Work Text:
Harsh winds whip grains of sand up from the desert dunes, and toss them carelessly into the concrete jungle, crowned by heaps of trash. Three figures walk through, heading towards the exit: an inkling with yellow ink, an octoling with blue tentacles, and a towering manta ray tailing from behind. All is calm, all is quiet, until—
A gasp breaks through the silence. “Guys! Look at this old magazine!” Shiver and Big Man look towards Frye expectantly, seeing her holding a crumpled, yellowed pamphlet above her head, clutching it tight to fight off the harsh winds. “It’s got all sorts of stuff—trees, lights, ornaments…”
Shiver walks closer, and squints at the cover. “Not very helpful for our next heist, unless we go somewhere with a lot of trees, I guess. But, it still looks very interesting.”
“I know, I know… we’re looking for intel—but this looks so fun, doesn’t it? Besides, the next heist isn’t for a while! Like, a few months, at least.” She pulls the page a bit closer to her, spotting something on the back: “‘Christmas catalogue…’ Huh, must be for an old holiday or something.”
“Well, now that’s something useful. Usually only people with a lot of money collect old things like that anymore. Either that, or museums. Either way, they could have something good.”
“Shiver! I thought all three of us agreed on no more heists until after this upcoming FrostyFest! It starts tomorrow, for crying out loud.”
From behind the pair, Big Man lets out a warble in agreement. The three had discussed it, considering how busy their day job would become during the season. Not to mention that Salmon Run season starts a little after, too…
“Fine, fine… it’ll be something to look into afterwards. Although, knowing what the stuff in the catalogue would look like all together would be pretty fun to see…” Ultimately, the page is discarded, and the three continue home. “Although, we probably don’t have the time to hunt down all of that stuff anyways. Especially a tree. No way that we’d find one like in the catalogue in good condition out here, if we’d even find one in the first place.”
However, the catalogue doesn’t get picked up by the wind, or left to wither on the cold concrete. Instead, the tip of a manta ray fin catches it, and stashes it away for later…
“Alright guys, see you in the morning.” Frye’s voice carries from down the hall. “I know you two like staying up super late, but don’t forget we have a big broadcast in the morning… See you.” A beat passes, and the gentle sound of a door closing is barely heard by the other two roommates.
“Well, I think I’m also heading to bed. Don’t be up all night—I know how you get close to deadlines, but the lyrics for the next song can wait a bit, alright? Get some sleep, Big Man.” And with that, Big Man’s left alone in the apartment’s common space.
Calling it a ‘living room’ implies that it’s a big space, but their’s is small enough to where Big Man could probably reach both sides of the room, if he stretched enough. Regardless, it’s home, just like how the other members of Deep Cut are family to him.
He walks down the hall to the apartment’s biggest bedroom—his. Not by choice, really. He can’t fully remember how the other two eventually got him to accept the room, but he can vaguely remember the passive-aggressive battle with Frye. The two of them would constantly move stuff from room to room, trying to “sneak” the other into the biggest one.
After shutting the door, he takes off his headpiece and sets it down on the desk across from his bed. He sets down his real target next: a familiar-looking piece of paper… From the lit-up portion of his desk, the page that Frye found earlier stares back at him.
Now, he knows they’ll be busy for the foreseeable future. Such is the life of a popular musician, especially during Splatfests of any kind. But… something fun and silly would be nice, even if setting it up takes a bit of extra work. It’s not going to be easy, especially considering that they live in a desert, but if this was found out in the dump, surely something related to it would be out there somewhere, right? Shiver’s right—only the rich or historic hold onto something this weathered, and both are stingy with their stuff, speaking from experience. The idea of only one piece of a collection being thrown out is odd.
Picking up a pen, Big Man begins brainstorming ways to acquire all of the stuff in the catalogue, from trees to lights to… jelly salad recipes? Man, how weird, that’s got to be interesting at the very least. He’ll have to write it down.
The night marches on into the morning, with the sound of a pen scratching against paper narrating it’s progress.
“—that’s a wrap. Catch ya later!” The cameras click off, and Shiver and Frye turn towards Big Man.
“You okay? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you forget that many lines in a broadcast before…” The best Big Man can do to reassure Frye is give a half-hearted warble. The three of them have a busy day, all for different reasons.
“Well, considering that’s all we had planned for the day, I’m going to try to look more into our upcoming heist next year. We only have the idea of the place, and I really want to be more assured before we head out after the season.” Shiver waves goodbye to Frye and Big Man before heading out the studio’s back entrance.
“I have a match with a friend of mine from out of town today, okay? Don’t take a nap at home, or else your sleeping schedule will get weird. Power through it!” Frye skips out the side entrance, grabbing her tri-stringer on the way out.
Big Man gathers his stuff, and heads out the side entrance as well. He has a plan for today. Most of the time, Deep Cut’s schedule is packed, either by choice or by demand, so today’s really the only day he’s got to pull this plan off. He must succeed. He turns in the direction of the supermarket, and heads there to pick up the goods.
“—that’s a wrap. Catch ya later!” The cameras click off, and Shiver and Frye turn towards Big Man.
“You okay? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you forget that many lines in a broadcast before…” The best Big Man can do to reassure Frye is give a half-hearted warble. The three of them have a busy day, all for different reasons.
“Well, considering that’s all we had planned for the day, I’m going to try to look more into our upcoming heist next year. We only have the idea of the place, and I really want to be more assured before we head out after the season.” Shiver waves goodbye to Frye and Big Man before heading out the studio’s back entrance.
“I have a match with a friend of mine from out of town today, okay? Don’t take a nap at home, or else your sleeping schedule will get weird. Power through it!” Frye skips out the side entrance, grabbing her tri-stringer on the way out.
Big Man gathers his stuff, and heads out the side entrance as well. He has a plan for today. Most of the time, Deep Cut’s schedule is packed, either by choice or by demand, so today’s really the only day he’s got to pull this plan off. He must succeed. He turns in the direction of the supermarket, and heads there to pick up the goods.
The stop back at the apartment was short and, thankfully, without incident. While there, he made sure to put the groceries up; not just in the proper, refrigerated spaces, but also in spots his roommates aren’t likely to check, just in case they come back early. He doubts it, knowing the two of them, but he really wouldn’t want his whole plan to be ruined by Frye or Shiver finding a bag of sugar in the pantry and texting him about it. Next stop, the trash lot.
More specifically, the spot where the catalogue originally came from in the trash lot. If he’s lucky, then the catalogue actually belonged to someone who was a collector or a curator and they also tossed out some similar stuff at the same time.
If not, well, he’ll have to improvise.
Big Man stops roughly in the middle of the trash lot. Based on what he can remember of the trip back home last night, he begins walking towards the upper left corner of the lot, and begins digging through the heaps.
The lights are easy to find—a long, wiry string of half-working lights with bulbs that aren’t even produced anymore. Well, Big Man thinks, at least not for normal consumers. Definitely not for a store in the Splatlands.
Really, where the three of them live is probably the biggest hurdle in the whole plan. It’s not really a secret that Inkopolis has a much better selection on everything, from foods to celebrities, to even stuff in a trash lot. But what the outskirts really excel in is the unrestricted nature of everything. At least he can get in the dump out here, and more concerningly, at least the dump’s stuff hasn’t been reduced to ashes by an incinerator yet.
The plastic tree the catalogue mentions is harder. Sure, there’s plenty of plastic trees around, but not in the same shape or color. Most mimic palm trees, or a similar type of tree, not the dark-green, pointy variety depicted. It takes a lot of digging, and Big Man really only finds a tree somewhat suited for Christmas on the opposite side of where he started.
The tree is… well, compared to the big, hearty one in the magazine, it’s a scrawny thing. The plastic branches towards the top and bottom are full, but the ones towards the middle are a little scarce, but it’s not broken, so it’ll work for the plan!
Big Man carefully wraps the string of lights around the top of the fake tree, but beginning the journey of lugging his goods back to the apartment.
By the time Big Man makes it back to the apartment, the sun is prepared to set beneath the horizon, close to the end of the long journey it takes daily. Knowing how competitive Frye gets, and how detail-oriented Shiver is with her intel gathering, it’s safe to say that Big Man still has some time left to set stuff up.
Cooking takes the longest out of the tasks ahead of him, so he grabs the journal he wrote the recipes down in and takes it with him to the kitchen, where the groceries are at. The cookie recipe is relatively straightforward: mix the eggs, sugars, butter, and vanilla together; then sift in the flour, baking soda, and baking powder; before mixing everything together, scooping them into balls, and baking them for a bit. Standard cookie recipe, except with chocolate chips added in as well.
Now, the jello salad is something he’s not used to. He’s vaguely familiar with the idea of jello, although he’s never personally had any. However, Frye swears by the stuff, so a jello salad would surely be up her alley. Surprisingly, the process is actually easier than he expected. Turns out, it’s less like a salad, and more like a cake, from what he can tell, at least if he’s doing it right. The jello salad was the only recipe without a picture attached to it, and Big Man can’t tell if it was for good reason or not. However, he can’t think of the last time any salad has needed a bundt pan, so he’s probably right in assuming the end product will look more like a cake.
Similar to the cookies, he mixes the ingredients for each layer together, one at a time, resulting in three mixtures: a lime-flavored jelly, a lemon-flavored jelly, and a cherry-flavored jelly. Carefully, he pours a layer into the pan, before letting it set for a half-hour, and repeating the process until he’s left with a full bundt pan. He gently flips the pan onto a serving plate, and leaves it in the fridge.
With all of the cooking done, he heads to the apartment’s common space. Seeing the tree in context of the apartment makes it look a lot better—he’s not fully sure if a tree fully like the catalogue’s would fit in the space due to the height. There’s a small spark of fear when he thinks about putting up the lights; his fins can hold a grasp on normal things, but the string of lights is pretty thin compared to what he normally holds, so he’s a bit afraid of dropping them.
However, he’ll never get anything done if he doesn’t at least try! What’s the worst that could happen?
The worst that can happen, turns out, is him getting completely tangled in the lights, stuck in the middle of the room on the floor. The only positive Big Man can really pull from the situation is that at least the food was made first, so he won’t be completely empty-handed. That, and also the tree’s still standing, so it’s not all bad.
Sitting on the floor like this gives him a different perspective on everything around him. The tree looks fine from his height, but closer to the ground, the lacking branches are a lot more obvious. The scratches in the plastic are highlighted, not hidden, by the lights. The worst of the damage (the damage he could see) is facing the corner of the room, but some of the worst still peeks out from the back. He can’t tell if the blurriness is from the harsh, shining lights keeping him ensnared on the ground, or if it stems from the growing upset surrounding his current state.
He tries, once again, to writhe out of the lights, but fails. It looks like he’s going to be here for a while. All he can do is wait.
Frye follows a beat behind Shiver, a slight skip in her steps. “—and, even though she’s a lot better with terf control, I still won the last match! Shame I won’t see her ‘til next year, though…”
“Hey, it’s better than once a decade, yeah? Besides, it just gives you more time to improve to beat her at every match next time.” Shiver adds, and the two fall into the lull of comfortable silence again. Frye takes a look around the street they live on; it’s something quaint and small. When they were new, just starting heists, the quiet, sleepy area was useful to avoid being caught. Surely, thieves that stole stuff like that would be somewhere closer, but the three of them had thought ahead! It’s been years since then, and they still haven’t been caught.
Nowadays, the quiet’s nice because of the comfort it brings after they finish broadcasts. They would get absolutely swarmed if they lived closer to the city’s central. Getting home from there already takes forever, Frye can’t imagine the kind of hell that living in the city center would be.
Shiver stops in her tracks, and Frye accidentally bumps into her. “… Frye, did Big Mand say anything about extra lights for the house, or…?”
Frye looks up to their window, and sees a stream of warm, white light spilling out into the street. Strangely, no sight of Big Man, unless he’s in the kitchen or something. “No, I can’t think of anything… maybe a bulb went out, so he was replacing it, but he got one that’s brighter than normal?” Frye admits that’s kind of a stretch, but she can’t really think of a better explanation.
Shiver slides the house keys into the lock, and opens the door. Frye follows her in, takes the keys out, and shuts the door. She’s barely got them on a hook of the keyholder when Shiver’s voice breaks through the calm: “Big Man! Are you alright?!”
Frye rushes around the corner, fearing something like Big Man with a broken fin or something, but instead gets greeted to an, admittedly, funny sight. Big Man’s tangled in what looks like string lights, rolling against the hardwood, trying to get loose. Shiver is crouched beside him, hands hovering above him like she’s not sure how to help. A tree sits nearby, and across the room is a familiar, looking… catalogue. Specifically, the catalogue she found last night. Did Big Man take it back with us?
She looks around the common area a little more, and realizes the sweet smell in the air isn’t from a candle, but from freshly-baked cookies. Did Big Man do all of this… just because we mentioned it’d be fun?
Frye crouches down besides Shiver, and the two help Big Man get out of the lights. A little bit of conversation, and Frye’s thoughts are confirmed. Big Man saw how interested Frye and Shiver were in the catalogue, so he decided to try recreating it as best as he could. The tree was the last step, and he tripped while trying to hang the lights, getting tangled on the way down.
After getting Big Man fully untangled, Frye rushes up to him and gives him a hug. This is a lot, especially all in half of a day. She probably wouldn’t have been able to pull it off if the roles were reversed, and she kind of doubts if Shiver could, too. The three takes the string lights, and wrap the tree, causing the room to gain that warm light once again, adding an extra bit of comfiness to the apartment.
Big Man, in better spirits, pulls them both to the kitchen. Together, they eat the chocolate chip cookies, and even have a slice of the jello salad. It’s not all that bad, just kind of out of place with the cookies.
Overall, it’s a good Christmas, especially for one done in a day. It’ll certainly be a day the three remember for a long while.