger than he already was, and we were told not to tell anyone about the Octarians."

"By who!?" Anita demanded. "By these 'Sea Sirens', whoever they are?"

"Yes, by the Sea Sirens." He nodded.

"I was... honestly surprised when I found out that nobody up here knew of the Siren's existence...” Hachi said. “They brought you the great Zapfish back, you can trust them." She gripped the arm of the couch. She wasn't so sure that she could trust them herself, but... These squidlings could.

Silence fell for a moment before Scott continued."So, you got Toda back out safely, though one of these 'Sirens' got captured. Then what?"

"Then... well, Thursday was pretty uneventful, as far as all that goes." Bato said. "Simon wasn't feeling well that day, so we checked in briefly with the other Sirens, then just got lunch and went home. That was when she went to Toda's house."

"... So when you... ran." Anita said slowly. "That wasn't because you and Toda got into an argument? You were... trying to escape?"

Hachi slowly nodded. "Toda told me that inkopolis had 13 million citizens. Using incomplete data I overestimated the population to 6 Trillion, and panicked. With this data, we didn't stand any chance against your kind, and I tried to run for home to tell them this, that it was hopeless. That we were all doomed."

Scott whistled a bit. "6 Trillion... Yeah. Wow. That’s way off."

"So... yeah." Bato continued. "Friday, we're going to check in with the Sirens again, and... well, Hachi managed to get away… Wait, how did you do that? I had only taken my eyes off of you for a second, and you weren't exactly... feeling well that morning."

She huffed, unable to keep a small smile from her face. "Oswald came and picked me up. He’d been waiting for me… He hid me in a containment tank, and we walked right back to the domes." She wondered if he still cared...

Bato shook his head a little, chuckling. "Huh... no wonder, I was looking for the wrong person."

"Oswald?" Leah asked.

"The one that attacked the Underpass." Toda said, then paused. "Oh... we didn't mention that, did we? The Octarians were the ones that attacked the Underpass, near the Sundae Shop."

"No, no you didn't." Scott said, frowning again. "... What was the point of attacking the underpass? To scare us?"

"...You don’t want to know." Hachi said quietly.

Scott's frown deepened, but Bato pressed on. "Anyway... After she escaped, we talked briefly with the Sirens about what to do. They told us to try and stay low, not to tell anyone, and to keep in constant contact with each other; we were sure we were in much more danger now that they knew about our involvement with Yuri, and now that Hachi could tell them everything else she might've learned up here." He sort of glanced at her briefly as he said this. "And... Well, Simon and I decided that if they didn't give us something to do, we were going to go looking for these underground domes ourselves after Splatfest. We were in danger already, and we thought there wasn't much point in waiting around for them to come and find us."

"You should have told us." Tanya said, placing a hand on Bato’s leg.

"We were told not to. And we couldn't risk getting the authorities involved." He said, not meeting her gaze.

"That's what the police are for." Anita said, somewhat exasperatedly. "To deal with this sort of thing!"

"To fight militia?" Hachi asked, genuinely curious.

"... To deal with threats." She replied, though not quite as firmly anymore it seemed.

"This is more than just the police force can handle." Bato said. "This isn't just a few rogue squads, these are trained soldiers."

“... You still shouldn't have just... gone down there without telling anyone." Leah said.

"We... didn't. Not exactly.” Bato said. “On the day of Splatfest, we were playing at the Kelp Dome arena, and... And they attacked again. They splatted us, all of us, and we were respawned... somewhere else. We were put into these containment tanks, which are sort of like modified ink tanks, and sent down to the domes."

"There are hundreds they've taken now." Hachi said, frowning. "At the time I was taking things into my own hands. There was something I was missing, something nobody was telling me. I broke into the classified files and did some looking around to find out more about Yuri..." She sort of trailed off.

"... While they had told her about the water-into-ink part of it." Bato said, "They didn't tell her about the... ah..."

"The... possession part of it.” Toda cut him off. “That he could get into other people's heads."

All four adults became even more uneasy. "So, that's... Why they wanted to know about anyone that had met him..." Scott said slowly.

"... I'm sorry." Hachi said quietly.

Leah sat up a little more, a small hint of anger joining the confusion, "So, they... they know about that part. What else did you tell them? Do they know where we live?"

"If they do, that would be my fault, not hers." Bato cut her off. "I didn't know they could track her mask."

"Be that as it may, she was still the one that put you in danger like this." Scott said, straightening up a little himself.

"No, it wasn't." Bato argued. "We were the ones that revealed her in the plaza, we were the ones that offered to watch her--"

"Preeeeeety sure that was mostly you, B." Toda muttered.

Bato huffed, then continued. "We were the ones that got involved, even after we said that we wouldn't. And besides, if it weren't for Hachi, we would likely still be down there, if not already dead."

"If it..." Scott broke off, glancing between her and Bato.

She hunched down as once more all attention went back on her, half expecting one of them to attack her. "... I... I didn't like that they were doing so I freed Bato and let him have a chance to get his friends back..."

"She gave me everything that I needed." He said. "Clothes, armor, mask, as much information as she could. She put her life on the line to give us a chance to get away. She got me back into the facility again, and I went looking for the others. Not long after I got inside, though, this alarm went off and I was told to look for an escaped inkling, who turned out to be the Siren that had been captured on Wednesday. We managed to find a place to hide while the commotion died down, and I found this... scientists journal, that belonged to an octoling named Orvokki."

"A journal?" Tanya asked.

"Sort of. It was like a mask, but it went on over another mask." He sort of mimed putting it on. "After they learned about what happened to Yuri, they were taking Inklings and trying to... recreate what happened to him. It... wasn't going well." He and Toda both shuddered, almost simultaneously. "So she decided to take matters into her own hands, and she turned herself into water. It worked, and she was able to find out why the results had been so mixed previously; how well it worked depended on two things, state of mind, and ink color. Purple was the most stable, for both being turned into water and being... controlled by it. It makes sense, I guess, considering Octarian ink is purple." He blinked, "... of course... purple ink... that's why they struck during Splatfest. All those purple inklings, it would be the perfect time… But even with this information, she couldn't figure out how to take someone over without killing them... until she... until she got into Toda's head." Bato continued, casting a brief glance over at him before continuing. "When she was in his head, she was able to find out who else Yuri had controlled, as well as how to control someone herself without killing them… That was about when Orvokki found us where we were hiding, and we had to make a run for it. We managed to get away, barely, and we found where they were doing the testing. They had turned Toda to water, and... and put him in Simon's head."

"They did what!?" Anita pulled away a bit and stared at Toda, as if she could tell this just by looking at him.

"It's true." Tanya told her. "I saw him before they changed him back."

Hachi still had nothing to say, but at least the parents weren't staring at her anymore...

"After Simon woke up, Orvokki came into the room as well... but she was controlling Jill. She threatened to hurt her if we didn't stand down, and so we did, until... until Toda got out of Simon's head and into Jill's as well." He glanced at Toda, as did the parents, but when Toda didn't appear ready to talk, he continued. "I... assume what happened was that Toda was trying to get Orvokki out, and she was trying to make Jill hurt herself in order to get him to stop..." Another glance at Toda, who just nodded slightly."… Well, okay, long story short, he was able to get her away from everyone else, and get into her head, even though she was still water.”

"Just her central brain." Toda said. "Octolings apparently have four other brains too, one for each of the tentacles on their heads. I couldn't control those."

"Multiple brains?" Leah asked, glancing at Hachi again.

Her gaze shifted to the floor, her tentacles twitching just the slightest. She knew where this story was going. She didn’t want to talk about it. She didn’t want to hear it. She felt her breathing grow more rapid in fear.

Bato continued after a moment’s pause. "We were able to use this new situation in order to get the Octolings who were about to detain us again to leave us be, though after that Orvokki managed to get Toda out of her head and get away. He was able to find out, though, that they had managed to capture the other two Sirens and that she planned on controlling one of them."

"Why?" Scott asked.

"They were used as backup singers during a... performance, a little later." Bato said, sounding disgusted.

"... That... can't be the only reason, can it...?" Toda said with a small frown, "I mean, if they're under their control then they would no longer be a threat, which is something, but..."

"If the MC didn't need them, they’d be dead.” Hachi said, finding herself short of breath. “Can I… I need to… go…”

“What?” Leah asked in surprise. “Go where?”

“Another room, I… I’m...” She trailed off, gripping the arms of the chair tightly.

"... You may, Hachi." Tanya said, nodding gently.

She sighed in relief, then stood and hobbled out of the room, choosing to lock herself in the bathroom. She slumped against the wall, tears welling in her eyes. She felt so… broken. Of course the MC wouldn’t have saved her tentacles to make new octo troopers, not after what she’d done… why was she even surprised? No… it wasn’t that she was surprised, it was that she had to see it. Not even a small bit of her legacy would remain down there. She’d betrayed her own species, she had no place left with them… so she’d either have to stop them… doom all of them to death… or they’d overtake the surface, and kill her along with Bato and the others. She sniffed and stood up, pouring herself another glass of water, but just held it in her hands for a moment, as if she expected it to come to life. There was no right answer. She had no place she could live. No home to call her own. She had nothing. She’d given up everything for a future that wasn’t even hers. A pair of tears slipped from her eyes, and she felt powerless to stop them, sobbing as she watched the tears drop into her glass.

After a few minutes she tipped her glass into the sink, feeling a touch guilty for not drinking such a valuable resource, but she was too depressed to care. She took a deep breath, wiped off her face, then stepped out of the bathroom and made her way back to the living room.

"She doesn't deserve to die! It's wrong!"

Bato’s voice caused her to freeze, just short of the doorway.

"Bato, I'm not saying that it would've been right." Leah said firmly. "But you can't just..."

“I already did. And we’re both fine. I saved her.” He said.

“Fine? Her tentacles were cut off!”

“She’s… alive.” Bato said. “That’s what’s important. We don’t know what they’re planning. They have the Sirens, and they have this ink transfusion weapon, which they're learning more about all the time. And by what Ophelia said after the performance, they plan on trying to take the surface again. But how, and when, we don't know. We need all the help we can get."

Hachi took a deep breath, then peered into the room, just in time to see Tanya stand up and begin to pace. "And... they won't leave you alone. Not with all you've been through, not with all you've learned."

"Right. And they most likely know where we live. We're not safe, not anywhere..." Bato agreed.

Tanya frowned. "It can't be helped... we'll just have to be ready. Keep weapons with us at all times, even here around the house. Especially around the house. And we'll look into getting your phone replaced as soon as possible."

Bato nodded. “In the meantime, we have Jill and Simon’s Skope accounts, and we gave them Tanya’s number, just in case.”

"What about the... Octarian girl?" Scott asked. "What will we do with her? Should we... call the police?"

Her breath caught, and she pulled back around the corner, feeling like her hearts were about to jump out of her chest.

"No." Bato said firmly. "We're not calling the police."

There was a brief pause, then Leah spoke. "She'll stay with us, for as long as is needed. Bato’s right, we need all the help we can get.”

"You trust her, then, Leah?" Anita asked, the first time she'd spoken in quite a while. "After she betrayed so much information about us to them?"

"... I do, Anita." She replied. "She clearly has no reason or desire to go back to her own kind, not now that she knows what they're doing, not after what they did to her. And she did help our children escape, almost at the cost of her own life."

"... I still don't like it..." Anita muttered.

Hachi swallowed, gripping the corner tightly. There would be nothing stopping those two from calling the authorities once they left... especially if they sent soldiers to assault their houses... She didn't come all this way and get rescued for nothing...

"She's in just as much danger as we are right now, Mom." Toda said. "... Actually, probably even more so."

"It wouldn't be right to just hand her over." Tanya said. "Not after everything she's done for us. She's on our side now, she wouldn't have told us all of this if she wasn't."

There was another pause, then Scott finally spoke. "... Well, I'm not so sure about her yet, but... I do trust you four. We trust you four.” There was a long pause before he continued. "Very well then, we won't call the authorities."

"Good. I'm glad we could get this sorted out." Tanya said.

Hachi let out a held breath, feeling relieved.

“Hachi, is that you?” Asked Bato.

She yelped as the voice broke through her thoughts. And she leaned around the doorway, feeling her ears pull back. “...Yes.”

“How much have you heard?” He asked.

“… A bit.” She admitted. “… Thanks Tanya, Leah...”

Tanya nodded and smiled softly, "It's the least we can do, for bringing our children home again," She paused, her expression growing serious again, "Would... you happen to have any information about what the Octarians plan to do next? Or when they plan to do it?"

She frowned. "... No... I might know how to get it, but there's no way I could make my way down there to do it. Everyone will be looking for me, it would be a suicide mission... And I'm not sure I'm emotionally ready for that type of commitment."

Tanya nodded. "Alright then, that's fine; no one's asking you to. I just wanted to make sure." She turned back to the others. "So, I suppose for now, all we can do is be alert. Keep weapons close, and stay in contact with each other at all times."

Bato and Toda both nodded in agreement.

“… Um… All octolings have the same ink color.” Hachi said. “I can’t exactly be armed.”

Tanya looked back to her, frowning."Right... what else would you prefer to use, then?"

She thought about this for a moment. "Something sharp, do you have any knives?"

Leah and Anita both blanched a bit, and Scott's eyebrows went up.

"Ah... yes, but..." Tanya started slowly.

Bato cleared his throat. "The, um.. the Octarians can't respawn either way. Whether you use an ink weapon or not."

"Still, though..." Leah murmured.

Hachi sighed. “Yeah, I get it... Maybe I can finally use a fork for something.”

The corners of Tanya's mouth twitched up into a small smile. "We'll see what we can do."

"I... suppose that's all we have to discuss? At least, with the information that we have right now." Scott said, standing up.

Tanya thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Yes, I suppose it is."

Scott nodded, "Then I think we'd like to head back to our own place, if that's alright; we'll need to get prepared ourselves, and... we should probably talk about a few more things, just between the three of us."

Tanya nodded again. "Right, of course."

"We should get online fairly soon, though." Bato said. "Let the twins know what we've decided on our end, that sort of thing."

"Right." Toda nodded, starting to stand.

Hachi sighed quietly and began to walk back to the armchair, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She quickly looked up, finding herself face-to face with Scott.

"... Thank you, Hachi. For helping to bring our son home again." He said gently.

She paused, then gave a little nod. “Um… sure.” She’d been thinking more about Bato when she’d done it, but she wasn’t going to argue.

"Talk to you later, Bato," Toda said with a small wave as he and his parents walked out of the apartment. Just before the door closed, you could hear Toda asking his parents. "So... do we still have any of that Mochi left?" Followed by a loud laugh from his Dad.

Bato chuckled. "Classic Toda."

Leah sighed. "Right then. I.. suppose we should get armed up."

Tanya nodded her agreement, and the two of them slipped down the hall towards their bedroom, arm in arm.

"... You doing okay?" Bato asked.

"... There's... not much really stopping them from calling the authorities...” She muttered, walking over to the armchair to sit down.

He frowned, nodding slightly. "I understand your concern... I know it probably won't be much comfort, but Scott does keep his word as long as he is able to, I'm sure he won't be the one to call them. And he will try to keep Anita from doing so if she tries... but, yeah... I guess all we can do is hope they do stay true to their word."

"... You're right, it's not much comfort." She muttered. “... But It... makes me glad I'm staying down here. Despite the abnormality of two mothers, they are kind and I respect them. W-wait, I mean- abnormal to... me? I... it appears it's… I… Ugh...” She sighed, suddenly growing awkward.

"Ah... yeah. Are... same-sex couples illegal down in the domes?" He asked.

"Pairing up is an abnormality in general... But… I’m pretty sure it’s illegal." She glanced at the hall. "... I want to believe that it's solely for population reasons... but now I hesitate... It... It is beginning to seem like it is solely for control... I don't know what’s right anymore..."

Bato sat down on the couch, facing her. "There's... probably going to be a lot for you to learn, and unlearn, about both of our cultures." He said quietly. "But it'll get a little easier with time."

She nodded just a little.

"So... is there something you want to do? Watch a movie? Get some more sleep?" He asked.

"... I... I'm not sure... I'm still lightheaded..." She admitted.

“I’m not surprised...” He murmured.

"Judd, I don't remember this thing being so heavy..." Leah muttered as she came back into the room, Tanya in tow. She fiddling with a tank on her back, and she had a splattershot at her hip.

Meanwhile Tanya had a much bulkier weapon Hachi was unfamiliar with, with a bright pink handle and a massive tank, it must pack a punch. “Honestly, me neither.” She said. “But it feels good to get it out again, I haven’t used it since I was part of the Gal Pals.”

Bato laughed. “I forgot that was what your squad was called!”

Hachi frowned in confusion. "I don't get it."

Tanya flashed a grin at her, placing a hand on her gun. "Gals being pals as they take down the competition."

"... What?" She asked, glancing around.

Tanya chuckled. “Lesbians, Hachi!”

“… OH.” Hachi blushed, taking a moment to cover her face.

“It’s alright!” She said gently. “Are either of you hungry?”

"I'm good." Bato said. “Those sandwiches were more filling than they looked.”

"Alright then." Leah said. "I guess... if either of you need anything, just let one of us know." She and Tanya walked on, grabbing the dining room chairs as they passed, returning them to the table.

After a moment or so, Bato cleared his throat. "I should... probably get on my computer. It might still be a while before everyone else is on and ready to talk, but it wouldn't hurt to be ready."

"Are you asking me to come with you, or was that a strictly prisoner thing?" Hachi asked, glancing up.

"Ah... strictly prisoner thing." He said after a moment. "But you're welcome to come with me if you'd like."

"... I suppose I have nowhere else to be, and I can always come back out here..." She murmured as she stood. “Do you have any socks I can use?”

"Oh, yeah, absolutely." Bato said as he lead the way down the hall.

"Good, my feet are cold." She admitted as she followed him into his room and sat down on his bed. It was so much softer than she’d remembered.

“Yeah, I can't say I'm surprised..." He said as he tossed her a pair of black socks. "We'll probably have to find some sort of shoes for you to wear too, next time we go anywhere... hm... your feet are about the same size as Stepmom's, she might be able to lend you something."

"You can tell by looking?" She asked, slipping on the socks. These were soft too!

"I'm just sort of guessing," He admitted with a small smile. He then turned and sat in the chair at the foot of his bed, opening the flat computer that had always been sitting there. She watched curiously as the screen came to life with the word ‘Welcome’ on a bright blue background, and then it faded and changed to a black screen with several ink splatter designs all over it. There were a few icons here and there, and after waiting a moment, she saw him click a blue and white one.

It took a moment to boot up, and then Bato began to type in some things on the all-too-loud manual input. “Toda’s not on yet, I’m not surprised.” He commented. “Could still be talking to his parents… Or eating Mochi.”

She rolled her eyes. "... So is this what came before phones? It's not very handheld."

"Not... exactly." Bato said. "Phones have been around for a long time, though it used to be that the only thing they could do is call other people; the sort of phones that we have--or, well, that I had- is sometimes called a 'smartphone' and is a more recent thing." He pulled a napkin out of his pocket and looked it over. “Alright, so Simon is… ‘SloshmasterV3’, and Jill is ‘4PawzAndMeow’.”

“And who are you?” She asked, wrapping a blanket around herself.

"… HollyJollyInkbrushNinja0519... I haven’t used Skope since Squidmas.” He chuckled.

“What’s squidmas?” She asked.

“Ah, Squidmas is one of our holidays; everyone gets together with their families, eats dinner, exchanges gifts with each other, that sort of thing. And then there’s ‘Father squidmas’. who’s a fictional person that, according to the legend, flies around the world in a magical sleigh the night before Squidmas and gives gifts to all the kids that have been good that year." He sort of paused. "Which... may have just been a way for parents to try and get their kids to behave, actually."

“Huh.” She murmured. “What’s Toda’s weird computer codename?”

Bato huffed. “His username is… "PuppyD0gEyez", he must've used Skope more recently than me.”

Just then, there was a bling from the computer, and Hachi jumped.

S: it's not even Squidoween yet, father squidmas. B: lol, It's been a while since I've used Skope S: I shouldn't be one to judge... S: I haven't touched this in years. S: brb, updating my profile. B: Okay.

Hachi yawned. “You know, we have holidays, but they're only when something's happened. Like a few shifts after we got the great zapfish, everyone got some time off, and they put on a play... I was able to go see it. It was amazing." She paused. "I... Suppose this shift became one as well..."

"Yeah..." Bato grimaced. “Ours happen once every year, on a specific date, but we have lots of them. Like Valentine’s day, and Squidoween, and Father’s day and Mother’s day and--”

“Stop! Too much!” She laughed. “You’re going to make my head explode or something.”

He chuckled, turning his attention back to the screen as there was another bling.

T: hey Bato, hows it going? B: It's going alright, just settling in again. You? T: same. it's good 2 b home again B: Agreed B: Looks like we're all online, let's see if I remember how to get multiple people onto one chat...

Bato typed, and clicked a few times, then switched to another chat. B: Alright, I think I've got everyone in here? B: Judd, it's been a long time since I've used this. T: u shouldve said "roll call" or something B :P B: lol, true S: looks like we're all here to me. J: hey T! hey B! T: hey! B: Hey Jill J: the only good thing about this outd8ed username is th@ me & T match. B: Hah, I hadn't noticed that B: Toda's has a sort of double meaning, though :P

A short pause. J: ooooooh. Clever! :3 S: ahhh. S: I see you are embracing your past self, Jill. J: :3c A Double meaning…? Hachi wasn’t sure she understood, but she was too tired to ask about it. Besides, she was sort of snooping in on Bato’s conversation. T: :P B: Haha B: So... did you guys get everything explained okay? S: Mostly. J: Sort of...? S: Until we get confirmation from Stacey I think we're technically grounded. B: Ah T: Oh J: 3 may need 2 bail su out Bcause we r grrrrounded. J: S u stole my spotlite! S: Stop saying what I'm about to say! T: lol B: Yeah, I honestly can't say I'm surprised... T: Me nether S: Yeah. I think he's just afraid, I can't blame him. J: How did it go 4 u 2? B: Pretty well, all things considered. B: They seemed to believe everything B: well, having Hachi explaining it with us helped, for sure T: nd frankly, Im not sure if we cold've made something lik that up if we tried... B: Fair enough B: But yeah, they're going to be on the alert too B: My Moms both found their ink weapons and pulled them out. T: Same w my parents B: And Hachi's staying with me for as long as is needed S: Yeah, think our dad got his too. J: oh totally. S: I suppose now we need to either plot our next move or just take a bit of time to relax. S: I guess it depends on what Hachi knows. J: I bet she knwos lots of things. J: LOts OoOoOOf TThhhINNgssS. S: the question is, is it HELPFUL things?

She sighed, laying down on her stomach. "... No. It's not.”

Bato briefly glanced at her. "It's alright. You can’t know everything."

T: I don’t think it is B: She said it's not T: it didn't seem like it earlier T: oh T: is she reading this ovr ur shoulder B? B: Yeah, for the most part J: Hey Haaachiiiiii! B: But anyway, yeah, unless Stacey knows something, I don't think we know enough to try and plot our next move. J: Im glad you're alive! B: lol S: hm... I'm going to do some thinking anyway, even if we don't make much progress. S: as soon as me and Jill can get out of the house we're changing our ink color. B: Yeah, good idea J: I want blue. XP B: No J: wh@? B: stay with purple if you can B: It's safer J: Y? B: I mean, yes, change from the Splatfest color, but stick with purple B: Oh, right, I didn't get to tell you two B: In Orvokki's journal, after she turned herself to water, she found out that there were two things that determined how well it worked B: For... both parties involved B: State of mind, and ink color. B: And purple was the one that handled it best. J: O J: Yeah, purple souns good S: just to clarify; the purple is to make us better able to survive. S: not to make us a bigger target? B: Yes B: To be honest, I'm not sure if we could be a bigger target right now. B: They won't leave us be, not with all we know S: Good point. J: mayB we should bored up th windows J: buy cans&cans of food S: Jill if it gets to that point I think it'll be already too late. J: 3: B: I have to agree with Simon B: For now, all we can do is be alert B: Keep a weapon close at all times, stay in contact with each other as much as possible B: This will have to do until we all get our phones replaced B: And if you have to go anywhere, don't do it alone. J: got it J: also J: Aerospray or custom dual scuelcher? S: 'squelcher' J: Im not using a charger in the houze the lest u can do is not correct m spelling. S: Toda, you've been quiet, you ok? B: I vote squelcher. J: mayB I should use BOTH T: Oh, yea, srry. T: I was still thinking bout the ink thing... T: B, did she say anything bout how well other colors handled... that? B: It’s… complicated. B: I don’t really understand it. J: ??? S: ... The sisters. J: !!!! B: Oh Judd T: Yea B: I don't think even THEY would know how well that would've worked B: C&M are the only ones that I know of with that ink color B: if... if they are planning for something big, they must have been VERY confident in their ability to keep them both under control and alive B: From what I remember, Callie should be fine, I think darker colors have a resistance? B: So we should be worried about Marie... J: I dont want them 2 die S: Focus. They're both experienced with Octolings, they're bound to be at least somewhat prepared. S: And strong. They both sound like they've got willpower. J: S, nobody is prepared 4 Orvokki J: th@s how u spell it right? B: Yeah, that's how you spell it T: ... J's right... T: no 1 is... S:... S: you would know better than me.

Bato sort of sat back, gaze having dropped to his fingers.

"... Should I be asking if you're alright right about now?" Hachi asked.

He sighed, then glanced over his shoulder briefly. "I'm fine."

She paused. "… We say that all the time. You're not fine, but you don't want to talk about it... And that's ok…?" She waited for a reply, and when she didn’t get one she sighed. "... I did miss you you know."

He turned to look at her at that, surprised. "You...?"

"Yeah." She said quietly. "Why I'd miss someone as silly as you, I have no idea."

He chuckled a bit, shaking his head. "Can't say I know either."

"If it makes you feel any better I could just say I missed having people make my food for me." She paused. "It's not true, but..."

"If that works for you, I guess.” He smiled a bit and shrugged, but then his attention was diverted by another message from the computer, and having nothing better to do, Hachi continued to snoop.

J: Hey, R U all still there? B: Yeah, still here T: yup S: yep. J: I was wondering iiiifffff J: we all wanted 2 streem somthin 2gether! J: ther R sites 4 that. J: we could all watch a movie J: the 4 of us S: Five, if Hachi's still with Bato. J: oh, right. 4-5. B: Sure B: Just let me ask Hachi.

He turned back in his chair to look at her again. "Hey, you want to watch a movie with us?"

She paused. “… Which one?”

He briefly glanced back at the computer. “Sounds like they want to watch the inkdredibles. It’s a super hero movie. Yes like Batman.”

She snorted. “… Sure.”

“How about we make some popcorn?” He asked.

“What’s popcorn?” She asked.

“Oh, you have to see this.” He smiled as he stood up. “C’mon, I’ll show you.”

Hachi frowned thoughtfully as she stood up and followed Bato to the kitchen, where he reached up into the cupboard and pulled down a plastic package with something inside.

“So, the popcorn is packaged in these little bags.” He said, tearing the plastic off with his beak. "You just stick it in the microwave for a few minutes and it's ready to eat."

“Like half of your crazy cuisine.” She huffed.

Bato laughed, then placed the packet into the microwave, setting it for ‘200.’ Wait, no, ‘2:00’. Right, because it was two minutes. She’d wrap her head around that eventually. A few seconds after he hit start, the packet began to sizzle, and she squinted warily.

POP!

She squeaked and stepped back, her tentacles shifting to bright yellow. “It really pops!”

Bato chuckled. “Yep! There are little dried kernels inside, and they heat up in the butter in the bag and explode.”

“Whoa...” She murmured as the popping began to quicken. “How many are there?”

“Well, there’s not a strict count, but I’d guess a hundred. Some of them don’t pop though.” He replied.

“Wow…” She said, watching as the pack inflated, and then eventually the popping slowed, and Bato opened the door to the microwave, a cloud of steam escaping and rising to the ceiling. “That looks hot.”

“It is, you have to be careful opening it up, there’s a lot of steam inside.” He said, carefully picking the pack up by a fin-like corner and pulling on the opposite end to open it. He then dumped the fluffy white contents into a big bowl. “Go ahead and try one.”

She paused, then took a piece and bit into it, smiling somewhat at the crunch. “Mm!”

“You like it?”

She nodded, taking another piece. “Not as good as oranges though!”

“Can’t say I’m surprised.” Bato said. “I bet you Jill’s gotten the movie ready by now. Let’s go watch, you can hold the bowl.”

“How kind of you.” She joked as she scooped up the large glass bowl in her arms, breathing in the salty scent of the popcorn.

Maybe… she could learn to like this place one day.

Bato, Toda, Leah, Scott, Anita, and Tanya are Knitter’s characters

Simon, Jill, Hachi, Orvokki, Orion, Ophelia, Yuri, Stacey, and Orvokki are Shuckle’s characters.

Splatoon belongs to Nintendo.

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[<PREV] [INDEX] [NEXT>]

#Better Eight Than Never #Splatoon #splatoon fanfiction #splatoon fan character #SS Bato #SS Toda #SS Simon #SS Jill #Octo hachi #Misc Tanya #Misc Leah #misc scott #misc yuri #Misc Anita #BS Stacey #Octo Ophelia #Octo Orion #Octo Oswald #Octo Orvokki

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