#i wish quid memes were real au

[duckapus]

During the actual events of the Squid Memes fic (if I ever actually manage to write one) the first time Paige is gonna be properly mentioned is during "The XMAS Discovery"

'Cause like. Squidmas is a Thing, so even if Meggy doesn't know some of the particulars of Christmas since she...honestly doesn't know jack-shit about human culture starting out, she'd easily be able to figure out from the name, the time of year and the similar decorations that the two holidays are mostly the same thing in different flavors, but Mario mistook her confusion over the "weird spelling" for flat-out not knowing what was going on, and she just couldn't bring herself to correct him after connecting the dots both because he seemed so excited to be able to share this with her and because it helped distract her from the fact that Paige has been who-knows-where for months and this is the first Squidmas since she was five that she doesn't get to spend with them.

At some point during the episode Mario actually does find out that Squidmas is a Thing (probably from overhearing Bob mention getting Squidmas gifts for his "nieces"), but he waits until after they've finished their little Christmas Tour to gently call her out on it, and her admitting why she didn't speak up is the first time she's told him or the audience that she even has a sibling. As you'd expect, Mario does his best to reassure her that wherever Paige is, they're probably doing alright, and thinking of her just as much as she is of them.

Of course, now that he knows she's got a younger sibling he wants to hear all about them, and besides maybe remembering happier times with them will make the unhappy present without them easier to cope with, so with the festivities ongoing in the background the two of them stay in the quiet corner they found and swap stories about younger siblings and past holiday seasons...

...as the scene gently transitions to a snowy night sky to a nightmarish hospital-like facility deep beneath the waves of Inkopolis Harbor, where a certain agent with familiar eyes fends off a horde of oddly-colored Octarians, and takes a brief moment of rest to check the date and contemplate a photograph they and their sister took together only a few weeks before they dove into this hell.

"Merry Squidmas, Megs."

#i wish quid memes were real au #smg4 the xmas discovery #meggy spletzer #mario #christmas #squidmas #octo expansion #agent 3 #paige spletzer #light angst #starting the meggy pain train early here #this plot point exists mostly because i needed “the xmas discovery” to work in a universe where squidmas exists #and because it would otherwise be a While before paige could be introduced in any capacity