#c4llie

[frog-man-moments]

Funny how basically every agent 4 ship can be summarized as "me and the bad bitch i pulled by being goofy" some of which go both ways.

[eikaprime]

What do you think of c4llie since you mentioned that before

I don't remember mentioning it before, but sure, why not.

4 is Callie's squid in shining hero suit. 4 is a kinda short, shy, smiling squidkid with country manners (the art book has them coming from quite a ways away from Inkopolis) who has a habit of calling her Miss Callie. (They do not call Marie Miss Marie. It's 'agent two' or 'Oh come ON MaRIE!' or 'Yeah, yeah, grandma, I'll get right on--not the charger NOT THE CHARGER!'). But with Callie? It's always Miss Callie, polite and respectful, at least for that first month.

And then Four relaxes. And then Callie's there and Four doesn't realize it, when Four tries yet again to soak Marie through that cursed umbrella, and Callie's caught in the crossfire and Four is so, so horrified, flushed all down their neck in a blush babbling apologies, hero dualies dropped on the ground as Callie's soaked through with ink, and Callie laughs. She laughs, and laughs, and darn near falls off that bench--the bench she's been on, every day, to look at the sky and remind herself--and then she picks up one of those dualies, the first time she's touched (the first time she's trusted herself with) a weapon since... since...

Four's first to hug her when Callie starts crying, realizing just what she's doing, and also freezes and babbles apologies and shoves Callie at Marie and runs. But Callie remembers.

Callie remembers, and the next time she comes down, offers Four a free shot. And Four takes it.

And clam blitz. Clam blitz was designed while Callie was away, but Four understands it. Four enjoys it. Callie needs to get stronger, and takes up turf, and Four--Four coaches Callie through the basics, through how to make a power clam, and then deranks on purpose, not quite throwing just not playing as hard as they could, until they're B- and takes Callie into league. They throw clams back and forth, laughing, until they've got the sort of silent understanding, knowing where the other will be and how to help them, that Callie never thought she'd have with anyone but Marie.

And Four is just there, with that stupid shy smile and for every two steps forward comes a retreat, a return to Miss Callie and impeccable manners held up like a shield that shatters when Four turns up with a book on the history of Inkopolis News and starts babbling about all the news hosts before them. Four is there, when Callie has a panic attack, and they're Callie's rock until they realize how close they are and that Callie's stopped crying and then they panic in turn. Four is there, and Callie could never ask for anything more.

...well. Maybe for the silly little squid to stop ranking Squid Sisters below Off The Hook in all their music tierlists. Sheesh!

(Honestly, I didn't realize I had quite so many opinions until I did this.)

[anemonequeen-moved]

so this is the new meme huh

[sophiaflowersask]

In case you wanted a better idea of what i looked like, here you go!  Callie insisted on being in the photo with me (not that I mind!). art done by @shiocolors

[eclectic-spaghetti]

If you remember what Rose used to look like you qualify for a veteran’s discount. She’s got a knife now.

bonuses (with a lot of callie):

[agent-4-sploon]

@calliesss at it again

[eikaprime]

C4llie

Months ago, two people--specifically @flamingskull28 and @frog-man-alt --asked me what my thoughts were on the 4 ships, otherwise known as shipping characters with Agent 4. Well, there's now a fic where every chapter is/is going to be a different agent/idol fic, starting here and now with C4llie.

Link to the fic is HERE (hopefully that works, I've never done a word as a link before)

Full chapter 1, C4llie, is under the cut.

C4llie

It's three weeks after the rescue before Beth finds Miss Callie in Octo Canyon with Marie, and as soon as she desquids, she has to put on the charm. “Miss Callie!” she says, walking over. “I don't believe we were properly introduced. I'm Agent Four.”

“Agent One,” Miss Callie says, offering her hand. “Do you have a proper name, Agent Four?”

Beth knows her cheeks are burning. Beth's got somewhere between a sunburn and a tan right now; maybe Miss Callie won't notice? “Bethany, Miss Callie. Bethany Kelp.”

Miss Callie's grip is firm and strong, and she keeps her eyes on Beth while they shake. Without the Octobot king and the chaos of dodging bombs and loud music, Beth can appreciate the ways Callie is like Marie, with the mole on her cheek, but unlike Marie her eyes sparkle with mischief and even now, when she's trying to look serious, the ghost of a smile lingers on her cheeks, and her tentacles are so sleek and shiny...

“And that's enough of that,” says Marie. “You ready to get to work, Beth?”

Beth releases Miss Callie's hand and turns to her. “Yeah, yeah, boss. What unnecessary busywork do you have me doing today?”

Miss Callie snorts. Beth likes her already.

“Brat,” Marie says.

“I do believe I'm older than you, Boss Baby.”

Miss Callie snorts again. Score one, Beth!

Marie sighs and rubs her forehead with one hand. “Take the blaster and clear out all the balloons in Slimeskin Garrison. If you can't reach any, you can use your splatling, but only if they're completely out of reach. Check them all to see if there are messages tied to the strings.”

Beth's already got her hero suit on, so she just shrugs on the ink-tank and grabs the blaster from the locker. “You got it, grandma,” she chirps, and superjumps away before Marie can grab her charger, Miss Callie's laughter echoing in her ears.

~~~~

It takes a few weeks for Marie to be outside the cabin alone again, and Beth is ready. “Hey Marie—think fast!” she calls, tossing a splatbomb behind her.

As Marie whips around, Beth raises her dualies and fires. Marie spins with the umbrella, somehow blocking all the ink from the bomb and the dualies.

"Oh come on!" At least one of those should've hit.

"You have to do better than that," Marie says, while Beth submerges to refill her tank. "Though you've been improving. You almost got my sleeve that time."

Oh, for... "Forget your sleeve, I'm gonna ink your face!" Beth tosses another splatbomb and opens fire.

Right as the cabin door opens and Miss Callie walks out, and Marie's umbrella blocks the splatbomb but Miss Callie gets coated head to toe in Beth's ink.

Beth drops her dualies. "I'm sorry!" She takes a step back, then another, as Callie raises a hand to her face to wipe the ink from her eyes. "I'm sorry, I am so sorry, I—"

And then Miss Callie starts to laugh.

Beth stares, her eyes wide and mouth open, as Miss Callie sits right there on the ground, leans her back against the bench, and laughs. Head thrown back, clutching her stomach, giving her entire self over to the laughter.

She's the most beautiful person Beth has ever seen.

When she's calmed down, she stands and shakes the remaining ink from her jacket. "Cod, that brings back memories," she says, and picks up one of Beth's dualies. "It's been ages since I..." then she looks at the dualie in her hands and goes stiff.

Beth's talked to Marie, she's heard Marie worry, Miss Callie hasn't touched a weapon since she got off the Octobot King. She hasn't trusted herself, even without the hypnoshades. And she's got one dualie in her hand, and she's shaking, and Beth doesn't think, she steps forward and pulls Miss Callie into a hug.

Miss Callie bends a little to press her face into Beth's shoulder, and takes a deep breath, and another, while Beth rubs her back. Another deep breath, and another, and then she steps away from Beth, out of the hug, puts the dualie on the ground, and goes back into the cabin.

Beth swallows. Marie is staring at her, but she can't—she doesn't—it's best for her to just go. Down the drain. Take an extra grizzco shift.

Maybe being beaten with a couple dozen spoons will make her stop feeling like she messed up.

~~~~

When Beth arrives in Octo Canyon, Miss Callie is alone, and Beth freezes. "I, uh, Miss Callie, I beg your pardon for last time—"

"It's fine," she says.

No it isn't! "I caused you some measure of distress, Miss Callie, and—"

"I ruined your fun," she says. "So this time, I wanna give you a free shot." She reaches behind the bench and brings out a hero roller. She swings it over one shoulder and rests it there, holding the hero roller in one hand like it weighs nothing, like an ink reaper or an avenging angel. “And then the two of us can duke it out, agent to agent.”

For a second, Beth stands there, basking in Callie's beauty, stunned by the offer. Marie's never offered to spar with her. Then she gets her hero dualies, grins, and lobs a burst bomb. A cheap shot.

And Callie is on her. The two chase each other all around the first sector, no specials just weapons and bombs, and even without the Octobot King Callie throws more bombs than the average bomb rush. Burst bomb, suction bomb, splat bomb, as Four uses curling bomb to dodge and rolls away and she can't help it.

She starts to laugh.

She's splotched in Callie's light pink and Callie's splotched in her dark pink, she should've patrolled an hour ago, and there's a bomb on either side as she throws a curling directly at Callie's face and swims through it, the breeze from her roller swing cool on Beth's ears as she misses and Beth pops up behind her, shooting twice and rolling out of the way as Callie spins, carving a neat circle in the other pink.

Green ink lands around them. “That's enough, you two!”

“Stay out of this, grandma,” Beth shouts.

“Yeah, Marie, I can handle one jumped up agent,” yells Callie.

That's all they have time for before Marie takes them both out with one shot, and they respawn side by side. Callie laughs, drops her roller, and throws an arm around Beth's shoulder. “I think we need to call that a draw.”

Beth's just short enough that she has to look up into Callie's sparkling eyes, and she swallows. She's close. Very close. Close enough to, uh, to, “I could totally beat you next time,” Beth whispers

“Wanna test it?” Callie's breath is warm on Beth's face.

“Not today,” Marie says. “Why don't you try that elsewhere? Take it to a turf war, or something.”

“Oh! How about clam blitz?” Callie keeps her arm over Beth's shoulder as she turns away, and Beth wants to pout because she can't see Callie's eyes anymore, which is stupid oh cod this isn't happening. “I haven't learned the rules for that yet.”

“I could teach you,” Beth says. She goes hot under Callie's return gaze, hotter than even all that exercise made her, and steps back, coughs. She clears her throat. Miss Callie's still smiling at her, but Beth's got her dignity again. “Clams is fun. I promise, Miss Callie, to be the best teacher you could hope for.”

Miss Callie's eyes soften. “I know you will.”

~~~~

When Beth's bar cracks and sends her back down to A, again, she's angry for about five minutes. Then she realizes she has an opportunity. Miss Callie is learning clams and starting to play, and she'll be B- soon. Maybe Beth should be at her level.

So Beth keeps playing, and she doesn't throw the games, but she doesn't try as hard as she should, either. She isn't quite as careful of charger shots as she should be. She takes some risky throws that don't make it. And her rank goes down, down, down.

Her rank is B when Miss Callie's is B-, and they arrange to meet up for Partners League the next afternoon. Beth paces the lobby as she waits. Maybe Miss Callie didn't come. She might not. Or she's only coming to be polite. No, don't think like that. It's a beautiful day, and

“Sorry I'm late!”

Beth turns around.

Callie is wearing leggings, tight leggings, tight torn leggings that give hints at the muscles underneath. She has an oversized t-shirt on over them, tucked in at the top so it hangs down low and ensures no one can see the tattoo they haven't figured out how to remove, and it hangs just right to accent her curves. She has the short sleeves rolled up and her muscles on display. Her muscles are pronounced. Dare Beth say it, chiseled.

Callie pushes her sunglasses up on her head and smiles at Beth. “Hope you weren't waiting long.”

Beth can't tear her eyes away. “N-no, not long. You're, uh, you're right on time.”

“Oh, good.” Callie hoists her dynamo over her shoulder with a grunt of effort, her muscles bulging. Beth almost swallows her tongue. “Still not quite back in shape... oh well. So, how many X-rankers are we taking today?”

Beth takes a deep breath. Then another. She needs to calm down. Callie, Miss Callie, is a friend. “We're both in B ranks, it shouldn't be too bad,” she says. “I don't care if we never score. We can just practice passing the clams around, figure things out more.”

Miss Callie smiles. “I like the sound of that.”

And that's all they do, that first game. Pass the clams back and forth and laugh.

~~~~

By their third league rotation, the two work well together. They know how to make clams and they're good with all the maps and they talk easily over the league communicators, all focused on the play.

By their seventh league rotation, the two have each other's backs. Beth knows when she superjumps to Callie she needs to have her brella open facing to Callie's left because Callie never remembers to cover herself on that side. She's mastered the art of slipping between Callie and unfriendly chargers, all without blocking Callie's flicks. And she hasn't gotten caught staring at Callie's legs, except the time Callie wore shorts and Beth pretended to have seen someone sharking nearby.

Callie knows how to work with Beth, too. She reminds Beth to refill her ink before going into fights, because Beth always runs out of ink. She always superjumps to Beth, ready to flick in the direction Beth says, with better aim than any charger Beth's played with.

Beth knows Callie can cover her back when she goes for the risky flanks. And Callie insists on passing her the power clams, because she says Beth is amazing at getting them in from angles Callie couldn't even consider. They start placing top 50%, and even get a silver medal on their ninth rotation.

Not bad for a pair of B-ranks.

Before the tenth league match, Miss Callie waits for her in the locker room. No one else is in there, and when Callie lifts her sunglasses to smile at Beth, she has to sit down on the nearest bench. Callie's eyes are just so pretty. “Marie told me I should just ask,” Callie says. Her cheeks dust the slightest bit pink. “So, uh, after we play today, would you like to go out to supper?”

Beth's hearts quicken. This isn't what she thinks it is. “Sure, I always like spending time with you two. I can call her 'grandma' again.”

“No, uh,” Callie sits on the bench next to Beth as her cheeks get darker. Is... is she blushing? For Beth? “It would be, uh, a just us thing. The two of us.

This isn't what she thinks it is. Beth's whole face grows hot, but she's not going to she refuses to. “Is, uh, is Marie busy or something?”

Callie's ears twitch. “No, you dork. It, uh... oh, shell.” Callie grabs Beth's shirt, pulls her close, and kisses her.

Holy squit it is.

Callie lets go and sits back. “Yeah, so, it'd be that sort of dinner. Unless you don't want that! Which is fine, I'm perfectly happy being friends with you, nothing has to change just—”

Beth grabs Callie's shirt and pulls her close for another kiss. Callie presses into it. She's floating, the panicked freedom before a respawn, but there's no respawning she's still safe in her ink and oh squit oh squit oh squit.

Beth pulls back at last. “I, uh,” she says. “Are, uh, I...”

Miss Callie laughs and pulls Beth back in for another kiss, wrapping her arms around Beth and tugging Beth onto her lap. Beth goes without any hesitation. It's right where she wants to be.

They miss the clams rotation.

[eikaprime]

What do you think about ships like Agent 12 and Agent 32 (the Agent 4 ships to put it bluntly)

Let's start with some Basic Clarification: my own 4, Lucky, I don't ship with any of the other agents. She turns 15 when Callie and Marie are 20 and 8 and 3 are 18, it just feels weird.

But Agent 4's in general?

If you are NOT a minor, I recommend every single one of @jakearison 's M4rie fics, particularly this series, https://archiveofourown.org/series/3186111 . If you ARE a minor, I still recommend this G-rated fic of theirs, https://archiveofourown.org/works/43233876/chapters/108667206 .

Or how about Food Crimes, https://archiveofourown.org/series/2802121 , the series where Agents 3, 4, and 8 all fail at making food with and for their girlfriends. Yes, 96 content. (I'd link Pea's tumblr but I'm not sure she has one).

Wait, specifically the 4 ships. With names. Not with-random-awesome-enemy-octoling or whatnot. Which is a shame, I have a lot of bookmarks (and hidden bookmarks. Because I know a lot of minors read my stuff and look at my bookmarks and I am [mostly] a good influence) but... you didn't ask for fic recs either, did you? Got a little carried away, sorry.

If I didn't accidentally make it obvious, ship away. There are very few ships I won't read and don't enjoy. You can characterize the splatoon characters so many ways that just about anything is believable (and wonderful!), and as long as ages are acceptably close I won't bother raising an eyebrow. (And I'm one of the few who can, under some circumstances, be okay with adult/minor fics. I admit it. If 19/17 is okay but the second it becomes 20/17 it's not okay, we have to accept differing world views.)

...come to think of it, why have I not seen any C4llie fics that I can think of? I have seen SO MANY Deep Cut Polycules and CalCut Polycules, why not 4? 4 is *the* chaos agent. Gimme some 4rye, some Big 4, some 4ver (which has a bonus of being almost 4-ever, come on, NO ONE's taken advantage of that yet?! Please don't make me be the one to do it I'm not gonna get to it until I'm done with Terry's ridiculousness)...

Okay, I have no idea what a topic is or how to stay on it, but I think you get the idea!