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A strained gasp escaped Callie’s lips as she clutched her midsection. She could feel sweat beading on her forehead, as her vision began to waver with tears threatening to spill. This is it, she pondered with dread. This is how I die. A sharp stabbing pain caused the courageous agent to cry out. Her, the Great Agent One, brave and fearless in the face of the Octarian Army, brought low by such an agonising fate. How cruel the gods must be to allow her such a slow and tortured death. Slowly, through a crack in her eyelids, she saw someone approaching, wearing a green cap, unbuttoned green shirt, black undershirt and white shorts.
“Please,” the desperate squid rasped, hoping for mercy, “I cannot bear this agony anymore… Are you here to finish me off?”
“No, you drama queen,” Marie sighed, rolling her eyes at her cousin, curled up on the couch in a cocoon of blankets, a pillow in her arms. “I got you some ginger ale; it should help with your tummy ache.”
“You wound me, Marie!” Callie cried out, draping the back of her hand across her forehead. “You witness my agony, the misery I endure, and you mock me? Your words hurt me almost as much as whatever devilish attempt on my life has occurred! Who could do this to me, and how? Perhaps a poison! Or a fiendish parasite injected into my veins! Oh, the malice of it all!”
“Have you considered the cause could be ‘Callie ate too much at lunch today’?” Marie accused, placing a bottle of the spiced drink on the table. “Honestly, your eyes are bigger than your stomach.”
Callie glared up at her cruel, heartless cousin; how could she accuse her, poor innocent Callie, of such slander? When she was at her most vulnerable, her wicked, terrible cousin chastised her! The gall! Oh! Jail! Jail for Marie, for 1000 years!
Marie watched her cousin stare up at her with big, watery eyes, whining pathetically, and relented with a groan.
“There, there, ya big baby,” Marie muttered, sitting on the couch next to her blubbering cousin, rubbing circles into her back. “Drink your ginger ale.”
Ok, jail is too harsh, Callie pondered to herself as she sipped the spiced drink, bubbles tickling her nose. The broiling and churning in her tummy was beginning to soothe.
“Feeling better?” Marie inquired, and Callie responded with a mumble and a nod of her head.
“Good. I’m gonna have to head out; Gramps said he found some signs of peculiar activity down in the Valley, so he’s going to be bunkering down while doing some more in-depth investigating. I need to go get him some supplies, give him a hand looking out for anything. You gonna be ok while I’m gone?”
Callie gave Marie another quick nod and nestled into her blankets again, making herself comfy, hearing Marie chuckle slightly. All that was left was to think of what to do once her tummy felt better. Maybe that tv show she was planning to catch up on? Maybe a nice walk in the garden? Or even just spend the afternoon in her comfy pile, enjoying the warmth of-
Callie’s ears twitched when she heard a very familiar sound, one she’d become very attuned to, no matter how soft it sounded; a sharp intake of air. Her eyes snapped open, flicking to her cousin, just quick enough to catch her wincing slightly. A different, even more unpleasant feeling began to worm its way through Callie’s stomach, guilt beginning to overtake her nausea, as she flicked her gaze down to her cousin’s knee braces, fastened over her bright green leggings.
Now, Callie was a wuss in regards to pain, she knew that; she’d wail and cry over a splinter, or a tummy ache, in this case. But her cousin was the exact opposite; ever since they were little, Marie’s knees had given her issues. She was in pain a lot, but she rarely ever showed it. In her words, she’d lived with it so long that she was just used to it.
So if she was hissing in pain as she stood up? The pain was really bad.
“How’re your knees, Mar?”
When Marie looked back at her cousin again, the pink Inkling stared her down with a slight frown of worry. She hesitated to answer, maybe she should lie? No, she’d done that before and Callie called her out in an instant.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s just the weather today,” Marie waved her off nonchalantly. “Gets cold around this time of year, I’ll be fine. You rest up, I’ll be back shortly.”
No. No, nope, not happening, no way. Marie had just spent this long making sure Callie was comfortable over a tummy ache, and Callie was supposed to just let her go out, trek Cod knows how many supplies to Octo Valley, then spend a whole afternoon super-jumping all over the place, when even just getting off the couch is having her hiss in pain?
With a pout, Callie shucked her blankets and got to her feet, grabbing her cousin in a tight hug. Marie’s squeak of confusion was followed by a shimmying as she attempted to shake her cousin off, but Callie would not relent.
“Callie, please let me go, I have work to do.” Marie grumbled impatiently.
“No you don’t,” Callie retorted adamantly. “You work yourself too hard already, and now you want to do more even though you’re in pain coz you are and don’t you lie to me I know!”
“I don’t want to do this, I have to do this! Grandpa doesn’t have the time to resupply, especially if he’s gonna be worrying-”
“Then I’ll do it!”
Marie looked at her in bewilderment. “Wh- Bu- Wait!” she sputtered. “What about your tummy ache? I was making fun of you but-”
“Marie,” Callie mumbled, “I can handle a little bit of queasiness and a little heavy lifting if it means you don’t have to right now. Please, sit down, I’ll make you some tea, and you can relax for once in your life while I handle it... It’s the least I could do.”
The green inkling pondered for a moment, it made her antsy whenever someone took over work she was doing, even if it was for a good reason. What could she say, that little voice of self-doubt loved to make her feel like she was being a burden. But one look at Callie giving her the puppy-eye treatment reminded her that she’d feel just as guilty over worrying her cousin.
“... I guess I could spend some time playing that new game I bought.”
Callie beamed at her cousin, who was rolling her eyes again. She flitted off to the kitchen as Marie sat down again with a sigh, and put the kettle on. A few moments later, a nice hot cup of tea was set in front of the green Squid Sister, and Callie was getting her street clothes on, snagging the shopping list of supplies from the table, and grabbing for a pair of shades as she reached the front door.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she called back with a wave. “Text me if you need me to get anything or come back or whatever!”
With that, Callie set out towards the shops, the comfortably brisk autumn breeze swirling comfortably around her, already making her tummy ease up a bit. Honestly, she was surprised it wasn't colder; it was halfway through May already, normally by now the cold would have some bite to it. She checked her phone for the time, it wouldn’t take all too long to get to the shops, nor to the manhole leading to Octo Valley. After that, a bit of poking around the Canyon for clues of a planned attack or whatever mischief the Octarians might be getting up to would be a cinch.
Although... Callie was still concerned about how Marie was doing. She knew her cousin well; that busybody would find something to do, and that something would get done if Marie had anything to say about it. Callie tried to push those thoughts out of her head, she was certain Marie would be quite content shooting bugs or traversing floating platforms or whatever game she was talking about. Still... Maybe she could call in early from helping Grandpa? She’d still make sure he had some food, and help him look around a few places really quick, but... Honestly, she was sure it would be fine, he’d understand her concern. Besides, the Octarians hadn’t made a move in ages.
She was sure whatever Grandpa had found, it wasn’t anything too extreme.