squidkidnerd

[squidkidnerd]

true stupidity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting it to work (me trying to beat 8's palette w 4 hacks or less)

#splatoon #side order spoilers #IVE TRIED IT #SO MANY TIMES #'oh just use more hacks' but have u considered: #i am STUBBORN #so mad #i splashdowned only to get hit midair by the homing arpeggios #BITCH

[squidkidnerd]

ya weni or something idk i’m not a gay squid

#splatoon #I must be a gay squid then #bc I think i know the whole first verse #ya wenei marei #mirekyahire #juri yu mirekerason #kire hyari #ok I actually don’t know the rest #the only reason I know is bc fic writing lol

[squidkidnerd]

Polycut kisses

#splatoon #polycut #AWWW #love them they’re so cute

[squidkidnerd]

You know what? I accept this new headcanon XD

(Screenshot from Splatoon Subreddit)

Frye bribes some of the best players to not join her own team, just for the lolz.

#splatoon #splatfest #ok this is funny #but I like Frye angst too much 😭

[squidkidnerd]

hi agent 24 nation, is this anything

#splatoon #agent 24 #LMAOOO

[squidkidnerd]

Side Order au where Marina is still greyscaled for most of the first run. She's still on your side! She's just, still more so Agitando than your usual girl- since her palette hasn't been unlocked and Order hasn't been taken down. It's like in Portal 2 when Glados is a potato.

She's after her own goals of retaining control of Orderland and still tells you everything like how Marina does- she's just, not all herself yet. But she'll get there by the end! And after that she's normal Marina.

#splatoon #side order #OUGH #I LOVE THIS #also love how she’s still like #glitchy #beautiful

[squidkidnerd]

did you guys hear they bodied bubbline and rupphire in best yuri bracket on twitter

#splatoon #pearlina #THEM!!!! #they did it GLORIOUSLY

[squidkidnerd]

Self-indulgent bad-end/evil aus for these two :)

The first ones a what-if scenario where Tartar's essence/goop remained embedded in 3 post OE and continued to gain more and more influence over time. A merging of 3s desire to protect the world and Tartar's desire to subdue it -- now a sort of "service that must be served", that the world, for its betterment, must be reset so itll stay safe/perfect forever.

The second is a 4 who becomes the Perfect Agent, and vents out her frustrations abt her previous life on what appears to be 3s soul.

#splatoon #OUGHHH I LOVE THSE #ur art is awesome I love it so much

[squidkidnerd]

wanted to feature 8 in threat display!! she becomes pearlescent :)

#splatoon #agent 8 #YOOO BEAT EM UP EIGHT #side order

[squidkidnerd]

What’s the (agent 24 I assume) fic idea you came up with? It looks very cool I’m intrigued

OHOHO IM GLAD YOU ASKED >:3

so basically, eight died during the events of octo expansion, and three can't remember why but she is absolutely not okay. but three's also lost a lot of her memories from what happened in the metro, so she's got like a vague idea of the love of her life being ripped from her and she's going a little crazy

then eight appears in her room as a ghost and asks for her help and three's like. fuck that man you're not real. but eventually comes around and decides to help her. eight's deal is that she's a ghost/soul thing (it's a very messy concept that doesn't make a lot of sense but pretend it does) but she lost a lot of her memories both when she ended up in the metro and when she died. but if she can get her memories back and find her body, she'll be able to come back to life. so they go and explore the metro, fighting sanitized octos, finding eight's mem cakes and being really gay! (also since eight's a ghost she and three can't touch each other and the mutual pining is STRONG) but also eight seems to be hiding a lot of details, like the exact nature of her death and the gaps in three's memory...

i've got a couple chapters written already and i plan on posting it when i'm done (tho i've considered posting it as i write so ppl can watch me descend into madness in real time)

#splatoon #AUGH THANK FOR ANSWERING MY ASK THIS SOUNDS SO COOL #agent 24 #looking forward to reading it!

[squidkidnerd]

Operation Atlantis Notes - "An Inkling of the Past" (chapter 9)

Oh boy, this was a chapter. What can I say, this is basically like the semifinale of part 1. I've been pretty excited to get to this chapter, because it's the first time the darker elements I've been teasing since the beginning really come into focus. So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it. And hey, I'm really on a roll now! I only posted last chapter a little over a month ago!

Now, I say I enjoyed this chapter, but really all the scenes got a major rewrite except for the turfing scene. That's okay, though, because I think my first draft was kinda just me writing to get it all out and hey. You can't edit a blank page. It's just interesting, because I usually finish my draft and send it right off to my betas, but this time I did some rewriting first. But, hey, it's here now.

The Title: Woohoo, the first time I'm actually talking about the titles! Not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I really like chapter titles. They add such flavor and character to a fic that I adore. For Operation Atlantis, it's hard to pin down what they actually represent as a whole, but it's a... certain vibe, for sure. This one is one of my favorites because of the double meaning ("inkling" as a hint but also "inkling" as in a literal inkling). Splatoon loves it puns and double meanings, so I'm glad I got to honor the series and put one here.

Opening poem: So... if you read this and were like "Hey, this seems familiar..." that's because it is. It is literally a mem cake poem from OE copy and pasted straight from the wiki. The reason for this is, well, I simply couldn't write anything better. It so perfectly encapsulates the themes of this chapter and I LOVE the line "But is our fate to spray this hate?" It so perfectly encapsulates Three and Eight and why their ship is so compelling to me. Because, well, is it? Are the destined to be like Cuttlefish, Octavio, and countless other octolings and inklings and repeat the cycle of the past? Or, can they break free from it? Only time will tell...

The Nightmare™: This scene was fun to write. I really enjoyed referencing Inner Agent 3, and timing the beats of the fight to Calamari Inkantation worked really well. I think it's interesting, because the Inkantation has become a very clear ongoing symbol by now. In most cases it represents freedom and hope, but here, it's almost menacing. Up until this point, Eight has remained very separated from the Octarians vs. Inklings conflict that drove her down to Atlantis in the first place—she's read about it, but reading about something is nowhere near the same from directly experiencing it herself. She learns that brutally well in this chapter.

Flawed mentor figures: This is something I've quite enjoyed exploring in Operation Atlantis as a whole. Oftentimes in media, mentors seem infallible to their mentees, being infinitely wiser and more experienced. However, in both these scenes with Eight and Iso Padre as well as Three and Cuttlefish (well, more so the Three and Cuttlefish scene later on, but), we see that neither of them are perfect at all. Both, actually, make a similar mistake—they ignore Three and Eight's feelings. For Iso Padre, it's definitely less intentional, but still. Just something interesting I wanted to point out.

Three and Viktor: Oh look, it's Viktor! I gotta admit, this scene is here purely for future plot reasons and not much else. At least I got to introduce Three to Brellas? Idk. Also, more exploration of Three using turf as a coping mechanism! It makes sense, you know, because it's familiar to her in a place where everything else is unfamiliar. So, yeah.

The Incident™: Oh boy. This scene is something we've been building up to for a while, starting all the way back in chapter 6... maybe even earlier. And I've gotta be honest, it perfectly encapsulates Three and Eight's relationship at this point at the story. They're friends, but both of them are ignoring and even refusing to acknowledge the dirty laundry between them... but the thing about dirty laundry is you have to wash it or else it'll start to stink. And that's exactly what happens here. Eight might not realize it, but deep down there's a part of her that's scared of Three. And Three well... she's a scary person to Eight. Both of them are forced to realize this. I also really enjoyed calling back to the first scene with the ink colors and also with Eight's hands—in the first scene, she hallucinates that there's blood and orange ink on them, and here, there actually is. Cool.

"She's not my enemy": This was a satisfying scene to write. Three's done a lot of growing in the past 9 chapters, from assuming all octolings are her enemies to realizing there's a bigger threat and then... now, this. She already told Eight this in chapter 8, but what makes so special here is that she's telling it to Cuttlefish, the man who instilled that idea in her in the first place. It's the first time she's telling him "No, you're wrong." So, for that reason, I like this scene. Three is finally calling him out on his bullshit! Somewhat! As soon as Cuttlefish (basically) threatens her, she backs down because well, she's scared that he might end up being right. But still, I'm proud of you, bestie. One step at a time.

"Do you know what it feels like to forget?": Another banger of a scene, this time from Eight. And well... what is there to say about this? We've been building up to it since the beginning. So far, Eight's arc has all been about finding her identity and asserting herself as a person, and well... here's the ultimate form of that. She's making a choice not for anyone else but herself. How will it go? We'll just have to see next chapter!

So yeah. To close out, I just want to mention something briefly about Side Order and its lore about sanitization and Eight's amnesia: I'm ignoring it. It's not canon to this AU. I've thought up something different a long time ago, and this already isn't canon compliant so I'm not changing it. Just wanted to clear that up officially.

Anyways... chapter 9! I can't believe we're here, honestly. Working on this fic over the past year or two has been rough, but I'm trucking along slowly but surely. Speaking of slowly but surely... after chapter 10, this fic will be going on hiatus. This is for several reason, the most major of which is that I'm burnt out and need to regain my motivation by working on other things. Those other "things" include Side Order fics! Yay! But rest assured, I will return to Operation Atlantis eventually. I really want to finish this story, and that's exactly why I'm going to take this hiatus. The last thing I want is to become so burnt out that I don't even want to continue anymore. So yeah. The hiatus doesn't have a set length yet, but probably to the end of the summer, if not longer. Not sure yet. But rest assured, neither me nor this fic is going anywhere!

And that's all. Happy Springfest!

#ari's updates #writing notes #operation atlantis writing notes #chapter 9

[squidkidnerd]

CHAPTER 9 IS HERE BESTIES!!!!

#splatoon #ari's updates #agent 24 #yippee!

[squidkidnerd]

#splatoon #OW #no callieeee :(

[squidkidnerd]

To the folks disappointed or maybe even pissed about not getting any announcements for new Splatoon stuff during the world championships: just because we didn't get anything then doesn't mean we won't get any new announcements in the future. I, for one, wasn't expecting much from the world championships 'cause we got Side Order some time ago and spring fest is happening in a few days. We should be fine for a while. Sure, the lack of any news of a content extension is starting to make me nervous because a shit ton of time was put into Side Order and some of the seasons during that time were admittedly kinda sucky (sizzle season 2023!!!), but not getting an announcement for a content extension doesn't mean that it won't happen. So to everyone reading this: just stay a little bit optimistic for S3's future. It's not game over, not yet. And besides, S3 is still fun to play regardless and that's all that matters to me.

#splatoon #YEAH #so many ppl are freaking out way too much and its just like #chill #chill out besties

[squidkidnerd]

💖HAPPY CALLIE DAY!!💖… tho it’s now the next day and I forgot to post here😅 Even have a Teal version too

#splatoon #AUGHHHH 😳 #i love women i love women i love women i love women— #callie

[squidkidnerd]

Writing Notes - "Bomb Rush Blush (but it never ends)

Hey guys! Happy C4ll13 day! If you haven't read it yet, I posted a fic to mark this special occasion, and you can read it here. Initially I was just gonna ramble in the notes in ao3 like I've done for the other 2 oneshots I've posted, but then I realized I have too many Thoughts™ to just put there... so here we go! Spoilers for the fic ahead!

Before we talk about the fic itself, I want to talk about Side Order.

When it first came out, many people were disappointed. I worried I would be too, at first, but after beating it the first time (and now having done it with all of them except Eight's) I can say that I personally wasn't. The color chips are insanely fun and I love them: truly the best take on upgrades we've seen in Splatoon. However, that's not the main part people were disappointed by: instead, it was the story.

And yeah, I agree.

The problem with Side Order is not conceptual. It has all the ingredients to make something really good. The problem is that it doesn't use any of them. Specifically, with grayscaling. What even is grayscaling? We don't really know. All we get is an exposition dump from Marina and that's it. That's... not good. There's a reason "show don't tell" is preached to the nines. Because we don't know what grayscaling means, it's hard to really care about anything that's going on. We're climbing up this tower for... what? To save a bunch of random people? We don't even have any reason to believe they're in danger. Saving Marina would have fixed this, but that goes out the window after you clear the tutorial because she's just... there. Afterward. There's no motivation to get to the top of the tower, no reason to beat Order. You just do it... well, because you have to.

That's bad.

So yeah. After Side Order, I was eagerly waiting to see if anyone would do something cool with the grayscaling... but to no avail. So, I took power into my own hands and wrote this thing.

Grayscaling—what even is it?: Yeah, I had to answer this before I did anything else. What I came up is well, best summed up by the phrase used in the fic itself: dissociative depression. One of the few details we get about grayscaling canonically is that it's a "loss of free will." And well... depression kinda is exactly that, isn't it? Well, it literally isn't, but in a way, depression saps out the energy you could've used to make changes in your life. It traps you, making you believe there's no escape. It's stagnant, unchanging, just like Order wants everything and everyone to be. And the dissociation comes from the fact that grayscaling occurs when your soul is literally sucked in to the Memverse. The way I see it, with a "soul" almost being like consciousness, that means your mind is being sucked into the Memverse too. Given that souls are very resistant to being separated from the body, I imagine this isn't a pretty process. Hence, the dissociative episodes that occur when a soul is being sucked in... and the "snap" back. These episodes are uncontrollable, which is what makes them dangerous. Imagine if you're driving on the highway and this suddenly happens to you. What happens if the person in front of you breaks during it? Well, an accident.

The Squid Sisters and mental health issues: Famous celebrity or not, everyone struggles with mental health sometimes... hence, why I gave the Squid Sisters a history of it in this fic. For Marie, it felt very fitting to give her depression. She comes off as cold and uncaring sometimes, and depression can make you into that. I also wanted to reference the fact that she's struggled with this several times throughout her life, because while many people have one depressive "episode," many cycle through several in their life like Marie. Just like in real life, it gets better and worse for her from time to time. And for Callie, while the focus is Marie for most of this fic, I think she struggles with anxiety. Callie is the exact opposite of Marie, she's happy and peppy and go go go, and anxiety is almost like the opposite of depression. Like Marie, she suppresses her symptoms just as intensely, if not more.

Callie and Marie's relationship: As with what happens whenever I write new characters, I was at first worried about writing these two, but as it turned out, it went pretty well! They're like true sisters in that they do their fair share of jesting (see: Callie calling Marie "grandma," which is something actually in in-game dialogue), but deep down, really care about each other. They've also done a lot of growth since S2, which is why this situation is so distressing for them at first. It can be scary to realize you're falling back on old patterns... but at the end of the day, you're moving forward regardless.

Dr Herring and THE EMAIL SKIN YAAAYY: Part 1 of the snazzy formatting, the email skin! I found it online, it's pretty neat, but let me tell you... it was a pain to get it all right for every single email. Still, I think it worked out really cool and adds some nice realism to this fic. Now, as for the emails themselves, I think they serve several purposes. For one, they show how deeply Callie cares about Marie because you know, she's literally emailing her therapist. They also do some exposition. I always like doing exposition like this, where it's an-universe thing that is directly told to characters rather than being in narration or something, because it's far more natural and interesting. It's also why there's the scene with Jay... and just in general why I write a lot of scene where characters find things out by eavesdropping

The News (snazzy formatting part 2): Yeah, the news articles! Again, for a touch of realism and to include exposition without it being jarring. While the first one wasn't that hard (I just made the text into headers), the second... definitely was. Specifically, because it's a podcast transcript and I wanted to have the names on the left and the text a unified block on the right like real ones... so, I had to learn how to code tables with HTML! It took me a bit and at some points it randomly moved the text to the end of the fic with a bunch of line breaks, but I figured it out and I'm very happy with it! I hope to do more cool formatting with my fics in the future.

The... Actual Content of the News: Remember when I mentioned how the dissociation caused by grayscaling could be dangerous? Yeah, I knew I wanted to fulfill my promises with that. The reason was... well, I wanted grayscaling to have actual consequences. I mean obviously depression is bad, but this makes it way scarier. Like, people are dying! The Persona series does this in its beginnings and it works super well.

The Ending: Man, poor Callie. She's been through the ringer. I ended it like this because it's still a few months/weeks before Side Order, and I imagine Order's takeover took a while. Yeah, canonically it took place in *one* day I think, but I don't care about canon. It's way more interesting if it gets actual buildup. But... don't worry, she isn't like this forever obviously. I might write a second chapter of some kind where she gets better in the future, who knows.

So yeah! Happy C4ll13 day! I've wanted to share this fic for a while, especially because it's more angsty and I haven't written anything quite like it yet? Or at least, anything that I've posted. I'm also planning a similar fic from Marie's perspective that covers the same events called "Tide Goes Out (but never comes back in). That will come out... whenever I feel like because March 13th is in like, eleven months. I also have a larger, Side Order-related project that is basically my retelling of the story with some tweaks called Monochrome Malaise. Both are fun and I hope I get to them so... no promises.

Anyways, enough writing talk. I'm on April break, which means... I'm graduating soon! Yay! That also means I'm one step closer to getting a cochlear implant in my left ear. If you've been following my writing for a while, you know that I lost hearing in it randomly in February 2023 and have been basically half-deaf ever since, which has been a struggle and a half. This implant will hopefully help me hear better, since I can't use a hearing aid. It's a surgery though, which is scary... they literally stick a magnet under your skin and put a wire of electrodes through your cochlea. No, I'm not making it up. Since I'll be out of commission for a bit because of that, that means... more writing! Yay! I can only imagine I'll be bored out of my mind lol.

So yeah! RIP Splatoon 1 and happy April, Neil banging out the tunes and Homestuck day! Hope it's a good one for you.

#ari's updates #writing notes

[squidkidnerd]

HAPPY C4ll13 DAY!!!! NEW FIC

#splatoon #ari's updates #callie