Ever since stage announcing was passed onto Off the Hook, the days for the Squid Sisters were, in the simplest sense, slow. Besides the occasional concert and public appearance to promote the latest stage unveiling, things mellowed down a little, giving the two a little time during the day to be a little more casual. Marie was quick to adopt this new lifestyle, taking her free time to idly swipe through the internet and check up on Gramps when the opportunity presented itself. Callie, on the other hand, took this chance to really go all out on her other hobbies. It was a perfect storm of abundance in her hands: time, money, and helium. Indeed, a pastime of hers was to just take a tank of the stuff, put the hose where it needs to be, and just round out for funsies. Yes, there wasn't a week (or month, depending on schedule) where she'd be gallivanting through the air without a care in the world, serenading the ears of the city folk with the distant, pitchy tones of whatever tune was in that head of hers. Sure, it had many uses, like spicing up a concert or something similar of the like, but the joy of feeling the wind in your tentacles is one you can't match. And now that she's got even more time? All the better. Now she didn't have any reason not to! She could fill the time on any day she wanted! And this was certainly a day...
…
A very slow day, mind you. Having just gotten out of a concert a week ago, the two were in the in-between void™, where nothing was happening due to being, you guessed it, in-between events. And today, Callie was alone in the house, a rare occurrence. Marie was out on another Costco run to grab some stuff. One of these items was the ever-coveted Pepsi™, as the obvious culprit went through an entire month's worth of the stuff in a day. Why, Callie could remember that day, where she finished the last drop, just as Marie walked in. "That was eight liters of soda, Callie! That wasn't supposed to be a challenge!" she said. Keywords. But, Marie didn't have anywhere else to crash while they were waiting for the concert date (Saves a trip to her place to pick her up), so she just put up with it. After all, it's nothing too major, like leaving socks where they may lay or leaving the water on, so she's cool with it. So when Marie leaves to get Pepsi™, Callie is often left behind, so the soda actually makes it through the door. Because of this, here Callie lays. Alone. And it wasn't a moment she liked. When she was alone, there was silence. When there was silence, there was nothingness. A space was unfilled. And she intended to fill it, just for a bit.
…
Getting up from her seat, Callie was quick to locate a closet not too far from the room she was in. Inside this closet, there was always a tank and hose, always readily available for an impulse fwoomp when the opportunity presented itself. Despite multiple uses and refills (refilled every other day, gotta keep it nice and full), the steel container still shined good as new, an uncharacteristic degree of care put into making sure it still held its own. Wheeling it out to the chair she resided in and setting the tank in place with an atypical amount of caution, Callie eyed the hose apparatus up and down, looking at it with silent respect. The hose was an important aspect of her hobby, allowing her to take a "hands-off" approach as the tube did all the work. And now, she called upon its services once more, albeit not as long as she usually does. Indeed, it wouldn't be long before Marie returned home, so she just wanted to fill up for a while, to clear the silence that was plaguing the room. Putting the hose where it need be and turning the valve a light turn, Callie laid herself to rest, letting the tank do its thing. Sure enough, a faint hissing sound soon filled the room. While most would find this irritating, it was a tune she knew too well, the backing track to her life. It was a sense of peace, of floating through the air without a care in the world. Soon after came the fullness, a sense of space being created from within. There was always a sense of joy within that feeling, something that others might have misinterpreted as misery. But it wasn't emptiness that was on her mind, rather the inverse: filled. She thought of it more in the sense that the more space she took up, the more she was noticed. More known. And in the star industry, being known is the very essence of life. It was a nice thing to have on you, that's for certain. While she's felt this several times over, it was like every experience was the first, a memory held deep within her. As she looked back at these moments in her life, her grip on time itself slipped from her grasp, the passage of the seconds blurring in her mind. Within that second, any vestige of the "responsible" Callie melted away, as the lingering thought of "Maybe I should stop Marie will be home soon" turned to "Haha round good". It wasn't going to be to her detriment, because she trusted Marie enough to turn the tank off when it came to that point. So for now, she just took time to relish what she had. And what she had was quite a bit, to be frank. In a short amount of time, everything swelled. Arms and legs were bent by helium to stand stiff and straight, forcing her into a starfish shape. (keeping with the aquatic theme, eh?) In retrospect, it probably wasn't her smartest idea to sit down, with her body squeezing against the armrest and all, but she'd depart from there eventually, as was evident for each cheek actively pushing against (and up) the linen confinements. Not two long after, her vision was obscured (at least for a while) by another pair of twin spheres, hiding the tank from view, and, by extension, her mind. And as everything that stood out started to get absorbed into the singular mass that could vaguely be described as a torso, she rose into the air, as blimps commonly do. Second by the second, inch by inch, the pop star resembled a balloony caricature of herself, the only defining features being a puffy pair of hair tentacles (and the head they are attached to), her casual outfit stretched near its limits, and two equal pairs of useless limbs sticking out of half-sphere divots. To the uninformed spectator, this would have been considered a humiliatingly terrible fate to befall. But for Callie, this was "The Zone", a peaceful area of being where it was as if there were only two things in the world: Her, and the ever-comforting hiss of the tank. Other than that, there was nothing else she could think of.
…
In The Zone, Callie tends to not notice things. The floating? As a natural state, barely took note of it. The tank? Can't reach it anyway. Marie entering the house? It's like she wasn't there. Coming back from Costco not too long ago, Marie was busy putting stuff away, knowing what her cousin was up to but not willing to comment on it. After all, it wasn't uncommon to see her like this when coming back from an errand run or a walk, so she's been long conditioned to accept this sort of situation. So whenever Callie was in The Zone, Marie wasn't one to knock her out of it unless the moment came to. Instead, she just took her own time to do what needed to be done around the house without interruptions. Just as she was about to sequester the last soda liter into the seemingly gargantuan soda fridge (Callie often had so much on her that it took up a second fridge), the phone rang. Picking it up and checking the screen, a text message from the printing company came on display: Paper Shortage. Off the Hook bought out the whole supply to advertise the latest splatfest, and now there wasn't going to be enough to advertise next week's concert. This presented an issue. The people of Inkopolis Square had notoriously low attention spans, and if there wasn't a constant reminder something was happening within view, they'd soon forget what it was they were planning to remember and go do something else instead. And if few people show up to said concert they meant to advertise, then the very balance of the popstar industry is at risk! While this didn't show on her face, this was quite a dire situation for Marie. Thinking to herself, she tried to summon a solution within her mind, but there was an external obstruction that prevented her from finding anything. And that "obstruction" was the hiss of a tank going at a relatively slow speed, with the blimp it was attached to. At that moment, something burned within her, a spirit devious in origin. Almost every time Callie was rounded out in the house, it was Marie's job to stop her so Callie could go about her day again. Whenever Callie drank all the Pepsi at Costco and rounded out to such a degree that she needed to be rolled home, it was Marie's job to do just that. In both situations, Callie was vulnerable, but Marie didn't pay it much mind. But now, she needed a problem solved, and she didn't mind how it got done.  Normally, forcefully exiting Callie from The Zone was a near-impossible task, but several iterations have given Marie the right tool to break the barrier: A well-placed finger-flick to the forehead. But first, she needed to stop the tank for effect. Walking over to the tank, only a turn of the valve was necessary to cut the flow. Moving up to Callie's face, she was greeted by the closed-eye complexion of her cousin, too deep in The Zone to even realize Marie was inches from her face. Pulling the pointer back and edging it closer to the middle of Callie's noggin, Marie took the shot:
𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬!
…
In an instant, Callie was broken out of her swollen stupor, the harsh snap to reality causing her to frenetically flail (read: flap) whatever limbs she still could articulate like a person forcibly awoken from a nightmare. After a while, she did calm down, the mere sight of Marie not too far from her own face was almost enough to send her into another flap frenzy, although she did manage enough courage to vent this stress into speech instead of action: "ₘ₋ₘₐᵣᵢₑ!? Wₕᵧ ₐᵣₑ ᵧₒᵤ ₕ₋ₕₑᵣₑ… ₛₒ ₑₐᵣₗᵧ, ᵢ ₘₑₐₙ! ᵢ ₜₕₒᵤ𝓰ₕₜ ₜₕₑ 𝒹ᵣᵢᵥₑ ₜₒ 𝒸ₒₛₜ𝒸ₒ 𝓌ₐₛ ₐ ₕₐₗ𝒻₋ₕₒᵤᵣ ₜₒₜₐₗ!", Callie managed to sputter out, the gases within lifting both her body and voice. "That's where your wrong, cuz. The route you take is thirty minutes. I can get there and back in, like, a third of that time. And early? I've been here for a good fifteen minutes! I don't know much about your "zone", but you seem to lose track of things, hm? I mean, geez! I always knew you were the bigger squid between us, but this is something else!" It was these words that made Callie's situation apparent, as her bid for some sort of noise sent her into the zone, sending a mild bloat sesh into a full round roundtable. Confronted with accidental hubris, she attempted to rationalize her predicament, but all that came out was: "ᵢ₋ᵢ ₘₑₐₙ, ᵧₑₐₕ. ᵢ 𝒹ₒ ₜₑₙ𝒹 ₜₒ 𝒻ₒᵣ𝓰ₑₜ 𝓌ₕₐₜ'ₛ 𝓰ₒᵢₙ𝓰 ₒₙ ₛₒₘₑₜᵢₘₑₛ. 𝓌₋𝓌ₑₗₗ, ₐₙᵧ𝓌ₐᵧ, ₛᵢₙ𝒸ₑ ᵧₒᵤ'ᵥₑ ₜᵤᵣₙₑ𝒹 ₜₕₑ 𝒻ₗₒ𝓌 ₒ𝒻𝒻, 𝒸ₒᵤₗ𝒹 ᵧₒᵤ ₜₐₖₑ ₜₕₑ ₕₒₛₑ ₒᵤₜ, 𝓌ₕᵢₗₑ ᵧₒᵤ'ᵣₑ ₜₕₑᵣₑ? ᵢ, ᵧ'ₖₙₒ𝓌, 𝒸ₐₙ'ₜ ᵣₑₐ𝒸ₕ ᵢₜ ₐₙᵧₘₒᵣₑ 𝒻ₒᵣ ₛₒₘₑ ᵣₑₐₛₒₙ. ₜₒₜₐₗₗᵧ ₙₒₜ ᵦₑ𝒸ₐᵤₛₑ ᵢ 𝒸ₐₙ'ₜ ₘₒᵥₑ ₘᵧ ₐᵣₘₛ, ₕ₋ₕₑₕₑₕ..." And with this, the ball was in Marie's court. Callie has relinquished every degree of control that ever was in this moment, and Marie was intent on using it all. Thankfully, the Hero Charger went unnoticed by Callie, so she's in the clear so far. "Actually, y'know what? Nah. I don't think I will. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and I, no, WE need advertising for next week's concert. So why don't we take this outside, eh? Don't want to wreck your place, half out of familial respect and a half because I don't have anywhere else to live nearby." "𝓌ₐᵢₜ, 𝓌ₕₐₜ? 𝓌ₕₐₜ'ᵣₑ ᵧₒᵤ ₚₗₐₙₙᵢₙ₋ ᵧₑₑₚ!" Any complaint Callie could get out was instantly nullified by the sudden sensation of skin brushing against the doorway. "Oh, quit bickering, you. I commend you for making these doorways extra wide, but you're not making this any easier. Stop flailing, will you? Can't have our advertising blimp floating off way too early, amirite? Just a few feet wider and some ink on the side and you'll do juuuuust fine." With the plan in action, Marie had one thing left to do. Bringing her attention back to the tank, a hand brought herself to the valve, giving it a heart twist in the right direction. As if on command, the ever-present hiss made itself apparent, more like a squeaky roar than a balloon deflating slowly. Callie had no comment at such events, except for a light squeak of surprise, like a (now-extinct) mouse that had been lightly trodden on, minus the pain. As this was unfolding, Marie prepared her weapon, now turned into an implement of creation than destruction. Tank full? Check. Scope calibrated? Check. Decent vantage point? Check. Pointing the business end of the device towards her canvas, Marie charged a salvo of paint, ready to manuscript the exact circumstances of the concert.
"Now hold still."  
…
It was just a regular old day at Inkopolis Plaza, even by the standards of the people who lived there. Inklings bought stuff, hanged out, went to battles, the like. Nothing too special. A bystander could be seen walking out of the weapons store, freshly-purchased Aerospray MG in one hand and a new getup in the other. Satisfied with what they had, the lone inkling headed for the lobby, until:
𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘬!
A stray glob of glittery green ink plopped onto their head. Wiping it off their noggin, the person couldn't help but have a million questions run through their mind: Where did this ink come from? Why was this happening in the plaza of all places? Why is it dark out when it's only 3 PM? Searching for answers, the inkling looked up, hoping to see the culprit to all her current (albeit mild) issues. And sure enough, there it was: A massive, creaking blimp, so large that it almost blotted out the sun. On the sides, the words
"SQUID SISTERS CONCERT
 NEXT FRIDAY AT 5
 BE THERE AND STAY FRESH"
could be made out in the same ink that beaned the poor bystander. It was surely a spectacle to behold, but not too far out of the range of the Squid Sisters to do such a thing. Renting out a blimp for the pure sake of advertising a concert was something they'd do, the exorbitant bunch. Keeping a mental note to go see the concert, the inkling resumed their path to the lobby, narrowly dodging another blot of ink that fell off the blimp. Indeed, many people looked up at the display, talking amongst themselves about future plans to attend the concert and the bold display those two made. But to their eyes, they didn't see who really was amongst them. Deep within a divot at the front of the blimp, was Callie's face. The common person would be freaking out, as they move through the air without control, but she was at peace. She was in "The Zone", and nothing could bother her.