Splatsville, Pearl's Big Garage, NSS Base of Operations: The Shell-Ter
(Dang it, Pearl. We're not calling it that! - Captain Kuki)
(Oh, yeah. Because 'Cephalo-Pad' is so much better T_T - Pearl)
(Cephalo-Pad is a good name! - Captain Kuki)
Two months and four days earlier...
It was high noon in the city of Splatsville, lunch time.
The NSS and Deep Cut had decided to take a break from investigating Alterna early today, prompted by a noticeable lack of worthwhile discoveries made in the past few days. They'd gathered in their base of operations within Pearl's garage (the official name of which is still being disputed (It's The Shell-Ter - Pearl)) where they settled in and granted themselves a moment of reprieve for working so hard.
For Shiver, lunch was something of a ceremony for her. If breakfast was for champions, then lunch was for kings and future leaders of bandit clans. Whenever possible, she would always prepare her favorite meal: chirashi. Essentially, sashimi, vegetables and various other seasonings over a bed of sushi rice.
A simple dish on its own, she loved it for a variety of reasons; it was relatively easy to make with most of it ingredients widely available at any given time, and the most important part of the dish, the sashimi, differed depending on what the fish market was able to procure at the time, making each meal uniquely different from the last. And while she wouldn't outright admit it, she took great delight in the primal sensation that came with devouring raw meat. In a way, it helped to connect her with her clan's roots and to the mighty sharks they venerated.
Today's chirashi was especially, er, special. The fish market had bluefin tuna caught at the height of the season, plump sweet scallops fresh from the shell, and last but not least, the briny, bubbly goodness of salmon roe purchased at an exceptional price. Topped with cool cucumber slices, onion slivers and nori flakes, the combinations of mild to rich umami flavors and curious textures made for quite a memorable meal.
After skulking through the depths of a decrepit arcology for so long she believed she was entitled to such decadence. As she gingerly picked away at it with her chopsticks she reveled in each bite, savoring the subtle complexities of flavors that lingered on her tongue. it was every little bit as enjoyable as she had hoped it to be.
Pausing, she took a sip of her milk tea and swept a gaze across the team, casually observing their behavior. Everyone was enjoying their own meals and were engaged with one another, either polite conversation or some other juvenile shenanigans.
Of the more amusing interactions between the gang, Pearl had opted for hot wings today. Specifically, Saucy Skeeter's signature 'Super Spicy Soul Scorchers Supreme Set' as they were infamously known in Splatsville. They say just looking at them was the equivalent of staring at the sun, that's how intense it was. She was feeling adventurous and thought she could handle them. Judging from the long unbroken streams of tears and snot dribbling down her face and a frantic looking Marina fussing over her, she thought wrong.
Naturally, Frye couldn't help but comment how much of a lightweight Pearl was when it came to her tolerance towards higher spice levels, something Shiver was inclined to agree with.
Across from them, Big Man was speaking with the Squid Sisters, talking about the Seven Day Forecast collaboration as they ate. They'd already decided on the name for one of their new songs: Liquid Sunshine. The rest of the agents were all over the place, either sunken into the seat of the couch with their eyes glued to the tv or idly passing the time some other way around the garage.
Her eyes eventually settled onto Tres. She stared in his direction, something she'd been guilty of doing from time to time ever since their harrowing adventures at the Happiness Research Labs. He was cozying up against the sofa, a half eaten can of green... something in one hand and a spoon in the other as Little Buddy sat beside him steadily munching away at his prodigious hero sandwich.
A ghost of a smile curled on Shiver's lips. Although, while she pined for the boy, there were some things he could really work on. Namely, his bizarre diet and curious eating habits. Minor things, sure, but no less questionable.
What she meant by that was that Tres was more than financially well off to afford some decent, and more importantly, well seasoned food. She had seen him eat better before, but his staple diet seemed to consist of some of the most dry, bland and overly preserved foods in existence. Things like hardtack, jerky, nearly all manner of canned or dried goods and, probably the most dubious of the lot, bulk field rations from the army surplus store.
There was a pattern she was able to discern; they were all calorie dense foodstuffs with long shelf life that were, usually, ready to eat straight out of the package with little to no preparation required. Essentially it was everything someone with a survivalist mindset would want in a meal, which fits Tres to a T as his day job often required him to scour the Splatlands for days, possibly weeks on end for junk to sell on the market.
It would be easy to dismiss his choice of meals on that point alone, but there was more to it that paints him in an entirely different light.
One thing she noticed after a while was that Tres ate slow, almost painfully so. He would take twice as long to finish his meal compared to the others, only rushing if it was absolutely necessary. When questioned by others he would jokingly chalk it up as him savoring his meal, which was very much plausible and a completely reasonable thing to say. But there was something about the way he says it that, to the astute, sounded melancholic in nature.
Then, there was the fact that he is both willing and able to eat anything put in front of him. If it were edible, and in some cases where it wasn't, he would eat without complaint. His body somehow squeezing every last bit of nutrients he could get out of it in order to sustain himself was nothing short of a gastrointestinal miracle. Knowing that he had no qualms eating out of the dumpster, it wasn't a reach to believe that the inside of his colon probably looked like an old leather handbag.
In the moment, it really made her think.
A frown formed on her face. She'd seen these kinds of behavioral quirks before... They were all too common in the slums. Poverty was rampant there and Deep Cut was no stranger to helping out the less fortunate. In doing so they'd seen more than their fair share of humbling sights.
Struggling families scrapping by to make ends meet usually didn't have much to eat, if at all. They'd cherish every meal they could get, taking them time to enjoy it, no matter how meager or unappetizing it was. The fact of the matter was that beggars couldn't be choosers. It was a mindset many adopted lest they be seen as disrespectful or ungrateful to their peers, and it is something that never truly leaves you even when circumstances improve.
Now, it was presumptuous at best and outright insulting at worst on her part to assume anything of Tres based on a few random observations. She'd already promised him she wouldn't dig deep into his personal life, and Shiver is nothing if not an Octoling of her word. Heck, for all she knew he could just be a penny pinching miser.
That being said, simply chatting about oddities wasn't out of the question.
Quietly, she rose from her seat and inconspicuously moved closer to Tres, struggling to keep her composure in check before seating herself on the sofa next to Little Buddy who eyed her cautiously. The Small Fry was protective of his sandwich, wrapping covetous fins around its wheaty girth and shooting her a threatening glare with his bulbous eyes. Shiver rolled her eyes at the sight and merely patted the little goober on the head, letting him know she wasn't after his precious food.
"Hello, Tres. What's that you got there?" Shiver asked, the suddenness of her question snapping Tres from his train of thought.
"Whuah?" He turned to face Shiver, his eyes shifting between her and the can in his hand. "Oh, hiya, Shiver. This? This is, uh... It's-" he paused, examining the strange tightly packed green stuff he was absently packing away mere seconds ago. It was this dense yet crumbly cake of some kind, having a texture reminiscent of pumpernickel or soda bread. It tasted like the ocean, unabashedly briny and fishy with a slight chalky aftertaste.
"Well, you see- Um, er..." he gave the food a cursory sniff, looking not at all dissimilar to a rat cautiously checking out poisoned bait. "...It's green," he concluded.
"How appetizing," she replied sarcastically with a deadpan delivery. "Do you even know what's in it?"
"Well, why don't we check the ol' label and find out?" He smirked, rotating the can as he began listing off the shockingly low ingredient count of the green stuff. "Let's see here. Canned algae cake. Ingredients: seaweed, algae, powdered seashells, wow, that one's kinda surprising, flour, sugar and sea salt. Huh, there's a distinct lack of unpronounceable preservatives here. I guess this could be considered a 'healthy' meal."
"The sodium content would say otherwise," She couldn't help but snark. "Where did you even find that stuff?"
"You know that little jellyfish bodega down on the corner of main street, the one with the big moving crab sign hanging over it?" Tres described with crab claw hand gestures. "I got it from there. They were having a two for one sale on this stuff. I saw it and thought to myself, dang, that's lunch and dinner right there. So I grabbed some for myself, a couple other things and a sandwich for Little Buddy 'fore swinging by the garage."
"And you like it?" Shiver raised a curious brow.
"Eh, it's... an acquired taste, but it's good enough so I can't complain," Tres shrugged. picking at the algae cake before popping a chunk into his mouth and chewing. "S'not bad once you get past the chalky aftertaste," he mumbled with his mouth full. "Salty, chewy, filling. It's oddly toothsome, a real nostalgic flavor."
"You're a regular gourmand," she rolled her eyes as she reached over and grabbed an extra plastic spoon off the coffee table. She scooped up part of her chirashi bowl, making sure to grab a respectable amount of rice, sashimi and vegetables in a single bite. She held it over to Tres. "Here, try some of this. I think you'll find it more palatable than green."
Tres eyed the spoon for a brief second, tempted by the offer. He definitely found it more appealing than what he was eating (granted the bar wasn't set very high), something made apparent by the way he subconsciously smacked his lips at the mere sight of it. There was no hesitation in what happened next, he lunged his head forward and snapped up the spoonful of chirashi that was still in Shiver's hand, causing her to reel in surprise at the audacious move.
Tres pulled away from the spoon, his face steadily lighting up with delight as he began chewing. It was like eating a spoonful of heaven, there was a party in his mouth and everyone was invited.
"Mmm! This is really good!" he exclaimed enthusiastically, causing Shiver to blush bright blue at the compliment. "Where'd you get this?"
"I didn't get this anywhere. I made it myself," said Shiver, an air of smug self-satisfaction surrounding her.
"No kidding," Tres breathed in awe. "Wish I had that kinda talent. You know, you'd make someone very happy one day," The comment made Shiver blush even harder, the cool powdery blue around her cheeks threatening to bleed across her face in a bright iridescent royal blue as her tentacles began to curl and flex involuntarily (a sign of things to come). She turned away, hiding her quivering expression behind her coiffed tentacle as she meekly rebuffed him.
"Y-you're assuming an awful lot about me, wouldn't you say? How b-brazen of you," she huffed even as sweet daydreams of cooking up an extravagant meal for him played out in her mind. No expense would be spared for an exquisite dinner between them, nor would she shy away from theatricalities. She would boil a great pot and with the strength of the great megalodon guiding her hands stew a grand feast infused with the greatest ingredient of all: love.
As the daydream continued to play out, stretching way beyond the actual dinner portion and towards a more... saucy direction, her head began to spin and her hearts started to palpitate dangerously within her chest. She needed to grab ahold of herself, biting the inside of her cheek in order to snap back to reality. Suppressing every last urge of her affection threatening to spill itself forth, she regained part of her composure.
"Hmm, you're probably right. Maybe you're not the type who'd want to settle down," he shrugged, settling back into his seat. "I dunno how that works for a fancy heiress of a bandit clan, but that's above my paygrade to think about."
"...I'd want to be with someone I truly care about," she mumbled beneath her breath.
"What was that?" Tres queried, having heard the mumbling.
"I said, um, c-chairs about. Lotta... Lotta chairs about, heh heh," Shiver chuckled nervously, a sheepish grin on her face.
"Oh," Tres furrowed his brow. "Yeah, we have a lot of chairs here, don't we? Pearl has way too much money. Oh, where are my manners?" he scooped up a chunk of his algae cake with his spoon and held it towards Shiver. "You wanna try some?" Shiver stared blankly at the crumbly looking cake. It would be easy to mistake it as some sort of matcha product were it not for the faint scent of brine that wafted off it. It made her cringe inwardly.
"Er, I'm okay," she maintained her grin, looking like quite the fool. "Thank you for the offer though."
"Hmm, more for me," Tres hummed as he took another bite of the algae cake. "Don't blame you though. You got your own little bowl of goodness."
From there, they segue into casual conversation, talking about this and that but mostly about her upcoming musical collaboration. She was tempted to ask him if he could act as her personal bodyguard. He was going to work security as a cover anyway, but having him by her side at events would raise questions. Questions she wasn't prepared to be hassled for yet.
For the time being, she was content just being around Tres. His presence and humble attitude always seemed to brighten up her day. She only wished had the nerve to ask him out sooner than later...
"...Pearl! You don't have to force yourself to keep eating those!" Marina cried out, hovering worriedly over Pearl as she continued to desperately stuffed her mouth with the soul scorcher hot wings, mustering every fiber of her being to push on through and finish her meal.
"Pearl... *pant* Houzuki... *pant* Wasn't raised... *pant* To be a punk!" Pearl strained between heavy breaths, wiping away her hot tears and slippery snot with the sleeve of her expensive looking jacket. Her natural coloration had turned a bright cherry red from the usual creamy white and pink and her cute pouty lips had ballooned to comical levels as the satanic spice threatened to melt her along the floor of the garage. "I'm... *pant* Gonna finish this... *pant* Even if it kills me!"
"Go, Pearl! Go, go, go!" Quattro cheered enthusiastically from the sidelines, earning him a glare from Marina.
"Are you gonna let the spice win? Heck no!" Frye joined in on the cheering, hollering slogans and single phrase bumper sticker mottos at Pearl.
"Don't encourage her!" Marina cried exasperatedly.
Shiver's eyes slowly opened as consciousness steadily returned to her, the memory fading away into the aether. Her entire body felt numb, like she had slept in a funny way, and she could taste bile rising up in her throat. Her brain still trapped in a fuzzy haze, she had difficulty remembering what happened that led to her current predicament.
There were some minor things she could recall, brief images flashing by so quickly it left her more disoriented than she was now. Thankfully she was lucid enough to still be aware of certain important details, namely; the suckling, the shame and humiliation that followed, and the clowns.
The clowns were important.
But before she could properly acclimate to her condition, a breeze blew by and tickled her nose. Something awakened in her and her senses kicked into overdrive.
"...Wait... a minute," Shiver slurred, sniffing the air. "Fresh air?" She struggled to raise her head and felt the sun's warm rays caressing her achy form. "Natural sunlight?" Her heart rate began to spike, the fog in her brain rapidly cleared as her head began darting wildly in all directions. "No..." she breathed, terror creeping up her back. "No, no! Not the outside world!?" she hissed like a vampire caught in daylight, finally drawing the attention of the people dragging her along: Frye and Big Man.
"Hiya, Shiver!" Big Man greeted, his million dollar smile practically radiating with positive energies. "You're finally awake, huh?"
"Glad to have you back in the land of the living, Shiv!" Frye beamed, looking equally as cheery and optimistic about the entire ordeal. "We're going to have fun and show you a great time, so don't resist!"
If Shiver could scream with her lungs so heavy and fatigued they'd shatter every window nearby.
A/N: If I could describe this Shiver and Tres/Neo-3's pairing, I would compare it to Monkey D. Luffy and Boa Hancock's from 'One Piece' and Fudo Aikawa/Red Gelato and Desumi Magahara/Reaper Princess from 'Love after World Domination'. I personally love the dynamic of dependable loveable goofball and powerful warrior princess with a gentle side