Eight awoke to the gentle light of the sun brightening the room, and the gentle rise and fall of Three's chest as her head lays upon it. Eight smiles and snuggles closer to Three, it had been an interesting year to say the least. Her memories were all but completely back, she'd come to terms with most of them by now, and it seemed like things were settling down. She still had various concerns, and her recollection of the events that took place while she was under Octavio's control were still at least a little bit hazy, but she found she was much happier focusing on where she is now, and the happiness she's been able to achieve.
About three months ago, Eight had finally mustered up the courage to ask Three if she wanted her to move in with her. Three was, unsurprisingly, very on board with this idea. Though Three was a little flustered when Eight proposed the idea initially. Moving in with Three wasn't nearly as stressful of a transition as she had expected, she thought for sure that she would miss things like the size of Pearl and Marina's house, but she found that she actually preferred the small comfortable apartment that she now shared with her girlfriend. Marina was a little sad to see her go, they are sisters after all, but she knew Eight had to live her life and trying to keep her would've only caused the two to drift apart. Marina and Pearl found themselves in Three's apartment far more often than they had expected to be during this process, as they kept finding things that Three didn't have that they'd need. Like for example, a mop.
Eight had also started getting into music, or rather, get back into it. She had written and sung a handful of tracks during her time as an Octoling Rebel, with the help of her second in command, who provided assistance with lyrics as well as performing the guitar tracks while Eight did the singing. She started by re-singing her old rebel songs, with Marina's help re-creating the backtrack. Eventually however she did start trying new songs, and even found herself writing more. She'd always had a fondness for poetry, and really enjoyed how well poems seemed to translate to musical lyrics. Marina had gifted her a new laptop when she moved out so that she could both keep in touch and work on her music more freely.
Finally, as the sun brightened the room even more, Three slowly began to wake from her sleep as well, rubbing her eyes and looking down at the Octoling currently cuddled into her. Three had gotten quite used to Eight cuddling her like this, but it still made her a little flushed every time she woke up like this. Three wasn't going to complain however, as she did greatly enjoy the contact and the warmth. Three smiled and rubbed Eight's head gently, prompting a gentle purr from Eight, causing Three to smile wider and blush lightly. She leans down and kisses Eight's head, seemingly very satisfied with the position the two of them awoke in.
"Good morning sleepy head" Eight purrs, not wanting to move from her spot, nestled comfortably against Three for warmth. She nuzzles her head against Three's chest, her arms wrapping tighter around Three's body to hold her closer as she lets out a light coo.
"Good morning love." Three replies, gently rubbing Eight's ear prompting another purr from the girl. Three giggles and presses another kiss to Eight's head, both of them now purring happily. Three continues gently rubbing Eight's ear and enjoying the little coos and purrs that she makes in response to it, really, Three just enjoys being so close to Eight and sharing their warmth like this.
The two remain laid down, cuddled into one another, today was supposed to be a day off for the both of them, to take some time to relax. No agent work, no turf wars, no battles of any kind, just a simple lazy day for the two of them, and they couldn't have been more excited. They were starting right now with their refusal to get out of bed until one of them became hungry enough that hunger outshined comfort. This was their plan at least, until Three's phone began ringing. Normally, Three would ignore her phone in situations like this, but it was Callie's ringtone, meaning something was definitely up.
"Ugh… I'll see what's going on." Three grumbles as she reluctantly rolls away from Eight, snagging her phone and answering it. Her tone indicates that she's annoyed but she refrains from directly complaining outright, as she doesn't yet know why Callie is calling. "What is it Cals? I thought Eight and I had today off."
"I know, I know, I'm sorry… but we need you to come in, both of you… we're picking up a signal and it's making everyone nervous, even Octavio is uncomfortable." Callie replies, her voice sounds shaken like whatever it was caused her great fear. Three sighs, clearly disappointed at the loss of her lazy day, but she nods to herself as she understands the reasoning. The tone in Callie's voice is enough to tell Three that their plans, or rather lack thereof, need to be put on hold.
"Alright… just give us a bit to get ready, we'll be there." Three says into her phone, ending the call and turning to Eight with a sigh, an apologetic look on her face as she explains to her lover the situation. Granted she doesn't have very many details herself, but she does know that Eight will understand, or at least she hopes she will. "Something's come up, they need us to come in."
Eight sighs and lays back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Somehow she knew something like this would happen, she could smell it in the air. Three had already gotten out of bed and was setting out her agent gear. She was probably going to shower soon too which meant Eight would have a little bit of time to get her things situated before it was her turn to clean herself. Eight mentally recalls where her agent outfit is so she can set it out once she's out of bed. She'd offer to join Three in the shower but they didn't have that kind of time. She'd have to save that for later.
"I'm sorry about this… I was really looking forward to having an "us" day." Three sighs as she tosses aside the tank top she'd been wearing as she heads for the bathroom. Eight can't help but stare a little at the older agent, her muscles defined yet not overpowering, the various scars that lined her body also gave character to the otherwise plain skin of her body. Three knew Eight was looking and frankly she welcomed it, she liked how Eight seemed to enjoy her scars, it made her feel more confident in herself. Eight actually quite liked the look of Three's bare back, just something about the way her body looked from that angle made her flushed every time she saw it.
"Don't worry too much about it love, these things happen." Eight smiles, blushing lightly from the sight in front of her, she's got no shame in eyeing up her lover and Three seems to have no shame showing herself off to her. "I'm sure we'll get another chance soon."
Three smiled and nodded before finally entering the bathroom and closing the door. Eight sat up and stretched her arms, letting out a soft yawn as she does. She tosses aside the covers and sets her feet on the ground, pushing herself up and making her way over to the closet to get out her own agent uniform. She pulls it off the hanger and brushes it off, making sure there's no dust or other debris on it. She smiles softly as she looks over it, remembering how she had sworn Marie to secrecy when she had asked for it to be made so she could surprise Three with it. She sets it on a nearby chair, along with her shorts and her headset. She discards her own sleep clothes to the hamper so they can be washed as she waits for her turn to use the bathroom.
After a few short minutes, Three finishes in the bathroom and Eight has her turn. As Three walks out and Eight walks in, she takes a moment to give Three a quick peck on the lips, causing the both of them to smile and blush. Eight could tell Three was checking her out as she walked past her into the bathroom, and Eight loved how clear the blush on Three's face is. Eight then quickly enters the bathroom and shuts the door behind her. She quickly cleans herself in the shower, wishing she could spend more time relaxing under the gentle rain of hot water. She finishes her preparations and heads into the bedroom, drying herself off and putting on her hero suit. Once she's got everything situated she goes to put her tentacles back in their ponytail but… where's her tie?
"Looking for this?" Three smirks, holding Eight's hair tie and waving it around slightly, a gentle blush across her face. She gestures for Eight to sit in front of her. "Let me do it for you."
Eight blushes but nods, Three gently but quickly pulls up Eight's tentacles, wrapping the tie around them to keep them in place. Once they're situated properly Eight turns around and gives Three a quick peck on the lips.
"Thanks love, now let's go see what's so important that we had to get out of bed before noon today." Eight snickers and heads for the door, with Three following close behind.
They arrive in Octo Canyon and find that everyone is there. Even Pearl and Marina. Eight and Three are confused when they arrive but sensing their befuddlement, Marie quickly greets them and briefs them on the situation.
"Hi, thanks for coming in… I'm really sorry about taking your day off from you, but this is important." Marie says, worry plastered across her expression. She looks almost like she didn't sleep, and given how early it is, there's a good chance that she didn't.
"What's going on Marie? We know you wouldn't call us in unless it was big, so what's going down?" Three asks, smiling to Marie to reassure her as best she can, but Three herself is already feeling the effects of the signal and feels her confidence wavering.
"We've received a transmission of some kind… we can't identify where it came from or who might've sent it, we had to call Marina in to hopefully decipher it since she had the technical know-how to get a job like that done. But, the signal just makes us all uneasy." Marie states, she's holding her arms crossed and her eyes are painted with worry. They can feel the tension in the air as well, and the signal feels like the source, almost like it's causing their minds to exude worry.
Three and Eight nod as they make their way over to the rest of the group with Marie following close behind. Three spots Jay and gives her a quick smile and wave, which Jay quickly returns. Eight and Three then take their seats just as Marina seems to finish decoding the message, as she has a satisfied look on her face.
"Okay I think I've got it!" Marina smiles and hooks her laptop into the speakers that were set up. She tacks a few commands into her laptop before setting it to play the decoded message, which only serves to make everyone even more uneasy. The message comes through, it's fuzzy like an old phonograph, but the words it speaks are clear if a bit robotic.
"We… Return… I… Live… No… Escape… Our… Destiny… To… Destroy…"
Everyone's hearts sink, what could that possibly mean? Even Octavio seems increasingly uneasy about the contents of the message. Despite now having translated the message, it still felt like they were missing something, like there was something staring them in the face that they weren't seeing. Marie is tapping her thumb against her chin, she's pondering everything that they know and glancing between everyone present.
"I think… we're not getting the full picture here." Marie breaks the deafening silence, walking to a space where everyone can turn to see her easily. "There's still a lot of noise, you can all hear it. Either there's another signal buried in the one Marina translated, or somehow she wasn't able to decode the whole thing."
"Marie, you aren't suggesting what I think you're suggesting are you?" Callie asks, clearly uneasy about what Marie seems to be implying. Marie shamefully looks back to her and simply shakes her head.
"We have no choice Cals, we need him." Marie answers, looking none too happy about the decision either. She crosses her arms tighter and sighs, she'd hoped that with Marina here they wouldn't need his help anymore.
"Wait, Marie, what are you talking about?" Jay interjects, glancing between Callie and Marie, about as lost as everyone who isn't the two of them.
Callie and Marie exchange a glance, sharing a silent but quick conversation. Callie finally nods and Marie goes on to explain.
"Okay so here's the long and the short of it. We need to know why there's still so much noise in the message despite Marina's best efforts to translate it, and there's only one cephalopod I know who's better than Marina at things like this. His name is Zod. He owns the End of Line club which is hosting an event in… just over a week." Marie explains, once again tapping her thumb against her chin. "Callie and I can't go, we'd be recognized too easily and we'd never get to actually talk to Zod about anything."
"I'll do it." Three stands, being joined quickly by Eight who intertwines her fingers with her own.
"I'll do it too." Eight smiles at Three who blushes lightly.
Marie ponders for a moment, but after considering her options she quickly nods. Jay isn't subtle enough for undercover work, and Pearl and Marina have the same problem that herself and Callie have being popular idols. Three and Eight really are their only option for this mission.
"It's decided then, I'll get you all the information you need for your mission. I'll deliver it to your apartment by the end of the day tomorrow." Marie nods and turns to Marina. "Copy down that message, both the raw data and your translation. It might prove useful."
Marina nods and gets to work copying everything to a thumb drive. Finally with the air no longer thick with worry, everyone seems to calm down at least slightly. They have a plan finally and they're going to enact it. Hopefully from here on out, things start going in their favour.
