The Cephalo Diaries 2017

Just another day at the warehouse. Sleak's lack of doing anything but fixing and cleaning the place up seems to be catching up to him.. Even the new toys from Inkopolis brought him joy for only a little while. Sure, Torch could come by.. She's been around regularly enough, if only for some 'weapon and arena testing', though it's been kinda.. strangely quiet since that karaoke party. "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuugh." Sleak exclaimed, before slamming his face into the table. Just the memory of that embarrassment.. He definitely wouldn't mind singing with Torch, but.. Eh.. It's just.. He already felt weird singing alone. With Torch, on that stage.. In front of everyone.. "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuugh." Another exclamation, another table slam. If he didn't find something to do soon he'd have to buy a new table. Or a face. Or worse.. Both!

“Uhh.. I’m sure there’s better type of wood to break with your face if you really wanted to..” Victoria had her fist hovering near the doorway, ready to knock if she didn’t witness the head slam. The orange inkling stepped in instead, “You good, bud?” She tilted her head as if to see better.

Ah yes, of course Torch actually did appear today. Right while he was feeling meh about himself, too. Great.
At least she sounded normal.. So the fact she hadn't been around for almost two weeks began to be more likely to just be work, since that had kept her from popping by before. Well, his back was towards her, so he still had a moment to recover himself before she could see the existential dread on his face. "Oh. Uh. You know. Just. Really bored. This city. This goddamn city." Sleak kinda just summed up, ending with slowly turning to Torch. Whoops, still showed the face of an inkling feeling like meh, but at least she had a reason now. Just mentioning the city would likely remind her of his never ending trouble with the city officials, right?

Torch seemed to shrink back with his expression, “oh. Geez uh.. what happened this time?” She shrugged off her pack and swung it to the side, taking a seat and making herself comfortable as she’s done before. Despite the absence anyways. She was used to hearing about the bull with the city officials, but yikes this time he seemed a little worse than usual. What could be worse than usual? Could it.. her eyes widened some, “are they completely banning the sport?” Jump to a conclusion. Always helpful.

"..." Sleak just kinda looked at her incredulously. "Yes, that is precisely what happened. Turf war is over.." He paused. "Not. No, it's more about, like.." He raised his arms above his head, almost seemed as if he wanted to scream.. But all that came out was a sigh, and the arms went back down. "Something about import bullshit, Shiro is apparently not allowed to have a running business because weapons are bad for kids. Of course, this complaint didn't come up until AFTER Shiro switched over to a different vendor because the one she was with didn't like the regulations on the new weapons and thus didn't stock them... Sooo there's probably some kinda connection there."
This had actually happened.. Before. Like weeks ago. Still unresolved, but it usually takes forever, bureaucracy at it's finest. "So yeah, always a lot of fun to talk to those people. Always return with less braincells and more stress afterwards. Now cue the fact that I'm already stressed and I would really like to do something to distract me. But nope, just. Bored. And thus endlessly thinking about mess."

Torch rolled her eyes to the first retort, “I meant in this city.. with how much trouble it is to even get a simple arena up..” she folded her arms then, listening to the rest of the news, “weapons are bad for kids- see they’re shutting it all down.” She tried to lighten that up at least a little.
Though she was quickly reminded of his saying I would really like to do something to distract me. Somewhere in her felt a pang of guilt for not showing up lately. But she was probably only one factor out of many, not like she would have made a difference even if she had shown up. Though she understood the feeling on a different level. “Bored? I mean you’ve got a whole arena out there to kill some kind of time but..” the orange squid leaned forward to plop her chin in her hands, propping her elbows on her knees, “what else have you been doing to not go totally insane? Cuz uh.. you sound about borderline of it.”

"Kill some time, yeah, but that's what I've been doing most of the time. It gets boring.. and predictable. And local turf is still.. y'know." One more sigh. He avoided the subject of his true stress easily enough, it seemed, but he'd have to get to the point anyway. "As for other things.. well.. you know, I tried to go out for a bit, have fun at a party.." He stared at her for a moment. "We both know how that one went." He got up, walked over to the fridge to grab a drink for the both of 'em, picking a can of soda he had seen Torch drink before for her and setting it down in front of her on the table.. and then walked over to the storage.
"...Bit of 1 on 1 for a moment? Maybe use unconventional weapons, I know you probably had your Jr out before I finished my question, but how about these?" He grabbed two sloshers out of the storage. They seemed.. different. Though only the color was off, more of an orange than a pink.

At the mention of the party Torch averted her eyes accompanied with an awkward kind of smile, “eheh.. yeah..” last thing she remembered was the obligation of singing and that he panicked to do a duet. Not the best of events.. She eyed his actions after though, reaching for the offered soda as he went into the storage. “Close. I was getting a drink.” She raised it with a small smirk as if to prove it, opening and taking a sip out of it. Though with the suggested weapon choice, Torch couldn’t help but narrow her eyes, “eugh those things.. I mean, sure why not..” she shifted some to reach for one without wanting to get up, “so what’s up with these?”

"Haven't yet released the locks on these. Restricted to Suction Bomb and Tenta Missiles... you remember those from the Dualies, right? Normally Sloshers have.. uh.. I think they have Burst Bomb and Inkstrikes? Though, of course, the old Sloshers I have have no restrictions, obviously.." He handed her the Slosher proper. "It's more to test out. I heard there's a Deco version coming out too.. Not sure if Shiro'll get those, since we're working without restrictions eventually. Beyond that.. Pretty much the same weapon as you might know." Sleak looked into the storage. "Honestly, there's more stuff, but like I said, with the import problems, it's gonna be tough to get more than a few sets.. At least this time, Shiro actually handed them to me for testing, rather than her not knowing about it, ahahahaaa..."

She took the weapon, tossing it around in her hand— eventually both once she’d put the drink down- and inspected it. Really nothing much different. “Well that’s not as fun.” She snorted, rocking herself up onto her feet whilst still looking over the weapon, “but at least you won’t get chewed out for it again.. Man, I haven’t touched my Jr in two weeks and now you’re making me use a bucket!” She looked to him wryly, “I’m hurt.” Yeah no she wanted the target practice.

"... Well, alternatively.. How about.. a Jr?" Sleak held out a Splattershot Jr towards Torch. "Also still with restrictions, though. Splat Bombs.. and Ink Shield." Sleak snapped his fingers. "Or wait, we got the restrictions off of the Dualies, you gotta try the Baller Special..!" With his enthusiasm to show Torch all the new stuff, it's almost as if the boredom was gone.. Well, considering it was only part of why he felt meh, it was not be surprising just this was enough.

Right on the words Ink shield, she had the face of a kicked puppy. Quietly asking, “no bubble...?” She knew of that special already. It just still twisted the knife to keep acknowledging that the old one was gone. Though the attention was grabbed again with the new mention. “Baller? What’s..” she paused for a second, sticking out the sloshed in her hands, “well, first yes I’d like to trade this bucket for actual guns please. And I’ll cry in the corner later about my bubble later, but uh... baller??” Yes the change of mood and growing enthusiasm was noticed. Maybe she helped as a distraction? She hoped so. She could only try to keep it up for the time being.

"We're in Cephalo City, where the regulations are 'eh, as long as you use the same special in the same match'. So you can keep using your Bubbler here, at least." Sleak noted. He traded the Slosher for the Splat Dualies after retrieving the pair. "Just one note, since it's a hack job, I can't exactly just trigger the switch without you being in the arena, registered as player.. So if you want to toy around with the Baller, you know the drill."

“But that doesn’t explain-! Ne’rmind I’ll just figure it out.” Torch turned on her heel, twirling one of the guns on a finer as she got herself situated on a spawn pad. “So.. still target practice, right?” She called.

"If you want. I kinda figured you'd just fool around first." Sleak took out his phone as he walked up to the stage. "Aight, spawn is set to orange, please take a dip.. And an inktank." He set down the tank next to the spawn.

“This is how I fool around! ..oh right.” Too eager that she forgot. But got it in soon enough and sank into the spawn. “Besides, I’m hungry. ..like a wolf.”

"...Are you not eating well, again..?" Sleak asked, while tapping something on his phone. "..Anyway, special is set to the Baller, and.. eh, why not, have your points filled for use immediately." He looked at Torch for a sec... and set the duration to infinite. Best way to toy around, and if she was sick of it, he could cancel it on the spot anyway.

“What, yes I am! ..maybe. Kinda sorta- that wasn’t my point!”  She huffed hearing that she’d have the special immediately. She wanted kills, dammit! Through the guns! Or bombs, whichever happened first. But she bit her tongue. She was curious about this baller thing anyways. Waiting on the go, Torch rose out of the ink and activated the special. She only watched as the contraption built around her, encasing her inside ..a ball. “...I’m a wolf inside a hamster ball.”

"..Is it called the Baller. What did you expect? Supposedly this is meant to replace the Kraken, but.. ehhhhhhhhhhh" Sleak was leaning on his traditional Krak'on Splat Roller, as if to make a point. "There's a trigger to fill it with ink and it'll explode early, otherwise it'll splode after the timer is done.. Just like Kraken, you can move around freely, even climb walls, but the explosion is what makes it lethal.. just like how only the Kraken's jumps were lethal."

“I didn’t expect to become a hamster.” Torch began pushing against the ball, down the ramp, around the corridor.. “phkeehehe this is so stupid oh my cod” she laughed. “I’d take it more seriously in a match but we just went from a kraken to a hamster ba- CRAP.” Aaa for she bounced off an edge, rolling rolling rolling.. until she bumped into a wall.  “...I forgot that was there aHEM”

"PFF-!" Sleak had to hold in a laugh. It was obvious Torch was caught off guard with the hamster ball. He casually walked over to the other spawn, set it to his favorite shade of green and registered himself. He sat down on the spawn, holding his phone.. and after some tapping, walked towards Torch.. holding his personal Krak-On Roller. "Hey, wanna see what happens when that hamster ball gets hit with a weapon?.. Or more specifically.." A smirk appeared on Sleak's face, as he swung the roller once, diving into the ink as squid.. and coming out as a Kraken.

“Y’know, usually when someone asks something like that, I wouldn’t want to kn-...” Torch watched as the kraken appeared before her, “oh come on! ...”she only took a second before getting back to rolling away, “no touchie!”

Sleak, however, did the opposite of 'no touchie'.. by bumping into the ball. The one advantage the Sleak had was that he was used to controlling the Kraken, and with Torch only just turning around to move away, he had all the chance to get to her. However, that was all he did. Just bumped into it. He didn't jump, so it wasn't an attack.. Just him teasing her.

Which only caused her to try and scramble faster, “I said no touchie!”
In the meantime Torch began looking for this ‘trigger’ to detonate the ball, of course causing her to slow down in speed as she made sure it was the right one. And once she did the familiar detonation pitch came and suddenly she was surrounded by her own color.. and then it exploded around her. And then the ball reformed around her again. But she wasn’t paying mind to that right now. She only stood in place, making a realization, “Ho my gosh I’m a walking bomb- oh right.” Torch kept rolling around, trying to find some vantage point since she was still declined in wanting to find out what happens if Kraken Sleak decides to jump her. That usually resolves in a splat. She wasn’t about to willingly give in to that, of course not.

Sleak 'deftly' avoided the explosion by being nowhere in range. Such dodge, much grace. It was his warehouse, even if meant to emulate the one in Inkopolis.. So he knew perfectly well how to play keepaway. Never mind the fact that he was also playing with a modded special. Also one with infinite time, just with the sole difference that he could switch the Kraken form on or off by switching to and from his squid form. Did mean he couldn't submerge, but that was a decidedly small price to pay. Of course, since he was mostly fooling around and not playing seriously, he knew exactly where Torch was from a quick peek on his phone. In fact, he could super jump to her in an instant, but that.. That didn't seem sporting. "Hey Torch, remember that it can go up walls, just like the Kraken!" Sleak yelled, knowing the orange squid would hear him.. And likely be surprised from how close he sounded.

More frustrated than surprised. The girl knew this ball was a detriment to her usual speed. She never really had a problem with krakens before! "Yeah, yeah." She decided to take the hint and try to roll up a wall. Up and over containers, even hopping in the thing. Though if he wasn't getting her right away, might as well calm a bit.. by going trigger happy and exploding on the spot. Only to gain the ball back and giggle away and attempt more spontaneous detonations.

This caused Sleak to just walk into sight. "Finally, you are just having fun with it. Messing around like this did cure my own boredom for now." He looked at Torch.. "As for what getting attacked does while you're in a special.." Sleak smirked, changed to Kraken and finally just cheated. The landing marker appeared right over Torch as Sleak launched off a super jump. ...Both the Kraken and Baller have one downside. Getting hit by weapons, especially strong ones, makes the one inside the special bounce away nearly helplessly for a moment. Though Sleak thought initiating the collision of specials would cause it to not be that bad for him, he did brace for getting bounced away.

She paused her rolling on sight, only giving an eye roll and a smirk with the first comment. Yeah, yeah, she let herself go some... guess it wasn’t too bad. Though watching the jump and the marker, Torch only braced herself. No other real choice other than narrowing her eyes, “oh you fucking cheater..” She might’ve managed a step or two back, but the kraken jump still hit her ball, causing the orange squid to bounce back a good distance along with some parts falling off of her hamster ball. “Wh-“ she regained her balance, pushing the ball some, “it can break?!- wait that makes sense...” still she waited a moment to let it sink in, and placed her fists on her hips with the same question, “it can break???”

Sleak bounced back a little, but he ended his recoil by becoming a regular squidkid again. "..Well, yeah. It's a bit awkward, honestly, but the specials are more.. fragile. Easier to dodge, harder to use. It's kinda disappointing on one hand, but I think I get why. If anything, since this is hacked.. soon as it's broken, your ball will be fixed again. Or you could detonate it and fix it. Normally, a single detonation ends the use, just an F-Y-I." He stuck his tongue out.. "It's set to infinite, just like my Kraken.. Ah, anyway.. If you want to get out, just hit the activation button again. That's coded right now to cancel it."

She only lowered her lids to the very useful tip, “gee, never woulda guessed.” Torch gave a small smile -probably holding back a chuckle from her own sarcasm- before rolling off again while he gave the rest of the information.
“But what if I like being in a ball?” She rolled up one of the crates, and higher ones she could find.. then casually sat there while the thing detonated, leaving her dangling her legs off the edge. “I’m lying. I still want my bubble back.” She looked up, twirling one of the guns with a finger, “but I guess I can see why.. players won’t rely on their special as much anymore with them being more vulnerable.. still sucks.” She halted her twirling to point the gun at Sleak, “and you’re still a fucking cheater, slick.” It might’ve sounded serious if it weren’t for the smirk on her face.

"Well, I cooould disable the explosion, so you can hamsterball your way around the city permanently.." Sleak joked, approaching Torch. "..but yeah, I get what you mean. Which, is.. probably obvious from the fact I'm using Kraken. And of course I'm cheating, I'm just having fun." He stuck his tongue out at her, before sitting next to her. "...Things are changing, not much we can do about that. I'd joke that at least we're getting it later in Cephalo, but that just means we're behind the times." He sighed..

Torch lowered the gun and began twirling it again upon his sitting next to her. Only to stop again upon hearing the sigh, and proceeded to nudge his side with said gun. “Hey, hey, none a’ that. You were just getting better.” She settled the weapon down again, deciding to watch her feet kick the air lightly, “We’ll get up there. And once this city’s caught up, we’ll have the unfair advantage but that’s beside the point.” She says it almost innocently, as if she completely forgot about the tidbit.

"I guess.." He looked away for a moment.. before tapping a few times on his phone. "Well, arena mode is off." Which was signified almost immediately by the lights at the edge of the arena turning off as well. "You know.. I was just.." Sleak paused.. "...thinking of.. like.." Come on, pull off the band-aid already. "..that party from the other day? The singing was okay, just.. felt really weird doing it in public. Couldn't.. really enjoy myself."

She didn’t avert her attention when the mode turned off. She did however, glance over when Sleak began spooning out his own words. “Ah-ha...” she returned her gaze to her feet, “so it really wasn’t just the regulation stuff that was getting you.. but..” Torch shifted only a little to turn her head to him, “heh, that was two weeks ago though.. it bugged you that much?”

"Ugh, yes! I mean, goddamn, I used to be able to go out in like huge audiences and play turf war with not a single care whether I'd win or lose, but a party with like 10 people I completely freeze up!" He falls back on his back out of frustration. "I basically sang one song not even knowing if it went good, just.. complete and total auto-pilot there. Like back when we did the big announcement, just focused on my lines and did it." Sleak spreads his arms out. "...I actually, sincerely, have no idea if the singing was okay. I was more stressed out than anything. My day went from 'oh interesting' to 'oh heck no' to 'I need to get out'. You know what's worse? I am trying to get Shiro to interact more with others, but look at me, I'm almost just as bad!"

“Hm..” Torch watched him for a second, then used an arm to prop herself up at an angle, choosing to watch the ceiling. “...singing is different y’know. ..it’s a personal thing. -for me. Anyways.”
She began bumping her heels against the side of the crate, trying to stick with this train of thought, “And I don’t really do that sorta stuff in the open either. Just.. by myself or.. with certain people.. so.. I mean..” she blew a small raspberry, tilting her head to the side, “I know I did terribly. And it’s cuz that’s just not my field. To perform like that in front of people. ...So.. I’m not surprised that you felt like that. ..but holding onto that for this long though, maybe heh..”
“...for the record, you weren’t half bad from what I remember. Definitely showed a lot more confidence when you were up there than what you’re saying now.”

"That's cause I'm good at faking it. If I set my mind to doing a specific thing, I go on auto-pilot, like I just said." A loud UUUUGH came from Sleak. "It's exhausting as heck too, to just.. ignore your everything! I do my thing, I say what I have to say, and back to normal. It's different from going out and just having fun with your team or even trying intensely to win a match. It's just.. exhausting. Putting up a different persona like that.." If he wasn't laying on his back already, he'd be.. now moving towards laying on his back. Sleak's posture seemed almost as if he wanted to just phase into the crate they were sitting on.

Somewhere in that explanation Torch leaned forward again, placing her hands on the edges of the crate to keep her anchored -almost as if she was curling up..
She might’ve held back a chuckle from the loud sound, though with the next words she sounded, distant, “I know how that feels. Believe me.” If she thought about it, it’s only been around here that she didn’t have to act super courteous and polite and shy. Didn’t have to hold back as many words- she felt more free. But she wasn’t about to go into that about herself. If she thought about it. Which she ended up doing and she had to break that moment of silence now.
ahem “maybe you gotta make it a part of you. So it’s not as exhausting?” She shifted some to be able to turn to him with a shrug, “I think everyone’s gotta act at some points in their life.. Or maybe if you got some kind of escape, use that too. Recharge yourself.”

"I doubt that's gonna happen.. We're going to have to find someone else to hold the public events, especially since I'm the only person left to do this." He sighed. "As for an escape.. I.. oh cod, I've destroyed my escape by making it part of my job." Saving himself time to get back up first, Sleak switched to squid form and immediately back into a standing position- "THIS!" He raised his arms dramatically, turning partially to put an emphasis on the fact he meant the warehouse itself. "THIS was meant to be my escape. Work on an arena, enjoy wars here. And then everything changed." He fell backwards on the crate, changing into squid form half-way through the fall, ensuring a painful thud became a squishy flop, ending back in a position similar to what he began with as he took his normal form again. "So. Many. Problems. Hahaaa.."

The more she listened and watched. The more her face grew to being just done. “So.. are you gonna stop and breathe or am I gonna have to knock the wind outta you?”
Torch fully turned now, criss-crossing before him, “Breathe. Take a step back. And realize you’re probably makin mountains out of molehills.” Cue the hand gestures, “Sure there’s a lotta bullshit going on with the city stuff. But when isn’t there? And acting is so tiring, it is! But are you really gonna let yourself succumb to it? Let it control you? Take it back! Find another way or take this place back.”
She ended with folding her arms and slouched over her legs, though she lost any form of eye contact now, looking away. “...I’m sorry. You’re prolly just airing yourself out right now...but.. I dunno. It can get to someone after a while I think. I’m not about to let you just.. sink down there when you can actually fight it.” sound advice. Shut up, mind

"No, no, you're right.." Sleak sighed, before sitting right up. "The thing is that it seems like, while I've been here for like a year now, that nothing has changed, like my hard work has been for nothing. And they keep finding more ways to make things difficult.."
He looked at Torch straight. "I guess it's just.. Stress piling up. Hard to relax with everything looming over me. And I don't foresee things getting better.." A dumb smile appears on Sleak's face. "Heh. Feels like I'm complaining every time you're here, huh?"

She sat up enough to let a hand free to pinch the air, her expression matching it with a tired smile, “just a bit.”
“But it’s something I’m used to, I guess,” Torch shrugged, “some people lay out their issues and I won’t let them lay on it.. So..” She snatched up one of the guns she’d lain earlier and points it at Sleak, watching from under her bangs, “Things will get better. Say it or I splat you.” Plain and simple as if she’s giving a rule to a game.

"Pfff.. Sure, things will get better." He raised his roller, holding it right in front of her gun. "Perhaps, eventually, anyway." Where the heck was he keeping that roller, dang inkling physics. "Now, before you paint me orange and I paint you green, how about we move to the backroom and take another sip of our drinks. Fairly sure they've warmed up by now, though.."

She narrowed her eyes at the roller, then changed that focus to Sleak with the added comment. “Stop, that.” Torch practically used the gun to hit the roller itself. More like tap, but the action was still there. “But yeah sure,” she shook the weapon some, trying to knock off any green ink that might’ve stuck on, “though I might steal another if mine ends up flat..” After dealing with the excess ink, she shifted to a squid to hop off the crate, only to shift back to inkling on her landing. She seemed to wait a moment, probably for the other to get moving, before she began making her way to the backroom herself- making little splats of whatever orange ink was left in her weapon.

Sleak raised his shoulders and shook his head, before also jumping off. "Ah, you're making me have to clean all that~ as if. Thank you, microbes.. Anyway, might as well just get a new drink, let's put what remains back in the fridge.. though, hang on." Once back in the backroom, he grabbed what seemed like a white sheet, scissors and a pen from a drawer, wrote 'Torch' and 'Sleak' on the sheet, cut the names out and put the pen, scissors and what remained of the sheet back into the drawer. He then rubbed the backside, which then came off, revealing that the white sheet was in fact one large blank sticker- and thus the cut out names found themselves sticking to their respective cans, put back into the fridge, right before he handed Torch a new can of the same soda.
"..Anyway.. I.. I suppose I should actually.. fess up the fact that you're.. you're easy to talk to, and I guess I feel comfortable dropping my complaints in your lap. Not exactly something you should do to a friend.." He looked at her with a bit of a glare.. "..speaking of, how is your diet nowadays, hmm?.." though considering the tone of his voice and the large smirk on his face, the glare was probably done jokingly. "I think, aside from Shiro, you might be the one person in town who knows what I'm actually like at this point."

Walking back, she only rolled her eyes in response to the ink. She just wanted to make little splats lmao
Course once in, she plopped herself in a seat, thanking the other for a new can and opened it for a drink.. That fess up did cause Torch to have a small smile, it was comforting that she wasn’t chasing anyone away being more like herself.
And then she nearly choked on her drink. “ghck— Let’s. Lets not talk about. that aherrm” she managed to recover some. Sure he wasn’t being totally serious, but still caught her off guard enough. Muffling the rest of her small recovery, she heard the rest.. she couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. “Well, I guess that makes two of us-“ she paused, looking away in thought, “well ‘cept Shiro. ‘nless you gossip about me heh.”

"Pff, if I even mention someone who isn't part of our little business group, she melts into a puddle of shyness. I've tried to get her to relax a bit more, but no luck so far." Sleak explained, taking a sip of his drink. "You know, out of everyone I know, I think she wears the toughest mask. She's afraid of everyone she meets, yet out of all the stores, her's seems to be running best. When she's in shopkeep mode, she's a professional. Not something you'd think if you met her outside of business hours." He sat down, and sat back. "If anything, it's kinda surprising how easy we hit it off. I'm fairly sure having a unique, customized Disyne Krak'on Roller helped with it, considering her love of weaponry, but.. in hindsight, it seems so unlikely that she broke out of her shell just for that." He shook his head, staring off at a blind wall. Looks like he was catching up with a memory.

“You probably coaxed her out,” Torch shrugged, looking over her drink in her hands, “Suppose you have that kind of quality. To not judge like that I guess.. I told you I wasn’t a very good person yet look at us.  ..but do you hold grudges cuz it seems like you can’t let go of something that was two weeks ago.” siiiiiiiiiiiip

"It's probable." He shrugged. To not judge like that.. Sleak considered for a moment telling Torch about Shiro's actual identity, but.. He shook his head. "If anything, I guess I want to see the good in people. And to this day, the only bad thing you've done is.. well, to yourself." He rolled his eyes about the two weeks ago thing, though. "I'm not a fan of people trying to coax me into something.. I sang once, their pre-requisite was done, and I felt like a nervous wreck the entire time. I wouldn't say it's a grudge, it's me trying to avoid doing things I don't like."

you don’t know the half of it
She wasn’t about to get into that. So she only gave a half shrug towards that assumption, there she was guilty as charged. But right now she only pressed on, “Didn’t seem like you avoided it all that well to let it bug you for that long.” siiiiiiiiiip

Another roll of the eyes. "Well, considering everything else stacked against me, at the same time.. I feel somewhat... hrm, for a lack of a better word, let's say I feel somewhat entitled to getting hung up about this one thing." Another sip of the drink. "If anything, singing in public isn't something I'm likely to repeat any time soon."

“Amen.” Torch raises her can and took a drink from it as if it were a toast. No more being a dick with that ‘but that’s none of my business’ sip... for now anyways. “So.. would singing now be too public for you?” Obvious question, but it’s probably better than actually forcing someone to do something.. yeah no not again.

"Singing.. now?" He raised an eyebrow. "Like, what, in here? There isn't anyone around.." Sleak blinked at the thought... Until the realization hit him. "Wait, wait wait, you want to actually sing together? I mean, I could set that up, I got the gear needed b..but!" He looked away, and then the other way. Something conflicted in him right then and there. "..Why?!"

Torch shrugged, “Why not? Besides, you seem a lot more enthusiastic about it to even think about setting it up. And no one said anything about a duet...” time for that ‘none of my business’ siiiiiiiiiip
She cleaned her throat after that though, sounding more genuine as she gave the rest of her reason, “plus uh.. my cousin used to do that. Kind of, spontaneously pull up a song to sing and distract me from my stresses..” Torch gave another shrug, “maybe it can help? I mean at least I’m not pulling up my phone and playing a song already” she snorts.

"Because it's crazy!...? I think?" Sleak looked away again. "I-I mean, literally two weeks ago neither of us wanted to sing and now... I think..." He looked at Torch.. "...I'm thinking both of us do? For some reason." He raised his arms again, nearly spilling his drink. "Goddamn, even I can't make sense of what I actually want!" A loud UUURGH sound came from Sleak as his hands ended up covering his eyes. "Welp. I guess it's official. Cephalo has driven me mad, it seems."

Torch stifled a laugh, making sure to lean away from the nearly spilled drink -wherever its trajectory would’ve went. She looked to the side, “well.. sure. I was curious before, I’m curious now. Definitely didn’t want to do that in front of, a lot of strangers ahah. But uh..” her eyes moved back, “well, like I said last time, I’m not gonna force ya. Just thought it’d be a fun lil thing, nothing crazy.. but!” She chugged the rest of whatever soda she had, “I wanna see this set up you -burp- ..got.”

"Haaa.." He grabbed the air in front of him as if choking himself out metaphorically, before getting up from his seat.
"..Well, you already know the sound system. It's pretty much the dang stereo setup for the arena.. I'm holding onto our stuff for the public events, since, well.. Warehouse. Storage. Seemed logical."
He walked to the storage area, entering it and disappearing from sight momentarily. When Sleak finally re-appeared, he was rolling out a large black chest, opened the latch on the front, picking up a few items which looked like flash drives or whatever... before placing two microphones on the table. Wireless. Sleak walked over to a box on the wall, which seemed like an electricity box.. but suspiciously locked. He opened it, and lo and behold, it was actually the stereo setup.. which was surprisingly small for how powerful it seemed. The flash drives were likely receivers of sorts, because as soon as they were plugged in, both microphones beeped.
This caused Sleak to nod and close the box. "Aaand.. phone confirms it's hooked up. Batteries are... huh, around 50%, it's been months since they had a good recharge, so that's a miracle." He walked back to the table holding his phone in hand.. "...I haven't even decided yet I want to do this. Why am I doing this."

Torch watched, waited, and eventually just stood up to stretch as he rolled out the chest and did the technical checks. "Looks like you already decided despite uh, not even deciding yet?" She reached for a microphone, blowing into it softly to make sure it was on, "or.. here, allow me to reiterate the question." She took a deep breath and rapped out

YOO, TELL ME WHATCHU WANT WHAT YOU REALLY REALLY WANT. 
I'LL TELL YOU WHAT WHAT YOU REALLY REALLY WANT. 
SO TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT WHAT YOU REALLY REALLY WANT. 
YOU WANNA, YOU WANNA, YOU WANNA, YOU WANNA, 
really, really wanna, wanna zig-a-zig- ah

Torch was practically bouncing with the beat that went with the lyrics, bobbing her head along too. And ended with a fingergun and wink in Sleak's direction, almost waiting for an annoyed reaction since that's what she usually got with this song. "Oh wait," she blinked, "that wasn't a question uh.. zig-a-zig ah???"

Sleak basically just stood there staring at this.. Mess. "Well, I'm honestly more unsure than a moment ago. I feel like our taste in music is.. Too different?"

"You look more confused than annoyed and that makes me sad." Torch put a fist to her hip, looking to the ground in thought, "um... well 'course there's the music during battles.. uh.. I forget." She looks up to him then, "what kind of songs do you know, again?"

"I mostly listen to chip tunes and such. I guess that includes the Chirpy Chips.. And I love the upbeat turf war music.. But uh.. Well, I would lie if I said that I didn't like the Squid Sisters.. I mean, especially their upbeat work.." He paused.. "And.. And uh, those new two, Off the Hook? They're decent too.."

Her mouth grew into a thin line, "So you don't listen to some of the older songs then." she stood quiet for a second, then nodded to herself, "yeah you need my playlist later." Torch then looked to the side again, flipping the microphone in her hand, "mm.. Squid Sisters.. You know that last one? Might be an easier one to start with.." she shrugged a shoulder, "Won't have to work up all the energy for a different one.."

"Older songs?" Sleak raised an eyebrow. "I mean, if you mean like folk songs like the Calamari Inkantation, I admit that I'm not a fan of it- at least not until the Squid Sisters remixed it.." He looked at Torch. Sleak then shook his head, before putting his hand to his face. "Anyway, last one.. Last one.. Hmm.." He brought his hand down on his other hand. "You mean.. Fresh Start?.. Well, either that or the NEW remix of the Calamari Inkantation.."

She could only stare with his share of explanation. Yep. Definitely gonna have to share a playlist. Torch cleared her throat to break her stare, “ahem yeah. Fresh Start, that’s the one. I just remember it sounding really nice and.. well you wouldn’t have to fake any hype. Just..” she took a step or two back to lean on the case, mulling over the words, “just.. roll with it.”

"Hmm.." He brought up a playlist on his phone.. "Should be this one." Tapping the title, the song began to play over the arena speakers. "Think it's mostly humming the first 40 sec or so.." Sleak mentioned.. "...I should look if I have a karaoke version, unless you just want to sing along with Callie and Marie?"

A small smile grew on her face upon the start of the song. Yep, this was the one she was thinking about. And then looked to Sleak with his question, giving another single-shoulder shrug, "I'll leave that one up to you."

"Might as well stick with this, so if we ever don't know the words we can just lipsync." He stuck his tongue out. First part was coming up...

Torch only gave him a face, "don't you dare lip sync the whole thing-" She looked up as if looking for the lyrics in the music that filled the arena.. though as the humming ended and the lyrics began, she found herself looking away some, tucking a hand under the other holding the mic up... perhaps hidden nerves finally showing despite the talk. 

Why be scared to try something new? Why be afraid to admit you’re wrong? 
We’re trying from anew.. We’re trying a brand new way- -

She began tapping her heel lightly, kicking the nerves or staying on beat, whatever it was, she managed to take a breath and continue, 

Try again, your chances aren’t few. 
Rewrite, renew, and revise your song! 
We’re starting with a new, we’re trying out a brand new way..

Sleak reluctantly grabbed the second microphone as Torch was singing.. He muted the output, tapped the microphone and saw on his phone that it was working fine. Tch, no excuses huh.. so he unmuted the output and breathed in. At some point.. Torch would probably want him to sing, right? He walked towards the arena area as he held the microphone, listening to the song.. and Torch's singing, which was amplified over the surround sound. He looked back at her from the door opening... and sighed- away from the microphone, didn't want to interrupt the singing of course- before breathing in once more... 

You laugh, oh you laugh, but I’ll still be here for you. I could never keep myself away. 

Guh, these lyrics are so sappy! But if he ever told someone he didn't know the words, he'd be lying.. He looked over at Torch, and walked away, into the arena. 

You may, oh you may, said you may cut yourself out, 

The next.. both Squid Sisters normally would sing.. would.. Victoria? 

But you’ll always be here in heart.

Sleak’s leaving the room helped a bit. She didn’t feel so watched under this state. And then he took his turn, which caused her to lean some and peel out the door. He wasn’t backing out. Good. Next part’s coming up.. Of course she’d sing along. It only goes with the song. 

Who could not, want to meet with such a, such a sweetheart? 
Look at you, always trying to be, to be kind. 
So today, you and me could be, could be much greater, 
We’re trying again, with a brand new fresh start.. 

She felt comfortable enough to straighten herself more, her voice actually sounding like it gave a little more effort into the song.

It was clear at this point they were basically just trading off parts, regardless of whether Callie or Marie or both sang. Though Sleak couldn't help but sing along with the last sentence.. He looked at Torch as he did so... But turned away immediately after. Sleak's green color appeared in his cheeks- not because he was out of breath.. And strangely to him, not because he was embarrassed either. 

Who could not, want to meet, with such a, such a sweetheart? 
Just this once, let me be, a bit more kind to you. 
So today, you and me, could be, could be much greater. 
We’re trying again with a brand new fresh start! 

The song played without lyrics for a moment.. They'd have about half a minute before they continued.. Realizing this, Sleak looked back at Victoria again... When'd he start using her first name, rather than her nickname? He hadn't called her by such, but sometimes, mentally, he had already made the switch..

Torch only looked up, listening to the song accompanied by his singing, tapping a finger on the case she was still leaning on. That is, until it reached that instrumental part, where she finally pushed herself off the case to get to the doorway, only peeking her head out.. yet tossing her whole arm to give a thumbs up. She looked up again as if searching for the lyrics.. once she noted it was ending, the orange girl stepped more out to make the doorway her next leaning spot. 

You joined me in my world of color..

Aww, she took Callie's part, Sleak sighed, before realizing she stopped right there. He'd take Marie's sentence then, catching up half-way the first word.

Though it’s new for you, I really, really knew..

She had to hold back a grin from stealing the part. Whoops. 

You joined me in my world of color, oh yeah..

Be there for you.. 

Wait, the next part.. that would be them together, and.. 

Let them know, let them know! 

As he sang, he noticed Torch did sing along, so he too continued the next sentence..

That we are back to-ge-ther.. 

Torch kind of claimed Callie’s part of the song at first so.. it’d make sense to sing the next part but.. no. No she only took a breath and stopped herself short as it played on the overhead, stealing a glance at the other to see if he’d take it instead.

Sleak knew the next part was Callie, and he looked at Torch. The song played on with neither of them singing. 

I love you, I love you, won’t you love me too? 

He turned away, definitely flushed now, as he realized he had just been staring at her during that part, not singing along.. In fact, he just sat down on the edge of the warehouse stage.. and put the microphone down.

At some point she averted her eyes, choosing to stare at a corner of the building as the song continued to play in the background. 

You laugh, oh you laugh, but I’ll still be here for you I could never keep myself away. 
You may, oh you may, said you may cut yourself out, But you’ll always be here in heart.. 

She was just looking for a part to jump back in, to ignore this pit of awkwardness in her stomach, if it didn’t show on her face already. Torch shook her head quickly to snap out of it, noting that Sleak had quit on continuing too. She began rubbing her cheek as if to wipe away whatever tint may have grown on there, “aheh.. well, it was a good run! Been a good while since I’ve sung like that, whew.”

"...the song kinda.. hit our situation a bit.. on the dot.. until.." Sleak noted.. and looked away. Looks like both of them were exceedingly flushed, showing green and orange in their faces, huh.. 

Who could, say, keep us apart? Just to, say, keep you from me? 
But you’d travel to the ends of the Earth.. So you could help me.. 

An awkward silence, filled in only with the song, was followed by Sleak realizing that.. perhaps.. "...or.. is it even until?.." He bit his lip.

Who could no, want to meet with such a, such a sweetheart? 
Look at you, always trying to be, to be kind. 
So today, you and me could be, could be much greater. 
We’re trying again, with a brand new fresh start. 

Torch seemed to grow a little frigid, “pff- until they dropped a line from Tokimeki.” There were quite a few lines from that song- shut up mind. “Kind of a random placement, though it fff- sounds good with it.” She tried very hard to sound like she’s brushing it off.

Sleak started to laugh.. "I don't even know what you mean with Tokimeki, hehe.." 

Who could not, want to meet with such a, such a sweetheart? 
Look at you, always trying, to be kind! 
The world is not just about me and you. 
We’re trying again, with a brand new fresh start! 

"I guess our taste in music really is all that different, huh.." He had a smirk on his face. Seemed like the awkward moment passed, for him at least.

We’re trying with a new... We’re trying with a new, fresh start..  

Instead of trying to chase the orange away from her face, it only grew more. She used the Japanese name of the song. Her weeb was showing. “BOMB RUSH BLUSH. I MEANT THAT. NOT THE-“ she made sure to set the microphone down without dropping it before shifting into a squid. It’s like she was trying to make herself smaller.. “you didn’t hear that name from me.”

"PFFFFHAHAHA!" Sleak laughed at Torch, although more her reaction than the mistake. "Like that's so bad, hehe.. And.. well, they can recycle their own text, can't they?" The song had ended at this point, with only empty seconds trailing off after this. Until suddenly, Ebb and Flow began to play, apparantly the next in the playlist. "Whoops, lemme turn that off.." He took out his phone.

“ebbing and flowing. okay with not knowing. hey, so ebb now, then flow, then flow..” Torch slinked back into the room, singing the chorus of the song in a wavering forget-that-even-happened-pls whimpering tone. Surely she shifted back to kid once in there,, she only went to retrieve her bag. “So playlist! I’m sending you my playlist.”

Realizing Torch was singing along, albeit in an awkward tone, Sleak opted instead to lower the volume. Some background music was fine. "So.. If I say no, that's only going to make you want to send it more, isn't it?" He noted, and eyed Torch with one eyebrow raised.

Torch walked out of the room, tapping away on her own phone, “you don’t even get a say, slick. I’m already linking it.” It was only a matter of time before that thing was sent.

"Oh no, a linked playlist, whatever shall I ignoooore." He stated, now with a tongue extended.

“Not this list. Or else you will be forever lost with my elder race pop culture references” she pocketed the phone and pointed at him with narrowed eyes, “listen to themmm... or I’ll make you listen to them.”

"Make me listen?" Sleak entered the backroom with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. "Sounds like an interesting challenge."

She lowered her arm, and in just a second she promptly bapped her hip -where her phone was placed- and rap music blared from the device, 

You can get with this, or you can get with that 
You can get with this, or you can get with that 
You can get with this, or you can get with that 
I think you'll get with this, for this is where it's at 

A smirk of her own grew on her face as she began to back pedal to the exit, “This is only the beginning!” She spoke over the music, and turned to walk forward now while throwing up a peace sign, “Deuces, Sleak!” And the music faded with her. 

Where's the black sheep, here's the black sheep 
Even if we wanted to, the flock could not be weak 
Watch me swing like this, why should I swing it like that 
Because in fact, on me it might not attract..