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[Short Story] Ignorance

Claus

Full Squid
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Messages
36
Location
Somewhere in England
NNID
Bluevisionist
Inkopolis.

The home of many creatures, Inklings, Prawns, Jellyfish. A city full of life and vigor. A city where life is continuously moving. Trends come and go like the bullet train that speeds around Inkopolis and it's neighbouring countries, and businesses pump the latest clothing and weapons out of giant factories spluttering smoke out of giant chimneys. Inklings socialise in the Inkopolis plaza. They laugh, they cry, they have fun and they engage in turf wars. Locked in combat and sending ink flying like a colossal oil spill, turf wars are the prime recreational activity among inklings. A sport that has become the primary pastime of many a budding Inkling. Truly, life in Inkopolis is seemingly perfect, everybody is happy, crime is non-existent and the economy is booming. Life is bliss.

"Ignorance is bliss."

If you were to ever launch a rocket into space from Inkopolis, it would crash into the sky. Why is this, you ask? That's because the sky is solid, it's tangible, it's a thing made of matter and a thing you can touch. This sky in particular is made of a thin sheet of aluminium metal, coloured a light blue. It's a one way mirror, designed so that the Inklings can be observed by the super-intelligent beings residing above it as a project, an experiment with the unknowing Inklings below remaining none-the-wiser.

"Did you say something, Dad?"

Above the mirror, in another city, in a tall building, a humanoid Octoling observes the world below him on a monitor. This Octoling was wearing a black business suit with a red tie. His pale white Tentacle hair tied in a ponytail hanging loosely, flowing down to the middle of his back. He was standing in a small tidy office with barely any decoration aside from a desk with an accompanying chair and a house plant. His back was turned to his son who was standing at the entrance of his office, almost a spitting image of his father, right down to his hairstyle with the exception of his hair being a bright shade of orange to indicate his younger age.

"Ignorance is bliss, son. Come here."

The Octoling businessman very marginally turned his head to his flesh and blood and weakly waved him over to his position. The son silently obeyed, walking slowly to stand next to his father. The two generations, now together, looked at the monitor to see 8 inklings engaging in a turf war. They were mercilessly splatting each other and laughing, having a good time. The face of the younger businessman contorted in disgust.

"They're barbaric, Dad."

The father gave a silent chuckle and turned to face his son, brown eyes locking with blue.

"I wouldn't say that, they know no better. Ignorance is bliss, son. They know not of our existence, to them life is perfect. They live, they love, they fight. It's paradise for them."

"But Dad, they slaughter each other as a hobby, and every one of them does it! I have no idea why we continue to study these creatures, they are only interested in clothes, weapons and fighting! Their world is consumed with their lust for materialistic goods."

"And we abandoned the Lesser Octarians to reach higher ground, even higher than the Inklings. Does that make us better than them?"

"It was for the best, Dad. We're different from those Octarians. We're closer to the original humans than they are, they were all just glorified tentacles. We have hands, feet, brains!"

The father glared at his son for a second, brown eyes beginning to flare.

"Boy..." He sternly said, his voice reaching a low volume, "You best know that without them we wouldn't be where they are. They are our equals, not some cannon fodder. We are just as barbaric as the Inklings for leaving them to die down there, do you hear me?"

The son recoiled for a brief moment, sweat beginning to form on his pink-peach coloured skin. With a quick adjustment he adjusted his tie and refocused his attention on the monitor, watching four Inklings celebrate their victory in the turf war. The father sighed and placed an old, slightly shrivelled hand on his son's shoulder.

"I'm sorry son, don't let my regrets get to you. You are not to blame for us leaving them behind..."

Suddenly, his hand shot quickly from his son's shoulder to his heart in a sharp jabbing pain. His child gasped in horror and both hands shot out to grab his senile family member.

"It's fine, it's fine." The father said while breathing heavily, he looked his son in the eyes again. This time not with the eyes of a wealthy, strong businessman, but with the eyes of an old, weakening man.

"I'm getting old..."

"Don't say that dad! You'll be fine! I'll call the doctors and-"

"You have your mother's eyes, bright and blue."

"Don't try to change the sub-"

"No, YOU don't try to change the subject. Listen, I'm on my way out. You know that, son."

The young businessman pulled his old man into a tight hug and began to feel his bright blue eyes beginning to water.

"I know..."

"I'm not giving up son. Not yet, but you know you'll have to take over, you need to continue to advance the knowledge of the Octarians, for the good of our race, for the good of Octopolis, for the good of our business."

"I don't know if I can be the chairman of the Squid Research Lab..."

"Yes you can, son. I know you can."

The father slowly began to release the tight grasp his son had on him, but then he began to bawl like a child. The child he once raised from a tiny Octoling. He then decided to let the hug go on as his eyes began to water too. The two businessmen, father and son, were locked in an embrace and both crying tears of sadness in a small, near barren office.

Eventually, the son had to attend to his own duties as a supervisor in the research lab, leaving the father on his own once again. The father took one more glance at the monitor behind him surveilling the world below him and his advanced kind. He saw... a park bench, sat upon this park bench were two inklings, a male and a female. Both were looking shy and the male was trying to lean toward the female for something. The old man smiled, pressing a button to bring up a microphone out of his desk. He spoke a few words into said microphone and after a while, at the park bench, a beautiful white dove flew by which left both inklings mesmerised. This filled the male Inkling with confidence, and he went in and gave his companion a kiss right on the cheek. The old businessman smiled at the both of them blushing and proceeded to turn off the monitor.

"Young love." He whispered quietly to himself as he sat at his desk. He reached into his suit pocket and brought out a shiny, yet small silver key. Slotting it into a compartment on his desk and twisting, he pulled out some documents and scanned over them, these were not business documents, but health ones documenting his deteriorating health. The old man put them away with a sigh, he told his son that he was going to live until at least next year.

As a matter of fact, he was predicted to die three days ago.

"For this old man, Death is gonna have to play chase." He said to himself while pulling a playful grin. His expression then saddened slightly thinking of his unknowing son. Although he may not be sticking around to the end of the year, his son seemed happy enough thinking so.

"Ignorance is bliss."

Maybe he shouldn't have lied, who knows? After all, his regrets are just one of the many regrets of the Higher Octarians living above the Inklings in Octopolis, gathering information on them through the Squid Research Lab, maybe it would have been better if they knew nothing like them and they could just live happily and unknowing of the universe around them.

Maybe it would be better to live in complete ignorance.
 

Claus

Full Squid
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Messages
36
Location
Somewhere in England
NNID
Bluevisionist
Hey there. I've thought about making a series based on an extended world for Splatoon, Octopolis, which is located above Inkopolis which in turn is located above the previous home of the Octarians. It always fascinated me how such an extensive underground facility could exist in the world of Splatoon, and then I thought about how cool it would be if Inkopolis was also underground with a bunch of higher beings observing it and simulating weather and sunlight and acting as gods of the Inkling world, Truman show style. This is where the idea for this short story came from, when I feel a sudden burst of inspiration for a story I tend to let ideas grow inside my head to the point where I need to write it down, and this is the result. It's been quite a while since I decided to show anything I've written to such a large amount of people so I'm kinda nervous about what you guys think. I encourage feedback, but I don't mind if you read and move on, as long as I've hopefully given you a good read.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling and start gathering new Ideas for the next installment of this mini series!
 

VideoGameVirtuoso

Pro Squid
Joined
Feb 18, 2012
Messages
143
NNID
ExtremeTechPro
Well, I enjoy the symbolism, story, details, character depth, and the direction of the plot. Everything feels very mature and thought out.

The questions asked are also just philosophical in nature. I find those very nice touches in short stories, it opens up possibilities for the reader to contemplate.

Good stuff though, definitely keep going :)
 

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