Ink is Thicker Than Water --- Chapter 2: A minor Cake-tastrophe.
Two days ago:
INKLINGS IN OCTARIAN 'DOMES'?
Ophelia Lunulata has awoken and has remained conscious. She refused to give any quotes until her 'public voice' was with her. The voice she was referring to is Oshea Thornell, who serves Ophelia to send her orders to the people. He arrived in the company of armed police officers, spending an hour in Ophelia's company before being available for comment. "She (Ophelia) demands that they (the government) take action in the rescue of the octarian citizens trapped in the domes." These underground 'domes' are where the octarians have lived since the great turf war claimed their land a hundred years ago. Oshea makes claims that inklings ('Squidlings') should have enough incentive to help if only for the fact that there are inklings in the domes, and have been since they were captured during splatfest. We have yet to hear a reply from city hall or the capital although the president claims to be readying to make a public appearance.
OCTARIAN PLAGUE SWEEPS INKOPOLIS
It seems that the Octomaton isn't the only thing Octarians have brought up to the surface, they have brought up a potent strain of rhinopharyngitis. This contagious disease is spreading across the city and infecting various citizens of Inkopolis, particularly inklings. Experts say the pathogen will only last a few days, they recommend resting for a few days, and drink plenty of water. Symptoms include stuffy nose, sore throat, and coughing.
Yesterday:
1,000 INKLINGS RETURN HOME
After 16 hours of heroic digging and cooperation from octarian forces, workers have unearthed a path for many inklings to super jump to freedom. Along with these inklings, approximately 5,000 octolings also made an escape. Unexpectedly, many of the rescued inklings protected these octolings and refused to allow them to be taken into custody. As a result a compromise arose, allowing octolings to have access to a homeless shelter.
SQUID SISTERS LEAVE URGENT CARE
Callie and Marie, Inkopolis' favorite idols were able to return home today after being greatly injured after a suspected kidnapping. They both refuse to discuss the cause of their injuries, only that they do not plan to press charges on the culprit.
Today, Toda’s birthday:
OPHELIA ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION?
At 5:24 AM this morning; doctors were alerted to a commotion in the room of Ophelia Lunulata, known as the queen of the Octarians. A nurse had walked in, only to be attacked by an octarian with a knife. The Octarian is now in custody, but claims that they were protecting the queen on her orders. Also found was a tube of ice which was the right size to be inserted into the machine's equipment and contained a fatal dose of poison, likely intended for Ophelia. The nurse remained unharmed, and was safely able to return home. Ophelia has requested five armed octarian guards be posted to her quarters. The request was denied, however she was allowed inkling guards.
Toda sat, leg bouncing as he looked over the headlines. He couldn’t help it, Bato was trying to get him into the habit. Things seemed to be getting worse and worse, or were they just… happening? He sighed and lay back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling.
… At least everyone he knew was alright…
He sat bolt upright as there was a knock on his front door. “Coming!!!” He called, then stood with a grunt before heading to the front door.
On the other side, Bato smiled warmly at him, holding out a box of store-brand Mochi. “Happy Birthday bud.” He said, then leaned against the door frame.
“I told you guys that you didn’t have to get me anything!” He said, then stepped forward to give him a hug. “You know me too well for your own good...”
He laughed and hugged him back. “Right back at you.”
“Let’s sit you down, your leg’s still hurt.” He said, wrapping his arm around Bato’s shoulder and helping him to the living room.
“Toda, I’m fine.” He replied, even as he stumbled. “… not perfect, but fine… Thanks.”
He rolled his eyes, flashing him a grin as they both sat down. “Anytime.”
“Oh, you should probably get these into the freezer.” Bato said, holding up the mochi box.
“I got this.” He said, then lifted his head and called. “Hey daaaad!”
After a moment, Scott peered around the corner. “Hey soooooon?”
He snorted, then took the box from Bato and held it out. “Still sort of hurts to move, can you put this in the freezer?”
His father nodded and turned to head back to the kitchen. “Have fun you two.”
“We will.” Bato said, then turned to Toda. “… So, uh… How’s Necrodancer going?”
He snorted. “Getting back into practice. There’s not much else to do lately… I miss battles much, we barely got to do any of them before this all happened...”
Bato nodded solemnly. “Agreed. I’m… not getting my hopes up that battles will come back anytime soon though.” He nodded, ears drooping. “I mean, the plaza’s a wreck, so… there’s that.”
“There’s that.” He agreed, frowning.
Just then another knock on the door caused Toda’s ears to perk right up. “Coming!!” He called, standing and making his way to the front door.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAAAAA!” Jill exclaimed, holding out a big bowl of what appeared to be M&Ms.
“H… Happy birthday.” Simon said as well, awkwardly clutching a wrapped box with an adhesive bow stuck meticulously on top.
“You guys too!?” Toda laughed. “I said you didn’t have to give gifts, I just want to hang out!”
“But we love you!” Jill said, proudly striding through the door. “And we want you to be happy!”
He snorted and closed the door, casting a small worried glance at Simon, who wasn’t making eye contact. They looked super nervous… and he wasn’t sure why.
“Hey Bato, want some candy!?” Jill’s exclamation shook him from his thoughts, and he made his way back to the couch, leaving a large enough space next to him for Simon to sit.
I’d love some.” He said, grabbing a small handful.
“What about you Toda?” She asked, holding the bowl out to him.
“Yes please!” He said, though something felt a bit suspicious... He scooped up a handful and popped a few into his mouth, cringing as the flavor of chocolate, fake fruit, and a blast of cinnamon all hit him at once. He spluttered, then swallowed, shooting Jill a short glare. “Judd damn it, Jill! Did you mix skittles, M&Ms and red hots??”
She started laughing, setting the bowl down on the table and picking out a few candies. “What? I didn’t do anything~!”
"Sure you didn't." He replied, grinning.
"If you want m&m's, you just need to get the blue ones." Bato told him with a grin of his own. "There aren't blue skittles."
He snorted. "Yeah, thanks, that's real helpful man.” He told him, lightly elbowing him in the side.
"We can turn it into a candy sorting party instead if you want!" Jill teased.
Scott leaned around the corner, smiling as he saw the four of them. “Hey Kiddo, your mom’s making the cake, but it’s going to be a while, so we’re going to order you kids some pizza, Do you have a topping preference?”
"I like pepperoni!" Jill said, enthusiastically waving her hand into the air.
"I'm ok with pretty much any usual kind of pizza." Simon said, still seeming… off.
"Got it." Scott said, then looked at Bato and Toda, "And I know what you two like... So I guess I'll get a cheese and a pep? Sound good?"
"Sounds good," Toda nodded.
"Alright then." Scott beamed… then leaned down and gabbed a handful of candy and popped it all into his mouth. His grin slowly faded as the flavors began to sink in.
“Do you like it?” Jill teased.
Toda snorted. “Yeah dad, isn’t it great?”
Scott slowly looked more amused, then grabbed a paper napkin off the dining table and spit out the candy into it. “Yeah, you got me kids.” He chuckled as he turned into the kitchen. “I’ll go order you those pizzas.”
“Thanks!” Jill said, then rocked on her heels for a moment before sitting down in the room’s armchair. ".... You guys heard what happened today, right?"
"The attempted assassination." Bato frowned. "It's troubling, that's for sure."
"That 'nurse' was going to poison her, I know it." Jill scowled.
"Jill why now, why today... " Simon pleaded "I thought this was going to just be a hanging out sort of day."
“Yeah, I… I would sort of prefer it.” Toda agreed.
Jill paused, then made herself smile. "You're right, I'm sorry. Hey Simon! Why don't you give Toda his present?”
Simon blushed brightly, holding the gift behind their back. “A-Ah! Um… I...” They gave a huge sigh, and then held it out toward him, avoiding eye contact. “It’s a… a joke gift.”
“My favorite!” He flashed them a quick smile, trying to be reassuring as he pealed the paper off. Inside was an in-box Rubix cube, with colors he knew well, gray, gray, gray, gray, gray and white. He started laughing, showing it to Bato.
“Simon you’re a genius.” Bato said, grinning broadly.
They looked up, still blushing. "What? You never thought of that before?" They asked, a slight smile crossing their face.
Bato shook his head. "No, that never occurred to me!"
“Thanks Simon.” Toda said, setting the cube down on the table and pulling them into a hug.
Simon hugged him back, giving a little happy sigh. "No problem."
"I told you he'd like it." Jill hissed, grinning.
“Shush!” They hissed back.
"So! Is there anything in particular we're going to do?" Jill asked.
Toda shrugged, pulling back from the hug. "I didn't really have anything in mind." He said. "We could watch a movie, or.. We have board games and stuff."
"Oooo, I'm up for a movie!" Jill said. “Dim the lights, have some popcorn...”
“I think having popcorn will get in the way of pizza and cake later.” Simon said. “I think just a movie’s a good idea.”
“Same.” He agreed, reaching forward and grabbing the remote. “We’ve got all kinds of movies in the cupboard over there, the animated ones should be up right right now, from when Hachi stayed over. There’s Monsters Ink, How to train your dragon, Up...”
"Ok, can I just rule Up out?" Jill asked. "Like, I really don’t want to cry about that today?”
"Yeah that’s reasonable." Bato agreed.
Toda nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Monsters Ink then?”
“Sounds good to me.” Simon nodded.
“Alright, let me get the DVD player on...” Toda said, turning on the TV.
“WE INTERRUPT THIS SCHEDULED PROGRAM TO BRING YOU THIS BREAKING NEWS REPORT.”
Toda jumped so sharply he dropped the remote onto Bato’s lap, staring as the screen flashed the headline; ‘Ophelia Lunulata Kidnapped’
“Mere moments ago, Ophelia Lunulata, Queen of the octarians, was kidnapped from Mustard Hill hospital, even with the presence of armed guards.” The screen changed to an image from a security camera, where two figures were climbing out a window, forms indistinct thanks to some bright reflective strips along their clothing, and shining lights on their weapons. “The two suspects smashed through the window of the hospital, forced Lunulata to transform and put her into an inktank before stealing an entire rack of medicine and jumping out the window. They then jumped into a white van and are currently resisting capture. We now go live to Brian on the weather chopper. Brian?”
“THANK YOU JULIE.” The Reporter on the helicopter replied, having to shout over the deafening sounds of the helicopter’s whirring propellers."WE'RE HERE GETTING A BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF A HIGH SPEED CHASE, AS THE POLICE ATTEMPT TO APPREHEND THE KIDNAPPERS OF OPHELIA LUNULATA."
The camera panned down to show the police attempting to catch up to and trap the white van, which took a sickeningly sharp turn onto the highway. Toda swallowed anxiously as he watched, grabbing at both Simon and Bato’s hands. The van twisted and turned, a little too quickly, crashing into a guardrail and tumbling down a steep slope. “NO!” Jill shouted, standing up as the tension got to her.
“C’mon, c’mon be okay...” Bato murmued.
Toda watched with baited breath as the van finally stopped at the bottom of the hill, slowly rocking onto it’s wheels. It was still for a long moment, then shuddered and began to drive again, although this time much much slower, and dripping some sort of fluid. Despite how rough it was, it had bought them a little time, as the police backtracked to the nearest exit instead of driving straight down after them.
The helicopter had to pull up a bit as they neared a bridge, and as soon as the van went under, the helicopter went to the other side, waiting for the dramatic shot of the van exiting the underpass.
... but it never happened.
“WHERE’D THEY GO!?” The reporter was shouting, begging the pilot to go back around to the other side of the underpass to make sure they hadn’t backtracked.
“Clever...” Bato murmured, a smile touching his lips.
“… Yeah.” Jill said. “They cloaked under the bridge, right?”
“I’m surprised it worked.” Simon said. “That van looked like it was barely moving...”
“… Same.” Toda agreed.
"... I hope they're alright..." Jill whispered.
“… We’ll find some way to check up on them.” Bato said. “After we eat.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Toda agreed, though he noticed Simon looking warily at Bato… Were they still mad? “… Let’s start up that movie.”
---
“To youuuu~!”
Toda blew out the candles on his birthday cake, heaving a sigh as the tendrils of smoke curled upward. His friends and family applauded, and he smiled warmly at them.
“Welcome to the 16 year old club.” Bato said, chuckling softly.
“Less talk more cake!” Jill said, making grabby hands.
“Toda first.” Anita said firmly, stepping forward to slice the cake.
He noticed how hard his mother and Simon were trying to avoid looking at each other, not that he could blame Simon in the least. “Thanks mom.” He said softly as she passed him a piece of cake.
“You're welcome.” She said, then passed a slice to Jill.
Jill licked her lips and took a deep breath to smell the cake before speaking dramatically. "Oh Cake, my all too platonic love~. I must murder you."
“That is about the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard someone say about food.” Scott said, slightly worriedly.
“I get that a lot.” She beamed, then took a bite of cake.
"So, how have the two of you been doing?" Scott asked, looking between Jill and Simon as he got himself a piece of cake. "Been healing up okay?"
"Yeah." Simon said, not looking up as Anita put a piece of cake in front of them.
"Better all the time!” Jill said. “I still have to remember to take it easy though. Helps that turf wars are canceled... "
"That's good." Scott said with a nod, then paused. "I mean, not glad that turf wars are canceled, but glad that you two are recovering. I do hope they get this all sorted out soon so they can start turf wars again, though."
"Yeah..." Jill said quietly. "It's really worrying with mom unable to work…"
“Wait, what?” Bato asked. “Did they stop profreshional battling as well?”
Simon nodded a little. "The Octomaton put everyone in a real scare... Not that I blame them…"
“… I’m sorry to hear that.” Anita said.
Scott sighed, setting his plate down for a moment. "... Well, I'm sure they'll be able to work things out with the Octolings soon enough, and then things can go back to normal."
"Or as normal as they can be." Bato muttered under his breath, as he accepted a slice of cake.
Toda couldn’t bring himself to say anything. How hadn’t he realized? Or asked? Or… why didn’t they say anything? Maybe it just wasn’t his business...
“… So, Bato, how’s Hachi doing?” Jill asked.
"She's healing up alright." He replied. "Though I think she's getting a little restless, sitting around the house all day."
"Oh man, I would be too…" She frowned. "At least I can sit out on the porch, but she can't do stuff like that right now, can she? Not to mention you guys don't exactly have a porch."
"No, no porch." He said with a small smile, "But... Yeah, it really isn't safe for her to leave the apartment right now, even if they have supposedly stopped detaining Octolings."
"Yeah...Have you left a window open so she can have fresh air at least?" She asked.
"You know, that kind of depends on if they replaced that window in the dining room yet." Simon said. "They might not have a choice."
He shook his head, "No, not yet; we can't really do much with three Octolings under our roof." He sighed a bit. "We're lucky the ink didn't sink through the floor to the ceiling of the apartment downstairs, or we might not have a choice; the landlord would have to come and inspect the damage. We'll have to call and report it ourselves eventually, but..."
Toda’s ears drooped. “That’s a lot of money in damages.”
“No kidding.” Bato agreed.
They fell silent for a while after that, enjoying the cake to the best of their abilities. Eventually Toda cleared his throat. “Hey um, I have something in my room I’d like to show you guys.” He said, standing up and helping Bato get to his feet.
“Okay!” Jill chirped. “Thank you Toda’s parents for the cake!”
“That was all Anita’s doing.” Scott smiled.
“Your welcome. You kids have fun.” She said, putting her hand on Scott’s shoulder.
“Okay!” Jill said, then nodded to Toda.
He nodded back, and then led the way down the hall, opening the door and flicking on the light. His room was messier than usual, a fact he tried not to get embarrassed about as he stepped over three days worth of clothes on the floor.
“Whoa, this is your room?” Simon asked.
He felt his cheeks flush brightly. Embarrassed it was. “Yeah… I um… haven’t been cleaning. It hurts a bit to bend over, you know?”
“I do know.” Simon agreed, slumping against the wall. “My room’s been a bit of a pit lately too...”
“Your room’s still cleaner than mine on a good day!” Jill huffed, then gasped and ran over to the wall. “Look at all these posters! You went to see Leslie Stringfish!?”
“Yep! I went with my dad.” He beamed, clearing off a space on his bed for Bato to sit. “It was really fun, I hope she comes back to Inkopolis soon.” He was pretty sure she wouldn’t, not for a while. Everything was chaos here.
Jill nodded, then sat down on the floor. “So what did you want to show us?”
“Jill...” Simon sighed. “We’re here to talk about Ophelia.”
“Oh. Right.” She said a bit guiltily. "... Where do you think they'll take her?"
“I’m sure they've got it under control." They said, huffing.
“… What if they don’t?” Toda asked, sitting down on the floor and leaning against his bed with a frown.
"We can't do anything anyway." They said, a little bit of pressure in their tone. “We have no way to contact them anymore, we lost their numbers with our phones.”
"Simon's right, there's nothing we can do. We're still recovering anyway." Bato said regretfully.
“So are they!” Jill pointed out. “They had it even worse than we did!”
"It's either recover later or watch the Octarian leader be assassinated." Simon said.
"... This is good, though." Toda said slowly, "The Octarians needed Ophelia to survive if they wanted to have any chance up here, she's their only political power; if they took her to protect her, that means they want to at least give them a shot, right?"
Bato nodded slowly. "We just have to hope that's why they took her."
“Why else would they take her?” Jill asked. “Why save her from assassins if they want her dead?”
Simon opened their mouth, then closed it again.
“That’s what I thought.” Jill huffed.
“… Well, We saw two in the picture, maybe only two of them went?” Toda said.
"Yeah, I'd say… Just Callie and Marie went." Simon said, resting a hand on their chin thoughtfully.
"Wait, no, whoever was driving that van was driving like her, right? Callie would drive worse, and Marie would drive more carefully." Jill said.
"It certainly seemed like Stacey to me," Bato said, nodding a bit.
Simon paused, then nodded a little bit. "She does seem to be their getaway driver..."
There was a long pause, and then Bato spoke again. "... We know how to find Stacey if there's an emergency, and 1&2 are likely to be back at work before long, if they can pull a stunt like that. But we did say we were going to leave well enough alone for the time being."
"You mean Simon did." Jill corrected.
"… Well Simon's right." Toda murmured, breaking off eye contact.
"And it's not like we really can do much anyway," Bato pointed out, "I'm pretty sure none of us can even walk pain-free right now."
“… You got me...” She sighed. “I still wish we could do something though... Because I want to make sure Hachi and all the Octolings can well... be safe. Plus, come on, we'd get to hang out with 1&2~~~"
"I'm not sure 'hang out' would be the right term." Simon muttered.
"I want Hachi to be safe just as much as you do, Jill," Bato said with a little sigh. "But for right now, the best we can do is hope the agents know what they're doing."
“I’m sure they do.” Simon said.
“… Yeah.” Toda agreed. “Stacey’s got a bunch of plans… We might not have made it without her help.”
Just then a loud bling rang out, and Bato hurriedly… pulled a phone out of his pocket?
“I thought we all lost our phones in the domes.” Simon said, eyes narrowing.
“This is Stepmom’s.” Bato explained, then frowned. “… Mom asked me to come back downstairs but… it’s misspelled. I should go..."
Toda felt a bit of panic creep up his spine, Leah was rather direct when she texted. "No, yeah, that's fine." He said quickly, turning to look at him. “It’s bound to be important.”
"I hope everything's ok..." Jill said.
Bato just nodded and stood, groaning as he put weight onto his leg. "I'll talk to you guys later." He said, limping out the door.
"See ya." Toda called after him, unable to keep the worry out of his tone.
"... Later we should get on Skope... in case he needs to talk about whatever's going on..." Jill said quietly.
"Yeah." He agreed quietly. He had a bad feeling about this...
Bato, Toda, Leah and Tanya are Knitter’s characters
Hachi, Oswald, Oana, Simon, Jill, and Orion are Shuckle’s characters.
Splatoon belongs to Nintendo.
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