Of Masks and Dandelions

“ I got you these.” The little inking said as he shoved a fistful of dandelions into the arm of his companion. The little boy flushed, his cheeks turning the deep ochre of the ends of his tentacles. He crossed his arms, hoping that she didn't notice the blush.

“ Thanks Angie!” She said with a happy giggle, “ These flowers are so pretty. Ah wish they grew back in my dome.” He smiled at his octoling friend and her sweet little smile. It was nice to have such a cool friend and such a fun little secret. Most girls were icky but Tetrox was pretty cool, despite being younger than him.

“ Wanna sit and watch the clouds?” He asked quietly, looking at her with a soft smile. Her little tentacles, curled and bounced as she nodded. They walked to one of the benches, looking up at the clouds on their lazy trip across the sky.

He remember the first day he met her, when he fell into Octo valley and she crawled up out of a shadowy hole. The spent that day hiding behind rocks and talking to each other from a far. Eventually they formed a friendship, sharing stories from their lives and teaching each other tricks that they were learning. Angelo taught her advanced fractions, Tetrox taught him the stealth and fighting she was learning. When he asked why she was learning that in school, she simply said that it was important. And so he asked nothing more. To be honest, He just thought all the cool fighting techniques were fun and cool, which was really the important part.

“ a-Angie..” Tetrox said with a small frown. Angelo didn't like it when she frowned, her tentacles curled in a weird way and her nose scrunched up like she was really mad or sad, and it just wasn't nice. He liked her smile though, it was kinda pretty. “ Ah wanna give ya some'n. Mama says it was my daddy's when he was younger and it's a part ah me and Ah wanna give it to you...”

Angelo tilted his head at these words, they were nice words, everyone liked presents. But this sounded suspiciously like the kind of words someone would say when something sad was happening. “ What is it?” He asked, leaning back on one of his arms to look her in the eye.

The octoling smiled handing him a mask many sizes too big for him. “ It's a mask. Ah want you to have it so that when you wear it ya think of me. You can wear it in that game you're always talking about.” She said with a smile. But it wasn't the smile that gave Angelo that warm fuzzy feeling in his heart. This was a weird smile. It seemed sad, and mad and all kinds of unhappy despite being a smile.

“ I don't understand. Why are you giving this to me?” Angelo asked, feeling tears in his eyes. He knew why. It was just like when grandma and grandpa would give him a super cool gift before they'd leave. It was a gift that meant someone was going away and going away for a long time.

He guessed he was right since Tetrox's eyes were also filling with tears and she made a soft little sniff. “ Mama found out where Aah was going and wasn't happy. Woulda tanned my hide if Auntie hadn't talked her down. She said Ah ain't aloud to come up here anymore, that Ah gotta focus on my training...Ah want you to keep the mask, so that no matter where we are, no matter what happens, you and Ah will still be friends. Can ya promise me that Angie?” She said as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Angelo felt his lip tremble, he was going to lose his best friend and there was nothing he could do to stop it. The little inkling wrapped his arm around his crying friend, wiping her tears on his over-sized jacket sleeves. He gave her a shaky smile, the same kind of smile she'd given him earlier. He slipped the mask over his head, letting the over-sized lenses sit cock-eye on his head with a grin. “ I promise you Tetrox, as long as I wear this mask I'm your friend. I'm your Angie.” And with that the two friends hugged for the last time, not too young to see the cruelty of fate for tearing them apart, but far to young to do anything to stop it. The mask was a part of Tetrox and so long as Angelo wore that mask he was never, ever alone.

( I'm pretty sure that this isn't how Angelo got his mask but I thought this would be a fun little picture and story and I hope you enjoy it as much as I loved making it. )

Angelo and Tetrox belong to TamarinFrog

Splatoon belongs to Nintendo