Max

## Description

Max is a 19 year old Octoling with short tentacles that have grown into something reminiscent of a mullet. They were dyed red for the Octarian army, but have faded a lot more than his sister's since he chopped off most of each tentacle while still in the army. He stands at 5'5 naturally, but like his sister, wears platform boots that bring up his height by 2 inches. He has an eyebrow slit on his left eyebrow, and his eyebrows are also in a small, triangular shape. His eyes are the same color as his natural ink color, a light pnk, and he has dusty pink star shaped pupils. He has a star-shaped birthmark under the right side of his mouth.

Max wears a cropped black tank top with a pentacle bleached onto it, showing his midriff. He wears baggy grey ripped jeans along with pink leggings and white twin belts. Under his pants, he wears pastel pink leggings which show on his sides, similarly to Callie's visible undergarments in Splatoon 2. For his shoes, he wears the same shoes as his sister Maxine, which are black pleather boots with spikes around the top. He wears his old Octoling Shades from his army days every so often. He wears two spiked black chokers around both of his biceps. He wears the same fishnet gloves as his sister, and a matching black ring on his left index finger. He also wears a matching "8" earring on his right ear.

## Personality

Max is slightly more reserved than his sister. He is smug and funny, often pretending to have a higher self esteem than he actually does. At times, he jokingly makes fun of his sister, showing their strong relationship through sibling banter. Like Maxine, he is also known to get distracted easily, and he had trouble in Octarian school for this reason.

Before he transitioned, he was much more shy. He was taken under the wing of Alice, the top fighter in the Octo Canton blaster division, due to often being outcasted by those in his classes. After socially transitioning, towards his leave from the army, he is shown to have higher confidence and improvement in talking to others.

He is known to be shy when alone or not recording for the news.

## History

### Splatoon (2015 ME)

Max's older sister, Maxine, entered the army at 14, leaving 12 year old Max at home. He was a lonely child, usually known to be overly aggresive as well as extrememly hyperactive, which lead many other Octoling children to be afraid of him. Because of this, he did not have many friends throughout his early childhood.

### Splatoon 2 (2017 ME)

Max entered the Octo Canyon sector of the army in 2017 of the mollusk era, at age 14. When he got his humanoid form around his 14th birthday, he began to experience symptoms of gender dysphoria. He was assigned to the army's new blaster division, however, he struggled with the weapon and was too shy to ask for a transfer. Alice, a friend of Maxine, who was a junior captain in the division, helped him learn the basics of the Octo Blaster.

While in the army, he met Luno, a young Octoling one year older than him who was in the Octobrush division. Alice introduced the two, as she was taking care of Max and had feelings for Luno, they were the two people she hung around the most. The 3 would train together, and developed a close bond. However, as Alice began to lose feelings for Luno, Max developed them. While Alice was talking with Joyce, an Octosniper trainer and militia elder, Max confessed his feelings for Luno. Luno had felt the same way, and the two declared themselves official.

When Max realized he was transgender, he almost immediately told his boyfriend, Luno, and his best friend, Alice, while the three were on lunch break from army duties. Max changed his name to what it is today in honor of his sister. Both Max and Alice had believed that Maxine had most likely died while traveling to the surface due to the many dangers, or at the very least would never be heard from again. Alice and Luno helped tell their friends and teachers about the transition.

While going through a dysphoric episode, Max ended up cutting his tentacles short without taking the proper safety precautions needed when cutting Octoling tentacles. His front tentacle was cut too short, birthing a small Octotrooper. While his friends adored the Octotrooper, dubbed 'It' for lack of a better name, Max despised him.

Max was present at the Splatoon 2 final battle, the battle between Agent 4 and Marie versus Callie and DJ Octavio. When he was exposed to the Spice Calamari Inkantation, a song said to be a beacon of hope for those going through troubles, he finally realized his potential. Why his sister escaped. It all made sense. Max and Luno decided to escape together, they did not go through the pipe leading directly from Tentakeel Outpost to Inkopolis Square, which they did not know existed at the time. They were taking It with them, and had to thorugh a tough route which did not involve grates blocking It's path. While nagivating their route, Luno disappeared, leaving Max and It alone on their way to Inkopolis.

After the events of Splatoon 2, her brother Max also migrated to the surface. The two coincedentally queued into the same Turf War. Maxine did not recognize the young octoling as the sister she once knew, as Max was now almost fully socially transitioned, and Maxine had no way of knowing this. However, she did notice the octoling struggling with an Octo Blaster, and, having struggled with the same thing 2 years prior, went to help him. Max wrapped Maxine in a hug, and Maxine quickly realized this was the sister -now brother- that she loved so dearly.

### Formation of ASTEREO

Astereo was formed shortly after Max moved in with Maxine and Yvonne. Originally, the group was meant to be a trio, but Yvonne preferred to do behind-the-scenes work producing and composing. They started off as an indie rock duo, posting punk octatronica covers of their favorite tunes. They quickly gained a small but devoted fanbase of Inklings, even playing at open mic nights in places such as Starfish Mainstage and Mahi-Mahi resort.

### Octopolis

Max and Maxine grew up in the dome that is now Octopolis, said dome being the first level of both Octo Valley and Octo Canyon modes, and the only dome to connect to both locations on the surface. After DJ Octavio's second defeat, the work of Agent 4, the dome started to be rebuilt, courtesy of the Joubini and Nautico families, who were both important families in both local manner and trading with the Salmonids.

Maxine was a friend of Alice, the remaining daughter of the Nautico family. The two were in the same army division, however, even after hearing the Squid Sisters perform the Calamari Inkantation, she stayed with the Octarians, due to both her responsibilities at home and her immense patriotism.

Alice found Astereo online, and was able to send a direct message to Maxine. Her family-friends, the Joubini family, who owned a record label, were looking for an idol duo to run the dome's news broadcast and host splatfests underground. Alice had shown the son of the family Astereo's covers, and he adored their sound, making Astereo his first pick for Octopolis's newscasters. Almost immediately after recieving this, both the Echinas and Yvonne packed up their things and moved back underground. They were able to buy their childhood house, vacant but untouched, and made it their home.

Auditions were quick and easy. They became the city's newscasters, released their first album, ASTERIAS.

### Splatoon 3 (2022 ME)

As of 2022 of the Mollusk Era, Astereo is still hosting the news and splatfests for the Octopolis news.