Three held her breath steady as she peered through the charger's scope at the two octolings standing amidst some small rubble piles. They were too far away for her to shoot and they weren't much of a threat. Most likely perimeter guards or scouts. Novices too judging from how lax they were. Today was going to be another slow day.
"What are they doing?"
Three withdrew from the scope and looked to her left where Four sat with her hero shot across her lap, staring in the opposite direction of Three's charger, guarding their six o'clock.
Three flashed yellow. What?
"I said, 'what are they doing?'"
Three's mantle turned burgundy. "Exactly the same thing they were doing when you asked me five minutes ago. They're still just standing there and they're still just talking."
Four groaned audibly. "I'm bored."
"You need to learn patience," Three chided. She put down her charger and retrieved a pair of binoculars from a pouch at her hip, using them to scan the area.
They were in a spot between Inkopolis and the Octo Valley domes. The Octarians sometimes staged raids to pillage garbage dumps and scrap yards for supplies or materials, grabbing whatever they could carry. Most of it was worthless to Inkopolis but Captain Cuttlefish said that it was unwise to encourage the activity and they all knew full well what they would be using such materials for. Thus, regular patrols had to be done to try and minimize the effectiveness of their efforts.
"I am trying to learn patience," Four grumbled. "That's why Marie stuck me here with you, but we've been here for…"
"Twenty minutes."
"Twenty minutes and nothing's happened. Can't we move to another spot or something? They could be a distraction."
"Captain Cuttlefish is watching the other entrances. This is the only route he can't properly watch from the cabin." A crimson wave of deeper aggravation washed across her mantle. "What did you do on patrols when you were on your own?"
"I actually patrolled. I didn't just sit in one spot; I moved."
"If you're out here to learn patience, then we're not moving unless we have to."
Four's mantle turned maroon in dissatisfaction and rippled with frustration. Not that Three didn't understand. Honestly, she would prefer to keep moving too. It would help distract her from all the thoughts plaguing her.
"I heard things went pretty well with Eight the other day."
Three pulled back from her binoculars and looked at her, her mantle showing yellow spots in question.
Four grinned like an eel with a secret. "She said you complimented her. That's the most romantic thing I've ever heard you do. Wow, making real progress eh?"
Three's eyes narrowed into a glare. "Are you mocking me?"
"Just a little." Four chuckled. "From how she's been describing your relationship so far, it sounds like you two can't even hold a conversation. Is it really that hard for you two to just sit down and talk? If it was Eight here instead of me, I don't think either of you would say a word the whole time."
Three grimaced and then the mention of Eight made her remember the two octoling scouts. She looked back through her binoculars in their direction. Still just talking, still just standing there.
"And what of it? Neither of us are particularly talkative."
Four snorted. "You've talked to me more in the last ten minutes than you've talked to Eight since we got back from vacation last week."
Three gritted her beak behind her lips, fighting down the urge to tell her junior to shut up and focus on her job, but she couldn't do that, it would just make it seem like she was dodging the issue. She really didn't need this right now, but it was something of a distraction from certain other issues she had on her mind.
And if I'm earnest in wanting to give Eight a fair chance, I can't be closed off to criticism, can I?
"Is Eight upset?" Three asked, perhaps more tersely than she intended. "She - I'm not good at telling what she's thinking."
"There I don't blame ya. I'm her bestie though, so she tells me things. I've gotten better at reading her too. Actually, come to think of it, she was unusually chatty the last time we talked. Maybe it was because she was having fun or something'"
Three felt a twisting fist in her gut and had the sensation of sinking. "S-so, you're closer to her than I am, is what you're really saying."
She watched Four carefully, saw the frown followed by the widening of her eyes and her mantle turning blue with regret.
"No I… well… I guess I am, but I didn't mean it that way. I just…"
"It's fine." Three replied, feeling suddenly very humbled. "It isn't your fault. You're just trying to be a good friend."
She blinked her eyes rapidly and then looked back through the binoculars. Still just standing there. Still just talking. How can two people talk so much? What do they talk about that they keep each other so interested? If she could just get over those awkward moments that permeated almost every conversation between her and Eight, it would go a long way to improving their relationship. I never thought I'd want to be more like Four.
"You know," Four said. "Eight does act different around me than she does you."
Three looked at her, eyebrow arched. "That makes sense if you two are closer."
Four's mantle pulsed red. "I mean, she always kinda did. I don't know how to explain it but she's pretty chill around me. Normal, just friends hanging out, but with you it's like… like she's tiptoeing. You know what I mean?"
Three frowned, trying to process the idiom in context. "She's afraid of something about me?"
"Nah, I don't think it's you. Maybe it's some Octarian thing we don't know about. Like, maybe something that makes her nervous about dating or romance? I mean, besides the fact that it was 'strongly discouraged.'"
"Some kind of propaganda?"
"Maybe. I think you actually know more about that side of her than I do. You actually saw the Octarians before any of them were freed. You've seen some of what Eight grew up with."
Three shrugged and looked back through her binoculars. Still just standing and talking. Except they were standing closer together now and their body language had changed. Curious...
"I don't know much about that part of their society," Three admitted. "And most of the propaganda I've seen had more to do with hating us and them being the superior species. Even so, I don't think that's what's stopping her. It's more likely something about the surface world. She's still not used to how things work here and romance doesn't exactly have a cut and dry manual."
"Huh, I never thought of that. I guess Marie did say something about Octolings being people used to following instructions."
"Rules," Three amended, meeting Four's eyes. "If you read their instructions it's more a list of rules where if you read Inkling instructions they're more like guidelines. At least, that's what Eight said once when she was helping me with Mama's car."
"Rules huh?" Four flicked one of her short tentacles thoughtfully. "So… she thinks there's some rule to follow or maybe she's following a rule that doesn't actually exist?"
"I don't know," Three admitted. "I don't think she would tell me either."
Four laughed. "Hah, no kidding. You two barely talk as it is and…" her voice trailed off and she had a stunned look on her face as her mantle turned a slightly lighter shade of orange from normal.
"What?" Three asked, frowning.
"We've just been talking."
Three stared at her, and then she realized, they really had been talking. They had been talking a lot. What's more, it was about Eight, about her own love life. Three hadn't been embarrassed, there was no awkward silence, that strange twisting, gnawing feeling hadn't shown up until right now, upon the moment of revelation, as if it had been caught off guard. No, Three herself had been caught off guard.
It had happened so naturally, going from trying to distract herself from thinking even more unpleasant thoughts than the failures in her somewhat existent love life to earnestly talking to Four about something with a level of openness and honesty she normally associated with talking to Callie and Marie.
Three sat down from her crouched position, feeling genuinely bewildered and a strong need to assess herself, as if for injuries.
She heard Four giggling. "So you got cracks in her shell after all, eh, Agent 3?"
Three glared at her, her mantle a solid scarlet. "Don't think you know me."
Four rolled her eyes. "Come on, don't start that now. We were making progress, having a good time. Why can't you do that with Eight?"
"I…" Three's brows furrowed deeper and she found herself looking down at her hands. "I don't know. I don't even know why I talked to you."
"That makes two of us." Four smiled and came over to her, nuzzling against her warmly. "But I'm glad you finally did."
Three said nothing for a moment, her mind and soul a maelstrom of confusion and mixed emotions. Despite that, she felt like a small burden had been lifted like it was just a tiny bit easier to breathe now than it had been before.
I haven't even been able to talk to Callie and Marie about this. Why was I suddenly able to talk about it to Four? She didn't know, and yet…
"Y-yeah," she whispered. "I'm glad I did too. I think."
"Then you'll open up more often? We can talk like actual friends now?"
Three grimaced and then bit her bottom lip. "I'll… I promise I'll try."
"Good enough. And I promise I'll try to figure out what might be holding Eight back. She's my bestie and you're my sister, so I want your relationship to work out if it can, okay?"
Three flashed green, although, a part of her loathed to admit she needed the help. She shouldn't though. Although Four was two years younger, she was still an agent and someone Three had come to accept as a close comrade, a friend, and as family. Someone she trusted with her life.
Maybe it's myself I don't understand. I have all these strange feelings I can't identify about Eight. Maybe if I figure myself out first I can figure out what to do about Eight, and maybe even the issue with being Callie and Marie's bodyguard.
It was only a theory. She wasn't terribly good at philosophy, but for the first time, she felt like she had some direction- a path she could follow to achieving her goals. Even if it didn't go in exactly the right direction, it was still a path that lead somewhere.
"Thank you," was all Three could think to say. Maybe that was all that needed to be said here.
"You can thank me by loosening up more often." Four settled back down into her previous spot, leaning her back against the old brick wall. "You're way more fun when you do. I bet Eight will think so too."
"I'll… keep that in mind."
Three peered through the binoculars again and-. Her mantle shifted to bright almost blinding orange with bright pink spots, her mouth agape. Four moved swiftly into a crouch, her hero shot in hand. Before she could ask what was going on, Three pulled back from the binoculars and stared at her.
"They're kissing."
Four's eyes went huge and her mouth fell open. "Seriously?" Three offered her the binoculars and Four hurriedly took them, looking in the direction she had been.
"Helix," she breathed. "They're really going at it."
"Yeah." Three picked up her charger and began watching through the scope. "Kind of an odd place to do that, don't you think?"
"Maybe they're into that." They looked at each other and Four smirked. "Well, at least you know what it looks like to snog an octoling. Now you just have to experience it for yourself."
Three's eyes narrowed into a glare. "Mind yourself." She looked back at the passionate octoling couple through her scope and then muttered. "You would be of a Helix congregation."
"Yeah, so what?" Four asked defensively.
Three looked back at her, frowning. "Did I say something wrong? I only said it because I thought it suited you."
Four bit her bottom lip and looked away. "It's… it's nothing, really."
"Three hummed. "Want to talk about it?"
Four stared at her for a long moment, saying nothing, then her cheeks flushed and she burst out laughing. Barely a second later, Three joined her, feeling lighter than she had in weeks.
Author's Notes:
This is one of my favourite chapters in the whole story. It's was just so much fun to write these two chatting and bickering but also subtly expressing their love for each other as sisters, family they have chosen.
Some of you with keen memories might recognize the RvB references here. I just couldn't resist, I suppose, and it created a great lead-in to Three and Four's interaction.