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]

"What." Tidal continued to stare, baffled, until Morgan pulled out the instrument - at that point, her eyes widened, practically gleaming.

"Do you play?"

[morganknight]

"Damn straight, I'm lead guitar in a band." Which, quite unfairly, was a successful hobby of his. He attributed the success way more to the other members than to himself, but he gave it a good effort!

[splattershot]

"That's hot," Tidal said, because like hell if she cared about being a little too blatant. "What kind of music?"

[morganknight]

"That is super what I want you to think." Even if that wasn't what he picked up the instrument in the first place for. Awesome side benefit! "Metal of all sorts, primarily. We're mostly doing covers for now."

[splattershot]

Tidal laughed, and nodded. "Not bad, not bad! Metal is like... The fourth best kind of music, but considering how many genres there are..."

Of course, that was her way of saying it was her fourth-favorite kind of music. But obviously that meant it was just generally fourth-best!

[morganknight]

"Phew." Morgan made a show of wiping sweat off his brow. "I was worried you were too perfect for a moment there, but your music tastes being a little off is reassuring!"

[splattershot]

"Hey, what?" Tidal laughed, shaking her head. "No way! I think you're the one with music tastes that are a little off!"

[morganknight]

"I know, but I forgive you." Still grinning, Morgan stuffed his guitar back into his coat, which accepted it without so much as a bulge.

[splattershot]

Tidal made a big show of rolling her eyes, but she smiled as she did so.

"You're so lucky you're just cool enough to balance out the dorkiness."

[morganknight]

"Luck has nothing to do with it, oh lovely one," Morgan said, a hand to his heart as he airily shut his eyes and tipped his head back. "I am as cool as I am because I own my dorkiness, and as dorky as I am because I recognize my coolness doesn't mean a damn thing."

[splattershot]

"Woah, hold on," Tidal said, holding her hands up in front of her. "How can you say coolness means nothing? You don't really think that, do you?"

[morganknight]

"Doesn't pay the bills. Doesn't win fights. Doesn't help out others. And how much of it comes by luck? How much cooler are you and I because we're gorgeous people, instead of meh or blech?" Morgan flashed a grin sidelong at her.

[splattershot]

She couldn't deny the first two. As for helping others... It was admittedly something Tidal didn't usually consider, outside of her teammates in a Turf War. And even then, Tidal was more of an "every Inkling for themselves" type, compared to most.

Even the flirtation didn't shake the weirdness that came from realizing, for the first time, that maybe she should be considering that in life. She certainly would have to here, at least with Morgan, if she wanted to survive.

"Huh... Yeah, I guess you have a point, but- I don't know."

[morganknight]

Morgan shrugged. "I spent a lot of time worrying about that sort of thing, and it was dumb. Turns out if you just like being yourself and don't take yourself way too seriously, coolness comes with it anyway."

[splattershot]

"Well, sure, of course I like being myself. I mean - who wouldn't like being me?" she laughed. It was a little forced, but only a little. "I'll have to think about all that, though. Sure."

[morganknight]

"Well, you'll have time." His smile was sincere but also serious, since the town they'd been heading towards would be upon them soon. "You ready for this?"

[splattershot]

Her expression was neutral, even leaning towards happy, but Tidal's tone betrayed a certain level of nerves. "Yeah. We've got this."

[morganknight]

"Damn straight."

Morgan had enough confidence for the pair of them, striding right up to where the field became a dirt road in, and pacing into the town proper without a moment of hesitation.

No one seemed to take special note of the pair, fortunately, which meant visitors weren't terribly uncommon, and blue tentacle-hair was close enough to normal not to be a beacon of the uncanny.

[splattershot]

At first, Tidal's whole demeanor took on a cautiousness that had been totally absent from her personality, prior. But as they went unnoticed, her cocky swagger returned full-force, and she smiled up at Morgan.

"This place seems kind of simple, even if it's a smaller town. Don't you think?"

[morganknight]

"Less technologically advanced than I'm used to. Simple, mmm, we'll see." He liked that swagger, he decided, even if he wasn't sure Tidal could back it up in a life-or-death emergency. But he really hoped there wouldn't be one of those.

[splattershot]

Oh, she absolutely could not, but to her credit, she'd certainly try.

"That's what I meant. Is there really a difference?"

[morganknight]

"Could be political tensions, economic troubles, racial strife, war we don't know about, a nearby dragon due its annual tribute of a lovely maiden..." And so on, and so forth. Appearances could be deceiving.

[splattershot]

"Oh," Tidal deflated a bit as Morgan made quite a few good points, all lined up neatly in a row like that. "Yeah, I guess I didn't think of that stuff..."

[morganknight]

"Yeah, I just have a little experience. Used to not think about stuff like that either." No shame when everyone had to learn, Tidal!

[splattershot]

"Yeah? I mean, there's some stuff like that where I'm from. Or there used to be, anyway, with the Octolings, but... I don't know. I just like to focus on the easier stuff," Tidal admitted.