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

[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.

[splattershot]

Tidal sighed, shaking her head. "Yeah, I hadn't thought of that - you make a good point. We don't know what we're in for at all... So what's the plan of escape if we need one? I'm no planner."

[morganknight]

"The real important thing is to be aware of the potential need. Beyond that, planning is hard without knowing exactly what our circumstances are..." Or the layout or even the tech level. "Though I think 'don't get separated' is pretty high on the list."

[splattershot]

"Makes sense," Tidal responded with a shrug, seemingly comfortable with the situation again. "You know, for a guy who's kind of a dumbass, you have good ideas."

[morganknight]

"The best part about being a dumbass is that you make so many mistakes, you learn a ton!" Morgan had no problems calling himself a dumbass. He'd been, well, HIM all his life, and he'd only really grown out of that phase recently. Thanks to learning from a lot of mistakes.

[splattershot]

"You know, I can never think of it that way," Tidal said, the words coming easily - and then she realized how that sounded. "I mean, not that I make a lot of mistakes." She did, of course. "But if I did."

[morganknight]

Somehow Morgan managed to refrain from giggling at her inadvertent self-own. "Hey, you can learn from successes too. My philosophy is, you can always learn something from absolutely anything you do."

[splattershot]

Tidal nodded. "A philosophy, huh. Mine's more like... If it's not fun, why bother doing it?" She gave a snort. "But yours is good, too."

[morganknight]

Morgan shot a sidelong smile at her. "I'll try to make sure anything I ask you to do is fun," he said, with just a little innuendo.

[splattershot]

Tidal couldn't resist a bit of a smirk, picking up on that hint of subtext. "You bet your ass you'll make sure of that."

[morganknight]

"Well, someone's ass anyway."

What can he say? He's a bad man.

Time for that later, though; for now, the town ahead of them was coming more clearly into view. Morgan's first though was minor relief -- no walls meant the town didn't fear much, which in turn meant they'd likely find a warmer welcome there than otherwise.

[splattershot]

Tidal beamed as they drew closer to the town, pumping a fist in the air victoriously.

"Alright, civilization! I hope they have hats."

Seriously, her head was starting to feel naked without her usual cap.

[morganknight]

Morgan hesitated for a second, glancing down at her.

"I'm going to admit that was not what I expected your topmost concern to be."

[splattershot]

Proper priorities and thinking things through are foreign concepts to Tidal, though! She blinked over at Morgan a couple of times.

"Well, sure, let's not die, that too."