The Cephalo Diaries 2017

Though Sleak usually closes his blinds, last night he did not exactly go to bed. He slept on his couch.. So sun light streams through the window, shining down on his bed..

Warm... too warm.. when did her room get this warm? Well. It wasn’t super hot or anything. But she sure wasn’t used to feeling this radiation on her skin.  Surely she closed her curtains. She always kept them closed..  Torch blinked her eyes open-fuck, close then again. She was looking directly into the light. The girl rolled over, patting towards the lower corner of the bed. “Nngoob..?”
There she opens her eyes again, sleepily sitting up and the realization hit her. This wasn’t her room. This wasn’t her place. Now wide-eyed, Victoria was looking around frantically from her spot. Where-who-how— Oh. Right. She was hanging out with Sleak the night before. And then pizza happened. And.. that’s as far as she could remember aside from talking and perhaps some shows in the background.. did she really knock out that fast? ...and on his bed??
She hopped off quick.

Sleak had been a gentlemen, obviously.. He had let Torch take his bed, and he took his own couch. It's not like his couch wasn't comfortable, he fell asleep in no time after leaving his bed to Torch. There were no blinds in his living room, but there were curtains. And they blocked the light well enough to have the green inkling sleep on, regardless of the awakening his guest had.

She opened the door as quietly as possible. Creeping along the wall and scoping out the best escape plan.. and probably peering over at her friend to see if he was asleep still. And he was it seems. Welp.
Ditch or be nice..
Be nice or ditch..
Decisions decisions...
Torch let out a quiet sigh. Might as well. He gave her his bed after all. The orange inkling continues creeping along the wall towards the kitchen. Did she know where anything was? No. But she was gonna snoop quietly anyways until she found what she needed for pancakes and begin on them. It’s the only thing she could actually cook. Without burning anyways.

None of the sounds stirred the green inkling, who let out a soft snore for a moment. The boy was still very much asleep, though he rolled over and.. *sniff* ... a smell? A smell that did not belong in his house, at this moment? In a mere moment, the green inkling sat straight up, tentahair hanging straight down, his normal hairtie laying on the coffee table in front of him. Though the speed at which he sat up seemed to indicate a certain level of awakeness.. One look at his face indicated the other. But that smell.. what was that smell.. "...coffee." Ah! A word from our sleepy inkling. With the blanket still draped over his shoulders, Sleak walked into the kitchen and set his coffee maker to make a small pot of coffee and just. Stood there. Eyeing the pot. A loud noise erupted from the maker as the bean grinder did it's job, but Sleak did not stir.. Was that another snore...?

Torch was too focused on not burning food to notice the other had started moving. It was only the sound of the coffee maker that made her jump, flipping a pancake in the process. She turned enough to see what Sleak was even doing. Like, did he turn that thing on so abruptly to startle her? Cuz it worked! E.. except he didn’t seem to be acknowledging her.
snore
Wait he was fucking sleep walking? She could only stare, just. What.
Well the guy sleep walks, okay then! Torch was about to return to her lvl 1 cooking, but she paused. Looked again.
Then.... grabbed a piece of cheese and stuck it to his forehead, placed to balance there, and turned back as if nothing happened. Pancakes were pretty much done anyways, she simply began sliding them over to a plate.

Less sleepwalking, but more a total and utter lack of awareness. A half-asleep state.. Almost like a zombie, if it weren't for the fact that he wasn't shouting something about brains. Instead, he spoke of coffee once... While he made no reaction to the cheese being stuck to his forehead, the pot of coffee was at a specific point that Sleak had been waiting for. Almost as sudden as turning the maker on he grabbed a mug, piled sugar inside of it, dousing it in evaporated milk and right as the machine began beeping to alert that the coffee was done, he had grabbed the pot and had began pouring. One filled mug later, the pot was placed back in it's place and a sip was taken. "Aahhh...." A smile appeared on Sleak's face, he stumbled back to the couch and sat down. "...wait..."
"..why is there cheese on my foreh-" As he pulled the cheese off, he noted his guest in his kitchen. "...Oh. Hi. Uh. Morning. I think?"

She snorted when he noticed the cheese, but had to pause at the question. What time of day was it?  Torch took the plate of pancakes and traveled over to the couch, “iunno! Let’s call it morning for now I guess but look!” She plopped the plate on the coffee table and herself on the couch- swiping a pancake in the process to chew on, “not-gurned-greakshast!” Talking with your mouth full, classy.

"Not.. Gurned.. OH! Not burned breakfast. Cool, uh, good. I haven't.. Ever made pancakes for breakfast.. Usually just make toast or noodles or something.." He eyed the pancakes.. "When I do make them, I usually make them a bit thinner, I guess.. At least you didn't make these like those giant blocks, haha.. I have no idea how people are able to down those.." He took a sip of his coffee.. Before stopping abruptly. "UH! Did you want coffee, I kinda just made a small pot just for me cause I am kinda automated like that???"

“I make you pancakes and this is how you thank me. By criticizing them.. I’m hurt.” Obviously she wasn’t, just by the sarcastic tone alone and the dramatic hand to her chest.
Though she quit the act quick as another thought came to her, looking at her pancake, “I’m amazed they came out nice at all if I’m honest. Hm.” Torch was chewing on some more when asked about the coffee, “oh! Nmo ish okey.” Swallow. “I don’t think I need a wake up kick quite yet eheh..”

He simply rolled his eyes at the dramatic scene in front of him. As she moved on, so did he. "Well, let's just say I'm not much of a morning person. If I don't have my wake up kick, I'm useless. But, on the flip side, I can deal with nights quite a bit better.. Even after you went to sleep in my bed I was kinda wide awake.. which.. makes it surprising that I did fall asleep soon after. I guess I don't really notice being tired." He paused.. "Unless, of course, I just woke up. Then ... well, no, even then I don't notice being tired because I'm too tired to notice I'm tired."

“Are yuh choo chired choo nochice yer chired nyow?” Mm more talking with your mouth full. Delicious. At least she covered her mouth with her hand while doing so.

"...No. I got my coffee. Before that, yes. I am in fact also awake enough to realize you're talking with your mouth full.. and.. it's a miracle I understood what you said. Probably because you were just repeating me."

“YOU Were just repeating you..” no good quip to comeback with. Looks like the second wave of sleepiness was kicking in. Especially with her slouching back and eating the rest of her pancake quietly.

Sleak simply stared at Torch and took another sip of his coffee. Sip.

“Don’t you sip at me.”

Sleak continued staring, but a smirk appeared on his face before he took another sip. Sip.

“Stooooopit.” She began leaning to the side to accompany the sleepy whine.. and threatening to flop over.

Noticing the seemingly imminent status of Torch flopping over, Sleak quickly leaned backwards, so that she wouldn't slam into his shoulder, but rather hopefully land more comfortably on his lap. He took another sip of his coffee at her, upon which the realization struck him what situation they'd end up in if she actually flopped over. A bit too late.

But too late it was. Her already sleepy, lidded eyes narrowed with the last sip and she flopped over with a “merh”. Torch dropped all that dead weight onto his lap. And she stood there for a moment before she let out a murmur, “you’re comferble..” didn’t seem like she was planning on getting back up any time soon. In fact she seemed more likely to fall asleep again.

Sleak just sat there. Another sip. "Huh. I guess I'll take a pancake." He leaned forward and grabbed one. "Still comfortable?" He took a bite of the pancake. "Hm, pwetty gwood."

She instinctively shifted herself, feeling her lap pillow moving. “Mm..hm..” Torch managed to answer, before giving a sign and knocking out again. Pour water on her.

Sleak just casually ate the pancake while she was moving around. Once done, yet another sip from the coffee mug. Many sips were left in the mug, and while the coffee had cooled down some, it was still very much hot.. as was the mug. With a bit of an evil smirk on his face, Sleak casually held the mug against her side. He expected the heat to get to her.

No immediate reaction, but after a second or two the heat finally registered and torch swiped at whatever the fuck hot thing was on her side. “Man... I was comfortable too..” she sat up some, rubbing her side, “the fuck did you do-“ she noted the cup, “....why did you do??”

"Seemed funny." Sleak said, before he shrugged. "Besides, you're letting the pancakes get cold, and I think it's probably not a good idea if you go to sleep again... if you need more hours, bed's where you left it." He gave a soft smile, before sticking his tongue out. "If anything, though.." And so his face reset to a more neutral expression. "I should probably look into what's on the schedule for today and hope there's still enough hours left in this day to actually get it done..." Another sip, while looking at Torch. "..That said, you do realize you fell asleep.. on my lap.. just now.. right?"

Gets her for the cheese she supposed. Still she tried to keep a glare on him for the action... that was broken by smile. She tried. Victoria sat up more, definitely more alert with that wake up call. Even contemplating just what she had planned for today.. getting home would be the first step. Though she snapped out her thoughts, blinking at the question, “I did? ...I did...” her eyes darted around, searching... for an answer. There was none. “It’s as comfortable as it looks?” She shrugged, giving a bit of a sheepish smile. Yes that was the best she could come up with.

"..My lap looks comfortable.. Okay. Good to know." Back to staring. And a sip of coffee. Mmmmm. And then the moment was blatantly broken by Sleak's phone going off. Of COURSE it was a cut from the Spicy Calamari Inkantation. He blinked, set down his cup of coffee and walked over to the larger table behind the couch- which is apparantly where he had left his phone last night. He eyed the caller for a moment.. "Yello?" Probably a friend or relative on the other end.

She narrowed her eyes at him with the sip. How dare. Though as soon as he walked away, no longer looking at her, torch face palmed. The absolute fuck answer was that, girl!? Recollecting herself, she grabbed another pancake to stuff in her mouth and stood up; patting herself down to make sure she had her belongings.. being her phone and keys... phone she had but keys were... right on the table okay. Having her possessions, she made her way to the bathroom while this guy took his call. Couldn’t leave looking a total mess.. and couldn’t stay too long because she has a snail to feed.

This guy was having a call. "Oh? Uhuh.. Yeah, things are going .. alright.." He paused. "...wait, what? What do you mean? Rent increase? Are they out of their.. Popular? The square was almost deserted when I came there, what the heck happened?" Though Torch was likely unable to see it from the bathroom, Sleak's expression became a mix of frustration and disbelief. "They can't just raise the cost and expect people to pay up! I don't have that kind of money!.. And, I mean, I don't even live there right n- They're kicking me out BECAUSE I don't inhabit the place?"

Unlikely to see, but she could hear what was being said. On, Sleak’s end anyways. She only needed to scrub her face anyways. Just really wake up and wash away the sleep. Maybe rinse her mouth too. She only realized now how sticky it’s felt, eugh.. After having done that, Torch quietly exited the bathroom, clicking the door shut. From the sounds of it, her friend didn’t look happy. From the looks of it, it only confirmed that first observation. “....you gooood?” She whispered. Obvious answer question but, alas, couldn’t think of a better way to start off.

"This is absolute madness.. I can't get back to Inkopolis that fast!" Sleak's frustration rose as the call continued. Upon Torch's question, Sleak turned to her and shook his head. "Well, they're not gonna get my stuff! You say they're repossessing the place in a week? I'll call up some friends, I know some of them can store my stuff.." He facepalmed, slowly shaking his head. "No, no, don't worry about it. I'll call up some guys, and let you know." Sleak sighed. "No, no, it's alright dad. Thanks. If anything I got a headsup now. I'll call you back. Aight."... "Coddamnit!"

Torch had moved herself to the table, leaning over it as she quietly waited for the call to end. “...suddenly Flounder Heights doesn’t sound all that bad haha..!...eh....” Wrong time, girl. Even noticing it she sorta fell into her arms, “sorry um.. ..youu.. want another place to hold your stuff?” She straightened herself up a little bit, “my room’s vacant at home. And my brothers could use some manual labor eheh..”

Sleak sighed.. Not the phonecall he had hoped to had.. "..I guess Flounder IS cheaper, but you run the risk of getting ink all over your stuff for.. a few minutes, anyway, with how often turf wars happen there.." He shook his head. "The square was really cheap, too. Mostly newly built flats, as far as I'm aware it was going to be all sorts of cheap extra housing. But apparantly the rent just shot up like tenfold. Something about the area becoming more popular.." He sighed again. "..Well, that would one solution.. It.. It's mostly weapons and nostalgic stuff, everything I didn't bring here.. I.. uh.. I might have a large collection of weaponry, even if I'm mostly a roller main. Most of the stuff here is what I had been actively using, my rollers, my brushes, my splattershots.. If I could use your old room, that'd be great. But you should probably call up your parents and brothers before you make that call, heh.. Definitely appreciate the offer, though!" ...After he spoke, Sleak turned away for a moment.. "...a tenfold increase in rent.. What happened, the entire turf war organization moved there or something..?"

“If that’s the case, the competitors’ posts I see would make a lot more sense.”  Torch pulled out her phone to scroll through it.. eventually tapping away on it. “let me just leave a message for mom, I’m pretty sure she won’t mind... ...Double D might complain, but they’ll live, they’ll be fine.”

"Competitors..? I know I've been mostly focusing on the local news, but.." He shook his head. "But yeah, please go ahead.. Pretty much saves me from having to call up old friends.. and find out who still do or who don't live around anymore.. I've been crazy out of touch with Inkopolis, it seems."

“I just get curious,” she commented, trying to answer just why she stalks keeps up with the competitors rather than just local news. As soon as she’s done typing, Torch pushes herself off from the table and pockets her phone. “Kay that’s settles for now, I’ll keep you in the loop. And uh... d’love to stay but I should be going...” she’s already begun heading for the door.. plus awkward finger gun, “Goober’s gonna be angry I left him without food.”

"No need to explain yourself, you're frankly doing a better job keeping track of Inkopolis news than I am." Sleak pointed out. "Yeah, gimme a sec, I'll head out with you. I've got to head for the warehouse myself, and.. Well, honestly, I'm.. Concerned you might not know the way back." Sleak stated, heading to his bedroom, likely to grab a thing..

“I can find just use my-! Yeah okay fine..” she only leaned against the door to wait. No real reason not to just wait for the guy.

Can't blame Sleak for mentioning that, considering Torch herself had pointed out she was afraid of getting lost.. Though she probably downloaded Cephalo Map somewhere in the last eight months. Either way, about a minute later, Sleak reappeared from his bedroom, now with.. well, almost the same outfit, but it was less creased. The guy definitely let his fashion sense go after getting to Cephalo. "Alright, all set." He patted the laptop bag hanging from his shoulder.. and then eyed the mug of coffee still on his coffee table, as well as the plate used for the pancakes.. and.. "..Right, let's head out." Ah. That's someone else's problem now, though it probably meant future Sleak.

Torch looked him up and down. No not checking him out. But judging him lol “I hope you have a bigger wardrobe than that,” she sniggered before actually opening the door to exit.

"I paid good money for Desyne merch, might as well wear it." He stuck his tongue out. "Thinking about it, I should get you an orange Kraken shirt.. I am sure I have one you can wear." He followed her out the door..

Yay walking! “Heh. Maybe save that for the next time we decide to have a slumber party.” Torch looked down at the light sweatshirt she was wearing, “walking around in the same clothes you slept in kinda has a smell..”

".. We can still go back in and get you that shirt." Sleak noted. "And I know you're in a rush sort of, but I have a shower and a LOCK on my bathroom door.. I mean.. You could've taken your time..?"

“Listen I was dead last night.”

"....Should I call you an ambulance."

“It’s too late you’re walking with my ghost. Good job, slick”

"Well, at least when you died you went to heaven."

“You think so?” Torch crossed her arms and looked ahead of them, as if inspecting their whereabouts, “Heaven’s falsely advertised then..”

"You just left it, that's why. You stepped out of the boundaries of heaven and lo and behold, mediocrity. Surely, this must be hell.. or purgatory."

“Well this is what I woke up to so I guess I never made it to heaven. Rip me.”

"Woke up? Ah, you are an imposter, then! Only those truly dead can see the heavens.." He stuck his tongue out at Torch.

She tried very hard not to grin, but she failed. “Oh darn. you saw right through me.”

"Ahahaaa.. Ah. The bus stop." Sleak eyed the stop coming up. "Well, this is where I unfortunately need to split up from you. You good to find your way from here? I mean, the park I found you at is over there.." He pointed off in the distance slightly. There were trees visible, likely where the park was. "But since I'm heading for the warehouse, I'm gonna wait for the bus.."

“Oh.” Torch followed the direction he pointed at, finding some familiarity with the location. “Hm.. Yeah I think I’m good.” She shoved her hands in her pocket, taking only a few baby steps away, enough to show she was heading off, “I’ll catch ya later then. Have fun at the warehouse~” she says that almost teasingly; knowing despite weapon/arena testing he’s only going to be swamped with busywork.
Torch takes out a hand to give a short wave before turning fully around to continue her travel.. though she only got a couple steps in before pausing, lingering for a moment before speaking up, “um..” She turned only halfway, “thanks for uh, last night.. I kinda needed it.” She gave another smile -a bit of a sheepish one at that- and turned away, walking off again.

"..Alright." was Sleak's only reply to her walking off. The small wave he gave as she gave one indicating he'd see her later.. No hard feelings. Just two friends splitting up after one staying over the night, right.. Then she stopped. And turned. "..Heh. You're welcome.. Y'know, could always stick around until the bus actually shows up..?"

Aww, lonely already?
No she wouldn’t say that. Why did she even think of that. Torch kept walking, only turning some to respond, “eheh, Sorry Slick. I fed you, I gotta go feed my snail too!”

"Hey, I recall you mostly fed yourself.. I don't think that one pancake and the slice of cheese to my forehead count." Sleak said, following it up with a smirk. "Ah well. It was worth trying. I'll talk to you later, then." He once again gave a small wave.

Torch visibly giggled, almost mischievously. And only gave a smile before turning back to her trek, “You can take a seahorse to water, but ya can’t make it drink!”