Rated: G
Splatoon, Pre-Canon
Squid Sisters Focus
Words: 2.2k
Warnings: Light allusions to transphobia and dysphoria
[Ao3 Link!!]
My piece for the wonderful @spectrumobligatozine !! I had so much fun writing this piece, I hope you enjoy it! Be sure to check out the zine, it's got a bunch of other wonderful art and writing!!
---
You and your cousin are a lot alike. That’s why you get along so well! You’re both about the same age, (you’re only 2 months younger!) you both like bug catching, and singing and dancing.
You’re both growing up faster than your peers.
Even if you have lots of things different too, you both love each other. You both love playing together. Even though you have different parents, you spend so much time together you might as well share the same ones.
They seem to think so too, and your parents couldn’t be happier at how well you get along. When you were born, they gave you names that matched, almost like twins.
All's to say; you love your cousin, and you love how close you are.
…
You don’t love it when people say you’re like brothers. And you don’t know why.
---
The thought stays with you, it’s a loose thread you pull at and pull at. You figure it out first, whispers of those others slowly becoming familiar.
You’ve learned something new. It’s the first secret you know that your cousin doesn’t.
---
You’re crouching in the river bed, minding the edge where the water laps up onto land. The nearest respawner is a few blocks away, and your cousin’s already said if you fall in, that’s your own problem to get back.
You scour out the best rocks, large and flat and wide. Each time you spot one, you concentrate. Carefully, you shift your tentacle into a hand, keeping turning the ink into something solid.
Clutching the stone between your dripping fingers, you spin it out onto the water.
One- two- threefourfive - six!- sSkips before it sinks back into the water, settling into the sand below.
Behind you, your cousin claps.
You turn to face a perfect transformation, that full “kid” shape you've watched your cousin practice for months now.
You should be practicing too.
You don’t want to.
For once, you do not want to match. You do not want to look like that. Not ever.
And you’ve known it for a while, but it’s all so scary to say- even to your cousin…
You’re not sure what kinda face you’re making, but your cousin's expression drops in anon instant after meeting eyes with you.
Your cousin's mouth opens to speak, but you interject.
“C-can I tell you something? Secret. You have to promise you won’t tell anyone.”
No hesitation, an instant nod.
You take a deep breath.
“Um… I was. Thinking about… mmm . Okay. Okay. Uh, how would you feel if we didn’t. We weren’t matching anymore? N-not entirely, but a little different—“
Your cousin asks if they’ve done something wrong. Are you not friends anymore?
“No! I mean, we are— I meant!”
Breathe!
You let the air flow through your ink.
“I meant like… like this.”
Slowly, you melt yourself upwards. The ink stretches out, the form you've been practicing folds into place. Your shape. The one you chose.
This one’s a lot more work, but this one fits better. You like it more. Even if you look nothing like your cousin.
Your reflection wavers in the river.
You look more like your mom than you look like your cousin.
You look like a girl.
Most of all, you look happy.
“Something like this… do you think that would be okay?”
There’s a moment where all you hear is your own ink rushing in your ears.
“Could you call me Calliope now?” Your mouth makes the shapes, there’s breath behind, but you’re not certain you've really said it until…
gently, kindly, “Mhm. Okay.”
Then practising again. You’re not sure what to say. Your cousin has never been as expressive as you are, but even still…
You’re worried, the idea of you drifting apart dances in your mind no matter how you to try to will it away.
It’s maybe a half hour later when your cousin speaks up again.
“Hey, —Calliope? Does this mean I can call you Callie? Like, for your nickname?”
Your heart soars all at once, euphoria relief and anticipation melting together into a new hue.
“Callie, from Calamari County!” You giggle, “I love it!”
And this time, with the wide grins across your faces, the two of you certainly match.
★★★
Your cousin can do anything she puts her mind to. You’re too shy to say it, but you think it’s one of her best qualities.
You've always followed Callie’s lead, and even now that hasn’t changed, not really.
You don’t mind, you like matching. Always have.
So your cousin is a girl now. That’s different. But she's so happy now, and you love seeing her smile. You’re happy she's happy.
…but you don’t match anymore.
And that bothers you.
(Why should it? Even to you it seems irrational.)
You promise yourself you won’t ever tell her.
---
You’re sitting for dinner, minding yourself perfectly. Back straight. Head down. It’s easy to hold chopsticks now, you've got the hang of fingers quickly.
Your mother is discussing the day's events, as she always does. You’re listening, like you always do… or you should be, but your mind is wandering.
Last week your cousin said she was going to tell her parents. You’ve been so busy you haven’t seen her since then. You’re not sure if she’s done it yet, and your mind keeps wandering back to her. How nervous she seemed.
You wanted to say something about being there with her, but yet again you got tongue tied. You simply wished her luck.
“—are you listening?”
You snap your head to attention at your mother’s voice, and nod.
“Recently we learned something new about A— your cousin.”
There it is.
You nod along as they tell you everything you’ve already known. You keep your secret to the very end just as promised.
“Of course,” your father adds in, “We still love uh—“ “Calliope, dear.” “Yes, that. We love her the same, right?”
Only you know she’s Callie. You nod again and smile politely. You’ve been practising that too.
“We’ve always supported those kinds of people.” Your father goes on, “I always told myself I’d be ready if you turned out like that.”
Your mother looks at you. She smiles.
“But I assume if you were a girl you would’ve told me by now.”
It’s just a second but the world seems to freeze around you. Your thoughts all rush through your head.
Are you? You haven’t— you’re not— if you— you’re out of time.
You nod your head in agreement.
You’ve lived this long as a boy right? And it’s been fine. So you’ll keep being fine. If— no. You’ll just live with it.
---
You're both experienced in sneaking out your windows by now. There was no way you were missing this festival, no matter what your parents said about studying. So it's one hop out of your window, and one into Callie's, before you're both off to the streets.
But she's taking forever to get ready.
It's just the wait that's bothering you. The wait and… well it isn't fair, really.
Callie holds up a checkered cherry blossom print in one hand and a striped plum blossom print in the other.
"Okay, okay it's definitely down to these two. This one… or this one. Yeah. Just one more minute!"
You roll your eyes.
"The festival will be over by the time you make up your mind. You're so wishy-washy."
Callie pouts.
"Just because you don't care about fashion doesn't mean I don't."
This upsets you more than you expected.
"I care!" You bite back. When Callie whips her head around, and you see the shock in her eyes, all the fire leaves you.
"All mine are boring. It doesn't matter either way."
And you won't match. You don't look alike at all.
Callie's face has grown much softer, much sweeter than yours. And yours still seems like you haven't mastered wearing it yet, awkward and out of place. Like it wasn't meant for you.
Callie blinks for a moment.
"Wear one of mine then."
You don't say anything for a second. Neither does she. There is a little voice echoing in your ears that sing songs, "but that's for girls~" . But it doesn't sound like you, not really.
The festival is already a few train stops away. No one there knows you. You're already going to sneak out the window.
It doesn't mean anything if you say it doesn't. (Do you want it to? You can't figure that out now.)
And if you did this, you'd match again. Somehow, that's what pushes you over the edge.
"Wear the cherry blossom." You say decisively, "The plum one is mine."
Callie grins, tossing the beautiful garment to you.
"Well get changed then, the festival will be over by the time you're done!"
Jokes on her, you're still ready before she is.
…
The festival is wonderful. You’ve missed this time with your cousin, just the two of you messing around like this. She takes the lead, dragging you along. You admire the detailed patterns of your sleeve as your arm is stretched out ahead of you.
You tell yourself the only real difference between your clothes and hers are the details. The more intricate patterns, the finer embellishments.
That it’s the only reason you feel envious.
Here, wandering through the maze of stalls, pushing through the crowd, that’s the only explanation that makes sense to you. But even still, here, you feel such a surge of excitement, you’d rather not waste it all on thinking so hard.
---
There’s never one moment you realize it. It comes the way buds grow in spring. Never there, never there, but once you understand, you realize you’ve known for a while now. How could you not have seen it before? The leaves have arrived in full. You’ve sprouted just like them.
But you’re the only one who sees those sprigs, for now.
---
"Are you a girl too?"
You immediately choke on the tea Gramps had been so kind as to make you, coughing it all onto the porch.
"Whoa, whoa— sorry—"
"'M fine—" You wheeze. Take a deep breath, breathe. Don't be scared. Don't be scared. She asked. And you're the same, so it's okay, she won't be mad, she won't hate you, and if she sees it too it's not just in your head, it's real. You can be real. Really, truly—
"A girl?" You echo.
Callie nods, waiting.
With the weight of the world on your head, you nod. When you look up again, Callie is grinning ear to ear.
Told you there was nothing to worry about.
The tension vanishes.
"What the hell, Callie! You can't just say that!" You snap, but more of you is relieved than anything else.
Callie's hands fly up to her mouth, "Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I know I just— You know Gramps just now, he was gonna call you— but then he stopped, and he had this look and—"
Callie sighs, "I thought you'd already told him, and I was worried you said something and I forgot or- or that— But. Aghhgh I'm sorry!"
You cross your arms.
"I had a whole heartfelt letter written out and everything. There was a plan in place, but you just sprung it on me."
"I'm really sorry."
"…But… I didn't tell Gramps. You're the first."
Callie reaches for your hand.
"You can trust me. I promise."
You squeeze hers back.
"Of course I can. Because we're—" You've wanted to say this for so long — "We're sisters, right?"
Callie lights up brighter than every light in Inkopolis combined.
"YES!"
She leans in for a hug, and you embrace her back. It feels like coming home for the first time in a while.
When Callie pulls away, she asks,
"Do you have a new name picked out?"
"About that… um… how would you feel about matching again?"
★★★
“Ready?”
“Of course not. I’m going to run away any second now.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yeah, I’m not.”
Two girls, neither of whom would look out of place in the city if not for their nervous expressions, sat waiting. The coffee shop, overly expensive and fancy, sits proudly on the street in downtown Inkopolis. The chairs are dreadfully uncomfortable.
Beneath an avant-garde table, they’re holding hands, tight.
“Maybe it was all a scam. We’ve been scammed–”
“Mar, no. We’re early, remember. You made us get here 20 minutes before the time we talked about on the phone.”
“Being punctual is essential for all career pursuits.”
“I don’t know where you– THERE! ”
Right on time, a proper looking Inkling in business casual enters the cafe, eyes landing on the girls immediately.
She smiles brightly, honestly, and heads right to sit with them.
“It’s wonderful to finally see you ladies in person! I’m Shy-Ho-Shy, we spoke on the phone, yes?
Callie and Marie, right?”
The two of them nod in unison.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well. My name is Marie,”
“And I’m Callie!”
One quick smile between them, and a squeeze of their hands is all it takes.
“Excellent! Let me tell you, I’ve been so excited to meet with you. You two are family, yes?”
“Cousins, yes.” Marie says, as Callie finishes, “But we grew up together, so we’re more like sisters.”
Shy-Ho-Shy smiles.
“Hence calling yourselves the Squid Sisters, then?”
Both girls grin at that.
“I’d say it suits you both perfectly.”
And both girls would agree, though they’d already known that.
The twinkling light of a bright future shines ahead. Hand in hand, the selves they’d worked so hard to love, to create, to enjoy, are taking those next steps forward. Callie and Marie, the Squid Sisters then, and now, and always. ★
Brainwashed, Hypnotized, Possessed, willing - we all love a villain Callie!
I love seeing all the different takes on this design of Callie, so Im making a positivity post on em, as well as a positivity post of my favorite mind control splatoon fics that dont involve Callie! Because
Recs under the read more
BRAINWASHED CALLIE: A Callie Whos Goals and Alignment has been forcefully shifted! Theres so many ways you could do this, and here are some of my favs:
Clear Skies - BucketOfMud - Splatoon [Archive of Our Own] This one is my own fic, I admit, but its a fun post-shades thing I wrote where Callie has the lingering effects!
Light Shines Through - Chapter 1 - Mothbomb - Splatoon [Archive of Our Own] MOTH WROTE THIS!!! The fic is currently unfinished but its SUCH a fun one - Callie is still brainwashed even after the shades are shot off
Everybody Like(d) You - MaplesHaiku - Splatoon [Archive of Our Own] A really really cool fic thats the turning point in Callies mind with the shades on!
Run In - CloverzBandit - Splatoon [Archive of Our Own] Another fun fic that has Callie addicted to the shades and dealing with that
Cherry Red - c0ttonberries - Splatoon [Archive of Our Own] Cottonberries has SUCH a good brainwashed Callie; I wont spoil what happens here but its a really awesome take
i like crossing the line and slowly losing my mind - Champ1onRed - Splatoon [Archive of Our Own] A very unstable and fun take on brainwashed callie >:)
LED Lights. Sleepless Nights. - technicolorbreakdown - Splatoon [Archive of Our Own] A ANGSTY post hypnoshades Callie dealing with all that
NONE HYPNOSHADES BRAINWASHED CALLIE - a collection of Callie being brainwashed in a way unrelated to the hypnoshades!
Again, this is self indulgent but I HAVE to share all the fuzzy Callie fics (@askfuzzycallie) I have - Inside the Mind of Grizzco's Bestest Most Important Employee - Vindextra - Splatoon (Video Games) [Archive of Our Own] by Vin is Spot on how I imagine her mind is in my askblog, Wild Side - IcyGlaceon - Splatoon [Archive of Our Own] has some really fun progression of her mind, it's the animal instinct in me - Champ1onRed - Splatoon [Archive of Our Own] and Gnawing - Mothbomb - Splatoon [Archive of Our Own] are going to be direct inspirations for what I do with fuzzy callie in the future >:)
Bomb Rush Blush (but it never ends) - Violetstar_24 - Splatoon [Archive of Our Own] Greyscaled Callie fic that literally gives me goosebumps every time, viscerally uncomfortable in the best way
Veggie Burgers in the Fog - Chapter 1 - Cakepencil - Splatoon [Archive of Our Own] is a really fun fuzzy callie fic as well, and I recommend you read it, especially for its really well done pov!
another day, another few commands to obey without question, absolutely no bombs, rushes, or blushes - Cakepencil - Splatoon [Archive of Our Own] is a really REALLY fun sanitized Callie fic, as is its sequel!
the monster you created - Champ1onRed - Splatoon [Archive of Our Own] is a GREAT evil Craig fic where he's a bit more sinister when it comes to training his granddaughters, making them double agents!
Memories Reflected in Tears - Tealeavesandmothwings - Splatoon [Archive of Our Own] is a really fun au me and Bug made where Callies a cyborg, you should check it out!
(Part two inkcoming)
