With a splat, Nova had landed on the floor, falling off the bed in his octopus form. It didn't hurt, due to their nature of...squishiness? Groggily, he opened his eyes, the sunshine emitting through the blinds making him squint. It was awfully bright, and the noises of inklings conversing filled the streets outside. The octoling sat up, rubbed his eye a bit, then fixed the bed. The covers had fallen off with him. After fixing up his hair a bit with his hands, he slowly opened the door and peaked his head out the doorway. He couldn't make out any sound from within the apartment.
"3 must still be asleep.." Nova stared at her door, and walked through the small hallway leading to the kitchen and living room. His eyes glanced at the stove clock, reading 10:45 A.M. "We really slept in.."
Turing around to look in the living room, he jumped, staring at the silent inkling facing the pile of boxes. 3's back was facing towards him, seemingly reading something that he could not identify. Noticing the octoling's presence, she turned around and nodded good morning.
"Good morning," He responded, getting nervous and realizing that she was holding the note that flew out of the box. Did he forget to put it away? No, he was sure he put it back under the flaps. Plus it was an accident that it flew out. "Did you..go through this?" She asked in a monotone voice, holding the piece of paper up. He shook his head rapidly, feeling his ears getting hot. "I didn't go through it. When I was moving the box, the flap had opened and it glided out.."
Her orange eyes continued to stare at him as he explained. "Why is he getting embarrassed...?" 3 thought to herself, lowering her arm again.
"I'm sorry 3," He apologized, lowering his head a little bit. "I know it's a private matter, but I swea-"
Hearing a puff of air coming from her, he looked back up in surprise. "She's not mad..?"'
"It's okay, don't worry." She shrugged, putting the note back in the box and throwing the flap back over. "Let's eat breakfast."
Nova wanted to ask the inkling a question out of curiosity, but ended up deciding against it.
They both sat down after 3 had prepared their breakfast, frozen waffles. 8 poked it a bit with a fork before trying it. It was good.
"Do you want to look around Inkopolis..?" She asked, staring at her plate and putting a piece of waffle in her mouth, yawning immediately after she was done chewing. Nova nodded with an excited look in his eyes. "Then let's get changed, and we'll head out. Bring your Octoshot too." 3 watched in silence as he finished his waffle, stood up, and walked to the apartment entrance to pick it up.
Nova turned around with a smile, waiting there. 3 stared. "Right." He didn't exactly have a change of clothes besides the all black outfit he had coming out of the Deepsea Metro. Did he end up sleeping in that too? 3 shook her head, stood up, and went to rummage through the mess of a closet, trying to find a change of clothing that would be suitable for him.
As she sorted through the mess of clothing, some relatively new, some she didn't even remember buying and others that were somewhat old, she ended up with a sweater she deemed a little too big. It was a grey hoodie, with blue lettering in their language on the front in print. "Here, borrow this." 3 plainly said, handing over the hoodie after walking up to him. Nova stared at her hand and to the sweater, smiled and thanked her for her generosity. The octoling put it on after setting his Octoshot down and 3 walked away to change herself, getting her weapon in the process.
~
"Let's go," 3 walked past Nova, opening the door. She wore a cream-colored shirt with pink lettering on the front (Ivory Peaks Tee), a pair of leggings and her black and white hi-tops (Truffle Canvas). Nova wore the hoodie he was given, as well as the black pants and boots. It looked strange from 3's viewpoint, but she shrugged it off.
Stepping out into the streets, which were much more lively compared to last night when they left the Cuttlefish Cabin, were filled with even more inklings. Agent 3 pointed out a couple of smaller places along their street heading down the incline on clothing and such, some small coffee places, restaurants. Nova would make eye contact, nodding in understandment as she pointed to the locales. However, the way things were shown to him almost made him feel as if he needed to take notes.
"C'mon, let's head to the square," Agent 3 pointed farther away. "I think you'll like it there."
3 continued to have a neutral, yet serious expression. Nova followed behind her, looking around in admiration at the tall buildings, the signs, the balconies and of course, the other inklings. As he did so, two inklings girls had been staring at him, resting their backs against a wall that belonged to the outside of a deli. One had leaned in to the others ear, whispering, and subtly pointing at Nova. He of course took notice of it, and a wave of thoughts flooded through his mind wondering about himself. The same feeling he felt last night returned and he quickly glanced away, trying to focus on following 3, actively trying to avoid eye contact with anyone else. Because of his curious mind, he did so once more, and saw two male inklings also watching him with a strange expression.
A chilly breeze softly rustled his hair as he nervously looked down at the pavement he walked on. 3 glanced back, and noticed the couple of inklings staring intently at him. Without even realizing it, she had already met eyes with him, who's eyes stared back nervously. 3 was unsure as to what to say in this situation, but motioned with her hand slowly to continue following her. She rubbed her eye and yawned afterwards.
To 3, she found it stupid how they seemed weirded out by his presence. After all, what was so different between him and other inklings? There was almost no difference between them. The only difference was that he was an octopus and the rest squids, but there is no need to start whispering or pointing.
Upon arriving to the square, Nova's mood brightened with the liveliness of the place. The different brightly colored signs and shops, the wide spectrum of styles found between the inklings and jellies, alongside the buildings that towered over them all made Nova's heart race. It was almost unbelievable that he was finally here at the surface, never could he had imagined that he'd make it. As the octoling's grin grew looking around, 3 glanced backwards and took note of the innocence that he had. She consistently forgot that what was considered her normal, was 8's new world.
Once again, 3 had noticed the weird stares they received as 8 walked alongside her, still taking in his surroundings. After giving them a glare, a nervous face would be made be made by them and quickly turn to avoid looking at 3.
"What do you think?" She asked, once she was done glaring and stopping in place.
"It's still even better than I imagined..." He smiled, noting the fact that she was making an effort talking to him more. Yet 3 hadn't even noticed.
She nodded, and pointed once again to a corner store not far from them. "We should get a coffee first before we get the day actually started."
"A coffee..?"
3 yawned again, "Yes."
~
"Would you like anything?" 3 asked, towering over the table that she chose. Nova took a seat and looked around unsure. He noticed the different drinks that other inklings were drinking at other tables. But due to lack of knowledge on the drink names, went with the safe choice.
"I-I'll try what you have," 8 chuckled shyly.
~
"What can I get for you today?" The jellyfish barista asked.
"Two talls. Cream and 2 sugars each."
"Will that be all?"
3 nodded.
Luckily by this time, there weren't many inklings around. Especially considering that it was nearing lunchtime anyways. 3 looked around, some inklings were on their laptops working on something, others chatting away with their friends. She turned back, and watched Nova from a distance. 8 was sitting stiff in his seat, glancing back and forth in almost every direction possible, fidgeting with the ends of the drawstrings and looking inside the cafe. It was then where he had caught sight of the inkling and gave a timid wave.
"Heh," 3 found it amusing and gave a wave back.
"Here we go. Two talls, cream and 2 sugars each."
As 3 started thinking to herself how he should've stepped in to see the options on the menu hovering over the cashier, she picked up the drinks, thanked the workers and stepped out.
Nova watched curiously as the inkling walked towards their table, careful as to not spill their drinks. As she pulled her seat back and set the coffees down, Nova said, "Thank you." 3 nodded, and began to sip at her drink after giving it a light blow to cool it down. "Careful. It's hot," She warned.
The octoling nodded, picked the coffee up and gave it a light blow. He took a sip. It still scolded his mouth and made him flinch a little bit in a seat, causing 3, and her ears, to perk up in surprise. Chuckling awkwardly (and at the sight of her), he pointed at the coffee in hand, "I..I still managed to burn myself..It's still good though!"
3 let out a puff of air, her ears and face relaxing, and gave her signature small smile at the octoling and took another sip.
Nova glanced around briefly as he took another drink out of his cup, and spotted a couple of eyes eyeballing him. It made him nervous again and set his coffee down.
"H-Hey 3?" He started, getting the inkling's attention mid-drink. "Do you mind if I ask you something..?"
3 nodded, not actually saying anything. However, she set her coffee on the table and made sure to listen.
"Do you think I'm..weird?" Nova asked, a little hesitant to finish the question.
3 adjusted her tentacle, and shook her head no. "Is it because of the stares?"
Nova, a little surprised by how she figured it out so quickly, affirmed her questioned. She took a second, taking a big gulp and wiped her mouth with her thumb. "I think you fit right in, Nova." 3 reassured him, "You're just like anyone else here. Don't worry about the others."
The words gave him a warm feeling once again.
3 was happy with herself, finding some words of encouragement. In her head, she had placed herself in his position, wondering what words she would've want to hear. Still, the realization of how much she had talked today had struck her odd. 3 hardly talked, and was mostly kept to a maximum of 3 sentences . "I wonder.." The inkling pondered, staring at her arms crossed over her chest. "Is it just easier to talk to him because he's never been here..?"
Nova processed her answer, and once he was satisfied, took a huge swig of coffee.
"Thank you err..?" 8 wanted to say her name, and attempted to get it out of her in a subtle way, but failed to come up with something. "..3."
She only shook her head no, meaning she had picked up what he was trying to do. "Once we get to know each other better."
The words echoed inside his head. Surely they were already close enough to be on first name basis.
"If you're worried about what the other inklings think about you," 3 started up again, standing up from her seat as did 8. "How about you show them what you got?"
Her orange eyes seemed to have more fire to them as she attempted to encourage him. Nova examined her expression, it was still her resting serious face but it also seemed to have more..energy in a way. Maybe it was the coffee.
"What do you mean exactly..?"
Her hand had suddenly extended out, pointing at the Octoshot in the chair next to him.
Nova's eyes widened as he heard the words, "In Turf War."
~
A.N. Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait on this chapter. I wanted to write a little extra long one for this one, but had to also catch up on my work in between. Sorry for the wait once again. Also, should I pick the pace up a little more?
Word Count: 2133