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Today's the day, just a few more hours and the Splatfest will get going. Spicy versus Sweet versus Sour, that's the theme for this month. In all honesty, it was a good theme too; everybody loves food and everybody has a certain flavor of food that they like, so this was bound to happen at some point. Cephalopods both inkling and octoling were making their way to the pledge for some last minute voting, kinda nerve-racking if one is to be honest. Could this change the tides for a certain team, or will it just make whoever is in the lead stay ahead of the game? For a certain yellow-tentacled, sharp-fanged inkling, this anticipation was not what she wanted to deal with right now.
Frye was the leader for Team Sweet, meaning that she was bound to get the popular vote at least, right? Theoretically, yes, but there was a lot of anxiety and self-doubt on her mind right now that hindered her feelings for a chance of success. The cause for her negativity? Simple, she didn't feel as popular as the rest of her Deep Cut. Shiver and Big Man were all, from what she's seen, the rage and most popular, especially the octoling: Always getting compliments about how pretty she is, how her voice is so beautiful, or that she's an amazing dancer. Y'know, the usual that the octoling gets.
The trio was briefed ahead of time about the conch shells acquired of each team, giving them more time to hype up the festival. Frye was going in with low, very low, expectations, but she wasn't going to let the others know about it, so she played it off as a tease. "Can't wait to see you up in first place again, aye Big Man?" She playfully jabs her elbow at the manta ray who seems less than thrilled to be in first for shells yet again if he was.
"Ay… (My fans are a blessing and a curse…)" Big Man sighs as his two friends start to chuckle. "Ay, ay, (Although I haven't seen a lot of people choose sour when I glance at the pledge box, so maybe not this time,)" he starts to think back as he's handed the sheet to see where his percentage is at.
"Huh, guess it's Shiver's turn then, heh."
"Oh please. As much as I love spicy food, people don't seem to appreciate the sensation. Bunch of limp noodles, they are," Shiver huffs as she fans herself before she's given her percentage sheet next. Both her and Big Man look shocked, and it concerns Frye.
"What's wrong?" The jellyfish in charge hands her the percentage sheet and she looks it over. Slowly realizing why they were shocked.
Big Man: 32.38%
Shiver: 33.22%
Frye: 34.40%
She was in the lead. Frye was in the lead by a little more than one percent. She looks up to see her companions smiling wide at her.
"Finally! It's your time to shine!" Shiver is quick to be at Frye's side to hug her. "I knew your sweet tooth would come in handy, if I'm being honest. Everybody loves sweets!" She hugs the inkling tighter.
"Ay! (Let's go Frye!)" Big Man joins in on the hug, wrapping both his fins around the two girls and even slightly lifting them up in his group hug. "Ay! (Don't forget about us when you're famous haha!)"
"Heheh… y-yeah…"
"Is something wrong, Frye?" Shiver asks, Big Man bringing the two back down, she looked at her with concern. "Do you think there's been a mistake? 'Cuz there shouldn't," Shiver starts to look at the jellyfish crew helping handle the Splatfest voting, all looking panicked as they scramble to double, even triple, check that every vote and shell acquisition was accurate. She didn't even do anything.
"No, no. It's not that. It's just…" Frye looked at the paper in her hands, it was crumpled a bit with how firm she was holding it. "It just doesn't feel real right now. Like… am I supposed to have this?"
"Ay? Ay! (What do you mean? Of course you're supposed to!)" Big Man reassures a doubtful inkling, patting her on the back. "Ay, ay! (People love you, and you deserve this win more than anything!)" Big Man brings her back into a hug.
When he said that, a part of Frye thinks he was saying that just to be nice. She wants to believe that it's true, that people do love and she has fans, but… something about how Shiver and Big Man get all this positive feedback whereas she just gets them rarely, just makes it hard to believe. Not to say that her winning the shell acquisition wasn't something she was happy about, she was thrilled even. She's just worried that it might be too good to be true. "You know what? You're right! I'm gonna win this thing!"
"That's the spirit! But don't think we'll go easy on you," Shiver points her fan at the inkling, giving her a confident smirk.
"I know you won't. It wouldn't be fun if you did go easy, hah!"
~~~~~~
Halftime. Half of the Splatfest had gone and Frye was still in the lead.
Big Man: 31.66%
Shiver: 32.87%
Frye: 35.47%
She was in the lead and she didn't know how to feel about it. She was panicking. What's she supposed to do? Is this really happening? She couldn't handle it, this was all happening so fast and she didn't know how to prepare for it. So, there she was, alone in the studio's hallway with her thoughts. Sitting criss crossed like she always did, but this time she was trying to get a hold on her anxiety. There was this feeling in her chest that made it seem like she was in freezing high altitudes, making it hard to breath and felt cold around her hearts as she clutched her chest for some sort of warmth. Calm down, Frye. You can do this. You… As much as she tried to psyche herself up, she was still dreading the thought of losing. Augh! Come on! What am I so scared of? It's not the first time I've lost! She thinks as she ruffles her head, feeling like she's gonna explode with emotions. She couldn't stop, and she couldn't even control her breathing either. So caught up in herself, she didn't hear someone calling for her.
"Frye! Where are you?! It's almost time to-" Shiver turns the corner to an anxious looking inkling criss crossed on the floor's hallway. The two now stare at each other before Shiver walks towards her. "Frye? Is everything alright?" She looks down at the inkling with a look of concern; she's never seen Frye like this before. "What's the matter? You can tell me," giving Frye a moment to protest in case she just needed some time to herself, but when no answer came, Shiver sat down next to her and gave her full attention.
"A-Ah… It's nothing, just a little nervous is all," Frye lies as she puts on a smile, hoping to fool her octo friend, which didn't as now tears were starting to form the longer she talked. "It's the first time I'm in the lead, y'know? So, I'm j-just a little worried I might mess up, a-a-and I disappoint my team. Like it will be-"
"Stop."
"Huh?"
"Stop talking about yourself like that, and you're not going to lose," Shiver is now in front of her, on her knees and hands close to Frye's own knees. "This is your moment, and this is what you deserve. To win. And I'm not gonna have my best friend bad mouth herself!" She frowned at the thought of it. Frye should deserve an equal amount of praise and fans like she and Big Man get, but people were cruel, and she hated that.
"I-I'm sorry. I just-" Frye's breathing became erratic, short quick breaths. She was hyperventilating. "I-I-I don't know w-why," she clutches her chest, feeling that cold, high-altitude breathing in her chest is happening again. "I'm scared of letting everyone down," and starts to tear up. Frye, the headstrong, bandit leader, afraid of losing a festival. How pathetic, she thinks.
The sniffling and tear wiping breaks Shiver's hearts. It reminds her of herself when their debut festival happened. Hang on… She recalls something, and puts a hand on the inkling's shoulder and gives her a warm smile. "Hey. Remember what you told me when our first Splatfest happened? When I was so scared out of my mind that I wouldn't live up to people's expectations?"
It takes a moment for Frye to calm herself in order to answer. "I-I said that there wasn't anything to be scared of, right?"
"Mmm, kind of. You told me that these festivals are for fun, no matter winning or losing, if we do our best then we feel like we've won even with a loss," still holding on to her shoulder, she waits for a response. When none came, she continued. "I know this is probably scary for you, but you have my full support! Big Man's too!"
As if summoned by his name being called, the manta ray turns the corner. "Ay! Ay? (Hey you two! Is everything alright?)" Big Man sees that Frye looks not like her usual chipper self and that Shiver's hand is on her shoulder before letting go and standing up.
" Ahem , Big Man, cuddles, stat," Shiver commands the manta ray.
"Ay Ay! (Aye Aye Captain!)"
"Wha-" before Frye could protest, she's already lifted from her position and into Big Man's famous burrito-wrap hug followed by Shiver hugging around them. She couldn't contain her laughter at that point.
“Ay! (A hug makes everything better!)” Big Man sways left to right with the girls in the hug, feeling the inkling starting to hug him back.
“Hahaha! Okay, okay! I do feel a lot better!” No matter how scared she felt, or anxious, her friends would always be there for her, and she would be there for them as well. Once Big Man slowed his swaying to a stop and put her down, she didn’t let go of the hug for a while, starting to tear up again, but this time they were tears of joy. “Thanks. Thank you so much you guys. I-I,” Frye wipes away her tears, “I love you both so much!” And then brings the octoling and manta ray into a tight group hug. She feels a lot more confident in herself now to keep the festivities going, and leads the charge. “C’mon, you two! Let’s get this party started!”
“Ay Ay!”
“Of course,” Shiver gives the inkling a smirk. “Wouldn’t have it any other way!”
~~~~~~
Two days of singing and dancing; two days of Turf War and clout gaining. The streets were littered with confetti and other forms of trash which thankfully was getting cleaned up by the jellyfish and many cephalopods volunteering. The studio for Anarchy Splatcast was preparing to announce the results of the Fest to the citizens, but only Shiver and Big Man were the only ones to arrive early in order to get practice in for the day and to see the results first. Frye was dancing and singing her heart out the past two days, more so than usual. Probably because she was so hyped about being in the lead that she gave it her all this Splatfest, and no one would blame her for it either.
“Producer. Would it be okay for Big Man and I to see the results first? I know we usually wait for Frye, but would a quick peak be okay?” Shiver asks politely for the results and was given a nod before she and the manta ray were given the paper that held the results. Both eyeing the contents on the page, and the shock that slowly followed. The two looked at each other in disbelief. “Are you seeing this as well?”
“Ay? (Did she finally?)”
Before the two could question any further, Shiver hands the paper back to the producer. “Don’t show this to Frye. I have an idea,” although looking at her confused, they oblige and tuck the paper away under a couple more on a clipboard. Shiver turns to her manta companion, “Big Man. Let’s make it a surprise.”
“Ay? …Ay! (Surprise? … Oh!)” Big Man gets what the octoling is saying. “Ay? (Do you think we have enough time to get a gift?)”
“I don’t think so depending on when Frye gets here,” she sadly had to turn down the manta ray’s kind gesture, putting a consoling hand on his fin. “We’ll do something later-”
“Hey! Sorry I’m late!” Frye rushes into the recording room, slightly panting as she had to sprint to the studio. “Did I miss anything?”
“Nope. Right on time, actually. They told us the results will be a surprise to all of us,” Shiver lies as naturally as she breathes, making sure she speaks for both her and Big Man, as the manta ray was not the best at playing up an act. “We still have thirty minutes, so why don’t we practice some lines a bit before the Splatcast starts?”
“Sounds good to me!”
~~~~~~
“Listen up! It’s going down…” And so begins the Splatcasts, with the usual introductions but with the extra ‘job well done’ for the Splatfest participants. Going down the line of each category for the event: who got the most in which and such. First up was the conch shells, no surprise there, that win went to Frye. Next was votes for each of the three teams:
Spicy: 27.75%
Sweet: 56.84%
Sour: 15.41%
The fact that Team Sweet had such a huge lead came as “shock to everyone”, especially to Frye. Next was Open, Pro, and Tri Color Turf Wars:
Spicy: 32.85% , 33.93%, & 33.89%
Sweet: 35.57%, 31.96%, & 33.72%
Sour: 31.58%, 34.11%, & 32.39%
With all the scores tallied up, the big reveal of who the winner of the Splatfest was- Team Sweet! The reveal of the winner caused an excited uproar to erupt outside the studio building, causing some crew members to look behind in concern.
Frye was shocked out of her mind. She won? She won! She really did it! Looking at her companions, Frye saw that both had wide smiles on their faces. So that’s why Shiver said it was a surprise! They already knew before me! She couldn’t stay mad at them, or mad at all, she was too caught up in her own excitement to worry about a trivial matter. She looks to the camera, “Congrats to everyone on Team Sweet!” while doing her high-five gesture, “How sweet i t i s …” her voice cracks a little, with the overwhelm of emotions of her first win, her mentality was starting to catch up with how real it truly is. “ *Ahem* S-Sorry about that,” Frye needed to keep composure, Deep Cut still needed to do the Splatcast, and with a deep breath, the trio continued. A little banter here and there, something about an all-you-can-sweet buffet Frye found, and Shiver shuddering at the thought of a sugary jelly bean in her spicy curry. After that, they finally had the time to unwind, and Frye began to tear up again.
“Frye? Are you okay?” Shiver gets up from her seat followed by Big Man letting go of the television to be near their friend.
“Ay? (What’s wrong?)” He asks with concern in his tone. Out of the corner of his eye, he looks to see a couple of inklings and octolings staring into the building, looking worried. The manta ray gestures to the work staff to blind the window, and they get to work right away. Thanking them for their work then asked them if they could give Deep Cut some privacy for a bit. “Ay? (You feeling alright Frye?)”
A few sniffles from the inkling before she finally spoke, “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine, these are happy tears, hehe,” pointing to her eyes before wiping away said tears. “I-I just… I’m really happy that I won,” more sniffling happens, and Frye feels herself get enveloped in an embrace. Shiver and Big Man are hugging her tightly.
“Come on. Don’t get me all worked up too,” Shiver lets go just a bit so that she has some room to look at her face to face. “Of course you won, silly. The people love you, and you’re sweet personality. There was no way Big Man or I could have won.”
“Ay! Ay! (It’s true! And there’s no way you can say that it was just because people like sweets more!)”
“He’s correct,” Shiver pulls out her phone and pulls up a social media app, “Here. Take a look for yourself,” and hands Frye her phone.
Upon holding the phone, Frye instantly scans through the sea of messages that littered the app. So many are saying such nice things about her. Some say that she’s their favorite, that she deserves this, that Frye is awesome, even some members of Spicy and Sour were congratulating her win. The public really did love her, and she can see that now. It overwhelms her with joy yet again and she begins to cry once more, with her friends still holding close. “I,” she sniffles, “I love you guys so much!” Letting herself be enveloped in her two friend’s embrace and just letting herself cry for a bit, just to get it all out of her system.
It takes a few minutes before Frye finally calms down. “Feeling better?”
“Y-Yes,” Frye rubs her eye, “I feel a lot better now,” and gets let go so that she can stand up. “Now. Who’s still up for that all-you-can-sweet buffet?”
“Ay? (You were serious about that?)”
“Of course I was! Don’t worry, it’s not all sweets. C’mon, my treat,” and Frye walks to the door, leaving Shiver and Big Man sighing.
“At least she’s happy,” Shiver and Big Man can’t help but smile at her. “Let’s catch up with her.”
“Ay. Ay! (Yeah. I’m kind of curious what this buffet has!”