#mindless-octopus

[hollowsart]

hhhhh let me hold his adorable face, his soft warm doughy cheeks.. my little serotonin machine <3<3

kissing him. everywhere. on the mo--

[foucauldiantheory]

ok so basically no one has ever written poetry like joyce mansour was writing poetry and no one else ever will??!?????! literally like. the ants that crawl between my unctuous legs...... carry masks of silence while laboring?!!?!?!!!?!

[catfishofoldin99colours]

my brain MUST be getting better because knitting ribbing is now the most boring thing in the fucking world

[stenka-razin]

ok so apparently Eat Babies? went on to be part of actually respected modern industrial act Black Dresses. That's wild. I first heard of her on a compilation where white people rapped over Super Mario Brothers music.

[azuremist]

"A ship manifesto is a meta essay meant to introduce fans to a ship and promote it by explaining its appeal."

Fanlore, on the definition of a ship manifesto

Welcome to my Pearlina manifesto! In this essay, I will be introducing you to Splatoon, as well as the characters, Pearl and Marina. I will be going over their lore, their coding, and I hope that I will be able to make you understand their appeal as a romantic pairing.

First, though, I must get you caught up on the not-inherently gay lore of Splatoon. What you need to know is that, around 100 years ago, Octarians and Inklings coexisted in harmony. However, rising sea levels made it so the two had to battle over remaining territory. The Inklings came out victorious, and forced the Octarians to live underground and in much worse conditions. Nowadays, most Octarians are a part of the Octarian army, trying to regain control of the surface.

Also, for clarification: an Octarian is any octopus-like creature, but an Octoling is specifically the intelligent humanoid creature. All Octolings are Octarians, but not all Octarians are Octolings.

As for non-Pearlina key players, we have the Squid Sisters, also known as Callie and Marie. When they sing the Calamari Inkantation, it's known to snap Octarians out of their brainwashing. Because it's just that much of a bop.

Agent 8 was the first playable Octoling, introduced in Splatoon 2's DLC, Octo Expansion. They're an Octoling who had their memories wiped, and was one of the very first Octolings to escape the Octarian army and go to the surface for a new life. They are also the playable character of Splatoon 3's DLC, Side Order.

We have DJ Octavio, who is the leader of the Octarian army. He has some messed up methods, and he's sort of a war criminal, but he's also a funny old man so we forgive him. He's been around since the Octarian and Inkling war of old, along with Cap'n Cuttlefish. Cap'n Cuttlefish is an Inkling who enlists the named Agents, and the grandfather of Callie and Marie.

And lastly, there's a phone. This phone is known as Tartar. It's an AI driven to insanity by isolation, with a desire to wipe out all living beings on Earth to start anew. It frames itself as trying to help the Octolings who attempt to escape the underground, while actually leading the Octolings to their doom. Agent 8 is the first Octoling to escape its grasp alive.

Tartar is also the owner of what is known as Kamabo Co., which, among many other messed-up things, uses a process called "sanitization" to brainwash and wipe the memories of Octolings who work with them to escape to the surface. Sanitized Octolings are then used by Kamabo as test subjects, now mindless husks. Empty of all previous personality. Zombie-like creatures, made of Octolings who only wished to see the sun.

So, anyways, meet Pearl! She's an Inkling who likes rapping and the dualie class of weapons! She's a blunt speaker who uses slang a lot, and she's energetic, expressive, and brash, but ultimately friendly. Her personality is intended to clash with her appearance, which is that of a typical soft, cute Japanese pop princess. "Gap moe", as the kids say.

She was born rich, and with oddly-shaped vocal cords that made her able to be so loud that it could cause damage to her surroundings. She participated in a youth folks-singing contest as a child, which had to be cut short precisely because of the damage caused by her singing. Her using this ability is called her "Hypersonic Battlecry". Upon reaching adulthood, she started a heavy metal solo career, and she had a song that gained some fans, "#$@%* Dudes Be #$@%* Sleepin". However, besides that one song, she didn't have much luck. Even still, she practiced regularly; going to Mt. Nantai to be alone, due to the potential danger her singing can cause, when she did.

Marina is an Octoling who likes singing, music production, and is also generally good with tech! She draws in a shoujo manga-esque style, and likes the brella class of weapons. She speaks in a soft and sweet way, but she can get sassy if provoked. She's sentimental, shy and pretty bad socially, often coming across as awkward or oblivious. Even still, she expresses herself honestly, without embarrassment.

Marina was born into Octoling soldierhood, and was trained up from a child as a combat engineer. She was so intelligent that she skipped multiple grades, and went to an elite training facility, where she became an active soldier in the Octarian army. However, when she was on the surface on a mission, and heard the Calamari Inkantation, she deserted the army and Octarian society. She was at a severe disadvantage, of course; she didn't speak a word of the Inkling language. But she managed to escape, still, to Mt. Nantai.

Pearl and Marina met for the first time by chance, as Pearl was practicing in the mountains at the same time that Marina was escaping the army. They quickly grew close, and Pearl taught Marina the Inkling language and Inkling culture. She didn't know that Marina was an Octoling at this time.

After this first meeting, Marina returned to the mountains every day for two weeks in hopes of meeting Pearl again. When they finally did meet again, Marina showed Pearl a demo of a song she created, which Pearl loved. The two agreed to form Off the Hook, and they released a polished version of the demo as their first single, under the title "Ebb & Flow".

9 months after the events of Splatoon 1, Off the Hook was popular enough to take over hosting Inkopolis News for the Squid Sisters, who were now focusing on their solo careers.

Which leads us into Splatoon 2! Marina and Pearl don't have a big role in the main game. They get a bigger spotlight in the game's DLC. However, they host Inkopolis News and the Splatfests, so they have lots of dialogue for that!

But! There is another key player here. A rather important one, in fact, one who actually has a big say in Pearl and Marina's story.

So, basically, Nintendo of America hates queer people. The Japanese dialogue for Pearl and Marina make it VERY clear that the two are intended to be queercoded. But Nintendo of America didn't likey, so they censored the everloving shit out of it. They only got any better about this during the tail end of Splatoon 3's lifespan, ending around the time Side Order released. Even then, I personally suspect that they only did this because a lot of the fanbase took notice of how, hey, they sure are throwing the term "best friends" around a lot more in the English version… For that reason, a lot of the dialogue I'll be sharing for this section will be the original Japanese dialogue.

Note, these are just my personal favorite examples of dialogue between them. All dialogue referenced can be viewed on the indie Splatoon wiki, also known as Inkipedia.

During the first Splatfest, Marina says, "Even against Pearl-senpai, I will not lose," and tells Pearl that she won't hold back, despite how much she admires Pearl. We also have Marina inviting Pearl to eat with her after winning the Fries vs McNuggets Splatfest, and Pearl excitedly inviting Marina to see a movie together with her for Action vs Comedy. For the Knight vs Wizard Splatfest, Pearl says that she likes knights because they fight to protect everyone, and Marina, in response, says, "Ehehe, then I'll be a witch so you can protect me!" Marina also reveals that she learned how to make chicken the way that Pearl likes so that she can make some for her, despite it not being her taste, in the aftermath of the With vs Without Lemons Splatfest.

One of the rare English localization wins is Marina saying that she likes using the brella to "protect her precious Pearlie at all costs!" There is also a line in the German localization where Pearl says that the Ferris wheel glimmers and shines, and Marina replies, saying it doesn't glimmer and shine like Pearl's eyes.

Lastly, in one of the Sanrio Splatfests, Pearl talks about having a dream where she is with Hello Kitty, and Marina responds by saying it's too much cuteness for her to process. (Of course, her implying that Hello Kitty and Pearl are both cute, so them together makes her malfunction.)

I think one of the most underrated exchanges, though, is in the Friends vs Family dialogue, where Pearl is team family. Marina at first seems sad that Pearl would choose her family over her, and Pearl, noticing this, clarifies that she sees Marina as a part of her family. Marina, in response, exclaims that, in that case, she's joining Team Family too! It's SO cute. In the Japanese version of this exchange, she even does a keyboard smash in response because she's so flustered and happy.

Also, when describing one of her favorite manga, Marina describes a manga which seems to heavily parallel her own life: "The protagonist was born to be the prince of an evil army and the story progresses along with his troubles! And to say nothing of the romance elements on top of that! It gets me emotional every time!" It's clear that she sees herself in the protag, and is likely projecting her relationship with Pearl onto the romance, as her relationship with Pearl is what helped her escape her own "evil army".

I'd also like to invite you to check out the official Splatfest art of them! There are a few pieces that show them domestic and just hanging out, like Pulp vs No Pulp and Warm vs Cold Breakfast. There are also a few more overtly romance-coded ones. In the Sci-Fi vs Fantasy art, Marina is obviously swooning over Pearl, and the gay eye contact in the Kid vs Grown-Up promo art is so good. But my two personal favorites are the Knight vs Wizard and the Vampires vs Werewolves art. I adore the framing of knight Pearl protecting witch Marina, just like she talked about in her Splatfest dialogue, in the Knight vs Wizard art, and the dramatic lighting is gorgeous. For the Halloween Splatfest, I've never gotten over the detail that Pearl is gently touching Marina's face. Something about it just activates my neurons.

And speaking of Splatfests, after all is said and done, there has to be a final Splatfest, doesn't there? This one is themed around the Splatpocolypse! Pearl reps Team Chaos, and Marina reps Team Order, for the question of which kind of apocalypse would be more bearable. The results of Final Fests are known to be very important, and to affect what happens in future Splatoon games, so, when Pearl starts talking like the future of Off the Hook is depending on the result of this Splatfest, the threat is very real, despite her reassuring Marina that she cares about their band.

But, in the end, it's Pearl's team who comes out victorious! And so Off the Hook will break… into new musical genres! Ayy!

Marina is confused by this outcome, and voices that she thought that Off the Hook would be breaking up. Pearl is confused right back at this assumption, because she would never break the two of them up.

Pearl's Japanese dialogue reads: "That's exactly why! Our, Off the Hook's, best, unbeatable color will repaint the world! After all, I need you… Making music without you is no fun! Now, now, settle down… Are you okay, Marina? There's still more coming up for Off the Hook!"

And her English dialogue reads: "You and me are gonna rock the mic together until the end of time! Or at least until I can get my solo career off the ground. BAHAHA! I'm just playin', Marina. You know I love you. It's you and me against the universe, 'Rina!"

In all versions of the dialogue, Marina bursts into tears on-air out of joy, and Pearl tries her best to comfort her, assuring her that she never wanted to leave her behind, and never would want to. (She also directs the cameraperson to point the camera at her, trying to save Marina from any embarrassment.)

Special art for the Splatfest shows Pearl putting her signature crown on Marina's head. In Splatoon 3, we get to see an in-game selfie of the two which confirms that this happened, presumably once they were off-air.

Splatoon 2's DLC is called Octo Expansion, and follows Agent 8. Octo Expansion is where a lot of the lore with Octolings gets explored, including Marina being one! Because, yes, up until the release of this DLC, Marina has just VISIBLY been an Octoling this whole time, with nobody addressing it. It drove the fandom nuts. It was pretty funny.

Agent 8, with amnesia, finds themself in an underground subway system, stuck with Cap'n Cuttlefish and a desire to see the surface. Pearl and Marina accidentally get in contact with Agent 8 and Cap'n Cuttlefish because of a glitch in their communication device, and decide to help them out. As such, Pearl, Marina and Cuttlefish all end up in a group chat together to discuss strategy, and the player can read through their chat logs. It's in these chat logs that Pearl and Marina relay much of their previously-discussed backstory. However, Marina never brings up her own past before meeting Pearl.

Which Cuttlefish decides to fix via outing Marina as an Octoling! Very cool. He sends Pearl information about Marina from when she was in the Octarian army, while Marina is away from the chat. Pearl is, of course, surprised, but isn't stunned for long, as she immediately starts jumping all over Cuttlefish, threatening him to make sure no harm comes to Marina. World's tiniest attack dog, truly.

When Marina returns, she goes silent when Pearl tells her that Cuttlefish shared her past, but, when Pearl reassures her that she's still accepted, Marina's implied to start crying out of joy via the emoticons she uses.

Something worth noting is that the Inkling/Octoling conflict is heavily coded to be analogous to racial and xenophobia-related issues, especially from this DLC-onward. Past wars are used as an excuse for bigotry, Marina and Agent 8 are both dark-skinned, Octoling culture seems to take inspiration from black culture, and Cuttlefish quite literally says, "I don't see species" while complimenting Marina on how "articulate" she is.

In the final battle against Tartar, Marina and Pearl play a huge part! Marina uses her hacking skills to determine how to weaken Tartar's blast, which would destroy all inkfish. Pearl uses her Hypersonic Battlecry to push back against the blast, and destroys the weapon in the process, after planning it with Marina (who uses a really gay shoujou manga-like drawing of Pearl, with sparkles around her, to illustrate the plan). This, of course, leads to the iconic scene where Marina glomps Pearl and nuzzles into her face at such force that she makes both of them fall over. They can be seen on the floor in the following shot, where Marina is still nuzzling into Pearl's face.

While we're in between Splatoon 2 and 3, I thought now would be a good time to sprinkle in some miscellaneous fun facts that don't really belong anywhere else!

Pearl and Marina have nicknames for each other! Marina calls Pearl "my precious Pearlie", or just "Pearlie", and Pearl calls Marina "'Rina".

In the Japanese text, Marina calls Pearl "senpai", while referring to everyone else with the "-san" honorific. This is likely both because Pearl is older than her and because she has a lot of respect for Pearl. (Because yes, Pearl is the older one, despite their height difference suggesting otherwise! She is 21, while Marina is 18.)

Marina's feelings for Pearl are 100% confirmed romantic! In the official relationship chart, Marina, in relation to Pearl, is described as "koisuru otome". "Koisuru" means "to fall in love", and "otome" means "maiden", especially in romantic contexts like otome games. So she's a "maiden who has fallen in love"! Nintendo of America, predictably, censored this in their localization of the chart.

They seem to have a princess and knight motif! This is made more explicit in Splatoon 3, but Pearl's Japanese name, Hime, means 'princess', and she is known as MC Princess in English. Her appearance is based on that of a "pop princess". Marina, of course, was a top-ranking Octarian soldier. But Pearl is braver and is more protective of Marina, while Marina swoons at the idea of Pearl saving and protecting her in the Japanese text for Knights vs Witches. In appearance, Pearl is the princess and Marina is the knight, but in personality, it's swapped.

In "Suffer No Fools", Pearl refers to Marina as attractive and intelligent in various ways, depending on the language. In English, her line is, "She's divine, one of a kind, voice so fine, BIG mind!" In Dutch, it's, "She is without equal! Hell of a voice and won't give an inch!" In French, it's, "Divine and seductive, ravishing voice and GORGEOUS brains!" In Italian, the line is, "She is divine, a darling, crystalline voice, refined mind!" And, my personal favorite, the German version of the line: "My beauty writes tunes and she's smart like a dream!"

Also, Suffer No Fools is a rap battle. So one of Frye's disses is targeted at Marina, calling her Pearl's "grouper". This is a fish pun on "groupie", which is someone who follows a pop star around in hopes of forming a romantic connection.

The Final Fest of Splatoon 1 was Callie vs Marie, so many people were expecting Splatoon 2's to be Marina vs Pearl. When asked why this wasn't the case, a head developer stated that the reason was that the Squid Sisters always had a hint of rivalry in their relationship. However, Pearl and Marina hold only care for each other. This is even directly addressed in the Final Fest's pre-Fest dialogue, where Pearl states she knows that Marina is more popular than her, without a hint of bitterness.

Nintendo likes to give the idols of Splatoon faux-interviews, to make it feel like they're real idols! One such interview asked Pearl what the most precious gift she's ever received was, to which her answer was, "The chance to meet Marina!"

Lastly, in the Splatfest performances of "We're So Back", there is an extended section where Marina places her hand on Pearl's lower back as they dance. Kinda gay.

With that, let's get back to the story! Stop me if you've heard this before — but Pearl and Marina don't get a lot of focus in Splatoon 3's main mode, instead getting the spotlight in the game's DLC. They're super busy, after all, on their world tour!! Agent 8 went on tour with them, too, in order to help out behind the scenes. It's also heavily implied that they moved in together between Splatoon 2 and 3, as, multiple times in 2, they say they have separate houses, but, in Splatoon 3, Pearl mentions "our (her and Marina's) yard". (Oh my God, they were roommates.)

Onto Splatoon 3's DLC, titled, "Side Order"! As Splatoon 3's general main story mode took on the chaotic aesthetic due to it winning 2's Final Fest, Side Order is what takes on the aesthetic of Team Order.

And, remember how I said that Nintendo of America only got better about censoring Pearl and Marina being queercoded with the release of Side Order? Yeah, we're gonna be referencing the English dialogue a lot more from now on.

In Side Order, Agent 8 is transported to a virtual world created by Marina, named Order Sector. This world was originally created to help sanitized Octarians regain their memories! However, it seems to have been corrupted, somehow…

In Order Sector, Pearl is turned into a drone! Together, she, Acht (also known by their stage name, Dedf1sh) and Agent 8 climb the Spire of Order to save Marina, who they can hear calling out to Pearl from the spire.

Quick Acht break. I would like to bring to attention the fact that Acht is canonically non-binary, and are only referred to with they/them pronouns in-game. This means that Splatoon is willing to go there, in terms of purposefully putting queer characters in the official canon. Just in case you needed more convincing, regarding Pearl and Marina's queercoding being 100% intentional.

Anyhow. Upon reaching the control room, the 3 of them encounter Marina, now mind-controlled with a visor and called Marina Agitando. This new name for the controlled version of Marina matches the naming conventions of the other Side Order bosses. "Agitando" means agitated or restless, and an "agitato" in musical composition means that something must be played with force and accuracy (of course, leaning into the theme of order).

After freeing Marina, Agent 8 and Pearl are confronted by Order, an AI who seized control of Marina's virtual world, and whose goal is to force everyone in the outside world into Order Sector, and to then establish a colorless world of order, where independent thought does not exist.

Marina, obviously distressed by her altruistic project being hijacked for a horrible purpose, resolves to help Agent 8, Pearl and Acht with subsequent journeys up the Spire. After rescuing Marina, Pearl is also able to freely transform between being a drone and an Inkling, but chooses to be a drone most of the time, as that form helps Agent 8 more on their missions.

(By the way, it's around this time that we learn that Marina's computer background is a picture of Pearl lying seductively in her Final Fest outfit. I'm not kidding.)

In subsequent climbs up the Spire, Marina joins you, and there is dialogue in between her, Pearl and Acht between stages. This dialogue had a tendency to be Very Gay. Standouts include but aren't limited to:

Marina doing her usual gushing about how cool and cute and incredible Pearl is.

Pearl being protective of Marina, threatening violence if anyone is mean to her.

Pearl talking about a planned break after the tour, saying: "I promised her that we could find a quiet spot together and take it easy for a while."

Pearl confessing that she isn't scared of the usual enemies in the Spire, and the only time she did get scared was when she was fighting Marina. It frightened her that she didn't know if Marina would be okay. (Again, knight/princess, you get it.)

Multiple instances of Acht saying "I'm glad you're here, 8," or something to that effect, after Pearl and Marina have a moment. With the implication being that they're glad they don't have to third-wheel these dorks alone.

And, of course, the iconic dialogue where Acht says, "Hey, Pearl. Have we met? You seem familiar," and Marina immediately responds, "What?! Acht, come on! You can't seriously be hitting on Pearl in front of…!"

Ah, sweet, sweet, blatant queercoding. We could've been having this level of it this whole time in the English version, if Nintendo of America weren't cowards.

Additionally, one of the rewards for completing missions in Side Order is being able to read Marina's dev diaries! These give the player a lot of insight into the development of the virtual world.

We learn, among other things, that Marina planned for Pearl to be the player's guide from the beginning, and that she personally crafted a model for her to use for this purpose. She writes: "It's really, truly all starting to come together! I'll put myself at the top of the tower, so Pearl has to climb it to get the user to me. ❤️ Wait… would that make me like a storybook princess? ❓ Hahaha, now I HAVE to do it! I'll build you a tower worth the climb, brave Pearl!" (Again with, in terms of personality, Marina being the princess, and Pearl being her brave knight.)

Also, is now a good time to mention that the currency in the virtual world Marina created are called "Prlz"?

Marina also writes: "When I felt lost and directionless after deserting from the army, it was Pearl who showed me hope. ✨ The two of us formed Off the Hook, and ever since, I've felt like I'm just waiting to wake up from a dream! ❤️ Sniff- sorry, something's in my eye!" Then she does a gay keysmash and crying emoji.

Plus, with each diary entry, we get a picture taken by Marina! This is where we get the selfie of her in Pearl's crown, post-Final Fest. We also see, via her pictures, that she has plushies of her and Pearl on top of her computer setup, and has a sticky note doodle of Pearl with a heart in a speech bubble stuck to her computer. Among other gay shoujou drawings of Pearl we get to see, of course.

Once again, Pearl and Marina help Agent 8 a lot with the DLC's final boss!

When you reach the top of the spire, before Order attacks 8, Marina is seen pleading with Order, trying to explain why its idea of a perfect world is dysfunctional. Her words, comparing everyone's different thoughts to colors that mix together, closely parallel what Pearl told her in the Japanese text to comfort her after the Final Fest, showing that she's truly internalized what Pearl told her.

When Agent 8 is knocked out by Overlorder, Order's battle form, it seems, for a moment, all is lost. The screen is slowly losing its color. Marina desperately types away at her computer, scrambling to see if she can do anything, anything at all, to stop Order, but it's no use.

Marina herself turns gray, and begins to glitch, just like everything around her. Everything slows. Realizing that she's about to lose everything, she speaks, her voice distorted from Order's influence: "Pearl… I…"

She's not able to finish. The screen turns gray.

However, Acht had rushed over to Marina's laptop, running and reaching out to just barely press the correct key. Agent 8's heart begins to pump again – pumping to a beat.

Marina and Acht had begun playing a new version of Ebb & Flow, "Spectrum Obligato", in defiance of Order's ideals. Pearl, hyped up by the music, uses her Hypersonic Battlecry to destroy the control room!

After Agent 8 destroys Overlorder's barrier, and collects all the color chips that were lost, Pearl uses a unique special, dubbed the Color Wail, which combines her Hypersonic Battlecry with the Killer Wail. The usage of "Spectrum" in the new version of the song, the collection of all of the color chips, and the new special being Color Wail all, of course, additionally call back to what Pearl told Marina.

This final attack causes Overlorder to explode, and in its place…! Reveal a tiny octopus, who baby-talks. This little guy is known as Smollusk, a childlike, heavily-damaged, and restricted version of Order. Like this, Order no longer poses any real threat.

In additional runs after this final boss, the player learns that Order was made of the desire from Marina, and other Octoling programmers she brought on, for an unchanging world. This adds additional meaning to the continuous callbacks to Pearl's comforting words to Marina. Order is a manifestation of Marina's desire for the world to never change, so she never loses Pearl, and, for Order to be defeated, it needs to be reminded again and again of Pearl's words of comfort: that, even if the type of music Off the Hook makes changes, that change makes the world more colorful. But what will never change is that Pearl needs Marina by her side.

In these subsequent runs, as well, Pearl and Marina grow gradually more fond of this childlike version of Smollosk, who grows to like them in turn. Which, of course, leads to the fandom in-joke that they're Smollosk's moms, helped by the fact that Marina did, quite literally, make Order.

Which leads us to the Final Fest of Splatoon 3! But, I'd like to take a small break again, if you'll indulge me. I'd like to provide a quick list of some of the romantic tropes that Pearl and Marina fall into. Yoinked from TVtropes!

Love Doodles: Drawing love symbols and writing initials and names, indicating someone has a secret crush. (I'd argue Marina's doodles of Pearl fall into this trope.)

The Glomp: Tackling and hugging one's love interest tightly.

Interrupted Declaration of Love: Character tries to confess their love for somebody, but is interrupted. (During the final boss of "Side Order".)

Love at First Note: Falling in love with somebody when you hear them sing. (Marina first encountered Pearl when she was practicing her music.)

One Head Taller: A couple where one partner towers over the other partner.

Pitbull Dates Puppy: A rough and tough character (Pearl) falls in love with someone of a softer, gentler nature (Marina).

Please, Don't Leave Me: A character pleads the love of their life not to leave them. (The point of conflict in Splatoon 2's Final Fest.)

Sickeningly Sweethearts: Two people love each other to a sickeningly sweet level. (A sentiment expressed by Acht and Shiver.)

Violently Protective Girlfriend: This girl will not let anyone harm her significant other. (Pearl is very consistently shown with this trait.)

Like an Old Married Couple: Friends bicker and banter the way a married couple might, but without being married. (Seen a lot during Splatfest dialogue.)

There are even more tropes that Pearlina falls into that didn't have a proper label on TVtropes (learning a loved one's language, "it isn't fun without you", having your loved one as your phone or computer wallpaper, etc…), so just know that their story falls into many established romantic tropes.

Which brings us to the grand finale of Splatoon 3; a grand fest! Some may even say, the Grand Fest: Past vs Present vs Future! This was a very unique Splatfest in that each team is represented by a different idol group! Team Past is represented by Callie and Marie, Team Future is represented by Splatoon 3's idol group, Deep Cut, and Team Present is represented by Pearl and Marina! Their team choice is a culmination of the lessons they've learned since their own Final Fest. In Pearl's own words, from the Grand Fest announcement: "Get all you can out of the present, and the future will take care of itself. That's real!" Which prompts Marina to agree, "I can take or leave my past. But my present with Off the Hook means so much to me!"

Indeed, the general theme with Pearl and Marina's promotion of Team Present is that the reason why they love the present is because they love each other, and they love their present with the other. This is displayed no better than in their portions of the song, "Three Wishes."

"Three Wishes" is a song, sung by all of the idols, about why their team choice is important to them. Callie and Marie sing about their past, shared memories, and how far they've come. Shiver, Frye and Big Man of Deep Cut sing about their hope and excitement for the future, and determination to cut down anything that gets in their way. Pearl and Marina, though, have many, many lines dedicated solely to how much they deeply care for each other, and how that makes them love the present.

A good example to illustrate this difference is each team's lines following "Here we stand in time—endless past, present, and future span. / Our wishes are the flame that lights up history." Callie and Marie's are, "All life here is one—intermingled in the hourglass. / No start, no end, it lasts for all eternity." Shiver, Frye and Big Man's are, "Surging down the line—glowing promise we hold in our hands. / Reflecting off themselves to build a guiding gleam." Both being rather directly about the appeal and importance of the past and the future. Pearl and Marina's, though? "In the infinite sea of people passing in the dark, / My brightly burning radiance drew you to me." Not referencing the present as much as their wonder and joy in the fact that, in such a wide world, they still managed to find each other.

Furthermore, in their extended section, Marina sings, "I've been searching, all of my life, / Finally I've found my north star. / My heart's synched up, a satellite, / Orbiting wherever you are." Following this up, Pearl raps, "So your life sucks? Down on your luck? Gotta free yourself, get your mind unstuck. / Let fear push you on through, can do— Use some colors in your palette but blue, / Paint it new!" Her language echoing the way she comforted Marina during their Final Fest, with talk of colors and paint, and the fact that this follows up Marina talking about meeting Pearl, seems to imply that these lyrics are directed at a past version of Marina. The following section being question-and-answer (Marina singing, "When is the moment you should chase your dreams?", and Pearl responding, "It's right now!") seems to reinforce this idea.

After this, they sing together, in order to close out their dedicated section: "Overlapping cycles, binary stardom / Nothing can knock us out of our groove / Overlapping cycles, binary stardom / With you, nothing can stand in my way." But, just in case you thought that would be a really romantic note to end on, don't worry! They have one more shared line, which they sing together near the very end of the song:

"Having you by my side makes today perfect."

That is what they provide us as their closer; their ultimate reason why they live in the present. Why would they want to be anywhere else, when the other is here? This is also represented visually, in the trailer which revealed their outfits; they are not only holding hands, but them holding hands is the central point of the piece's composition. Your eyes are meant to be drawn to it. On top of that, you can see them tighten their grip on each other as the camera pans out, drawing your eyes to that motion. You are meant to see and take notice of the fact that they are holding hands. That is the point. That is their point.

(By the way, one of Pearl's lines in the Japanese version of "Three Wishes" is, "Hey! Give us a stage, romantic, and we'll reminisce in the café." The English translation is otherwise pretty accurate, so I didn't feel the need to provide the Japanese versions of the text, but… yeah, sure. Namedrop a romantic café as the place where you and Marina ("we'll") would reminisce. Why not, at this point.)

Even when they lose, they still manage to make it about how much they love each other! When Marie prompts, "In honor of Team Past's victory, let's hear some of everyone's favorite memories!", Marina is quick to respond, "Mine would be the day I first heard Pearl's voice at Mt. Nantai! Let me set the stage…" (She loves her wife so much. She needs you to know this!) Before she can continue, though, Shiver interrupts: "Um... not sure we have the airtime to go THAT far back. Save it for a podcast." One last time, someone has to shut Marina down before she starts gushing about Pearl, before they go off-air.

And that is the complete timeline of Splatoon, as-of my time writing this!

So, basically, these inkfish are gay. Good for them! Good for them. I mean, if you have Nintendo of America censoring your dialogue for being too queer, and weirdos on Twitter are using you as an example of Nintendo going woke, then you know you've got it made.

Pearl and Marina genuinely love and care about each other so much, it makes me feel ill. They balance each other out in personality, able to banter and tease each other, but they are also both open about how much they admire and cherish the other. Both need the other in their lives, not just as their musical duo partner, but as their life companion. Marina will follow Pearl wherever she goes, and Pearl will protect Marina at all costs. Pearl doesn't find any joy in making music without Marina, her muse, and after being a child soldier for the vast majority of her life, Marina is able to rely on and relax around her precious Pearlie, knowing and trusting that she is safe with her. They are both each other's most precious gift.

[dr-spectre]

I really like it when fan artists in the Splatoon community draw Hypno Callie as Callie but way more psychotic and fucked up.

The way artists draw her with the swirly eyes, red backgrounds, unique posing, etc, it's so cool! Way better than drawing her as some cold brainwashed zombie that sucks the life out of Callie because God forbid that woman has a neutral expression.

It fits more in line with how Hypno Callie actually acts like in Splatoon 2. She ain't a mindless brainwashed drone and the Callie we know is gone as lots of people say oh no no no. She is a CRAZY WOMAN!!! Her dialogue is shockingly similar to her harsh dialogue found in Splatoon 1 Splatfests.

Like... friendly reminder, hypnosis ≠ brainwashing/mind control. You cannot use the two terms interchangeably no matter how hard you try to argue. Hypnosis is a weird and unique state for a person to be in.

To me, Hypno Callie works best when Callie who has been under a lot of distress and suffering from her lonely busy life, runs off and decides to join the Octarians out of her own free will, and Octavio creates these hypnotic shades in order to basically keep Callie under control more as she is a wild card and could decide to run off at random. He doesn't outright brainwash her or mind control her, but he just gives her suggestions in a relaxed hypnotic state, and those suggestions just so happen line up with Callie's morals in her mentally unwell mind.

And Callie... she just needs help. She needs that reminder of the good memories she went through. All the times with Marie... when the shades get shot off of her, she still fights with Marie, she's still angry and full of this darkness inside her heart. But when she hears that heavenly melody... all of those positive memories finally rush back into her and she goes "wait... I remember! YEAH!!!" And then she finally reunites with her cousin and gets to have a fresh start with her...

It makes Splatoon 3 more satisfying too as Callie and Marie are so happy together and look back at the past with respect and go "you know, if it wasn't for those events, maybe we wouldn't be the people we are today." That's some incredible stuff man.

And when fan artists properly show that and show Hypno Callie as the girl we know but in a crazed state that needs help, it's some powerful art...

I've seen so much art of Hypno Callie with octopus tentacles around her and her "brainwashing" Marie too and it's so fucking vile and uncomfortable and disgusting to me. Its so gross that people wanna treat Callie like that, you know? It's this weird... disturbing and... here we go....

.....sexual thing the community used to do back in 2017 to 2019. It was an awful time and the VERY SERIOUS AND DISTURBING implications that it brought up are just... WHY?!?!?! GOD WHY?!?! UGHHH!!! You want Callie to be kidnapped, get brainwashed forcefully, lose her memories AND THEN GET SEXUALLY... NO... IM NOT GONNA FINISH THAT! FUCK YOU!!! FUCK OFF!!! HOW DARE YOU!!! HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!!!!

Ugh...

...But I'm very glad that fan artists have moved past that weird and uncomfortable phase and are drawing this important arc for Callie in a more visually powerful way.

So yeah, good job Splatoon fan artists! You're doing DAMN great!!!! Now it's time for youtubers and timeline explainers to pick up the slack....

[ex-mortis-evie]

!!CW, tentacles, ear/brain stuff!!

So I’ve been thinking of something, and I’d like to run it by you if you wouldn’t mind.

I’ve been looking up at the stars recently and just wondering, what’s really out there, you know?

I mean, it’s not hard to think about it, at least for me.

How infinite the depths of the universe may be.

How within the farthest blackness of our cosmos, there may be a fraction of something there.

A hint of life.

Whatever that life may be, of course.

I like to think it’s something cooler than just a single celled organism, personally.

Like, could you imagine the crazy stuff that lies beyond our comprehension?

I could.

Maybe you could too.

I mean, once you sit down and think about it, that little hint of life could be anything.

That tiny, insignificant dot is something magnificent I bet.

Long, black tentacles.

Some ending in octopus-like grips, ready to wrap around whatever it may want.

Some ending in giant eyes, to search and observe.

All decked out in pure muscle.

After all, something like this has to be pretty strong to hold its prey, right?

Those tentacles could go on for miles I bet.

After all, it’s something beyond our tiny brains.

Hell, it could probably wrap its tentacles around us without any effort.

We’d be at its mercy.

Though I wonder what it would feel like.

Maybe it would feel slimy on your skin, coating you in its aphrodisiac-like mucus to prepare you.

Maybe it would feel rough, much like a snake’s scales, wrapping you up in a tough armor where escape is impossible.

Maybe it would be soft, like a set of comfortable pillows to sink into.

There’s no way to tell really.

Well, unless you’re thinking of how it would feel.

How tight those tentacles would grip your body into its inescapable grasp.

Holding you captive inside of its infinite depths.

But, why would it want us?

I mean, maybe we’d be friendly to it.

Maybe it would be symbiotic in a way, as some creatures are.

Or maybe…it’s curious.

It’s curious of humans.

After all, I doubt it’s seen anything quite like us before.

Maybe that grip is just to keep us secure as it searches up and down your body.

Each tentacle making its way sensually around, feeling you out completely.

Making their way around you, seeing what you’re made of and what use you are.

And then, it finds your eyes.

Meeting yours with its own.

Investigating you.

Absorbing your appearance.

Taking you in.

And then, the colors start.

A pretty pattern inside of its eye.

On its own planet, maybe it’s a form of communication.

To you though, it’s so much more.

It’s quite captivating, isn’t it?

That one, tiny dot of an eye.

Taking up your entire world.

So important to stare into.

After all, it’s trying to communicate to you.

So you just find yourself staring into it.

Lulling you into that perfect pleasurable peace that you love to sink into.

Trying to make out what’s going on.

But, it’s getting harder.

And harder.

And harder.

Harder to think.

Harder to move.

Harder to resist.

Because you’re just so curious.

Trying to figure out what’s going on.

And before you know it, it’s too late.

You’re ensnared.

Enraptured.

Engrossed in its eye.

Those colors taking up your entire world.

So utterly beautiful to fall into its grasp and gaze as you’re slowly engulfed in those familiar feelings.

Relaxation.

Mindlessness.

Emptiness.

Losing yourself in the colors.

Losing your mind in the colors.

Losing control in the colors.

Finding that, as you sink into the colors, your brain starts to dissolve a bit.

Mind coming undone and unraveling in the display taking up your entire world.

All of your attention on the colors as the tentacles take more of you by the second.

Wrapping you tight in the creature’s control.

And the best part is when the creature finds your hole.

No, not that hole.

Your ear.

Sending a tiny tentacle down, tickling as it travels down and takes its time turning your brain topsy turvy.

Because that’s exactly what it does.

Reaching your mind, feeling as the tentacle wraps itself around your empty brain and giving it a nice squeeze.

Your thoughts simply ceasing as it squeezes, seeming to push out your brain’s functions as it does.

And sending a massive shockwave of pleasure as it does.

As if every pleasure center in your body, all at once, squeezes in delight.

Another squeeze, seeming to take its hold over your mind even more as it does.

Each squeeze is another dose of that intense pleasure.

Utterly trapped in its gaze and grip now.

Another squeeze, another dose.

Less of you existing deep within with each squeeze.

Seeming to take a bit of your soul out of your body with each squeeze.

And with one final and earth-shatteringly pleasurable squeeze, your body finally gives way to an orgasm.

Involuntarily giving itself up to the creature just like that.

But, as the pleasure subsides and your thoughts roll out, the creature seems to dissipate into the black void of space once more.

As if it was never there.

The void around you becoming so warm.

So delightful to lay inside of this deep relaxation.

You’ll naturally wake from it, of course.

But for now, maybe you can enjoy the thought of that tiny, insignificant spot in the universe.

You never know what true delights lay upon the cosmos.

Until then, thanks for joining me on this thought.

After all, it’s nice to think about the delights of what our universe can bring us, yeah?

[moonfox281]

I headcanon a lot about Jason's little traits of the time when he was a street rat that never really leave even after he has grown up and out to be the man he was these days.

Like how he eats FAST and A LOT and how absurdly enjoyable he looks when eating even when the food is crap. Or like how he always straps a knife or a gun behind his back to EVERYWHERE even though hardly anyone would ever mindless pick up a fight with him these days.

Or how he octopus a dead grip to Dick in his sleep that no force on earth can break through. To the point that it can be uncomfortable sometimes and oh boy, imagine Dick needs to hit the toilet and he would be kicking, shouting, crawling on Jason’s skin in desperation and Jason would Absolute Not.Let.Go!

Because that was how he survived on the street, right? You don't let go of your precious, not even in your sleep.

[mistress-of-malevolence]

For this year's Mer-may (which I definitely didn't almost forget about) I present Angler Fish N & Octopus Uzi~ just the sketches though.

◀◁Possible AU details below? ▷▶ Warning: Long.

Ok, so I've never really made an AU before. Still, While I was designing these I was trying to figure out how the sea/ocean creatures would work good not just with their respective species (worker, disassembly) and abilities but also how I could integrate their pre-existing designs so that they would look nice and make sense.

First, I decided I didn't want them to be robotic for this since I like working with organic creatures a bit more. Having flesh eliminates most movement restrictions when posing since the body material is malleable. while the idea of robot mermaids is cool, I didn't feel like drawing a bunch of joints and stuff like that. Second, If they were organic then I needed to figure out why they were fighting if it wasn't for a huge human plot to destroy rouge AI. And finally, how was I going to incorporate their powers like absolute solver and other such stuff without necessarily using technology. Having all these things in the back of my head while I was drawing led to the following, so without further ado, here's that ↓. This gonna be long, I can already feel it...

_______

◇Story stuff.

A long time ago, merpeople ruled the water in peace. Humans kept to the land and the only thing they had to worry about were the sirens: Natural predators to the merpeople.

In the eyes of the merfolk, sirens were dangerous. Mindless, bloodthirsty monsters that couldn't be reasoned with. fortunately, their naturally heightened senses left them sensitive to sunlight. This kept them mostly contained to deeper, darker waters than the merpeople usually inhabited.

During the day it was safe to hunt, play and generally flourish as a species and at night they would hide in sea caves and other small spaces that a siren would have trouble fitting into.

That's how it was for many peaceful years. Occasionally one or two would die a victim to the monsters of the deep, but that was just nature.

But slowly as time moved forward and Humanity continued to develop, the merpeople were driven to deeper waters to escape pollution and being hunted.

Uzi's mother, Nori began having visions of a terrible fate that awaited her kind if things continued as they were and after weeks of pleading with her people and her husband to heed the warnings, she went to the sirens alone. for what reason? No one really knows. It's a mystery that only she knew the answer to.

After getting stung by the sirens paralyzing venom, her husband Khan made the heartbreaking decision to put Nori out of her misery before the sirens could do any worse, leaving him to raise their infant daughter Uzi by himself.

The incident resulted in a lot of deaths and many of the families of those that had passed blamed Nori. Saying that she was a mad woman and rumouring that she was a witch who had been meddling in dark magic that caused her to lose her mind and wander towards her death.

Seventeen years later, Uzi had grown up to be an unstable and particularly angsty teenager with a strained relationship with her colony and her father. Uzi believed that the ever-looming threat of the sirens was not something to hide from, but to confront head-on. Such notions labelled her as her mother's daughter in the worst ways possible: Crazy, an incident waiting to happen, most likely going to get eaten by a siren for reasons they will never understand.

Khan had kept the colony safe since Nori's death by having everyone hide away in a cavern big enough to house them but with an entrance so well hidden that everyone believed that the sirens would never find a way in.

Inevitably, Uzi grew tired of cowering and after fashioning the first semi-modern weapon her people had seen out of sea trash and other things humans had chosen to toss into their waters, she snuck out to confront the enemy.

The siren's lair was decorated rather grimly, with the nest seemingly fashioned out of the bones of long-dead mermaids, skulls stacked up together to make the walls of the lair. Inside the dimly lit den was a single male siren who was in the middle of feasting on a mummified corpse which looked to have been drained of all its blood.

As soon as he noticed her, he rushed toward her with killing intent. Uzi's fight or flight kicked in as she brandished her weapon, but it failed to deter the monster in his bloodthirsty craze. He grabbed her by the shoulders, stinging her with the paralyzing toxin in his Claws. Uzi barely managed to break free from his grip by slashing his face with her weapon, sending him reeling back from shock.

Uzi immediately felt her limbs growing heavier but ignored it in favour of taking the opportunity to take the Siren by surprise. While he was distracted she threw her weapon to the ceiling causing an avalanche of skulls to come crashing down on top of him. Uzi had only a moment to breathe, thinking her enemy was buried and dead before a clawed hand burst through the top of the pile like a zombie about to dig itself out of the grave.

Panic surged through her and with as much strength she could muster she pushed away the darkening of her vision and forced the few tentacles that didn't refuse to move to propel her forward with enough force to hopefully finish the job.

The siren's head burst through the pile of death with a groan of pain, but before he could do anything else, he was knocked unconscious as rock made contact with his already aching head.

All was silent for a moment, Uzi fighting for consciousness as her vision continued to darken, whether she was just crashing from the adrenaline or if the toxin was shutting her brain down she wasn't sure. but then the monster woke up, a confused look on his face as he pulled himself out of the skeletons. he blinked and turned his attention to the little creature before him.

"Did you just hit me with that rock?"

"Holy crap it talks."

_______

◈Extra details.

-The sirens and Humans have a deal with each other that if the humans drive the Mer-people deeper into siren territory the sirens will kill the species off in exchange for making them more powerful.

-Apparently, the humans want them dead because they are considered a threat, and can't be reasoned with.

-this is a giant lie on the human part, as they have made no attempt to talk with the merpeople and plan to kill all the sirens after the mermaids are dead.

-Rather than absolute solver being a program I'm changing it to being some form of magic that the humans discovered mermaids had after analyzing corpses that had washed ashore.

-In order to gain this power plan on reverse engineering it from the merpeople's remains while eliminating the prospective threat to humanity at the same time.

-The humans claim that they will make the sirens more powerful by implementing them with tech that will supposedly allow them to live and hunt during the day.

-This tech would actually be something of a remote detonator that once activated would be used to kill all the sirens off at once.

-I haven't decided if all sirens are angler fish, but probably not because that would be boring for me to design.

-Not all merpeople are Octopi though, that's for sure.

-I'd say that since merpeople can be the same species without necessarily being based around the same sea creature, the babies would simply take after one parent entirely.

-This would make sense in this as to why Uzi looks like the spitting image of her mom.

-While trying to figure out Absolute Solver I was really channelling Ursula for Uzi with the skull and the octopus stuff and it all just kinda resulted in sea-witch.

-Both mermaids and Sirens got bioluminescence as a default so that we don't gotta stifle that glow they got in canon.

-Since it wouldn't make sense for fish to have screens and stuff of their faces and bodies, those dark areas where the face-screen would be are just body markings now.

-Uzi's hat is now a sea anemone that just kinda chills on top of her head, kinda like how they do with crabs in real life.

________

I know this was really fucking long but if you made it to the end, thank you very much for reading❤️

Im still workshopping this and I don't even know if anyone has already done something like this. I wouldn't be too surprised if they had since it's May and Mermaids are pretty popular... idk, if I make a fic I'll let you know.

[lunar-rcp]

Any amber hcs?/nf

𖦹 🌷 ˓ ミ Amber headcanons ໒꒱ ‧₊

♡ !! Thank you for this ask! I love amber a lot!! She needs more attention,,

cw: parental death

✦ Has the best fashion sense out of the team. Having a fashion crisis? Just come to Amber, she'll help out! Sometimes she even likes to design her own clothing.. however, she does need her own models of course! That being, none other than the rescue team! (Roy & Poli are forced to wear dresses sometimes) (Someone please draw that actually)

✦ It may not seem like it, but she can be a TOTAL flirt. She can be bold, and she's not afraid to do so! Which leads to Poli and Roy mostly being flustered by her sparkle.

✦ The opposite of Roy, Amber actually enjoys spicy food. Whenever they both order something, she helps Roy with his serving if something happened to be spicy in it.

✦ Honestly, I don't think this is my own headcanon. We should all agree Amber would be absolutely terrifying when she gets angry.

✦ Amber beats herself up whenever she messes up something. She's afraid of failure, and she despises it. However, the team will always tell her that it's okay to make mistakes.

✦ Literally smells like roses and flowerly perfume. She's a clean girl i'm telling you.

✦ When she met Sandy, she was EXTREMELY overjoyed. To think there would be an another girl in a rescue team had her on cloud nine. Sandy, Amber and Jin often like to do girl hang outs, gossiping about the guys lol (poor them)

✦ Loves to collect crystals and has an entire collection of them. She even gifted crystals to the rescue team members, they treasure it dearly. Here's the crystals she gave to them

Poli - Sodalite

Roy - Red jasper

Helly - Chyrsoprase

Jin - Sunstone

✦ She can be a bit of a nerd, but that's a given. She sometimes goes off about rambling about random things like gemstones and such, but the others happily listen to her rambles. Even if she gets a little embarrassed when she finds out she's been rambling.

✦ Has the healthiest sleeping schedule out of the team. Wakes up early, and goes to bed early. Poli might wake up the earliest, but does he go to bed early? Well..

✦ Enjoys a green smoothie everyday. She tries to suggest the idea to the others. (She was met with Poli, Helly and Jin in utter disgust. However, Roy enjoyed it.)

✦ While I imagine roy as the cook for the team, she's the BAKER for the team! Absolutely makes the most godly desserts that cease to exist. The team adores it. She's in charge for birthday cakes.

✦ When Amber was little, she had to face her mom being pretty sick. Her mom unfortunately passed away when she was a teenager. This was the main reason why she became a nurse, to protect others.

✦ She comes from a big family! She has 5 other siblings, and she's the oldest. Even if it's a lot, she all loves them dearly with her heart.

✦ Adores jewerly. Whenever she has the time, she loves making little bracelets out of gemstones for the team. She's really creative whenever it comes to making accessoires.

✦ Amber dislikes sea food. Especially octopus. She can't really handle textures of certain foods sometimes.

✦ Whenever she's the one who gets sick, she's forced to face the team go into a mindless panic. Even if it's chaotic, it does make her feel better that they care so much for her.

✦ When the others are sick, she knows exactly what to do. She makes sure they have ALL the comfort they need. To kidshows or humming songs, she got them.

✦ Speaking of humming songs.. Amber can sing really well. She doesn't do it often, but whenever they have karoke nights thats when her voice really comes out.

✦ Good at archery! She has a really good aim. Watch out.

✦ Amber feels like she's the weakest of the team since she can't carry heavy stuff without her arms giving out. She feels like she's just supposed to stand on the side for aid rather than help, because she'll just mess it up.

✦ Sometimes a little TOO forgiving. She tries her best to not easily forgive, but it's hard for her.

[lord-of-the-wasteland]

Lord of the wasteland may i have a bedtime story ? 👉👈

yes of course, my dear wastelander.

there was once a young little shark that was a bit of an outcast among the other aquatic animals, because they feared him for his predatory reputation. "every shark must be bad": said the fishes. "every shark will always be cruel and mindless": said the seahorses. "sharks can only destroy but never love" added the octopus.

the shark was hurt and upset by these words. he was still so little and his intentions were always pure. never had he ever hurt anyone with his teeth. but the others would always be deadly afraid of him.

there was a couple days passing and whenever he showed up the same things were being said to him. though one day he swam around and none of the aquatic animals were to be found, no fishes, no seahorses, no octopi. he wondered were they would go until he spotted a diver nearby. his net full of sea creatures. the little shark would draw closer and he was able to spot those that would always call him names. he felt unsure about what he was about to do next but he couldn't help himself. he was doing the right thing in his mind... with a big charge he bit the diver in the arm. the diver immediately let go off of the net and the animals swam free. upon release they looked at the shark and then fled.

the next day they would meet again and they would thank the little shark. they had judged him wrongly and they felt sorry about it. the shark replied. "fear can blur a vision. I acted out of love and the only bad I know is the people that want to harm us. let's not harm each other."

the end.

[secretly-a-catamount]

(@lescahiersdesable I also wrote this story here on ao3.)

  “No, please!” the woman said fearfully, “Don’t hurt me!” Her dark eyes desperately tried to find something in the swallowing darkness.

  “Now, now, my svelte beauty,” purred the creature as it slipped out of the shadows, “no need to make a fuss.”

  It was a man, with sharp, inhuman teeth, pupil-less eyes, and unnaturally pale skin. He wore a black cloak with a high collar and a blood-red gemstone clasp. He spoke with a foreign accent.

  The woman screamed as the monster grabbed her by the shoulders and sunk his fangs into her throat. Blood splattered against her white dress as she struggled, shrieking for mercy, then suddenly, with a burst of strength, the woman—

  “Don’t worry, kid, there’s not enough blood in your veins for any one of us to want to do that to you.”

  Kit jumped. Heart skipping a beat at the abrupt appearance of a girl, he spat out a string of profanities, and then said, “God, you scared me.”

  “Nothing to do with God here. Creature of the Dammed and all that.” The girl was a few years older than him, a young woman really, with a spill of straight black hair lthat feel to her waist and the eyes that all the Blackthorns seemed to share, a particular shade of blue-green that reminded Kit of the thrashing ocean waves that crashed to the shore whenever there was a storm. She spoke with a faint accent and was also quite obviously a vampire, which was weird because he thought vampires weren’t allowed in the Institute thanks to the Shadowhunters’ magical racism. Although maybe, Kit thought, seeing the open eye etched on the back of her hand and the lattice of silver scars crisscrossing her body, the rules were different when the vampire used to be one of them.

  He blinked, not sure what to make of the joke, and then decided to focus on the more pressing matter. “Who the hell are you? How the hell are you here?” He tightened his grip on the dagger he’d liberated from the Blackthorn’s weapons-room.

  “Now that’s more in my wheelhouse.”

  The girl neatly sat herself down on the couch beside him. Her movements weren’t particularly inhuman, but the sword that hung from her hip certainly was. The blade was sleek, long, and almost delicate-looking. Seemingly made from the same material that the Shadowhunters’ special knifes were made from — some sort of crystal-metal alloy that belonged exclusively to the Shadowhunters, because they’re just so good at sharing, Kit thought bitterly — the sword shone subtlety, with black runes Kit didn’t know inset into the blade.

  “I’m Annabel Blackthorn, the Head of the L.A. vampire clan.  As for why I’m here, I need to talk to Emma and Julian. Do you know where they are?”

  “They went on a patrol.” Kit answered, turning the dagger in his hand over and over as he talked, a mindless, repetitive motion that brought him comfort. “But how are you here, like, in the Institute? I thought—“

  “Auntie Annabel!” A shrike, a blur, and Annabel was engulfed in the littlest Blackthorn’s embrace.

“You came! You told me she wouldn’t, but she came.” Tavvy clung to Annabel’s black jacket like a determined octopus as she moved to give Livvy — who’d just come into the room with a ridiculously giant tub of popcorn in her hands — a one-armed hug.

  Livvy accepted the hug, stuck her tongue out at Tavvy, and said, “I didn’t say she wouldn’t come, I just said it would be hard for her to. ‘cuz of the warding.”

  Annabel rolled her eyes and moved to take the popcorn. She placed the popcorn on the table and settled back on the couch. “Malcolm’s spelled me to be able to go into warded buildings since long before you were born. Who’d you think taught Magnus Bane the magic that lets Rafael Santiago trounce around like he owns the place? That place being the New York Institute.” She said, throwing Kit a backwards glance and a bone he didn’t take.

 Kit silently scooted over to make room on the couch. He tightened his grip on the dagger, trying to distract himself from the desperate pang of loneliness that just splintered his heart. His father was dead, torn apart by a rogue gang of werewolves, and even if he wasn’t, Kit couldn’t remember the last time they’d done something like a movie night; Johnny was always too busy swindling grandmas out of their wallets and children out of their pocket allowance to do anything he considered “unnecessarily soft” with Kit.

  “Where’s Dru? Last I checked, movies were her thing.”

  “She’s mooning over Cameron Ashdown.” Livvy answered, sitting entirely too close to Kit.

  “He’s the babysitter.” Tavvy added as he practically climbed into Livvy’s lap, ”Emma says Livvy has a crush on him.”

  Livvy snapped her head around to face Annabel, her cheeks coloring. “I do not!”

  “It’s fine if you do,” Annabel smiled, revealing pointed teeth, “love is a marvelous thing. But he’s much too old for you. Same goes for Dru. So if you try flirting or something and he doesn’t immediately turn you down, you tell me, so I can take care of it.”

  Livvy groaned. “I already had this talk with both Julian and Emma. Separately! I don’t wanna date Cameron, I just think he’s pretty to look at. Same goes for Dru. And besides, he’s Emma’s boyfriend. Again.”

  “They’re together again?” The Head of the L.A. vampire clan got a far away look on her face, her voice dropping to a level Kit had to strain to hear.

  A particularly brutal scream came from the TV. Tavvy flinched as the vampire on the screen tore the struggling woman’s throat out, splattering them both with her blood. Livvy tightened her grip on her younger brother, her Rune-covered arms encircling his small body.

  They were too busy discussing whether or not they should change the channel — Tavvy was scared, but was trying to pretend he wasn’t — to notice that Kit had left the room.

[pandoa]

Bluebells hydrangeas and maybe snapdragons if that’s ok?? And Azul pretty please

Bluebells ~ “be careful with your words. i might mistake your kindness for something more meaningful”

Hydrangeas ~ “i would do anything if it was for you”

Snapdragons ~ “this can’t be real…it feels too good to be real. tell me this is all a dream before i start believing”

~azul ashengrotto x gender neutral reader~

warnings: slight angst (?) just an insecure azul, really. mainly fluff tho

helloooo anonn! thank you for the request! the rules were only two prompts but since the 3rd prompt wasn't too difficult to add in, i included it just for you <3 hope you like it!

♡acceptance in you♡

“What if I told you that I thought your merform was absolutely beautiful?”

A restful voice calmly sang throughout the shining ambiance of the beachside’s coastline—light breezes of wind dancing past the evergreen palm trees—as it reached the perplexed ears of the Octavinelle housewarden. Lulling sounds of splishing and splashing of the ocean accompanied the way the birds above had flown across the sky, free and never ending. The sky had not a speck of darkness as the sun shone onto the sand, causing the coast to glimmer in an odd illusion. Azul was astounded by the way the wispy clouds reflected onto the water’s surface. But not as astounded by the abrupt comment you—who had been standing right beside him—had just let slip out.

“I would say you are preposterous. No sane merfolk—or human, at that—would say such rubbish,” Azul said as he peered down to gaze at his own pair of legs, almost scorning the original form they would take if he were to step into the ocean’s waves at that moment. You were jesting with him, you must’ve been! You would either have to be blind or simply ignorant to mean each word that came from your mouth. You just had to.

“And if I were speaking the truth?” you cooly asked, turning your gaze from the shoreline to face the second year beside you. 

“Impossible.”

“How can you be so sure?”

A sharp sigh escaped Azul’s almost irked form, feeling a small tug pulling at his chest from the current conversation, “I should advise you to be careful with your words, Prefect. I might mistake your kindness for something deeper.”

“Is that such a bad thing, though? Tell me,” you tilted your head, feigning cluelessness at the housewarden. There was a particular answer you were looking for, and you made it a personal goal for yourself to gradually guide it out of him, “What would you mistake it for?”

“I’d rather not say.”

“Please do.”

“N-no…” Azul uncharacteristically stumbled over his tongue as a miniscule tint of red creeped onto the apples of his cheeks, “It is much too unlikely that a human such as yourself would even have a split chance at ever lo—”

“Loving you? A merman? One who was repeatedly ridiculed by others in the past all because of his octopus qualities?” Fully shifting your body to look at the gray-haired boy, the determined expression of your form caused a fluttering pound to arise in Azul’s chest, “Believe me, Azul, that is the last of my worries.” 

The boy self consciously broke eye contact with you as he adjusted his silver glasses, fidgeting with the leather cuffs of his gloves as tears almost threatened his eyes with a burning touch, “Would you so mindlessly overlook these memories and torments of mine just to remain someone of emotional value to me? Do you not fear the consequences that could come with this, (Y/n)?”

An innocent and gentle reply voiced from your lips rivaled the distressed, almost fearful tone of the Octavinelle second year. “No, I don’t think that I do,” you uttered in an instant, “If ‘mindlessness’ is what you call someone who cares for you, then mindlessness is what I guess I’ll be.”

“I would do anything if it was for you.”

The gray-haired boy was then left awestruck by your directness. No person could ever be this sincere, correct? Azul watched as the stray locks of your hair danced with the palms of the trees surrounding you, a captivating waltz in the wind, rhythmic and lively. He watched as the white birds in the atmosphere seemed to float above you two, watched as the high tides of the ocean spread and engulfed the dry sand in a blanket of moisture, and watched as the twinkling of the waters reflected back to your eyes—sparkling and perfect. But most importantly, Azul watched as the coldness of his hands met the warmth of your own the moment you delicately reached out to his form.

This… This can’t be real… It feels too good to be real. Tell me this is all a dream before I start believing, Azul’s thoughts reveled with the feeling of his hand holding yours. This feeling was unexplainable… It had to be a dream…right?

“Look…I love you, okay? And it’s fine if you can’t wholeheartedly accept yourself, just yet” you continued to glance at the dumbfounded look the housewarden had given you, “The emotions I harbor for you are more than enough to fill us both. If you only accept them, that is.”

Perhaps one day he could learn to accept himself like the way you had always accepted him. 

a/n: i already wrote for insecure!azul in a fic before but i like giving this man affirmations okay he needs them

[princesspastel8]

Chapter 42

Third POV

Jeff lost track of time at this point, but he can tell the month is almost over. This time, he followed Toby's warning. He stopped shouting at the camera, stopped his mindless fits of laughter, and reframed from attacking anyone who tried to give him food. However, the killer couldn't stop throwing himself at the cushion walls as a form of entertainment. He found it hilarious that no matter how much force he puts into it, he'd bounce right off with no injuries.

His black eye and bust lip have healed as well as his bruised cheek, thanks to EJ's aid. But because of his antics, Jeff has been moved to a chair and strapped to it with leather belts. To say that made things much harder would be an understatement. Maybe it's because normally the killer wouldn't care how long he'd be forced to spend in the white room, but now he has someone he desperately needs to get back to.

At this thought, the door to the white room opens. There's stands Hoodie, without his cloth mask, which is odd. His stoic eyes look at the camera, then at Jeff. He grumbles as he quickly goes to Jeff and undo his restraints, much to Jeff's surprise.

"Its normally the faceless fucker doing this after some drawn out speech on if I learned my lesson." He said mockingly, rolling his eyes

Hoodie doesn't answer, making the killer raise a brow. "Brian. Why are you doing this? Any idea how much trouble you'll be in with that octopus?"

Hoodie finishes, straightening himself as he eyes Jeff for using his real name. "Toby." Was all he said before rushing out of the room.

Confused, Jeff rushes after him. "Hold the fuck on Hoodie! Just saying the ticking shit's name doesn't answer my question!"

Hoodie once again doesn't respond nor shows any sighs of slowing down. He rushes up the stairs and forces the wooden doors leading above ground open. Once to the surface, he runs into the woods, leaving Jeff little chance to catch him. The smiling killer grumbles, kicking a rock, then whence - realizing he's not wearing any shoes.

He sighs heavily, walking to the mansion that's only a few meters away. Jeff opens the door with his hands instead of kicking it open. He ignores the stares and walks straight into the kitchen. He makes himself a sandwich and gets a water bottle. The smiling killer scoffs it down rather quickly, sighing in satisfaction.

"You are looong over due for a shower." BEN said, holding his nose as he entered into the kitchen.

"Slenderman, finally let you out?" Eyesless Jack ask, opening the refrigerator.

"Nah, it was Hoodie. Shit was fucking weird. He let me loose then took off in the woods. What's happening now?"

"No idea. I remember seeing Toby about to set out on his mission but looked frazzled after getting some type of message from that witch girl."

At the mention of Luna, the thought of Eboni falls heavy on him. He feels a gut, twisting feeling settle onto him. He ignores the rest of the conversation and walks up the stairs to his room. He greets smile dog briefly. He takes a quick shower, brushing his teeth and letting his hair air dry. He places on his classic outfit - white hoodie, skinny black jeans, and boots.

Once done, he grabs his phone from the nightstand, glad it's been left on the charger this whole time. He raises a brow at the many messages from Eboni, worry setting into his heart - it almost makes him gag. He still hates these types of emotions no matter who they're for. He still views them as weaknesses.

Nevertheless, he opens her messages, the first text making his heart sink into his stomach. Text after text makes his heart sink further down until he can no longer breathe, realizing he's been holding his breath. But the last text, sent today, causes his blood to run cold with panic and dread. He dials her number, pacing back and forth in his room. After the third attempt, he rushes out of his room, running down the stairs.

"Whoa! Damn Jeff, what's wr-"

EJ couldn't finish his sentence, Jeff running out of the front door - not bothering to close it. There's no way she couldn't have. Eboni wouldn't take her life. She wouldn't go against her moral code even after all that's happened to her. Jeff refuses to believe his girl would go so far as to kill herself.

"Fuck..FUCK! PICK UP DAMNIT!" he shouts, still calling Eboni as he runs through the woods and towards her home.

With each miss phonecall, brings little hope that Eboni didn't end her life. He didn't want to think about it, didn't want to face the fact that Eboni took her life because he wasn't there. Because he couldn't protect her, because he couldn't save her. But the sight of her open front door does very little to ease his unsteady heart.

Jeff rushes inside, breathing heavily but taking no time to catch his breath. That last message was sent within the early morning hours. It's midnight. The killer doesn't have the option to catch his breath. He runs up the stairs, hearing the loud music blast from behind Eboni's door.

"Princess? Shit! Open the door!" He shouts over the music, body trembling when he didn't receive an answer.

So he throws his body to the door, trying to break it down. After a few times, he's successful. Upon entering her room, he's shocked to see it in this state. Everything is completely destroyed, damaged behind repair. He runs his hand through his hair in frustration when he notices she's not there but pauses at the sight of her close bathroom door.

With unsteady feet, he speed walks to the door, placing his shaking hand on the doorknob and twisting it - slowly pushing the door open. Time seems to stop around him, his lips trembling and eyes widening in horror. This can't be happening.

"EBONI!" he screams, "Oh..oh my god, Eboni!"

Eboni's body is in the tub full of water that is now completely red. A bottle of alcohol and pills are stationed next to the tub and a pair of scissors on the other side. Jeff lifts her limp body out of the water, her body cold - lifeless. Jeff shakes his head at the sight of her slit wrist. A pained sound leaves his lips, surprising himself. He forces his breathing to calm down as he places his head against her chest, desperate to hear a heartbeat - almost praying.

Slow. Faint. Fading.

Time. It's there. It's still beating. Time....there's still time. Jeff stands, holding Eboni bridal style - close to his chest. He doesn't bother to drain the tub nor to shut the front door. His foucs is to run racing against the clock - to win.

The killer sees the mansion, relief almost filling his heart. He kicks the door open, stumbling inside. He scans the room - chest burning, breathing heavy, and eyes burning.

"EJ! ANN! FUCK, SOMEONE!" He screams, voice scratchy and rough. "SHE'S DYING!"

EJ is still in the living room, ditching his food and rushes to Jeff's side. He looks at him, shock at the sight. "What happened to her?"

At this point, Jeff is hyperventilating, eyes still burning and vision becoming blurry. "I-I don't know! The messages...shit! I don't know, EJ just FIX HER! I can't...I-I can't...."

EJ tries to take Eboni from Jeff's grip, but it's too tight. BEN comes, zapping Jeff in hopes it'll knock some sense back into him. "You're babbling. EJ can't help if you can't explain things more clearly. Now let her go so he can do his job."

Jeff gulps, gently handing Eboni over to EJ. The three of them rush to his private infirmary. The Eyeless creature places Eboni's body onto the medical bed, quickly cutting off the soaking hoodie so he can examine her better.

"BEN, go get nurse Ann. Jeff explain everything you saw."

"I...I found her in the tub. Th..The water was completely red. I saw an empty case of pills and a bottle of Jack Daniel's."

EJ looks at her wrist, trying to determine what was used to cut them. The wounds seem to wide more than deep. "What else?"

"Sisscors... I saw a pair of bloody sisscors.."

With information scarce and time limited, EJ is going to need more than Nurse Ann - X Virus. Thankfully, BEN knew this and returned with both of them. EJ explains all that Jeff told him, both of them understanding the situation. Nurse Ann goes to get a machine that sets Jeff on edge.

"The fuck are you doing? What's happening? Someone explain already!" Jeff shouts, yanking his hair in distress.

"Jeff. Her stomach needs to be pumped. Her heart rate is low, and she's barely breathing. Her blood count is low, and her brain is close to shutting down. We can't take you through everything we're doing it's best if you wait outside." EJ tries to reason while focusing on hooking Eboni to a breathing machine.

"No... NO! I CAN'T- I won't leave her side again! You can't make me!" He shouts.

"She's going to need a blood transfusion. She'll eventually die without one. There's too much blood lost." X Virus explains blankly, already operating on Eboni's left wrist.

Nurse Ann looks at him, her eyes asking if he knows her blood type. He doesn't look her way but answers, "Type O. Very rare. I doubt anyone here has that blood type. They'll have to be human, too."

Knowing everyone medical records by hard, EJ looks at Jeff. "So?"

Jeff already has his sleeves pulled up, holding both his arms out. "Take all of it if you gotta! Just hurry up!"

Once Eboni is hooked up to everything needed, EJ begins drawing the right amount of blood based on how low Eboni's blood count is. That's also still dropping rapidly. Once done, he steps away and goes back to the operating table. The moment he does, Eboni's heart flat lines.

No.

No.

NO!

The sound is enough to send Jeff into complete hysterics. He begins screaming to the top of his lungs, rushing over to Eboni's side - but BEN holds him down, struggling to keep him in place. Other proxies had to come and keep the smiling killer at bay, which becomes a distraction to the three that are trying to revive. her.

"Get him out! He's getting in the way! All of you are getting in the way!" EJ shouts over the commotion.

The proxies drag Jeff out of the room, keeping him down within the halls. Eventually, Jeff loses his strength, body sagging as he slames his fist repeatedly onto the tile floor. It's then that he realizes his eyes are still burning, and his cheeks are wet. He reaches up to touch it, liquid staining his fingers.

Tears?

When was the last time he felt so much guilt? So much remorse? So much lost? And so....so worthless? Selfish. Jeff, the killer is selfish. He knows this and has always embraced it, basking in his narcissistic ways. But look where that's gotten him. He didn't consider Eboni. He never did, not even when she was wailing in his arms that night. His anger, what he wanted, trumpeted above all else. His need for violence. His need for blood. His need to kill. It's because of Jeff that she endured so much. He knew she wouldn't last long without him. He knew and still did what he wanted, prolonging his time within the white room instead of taking Toby's advice the first time. Jeff can point the finger as much as he wants, but he has to face the truth. All of this is his fault.

The killer thrives on living his life to the fullest, never letting anything hold him down. He has no regrets and lives with no remorse. But now? All of that is put into question. He longed for a sense of freedom, craved it, and desired it. Yet once he gains something along the lines of it, he ruins it - destorys it. Everything he has ever touched crumbled, and Eboni is, unfortunately, no exception. She begged him to stay, not to leave her. But he did, without a second, thought. Even no, he still can't feel any regret for abandoning her that night to beat Masky.

Jeff sobs in anguish, gripping and pulling his hair as he rests against the door, keeping him apart from Eboni - the sound of the heart rate machine flat lining haunting him.

Useless.

Pitiful.

Worthless.

Despite his skills in killing, his strong and stubborn will, and his view on life, nothing will change the first and only regret he will carry, the remorse he allows himself to feel. A young girl meant to be just another victim. A girl that has turned his fucked up mind and life upside down. The only person to grant him a sense of freedom.....

Jeff the killer, regrets aiding in Eboni's death.

[iceandironbars]

So, I have a couple of fic ideas/plots written out and I wanna see which one is the most requested so I can start writing, lemme know what you think

1. HTP One shot. Wholesome/Sitcom Vibe. Taking place in hydra HQ pre CATWS. Characters: babysitter big brain Rumlow, awkward bar hooligan Rollins, Stoopid cinnamon roll Soldier, disgusting old man Pierce. Plot: Rumlow and Rollins find out about Pierce using the Soldier for his personal pleasure behind closed doors and they decide to end that for good.

2. HTP fic, multiple chapters. Explicit, violent, plot heavy, possessive love story/porn vibe. Taking place mainly in Madripoor, post Endgame, pre TFATWS/instead of TFATWS. Characters: clueless bitter prison escapee Zemo, enhanced sugar daddy club owner Rumlow (Lagos explosion didn't happen), mindless and done with life Soldier, several detailed and original side characters. Plot: After refusing to be his handler, Zemo reconsiders and follows the Soldier to Madripoor, finding him in possession of former Hydra Commander Brock Rumlow, who demonstrates Zemo in great detail what being the Soldier's handler entails. A tug of war between the two of them follows, developing into an intricate triangle relationship (sub Soldier, dom Rumlow, switch Zemo).

3. Fic, multiple chapters. Plot heavy, slow burn love story vibe. Taking place in Avengers Tower/Surroundings a year after CATWS. Characters: hopelessly in love badass Soldier, pardoned and disabled ex-hydra Rumlow, annoyed Nick Fury, several Avengers. Plot: The Soldier walks into Avengers tower, apparently without rhyme and reason, a hunt for him follows and due to several failed attempts at and the hopelessness of the mission Nick Fury makes the decision to ask former Hydra Commander Rumlow for help in obtaining him.

4. HTP One shot. Absolute Comedy gold vibe. Takes place in a mission briefing/conversation, location not specified, hypothetical setting. Characters: Doesn't think there's anything wrong with him Rumlow, hands in the cookie jar Rollins, sassy Soldier, Zemo, various avengers. Plot: During a briefing the Soldier dares Rumlow to talk about the Octopus Club, confusion, shock and a hilarious conversation follows.

[groovesucksatvideogames]

This is a Side Order aesthetic appreciation post

Spoilers, obviously.

The visuals in Side Order are so freaking good, you guys. On the surface, everything looks extremely bright, white and sterile. But then there are so many details based around ecological disasters.

There's bleached coral outside the spire:

The Jelletons are fish skeletons with creepy dead eyes that swarm you like a mindless zombie horde, but most importantly they drip black ink that looks like an oil spill:

Not only that but their skeletons aren't made of bones. They're mostly made of plastic, which isn't biodegradable:

And then there's Overlorder, which is an octopus-shaped mass of black ink/oil with a bunch of trash floating inside it that kinda resembles a face. A big glob of trash not unlike the Great Pacific Garbage Patch:

(This is one of the least gross pics of the garbage patch I could find btw)

And it didn't make it into the final game but there's also concept art that looks like the nuclear warning architecture:

Marina confirms that she programmed the Jelletons as part of the Memverse, but her original designs were cuter before Order commandeered them, so it's safe to assume the plastic skeletons and oil-like ink aren't her doing. Order's ultimate goal is to create a perfectly clean world of stasis, and yet everything associated with it is disgusting: trash, toxic waste, and dead things.