Chapter XI: Arrangement


I didn't wait for any answers from the others in the room, passionately kissing Scurry and lifting up her shirt to move my hands along her back. I hear Callie saying something about wanting to watch us but hear her complain a few seconds later as her voice moves away. My eyes close as I let the moment stretch out, enjoying the sensations and closeness of the one I care about.

I grunt slightly when my body twinges in pain and Scurry pushes me away slightly when she feels me twinge. "Take it easy, Kosh...you're still weak..." she whispers to me and to emphasize her point, my face grimaces as my arms start to go numb. "Kosh, we can do this tomorrow or when you're better..." she insists and I find rational thoughts start to fight with my growing instincts, my body telling me multiple things and pulling me in multiple directions. An exhausted sigh escapes me as I gently hug Scurry under her shirt and let her cheek rub against mine. "It was pretty bad, wasn't it? How long was I out?" I ask her in a whisper, her voice also a whisper when she replies. "Three hours. You lost much of your vital ink and lost consciousness. I gave you much of my ink to keep you stable because we couldn't wait for the ink bath." That's dangerous and might've splatted her too.

"I guess you're feeling a little weak too?" I whisper in reply and her cheek briefly rubs against mine in a nod. My right-hand moves to her hair tentacles with some difficulty, barely able to stroke at all. "Maybe an ink bath will help? It helped out Drosyn-"

"Why did you spare her?" she interrupts, her anger barely contained and sapping any pleasantness of the mood. I choose my answer carefully but remain honest. "It didn't feel right when I was there...I know I have no valid reason to spare her but I can't shake the feeling that...something is wrong about this..." I retrace the fight as best I can in my head, noting the missing patches in the memory. She had plenty of opportunities to splat me or bleed me of ink during that encounter but she took none of them. I wasn't sure what she would do if I didn't use a Splashdown. I say as much aloud but Scurry doesn't respond, asking instead for me to continue my explanation. Why didn't Drosyn try to splat me? All she was doing during the fight was play with me and flaunt her superiority. The answer to her question finally surfaces with the last of my thoughts. "We need answers and of all the answers I want, I want to-"

"You want to know why she splatted Glag," she says bitterly and I nod lightly as she pulls back, staring at me eye to eye with a serious expression on her face. "What makes you think she'll tell you?" she asks me, the bite of her words mirroring her hostile expression. I sigh to myself and look away, feeling like I made another foolish choice in the spur of the moment. "Maybe being defeated or spared her life might make her talk and if she won't talk, at least we can learn about the rogue octarians and how they think. There are obvious risks but the choice is already made."

I chuckle a bit as a thought occurs to me through the exhaustion, my mood shifting slightly away from the dire situation. "I guess I'm a poor Agent. I disobeyed what Marie ordered on multiple occasions," I say weakly, feeling myself tire as Scurry laughs in response. "Stick together and stay alert?"

"Yeah..." I whisper, drifting off again and my eyes closing. I hear her voice before I pass out.

"Just sleep, Kosh...I'll be right behind you..."


My eyes snap open and a gasp escapes my throat as disorientation kicks in, the outside light now bright through the blinds. "Kosh, what's wrong?" I hear from my chest, looking down to see Scurry laying on me but still double checking my surroundings. Once I'm reoriented and not in a panic, I eventually respond, "I'm fine...just a little disoriented...what time is it?"

"It's around noon. You slept most of the day away," she replies in a whisper, rubbing my head in an attempt to calm me down. My body feels a little better but still weak from ink loss and the idea from the previous day resurfaces when I start moving. "I think I need an ink bath," I state while trying to rise, Scurry moving off me and helping me into a sitting position. My legs swing to the edge of the bed and I wince as pain stings my body again, dull and annoying as my hand touches a tender spot on my hip. Scurry quickly moves off the bed and puts my arm around her shoulder, whispering to me as she starts moving me, "Take it easy. Let's move slowly and get you to the bathroom."

Even standing takes extra effort because my legs nearly collapsing from under me as soon as I'm upright. Scurry keeps reassuring me that she won't drop me as we start to make slow progress forward, every part of my body starting to hurt all the way there. I guess my body is struggling to heal the damage with the limited ink I have. Scurry opens the bathroom door with a hair tentacle and sits me down on the toilet, using her thumb to activate the bath fixture as I sit there in a daze. "Hey, stay with me. Try and focus on me," she says in front of my face with a look of concern but my head keeps swimming in and out of focus. Scurry starts pulling off my shirt and shorts with arms and hair tentacles before leading me gently into the tub to fall into the ink with a splash. Feeling the refreshing liquid around me, I close my eyes and let the ink around me be absorbed into my skin, the pain slowly ceasing and my head clearing with each passing moment. A minute of floating later, I let out a refreshed sigh and sit up in the tub, feeling much better and focused.

"Thanks, Sis," I tell Scurry as she uses the toilet who blushes when I use her nickname. "It was nothing really...so just relax and recharge." she stutters as she quickly finishes and tries to move to wash her hands in the sink. I grab her gently by the shirt and tug her towards me, her head slightly turning and smiling at me wondering what I'm doing. "We didn't get to enjoy this yesterday so...why don't we try today now that we aren't in a hurry?" I'm able to say through my own growing embarrassment. We're in a hurry since Drosyn is still downstairs but what she said yesterday still upsets me...I don't want to make her feel ignored...

She doesn't take much convincing, quickly grinning and pulling off her clothes quickly before pushing me onto my back in the tub and laying on top of me. Her arms wrap around my neck as she starts to kiss me aggressively, my arms wrapping around her back as we close our eyes and let the sensations take over. Her tongue brushes my teeth and tongue again and I return the favour, plenty of time taken to relieve the built up stress of everything that's happened in such a short span.

It takes us a while to stop, touching foreheads and sighing in relief as I feel rejuvenated emotionally. "Zapfish, that felt good..." Scurry exhales, the ink displacing slightly in the tub slightly as she kisses me a few more times. "Did you take a bath before me?" I ask her between kisses, her head nodding with a smile she continues. My hands start to move lower, rubbing the back of her body as they move and making her stop kissing when my hands touch her rear. Her smile becomes a grin when she notices, cyan ink dribbles down her lip from a moment ago. "Someone's frisky today," she playfully says as she continues her aggressiveness, my hands moving back to her upper and lower back out of instinct. I'm not really sure I'm being frisky or not...this is all new to me...

"You're terrible at romance. What happened to that first time with all the passion?" she whispers between kisses, my mind trying to recall what's so different about the first time. I just let instincts take over the first time and things happened. I try and explain myself as she continues to show her affection. "I just don't feel as...comfortable letting my instincts do this for me. I don't want that to be the reason I do this..." I whisper, not quite sure if I'm answering honestly or not.

"Then let's learn how to make this work," she replies with a growing grin, her body reorienting itself so that she's sitting on me as her hips thrust downward, making me enter her with an exhale of relief. She persists by grabbing my hands and moving them to her chest, my hands rubbing her breasts in response as we start to move our bodies slowly. Scurry smiles at me as I do what she wants. "Just relax, Kosh and let me handle this-"

My body says otherwise, rising out of the tub and removing my hands from her chest to embrace her back. She looks at me in surprise and wraps her arms around my neck awkwardly, now looking unsure of what to do. "We're in this together, remember?" I whisper in her ear, her cheek rubbing mine gently as she whispers back, "Now you're getting it..." Words cease as I find my own instincts taking over again, my mouth meeting hers as we let the pent-up frustration and sadness wash away. Why am I thinking so hard about this? What did it matter that I let instinct take over? So long as she's fine with it, it really doesn't matter.

She licks my face at one point and surprises me with a serious claim. "I love you..." she whispers and it takes me by surprise, my mind unable to respond quickly enough on its own. "Say it..." she persists and I gulp a little before responding timidly, "I..love you..." She holds me closer in desperate sadness, putting her head on my shoulder and sobbing lightly sobbing lightly to herself. "Was that so hard to say?" she says as I feel ink start to touch my shoulder with her tears. I sigh in reply as I rub her hair tentacles in an effort to calm her down. "No...it just took me off guard is all...no one has ever said that to me before..." I whisper and my eyes catch something in the bathroom doorway. I push her back suddenly and move her forehead to mine, whispering to her, "Someone's outside-"

"So?" she gasps, leaning in to kiss me aggressively with a happy smile, my eyes widening at the boldness but closing in acceptance. I guess she's okay with someone watching... As I rub her hair tentacles with a hand, her hair tentacles move to rub my head as well but my mind keeps going back to a housemate in the doorway watching all this happen. I finally reach my limit and pull Scurry close to my body as my ink sprays out, her ink mixing with mine as we both yell loudly from the release. My body relaxes almost immediately after and the only thing keeping me upright is Scurry leaning against mine, our hands still around each other as we try to slow our breathing. "That felt great...we should go again..." Scurry whispers over my shoulder, my head trying to nod but unable to because of the sudden wave of calm. "How long are we going for?" I ask her but instantly regret asking, her sigh enough of a rebuttal to make me feel bad. "We'll pick this up later because I guess we need to go back to other things..." she whispers, pulling herself away from me and getting out of the tub. I follow her out of the tub and am thankful that my body can move under its own power now, my left hand already grabbing a towel off the rack on the wall. The towel moves around Scurry to dry her off, her face smiling into the mirror as I rub it across her body. "That was a great experience. We need to try that again sometime," she says into the mirror and I respond casually while getting rubbing her back, "You name the time and place."

Her face grins ruefully at my answer. "Jeez, at least take me out to dinner first," she states in mock annoyance and I smile in return, already moving to dry off Scurry's lower half. "Is that the newest condition?"

Her head nods as her hair tentacles grab another towel off the rack and her eyes use the mirror to watch what she's doing. I shake a little bit to get access ink off as she dries me off. "Quit squirming. You're getting ink everywhere," she exclaims, my movement stopping to make it easier for her to dry me. She turns around and continues to dry me off but also to allow me to dry her front. She grins at me while exposing her front to me. "Tempted?" she whispers to me in open invitation, still drying me off as she grins at me.

I don't answer because my hands to toss aside our towels and pick her up by the waist, moving her gently to sit on the counter. Her grin widens as I start to kiss her again and she lets out a moan into my mouth as I push myself into her for the second time, her arms and hair tentacles pulling me closer as we start to share ink again. Maybe I'm the bad one here... Scurry doesn't seem to care about my bold move, kissing and moving as much as I am during the encounter. "Whats gotten...into you...today?" she asks as she locks her legs around my lower back, panting as I continue to show her affection. "I don't...want you to feel...ignored," I gas in reply, holding her back as she giggles a little and tightens her hold on me. Our bodies tense as more of my ink enters her body, another loud moan of release coming from us as we reach the end and collapse slightly into each other. I look down in exhaustion, panting in rhythm with Scurry and noticing that our ink is starting to coat ourselves and the counter. "I guess...I'll clean that up..." I gasp through hard breaths, part exhilaration and part exhaustion. Her response is to lean my head back upwards and kiss me a few times before answering. "You made...the mess...you clean it...up-"

Instincts take over again as I smother Scurry with another kiss, her body wrapping around mine as I attempt to give her all the ink I have to repay her for all the times I blew her off. I end up switching places with her by picking her up by the waist and taking her seat on the counter, our bodies clinging to each other again as we continue our affection with minimal interruption. No more words are exchanged as whatever reservations we have about sharing ink crumble in the face of passion, the only appropriate language left being touch and gesture as both make sure no part of our bodies is left untouched.

My mouth keeps whispering I love you every so often to her growing embarrassment, her face breaking away from mine at one point to address me. "Quit it...you're embarrassing me now..." she whispers before kissing me further, her words not as firm in their stance as before. "I just thought you should know..." I whisper back and she retorts by breaking her kiss and placing her forehead on mine with a grim smile. "You're terrible at romance..." she whispers as our bodies keep moving and I chuckle lightly to myself. "Then teach me how to romance you...you can't fault me if you don't help me-"

"I can fault you...but are you really comfortable learning what makes me...me?" she whispers with a little uncertainty even as we continue to share bodies. I stop for a moment and bring her into a hug, my left hand brushing her hair tentacles as I respond, "I should be the one saying that-" There's something new when we kiss this time, an acceptance that wasn't there before that made everything seem brighter and happier. Tears roll down my face for reasons that I begin to understand, the reason so simple yet elusive until now.

I'm flawed...but you accept me anyway...


The mess is substantial once we finally wind down enough to stop ourselves, cyan ink coating the counter, ourselves, and even parts of the floor. I pull Scurry towards me one last time to share what little ink I have left before both of us weakly groan in exhaustion and collapse into each other. My legs start to throb from standing for too long and only then do I remember that we were in a hurry. Reluctantly, I pull away from her and her limbs release my body slowly. She doesn't move initially, panting to herself as ink oozes out of her and her arms prop her upright on the counter with an exhausted smile on her face. "I guess we overdid it..." she pants as she tries to move slowly off the counter, my arms keeping her stable as she starts to wobble. I end up losing my balance, tumbling onto the toilet with her in tow and a thump of skin on porcelain. "Maybe we...should've eaten first..." Scurry pants while attempting to stand up, only succeeding in collapsing into my arms again. "Yeah...we overdid it..." I pant back with a rough smile, also attempting to stand but also succeeding only in collapsing.

It takes us a few minutes to gather up enough energy to move, all the while laying in place and trying to catch our breath. Scurry is the first one who's able t move unaided and I follow suit with difficulty, grabbing both towels off the floor and starting to wipe everything down. Scurry giggles to me as she exits the bathroom first. I finally see who's been peaking in on us when I notice Callie at eye level in the doorway, her head moving out of the frame when she tries to hide. "Callie, we know you're there so you can come out now," I croak, not sure if I'm heard or not but given no answer, I assume that I'm not.

I shrug mostly to myself and take a few minutes to clean up the mess, both towels now soaked with cyan ink as I exit the bathroom with them in hand. Callie is sitting in the nearby chair across the room and I stop in my movements to ponder how weird it is to see her in normal clothes instead of her stage clothes or Agent clothes. "You guys really get into it when you're motivated. I mean, not physically..er..maybe also physically but..you get what I mean," Callie stutters while averting her eyes slightly in an attempt not to look at me.

"Why are you so curious about this, anyway?" I ask, turning slightly to my left to catch the clothes that Scurry tosses at me and starting with putting on the shorts. As I do so, it occurs to me that I'm talking to one of the Squid Sisters naked and I start blushing slightly in embarrassment. Callie grins back at me when she notices me move faster in clothing myself. "Oh, don't worry about modesty! I just saw you guys sharing ink in the tub and on the counter and you're embarrassed about being naked now?" I don't answer, quickly pulling on my shirt and moving to sit next to Scurry on the bed who doesn't seem affected by my embarrassment. I'm not comfortable allowing Callie to see me naked. "You didn't answer my question," I state as I plop down with a sigh, Callie grinning at us again as she elaborates. "I just wanted to see what it looks like...being with another inkling, snuggling out the troubles, sharing each other's bodies and-"

"Okay, I get it," I interject, holding up a hand and eventually bringing it to my face to try and hide my blushing. This whole situation is embarrassing and she's far too casual about this. Something clicks in my head as I bring my hand away, a peculiar thought that I'm not sure I want to answer to but start asking anyway. "Wait...you wanted to see what it looks like...have you never seen-" I ask and am surprised when Callie looks away from us in embarrassment. In an irritated tone, she eventually answers, "Well, if we're being honest...I haven't shared ink with another inkling yet nor have I seen it in person."

I find her statement hard to believe and my face displays an expression of surprise at the information. "But...you're Callie! You're one of the Squid Sisters! Hundreds of inklings are lining up to share ink with you! How can you not have shared ink yet?!" I stammer and Scurry pushes my face lightly with her left hand to make me settle down. It doesn't work and my mind continues to recoil. "I'm always either on tour with Marie, doing Agent stuff, or going to fan events," Callie retorts, still not looking at us out of embarrassment but I didn't really see it as my world is flipped on its head. I've always assumed she had the most experience with other inklings than the rest of us because of the way she acted...but that assumption was wrong... "But...what about Marie? I'd always thought that you two are...together..." I say with a diminishing level of confidence throughout, Scurry turning towards me in confusion at my statement. Callie dips her head forward and blushes further before answering. "We...we haven't gotten that far!...and we're both so busy and she doesn't really give off the vibe of wanting-"

Even as Callie starts to rattle off a long list of reasons, I slowly start to stumble around inside my own mind instead. Am I really the first one out of all of the older Agents to share ink with someone? I'm only 16 for zapfish sake...barely into adulthood! What does that say about Scurry, who's 2 years my junior? This new information makes my head spin and I have to steady myself with my hands on the mattress. When I turn back to Callie, I try to remain calm but fail. "Are you...trying to research how it's done?" I ask in a stutter and Callie doesn't move from her current position. "Um...I mean...if you don't mind..." she starts to say before trailing off and I look at Scurry on my left in bewilderment, a similar degree of mild shock on her face. Callie, one of the Squid Sisters, is asking me and Scurry to share ink with her watching so that she can learn how it's done...what do I even say to that?

My first response is to dip my head and sigh at the situation I find myself in, calming myself down as much as I can before lifting my head back up to stare straight. "This is a group decision so Scurry, what do you think?" I ask her with as much confidence as I can muster but my second response inside my head is no. Isn't this what squidphones are for? There are so many inklings recording what they do in private that Callie can collect an entire library of research to use- "We're going to help her," Scurry states in an even tone and my head jerks to look at her in growing bewilderment. "WHAT!? Just like that!?"

"She's asking for our help and I don't think I can conscious turning her down. C'mon, it's already taboo what we're doing now so the least we can do is help someone out," she states but I can tell from her look that she wasn't sure of her decision either. My head flops back as I groan into the air, realizing that the decision falls on my shoulders now. As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with her logic...a fellow Agent, pop idol, and friend is asking for our help and I'm thinking of turning them down? I make sure to stay neutral in body and face while looking at Callie before answering. "OK...just...let's avoid going overboard," I finally say and Callie turns bodily towards us with an excitement that scares me. "No weird stuff...that's my terms," I elaborate but I don't think she hears me because she leaps out of the chair and attaches to me in a flying hug, nearly knocking me over where I'm sitting. Her face starts enthusiastically rubbing mine as she starts exclaiming, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Alright, alright! Settle down!" I say as I try to push her away with my hands but her grip tightens and I cringe as I hear something pop around my chest area. "OK, too much! Easy on the grip!" I say through wheezes, Callie letting go of me in a heartbeat and rushing out of the room with visible excitement. "I can't wait to tell Marie about this!" she exclaims as she leaves us in the room, my immediate response to lie down on the mattress and try to make sense of what just happened. How far is this going to travel? "That...went...well," I hear Scurry say from my right, my body rising out of bed and sitting on the edge with an odd sense of calm. "One day at a time, I guess..." I mumble as I move to a stand and head for the hallway door, wondering as I open the door how my life got so complicated in such a short span.

It's only been two days.