I was writing this and suddenly I thought "Man, what am I doing with my life?".

Callie wasn't the only kid there. There were plenty more of them. Some were kidnapped, some were runaways, but most of them were sold, like her. Apparently it was some sort of t-shirt design place. Basically, the guys running it believed that children had the strongest imagination and would make them draw designs for stuff. Callie thought she might actually like this more than living with her step mom. The only problem was, she missed Marie. It was kinda like doing fun stuff but with terrible living conditions. Whatever. Callie loved drawing and you can't end that. Mmmmmmmm art yessssss.

Some of the other kids noticed that there was a new small child. Most were all like "I'm sorry. Welcome to your new life." Callie responded to them with "Actually I kinda like this better." They were all very surprised by that response, especially given by a seven-year-old. They were also surprised by the fact she didn't just draw a sun and the sky and a house or whatever little kids draw. Her drawings were more like a detailed drawing of a tentacle bleeding and surrounded by dust with the wind pushing the blood and dust to spiral around the tentacle. Normal drawings for a small child.

I can relate to that. When I was in pre-K there was this art show thing. My best friend drew a happy child standing in a field of grass with a single flower. I drew a kid being held hostage in an energy bubble with their body being covered in chains. Yeaaaahhhh… Anyway… Back to the story. (But seriously I think I might still have the drawing smh)

Some other kids were disturbed by these drawings, but the bosses seemed to like them. A lot of them ended up making their way to final T-shirt and poster designs.

"Are you, you know, okay?", One kid asked her.

"Mentally or physically? Cause the answer's neither!", Callie responded with the happiest facial expression the kid had ever seen. Uhh, okay?

Meanwhile, Marie had just finished talking to the counselor. She had just gotten a call saying that her step mom had officially been arrested for selling children. That was good news. The computer was checked for its history. Their step mom had apparently been on a forum called "Sell Your Step Children, Fast and Easy!". The forum was blocked, but the history on it was used to track down plenty of missing child cases.

Callie was busy drawing a picture of a bomb of ink exploding over a cracked heart-shape the time the police arrived a few days later. Most of the children were excited to be liberated, but Callie admitted that she liked this more than living with her step mom. The police ignored what she said, but informed her that her step-mom had been arrested. Callie smiled and agreed to go with them.

When the cousins were reunited, Marie's first reaction was crying, while Callie was just like "hey". Marie had been so worried about her cousin, as Callie correctly guessed. Callie explained that it had been fine, and she actually found it fun. Marie was shocked. Callie informed her cousin on everything, stating that it was basically a low budget art school of humane child labor. Marie slowly nodded, looking very confused. What?

Some legal law stuff happened. Marie's parents remarried each other, and it was decided that Callie would live with her grandfather, who she had never met, but had heard of a few times: Captain Craig Cuttlefish of the Squidbeak Splatoon.

A couple months later, life had returned to normal, or so Marie thought. The two both had to take therapy for their newly-formed anxiety, but that didn't do much besides make them unable to hang out with friends on mondays. Not much. BEfore therapy each week they had to wait in a lobby. The lobby was always full of toys and books. Stuff like that. Marie would always try to find a book to read, but would always end up trying to explain to Callie every single reason why it was cringy. Callie didn't care. She was more interested in drawing, as usual.

Oh god. The memories. Sorry. Also I forgot to mention the waiting lobby this is based off of was full of screaming kids. Most were around four. And then the awkward moment when I saw someone in my class there… We avoided each other for the rest of elementary school, then went to different middle schools. Yeah.

One day, Marie was sharing a song she had just written. Callie seemed to like it. After Marie finished, Callie excitedly grabbed Marie's hand-nubb-things.

"Okay, okay, there's something I HAVE TO show you."

"What is it?", Marie asked.

"Let's just say gramps… did something."

"What?"

"I'll show you!"

When they got there, Captain Cuttlefish (best husbando) kept giving Marie really creepy looks, making her feel pretty uncomfortable. Eventually, he was all like "there's something I have to show you mmmmm". Marie nodded and followed him to the basement of the house, where apparently he had a "surprise".

The lights were turned off and the basement was cold and dark. Callie made Marie close her eyes, which didn't make any sense, since there was literally no light in the basement. What...ever?

Suddenly, the lights flicked on. Marie was told to open her eyes. But the basement was empty. Marie looked confused and disappointed.

Callie started laughing. "Gramps, did you forget to bring it down here…?"

Captain Cuttlefish looked embarrassed. "Yeah, oops. Think I did. One second let me get it mmmm."

He left.

"Callie what's going on?", Marie asked.

"What does it look like?", Callie said smiling. "Gramps just forgot to do the thing he'd been waiting to do for a whole week."

"Oh." Marie smiled back.

When Captain Cuttlefish FINALLY came back, it was obvious he was trying to hide something behind his, but clearly it was too big. The "surprise" was sticky out by a lot. It was a charger.

"W-where did you…", Marie stuttered.

"I asked Callie what she thought of your personality. You seemed like a charger main."

"Cool," Marie answered. "But why did you just get me a weapon? I'm seven years old."

Callie was getting jumpy again, trying not to smile. Marie knew something happened, but… what?

"Welcome to the New Squidbeak Splatoon, Agent 2."

Marie looked confused. "What?"

"Basically he just recruited you to some sort of secret military service," Callie explained. "He recruited me last week. Don't know if this is lega-"

"DON'T. FINISH. THAT. SENTANCE," said Captain Cuttlefish, giving the girls a hint that indeed it was NOT legal. They didn't really care, though.

After the Captain explained the entire situation, he let the girls talk, just them. While they were trying to help each other figure out how the weapons worked (Captain Cuttlefish told Callie she wasn't allowed to use her roller until Marie got a weapon too), Marie asked Callie if they could just "discuss something for a sec". Callie said that was okay, and Marie confessed a secret.

"Am I too young to be getting crushes," Marie asked.

"I dunno," said Callie. "Never got one."

"Well," said Marie. "I have one."

"Who is it," Callie asked, getting all hyper.

"I think I gay or bi or something."

"Fine with me!"

"Callie…"

"Yeah?"

"I know this isn't legal… but… well…"

"Don't worry, I'm listening! :)"

"I like you."


(present day Inkopolis Square doctor's office)

"And then I told Marie's therapist about her having a crush on her cousin. That's basically the end of the story."

Agent 4 was speechless. She wanted to say something, but was worried it wouldn't sound right.

"Also, please don't tell Marie I told you about the last part."

"Uh… uh.. Uh, okay."

"Thanks, Four," Callie said, smiling.

After twenty more minutes, it was FINALLY time for Callie's doctors appointment. Four waved, then left.

Later that day, a "meeting" was called for the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Apparently Three couldn't attend because he was in his room brooding and being depressed. Always like that… Of course he was.

While most of the other guys there were right out bored, Agent 4 was restless. She couldn't wait to ask Marie about what happened. No one really noticed her restlessness, however, since LITERALLY NO ONE cares about Agent 4. Agent 1 and 2 were the originals, Agent 3 was the first boy, Agent 5 was Pearl, just Pearl. Agent 6 was the first Octoling, and Agent 8 was the first male octoling. Agent 4 didn't really need any extra attention, but it felt like being a middle child, which she actually was at home, having one younger and one older brother, but that's not relevant. Or is it? You know what, nevermind.

The meeting, which was only about Captain Cuttlefish getting scammed at the supermarket. By then, Pearl had somehow fallen asleep. Marina, who had gone octopus-form and was sitting on Pearl's shoulder to pass the time, was poking Pearl with a tentacle to wake her up. Callie winked and nodded at Agent 4, who nodded back.

"Captain, can I talk with Agent 2?"

"Eh? Sure."

Marie looked confused as to why Four wanted to talk to her, but followed the young agent anyway.

"Marie, listen," Four said, putting a hand on Marie's shoulder.

"What is it," Marie complained.

"Callie… told me something."

"Yeah, what was it?"

"You have anxiety?"

"CALLIE! Get over here RIGHT NOW."

"One second Marie," Callie called back from the other room.

"WHY DID SHE TELL YOU THIS?!"

"She told me more than that…"

Marie sighed and started rubbing her forehead to calm down. Of course. Why would Callie share information like that? UHHHHHHG

"What… did she tell you…?"

"Well, kinda a lot…"

"Just tell me."

"She told me about… let's see… your step mom, the art school, how your parents divorced, Callie's parent's getting pneumonia, the disturbing drawings she would make, how you were really negative as a child…"

"That's enough, four," Marie said, sounding annoyed. "Did she tell you about how I joined the Splatoon?"

"Yeah…"

Marie was fuming. "DID SHE MENTION… You know…"

"I don't know what you mean", said Four, trying to keep Callie's promise.

"Anything, uh, weird?"

"It was weird enough to learn that you guys had a step mother that literally sold her to a low budget art school."

"Was that the weirdest part?"

"The entire story was weird. And kinda emotional."

"Callie, Callie, Callie. Why… just why."

"I don't know."

"Four… You're excused."

"Okay."

Four left. That night at home, Agent 4 felt one emotion so strong. She had never felt any emotion so strong before. That emotion? Confusion.