Adapting Is Key

[splattershot]

"Well, shit."

That was all Tidal had to say when she awoke in the grassy field that was very much not her apartment. She'd fallen asleep in her jacket and pants after an exhausting - but highly satisfying - day of turf wars, excited to have more fun the next day. Well, now the next day was here, and this was not the Inkling's idea of fun.

As she rolled onto her back and sat up, she took in the area. It seemed like there was a city nearby, from the smoke rising up beyond the hills. Where the hell was she, and how had she gotten here? This wasn't good; she didn't even have her Splattershot.

Damn. She didn't even have her hat.

But she wasn't going to find anything out by sitting around, so she pushed herself up to a stance, tied her 'hair' up into a topknot, and began to walk towards the rising smoke. At least she'd be near some kind of civilization, then.

Comments

[morganknight]

"Uh, hmm. That's getting up into really heavy weapon territory." Morgan paused, arm elbow-deep in his coat as he considered. "Don't suppose you have a knack for melee weapons at all?"

[splattershot]

Tidal considered the question for a moment, then smiled up at Morgan. "I won't know until I try, but I might. You got something with you we can use to find out?" she added, noting him rummage about.

[morganknight]

That he could do. With a flourish, he drew a bo staff out of the coat, in a shameless violation of physics, then offered it to her. "Doubles as a walking stick, excellent for bashing."

[splattershot]

"Bashing, huh?" She might look a little too excited about that, but at least her eager excitement overrides the vague feeling that she should be insulted by the idea that she could ever need a walking stick. Being very much an urban dweller, she's not at all used to longer walks, so she thinks of walking sticks as being just for the elderly.

Regardless, she took the bo staff and swung it from side to side, experimentally. "Hey, this could be fun!"

[morganknight]

She was missing the point anyway! Doubles as a walking stick... for anyone who might otherwise question why she had it. As for Morgan, he was satisfied with just the sword on his back, and whatever was in his coat.

"I think it will be." Good company and an optimistic attitude could go pretty far. With a bemused grin, he offered Tidal an arm. Shall they?

[splattershot]

She looped her arm through Morgan's, no hesitation, smiling at him in a manner so coy and slick that it was almost more of a smirk.

"You know, you're pretty charming in a doofus way."

[morganknight]

"Life's too short to take myself seriously, that's a lesson I already took too long to learn. And dignity is overrated." Or really, dignity came from what you made of it. A person in a Speedo who owned it had more dignity than a person in the fanciest formalwear who felt no confidence in themselves, after all. "Willing to tell me a little about yourself while we walk?"

[splattershot]

"I guess," Tidal mumbled, unsure if she could ever imagine not taking herself seriously. Sure, her cultural idea of dignity might seem laughable to those not from her world, but it was still very important to her. She had a lot of pride.

"About me, huh?" That was an easier topic of conversation. "I'm twenty years old; live with two roommates outside the center of Inkopolis Square... That's like the central hub of my home. I spend a lot of time in Turf Wars, which is the norm where I'm from, really. I'm pretty damn savage with my Tentatek Splattershot. It's really too bad it's not here with me."

She shrugged. "One of my roommates is a radio DJ, so I'm pretty into music. Me, I'm paid to collect Salmonoid eggs."

Her world was very weird.

[morganknight]

"Turf Wars?" There was a lot to process in her cheerful little mini-bio, so picking just one to focus on was difficult. But that one definitely seemed to stand out. It sounded like a gang thing, but that was -- well, it seemed unlikely?

[splattershot]

"Oh right, you wouldn't have those... Human and all that."

Where did she even start? There was a skip in her step as she walked on and tried to explain, "Okay, so you get eight Inklings - two teams of four. Each time is assigned a color by the judges, so you load up your gear with that color ink and cover as much turf as you can."

She glanced up at the sky with a smile, something nostalgic to it. "After three minutes, the two judges see who covered the most ground. Within your team you get assigned points for stuff like splatting members of the other team." A pause. Tidal was finally realizing how poorly some of this must translate. "You know, like, knocking them out of commission for a few seconds."

[morganknight]

Okay, okay. Context clues. 'Inkling' was either her species or a title which referred to participants of these 'wars'. This sounded basically like the local sport, except that it wasn't paid? So amateur?

"So the gun you've been missing is an ink gun?"

[splattershot]

"Of course it is. What else would..."

She trailed off, having the rare courtesy to look quite sheepish as the misunderstanding became clear. "...Oh."

Well, that was embarrassing. She usually could pretend she didn't care what others thought, but Morgan was so genuine that she felt weird about putting on an act. Self-aware.

[morganknight]

Morgan slapped a hand to his mouth that didn't at all hide his furious giggling. "Oh my God, I did not -- welp I am probably not going to pass over the Uzi, then!"

[splattershot]

Yeah, if she could pretend she didn't care - that she wasn't embarrassed - this moment would be a lot easier. As it was, though, Tidal coped with a flash of anger.

"Hey, it's not funny! How was I supposed to know you didn't know what I meant?"

[morganknight]

"You weren't, so don't worry about it," Morgan said, holding up his hands to forestall her anger, but still grinning. "That was entirely my fault for assuming."

And he could laugh at himself very easily.

"Trust me, me making a dumb mistake is definitely funny."

[splattershot]

"Oh," was all Tidal said at first, as she considered this. He seemed genuine in what he was saying, so... "Okay, then. I guess it's okay to laugh at that."

[morganknight]

"Well, it happens so often, you'd really be missing out on a lot of humor if you didn't." He folded his hands behind his head, not at all bothered by dragging himself a little.

[splattershot]

Tidal found this so foreign, his willingness to rag on himself. It wasn't that everyone in Inkopolis was like her, but reputation was very important there. People tended to take themselves seriously, as ridiculous as their world would surely seem to an outsider.

This? It was weird. And kind of charming.

"Is everyone like you? Where you're from?"

[morganknight]

"Handsome, charming, clever, and loveable? Naw. Most people aren't quite like me." Morgan winked her way. "Unless you meant some other way to be like me!"

[splattershot]

"No, that's exactly what I meant," she said, her tone unusually soft. She regained her usual attitude after a moment, though. "Clever, I might argue against. You were just saying otherwise, after all."

[morganknight]

"Clever people can make mistakes. So can idiots, but then again, I was clever enough to get you to compliment me." He tapped his forehead with one finger, looking very self-satisfied.

[splattershot]

"You make a good point there," Tidal snickered. And then, because of course she needed to be impressive, too, she tossed the bo staff from one hand to the other. Okay, not totally impressive, but it was a start.

[morganknight]

A start indeed, and Morgan wasn't going to judge her when her proficiencies clearly lay elsewhere. "We should make the city pretty soon, but in a situation like this.. well, we should be prepared for everything and then some, right?"

[splattershot]

Tidal groaned. "I guess you're right. Having to be prepared really sucks, though."

She was very much the 'leaping before looking' type, after all. "What'd you have in mind?"

[morganknight]

"Mostly, being aware that we may need to get out of trouble quickly. Especially in the city. We might not look right, we might not speak the language, we might have a lot of potential troubles." Or possibly worse, but he wasn't going to go there.