#rust (splatoon oc)
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arins-art-alley · 5 months ago
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yours, truly and forever.
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p-wrryyy-mordial-soup · 9 months ago
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weee context and prompt list below
copied form discord lol
ok first headcanon: since fuzzy octolings pnly appear in 4-5 stages (i forgor if after alterna was in the count) is because octavio already had lost most of his soldiers to deserting or the metro and grizz stole the last like 30 somthing left rust is around her mid 30s and was stubborn enough to stay with hime, why change something if it works kinda mindset but im adding tragic yuri in there also because i can so after grizz turns them all into furries, whoever i decide was rusts past partner has a really bad reaction to the fooze and uh. goes feral basically, bear style and rust is the one to put them down, this event would also be what gave her her blind eye and face scar
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mekmech · 1 month ago
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WOOOOO YEAH ZINE TIME,
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★彡 It’s party time! Population: Inkopolis is available FREE to download and read!
Embrace yourself in 200+ pages of lovingly crafted stories—all about original characters in the Splatoon universe! All brought to you by our contributors!
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legofanguy · 10 months ago
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Rustling' up some grub
A Splatoon fanfiction for @yeehawgust event Yeehawgust 2024 day 20 Rustlin' up some grub featuring my Inkling oc Stephanine.
At a farm ranch, a Inkling man ask his daughter, "Stephanine, can you help rust up some grub for me and the other farmhands?" and Stephanine reply, "Sure thing, dad." Inside the kitchen, Stephanine start the stove to make some beans, and the Inkling girl sing her favorite song as she wait for the beans to be done. Stephanine got a bottle of hot sauce and aid it to the beans.
After the food was ready, Stephanine's father and the men head inside to eat. When they take a bite of the beans, the men find that it was a little too hot and Stephanine said to her father, "Sorry about adding a little much hot sauce, dad."
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nocturnaltides · 1 year ago
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OC Intro Profile: Chains
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[Art by @skyplayssplatoon3] Talked about like a ghost story, few dare to mention Chains' name out loud...If you find someone who's brave enough, they'll mention a weirdo that set up a lair, a hodgepodge of trains, cars, traps, and scrap metal marked by large scratches, on the outskirts of town, they'll also mention strange lights in the night sky, maniacal cackling, and the ominous warning not to go anywhere near that place, for people who wander too close go missing for days, only to be found later, running through the desert, babbling about "other worlds", "being watched", and other things that don't make sense...
While the stories may paint her as some kind of boogey man, they are right about one thing: Chains is a bit of an oddball, to say the least. Beneath the "assortment" of rusted rubble, Chains has made a surprisingly comfy home for herself, using her skills as a mechanic. her wild imagination, and a "spark" to create just about anything she sets her mind to, all while rambling about anything and everything, ranging from "what's out there" to that time she had to use a tire iron as a toothpick, again, to various other bits that she scribbles down in a mysterious notebook that she keeps tucked in her coat pocket at all times. Luckily for her, she has her smallfry buddy, Mayday, to keep her company, and a voice that, occasionally, guides her out into the desert, where her story takes a turn in the form of a fateful encounter with Riza, an explosive battle with Nocchan, and the crater that leads to the depths of underground settlement of Alterna...
Finding herself running with a bit of a motely crew, driven by voices and visions calling out to her, and now being granted the title of Neo Agent 3 by Riza, now Captain of the new squidbeak splatoon, Chains is all set for the trials and revelations that Alterna has in store
[To Be Continued...]
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the-rookinator-3000 · 2 years ago
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i drew our squiddys... i apologize for the poor quality .. it's been a while since i've used ibis paint. but i just really felt like drawing our sillys together
YESSS!!! YESS!!! RHE SILLY INKFISH!!! 🐙🦑🐙🦑🐙🦑🐙🪱🐙🦑🐙🦑🐙 I LOVE THEM SM ARUFUFGGHHH THIS IS SP GOOD!!!
also ur drawing on ibispaint?? ohh right the whole trip thing... I LOVE THEM!!! they hunt each other down for sport
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lesbianoctoling · 6 years ago
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I made a relationship chart for...SOME of my ocs (and ded)
I have too many so I got tired.
(Higher quality version in reblogs because I don’t want this kicked out of tags)
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lottafuckingshit · 6 years ago
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When you get to that part in Fly Octo Fly~
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rust-w0rks · 3 years ago
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im rust
I'm a nonbinary transmasc dudeguything and I make things sometimes whenever I feel like it. Mostly fanart but occasionally oc stuff every now and then
dni proshippers terfs bigots and the like i do not want you here please and thank you! Bye Bye
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Other Stuff I Like:
A Hat in Time
Five Nights at Freddy's
.flow (and yume nikki/ynfgs in general!!!)
Dragon Ball
Sonic The Hedgehog
Ratchet & Clank
Animal Crossing
Sly Cooper
Pizza Tower
OneShot
Splatoon
Night In The Woods
Super Mario
Psychopomp
No Straight Roads
Roblox
+ a billion other things I can't name off the top of my head LO
thanks for reading!!!!!!!! :D
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arins-art-alley · 7 months ago
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two silliess.... fuzzy callie (@possiblycringe 's) and rustyyy
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p-wrryyy-mordial-soup · 2 years ago
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before i forget heres all my current splatoon ocs that have refrences atleast, i will 100% be making more
i have many thoughts but very little way with words, maybe one day ill share info about them <33 except my salmonids i have alot i want to say about them, but in another post later prolly lol
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lilaqpetal · 2 years ago
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splatoon oc lore (inkie + blinkie, a.k.a 2TPOP)
warning: graphic imagery, description of vomit/heaving at the start, use of syringes/needles, violence in inkie flashback
the story of how one lost inkling met a runaway octoling, and their journey to escape the sewers they find themselves trapped in.. but it’s not as easy as they think it is.
this fic is entirely oc related! i am proud to have the blanket octoling inkie as my oc, whilst the firefly inkling blinkie belongs to @sadratatouille ! we created this entire lore story together in tiny chunks and i took it upon myself to finally write a full fledged story about it🫶 thank you for creating these ocs with me and indulging into splatoon brainrot with me <3
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a rotten smell intoxicated the air, blinkie didn’t recognise this smell in splatsville, but the moment it hit his nose, his reflexes kicked in and his eyes immediately opened. followed by this was his body reacting by itself, his airway closed and his diaphragm contracted, causing him to dry heave multiple times, retching whatever he could onto the ground. blinkie’s hands were planted on the ground, filthy discoloured water running over his fingers as he spat out foul-tasting bile, wiping his mouth with his sleeve after.
of course, this left a disgusting taste in his mouth, causing him to grimace. once he had finished retching, he struggled to stand up, but managed to finally rise to his feet, staring at what seemed to be sewage run past him.
“great! sewers, just great— and no way out..” blinkie groaned, grabbing his now ruined and creased notebook by his foot, soaked and covered in grime. the inkling sighed at the thought of his precious notes being ruined by such an accident. how did he even get down here? his memory was foggy and the only thing he could remember was walking near the overrun sewer drain, water divided from the rusted metal bars on the grate, before something had grabbed his leg, slipping him over the rails, pulling him down into the water— and now here he was.
blinkie wrung the water out of his sleeves and shorts, not so comfortable with the idea of trailing the mazes of the sewers in soggy clothes. the fact that he had managed to even get lost down here alone was enough to roll the cold sensation of shivers down his spine, the echoes of sewage and waste splashing against the walls becoming louder due to the isolation and deafening silence where blinkie stood— emphasising and almost mocking the fact he was alone and nobody was out to help him.
did anybody realise he had gone missing? did anybody even see him being taken away? somebody surely must have saw him being dragged away— yet, he wouldn’t be here if they had.
the only viable option he had was to walk through the desolate and dim tunnel he landed himself in.
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blinkie wasn’t sure how far he had walked, but he knew he had walked long enough for his legs to ache and his feet were now numb— too cold from the bitter chill the sewage water brought. so far through his travels, he had not found a way out— but what he found particularly odd was the scrap metal and broken mechanisms plus weaponry tossed carelessly near the walls of the sewers, almost as if some sort of life form lived here before his appearance. maybe they still remained, but blinkie didn’t like that lingering thought.
instead, as he wandered the tunnels, he noted down his discoveries with small key sketches beside them, the idea behind it being if he weren’t to make it out alive— somebody or something could find his notebook and discover what was hiding deep in the sewers. maybe then he’d get his justice.
blinkie didn’t like that thought either.
a subtle echo of a splash caught his attention, his eyes darting around the tunnel, searching for the source of the noise, before spotting a splotch of green ink beside his feet.. yet, it didn’t look like ink. this substance was much thicker than normal ink, and blinkie didn’t want to find out what it was, only where had come from. based on where the substance had stuck itself, the only way it could have gotten there was from above him, to which blinkie immediately lifted his head— and met eyes with a being he hadn’t thought existed, yet staring right at him was this very thing.
he couldn’t utter a word, only stare in fear and tighten his grip on his notebook a little more. piercing red orbs bore into his own, mouth secreting the very same green liquid beside his foot, as if it were drooling and ready to pounce. crooked teeth were visible, yet blinkie could recognise the iconic three fangs inklings would possess, but apart from those, the rest were square, jagged— almost like a salmonid’s. it’s hair was spiked too, yet possessed normal tentacles like an inkling did. another drop of saliva splattered onto blinkie’s cheek— yet, there was a stinging sensation where it lay, suggesting that this “ink” wasn’t safe— and neither was this salmonid-inkling hybrid.
it growled deeply, which caused blinkie to immediately scramble, the tainted sewage water splashing beneath his feet. he knew if he slowed down anytime soon, the hybrid chasing after him would catch him, and he would be as good as gone. the feeling of fear and dread settled into blinkie’s stomach, overwhelming his thoughts and tears began to brim at his eyes. please don’t kill me, i don’t wanna die! i’ve only just enrolled into turf war battles, please— whatever god is up there, hear me now and save me from this!
blinkie sharply turned a corner, arm colliding with the rotting concrete and the familiar feeling of pain shot through his arm, causing him to let out a harsh gasp, stumbling and dropping to the floor. with now a weak and throbbing arm, he couldn’t bring himself to lift up and off the ground, and the true feeling of fear began to engulf him— small cries and yells of agony and pleads of mercy coming from the inkling as he crawled, teeth gritted as his arm ached.
the salmonid-inkling crouched behind him, sharp nails pressing into both arms, drawing blood as it seeped through his jumper, causing blinkie to yell— this is where i die. i never even got to play r—
the familiar sound of an octoshot rang through the tunnel and the back of blinkie’s jumper became wet, and he realised something had splatted the hybrid behind him. someone had came to save him, he thought, yet when he looked up he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. a small, presumably, octoling girl, held her gun aimed, before gently resting it by her side, yet blinkie was confused how she even saw past the long tentacles covering her face.
it was as if she had heard his thoughts, and she quickly brushed a tentacle out of her face, revealing a singular left eye to blink at him. the octoling crept closer, but blinkie was still filled with fear, causing him to edge backwards away from her. she noted this, cautiously kneeling, before bringing a hand out.
“…..safe.” she mumbled through broken inklish, and blinkie noted she had the uniform of an octarian, yet it was dishevelled and dirty. he hadn’t noticed how heavy he was breathing until he had finally calmed down from the sudden attack, now slowing his breathing as the throb of pain in his arm dulled. he pulled himself towards her, shakily taking her hand.
“..thank you— y-you saved my life! i thought i was a goner—“ she placed a hand on his mouth, glancing at him through the slit between her tentacles.
“too much. talk less.” despite the language barrier, she had managed to communicate through basic words, yet such words were so harsh for a basic greeting.
“sorry… but— do you, uh.. have a name?” blinkie managed to stand up with the help of her hand, and she wiped the dust and water droplets off her knees. the octoling shook her head, arms wrapped around herself due to the biting cold air surrounding them.
“no name, only number.”
blinkie thought for a moment, before placing a hand on her shoulder.
“well, let’s call you inkie. i’m blinkie, it’s nice to meet you after you saved me from certain death.”
inkie peered at him, before breaking into a wide, toothy grin.
“inkie. nice meet you.”
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a growl emitted from blinkie’s stomach, making the inkling remember that he hadn’t brought any snacks along with him like usual, causing him to grumble. he turned his head to inkie, who was walking beside him, octoshot in hand.
“hey.. inkie?” he gave a nervous laugh, to which the octoling turned her head to face him as he walked, lifting a tentacle from her face. “do you perhaps.. have anything to eat on you?”
she furrowed her eyebrows and blinkie could see the cog wheels turning in her head, translating what he had said in her head to octolish, before bringing out crinkled pieces of tinfoil from her pocket. blinkie peered at the contents in her hand.
“gum. mango.” she ushered the foil towards him. “not much. will provide.” he took a singular strip, unwrapping it and popping it into his mouth, letting the heavenly flavour of mango sweetener kick his tastebuds into action. blinkie thanked the octoling, and she hummed in response whilst chewing on her own.
after a while, the two stopped to take a necessary break after walking for an unknown period of time. inkie sat on a dry spot of concrete, resting her octoshot by her and bringing her knees up to hug them. blinkie leaned against the wall, arms folded as he took notice of the girl beside him. he hadn’t had a chance to look at her properly, but now he did— and he began to notice little details. the way her tentacles reflected whatever light illuminated the tunnel they were in, how her front tentacles were pink, whilst the back were green— the same colour as what the salmonid-inkling hybrid drooled. blinkie began to reach a hand out to touch them, but inkie instinctively flinched, arms protecting her head.
“…how’d you get different coloured tentacles?.. did you dye them?” he knew it seemed to be a touchy subject, but blinkie couldn’t help but ask. curiosity killed the cat, of course. inkie’s eye softened and she lowered her arms, head resting on her knees.
“testing. octarians want power. use sanitised ink on us. i failed. i ran.” even despite the language barrier, blinkie pieced together what information she had given him, before it finally clicked his head.
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“test subject 304, are you ready for the experiment?”
the octoling gave a simple nod, sitting up from the lone bed that lay in her cell. her wrists were cuffed, red lines where they had dug into her skin remained. she gave a final glance back at her cell. perhaps she wouldn’t miss this cell as much as she thought she would, considering how bland it looked from the outside.
“alright, follow me.” her superior sighed, tapping the clipboard she held with her pen, fixing the seaweed in her hair before beginning to walk away with the girl behind. 304 looked at the posters and stickers plastered on the wall, noting how dirty they had become from being uncared for. “serve for octavio!” “become sanitised today, make an effort for the octarians!” “fight on! we shall get back what’s rightfully ours!” what a laugh.
304 didn’t believe a singular word behind these propaganda posters. she knew the true horrors from being front line fighting against inklings. serving for octavio didn’t mean anything. you were giving your life for nothing, what difference did it make for you to be sanitised?
yet 304 still applied.
“alright, 304. we’ll take off your cuffs and if you just sit right here, we’ll get your injection of sanitised ink soon.” her superior entered a pin into the cuffs and soon they clicked, dropping off her wrists and 304 was relieved with the freedom she had. she did as she was instructed, sitting down upon the white leather chair— which upon resting, wasn’t as comfortable as it looked.
the room was filled with silence for a while, the buzz of the overhead air conditioning whizzing through the vents, which surprisingly made 304 feel at peace— going as far as to yawn. she felt too comfortable here.
“okay, 304– was it?” a different superior came in, this time it was a male superior. he grinned at 304. in his hand was a syringe of a pale green liquid. “are you ready to be sanitised?“
the subject nodded, smiling in return. “oh, octolings need to be more like you. so willing and co-operative. we’d have that damn zapfish if we just had multiple octolings like you. you ever thought of becoming a superior yourself when you’re older?” he laughed almost, taking the safety cap off of the needle and flicking it slightly, the ink juicing from the tip. she wouldn’t dare become a superior. she’s seen the hardships they’ve had to suffer through and she’d be more likely to be struck by lightning than become a superior.
“maybe. i don’t think i’m suitable for the role of a superior.”
“oh, 304, you do make me laugh,” he pat her shoulder, shaking his head. 304 carefully rolled his hand off, laughing nervously in return. “now, enough chit chat, this’ll only pinch a little.”
the superior carefully inserted the syringe into her shoulder, injecting the ink into her bloodstream. at first, 304 didn’t feel anything, but then a sharp pain struck through her head— more painful than any headache or migraine she felt, causing her to let out a blood-curdling scream. the octoling clutched her tentacles, breathing heavily and gritting her teeth.
“now now 304, the pain will subside soon. it should fade just now,” he spoke gently, but in fact— the pain didn’t leave at all. it resided in her head, and 304 lurched off of the leather seat, back arching before she collapsed back onto the chair, wreathing. her superior panicked, restraining her down with his hands. “304, i need you to stop moving! i need to give you another dose—“
but 304 did not stop struggling. 304 kicked her new superior, causing him to knock back, holding his side in which she kicked. 304 grabbed a nearby syringe with the same liquid, letting out one final cry before stabbing it straight into his jugular, the octoling gargling whilst 304 injected the ink into his blood stream, before removing the syringe. the superior clawed at his throat, choking and spluttering from the unrecognised substance now in his bloodstream, and now it was 304’s turn to panic. dropping the syringe, 304 quickly limped past, stumbling as she ran towards the door, shakily entering the password as fast as she could— before escaping the experiment room.
an alarm sounded through the laboratory, almost deafening 304- meaning the liquid must have heightened her hearing range, causing her to cover her ears as she raced past monotone white rooms. “warning, failed sanitised octoling has escaped. warning. 304 has escaped her experiment, warning—“
304 whipped her head around, before quickly turning a corner, sliding across the tiles before scrambling to get back up and she could already hear echoing footsteps nearing from each end of the hallway— so, in the heat of the moment, she crashed through the nearby window, folding her arms around herself and bracing for the impact of the concrete ground..
a high-pitched ringing blared through her ears, before her surroundings faded from white, to gray, to black.
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“and then.. you found the sewers?” inkie nodded. “oh.. i’m sorry you had to go through that.”
“ ‘m okay… we will live.” her sudden hope warmed blinkie’s heart, causing the inkling to grin in return.
“yeah. yeah we will,” blinkie stood up, wiping the dust off of his knees, turning to look at inkie. “hey, i’m gonna go look around and see if there’s any sign of an escape, okay? you just stay here.”
inkie grabbed blinkie’s arm swiftly, picking up her octoshot and handing it to him. “safety.”
the inkling chuckled, examining the gun in hand. the pink ink inside the translucent container swirled as he held it. inkie attached her ink bag to his back, tightening it to fit his shoulders before she pat his back.
“well then, i’ll be off. keep yourself safe, okay inks?” blinkie’s eyes softened, smiling softly at the octoling. the girl grinned back, beaming at the nickname, before pulling the inkling into a gentle embrace.
“kind. i like you, bli.”
the two giggled, before blinkie took his leave, walking a short distance before turning right.
inkie hadn’t met an inkling so nice to her. every inkling she had met, or well, fought, hated her. they looked at her as if she was scum of the earth, as if she was inferior. truly, she didn’t mean any harm— she wanted to live life beside them if anything, yet, with the octolings and inklings being so opposed to each other, some people hated the idea of both species living in harmony..
and now, she met someone that viewed her as if she were one of theirs.
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inkie had fallen asleep, and she had only woken up by a piercing, echoey scream coming from a short distance away from her, which was a warning sign that something wasn’t right. once she had come to her senses, she lifted herself off of her feet, tiredly but steadily racing towards the source of the noise, fearing what sight she might have to behold. was inkie injured? had inkie died? no. no, that couldn’t have been possible, she had given him her gun, he can’t have—
inkie stopped in her tracks, water rippling around her boots as through the small slit of the parting of her tentacles, she spotted blinkie: wreathing and shaking on the floor, hands pressed into his eyes as he shrieked loudly. through the tight spaces of his palms, inkie noticed small tears streaming down his cheek, signifying something was definitely not right.
“b—bli?” she barely managed to whisper his nickname. her octoshot and ink bag were scattered on the floor beside him, another salmonid-inkling hybrid crouched by his side— barely a drop of ink covering its skin. it took notice of the octoling in front, baring its teeth before it sprung into action, dashing towards her but with her delayed reaction, she just barely spun to the side, letting the hybrid scuttle past her before it used it’s nails to drift and turn. inkie sprinted to her gun as blinkie continued to screech beside her, to which she quickly grabbed the octoshot and turned around, shooting the hybrid directly to the face. it let out an ear-splitting cry, before it exploded into the same green substance inkie recognised from the day she met blinkie.
the octoling took a few seconds to regain her breath, before quickly kneeling beside blinkie, shaking his shoulders. “bli! bli—“
“inks— inkie, my eyes—“ inkie removed his hands off of his eyes, to which her own widened, tears brimming at the edges of her lashes. “i can’t see, inks— is that you?”
what once was the gorgeous blue inkie had never seen before was now a dull fading white, green ink splotching over the edges of his eyeballs. inkie concluded that the hybrid had managed to land a blow of ink to his eyes and this had caused damage to them, ultimately blinding him. inkie’s hands shook as she held his, droplets of tears splattering onto his cheeks as she sobbed, before holding his face in one of her hands, thumb rubbing his cheek.
“i’m here. i’m here, bli! we leave.. we leave now,”she choked on her own sobs, lifting blinkie up and wrapping an arm around him, resting his own on her back so she could support him after slipping her ink bag on one shoulder, holding her octoshot in her right hand. “it’s okay, i got you…”
inkie managed to walk whilst supporting an injured blinkie, every step she took felt heavy and every second felt an eternity. she prayed, wished and hoped an exit would be nearby, and fortunately, whatever god was up there heard her prayers during this desperate time, because after several minutes of walking with the fear of being attacked, light shone on the water below them— causing inkie to look up.
a sewer gate.
“bli! you sit, i go!” she leant the inkling against the wall, who whimpered from his lack of vision, hands grasping at inkie’s arm.
“don’t go, inks. i can’t see you.”
“i will be here. always.” she pressed her forehead against his, before brushing her tentacles back and looking up at the gate, gathering nearby scraps and metals to stack before climbing them, bumping her head on the gate before (with much effort) lifting the gate and pushing it to the side, peeking her head up and looking around.
“safe! come on!” she descended the small tower, taking off her ink bag and dropping her octoshot, picking blinkie up on her back. “hold me. i carry you.”
blinkie did as he was told, holding tightly onto inkie as she climbed the tower once more, before lifting the two of them out of the manhole and onto the concrete ground. the sound of trains overhead slid by, shop doors jingling as people entered and left and gentle music playing through the street. blinkie hiccuped, and inkie turned to look behind her, seeing the boy crying, pressing his face into her shirt.
“we’re in splatsville. it’s over.”
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fin.
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tertiaryapocalypse · 3 years ago
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[id: a full body drawing of op, a short thin chinese and white boy with tan skin. he has assorted beauty marks, and scrapes and bruises on his knees and knuckles. he has a nose bleed. his hair is short and messy, and is mostly brown with a red streak. he has red eyes, snake bite piercings, earrings, a spiked choker, and a beaded bracelet. he wears a black lemon demon shirt, black basketball shorts, and red and black dirty converse. he stands with his hands raised in front of his midsection, similar to a trex, and wears a neutral expression.
next to him is a bunch of text detailing info about him. his names are dirk and roswell and he uses he/him pronouns. he likes men, video games, rats, burgers, aliens, OCs, and robotics, and he dislikes chemistry and pop music. his fandoms are homestuck, night in the woods, our flag means death, tss, and splatoon. his favorite songs are: maud gone, converse county, DESTROYA, bitchboy, and alien blues. the text is a tooth yellow color and the background is a rusted red. end id.]
a meet the artist. for fun yk
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rhapsody-crossing · 7 years ago
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S2: IYHO Tournament - A Reflection [Part 1]
Splatoon 2: Ink Your Heart Out Tournament - A Reflection (Full series can be read under this tag)
On 26th May 2018, Malaysia held its first online Splatoon 2 tournament called Ink Your Heart Out. The tournament was organised by a small group of friends in hopes to raise awareness for Splatoon 2 as well as to liven up things in Splatoon Community Malaysia. 
Turf War-- a 4v4 mode in which victory is decided upon which team inked majority of the ground-- was the chosen mode for the tournament to lower the barrier of entry, allowing players both experienced and new to join.  
In the midst of trying to get friends into forming groups for the tourney, I got roped into a team myself and begun a memorable journey that I’d hope to eternalise here:
0) Team Members
slap - The captain of the team (who doesn’t act like captain). If life is an anime, slap is more of a bulliable/butt monkey character of the team where we poke fun of him (in an affectionate manner). Likes drawing holes on the corner. Can be serious when he wants to. Uses Dynamo Roller.
louhai - Enthusiastic Ink Brush user, a social butterfly. His positivity is infectious and inspiring to both his teammates and opponents. His gung-ho attitude makes up for his inexperience; he’s always eager to fight strong opponents as it empowers him to improve his combat skills. All these qualities was why I roped him into the tournament.
Low - Skilled Dualies user, and one of the main reasons I was roped into this team. His participation in something competitive comes as a surprise, but Low is a companion I trust to fight by my side. As a S ranker, his combat skills is honed to the point of being instinctive. Our team’s main slayer.
FreedomTan - Affectionately known as Furi to us. A single registrant who was adopted by our team one week before the tournament. Her inclusion into our team was a blessing in disguise. As another S ranker, her skills greatly supports the team. Uses Octobrush and Clash Blaster.
And then, there’s me. I took one for the team by playing NZap 89. Unlike the others (whose role is to have fun/kill as many as they want), my role was to turf and harass others with Tenta missles. I would like to think of myself as the mediator who balances all, the grandmother who is attune to my team’s feelings, the bridge that connects everyone, the information gatherer, trainer, and a bit of a schemer.
1) How did it started?
It all started with me trying to encourage friends to join, but the ball started rolling when slap invited Low. There were some... complications which will not be addressed here just to be safe, but all was resolved with the blessing of an organiser, and I then joined the team.
With three members on the tow, we needed one more. We invited louhai.
slap was chosen to be captain because Low can’t due to reasons, I’m part of the organising committee (OC) and wanted to give myself some leeway in case I had to help out with the tourney, and louhai have three kids to raise. Admittedly, I’d hoped that him being a captain would also give him some form of responsibility it didn’t.
Almighty Goddess was what slap named our team, West Mountain Tofu was what louhai wanted. Low voted for the former, I changed our team’s name to the latter due to having OC rights, hah.
2) Inner Struggles
In the beginning, team morale was pretty easygoing. slap and louhai were really chill about the tourney, especially with Low and I on team. It’s infuriating but very human.
Aside from Low, each members have their struggles.
slap's major struggle was shaking off skill rust and motivation. The tournament is especially hard on slap as he struggles to shake off the rust on his skills, it’s admirable that he tried but he could never really play Splattershot Pro like he used to. His greatest nemesis isn’t other opponents, but the shadow of his former self... and this affects his motivation. 
louhai’s struggle is his inexperience in the game itself. He shook off his rust easily despite not playing for so long, and using Ink Brush gave him strength as said weapon was inspired by a certain strong Singapore player. The major problem was his gap of knowledge that could have made his life easier, but he makes up for it with his willing-to-learn(-as-long-as-it’s-simple-enough-to-understand) attitude and has high motivation to do so.
My struggle, though, was using NZap 89. As I’m used to weapons that doesn’t require much aiming (Tri-Slosher, Roller, Rapid Blaster), NZap was a pain to use. Fortunately, I played more of a support role... but sometimes, it could take its toll on motivation. 
In my experience, playing a support role means accepting to be an unsung hero. Players will generally be awed at people’s strength, reflex and skill. Everyone wants to be a hero, making high kill counts and shit. In my early tRO experience, everyone wants to be an Emperium breaker so that their names will be broadcasted throughout server when they broke the Emperium. No one gives a shit on support roles because it’s boring when support roles are usually what defends the castle, heals one's wounds, turfs the ground, provides escape routes, or splats someone behind your comrade’s back. 
Yet, sometimes, it’s enough when it’s just one person who knows what you’re doing and believes in you. As such, I appreciated Low’s presence in the team, for he was the only teammate who understood the value of support, and that itself was enough for me to be strong for others.
3) Two Weeks Before Tourney - Making the Gears Turn
It was agreed that everyone really wanted the eshop $20 prizes. So everyone's here to win. Therefore, our goals seems to be aligned!
On that particular month, there were three consecutive weeks (instead of following the usual once a month pattern) of TMNT themed Splatfests, which was a blessing as it gives tons of Super Sea Snails and allows us to train as a team. To explain, one cannot team up with friends in normal Turf War modes (you can be in the same room, but 4v4 match-ups are random), one can only do so during Splatfest. We had a pretty good run on 1st Splatfest, but that only bolsters too much confidence on the other two, prompting one to skip the 2nd Splatfest. 3rd Splatfest practice was bad due to connection error hell.
In order to keep the team on their toes, daily training sessions with other teams were organised two weeks before the tourney.
I had thought that having a routine session may instilled some form of discipline and interest in polishing their skills. It certainly worked on louhai (who would then develop a habit to challenge others PERSONALLY like a shounen anime hero), but not so much on slap (no, his struggles were more personal, and required more reflection on his part). 
We continuously trained with other teams. Ipoh team, GuGu Clan (one of the official tourney participants), MwS. Strategies were changed, limits were tested. I dropped tri-slosher and opted for NZap 89, Low continued honing his dualies skill, slap tried to work off his rust and settled in learning Dynamo Roller, louhai swapped Ink Brush Noveau for Ink Brush.
Beginning was hard, having to work through a team's... dismotivation? It just feels that the team wouldn't budge unless they were told to do so, which was in turn worrisome.
Team practice was exciting, but the constant matches ate into my sleeping time. By the time Wednesday came, I was tired and on the verge of burning out, I came to the point where I thought that maybe I'll just take a break, because I was tired and everyone's probably tired, and I couldn't win this, I couldn't beat their dismotivation.
Turns out that when one gear spins, the other gears spin as well. Because come Thursday, louhai excitedly told he found us a Singapore team to practice with, and slap even used my words of encouragement to him on me, something like polishing skills together. It is unsure whether the latter is saying it out of sarcasm or he felt my efforts indeed, but I took it as a nourishment and fought on.
4) One Week Before Tourney - Gears Connected
Word has it that everyone except one registrant found a team.
On Monday, one of the organizers came to us and ask if it's alright to adopt this single registrant. We agreed. Personally, I feel that this decision set us to a path of victory.
Admittedly, I was worried. There are only 4 prizes, and Spla2n in general is a 4v4 game. If one joins in, there is a chance that one person will not get the prize... but the feeling of not being able to find a team despite their interest is worse, and I thought that if we had to cross that bridge, I would probably give up mine to this newcomer as long as they contributed.
Nevertheless, the inclusion of Freedom gives me more excuse to organize more practice to test out team dynamics, and in terms of motivation and skills, Furi was a firepower to be reckoned with. (P.S. the nickname Furi was derived from my attempts to romanize Freedom’s name into Japanese (Furidomu), it picked up; also doubles as a subtle pun on what a Fury she is). 
However, the inclusion of Furi also lowered slap and louhai's confidence, who thought their skills as inferior. slap turned to the corner more often, and louhai offered to be a sub due to their somewhat similar main weapons (Furi mains Octobrush, louhai mains Ink Brush). Low and I put a stop to those attitude and utilized this opportunity to make slap work hard.
On Tuesday, we trained with MwS. 
On Wednesday, our team also received a wake-up call in the name of Team Avengers, and to be honest, I half expected that. Sapphire is an S ranker, Fishy is brilliant at support, Meizi is an aggressive vanguard. Meanwhile, they have a new member name Maiki but her positioning is top-notched and her aim is true. We had a rocky beginning of losses, only to end with some victories in the end. At this time of writing, I forgot the main reason of our loss. Low reminded me that the missing puzzle was “me”, that I wasn’t in battle until one of our members went to bed... but I vaguely recalled that Low wasn’t in battle either? Or perhaps we had rotate spectates that not all three experienced players are playing together...? Nevertheless, the fact that we won gave us great confidence that the final prize would be ours.
On Thursday, the desire to improve further caused louhai to discover the finer details of gear abilities. Due to his confusion in our attempts to explain re-rolling and add abilities, I wrote him a guide that he never read. I decided to let him stumble his way through the game, because it’s how he learns best.
We trained with Team 7 (who is not in their full power) and LittleSotongs (who is in their full power). The training allowed us to ascertain their skills, and our confidence grew tenfolds more.
On Friday, I took a break from training to attend OceanInk Battle (https://www.twitch.tv/videos/265356637) as a Knife and Banana member.
Saturday was the day of the fateful tournament...
To be Continued...
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arins-art-alley · 7 months ago
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more of fuzzy callie and rust... they are not fucked up...#toxicyuri
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song is complex by xana lolol they're fucked. fuzzy callie wants a salmonid, rust will do it. fuzzy callie sees a tasty looking squid, rust will do it. rust is a dog to her and fuzzy callie knows.
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arins-art-alley · 8 months ago
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calrust sillies
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