Annie uncomfortably shifted in her seat, still trying to adjust to the intense heat the metal seat gave off. Being careful as to not sting herself like she did earlier, especially now that her skin started to become a bit dewy from the ever-rising heat. She grunted as she looked up to see the three shopkeepers before her, just sitting peacefully in their spots as if the heat wasn't affecting them; dismissing the unbearable heat as just another warm day in the city.

It made a bit of sense that they wouldn't be affected by it after thinking about it a little bit. You have a sea slug whose slimy skin always keeps her cool; a spider crab whose shell protected him from any sort of on-contact heat sensitivity; and a Jellyfish who doesn't feel a thing at all. And she couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy at all of them, especially against the Jellyfish.

"Hey, are you alright?"

A voice interrupted her awkward shifting, causing her to look up at the three; who all stared back at her with concern. Annie's eyes darted between the three trying to recall names before speaking to avoid making the situation more awkward.

Flow, was a bit obvious after knowing her for a day. She's a nudibranch who treats anyone remotely younger than her like she's their aunt. Well, according to how she interacted with that young Jellyfish who sat with them, that is.

To her left was a tall crab named Bisk. Flow had mentioned him for a short while yesterday. Twice, actually. And she was right when she said that he was a sweet guy. Though, from the half an hour they've all spent together, he also seemed to be that kind of guy who tells a bit too much when meeting someone new if someone he already knew was present as well; spilling rather personal information about his old band, and the ex-girlfriend he left because of it, all because of Flow mentioning it for a spell; just to tease Sean since Annie had mentioned that he was going through some "girl problems" without giving away too much.

And to Bisk's left was an iridescent jellyfish named Jelfonzo. Jelfonzo was significantly younger than he looked, sporting the numerical age equivalent to a toddler's, but he had a tongue that seemed to be rather antique in comparison. And according to Flow, he was Jelonzo's son...

… And according to Jelfonzo's reaction to the reminder of his sole biological parent, he didn't like Jelonzo all too much. The two were wildly different despite the identical DNA structure, so the form of detest he had towards him was, at the very least, a tiny bit reasonable if one were to take away the fact that Jelonzo was the only family Jelfonzo had. But his reaction to the mere mentioning of his name… was a bit too much.

Flow was right when he said that he was prone to 'bite', but Annie couldn't help but feel surprised at his outburst despite the slug's warning.

Annie blinked, her eyes meeting up with the tall spider crab's from across the table, responding to his question with a bit of haste. "A-ah yeah…!" Annie gasped as she continued to shuffle around in her spot."I-It's just… t-the heatwave s-sorta got to these chairs a-a bit faster than I-I thought they w-would… that's all…"

Flow perked up at the anemone's statement, her antenna twitching as she came up with an idea. "Oh!" She began to cautiously remove her shawl, gradually revealing her slender arms to the sun's harsh rays. "You can sit on this if you need to, hon!"

"F-Flow, t-that's nice for y-you to offer but I-I swear! I-I'm-"

Before Annie could finish her protests, she was handed a big, soft shawl; still warm from the sun's beaming heat. "I don't need to use it anyways sweetie." Flow said, dropping the wooly garment into the anemone's hands with a smile. "You can borrow it. I don't mind."

Annie looked down at the outerwear garment for a brief moment before standing up; stepping to the side of the chair she once sat in, and draped the large shawl over the chair before sitting in it once more. Letting out what seemed to be a small sigh of relief once she leaned back in the chair without any form of punishment from its metal. "T-thanks…"

"Hey, no problem!" Flow gave her a small, yet warm smile before turning back to the yellow crab that sat beside her. "Anyways Bisk, you were saying?"

"Oh, yeah!" The tall spider crab cleared his throat. "A bud of mine invited me to a party downtown and I was wondering if any of you want to come with?"

Flow's eyes lit up with an eager gleam. "A party? When is it?"

"Tonight."

"Well sign me UP !" The sea slug's grin grew wide as she hastily responded to his invitation, her tail cluster wagging from excitement. "I've been wanting to go to a party for SO long! I haven't gone out like that since before I moved here!"

"What's this about a party?" Sean chimed in, overhearing the conversation as he brought over the group's brunch.

"A friend of Bisk's is throwing a party and he's inviting us to it!" Flow shifted her enthusiastic gaze to the prawn that now stood by the table she sat at. "Y'wanna come?"

"It's tonight, right?"

"Yeah!"

Sean hummed as he placed everyone's meals down on the table in front of him, placing the serving plate down on a neighboring table before dragging a chair over to join the group conversation in full. "I guess I can close up shop a bit earlier than I planned today to join you guys." He sat down with a shrug. "It's been a while for me too, after all."

Flow slapped her hands on the metal table, squealing with delight. "Yay!" She turned her gaze over to the iridescent jellyfish across from her. "Hey! Jelfonzo! Wanna join us?"

"I appreciate thy invite but I must decline." Jelfonzo blinked, adjusting his tie in an awkward huff. "Ones, such as myself, don't engage much in such neanderthalic activities, anyways."

Flow rolled her eyes with a snicker. "Y'dont need to be such a prideful prude sweetie!~ A simple 'no thanks' would've done just fine."

"M'lady, hast thou forgotten that I do not do 'simple'?"

Everyone at the roundtable shared a chuckle before Flow turned to look at Annie, who was just sitting by and witnessing the natural flow of the conversation. "How about you, Ann? You think you can spare some time for some fun tonight?"

"A-Ah…" Annie stammered, tapping the fingers of one hand on the table in front of her while the other separated the meal in front of her so her familiar could eat. "... I-I'm r-really hung-up on current projects… b-besides… I-I don't even do parties a-anyways… sorry."

"Eh." Flow shook her head and shrugged. "Don't be, hon. I heard that you're tied up with stuff like your new shop n'all, but I thought it would be safe to ask instead of assume, y'know?"

"O-Oh… Okay…"

"Oh! Speaking of things 'you're tied up with', I heard from Sean a while ago that you were writing a book! Is that right?"

Annie nodded. "Y-yeah…?"

"Could you tell us more about that, hon?" Flow propped her head up with her hand, using the metal table as support. "... If you're comfortable with that, of course."

…

Annie did her best to explain key elements of her novel as the morning dragged on into the afternoon, dancing around potentially embarrassing aspects of the novel. Aspects such as, the main character having a one sided infatuation with a mysterious stranger; and that the one sided infatuation was based upon her own conflicting feelings of a mysterious stranger that used to linger in the city's plaza.

Aside from the more embarrassing aspect of the novel, and having it be a fictitious retelling of her first year in Inkopolis Plaza; It was primarily a slice of life novel, documenting the life of a girl through her journal. Which, embarrassingly enough, was also referenced from her real life, from a time where her writing skill was much more rugged and scattered; something she has definitely refined since.

As a result of all of the cut out details, as soon as she had everyone interested, she ran out of things to say regarding the novel.

"T-That's a-as much as I-I can explain right now…" Annie scratched the back of her head as she wrapped up her long tangent. "I-I don't wanna give a-away too much before I-I… publish i-it…"

"Ah, sweetie that sounds wonderful!" Flow chirped, giving Annie a warm smile. "Do you have any idea when you'll be able to publish it?"

"H-Hopefully sometime s-soon…" Annie fidgeted. "I-I haven't been a-able to proofread that much s-since the move… A-And the plans t-to open the shop… a-and Sheldon…"

"Sheldon? What about him?"

"U-Uhm…" Annie hummed, trying to explain the whole weapon shtick she had with Sheldon. "A-after I quit my job a-at Cooler Heads, Sheldon o-offered me a part-time j-job at his old shop location u-until I find a s-stint of my own… And d-during that time w-we s-started to make a w-weapon together." She paused, clasping her hands together and placed them on her lap. "I-I drafted a-a blueprint… h-he assembled t-the product. W-we just need to work o-out a few more kinks b-before getting it a-approved."

"Oh? What did it look like?"

"Do y-you remember… Th-That umbrella I h-had yesterday?"

"Oh that!" Flow nodded. "That was a weapon?"

"Y-yeah… it was…"

"I was wondering how you got rid of those bad guys last night. Anyways, I wish I could help with that but I don't understand all of that weapon mumbo-jumbo. And the book, I'm not that fast of a reader so I really can't be an extra pair of eyes for you. I'm sorry."

"I-It's fine." Annie reassured. "I-I'll figure out something e-eventually."