Risks and Rewards (Of a Life so Simple)

Gloating

Missions were simpler, nowadays. With so many Octolings having heard the Incantation, very few of them were hostile, at least in a way overt enough to warrant pushback. Occasionally there'd be small groups that wanted to storm through the mountain, on a mission to free their King, but Four had that handled easily. She could handle it without Three's help.

Today, though, Three was helping. She'd said something about the pair of them not hanging out much lately. Four didn't mind all that much, but she didn't mind spending time with the other, either.

It was a simple matter, of course. And it was made easier by the fact that the free Octarians outnumbered the controlled ones, and were helping de-escalate the situation before the Agents even arrived.

So, it was in short order that they returned to base, and went about doing other things. Four was swimming around on a spot on the ground, going in circles and practicing evasive maneuvers. Three was counting Power Eggs.

Four popped out of the ink momentarily. "Hey Three, check this out! Learned a cool new move!"

Three paused her task, raising a brow and turning to observe the other.

Four inked a slightly longer stretch of the ground, sank into it, and swam from one end to the other. Right before she got to the end, she shot out of the ink backwards, twirling through the air, shifting back into her normal form, and sliding across the ink when she landed. She struck a pose when she came to a stop.

Three's eyes were wide at the maneuver. "Huh. I've never seen that before. Where'd you learn that?"

Four dusted off her hands and grinned. "Splatlands, that's where!"

"The Splatlands? That's so far, what were you doing over there?"

"Fam's moving for work, so we went to see Splatsville and scope it out. It's huge over there, and crowded-feeling? But...I dunno, I like the vibe."

Three frowned. "Moving? Didn't you already do that before? What kind of job do your parents even have to necessitate moving so often?"

Four raised an eyebrow. "Dude, didn't I tell you before? I swear I did."

"Not that I remember."

"Hm, maybe that's on me then. They work for Spyke and Murch. Since a lot of the Turf War stuff is relocating, so are they, and so are my folks." She explained.

Three blinked. "...you know, for some reason I just assumed the gear stuff was just...Urchin business? I would've never guessed they had help."

The other Inkling snickered. "Yeah, they work real hard behind the scenes to arrange and acquire gear. Mom and Spyke've known each other for a super long time so she doesn't mind letting him take most of the credit publicly. They pay well so we're pretty well off, from what I hear."

"Huh. That's pretty cool. Good for you guys. Do you, uh, know Spyke well, then? I saw him every so often back when he worked out of the Plaza, but I never really lingered long enough to get to know the guy."

"I guess he's kinda like an uncle to me? He gave me an empty sea snail shell once when I was little, so I thought he was cool. Still do. Mom says he protected her from bullies when they were younger so they've always been like family. He's a little prickly, no pun intended, but he's a nice guy."

Three smiled a little. "Would've never guessed. He seemed kinda anti-social from my interactions with him. So you're moving away with your family to follow the business trends?"

She nodded. "Where the Turf War goes, the Great Zapfish goes, and all the big business follows. And I don't wanna move out yet, so I'm going with them. Love my parents too much to stay behind."