The Cephalo Diaries 2017

It was a pretty bright afternoon when Victoria had sped out of the Melanin Cafe. She said her shift had ended at 12:30 but some customers had kept her for a bit longer than that. According to Squitter, Tad would be on the lookout for her across the street... wearing some uh.. interesting expression. Sure enough she saw the yellow inkling outside of the fast food restaurant and jogged across the street, clutching onto her backpack. "Hey! Sorry I'm late!!"

Sleak had been inside for awhile. Having hours to search for an InkDonalds opposite an establishment called the Melanin Cafe but getting lucky on the second InkDonalds, he had zero interest in standing outside. And heading INTO the cafe seemed like a bad idea as well. Common courtesy made him order some fries, but with an hour passing, he was currently enjoying an InkFlurry. That is, until he looked outside and noticed miss Torch standing there.. He grabbed his cold snack and walked outside, giving a slight wave, until he realized and was surprised by Tad standing there as well. 

Tad scrolled through his twitter and leaned against the Inkdonalds, he had looked inside the window and hadn’t seen anyone inside. he looked up when Torch approached him and smiled brightly, “Oh, so you were late.. well well well, look who’s late” Tad paused awkwardly he said two different responses, like he wasn’t paying attention. “I thought you might not show!” he laughed, “And here’s Sleak, as long as your profile picture is right, you’re supposed to be making us coffee.” 

"...I'm already starting to question whether this was a good idea or not. But yes, my name is Sleak. I am the same person as on the my profile image. Who would've guessed." Sleak shook his head. "And I'm guessing you're Tad, then.. And as for you, miss Torch... Allow me a moment of curiosity.. You work in a cafe.. Do they not serve good coffee?" 

She gave an amused smile to Tad's pause and nodded to Sleak's wave. But when asked the question,Torch scratched behind her head with a slightly embarrassed smile. "See uh.. I wouldn't know! I don't drink coffee very often. And that last one I had was from splatbucks.." 

Tad tilted his head at Sleak, he widened his eyes and smiled wide, laughing maniacally “Maybe, maybe it was a bad idea.” he put a finger on his chin as he listened to Sleak and Luna, watching them interact closely in case there was anything he could pick on. He clapped his hands together, looking more serious as Torch finished explaining the coffee situation. “Well, no time like the present, thats what they say….time to drink fresh coffee.” he tapped his wrist where a watch would be “Where are we going to do this?” 

Torch began counting off her fingers, "Well first was at Jessebelle's... then...it was the warehouses? I mean... We could try the cafe I work at over there but... I just sorta got off for the day er.." 

"While I have a good coffee maker at home, I'm quite reluctant to take someone there I've only just met. Never mind that Tad would then know where I live." Sleak shrugged. "As for Jesebelle's place, the clothing store is actually closed today. Not that that matters anything, cause I got a spare key, but I somehow doubt she'd be happy if I brought people in just for coffee." He brought his hand up to think for a moment.. "I know Shiro also loves a cup of coffee, but if anyone panics when I bring people in, it'd be her." 

"Oh.. I guess we're running out of options, huh?" Her eyes darted to the side, she was very reluctant in making a possible awkward scene of re-entering her work place as a customer. 

"More like running out of free or cheap options. You obviously don't want to get coffee are your workplace.. but we're in a big city. That cafe isn't the only cafe here in Cephalo.. I mean, heck, even InkDonalds got coffee. Though I wouldn't suggest it.." Slea looked aside, showing signs of disgust on his face.. "Ahem. Anyway, I could also send a message ahead of time to Shiro, though that's more likely to guarantee she'll not be around when we get there.. I'd honestly just suggest finding a good cafe." 

Torch tugged on her bag straps, chuckling a bit, "eheh, well both of you already know how familiar I am with the city so.. I'll just let you guys lead the way on that one." 

Tad laughed when Sleak mentioned that he wouldn't want him to know where he lived, he looked back and forth at the two of them as they rambled through some ideas, nodding slowly, he bounced on his heels impatiently "just walk into any car dealership they're going to have a coffee machine, better yet let's go to a store pick up everything we need then find an outlet on the wall and plug in the machine. BETTER YET, LETS GET A GENERATOR AND FILL IT WITH GAS AND PLUG IN THE COFFEE MACHINE," Tad rambled through his ideas, snapping his fingers at the last one like he had the best idea in the world. 

"..Hmm." Sleak pondered for a moment. "You know, that might actually be an idea. I mean, not the generator part, but.. if we'd find a place where I could plug in my machine, I wouldn't mind heading home and grabbing it. I got personal Beak.. er.. it wouldn't take long to get home, so.." He snapped his fingers as well. "I'd just bring a fresh bag of beans, throw it in the grinder and all that.. OH! We could actually probably head to the warehouse district, thinking about it, there's that one warehouse that I've been remodeling. That place got power... and.. honestly why haven't I put a coffee maker there yet.." 

"Well," She clasps her hands together, "guess we're going to have to regroup over there then!" She then puts her hand on Tad's shoulder, speaking in a serious, near threatening tone, "I trust you not to get us lost." 

Tad's eyes widened as he listened to Sleak talk- oh good, he latched onto one of the ideas... perfect. he listened and nodded in between, bursting with the excitement he had to contain to listen "There you go! now we're talking- we want to see your remodeling job, we'll be the critics!" he motioned to Torch with his thumb, realizing what she was saying he raised his chin confidantly, saying very seriously "I'm never lost." he paused for dramatic effect and then looked back to Sleak "Ya- we'll regroup, surely you still don't want me to know where you live. Though yknow- there are other ways to figure it out if I wanted to know." he tilted his head and tried to contain a smile as he waited to see how Sleak would react. 

"Likely. I'm not a full resident of Cephalo, though, so.. Good luck!" Sleak replied, doing a little thumbsup for exaggeration. "Anyway, give me a... moment.. I'll just.. be right back." He said, while slowly backing up and running into what was definitely a dead-end alley. One minor mechanical sound, one loud launching-like sound and a green blur into the sky later, Sleak was definitely not in that dead-end alley anymore. 

Tad watched Sleak leave and muttered "Baby you're a fireworrrrk." 

Torch put her hands on her hips, watching the green squid zoom away. "And he said it wouldn't work." She snorted, hearing the unexpected mutter from Tad, "we- heh we should probably start going" 

A loud crash noise later, Sleak came stumbling out of the same alley. "Got the things." He held up a sturdy bag. "So uh.. yeah. Let's head to the warehouses and all that jazz, and I'll set things up there." 

Tad turned to Torch, he rocked on his heels and shrugged "ya I guess, it can't be that hard to get to the warehouse district." He rubbed his hands together "Have you ever broken into a warehouse?-" he heard Sleak and turned to him quickly "YOU..." he pointed at Sleak "YOU WERE JUST HERE. HOW DID YOU DO THAT. EXPLAIN YOURSELF. DO YOU LIVE IN THE SEWERS." 

She jumped as she heard the crash, peering up again to see Sleak stumbling out. "oh. I thought..." She shrugs, dismissing her sentence, "well, at least we won't have to bust into a warehouse! ^^' " 

Sleak just stood there looking at the two. "...I swear if the lock is broken by the end of the day, YOU are paying for fixing it." Of course, just as he emphasized the word 'you' he had been looking straight at Tad. "Anyway, have you ever heard of Squid Beakons? Well, I just used.. a similar concept.. very popular in the ah.. unofficial turf war scene. Long story short, don't tell anyone, but I totally use those if I need to get home in a hurry. I actually got some placed around places I frequent, but without the ability to target them, they're essentially useless.. And I'm the only one who can target them. Ever." He walked past the two, and turned back. "And that's why I'm not using them in a regulation turf war, cause I'd likely get kicked out with my rank stripped and furious sponsors. It's essentially cheating. But a LOT of fun regardless.. Anyway, come on, it's this way." He waved them over as he moved forward.. Sleak assumed the two would be able to keep up if he started running. 

Tad pointed at Torch when she made a good point “Though I kinda wanted to..” he muttered towards her as Sleak caught up to them, he listened to what he had to say about the squid beacons, giving him a questioning glance as he finished talking, he opened his mouth to say something, pointing up at the sky like he had a POINT. But looked at the ground quickly and shook it off, since Sleak was eager to keep walking. He turned to follow Sleak as he started to walk away, glancing at Torch with a shrug. “You’re so eager to make us fresh coffee.” he ran after Sleak, it didn’t seem like he was too concerned with running into things since he examined the environment around him near constantly, he thought running was boring if you didn’t add some interest and would randomly skip or leap, or make faces at squids they ran past.

"Well, to be honest, I do have a bit of a secondary reason to you want you over to the warehouse.. Well, miss Torch, anyway. Unless you've been to Inkopolis, Tad?“ Sleak noted, and looked backwards to see if the others were still following properly. 

She snickered when Tad muttered again, oh how much trouble this child wanted to get into. And simply listened as Sleak explained about the beacons, really having nothing to say as she's heard stories about this method but never bothered any more with it. She jogged to catch up with the two, hearing his reasoning she couldn't help but figure out why, "me? Is it because it's a more familiar place?" She snickered. But after a brief pause she hopped excitedly, "WAIT you said there was one being remodeled! Ohmygosh will it look anything like wall-eye???" oops she got hopeful 

Tad threw his arms up in the air "I don't know anything about inkopolis! I KEEP TELLING PEOPLE TO BRING ME THERE, BUT THEY WON'T. I don't know what their problem is!" he exclaimed as he tried to keep up, waving his arms around for emphasis on his struggle, why wouldn't anyone take him to Inkopolis. 

Torch turned around, jogging backwards to face Tad with an apologetic smile, "Aw, I'm sorry Tad. I'd be happy to take you someday when I visit my family again! ...Of course that won't be for a while. ...And I'd need to save up money for another ticket if you can't get one... erm..." 

"THANK you, FINALLY a decent SQUID AROUND HERE!" Tad clapped his hands together, excited that Torch played along with his drama "AND YOU'D BUY ME A TICKET- wow, where have you been all my life" he took a deep breath, slowing his pace for a moment "FINALLY SOMEONE WHO CARES." he yelled towards the sky, "I can't wait to rub it in everyones face." he forced his voice to break, sniffled and pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. 

"You know, he could actually get a job and save up himself." Sleak noted. "And don't forget you'd need a return ticket. Unless you intend to mooch off of Torch' family. And with how the Inkopolis competitions are different from that of Cephalo's, I bet it'd be rather jarring.. never mind expensive to start off afresh. Getting the money for your own apartment or even just a room would take ages." He shook his head, not even knowing the two could see him. "Anyway, this is going to take forever, isn't it. Should we take a bus or something." 

"That's why I don't plan on visiting very often.. and why it'd take a while..." She spun around, facing forward again, "how much farther is it??" 

Tad squinted at Sleak, "Shh Sleak, I'm TRYING to mooch right now- don't you realize?" he smirked, "If you think it's going to take forever I mean- you have the toaster." he blinked "coffee machine." he corrected himself "Don't have to ask my permission- look, theres a bus, I'll jump in front of it-" he stepped towards the edge of the sidewalk 

"You've been near the place, you should know it's still a while off, that's why I started sprinting in th- TAD NO." Sleak immediately took out his roller and swung it in front of Tad, dragging him back in. "You.. what the hell?" He put away his roller. "..That's the wrong bus! That would've brought us the completely other way.. Never mind that this isn't a bus stop." He shook his head. "If you want to actually take the bus, the bus stop is right over there, and the next bus to the warehouses should arrive in a few minutes." 

Victoria was too late to realize what Tad was doing. She turned around just as Sleak had pulled him in with his roller like some comedy act. But it wasn't entirely funny to her. Soon as the kid was brought back to the safe zone of the sidewalk she spoke up, "Not even about the bus stop, don't get yourself killed!! Ngh.." With a soft facepalm, she turned right back around, making a beeline for the bus stop that was mentioned. 

Tad was pulled back to the middle of the sidewalk, he laughed at their reactions "A BUS CAN'T END THIS SQUID!!" he flexed and bounced after Torch towards the bus stop, "All roads lead to rome, right?" he directed the question towards Sleak with a crooked smile. 

"The road that is stepping in front of a bus leads to a hospital. Or an early grave." Sleak dryly replied. He shook his head, and held up the next bus. And thus, the three of them got on the bus and eventually arrived at the warehouse district. A few minutes of walking (and frowning at Tad's comments) later, they arrived at the warehouse. "This is the place, lemme just open the door.. And don't touch any paint!.. ESPECIALLY those still in cans." He said, as he did precisely as mentioned- and opened the door. 

Practically bouncing on her feet, she quickly walked through the doorway to see the place. Torch stopped in place to admire it. It obviously wasn't the exact replica, but the arena looked very much like the warehouse arena in Inkopolis. She just stood there with a sparkle in her eyes, "woooooow..." 

Tad stretched, putting his hands behind his head, he sighed with a soft smile as Sleak finished explaining the paint situation "Well, looks like I know exactly what I'm going to do." he stepped inside, his eyes darted around the room wildly as he tried to take everything in. 

"I'm trying to get the layout the same as in Inkopolis, but the warehouse is just a bit different in proportions. Feels smaller, overall, there's less background machinery, and those that are here are non-functional.. If you want to run around in it, go ahead.. But again, stay away from the bleeding cans of paint." Sleak said, as he flipped some light switches to illuminate the place better. He then walked towards an office in the back. "I'll be setting up the coffee maker and stuff in here." 

She didn't have to be told twice! Torch immediately wandered deeper into the warehouse looking at everything it has to offer. She jogged here and there, "any idea when it'll be finished?" She called to Sleak. 

"There's like two people working on this. We hoped last week." He shrugged, as he plugged in the machine. "It'll just take a long while, I'm afraid. Can you keep Tad away from the paint?" 

"I see.." She blinked and looked around her, "u-uh.. yeah sure! um.." She looked a little more frantic as she searched for the yellow inkling, "uh... Tad???" 

Tad began to wander through the warehouse, as Sleak was saying they could... he probably would have started anyways. He bounced away to explore, looking around each corner for everything interesting. "WOW SLEAK DID YOU DO THIS YOURSELF?" he yelled at him 

"No, Mio helped out, and when we began we had a few more enthusiastic squids who helped out.. But nobody has the time to stick around forever, and with a budget of pretty much zero, it's not getting done professionally, either." He replied back. While he put beans in the grinder, he paused.. and put a CD in the stereo next to him. Pressing play, the speakers around the arena started blaring music from Inkopolis. 

She looked around the corners in search for the yellow inkling, hoping she didn't have to exactly babysit him so he wouldn't touch the paint... but this was Tad so she still looked around for the kid. Hearing the conversation, she followed the sound of his voice to locate where he was, as well as chiming in with, "I'd be willing to volunteer! But my schedule kind of has me by the neck sometimes.." She paused after hearing the music start up, such nostalgia "Sleak you're making me homesick!!" 

"I don't really want to help unless I can have some ARTISTIC LIABILITIES..." he examined the paint job on one of the walls closely ".. No I meant, I think I meant liberties, COD I keep forgetting words today, ever have one of those days? you just let whatever word seems right come out and then WHABAM YOU REALIZE ITS WRONG." he smacked his hand into the palm of his other for emphasis, "Sleak you're making me homesick. or...some sort of sick." Tad laughed at his own joke and then reeled himself back in as he wandered through the warehouse, keeping an eye out for paint cans that were left open so that he could leave his mark. "Is this kind of what its like in inkopolis?" 

"Kinda. We're still measuring out some areas and have to restack a few objects to get it right... And the atmosphere is.. a bit more cramped because there's not that much space outside the arena.. But I'm definitely trying to re-create the Walleye Warehouse arena." Sleak replied, in between putting the grounds in the coffee machine. "The problem is that Walleye was owned by a postal service, so right outside the arena, packages were constantly shifted and moved, giving it a more vibrant feeling. Our warehouse here is 'loaned' to us by the city.. No active company to take this, except us, so.." He flipped the coffee maker's switch- soon the entire warehouse would fill with the aroma of fresh coffee... "We do plan on adding spectator seats around the arena, there's a bit room for that, and I hope that the spectators can be the mood maker at that point." 

Torch peeked around another corner, ah there he was! A smirk grew on her face as she waited for just another second, then hopping right in front of Tad with her hands stretched a little as if she were pretending to be a monster, "boo" 

Tad jumped, "OH TORCH! OH-- OH HEY THERE, HI GIRL WHATS HAPPENING. I'm just putting the paint can lid back in place." Tad dropped the lid back onto the paint can and hammered it with his fist, quickly rambling "Wow you're awfully scary, good job keep up that good work." he smiled widely giving her a thumbs up as he patted the paint can gently.

She smirked and put her hands on her hips proudly, having caught him in the act. "Riiight sure, c'mon," she pointed in the direction where Sleak was located, "away from the paint." 

"Actually, if you could.. Bring the paint over?“ Sleak said, over the speakersystem. "Honestly the only reason I even mentioned paint is because we couldn't find this one can.. And I figured Tad's.. enthusiasm for doing the ah.. opposite of what's asked.. Would end up with him finding it. Now, get over here, I'm pouring the coffee." 

Torch blinked, hearing the guy over the speakers. She then went over and picked up the paint can, not sure what Tad would do if he had been carrying it. Maybe even draw lines on the crates and walls as they passed through. Nope, couldn't allow that. So carrying the can, she started making her way back, hoping the younger inkling would follow. "Y'know, wall-eye was one of my favorite arenas back home. So many corners, nooks, and crannies to melee~"

Tad snapped his fingers "You little rascal," he muttered, his eyes wide at Sleak's clever trickery. he watched Torch pick the can up "Aw, come on! I wasn't going to do much." he explained with a wide grin, falling in step next to Torch "He'd never know." he whispered quickly as she finished speaking, raising his voice high enough to be heard by Sleak "Oh YES, NOOKS AND CRANNIES, JUST LIKE GRAMMaS HOUSE."

Noting the two on the return path, Sleak put down three mugs on the table in the center of the office.. There were a few folding chairs present, of which Sleak had unfolded three, obviously. He put down a plate, laying small cups of coffeemilk, some sugarcubes but also powdered creamer and artificial sweets. He wasn't sure what the others wanted in their coffee. Maybe they wanted it black. Sleak certainly hoped the two would try black before adding something.. "Come on, or it'll get cold."

The two had made their way back to where their coffee was waiting for them. Torch put the can of paint to the side and took a seat happily. Finally she will get the taste of home brewed coffee, she prayed it wouldn't give her a headache later. She took the cup in hand and blew the hot liquid. She took a small sip and smacked her lips.. "n. EWCK" she quickly put the cup down, sticking her tongue out as if to spit out the taste, "Its so bitter! Who likes this stuff-" it was then she spotted the creamer and sugar. "O-oh..." with an orange face she reaches for the sweeteners and pours in several sugar cubes and creamer. Making it a very light coffee. Taking another sip, her face calmed down, "ah... much better"

Tad kneeled on the chair, leaning forward on the table he grabbed the mug in his hands, he spun the coffee gently in the mug and held it up to his face to breathe in the delicious aroma of COFFEE. He watched Torch taste it first and laughed, "You should always taste food before you season it, anyways." he tasted the coffee and smacked his lips, looking up to the cieling in thought and making a disgusted face, he paused and then took another sip, and then one more and nodded thoughtfully, giving Sleak a thumbs up. "So what's the catch? are you about to ask us to invest in your coffee company?"

"Catch? The catch is shut up and enjoy your coffee." Sleak replied. "I invited you guys on a whim so you wouldn't have to suffer that Splatbucks junk.." He motioned with his left hand, as if waving the thought of drinking anything from Splatbucks away.. "If you want there to be a catch, you could help out with getting the arena done, I got the specifications right here.. But it was never my intention to have you work for your cup." He grabbed the cup and downed it in one go- seemingly without putting anything in it, as it was still black.. "Ahhhhh, that's refreshing. Pure black coffee is great, but I guess I'll put something in my second. My body can only take one straight caffeine shot, haha.. That said, any of you want a second cup?" As he turned away to pour himself a second cup, he smirked to himself, away from the two. The sugar had been in his cup BEFORE pouring in, so it had dissolved much faster and had left no trace and as for the milk, he had stirred the coffee with his tongue while drinking, having put milk in there shortly after pouring, but before the others arrived. It wasn't noticeable, as he had not stirred at all before drinking.

Torch blinked. How da heck did he just down the coffee like that?? Does he like black coffee that much?? "U-um... yeah... yeah sure I'll take a second." She replied, unable to say no to the offer. Free coffee after all.

Tad tapped his chin as he listened to Sleak, "so instead of splatBUCKS... You'd call it splatSUCKS?" he kept a straight face as he sipped his coffee and stared at Sleak. "What happens if you have more than one? Do you die?"

"Uh.. No. You don't die.. have you guys NEVER drank normal coffee before?" Sleak asked, raising an eyebrow at the question. He poured in more coffee for Torch and Tad.. "Perhaps this is a bad idea, though.. Caffeine causes people to stay awake longer, and in rare cases, people who aren't used to coffee might feel weird.." He shrugged. "Well, your own risk. Coffee does do wonders for constipation as well, so if you feel like you gotta go.. Toilet is over there." He pointed behind him, where one could see a porta-toilet through the window.. Outside.

"Wait what?" She looked down at her half finished cup, "I thought it wouldn't have the same effect as the ones from the shops.. but... but it tastes so good." Torch downed the rest of her light coffee, giving a content sigh as she set the cup down.

"The coffee in stores and splatbucks are so diluted it doesn't taste like coffee, nor have that good wake up effect." Sleak waved the notion off. "Besides, with fresh coffee you can figure out yourself how you prefer it."

Tad widened his eyes and looked between Torch and Sleak, "how fascinating." He spoke in monotone, looking into his mug as he took another sip, he leaned back and kicked his legs out from underneath himself. "Sleak, Sleak, Sleak..." He paused, smiling mischievously as he stared at the bottom of his mug, looking up at Sleak as he asked "Do you have a girlfriend?" He glanced towards Torch briefly to see her reaction.

Victoria broke from her happy little state, her eyes widened as if she heard glass breaking and sent that 'don't you dare' glare at Tad.

"Wha-? I don.." He paused, noticing how Tad glanced over to Torch. "..don't see how that's relevant right now. Seems to me you're just continuing the teasing from the other day."

Tad's eyes widened in amusement at Torch's glare, he tilted his head curiously towards Sleak "what teasing? I don't get it, what was that about again?..." He tapped his chin curiously "do you remember, Torch? What I said?" He turned to her with raised eyebrows.

Victoria slightly narrowed her eyes. Just what was he on about?? Her leg bouncing lightly she responded, "I don't. Not sure if I'd want to.."

"Exactly, see Sleak? You're imagining things." He smiled towards Sleak "it's just friendly conversation."

Victoria huffed out lightly. Gosh he better not continue teasing. Nonetheless, with the fresh cup of coffee in front of her, Torch put in the several sucar cubes and creamer, stirring the mixture.

Sleak simply shook his head in reply. "Well, then, that settles it. You're not getting a third cup, Tad, so savor that one. I get the feeling you're already feeling the effects of caffeine, and it's obviously not a good sign." He took a sip of his own coffee. "You know, thinking about it, though.." His eyes glanced over to the arena just outside the office.. "Even though it's incomplete, I wonder.."

Tad squinted at Sleak, an amused smile on his face, so he had lost a cup of coffee...what more was there to lose. Sleak had avoided answering his question. "You wonder if you could invite your girlfriend here to see it? Or.. have you already shown her." He raised an eyebrow

Torch had started taking sips out of her second cup, ahah he lost third cup privileges! But tearing that next comment made her sputter. She coughed as she put the cup down, almost choking on the drink. Her face flushed again, glaring at the yellow inkling, "Real- cough Really Tad??"

"When I just now told you I didn't find the subject of a girlfriend relevant, whether I've brought one over, existing or not, should be considered just as irrelevant." Sleak noted, mentally giving himself a high-five for making that sound all proper. "What I was thinking of is maybe letting you to run around, do a splat match or maybe a 1v1 turf war, but if you continue on like that, I'm not sure if I want to give you that benefit."

Torch stood up quickly on that, practically bouncing up. "Hey now we should still do it!" She looked over at Tad again with a slight smirk, "ive been wondering if you're as fast as your mouth."

Tad cackled at Torch's reaction "Don't choke to death!" He tilted his head curiously at Sleak's response, and then turned his eyes up to the ceiling and sucked his teeth, furrowing his brow in thought. He looked back down as Sleak suggested the turf war, placing a finger on his chin curiously, standing up as Torch agreED TO THE BATTLE HE SLAMMED HIS HANDS ON THE TABLE. "GREAT IDEA! Sleak will be happy too, because then he doesn't have to come up with more excuses to dodge the question!" He grabbed the bowl of sugars and dumped it all in his coffee mug, grabbing the mug with both hands and running off. He didn't have his weapon with him and didn't know where he was going but this felt right.

"You.. Can't for a second believe I am going to let you consume all that sugar. Also do you even have a way to play right now?" He looked at Tad as the younger inkling walked off. "There's weapons and ink tanks in the back, locked up. I can lend you one of you're missing your equipment.. And.." Sleak turned to Torch. "I'm guessing you don't bring your equipment to work either. There is enough for both of you."

She shook her head, and tugged off her backpack. "Half right there, I bring my Jr in hopes I can just hop in a war after work," she zips open the bag, revealing the splattershot jr, "but I just borrow the ink tanks eheh.." She started jogging to the back to search for the tanks.

Tad turned around, stopping with the mug gripped tightly against his body "HOW WILL YOU STOP ME?" he laughed maniacally. He watched Torch head towards the back and followed her "I call the best one!!!"

Torch had reached the door, ready to open it when she heard Tad running after her, "How would you know which one is the best one?" She said with an amused smile. Boy was she ready to GO. She reached for the handle to find the tanks.. only to find out it's locked. "Oh... oh right... ahah..."

"Well, you know, Tad, I actually have a simple idea to stop you." Sleak grinned as he poked the yellow inling with his roller. "As I'm currently the only one with a working weapon and all. Put the sugar down." He flicked a trigger, causing the roller to become green with ink. "If I splat you, that sugar'll stay behind, won't it."

Tad stared at sleak with wide eyes, trying to evaluate quickly what he could do, before swinging the coffee mug up and shoving as many of the sugar cubes into his mouth as possible, and then throwing the coffee mug on the ground, which then shattered across the floor. Tad stared at it in disbelief as if he had forgotten what happens when you throw something breakable at a floor.

"...Cod, damn it." He poked Tad with the brush leaving a rather large green ink mark on his back, before putting away his roller. "You are going to regret that. First and foremost because you're going to have to clean up that mess, secondly because there's no way I'm letting you crash here. If you get a sugar rush and your body crashes, I'm throwing you out." Sleak sighed, grabbed a dustpan and brush from under the office's sink and handed it over to Tad. "Clean."

Tad snatched the dustpan from Sleak and and stared at him with squinty eyes, then dropped the dustpan on the floor and swept it up, he couldn't talk at the moment because his mouth was full of sugar. he handed it back to Sleak.

Torch cringed when she heard the crash, and looked back at the duo, watching Tad sweep up the glass and handing it back to Sleak. She didn't want to interrupt but.. "hey uh Sleak? Mind if ya open the door please?" She called out

Sleak took the dustpan and emptied it in the garbage bin. "Next time, I'm definitely not inviting Tad.." He shook his head. "..Yeah, hang on, I'm coming." He walked back over to the door and opened it with a key.. Behind it was actually only a small storage space, with mostly cleaning supplies, but also the aforementioned turf war equipment. Despite the dusty state of the space, the weapons and ink tanks seemed still clean and fresher than the squids that were about to use it. "So.. which weapon do you prefer, Tad?" He noted, as he grabbed two tanks and handed them to Torch and Tad.

Tad blinked at Sleak. he chewed up the bits of sugar and slowly swallowed it as he followed behind the two. He grabbed the tank from Sleak, "hand me a charger, buddy." He shifted his weight between his feet and forced a smile.

"..Charger versus Splattershot Jr, eh?" Sleak grabbed the charger. "Sounds interesting. Minimal range but very fast vs maximum range but quite slow.. Hrm. Now you guys just need to decide whether you're going to go by splats or inked turf." He handed the charger over to Tad. "If it's the latter, I'd almost suggest you actually pick something else, haha.."

Tad rolled his shoulders and took the charger "I JUST WANT TO GET ON THE FIELD COD SLEAK." he laughed and turned on his heels, without making eye contact. He giggled maniacally as he jumped off with the charger.

Torch took the inktank with a smile and slipped it on when Sleak offered it to them. She watched as Tad hurriedly take the equipment and run off. She picked up her voice so that her temporary opponent would hear her, "Oh I'd go for splats, but I'm sure Tad would just want to plain out turf"

"No way, its spat or be splatted." Tad called back to them, stopping suddenly, turning to see if they would hurry up.

Sleak shook his head. "Well, whatever. Get to a spawn, Tad. I'll set it to yellow for you and the other one on orange for Torch." He looked at Torch. "You get to the other spawn..." He then shouted, considering Tad had ran off. "I assume both of you know how this stuff works, wait until it's activated, then I'll count off over the speakers and start some more music. If any of you fire before I say go, I will personally get to the local registration offices and get you banned from any turf war, UNDERSTOOD? In fact, don't activate the weapons until the spawns have lit up."

"Rodger dodger!" She gives a quick salute excitedly before heading to her spawn point.

With both inklings on the move, Sleak opened up the control panel for the arena on his shellphone. Digital age, ho. Looking on the screen where Tad and Torch were (heading off to, anyway,) he set the two spawns to the correct color, and activated them. He sat behind the speaker system and took out the disc, replacing it with another but not yet starting the music. "Alright, both of you change and sink in your spawn as squid to register. It's a bit different cause we don't have the system fully hooked up yet, but this is an easy workaround.. The spawns should be lighting up with the correct color about now.."

Victoria had reached her spawn and leaped onto it, changing into her squid form mid-air so she landed in the ink with a plop

Tad got to his spawn point, pausing to look around at the map once more before chaning to squid form and waited for the all clear.

Noting both of them were registered to their respective spawns, Sleak switched the arena settings to Splat Mode, ticking an 'are you sure' box since it's an off-the-record mode.. "Alright, we're ready.. Soo.." He looked out at the arena.. And flicked another switch, causing a green light to blink shortly on both ink tanks.. "Don't fall out of the arena. It might only be a small step, but your ink tanks are set to auto-splat you if you do. Gotta stay true to the original arena, and since we don't have tall warehouses here.." Green lights started glowing outside the arena, indicating the limit. "Well, let's begin... 3... 2... 1...." He then put the speaker on play the moment he said "GO!"

Soon as she hears the signal, Torch hopped right out of her spawn pad, firing ink from her little splattershot Jr and hopping through the puddles it's made. Quickly enough, she reached the middle of the arena and took cover behind the crates, keeping an eye out for a charger's laser.

Tad jumped out of the ink and shot a line of ink straight ahead, GOIN AS FAST AS HE COULD towards a higher area to scope things out, trying to spot Torch before she spotted him, he peaked around a wall at the orange on the ground, he tried to cross over the grates above the main area but misjudged the jump and fell to the flat ground in squid form, "SQUIT." he looked around wildly for a sign of Torch. where could she bee that little SNEAKY

Ah there he was! Maybe she could just run at him an- wait nope he's back on his feet. Victoria quickly lobbed a splat bomb in the direction she saw Tad, and used the remainder of her ink to splatter hop behind another pair of containers to her left. She peeked over behind the wall again. She didn't see him, but she did see more ink lines being made... quickly she made a trail of orange ink up the side ramp to get to higher ground. Maybe she could splat him from above... but where did he go now??

Tad's eyes widened as the splat bomb came landed near his feet, he scrambled to move behind the crates, orange ink hit his legs as he dashed for cover- if only he could get to higher ground! He dashed for the ramP.

Torch kept looking over from behind the wall, being ver cautious of the laser that may point RIGHT at her at any second... but oh! He's going up the ramp? She shifted her weight back and forth from one foot to another. Did she really want to be this hard on him? He accepted the challenge after all.. snapping out of it she jumped from behind her cover and threw a bomb over him as he came into the clearing, not allowing an escape as she shot ink right at him.

Tad realized his mistake as he saw the bomb fall in front of him, he tried to duck back quickly but was met with a grim SCENE. HE CLENCHED HIS JAW, lowered his brow AND TRIED TO CHARGE A SHOT BUT HE WAS DEAD BEFORE DESSERT AND was sent back to spawn. NO WAY! she already had the advantage, and she thought really strategically. He raced forward through the ink to higher ground and waited a few seconds, trying to figure out what she was planning, and what he would try next. Hopefully not something as STUPID

SPLAT! Torch regained her composure as the orange ink covered the ground around her. "Sorry Tad!" She called out with a bit of a grin. It's been a while since she's felt this adrenaline. Having the first "kill", Torch dove into the ink on the lower ground and found cover behind the crates again, waiting to see Tad's next move.

From where Sleak was standing, he had shook his head when they were first looking for each other but basically missing each other because of it.. But he stopped as he noticed Torch's moves. As Tad were splat, he was somewhat impressed. It seemed obvious to him she was ranked back in Inkopolis..

As soon as he had returned to spawn Tad raced forward through the ink he had splatted before, stopping on a high corner to try and find Torch. He waited a moment in silence, but his gut was telling him to keep moving , there was only so much time he could wait! He sent a line of ink towards the center of the map and hopped to the idk it was the center of the map or behind the wall on the other side, I SEEM TO RECALL THE WALL. I CANT REMEMBER THIS SPLAT EITHER JDHDJDJDJ

The range was longer than she anticipated. The yellow ink splashed over her and she quickly made another trail to go back up the ramp, hopping over splotches of yellow as she went, and hoping the damage she has already took by making contact with the opposing ink would go away in time.

Tad saw an opportunity as the enemy Torch showed herself, and jumped out of the ink. He charged a shot towards Torch, normally he'd be yelling at this point but he was too anxious that he would die, he aimed carefully, keeping calm for one short moment of his life as he SHOT TOWARDS HER

"EEP!" Next thing she knew she was sent back to her spawn point. With a growl she leapt into the ink as soon as she was respawned, making her way to the middle again. Making more splatters as she goes to skip around her enemy. She has to get her revenge splat!

From the office, Sleak simply raised his eyebrow. Tad's action seemed a bit off, but it worked to splat Torch. Now it was even between the two squids. It reminded Sleak for a moment about his old matches.. his normal equipment was focused all around respawning quicker, after all, so it wasn't unlikely for him to go for the dual splat- he'd be back faster anyway. For a Splat Match, however, he had a different set.. He shook his head- this wasn't one of his matches, this was just a test between them. Equipment rules didn't even properly apply here, so he wasn't sure why he was suddenly thinking about it.

Tad raised his eyebrows and smiled, he cackled and swam forward in excitement. Heading closer to the center of the map to get closer to the wall, she was coming back fast and he jumped out of the ink to charge another shot-all too eager to try and get her again.

Torch had spied the laser as she passed through the ink quickly. Swimming around the crates, she planned to catch him off guard from the side since he was leaning against the wall. Picking up speed, Torch jumped out of her ink, shooting down at Tad.

Tad lowered his brow as orange ink splashed on him , he knew he was in a bad spot!!! He backed up slowly and shot towards Torch in the last moments before he was SPLATTED BACK TO SPAWN!

He pulled the trigger just as she was on him, and sent back to spawn as well.. MAN they're still tied. She can't let it end in a draw! Soon as she was back at her spawn, Torch swam out of her base and kept behind the crates, shooting around her to make escapes. She started making use of her bombs, throwing them wherever it seemed like probable sniper perches, and only hoped one of them would be lucky as she made her way to higher ground

Tad raced back through the ink towards the higher areas just before the center of the map, a moment later a bomb landed right next to him, he took a few steps back and managed to stay far enough away to stay AliVe. He ran back towards where Torch had thrown the bomb and jumped off, figuring he knew where aboutst she was now and could get her, but when he jumped down, he couldn't spot her!

She peeked over the ledge, lucky he didn't come down the small corridor! From there she jumped out of her hiding spot and shot down at the unsuspecting young sniper. There's her real revenge splat.

Tad spotted her at the very last second, he tried his best to turn and shoot her but it was no use, he was sent back to spawn cursing under his breath. Time was running out and now Torch was in the lead. he tugged at his socks, quickly before dashing out of spawn once again, straight toward where Torch had been, not really planning anything out, gosh darnit Tad, he jumped out of the ink to look for her

Torch landed on the ground after having splatted him, and fist pumped in the air. Yeah, one up! She still had some time to spare, maybe she can steal another kill before the game ended. So she quickly inked the turf around her and took cover by a wall, right under a sniper's perch, lobbing a bomb upward..

Tad saw the bomb, already way beyond being able to calm back down he greeted the bomb with a deep frown and stunned eyes, he scrambled to get away just a little too late and yet again was sent back to spawn, he gripped his charger so tightly and clenched his jaw, racing out of spawn once more in a last ditch attempt to gain any sort of an advantage, he tried to go a bit of a different way, bUT WOE HE DIDNT KNOW HIS FATE HAD BEEN SEALED IN ANOTHER DIMENSION LONG BEFORE

She had heard the pretty sound of the splat. Having a sly smirk on her face, she dove into the ink quickly and made her way up the ramp, pretty much on Tad's base and just waited as the speakers gave out the bells counting doen the last few seconds of the game.

Tad jumped out of the ink as he spotted Torch "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!" He yelled in genuine anger, shooting sporadically and just kind of willing the ink to go the direction he wanted instead of actually aiming it

Torch jumped to the side to avoid the random shooting, firing her own ink pellets, aiming for that last kill before the whistle sounded, signaling the end of the game.

Tad stood at spawn in frustrated silence, biting his tongue to keep from saying anything worse. that last splat was an EMBARASSMENT, how ever would he recover from this match. How would he respond when someone inevitably said something? his eyes searched the room as he tried to think quickly of an excuse, no... a defense, SOMETHING had happened and he wasn't going to let this go easily.

"Whoops, forgot to change tracks for the last thirty seconds." Sleak noted, as he too heard the end signal. "Gotta find a way to automate that.." He turned off the stage limit autosplat system and turned to the microphone. "Hey, get back to the office, the game is over. Don't shoot at this point. Turn on the safeties on your weapons. That ban I mentioned before applies yet again right now. Do not fire ink or this was the last time you ever did." He said, over the speakers. Granted, since the spawns were still active, so it wouldn't really matter.. But he had to be firm right now. Playtime was over. If they wanted a second match they could do one, but not without his authorization.

Victoria rolled her eyes, "we're not complete newbies to not know that.." she muttered as she switched the safety on her Jr. She blinked and shook off whatever salt was in her, trying to give a warm smile to her opponent, "hey good game Tad!" She proceeded to make her way back to the office, avoiding the yellow ink as she walked.

Tad tugged the safety on and stepped heavily off the spawn pad, he chuckled tensely as he started towards the main office "for you," he uttered, hardly audible. The walk back to the office felt like FOREVER, even though it wasn't very far at all.

Victoria bursted through the office door wearing a gleeful smile, "man it's been way too long since my last 1v1! Thanks for letting us do this, Sleak!" She looked out the window, she assumed it's where he was watching them fight. She wasn't sure who covered the most turf but she was pretty giddy anyways, knowing she had won that splat match.

Tad walked in after Victoria, he looked briefly towards Sleak with a half smile, then glanced at Torch and turned back towards the table, he pushed the charger onto it, not bothering to be careful about anything that was left from the coffee earlier. He didn't bother to say thank you, or ANYTHING. he was too busy being a sore loser.

Sleak wanted to reply to Torch, but as Tad walked in.. He simply shook his head. "Well, anyway, if this were a turf war rather than a splat match.." He eyeballed his shellphone.. "Torch's use of the Splat bombs increased her inked zones, but Tad's wild shooting seems to have barely gotten the upper hand.. Hrm.." He scrolled through the page, stopping at a bird's eye view of the arena. "Look here, the large circular areas are where the bombs and splats happened, but all of these lines outward.. It's a narrow difference, but there's just slightly more yellow than there is orange." He stopped short of the calculated percentage. "Of course, were this a turf war, I'd suspect Torch's inking would've been to cover the area, rather than trying to hunt down a charger."

Torch nodded, still looking out of the window, "Mhm! But um.. even so.." She turned back with a bit of an embarrassed smile, "I still would have only gone for splats. It's a hard habit to kick eheh.."

Tad stood a few paces away from either of them, folding his arms and leaning on one leg, he listened to their conversation and pursed his lips together in irritation. “HA-HA! That’s fascinating!” he spoke towards Torch, louder then usual, he bit his lip in agitation, and continued to work himself up about his loss.

"Ahuh." Sleak looked at Tad. "Maybe you need more sugar cubes, Tad.. To offset that salt you're generating." He stated. He tried to first give Tad a bright side, but since the yellow inkling continued to complain.. Tough love was needed. "Listen- you win some, you lose some. It's pretty much the basic for any game." He looked at Torch for a moment, before turning back to Tad. “Besides.. Last I checked, Torch is a ranked player back in Inkopolis, whereas you only have... the local arenas to work with. Rather than be discouraged about a pretty inevitable loss, be proud of the fact you splat her twice despite the gap in skill."

She blinked when Tad had risen his voice, not sure whether to be amused by the salt or to be afraid of starting a fight with one of the few people she's managed to make a small friendship with. She let Sleak talk, and nodded along before jumping in, trying to justify the situation too, "it's true, I do have more experience in this, especially when dealing with chargers..." she looked down tugging at her tank top a bit, "granted I'm not entirely used to playing without my usual gear, I would have been so much faster if I did but.." she looked back at Tad, forcing a smile, "without applying those equipment rules, you splatted me fair and square!" Cod swallowing the rock of pride is distasteful.

Tad squinted at Sleak, grinding his beak in agitation, how come Sleak felt the need to talk down to him? was he trying to STOP HIM FROM BEING HIMSELF?! IT WOULDNT WORK!!! “I know,” he snapped bitterly, turning his attention to Torch who continued to explain the situation at him, he looked up at the ceiling and then around the room as she was talking, as if he wasn’t listening, waiting a moment after she finished talking he shrugged his shoulders and looked back at her with half-lidded eyes. He looked at the floor quickly, his cheeks going a brighter shade of yellow as he huffed, and then he yelled “IT DOESN’T MATTER THAT MUCH TO ME!!!!” and stormed off.

Victoria brought a hand near her chin, taken aback from the outburst. He was a bigger of a sore loser than she was! But either way, Torch just stared as Tad stomped out of the room. It shouldn't matter right? She had won, he's just being a sore loser, it's nothing personal, RIGHT?? She stopped her train of thought as she realized her vision getting blurry, she didn't even notice that her breathing had quickened a bit too. Furiously swiping at her eyes, she managed to squeak out, "um.. excuse me." And she exited the room as well. Maybe she'd run into Tad? Maybe she'd just find a corner to hide away forever in? Who knoooooows

Sleak wasn't sure how to react. Tad was obviously a sore loser, so when he stormed out, Sleak's only reaction was rolling his eyes. But when Torch ran out.. He was basically left behind blinking at what had just happened.. At least, until common sense finally kicked in and he ran after Torch. "Hey.. Hey, wait up!"

Torch was already back at the arena, leaning against a crate, hoping to be not very noticeable as she hugged her elbows. She seemed to be staring intently at the ground while doing so, and eventually sank down so she was sitting down. She hadn't seen Tad out there, or if she did she didn't notice through her panic.

Tad was marching towards the bus stop, he paused for a moment as it came into view, could it be possible he was avoiding a fight? NO- he never avoids a fight!! he can't he's too tough. he clenched his fist and held it in front of his face, there was no way he could leave before he had SAID EVERYTHING. he kept mentally telling himself to turn around, but it took a few minutes for him to force himself to turn, ah yes, it was all a matter of giving them time to thing, his mildly shaking hands and RAPID PULSE were all just part of the sugar high, he convinced himself he was not scared at all as he forced himself back towards Sleak and Luna, opening the door to the warehouse forcefully, his face wore the look of utter betrayal, he froze in the doorway as the door slammed into the wall and echoed through the building.

Having ran out into the arena long after Torch did, he hadn't seen her hide next to a crate. So he basically ran past the girl, presuming she'd head for the exit as well.. but though it had only been a short time since she left, the doors weren't open.. For a moment there, anyway, as Tad slammed them right open, causing Sleak to step back and stare right at him.. until he noticed the orange color in the corner of his eye. He looked at Torch for a moment, and then back to Tad.. and then back to Torch. "..What.. is going on..?"

Torch just sat there, staring at the ground as many thoughts passed through her head. How can she fix this? It's all her fault! It may be tedious but she's learned many times before how big molehills can get.. She gasped when she heard that SLAM. And promptly popped into her squid form, looking ahead like a deer caught in headlights. The present rushed back to her and brought her out of her thoughts,, but she couldn't exactly find the words to answer Sleak's question.

Tad looked at Sleak and narrowed his eyes, he puffed himself up and hesitated for a second before starting softly “Why …” he paused, looking at the ground, then back up at Sleak “DO YOU TALK DOWN TO ME?” he yelled. He was accusing Sleak of the highest treason… trying to talk sense into a fourteen year old. He took a step forward and pointed at Sleak, “You think I’m STUPID? QUIT..THINKING LIKE THAT! WHY NOT JUST TELL ME! ARE YOU A COWARD?!” his voice cracked during the end of the last question, he smiled nervously, it did not look friendly, it looked insane. he froze in place as he tried to figure out what exactly he was trying to do he spotted Torch out of the corner of his eye, flicking his eyes towards her for a moment, and grew even more tense. it was two against one. this wasn’t fair.

"..What." Sleak had turned back to Tad as the yellow inkling started talking. "I've literally been trying to soften the blow of losing to you, because you lost despite your own.. enthusiasm for getting in there and splat. What you call talking down to you is me trying to show a younger inkling that it's okay to lose, because you DEFINITELY WILL LOSE AGAIN IN THE FUTURE, it is literally impossible to be always winning." At this point, Sleak has raised his hands to his head in frustration. "You want me to be straight? Here it is: You got beaten by someone with more experience and skill. Get over it." He said, aiming both hands at Tad, lowering them a bit dramatically. "And as for you.." He turned to Torch. "..I have literally no idea why you're sitting there in your squid form or why you even ran off earlier, so I don't know what to even say. You beat him in a match that was fair and square, even though you had the advantage from the get-go. Tad's overreaction to losing is him being a sore loser."

Tad rolled his eyes in a very exaggerated manner, slouching backwards a bit as Sleak spoke, he continuously opened his mouth to interrupt Sleak but HE HELD HIS TONGUE, it was a miracle. as the words sore loser fell on his ears he lowered his brow “I KNOW I’M GOING TO LOSE! YOU’RE NOT LISTENING TO ME.” tears welled in his eyes and he looked up to to the ceiling, blinking them back. “I’M NOT BEING A SORE LOSER, I DIDNT DO ANYTHING WRONG! YOU KEEP TALKING ABOUT ME LIKE I DONT EXIST!"

"Really." Sleak recalled the days when he was just starting out with Turf war himself. An eager 14 year old. And how often he lost. He recalls having been bummed out, even angry after losing several times in a row. But what was happening here? This? This was new to Sleak. "Tad. Ever since being behind on splats, you've been irrational. Shouting even that you were going to kill Torch here. Heat of the match, I get it, it happens." He turned to face the yellow inkling."But it didn't stop. You come back and slam your equipment on the table. You act like Torch is some kind of villain. You say I'm looking down on you while I'm trying to cheer you up. YOU SAY I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU LIKE YOU DON'T EXIST EXCEPT LITERALLY THE FACT THAT I'M TALKING BOTH ABOUT AND TO YOU CONTRADICT THAT VERY STATEMENT." Don't strangle the kid, Sleak. "Tad, ever since I've read your name you've been kind of a pain, and yet I still tried. I've kept you from killing yourself. I gave you coffee. I gave you an arena and equipment to play with. I've tried to cheer you up. And all I'm getting in return is.. This. I was right in my earlier assessment, wasn't I?" He paused.. But before anyone could respond, Sleak spoke once more. "Tad.. Go home."

Tad stared at Sleak, putting a hand over his eyes and going yellow. "I- Thats what I thought." he said in a low growl. then he turned around and walked out the door. DUN DUN DUN

All Torch could do is watch the two go back and forth. Tears were beginning to well up again, she didn't want this.. she just wanted to get a coffee and maybe make friends with this other inkling from her hometown! She came back to her senses when she saw Tad turn around, and exiting the warehouse. Blinking a few times she wiped her eyes with a tentacle and shifted back to her humanoid form, standing up. After a beat she cleared her throat and forced a somewhat of a smile, though still a bit congested from keeping down the panicked sob that wanted to escape her throat. "I'll.. just um.. leave this in the office," she patted the ink tank that was still equipped, "and um.. get my bag while I'm at it uh.. s-sorry," With that she turned around and "calmly" made her way back to set herself ready to go. She didn't want to bother Sleak any more than she did with causing this mess.

Sleak simply sighed as Tad walked out. Whether it was a sigh of relief, he himself wasn't sure. The yellow inkling looked quite agitated and he had been irrational.. He shook his head. Hearing Torch speak up, he turned to her. "Alright.." Though when she then continued with 'get my bag'.. "Hrm? How come? Are you leaving already? I know this thing with Tad was a big disappointment, but.." He noted, before she walked off.. He followed Torch towards the office. "..To be honest, I am kind of curious as to why you're upset.. If you don't want me to push, so be it.. But at this point, I'm kind of worried I did something wrong? I mean, I guess.. maybe I was a bit harsh on the kid, but eesh.." Sleak shook his head.. "That kid's going to have issues if he doesn't change."

As they walked into the office, Torch slid the ink tank off and placed it gently on the table. She proceeded to stuff her Jr back into her bag, she was on a MISSION to get out of Sleak's hair. But paused as he mentioned something about he doing something wrong? She turned to hi quickly, "Wha.. n-no! You didn't do anything wrong! At.. at least I don't think so.." Her eyes darted to the side, she really didn't want someone to worry over her being upset. But looks like she doesn't have much of a choice, and began rubbing an arm nervously, "maybe... maybe you could have been nicer I dunno.. but really I.. um. I just don't uh.." her face flushed to a pale orange when she noted her stuttering. goSH VICTORIA JUST SPIT IT OUT. Torch paused and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before finally looking at the green inkling. "I just.. don't wanna make anyone else mad.."

"..Hm.." Sleak looked at the orange girl in front of him. "Well, you haven't made me mad. Mostly just confused." He sighed, he wasn't sure what to say.. "People losing and getting angry because of it is a pretty natural thing to happen. You can't exactly avoid it. It's.. it's kinda easier in Inkopolis cause you barely ever meet up with your opponents afterwards, and if you do it with friends they're usually laughing afterwards anyway, whether you won or lost.. Up until Tad losing his cool, things seemed to be going pretty decent." He grabbed the ink tanks and the charger from the table, and started walking to the storage. "Honestly though, I'm not angry at you. If anything, you did good. Tad's just a kid, and honestly, I think it's kinda my bad for letting things happen like they did. I'm just used to.. well.. you know Inkopolis, so you know how the competition there is. From 14 onward, you'll get paired up to face off against anyone else who joined, S+ rank or adult or whatever, even if it's your first match ever.. But I guess things are different here in Cephalo. After all, if nobody can practice playing turf war normally, nobody gets better, right.."

Mostly just confused "Sorry.." she quietly added before Sleak had continued. Torch nodded along being reminded of what everything was like at home. All the salt she gave and got but everything was settled with just another match. Despite being so competitive, she didn't hold grudges on losing. Torch zipped up her bag and slipped it on as she followed Sleak. assuming the storage was a bit of ways from where they were at? I can change this if anything XD She grew more and more calm as he spoke. Whew, he wasn't mad at her, great! "Truer words were never said eheh.." she tugged on her bag straps. Was he trying to cheer her up? Obviously there was more to just being upset over Tad's outburst. But no one should worry about that... "...thanks... I just don't want to ruin another friendship heh..." Torch looked out at the arena, maybe she should switch the subject before things get too deep, "can't wait for this to be opened up though!"

"Well, I'd still say avoid Tad for awhile. He's likely to be pretty upset about what happened here... Though I assume he's more likely to be angry at me now." He opened the door to the closet and put the gear back. "If anything, you're welcome to come by. If I'm here, at least, eheh.. Don't be surprised if there's others at work. And once it opens, well, I hope it'll be more busy by then, though that'll make it harder to meet up, I guess." Sleak turned back to Torch after closing the door. "If anything, you haven't ruined anything with me. My annoyance is strictly Tad.. Anyway, you maybe want something to drink before you left? I'd presume you'd like at least want some water after that fight. Got bottled water, or soda cans.."

Torch gave a grin, hoowee she has access to this place now! Kind of anyways. But at the mention of Tad, her smile faltered some. He's probably right, Tad wasn't yelling at her when he returned for that short time. There's some hope.. Her attention brought back, she nodded, "ah.. yes please! I should go with water huh? Soda sounds really good too though.."

"Well, take your pick." He walked over to the minifridge and opened the door. "Hrm.. I think we should be considering a vending machine, especially if it's gonna be more busy.."

"Around the area would be nice.." she rocked on her heels, thinking to go with even more sugar or refreshing water.. "toss me a soda?"

"Random sodaaaaaaaaaaaaa.." He elongated the a as he passed his finger by the cans.. "Coming up. Catch!" Sleak gently threw the can at Torch.

"Thanks!" Torch caught it.. then it had slipped out of her hand.. and thus she began scrambling to catch the thing as if flew from one hand to the other like a bar of soap. And she then finally caught it with both hands! "HA! ...you.. you didn't see that." She recomposed herself despite her face glowing orange.

Unfortunately for Torch, Sleak sure did. And his face was displaying the biggest grin, only getting worse as he tries to hold his laughter when she said he didn't see that. He looked away.. "Snrk.. Yeah.. I.. saw nothing.. Pfffff.."

Hearing the stifling only made her blush even more, shaking her head she pulled off a smile anyways and proceeded to try and open the can... but to her dismay she couldn't! Oh the squidmanity! Torch looked over and held out the soda can speaking in a meek voice, "Can you open it? >^>"

"..." Sleak had turned back to her, and honestly was just about to burst into laughter.. He gently took the can from her, and considering her fumbling around, held it away from himself a bit- he didn't exactly feel like getting splat by a soda can exploding on him. He pulled the tab upwards, but paused before opening it. "..Actually, let me grab another can. I don't feel like cleaning the place up if this one explodes from your.. nice catch." He put the can back in the minifridge, softly exclaiming 'you're someone else's problem now~' before grabbing another can of the same soda, opening it and handing it back to Torch. "There you go."

Torch scrunched up her face as Sleak turned to get a new can. Drats! the little prank didn't work. But she was calming down from that bit of embarrassment and happily took the new can, taking a sip from it.. more like gulp really. "Ah~ ...hm..." she started patting her shorts down, and eventually going to her bag in search for her phone. "Wonder how late I'll be back.. Goober's going to get hungry..."

"Goober..?" Sleak raised an eyebrow.. "..Is that a pet?" He shook his head. "As for how late you'll be back, buses go fairly often from here back to the main city at this time of day. Lots of people going home from work, after all.."

Finally finding her phone, Torch tapped the button and started muttering while looking up, "assuming I don't get lost again... I should still have another hour before I need to go back." She blinked and faced him again, realizing he asked about her slimy pet. "Ah yeah! He's my little slug! ...well..." she tapped her chin, "not exactly so little by how much he eats..." siiiiiiiiiiiiiip

"Well, if you're afraid of getting lost, I wouldn't mind walking with you.." He pulled out his own phone. "..I got an app called Cephalo Map."

"what there's an app??" She gave herself a facepalm, "of course there's an app, cod how stupid.. UM.." She looked back up from her face palm, "yeah that'd be cool if you would... so i can get used to this too," Torch began tapping away at her phone, looking for this app that would save her life. "...and hey you wouldn't have to worry about me getting lost at the dead of night like last time!" she laughed.

"Well, Cephalo City is very family friendly and they try to be 'cool and hip with the younglings'.. so they made an informational app. I downloaded it cause I'm not from around here. It's a bit too focused on... like 'if you go left now, you'll see the museum of this' or 'to your right is college that'.. and none of the fast food restaurants are on it.. but it IS an in-depth map for the entire city, so just turn off sound and you'd be fine." Sleak noted. "The local arenas also have an app, for when it's available and current scores, but it's kinda low tech. It's the locals who set it up, not the city officials.. They have honestly no clue what teenagers and young adults like, heh."

"Hey, anything to help me stay in the loop!" With a couple more taps, Torch put her phone down with a content smile. "Well if it's as family friendly as you say, they're probably thinking all the 'kids' are with their parents 24/7..." she tucked her phone away, setting her bag down too thinking that she may as well if they're gonna be chatting. "Speaking of cities... which part are you from?" She asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"Well, we're in the midst of explaining people are still young after the age of 10, really. Most of the family friendliness comes from malls, hospitals, elementary schools.." He shook his head.. "As for cities.. I'm from Inkopolis obviously, haha.. I lived near Inkopolis Square, there were some cool stores there, but nothing quite like the Plaza, heh. I doubt that place will get popular anytime soon.. As for here in Cephalo, I'm renting a small flat around the north side of the city.."

"Aha! Makes sense now why I never saw you around! ...well.. then again with your title it's apparent.. and I don't really recognize many people anyways um.." She shook her head a bit, quit rambling! "I used to be around Flounder before coming here eheh.." She gave a half shrug before downing the rest of the soda.

"Isn't that a more pricey area to live? Flounder Heights.. even before it became a popular turf war location.. I don't think I could've afforded to live there, haha.." Sleak rubbed the back of his head, sitting down at the table. "Either you lucked out and found a cheap place, or someone was footing the bill for you, heh."

"Kind of both?" She set the can on the table, leaning against it as she crossed her arms, "I mean, the benefits of somewhat wealthy parents, I guess? I had to pitch in with some of my own earnings too." She looked over her shoulder to find another seat, and gave into the urge to sit down, plopping on the chair. "BUT that's in the past. Couldn't depend on them forever.."

"I see.. Well, I lived with my parents until I got good at matches.. With five people in a relatively small house, it got pretty cramped at times, so I moved out, to near the Square. I last heard my sister is training for Turf war, so maybe she will also move out, heh.." Sleak noted.. He didn't exactly have wealthy parents. At all. But they took care of him, alright..

"Aw well best of luck to her! My brothers are still a few years away from getting their hands on a Junior." She leaned back some, slouching a bit on the chair and started twiddling her thumbs, feeling rather relaxed now, despite sunning out of things to say

"Heh, my youngest brother can't even change to his kid form yet, so he's more than a few years away from getting his hands on anything." Sleak smirked. "To be honest, I had considered letting my lil' sis crash at my place, but she's going for some training camp rather than drop into the fighting.. Dunno how long that'll last, but I'm sure she'll make it through." He shook his head. "So right now my place is pretty much.. deserted.. and thinking about it I should probably call home to see if my stuff is still intact."

"Training camp?" Torch put a hand to her chin, why did that sound familiar? "I believe one of my little cousins is going away to camp too.. can't remember.." she waved her hand to the side as if to dismiss the thought, she'd find out later. "I've kind of brought everything I own here.. but I guess that makes sense because you're only renting a place ahah.. you probably should. Who knows if spiders have made their home in your place" she chuckled at her own joke.

"I'll have to charge rent then.. They can't use my house without my permission." Sleak nodded sagely, exaggerating his joke.

Torch giggled, happy he continued the joke. She then pullout her phone again, making a few swipes. Just checking the few things... time. 

"Anyway.. Not that just talking isn't fine, I think I've realised the problem with sitting still." Sleak got up, turned to the mini-fridge to get himself a soda too.. "We're literally sitting STILL. You want to head out and go somewhere? Could get something to eat, too.."

"Hu-wha-?" She was brought out of whatever she was doing on her phone so suddenly! But he was right, might as well do something than just sit around. So she tucked her phone away once more and turned her body in the chair, as if ready to dash out at a moment's notice. "Uh, yeah sure!" She put a hand to her stomach in hopes to suppress the grumbles. "G...guess grabbing a quick bite wouldn't hurt eheh..."

"Well, yeah, last I ate was a small portion of fries HOURS ago.. I don't know if you've had a food break at work.." Sleak grabbed his phone and.. "..There's a small diner nearby that I know of, ate there last with the whole group, but they're more like meal based? Not exactly useful for a quick bite.. We could head back to the city, grab something at a fast food chain there.." He paused, swiping on his phone.. "..What do you think?" He asked, looking up from his phone which displayed very little options in the warehouse area.

She rested her chin on her palm as she thought aloud, "yeah they give food breaks.. but I haven't eaten since yesterday-UM.." Victoria popped right out of the chair, avert the conversation! "Well, my wallet is about as full as my stomach so um.. I think going for a fast food place would be a better call," she shrugged.

"Low on cash and you haven't eaten since yesterday?“ He looked at Torch with a raised eyebrow. "Well, shit, then I AM taking you to that diner, and food's on me."

Alarmed Torch is alarmed, he shouldn't have to worry about how much she eats! "W-what?? No it's okay really! Y-you don't have to worry about it! I uh.."

"Nooooooooo, I've already decided." Sleak nodded sagely once again. "Let's get you a good meal.. I may not be rich, but I'm doing at least fairly well for myself, so I can easily afford that." He looked up for a moment.. "Does make me wonder how.. ah, never mind. If anything, Cephalo's turf war association needs to be reorganized, so that there's a steady income for battlers.." He shook his head. "Anyway, let's go!"

Seeing him head off she couldn't help but groan slightly, she really didn't want to bother...much less make the guy spend money to feed her! Nonetheless Torch grabbed up her bag and slid it on as she followed Sleak out. "....thanks.." Making note of what he said prior.. "hum.... steady income would be great.. if I started battling more often than I have been heh." She started having a bit of a bounce to her step as she thought of it, "mmmm I could even transition from so many hours at the cafe to battling... that woul dbe great ahh..."

"In Inkopolis it's done pretty smart. It's advertised everywhere, ranked matches are extremely popular.. Selling tickets to spectators, advertisement, associated clothing stores.. All the effort and expense basically earns itself back, and they still have plenty of cash to award to the players. But here.." Sleak raised his shoulders. "With the arenas in the poor state they are, no thrill, no nothing.. No squids seem to be really into doing things differently.. There's not even a real ruleset to go by. People just use what they can get their hands on. It's much different from other cities I've seen." He shook his head. "They claim to be family friendly, but they neglect the part where children grow up. There's nothing for bored teens in Cephalo, so they start hanging around, doing their own thing.. Which, in turn..." He looked away.. Sleak figured this is the point to stop talking, considering it's sliding into the area of politics. Something he'd like to leave to the others. "Anyway, if you could wait outside, I'm going to lock the place up." He held up his shellphone, tapping his screen and subsequently turning off the lights in the back. Ah, technology.

VIctoria was listening and nodding along. She was aware of these things, but never really thought of how they took part in er daily life of battling. It was quite interesting really...and then he stopped . Aw.. Her brow furrowed a bit when he looked away, stopping the flow of information. But she shook it off as she was asked to wait outside, to which she nodded and proceeded to exit the warehouse... Her stomach growled again when she went out, "shhhhhh sooooon.." she patted her stomach.

Sleak came walking outside, lights behind him going out as he tapped his phone. He locked the door behind him, and motioned Torch to move along. "It's only a short walk, it's pretty much around the corner from the bus stop."

Victoria caught up quickly and just walked beside Sleak, fiddling with her bag straps as they went. "Oh that's good.." is she gonna try again? Yeah she is, "you really don't have to dude. I've got food at home!"

"If you did, then why haven't you eaten since yesterday?" Sleak countered. "Even if you have like, little time, you gotta grab something for breakfast. And eat something for lunch.. Can't really skip meals like that, y'know?" He shrugged. "Kinda feels like you're focused more on getting your pet something to eat than you yourself, so I'm fixing that, at least for today."

GUILTY. Victoria shrugged sheepishly, "haha ha..... I.. um.. forgot?"

"And yet 'I gotta feed Goober' did get remembered?" An eyebrow was raised and a sarcastic smirk appeared. Sleak's "Truth detector" was hitting a low point and he started to be able to smell the level of bullshit Torch was handing him. "Noooo, you're not fooling me, miss." He paused for a second, looking up.. "By the way, now that Tad isn't here.. It's Victoria, right?"

She chuckled a bit, "let's just say my slug has me trained eheh.. And yeah it is. 'Torch' just kinda stuck on me y'know?"

"I'm guessing from your bright orange style.." Sleak noted. "..Anyway, it's just.. the other day, the tournament thing? Didn't find a single person registered as Torch Mai. But I did find a Victoria Mai. Comes with the necessity of using IDs and all.. Considering I sponsored it and helped set it up, I've had to look over all the documents.." He laughed a bit sheepishly.. "..Never get into politics and paperworks. It's a nightmare."

A HUGE laugh was coming up, so she stifled it with her hand, "snrrk- you looked for me?" Letting a few more chuckles breathe out, she calmed down, bringing her arms behind her head. "Well suppose you'd have to in order to document the battles. It's a um.. old nickname from home. Lots of my random teammates and opponents would call me that or the sillier version: 'The Flaming Torch'" she brought her arms down for a moment to make the air quotes. She looked ahead for a moment, "I keep forgetting why they used to call me that.. probably from how fast I was? I mean... I did aim to play hard to get heh" she added a wink to that.

"Feels like you're still aiming to play hard to get.. Hard to get food for you." Earlier sarcastic smirk made a comeback as Sleak made an awful joke. "And no, I didn't.. like.. look for you and all, but.. you did seem like the only one participating who also had the last name Mai. Hard to miss, considering it's fairly short and also one of the few last names I actually knew." He muttered something about having a low turnout anyway, so he would've spotted her, but it seemed like a sore spot for the green inkling.. considering he helped organize and all.. "Anyway, we're pretty much here." He noted, as he pointed at a seemingly small diner nearby. From the outside, the diner seemed almost as if it never got out of the 80s..

Torch stared at the exterior of the diner, taking in its loud metallic colors and set up. She shrugged, "well at least it looks like they'll serve good burgers heheh.." After a moment, she went ahead and opened the door, to her surprise, the 80s didn't spill inside, "wwwwwow it looks much nicer in here." She held the door open so it wouldn't slam in the green inkling's face, all the meanwhile scanning the area to see where a good spot may be.

"Heh, just realize that if you order a burger, a side of fries is essentially the entire rest of the plate, whether you want it or not." He neglected to mention that the size of plates were larger than average as well.. Sleak waved at the lady behind the counter as they finally entered, who simply nodded back with a smile. "Like I said, they serve meals here. Every plate is an entire meal, heh..." He didn't comment on how the place looked- it wasn't his first time there, but he hadn't been in Cephalo to see any potential older designs. "Anyway, let's just sit down in an empty booth, the waitress will come by soon. Should give you some time to decide."

Torch smiled at the lady as they walked in, can't be rude right? And found an empty booth after a bit, sliding into the seat. "A burger with fries? Well um... you're finishing them if I can't," she gave a smirk before hiding behind the menu that was at the table, she's gotta choose the cheapest thing there... which might be the burger.

Sleak sat down on the seat opposite to Torch. "Hope you're familiar with burger lingo. They do pretty much everything with burgs, and I'm not gonna let you order a Plain Jane." He noted. "Though if you're ordering a Flying Dutchman.. Well, I'd respect that, I guess. Gets messy though."

Victoria peeked over the menue, cocking a brow, "I've never heard of a Plain Jane... Flying Dutchman, yes..." She put the menu down, "okay... so then what do you call a regular cheeseburger?"

"..A cheeseburger." The disappointment was visible on Sleak's face. "What, no extras? Like sauce, maybe you want raw onions instead of glaced ones..? Ah well, I promised a meal, I guess I didn't say how much the meal was going to have to be.."

Victoria crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out playfully. Haha! He can't make her get something expensive now could he? "Exactly~ It's already enough you're doing that for me. I'm not gonna ask for some thirty dollar course!" She rested her head on her hand as she looked down at the menu again, "'Course I'd ask for more if it were coming out of my wallet." ...she seems to be stuck looking at the desserts section.

"Ahuh. Are you sure..? Cause by all means, I'm paying for your meal.. but you could just.. go dutch on your dessert.. Or like for a side order.. Or maybe pay specifically for the add-ons to your burger." Sleak taunted. Of course, if she actually decided to do that, he was going to pay for it anyway. He just wondered if she'd actually go so far. "I mean, I'm fairly active, and as far as I know, so are you.. Even if we order something heavy on the grease we'd have worked it off within the week, heh." He wasn't sure why he suddenly talked about calories. His intention was to make her feel more comfortable in ordering more, but frankly, after saying that he rubbed the back of his head and just sat backwards..

"oh you should see my diet when I do remember to eat," she thought aloud. Torch leaned back in her seat, arms crossed again as she glared at the menu. why must you be so difficult? After a few moments, she looked up at Sleak with iffy eyes, "You sure you're okay with this?"

The eyebrow on Sleak's face got raised once more. This time not for sarcasm, but more in interest.. As her last question seemed to imply she was about to order big time. "Do squids have 8 arms and 2 tentacles? Yes, I am sure."

A short squid rushed over to the table, "Hiya, guys! sorry for the wait-I'm Wanda, I'll be your waitress tonight, are you ready to order or can I get you some drinks to start?" she asked quickly standing at the end of the table and smiling brightly, she carried a pen and a pad of paper in her hands, which were folded in front of her as she waited for a response.

Torch sat up and smiled at the waitress, "Hi! um.. I think I'm ready." She looked through the menu quickly again, "May I get the side plate of fries please? oh and that chocolate milkshake?" She looked back up with a smile, seeing if the waitress had gotten it down.

Wanda pulled up her notebook with a nod, "Alrighty, hun! not a problem, ooh I love the milkshakes here." she giggled as she finished jotting down what Torch had ordered she turned to Sleak "And for you?" she asked

"I'd like an extra toasted Hockey Puck Brulee 2x4 LTO, Hold the T, make it cry, let it swim... and the fries gotta be well done." Sleak ordered. It's not as if he had memorized a phrase or anything. It's more like.. okay he totally did memorize it. "...And add a cheeseburger to her order. I'm paying for it all, so I'm a bit disappointed she decided to go cheap." He flatout stated. "..Er, considering how you do cheeseburgers, that is, you can remove that side plate of fries from her order, before I drown her in fries, aheheh.." He turned to Torch. "Listen, if it's cause you think you can't finish it, so be it. It'd be a shame if something was left, but it happens. But if you're doing it to be courteous to me for some reason, you're talking to the wrong inkling."

Well shoot he added more to her order. She can't say she didn't see it coming but she was curious to see his reaction to her small order. She sighed with a small smile, "can't blame a girl for trying," she then turned to Wanda again, "actually, keep the side order of fries, and can you make it a double decker please?"

"...I totally can and totally will. If someone offers to pay a meal and says that they're absolutely sure, you get that meal, dangit. Now if this were a fancy restaurant and you were about to order the lobster, I would've run out the door, mostly cause I'm not sure why I'd BE in one.. but this is an amazing diner and honestly I feel you were not just insulting me but also them for ordering just a 'side portion'. Tsk tsk." Sleak looked at Torch, but his sly smile made it obvious he was mostly joking. Mostly.

She caught the smile, so she caught the joke, but the words still got to her. It was kind of insulting wasn't it? She gave an embarrassed smile, having her eyes dart to the side, "h-heh... yeah, sorry"

Wanda gave another nod as she jotted it all down, looking between the two as she held the notebook, "Okay- I got that.. will that be all or do you want anything to drink with that, hun?" she asked Sleak, then she leaned one hand on the table, and kept her voice low "Between you and me, if this is your anniversary I can get you a free slice of pie." she raised her voice again "Plus your girl might just be craving our fresh cut fries!" she nudged her elbow towards Torch "I can't get enough." she giggled.

"Ah, yes, our anniversary of meeting in person.. what is it, almost two hours ago?" Sleak grinned for a sec. "And uh, I dunno, I'll take a chocolate milkshake too, I guess."

Torch blinked as her face gained that bit of orange color yet again, hearing just what she thought she heard. Oh no, even random strangers think they're together!! She tried laughing it off, "oh- hah- we're- we're not- um-"

"OH dear! I'm sorry- I have to stop making the assumption. I once asked how long a brother and sister had been together." Wanda laughed and looked at the cieling with a sigh she waved her hand and took the last note down. "Alright another chocolate milkshake. I'll get that to you asap!" She gave them a nod and a final smile before hurrying off to the kitchen or window to the kitchen or whatever. Place where she puts orders up

"Looks like we're a popular ship even when we're not online." As he said it, he resumed his grin. "Though hey, if you want pie, we could probably fight for that two hour anniversary, hahaha.. Or.. I'll just.. actually pay for a slice. Ahem.."

She breathed out a chuckle, rubbing behind her neck, "eheh, now was that Sleak or Slick?" She leaned on her hand, and began playing with one of her tentacles with the other, "I'll uh, I'll think about it heh.." She's still trying to calm down from that little moment. it was working... but only a tad uhuhuhu

Wanda came back over after a short minute with two tall glasses, filled to the brim with chocolate shake,, a mountain of whipped cream with a single cherry perched on top, with a drizzle of chocolate sauce for presentation, and two candy cane striped straws, BIG ones so you could actually drink the milkshake and not feel like you're eyes are going to get sucked down your throat. "Here you are, two chocolate 'shakes!" she said with a smile "The food will be about ten minutes. need anything else?" she asked

Torch sat up, looking at the pretty looking drink. Man she'd be drooling if she didn't have a least bit of self control. She glanced at Sleak before smiling up at the waitress, "No, I think I'm good thank you!" don't do it sleak. Don't do it

"Well, you've given us the idea of getting some pie, so perhaps we'll order some.. Later on. Right now, I'm good waiting for the burgers, haha.." Sleak responded. "So thank you, but nothing right now, heh."

"Okay! I'll be back with your burgers in a bit." Wanda rushed away because she was always in a rush. Always

Victoria watched as the waitress practically flew away, "that's gonna be me again tomorrow.." she murmured. She took one of the milkshakes carefully -don't wanna spill this beauty- and started sipping from the decrorative straw. The squid practically melted from the sweet sweet taste. Content was obviously written all over her face.

"Hrm.." He looked at the.. rather massive shake. "..You a fan of cherries?" Sleak finally commented, as he stared at the.. well, in his opinion, something that awful couldn't be a fruit, but there it was. "Cause I can think of about a million reasons why not to eat them, and they all come down to cherries being gross."

Torch was brought out of her happy fantastical state, as well as taking a break from downing the shake inone go. "mm... it really depends on the kind." She plucked the cherry off of the top and examined it, seeing if there was the best kind of cherry... and yes it was the sweet maraschino cherry! So she popped it in her mouth. Twirling the stem between her fingers, she shrugged, "I really only like these kind of cherries, the fresh ones taste rather bitter," She stuck out her tongue a bit to show her distaste.

He plucked the cherry off of his shake and gently put it on top of .. what was left of Torch's shake. "Well, enjoy this one, too, then."He then took a few sips of his own shake.. "Hrm, maybe I should ask for a teaspoon, so I can more easily eat all this whipped cream.." Though he then took more sips through the straw, his pained face showed that he wasn't looking forward trying to sip the whipped cream. Though the milkshake was great.

She watched as Sleak plopped the cherry atop of her shake, a light tint of orange covered her cheeks from the friendly gesture as she smiled, "hah thanks," She proceeded to nab the little fruit and eat that one too. It wasn't the best part of the shake anyways. Victoria rested her chin on her hand, lightly grabbing her straw and stirring the shake. "You could mix it in.. It might taste even better~" She was only about a quarter through her shake.. but something told her she should save the rest for when her meal comes by.

"Hm, I suppose.. But I still think using a spoon would be easier." Sleak noted. He had noticed the earlier tint on Torch's cheeks as he had given her the cherry, but decided against commenting on it.. He was just being nice to a friend, right?.. Right? "Am I being too straight forward with my friends..?.." He blinked, realizing he said that out loud. "..er, I mean, we only just met, and rather than handing you the cherry I just put it on your food even though you didn't even say you wanted it.."

Victoria blinked, slightly lifting a brow, genuinely confused as to what he was on about. Pausing for a moment she gave a shoulder shrug, returning to mixing her drink. "I mean.." her eyes traveled to the side, trying to think of what to say to this, "I thought it was... nice of you I guess." She looked back at him with a bit of a furrowed brow, as if to say 'it's not weird right?'

"I'm probably overthinking it, am I not.." He took another sip of his milkshake.. "Guess I do that a lot lately. Things seemed easier in Inkopolis, just be a good player and do your thing. Once I got here, things started feeling like I gotta be more mature and set the right example and.. I mean, eesh, I don't think I'm the right person for that job. But I can't leave everything to the ol' shrimp, Jes, Kapena and Shiro, right.. Even Mio seems to be doing things better, but I guess it's easier for him with his radio experience." Sleak shook his head and just sipped. "..Ah, sorry, I shouldn't rant at you. I think things are just catching up on me, what with everything that happened thusfar."

Victoria sat up, looking down at her shake before shaking her head and looking up at the green inkling, trying to muster a reassuring smile. "It's.. it's okay, really. I mean, I've had my fair share of culture shock when I moved here... I may live by myself but I can only imagine the responsibilities you hold around here.." she looked down at her shake. He wasn't exactly talking himself down. But she didn't like it either, "For what it counts.. I think you're doing an okay job at this stuff," she sipped te milkshake slowly, still intent on saving it.

"Hrm, perhaps. Still feel like I could do more.. I'm one of the people who could just walk away and never look back, but I couldn't do that to the others." He paused for a second.. "Though I guess I did.. precisely that to my squad.. Well, they at least agreed with it, but it's a shame they didn't stick around to help out.. Everyone got their own problems though, I guess." Sleak sighed and looked at his milkshake. "Aw geez, what am I doing.. Just a few months I was riding the coattails of success, and now that I'm having a bit of trouble, I'm depressing myself? Eesh." He shook his head. "Cod, have I become a downer or what. If my squad could see me like this, they'd splat me, hah."

She was watching him with a furrowed brow. "Hey... I probably would too," she chuckled a bit, "Things take time.. and well, you've gotten this far right? I mean you're.. uh.." she takes a good look at him as if trying to read something, "you look around my age, and to do what you've done for the city thus far? Heh.." she looks down idly stirring again, with a much calmer look on her face, "don't be too hard on yourself.."

Wanda walked over- placing a little thing , with ketchup and vinegar on it in the middle of the table. she carried both plates full of DELICIOUS DELICIOUS fries and ground meat sandwiches with her one hand.. and arm, meaning she had balanced one of the plates on HER ARM HOW DO WAITRESSES DO THAT. "Here we are you two!" She grabbed the plate off her arm and slid it in front of Torch, and then put the Sleaks in front of him. "Enjoy! I'll be back to check on you in a bit." She beamed and , looking up at them to see if they had any objections before she would hurry up to go roll cutlery.

The orange inkling smiled up to the waitress, "thank you!" And she waited for Wanda to be gone before she began her delicious monstrosity.... taking a handful of fries and stuffing it in between the patties. The best way to have your burger.

Sleak was about to reply to Torch, when he noticed Wanda approaching with their burgers. As such, he decided to not continue. Torch herself seemed distracted by the fact anyway.. That or the actual burgers. He eyed the burger.. and was honestly surprised when they got it just right. Of course he was still going to put some fries between the buns, but if he ordered the burger WITH fries between the buns, he'd drown in fries. "Thanks, Wanda. Looks great." As the waitress walked away, Sleak looked at Torch doing.. almost the exact thing he had planned. "..Huh, so I'm not the only one who does that. It's why I asked for my fries to be 'well done' as well, the extra crunch is great.." He said, before he actually also started adding fries. He paused for a moment to dip a fry in the burger's sauce and eat it, just for taste.. "Hmmm, yes, this is good." Sleak said, while displaying a bigger smile on his face than he has had thusfar on this day.

She was about to take a bite out of her burger until Sleak spoke up, there she was at a freeze frame for a moment before lowering it down with a smirk, "It's the only way to have a burger... I was trying to help my brothers see the light before I left but.. to no avail eheh," She chuckled before actually taking a bite. Even at the first moment of sinking her beak into the sandwich she would have melted into a pool of happiness. Food. Food is great.

Sleak took a sizeable bite out of his burger. It was precisely like he had ordered, exactly what he had expected. The extra sauce and onions came dripping out the back, just barely avoided by his fingers as he had already assumed it would drip all over. Thus, the sauce and onions were dripping out the back, over his plate. Or more specific, all over his fries. Just as planned.

Within a few minutes Victoria was already over half way done with the burger. Geez I don't think she knew how hungry she actually was. Taking a break from the sandwich to sip her milkshake she got curious, "hey so um.. tournaments and stuff.. you'd be the guy to know when the next one would be, right?" She began nibbling on her fries, patiently waiting for an answer.

Sleak was a bit slower. He had been eating fries alongside the burger, so in comparison, his fries were at a lower count than Torch's. When her question came up, he stopped himself from biting down on another sauce and onion coated fry.. "That would be correct. I'm keeping an eye out for every big play coming up.. Official and unofficial.. Why do you ask?"

She smiled embarrassingly, "I just wanted to know I have someone to ask if any were coming up, eheh.." and for the sake of no conversation but she wasn't about to say that, "would prolly be easier if I just learn how to use that app you talked about, huh?" She rambled before returning to her sandwich.

"Well, that too, but only official tournaments may show up on there.. They usually don't." Sleak pointed out, putting another fry.. or three.. or four or so.. in his mouth. He chewed and swallowed, before mentioning. "It's just like the city officials, barely any interest in the state of teenagers."

"I see," she took another few bites out of the burger, chewing slowly before swallowing, "Guess I'll just have to keep an ear out," Torch was practically done with her sandwich after a few more minutes, so she just moved onto nibbling the fries.

"Well, once we got this whole situation worked out, we'll make sure it's obvious when there's things happening. I'd mostly suggest listening to Mio's show.." Sleak said, before taking a bite out of his own burger. He sat back afterward, thinking.. "Maybe I gotta ask one of the locals to work on an app or something."

"Sounds like a good idea!" She nibbled on another fry, "I'd offer to help but uh.. I'm not an expert at those things heh.."

After some time, Sleak had finished up his burger.. There were still some fries left, but he was eating those absentmindedly.. while staring at half a milkshake left. "So, what do you plan on doing next? Going home, feed your pet.. make plans for a late dinneer, I hope...but then what? See if there's a turf war going..?" He asked, holding half a fry. "I mean, I'm probably gonna be checking if the others need some help with anything.." He muttered something about boring himself with Squid Jump afterwards..

Torch was sipping on the rest of her milkshake, looking off to the side as she rambled, "I could always go for a turf war.. but other art projects need to be done.. and I should clean up my place... I'll probably stay up and watch bad horror flicks..."

"Ah, now I understand why you barely eat." Sleak looked at her with a bit of a smirk again. "But you gotta realize the starving artist trope is precisely that, a trope."

She looked at him for a moment, taking that in, before a half smile grew on her face. She waved it off, "Hey now, it's not starving if I don't feel it!" She laughed. "Besides, I do have some kind of food at home.... maybe nothing like this but... I still have access to food when I remember I have a stomach."

"...So basically, you just need to remember faster. Have you considered eating at the same time you feed your pet?" Sleak asked, with a raised eyebrow. "It'd be a good reminder for yourself, y'know. Feed them, feed yourself."

"But what if I'm not hungry by then?" She laughed, "Aaaand Goob's also demanding of food.. he doesn't exactly have a set schedule himself.. and I always leave food for him before I leave... Though I have to wonder why you're worried about this. Getting lost is one thing.." she counted off her finger, recalling that one time she got incredibly lost, "but despite my eating and sleeping habits, I'm still alive right?" She tried to give a convincing, beaming smile.

"...Asking that specific question is just so more worrying.. And also, we were discussing eating, when did sleeping habits come in..?" Sleak asked... before he blinked.. "Wait, you're also sleeping badly? Geez.."

OOPS. "...would you believe if I said I don't have that bad of a sleeping habit?"

Sleak just looked at her incredulously while putting a few fries in his mouth. He kept quiet, but one of his eyebrows did arch upward slowly, as if to show his increasing disbelief.

Torch breathed out a nervous chuckle, "Y-Yeah of course not heh.." she waved her hand as if to wave the topic off, "I'm fine, I'm fine!"

"Bad at eating on time, bad at sleeping on time.. How do you manage." Sleak 'asked'. He took a large slurp from his milkshake. "Honestly, it doesn't exactly sound healthy. In fact, it screams bad for your health."

She sighs exaggeratedly as a joke, "okay okay," pulling out her phone she waves it in the air, "I'll put some alarms to 'remind' me to eat," with that she started tapping away, "can't promise I'll eat if I'm not hungry though," she sang at the end.

"You CAN promise me to actually eat and not pretend you're not hungry. Didn't you try to pull that earlier?" He just looked at her with the same raised eyebrow as ever. "Well, in the end, I can't really force you to do anything- even if I ordered some big menu you could've just not eaten it.. But I'm glad you have a sense of self-preservation in there, somewhere."

Torch rolls her eyes with a smile, "yeah yeah.." she glances at him and pulls out a smirk out of that smile, "your brows are gonna slide off your head heh."

"Well, if my eyebrows wish to be free, that's up to them, just as actually eating is up to you." He pointed a fry at her, threateningly. Which was likely as threatening as a wet paper towel. "I'd still suggest just trying to eat and sleep properly, before you kill yourself. At some point, you'll end up malnourished and too tired to work for the coins that get you food, and so on.. A chain reaction of bad decisions never end well."

"Ive been trying," she slightly whined, grabbing some more fries to nibble on, "it just.. doesn't go my way sometimes... a lot of the time.."

"And why is that? Got any idea why that's happening, or..?" Sleak asked. Trying to get the core of the problem, really..

"Probably because..." she paused, realizing what she was going to say, not even needed to be said. She knew it couldn't be helped, "a-actually, don't worry about it... it's uh... it's no real reason, just gotta force myself to get into it y'know?" She chuckled a bit awkwardly.

"Hm. Well, I can't and shouldn't push you into things, honestly, but you've basically given away that you don't eat properly and don't sleep properly. That does cause worry, even if we only formally met a few hours ago." Sleak shook his head. "Even if you say you'll just have to force yourself and that I don't have to worry, I'm still worrying." He sat back, holding some fries..

"Oh... man you're gonna make me worry about your worrying!" Victoria chuckled. She went onto munching the rest of of her fries, really wanting to move away from the topic. Last thing she wants is to have someone worry over her and her mountains of molehills.

He wanted to reply, but figured it was better not to. Instead, he quietly ate the fries he held as he sat back.. "You know, I used to worry about fairly little. Turf wars went fine, had a decent income.. And then I moved to my own place. And then reality sets in, you know.. Suddenly you are responsible for all sorts of things. Neglected taking care of myself because paying bills and playing matches seemed more important... My teammates had to stop me from overdoing it. Honestly, that's why I'm worrying about you right now, cause I feel you're heading down the same path."

Victoria stood silent, stuck mid-chew on her fries looking at the guy like he had a spider on his head. She really wasn't expecting that. After a beat or two she quickly gulped down what was in her mouth, "uh, er, ahem, thanks I guess, um.." she began rubbing her arm lightly, "it's just.. it's not just.. um..." hmhm she took a pause to take a breath in, why was this so hard to admit? "It's not just that.. I wish it was just that.. it's just.. everything could affect something y'know? I..." the orange inkling gave a light chuckle, looking away. If he understood half the story, might as well give a hint of what's eating at her 24/7 right?

"Hm." Whether or not it was a hint, he didn't really see it as such. It felt more like a flimsy excuse. Which of course was because he didn't realize it was a hint. "It kinda just sounds like you've given up.." Sleak didn't share her chuckle, if anything it felt a bit depressing to him.

Well this is awkward. He read her like a book! She's given up because she can't see a way out of her own hell hole. It's nothing he should worry about. It's not like he can help... "Can he?" She mumbled.. though it took her a second to realize she thought aloud, and even a second longer to realize she was sinking into her folded arms on the table as she was thinking. It probably would have been even more awkward if she stood silent now. "....how do you deal with stress?" She finally asks, still not looking though, she's not used to asking for help.

"Oh, well, I guess I invite people I barely know to a diner and then complain to them about what's going badly." He said with a shrug. "Though in general I let myself loose myself in whatever I'm doing at the time. Working on rebuilding the warehouse like in Inkopolis is something that requires quite a bit of focus to get just right, so I have to push everything aside.. It's probably not a good way, but considering it's a job without a deadline... Most of what I do have no deadlines... If anything, I'd say I'm a bit lucky, for most of the jobs, I'm the public face, alongside Mio.. The biggest stress for me comes having to deal with city officials and what not.." He hoped he wasn't too obiously about trying to avoid to say that his method of de-stressing at the moment is mostly ignoring that he has a reason to stress. "Honestly, it's a bit hard to give you advice, since we're not in the same situation."

All she understood was that he focuses on the moment, and just keeps himself busy. If only she could have that mindset.. He was right though, couldn't get advice based on a different situation. She gave a small shoulder shrug and sat up again, "yeah I guess so... sorry..." Victoria looked around the diner, "should we...wait for Wanda to come back or... leave the.. money on the table..." oh no that sounds like she's rushing. Or bored. Or both. Oh no. "I-I mean 'cuz maybe we shouldn't loiter around here if we finished right? eheh....."

"Well, it's not that busy, and technically we're paying customers, even if we haven't paid.. So I doubt it's loitering.. But if you want to head out, I can call Wanda?" He made the situation uncomfortable, didn't he.. Sleak looked sideways, outside for a moment.. Then immediately grabbed his phone. "Dang, yeah, we should probably head out. Looks like rain in about half an hour."

Speak of the devil- Wanda appeared at the table a moment later, "Ah- let me grab those plates for you!" she took the plates off the table, balancing them on her arm "Do you guys want anything else or are you good to go?" she asked with a smile "I can always put a piece of pie in a container if you'd like it for later!"

"Hrm, that might be a good idea. We'll want to be out of here before it starts raining.." Sleak looked at Torch. "..What do you say? Piece of pie for when you're home?"

Well since he offered. She nodded, giving a small smile, "sure.. thanks"

Wanda nodded, "Sure thing! one second-" disappearing for a second before coming back with a piece of pie at lightning speeds in a Styrofoam container, handing it to Torch "Here you are," and the bill to Sleak "And here you are!" she smiled.

"Right. Thanks, Wanda." He said a bit sarcasticly, although with a smirk on his face. Sleak looked over the bill for a moment.. before handing back the required amount, as well as a bit extra. Tipping is good practice after all, and the service was decent, so he had calculated in his mind what 20% extra was. "Here you go.."

After the bill was paid and the pair had left, the inklings were on the road... sidewalk again. The clouds were starting to form together, making the sky slightly darker with every passing moment. Victoria tugged on her bag straps, her brow furrowing as she look up at the clouds while they walked. "Hope it doesn't rain too soon.. "

"Agreed.. With my luck, though, I suspect we'll get caught right in the middle and end up respawning somewhere.." Sleak looked at the nearby bus stop. "If we catch a bus, we'll at least not be in the warehouse area.."

She glanced back at the green inkling, chuckling a little, "I hope that's the idea! If the um.. buses are still running that is." Victoria walked toward the stop, "I mean, you've already fed me... I don't want to have you walk me all the way either!!"

"They should still be running.. Buses keep going until quite late.. though depending on the time, the amount of buses per hour decreases.. we should be good, though." Sleak looked at Torch. "If anything, I do need to actually get back to the center area myself, since I'd also like to get home already, heh."

Oh geez. She's kept him busy long enough, maybe she should just squid up and learn to find her way home on her own.. she tugged on her straps, shrugging up her shoulders with a bit of an awkward smile, "ahah.. yeah I bet you do. I'll um. I can just try to find.. my way back. After the stop of course!" No way in hell was she ready to trek alone.

As they reached the bus stop, Sleak turned to Torch again. "Maybe I should at least walk you back to where you work, since that's more familiar territory for you." For him, it wasn't that hard. Aside from the fact that he knew his way around and had the app if he really needed to know the way, there was also the fact he could perhaps abuse that super jump technique to go home, after all.. But from the warehouse district, it was simply too far. Sure, he considered simply lining up a bunch of beak-ons, but.. He looked to the side with a small smirk. There already were complaints from city officials that these super jumps were dangerous to do in the city and that it shouldn't happen. If he used a bunch of them in a row, it would make him stick out like a sore thumb. "..It's not that far from the bus stop, after all. I just hope we don't arrive there only to find out we're meant to go the opposite direction, haha.." Sleak chuckled a little, though his laughter was cut short by a single drop of water on his cheek. "Aw crap, seems like it's already starting. Where's the bus..?" He looked at the stop's schedule, and there should be one any minute now.. "This bus stop doesn't exactly have cover."

Victoria nodded and peered both ways for the bus. Still nowhere in sight, she began hopping from one foot to the other, "oh..... I don't wanna get caught in the rain again...." In a matter of minutes the few little drops became a light drizzle and lucky them! The bus finally came!

"Hrrr.." Sleak had cast his eyes out the window of the bus, clearly annoyed with the rain.. the drops hitting the roof of the bus and the window he looked out of made enough volume that every single hit just increased his annoyance. It was still the middle of the day, not even 4 PM yet. This rain was going to mess things up. No way he'd be able to Super Jump home if everything were so wet.. Besides, what are the odds his specialized Krak-ons would still be functioning... "Why wasn't there anything about how much it'd rain.. normally message boards'd be flooded.." He looked at Torch. "No matter where we get out, we're pretty much going to get wet trying to run from cover to cover. Unless you intend to spend a while under the cover of the bus stop.. This sucks."

Torch looked out the window as they rode along, the light drizzle getting harder and harder. She had a grimace when he brought up the fact of being stuck at the bus stop for cover... she flopped back, folding her arms and looked down at her feet as if in deep thought, "yeah.. I don't think we have a choice in that anymore." they were simply going to be stuck if the rain continued at this pace! "We'll be fine.. I hope." She sat up again, sporting a bit of a sheepish grin at the squid, "I mean.. the bus stop should be enough cover as long as it doesn't turn into a monsoon, right? eheh.."

"Basically, yeah.." Sleak softly shook his head in disapproval. "I'm not looking forward to that. We can't exactly stay in the bus either.. I think this one keeps going to the next town over." He sighed, and looked out the window again. "..So uh.. What.. What did you think of the arena, thusfar...?" He suddenly asked, not even looking at the orange squid. "I mean, it's been a while since I've been in Inkopolis, so.. Maybe it's too different..."

The orange inkling tilted her head a bit, did he sound... Not finishing the thought, she shook her head, "it's not bad at all!" she began tracing square shapes on her leg, as if to recall the memory by drawing it out, "sure it's not identical... but it still has that atmosphere that it's a warzone and not just some boxes placed there." Stealing another glance, she shrugged her shoulders, "and.. well I think it's fine to have it different... kinda keeps each place unique, y'know?"

"Hm, I guess. I just intended it to be pretty identical, since it worked out so well in Inkopolis, y'know.." He paused, before continuing in a lower volume. "..maybe bring a bit of home closer.." He shook his head again. "Well, it's pretty much nearly done, but.." Sleak turned to Torch. "Well, perhaps you want to give it another test run sooner or later? I'd love to have some more input from someone who actually played in the original arena."

Her brow furrowed a bit. A little homesick he seems, she got the feeling. It almost made her want to hug the guy. But that sympathetic smile turned into a cheerful one when he offered the opportunity, "I'd be happy to! Just gonna have to look for more players to splat," she winked. Torch looked out of the window again, the rain's picking up.. "...home's where the heart is.. so I can't blame you for trying to make it identical.. " she said calmly, and she nodded definitively, "I'll help in any way I can."

"Well, since we're technically trying to keep this.. Somewhat of a secret.. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to get more people to splat. But as you know, I always have my roller with me." He smirked, but sighed again as she basically hit his worry on the dot. ".. I do sometimes wonder if staying here was the best idea.." Sleak finally noted, after turning his own line of sight towards the rain outside..

Torch had her own confident smirk, just about to give a quip. But she stopped in her tracks once she heard the sigh, and her face slowly contorted with concern. "What do you mean?"

"I'd still be travelling with the team, doing turf war and.. Hrn.. Never mind, I've already aired my grievances in the diner.." He sighed once more. That rain was giving him grief.. "At least the weather seemed better, most of the time. I've seen more rain in Cephalo in the last few months than I've seen in Inkopolis in my entire life." Sleak shook his head, a now common gesture. "Perhaps I should ... I dunno, plan something in Inkopolis."

Torch shook her head with a sympathetic smile, looking back at the green squid, "hey I can only imagine the stresses you're holding onto.. let it out if you need to." An advice she should be listening to herself lmao. She looked away again, hoping that message got across, "so um.. planning something for home?"

"Pff, I'm supposed to be the cool S-ranker.. I think most of my stress comes from things being harder over here. In Inkopolis, if you're good at playing Turf War, you're pretty much set for life. Over here.." He shook his head. "I don't think anyone here had ever heard of me. On one hand, nice to be anonymous for the most part. On the other hand, goodbye credibility." Sleak paused for a moment. "Well, I'm sure you know precisely what I'm talking about. As for home.. I don't know, I was maybe thinking we could get a few busses and drive all the way to Inkopolis, maybe reserve a few arenas.. Sheldon still owes me a favor, I can probably get him to lend us some weapons.." He grabbed his phone and.. Paused again. "It.. Wouldn't be a good idea right now, though.."

Torch chuckled when he claimed she would know the situation. She did. She knew exactly what it was like.. despite only being in Cephalo for a few months. She tried to help, "Probably not.. maybe you wanna get more acquainted with the squids around here before offering something like that..." She shrugged a bit sheepishly, "I'm sure they'd be psyched to take up on it but... you should show your face more often if you want em to hear you out... It's a um.. a way to get that credibility...."

"Yeah, I guess. The two or three public appearances I've made were kinda.." Sleak rolled his eyes, while making a kind of grunting noise. "To be honest, though, Mio is meant to be the public face of the operation.. I'm more of a secondary announcer..." He sighed, looking outside through the window. "Y'know.. Back in Inkopolis I sometimes gave out signatures.. like I'd get asked to do a session and basically the idea is nod and smile. It feels.. fake and hollow. I don't have any real interaction, they're just seeing a public figure rather than me." He looked at Torch and smiled. "Can't exactly take out every inkling in Inkopolis out for burgers, right?"

"I guess not!" Torch giggled, her cheeks covered in a light orange again. Geez she couldn't believe she had someone pay for her meal like that.. but in the end he did offer.. and she really couldn't say no.. she shook her head a bit to snap out of that guilt, instead bearing another smile, "But hey. new place, new ropes, right?" She elbowed him playfully, "we gotta be more social, heh"

"Well, I'm technically already hanging with the cool squids.. as well as.. old people." He squinted, realizing just how small his group of friends in Cephalo was. "And I guess I know a lot of people from the underground, but they're not exactly the kind of people who'd show up for a road trip.. and it's less socializing, more earning money and favors." Sleak stated, while looking upward..

"That... sounds kinda boring." Torch crossed her arms, slouching again, "no offense" she added quickly.

"Only because I'm explaining it in a way you don't get interested in it." Sleak mentioned offhand. "..Hey, our stop is coming up... and it's still raining."

Victoria peered out the window as the bus slowed down to the stop, "doesn't look like it's letting up anytime soon either..." Once they up and exited from the vehicle, she leaned against the frame of the bus stop, watching the rain patter. "Um.... do you even like it here, Sleak?" Her gaze shifted to a side-long look at him. "I mean... I get you have these stresses and worries and... But um... do you enjoy being here?" As she said it, she immediately looked back to the rain, "or um. You don't have to answer I... I was just.. curious.." "..I should have brought an umbrella.."

Sleak looked up at the rain, his movements careful as to not get wet.. "..Honestly, I don't know. I came with the hopes to help, but.." He shook his head and looked at Torch. "I just feel like what I've done thusfar has amounted to very little, as the effects are barely noticeable.. if at all." He sighed. "..I think I just miss home."

"You can always go back." Torch blurted. She had to admit, hearing the whole pity party was starting to get to her.. and having pity parties was her job! But after saying that she took a moment to breathe before turning to the lime green inkling. She didn't look serious, but she had a few things to outright confess after hearing his woes. "But I don't think you would..." she figured a bit, her eyes shifting but she tried her hardest to keep her gaze, "I've only been here for a.. few months. But as far as I see it... not a lot of kids around here are as adamant about what you're trying to do... about anything really, except fight with each other... and well.. as someone who can't really go back... " she broke the stare to look back at the rain, rubbing a hand on her arm, "it's helping.." she chuckled a bit, feeling like a fool after saying what she had said, "oh but I know I'm just one squid who you've just met and can't even take care of herself! Much less someone to actually believe you'd take any of this in." She chose to keep looking at the rain and the cloudy sky. If anything was gonna keep her from busting into tears again it was this.

"Well, I guess the jig is up, I'm actually not really that cool, I may be an adult but I'm honestly just a homesick little squid in a city FOREVER away from where my home and family is." Sleak said, almost laughing as he leaned back against the bus stop's glass backwall.. green-tinted tears betraying his actual feelings. "No.. no.. I'm not going to abandon Cephalo just because of a moment of self-doubt. I can see the results of what we've been doing already.. It's just.. all so different here." He put his hand to his head, rubbing the side as if nursing a headache.. "Of course, you're the last person I'd have to tell that to.. And I feel like I'm just repeating myself right now.."

Torch refused to turn her head, fearing she'd break because of SO many mixed emotions now. So no she didn't see the manly man tears if anyone were to look at her, they'd see that tinted orange gloss over her eyes, just threatening to spill over. Still, she chuckled, shaking her head, "eheh... its fine.." she ran a hand across her eyes. She gave it a bit more thought, her eyes trailing down to the ground now, shifting this way and that. Before she finally moved her gaze to him. Of course it wouldn't stay, her eyes would shift away every now and then but hey! She felt a little more confident of what she was gonna say! Despite her cheeks getting warmer, please ignore that. "Can I.. not be the last person?" There she began looking away again, "I mean. Not the first one either! Obviously but... it's still... comforting... I guess... to be able to really talk to someone who's kinda homesick too. ...No way I could really talk about this stuff to the other people around here.. they wouldn't understand..." she leaned back against the wall behind her, beginning to shake a bit. "...they couldn't understand..." her eyes were glossing over again, despite looking outside. Seems like nature isn't gonna help this time.

"I just meant, you would probably know how I feel, since you're also from Inkopolis.." Sleak said, before turning to her.. He may have missed her vocal cues, but seeing her lean back while shaking.. And with his own eyes still releasing small green tinted tears, it wasn't hard to imagine what that orange gloss over Torch's eyes was. "Oh cod, I'm sorry, I'm just making it uncomfortable for you, am I not.. Of course you know what it's like, and I'm just making it harder for you. I'm so sorry.. "

Victoria shook her head, as if to say it wasn't his fault. "It's hard.... it's so hard..." it was like she was sinking into the wall, bringing herself to hug her elbows, and just grasping onto that one word 'hard' "I thought I could get away from it.. this whole.. loneliness, when I moved here..." she gave a hitched laugh, a tear making a wet line down her cheek, "but who am I kidding. I'm no different that how I was at home. The same stupid inkling who just chases others away. And I don't even know what I did." She shut her eyes tight, finally letting those built up tears flow, "I'm an adult in less than a year I should have some idea of why I'm doing, right? Right?? ....but coming here made the loneliness worse.... made it so much harder..." she sniffled, trying to get her breathing back into order. She then added thickly, "and all I have to remind me that maybe I'm not a bad person is that nickname.." Torch had looked up then, ready to apologize for rambling when she saw the green tinted tears he was shedding. Her lip quivered and her cheeks just got more orange now from frustration. Great, she made someone else cry, perfect. So she looked away, shutting her eyes tight again, managing to mutter "Im sorry"

Sleak just looked at Victoria as she spoke.. "..Hm, I guess our situations are different then.. I'm just homesick, but.." He rubbed his eyes.. "..Lonely BEFORE you moved here, huh.. I at least have like Shiro and the other guys to talk to.. and I had my team and my friends back then." He put his hand on the orange inkling's back.. "First of all.. I AM an adult and I honestly have no idea what I'm doing. Age is just a number, Torch.. But I doubt you're a bad person, regardless of age or nicknames.. I feel like I'm missing part of the story, but you've shown me nothing thusfar of why people would dislike you.." A gentle smile appeared on Sleak's face. "Honestly, I'm kinda sad I didn't know you back in Inkopolis. I'm fairly sure we would've been good friends."

Torch opened her eyes upon the touch, not reacting for a second even after hearing his words. She then gave a bit of a chuckle, wiping her eyes and sniffled. "Thanks, I guess. Though I honestly doubt that heh..." she sniffles again, "I'm just.. really dumb.. that's all.. I'm sorry.." She turned to him with a bit of a smile, her eyes still wet, "my turn, you're the last person I'd have to tell this to, really."

"Well, that dumb we can agree on, miss worries-about-her-pet-before-herself.." Sleak joked, nudging her as he did. "Ahem, that is.. well.. I mean.. I'm just joking." He immediately uttered afterward, realizing that it might not have been the best timing. "Alright then, we've both been telling things to the last person we should have to tell things to, so.. let's start by telling everyone else?" The only drops remaining on Sleak's face were no longer his tears, but rather stray drops of rain.. "Actually, let's not, ahaha.." Which seemed to be decreasing in number, ever so slowly. The rain may soon be at an end.

She snorted, waving a hand as if to wave off the fret she heard in his voice. "Yeah I... don't think we can just spill this out to just anyone..." she put a palm to her eyes, wiping away whatever was left. the little joke did in fact help. "It'd... still be kind of awkward to... they still wouldn't really understand," She shrugged as if saying what can ya do?

"Yeah.." Sleak sighed.. but the grimace on his face cleared up the moment he realized the rain had, too. "Well, the least I can do now is get you home, and with this rain gone.. we're actually able to do so, hm?" He shook his head. "If it rains any more, maybe I should order some of that repellant.. Ah, never mind."

Torch chuckled, "one step at a time." She walked out of the cover of the bus stop, basically strolling in the direction she's sure her apartment was. "...rain's kinda nice though... everything feels kind of... refreshing now.." she was rambling thoughts at this point.

"I know precisely what you mean..." Sleak breathed in deeply. "It leaves a clean smell. If there was any ink, it's gone.. Rain itself is awful, but it's after effects are great." He shook his head. "I'm just glad we didn't have to respawn to get somewhere."

"That would have been a painful process, I'd think." Torch tugged on her bag straps, "Just... waiting for the rain to take its damage... its not like jumping into the resort pool heheh,"

"The specialized respawns in Cephalo do make sense though.. Even if it's a painful and length process, when you respawn you're guaranteed to be somewhere safe, which is something that's required in a city with as much rainfall as Cephalo.." Sleak noted. "..That is.. physically safe, anyway. I know there are some respawns inside restaurants and café's as well, and while you might be physically safe, your wallet might have to endure a hit while you await the rain."

"Heh, yeah I'd imagine so!" Torch stretched out her arms, only to relax them behind her back, "it's how I get extra tips anyways, these rainy days," she mused

"Ho boy, sounds like someone is slightly disappointed about having an early shift today." Sleak nudged her, jokingly. "Missing out on all those extra tips, there goes getting me lunch sometime, eh?"

Torch snorted, "Well I guess I could sneak you oone.... for letting me run around in that arena."

"Well, it'd definitely have to be another day, but I'll hold you to that." Sleak said, eyebrow raised. "I'll keep in mind to ask after next rainfall."

'It's a date!' -was what she was about to say. Until she realized the key word in that little exclamation. It wasn't a date! None... of this was haha. Nope none. Not at all. But just the thought alone was enough to have a pale orange creep up Torch's cheeks. She had to shake it off. Don't think about it. "Well you know where I work, just shoot me a message so I can come up with an excuse for my boss as to just why I'm giving free food..... if she catches me" she snickered at the end.

Sleak raised an eyebrow and looked at Torch. "Well hey now, that sounds like stealing from your place of employment.. Tsk tsk." He replied, though he was about to break into laughter. "Perhaps it is best if you don't give me 'free food' from where you work, haha.. We'll just have to decide on a date later on. Call it a.." He paused.. "..You know, I was going to say 'raincheck', but then I realized how ironic that phrase is in this case."

She gave half a giggle in response. He... didn't have to know she did that sometimes anyways. Mostly pastries. Mostly for herself. But Torch was down for deciding later- less to think about now. She snorted upon his realization, smirking a bit at him, "it's also a bad joke. A good one if I may add," She held on of her arms, facing forward again, "but um, yeah we can decide that later.." Wait did he-- no he just meant as another day. Yes. Okay. Geezus calm down torch. Stop letting it get to your head! Of course upon thinking this her face wouldn't cool off, despite the lax expression.

"A bad joke, but also a good one?" Sleak raised his eyebrow once again. As often as he had done it in the last few minutes, someone looking at him from outside the conversation might think he had a nervous twitch or something. But no, it was just one of those days, where he had to raise his eyebrow almost every sentence. "..Also, are you feeling okay? You seem.. er.. more orange than normal."

Ah great he noticed. She seemed to have made a little eep noise when he pointed it out, immediately rubbing behind her neck and faced him slightly with a smile. As if she was trying to say, "what no nothing's up" "Er, uh, yeah I'm fine! I uh.." lie lie lie... "hah.. guess maybe guilt is coming onto me eheh.." Torch faced forward again, moving her hands to grip onto her bag straps, "you uh.. didn't have to uh.. walk with me all the way out here y'know eheh.." she blinked, making a bit of a realization. Oh man she's gonna look like an idiot again! "U-unless I misheard ya and you're down the same path!"

"It's fine, I said I'd walk you back to the place you work at, so I'm doing that.. I'm not in any particular rush to go anywhere right now, and with the rain stopped, no rush to get away from here either." He shrugged. "If you're feeling guilty about that, you definitely don't need to be.." Looking over at Torch, he had a bit of a sly grin. "Unless it's that free food thing, definitely feel guilty about that." The grin on Sleak's face betrayed the nature of that last statement- he was quite obviously joking.. "Oh yeah- now that I mention food.. if you ever want to meet up again, it's probably better if we have each other's number or mail address. I.. er.." He paused.. "I.. probably already have yours- I mean, alongside the dozens others that were used for the tournament.. but it'd probably look better if I just asked. And who knows, you could've used a fake number or.. maybe just not put your number there since I'm thinking now that it was optional.." He paused, realizing that he had become kinda panicky. "..Long story short, let's exchange numbers and mail addresses. Or.. either of them? I mean, sure, we got Squitter but I'm honestly considering dropping it and it's.. just... not really that reliable, as the past has proven."

Even though it was mostly a lie, after she'd said it Torch really did begin to feel bad for having Sleak walk her. Though his reassurance made her relax a bit. And the joke actually made her huff a chuckle. Okay, maybe it wasn't so bad... and then he began talking about trading numbers. She was growing orange in the face again with the double meaning behind that favor... but.. he began to ramble. And the more he continued, the more she was able to calm down. Even stifling a giggle. It was something to see someone else ramble for a change.. granted he's been doing that here and there the whole day but this was time it was over trading numbers for cod sake! "I yeah i get it.. I just find it as a way to talk to more people so.." she shrugged a shoulder, "I don't know how long I'll stick with it.. by the way.." she slipped her phone out of her pocket, opening it to a new contacts list and all that jazz. If she could just push those embarrassing thoughts away, she saw this as making a new friend. Like an actual one. That hope brought her enough confidence to not stammer like an idiot as she handed the phone over to Sleak, "it was optional."

"Knew it!" He exclaimed, as he received Torch's phone. Just a moment later, his full name of 'Sleak Disyne', alongside his number, squitter id and email were in her contacts. He handed over Torch's shell phone back to her, alongside his own, also on the new contact screen. "..Honestly though, I'm glad I asked, because.." He looked ahead. "We're not that far from your work place anymore. Kind of disappointing, but I somehow doubt you'd like to me see where you live on the day we formally met." Sleak opted to leave out saying that he wasn't exactly sure whether he should show his own place either- though that was more because it was a mess. "Though, well, I'm generally either in the warehouse or over at the mall, helping out in the stores, so if you're looking for me you can just.." He paused.. "..I was gonna say check out either place, but now that you have my info, you can also text message, email or call me. Might be easier than running around town."

Torch smiled in thanks when he handed over the phones. Just putting in her own name... eh why not add in that nickname. Just in case. Victoria 'Torch' Mai. Along with her number and email and the like. "Eheh.. honestly it wouldn't have been too big of a deal.. my place is just a uh.. too much of a mess for visitors right now." She chuckled, handing back the phone. Her address had been given out to a couple squids already, all because she needed food. Really what was one more, and someone she's actually met before giving the address? But... she'd rather leave that for another time for courtesy's sake. "Pff right back at ya. Though if you really wanted to stalk me I'm uh.." she jabbed a thumb over at the Melanin Cafe, "right over there I guess. Though I might pop around the warehouse district if that offer's still up," a bit of a smirk was growing on her then. Mm competitiveness.

"Of course.. I'm not rescinding an offer just because we got rained on. You're welcome at any time, even when I'm not there." Sleak smirked again. "Of course, if I'm not there, the odds of you actually getting inside should be near zero. So if you want to 'pop by', so to speak, send me a message first. If I'm not there, it's a lot of travel for nothing." He paused.. Now that they had exchanged info and got to their destination, he.. really didn't have any obvious reason to hang around, did he.. Torch was going to leave for her home, and it seemed to him that it wasn't a good idea to just walk along again. And invite her over to his place now was probably a bad timing. Never mind the aforementioned mess... "Well.. then.. I guess.." He paused again.. "..I should.. probably be heading home now, then.. though it's still not that late, so I might swing by the stores first..." He rubbed his neck- odd, how often one can repeat an action. Had Sleak been aware of that fact, he would probably have minded it, but the action was completely subconscious.

Torch snorted a bit hearing the response to her 'popping by,' just responding with an amused smile and an "I know, I know." Yes mom, she gets it. Call before arriving yes, yes. She listened to the rest of what he had to say... Right it was about that time... it was kind of bittersweet, she felt. She was just getting used to his presence. But she had to mind her own responsibilities... and despite what he'd said he was gonna do, Victoria felt like she was just gonna barge in on his plans anyways. It was only then she began feeling that nervousness come back. How was she supposed to act? He seemed a little bit awkward as well. Slowed speech. Neck rubbing. Oh man, did she over-welcome their bit of chatting? Did she miss that social cue of lets go our separate ways already? "R-right! Um.. well. Goob's gonna get pretty mad if I don't get his food eheh.. " She began walking a bit ahead, turning a bit to look at him. Didn't wanna be rude and give him her back, right? "Today was.. pretty fun though um... Guess I'll... see you around?"

"..I.. er.. guess so.." Sleak bit his lower lip, also turning away. Why did this feel so awkward.. He was kind of having a good time there, but it all had to end, huh.. "See.. see you later, then.." He said, turned back and giving a bit of a wave. It was much easier to turn his back on fans after giving out autographs.. this was seriously awkward. It seemed like a better idea to just stick around for a bit longer, but after saying their goodbyes and planning to meet up later, they could hardly just.. go back on their words. "...You uh.. well, know where to find me and how to reach me, I guess.".. There was no need to add that. If anything, it was more of a confirmation for Sleak himself- giving HIM a reason to just.. walk away.. If anything, they could meet up again, right.. And it'd be better if it was another day.. He shook his head, and looked forward, walking away.. He was DEFINITELY going to the stores, he had to talk to Shiro about this.

"Um. Yeah! S-same to you!" Torch was feeling that embarrassment creep up to her cheeks. Thank cod he turned around- she didn't need someone to see her inwardly kicking herself for making things so awkward! She went her own way- back home. Where she could wallow in her self doubt in peace... she'd really have to think about just what happened today.. first Tad. She had to sort things out with him eventually. She must've done something to upset him. That was the last thing she needed. A repeat of history. And then there was Sleak. Who she just spent the rest of the day with... and kinda cried with.. and kinda gave her his number and made plans to hang out again..... yeah the thoughts were enough to send her walking at a quicker pace. Run away from the feels!