From Chaos to Order
It had been a little over 2 months since the incident with Mr. Grizz and the fuzzy ooze, and Runo— the new Captain of the Squidbeak Splatoon— was finally getting used to their normal life again. The Alterna cleanup project had officially wrapped up thanks to Neo Agent 3 and her Smallfry friend, leaving the hidden world open for exploration by those who sought to learn more about the last human settlement. Runo, of course, had no intention of going back for a while. They just wanted to get back to their normal life, in the little two-bedroom apartment in Inkopolis’ Flounder Heights where they, their best friend Dan (aka Agent 4), and their girlfriend Eight (Agent 8) all lived together.
The trio were an unusual bunch with very different personalities. Dan was loud, brash, and had a mischievous side that was all most people ever saw in him, always up to no good. He seemingly made it his mission to be the “annoying” friend, and preferred to defuse situations with humor before anything else. He did not appear to be the type who would ever willingly go back to school, and yet— much to the entire New Squidbeak Splatoon’s surprise— he did, as his dream was to become a teacher. Now a few years into his college education, he even taught classes as a substitute, and his chaotic nature (and secret soft side) made him very well loved by the little squids he had been left in charge of.
Eight on the other hand was shy, disciplined, and probably the sweetest person Runo had ever met. Even now, it was hard to believe someone so kind and innocent was ever the enemy, as the first time the two had met was in battle. Eight had been an Octarian soldier for most of her life, only breaking free of that path roughly 5 years ago. She was a highly skilled fighter, an expert sniper, and a fairly good strategist on top of that, but she would rather write music and poetry than fight anymore, and was now the lead singer of a band called "the Shell-Stoppers", alongside her adopted younger sister Coral, better known as "DJ Bu-L-Gum". It warmed Runo’s hearts to see her so happy. After all, they knew better than anyone the kind of hell that Eight went through to get to where she is now.
Runo wanted nothing more than to have a simple, easy life like their friends. However, due to their volatile personality and many health problems caused by poor decisions in their teen years, they found it hard to get any kind of new job, and even harder to keep it. Being Captain was cool, but they really wished they didn’t have to lead others into battle to save the world as often as they and ex-Captain Cuttlefish had done since Runo first joined as Agent 3, 7 years ago. And yet… At the same time, some part of them felt like a super calm life didn’t sound that appealing either. They needed some excitement, like the work they used to do as the vigilante hero of Inkopolis, Sango. The work that, with their body functioning at only a fraction of the level it used to, they can no longer do.
Some Chaos within the Order, they thought, recalling the final splatfest before the mass exodus from Inkopolis to Splatsville. Things had gotten really heated between Dan and Eight during that and other splatfests, and Runo was the only one keeping things peaceful. Because they refused to take sides when it came to their friends (even if they had technically been on Team Order). They were the only reason Dan hadn’t moved to Splatsville when team Chaos won… and the only reason Eight stuck around after they had their big fight. Despite their own issues and violent past (spending your teenage years fighting a war will do things to you, unless of course you lose your memory after having a change of heart like Eight had) they were surprisingly good at keeping the peace between friends… the problem is, that seems like the only thing besides fighting that they were good at.
Maybe that’s all they were meant to do after all…
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“Hey, has anyone seen my hoodie? I swear I left it on the couch yesterday…” Dan shouted.
“I put it away in the closet by the door. You know, where it belongs?” Eight called back, poking her head out of her and Runo’s room.
“Oh, found it. Thanks Eight!”
“Got another class today?” the Octoling asked.
“Nah, I was just gonna run to MakoMart and stock up on snacks. Neo and the Squid Sisters are coming over for movie night tonight, remember?”
“OH! That’s right! Shoot, I completely forgot! I gotta clean this place up!”
“Don’t bother, Eight.” Runo sighed, “Li’l Buddy’s just gonna trash everything again anyway.”
“Oh, Cod, Neo’s bringing Li’l Buddy?!” Eight whined.
“She never goes anywhere without him, you know that.” Runo shrugged.
There was a loud thud, as if Eight had slammed her head down against her desk. Runo would be concerned, but they knew it didn’t hurt that bad. Cephalopods had squishy bodies that tended to absorb most impacts, and Eight was far too cautious to ever deliberately do anything she knew would actually injure her without good reason.
Even though Runo had only just woken up about 15 minutes ago, Eight was already dressed and looked like she’d been working for the last hour at least. Runo supposed they would never get used to the different sleeping patterns of Inklings and Octolings. The stories about Inklings nearly losing the Great Turf War because they kept oversleeping suddenly seemed very believable; if Runo and Eight were still enemies, Eight probably could have easily killed them in their sleep. But they weren’t. Instead Runo woke up every day to find breakfast and coffee made for them and Dan, and Eight already hard at work on her next writing project. More importantly, they got to wake up every morning to find that this too-good-to-be-true relationship was in fact true, and that the cute little Octoling in front of them still loved them despite everything they’d been through together.
“Uh, no.” Eight put up a hand to stop Runo from kissing her, “Shower. You smell like rotten fish. I am not kissing you until you’ve showered.”
Runo sighed. This was frequently the routine. They never thought they smelled that bad, but at the same time Runo had been told by multiple people now that they had horrible hygiene. Disliking water was not an uncommon thing with inkfish, since large amounts can be deadly, but Runo disliked it… more than most. No reason in particular, they just didn’t like it. . Unfortunately their girlfriend was a neat freak and refused to show any affection until Runo corrected this. Eight was so damn lucky Runo loved her so much…
"Much better." Eight smiled when Runo finally emerged from the bathroom, smelling much nicer than before. They still put on their old poncho, t-shirt, and sweatpants, which probably hadn't been washed the last 4 times they wore that outfit, but Eight knew that the only way anyone could take those clothes away was over Runo's dead body. So she resigned herself to the fact that she would have to wash them that night while Runo slept, and for now this was the cleanest version of her partner that she was getting.
It was fine, though. Runo's lack of general organization perfectly complemented Eight and her need to have everything neat and orderly. She supposed even if she couldn't remember much of her time as an Octarian soldier, old habits die hard. She needed the occasional mess in her life to remind her that not everything can be controlled. As much as she hated to admit it, living with Runo and Dan— two of the messiest, dirtiest, smelliest people she knew— had given her just that. She was used to it by now. Just so long as nobody messed with the things on her desk… that was her space, and Dan had learned the hard way what happens when you mess up the careful and deliberate placement of her things; he still had the scar from where she'd stabbed him in the leg with a pencil. She let it slide the one time Runo accidentally tossed their dirty poncho on her chair, but only because she could never bring herself to hurt them.
Not again, at least…
Eight knew Runo didn’t blame her for it, and Eight knew she had no choice. But that didn’t mean she didn’t regret it anyway. The fight in the elevator to the surface had scarred them both; Runo physically, and Eight mentally, and every time Eight looked at Runo’s face— at the massive scar that covered their right eye and part of their ear, and the green coloring left behind in their eye itself— she was reminded of the fight. She knew she shouldn’t feel guilty— she had to, to free Runo from Tartar’s control and to help Craig— but she couldn’t help but feel like she didn’t deserve the happy, seemingly perfect end to the conflict that they got. She had been the enemy up until then, after all. Losing her memory and doing a little bit of good didn’t erase what had to be roughly 16 years of bad under DJ Octavio. She was surprised anyone could forgive people like her and Marina so quickly, even if they did help save the world.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Runo asked.
“Huh?” Eight asked, snapping out of her thoughts, “Oh, nothing. Just got lost in thought, that’s all.”
“What’s this? New song?” Runo asked, reading the notebook in front of her from over her shoulder.
“No, just a bit of warm up writing. I need to get this rap verse down for Coral soon. She says she may have gotten us a gig, so we need to finish our newest song, but I’ve been hitting a wall lately with these lyrics.”
“You know you don’t have to be working all the time, right? You’re allowed to take days off.” Runo told her.
“I know. But I enjoy this. I really think songwriting is my true calling.”
“Uh-huh, and when’s the last time you went outside? Cooped up in here all day every day, you might as well be back in the Domes.” Runo rolled their eyes as they tried to pry Eight up from her seat.
“I have the window open!” She argued, her attempts to stay seated proving entirely futile against Runo’s pull.
“Doesn’t matter. We’re going out. You’re getting some sun whether you want it or not. Your writing can wait.”
“But—!”
“Why don’t we see if Dan and Neo want to join us in Turf? You know Dan’s been itching to get back out and practice. I think I saw some kids playing Rainmaker outside just a few minutes ago, meaning Flounder Heights is in rotation.”
“Runo, let go—!” No matter how many times Eight tried to fight it, Runo did not listen, and instead continued to drag her out of the apartment and downstairs to the street. She wasn’t actually upset, though. Runo had a point, she did need to get out more, and she could use a break. She was running low on inspiration and maybe a day off would fix that. At the very least getting some fresh air wouldn’t hurt…
“Seriously, let go! I can't—” Eight struggled to free herself of their grip. Runo let go.
“What’s wrong?”
“I left my E-Liter upstairs.”