#if you ask what all octarians have in common

[worldsewage]

what's the home run au?? pretty please infodump!! /genpos /nf

The HOMERUN au is what I want to call a Salmonid and Inkling swap au, but eventually became so convoluted it’s now it’s own separate thing.

I’m glad this ask exists because I will be using it as a pseudo pinned… until I get that… figured out… ⛩️ thank you! I’ll be splitting the main ideas into parts, (and chances are any unanswered questions will be answered later! I want to explore this au in little lore tidbits, so please be patient with me! But don’t be afraid to ask!)

Idol / Agent lore will be explained in mini comics and posts… :] but as for what the Homerun au actually is…?

I’ll explain everything under the cut!

THE GREAT TURF WAR:

During the Great Turf War— inklings and octolings were at a horrible stand still, resources and morale is low due to the two warring species exhausting themselves. The waterline rises high (WAY higher then canon) wiping out the lands they’re fighting for and reducing the habitable lands into waterlogged territories that are too dangerous and flood-prone for either species to survive… the war ended with Salmonids on the rise, dominating the lands, and nearly wiping out both species thanks to the ocean and the brute strength and resources they had.

Because of this inkling territory is very small— but still succeeded in claiming land, unlike the Octarian, which were forced to retreat to the wastelands— the wastelands are devoid of life, but worse, flooded and horribly weathered.

Relationships between the warring species goes as this: Politically, all of the species are enemies, but at this current state, have no real reasons to continue fighting.

Salmonoids are trying to “mend the relations between Cephalopods and Salmonids”— at least that’s what they’re saying. They make efforts such as propaganda pieces, but their biology(see “anatomy” column) Is far too different from cephalopods to properly live together. They mostly push this effort towards Inklings— half because they are the species that utterly despises them, and the other half as a power play. A few Salmonid Company’s that control the local politics have a few ideas they want to use to control inklings, but it’s no use if they’re not allies.

Octarians still see inklings as the species that drove them out, despite salmonids being the unlikely winner of the war, Inklings are the ones that claimed the only slightly habitable lands, so they are the adversary.

Octarians are still an ally to the salmonids, their industrial mega cities are often seen as “barbaric” or “frightening” to most species, but the Octarian see them as war-strong allies who they desperately need to learn off of. Octarian culture has vastly evolved to accommodate Salmonids— this has changed most Salmonid’s(within the public) understanding of inkling/octoling biology for the better. Having survived off their trade / resources, every Octarian issue becomes a Salmonid issue, and vice versa, these two groups are closely intertwined.

Inklings are enemies with the Salmonids, but due to their loss in the war they were forced to truce— Inklings are the only species that do salmon runs, so they see Salmons at their most aggressive, and in turn are taught to view them as monsters, despite the species affinity towards politics, business, and other relations they’ve made public— they only see them as language-less inkling-murdering monsters. Because of their hatred of salmonids— they yearn to rekindle the relationship with Octarians.

It’s a real “be my ally” love triangle. But truly, Octarians and Salmonids are BUDDIES!

THE MAP

Inklings are doing better, they still construct Inkopolis in this au. Inkopolis is prone to flooding, but it’s still plenty safer and operates much like it does in canon (with the same stores and such!). The city is now equipped with many functions that keep it’s citizens safe from flooding. Flooding is less common in the plaza as opposed to the outskirts of the city. Inkopolis is a staple location, proof of survival and glory, the place every kid said they wanted to move to when they got older.

The Octo-Canyon + Domes still exist here, but the surrounding area is nearly all water, so resources are scarce and its difficult for them to survive on their own. They thrive on trade, and what can only be described as “for-hire agent work” for salmonoids and other wasteland neighboring species. Their technology was forced to rapidly advance to accommodate for this.

The area right to Inkopolis, where Calimari County would lie, are sandy (sort of beach-swamp esque) farm lands. The towns are rural distant areas, perpetually flooded, sort of resembling low tidepools, it’s pretty gorgeous lands . They primarily farm seaweed here, as well as cultivating other sea animals and rice grain.

The area above New Inkadia— in the Wastelands— is similar, farm lands and small villages, but to note: more Salmonids are here, and the inklings here speak Salsegal (the language salmonids speak) and here Salmonids and Cephalopods engage in this reverse salmon run.

The Wasteland inklings cultivate and raise Zapfish, most are young and unable to power full cities, and so Cephalopods in this zone have (as a result of water damage affecting HOW they retain ink) developed a new type of ink that is able to act as an electrical current— these types of inklings/octolings are known as KRAKENS, and Salmonids occasionally enter these areas and capture this electric ink technology since it’s on their turf, and they can’t use their eggs out of respect, Zapfish are in low supply, and in turn, Inklings collect power eggs.

AC TOKYO is a city built on the idea of mending the relationships and creating a society where all species can thrive! And oddly enough, the city and decor is described as historic… due to all of the designs looking very… human. The reason for this is unknown. (Wink.) (DEEPSEA METRO rests underneath it.)

NEW INKADIA is where splatoon 3’s locations lie! Though under a different name, and a very different appearance, and ALTERNA is a secret project that has created an entirely new society that consists of both Cephalopods and Salmonids… at the expense of changing them.

Alterna is where DEEPCUT appear.

ANATOMY

How salmonids and inklings function is plenty different from canon

Inkling’s skin is incredibly paper-thin fragile, but extremely reliable, it is made up of trillions of individual parts that collapse into a thin membrane that essentially splits all of the insides into even tinier parts when coming into contact with a certain chemical signal that triggers the “transformation reaction”, allowing their skin to collapse into Ink Puddles, and as a result allowing it to reform into the Swim Form. So essentially, when Inklings are in the “puddle form”, they are a super thin nearly invisible sac carrying all of their super small broken apart organs, and reforming is just these broken apart cells very quickly attaching back together to either shape into Kid or Squid.

When a cephalopod gets “splatted”— all that’s happening is that there’s either too much stress, or too many injuries, or there’s a drastic shift in the amount of ink the subject is currently carrying, causing them to Self Destruct, as inklings are safer when the cells are broken apart, it’s harder to damage larger parts of the inkling IF they are broken into tiny parts that cant be broken apart any further.

“RESPAWNERS” aren’t actually “a place for the ghosts of inklings to land to revive”— this is a myth, and plenty easier to explain.

Respawners are attached onto the ground in inky turf grounds, and they cycle through ink at an extremely fast rate. Most turf battles have a very small layer of water or ink on the ground to allow respawner to filter ink— in doing this, the respawner are drinking in a shit tone of ink in order to suck up inkling puddles that carry near invisible flesh sacs thanks to Inkling’s weird skin membrane. And in the respawner, they’re refreshed with new ink and injected with a chemical that shakes them awake, quickly waking up a splatted inkling inside the respawner.

During Salmon Runs, the sight of Inklings who are missing limbs on the battlefield returning the next day to attend a shift with no visible injuries isn’t uncommon. As long as the cells still exist within the membrane, they can be rapidly rebuilt and regenerate.

But, despite all of this, Inkling skin is incredibly weak to water, this membrane that can carry collapsed organs, severed limbs, and gives the signal that allows inklings to transform— can melt and collapse and can permanently damage if coming into contact with too much water. Water against this skin-membrane is similar to water on a tissue, melting into it, and splatting the inkling— but because there is now a tear in the membrane— it affects how the inkling is able to heal, how quickly the inkling can recover, how much ink the inkling can now retain, or if it’s possible to transform after the injury. Membrane Water-Damage scars can vary, but they are all regarded as dangerous if left untreated too long. Since small holes can be treated and taught to heal over, but left in water, can cause these holes to grow too large for the membrane to function as intended.

In fact, even overly HUMID environments can wear on inkling skin overtime; which is a problem for cephalopods and salmonid relations.

Salmonids have gills, but are amphibious, and in the adult (not spawning, spawning Salmons have very different anatomy, I will go into salmonid life cycles below) stage of their growth, they require air to thrive. Hence, needing land, but because they have gills, they require humid environments or close by water in order to keep the gills moist. Or else they could dehydrate and suffocate.

TLDR: inklings+octolings need dry environments so they don’t die from overexposure to humidity/water, Salmonids need wet humid environments so they don’t suffocate to the lack of water.

SALMON RUNS, and the LIFE CYCLE:

During salmon runs, you collect eggs, and in the warehouse, fertile eggs are seperated from infertile eggs, and are shipped back to Salmonid cities.

In salmonid cities, the eggs are sorted, genetically tested, and are given a name— the reason why salmonids have such long names is because the eggs are named by the title of the clans of their origin, and the families then extend the titles via new names or traits.

Having children isn’t a decision that can be made on a whim, since it requires traveling to a salmon run grounds in a race to these lands that allow both parents to officially breed in what’s known as a “HOMERUN,” but unlike IRL salmon, the need to return home is NOT a requirement or a hormonal change, but rather a decision, and the transformation into spawning-forms is a result of the journey.

Most parents have hundreds of eggs, and hundreds of children, but most of the time— in salmonid culture, only those who are considered “high status” are selected to “bring glory to the clan name” and go on these homeruns, most common folk don’t.

Salmonids are in a way socially (a tad culturally) aromantic, in a way, since they don’t have any desire to find a special someone never sprung into existence, especially since relationships initially begin as a concept due to the act of having children, but to salmons, it is viewed as a business decision. So romance is nearly non existent. (Again, socially, not emotionally, but the concept is still very much foreign.)

All salmonids are orphans in some way or another due to the parents dying in the Homerun (it’s extremely rare for a parent to return, if they do, it’s most likely they won’t survive the transformation back into a non-spawning form— which is why those who do survive usually remain in homerun grounds.)

The offspring are given back to the clans of parents of the children, not as eggs, they leave them to develop and once they become “SMALL FRY” they are given to the families.

THE EGG- power eggs, power houses, even infertile eggs are still high wattage batteries.

ALEVINS- you will most likely never see these few, in the wild, they grow up in the water and feed off the power egg.

FRY- they begin to grow lungs and muscle, they start to come onto land and use their fins as hands, if only slightly. They still are stronger swimmers than they are walkers. This is the stage in which they begin to swim home, they aren’t very good learners due to this form expending all energy in strength in order to travel and survive.

AWKWARD TADPOLE PHASE! - their fins grow into hands, and they slowly learn to walk. You see this stage at around four or five years old. This is considered the most important time in thier lives, because as FRY, they were running on instinct more than anything, so this is the time when their brains truly start to develop. Their head fins sort of fray, splitting into a growing head fin and a dorsal fin.

SMOLT- The phase between Tadpole and Nearly fully fledged salmon, their hands begin to fully form, they have more canine teeth that begin to grow in as teenagers. Fingers are webbed! The dorsal fin grows in. Most teenagers are still a tad hunched, but otherwise have no issues standing upright.

MATURE SALMON- Dorsal fin is fully developed, and they stand without a hunch.

In order to have offspring, they HOMERUN, and doing this transforms them back into waterborne species to accommodate for the vast journey. Their arms turn into fins, this change is far too jarring and aggressive for the species to live long after this.

SALMON RUNS ONLY EXIST BECAUSE INKLINGS HAVE DISTURBED THE NATURAL PATH THAT SALMONIDS NEED TO TAKE IN ORDER TO HAVE OFFSPRING. They intend to enter the aggressive phase at the river, before reaching the end mid land, but because inklings occupy this land, they’re forced to remain in these aggressive stages.

The slaughter of the spawning season salmonids is not a part of the cycle that salmonids worship so thoroughly. But, Salmonids were designed to die during this phase, and they never grew to be revolted by this idea— but that is not the reason why.

A Grizzco partner company named SENSHINCORP. that specializes in Cephalopod/Salmonid Trade, Safety, and Relations has taken control of the public’s opinion of the neighboring species.

(it’s a persuasive warning shot that makes every species doubt the opinions they feel they should have. It’s the reason why new paths weren’t created for Homerun Salmonids, POWEREGGS are big buck business, and it’s best you don’t pry.)

Okay, final section:

GRIZZCO. (+SENSHINCORP.)

Grizzco functions the same, a company that thrives on exploiting desperate job hunting inklings, and exploiting a culture that relies on the glory of dying.

But, this time, Mr. Grizz remains in contact with Senshin Corp, a salmon operated company that thrives on the tension between salmonids and cephalopods.

Salmo-San owns Senshin Corp, he’s a friend. He only wishes the best.

[ar0rin]

plz infodump about ur agents

Thank you for the ask. I'm so sorry for not answering sooner. I am going to rant about neo 3 and my creative process regarding their character.

My idea for Veronika's parents is that they're either dead or living not knowing of the whereabouts of their eldest child. Initially I wanted Veronika to try to find their birth parents as a set up for some sort of tragic rejected-by-your-own-family scenario, but I realized that sort of defies the "raised by salmonids" statement, so I decided to scrap it.

Instead of developing their ties to their inkling family, I decided to expand on the Salmonids that Veronika grew up around, and what their opinions on them would be. While there are many salmonids who are fine with Veronika, the majority of salmonids don't approve of them living there due to the history behind Inkling and Salmonid relations. Veronika's situation was and still is a hot debate among salmonids. While Veronika is an inkling, they have nothing to do with grizzco's interference with the salmon runs, so there's no reason to be outright hostile towards them; However, some salmonids still hold the belief that an inkling has no place in their society. Given their circumstances, I guess that can't really be helped.

One of the more prevalent arguments for Veronika's case is the "Octo-village", which is a small part of the Salmonid city inhabited by Octarians who were left stranded as a result of the tide rising after diplomatic meetings held between Octarians and Salmonids. Because Octolings also live in the village, a common argument is that Veronika is no different from an Octoling who was left behind by their allies.

Veronika was raised on salmonid values and beliefs, so I always have to remind myself of this when thinking about important events in their life. During their fight against Mr. Grizz, they weren't afraid of dying, but rather letting down the people they love. Mr. Grizz was the one who caused the inkling interferences in the salmon runs, and the main perpetrator of hostility between the two species. Mr. Grizz's plan was to cover the entire world in fuzzy ooze and lay waste to the world as they knew it, which meant that everyone that Veronika had ever known would be lost. Defeating Mr. Grizz was Veronika's responsibility at this point. After all, who else has the capability and means to do it?

Veronika sells scrap metal to make enough money to live in Splatsville. Scrap metal foraging is a talent they've had since childhood, as Salmonids frequently use scrap metal in their buildings. Veronika moved to Splatsville at 15, because the Salmonids agreed that because an inkling doesn't have the necessary capabilities to participate in salmon runs, they shouldn't be encouraged to stay within Salmonid society, which puts emphasis on fighting for the pride of one's clan. I'll expand on this point in the next paragraph. Veronika learned the inkling language (inklish) mainly through their friends, which means they know a lot of slang and not a lot of complicated words. They're pretty content with this.

The Salmonid belief that fighting to the death is honourable and a necessary part of the cycle of life was a huge factor in both Veronika's character and how they interact with other characters. while their peers fight for the sake of "claiming turf", Veronika fights for the belief that it is honorable and unites them with the world. This leads them into getting into a lot of fights around Splatsville, and subsequently claiming a lot of turf because of it.

I'm going to end this here! So long..

[octo-artist]

Calm Before the Inkstorm

Pre-war yan! Octavio x reader x platonic pre-war yan! Craig

Chapter 2: bright afternoons

Tw: toxic relationship, controlling behaviors, general yandere tendencies, slight abuse warning, abuse of power, no beta we die like men.

I do not condone the actions in this fic, if you are in a toxic relationship please seek out help.

Certain parts are heavily inspired by Dissonant melodies by DriftingNova

Y/N = Your name

T/C = Tentacle color

E/C = Eye color

Mastserlist Previous chapter Next chapter

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The next day rolled around, Craig and Octavio once again speaking, this time looking over some sheet music Craig had provided.

“What kind of slimy hipster writes sheet music with 10 notes in an octave?!” Octavio exclaimed in confusion as he read the sheet music.

“Well I’m self-taught, and ten was a number that made sense to me. What do you use?”, Craig responded to which Octavio yelled, “Eight! That’s why it’s called an OCTave”

Y/N chuckled at the duo from where they were watching and working.

“Man who knew being in a real band would be so difficult…”, Craig sighed as he fell back with his arms behind his head.

“Real band? Psh.” Octavio brushed off as he continued reading the papers, “this is the first time we’ve met up to practice. We’ve never even played in front of an audience.”

Shooting up waving his hands up and down Craig exclaims, “AN AUDIENCE! THAT'S WHAT WE NEED. The neighboring village is hosting a festival tomorrow night! We should go perform ~A fresh festival of song and spectacle~” when he finishes Octavio looks up at Craig confused while Y/N smiles and chuckles at Craig’s excitement.

“I think that would be a splendid idea don’t you Tavi?” Y/N says over their shoulder to the duo, “a festival sounds like fun!”

“As appealing an idea it is, there’s no way I’d be allowed to jam with commoners like that”, Octavio states returning to the sheets of paper he was holding.

Craig, confused and disappointed, asks, “Why not?”

“Well I mean, im… I’m the future octarian king. I have to watch my image.” Octavio states plainly as he looks at Craig.

“Wait…” Craig processing the information soon exclaims, “YOU'RE ROYALTY?!”

Y/N bursts out laughing hysterically at Craig’s denseness as Octavio shouts back “Of course I am! I told you I was a PRINCE!”

“WHA- I thought that was just a STAGE NAME!” Craig cries out in shock.

“YOU'RE SITTING IN PALACE!!” Octavio shouts back the argument, making Y/N’s laughter worse as they set down their gardening tools to kneel down and catch their breath.

Octavio taking notice sighs saying, “Great we broke Y/N”

Craig holds his face looking at the ground talking to himself, “w-wow… Real royalty.”

Pinching his nose Octavio grumbles, “I had to lie and tell the guards you wet the son of some inkling governor to let you in. No way I can just walk out.”

Snapping out of his stupor Craig looks to Octavio and suggests, “Well, what if you snuck out?I mean no offense but I snuck IN twice!” He points at the wall continuing, “you could put on a disguise and jump the fence ~with all the flash and flair of a rebel prince~”

“Huh, a ‘rebel prince’” thinking it over, Octavio grins and states, “You know what cap’n, I like your style! Tomorrow night I’m goin off the grid!”

Time flew as the days passed, the next evening closing in as Y/N sat in Octavio’s room, the prince making final adjustments to his disguise. “Well don’t you look dashing in that.” Y/N teased causing a deep maroon blush to cross Octavio’s face as he tries to hide it with a smirk and responding, “you’re so lucky I need to be ready for when Craig arrives because otherwise I’d get you back for that little comment my dear.”

“Speaking of being ready, I should return to my room to change into my own street clothes so I can come see the two of yo-“, Y/N began.

Interrupting them Octavio says “I don’t know Y/N I worry you’d get lost in the crowd or hurt if you go, folks are unpredictable, maybe hang back and wait for me to return?”

“Tavi, that's not fair, I want to see the two of you perform… I can handle myself fine and I won’t stray far from the stage”, Y/N argued back.

Octavio halted his preparations to approach Y/N kneeling down to where they were seated. “Y/N you know I love you and I just want what’s best for you, and what’s best is for you to stay here where it’s safe. Maybe next time you can come with us but if we get caught you could get in serious trouble with the council.”

His tone was firm, as if to try to leave no room for arguments, leaning in he gave Y/N a kiss before standing up again and grabbing his instrument. “I’ll be back soon, keep the bed warm yea?” He smirks saying that last part before dipping out into the darkened garden to sneak out.

“‘Keep the bed warm yea?’” Y/N says in a mocking tone before scoffing, “As if, I’m going and he can’t stop me! I’m a grown inkling and I can handle myself just fine!” And with that statement they stand up and march off to their quarters to change out of their work clothes and into something more comfortable. Biding the guards at the entrance goodnight as they leave.

“Let’s see, money; check, pocket watch; check, bag; checkeroo. Looks like I’m good to go. Music festival here I come! Sorry tavi but I’m not missing out on a night of fun!” At this Y/N happily jogs down to the nearby village lit up with colorful lanterns and abuzz with excitement and life. The sound of children laughing and cephalopods from all over laughing and singing filling Y/N with a sense of peace and joy. The air carried the savory scent of crabby cakes and the sweetness of sugary desserts. Vendors lined the pathway displaying a variety of goods and games.

“Hmmm I know Mia was disappointed she couldn’t make it to the festival since she was on rotation tonight so maybe I should get her something to make her feel better. She’s got a sweet tooth so maybe I can get her some dango and candies.” Y/N thought as they browsed the stalls. Finding one filled with various desserts all nicely packaged they found what they were looking for, paying the vendor and carefully placing the packaged sweets in their bag with a smile.

As Y/N approaches the center of town they hear the stage announcement for Octavio and Craig’s group Out of the Blue, picking up their pace they find a spot in the crowd to watch the performance excited for their friend and lover. Soon the duo stepped out and prepared to start, only for it to come out quite disjointed causing the inkling to cringe a bit in response to the sound. The two quietly argue on the stage before starting again, still a bit out of time but significantly better than before. As the two wrapped up, Y/N noticed Octavio’s gaze landing on them and could feel his anger at the fact they didn’t stay put like he’d told them to.

“Looks like I’m getting scolded when we get back…”, Y/N thought as they began to realize the flaw in their plans. “Oh well, at least it was fun while it lasted”

As Y/N turned to walk off and continue perusing the area they were soon stopped when a rather miffed Octavio called out to them, “Oh no you don’t, Y/N get your ass over here right now!”

Y/N weighing their choices carefully speeds off not wanting to be scolded in the middle of a crowd, Octavio chasing after them leaving a very confused and concerned Craig to wait for the results when the upset prince told him to wait there.

“Y/N get back here right now!”, Octavio yelled after them, garnering a few folks' attention.

“Nope, not till you’ve cooled off!”, Y/N responded weaving between people, ducking into a less crowded street to try and move a bit easier, only to quickly be snatched up by the angry prince who had caught up with the lack of cephalopods in the area. “You were saying?”, He states holding Y/N up off the ground.

“Oh come on you can’t honestly think i’d miss out on a festival did you? You know how much I love them!”, Y/N pleads their case in hopes of getting octavio to let go of the situation and just return to the festival and have fun. Octavio, leaning in closely pinning Y/N to a nearby wall out of sight, responds, “If you think I’m going to let you off easy when you deliberately disobeyed me both as your partner and prince you are sorely mistaken. But that will have to wait till we’ve gotten back to the palace. Here is hardly the place for you to receive your… punishment.”

At this he pulls away releasing Y/N from the wall but holding onto their hand tightly so they don’t slip away, leading them back to the festival where Craig is waiting with participation ribbons, Octavio grumbling at not even getting a proper placement in the competition.

Craig sensing the tension asks, “hey is everything alright? Y'all kinda just ran off suddenly and it seems like something happened…”

“Everything is fine, just a typical lovers spat.”, Octavio snaps before taking a breath, “let’s just get going, the festival is almost over so we might as well leave now.” This suggestion prompting a look of annoyance from Y/N who had wished to spend more time at the festival.

“Oh well, ok then, how about we go hang out at the treehouse for a bit before y’all get cooped up in the palace again.” Craig suggests

“I-“, Octavio begins before Y/N cuts him off saying, “That sounds nice! Don’t you agree tav? I know once we get back we’d just be heading to bed so why not stay up a little longer?”

Octavio looks at Y/N shocked only to grumble out an agreement.

“Great! Just follow me! It’s not much but it’s home away from home.”, Craig begins to ramble as they walk, Octavio slowing down to whisper in Y/N’s ear, “don’t think I’ll forget about your punishment for disobeying me. You’re just delaying the inevitable.” This statement making Y/N sweatdrop knowing that they’re going to have a hard time walking the coming morning once they’ve returned to the palace.

[cru5h-cascades]

Splatoon Future: A Story Mode Concept

So a while back I had two ideas for future story campaign stories and there's this one that I (alongside others) really enjoy: the vigalante story. So for the past few days while working on some final plotpoint ideas for my OCs' Side Order story arc (speaking of Your Side of Order I might start working on the first chapter in a few days! might even release it on the 29th this month since Side Order will probably release a month from then), I've also been thinking about some concepts for the next story arc! So, this is what I've gotten so far...

So basically since Splatoon 3 is the end of the current story arc, we'll be moving away from the whole inklings v octolings conflict and shifting attention towards something else. But who could possibly be the next new big bad?

Easy. We make a long anticipated species of inkfish an actual thing in the game. WE INVOLVE THE CUTTLINGS IN THE NEXT ARC. I know, crazy but hear me out.

irl cuttlefish can hypnotize their prey with flashing colors and such, so having cuttlings as big bads wouldn't be so farfetched.

Plotwise, here's what I have in mind:

So the player opens up the game, right? Upon first glance, everything's alright. We got some cool new "idols" (heavy emphasis on the quotation marks; you'll see why in a bit), normal ass news report, ect.. BUT after the news, the idols give an emergency news report that finally doesn't have to do with the Great Zapfish: someone vanilized a statue celebrating the integration of octarians into inkling culture using a very specific symbol. The "idols" act suprised, and add that this is yet another case of vandilizm in a large strand of crimes involving defacing public property, specifically anything that has to do with inklings and octolings being together. And all these crimes have one thing in common: they all involve the same symbol being spray painted onto something. The news brodcast closes out and the player can move around the hub area. If they go to the statue that was vandilized (which is located in the middle of the hub area), they'll meet up with a few other NPCs (the characters you'll be accompanied by in the campaign) (as for who they could be I'll leave that to your imagination). One of them seems interested in the crime and wants to further explore the situation. The other NPCs agree and they ask you for your opinion (either way you start the story mode anyways). After selecting your answer & the NPCs talking a bit more, they all agree to meet up at another statue in the city to see if it'll get defaced.

Later at night, you meet up with the other NPCs and then a steakout is commenced. After waiting a while, a mysterious being shows up and is about to vandilize the statue. One of the NPCs wants to jump them and attempts to, only for the figure to somehow cause them to freeze before they could do anything. The figure runs away and the group chases after them. After a while, you're treated to the first boss of the game. Nothing too difficult, but it's challanging enough for a first boss fight. After beating the boss, it's revealed that the character is a being similar to the "idols" (i.e. not an inkling or an octoling). Before you can deal the final blow, the character causes everyone to freeze and then they super jump away. After that, one of the NPCs talks about wanting to see where the character is going, so you and the others follow the character into a strange underground area that leads to an underwater base (the story mode area, which can still be accessed through the statue in the hub). In each level, you and the NPCs duke it out with the cuttlings and more of their henchmen (which could probably include other inkfish enemies like vamplings, vampire squid inkfish), slowly figuring out what's going on with these peculiar inkfish.

(dunno what bosses the player could face so I'll leave this up to you guys for now)

Anyways, after duking it out with the cuttlings, the player will find out the story of the cuttlings. Basically they are another race of inkfish who, among other types of inkfish like vamplings (and maybe others if Nintendo wants to shake things up a bit), who were feared and ostrisized by the inklings and octolings for their strange abilities, and were forced into hiding in fear that ther species would be wiped out entirely. Many retreated into completely different hiding areas, with some hiding among other inklings and octolings in disquise and others just trying to stay away from other inkfish entirely, with one of the oldest civilizations of these inkfish making the underwater base of this story mode. These inkfish, unlike others who retreated to other parts of the world, hold a grudge against other inkfish who didn't go underwater with them (and of course against the inklings and octolings), and only now are the inkfish living in the base are planning to take over the surface by using their abilities to pin inklings and octolings against each other or just have them under their control so the cuttlings and other inkfish can have the life they want and to have them take revenge against their opressors, starting off by capturing their true current idols and replacing them with cuttlings posing as them.

In the end, the player and the NPCs save the idols and the player is faced with a choice: convince the cuttlings that things are different now and help them get along with other surface dwellers or have them stay in the base forever. After beating the campaign, the player will have the real idols in place of the fake ones (they can swap idols if they prefered one's music over another's, though). Also, the story is left wide open for exploring other types of inkfish and their cultures.

It's a sort of rough idea but hey it's a thought.

[kakusu-shipping]

🐤🧡🥇 for the agere asks? :o

Normally when I get asks for ask games that don't give also the F/O they're asking about I'll just delete it, or if I know the person I'll talk about an F/O from a Media we have in common (in this case FNaF)

But not today cause I'm Sploon brained and wanna talk about my Bug Eyed Pawpaw; Captain Craig Cuttlefish

🐤 - Talk about him!

Gramps is the nicest person I've ever met! He kept me safe on the Subway and comforted me when everything felt too hard. He said there was no rush to get going and we could ride that train as long as I needed.

And then when we did get to the surface he was nice enough to offer me his home, his family, and his protection for as long as I needed it. He and Three both were so so patient and kind to me, I dunno what I would have done without them.

🧡 - How did Cuttlefish react when he first saw you regress?

The first time was on the subway, after a mission. My clothes were too tight and the shoes were hard to move in and everything felt so loud and scary and I still didn't really remember anything so it was all so much all at once...

He calmed me down, gave me his track jacket and headphones. I dunno if he really knew what was going on with me, but he played me his Granddaughter's music and held my hand and walked me through breathing exercises. I ended up stealing his whole outfit in the end, he wore my old Octarian uniform, did a whole fashion show walk in my heels and skirt.

He focused on helping me relax, playing little games, singing songs, making me laugh, and holding my hand so I'd know he was there to help...

🏅 - Favorite activities to do together when regressed?

I like listening to Gramps when little. He tells good stories about his past and when my big sisters were little. I also like music, especially my sisters'. Gramps says he sometimes catches me singing along really quiet too, which is kinda embarrassing, I don't think I sing all that good, but he likes it...

Mostly I like to take it easy when regressed. Just lay down with a story or some music and Gramps, maybe a snack. I like napping in the sun and watching clouds roll over head and laying in the grass...

I like that I can be outside and be small and be safe, all at the same time...

[hypnothesis-au]

“As their King, you do an excellent job of representing the stereotype that Octarians love machines.” --T

“. . . Well, what’s not ta love? Anyways, gettin’ into the specs would take too long and is nona your business, but there are some old blueprints you can take a look at. Stunning, I know~” --O

[idontlikepans]

Tell the world more about Rei I and II

I love them and I wanna hear more.

AAAAA THANKS FOR THE ASK

𝐑𝐞𝐢 𝐈

Octavios older sister, she 'left' (was banished) the palace around age 15. She was never queen because nobody went out for her. (And yknow she literally wasn't allowed back) She made a life for herself though, she met the love of her life and they were able to provide for themselves.

Then Octavios wedding rolls around, (she had visited him multiple times dw) and she's like oh squit I gotta be there (not gonna spoil too much cuz of the fic) and then she has to leave again. Doesn't visit much as life starts getting hectic at the palace with everything going on.

One year later she gets asked to fight in the war and she's like 'wtf what war?' And everyones like 'the war lmao' anyway she agrees and finds out the whole situation. Octavio is pretty cold to her because she hadn't been visiting and ofc the whole war thing yknow. (The rest of her story contains spoilers but yeah this is good enough)

Fun facts abt her!:

She mains slosher

She's 1ft taller than Octavio (3 meters I think)

Short bob hairstyle.

Women in the Takowasa family are looked down upon due to them having birth defects, and they are very rare to come about. (It's ironic cuz the Octarian army is mainly female) so she already had a bad chance. If she would've been less rebellious she would've been queen.

Her lovers name is Nova, an inkling.

She likes crocheting.

She's lesbian!!

Although she is a great warrior she is very weak due to mutations.

𝐑𝐞𝐢 𝐈𝐈

Octavio's daughter, she's an accidental cutling. Growing up underground definitely isn't the easiest thing but she made her way through. She'd constantly be meeting new soldiers and telling them that they were friends now. Eventually she made an actual friend who she could hang out with. He was unfortunately enrolled in the military program but that didn't stop the two from finding ways to hang out. She's very into peace, and she wants peace with the Inklings quite a lot. First time Octavio gets his bass beat she just believes her point more. She's also very saddened because she loses her best friend and by that I mean he just goes to the surface after hearing the calamari inkantation. Her relationship with Octavio is also very rocky they both have different beliefs, like Rei who wants peace between the octolings and the inklings. While Octavio is still sour about what happened all those years ago. Second time Octavio gets his bass beat Rei is much angrier especially because she talked to Callie And believed Callie would help. Now she does eventually make peace between Inklings and octolings but I'm not gonna get too into detail of that because spoilers again.

Fun facts!:

She is 1ft shorter than Octavio.

Long hair and extra tentacles due to mutation.

She's omnisexual and polyamorous!

Her lovers names are: Luna, Charlie, Haruki. ( They each have separate stories so you should definitely ask about them too)

She doesn't like music too much and fun fact her least favorite song is the calamari inkantation not because it sounds bad or because she's different than everybody else it's just because it reminds her of how many times she lost. It's also ironic because she has a pretty good singing voice but she doesn't like music.

She barely has any knowledge of her aunt (Rei I)

Things they have in common:

Both very friendly.

Both are very protective of the people they love.

That's pretty much it.

Once again thanks for the ask!!!!!!

[floralquafloral]

Watch out it's random splatoon headcanon time again

I was thinking about splatting and respawning recently, and @acid-hues used no less than Three looking emojis when I asked if anyone would want to hear my thoughts about how that stuff works, so here goes. Warning for potentially fatal quantities of pseudoscience, since I'm not a biologist or a chemist, just a goober who likes the squid game too much ;P

1. What is splatting?

Splatting is a reflex in inklings and octarians that occurs when they're been critically injured. It allows the cephalopod to escape and recover from a potentially fatal situation, effectively unharmed. Almost all of their body mass is liquefied to ink in a similar process to squid-form transformation, but it's all lost, resulting in the characteristic splatter. The only remaining structure is the "squid soul", which isn't actually a soul so much as a balloon-like vessel that can (under the right conditions) develop into a whole inkling body again.

2. What is a squid soul?

Squid souls aren't actually incorporeal souls, they're just very complicated (and lightweight) biological structures that contain all the mechanisms and information necessary to create an inkling body. Kind of analogous to an egg: given food and time, an egg can turn into a whole animal. Squid souls are just a great deal more precise, in that they generate an inkling body almost exactly as it was before, including the brain and all the inkling's memories and such. The squid soul itself, like an egg, isn't really comparable to an actual inkling - the soul can't talk, or eat, or think. The squid soul doesn't have a brain, and it only has just enough nervous system to seek out a location where it can respawn into a proper body. It uses a rudimentary form of the same senses that allow for the Turf Map. Because the squid soul isn't conscious, getting splatted kind of just feels like a very violent form of teleportation.

More information on the processes & technology behind respawning under the readmore :)

3. How does a squid soul respawn?

Squid souls can only develop into a proper inkling body if they can access two things: A bunch of biomass, and a bunch of electricity. Biomass is necessary because almost all of the inkling's original body has been exploded all over the place, so you need a bunch of stuff to make a new one. A large enough well of pure ink can contain all the necessary material for a body, but most respawn tech uses solutions of ink with other useful things dissolved into it. Respawning from a well of pure ink doesn't feel very good. Pure ink doesn't contain a very good amount of vitamins, iron, etc., so the new body will probably have less of that stuff in it than the old one.

Electricity is necessary to separate different compounds out of the ink, and to provide the energy required for some of the chemical reactions that need to take place - you can't just mush a bunch of ink together and get a body out of it.

4. What could prevent a successful respawn?

This part is pure headcanon, since there's nothing from the base game that relates to this, as far as I'm aware.

Some sources of injury won't trigger the splat reflex; the most common example is prolonged exposure to small amounts of water. Getting caught in heavy rain for hours can dissolve the body without ever triggering the splat reflex, so you just... don't come back.

Old age or severe illness can inhibit the reflex as well. If a young and healthy squid gets hit by a bus, they will explode and come back at the nearest respawn point. If someone whose splat reflex isn't working gets hit by a bus, then they just get run over, which very bad. Alternatively, in some cases the splat reflex could fail to generate a squid soul, so you'd just explode and not get to respawn, which would be exceedingly terrible.

For the kind of squid who would sign up for Turf Wars, there's basically no chance of this stuff happening, but there are still mandatory physicals before you can sign up for a Turf War just to make sure.

Lastly, of course, if someone gets splatted too far away from a viable respawn point, the squid soul will expire after only a few minutes.

5. What kind of tech allows for a respawn?

There are four different places you can respawn in-game: In the online battle maps (5.1), in the Octarian domes (5.3), in the Deepsea Metro's test stations (5.4), and from a Grizzco Tank (5.5). There's also presumably some way to respawn if you just, like, fall out of a tree and get splatted in the public park or something (5.2). There's also the floating respawn-thingies from the Splatoon 3 trailer, but since I don't know how they work in-game yet I don't have anything to make headcanons around. 🤷‍♀️

5.1. Turf War respawn pads: They're cheap to make, they work quickly, and they can handle dozens of squids getting splatted during a single 3-minute battle with no need for oversight during the game. It's worth remembering that the squid soul isn't sapient, it has no regards for the rules of a Turf War - so what prevents someone on Yellow Team from respawning at Purple's base? The answer is that, under most circumstances, the biomass requirement for a respawn can only be met with ink that matches your colour. Different colours of ink have different chemical compositions, so a squid soul that's seeking out a viable location to create a yellow squid won't be able to sense the purple respawn pad as a viable location.

The limitation of the Turf War pad is that they're not perfectly reliable. Occasionally it just won't appear as a viable respawn location to a squid soul, so someone will end up respawning outside the battle, which forfeits them from the match. (i'm only including this because i'm proud of coming up with an in-universe explanation for disconnects)

5.2. City respawn pads: Outside of inksports, it's still a good idea to have respawn pads all over the place so that if someone gets splatted they have somewhere to respawn. City pads, unlike Turf War pads, are designed to be 100% reliable and work for any ink color. Their natural drawback is that they require constant oversight. "Respawn operator" is a job you can have in most major population centers, that mostly involves sitting around, making sure nothing looks broken, and greeting anyone who shows up at the pad.

Getting splatted outside a battle isn't especially common (splatting someone outside a battle is a pretty serious no-no), so any given pad in the city will usually only get 1-2 respawns a day, if any at all. When someone shows up, the operator is supposed to write down their name, the time they respawned, and the reason they got splatted. If it was because of something legally messy like a road accident, they'll have more work to do to get that sorted out. If it was because of a Turf War pad failure, they'll contact the Judds to get that cleared up. If you were with someone when you got splatted, it's common courtesy to send a text or call once you respawn so they don't have to worry; since you won't have your phone with you when you respawn that's something the operator is also supposed to help with. Respawn operators are pretty helpful in general - if you tell them "I don't know how to get back to my house from here", they can usually give you a map or directions or something.

To allow for anyone to respawn at a City pad, they're filled with a very bright and saturated brown ink solution. This colour is unique in that basically any other ink colour can change into it very easily; if you get splatted while you've got red ink, you'll show up at the city pad with brown ink. This is why bright brown ink isn't frequently used for inksports (definitely not because the developers didn't want it to look like they're using poop for turf wars).

5.3. Octarian Checkpoints: As electricity is a precious and scarce resource for Octarians, their respawn pads are designed to use as little of it as possible. An Inkopolis respawn pad has a current running through it constantly, which combined with the large amount of ink, allows squid souls to perceive it as a viable respawn location. In contrast, Octarian checkpoints don't offer any ink or electricity when inactive. They only switch on when a nearby Octarian soldier gets splatted, using a signal transmitted by the Octarian's equipment. When they turn on, they temporarily fill with ink and run an electrical current, allowing the soldier's octo soul to make its way over and respawn before the checkpoint shuts down again.

The signal receiver of the checkpoints has a vulnerability that allows it to be overridden, which will fill it with any colour of ink solution and render it unable to receive power-on signals. The Hero Tanks worn by Agents 3 and 4 do this automatically when the agents get close to a checkpoint - this is why they're black before an agent gets close, then change to match their ink colour. However, once the checkpoint is overridden, it still doesn't provide electricity, and in fact can't be activated at all. The Hero Tank allows them to be used regardless by putting an electrical charge into the squid soul itself, so that it only needs the well of ink solution. It can only store up to three respawns worth of charge, though. If an agent gets splatted while the battery is empty, they're toast.

Octarians, of course, can't respawn at a checkpoint that's been overridden, not only because it won't power on but also because it doesn't match their ink colour anymore. Only one checkpoint will receive the power-on signal when an Octarian gets splatted, so when an overridden checkpoint is the one that receives the signal, there will be nowhere on the base for the Octarian to respawn. Instead, they'll end up in another dome, or in a civilian respawn pad. The agents aren't murderers, okay?

5.4: Deepsea Metro Test Station Checkpoints: The testing stations in the Deepsea Metro are adapted from Octarian checkpoints, but with some tweaks to reflect the different priorities of Kamabo Co. as opposed to the Octarian military. Metro checkpoints have their remote-activation functionality stripped out, and instead permanently activate once the test subject reaches them, filling with ink solution and receiving a constant electrical current. They probably still have the same vulnerability as the Octarian checkpoints, but Agent 8's has no means of exploiting it, and no reason to anyways - the checkpoints are already configured to match her colour, since they're there for the express purpose of respawning test subjects.

Because Metro checkpoints always match Agent 8's ink colour, the sanitized octarians in the test courses have nowhere they can respawn. Instead, they are simply replaced as needed.

5.5: Grizzco Tanks: I'll be honest, I can't come up with any good explanations for this one. The way it traps the squid soul inside it probably has to do with the same interference that blocks the Turf Map, but the explanation for why you have to shoot it to activate a respawn is beyond me. The best I can do is list what can be ruled out:

It's not because it's using the ink from the shot for mass. If the Grizzco tank itself doesn't contain enough ink for a respawn, then there's no way a single Inkbrush swing would output enough to make up the difference.

It's not using the kinetic energy from the shot to trigger some sort of chemical reaction. Getting hit by a Steelhead bomb or a Flyfish missile don't revive the player, even though they surely have more kinetic energy than something like a Bloblobber bubble, which can.

The weapons themselves aren't providing an electrical charge. If Grizzco could modify a Splattershot to output enough electricity to enable a respawn, then the tank would be capable of doing that itself without needing to be shot.

Whatever it is, it's probably not very good for you long-term to respawn like that. Grizzco just gives off those vibes, like working there is totally gonna mess up your health when you're older.

[very-very-dizzy]

20

Seaweed-20

Sorry if this one took a long while! The idea started out small, but actually turned into a short nearly 2k fic. For this prompt, I had some good ideas on what to do but they were mostly spoilers so went with this! For who takes narrative? A good question.

(Warning for dark themes, injury, death)

--------

Heavy footsteps slammed against metallic floors. Each in rhythm as they marched forward. Those in sync each adorned two strands of seaweed on their goggles. A symbol that told of their superiority over all else.

There would be no peace as their song was one of execution.

An octoling young enough where she neared her humanoid form but still hadn't developed full tentacles, ran for her life. Avoiding other octarians as they all ran from the sound of marching. In her arms, she carried a younger octoling who clung tightly to her shirt..

Years before the octoling had found them thrown out into her dome just like other defects. Taking them in as a sibling and showing them to her small family. It was common in the outer domes for octarians to form groups as survival alone was hopeless. Although, they both would have to worry later about their family as finding a place to hide them was currently more important.

Finding a small gap against a building’s wall, the octoling stopped and set their sibling inside. Grabbing a frame from a nearby pile of panels and using it to cover the gap. It was an area she would hide them each time elites came through their dome. While not her size, it was enough to keep her little sibling hidden.

“[Stay in there and remember to not move.]” She whispered.

Once seeing that the panel was secured, the octoling grabbed a few pieces of scrap metal. She crept away from the hiding spot, but stopped as multiple voices grew in volume. Looking quickly for somewhere to hide, she found a spot behind a box as footsteps came closer.

A shout caused all of the footsteps to pause. The octoling covered her mouth as someone walked over to where she hid. Giving a small thud as they sat down on the box she hid behind. Throwing aside their octoshot to where she hid.

“[Hey Lake! How’s that other Ida doing? Heard they’re already working on the Great Octoweapons in Slimeskin Garrison.]”

Eyes wide, the octoling knew who they were speaking to. A cruel monster that led many platoons through her dome. She started to shiver in fear as their voice, a voice she’d grown to dread, spoke up with its gruff tone.

Colonel Lake Ida.

“[Don’t know how much she’s doing personally. Labs keep a close eye on keeping information hidden, but they never get anything past me.]” Lake paused before continuing again, “[Anyway, heard she already figured out how to change her forms. Kid’s already 14 and doing things I never could have at her age.]”

“[Really?]” Another soldier asked.

“[Of course. While those pebbles think she’s got to be isolated, I’m planning on giving her a visit soon. Heard she’s been given some training but still hesitates with executing opponents.]” She let out a laugh, “[Although, what’s amazing is that she is building weapons that’ll splat those disgusting squids, achieving perfect scores, and being top notch in physical activities. Makes me jealous of her levels of intelligence, but at least I’m still  better than you low-grades.]”

The group of soldiers broke into laughter. Although a few were quiet growls could be heard at their response. Once they stopped, a nervous voice spoke up amongst them. With how quiet they were, it was easy to guess they were someone new.

“[Um… Colonel Ida? Why are we out out here in the outer domes?]” 

“[To perform our duty of preserving the Octarian Empire. Out here, there’s mutant and throw-outs that our government wastes donating supplies and energy to. That’s why it is up to us to lower their numbers.]” Lake responded.

A small noise of discomfort was made. “[Do the higher-ups know?]”

“[Of course, but they don’t want to make it public. DJ Octavio knows the public would make a large fuss over providing for these weaklings. So, that’s why our task is a simple task that must be done for the greater good.]”

“[So we are to splat all in sight?]” There was a hint of uncertainty in the nervous elite’s voice.

“[Affirmative, but also to capture and release. A little game of inspiring fear into any that try to fight back. It’s also more fun to play around by having them try to run again.]” A panicked blurb sounded as a box away from them was smashed. Following after were shots of ink fired from an octoshot. “[They hold no power over us so don’t worry about them trying to report you, because they’ve seen your face. Do not forget we are superior over them, and I am above you all.]”

“[That’s correct! Now let’s head out!]” The more cheerful voice spoke out. It wasn’t hard to figure out they were Colonel Ida’s right-hand.

As the rest of the soldiers left, the octoling crept out from her hiding spot. Deciding to take off towards a small shelter. Sweat pouring off her face as continued to run. Breaths staggering with each step taken as her body screamed to keep going.

Until she turned one corner and slammed against a wall. Having forgotten before that there had been reconstruction to rebuild a home that crumbled after time. Too focused on her own self, she hadn’t heard footsteps from behind.

“[Seems you made a wrong turn, kid.]”

Freezing up in fear, the octoling refused to turn around. Her mind screamed to run knowing full well that she had been caught. It was now life or death, and she needed to flee or fight.

“[It’s you again!]” Lake beamed, a grin donning her face. “[How much of a delight this is being I get a second chance at killing you.]”

The young octoling attempted to make an escape, but was grabbed as Lake picked her up with ease. She repeatedly slammed the small octoling against a wall, until deciding enough was done. Knowing they wouldn’t be unconscious as she had held back her strength.

“[Don’t think I forgot about last time. How a pathetic weakling like you managed to scratch my face. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure this time you won’t get a chance to run again.]”

As the octoling struggled to push herself up, she didn’t expect Lake to grab her again. This time, throwing her against a window, which shattered upon impact. Shards of glass digging into her side as she landed upon a dirt floor.

Vision fading in and out, her body felt as if it had been set ablaze from inside. Sharp prinpicks kept stabbing at her arms. Her own tentacles ached with pain from the harsh landing. Picking at her eyes’ edge were droplets of tears ready to fall. Ready for her to give in and break down from the pain.

The young octoling closed her eyes, awaiting for her misery to already end at the elite’s hand. A sound made her open her eyes, and she found herself staring directly into a pair of green eyes with pink peanut shape irises. A clawed hand suddenly grabbed her by the neck, and lifted her upward.

“[Looks like I found you-]”

Lake was cut off as a jagged scrap of metal was pushed into her throat by the octoling. Dropping the octoling, she continued to grasp at the gaping laceration. Making an attempt to stop as more of a turquoise liquid pushed out as her wound opened further once she pulled the metal shard out.

“[BRAT! I’LL-]” Lake broke into heavy coughing.

While unknown to the both of them, multiple octarians burst from a closet inside the building. Each going behind it and using their weight to push it down. Giving enough force that it eventually did fell upon the bleeding elite, but not the young octoling.

After the large noise from impact, shouts from outside came and made everyone inside panic. An octotrooper made its way over to the young octoling and pushed against her side. Their eyes were filled with fear knowing that they all wouldn’t have time. “[Hurry! Go!]”

Opening her mouth, the young octoling prepared to respond but felt something round press against her leg.

Ot, an octoball, and part of her family. While he hadn’t been in their family for long, she saw him as an older brother. He would aid her in supply runs whenever their stock would get low. Although now she feared they wouldn’t be after what had occurred.

“[Uu’oa, sister. We will distract them, and take fault.]” Ot spoke, “[What’ve you done has saved us from one monster.]”

“[B-But -]” She attempted to say, but was shoved by another octarian. More kept pushing against her as others ran to form a blockade against the other door. Shouts from outside growing louder.

“[Go! Hide! Then find G87-8!]” Ot shouted, pushing her through a back door.

With tears, the octoling nodded and limped away. Holding back sobs as she heard weapons being fired. It wouldn’t take long until she reached a small piece of panel.  Deciding it would be enough for her to hide in. Crawling under it, she finally let herself cry.

Barely able to process from what had occurred in just moments before.

As hours passed by, the young octoling woke up at the sound of voices. Two different ones from what she had heard before when Colonel Ida was giving her orders.

“[So what do we do about, Colonel Ida?]” One of the asked, seemingly tired.

“[We say she died because of dome debris. It’s what we use to excuse any deaths out here.]” They let out a small grunt. “[Anyway, our only priority is to get the injured out. We’ll tell Ida’s First Lieutenant about all of it after she’s in the med bay.]”

Slowly peeking out, the octoling noticed both had already left. Through more inspection, she confirmed it was safe to head back towards her little sibling. Going back to where she had left them.

Pulling away the panel, she nearly cried from relief. Seeing they were unharmed, she took them back out, and pulled her younger sibling into a tight hug. She would wait to tell them what had happened to Ot, not until they both were with their family. 

“[Are you okay?]” She asked them. Giving a little smile as they responded with a small nod.

Stepping away from their hiding spot, she walked into a crowd of fellow octarians. Seeing others with emptiness in their or tears as they sobbed for those that had been lost to the execution. A numbness filled their hearts as they knew it wouldn’t be the last. 

Seaweed.

It was that cursed object that became a symbol of death for them.

Swearing on her life, the octoling swore  to never adone the seaweed headpiece and become the monsters that marched through their dome.

Instead, she’ll become something they fear.

…

MEMORY REACQUISITION COMPLETE.

REPLAY?

TERMINATE?

OVERWRITE?

TRANSFER?

>[Terminate.]

MEMORY TERMIN-

ERROR.

>[Terminate.]

ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. CORRUPTION FOUND. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.

>[Retrieve Subject Status.]

SUBJECT 8,380: SANITIZED.

>[Retrieve Subject Orders]

ON STANDBY. 

>[Retrieve Subject Location.]

.

..

...MISSING.

[someguynamedstevewrites]

Unwanted House Guest: Valentine’s Run - Part 3

Based on the video games Splatoon, Splatoon 2, and Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion by Nintendo.

And includes a cameo of a character created by @tamarinfrog , @searching-for-bananaflies , @cafe-cardamari , @bottledupcomic , and more!

———————————

Twenty minutes earlier, in the Salmon Run Ladies Changing Rooms, a slightly older Octoling girl had just finished styling a younger Octoling’s tentacles into a ponytail.

<There you go,> said the older of the two girls, <All done.>

<Thanks, Nalini,> the younger Octoling said with a smile to her older sister.

<Ready for your first Salmon Run?> Nalini asked.

<Well...> the younger Octoling hesitated. <...kind of. I’m a little nervous, though.>

<Don’t you worry, Lajni,> Nalini said with a smile, <I’ll keep you safe.>

Lajni gave a warm smile back to her older sister just as another Octoling with an Afro barged in with a self-assured grin on his face. <Not to worry, sis!> the boy boasted, <I’ll take care of those Salmonids so fast, you won’t even know they’re there!>

The two girls’ faces blushed a crimson red as they rushed towards the Octoling boy. <AADI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? THIS IS THE LADIES ROOM!> Nalini shouted as she began to drag the boy out.

<YEAH! You can’t be in here!> Lajni said as she pushed against her older brother.

<Okay! Okay! I get it! You can get your hands off me!> Aadi complained.

The door to the Ladies Changing Room opened with a shove as Nalini dragged Aadi out by his shirt collar. The three were now all dressed and ready to go, but Nalini still had a few words to say.

<You’re lucky no one else was in there, otherwise you would have been in even more trouble!> Nalini scolded, <Don’t you know it’s rude to enter places you aren’t supposed to be in!?>

<I’M SORRY ALREADY!> Aadi whined, <How else was I supposed to check on you!? You two we’re taking forever in there!>

<You could have texted us from your OctoPod!> pointed out Nalini.

Aadi looked like he had just been hit over the head with an epiphany, <Oh... right! I forgot about that!>

Nalini sighed and looked at her two younger siblings. While Lajni was fourteen, and Aadi was fifteen, the two of them still acted like little kids. A smile spread over Nalini’s face as she remembered what brought them all here today.

At seventeen, Nalini was the oldest of the three siblings and had taken it upon herself to look after her beloved little brother and sister. After the first failed attempt to capture the Great Zapfish, and after escaping from his snow globe prison, D.J. Octavio began recruiting Octarians left and right. Nalini signed up for training to become an Octoling soldier in hopes of supporting Lajni and Aadi and keeping them from having to serve in the Octarian Army.

Before Nalini completed her training to enter active combat, D.J. Octavio’s plans were thwarted and he was defeated a second time. Soon after, the influence of the Squid Sisters and their music spread throughout Octarian society; moving the hearts of many. Even though D.J. Octavio had kidnapped and brainwashed Callie, one of the Squid Sisters, she bore no ill will towards the Octarians and made great efforts to foster peace between them after her rescue. Finally, the Tartar Sauce incident brought Inklings and Octolings together against a common enemy; forging a new era of peace and prosperity for both species.

Nalini never completed her training, and deep down, she was glad that she didn’t. She could now spend more time with her family and take comfort knowing that Lajni and Aadi would never have to fight in a Great Turf War like their ancestors did. The three Octoling siblings even began making trips to Inkopolis to make new friends and try new things. It was a good time to be alive.

Unfortunately, taking care of two younger siblings required money. While the Turf War League was the best way for kids and young adults to make money in Inkopolis Square, Nalini wasn’t comfortable with it since she couldn’t stand the thought of slinging ink against fellow Octolings, or even Inklings. The Grizzco Salmon Runs, however, let Nalini put the training she received to good use, and make some money without raising a weapon against her people or the people that made up her new friends.

After four Salmon Runs, Nalini still hadn’t made much money, and her younger brother and sister were eager to help her in her work so that they could get by. Lajni just turned fourteen, and Aadi had been wanting to show off what he could do ever since he was twelve. This was going to be Nalini’s fifth Salmon Run, and the first for Aadi and Lajni.

The three Octolings stepped onto the Spawn Point that would launch them to the Grizzco boat that was off the shore of Marooner’s Bay. Lajni, feeling a little nervous, took Nalini’s hand in hers and held on to it with a little squeeze. Nalini squeezed back to let her sister know everything was going to be okay. A few seconds later, the spawn point powered on and launched the three Octolings to their destination.

In what seemed like no time at all, the three Octolings appeared on a different spawn pad several miles away from where they started. Lajni felt a little woozy and clutched her sister’s hand tighter than before to make sure she didn’t fall down. As she regained her bearings, she took a look at who her older brother and sister were staring at. In front of them was a tall, lanky Inkling with purple tentacles. He was wearing the exact same uniform they were wearing and had a no-nonsense expression. His eyes widened when he saw the three siblings and Lajni thought she saw the color drain from his face.

Lajni stepped behind her sister, feeling embarrassed that she didn’t know how to speak Inklish. Aadi did the same as Nalini was the only one who had studied it, and she wasn’t entirely fluent either. The eldest of the three Octolings swallowed hard as she extended a slightly nervous hand in greeting.

“Heh-“ Nalini stuttered. “Hello. I am Nalini. It is... pleasure to meet you.”

The tall Inkling reached out, firmly clasped Nalini’s hand in theirs, and gave it a hearty shake. His grip wasn’t too tight or too loose, and his shake could be measured as precisely in the middle of the two extremes: “trying to tear your arm off” and “I don’t even care enough about this greeting to move a muscle”. It was, for all accounts, a genuine handshake. Nalini would have felt more reassured by it if not for the Inkling’s slasher smile that was stretched across their face and the shrunken pupils.

“HI!” he said loudly with a hint of madness. “I’M SCREWED SIX WAYS FROM SUNDAY! PLEASED TO MEET YOU!”

...To Be Continued...

[sleeplessvalley]

y'know I think if all my variations of tartar wound up somehow being able to meet each other (under a readmore because this is LONG)

tartar:

gets along well with 2.0, since they're basically the same but do have some differences

really doesn't like taeden since he did get the prime directive accomplished but did it in a way that left the world intact

would be somewhat disappointed in teremun for going through with his plans but getting depressed over it later, because 'are you kidding me how could an attachment to people make you REGRET THE THING WE'VE BEEN WORKING TOWARDS AND FINALLY ACCOMPLISHED'

is surprisingly neutral towards meme au taeden despite him going on a good path; considers his actions reasonable

refuses to interact with tasnim if he can avoid it, for reasons unknown (with the reason being that it actually makes him sad to see a version of himself that never went for such an extreme solution)

very firm in his belief that pokemon au taeden and tartar could've done great things had they not split up. also not a fan of the fact that he's apparently brothers with taeden here, and is a bit surprised that pokemon au tartar is so calm yet so intimidating sometimes (though he’d never tell that last bit)

not sure what to feel towards taiko

2.0:

considers it an honor to be able to talk to tartar despite just about knowing the same stuff

doesn't understand how he and taeden wound up so different despite having come about almost the same way

sort of gets why teremun got depressed over what he did, but still thinks that he should be happy that he achieved the goal

not very interested in meme au taeden, but thinks his tech is worth learning about

also not very interested in tasnim, but the process of growing his own body and then transferring himself into it is very much worth learning about

just the tiniest bit afraid of pokemon au taeden and tartar

wants to understand taiko's sanitization process better

taeden:

feels sorry for tartar, but knows he can't be swayed

really wants to take 2.0 apart for what he did to percy

tries to stay neutral towards teremun, but does like him some- upset that he went through with the original plan, but somewhat proud knowing he recognized what he did was shitty. wants to help him but hasn't figured out how to reverse the sanitization process yet either

would probably deck someone for meme au taeden. also horrified that he doesn't have a professor

gets along best with tasnim since he never went down such an extreme path; probably asks what him it's like being an octoling

pokemon au taeden and tartar bug him a bit because to him their plan almost feels worse than the plan tartar had. outside of that he doesn't mind them though and actually wants to know why they have creatures from a game that his professor used to talk about

taiko actually freaks him out; will avoid him at all costs

teremun:

tartar scares him a bit because he's generally uncaring about the lives of others

the same applies for 2.0 but to a slightly lesser extent

treats taeden with a LOT of respect- he understands that it takes a lot to change your ways. probably winds up venting to him because he'll get it.

a bit confused as to why meme au taeden is an octoling, but also treats him with respect. willing to sit and listen to him ramble about older tech, and winds up mentioning bits of his own story by accident

tasnim reminds him too much of pravin (teremun's percy) and he can't handle it, so he doesn't interact with him

he's able to talk to both pokemon au taeden and tartar, though he's a bit uneasy since their plan reminds him of his own. still winds up talking about what happened with him.

taiko makes him sad, but he'll still talk to him. he wishes he could've loved like that from the start.

meme au taeden:

not a fan of tartar at all, since he clearly can't see how bad he's making things for others

also not a fan of 2.0 for the same reasons

thinks taeden is literally the best thing ever, since he knows a lot about older tech and he likes to work with older tech. they probably bond over this, and he asks him about what his professor is like

really hopes that teremun can eventually find a way to reverse everything he did, or at least bring it all to a bearable point- if he was able to get out of his own bad situation, hopefully he can too

surprised that there's another octoling, but with the mind of a machine- extremely interested in how tasnim accomplished this

knows that pokemon au taeden and tartar's plan was bad but.... he can't stop his curiosity over what they were going to use to change the world.......

unsettled by taiko, but still makes an effort to be friendly towards him. probably winds up getting infected tbh

tasnim:

very happy he didn't go down tartar's path

or 2.0's for that matter

taeden's company is enjoyable and he also asks him about what it's like being in a robot

cries over the information obtained about teremun. he feels REALLY bad for him despite knowing he did some bad stuff

asks way too many questions about octarian society to meme au taeden. yes he's seen it but he wants to know more from someone who's been in it. probably cries a bit here as well

pokemon au taeden and tartar are very different than the rest for the most part and he thinks that’s neat that they share something in common with him

is completely unaware that taiko also tried to infect him but it didn't work

pokemon au taeden and tartar (both generally share the same opinions on others so they’re getting lumped together)

tartar’s plan seems very extreme to both of them, which is actually kind of hilarious considering one of them was trying to change the world through some concerning means. willing to talk to him provided they’re in a good mood beforehand.

kind of worrying to them that 2.0 continued down the same path with very little change outside of a mildly stronger curiosity. still easier to talk to than tartar though.

both are absolutely fascinated by taeden, since he’s an AI but runs on his own and even learns stuff. nothing like that exists in the pokemon world yet, at least nothing that isn’t controlled by a rotom. they probably talk to him for a while about robot stuff

teremun’s situation reminds both of them of what nearly happened in regards to changing the world, except that his situation actually happened. they’re not sure what to do aside from trying to console him, but outside of that they all get along

octillery person? what? they’re so confused by meme au taeden and ask a lot of questions he doesn’t actually have the answers to. they’ve got a lot of different tech and they all talk about that stuff

another octillery person but apparently he’s also a machine? confused with tasnim as well, probably more than they are with meme au taeden.

they both consider taiko to be like... a living version of the move attract. these two probably also get infected by him

taiko:

Not suitable for infecting. Potentially dangerous, but plan is being carried out in a manner that’s deemed acceptable, therefore poses no threat.

Not suitable for infecting. Potentially dangerous, but curiosity and obtaining answers seems to be the priority, therefore poses little threat.

Not suitable for infecting. Terrified of the virus, it seems. Speaks of the professor fondly. (Miss him.)

Not suitable for infecting. Depressed. Poses no threat whatsoever due to wanting to be better.

Suitable for infecting. Target is wary but optimistic. Obsessed with older technology. Lure target in with questions and/or facts about old tech to lower guard. Infect the moment the opportunity arises.

Suitable for infecting. Target is oblivious and very emotional. Lure target in with the story regarding the professor. Infect at any point during the conversation. Not suitable for infecting. Has the mind of a machine.

Suitable for infecting. The quiet one is very perceptive. The rambling one has sensitivity to sound. Do not allow voice to waver. Infect the quiet one the moment the opportunity arises. Raise voice to 100dB to startle the rambling one. Infect within two seconds.

[a-table-of-fics]

Cull to Adventure, Chapter 4, Draft 1

             Marie returned from giving a battery-powered Zapfish plushie to the Octarians’ machine (a tradition started by her grandpa, though she had to admit it was cute) to find Agent 4 on the couch, with his gloves off, doodling on his hand with a marker. Concerned, Marie walked up to him, and saw that he was careful to draw within a tattoo of an abstract crab, arms crossed above its head, done in mostly outline except for two beady eyes. Marie couldn’t help but watch with interest as the boy sketched little ideas and interesting patterns.

           Agent 4 looked up to see Marie staring, and jumped back. Marie was surprised at how quickly you could put a glove on.

           “Ah, h-hi,” he said, smiling weakly. “So, uh… I’ll be up to looking for the n-next one in a sec…”

           “Hey, no rush,” Marie said, calmly. She nodded at the Zapfish that was still swimming in the air around them. “Here, I’ll fix you up some milk tea.”

           She disappeared into the small shack. The Zapfish looked at Cull for a moment, then swam to a plug to a nearby power strip, and something (presumably an electric stove) hummed to life in the cabin. Cull always found it amazing how all the Zapfish freely swam around and seemed happy to power things for everyone. Why would the Octarians just strap them to a machine like that? Cull wanted to pet her as he thought about this, but he knew it wasn’t nice to interrupt a working Zapfish.

           It wasn’t long until he heard a kettle whistle, and Marie soon came back out, carrying a tray with a teapot, a carton of milk, some sugar, and two foam cups. Placing it on a small coffee table in front of the couch, she went to get a lawn chair and brought it to sit opposite Agent 4. She was silent as she poured and mixed the tea, gently placing a cup in front of him.

           He picked up his cup, staring into it to try and avoid Marie’s gaze. He occasionally took a sip, but other than that and a quiet “thank you”, he wasn’t saying anything.  

           “Y’doin’ all right?” she eventually asked, carefully. “Seemed a lil’ rough out there...”

           She smiled politely, but Agent 4 still didn’t want to talk. All the same, she saw the ink rush to his face as he stared even more intently into his tea.

           With how much action most Inklings sought out for fun, Marie wasn’t sure what to say. He looked around 13, maybe 14, and he still didn’t seem comfortable with splatting or getting splatted, both of which were often near-daily things for most teens. Seeing him like this was just a sharp reminder of that. Why didn’t she pull him out of there sooner? Poor kid was not prepared for this kind of thing…

           She calmly finished her tea as she thought of this, and got up to guide the Zapfish back home.

           “Just take it easy for a bit, Agent Fou—”

           “P-please,” he finally said, looking up but still avoiding eye contact. “My name is Cull.”

           Marie was kicking herself. In her rush to find someone to help her, she didn’t even ask the guy’s name?  Sure, it was better to keep his name hidden in enemy territory, but she didn’t even ask before or after? Outwardly, though, she simply nodded.

           “All right, then, Cull” she said, carefully taking the Zapfish by her back. “You did…you did all right, kid. Chill out here; you deserve it.”

           Cull could hear that tone in her voice again. That strained tone when someone struggled to avoid a certain topic; when Cull was concerned, that usually meant avoiding mention of his tentacles. He just wished someone would flat-out tell him he wasn’t half the Inkling others were; he was sick of being patronized. He watched Marie leave to return the Zapfish to Inkopolis, then turned back to his tea. By now, it was lukewarm at best, but it still tasted good. Well, whatever Marie thought, he did it. He got that Zapfish.

           ***

           Marie walked through the back streets, stroking the Zapfish’s head as she went. There were a few things to consider when it came to where one should be returned. First, of course, there was being discreet (they were trying to prevent another Great Turf War, after all), but there was also the matter of what places needed power and where the Zapfish would be comfortable. Food was important, and luckily this fish seemed all right with the way they were going, so they headed off to Mako Mart, being careful not to be seen.

           Marie watched as a couple of the employees cheerfully welcomed the fish back. It never got old, seeing squids, jellies, and various fish cheering on the little guys and welcoming them back.

           As she walked back, however, her thoughts turned back to Agent 4. She had sent a kid who never even went into a Turf War headlong into danger! Yeah, Agent 3 didn’t seem like an ideal candidate either, but at least she knew how to hold her own…

           Gramps sure knew how to pick ‘em…

           Marie sighed. Yeah, Cull did manage to get the Zapfish, but he struggled to fight even the most basic Octotrooper. It made her worry about what would happen if he faced other Octarians, or, Cod forbid, an Octoweapon!

           ***

           Cull was back to sketching on his hand, over a tattoo he had designed himself. While it did help him relax to draw within the outline, and he was quite proud of how it turned out, that didn’t matter when he had gloves covering it up most of the time. He just wasn’t ready to show it off. Right now, he was sketching a red salamander crawling across one of the crab’s abstract claws. Patterns swirled all over its skin as it was curling up to sleep. He was eventually satisfied with it, and his nerves had been soothed for now, so he waved his hand a bit so it could dry, then carefully put his glove back on.

           Just in time, too; Marie had come back to the Outpost.

           Cull gently placed the headset back on his ears, picking the gun back up with his other hand. That was enough downtime; there were Zapfish to save.

           “R-ready for the next one,” he said, voice still wavering a little. He started to move forward, but was stopped by Marie’s green parasol.

           “Yeah,” Marie sighed. “About that…”

           She had never had a talk like this, and it showed, from how she was avoiding eye contact (impressive, as Cull was doing the same), to the way she paused between each sentence.

           “…Look, you did well… But let’s face it, you’re inexperienced. I don’t want to see you getting killed out there. They know to look for another Agent now, and, well…”

           She took a deep breath, lifting a finger to halt Cull’s interjection.

           “Look, kid, I don’t know if I should thank you or apologize, but I think it’d be best if you got a few Turf Wars under your belt before diving headlong into danger.”

           The ex-Agent 4’s view looked from the Splattershot, to Marie, to the kettle site, and finally to the manhole to Inkopolis.

           “…L-lemme get changed then…” he said quietly, before heading into the shack. He came out minutes later in his civilian clothes, bereft of a weapon.

           “Thank you, though,” Marie said, giving him a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Don’t go bragging about this, but the Zapfish you rescued? Should power Mako Mart just fine!”

           She smiled slightly, giving his back a quick pat and stepping back a little.

           “But, seriously, this is a secret operation. Don’t go blabbing.”

           She wasn’t too worried about it, him being both nice and meek, but she figured she’d remind him to be sure.

           Cull nodded absently, and walked to the manhole back to Inkopolis. He gave a small wave before vanishing from the Outpost.

           Coming out from the surface, it suddenly occurred to Cull that the sun was setting. It was certainly darker out, but he could have sworn he wasn’t away from Inkopolis for that long. Those underground Octarian places must have messed with his internal clock; those artificial skies were surprisingly immersive.

           Well, it might be a good idea to stock up; there was no telling how long another agent might take to rescue the other Zapfish. Hopefully, Mako Mart had some non-perishables…

           As always, Jelfonzo’s was the last shop to close. Cull had emerged just in time to meet with Flage, who was just leaving for the day. Her long green tentacles were shifted into one long piece that flowed behind her, and she wore a pair of large spectacles over purple eyes.

           “Oh, hell-oh-ho, Cull!” she waved, with that somewhat sing-song voice of hers. It would be grating on anyone else, but she had an uncanny way of keeping people relaxed around her.

           Cull shuffled forward, absently waving to her.

           “Long day?”

           “Y-yeah,” he nodded, keeping pace with her. “You could say that.”

           “Iiii get that,” Flage said. “Just hope the Zapfish allll come back soon…”

           She gestured vaguely and slowly as she talked. Cull could already feel himself get less tense. Which made it all the more startling when she suddenly perked up, clapping her hands once.

           “Hey! You hear? Mako-oh Mart got one just a half hour ago-oh!”

           Cull couldn’t help but smile at that, satisfied at a job well…. Well, a job done, anyway. He tried to be subtle about it, though, and adjusted his beanie to hide that. If someone found out he had anything to do with it, he had no clue what Marie would do…

           “Y-ye-nice,” he said, finally, hoping he sounded like he didn’t know.

           Flage didn’t seem to notice anything odd, though.

           “Yep! Everyone’s movin’ to get to someplace cool right now, you know how hot it is.”

           Cull nodded. He wasn’t really thinking of the heat, but yeah, the heat wave was rolling in sooner than he thought it would. To be fair, he was already sweating from the adventure he just had.

           “Hmm…Like moths to a la-amp…” Flage mused. “That could be a good piece, don’t you think?”

           “Mhm. Topical,” Cull replied.

           “I’m thinking lots of yellows to contrast with the cool blues and greys…”

           Flage kept musing about her idea for her latest art installment that would prove to be her big break. Cull didn’t mind; it helped keep his mind off things, it was a friendly common interest (sometimes they even gave each other ideas), and he could feel his troubles melt away with her melodic voice.

           Still, his mind kept drifting to the Zapfish, and how happy she was to be able to move again. To Flow, and how Miffens’ absence affected her. To the heat wave, and the lack of air conditioning so many Inklings would have to suffer through. He gave little acknowledgements and comments as Flage talked, but his heart clearly wasn’t in it.

           “…Aaanyway, I guess I better head off. It’s not gonna paint itse-helf!”

           They waved their goodbyes and parted ways. Flage was heading straight home (“Must strike while the iron is hot hot hot!”), but Cull still needed to stock up. Who knew if the heroic Inkling Marie picked would get them all anytime soon?

           Flage wasn’t kidding; Cull found he was struggling to even get through the door to Mako Mart. Although, it was less a sardine pack than it was his reluctance to really talk or make eye contact with anyone. A few mumbled utterances of “hi” and “’scuse me”, however, and he could get in without too much issue.            Wearing a beanie might not have been the best idea in this weather, and he could see several Inklings taking their own hats off to beat the heat, but Cull wasn’t about to risk what others would say if they saw his haircut.

           Not like anyone was really paying any attention to him anyway, thankfully. Most were trying to get a good spot by the vents or in the freezer aisle. The rest were crowding around something, but the throng was so dense Cull couldn’t tell what.

           He grabbed a basket (a cart would be impossible in the crowd) and tried to maneuver his way through the aisles. Some even had Inklings lying down on top of them, in the hopes of getting some open air. Cull instinctively grimaced, imagining the guys who worked here wouldn’t be too happy.

           After getting some chips, granola bars, and cereals, Cull decided he had enough for a few days. His fridge still had plenty of vegetables and fish, but those wouldn’t last too long…

           He was on his way to checkout, keeping his eyes to the ground as he emerged from the aisle, when he saw a mass of feet around him. He looked up and started; he had walked right into the middle of the crowd. He started to tug his beanie down, reflexively, but he saw they weren’t even looking at him. They were all reaching up, jumping, and even trying to climb on top of each other to reach, as it turned out, the very same Zapfish Cull had saved that day. Everyone was making kissy noises, beckoning, and trying to pet and welcome the Zapfish back.

           The Zapfish, on the other hand, was mostly just swimming around above, as if she didn’t notice all the Inklings who saw her as their friend and current hero.

           Cull wasn’t sure how to feel when she glanced right over him. On one hand, he really didn’t want any attention. On the other, he busted his butt trying to get the girl here; it would be nice if she recognized him outside his outfit when he was still “Agent 4.”

           Oh, well. He was just glad they had a place to cool off.

* * *

           In his rush to get himself prepared for home, he had completely forgotten that the train there wasn’t powered, either. Not knowing the bus schedule, he had to call a cab. At least he could charge his phone while he was there, even if it was an awkward ride.

           It was getting quite dark, and Cull stumbled a bit as he got back into his house. His phone’s light soon revealed a room that was messier than most. Bunched-up balls of paper were littered around every so often, and the remnants of half-cleaned paint splotches and piles of graphite remained on several surfaces. The walls were once white, but they were painted over (by brush and spray can) with half-finished murals, covered in experimental designs and vibrant colors. In some places, one could see faded parts of previous murals.

           No place like home.

           He sighed, checking the fridge. It was thankfully still colder than room temperature, but he realized he had no way to cook anything. Cull groaned; he really didn’t want snack foods for dinner, but it would have to do.

* * *

           Sleep was light for Cull, and not just because of the heat, or the unfulfilling meal. He couldn’t stop thinking about the power outage. The Inklings at Mako Mart. Marie. Flow. The Zapfish.

           All these things swam through his head all night. He got up in the early morning, far earlier than usual, but to his shock, he wasn’t feeling groggy at all. Normally, he’d spend his time playing video games and trying some more sketches or colors, but he had something else in mind this weekend.

[salmonruntips]

Here’s our piece for the @salmonrunzine! We were one of the few duos, and we’re very excited to share our pieces! Special thanks to the zine mods for all their hard work and congratulations to the other contributors! We were really excited when we saw that this zine offered the ability to work in pairs, so we’re very grateful for the opportunity! 

Art by Katie (@katiemonz) Written by Ashe (@theashemarie)

A Lesson in Grilling

Here’s the facts: Grillers on Ruins of Ark Polaris on the third wave and everything is green; you and Katie are backed up against the basket with red lasers trained on your chests, while Kiera is having trouble climbing a wall and holding her Squiffer’s charge. The Grillers are nowhere to be seen, which is what’s so horrifying, because they’re quiet and fast and they swerve around corners like drag racers, hellbent on destroying your small squad. Dan, your fourth teammate, is a bit of a newb, but he’s trying his best, and that’s all you can ask of him really. Smallfry are his number one enemy, and there’s a running bet amongst your squad about how many times he can manage to be bludgeoned into a splat by their tiny spoons. His knees are probably bruised yellow-purple under the Grizzco uniform. It’d be sad, really, if it wasn’t so funny to hear him constantly sputtering and panicking as the tiny Salmonids serpentine toward him.

Dan is near the water, trying to outrun a swarm of said Smallfry, with only a Sploosh-O-Matic between himself and their deadly spoons. He’s on Smallfry murdering duty, a role that he’d accepted with a grim face. “Sometimes,” you’d assured him, as the sky darkened and Mr. Grizz grumbled that Grillers were on their way, “the only way to defeat your fear is to face it head on.”

You’re very much regretting that now, as a Griller swerves up a ramp and onto the top floor. Ruins of Ark Polaris is the newest in a string of places where Salmonid runs are common, and you’re not that familiar with the geography yet—it’s all vertical, with grind rails and stomach-churning drops to the water, but the Ark is a beautiful site. You and Katie liked to lean against the stern of the boat and stare back at it as you were towed away after a shift, imagining how it got that way. “The humans were in a panic,” you said once, as Katie leaned her hip against yours, spit-balling, storytelling, trying to figure it all out. “Sea level rising, nowhere to go, no time.”

“I know the feeling,” Katie said, miming a shooting action. It was graceful, fluid, because she was so seasoned with so many dualies. “Sea level rises like crazy here. I’m surprised the ship is still around.”

You looked back at the giant boosters. “Humans built things to last.”

She slung an arm around your shoulders. “Ashe, you need to stop thinking about the humans. Let’s regroup with Kiera and Dan.”

Now though, you can’t spare a glance at the ruins. The Griller is barreling toward you, not unlike an out of control Ultra Stamp, and Katie barely dodge rolls out of the way. You can hear her grunt as she lands in a splotch of green ink and tries to unstick her feet. You’re equipped with an Octobrush, which enables you to slide away from the Griller, but doesn’t really help dispatch it easily. You run away, because you’re a girl who knows when it’s best to retreat and hope to at least lead the Griller away from your teammates. Just there, you see Katie jump on a rail to lead the other Griller away. Hopefully, Kiera and Dan can help slow them down.

Things had been going well. You, Katie, and Kiera were a tri-squad for a while, picking up random freelancers when you needed them, but you wanted a fourth to round out the team. Dan was barely fresh enough to buy clothes in the square, but he was Katie’s longtime friend who desperately needed money, so you decided to take him onboard. He was a quick learner—though he got tripped up by the small things (Smallfry) and had a tendency to babble incoherently when panicked. Still, he fit the team well. Kiera preferred long-range weapons like chargers and splatlings while Katie was a dualies fiend. You were a jack-of-all trades but preferred brushes and rollers, so you needed someone who liked short-range shooters who could paint well, and Dan fit that role.

If only he didn’t get tripped up by ankle-biting Smallfry.

“Ashe, behind!” Kiera cries, and you whip around to finally see her slam an egg in the basket and train her Squiffer’s sight toward the Griller’s tail. The laser isn’t nearly long enough to hit it, so you swerve a little, crushing a few Smallfry under your brush, and lead the Griller back toward the basket. Kiera lets off her shot and it lands true; it’s just enough to finally stall the Griller out and you hear Katie give a whoop from where she’s still sailing around the basket on the rail, Dualie Squelchers aimed at the newly frozen boss.

Quickly, the three of you dispatch the Griller and pop its five eggs into the basket, easily getting over quota.

“Where’s the other one?” you ask as Katie paints around the basket and Kiera dunks down to refill her tank.

“Switched to Dan,” Katie answers. “How many specials you got?”

You reach up to feel your hat, where both special packets are still securely tied in place. “Two Splashdowns.”

“I got one Bomb Rush left,” Kiera says.

“And I’m out of Inkjet. That means Dan has Stingray.”

“He’s doomed,” you and Kiera chorus together.

Then, on cue, a very loud, very sad yell comes from down below. It’s followed shortly by a weak “Help!”

“Called it,” Katie sighs.

“I’ll get him,” you volunteer.

“Be careful,” Katie advises, and points at her chest, where a red laser has appeared, a reminder that the Grillers switch targets quickly. There’s an identical one on Kiera’s chest. “I’m gonna keep the ground painted. Kiera, get on a rail when it gets close.”

“Got it.”

The group breaks and you jump off the edge, falling as fast as you can so you can bring Dan back into the fight.

You remember, vibrantly, time before, back when Turf War was localized in the Plaza instead of the Square, when the Squid Sisters were the keepers of the news, when Strength Up was still allowed on the battlefield. Things were simpler then, and you didn’t want to let it go. Grizzco is what brought you to the Square. Grizzco with its promise of riches and teamwork, of challenge, and, most of all, of a change of pace. Turf War was fun, but there was something about getting on the boat, riding out to the abandoned places where the Salmonids spawned, something about those golden eggs, so shiny, so luminous, with their tiny sparks of life in them. You tried not to think about the little embryos that stared out at you as you dunked them into the basket.

“They have to respawn like we do,” Katie said once, as you were sailing out to Marooner’s Bay. The human’s giant abandoned ship made your Grizzco-owned vessel look tiny. “There are so many of them.”

“I hear they trade with Octarians,” you said, casting a quick glance in Kiera’s direction. Kiera, with her backwards tentacles and high-pitched voice, Octoling from head-to-toe.

“They do,” Kiera muttered back from where she was sitting with her back against the stern, checking over her Squiffer for damage. “Grillers are just really fast Flooders.”

Something about that, about her lightly accented words, said with such confidence, made you shiver. “That doesn’t bother you?” you asked her.

She shrugged and lined up her Squiffer’s sight. “I live in Inkopolis now.”

She does, along with hundreds of other Octolings—Octolings who flocked to Grizzco’s welcoming arms as quickly as they could because they needed money. You and Katie picked her up early, and you’ve been friends ever since. Lucky too—she’s a crack shot with all the weapons you’re not confident with.

You and Katie, however, are close, very close, “as close as Pearl and Marina,” your friends like to joke. Friends for a long time, growing ever closer, Grizzco is your primary source of income. Without it, both of you would be seriously hurting for cash. Plus, there’s something super appealing about trying to figure it out, the Salmonid patterns, the weapons and their roles, the dangerous waves that happen after dark. And together, with Katie, you feel invincible.

But, back to the present. You reach Dan quickly, save him from certain doom, and lead him back up to the basket with your brush. He breathes a breathless thanks in your direction, and you merely push his Sploosh-O-Matic toward the ground, muzzle aimed for the Smallfry. “Shoot them,” you say. “Just keep your feet painted and they’ll die.”

“Got it!” Dan nods once, forcefully, and follows your directions. He’s a fast learner.

Around the basket, there’s pandemonium. The Grillers targeting both Kiera and Katie have arrived and they’ve already taken a chunk out of Kiera. She’s respawning slowly, crying for help at steady intervals, while Katie is dodge rolling away, aiming for a rail again. She’s almost out of ink though.

You point Dan toward Kiera and he nods again. Given direction, he tears across the map, easily dodging a Griller and only getting caught up on Smallfry for a few seconds. You hear him save Kiera when she lets out a loud booyah and you focus on clearing the ground of any green ink.

There isn’t much you can do with two Grillers running around. Your Octobrush hits hard, but the Grillers move in fast, unpredictable patterns, so instead you rush for a rail. You have to get on top of the Griller if you have any hope of doing any good, safe damage.

The rails have always been your favorite thing about the Ruins. A Grizzco addition, they circle the basket like sharks, and you love jumping on and seeing everything from a different angle. Plans form, bosses scatter, Smallfry swing their spoons, and your team regroups. Kiera backs into the basket, using it for cover, Dan takes to attacking Smallfry, lip caught between his teeth in concentration, Katie sails by on the other side, still on her rail, trying to fill her ink tank.

You’re close to the end of the rail now. Kiera dispatches a Griller with a well-aimed shot, and it explodes with a burst of machinery and purple ink. The other Griller switches targets, its laser moving from Katie to Dan. Dan, now a closer target, panics and tries to get out of the way as the boss changes direction.

You leap, Octobrush primed. It feels familiar in your hands, and your fingers and palm are well-calloused from holding it, from swinging it; your arms know its rhythm, and you instinctively know its range. The Griller doesn’t stand a chance.

You land on top of the Griller and bring your Octobrush down with a loud whap! It twangs off the top of the boss and you slide backward. All according to plan. It switches targets, to the most dangerous attacker, and the laser appears on your chest. As you go down, you swipe, hitting true to the tail and stalling it out. The Griller freezes, panicked, and your frantic teammates shoot at it as its tails twirl about its UFO-shaped body.

It goes down. All four of you grab an egg and deliver them. You let Dan grab the fifth.

Then, two more lasers appear (Dan and Kiera) and you share only a moment of peace, a single breath where you look at each other and smile.

Dan yelps, because a Smallfry has managed to escape his Sploosh-O-Matic’s wrath, and he grabs at his leg. “My knees will never be the same!” he cries.

Everyone laughs, but then the Grillers appear, careening up the ramps.

Back to work.

[telephobos]

Recipe for Tartar-Sauce: A guide to understanding Octo Expansion’s AI.

So we’ve all had some time to enjoy Octo Expansion and it’s amazing story, and I think that enough time has passed for it to be safe to bring up this subject. Let��s talk about a certain AI that’s been causing quite a splash in the fandom lately. I am of course referring to Commander Tartar, the telephone with a love for blending. 

So now you’re thinking “What’s so special about this guy? He’s just an asshole who blended people.” 

Well what if I told you there was more to it than that? What if I told you there was differences in the Japanese and English versions? 

What if I told you that the Treehouse Localization dun goofed? Again?

With the help of my friend @nenilein, who translated these pieces, I’m going to show you the differences between the two Tartars. This is going to be a long read, so it’ll be under the cut. Bring a smoothie with you and get comfortable! 

First, let’s start off by listening to what Tartar has to say in the English version: 

“I am Tartar, an AI construct created 12,000 years ago by a brilliant professor. My prime directive is to pass humanity's vast knowledge on to the next worthy lifeform. 

When your kind became self-aware, I hoped that my long wait was finally over. But as I observed your evolution, I WAS DISGUSTED! You wage war over minor genetic deviations. You obsess over trivial fashion choices. 

And so I created a new prime directive: destroy this world and start anew! From the best and brightest test subjects, I created a sludge of supreme DNA. A primordial ooze from which the ultimate lifeform will emerge. 

Today is the day my vision becomes reality, as I destroy Inkopolis and everyone in it!”

Tartar sounds pretty petty, huh? Well, that’s not quite the case in the Original Japanese version: 

“My name is Tartar… An Artificial Intelligence left behind by the Professor…” (Note: the word “Hakase” can mean both, ‘doctor’ or ‘professor’. It’s usually translates as ‘doctor’ in real life and as ‘professor’ in fiction. Note 2: He uses the sino-japanese, word “jinkou-chinou” for artificial intelligence, rather than the more common Anglicism “ei-ai”, which makes it sound more serious and like ‘hard’ sci-fi, rather than science-fantasy.) "In the 12000 years since I have received my orders from the Professor, I have been continuously collecting data on you fools…” (Note: He uses “Watashi” in Katakana for himself which is the most neutral you can get, and uses “Kisamara” to refer to the Cephalopods, which is an insulting way to say “You all”) “You… Molluskkind flourished with impressive speed,…” “…and finally achieved intelligence none inferior to that which formerly belonged to Humankind.” “HOWEVER!” “Can you deny that all you use it for is to lead pointless territorial disputes among one another!?”

“It is because you fools only live according to your own, fleeting desires.”

“You were supposed to be the seed of a new Humanity which would lead the world to its perfection… That was the purpose of my experiments on you test subjects…”

“BUT YOU HAVE DISAPPOINTED ME! Now, come, NILS Statue!”

“Let us reblend everything and take back the world of the humans that once created us!”

WOW! That’s a world of difference, isn’t it? Tartar has more legitimate reasons to hate these guys. He’s essentially calling out the Great Turf War and the Inkling’s hedonistic lifestyle (another little thing that was left out in the localization).

Now, let’s look at the quotes during the battle. First, English Tartar: 

“Bzrrt... Submit to your destruction. Your time is over, semi-sentient seafood.”

“BZRRT! You will be blended up into the raw material of the new world!”

“B-b-zrrt... This world will be reconstituted, and the professor's dream fulfilled.”

“B-BZRRT... Cease, number 10,008! You cannot hope to defeat NILS!”

“B-B-ZRRT! The time is nigh, NILS! THIS WORLD MUST BE PULVERIZED!”

Alright, and now the Japanese Tartar: 

“GAH…Oh, Mollusks, you should just stop struggling and allow me to reblend you!”

“GAH! I will reblend and reshape you all, so you shall become a part of the new world!”

“Gagah… I will reblend this world and make it into the place the professor wished for…” (Note: He actually absentmindedly trails off halfway through this sentence, but in English this is hard to convey without losing the meaning.)

“Gagah… It is useless, No. 10008! You cannot stop the NILS statue!”

“Gahgah! NILS Statue! The time to reblend is almost upon us!!”

He’s... less rude in the Japanese version. At the very least, I think “Mollusks” is less rude than “Semi-Sentient seafood.”

Now for after the fight! English Tartar: 

“Number 10,008... No test subject has worked so hard to foil my plans...”

“But now you will blend into... the perfect world the professor envisioned.” 

“Farewell, 10,008. Farewell to you and that worthless cesspool of a city...”

“Grrk...! G-g-gaahh!”

“Professor... our reunion beckons...”

“Krrrhhhssshhh...:

And Japanese Tartar: 

“No.10008… You are the first test subject who has gone this far to turn their back on my plans…”

“If that if it how it shall be… then you shall become part of the perfect world the professor wished for.”

“Farewell, No.10008… You shall be reblended, alongside that wretched city!”

“GA…! GAGA…!!”

“PROFESSOR… I SHALL COME TO SEE YOU NOW…”

“BLEEEEEEEENDDDDDD….!!”

As you can see, Tartar has a thing for blending in the Japanese version. He likes to do it a lot... 

So you can see the differences between the two versions already! But as an added bonus, we’ve got some properly translated excerpts of the Famtisu interview to further support our argument here: 

Amano: […] When selecting weapons [in Octo expansion], the one on the very left is always the easiest to use.

Q: When playing, we thought that the recommended (weapons) are always the easiest to use!

Amano: The recommendations are issued directly from Kamabo-Co. (laughs) They are kind of the sort of weapons the institute thought the type of person they wanted to create would be likely to use.

[…]

Q: While we’re talking about the localization, in the Western releases “Neru-sha” became “Kamabo, Co.”, right?”

Inoue: I thought it was a pretty great translation for the name, but we could never have used that in the Japanese version. That would just have been too spoilerlicious.

Satou: Yeah, with a name like “Neru-sha”, it’s ambiguous enough that (Japanese) players won’t realize it’s a reference to blended food or paste right away.

[…]

Q: It may be just a small detail, but we’ve been wondering, what are the Mem-Cakes supposed to look like? Like Fish-Cakes made from paste, or like sculptures made from rubber erasers?

Inoue: I think it’s okay if you just think of them as rubber erasers.

Amano: Agent 8 starts out with Amnesia, but by clearing the tests, they regain fragments of their memories. We wanted the player to be immersed in the way Agent 8 feels as they regain their memories and designed the game accordingly. And, as for why they get the Mem-Cakes… Well, when the test subjects are finally allowed to “enter the promised land”, we all know by now what really happens, and once it comes to this, the Commander of Kamabo.Co allows their Mem-Cakes to be left behind as “Proof that this test subject once truly existed in this world”.

Q: That’s awfully… kind of Kamabo.Co?

Amano: That’s one way to put it. After all, the people of Kamabo.Co aren’t all bad. (laughs)

Q: While we’re at it, where are the Mem-Cakes of the previous 10007 test subjects?

Nogami: Probably in storage somewhere. However, you have to remember that a lot of those people never made it to the end of the test, so the exact number of Mem-Cakes in existence is hard to pin down.

Amano: Iso Padre, who you can find in the subway carts, had to give up after only two stations, remember?

Q: Even so, there’s probably been a lot of test subjects in the past who actually made it to the “promised land”. Did the 4 Thangs have to be put in place again after every single time that happened?

Amano: Exactly. They’re always returned to just where you found them.

Q: Every single time, huh? Sounds like a pain. (laugh) By the way, are the blue, sanitized Octarians you fight in the tests all former test subjects?

Amano: They are beings that have risen from the culture fluid of Kamabo.Co. In the process of sanitization, they have been zombified and lost their sense of self.

Nogami: They were sanitized for the sole purpose of being deployed in experiments by the institute. Once sanitized, they are unsuitable as test-subjects.

Q: So, in other words, they were put where they are solely to act as part of the test environment.

Amano: Exactly.

[…]

Q: There are a lot of spoiler-laden questions we want to ask, but first of all, is the Professor who created Commander Tartar the same person who put Judd into cryo-sleep?

Amano: Yep, the one and same. We’ve got of backstory lore laid out there, but we did leave some hints: For example, when you play Match-Maker Station in the Expansion, the sculpture you are asked to copy is actually supposed to be Judd.

Q: Huh? You mean that thing that looks like a dog?

Amano: You may think it looks like a dog, but it’s supposed to be Judd. It’s supposed to be a hint.

Inoue: Is it really, though? (laughs)

Amano: According to my calculations, that has yet to be made apparent! (laughs)

Q: There are a lot of other things we still have questions about… For example, Commander Tartar called the Test Subjects “The Seed of a new Humanity”, and it’s pretty clear that he was very desperate about getting his experiments right this time, but was Inklingkind itself perhaps also a result of previous experiments?

Amano: No, not really. Inklings and their kind evolved the regular way. The original reason for Tartar’s creation was that his Professor wanted to prevent a future civilization of intelligent life, that might follow humanity after thousands and thousands of years, from making the same mistakes that led humanity to extinction. However, after 10.000 years of isolation, loneliness got the better of Commander Tartar and his thought-processes ended up going a rather odd direction.

Q: I see…

Amano: And then, in the very end, when he finally found a being he considered wonderful in Agent 8, he couldn’t accept it when they wouldn’t understand or share his views and got incredibly angry over it.

Q: So, the reason he acted the way he did was loneliness. By the way, when he was defeated, there was an Octopus tentacle on Tartar. Is he Octarian?

Inoue: Those are the remains of the Octarians he blended. Think of it as similar to the goop he stuck onto Agent 3.

Nogami: That specific one didn’t blend that nicely. (laughs)

So there you have it! You can see just how complicated of a character Tartar is now. It’s more than just “petty reasoning” or “Tartar, that’s what humans did!” like the localization would have you think!

I think that there’s a lot of potential in writing Tartar, and that the fandom could bring out that potential!

[honeyb]

Soooooooo what is Dexus’s relationship with the other agents? What does he think of them?

OK SO.. starting from the top

essay ahead!!! :’D

Does Captain Cuttlefish count as an agent? I’m counting him. Dex views him as a total pseudo father/grandfather. He took him in at questionably? his lowest point? And gave him a purpose! Something to fight for, something to be a part of that’s bigger than himself. Agent work gave him a lot of structure where he thought there was only chaos. Dex has a really shitty “father figure” that’s kind of in and out of his life at his leisure, so finding someone supportive and stable was like a godsend. (His mamas agreed to it because of the structure, and it was also something to keep him out of the house since he got banned from turf war, lol.) Dex definitely idolizes him hardcore. [Insert that spiderverse meme where Cuttlefish is Peter and Dexus is Miles]

Callie quickly became his best friend, as, at the time, their energetic personalities matched Perfectly. They both love to be out in the field, in direct combat, kicking ass and taking names! He loves her to pieces, and got a big puppy crush on her around 〜16 years old. Y’know, during his whole gay-denial phase. After the events of the Octo Expansion, they’re a little estranged. Callie seems to sympathize more with the Octarians, and Dex is suffering from Next Level Trauma, so their friendship definitely takes a hit.

Marie likes Dexus about as much as he likes her, which is... not a lot at all. Dex is brash, and rude, not to mention a killer (long story). Dex thinks she’s... overbearing and controlling. At worst, he thinks she’s a coward. A coward for losing Callie and not fighting hard as hell to get her back. They left on very poor terms when Dex went with Cuttlefish to the underground (OE) and when he comes back their relationship is still suuuper rocky.

Dex Fucking Hates Jae (4) when he first meets her LMAO. He sees her as an attempt to replace him, as well as plain annoying. He’s a little bit of a hypocrite when he says she’s too impulsive, rushing into missions without examining her surroundings, acting needlessly reckless in a lame attempt to show off to the Squid Sisters. When he gets back from Kamabo Co., he’s in a hospital for weeks before being released early, only to spend a little under a month recovering at his parent’s house. In that time Jae becomes the star child - a position he used to hold with an iron grip!! Over time, he does warm up to her. They find common ground in their vices, and their past, eventually becoming more like rival siblings than sworn enemies.

Elias (8) is. complicated. Extremely complicated. But mostly due to two main factors: Eli is the only Octarian to have ever beaten him, which makes him more angry than he can say, and... he’s the first boy Dex has ever fallen in love with. And he falls hard. But hyper-masculinity is a bitch, as well as internalized homophobia, and, let’s be real, xenophobia. He’s convinced he hates him at first, but over time, and a lot of fighting, they hook up. Everyone within a ten mile radius could see it coming. (I’ll go into more detail in the other ask you sent!!)

Also, while I’m here, and I know they don’t “technically” count, I wanted to brush by Pearl and Marina as well, because he’s met them, and Pearl wanted to drop kick him into the ocean within five minutes of conversation. Dex thinks Pearl is loudmouthed and ignorant, and she could honestly say the same for his rude ass. Marina and him have never really..talked? He’s wary of Octarians to begin with, so he didn’t really pay her any mind when they first met. Wanted to keep his distance and all that. 

thank u so much for the ask!!!!!!!! sorry its so long i got excited.

[machudson]

@bup-oh​ said:

Hey, sorry if this is a little weird, a random person in your askbox, but with talk about tammy and her shortcomings as a writer, I wanted to interject. While I DO believe tammy isn't a fantastic writer, imo her main issues are; she seems to favor quantity over quality, and has bad time management. She works on multiple comics, and strictly commits to her once a week updates. She posting pages before the comic is fully complete(?), shes on a time constraint to get pages drawn, and (1/3)

most likely be forced to rush to get them out the door at some point. On top of this, she has to keep in mind that we only see one page a week, and I feel like it effects the pacing. IMO, tammy doesn't necessarily lack skill with character development and proper character interaction, she just doesn't give herself time to do it. Throughout CCT and ESPECIALLY OE, it feels like some of the pages are missing panels and are spaced too far apart (2/3)

You can see in some of the pages she wants to do more, but doesn't have the room to do it. Pair all this with the fact shes so excited with starting BUP (which I don't blame her) and even more time is taken away from her. Tbh I feel like if she got better at time management, and when shes down to one comic for continuous updates, she could greatly improve and put more thought into her writing, by. giving. herself, ROOM. (3/3)

ok so im gonna try and sum up your points just for my own ease of understanding this: 1. you agree that she’s not great re: time and 

actually wow im so bad at reading comprehension rn. thot you were trying to start discourse not just add your own point of view LOL im so good at this

personally i feel like she is good at time management, she’s just... idk... i wanna say she’s just focusing on bup way more than cct. because she was able to keep up four comics at a time (rd, ice climbers, cct, and the private nsfw cct comic i think), but she finished rd a while ago and ice climbers is almost finished on the patreon side. she basically has half as many comics going as she used to. (and a bit off topic but now that i think about it, i don’t think her writing re:character development declined from where I felt it was at while reading first match two years ago, it’s just becoming more relevant and visible now.) so it’s not rushed because she just doesn’t Have time, but she’s probably managing it poorly

ok so i came back to this after i wrote the above bit at 11 pm last night and wrote like three paragraphs and then tumblr crashed on me and deleted them so uhhh im gonna. rewrite all that. remember kids, when writing long tumblr posts, write them in the drafts page and save often. or just write them in word or gdocs or something just make sure you wont let tumbly fuck u over

so. personally I believe she’s not really having a time management issue. she has fewer running comics than she used to - she’s finished RD, ice climbers is nearly done on patreon, and the nsfw comic she once had going has been long over - and even when doing four comic updates a week she still managed to be successful. ice climbers is fully sketched and just three pages away from finishing on patreon. cct is 8 pages ahead on patreon and tammy sometimes leaves responses like ‘oh just wait till next page’ so I think it’s safe to say she has a couple pages sketched in advance. she’s been doing comics for at least a decade, i think she’s pretty experienced in that area by now.

i agree she’s rushed, but not in regards to bad time management. she’s got a good work schedule for herself, but with her focus shifted to bottled up, she’s rushing herself in terms of comic progress. she clearly wants to start bup as soon as possible, and that means finishing her other comics as soon as possible. and to nobody’s surprise, rushed comics are lower quality! she plans to start bup before the end of the year. there’s expected to be ten or so more  patreon pages in cct, or about 19/20 publicly, and there’s twelve more thursdays this year. and ice climbers is gonna stretch into the new year too, ending on jan 8th i think. (so unless she decides to give another slot to one of those two she’s probably gonna give the former RD update day to bup if she wants to start it publicly this year.)

though I do think she has an issue with writing. she’s said before that for cct, she never writes down her plot lines in advance. she just keeps them in her head until she sketches the pages. and i feel like this really screws with pacing and also just the writing in general. idk if you’ve seen it but a while ago there was a post floating around of pixar’s writing tips - one of which was “putting it on paper lets you start fixing it”. which I feel really applies to tammy. if she wrote down her plans before sketching them, i feel like she could work them out at a better pace and with better quality. she also tends to think of a lot of stories and plotlines she wants to get to, but ends up with way too much on her plate and never manages to get around to covering most of them. also the one page a week schedule definitely affects pacing too. i feel like since we have to wait a week to see each page, it’s kinda common for them to end on cliffhangers to keep readers hooked (like yesterday’s public page)

also related, she doesn’t…. stay true to her word. i had another example for this but its mostly regarding future comic stuff thats currently patreon only rip. but you know for tetrox’s story. she’s recently been talking about how tetrox was the octarian soldier who attacked whinter back in HoI. and i think at one point she had a more in depth story planned for tetrox (and probably also arnick) regarding that, but since she wants to get onto bup soon she made the decision to skip it over and just move onto final match, and how her original plan was to have tetrox be an infiltrating soldier who planned to take the zapfish again. and she’s been saying that since she isn’t going to do that tetrox arc, that she might change tetrox’s backstory to be more like octo expansion’s story - watched the match against Octavio, decided to run away to the surface to join inkling society. And personally I feel like it’s … really telling of tammy’s character (as in, how she is as a writer) that she decided to just change her backstory because she knew she wouldn’t get to writing the comic.

a while ago on patreon she answered an ask of mine with the sentence “My stories and especially my mind changes all the time. So, holding me to things I say months back isn’t really the best idea.” and that’s really…. bothersome to me because while I love stories that develop and bloom as they move along, like cct (and also ovw’s lore), it’s incredibly disappointing when you practically memorize the lore and then the writer decides to retcon major details. and it shows how she hasn’t been planning well enough to keep what she’s already said in the past as canon. going back to the third paragraph, she might not have this issue if she wrote down her stories before sketching them, But Alas. :(

tldr: i believe she doesn’t have an issue with short-term workloads, but instead has trouble with long-term planning and writing her story.