"Well that's one way to greet family."

Eight stood unmoving, unsure what to do or say. Should she say anything at all or just let Three deal with… whatever exactly this was? And wait, did she say she was family? Eight's gears turned, slowly making sense of the situation. Three's parents had died when she was young, and there was only one other relative the inkling had ever spoken of. Especially only one who could garner such an intense response.

Which could only mean…

Oh.

Admittedly, it was kind of embarrassing how slow she was on the uptake. But obviously, if the murderous glower on her girlfriend's face was an indicator, this woman had to be… her aunt…

And suddenly, Eight was feeling a tad more murderous as well.

"Family?" Three chuckled a hallow, emotionless chuckle. "You… You're anything but family, you bitter, pathetic old hag. You know what? I don't give a single shit why you're here, I just want you to leave." She started to march towards the door, fists clenched tight. This wasn't the same brand of anger Eight had seen several times before. Not the annoyed anger Three felt when something inconvenienced her, not the sour anger she had whenever she made an ass of herself, not even the seething dangerous anger she'd shown at the arcade a couple weeks ago. Right now, her voice was low, even, and spoken with the same icy detachment you might see from an executioner giving their victim their last words.

And frankly it was frightening.

Eight wanted to jump in like she had to the last time Three's judgment was clouded by vexation. But she was far, far out of her depth here. That and honestly speaking, she herself was having a difficult time resisting the urge to strangle such a detestable being.

"Auntie, I didn't leave that hell hole the second I could just to have you wriggle your way back into my life the second I'm the happiest I've ever been." She gripped the door, and stared intently at the older inkling who, surprisingly, didn't even flinch under the sharp gaze. "Let me make myself crystal coddamn clear. Stay the fuck away from me. Or next time, you'll be leaving without a couple teeth."

"Hana—"

"And never," Three scowled, "ever, call me that." Then proceeded to slam the door so hard it was amazing the thing didn't fall straight off the hinges.

Okay. This was a lot to process very suddenly.

Eight was at a loss. This had been the last thing expected today. It was supposed to be Three's day off. They were going to chill, and cuddle, and generally just be happy and comfortable for once. But the universe had other plans it'd seem.

But wait, something then caught Eight's attention. She turned to her partner, who was staring blankly at the door she'd just slammed, and asked… "Hana?"

Three snapped towards Eight and sneered, "Don't." It was more of a demand than a request.

Eight took a surprised step back, eyes wide as she recoiled from the knife sharp inflection Three was using. "A-ah, got it… I'm sorry…" She shuffled nervously, tentacles swaying anxiously under such an intimidating, fixed glare. That is, until the inkling abruptly shrank back and began her own penitent fidgeting.

Her face immediately shifted from loathing to apologetic and shy. "I… s-sorry… I shouldn't… fuck." She wrapped her arms tight around her torso much like a hug and looked anywhere but the octoling. "I just… fucking hate that name… like a lot."

"Oh… So that's…?"

"It's my… er… well, my legal name. I stopped using it years ago."

Eight squinted at the floor. To think…she'd been living with this inkling for months. To think she was now dating her, to think she didn't know her name… For some reason 'Three' had just seemed to fit, so she hadn't ever questioned it. As ridiculous as that sounds.

The octoling raised a curious brow, though her voice remained careful and soft, afraid she was about to step into no-no territory. "Could I ask… how come? If that's alright with you?"

Three sighed, green eyes continuing their observation of the floor. "I… This is a lot happening all at once. Let's just say it reminds me of both my parents and that jackass woman and leave it there. I prefer Three, so please just stick with that."

That was pretty fair. It was a pretty name, but Eight definitely decided it'd be best to keep that opinion to herself. It's not as though Three would cease to be… well… Three, now that a technical birth name had been revealed. Truthfully, if Eight woke up remembering her "real name" the next day, she was confident she'd continue to use her number and hoped others would do the same. She'd simply grown accustomed and attached to it.

"Alright, Three. I understand" Eight made steady and gentle paces toward her girlfriend, who - now that the anger and surprise had started to wear off - was beginning to look a fair bit perturbed. "Are you okay?"

Three shrugged, her arms resuming their position around her own torso. "I think I'm debatably not okay a lot of the time but… I don't know. I'm gonna go lay down. Wake me in a few hours." And with that, she stalked off towards the direction of her bedroom, leaving Eight to stand quietly alone. The younger of the two watched with worry as her favorite person in the world wallowed helplessly back to the private confines of her room and shut the door.

Well that was a train wreck.

There were a lot of questions and concerns making themselves aggressively relevant in Eight's mind. The two major ones of course being, why had Three's aunt shown up and was Three going to be okay? There were other smaller queries however. Including but not limited to: why had she shown up at Four's house before their own? Was she going to show up again, and if so, what should they do? Obviously she couldn't let Three be arrested for assault but… well, it's not like the monster didn't deserve it. To hit and manipulate a defenseless child, how heartless do you have to be? Eight's face twisted into a dark grimace; that lady was lucky she didn't know where her octo shot was, because there were several choice places it could be lodged.

What should she do now?

Intuition told her to give Three some space so… going to cuddle her precious girlfriend was off the table as far as options were concerned. At least for the time being. Finish the movie? It'd be a good time killer, and the sounds of spy shenanigans had persisted in the background for that entire encounter. But to finish it without Three seemed… rude? Well, she had told Four they'd let her know when they found out what was going on so she supposed she could do that.

Eight reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, clicked it on, and pulled up texts. Of course she was going to leave certain info out. But she could probably give the gist of things.

Eight: The lady showed up. Apparently some of Three's family.

Four: Damn for real? Dude, I don't know jack about Three's personal life. What's the deal? What did she want?

Eight: We don't actually know what she wanted. Three asked her to leave. She said it was important though.

Four: Yikes, family drama huh?

Eight: Something like that…

Eight: Anyways, just letting you know.

Four: Cool, I guess. But now I'm just more confused about why she decided to show up at my house. Like? That's kinda weird right?

Eight: Yeah…

It was then that Eight had an idea. She hadn't hung out with Four one on one in like, ever. And she needed something to do so…

Eight: Hey, are you busy today?

Four: Nah. Why, what's up?

Eight: Wanna hang out? Maybe you could help me find a job or something.

Four: Selling your soul to the man like the rest of us, huh? Sure, I don't got anything better to do. I'm down. When you wanna meet up?

Eight: I don't know anything about souls or "the man" but… nowish? Three is… busy.

Four: Is she raging out or something?

Eight: I don't think that's it. But I need something to do for a while.

Four: I hear you loud and clear! Meet me by Ammo Knights in like, thirty minutes.

Eight: Sounds good.

Neat. She now had something to do while she gave Three some alone time, and might even land herself a job while she's at it. Zapfish knows the financial support was needed. Though that said, the octoling wasn't entirely sure what she was going to do. Since coming to the surface she hadn't ever technically gone through the process to become a citizen. So that definitely complicated things. Plus she'd never had a job, so it's not like she had any resume of sorts. Unless any local employers wanted ex Octarian military to work their cash register. Hopefully they'd figure something out though, Four knew Inkopolis much better than Eight.

Right then… she guessed she should get going. Should she tell Three she was leaving or…? She was tempted to leave without a word, but she really didn't want Three to come out of her room only to be worried by the absence of her girlfriend and roommate. Eight decided to just let her know real quick she'd be going out, that should be fine.

She walked over to Three's bedroom door. Several times it had occurred to her how badly she wished they could share a room, but at times like these, maybe separate sleeping areas were for the best. After all, sometimes a person simply needs some privacy. But still… how she didn't wish she could fall asleep every night wrapped up in Three's arms. It absolutely helped with nightmares, and the inkling's body was comfy as heck. Oh well…

She raised a hand to knock softly on Three's door - a polite heads up that she was about to enter - but a soft, choked sound hit her ears and stopped her hand before it made contact with the old, worn out wood. She stood silently for a beat, before pressing a rounded ear gently against the door.

What she heard was the unmistakable, heartbreaking sound of muffled sobbing.

Oh Three…

Her hearts ached hearing Three cry. Her desire to go in and wrap her in a tight hug and tell her everything was okay was a strong one indeed. But something deep down inside told her, once again, that the squid needed some space. As much as that hurt.

Pointed fangs worried at Eight's bottom lip, her orange eyes sorrowful and empathetic.

Maybe she should just leave a note.

She needed to be quick though. Didn't want to keep Four waiting too long. Resolved to do just that, and to make it snappy, Eight rushed into her room to grab a piece of paper and a pen. Her Inklish handwriting was sloppy at the best of times, and it didn't help that she was rushing but it'd have to do. The note wasn't anything extraordinary, just that she'd gone out with Four for a bit and that she'd be back soon. And maybe a quick reminder that she was there for Three if ever she needed to be and that she cared about her a whole lot.

She took the note and ran back to Three's door, promptly laying the paper just by the entrance. Hopefully Three would see it if/when she decided to come out.

Making one last sad glance towards the bedroom door, Eight went to leave. She hadn't even changed out of her lazy day clothes, which consisted of a large Squid Sisters t-shirt and some grey sweats. It was fine though, Four wouldn't mind.

She grabbed her house keys and made for the front door. A lot of questions swirled around in her head, and a lot of them pertained to what had just transpired between Three and her aunt. But hopefully now that the older woman had been kicked to the curb, this conflict was over before it even started.

Fingers crossed…

Eight turned the knob and opened the door, before stepping out of the apartment and into the outside world. She'd best be off.