A small octoling with magenta tentacles groans quietly as she comes to, not wanting to open her eyes at all. Her head was pounding, and she could feel every pump of her hearts as they pushed blood through her veins and into her brain. She could feel some sort of pressure on her cheek as well, which she should probably check on, but she was so tired.
"Get up, Octo. I can tell you're awake."
Okay, that was rude. She had a name!! Or… Or did she? She couldn't remember. Actually, she couldn't remember anything. The pressure on her cheek increases, cold and almost slick.
"I said, get the fuck up. If you're trying to spring a surprise attack, it isn't gonna work."
That's enough to get the young woman to open her eyes, only to almost be blinded by the bright beam of a flashlight directly in her face. A flashlight that's directly attached to the business end of a gun. She quickly scrambles backwards, putting her hands up in a defensive position. Not that that would do much, because it's a gun.
A loud sigh comes from behind the weapon, and the octoling looks up from the terrifying muzzle to see an inkling with long orange tentacles and a nasty scar over her left eye staring her down, almost angrily. Their eyes meet for a moment, and the octoling sees the other girl's expression soften. Then the barrel of the gun lowers to the ground, and the scarred woman sighs again.
"You heard it, didn't you? The Inkantation. Your eyes aren't green anymore." Another sigh. "Sorry about threatening you like that. And for… attacking you out of nowhere earlier. Not used to non-hostile octolings. You were probably trying to escape, right?? Can you even understand me?"
The octoling nods, and attempts to speak.
"ㄚ乇丂, 丨 匚卂几 ㄩ几ᗪ乇尺丂ㄒ卂几ᗪ ㄚㄖㄩ. 山卄卂ㄒ 卄卂卩卩乇几乇ᗪ?"
The look of complete and utter confusion on the inkling's face tells the octoling that she absolutely didn't understand that at all. It's quickly followed by a groan and sigh from the agent, who is now dragging her hand down her face. Welp, that was annoying, this communication would likely end up being a one-way street. She would have to try to pick up some spoken inkling, then.
"Oookay. Let's do this then. Blink twice if you can understand what I'm saying."
Blink blink.
"Okay. Well then, it looks like we need to find our way out of here, and we're probably gonna be stuck together."
Well, this seemed like a less than pleasant situation. Whoever this inkling was, she was kind of mean. Although she did seem to be kind of sorry about it. So maybe she wasn't all bad.
"You got a name? Those can usually translate through language barriers."
The octoling looks around, over all of herself… for the life of her, she couldn't remember her name! Why she thought looking at her crotch would help with that, she had no idea. But hey, maybe she had an ID card.
"几ㄖ…"
Shaking her head sadly, she looks back up at the inkling, a melancholy look on her face. Immediately, said inkling turns bright red and looks away.
"D-Don't you dare start crying. Callie does that plenty topside…... But I do need to call you something other than Octoling. Hmm…"
The orange-tentacled woman gently offers a hand out to the Octoling still on the ground, a mix of a peace offering and helping her stand up.
"I'll just call you Ellie. Always liked that name anyways. So, uhh…. Congrats, Ellie, you're officially an agent in the New Squidbeak Splatoon. You'll get your crap whenever we find a way out of here. Speaking of. You see any exits around here?"
The inkling quickly hoists the octoling to her feet, the latter repeating the name she had been given. As she tries to memorize her new name, she follows after the inkling, looking around for any way out. She spots an abandoned train, and points over that way. The Inkling nods, and they walk up a slope and into the empty car.
"Well, we're probably gonna be stuck together for a while, so… My name is Three. No, that isn't my real name, no, I'm not gonna tell you my real name. Nobody aside from my family and Callie knows my real name."
It seems the cold persona has returned, and Ellie shivers a bit at how quick the change is. Something told her this little adventure was not going to be the most enjoyable experience of her life.