Splatoon One Shots

Solitude

The Splatlands outskirts had always been a mysterious and unexplored territory for the great majority of Splatsville. It was known to be dangerous: if you were not an expert, it was easy to get lost or worse. Some said bandits lived there, and that they'd steal the freshest things from anyone they stumbled upon. Therefore nobody dared to set foot in that desert, as long as they cared for their tentacles, unless it was absolutely necessary, or they were fully prepared for it. Generally, people preferred staying in their comfort zone, doing some turf wars or doing some turns at Grizzco's.
But there is always an exception to the norm. And as a matter of fact, a girl did live there.

Nobody knew her; she barely knew anybody. She was an isolated one, who had been living on her own for so long that she had forgotten exactly how much. No company, no help, much less friends. It was just her against whatever the desert put against her.

Sometimes she'd ask herself if she was still mentally sane or not. Not many people could bear living as she did for so long, but she was still standing and alive one way or another. At night she'd always wonder what it would be like to have an actual being to speak to.

Introductions first, though, the Inkling's name was Norah. Norah had been living as a nomad for most of her life, if not all of it. Her story is truly a sad one, but, in order to understand what is going on in her life, we'll have to briefly go back to when she was just a kid.

Norah didn't always use to be all by herself: she had a caring father and a loving mother by her side. The three of them had to scavenge and find scraps of metal in order to sell it and make money out of it. It was their only way to make cash. A business to survive.

Despite how miserable this might sound, the young inkling enjoyed exploring those sandy lands, especially with the wise tutoring of her father, who taught her every tip and trick he had up his sleeve after his many years as a scrap hunter. Norah learned how to orientate in the desert by herself, over the years, and eventually became responsible enough to venture on her own.

On one day in particular, by going further from their usual area, they found a small village, and since the people were nice and welcoming, they decided to stay for the night, and perhaps even a few days.

Unfortunately, during the night, a powerful sandstorm struck, bringing chaos and destruction to wherever it could reach. No one in the village had ever seen a bigger one in their entire life.

Her parents remained stuck under the remnants of the little hut they used as a shelter, however, Norah managed to escape. In order not to put her life at risk, her father ordered her to run as fast as she could in the opposite direction and not look back. Reluctantly, the little girl did as she was told and did successfully manage to escape the disaster.

Her mother told her they'd see each other again.
Her Father just said they were going to be fine.

But now Norah is sixteen years old. And she knows the truth very well.

Her parents weren't going to come back.

She was not going to see them again, and she was sure that they were not fine.

The sandstorm had completely destroyed the entirety of the village, and it had shattered many lives. Whatever remained of it had been covered in large sand dunes. They were gone, and there was just nothing she could do about it.

For the rest of her life, she had been forced to do what she was good at on her own. Find scrap, sell it, make money, survive for the day, repeat. It was...underwhelming, but it was that or starving to death in that hot land of sand, only to be forgotten...
But she was already forgotten, so did it really matter?

Sure, one would think that perhaps moving to Splatsville could have been a convenient choice in order to have a better life condition and perhaps some extra cash to spare. But Norah was aware that she would have probably come off as weird to everyone there. She had tried, before. She was so strayed from civilization, so much that she felt out of place. Like she did not belong among those people.