#I mean maybe splatoon 3 will have it eventually | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

octo-in-the-mainframe · 2 months

Text

Side Order Spoilers!!!

Okay does anyone else find it weird that Smollusk and Pearl referred to both DJ Octavio and Agent 4 as "big shots"?

And that Pearl says Agent 4 "was supposed to be such a big shot"??

And that even though pieces of their souls got sucked into the Memverse they canonically have not been seen after the events of Splatoon 2 and 3 respectively???

Knowing that characters were added to Tableturf after the DLC, namely, Pearl, Marina and Acht, I wouldn't be surprised if more characters are added later.

"But Octo, didn't Nintendo say there would only be two waves of DLC?"

Well, yes...but I have reason to believe otherwise.

First, when announcing the two waves of DLC, yellow and blue were used for the first and second waves, but despite there being four colors used for the announcement, red and green made no further appearance.

I'm sure if Nintendo really wanted to, they could have found a way to make just the yellow and blue look nice, but they specifically added those two colors. Red, I get, that's Big Man's color, even if they don't use it much in promotional material, but GREEN?

If Nintendo were to make more DLC, three waves WOULD make sense, considering the leitmotif of threes throughout the game. It's the third game, there's 3 idols, 3 forces united as one, 3 Splatfest teams to choose from, etc.

But that still doesn't explain the fourth color. It breaks the pattern of threes and uses a color that is barely anywhere among our cast of characters, besides Marie, DJ Octavio, and maybe Callie.

And then I thought...what if it's to give us a taste of the next game? Next IS Splatoon 4, so I wouldn't put it past them for a sneak peek.

My other, and more likely idea was that it would center around Agent 4, which kind of ties in with the weird wording used for both Octavio and them. Perhaps we'll finally get to see what they've been up to, maybe even teaming up with a certain DJ?

As for the third wave...I'm not too sure. I think it might have to do with Lil' Judd and Marigold, though.

As we collect scrolls in Alterna, we get tidbits of the other characters' lives and some info on the Splatoon world itself.

But something that stood out to me is when we get to Pearl and Marina's scroll.

It's their outfits from the DLC, clearly meant to foreshadow their next appearance. And right before that was a scroll for the Squid Sister's podcast (and that dried up squid), which lines up since their hub world was brought to the game in the first wave of DLC.

But after Pearl and Marina, it's Lil' Judd.

Lil' Judd planning for Judd's demise.

Which has not been brought up seriously in the main game.

That...that means nothing, right? I mean, more DLC hasn't even been announced, ha-ha!!

But then the next page is Marigold, with her many pictures crossed out, with multiple names to the same-ish face. It's secretive; does she have various clones, multiple siblings? What is she?

And then, there's also the concerning connection between her and Lil' Judd.

Marigold works at Grizzco, evidenced by her voice at the counter and her vocabulary. Lil' Judd...is in CHARGE of Grizzco now, majorly implied by the new inclusion of a headpiece on him after you finish fighting Mr. Grizz.

I think the third wave of DLC will be focusing on Lil' Judd's plans to get rid of Judd and will involve a further look into Marigold and how Grizzco operates.

I mean, we can't keep stealing Salmonid eggs forever, can we? Eventually they'll run out. This endless back and forth has resulted in Big Run's happening, so it's not out of the question that we get a resolution to this.

(I personally think Big Run will have its own version of an ending, one where whenever you play Salmon Run after it it's "in the past," so that it doesn't affect whatever the conclusion was. Otherwise, the Big Runs would likely just get worse.)

Maybe we'll get to be Neo 3 this time and learn more Salmonid lore with our Smallfry friend!!

Of course, most of these concepts are speculation, but I do want to show off one last piece of evidence that I think can be rather damning.

The roped off barrier by the Metro. (Sorry I don't have an image of it, and I don't want to use anyone else's footage.)

Only removed once the DLC trailer was shown.

And look what we have here, as far back as the original Splatoon 3 Direct...

Another roped off barrier in front of the arch. Not just construction, like how Splatoon always sets up new places for the next game, no. It's a barrier, with a big empty space behind it.

I always thought it was so weird we weren't allowed to go over there, and now it seems so obvious to me what Splatoon has been implying.

I don't want to get my hopes up, or anyone else's, but I'm finding it exceedingly difficult to just move past these details and pretend like they're nothing.

What about you guys? Do you also think all of this is mighty suspicious? Do you have any theories regarding more waves of DLC, and what they could possibly be? Oh, and if you have more evidence for there being four waves, please feel free to tell me in the comments or through message. (I might not see the messages, though, because mine haven't been working that well, so mostly stick to comments and reblogs.)

Lastly, I did want to ask if anyone knows what the European version of the shop for the DLC means by “It’s possible that additional DLC, not listed above will also be distributed with the Expansion Pass.” I saw somebody mention it, I don't remember what post, but I was wondering if that was just a standard description for the European page or if it was just for this DLC. I'm in the US, and mine doesn't say that. If I'm completely wrong about this fact please tell me,,,

That's all I got though!! So, buh-bye!!!!

#side order #splatoon dlc #side order spoilers #splatoon 3 #splatoon 3 spoilers #splatoon theory #theory #splatoon 3 theory #agent 4 #dj octavio

44 notes · View notes

moonsidesong · 1 year

Photo

twitter seems to be experiencing some very rapid decay so here’s some lore that may or may not have been twitter exclusive before (and by that i mean i don’t remember if i’ve posted them here) so they are not lost to the void

some full ver. pictures under da cut :-) (also a splatoon 3 hero mode spoiler)

og panels of the comic where four is very much not happy. i still wish just a little bit that i’d had the chance to finish this one cause i wanted it to be really impactful, but life just doesn’t really go your way sometimes. (i’m not going back to make it now, sorry folks, lololol)

old sketchbook doodles of the original Dedf1sh Recovery AU before I made 14-crush. I don’t think I ever said this (or maybe I did????? it’s hard to keep track, honestly) but the original reason I said Ahato wanted to try out the Tetra Dualies is because I wanted her to eventually be called “Tetra,” and follow a similar name scheme to the manga (as the characters there are named after gear.) Of course, then the Octo Expansion artbook dropped outta da sky and featured a true name reveal for Dedf1sh and of course that was gonna be much easier to go with, so I did that instead. Honestly, it’s kind of a relief, cause to be honest, I don’t really think dualies suit her... ^^”

This is the original icon that was briefly used at the start of 14-crush, not much more to add here. I wonder if there’s many people around who remember it now?

Ahato wears a hoodie because she gets cold really easily, but I like to think she starts wearing cool loose shirts like this again once she’s farther along in her recovery.

This one’s funny cause thanks to Splatoon 3′s Alterna Logs i can now finally answer this question with “humans loved sonic the hedgehog so much that when modern inklings/octolings evolved from human desires they just ended up recreating the entire franchise as well as the consoles they were played on” and that’s, like, acceptable, mostly.

#EDIT HI WRONG ACCOUNT. SORRY. HI. IM NOT REMAKING THIS POST SO IT STAYS HERE I GUESS LOOLLL

252 notes · View notes

bloobluebloo · 1 month

Note

have you ever played splatoon 1? if yes, what's your opinion on the way the gameplay handles in-universe propaganda (having the main characters give you biased information and getting more accurate information through collectibles)? do you think it's something that would work in zelda games? (also, if you haven't played splatoon you should, i think you'd love octavio)

SPLATOON! See Splatoon is ideally the sort of game setting that I enjoy. I have played Splatoon 1. Then I bought Splatoon 2 and played a bit. And then never bought Splatoon 3. I still have games in their shrink wrap my backlog is so big. I still need to finish Fire Emblem Engage 😭

Ehem! In any case! To answer your question! I have indeed played Splatoon 1! Now I think fundamentally, the way Splatoon and Zelda impart information to the player is not all that different. Even in Zelda, we learn information that is more "accurate" aka information that will allow a glimpse of how the side you are fighting for isn't essentially guiltless. We have instances like the Shadow Temple and the Arbiter's Grounds, which shows the merciless side of the Royal Family, and being able to interact with the Gerudo in OoT and draw conclusions as to how they really are despite the overt racism the rest of Hyrule displays towards them, to name a few. What is different between the two, however, is how that information is framed. In Splatoon, you learn that the Inklings and the Octarians are fighting for survival essentially, for the remaining dry land. Of course the characters will impart biased information to you as the player as they are interested in preserving their own people. The losing party, in this case the Octarians, were forced to flee and hang onto survival in ancient human shelters. We learn that at some point in time the Octarians and the Inklings had worked together, so why is this no longer the case? Is it greed and fear at their shrinking landmass that caused their alliance to fracture, that they couldn't come to some sort of agreement on how to use their resources? The game still eventually makes you view the Octarians as your enemy, because in the grand scheme of the story they are your enemy, but the lore that you learn frames it as the inevitability that comes with the consequences of war and the scarcity of resources aka there isn't really a good side or a bad side, it is just what it means to live in a post-apocalyptic world, maybe in a way an inheritance of human greed and their need for survival.

In Zelda, however, the way the story is framed is different. Even though we learn of the misdeeds of Hyrule and the Royal Family, there is no consequence attached to their actions. When they persecuted the Sheikah, and unjustly so, for their possession and knowledge of Sheikah technology, the Sheikah were either forced to concede and live out their lives peacefully or rebel and forever become an outlawed group in Hyrule. The people who were imprisoned in the Twilight Realm were never really paid any reparations from Hyrule; their evil status was maintained, and the onus was on Midna to understand that the dwellers of light were not all that bad. Her solution was to destroy the mirror of twilight, forever severing her world from Hyrule, which says a lot doesn't it. The Shadow Temple acknowledges that the Royal Family tortured and killed any dissenting voices and those they considered an enemy, but that is not really ever brought up in a context where it is considered a wrongdoing. There is also something to consider here, and that is that Zelda's lore presents, objectively, that Hylians and the Hyrulean Royal Family are favored by the gods. This isn't even propaganda; this is in-game fact. We, as players, can see that it follows the pattern of propaganda that imperialist nations tend to spread to legitimize their rule, but in the game's story it isn't presented in that way. So, unlike the Octarians and the Inklings who are equal factions vying for control over land for the sake of survival, the lore is objectively telling you, all things considered, that there is always one side that is already favored, and that is the side that will be the one that is good. For something like Splatoon to work in LoZ, LoZ's lore would need major tweaking. For one, it would have to present Hyrule's enemy, whoever it is, as truly having legitimacy for opposing Hyrule. It would also have to go out of its way to demonstrate that, in some shape or form, that godly favor does not make one good, it just makes one more powerful and influential. It would have to change in a way where you are shown that maybe you aren't necessarily fighting for good and preservation of light and peace, but essentially for your own survival and the survival of the people you care about. The cost is not the defeat of the ultimate evil, but instead the loss of the survival that your enemy is also fighting for. It would have to put both the plight of Hyrule and her enemies on the same level. We came close to that in the Wind Waker, where Daphnes had urged Link and Tetra to find their own land, free of Hyrule's old history but, as we can see, we have backpedaled quite hard on that, with Hyrule's imperialism being framed as the ultimate good. (I LOVE OCTAVIO, he reminds me so much of OoT Ganondorf, sometimes I call him DJ Squidorf just for my own amusement)

#ganonthots

12 notes · View notes

lisa-russell · 3 months

Text

SPLATOON 3 -SIDE ORDER AND A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY: (SPOILERS WARNING)

How the events of Splatoon 2 and Octo Expansion connect with Side Order.

Now before we dive into the new DLC from Splatoon 3, ya gotta rewind the clock alittle bit.

This is a consistent and as close to cannon Timeline of the Splatverse, including what little details are known about Side Order. I suggest you give this a look if you have not played splatoon 2,1 and it's DLC or if you have no previous knowledge of the game series LORE.

Now here is a very brief summary of Splatoon 2 Hero Mode introducing Agent 4 a.k.a the maybe hinted at shadowed foe taking center place amongst the other red-eyed shadows found on the recent poster art for SO.

Agent 4:

Agent 4 is described as a silent squid who goes with the flow even in raging waters, and values freedom and flexibility. They also "blast through any situation with ease." Agent 4 did not initially know who the Squid Sisters were, but later came to respect them. Agent 4, as seen in promo pictures and art, has a diligent work ethic and a lot of confidence. Unlike Agent 3, they are more cheerful and upbeat in their mannerisms, and almost always smile.

Not much is known about Agent 4's background, except that they came from a town about 40 minutes from Inkopolis by train.

Agent 4 initially went to Inkopolis for an unknown reason but got swept up in Marie's quest to save the Great Zapfish and her cousin Callie. In Octo Canyon, Agent 4 completes various missions to retrieve stolen Zapfish, defeating many Octarians along the way. Eventually, Agent 4 confronts DJ Octavio and a brainwashed Callie, rescuing the Great Zapfish, freeing Callie, and finally restoring Inkopolis' power supply once again.

Overall, the Splatoon 2 and Octo Expansion storylines focus on the conflict between the Inklings and Octolings, exploring themes of identity, friendship, and the consequences of war in a lively and quirky world. - Inkipedia

Now than let's introduce AGENT 8!

Oddly enough Agent 8 has one of more detailed info about themselves, meaning they have more CANNON and in-game lore...

Despite being mute throughout the game, Agent 8 shows aspects of their personality through subtle means. Agent 8 has a fondness for poetry and writes one for every mem cake collected. Throughout these poems, Agent 8 demonstrates a yearning for life on the surface, participating in Turf Wars, finding a part-time job, and dressing up in fresh clothes. This resolve is shown most strongly in the final area of the Octo Expansion, where failing repeatedly activates a Skip Charge, showing Agent 8 with glowing eyes as they charge through the stage with the Calamari Inkantation motivating them. Their poems also show that they are considerably more compassionate and sympathetic than most other Octolings, wondering if Inklings should be considered foes and wishing that they could all get along, and feeling heartbroken at the fact that their superiors were kidnapping the Zapfish and having to refrain from saving it themself. Agent 8 also wishes to apologize to DJ Octavio for unceremoniously deserting the Octarians in pursuit of Inkopolis, as well as recollecting their old Octarian friends, specifically an Octoling warrior whom Agent 8 remembers fondly, hoping that they do not think badly of their decision.

As a result of listening to the Calamari Inkantation, Agent 8 is a big fan of the Squid Sisters, anxiously planning their greeting to the pair upon reaching the surface every night. Agent 8 seems to have known about Marina's escape to the surface and was glad to hear that she had made it safely, though she never knew her personally before the events of the Octo Expansion. Agent 8 comes to greatly admire Marina, to the point of expressing the notion of wanting to be just like her. Agent 8 was also seen to be somewhat confused by Cap'n Cuttlefish's actions and personality, as seen from near the end when they awkwardly glanced at Cuttlefish when he was rapping with Pearl and when he happily accepted being the "hype man" in the battle against Commander Tartar. The official Splatoon 2 relationship chart reveals that Agent 8 has respect for Cap'n Cuttlefish, as they think the elderly should be treated as such. It is also revealed that they think Agent 3 is cool and that Li'l Judd is adorable.

Agent 8, being an Octoling, is apparently disgusted and quite offended at how many squid-themed objects there are in Inkopolis, such as Squid Bumpers, and asks people to consider how Octolings see the world. They love the sea breeze and will go to the shore to feel it even though they cannot swim.

Agent 8 has shown a fondness for both Flow and Craymond. Interestingly, they are also said to enjoy listening to Sheldon rambling, in contrast to various other characters, possibly due to Octarian culture centering around technology and weaponry. They are also stated (in their description for the Chaos vs. Order Splatfest (in which they were on Team Order)) to be obsessed with cleaning, not being able to sleep before every nearby weapon is clean. Sheldon is therefore said to have considered hiring them.

Early Life:

Agent 8 was a trainee in the Octarian army and had a change of heart when they heard the Calamari Inkantation while observing the final battle of Splatoon, etching it into their soul. According to Marina, Octolings that hear the song become discontent with Octarian society and choose to strike out on their own.

Alright here's the juice: SPLATOON 2 OCTO EXPANSION...

youtube

In Octo Valley, Agent 8 encountered Cap'n Cuttlefish and Agent 3, where Cuttlefish told Agent 3 to attack Agent 8. The two battled until all three of them were attacked by someone and were knocked into the Deepsea Metro. Agent 8 then lost their memories from injuries suffered during the fall through the ceiling, and after teaming up with Cuttlefish and escaping the Abandoned Station, became a test subject of the metro.

Agent 8's role is to complete various missions in the Deepsea Metro with the premise of reaching the promised land by finding and collecting the four thangs. The missions take place in an area that is supposedly a testing lab, with a multitude of objectives varying from mission to mission.

Eventually, after collecting all four thangs, the telephone combines the thangs into, supposedly, a door to the promised land. As Agent 8 and Cuttlefish enter the contraption and it closes behind them, it is revealed to be a trap.

Pearl and Marina realize the combined thangs are actually a blender, which the telephone plans to use to smoothie both Agent 8 and Cap'n Cuttlefish, with Marina only able to activate a distress signal from Agent 8's CQ-80. Smashing through the glass ceiling, Agent 3 comes to rescue and destroys the blender. They are knocked out after, leaving Cap'n Cuttlefish to stay with Agent 3 while Agent 8 is able to go on towards escaping the Kamabo Co. facilities with the blueprints provided by Agent 3's employee-model CQ-80. Close to the exit, Agent 8 is forced to defeat a partially sanitized Agent 3, whose mind had been hijacked by the telephone while Agent 8 was escaping.

Once on the surface, Pearl and Marina airlift Cap'n Cuttlefish, Agent 3, and Agent 8 to safety. Agent 8 is the first to notice the rising of the above-ground section of the facility, revealing the NILS Statue with the telephone inside, who re-introduces itself as Commander Tartar as well as its plan to destroy and recreate life on Earth. To stop the statue from charging its weapon, Agent 8 has three minutes to cover it in ink by detonating Marina's prototype Hyperbombs while the Princess Cannon, powered by Pearl's loud voice, destroys the weapon for good. This makes this battle Agent 8's first Turf War.

With the world saved, Agent 8 is finally free.

Now Side Order mention...

Between the time of Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3, Agent 8 has presumably stayed in contact with Off the Hook. In an unexpected turn of events they find themself transported to the Spire of Order, located in what looks like Inkopolis Square, but without color or signs of life. Agent 8 and Pearl, now in a drone form, head into the Spire of Order and meet Acht.

Can't forget Off the Hook, their Final Fest and Dedf1sh a.k.a Acht...

Off the Hook is a pop idol duo based in Inkopolis Square consisting of Pearl and Marina. In Splatoon 2, they take over the Squid Sisters' duties from the first game as the hosts of Inkopolis News and Splatfest events. They also play a major role in the Octo Expansion DLC. They return in Splatoon 3 in the band Damp Socks feat. Off the Hook, as well as having a major role in the Side Order DLC.

Due to being on a world tour, Off the Hook does not make a physical appearance in the base game of Splatoon 3. They collaborate with the band Damp Socks, creating Damp Socks feat. Off the Hook. They perform the songs Candy-Coated Rocks and Tentacle to the Metal. Which would explain their current absence in Splatoon 3 so far.

Pearl:

Here's a comprehensive description of her!

Marina:

Li'l summary of Octo Expansion stuff...

When the game starts up the first time after Version 3.1.0, Pearl starts an Inkopolis Fashion Focus about a trend of "squidkids with weird hairstyles", which are actually Octolings. As the broadcast ends, Pearl says that the fashion focus was the 'only best thing' so she will probably never do it again.

Off the Hook makes an appearance throughout the Octo Expansion, helping Agent 8 and Cap'n Cuttlefish by giving advice and commentary on Agent 8's tests. They meet the duo after Agent 8 passes Fake Plastic Station through Cap'n Cuttlefish's walkie-talkie, as they were on Mount Nantai where the signal was the strongest. Pearl and Marina call themselves by their usernames, MC.Princess and DJ_Hyperfresh, respectively. If Agent 8 loses all of their lives in a test at least twice, Marina will offer to use Agent 8's test data and hack the Kamabo Corporation's database to trick the test into thinking Agent 8 passed. If Agent 8 has less than 2000 CQ Points to do so, Pearl will take money from her father's wallet to be transferred into CQ Points, after which Cap'n Cuttlefish can be talked to, to pay the points back.

After Agent 8 collects all four thangs, Marina discovers they make a blender and the Telephone that had them find the thangs intends on blending Agent 8 and Cap'n Cuttlefish. Before it can do so, however, Marina activates Agent 8's CQ-80's distress signal, summoning Agent 3 and breaking the blender and phone in the nick of time. Marina then tells Agent 8 that they can escape through the hole Agent 3 made. As Agent 8 escapes the facility, Off the Hook shows up with a fleet of helicopters to pick them up along with Cap'n Cuttlefish and Agent 3.

As Pearl raps with Cap'n Cuttlefish, the platform Agent 8 was on rises up and turns out to be a huge statue of a human, with the Telephone, now known as Commander Tartar, intending on destroying all Inklings and Octolings with his blast of primordial ooze. Marina analyzes the statue and discovers that the statue is charging up by sunlight. Therefore, if they can cover it with ink, with the help of her Hyperbombs that Agent 8 has to manually detonate, then the statue will stop charging and Pearl can finish it off with a "Hypersonic Battlecry" to destroy it. After Agent 8 detonates all the Hyperbombs, the statue attempts to fire anyway, prompting Pearl to activate the Princess Cannon. As the statue fires, Pearl lets out a giant Booyah and battles with the statue's blast before pushing it back and destroying the statue with pink ink. As the statue collapses into the sea, Pearl and Marina celebrate and watch the credits with their allies.

HERE'S ALL THE DETAILS YAH COULD WANT ABOUT S2'S FINAL FEST...THE VERY ONE THAT WOULD DECIDE THE FATE OF SPLATOON 3'S STORY AND ALL AROUND GAMEPLAY.

youtube

And now it's the tragic and mysterious Acht...LINK below is all the information and lore yah need tah catch up on them.

youtube

SIDE ORDER

What is known so far about the Story of Side Order:

The mode takes place in "what has become of" Inkopolis Square, the main hub of Splatoon 2, in "what would've happened" if Team Order had beaten Team Chaos.

Agent 8 has been unexpectedly transported to the Order Sector, a mysterious world that is built out of its own unique rules. Agent 8 wakes up to find what appears to be Inkopolis Square, suddenly drained of color and uninhabited. They are challenged to ascend the Spire of Order, a tower that changes floor structure each time it's entered, which has mysteriously replaced Deca Tower. Pearl, having been transformed into a drone called the Pearl Drone, accompanies Agent 8 and assists them in combat.

Acht, also known as Dedf1sh, has "wandered into" the Order Sector, and appears to travel between Floors alongside Agent 8 inside an elevator within the Spire of Order.

-Inkipedia

Here are the current Trailers for Side Order!

youtube

Here's some youtubers theories and discoveries from the current and past trailers..

youtube

And the wicked fresh looking poster!

The little files the gave out on Twitter a while ago...

AND THATS ALL FOLKS!

Make sure to share and reblog with your fellow Inkfish so this information can be spread to those who are confused about Side Order, etc!

10 notes · View notes

dogtoling · 1 year

Note

that mention about jobs taking up a lot of time is making me think, cause our modern conception of a job is the result of a lot of historical factors that might not have happened at all in inkfish history…

a lot of grind culture can be eventually traced back to christian ideals around suffering and labour improving moral character, which I can’t imagine inkling societies would have ever latched onto large-scale considering their natural inclination towards hedonism. though this of course brings up questions about the typical work ideals amongst other species that may have lived alongside inklings, if interspecies societies have even been a thing for long. and if inklings were indeed largely happy with doing only the work necessary to cover their needs and using the rest of their time for fun, how did they reach and surpass industrial revolution technology? what are the effects of octarian intergration from splat2 on work culture, considering both their greatly advanced technology that would now start being incorporated on the surface and their background in a strict, work-intense military society?

this started with “maybe the splatoon world has a non-stupid typical amount of work hours” and now I’m down a rabbit hole of every possible socioeconomic factor that could affect it

these are interesting things to think about and definitely lead down a rabbit hole. just based on how much inkling society mirrors ours, I've assumed they have similar work cultures, but... all the repetitive or boring jobs around Inkopolis sure do seem to be taken up by jellyfish, don't they? OBVIOUSLY in the game it's because the jellyfish is the default type of background NPC and it would be a pointless amount of effort animating custom inklings and especially other species just to do random stuff in the backgrounds of stages, but it does make you think.

What kind of work weeks do Inklings even have? Do they live in the utopia of 4 or even 3 day work weeks with 6-hour shifts? Let me tell you there is NO worker shortage in the Mollusc Era with the sheer amount of people that just... EXIST, with the knowledge that literally millions of people (the actual number was ridiculous) attended a singular deepsea concert - all of those people must've come from somewhere in Inkadia. We know that canonically some fish can have hundreds of offspring: is that like, per clutch? Is that their version of "oh wow, I'm having twins"? But in their case a singular (1) sardine decides to go clubbing one day and things get a little wild and 1 month later theres 84 more baby sardines just running around. like.

all that with the further knowledge that it's implied that most societies on Mollusc Era Earth are concentrated around the shorelines of continents, which means that billions, potentially tens of billions of people are all in EXTREMELY close proximity because apparently going inland isn't very popular. So like, there's DEFINITELY NO LACK OF WORKFORCE. We see there doesn't seem to be any kind of societal obligation to work because some species just do fuck all (mostly symbiotes, like Moe), Spyke just hangs out, most of the jellyfish just hang out. How they live without an income (?) is beyond me. And I don't think the majority of jobs would have strict species requirements, as in which species are qualified or not qualified to do a certain job - so theoretically there's no way there's even enough jobs to DO if they were to have a grind culture like we do!

It's technically very likely that Inklings BARELY work and that might go for a lot of Mollusc Era species! Maybe shifts aren't more than like, 4 hours per day! Maybe most people have multiple jobs because they're really more like occasional hobbies and they have 30 coworkers, who knows!

#mailbox #squidthoughts #this is driving me INSANE it's so likely that their work conditions are just bizarre #one thing DOES go against them having lenient work life and that's sturgeon shipyard #the workers there are striking all the fucking time which means that place sucks #im sure there's a lot more canon material to back these up #like stage news for example #i feel like this is one of those things thats realistically super boring and just perfectly mirrors our society #but it's at least fun to think about.

53 notes · View notes

luxgalador · 2 years

Note

Can I ask, how did you come to find your name? (I love it btw!)

so i'd always admired the name Lux, from Latin meaning "light." there was a couple people online that i'd followed that went by Lux or Luxie. i just liked the name a whole lot.

flash forward to me, a certified Splatoon 2 for the Nintendo Switch Entertainment System sweat, a real bastard of a gamer girl, an ancient entity nearing 30 years of age shitting on children (in game), yet frustrated with the low quality of play in a solo queue environment.

wanting to ease the stress and pressure, i made an alt account where rank didn't matter to me so i could just play the game without concern for my stats and work on my mechanics (the splatoon children do not slow down, they must be shit upon [in game] so i must keep up as their elder, especially the japanese children they are the final boss of splatoon gameplay).

i thought, "well let's have fun here and make the inkling on this account into an OC of sorts" because who doesn't love a good character creation and in splatoon putting clothes on your little guy is part of it. so i named her Lux since i was sweet on that name already. i got really attached to this OC like instantly, like i'm talking INSTA-PACK-BOND type vibe with a squid child made of pixels on a game console. i thought to myself, "that's interesting" and continued grinding the account out of low rank.

i assumed the story would end there, that i'd just game and have this cute little inkling OC and maybe eventually would commission some cute art of her (aside: the splatoon community is filled with immensely talented artists and creatives of all sorts, so not only is it a great game [with a new title coming out in about a month], it has a thriving and lovely global community).

READER, THE STORY DID NOT END THERE

i had a dream where Lux was actually my name, and in this dream i was further along in my transition (was they/themming at the time and settled into an androgynous aesthetic) and i was happy. i woke up, decided to receive that message, and started trying Lux out in my discord server and on twitch. 1 week later it was changed everywhere including at work and within my family.

a very common trans experience is an extremely clear hindsight. for years, i settled in a nonbinary/bi+ queer identity because i felt undoubtedly queer but there was a large part of myself that didn't feel like i was "allowed" to truly have what i wanted. this extended beyond identity. i had internalized very young this notion that the way to survive is to ask for and impact others as little as possible, to not make waves. my entire life, if asked, i would tell you that i would've "rather been born a woman." but that didn't clarify to me that i was just, in fact, a woman until like 6 months ago.

6 months ago.

i was an outspoken queer advocate to an audience of thousands in my heyday on youtube. i had shed my cis identity in 2016. i had literally been medically transitioning with feminine hormones since summer 2019 (3 years coming up on that btw). but it wasn't until 6 months ago that i allowed myself to speak the words "i am a woman. i am a lesbian."

truth be told, i was holding back this dam my whole life. because my river would intersect with others, would siphon water from the lake above. if i were to let my river flow (at least in my mind), i would be taking water from others. it's less important for me to thrive than it is for my family, workplace, really any institution i'm a part of to survive. that's how my body and brain reacted to stressors and trauma as a little. obviously that's not how nature works.

each seismic shift in my identity represented a piece of that dam breaking off, allowing some of the water to flow. coming out as queer in 2013, not cis in 2016, each pronoun change and transition step, the name change in spring 2021. all those holes in the dam made the structure weaker, until it broke early this year while i was emerging from a dark place at the end of my time in los angeles.

Lux was there all along. she was there in Connor's body of work, who took her pain and turned it around towards helping people through her videos. she was there at her jobs, in her relationships. the light was there. it took a bit for her to turn that light towards herself entirely, but she did it.

i did it.

my name represents an imagery and an intent to how i want to walk through this world and how i want to undertake projects and goals. how i want to treat others. all of it with love. all of it with light.

thanks for asking this.

#word vomit

39 notes · View notes

djparticle · 1 year

Text

A Look Back At A Certain Splatoon Promo Image...

The more I think about it, the more I think that we got Splatoon 3 (and another event) a lot later than Nintendo originally envisioned. The image above was released by Nintendo at Midnight (JST) January 1, 2020. I even remember where I was when I first saw it: partying on New Year's Eve in a karaoke bar with friends. Right away people were wondering about the image, and what it could mean. This also wasn't too long after the fake-out "Where's Marina?" promo where the answer was "oh, she took the photo!" Of course, the most obvious hidden meaning was the text on the bottom disguised to look like a reflection in the waves: SOS. And written in the waves, combined with the "reflection", said "Save Our Salmons". This had people wondering if this was a hint as to a later plot. Maybe a new DLC for Splatoon 2, or even a Splatoon 3. Looking back, it's obvious now that this was meant to be our first tease for Splatoon 3, given the plot of its Story Mode revolving around the consequences of Salmon Run and why Mr. Grizz was having us all steal eggs. The only thing is...we all know what happened in 2020, and what it did to numerous industries, especially tech-based industries like video game development. We know now that Splatoon 3 development started about as soon as the Chaos vs. Order Splatfest ended, just like development for Splatoon 2 kicked into high gear after Marie won Splatoon 1's final fest. Given how fast Nintendo put out Splatoon 2 after only a year and change of development, it seems like it's possible Nintendo intended Splatoon 3 to be released sometime in 2021 instead of this year. But of course, a certain virus had other plans. Eventually with vaccines, air filtration technology, and the virus evolving to be overall less deadly, we we able to slowly get back to an almost normal lifestyle, and a lot of the bottlenecks in the supply chain started to ease up, but in 2020 itself, everyone's plans were thrown into... well... chaos. If I were to make a guess, absent the pandemic, we would have likely gotten the first Direct Splatoon 3 teaser in September 2020, with a release date of Fall 2021. Instead, Nintendo, trying to keep Splatoon hype going, gave us some extra rerun Splatfests, including a rerun of Splatoween over Halloween weekend (after all, not like anyone had any real plans for the holiday itself), while they played catch-up on game development in a pandemic-strewn world. And that leads me to another topic: The Super Mario Splatfest. 2020 was also Super Mario's 35th Anniversary as a franchise (discounting 1983's Mario Bros and 1981's Donkey Kong), and if you may have noticed, much of the celebration spilled over into 2021, including a Splatoon 2 Splatfest fitting the theme. Again, absent the pandemic, I think we would have gotten the Super Mario 35th Anniversary celebration confined within the calendar year of 2020, with the related Splatfest in July 2020, one year after "Final Fest". Again, this is just my musing, and I could be amazingly off-base with this, but given the original timing of the "Save Our Salmons" promo, it seems to make sense. Stay Fresh, Don't Get Cooked, and Catch Ya Later! 😊

#splatoon #splatoon 3 #nintendo

7 notes · View notes

a-table-of-fics · 3 months

Text

Cull to Adventure, Chapter 17, Draft 1

Cull stormed out of the Kettle, tossing the Blaster aside. He didn’t care if it clattered against the railing or fell over at this point. Barely holding back tears, he marched past a concerned Marie, stopping when he got to one of the many Bounce Pads in Slimeskin Garrison.

“…You okay, Agent 4?”

He didn’t say anything, but he started to curl his tentacles up, wrapping his hands around his cuts once more. He only tensed more when soft footsteps approached him, even withdrawing to a corner once Marie got close enough.

“Look, kid, it’s fine. We can try again later, and we could get Sheldon to provide a different weapon…”

“N-no…” Cull muttered. “I just… I just don’t kn-know.”

Marie sighed. Callie was always better at this kind of thing.

“If it means anything,” she said, “you can’t be good with every weapon. I mean, you should see me with Rollers. Not that I’ll let you; Callie’s already got that blackmail.”

A snicker. Well, that was a start.

“Come on, Cull. You were able to take out those Octoweapons, and you didn’t think you could fight a few days ago!”

“I-I was only able to do it…”

“With our help?” Marie finished his thought. “Yeah, don’t worry about that. No squid I know of can do it alone. Even Gramps had a Splatoon back in the day.”

“Yeah?”

“You ever hear of Craig Cuttlefish?”

“Er…” Cull thought for a moment, before his eyes widened. “N-no way, the Captain Cuttlefish?! Hero of Squidkind? B-but…”

Marie nodded, but her smile soon fell as Cull’s astonishment did the same. She could see it in his face: the question of “What am I doing here?”

“Everyone’s gotta start somewhere, Agent 4. And you’ve had a pretty good one; I’m sure he’d be proud if he was here.”

“O-oh, I’m s-sorry…”

“Hm? Oh, oh no, he’s fine, he’s just with Agent 3 on a separate mission. Helping refugees in Octo Valley, I think. Not sure how, but I’m sure they had a plan.”

She shook her head.

“Anyway, you’re doing fine. You made the right call in coming back, though; Sheldon said they were ready to shut the respawners down.”

She tapped her chin, looking at the discarded blaster.

“Speaking of Sheldon, I won’t tell him you tossed that if you won’t.”

“B-but what about the Zapfish? It m-must be so scared in there…”

“Trust me, they’ll reactivate once you paint the town blue somewhere else. Now c’mon, Sheldon wouldn’t let me hear the end of the weapon he’d been developing. Apparently a modified Brella. You might like this one!”

It didn’t take very long for Cull to take to the Brella. The recoil-inducing blast was good at scaring off Octarians, if not splatting them outright, and the shield helped reduce the pain coming his way. Of course, he tried to keep it on him as much as possible, but eventually he had to let go of the small ink jets on it and let the stupid thing fly, lest it drain his ink endlessly. At least he was able to follow the thing as he recovered enough ink to shoot again.

“Perhaps you’d be interested in the Tenta or Undercover varieties if you want the shield on for longer…”

“Now’s not the time to sell, Sheldon.”

Cull soon made it to another launchpad, landing… nowhere. There was no way forward, though he landed smack dab onto a respawner. Nothing but the tiny ink platform he was on. Was this a trap? Was he stuck?

No, there! In front of him were wooden crates suspended above the smog. Maybe he could jump to those, and hopefully whatever made them float could hold his weight. He wasn’t terribly worried about the Power Eggs at this point, but maybe they’d help guide him if he made it over there.

There wasn’t much room for a running start, but Cull was no stranger to daring leaps. Squid Jumping was out of the question. Not that he had to worry about anyone seeing him, but he doubted those boxes could withstand such an impact. No, he had to just run up and reach out…

His fingers grasped the edge of the closest crate. He had made it, with no issue until his body hit cold metal. He hadn’t thought of the Octarians having invisible tech like what hid the Kettles.

Marie’s silence was deafening, and Cull blushed, orange ink making his face glow in the artificial night.

“Ehe, y-yeah, I’ll ju… I’ll just…”

He fired, starting to add orange to the air. The painting started tentatively, with small steps and even smaller progress, but then a thought occurred to him. He started aiming more carefully, but he took wider strides. His aim was true, but he was pointing in odd directions.

“You all right there?”

Marie’s question fell on deaf ears. Still, Cull fired, making sure not to launch his Brella. Such a thing could ruin his plans. He scraped his foot against the ink, making a thin line, and his plan was clear.

“C’mon, you still got a Zapfish to…”

She trailed off as she pivoted the camera just a bit. It wasn’t nerves after all; now, a massive orange octopus was wrapping its arms around thin air, guiding Cull on the proper path. She noticed the glow disappear from Agent 4’s face as he concentrated on his work, and to his credit he was making quicker progress past this part. Best not to interrupt him.

She thought that, but then she saw him step back, almost to the edge of the platform. He was leaning forward, preparing to sprint!

“Hey, what are you--?”

Too late. He ran forward and leapt towards the next half-painted platform. He landed this one with ease, not even losing balance. He turned around, looking at all he inked. A couple shots more, and he nodded satisfactorily.

He turned to face the Flooder that was patrolling its own little floor. Marie almost didn’t notice, what with the artwork. Even if it was a little rough from being made by gunshots, it was an admirable abstraction.

More impressive to Marie, though, was the confidence of it all. Agent 4 wasn’t shaking, he wasn’t hesitating, and he wasn’t stammering. By all rights, he was in his element. Even Agent 3 wasn’t nearly as fast with the invisible platforms.

“Hey, not bad, kid! You think you could sign it from Agent 4?”

Ah. There was the blush again.

“I-I dunno about that…” Cull replied. “It was j-just a dumb thing I was—”

“Stop that,” Marie scolded, harshly. “Do not say that about what you do! The last thing any Inkling needs is for their stuff to all be ‘dumb little things’. And I should know; I…”

She sighed.

“…I was like that, and if Callie wasn’t there, I’d still be doing that. That’s no way to make a music career, lemme tell you, and I don’t think that’d take you far in art, either. So I don’t want to hear it. Got it, Agent 4?”

She saw him nod before bending down, taking some of the ink with his finger and scrawling next to that tentacle.

“Once that’s done,” Marie said, “We can clear out this joint and plan our next move. I should talk to Sheldon about a weapon I think you’d like, but that might take a bit. For now, remember you can launch your Brella’s shield. Looking past those Flooders, you’re gonna need that feature…”

About six minutes later, Cull was out of the Kettle, with his head higher than Marie had seen up to that point. His feet were far lighter with each step, practically walking on air. He was humming the strange vocals from that base, and Marie caught herself with those bars too. They were catchy, and oddly familiar…

Marie frowned.

“Hey, Agent 4?” she asked, thankfully pausing that song. “You did great there!”

“Y-you think so?” he asked, giving the Zapfish another pat before handing her over. “I was just doing some drawings and…”

“You got a Zapfish pretty easily there at the same time! I bet they’ll appreciate the octopus and that… what was it again?”

“Oh, that? It was just a pattern of the seas. Figured a bit of extra texture at that would be cool to see those Squee-Gees suck up…”

Cull’s smile started to waver.

“Y-you think that’s okay? I mean, we’re on a mission for the Zapfish and Callie… a-and leaving this kind of stuff could t-trace us…”

“Eh, I doubt it. They just know you’re Agent 4, nothing else. If anything, just make sure they don’t know who you or I am while we’re on the job, okay?”

Marie gave a smile, patting him on the back.

“So, you ready to bring that energy to another rescue?”

“Well… I-I guess I could try that stupid Blaster again.”

“Please do be careful with it this time,” Sheldon suddenly said over the intercom. “That one’s still in testing.”

Cull glowed green, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone as he heard the Shel-Drone buzz come closer. He silently accepted the weapon case, staring at it for a second before opening it.

“…Y-you don’t mind if I take a sec to practice, do you?”

It didn’t take long for Slimeskin Garrison to be covered by rough pictures made from exploded ink. Some of them were simple stick squids with bulbous tentacles, while others were exaggerated fireworks. Cull sighed contentedly, looking at his Blaster. He felt he had a better grasp on how this gun worked, or at least enough to get through the next five to ten minutes.

“A-alright, let’s d-do this.”

Once he dove back in, he took a moment to check the hexagonal monitors that adorned the cavern walls. Green scan lines concealed an abundance of numbers and graphs, their meanings unknown from where Cull was standing.

More worryingly, he saw a wireframe model of himself on a nearby wall, wearing his Agent garb. A line not unlike a heart monitor suddenly had a spike next to it as Agent 4 gazed at this. How did he miss this the first time? How did they…?

He let the Blaster fall, frantically searching himself for any kind of device that would lend the Octarians his biometrics.

“Hey, what’s the matter, Agent 4?”

“We m-might be compromised,” Cull said, between breaths. “D’you see the s-scans of me up there?!”

His eyes widened in realization. His hand went from pointing at the monitor to clasping at his headset.

“Those… those Octolings took my headset before they took me over t-to that Octostomp…”

“But Sheldon was able to… Oh no.”

Cull could hear Marie sharply inhale, and see his heartrates quicken on the monitor.

“I-I’m sorry, so much happened I didn’t e-even…”

“Stay calm, Agent 4. I should have talked to… our tech about it. We’ll take a look once your done, but for now, we’ll have to… color within the lines. Er, remember the Rule of Thirds as you make your first stroke.”

Cull blinked. It took a moment, but realization was kicking in. He slowly lifted his hands up, trying to cover his tentacles, even as the green glow seeped through his fingers. He grit his beak, giving a mock gag.

“You… we’re not doing t-this…”

“The eraser’s dried, kid,” Marie grinned. “Just make it through and we can get you a reference mirror.”

Agent 4 groaned, but lifted his Blaster up. If nothing else, Marie was giving him motivation to get this over with as soon as possible.

“R-right… Guess I need to, ugh, give a second coating to the horizon.”

He just hoped Marie could understand that one; he was not doing any more of this than he had to.

“Quick transparency adjustment,” Marie said as Cull made it back to the Grapplinks, “Remember to use the ruler for consistent dotting.”

Cull’s ears would have drooped if they weren’t wrapped in headphones. He looked up, and saw the hearts monitor increase its frequency.

“Okay…” he sighed, steadying his aim, “just… er, tell me the g-grid dimensions.”

“Every half-centimeter, from the looks of it.”

Right. He could handle that. He took a deep breath, though his heartrates didn’t lower. He could still confirm that with ease, at least. He took an uneasy step back before running forward, trying to count the seconds in his head.

One sea- One sea- One sea-

It was tricky to keep track with the wind zipping around him as he himself zipped towards the next Grapplink. The looming threat of a prolonged plummet to buildings unknown didn’t help matters, but he persisted, quickly kidforming between pulls and firing once more. It was reminding him of that Squid Beatz 2 game everyone flocked around, but somehow, this one was less stressful.

He soon made it to the platform on the other side, mentally finishing his count with -side shell and taking a few deep breaths.

“…D-does the, ugh, grid n-need realignment?”

“No, but you’re going to be making more precise marks. Try not to get out of alignment.”

Cull swallowed. It’d be worth it for the Zapfish, of course, but he just hoped this wiretapping could be removed soon. He wasn’t sure he could take this nonsense for much longer.

“G-gotcha,” he said before opening fire once more.

Pop, bang, whoosh! Pop, bang, whoosh! Pop, bang, whoosh!

Pop, bang!

Cull flailed as he fell once more. He really couldn’t do it, huh? One simple Grapplink challenge was enough to do him in? Why was he still allowed to be an Agent if he couldn’t get this down? Sure, he rescued a few Zapfish, and he did defeat massive weapons of war, but…

No buts. He did do all that, didn’t he? He just had to keep—

Splat!

He looked at the Grapplinks once he made it back to the Respawner. He frowned, but he wasn’t shrinking back.

“Just erase and—” Marie started.

“Go over that line again,” Cull said, flatly. “Right.”

He took aim and fired. Once again, the first part gave him an easy rhythm to shoot to, quickly swinging him to that Cod-bleached second part. He took a deep breath, and fired.

Pop, bang!

Here he was, falling once again. He didn’t make it this far to unceremoniously plummet to his death, though. He silently thanked Sheldon for modifying the Splat Bombs. There was no way he’d have enough ink if it wasn’t for that guy, but as it were, he could make one last attempt and…

Bang, whoosh!

He saved it! No time to celebrate, though; he still had one last Grapplink to reach…

Pop, bang, whoosh!

That was it! He finally made it across, landing straight onto another respawner. It glowed green, and he allowed himself to breathe once more.

“Finally made it!” he sighed.

“Nice work!” Marie replied. “Now, we just need to paint the ceiling and floor!”

“Shut up!”

Cull blinked, stunning himself into silence. No sound came through his headset either, leaving him to listen to the strange, reversed singing over a snappy beat, his heartbeats slowly synching with the rhythm.

“I-I’m sorry,” he mumbled, quiet as a minnow. “I d-don’t know what—”

“Passionate about it, huh?” Marie replied.

Cull swore he heard a soft chuckle.

“Sorry, kid. Probably shouldn’t’ve stretched it that far. Let’s just see… erm, what the other two acts are. Right.”

There was gentle humming as Cull used the Launchpad to fly back to the main hub, key in hand. He watched the wall in front of him lower as he unlocked one of three buttons.

“So the next two look like… a tightrope course and, er, the entry of the clowns. You ready?”

Cull sighed. It was better than before, at least, but he couldn’t believe he got that worked up about it.

Still, no point dwelling on that when he still had two more switches to unlock. He had the uncomfortable feeling that this activity was being specially recorded, but what could he do? There was still a Zapfish to rescue, and he could only hope Sheldon could clear that data. And why were they sending Octarians to fight him? If they were trying to gather intel, would splatting him repeatedly really help…? And what kind of science lab sent its own people into harm’s way?

He shook his head. He really couldn’t dwell on anything other than getting out of here.

A few minutes later, Cull was out with the Zapfish. He was sweating, but both them and the Blaster were at the garrison in one piece. Good thing, too; both Sheldon and Marie were there. The Zapfish quickly swam over to Marie while Sheldon walked over to Cull.

“Right,” Sheldon nodded, “let me fi—er, show’s over, we need to tune the circus out and go back to private radio…”

“Good save,” Marie interjected. “Might as well take a break, Agent 4. Call it an intermission, whatever, but it’s going to be a bit. We’ll let you know when things are ready again.”

Clunk!

Sheldon had sealed the headset into a steel case, and brought out a weapons box for the Blaster.

“Now that it’s in a Faraquay cage,” he said happily, “we can talk freely! So, Agent 4, I heard you had some issues with the Blaster at first. Is there anything in particular that gave you issues? I’ve been wondering how to make it more intuitive…”

“J… just not used to the slow fire,” Cull admitted. “Hard to get a good rhythm with your shots.”

“Ah, that’ll be a bit difficult to work out,” Sheldon admitted. “Gotta get the right amount of pressure to get that ink blast going as far as it does. You’ll lose out on range or maybe power when I mess with that…”

“Y-you don’t have to do that,” Cull said, waving his hands. “I’ll b-be fine with some practice.”

“Could also be a poor fit for you,” Marie shrugged. “Nothing wrong with that.”

Sheldon nodded, smiling as he shut the case again.

“Anyway, I’ll be taking a look at their tampering. Octarian tech is a modern marvel, really. All those floating platforms and teleporting… it’s really something. Just wish they didn’t mess with my product like this, you know?”

“Yeah, I get that,” Marie replied. “But you wouldn’t happen to have a replacement in the meantime, would you? We still have a cous—city to save.”

“Way ahead of ya!” Sheldon said, reaching into a pocket and revealing an identical headset. “I took the liberty of upgrading it, too. Patented Ammo Knights technology allows for greater reception than ever over greater distances! What’s more, there’s now brand-new tamper detection; as soon as it’s been opened, it’ll give a signal to this device here. Just keep it inside your vest, okay? It’ll even use a second channel hidden so we can still chat!”

“W-wow,” Cull gaped, taking the new headset. “Thank you! Your really didn’t n-need to—”

“Come on, Agent 4!” Marie interjected. “Of course we had to! You’re a great Agent, but even the best get outplayed or out-lucked.”

“Aw, th-thanks. I don’t really think—”

“Good. Focus on inking, remember?”

#draft 1 #cull to adventure #cull goes to octo canyon #Splatoon #splatoon 2 #splatoon 2 fic #cull to adventure full chapter #chapter 17

0 notes

saltynsassy31 · 5 months

Note

seen your posts in the splatoon 3 tag a lot. just my two cents as another person who gets irregularly mad and ticked off over the game, but maybe take a break longer than usual. not healthy to get that mad over it. i get u, but u also need to maybe look after yourself.

godspeed, fellow splatooner.

God danm am I that much of a frequent poster, not the first time someone recognised me from the tags 🫣

Mom, I'm famous!

Tho ngl, tis is a little embarrassing gkdkaka I mean, I do want to rant to someone about the goes about of splatoon and splatfests, but I also never expect anyone to see them, I tag them so i can more easily find the posts in the tumblr app search tool 😅

Yeah, I do wanna take a break, I should, but splatfests are the only time I can up my catalogue 🥹🥹🥹 I literally will miss out on stuff if I don't cuz i barely have time to play lately, and I already missed out on this catalogue and I waited a whole year to get it again so I joined, even when i didn't want to 😭😭😭

I will, however, probably take a break from the tag, like, I'll post but I won't be looking at it, it's not the splatfest itself that bothers me, of course eventually and gradually I get pissy about game plat, but like, I enjoy it, especially when I get to play with friends (which my friend promised to join me next time so I'm holding them on that fjskaja)

Thanks for the concern tho anon, I appreciate it 🫡

I'll definitely be looking to avoid the tags, I got into pretty heated arguments I want to avoid next time

#salty rants #salty answers #splatfest #splatoon #splatoon 3 #ask box open

1 note · View note

telekitnetic-art · 6 months

Note

11, 15, and 28 for the artist asks!

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what?

Oh I definitely listen to stuff while I work (Autism moment). It depends on what I'm in the mood for; sometimes I'll put a playlist of video game music on shuffle and listen to it play (Some of the games include Animal Crossing, Nier Automata, Hades, Transistor, all 3 Splatoon Games, Apex Legends, and Monster Hunter). Other times I'll listen to video essays, usually about obscure topics. My go-to for those types of videos are usually Izzzyzz or Defunctland (I've also been listening to Johnny2Chelos Bojack Horseman analysis videos, despite not having an interest at all in the series). Sometimes I'll listen to podcasts too; sometimes i listen to the live special episodes for TAZ or The Magnus Archives. Critical Role is one I've been meaning to get into but it's such a hefty series that it's hard to make the commitment :') sometimes the mood of the piece I'm working on effects what I choose to listen to, but generally if all else fails I just put on one of those really long lofi compilation videos and let it play.

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth)

Honestly, "at home" is the only answer I have off the top of my head lol. Now that I have an actual desktop setup, I spend a lot of time drawing at my desk in my apartment. Before I did, I had a touchscreen laptop that I'd bring around nearly everywhere and just set up and draw till the battery was dead, but unfortunately it's 5 years old at this point so the keyboard is beginning to malfunction. I might save up to get it repaired eventually, I don't wanna get rid of it.

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

I was in the MAProject (Multi-Animator Project) community for a while! I stopped participating as much as I just don't have the free time for it these days, but I would like to get back into it to make OC animations... other then that, I have participated in one zine before, the Evening Star Native Artist Zine!! It was a lot of fun and I'm really proud of how my piece turned out; I'd love to apply to more open-ended or maybe even fandom zines to try and do experimental character illustrations but again I don't have a ton of free time :,,,)

#art ask game

1 note · View note

eaterofpi · 8 months

Text

Nintendo Direct 9-14-23 Reaction Post!!

That's right, there's another Nintendo Direct, and I am a bit tired, I wasn't able to get any sleep last night!! (There was a dog taking up my entire bed)

It's starting!!

What's first for today...

Oh!! The Splatoon 3 DLC!! I guessed this right, in a Discord!! I wasn't expecting it to be the starting thing though/.. The feel of this is very different to normal Splats.. Is this the... Octo Subway? The Thing from Splatoon 2, but for Splatoon 3.. It escapes my head right now.. Very much a different tone

OH!! Order.. Like.. The other choice from that Splatfest!! Kinda a smart choice

MINI MARIO

YES YES YES YES MARIO VS DONKEY RETURNS??? THIS WAS LIKE ONE OF MY FAVORITE GAMES.. A REMAKE OF A GAME I REALLY LIKED?? Thank yous Nintedo!! Having to explain the game in the direct... But I wonder if it will still have all that silly music... Woah... Multiplayer... I wonder if it will have the E Reader Levels!! February 16th.. What a nice start..

I've heard of this series before, but after the previous announcement, I already got what I wanted--- Or rather, what I didn't know I wanted

Racing games... It looks like it was lagging a bit in the multiplayer..

A Rythym game--- I know that song.. I think? It feels familar..

AAAAAAAAH OOMFIE 2 JUMPSCARE

Oh! More details on the Mario RPG!! They changed stuff, will people enjoy it? Rematches are always fun!! The iconic Forest Maze Music.. I remember hearing that a lot in the past... Despite not playing the game...

Wait, from the Brawl Trophies... Nintendo really bringing back some dormant franchises.. It's nice to see them return.. I wonder if that other one might eventually return.. that.. I also can't recall the name of right now.. Wait it was just remakes?

The Peach RPG? The Sparkle Theater... New little guys... New designs in a Mario game!! Crownless Peach??

Kirby Peach... I guess this makes a lot of sense for a play, to wear costumes like that! That feels like a Mario Party Minigame.. Is this an RPG? It feels more.. adventure-y?

Showtime???

I can't tell if this is a remake or a new series.. Oh, it looks like a new Entry (Maybe?)

Tomb Raider.. I remember buying a bunch of them on Steam a long time ago... and I never ended up playing a single one.. Oops

Dectective Pikachu 2.. I started my day way too early... Goodman??

THIS GAME?? Trombone Hero.. I thought it was Wii Music 2 for a second.. this game is so silly.. Glad to see it on more platforms.. Wait.. Will there be Nintendo musics??

Some of these headlines are very generic.. Scary... A MOBA Battle Royale... That toneshift was kinda wild.. Contra is back?? Oh! Wayforward helped!!

Famicom Wars? I have no idea what game this could be... It feels weird to not have the normal narrator.. Unicorn Overlord is an odd name.

AAHHHHH Scary.. Luigi's Mansion 2 Dark Moon (very scary) Oh!! They put an "HD" onto the title!! I wonder what they will add!! I watched a let's play of this game way back.. I even was able to do a bit of Download play with a friend back in the day... I wonder if this also means a Polterpup plush rerelease.. Next Summer? That's pretty far off

Nintendo Gallery? Nintendo Muesum?? Nintendo's History is vast.. I would like to eventually see all the cool stuffs.. Amiibos!! Xenoblade Amiibos!! Smash Amiibos are over... OLIMAR SHOWN

F-ZERO?? NOOOOO BATTLE ROYALE??? DIDN'T SOMEONE PREDICT THIS?? I'm also really bad at F-Zero, judging by my current skills on the Switch Online App.. I am glad to see it return in some form.. This feels like... a Monkey Paw case...

A Party too wild... Wait is that just like.. the story of Kirby Epic Yarn?? Okay it has fishing.. awesome.. LEAGUE OF LEGENDS?? SCARY

WARIOWARE SMOOTH MOVES 2, THE FORMS ARE BACK... This game will be awesome.. I really need to make more space for it in my room.. FISHING!! That's quite soon!!

100 Heros.. Like.... Pikmin!!! Sharks.. (Magical Girls)

A Farming Game.. I really should get another one..

Making a Campaign seems pretty cool!!

Fishing!!

The final wave.... Diddy Kong!! FUNKY KONG!! Pauline!! Peachette!! They only showed off one track!!

Sus.... Wait.. New Map?? It's a shame that playing games like this are a bit too stressful for me...

Recaps!! PIKMIN SHOWN!!!

The finale..

PAPER MARIO THOUSAND YEAR DOOR HD... Now people can't complain anymore!!

Wait.. I think I mentioned in a chat that I would play it if they rereleased it...

A pretty nice direct, many games that I may eventually get in the future!!

#eaterofpi-posts

1 note · View note

repentantsky · 3 years

Text

5 Gaming Controversies in 2020, That Just Seemed So Avoidable

Gaming has over the years, been full of controversies, some caused by bad management, some caused seemingly by human error, and some that just seem avoidable. 2020 has had a slue of these controversies, so let's talk about what happened this year that ticked all of us off, but didn't need to.

5. Joy-con Drift.

Nintendo will probably appear on this list more than once, but the most obvious controversy caused by them that could have been avoided, is Joy-Con drift. The Switch has had issues with this since not long after release, and if the PS5 and Xbox Series X are anything to go by, it's natural to assume that issues on a new console are expected, in fact given the history of console launches, I 'd say that is unavoidable. However, the Switch is going to be four years old this coming March, so for this persistent issue to still exist, it seems like a lack of concern from Nintendo. A number of class action lawsuits have been filed against them because of Joy-Con drift, and as recently as October, in order to try and deny the problems coming from those legal cases, Nintendo denied there was anything wrong at all. They've had years to fix this problem, and didn't even manage to do so with the Switch Lite, which is a much worse situation for Lite owners, as they'd have to give Nintendo their whole console to get it repaired. Then there's the fact that they originally charged almost as much to fix Joy-cons on regular Switches, as new Joy-cons cost to buy, and even suggested that Switch owners should plan to buy a new set of Joy-cons every two years. While they did eventually reverse course on that due to pressure from lawsuits and general backlash, it's safe to say, Nintendo went really anti-consumer with this, and as you probably know, it's not the only time they did it this year.

4. Crunch

While crunch has been a part of this industry for far longer than the Switch has, people really started to take notice of it this year after many developers were interviewed about their horrible working conditions. Naughty Dog, who was seen as one of the better developers out there got hit pretty hard after Jason Schreier wrote a piece about how bad their hidden crunch culture was. Crunch in the industry is seen as a major problem, because at times, due to a lack of a union, developers are overworked, and underpaid, and many of them, are either looked down upon by their fellow developers for not partaking in it as much as others, or more importantly, by their management, which could jeopardize their career. Mandatory crunch is also a thing, sometimes seeing developers work twelve to sixteen hour days, and only getting paid for the first eight or so. It only gets worse, when you realize, that delays tend to cause more crunch, because more ideas are shoved into a game when more time is given to develop it. An article by Kotaku, made a valid point recently, when it called out The Last of Us Part II and Naughty Dog for winning best direction of the year at The Game Awards, despite their crunch culture. Many games have gone through it this year, espeically after COVID caused delays, but none may be more announced than CD Projekt Red, something you've probably seen me talk about here before, but that I'll save for another entry down the line ... when it called out The Last of Us Part II and Naughty Dog for winning best direction of the year at The Game Awards, despite their crunch culture. Many games have gone through it this year, espeically after COVID caused delays, but none may be more announced than CD Projekt Red, something you've probably seen me talk about here before, but that I'll save for another entry down the line ... when it called out The Last of Us Part II and Naughty Dog for winning best direction of the year at The Game Awards, despite their crunch culture. Many games have gone through it this year, espeically after COVID caused delays, but none may be more announced than CD Projekt Red, something you've probably seen me talk about here before, but that I'll save for another entry down the line ...

3. Xbox Series X and PS5 pre-orders.

Microsoft and Sony, despite being on the cusp of a new generation, spent the majority of the year keeping certain secrets from the public in a bid to outdo each other price wise for their console. While in the end, it played out exactly as most people predicated, top end consoles priced at $ 499 with variations priced one hundred, and two hundred dollars cheaper respectively, they took too long to get to that point, and pre-orders were a mess as a result. Sony announced it's prices and said PS5 would go on sale only a few days removed from that reveal. While that was already a problem, most people need more time than that, the fact that certain retailers let the pre-orders go out early, only added to the confusion, and bots ended up sweeping the majority of the consoles anyway, because those were easier to set-up for scalpers, than buying the system outright. Microsoft tried to be a bit better about that, and give people more time to prepare, but that also fell through, as the demand for the console, was much higher than the supply even tried to prepare for, an issue both systems faced. Even Japan, which is notorious for not selling Microsoft consoles, sold out far quicker than anyone could have expected. Had Sony and Microsoft just put the prices and pre-orders up earlier, and let them be bought over a period of a month or so, instead of just one, super hectic day, all the issues could have been avoided. which is notorious for not selling Microsoft consoles, sold out far quicker than anyone could have expected. Had Sony and Microsoft just put the prices and pre-orders up earlier, and let them be bought over a period of a month or so, instead of just one, super hectic day, all the issues could have been avoided. which is notorious for not selling Microsoft consoles, sold out far quicker than anyone could have expected. Had Sony and Microsoft just put the prices and pre-orders up earlier, and let them be bought over a period of a month or so, instead of just one, super hectic day, all the issues could have been avoided.

2. Smash Bros, Splatoon and musical takedowns

Nintendo is back on this list as they recently fell under fire from fans of the Smash Bros community, for disallowing a major tournament to take place, because it simply chose to emulate a game that is out of print, using a mod called the Slippie Mod , so those partaking in the tournament, could play from home, instead of having to meet and risk spreading COVID to each other and tournament goers. A few weeks later, several people in an official Splatoon tournament changed their names to show support for the Smash Bros community and Nintendo's response was to shut down the whole finals of said tournament, in an attempt to try and lower the visibility of support for people who simply felt wronged by Nintendo. This of course backfired because it's the internet, and that's not going to go unnoticed, which only made them look worse. Not long after that, Nintendo started taking down videos and songs on YouTube that were from Legend of Zelda, Mario Kart Wii and others. Hundreds if not thousands of videos were taken down, and while Nintendo was within their rights to do so, they crippled several channels by issuing copyright strikes against them, which not only removed their ability to make money on their channels, it can disable streaming, and even cost them money they are no longer making, to try and get their channel back. In the end, Nintendo was in their rights to do all that they did, but that doesn't mean it was the right thing to do, especially in 2020, where leaving these things well enough alone, would have only led to more people enjoying Nintendo products. Instead, games like Bravely Default II and other major upcoming Switch game releases, are facing potential boycott's, because of Nintendo's sour attitude towards it's own communities. It was once said, that a corporation, is within their rights to make people hate them, and Nintendo has embodied that well in 2020.

1. Cyberpunk 2077, The Whole Thing

Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that has been worked on for years at this point. It was announced the January before the 8th gen consoles, the PS4 and Xbox One released, and only managed to come out, about a month after the following 9th gen began. Despite this fact, the game runs horribly on consoles, and requires a pretty beefy PC to run well. The delays that happened in 2020, which lasted 8 months, were supposed to be about optimizing the game for 8th consoles, which are by far still the largest market for any multi-generation, multi-platform titles, but it came out recently that CDPR lied about that, and were instead focusing on the PC release. They also lied to Sony and Microsoft about how well the game ran, lied to their consumers when they didn't put out any review copies for the game before launch, lied to everyone regarding returns, which only came up three or four days after the game launched, meaning digital owners were pretty much out of luck, lied to retailers who's reputations were put on the line based on their return policies, and oh yeah, they lied about crunch to. They also promised the game would release “when it was ready” and obviously lied about that as well. Lying is a choice, and CDPR has lied, and lied, and lied. It wouldn't be shocking to find out more lies were made by them in the coming months, such as maybe the two major upcoming patches in January and February not being as effective as they are proposed to be, or the fact that they will need more patches after those to run properly. They even lied about in game content, making it seem like the path you choose in the start of the game would last a long while and have a major effect on the game, but that doesn't appear to be true either, as many people have gotten through the start of the game, in about 20 minutes. It's a shame really, to see a game with such promise, be ruined by such habitual liars, but alas, here we are. Even time might not save CDPR as they are currently as a loss of billion dollars total because of this disaster, and their trust with consumers is all but gone.

Can you think of any other avoidable controversies for 2020? Let me know with the notes below.

#nintendo #ps5 #xbox series x #xbox series s #xbox one #ps4 #nintendo switch #freesplatoon #freesmash #cd projekt red #cdpr #crunch #joycon #smash bros #splatoon

7 notes · View notes

paperclipsandchalk · 5 years

Text

Good Kids:

Patton Pascal- Son of Rapunzel- His hair has the same magical properties Rapunzel's had, he uses special scissors to cut them since he doesn't like his hair being too long. There will be some days where he's too tired to cut his hair, it's a daily chore since his hair grows at a fast rate overnight. He has brown hair and green eyes, he has rectangular glasses and wears a golden flower crown. Patton wears a grey sweater that has many types of flower patterns down the sleeves, he wears khakis and no shoes. He is a happy go lucky guy who thinks brightly about the world, however, reality hits him little by little and he realizes the world is a messed up place. Patton and Logan are betrothed and have been since they were kids. Patton helps bring out the emotions in Logan and Logan helps bring out the rationality in Patton. Roman and Patton are close friends who are both on the track team. Patton and Remy get along nine times out of ten, the other one time out of ten is when Patton lectures him about not sleeping. Patton is around 5'7

Remy Bubbler- Son of Ariel- Remy is a half merman with a caffeine addiction, when he was younger he had sleep paralysis and it scared him into staying awake. He eventually found comfort in coffee, since he couldn't really talk to anyone about it he just bottled it up. There are some days he can't speak due to Ursula cursing him when he was five, that was because he talked to her son, Emile. Remy inherited his dad's black hair but his mother's blue eyes, his hair is a bit poofy. Remy wears a black leather jacket with a white shirt that says 'Sleep is for the weak, and I'm weak so see you in a week' and every time someone goes to read it he says "my eyes are up here". Coincidentally he wears glasses to cover his eyes from the sun, he has scaly freckles that shimmer in the sunlight and when he blushes they flare pink. He says "what up bishes" at least three times a day, unless he can't speak, then he signs it. Oh, and Remy is 5'11

Roman White- Son of Snow White- Roman, surprisingly, is really tan and fit. He's on the track team with Patton and he's always active outside whether it's putting on small plays for the children in town square or hanging out with his friends. Roman also knows a few languages such as Spanish and French, he was born into a big family consisting of six brothers and a cat named Acorn. He absolutely despises apples and prefers red grapes instead. Roman is tall, taller than Remy but shorter than Logan. Roman is about 6'1 with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He often wears a white button up shirt with a red vest over the top, he wears black dress pants and dress shoes. Roman always wants to stand out and he really cares what others think about him, that all goes out the window when he meets Virgil. Surprisingly, the two have a lot more in common than they thought.

Logan Rose- Son of Belle- Logan is a well read kid who's betrothed to Patton and he wouldn't have it any other way. However, one thing has been bugging him the more he studied the past fairy tales, the villains kids were never given a chance. So he decided that his first decree as future king is that let the kids from the island come to school with them. Logan is 6'2, he wears a long black sleeved shirt with a blue tie, he also wears black jeans with dress shoes. He has circular glasses, he has brown eyes with light brown hair. No matter what he can't keep his hair tame, it bothers him all the time but Patton help brush and style it. He also carries around an enchanted rose, he doesn't know what's going to happen when all the petals fall off. It worries him, he doesn't even know where the rose came from but he can't get rid of it either. Sometimes Logan loses sight of his emotions but luckily he has Patton to help bring him back down.

Villain Kids:

Emile Picani- Son of Ursula- Emile is literally the friendliest person you'll ever meet on the island. He has a passion for swimming but doesn't get to do it often due to a barrier surrounding the island. One time he managed to escape the barrier somehow and met a boy, they became friends quickly but their parents found out. His mom cursed the boy despite her son's wish, time passed by and now Emile wants to right the wrong his mom did. He doesn't have tentacles but he has a pet octopus named Tentacles. Emile is around 5'4, he has blonde almost white hair and dark brown eyes, he has square glasses. He wears a black cardigan with a purple shirt underneath it, he also wears black pants. Emile also wears a seashell necklace his father gave him, he also has the warmest smile anyone has ever seen.

Virgil Malevolent- Son of Maleficent- Virgil and his mom never get along, she wants him to do stuff that he doesn't want to. He doesn't want to be like her when he gets older. Virgil can cast spells, all he has to do is remember the correct words and he can cast it, or he can use his spellbook. However, his mom takes the spell book all the time so he's learned to memorize the spells that are important. Virgil wears a purple cloak that covers his outfit that his mother forces him to wear, it's a black suit with black gloves. He absolutely hates it, but he hates his hair even more. His hair has black roots but silver tips, he dyed the tips purple to spite his mom. Virgil also has dragon wings and piercing green eyes. He often doodles thing from different fairy tales, one time he accidentally draws Roman. Roman finds out and asks Virgil to teach him how to draw.

Remus Queen (White)- Son of Evil Queen- Remus was taken when he was a baby, the queen raised him to he her own. Since he grew up with the evil queen he has been obsessed with mirrors and the way they reflect things. Remus was given a magic mirror of his own, and sometimes he would see someone who looked just like him in the mirror, he would always have a sinking feeling that he was missing something. Remus has dark humor and often expresses it into stories of the different fairy tales but instead of a happy ending they all end how they were originally intended to. His favorite fruit is an apple specifically yellow/golden. Remus looks a lot like Roman except for he's pale, also he wears something similar to his real outfit except the shoulder pads are toned down a bit.

Deceit Facilier- Son of Dr. Facilier- Deceit is cunning and tricky, he plays with fate all the time but he'll never know his own. He messes with his tarot cards all the time because his friends in the shadows tell him to, but they can't seem to tell him how to handle his massive crush on his dark humored friend. Deceit has a problem with telling the truth, he believes a lie is way better than something true. Deceit basically wears the same thing he does in the videos except the cloak thing is actually a suit jacket with the tail that Dr. Facilier has on his. Deceit covers half of his face with a smiling mask that's white. He had a past relationship with Virgil but again it was a mutual break up. Deceit ends up becoming good friends with Patton, he also loves building things.

This took so long to do holy hecking heck! But those are in depth character descriptions and more information on them. You guys are gonna make me cry with how much support you guys gave that post, I did not expect it to blow up like it did! Now I'm motivated to create a plot and story to this that's loosely based on the movie, however, I wanted to get opinions on a few things:

1- With Emile's design, instead of actual hair should he have tentacles for hair instead? Like a splatoon character?

2- What should the name of the island and school be? I was thinking something along the lines of Mind Palace High.

3- What should the au be called????

Also a few side notes:

~ There will be ocs in here to fill the role of the unwelcoming crowd of students. I think Roman would fit in that role but I just can't see him being that mean to exclude them out, maybe at first he's hesitant to approach them but he quickly gets over it.

~ Who's ready to see some sibling bonding between Remus and Roman?

Ok, but thank you so much for supporting the idea, I didn't think people would actually like it. I really appreciate it <3

Tag List: @rainboots-are-for-snobs @thelesbianspoon @slitherynchiken @icequeenoriginal @rainbowgirl157 @scorching-scotch

#patton sanders #sanders sides #virgil sanders #thomas sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #deceit sanders #logan sanders #remy sanders #emile picani #logicality #prinxiety #remy x emile #deceit x remus #sanders sides au

368 notes · View notes

salmonidparty · 4 years

Text

To this point, Agent 3′s missions had all gone surprisingly well. Better than he had originally anticipated, at any rate. He had successfully rescued 4 Zapfish from military domes, including one from what was called an “Octoweapon.” It nearly scared every ounce of ink right out of his body, but he managed to take it down with each tentacle still in tact.

The teen was starting to gain some confidence in his work. It was starting to feel good, too. He was keeping the precious little Zapfish safe, and he was preventing another war from breaking out by dismantling the weaponry that the Octarians were building. He hardly had a reason to think twice about his missions... Until the fifth.

From the second he jumped in, 3 could tell there was something a bit different about this particular dome. It wasn’t like the factories or armories that he had de-powered before. Beneath the floating platforms and rocks, he could easily make out the shape of buildings that looked like homes, their windows gently illuminated amidst the underground’s darkness.

Scratching the side of his head, 3 pulled out his radio and inquired, “Hey, Cap’n?” he didn’t wait for a confirmation, “Do you know what this dome is for?”

“Hm?” came the captain’s reply, “Well, I can’t say I do! But there’s a Zapfish there, so you’d best procure it!”

3 continued to stare at the buildings below, his arm slowly lowering to his side. He wondered... Was this a residential dome? Would it be right to just take a Zapfish from a place like this? Even if it was stolen from Inkopolis? He chewed on his cheek, now contemplating going to a different dome. This place was dark enough as is, they wouldn’t be able to function without light down there...

“You alright, 3?” Cuttlefish’s voice came through again, “The Zapfish ain’t gonna rescue itself, you know!”

Grunting in reply, 3 eventually pocketed the radio and stepped deeper inside. The security here was just about as tight as a weaponized dome, however as he dodged bullets and Octarians, he couldn’t help but think that maybe neutralizing these guys, instead of outright splatting them, was better. Where this line of thought came from, he wasn’t sure. Maybe it was the uneasy feeling he got when he entered.

Of course, getting caught up in his own thoughts and trying a new strategy only got himself splatted a good few times. This netted him a few comments from the other agents; concern from 1 and the captain, and dry wit from 2.

Eventually, he did reach the end, and the battery that held the Zapfish. Without skipping a beat he broke the barrier and cradled the fish in his arms, smiling at it sweetly. This was always his favorite part of a mission: being able to hold the rescued Zapfish. They always seemed so delighted to have a bit of attention! However, he couldn’t really enjoy the moment.

Eyes drifting to the area below, 3′s hearts sank when he saw the lights from the windows dim in succession, with a number even outright turning dark. He had seen this happen in the military domes, and always left with a spring in his step knowing that he had slowed the progress of the Octarian’s eventual assault. But this time... He couldn’t help but feel like what he was doing was wrong. There was a sudden pit in his stomach that he hadn’t felt with his previous missions.

The Zapfish squeaked in confusion and looked up to him with its round, watery eyes. 3 returned the gaze with one of pity, a frown etching itself into his features. It was one thing to take the power away from weaponry. It was another thing to take power away from potentially innocent people. Did they deserve this? He didn’t know. Right now, he didn’t really think so. The uncertainty made his ink feel chill.

Reaching into his safety vest, 3 pulled out a hand-made treat, to which the Zapfish began to wiggle eagerly at the sight of. With a gentle smile he fed it to the little creature, and carefully placed it back inside of the battery. There was a confused look on the Zapfish’s face, but after a few seconds, it had settled back in and remade its barrier.

“Huh?!” Cuttlefish’s voice came bursting through the radio, “3, what are you doing? Tha--”

Agent 3 turned off his radio.

-----

There had to be an answer to his dilemma. The Octarians weren’t entirely innocent, through their thievery and all that weapon crafting... But all the same, they were still people. Until now, the agent had thought that the Octarians were stealing Zapfish just to power their weaponry. They didn’t want to tap into what they had to power their residential areas... But now he had reason to believe they were also stealing Zapfish to power their homes.

The pit in 3′s stomach hadn’t gone away. It had only gotten worse as he carefully made his way into the base of the dome, sliding over screens, rocks, and muddy earth. After removing his safety vest, he had found a large strip of grey fabric and crudely wrapped it around his head and shoulders, hiding his tentacles and face from scrutinizing eyes.

Taking in a deep breath, he stepped into what appeared to be a town nearly in shambles.

Cracked mortar, hazy windows, dim lighting... 3′s shoulders tensed up at the thought of having to live in a place like this. Dirt roads, broken pavement, water damage... Succulents were growing out of window sills and the roofs of many homes, trying to catch what light they could. But no sunlight would touch their leaves.

He stuck his hands into his pockets and pressed on, passing by confused Octarians and Octolings who had been affected by the sudden brownout. He didn’t know a lick of Octarian, but he could pick out a few words here and there... “Light,” “Scared,” “Worry...” So-on and so-forth. It reminded him of Inkopolis, whenever there was a power outage. People would leave their homes and chat with the others on their block. He felt a connection with these people in that moment, but it felt wrong of him to think that he could relate to the plight these poor octopuses had to endure.

Stomach now doing backflips and tying itself into knots, 3 could only look at the dirt path before him. Maybe what he was doing wasn’t so righteous after all. Head hanging low, he bumped right into a large Octobomber and stumbled backwards. The Octarian turned with a concerned look and started speaking in a concerned way, however 3 could only make out, “sorry,” and “okay?”

Grunting in reply, 3 threw his hands up in a submissive way and nodded briskly, wanting to shrug it off as quickly as possible. It was his fault, after all. Hearts thumping in his ears, he sputtered out a quick apology and ran off, vanishing into a narrow alleyway.

3 had seen enough. It was time to get out of this dome. Maybe figure out what on earth he was going to do from here...

-----

After losing contact with 3, Cuttlefish was in a bit of a tizzy. What exactly happened in that dome? Where had he gone? Was he safe? Did the Octarians capture him?! He wasted no time in calling Agents 1 and 2 to help find the teen, and then sprung into action himself.

He scoured the base from top to bottom while the other two searched around the kettles. Finally, after an hour, Agent 3 was located.

“Oh, 3! There you are!” Cuttlefish called, slightly out of breath, “I’ve been scrambling all over the Valley looking for you! Girls, I found him!” he puffed into his radio. He hobbled over and was about to give the Inkling an earful until he noticed the rather somber aura the lad was giving off.

Oliver was sitting at the end of a platform, with his legs dangling over the ledge. His uniform was folded neatly and sitting on his lap. His hands were propping him up as he stared into the distance. He heaved a sigh that made his head droop even further than it had already sunk.

“Cap’n...” he whispered, “What are we even doing here?”

Taken aback, Cuttlefish didn’t reply at first. He leaned against his Bamboozler and furrowed his brow in confusion. Didn’t 3 know by now? He certainly should have!

He tapped his cane against the ground, “Stopping the Octarian menace, of course!” he spoke with vigor, shaking his fist in the air. However he too seemed to deflate when Oliver looked over his shoulder.

What a somber look it was.

“The dome I went to today,” Oliver started, turning away, “Was a residential dome.” there was a brief pause of deafening silence, broken by the agent’s shaky breath, “If I took that Zapfish... Hundreds, maybe thousands of people would be left in the dark.”

Cuttlefish didn’t seem to know what to say.

“I might just be a custodian,” Oliver continued, “But I know we don’t need every single Zapfish to power Inkopolis. We could just have the Great and a hundred or so little ones, and we’d be fine.” he bit his lower lip, “I wanted to help because I thought the Zapfish were in danger,” he drew in a breath, “Because they were being used for evil.”

“Well,” Cap’n’s voice was low, “They... They are.”

Oliver turned so quickly that his tentacles slapped the side of his face, “But not all of them!” he cried, “I don’t care what you think about the Octarians, they’re people, too! And they need light just like the rest of us!”

Cuttlefish stepped back in shock.

“Haven’t you seen the places they live in?” Oliver demanded, “They’re in shambles, worse off than the shack you call home!” he threw his arm in the direction of the Squidbeak Splatoon base.

“Well, no... I haven’t...” Cuttlefish shrank back a bit, “But they can’t all be like that, the Octarians are smarter than you think! They’re cunning, and--”

“Oh, come off it!” Bunching up his safety vest in his fist, Oliver rose to his feet and drew his arm back, readying himself to throw the uniform into the pit below, “I’m not going to be a part of this if it means I’m hurting innocent people!”

A firm hand grabbed his wrist, crashing Oliver’s mind back to reality. He turned back to Cuttlefish, whose face had turned quite stern. The two stared long and hard at each other, before Oliver’s arm finally relaxed, his shoulder and head falling. When it was released, his arm fell to his side with a flop.

“Now, then...” Cuttlefish sighed, “Let’s talk this out.” he attempted a smile, which creased his cheeks, “How about we grab some crabby cakes and tea?”

Weary look in his eye, Oliver slowly turned his head back to Cuttlefish and soon gave in with a nod.

“Good, good!” Cuttlefish hummed. He tapped Oliver’s legs with the end of his Bamboozler, “We’ll get this sorted out, young’n, don’t you worry.”

Having shuffled back to the shack, Oliver’s mind was starting to feel a bit clearer. He ducked his head as he stepped inside the makeshift home, and plopped rather roughly into the stool set up beside a low table. Cuttlefish scurried around, gathering the cakes and the supplies to make tea. Once the kettle was on the stove, he took a seat as well.

“So...” he started, “What exactly did you find out there?” the elder listened carefully as Oliver retold his experience. Cuttlefish’s expression turned all the more grim with each word, his hand slowly picking at his beard, “I see...”

Oliver was hunched over the table, feeling sick to his stomach. Too sick to eat the crabby cakes that had been set in front of him. He wasn’t even sure that Cap’n would even listen, much less take those words to heart. He understood why the old cuttlefish had such a vendetta against the Octarians, but wasn’t it about time for something to... Change? It had been 100 years since the Great Turf War, after all.

By the time Oliver’s story was finished, the kettle had started to whistle. Scurrying about again, Cuttlefish filled two mugs, one of which had a very broken handle, with hot tea and served them. Oliver wrapped his hands around the mug and stared blankly into the liquid, finding the silence more agonizing than anything Cap’n Cuttlefish could have possibly said. His eyes drifted up when the old Inkfish sat back down.

“I don’t think it’s right,” Oliver stated firmly, before Cuttlefish could speak, “Taking the Zapfish from places Octarians live in.” his eyes fell, and his grip around the mug tightened, “They’re probably just trying to survive.”

“Making and powering weapons isn’t survival,” Cuttlefish interjected, “Defense at best, but...” he trailed off when Oliver’s expression darkened.

There was a long pause. Cuttlefish closed his eyes thoughtfully, “You feel very strongly about this, don’t you, young’n?”

“Yeah,” Oliver affirmed, “When I went deeper into that dome, I saw... Us. But in a different form.” his brow creased, his head hung low, and he was now staring at a knot in the table, “Why would they so willingly live in a place like that? As smart as they are, I don’t think they’d consider trying to trick us by thinking their situation is bad...” he removed one hand from his mug and pressed it against his face, the warmth flowing over his right eye.

Cuttlefish scratched at his chin in a pensive manner. He picked up a crabby cake and nibbled at it, clearly trying to think his words through. Oliver was surprised. He honestly expected the old man to come up with one dozen arguments for why they should take any and all Zapfish out of the domes, but he really seemed to be taking this seriously. Did he value Oliver’s opinion that much?

Having finished off the snack, Cuttlefish took a drink of his tea, and finally spoke up again, “I would like to remind you that the Octarians are planning an attack.” he set his mug back onto the table rather loudly, “That UFO was no fluke! It may not have been an all-out attack, but mark my words, it is a start!” he shook a finger in Oliver’s direction.

There was a brief pause, where the two Inkfish locked eyes. Oliver’s were full of worry, and Cuttlefish’s were full of determination. However his old, wide eyes softened a touch when he stamped his cane on the ground.

“However!” he proclaimed loudly, “I think you’re right.”

Oliver sat up slightly, “You think so...?”

The Cap’n nodded, “Yes. It may be wrong for them to steal the Zapfish, but it’d be wrong to deprive their homes of power.” his gaze turned stern again, his brow heavy, “But. That doesn’t mean we can just leave the Zapfish powering weapons and armories. And we certainly can’t leave the Zapfish in the tentas of Octavio!”

The teen nodded slowly, “R-right.”

“3, you have my word; as long as I’m the captain of the Squidbeak Splatoon,” he stood and held up a peace sign as if it were a salute, “We will not take Zapfish from residential domes.” he looked to the Inkling expectantly, “Do I have your word that you’ll stick with us?”

Hesitating briefly, Oliver’s hand fell back onto the table, and he swallowed the lump in his throat. He considered it carefully, and weighed the options in his head.

Rising to his feet, the agent smiled weakly and returned the peace sign. “Y-yeah. You have my word, Cap’n.”

With a skip of delight, Cuttlefish shuffled to 3′s side and clamped a hand onto his shoulder, giving him a light shake, “Good to hear, 3. Good to hear.” he was grinning enough that the corners of his mouth were visible under his mustache, “Frankly, you’re the best thing that’s happened to the Splatoon in 100 years, and I’d hate to see you go, young’n.”

3 chuckled softly, his eyes darting away, “Uh... Thanks, Cap’n... I’ll keep doing my best.” meeting the captain’s eyes again he added, “And... Thanks for listening to me. It means a lot.”

Satisfied, Cap’n Cuttlefish patted the Inkling’s shoulder firmly, and hobbled back to his seat to eat another crabby cake and finish off his tea. By now, Agents 1 and 2 had returned to the base, and were ready to hear what exactly happened to 3.

While he was willing to stay on board, there was still a seed of uncertainty that had planted itself between his hearts. While the uncertainty didn’t germinate, it did slowly grow into a strong desire to help the Octarians. To at least ease their plight slightly. How he was going to do that, he wasn’t so sure yet... But the desire only grew with each mission he completed.

#Zapfish Protector #drabble #Agent Stories #(( guess I'll be posting stories out of order ANYWAY.... Inspiration hit ))

9 notes · View notes