Corrupted Kings Coroika

The official blog for the CK Splatoon manga au

[ckau-official]

INTRODUCTION AND MASTERPOST

Hi! welcome to the official blog for my Coroika AU, Corrupted Kings. This post is where you can find all the chapters I've posted so far. My name is Cee, and honestly the only reason this blog exists is because my friends told me it might do well so, here we are! Chapters will come out as I write them, blah blah blah if ykyk Trigger warnings: there are a lot sensitive topics in this weird au ive created and the piece of writing coming with it, and i will give a trigger warning for each chapter. however as a bland disclaimer, my story includes the following: Abuse, Sanitization(which i will be referring to as funky green outside of the chapters), Maniplulation, death threats, violence, and VERY heavy Prince angst. if you are not comfortable with seeing any of these things i suggest you don't read the chapters. CURRENT CHAPTERS: Prologue

Chapter 1-The end of freedom Chapter 2-Innocence

Chapter 3-Investigations EXTRA CK CONTENT(optional): prince having a nightmare

Watermelon duo

[ckau-official]

life update

so to let you all know, I have actually finished chapter 5 and 6. but i forgot i didnt post them. expect 2 more chapters within the next week since im not posting them today. ALSO! i have an A03 now! i posted the prologue of CK on there and will be updating it daily since i want that to be my primary CK area. I will also be posting CK on wattpad once i get everything set up. My tag is the same for everything, being @unnamed-chaos of course. omg person reveal. so just expect big things for ck!

[ckau-official]

CK-CHAPTER 4-hope

Rider Pov TW// light panic attack

Uughhhh, this week has been a nightmare… I think to myself, walking to the check-out corner in order to end my shift for the day. I can already see the worker scrounging around for my personal book as I approach. “You look ridered, Tire” He says in an attempt to make conversation, messing up his words, I smile and chuckle for the first time today “I see you’re ridered too.” We both stare at each other in silence for a couple moments before he slides a book toward me. I awkwardly take a pen from my chest pocket and open the book, writing down my employee number on the page I opened.

“What do you have planned today?” He says, sparking up more conversation after the brief awkward encounter. I groan, leaning on the counter with my arm after closing the book, staring into his tired eyes before giving an answer. “Eh, probably gonna die” I shrug but I roll my eyes when he laughs at the response. “Nah, you won't give up that easily. Take a nap you’ll feel a bit bitter” I scoff and walk off, grumbling as I do so. Tch… Who is he to tell me what to do...? I decide to take my time walking to my living quarters. I run my hand against the wall of the hallway, realising everything’s starting to slow down as I draw nearer to my door.

Soon enough I get to the room, and I go to open the door and feel a shiver crawl down my back that forces me to stop my hand as it reaches the handle. For a second, I see myself reaching at the door as the whole world seems to stop. An unsteady, consistent heartbeat rang in my ears. At the same time, I feel my entire body shaking, tensing up and suddenly being overly aware of my surroundings. My nails dig slightly into my palms, not quite hard enough to draw blood, but enough to hur-

“3.5, what are you doing?” “....” There Cardinal- or- Prince- WHATEVER- There the shorter being stood, snapping me out of my thoughts and looking up at me. I wait for him to say something, but as we stare at each other in silence, the tension in the air grew thicker. Prince was the first to break it.

“So? Are you going to answer me? Or are you going to stand there while staring at me?” He leans against the wall with his elbow, most likely glaring at me behind the mask. I stare blankly at him, unaware he asked me something. I blink away the confusion and try to start over, “Could you repeat the question? I must have been spaced out when you asked it”. I can’t see his face, but I can clearly tell he’s annoyed. Prince huffs and stands up straight once more.

“Forget it. Just follow me.” He orders, grabbing my wrist as if he thought I was incapable of following directions. Who does he take me for? An idiot? 

I shake those thoughts away and kept walking as he led me to what, in all honesty, I think is my death. I didn’t forget what happened yesterday. I thought he’d kill me earlier than this but maybe he was busy with something more important. Or maybe he had a change of heart? This is Prince; the same cowardly but selflessly sweet Inkling from those tournaments... Tch… I’m always played a fool. This is why I hate people. Prince suddenly stops in the time I’m thinking to myself and I lightly bump into him, since I’m not paying attention. Well if I wasn’t dying before, that’ll add to the list of reasons to kill me. He growls, but shakes his head and sighs before he starts to talk, “This is a room with no bugs, cameras, or motion sensors.” I raise an eyebrow and cross my arms. Wow. Perfect place to kill me.

Prince takes off his cardinal mask, “I’m not going to kill you, Rider.” That was unexpected. “I need your help.” I press my shoulder to the wall, letting myself lean against the clean tile and raising an eyebrow, before narrowing my eyes in a suspicious gaze, not showing any of the sympathy I have in my heart. “Need my help for what exactly, Prince?” I can tell he’s uncomfortable, so I soften my gaze a little, leaning more toward curiosity than suspicion.

“You run the resistance. I’ve actually known that for a long time.” He stops to take a breath before gipping his arm and continuing, “I don’t have much time, but what I can tell you is that you’re right…..I-.....I really don’t like what’s going on here.” Prince seems to be trembling on his words, shaking even….It takes a few seconds before he’s ready to continue, “I don’t want to do this anymore, and you and your friends seem to have a plan, you don’t have to tell me!!!! I know you don’t trust me…but…if….” He trails off, but shakes away their thoughts, “but if you need information on the enemy, I can give it to you. Free of charge. W-whatever i can do to help.” I stare at him for a second, before sighing and completely softening my expression. “Prince. You don’t need to put yourself in that kind of dang-” He cuts me off, “NO! I-I mean.. No. I….It’s okay. I need to. Anything you need to know I can provide. I know…almost everything about them. I’m the second in command.” I nod in understanding….this is…so fucked. “Soo….” I try to lighten the mood a little “Any plans, big guy” “My boss wants you dead.” “Oh.” I tug at my work shirt collar dramatically, before awkwardly clearing my throat, “well, guess me and them are gonna have to duke it out then.” I hear Prince snort, assumingly…amused? “HEY. I’d probably squish them! LITERALLY! WITH MY ROLLAR!” The snort turns into a giggle, which is what I’m going for. “No No!! I believe you.” He smiles sweetly, laughing a little more before he lets out a sigh,

“I’ve just never felt this much hope before.”

[ckau-official]

HEY GUYS. BEEN A WHILE. so i died for a bit, yeah? BUT IVE BEEN WRITING I SWEAR. i have chapter 4 ready and im gonna post it rn istg

[ckau-official]

keeping this blog active is really difficult for me since all the drawings and doodles i have for it are traditional since i dont have a tablet and i also dont have a proper camera that i personally own. So!! i was wondering if anyone seeing this post would like to ask me anything about corrupted kings? or share thoughts/headcanons, theories yk yk. could be fun.. pretty please

[ckau-official]

The watermelon duo

[ckau-official]

did some doodles of the silly guys

[ckau-official]

CK-CHAPTER 3-investigations

New p.o.v TW// Marie being a butthead, depressed goggles

“Hey 3! Come over here I think I found something!” I say, having goggles at my side not even a millisecond later. I hold out a piece of paper to him “These ads don’t look like much on the surface, but when you turn them around there’s a string of numbers!” I flip the paper over, revealing a bunch of seemingly random numbers. “I think they could be a code of some kind, or a location” His facial expression does not change. A few months ago, he would have been ecstatic to see any kind of clue to finding Rider..but…now he looks hopeless…unnerving…

“4, we’re looking for ALL the people who went missing, not just Rider.” Marie chimed in, leaning against the wall while reading some new article she found. I huff and roll my eyes, turning my head toward her. “Well I still think the 2 events are connected, even if you don’t.” unexpectedly, I hear Goggles speak for the first time in months. “It’s a date.” I snap my attention back to him and the paper. “Huh?” I blink, in shock “It’s the day Rider went missing.” 

That was what made Marie come over to investigate. Goggles handed her the paper, the same monotone expression on his face. “Hm…hate to say this, but 4, with this evidence, you might be correct” I go to speak, but she continues her spiel before I do so. “Rider must have met with them somewhere… but where?” I notice Goggles sigh and walk off. I get a side eye from Marie as I step closer to her in order to discuss something “Hey…do we really think it’s a good idea to have gog-..sorry.. Agent 3 here with the state he’s in?” 

She didn’t even look at me when she replies, just held her hand to her face as if she had a migraine, “Would you rather him wither away in his house? Do you see how distraught he is all the time? Plus I don’t even think he’d listen if I told him to back off. He needs something to do, 4” She looked over at the Inkling, who had spotted what looked to be a shiny rectangle. Marie pushes me aside in her motion to walk over, before grabbing the fabric of my coat in her hurry and pulling me along. “He found something, come on”  I would be falling over if I didn't have super-squid-like reflexes. “Heyhey slow down” I don't know why I try cuz know she won't listen. Goggles silently hands her what looks to be a card of some kind, and she reads it before handing it to me. 

Before I can read it she grabs both me and goggles and throws us in the agent golf cart, hops in the front seat, and takes off before I can finish the thought I was having. I decide to read the card while she drives and immediately I can tell why she took off so fast. This is a business card, not just with the same date; but with a location too. 

I start getting a little nervous as she speeds up past what seems safe for a vehicle without seatbelts. Just as I’m about to speak up, she goes faster and I scream in fear, not even thinking as I grab onto goggles for support; who doesn’t protest or comment. I close my eyes, shaking while the vehicle nearly tips over at multiple sharp turns. Just as I think I’m about to die, the golf cart stops. I open my eyes and frantically look around, realising I'm squishing goggles and scooting over to a normal distance away. I take time to properly look around, and notice Marie doing the same. We both notice a stairwell going down to who knows where at the same time. Once again, she gets a word in right as I’m about to.

  “4, You should go down there” I whip my head toward her and just stare at her for a couple seconds, eyes wide. I turn my attention to the stairwell, stepping out of the vehicle then I look back at Marie, before finally saying something, “Why do I have to?” I ask, thoughts swirling in my head. Does she really hate me that much? “Because you’re the least important, and I said so. Now go down there, check it out, come back up, and tell me what you saw.” I feel tears forming in my eyes as I turn toward the ominous entrance once again. I take a step forward, looking back and waving a goodbye to goggles, seeing Marie glaring at me in the corner of my eye.

As I begin walking down the stairs, I suddenly notice the horrid smell of death hit my nose. Looking around, I realise how uncomfortably clean the area is despite the smell. I clasp my hands together as I descend more, and more. The farther I go, the more unkempt the place looks; seemingly growing dirtier, and smelling more rancid, the longer I continue for. That, paired with the absence of light, is making me…increasingly uneasy. I stay on edge, gripping onto the railing as it becomes harder to see, as the space around me turns pitch black. Man. Why couldn’t we take the drill down here?

It feels like an eternity until I eventually reach the bottom, seeing a dim light in the distance at the end of the hall. I let go of the stairwell railing and make my way toward it, paying attention to my new surroundings while I do so. It’s a lot cleaner than the stairwell was, that’s for sure. I stop for a moment to take a deep breath and catch my bearings, taking the opportunity to look around more closely and realise the hidden cameras in this hallway. I feel a shiver go down my spine, accompanied by a thought. Someone is watching me. They know I'm here. I close my eyes and shake off the feeling, taking a few more deep breaths before continuing toward the light. When I get to the end of the hallway, there’s another hallway to the left of me huh…weird.. This hallway looks longer and cleaner than the last one. It’s well lit too, and probably more surveillance throughout as well.. Even so, despite the feeling of dread crawling through my veins, I continue. I decide to drag my hand along the wall as I walk, trying to drown out the awful sound of my shoes tapping  against the tiled floor. I take a breath as I turn the corner to see….another..hallway… Oh my cod..My frustration is short lived though, since there’s an actual door at the end of this one. I feel my anxiety steadily rise as I get closer to the door, feeling a sudden jab of panic and fear as I reach my hand toward the handle. I have no idea what’s behind this door.. I struggle to recompose myself while my mind traces every tiny little thing that could possibly be on the other side. I feel my eyes start to burn due to the tears that have begun to form, noticing my hand jittering at the handle. I once again shake my fear away and huff, placing my sweaty hand on the handle of the door.

1….2….3 [WORDS:1236] next(NA) previous masterpost

[ckau-official]

its ok guys prince is just having a bad dream in prev post

[ckau-official]

TW// LIGHT GORE, FLASHING LIGHTS, SANITIZATION, PRINCE ANGST song: Fruiting bodies by R.I.P AU by me

[ckau-official]

CK CHAPTER 2-Innocence-

TW//none this time actually :0

Prince p.o.v

It’s been 7 months since I finished fully training Rider, and 1 month since the sanitization program began. The new term also started last month, and with that a new form of..’hiring’ arrived with the sanitization program. I quickly shove the unfinished thought out of my head as I slowly tread along the concrete to a new location. 

I had overheard word of a ‘rebellion’ starting up earlier, and decided to go check out the place they said it would be without telling my brother. Maybe if I shut this down…he’ll  commend  me for it? I smile behind my mask and nod to myself, realising the number of employees thinning out as I get closer to the location. That’s…very strange.

 The lack of inklings continued until I’m the only person there. Hm. maybe they knew i was coming..might be a tr- My trail of thought is cut off by me being thrown to the ground. I feel an immense amount of pressure on one spot of my back, before hearing cheers from the crevices around me. A trap. 

I hear the sound of people gathering around me as I beguin to panic and struggle, feeling the pressure worsen. Who’s..who’s strong enough to hold me down like this with just their foot.?....What the hell? I hear the shuffling of inklings as sounds of whispers and others shushing each other echo around me. Without warning, I feel a sharp pain in my side as I was kicked. But only once, surprisingly..

Finally, I was spoken to. “Not so cocky now, are we, Cardinal.” Rider. I should have known he was behind  this, coddamn it im so fucking stupid “Go. all of you. I’ll handle this.” He snarls as a group I couldn't  see runs off. I feel the pressure lift off of me “Get up.” Why am I shaking? I push myself off the ground. He’s no threat to me, he’s not emperor, why am I shaking? 

We stand there silent for a couple seconds, a few metres away from each other. He takes a step forward, before antagonising  me. “Well? Aren’t you going to do something? Call your mask friends, go on.” I take a step back 

“No. you’re up to something.” I stand uneasy and unbalanced, holding my side and not knowing if I'm still surrounded. 

“So you’d rather die than call for help? Who’s the pathetic one now” Without warning, he runs to me and pushes me to the ground.  With everything I've done.. Maybe I deserve this. “What’s wrong with you? Why aren't you fighting back?” I shake the thoughts of doubt away and jump right back up 

“No rider, I just don’t want to get my hands dirty.” I rush to take my device out of my pocket, but it’s slapped out of my hands before I can use it. “Thought you said cockyness was the death of employees here, Cardinal.” He raises his hand and hits me in the face with the strength he probably uses to swing his dynamo roller.

 I fall to the floor before swiftly realising my mask came off with the powerful hit, breaking in two when it hit the floor. I panic to grab the pieces before Rider sees my face, not noticing that it’s too late. “....Prince?” Hearing my name in this setting sends shivers down my spine, causing me to shake..This is it….I’m going to be the downfall of our empire..I’m a failure.. 

I hear Rider take a step toward me “why…why are..” I don't answer and just sit there on the floor, facing away from him in shame. “Prince, who convinced you to be a part of something like this?” He steps closer, sitting next to me despite what I put him through. “Who’s actually the one in charge? I know you know.” He sounds like he’s grasping at straws. Who is he to suddenly talk to me all nice like we’re friends.

“I am a part of this out of my own will. This is what has to happen in order for us to be successful” I say it, but i can tell he doesn’t believe me from the look on his face. “I know you don’t believe that, who Is ‘we?’” He’s still pushing. Fine. if pushing is what he wants, pushing is what he’s gonna get.“You know nothing of me, 3.5. You are NOT a friend. You are an employee.” He looks taken aback “You are disposable. You mean absolutely nothing to me. Just like all the other employees. So stop acting like an idiot.” He looks at me wide eyed, before shaking his head and taking a breath “Prince, I DO know you. You’re just a kid, you- I know you don’t have a say in any of this.” I notice his hand extend to help me up. What.? “You don’t deserve it either. Up at the surface? That’s the life we’re supposed to have, what everyone here in this cursed place is supposed to have.” His eyes dull as he looks around at his surroundings “Not this, Prince. Noone here deserves this.” I feel the thoughts I've pushed down rise back in as the centre of my attention. No. no no. don’t let him trick you. “You can help put an end to this. I know you know it’s wrong.” 

He’s wrong. This is right, this is the right thing to do I look up at him, before realising something. “You’re better then this.” is he.. Pitying me? Ha. I scoff and hit his hand away, snarling at him. “I will be informing my supervisors about this.” I say, not sure if i mean it or not “This resistance will not last for long…..Enjoy your next hours, 3.5.” why’d I hesitate at that last part.? I don’t care. I look away from him, not wanting to see his reaction.

I expect him to hit me again or kick me, anything really. but instead I hear the sound of his footsteps, walking away. I dare not look behind me, in case there were other employees looking this way. I decide to stand once again and look through my bag for a spare mask, and lucky me, I was prepared.

I slip it on and leave the ally parcially un-scathed, 

[WORDS:1062]

next previous masterpost

[ckau-official]

CK-Chapter 1-the end of freedom

Tw//death threats, kamabo co, cold personality, rider angst

DIFFERENT P.O.V -----

My feet carefully pad along the, surprisingly clean, tiled floor, tapping along the squares as I walk. I think about why they even called me here if I'm already employed. Some kind of post-employment interview or something?

I glance around the space, shocked that almost the entirety of the building is underground. After I finish walking through the huge-ah hallway, I turn the corner only to see ANOTHER coddamn hallway.

“The fuck,” I mumble, cursing under my breath, though this time there's an actual door at the end of the hall. The taps of my shoes bounce around the area as if it were an empty gymnasium. That in itself was suspicious, but I chose to go on anyway.

Soon, I reach the door and turn the handle to be met with an office of sorts, with someone seated at a desk in the middle.

“Sit.” They order. Wow, kinda rude for the first time meeting me, jeez. Even so, I sit down, but only on my own accord. The Inkling isn’t identifiable, wearing a mask to supposedly hide their face. Their voice, however, seems very familiar to me... But I can't put my finger on why.

“Before we start, I need you to sign something.” They state, before reaching behind themselves and handing me a piece of paper.

“What’s this?” I ask, taking it and preparing to read.

“Just a non-disclosure agreement.” They state with a calm voice, resting their arms on top of one another.

“For a mechanic's job?” Okay, this is getting weird. “Give me a second to read.”

“Take your time.” They adjust their sleeves.

I carefully read through the paper, my eyes widening at how genuinely messed up the requirements were.

“The... fuck?” I’m speechless, quickly realising how stupid I was to ignore that gut feeling out in the hallway. The person across from me seemed perfectly content with it all.

“This is a joke, right? There’s a different paper for me?” I ask, holding my breath.

“No, Rider. This is the paper you’re meant to sign.” They calmly say, passing me a pen.

“Go ahead.”

“There’s no way I’m fucking signing this.” I stand, enraged. I think of how many people must have signed some kind of messed up paper like this without reading the fine print. “You’re sick.” I snarl at them, and they... Sigh?

“You have to.” They say, standing from their chair and going to a bookshelf before grabbing something that looks like a phone while they’re turned away from me.

“I’m sorry, Rider. You need to sign the NDA.” They press something on the phone, and suddenly, without warning, several guns are pointed at me. “Otherwise, I’m going to have to kill you.”

They turn back around. “We are out of range of the closest respawn point. If you die here, you will not respawn. Not until you sign.” I’m taken aback as I try to find a retort.

“Wha-” They quickly cut me off. “Do or say ANYTHING but sign that paper, and you’re gone.”

They look away for a moment. “I didn’t want to do this, but you’ve given me no choice.”

My heart is racing and my thoughts are running through how messed up of a situation I’ve gotten myself into. Without even thinking, my hand picks up the pen and shakily signs on the dotted line. I don’t know why, I’ve never been afraid of death.

My eyes are all blurry as if I needed glasses, and the person must have done something since the weapons were now gone.

“Good.” They took the paper and placed it into a filing cabinet. “I’ll give you a moment. I’ll be back in 5 minutes to give you a tour.” They walk around me, open the door, and leave. Not a second later, however, they reopen it. “Oh, and don’t try leaving. That would end badly for you.”

Just like that, they were gone, cruelly leaving me with my thoughts. What in Cod’s name did I just agree to...? Unsilenceable thoughts run quickly through my head, focusing on any individual one being simply impossible.

Sure enough, they returned after 5 minutes, their bird-shaped mask still firmly plastered to their face.

“Stand. We must get going now.” I stand up and follow them out the door, still taken aback.

As it turns out, while they were out of the room, the surroundings of the entire room had changed, completely out of nowhere. I run through my mind for any explanation. They gigged, snapping me out of my trance. “Hahaha! your confusion amuses me. It’s an elevator. One we have to get away from in the next 10 seconds, since it’s going to explode.”

Without a second thought, I ran away from it. It didn’t explode. I look back at the employer, confused once again. “Did I say explode? I meant it would go back up. My mistake.” I watch as my only way out ascends without me. This fucking guy—

Interrupting my thoughts, they walk over to me. “You seem speechless. Most new hires are, but I didn't expect that from you, Rider. Now that you can’t leave, I might as well introduce myself.”

They continue walking, and I have nothing to do but follow as they continue their monologue. “My name is Cardinal. I am one of the four minds in charge of this place, and my job is getting the new hires trained and ready for work. You’ll meet the other three eventually, but that’s all I need you to know for now.”

I decided to build my courage back up. What am I doing, anyway? I’m not scared of this pipsqueak, they're so damn tiny.

“What is this place for?” I ask, determined to get answers. They were forcing me here against my will anyway, I deserve answers.

“Questions later, employee, we need to get you a badge number and radio.” They said, voice cold as they continued walking.

Wow. Okay, rude... I continue to follow, looking around as I do so. This part of the building seems to span twice the size of a normal Turf War stage. I’m unable to look around properly right now, but perhaps Cardinal will give me some time to later. Maybe I’ll even find a way out of this place.

“Okay, step in front of this machine and do what it says, then I’ll take you to your living quarters.” Living quarters? What is this, prison? I step up to the machine and read the instructions.

Insert arm... Into hole?

Oh fuck no.

“Is there any other way to do this?” I turn, asking a question that’ll likely be fruitless, but it’s worth a shot.

“I mean, one of my coworkers could, but she doesn’t have the time, or resources for someone unimportant such as yourself.” They end with a snarky remark. Of course.

I roll my eyes before reluctantly putting my whole arm into the machine. I yelp as I feel a sharp pain, quickly pulling my arm out. “And now you’re chipped! Hurray. Let’s see here...” They say, taking a look at the screen.

“Huh... Strange... Wonder what happened to the third one... Oh well!” Cardinal takes a wristband from the machine, wrapping it around my wrist. “Congratulations, Rider.” They look up at me as they speak again,

“You are employee 3.5 this quarter.”

[WORDS: 1227] next previous masterpost

[ckau-official]

CK-Prologue

//TWS: abuse, angst, kamabo co.//

I’d usually start my day off with getting dressed in work attire and sliding my Cardinal-based mask on, but today is different. Today is the 50th anniversary of the founding of our company and Empire, which means I have to dress up. 

How stressful…. 

Luckily, I woke up 5 minutes before my alarm goes off, so I have a little extra time to reflect on myself and prepare for the day. 

Walking over to my private bathroom, I swipe my towel off of the counter while heading in and looking at myself in the mirror. I look at myself directly in my wide, anxious eyes. ‘Why are you scared, Prince? This is a happy day, isn’t it? Snap out of it.’ I think to myself as I shake off the icky feeling, gently wash my face and dry it before heading out of the room. 

I sigh as I dress myself in fancy clothes, wondering why this was all so necessary at first, but then silencing my thoughts afterwards. I quickly finished getting ready for the day, walking to my door and carefully placing my hand on the knob. 

My eyes close as I start to overthink about everything that could go wrong today. My breaths quicken, and for a moment, I take my hand off the door knob. I open my eyes again and look back at my room to regain my composure, eventually nodding to myself as I turn back to the door.

I take a breath as my hand starts shaking on its way to the door, but I push through and turn the knob, opening the door with a smile on my face. 

Mask in hand, I take my time walking to the designated room. I take a second to notice how no one else is wandering the halls. ‘Maybe they’re already there?’ I ask myself, slowly approaching the large doors.

I feel my hands start to get clammy again as I reach for the handle. I sigh again and put on my mask, figuring that might help with the irrational anxiety I was feeling. I push open the door to see my cowor- teammates talking at a table. They all stopped talking and stared at me when the door closed, as if they didn’t notice me coming in at first. “BROTHER!” Emperor saw me and ran over to me, taking my mask off “What do you need this for? We’re not strangers, are we, Prince?” He lightly punched my arm, before putting his own around my shoulder “Besides, you don’t need that yet, the after party’s later.”  He winks and giggles at my stupidity. “Right.. My mistake.” I nervously say, looking around at the others. “What’s the plan for today? Anything special?” I already know the answer but I might as well feed his ego. The Inkling grinned ear to ear as he unwrapped from my shoulder and walked to a white board.

“Why, I am so glad you asked.” He pauses to clear his throat. “Sit down everyone! Let’s revise for today.” Me and the other two members sit down on the cosy chairs that are assigned to us.

 “As you all already know, today marks a very very special day for us as a family.” I try not to think about what’s coming next, hoping that my irregular breathing isn’t being picked up by the others. 

“Today marks the 50th anniversary of our family business, and empire, Kamabo Co.”

I must look zoned out because my brother nudges me slightly, pulling me out of my self-induced trance “Prince, pay attention. its status report day.” He glares at me, before signalling N-Pacer to go over to him. She starts to talk about the project she's working on, but my mind is on everything but what anyone is saying right now. 

‘50 years.’ My mind floods with thoughts that are far too dangerous for me to have, though despite that, not being able to move on. how terrifying. I realize that as I'm stuck swimming in my forbidden thoughts, Jr had already gone halfway through his report about weapons. ‘If they knew what I was thinking right now, would they jump me?’ I think, before mentally shaking the thought away ‘no. no, why would they? we're family.’ before I know it, Emperor is snapping his fingers in my face 

“HEY. Wake up, your time to sleep was over an hour ago.” 

‘has it really been that long?’ I think, forgetting to answer back. 

“PRINCE. Get up here” I quickly snap myself back to reality, standing up and going to the front as my brother sits down. I take a deep breath, swiftly thinking of the words I'm going to say. 

“This year we have employed a total of 100 Inklings, and have uhm.

 lost. half that amount to work related incident. I'm sure you three can agree, that kind of ratio is extremely dangerous for our wellbeing. I fear that if this continues, we will be investigated in some way. So, in order to sway this ratio to lower numbers, I have a proposal.” I stop to catch my breath, and Emperor responds in the time I take to pause

.

“Go on.” He says, crossing his arms in his chair and tapping his foot on the floor.

“I propose that when the new employees this quarter come in today, I have the permission and resources to train them more so we are not required to-” I'm cut off.

“Permission granted, status report dismissed.” Emperor says, before standing up and walking out the door. everyone is silent.‘Was I really that boring.?’ without a word, the other two followed. ‘I didn't even finish..’ I sighed and held my head in my hands, trying not to cry as I look around the room, mentally preparing to continue for the day. I take another breath as I push through the door, putting my mask back on while I head to the dining area for breakfast.

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