The Creation of Diplomacy
Chapter II: First Impressions
Upon arriving to the destination Agent 4 went to, Ariel stood still, surprised by where the inkling agent had led her to: Tentakeel Outpost.
The only sector of Octo Canyon that led to the capital known as Inkopolis, and the main base of operations for the Squidbeak Splatoon. She had never been to this sector before, especially since the octarians were completely banned around this area by the creators of the project.
She saw the young agent beckoning her to follow them to a cabin of some sorts with a gilten, phonograph-like mechanism on the top. Despite all the weather, the building and the mechanism looked to be in a decent condition, much to the mild surprise of Ariel as she also saw several lights coming from the windows with a figure inside, looking down at something as Ariel followed the young inkling in pursuit through the harsh winds.
When they got behind the shack, the octoling noticed a backdoor leading inside, Agent 4 turning towards her, telling Ariel to wait here through hand signals as she entered inside.
While waiting, the octoling could hear some talking coming from within along with sounds from the inkling girl, the conversation sounding like a bit of harmless banter before Ariel heard the older of the two voices sounding confused, patiently waiting for Agent 4 to come back, and let her in before she heard the door next to her open.
Instead of her stepping out, though, was a white-tentacled inkling wearing a black kimono with shades of green and grey with colored triangles embedded onto the bottom and middle, holding what looked to be a regular parasol, looking more older and mature than Agent 4 as her initial look of surprise turns into a tired frown upon her eyes setting on Ariel, obviously having distaste of seeing an octarian here.
She was more afraid of this inkling's presence than Agent 4's, knowing that this was one of the Squid Sisters, the one named Marie that held a grudge against the octarians for what they did to her cousin when she was kidnapped. She was the green to Callie's pink before Marie turned away with an annoyed, tired sigh, only uttering 3 words that could only be described as resentful.
"Come on in..." The pop star mumbled, tired in her voice before going back in as Ariel warily following her inside.
It looked much cozier on the inside than it did initially. That, along Ariel spotting a sliding door that sparked her curiosity a bit before Marie grabbed herself a nearby tea cup on the counter, pouring some of the contents from within the kettle as she sat in front of a table to the left in front of the window she looked at earlier, seemingly ignoring Ariel's presence as the octoling cleared her throat, grabbing the idol's attention.
"Hey... sorry for coming and disturbing you, I just..." She looks down, away from the squid sister until Marie let out a yawn.
"Please, cut the apologies, octoslob..." The inkling said after rubbing her eyes, her voice sounding tranquil, yet cross as she stirred her tea, staring at it as though was entranced by the liquid's movement. "Just what were you doing, running away from work like that?! You're not supposed to do that stuff, especially at this time!" Ariel could tell she wanted to shout at her, but couldn't, as if she was trying not to wake someone up as the octoling looked down out of fear, Ariel remaining quiet before letting out a heavy exhale in response.
Marie simply stared blankly at her before resuming with drinking from her cup of tea, as if Ariel wasn't in front of her.
"I..." Ariel barely managed to say something, only falling quiet as Marie looked at the window next to the two, watery rain coating it as she stared out into the darkness at something, cup in hand, trembling at whatever she looked at. "...I just don't like working on this project anymore..." She whimpered as she sat down on a nearby chair in front of the squid sister, looking down as Marie let out a humph, annoyed.
"Too bad, can't really do anything about it..." Marie responded while placing a hand over her head, looking down at the table while tapping her finger on it repeatedly with the other, staring into the contents of her tea.
"Please, just help me!" Ariel suddenly raised her voice, much to Marie and Agent 4's shock as their attention was shifted to her. "I can't stand working there, and being shouted at-"
"I CAN'T! And be quiet, will you?!" Marie raised her voice in return at the octoling, silencing her as Agent 4 looked shaken by her mentor's sudden change of attitude. "Look, do I have to repeat myself to you again!? Because you're just sitting here, wasting my time at this ungodly hour!" She got up from her seat, placing her hands on the table, sternly looking at Ariel as her shadow loomed over the octoling. "I. Can't. Do. ANYTHING about it, even if I wanted to, okay!? I wish I could, but-" Before she could say anything else, everyone could hear the sound of groaning coming from the room covered by the sliding door. A short-tempered sigh escaped Marie, who rolled her eyes while the sound of footsteps could be heard from within.
"Great... we just woke her up..." Marie mumbled, irritated before the doors slid open.
"Marie, what the heck...? Why are you-" The other squid sister, Callie, wearing what seemed to be a modified version of the shades she once wore, peeked her head from behind the wall. She sounded just as tired as her cousin before noticing Ariel, quickly taking her sunglasses off before stepping out, wearing some night gown in place of her Squid Sister outfit, though, it had the same color motif.
"Marie!? Why is there an octoling?!" She exclaimed, confused and shocked as Ariel didn't know how to respond to her out of fear, turning to look at Marie who was shaking her head at her, disapprovingly before looking at her cousin.
"Agent 4 and I found them bawling at Slimeskin Garrison while I was looking through the cameras, and she took her here when I told her otherwise..." She paused for a moment, looking at Agent 4 who was just staring away from her, ashamed of herself for not following her instructions. "Anyways, I heard from this depressed trainwreck, that she didn't like working on this project any more, so to speak." Marie rested her head on the table, her eyes feeling heavy as everyone were quiet aside from the clash of thunder and downpour outside.
Callie noticed, just how miserable Ariel looked from her expression alone along with her body language, as well as how soaked her clothes were.
The younger of the two continued staring before walking over to Marie, who proceeded to whisper something to her that Ariel couldn't hear, the white-tentacled idol looking somewhat hesitant, letting out a quiet "What!? You're kidding, right!?" before Callie walked behind her, closing the door to the shack that Ariel forgot to do as the idol looked at her, slowly proceeding to sit next to her afterward.
"Hey, you okay?" Callie asked, the octoling remaining still and unmoving as she kept staring down at the table, away from Callie and the others.
Even in her somewhat tired state, the squid sister tried to be as polite as possible to the octoling, wanting to try her best to comfort her. Try as she might, though, she couldn't get a response from her, until she and the others could hear the sound of someone's stomach rumbling, happening to come from the octoling as Ariel placed a hand on her belly, wincing slightly at the pain. Since the past few weeks, she hadn't been eating a whole lot.
"Gee, you must be hungry..." The idol muttered before carefully placing her hand on the octarian's shoulder, to which Ariel promptly moved away from her upon touch. "Oh! Cod, sorry, I didn't mean t-!"
"Please..." Ariel begged as she cut her off, her voice sounding shaky as she looked at everyone. "...it hurts..." The octoling mumbled before looking back down, clutching her stomach as Callie got up from her chair, sprinting towards the fridge near the kettle before opening it, taking out a large soda cup of some kind with a straw attached along with what looked to be sushi rolls.
"I got this for you! Or do you want something else?" Callie said, holding the fridge open as the octoling looked up out of curiosity, noticing what the squid sister was doing as she got off her chair, walking over to analyze the contents within.
It seemed to have a good variety of food and beverages for her to choose from, ranging from sushi, fried food, desserts, pizzas, sodas, drinkable water, and much more. Her stomach rumbled again, begging for whatever food she could pick from within.
She remained silent before half-smiling, proceeding to grab two items from inside, both appearing to look like sausages with mustard and ketchup on it, as well as hints of a green, gelatinous substance underneath it. The 'bread' looked to be made out of fried lobsters sandwiching the meat in the center as she went over to the counter to grab herself a plate before sitting in front of Marie again, staring at the delicacy in front of her before eagerly grabbing, and taking a bite out of it with her hand as Callie watched.
The octoling paused once her taste buds came into contact with it. The fried lobster, and sausage's salty, grilled taste filled her mind with euphoria and happiness along with the desire for more, not hesitating to take another bite, enjoying it as Callie smiled at this. Marie was simply staring at her phone with an uninterested look while Agent 4 sat next to her mentor after checking the fridge herself, having grabbed what looked to be some kind of waffle with chocolate on it along with a fried lobster on the top similar to hers.
"Holy mackerel, this is so good!" The octoling praised before looking up at everyone. "Where did all you get this?" Ariel asked curiously as she savored the taste with every bite she took, Agent 4 taking out some tickets from her jacket's pocket before placing them on the table as the Squid Sisters noticed them.
"Agent 4 bought them from Crusty Sean a few days ago after she was done with her power egg job." Marie answered bluntly, seeming to not care for Ariel's question while she was busy playing some kind of game on it out of boredom. "They're, uh... kinda squid-tastic, in my opinion..." The squid sister said awkwardly, seemingly busy with her game as Ariel didn't care for what Marie said, taking another bite from the middle while Callie was dipping a sushi roll on some of the soy next to her, ready to eat it before the lights flickered for a moment, grabbing the attention of everyone.
For a moment, they thought the power was going out, but resumed their little discussion about the food they were eating before the whole place went dark seconds later without any warning.
"Oh, come on, you've GOT to be kidding me!" Marie got up from her seat, now sounding more angry than annoyed as she went inside the room Callie was sleeping in.
Ariel thought for a moment that Marie's frustration had won over her before she came back with a flashlight in her hand, along with a few candles with inkling markings on them before placing them near the three.
"Power went out?" Callie asked, watching Marie lighting up one of the candles before she spun around, clearly unamused by Callie pointing out the obvious.
"What do you think, captain obvious?" She asked, rubbing her eyes as she let out another yawn after lighting the other sticks of ignitable wick. "Forget it, I'll get it back up tomorrow..." She seemed to be texting someone on her phone near the sink now, Callie curiously starting at her cousin texting while Ariel got up herself to look, only for Marie to deactivate her phone upon her getting too close to viewing what she was typing.
"Sorry, can't let you know who I'm texting, octoling. Go back, and finish your food." She ordered, waiting for her to get back in her seat before Ariel furrowed her brows at her, slightly angered by Marie's constant, unwelcome attitude to her.
"I have a name, you know!" The octoling scowled at her, staring at the idol as she went back to texting to whoever it was.
"And? Does it look like I care?" Marie raised an eyebrow at her, still focused on the phone before Callie got up, and gave her a slight shove.
"What!?" She looked at her, looking as though she was about to start an argument with her cousin as Callie looked back at the octoling.
"Sorry, Marie's kinda been like this since I was brainwashed..." Her words trailed off as she went back to her seat, stuffing a rectangular-sized block of rice into her mouth with what looked to be like tuna on it. "...Mph, I forgot to ask...!" She swallowed the piece of sushi before continuing. "...What's your name?"
"Ariel! My name's Ariel!" She replied excitedly, finally glad that one of the two cousins seemed to care about knowing something about her.
"Ariel? That's actually a nice name!" Callie smiled as she introduced herself soon after, forcing Marie to do the same despite the older of the two declining at first while Agent 4 remained quiet, but shook the octoling's hand as Callie introduced her for Ariel.
Once the introductions were done with, the octoling looked at Callie, who was stretching herself a bit, letting out a yawn in the process. "So, Ariel..." She paused for a moment, waiting for her yawn to go away. "So, Ariel. Can you tell us why you were outside in a storm like this, and not inside Cephalon HQ?" Callie asked, moving the sushi rolls to the side as she looked at her.
Ariel did not know how to explain her reason why, thanks to all the stress and discomfort she had to deal with from the past weeks or so. Images of her sister and cohorts flashed through her head before she placed the delicacy she was eating back on the plate, moving it to the side.
"..." She looked down, her smile being replaced with a look of remorse was Callie noticed this before looking back at Marie, who was still busy texting whomever it was, looking annoyed by the conversation while Agent 4 looked at Ariel, a piece of the waffle in her mouth.
"Oh, um... that's fine!" Callie replied understandingly, examining one of the sushi rolls she was about to eat. "You wanna talk about it tomorrow, then?"
"Sure, if you want..." Ariel muttered before laying her elbow on the table, yawning as well while Marie walked over to the two, taking a seat next to her cousin as she cleared her throat before Ariel cut her off. "Could I sleep here tonight?"
"What?! No-" Marie answered her cousin placed a hand over her lips, taking her by surprise.
"Of course!" Callie replied happily, Marie swiping away her cousin's hand and looking at them two in disgust.
"Callie, are you mad!? You're letting this random octoling sleep with us?!" She raised her voice as an answer, to which Callie fell quiet as she looked at Ariel again before turning toward her cousin.
"We can't just leave her out there, though! Look how soaked she is!" She replied as Marie looked at Ariel again, a feeling of doubt swirling in her head before her expression became serious.
"Callie, she is NOT sleeping with us! Do you understand?" She replied, sounding as though she's now properly woken up from her sleep-induced state. "This has to be a plan made by Octavio to free him, and hypnotize you again with those stupid shades of his! She's sleeping outside for the night, whether it's a rainstorm or not!" She began walking over to Ariel, a scornful look on her as Marie closed in on her, the octoling backing away before letting out a scream upon the idol grabbing her by the wrist, yelling for Callie and Agent 4 to help as the former runs to lock the door.
"MARIE, STOP!" Callie yelled, blocking the door in front of Marie as her cousin peered at her, taking a step forward.
"Callie, move away from the door." The older of the two requested, putting a hand on Callie's shoulder, wanting to move her away while Callie stood her ground.
"I WON'T! Give her a chance, Marie! You're attacking her when she didn't even attack us!" Callie begged, her cousin hearing the octoling's desperate requests for mercy as she eyed Agent 4 looking at her as well, afraid of her violent behavior towards the octarian before she eventually let go of Ariel, pushing her away towards the table everyone sat at earlier.
"Oh, I'M attacking her!?" She asked, her tired mind having frustrated and clouded her mind too much as she looked at Ariel and Agent 4, then back at Callie, her consciousness slipping away into darkness as she felt something in her head spinning. "Ugh, FINE! She can stay here for tonight, but ONLY for tonight!" The older squid sister replied angrily before Callie could say anything, looking as though she had a headache with a hand of hers on her own tentacles, walking towards the bedroom, only to stop in her tracks.
"You don't seem to have a problem with that Marina girl coming over to visit with Pearl, you know." Callie saw her cousin cringe at her comment, Marie only muttering a passive-aggressive 'good night' to Callie and the others before slamming the wall behind her shut.
"Are you alright, Ariel!?" Callie ran over to her, the octoling standing against the wall with her hands on it, quiet with the exception of the few occasional sobs escaping her as Callie helped try to comfort her along with Agent 4, Ariel continuously choking on her own words, trying to utter a sentence regarding Marie, but failing to do as Callie hushed her, patting her on the shoulder in an attempt to pacify her as Ariel hugged her for comfort.
"Hey hey, calm down, Marie's not gonna do that to you again, okay?" She heard her fall quiet after a while, letting go of her as Ariel removed some of the stains she had on her cheeks.
"Look, you can sleep on that couch tonight if you want. I'll let Agent 4 stay here if you need anyone to talk to." Callie looked at the agent, the inkling nodding understandingly at what Callie told her what to do before the squid sister drank what remained in her cup, tossing it into a garbage can in the corner afterward.
"I guess..." Ariel muttered, letting out a sniff while Callie pulled down some of the blinds, the only thing illuminating the room now being the candle in the middle of the table along with the other on the kitchen counter. "I'll see you tomorrow, then...?" She asked while laying down on where she should be sleeping for tonight, feeling as though her eyes were drying up from all the sobbing earlier.
"Yeah, I'll wake you up in the morning before they come, alright?" She walked over to the door Marie closed, Ariel's ears perking up slightly at her response as she looked at Callie, confused as to who 'they' are.
"They...?" She raised an eyebrow, worried as Callie paused midway with pulling the door open before looking at Ariel, no longer wearing that comforting smile on her face.
"The people that started this project." She answered, Ariel feeling like her blood went a little bit cold upon hearing her answer. "Marie hasn't said much, but she's told me, that they, and their leader are coming to check on the progress tomorrow." She noticed the look on Ariel's face, understanding her fear of those people as she saw her holding onto a pillow.
From what Ariel understood, it was they who were responsible for brainwashing her sister. Having taken her, and her team of elite octolings away for being a part of helping Octavio, and trying to splat Agent 4 during the whole Zapfish ordeal.
But their leader, she never had the chance of meeting, or catch a glimpse of, even during work hours when contributors to the project were watching her and the others.
"Hey, don't worry!" Callie reassured her, snapping the octoling out of her fears as she looked at the idol. "I'll hide you in our bedroom tomorrow, deal?" She asked after sliding open the frames leading to the bedroom Marie was in, looking back at Ariel who nodded shyly.
"If you want, I could talk with Marie about keeping you here if working on that project bothers you so much." Ariel looked, and smiled at the squid sister, feeling her whole body becoming relaxed as she rested her head on one of the couch's cushions.
"I'd like that, Callie..." Ariel replied before they bid each other a good night, just as the squid sister pulled the frames over her, leaving only Agent 4 and Ariel together. The inkling girl watched the octoling as she stared back at her, unblinking with only her phone and the candles illuminating the cabin they were in.
"So..." Ariel muttered nervously, trying to break the silence between the two. "...you're gonna watch me tonight, or what?"
The inkling nodded, placing her chair next to the couch as she grabbed a nearby plush of a zapfish with a blue cap laying on the shelf, tossing it on the octoling as a squeaking sound emanated from it upon landing on Ariel's tentacles, as well as when it dropped on her belly.
She let out a slight chuckle in response, caressing and squeezing it repeatedly as Agent 4 smiled at this friendly octoling being happy, unlike how pathetic she looked when they saw each other at Slimskin Garrison earlier tonight.
"Thanks, 4..." She muttered before rolling to the side, staring into the plushy's eyes as she fell asleep soon after.
Later, in the middle of the night...
Agent 4 was looking through her phone, reading about the latest news at Inkopolis before stumbling onto a report that most of the octarians have now been removed from Inkopolis with the exception of Marina along with some other octarians that were in hiding, who, along with Pearl were currently speaking against the new law the government has made regarding about banning octarians.
She scrolled down, looking at the pictures of inklings along with Marina and Pearl forming a riot at Inkopolis Square against this new rule, a slight look of concern forming on the inkling's face as she stared at Ariel again, worried what would happen if the project's creator or any of their cohorts got a hold of her.
She would have none of that whatsoever, especially against an octoling she met that had looked so alone. She had heard Callie and Marie in their bedrooms talking with each other about Ariel, discussing about what to do with her with Marie's voice having a twinge of regret in it, most likely as a result of having been so harsh on the octoling earlier today before the two went completely quiet.
She fell asleep herself a few moments later, having set her alarm to go off at around 6 in the morning in case 'they' would show up earlier than expected.