"Absolutely not, I HATE those carpets." Those were words Alex, also known as Agent 3 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, thought she would never say in her life. Hell, when she moved into her apartment before even joining the Splatoon, she'd thought she'd remain there for the rest of her life. However she and her fiance Kiaria, Agent 8 of the aforementioned Splatoon, were looking at buying a house together as the two of them were quickly outgrowing the limited space of an apartment. As they looked at the various house listings, Alex simply found herself being irked by things she never thought would bother her, such as the colour of carpets.

"Okay fair, it wouldn't be ideal to have to renovate the house literally as soon as we move in." Kiaria nods in agreement, the carpets of that particular house WERE atrocious. Her voice conveys a sense of excitement however, the thought of having more space making her a little giddy. Her music production had taken off surprisingly well, owing to her talent for singing, Marina's assistance with mixing, and her memory of the songs she and her fellow Octarian Rebels wrote together. She's not famous or anything but she's sold a couple singles that managed to chart so she's making a name for herself… which means she needs more space to do her work, it was starting to take over the living room as she needed multiple computers just to create the sounds she needed.

"How about that one?" Alex points at the screen of the laptop they were using to look at listings, right at a house that looked somewhat older in design, but was well kept and at a decent price. It had the number of bedrooms and bathrooms they wanted, a finished basement, and was in a neighborhood with walkable streets with local vendors. "Hopefully it doesn't have bright red carpets with yellow accenting like the last one did."

Kiaria chuckles and opens up the listing to look at the other photos. The walls were painted a neutral colour, but if they wanted to change that it was much easier than atrocious carpets. She scrolls through the photos to the interior. The carpets were grey and unassuming, and the areas with hard floors had what looked like hardwood, but it might be a high quality vinyl floor, they tend to hold up really well. The finished basement also had a "spare bedroom" that looked like it would be a perfect studio for Kiaria, it could easily be soundproofed so she could do her sampling more easily before taking things to a professional recording studio… like the one in Pearl and Marina's basement for example.

"Oohhh! I like this one so far! It has a decent layout, and the basement is already finished too!" Alex chimes as she and her wife-to-be continue looking through the photos. Were it not for the charred end of her right tentacle, one might not even think any horrendous event had taken place. Here she was, smiling and laughing like she used to. Though at the moment, said charred tentacle wasn't dangling in front of her face and she could mentally block it out.

"We'll have to see about getting an in-person tour then! Gotta make sure its got a good space for my music stuff after all. But that room in the basement looks like it'd likely be perfect!" Kiaria chuckles in response, turning to give her lover a gentle smooch on the cheek. She then turns her attention back to the computer screen and uses the built-in message service on the app to request a tour. It chimes back that it'll search for some available times and send them an email with some potential times to pick from within 24 hours, and they'd have 24 hours after that to decide, after which the times would be released for other potential buyers if they hadn't replied.

Alex gives Kiaria a smooch on the cheek right back, then she slowly stands and heads into the kitchen to start making some coffee for the two of them. They were planning a simple evening which meant dinner was going to be a delivered pizza, so they just needed some caffeine to keep themselves going. Alex got the coffee grounds out and was pouring some water into the maker when she noticed one of their knives had been left on the counter. Looks like Kiaria had been chopping something and just hadn't cleaned up from it yet. The remnants on the cutting board hinted at vegetables, likely she'd been making snack bags.

Alex decides, after she's started the coffee maker, she should be helpful. The coffee maker starts bubbling as it heats the water, flowing it up and over the coffee grounds and through them and the filter, before dripping quietly into the carafe. Alex grabs the knife intent on bringing it to the sink to wash it, but the moment her hand takes hold of the handle, her entire body freezes. Her grip on the knife tightens until her knuckles turn white, her entire body beginning to tremble. Her breaths get heavy and everything around her begins to blur. She looks down at the knife and sees her face reflected in the blade, the severed tentacle seeming to be the most predominant image reflected to her eyes, right next to the scar covering the right side of her face.

She yelps, a feeling of dread and helplessness, she is already on the back foot. The memories dance in her mind's eye, the Sanitised Octolings closing in on her, the cold laughter of Tartar, the searing pain. She can barely hear anything, she thinks she can hear Kiaria trying to call out to her but her ears are ringing and the ringing is just getting louder. She falls onto her butt, scooting back and against the wall.

"N-No! Don't hurt me! Please! L-Leave us alone!" Alex manages to squeak out with tear filled eyes, her hearts racing as her body trembles, the knife still held in front of her. Her mind only sees Tarter, the expressionless face combined with the maniacal cackling, the sound of her own cries of pain as the AI attempts to make an example of her. She feels utterly helpless all over again, feeling her body growing weak and frail, feeling her consciousness waning.

Until, suddenly, she feels the knife pulled from her grip, and the gentle embrace of her lover wrapping around her. She hadn't realised she'd been crying, nor had she realised how terrifying the sight must've been for Kiaria. Alex has to remind herself, she's not there anymore, she can't be hurt by him. Her arms wrap around Kiaria and her hands clutch to her back tightly, soft whimpers escaping her as she buries her face in Kiaria's shoulder, her breaths no longer as rapid and her heartrate slowing a touch, but it's still not ideal.

"I… I'm s-sorry…" Alex whimpers out, she just wanted to be helpful, she wanted to do something nice for her partner, and now she's in need of saving all over again. This time from her own mind.

"Shhh, you've nothing to be sorry for. Remember, I am here because I love you, no matter what." Kiaria gently strokes the back of Alex's head, trying her best to calm the Inkling. Kiaria sits next to Alex and just continues to hold on to her, refusing to let go. Househunting can wait, coffee can wait, Alex needs her right now, and she's not about to abandon the person she cares for the most because of something as trivial as burnt coffee or looking at housing listings on a laptop. "You don't need to feel bad, you are allowed to be affected by what happened."

Alex just whimpers softly and holds tightly to Kiaria. She feels so weak, she hates it. It's like Tartar is toying with her from beyond the grave… which she wouldn't put past him if that was something he was capable of doing. Her body trembles as a few more tears trickle down her cheeks, her eyes falling closed as she continues holding tightly to her partner.

After a few minutes, Alex's mind and body begin to calm down a bit more, her breaths no longer shaky, but still tear-filled. Kiaria takes note of this and helps her move back to the couch, sitting down with her and wrapping a blanket around her shoulders to keep her comforted. She keeps an arm wrapped around her lover and makes sure she's comfortable as she can.

"...Thank you… I think I'm getting too stressed, might need to tell Sheldon I need a break from all the weapons testing…" Alex sighs as she turns to fully hug her fiance, she truthfully doesn't know the full extent of the trauma inflicted on her, and she finds she's getting set off by things she thought mundane enough not to matter… like holding a knife with the intent of washing it.

"It's quite alright love, and if you need I can be there with you when you tell him. If he tries going on another long tirade I'll thwhack him on the head with my Octo Shot." Kiaria smiled reassuringly, giving Alex a soft kiss on the head as well for good measure.

"O-Okay… thank you." Alex sighs softly, just relaxing into Kiaria's embrace.

"Of course Lexie, you know I'd do anything for you." Kiaria smiles in response, Kissing Alex's head softly once again and rubbing her cheek with her thumb. "After all, we're here because of each other, and we'll keep it that way right?"

"R-Right… you're right…" Alex hugs Kiaria rather tightly, getting out the last of her worry before relaxing a little again. "Can… Can we just… carry on with the rest of the night? I was really looking forward to just being normal for a night, just the two of us with each other's company, mid tier pizza, and lousy movies…"

Kiaria just nods softly, helping Alex get back to her feet and walking with her back to the living room, sitting her on the couch and wrapping a blanket over her shoulders. Kiaria then kneels on the ground in front of where Alex is sitting, taking her fiancé's hands in her own and looking up at her.

"I love you, okay? I will always love you." Kiaria smiles up at Alex before leaning up to give her a hug and a soft kiss, this routine seems to do well to help calm Alex down whenever she panics and Kiaria is of course all too happy to oblige. She wants Alex to be happy after all. "What do you say we cut this whole "house hunting" thing short for today? Let's just focus on "us" for now, have that time together we keep saying we'll actually get to."

Alex's breaths fully return to a normal calm, she can't help but smile from Kiaria's words. She knew they were going to spend the night together since neither of them was busy tonight. She was a little worried her panic attack had put a damper on that idea. She is very happy to find that this is not the case. A gentle warmth fills her hearts as she's reminded how lucky she is to have someone who loves and cares for her as much as Kiaria does. She only hopes she is able to show an equal love in return.

"Okay, okay yeah… I'd really like that…" Alex smiles softly, nuzzling her head against Kiaria softly.

"Good because I've already ordered the pizza, we just have to agree on a movie." Kiaria giggles and boops Alex's nose, prompting a shocked stare from the squid, before suddenly the orange tentacled Inkling laughs, she can't help but laugh! She pulls Kiaria into a hug and they fall onto their sides on the couch, but the positioning is poor and suddenly they're on the floor, and they're both laughing hysterically.

"Gods you're such a dork!" Kiaria says through her laughing.

"Yeah but I'm your dork, dork!" She laughs as well and smooches Kiaria's cheek.

After a few minutes of them just laying on the floor laughing together, their apartment buzzer rings. Kiaria quickly stands and helps Alex to her feet as well, before heading over to the intercom and confirming that the person at the door is indeed the ordered food, and soon they've got pizza, wings, and soft drinks to share.

After much deliberation they decide that the first movie to watch is "Airplane" starring "Lloyd Squidges" and "Jellie Nielsen". The movie starts and they dim the lights to better enjoy it while also still being able to see their food. Of course, it takes them a good while to get through their food as the movie itself has them both laughing too much to focus on eating too much, but thankfully they're able to eat enough as to not go hungry.

Without even really realising it, at some point Alex's head had wound up on Kiaria's lap, with the Octoling gently petting the Inkling's head and tentacles, causing said Inkling to purr softly and happily.

During a quiet moment, Kiaria looks down at Alex and smiles, bopping the squid on her nose and giggling.

"I love you~." Kiaria states with a smile and warm blush, as Alex looks up at her with a giggle and a smile as well.

"I love you too~" Alex smiles at Kiaria and lightly nuzzles her head against her as Kiaria lightly rubs the Inkling's ear.

Their attention returns to the movie again, just as the "Autopilot deflating" scene happens, causing the both of them to laugh.

"Pff, yeah as if." Kiaria chortles as she reaches over and grabs more pizza.

"Only person I'd do that for is you, though you don't have to be flying a plane for me to be willing~" Alex flirts lightly, smiling and giggling as well as she grabs a wing.

"Oh? Well I'll keep that in mind~" Kiaria giggles and boops Alex once more.

"We're gonna be married soon, plus we've been together long enough that you should know I'll do anything for you." Alex smiles and nuzzles Kiaria again.

"You're right, I do know that, and I would do the same love. Now keep watching the movie you dork~" Kiaria smiles as she noms her slice of pizza.

"Oh if you insist~" Alex giggles and starts working on her wing as they return to watching the movie, laughing quite hard as they find the movie overly stupid in the best ways.

Fortunately for the both of them, the rest of the night goes more or less like this. The streaming service suggested another movie when the first one ended and they simply selected it and kept watching while cuddled up on the couch, long after their food had run out as well. They were finally allowed to once more just embrace each other's company.

Eventually the two of them were snoring softly while huddled under a blanket on the couch, hands taken softly by each other, and the TV eventually turning off from lack of user input. The Inkling and Octoling remained close as the night continued on, the moon circling the sky above Inkopolis. They were able to rest and be at peace.

For now.