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Sometimes three liked to stargaze.
Not in a weird way but more in an awestruck way. It was the only time when she was really alone with herself, freed from the overstimulation of the outside world.
But now, there was one more source for stimulation.
Eight, after narrowly escaping the metro (thank cod) had taken up residence with three. While three normally lived alone, she did her best to make room for Eight’s arrival, cleaning the surfaces and prepping a spot for three to sleep on the couch. But the couch, being an uncomfortable sack of stuffed shit, more often than not led three to the roof. It was cold and hard, but three liked the cold, and she could bear the concrete. It reminded her of the valley. She sighed and looked upwards. Stars were so pretty. It was always nice to three, thinking about how insignificant things were in the grand scheme of things. Sure, there were always undertones of existential dread lurking just beneath the surface, but it was comforting to think that what she did didn’t really affect anything at all. So she lay there, thinking. Her eyelids began to droop as she slowly succumbed to the drowsiness that was finally catching up with her.
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“Three? Three!?” A girl prodded Three’s stomach. “Hnngh…” three mumbled. Three hated waking up. She always felt sore and tired. And yet she was jolted wide awake when she realized who it was that was poking her. “Ei- Eight! Hi good morning what are you doing here also why are you here and how did you sleep and are you okay and-“ Eight giggles, cutting her off. “Three, I’m fine. I slept well, silly. But what about you? Sleeping on the roof can’t be comfortable.”
And eight was right. Threes body was sore in all the wrong places. Her bones felt like they were about to turn to dust. She yawned, stretching out her limbs and sitting up. “I’m fine” she stifled through a groan. “Yeah, sure,” the octoling replied. “But don’t you have a meeting in like, 20 minutes?”
Thee pulled her phone out of her pocket. Yikes. It was already 10:34.
“Oh shit, you’re right.” She jumped up, immediately rushing to take a quick shower and change into new clothes. By the time she was done, it was almost 11 and three was teetering on missing her meeting. And that was bad, because it was an important meeting. The NSS had to discuss the recent kidnapping of octoling soldiers and the newly missing zapfish. So of course, when three looked at the clock and saw that she had 5 minutes until the meeting started, she understandably got worried. Of course, she wasn’t going to be super late. Probably just a strict talking-too from Marie. God, that’s probably worse than being fired anyway. She shuddered at the thought of that. She scrambled to the roof and super jumped over to the headquarters, slamming the conference room doors open just before the clock struck 11. “I’m here” she panted, out of breath.
“God, finally, we can start.” Marie mumbled under her breath. Three held up a middle finger in response, sitting down next to cap’n.
“Ah, wonderful, we can start.” He said with surprising gusto for an 84 year old.
“Recently, there have been growing rates of kidnapped octolings, specifically deserters. As well as this, the zapfish has been stolen, which means that the city is running on borrowed power until we can get it back. Agents 1 and 2, I’d like you to investigate.”
“Sure thing, gramps!” Callie smiled.
“Ah, and one more thing. As of now, I’m retiring from my position as captain, effective immediately.
The room went silent.
“WHAT?!?” Four shouted from the back of the room. Despite not knowing him before Callie was rescued, the captain and four had built up a close relationship over time.
“Gramps, what the fuck” Callie hissed with unexpected anger. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Oh, no, no. I’m not leaving the splatoon. I’m just retiring from my position as captain.” Gramps replied.
“But- why?” Four asked.
“Simple. I’m old, and I already have a new captain in mind.” The rest of the table looked at him expectedly. “Agent three, as of now, is the new captain of the new squidbeak splatoon. Four glared at three with what can only be described as utter hatred and malice. Three just smirked.
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“So you’re the new captain now?” Eight asked as three plopped down on the couch. “Yeah, I guess gramps got tired of everyone running around without listening too him.” Three replied. She pulled up her
Phone and started scrolling through squidstagram. “Yknow that stuff is bad for your brain, right?” Eight commented. “Yeah, yeah.” Three replied, too wrapped up in her doomscrolling. Eight crept up until she was next to her, and the proceeded to swat the phone out of threes hand. “Hey!! Give that back!” Three yelled. Eight scurried away, and three made chase, scrambling after her. Eightran away, and three ran after, chasing her around the apartment and eventually, after 10 minutes of sprinting after one another, three had tackled eight onto the couch. She huffed, slightly out of breath, as she slowly realized the position she was in. She was poised right above eight, and the octoling was blushing profusely. Three quickly rolled off of her, sighing as she splayed out across the floor. She chuckled to herself and closed her eyes, drifting into a nap.
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Three was awoken by the ding of her phone. A message.
Thebst4gent: hey have u seen marie
Thebst4gent: ?
Three tapped out a reply.
Agent 3: no, why?
Thebst4gent: gramps and I tried calling them and they didnt pick up
Agent 3: alright I’ll go check it out
Three set down her phone and sat up.
“hey Eight?! I’m going to head out for a little bit.” She called out. “Okay!” A distant voice shouted. She pulled her hero vest over her head and slid on her hero runners before super jumping to where four had told her gramps was located.
“Ah, agent three!” Gramps called. “Nice to have you here!” He beckoned to a sewer grate. “This is where I think Callie and Marie ran off too.” He slipped down into the drain and three followed right after him.
When three stood up, she was blinded by the annoyingly bright sun. It was oddly hot, and she didn’t know why, until she looked up. She was in the middle of a barren desert. And below her was a massive pit, with what seemed to be some sort of… fuzz?
“Oh, what’s this?” Gramps asked to no one in particular before touching a finger to the fuzz and promptly being engulfed by a fuzzy ball. But, much to threes relief, he respawned quickly. “So, three, I would not recommend touching that ooze.” Gramps stated. Three snorted. “Yeah, I got that, thanks” she replied with a bit of snark. Gramps brushed it off and looked downwards into the crater. Three walked over and stood next to him, following his gaze. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll go check it out.” Three sighed. She jumped down into the crater, landing superhero style and shockingly remaining unharmed. She must have plot armor, she thought. And then she promptly fell through the ground.
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God, threes head hurt. And the ground was… cold? Why the fuck was the ground all soft and cold and- oh. It’s snow.
Well, that’s a change from the sunny, hot landscape of that crater.
“Hey, three?” She heard a voice call. She groaned. “Yeah, yeah, nice to see you too.” Three looked up to meet eyes with Marie. So that’s where she’d been. “Hey Marie.” She sighed.