38 soak! and/or 11 drastic!
so this one ended up longer than expected :] who's ready for dendy being angry at turf war?
11. drastic
Unbelievable.
Unbe-fucking-LIEVABLE.
A lone octoling of short stature stomped out of the tower, lowering the hood of their flap cap with one hand, phone with the official Ink Battling app open in the other. Their tentacles writhed in shame as they glared at the results on their phone screen from the match that had just ended. Good thing they had stepped out of the queue before their head exploded.
5 matches, 5 whole matches of being met with NOTHING but the rapid blasting of a hydra splatling, sending them right back to spawn every time. It seemed no matter what weapon they chose, no matter how many booyah bombs they threw, the hydra was always waiting for them, perched in their stupid little safe spot in the Scorched Gorge. Just thinking about them sitting up there made the mimic octoling's ink boil. It was at a point where they couldn't mask their anger no matter how hard they tried - a reason they were grateful to be wearing a flap cap that obscures most of their face. Like they needed some prick to poke fun at how worked up they're getting over a game where you paint the ground.
How the hell were they supposed to be calm when that hydra was able to skirt by getting splatted only 3 times, but splatting others upwards of 9 times?! How was that ALLOWED?! Dendy's 2:6 K/D ratio seemed absolutely miserable in comparison. And they fucking hated it.
"Stupidass fucking, piece of shit," Dendy mumbled under their breath as they stomped around outside of the battle tower, skillfully keeping their facial expression hidden from any passers by. "The fuck you need a firerate like that for anyway. Fuck you, fuck your life, and fuck-"
The octoling stopped abruptly, spotting something in the corner of their eye. Namely, someone.
Grey sweatshirt. Cargo pants. Those stupid fucking socks with sandals. And that mess of a hairdo.
Of all the people to be walking out at the same time as them, of fucking course it would be the very hydra user they were quietly cursing out!
The squid didn't seem to mind or even recognize their presence though, as he ambled over to perch himself on one of the platforms next to the tower and whip out his phone, as if it was just another day for him. He looked… relatively unbothered.
And it made their skin crawl unlike anything else.
Something about being completely ignored made the octoling want to scream. How dare he?! Was this some sort of joke to him?!
Their wounded pride and boiling rage took the forefront, shoving all rational thought aside. They marched with purpose right over to confront their offender, pocketing their phone to walk with both arms, with an intimidating scowl to compliment.
"HEY! HEY, YOU!!"
The hydra user winced, having Dendy yell so loud and so close to his pointed ear. Frustratingly, though, that's about as disturbed as he seemed to be, as he looked around him before his eyes landed on the octoling below him. He simply smiled and raised a hand in greeting.
"Mm? Oh, yo." he answered back, his calm directly challenging the rage emanating from the cephalopod in front of him. "Ya need somethin'?"
"Don't act all innocent, you cunt!" Dendy spat back.
The inkling simply blinked and tilted his head.
"You think you're all high and mighty with your stupid splatling up there?" The octoling hissed, indignantly jabbing their finger in the inkling's chest (to which he barely seemed to react to, other than looking down at their hand). "Don't think I wasn’t gonna find you!"
The squid's relaxed smile dropped as he furrowed his eyebrows at the octopus, seemingly racking his brain. It was almost as if the only thing he was missing was a buffering icon floating over his head before his eyes lit up with recognition. "...ohhh, you're that one dude I kept splattin!"
"DAMN RIGHT!" the octoling puffed out their chest, before stopping themself after registering what the inkling had said. "Er- NO, GOD DAMMIT! Listen here buddy! And you better listen loud and clear! Cuz you're gonna find out the hard way that it was a mistake to cross my path!"
The inkling simply watched as they took their finger out of their chest and took a stance, pointing directly at him. The scarf wrapped around their neck flowed in the wind behind them theatrically as they raised their voice.
"My name is Dendy, and the next time I see you, I'm gonna kick your fuckin' ass!"
Dendy's pose didn't falter in the silence that followed, even as their eyes darted around to everyone who's attention they grabbed. The hydra user didn't even flinch, instead opting to reach into one of the pockets of his cargo pants and pull out a cardboard container of fries.
"Dendy, huh? Cool. You want a fry?"
"..."
This time, the silence managed to take a knife straight to Dendy's pride. They simply scoffed and stomped away, hands in pockets after they made sure to tug their scarf to conceal their lower face. Without looking back, they ran until they were out of sight. They could feel eyes watching their departure. For once, they wished the attention would be on anything else.
Fucking idiot, Dendy scolded themself. It's not even that big a deal. Just paint the ground better next time and stop getting worked up over nothing. It's not that drastic.
Even if they knew it to be true, their hearts would say otherwise.
Their name is Dendy, and they refused to be looked down upon.
–
Just a few moments later, the inkling’s ear twitched as he heard the sound of the doors to the Shoal open and closed, followed by a familiar distressed voice.
“Good god,” an octoling with curls framing his face and standard Shoal employee uniform stepped out of the doors, immediately walking over to the inkling. “Boon, the hell was all that shouting about? Are you okay?”
“All good,” the aforementioned Boon waved his hand and tried again to give his fry peace offering, which was happily accepted this time. Usually, he’d go in to visit the octoling to pass him some snacks over the counter at this time of day, but it seemed the ruckus from earlier brought him out from his post. “Sorry.”
“And why are you apologizing?” The octoling questioned, adjusting his glasses out of habit. He popped a few of the fries he had been given into his beak. “You were the one being yelled at! I came out to make sure you were alright- you really shouldn’t just stand and take that kinda stuff, y’know!” He paused for a moment, mulling over the possibilities. “...what, were you bullying that guy or something?”
“No, no, not at all,” Boon chuckled.
The octoling raised an eyebrow at him.
“... I ain’t that kinda squid, Quincy. I wasn’t even payin’ that much attention to the rounds, or who was winnin’ or losin’.” Boon folded his arms. “You know how I play.”
“Yeah, and I know your ratio tends to piss people off, whether you realize it or not…” Quincy muttered, pulling out their own phone to refresh his dry Squitter feed as he sat down next to the squid. Boon makes a stupid joke about being ratioed that the octoling can’t help but at least snicker at before he continues. “The way they were yelling at you, I almost thought you splatted them like, fifty times or something!”
Silence followed.
“...well…”
"Aaand there it is."
“They weren't exactly uh, makin' it hard for me,” Boon quickly explained. “They kept running up to me the whole time expecting something different was gunna happen… I barely even moved.”
"What, like in plain view of you? You're a hydra user. Nobody does that."
"... Quincy, that is exactly what happened."
"... for real?"
"Repeatedly."
Quincy found himself a little less concerned about whether or not the other octoling was in the right, all of a sudden.
“Still, like-” Quincy pinched the bridge of his nose. “Couldn’t you have like, I dunno, gone easier on the guy?”
“I… really don’t know a nice way of saying ‘please stop running in front of my splatling.’ Haha.”
"Boon, I'm being serious." Boon immediately straightened up upon hearing the familiar phrase. "I'd rather not have you be yelled at again, or have to tear an angry squid- or octopus off your face."
Boon scratched the back of his neck, remembering how furious the small octoling was. New-found guilt itched at the back of his mind. It somehow didn’t click until it was said to him that he really upset the poor octoling back there, but he mentally waved it off. Somehow, he was sure he’d see the little guy again. There was time.
“For sure. I’ll try that next time, Quince.”
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