Bento

Design Note: Bento has short but defined lashes at the bottom of his lash line! It's preferred but optional!

Full Name: Bento Beverage Box

Nicknames: Bento, BB, Bean toe

Gender: Male

Height: 5'4", just a touch above the standard

Build: Average, has some muscular definition but nothing fancy.

Eye Color: Dark teal

Ink Color: Blue, especially bright blues like the color of blue raspberry 

He'll do your taxes!

Gear:

  Primary/Turf - Studio Headphones - Ink-Wash Shirt - Annaki Arachno Boots - Kensa Octobrush    Bento Notes: "Black n white! I look like one of those Rereo cookies!" (He primarily listens to splatfest music, or hits from Off the Hook through his headphones to amp himself up.)

  Vacation - Pilot Goggles - White Shirt - Friendship Bracelet - Kensa Octobrush    Bento Notes: "The surface gets so hooooot, why don't they have outdoor air conditioners??" (Bento went clothes shopping with Tetra once and spent way too much money to his dismay. She kept hounding him about not having enough clothes though, so it was a win in her book. This was his favorite outfit from the bunch.)

  Winter/Slayer - Squid Nordic - Chilly Mountain Coat - Annaki Arachno Boots - Kensa Octobrush   Bento Notes: "THE SURFACE DOESN'T HAVE HEATING OUTSIDE EITHER? UGHHHH MY EARS ARE SO COLD"

  Weaponry - Usually uses the Kensa Octobrush, dabbles with dynamos and nautilus. (NO AIM NO BRAIN BRUSH MAIN)

Favorite Ability(s): Ink Saver, Swim Speed    Bento Notes: "I can keep slappin' forever!!"

Personality Overview: Pretty lax and always down to party, somehow very likeable even though he's not sure how?? People gravitate towards him?? Help? Friendly and has good team spirit. Likewise, when riled up he gets very competitive and gets tunnel vision for the win. Brushes are called slayers for a reason!! Overall, he's got a very adaptable disposition, he'll SCREAM AND YELL AND HOLLER FOR THE HYPE but also settle down and enjoy some companionable silence for a while.

- Almost always smiling and loves finding things to laugh about or with others. Laughter is truly the best medicine!

- Pansexual with no preference, Bento just loves people, man. Currently single and doesn't really care. His love is fulfilled by his friends <3

- Has a flexible sleep schedule, sometimes waking up early and sometimes sleeping in. Always catches his morning alarms though, which can skew his sleep schedule.

- Sweet and salty is a godly combo and he's unabashed to eat weird mixes like cheese dipped in frosting, fruit and crackers, and of course, shwaffles. So much flavor in the foods on the surface!! Its incredible..

- Doesn't like to think about his past. He can't recall much but he can see memories long forgotten in his dreams, and it freaks him out sometimes. He'll often try to text Tetra at ungodly hours if it was bad enough, just to have someone to talk to.

- He legitimately is interested in inkling currency and will help you manage your spending and taxes for fun. Not the best at explaining it though, so he kinda repeats himself a lot or just does it for you. In short, rather in tune with mathematics.

- Likes to read, has a little bookshelf and is very excited when he's gifted one to add to it.

- Might be think smart sometimes but is definitely not act smart. Trial and error it!

- A little obsessed with his Kensa Octobrush, he takes fantastic care of it and even has a wall mount in his apartment for it.

- Any hint of a party starting is too much for Bento refuse, and he's incredibly docile to most partiers, aside from bopping them with his empty brush from time to time. He would never purposely harm someone wishing to party but if he does the octo is incredibly down about it and apologizes profusely.

History -

Bento was previously an Octarian, and the majority of his life was spent underground. Prior to the Calamari Inkation, it was noted that Bento, (Then known as applicant 10029) had an incredibly volatile temper and wild ambition, which lead him to face off with enemy agents on multiple occasions. This is near the opposite of his disposition now however. (Granted, the Octoling Shades that grace every hostile are noted to give a notable shift in personality and morals.) Regardless of this fact, 10029 was actually not deemed a soldier, rather a researcher's assistant for domain design in the underground. Gathering samples, running tests on various methods of transport among the levels, taking notes of faults or successes in the terrain. It was during this time he came across the very few inklings he'd ever seen while working for the underground, and it took a lot of force to hold him back from running out attacking them on his own. Along one of these excursions, he stumbled upon an inkling bumbling through one of the Octarian's earliest stages, thrashing around to some sounds that seemed to emanate from a telecommunicator haphazardly shoved in their pocket. They were.. Odd noises, a sort of.. Song? More curious than enraged over this breach, Bento dared get closer to listen in to the rhythm. It was almost.. Hypnotic. (Did he beat up the inkling for their phone? Eee maybe)

Post; The Light. Bento, upon reaching the surface and the streets of Inkopolis, spent much of his waking hours simply marveling at everything that the underground lacked, studying vast topics and scanning through countless books and television shows. He found a particular fascination in finances, and finds it a bit of a hobby to survey stocks and watch over his friends' spending. He's very lighthearted and friendly despite his clumsiness in social environments, often stumbling through unfamiliar social cues like a friendly nudge or winking. (He laughed once when he had overheard a jellyfish mentioning that they were heading to a funeral. We don't talk about that. "He said 'fun', how would I know???")

Bento has since taken up residence in an apartment several doors down from Tetra and Naida, funded by his careful watch over his spending and extra shifts down at the shifty Grizzco docks. He loves to drop by for visits, especially for Naida's cooking, in which in exchange for their leftovers, Bento will often buy the groceries. (To be honest, he can cook barely any better than Tetra, so its probably a good thing he doesn't try.) As well as to compete with Tetra on their switches, and watch episodes of How its Made with Naida.

Friends:

TETRA - Bento's best friend and partner!

 Amongst his studies on the surface, Bento came across the well-loved pastime of Turf Wars. It was something Marina and Pearl mentioned, he had recalled. Apparently the inklings would reenact these battles in harmless fun in a variety of locations! From museums to hotels to construction sites.. It sounded very fun to explore, plus, you got paid to boot! So in he went, brandishing a Kensa Octobrush he'd managed with the small budget earned from work with a little bear-shaped radio.. thing. Regardless, it was fun! At first, he wasn't so sure about slapping around strangers, but reassurance from the teammates assigned to him allowed the Octoling to flourish. ..Into a bit of an inking machine. Never losing his competitive edge, he would advance through battles whether he won or lost, eager for another shot at the top. Amongst these battles he came across a fiery tempered Dynamo Roller by the name of Tetra. It wasn't exactly the most heartfelt meeting, as they first saw eachother as her roller smushed him to Octobits, but when teamed together, they forged a terrible partnership in slaying the opposition. Once in a set of matches where Bento and Tetra were pitted against one another, their feud became so intense it came to the point that when a battle started, they targetted one another like Tenta Missiles just to see who could trump the other with the most kills. Eventually the two were separated as property damages became too extreme for the hosts to fund, and the match was called off. 

He was shocked that shortly into his sulking at a table in the square, the dynamo herself approached him, offering alongside her hasty garble of inkling speech, a shiny ticket in her palm. ..Apparently staring at it blankly was not what she wanted, as the stranger quickly rolled her eyes, grabbed his arm and yanked him along to a transport with some big crispy looking crustacean sitting inside. His first taste of a shwaffle! It was.. Quite literally the best thing he'd ever tasted, to be frank.   Bento Notes: "Galactic Shwaffles are my favorite food ever!!! I really love the little pretty sweets on top.. Mmmm I want one now.. " He recalls Tetra laughing a lot at the faces he made as he ate. It made him laugh too. And also choke on his food. She laughed harder. Rude. Anyway, after this experience, and a lengthy lesson on pronouncing "Tetra, NOT TETTA, NOT CHACHA, NO NOT 'BLOO-BLO-BLOOP', MY NAMES IN INKLING." ('Bloo-blo-bloop' was calling her something else but she didn't need to know.) The inkling helped him purchase his own technologically updated telecommunicator (or, 'phone', I guess), and they swapped numbers, promising to contact one another when they were up for turf wars. What he wasn't expecting was the absolute slew of messages and phone calls Tetra would make to him, (He had to extend his phone plan multiple times to keep up..) most of which he couldn't understand. No matter, she always got her point across somehow.   Bento Notes: "I use a lot of emoticons thanks to Tetra's constant pestering..   " They hung out pretty often, Tetra getting to show off a lot of her world that Bento hadn't even begun to research yet. (Tetra called him nerd so many times, it was one of the first words he learned in inkling.) And in return Bento was able to help Tetra manage some of her cash earned from the Turf Wars, having to set up a BANK and EEEVERYTHING for her, just to put aside some of the money for rent and actual food. Not to say that he didn't enjoy just hanging out either, cause it was a joy really, to be friends with someone outside of the parties he got roped into in the middle of a turf war. (Much to the dismay of the majority of his teammates.)

NAIDA - Cool lady who does cool stuff!

 The first octoling Bento had close contact with on the surface. Of course he had battled with others in Turf wars, but he never really got close enough for a conversation or anything of the like. He was a liiiiittle afraid to, honestly. It was even weirder than meeting new Inklings. Would they recognize him? Be hostile or cold? It didn't seem worth the risk. But here he was, dragged back to this pineapple-yellow squid kid's apartment, waving at the cotton candy colored octo meekly as he was shoved through the doorway. Graceless as he was, this one named Naida was pleasant enough, complaining a little in a shockingly accurate reproduction of inkling to Tetra but otherwise being friendly. They got along cordially from that point on, finding it funny to taunt Tetra by snickering and uttering random phrases in octarian back and forth to one another when she was out of the room or not paying attention. She screamed. So much. Naida also showed him a lot of the more peaceful and thought provoking sights in the city, like the museums and gardens. (Bento reaaaally loved the fossils and the butterfly garden.) And wow. She made really, really good food. Just as good if not better than Shwaffle Guy's, but it was HOMEMADE! He takes every opportunity possible to pilfer from their leftovers, and repays it in getting the groceries to make more dishes. And premade snacks I guess for bribery. (He always gets a little surplus of ingredients so Naida makes extra and he can take it.) It can kiiinda make up for the fact that he visits all the time now, often to pester Tetra for Turf war or get up to some shenanigans, both of which to her dismay, Naida gets roped into. In essence, Naida is the go-to chill friend that is good to hang out with any and all the time, yet is just as happy to 'STAY THE FUCK OUT OF IT GOD SHUT UPPPPP THERES AN EPISODE I HAVEN'T SEEN ON.'  Bento Notes:  "Thank you Naidaaaa ily Naidaaaaa"

WASABI - I hope we can be good friends!

ROTO B - Hi Rotooooo!

 Another octoling! Of course he'd seen many others at this point, but she actually stuck around after a few rounds. Met during a party in the middle of a turf war, Roto seemed incredibly sweet and friendly, quickly becoming a close friend by persistence if nothing else.  Every time he goes out into Turf Wars, she always somehow seems to find him, and sticks to him like velcro. Its cute, though a little exasperating, especially if he was having a good fight. Oh well, she's always a welcome face to see. Update: He doesn't see her much at all anymore, and honestly he's kinda sad about it. She was really sweet. Guess some cephalopods gotta move on.    Bento Notes: "I wonder what she's up to nowadays?"