Chapter Seven: Against the Split
"No, no, no," Eight argued, boosting herself up from her seat using her hands that were firmly planted on the table, "Pearl you are not causing anarchy!"
The dinner table became a battlefield.
"I'm just saying," Pearl sluggishly stated, "a flood of Octolings coming from the woodworks is probably not going to work with our city, nor this entire country."
"She's got a point, Eight," Callie nodded, "we can't just bring in tons of Octolings like that in one swipe, you darn well know that this place is not ready for that."
"Yes we all agree on that, but the way we do this, that is what we are not agreeing on," Cuttlefish said, wiping his brow before crossing his arms.
Three's hand favoured the back of her head before sighing, "Anarchy on a place we can't control is not the best option, anarchy just doesn't work anywhere."
"Control is the thing we are looking for, we can slow down the amount of Octolings we are freeing or we can speed it up, we can make Calamari Inkantation the best thing known to their kind or make it seem like it doesn't exist," Marina barged in, standing up as she spoke her first few words.
Four clapped his hands together, "Sorry Marina, but controlling what people think doesn't sound like a good deal."
"Nor does taking down the only thing underground Octolings know of," Marie countered.
"I get the control party more than the anarchy stuff," Cuttlefish admitted, "you kids can waddle your mouths off, I'm taking a nap, Marie and Callie can hopefully fill in the blanks for me."
"I don't agree with Callie's plan," Marie sighed.
"It's not anarchy Marie, it's letting Octolings choose and decide," Four quietly, almost sombrely, replied, squeezing his cheeks and straightening his mouth, "at least we would be giving freedom to choose being freed."
"Let me ask you this, Four," Marina coughed, "if you take down the only system, the only hope, that the underground Octolings have, would they believe you?"
"Take it from us Four," Eight jumped in, "I didn't immediately think to get out of Octavio's control when Three first took him down for the first time. I was there, and so were thousands of other Octolings, the song, the overtaking, might not work when spread out. Controlled streams of the song would work better."
"And then what's next, after every other Octoling finds out that everything they knew was a lie, what would happen then," Callie defended Four, "to fight, right? To fight back the lies spoonfed to them. Tell me Eight, Pearl, why are you in this brigade?"
Pearl and Eight simply grunted, taken back, only for Marie to jump in again, "Callie, I think that's enough."
"I'm sorry you two," Four apologized beforehand before looking at a disappointed stern Marie looking back at him, silently begging him not to continue, "I think we should let your brothers and sisters decide their own fate."
"Four, Callie, and I think its best we let them decide," Pearl stood up, taking a slow deep breath before continuing, "I-we think it is best if we just hack into their systems-with how they operate their whatevers it'll probs be easy- play that song for hours on end before cutting it off, and letting whatever happens happen."
"Marie, Eight, Three, and I think controlling the current powers underground is a more safer and more controllable way to get these Octolings out of the underground," Marina responded, sternly, straightforwardly, and precisely.
"We agree on what should happen," Four sternly said, "let's decide some other time."
Four looked at Marie, she looked more disappointed, but was not angry. She took Three's trembling shoulders and turned her away from Four, guiding her to the open front door. Marie simply shared a half smile towards Four before closing the door behind her, being the last one to leave.
"I should probably head back too," Pearl quietly said, "we can all admit this whole anarchy-freedom-politcal-talk is making us all uncomfortable. Geez, I grew up wanting to be a singer not the face of the next war... I need to talk to Marina..."
Pearl's face dropped, her bombastic persona faded away, her eyes dropped a tear before she continued, "I hope I didn't hurt her, nor anyone, but most importantly her. I hope she still likes me. I hope I didn't go too far..."
"Take care, please, Pearl," Callie waved, seeing Pearl exit the house.
Four gulped, the noise cutting through the silence like a hot knife through butter, catching Callie's attention. She saw a shocked, nervous, and frightened Four. Callie echoed his concerns, "Worried about her, Four?"
"Us," Four responded, "is it really worth it losing someone to believe in something I truly think is truthful."
Callie slowly walked towards him, clasping her hand on his cheek, "That's for you to decide, you are smart nugget, despite what I sometimes say."
Four looked at her face. It was a face of true concern, but one of care. He knows she doesn't or didn't want to see him this way. He shook his face a little, shaking off some of the frown and the nervousness.
"There we go," Callie smiled, keeping her hand on his cheek, "don't lose faith in yourself, or in her."
She smiled, taking her other hand and mirroring her first hand before whipping her hands back down to herself.
"I do admit though, Four," Callie said, turning around and walking away towards the stairs, "you make me question myself and what I want sometimes."
She then made her way up the stairs, leaving Four alone with a passed-out Cuttlefish.
For days on end, the arguments would come back and forth, here and there, in private and in public. No other Inkling or Octoling knew about the context, all were just concerned about getting an autograph and a picture with an occasional few seconds to answer some questions. No one was winning the argument, however, Cuttlefish joined Marina's side not long after the spurts started. Soon, the debate grew uncontrollable. Soon, the phones of everyone involved lit up in flames.
Pearl: Uhh, we got a situation! CODE RED CODE RED CODE RED!
Marie: Did someone get injured?
Callie: Better be Four, he still owes me an apology!
Pearl: No no no guys please, be serious!
Marina: Whatever I'll explain it. Essentially, we were talking debating about the whole plan thing. Well, we had our microphones on during a live broadcast. A ton of Cephalopods just heard us scream about whether controlling a society is better than a society with no rules.
Four: So I wasn't just daydreaming about that...I actually heard you guys pull this.
Pearl: AND YOU DIDNT TELL US!?
Four: You were expecting me to care?
Marie: You were expecting him to care..
Marina: Yeah, we only found out after Eight and Three told us about hearing the replay. So like, almost half a day later we finily found out.
Marina: *finally
Three: I don't know which one is more stuppider...
Eight: The one that used the word "stuppider"
Three: K shut up
Marie: Why not just say it is for your next Splatfest?
Pearl: Xcuse us miss? What?
Marie: I mean, you haven't announced your next Splatfest, why not just replace your planned one with this one?
Marina: WAIT WAIT
Marina: You are telling me that we change our Pearl versus Marina Splatfest with what...?
Pearl: Chaos versus order duh
Marie: I was going to type that but bingo
Eight: That's not a bad idea actually
Pearl: Wouldve loved seeing all the posts about it though Eight have I shown you all the posts when Marie and Callie did theirs
Eight: Yeah I was thinking the exact same thinggg
Marie: Anyways, I'm thinking this is your best bet, just call it an ARG for your new Splatfest
Three: Whats arg
Eight: Ammonium rectangular gangster
Pearl: Yeah, we should do that, augmented reality games are probably our least risk route. Won't damage our PR and image, and will even get people more excited.
Callie: Wow Pearly just typed a message that has all the correct punctuation...
Pearl: SHUDIT
Callie: XD ;P
Four: I know it sounds dangerous, but after the Splatfest, whichever side wins, that side would be able to take the their plan into motion
Marie: Honestly not a bad idea
Four: Thanks BB 3
Marina: Pearl, you up for that
Pearl: Yeah im down only because youre gonna lose
Three: Okay okay calm down miss forehead
Eight:You think she cant rank up any higher than an A because her forehead is such a big target or because she uses dualies and doesnt know when not to superjump
Pearl: shut up you dont even hava name
The banter continued into the night, however, everyone was aware of the unsettling atmosphere around the conversation. Whoever wins the Splatfest, gets to go through with the plan that they see fit. The population, unknowingly, will get to decide how the Octolings will be saved.
