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solar-sparky · 6 months ago

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Surprise!

You guys finally get a little bit of my character's lore/story!

I wanted to do something simple to start, just how my Neo 3 meets their roommate.

(I haven't written something in like 2 years, so my apologies if anything is amiss. I reread multiple times and sometimes I still do not catch stuff :')

Another grueling shift at Grizzco, it’s really nothing new for Harper. At such a high EVP rank they are tasked with handling the most dangerous sightings of Salmonids. It's not a job a person would willingly take, but sometimes you need to do whatever you can to get by.

“Nice work today Harper!” It was one of their coworkers from today's shift calling from across the locker room, waving with a grin on their face. They were just about finished with changing out of their uniform.

“Thanks.” Harper sighed as they took off their boots to hang up on the drying rack. They weren't one for talking, especially not with anyone at Grizzco. It's not that they don’t like anyone, it's just a shady business and people go missing all the time. Your next shift might be your last, it's best not to get close to anyone.

“Never expected to see Grillers today. Man those little guys were everywhere, huh?” Harper let out a small grunt in acknowledgement. The coworker approaches them, “Hey man if you want, me and the others are gonna go out tonight, you want to tag along?” They were neatly folding up all the chords that hook up to the harness of their suit.

Harper was busy wiping off their hardhat, they quickly glanced up at the inkling standing in front of them, “Ah… I’ve got stuff to do tonight, thanks though.” Their speech falling into a mumble.

“Alright, if you need anything or want to do anything I’m always down too!” The Inkling headed back towards their open locker to finish up and head out. They seem kind but it’s hard to tell if they understand the dangers of what they are doing. “‘Cya!”

Harper sent them off with a single wave of their hand.

Trading in the capsules was always interesting. The slight bit of randomness of bonuses made it fun, but the guaranteed pay was always there. This time it was decent, enough for rent and the usual groceries, plus a couple of concession stand tickets to sell off for a small bit of extra cash. Harper hopes to find a better job soon, maybe even move out of their cramped apartment. Anything extra will go a long way.

As they exit the building, the light from the setting sun hits Harper's eyes. The dim lighting of the Grizzco building is always a stark contrast to the outside no matter what time of sunlight it is. You know, at least the city air was much better than the stench of the Salmonid zones. Before they head back to their place, they have to stop by the community bulletin board to see if any tabs have been ripped off their roommate vacancy poster. It has only been a few days since posting it, but not a single bite.

Walking closer to the board, they notice an Octoling, tall and well-built, standing at the board, squinting at each posting, using their finger to follow along.

I’ve never seen this guy around before… As Harper draws closer, they can see them mouthing some of the words on the posters.

“Hey,” Harper speaks up, “do you need somethin’?”

Parts of their tentacles spike up at Harper's voice, the stranger swiftly turns around towards them, staring wide-eyed like a startled creature. Harper asks again, “Hey if you’re done here, I need to check my… paper?” Before they could squeeze by, the blue Octoling grabs Harper’s paper off the board and starts reading it out.

“Looking for... roommate…” Their pronunciation was not good to put it lightly, definitely someone from out of town. They slowly lower the paper down, their yellow eyes looking from over the poster back down at Harper.

“Well?” Harper shrugged with an annoyed expression on their face, they don't really have the time for this, “I need to know if you are interested or not cause I~” Another set of yellow eyes, this time much bigger, appear from behind the Octolings legs, grabbing Harper's attention. It was a smallfry of a Stinger class Salmonid, peering up at them.

“~I think we should go. We’ll talk about it, okay?” Harper frantically grabs the Octoling by the arm and starts pulling them away quickly, the smallfry following behind jumps up onto the Octoling.

I think I have a pretty good idea at what this guys deal is; Not fluent in Inklish, followed by a salmon? They're probably from that area near Spawning Grounds. Harper and this strange Octoling had been walking down the streets in silence for a couple of minutes. The Octoling was looking at almost everything, they were in awe at the city's tall buildings, busy streets, and the amount of residents that live here in Splatsville. Each place that caught their eye, they would stop and look at for a bit before rushing to catch back up to Harper. Maybe the sounds of chatter, cars, planes and the above head monorail were a bit much for them, but nonetheless they seemed to be enjoying themselves on this walk.

“Uhmm… Nice. Uhh, s-sky today?” Breaking the silence between the two, the Octoling stutters, fidgeting with their hands and eyes wandering. Seems like they only know a few words in Inklish but not even close to enough for a proper sentence. “You uhmm, like…” Their sentence trails off as they begin to mutter in a different language.

Salmonid! Well that makes it much easier. From their time at Grizzco they’ve heard and learned how to speak Salmonid. It isn't required at all to work but you can listen to conversations to know what plan of action to expect next, giving you and your teammates the advantage. The Octoling begins to open their mouth, but before they can say anything, Harper clears their throat and cuts them off, “You don’t need to do that.”

“You speak Salmonid?” Once again surprised, the Octoling this time slowly turns their head to face Harper.

“‘Picked it up, yeah.” Harper says with a shrug and a roll of their eyes. Salmonid was extremely different in comparison to Inklish, if it's not your first language then it is very hard to learn.

The Octoling breathes a deep sigh of relief, they didn't have to fumble around with their words. “Oh thank Coho, no one else around here can understand let alone speak my language!” Their voice is rough and loud but shows a lot of emotion. They seem very excited at Harper’s ability to speak Salmonid. “Your pronunciation seems great but I can tell it's not your first language.”

“So, why are you here?” Harper asks as the two continue their walk down the street.

“Ah my mother told me that I must find people like myself, so I was curious. We spotted this city on the horizon and crossed part of the desert to get here. We got here 2 days ago?” They look over at their Salmonid companion who nods in agreement. “Yeah, 2 days ago. Haven't been in this part of town though.”

Crossing the desert from the sea to the city is no easy feat, and this Octoling did it in nothing but the wraps on their feet. A bit taken aback by this fact Harper asks another question, “How did you end up near that orange building?”

“Smelt like home! Soap here darted straight for it.” The Salmonid smiles and bows their head in shyness.

Harper pauses their walk and shakes their head, “‘Smelt like home-’? Just don't go near that building, okay?” their ears point backwards in anxiousness.

The Octoling looks puzzled, “Why not?”

I don't think they’ve seen any Grizzco workers before, otherwise they might’ve known. “Ehhh you wouldn't like it, especially them, Soap or whatever.” Harper gestures towards the small Salmonid sitting on the Octolings shoulder, it waves in response. They continue onward through a thin alleyway and the Octoling jogs to catch up with them.

“Oh my apologies, do you want my name?” The Octoling says from behind.

“Shoot.”

“My name is ‘The Octopus Who Listens to Crickets Chirp’, but you can just call me Cricket.” Cricket holds out their hand with a grin on their face, the fangs of their beak sticking over their lips on either side, one pointing up, the other pointing down.

Not from around Spawning Grounds, they're actually from a school… Harper slowly reaches out their hand almost hesitantly and shakes Crickets hand. “... Harper.”

“Well Cricket, I don't know if you understood anything I said before but I am looking for a roommate. Do you need a place to stay or…” Harper tilts their head towards the apartment building from across a courtyard filled with grass patches and walkways.

“Ahh that's what that sign was for!” Cricket laughs a bit, “I haven't been under a roof in a couple days so sure!”

About a 15 minute walk from the Grizzco building, the apartment that Harper lives in is found in a more quiet part of Splatsville, away from the main hub at least. The building itself isn't new but it's not too old either, it's well kept. Walking up the stairwell, Cricket was still looking around with curiosity even though it's just a room with light grey walls and stairs. Harper’s room is on the 4th floor, not the top floor but fairly close. Harper pulls out their lanyard with their keys and unlocks the door.

“Here we are, it's not much but- Oh watch for Crumb.” A small yellow blob making a noise sounding like a mix of chirping and purring approaches the front door. It was Harper's sea slug, who was always excited when Harper returned home. Cricket picks up the creature, holding it out in front of them. It squirms out of its grip and runs up their arm to their shoulder and presses its face against Crickets.

“Yeah, uhmm, it's not much but it's enough.” Harper takes off their hat and shoves it into the sleeve of their jacket. “If you can wait for a bit, I can get dinner ready.” Harper flicks on the light switch revealing a small apartment room.

Crumb was still rubbing its face on Crickets, “That would be handy.”

They finally pick up Crumb and place it on the ground where it continues to brush up against Cricket's legs. Harper looks down at it with a somber smile. It follows Cricket as they walk out of the entryway.

“You can just- Yeah.” Not having much in terms of outside wear, Cricket begins to explore the apartment; A living space to the right of the entry hall with a very shallow balcony outside, a large L-shaped couch takes up a lot of space and is used as a sort of barrier to create a room. A small flat screen TV stands on a unit containing cases for DVDs and a few older looking electronics with one fairly new looking game console placed right underneath the TV. The kitchen was across the way from the living space with the usual amenities and a small bar-like seating area. From there, there is a hallway leading to 3 other rooms, one of which, Cricket watched Harper disappear into.

Cricket could get used to this, they didn’t really have this kind of living space before. While it was much smaller than their families living quarters due in part to not having to share with huge fish, this one felt cozy and well lived in.

A couple minutes later, Harper begins to make dinner. “Anything to drink?” They ask Cricket who was sitting on the other side of the counter, messing around with a bowl and some packets.

“Water is fine for me.” Without another word Harper begins to fill two glasses with water from their water filter. It was quiet, aside from the sound of a bubbling kettle. With a click, the rumbling starts to fade.

“I’ve noticed that your storage cabinet is full of these strange bowls, you don't eat these every day do you?” Cricket asks with a concerned frown on their face as Harper starts to pour in the hot water into the bowl of dried noodles and powder. They place a plate upside down to cover the top of the bowl.

“Well they are quick and easy, and I like them so yeah, most days.” Harper begins to do the same with their own bowl of noodles, packets, then water, then cover.

Cricket slams their fist on the counter top and snaps their fingers, “That must be why you look sickly!” Harper does a near spit take, instead choking on their water due to Cricket’s sudden connection. “Where are your essential food groups? Any vegetables and meats?”

Very caught off guard, Harper is still coughing, “Uhm-” they finally clear their throat but still speak in a wince, “Excuse me, it’s expensive.”

“Huh, can you not just grow it?” Cricket asks as they watch Harper take another drink from their glass to try and clear their throat more.

“That would be even more expensive and take time and I don't really have that.”

“I see...” Cricket sounded a bit defeated. Food was important, almost sacred to them and the first person they can talk to has a problem with acquiring healthy ingredients? They had to do something about it. Harper looks over at them, Cricket was clearly thinking about something by the look on their face.

When the noodles were ready, the two ate in relative silence, Cricket occasionally chiming in with something to say. It was different for Harper, their past roommate didn't talk much, as such they grew accustomed to the silence. It was nice to hear someone else's voice though and Cricket seemed like the kinda guy you find at a bar and have a really nice conversation with then never see again, but they’d be seeing them everyday now. Despite their comment earlier, they are very polite and well-mannered. It was a nice change of pace for Harper and they could definitely get used to it.

The next morning, around 8am, Harper woke up early to an unusually pleasant smell. Perhaps it was just from some food shop down the street but, no, it doesn't smell this good unless there’s splatfest prep going on. Harper rolls over to see that the bed across the room was empty, Cricket was nowhere to be seen. It didn’t concern them too much however, they probably just got up earlier than them. As Harper sat up, Crumb crawled on over to greet Harper good morning as they stretched.

Stepping out of the bedroom the smell was even stronger. Harper stumbled over to the kitchen as at this point it was the only place for the source of this smell.

Well there was Cricket, humming to themselves as they stood over the stove. Soap was on the counter bringing over an egg to Cricket.

Harper stood across from the counter flabbergasted, they rubbed their eyes both in tiredness and to check if they were seeing correctly. “What are you doing?! Did you use my stuff?”

Cricket turned around still holding the pan over the burner. “Not at all! You barely had anything anyways.” They teased while waving a spatula around, their voice was too loud and energetic for the morning.

Harper looked around the kitchen a bit more, there were three bowls filled with rice, one being smaller. On top of the rice that was already sprinkled with seaweed and sesame seeds, each serving had some perfectly fried canned meat slices. Harper started rubbing their face in shock, “Then where did you- How.”

“Ah! I woke up much earlier than you so I went for a walk. I noticed that some old folks at a market down the street needed some help with some crates,” Cricket continued as they walked over to put a fried egg in each bowl, “so I offered to help them and they gave me some stuff!”

Putting the pan into the sink to wash later, Cricket grabs the bowls and places them on the bar counter which was already set with condiments and other toppings that Soap presumably set up.

“Well, do you want some or not?” Cricket points the spatula at Harper before placing it in the sink.

Harper stood there speechless, their mouth open. They sat down on one of the bar stools and brought a bowl and pair of chopsticks closer to them. Cricket gives them a smile before walking around to the other side to join Harper in breakfast. Cricket gives their thanks before eating. Harper breaks the egg’s yolk and lets it seep into the rice, they take a piece of the egg, some rice and some of the meat.

“It's… Good.” Harper's eyes widen, it's really good in fact everything is cooked and seasoned perfectly, that and Harper hasn't had a good home cooked meal in a while. Their usual breakfast just consists of either toast or cereal.

“Mmm, I’m glad! Learned from only the best!” Cricket grins, their mouth partially full of food, they weren’t expecting Harper to say anything.

Of course this tastes good, this guy was raised by Salmonids. Harper thought. It was nice to share a genuine meal with someone again after a while. They’ve only known Cricket for less than a day, but they’ve already grown to really appreciate them. Even though Harper is also a stranger to them, Cricket just treats them like a friend they’ve known for years.

Harper pulls out their phone from their pocket to check the time. “Oh I’ll take the leftovers with me to work,” Harper stands up and brings the bowl over to the other side of the counter, “Thanks.” Cricket was still eating their bowl, so was Soap. Harper would love to stay around to finish but it was getting closer to their clock-in time.

“Don’t worry, I’ll clean up when we’re done.” Cricket says. Harper puts their extras into a container, and quickly feeds Crumb before they leave.

As they finished packing up their stuff for the day and while putting on their jacket, Harper asks Cricket one more thing, “Do you want to make dinner?” They sound shy in their request.

Once again caught off guard by Harper’s question, “Of course!” Cricket excitedly says.

Harper smiles at them before they shut the front door and head off to work.

#splatoon #solarsparkyart #splatoon oc #neo agent 3 #solarsparkyswriting

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