Ink on Canvas

Porpoise Park. A decently sized and fairly secluded location at a fair distance away from any Turf War locations. Surrounded by evergreens, with an atmosphere of tranquility coupled with a quiet lake in the middle, it was where a certain inkling liked to spend her time for a bit of peace and quiet.

Today however, was notably different. Normally, the lack of any activity or noise save for the occasional elderly jellyfish drove the average inkling nuts, and therefore Porpoise Park was often avoided by the general populace. With the coming of winter season however, a thick layer of snow has fallen over everything, covering the grass and flowers, and the huge lake in the middle has frozen over, attracting a small parade of inklings looking to do a spot of ice-skating (or at least, attempt to without toppling over).

The certain inkling in question didn't join the parade of self-humiliating squids, but rather opted to sit by on a bench far from the activity. Unlike other inklings which normally wear clothing sponsored by various sports brands for use in Turf Wars, this particular inkling was dressed up in a more conservative fashion, including a pair of thick and tight blue leather jeans; a brown parka with a furry collar; a black scarf wrapped around her neck and a pair of snow boots made more for daily use rather than running about. Her auburn tentacles were tied up in a little bow behind her head, and her emerald eyes scanned the area in front of where she sat, observing the winter wonderland before her.

Shuffling, she took out a notebook and a pencil, and began sketching the scenery before her. It was difficult holding a pencil with gloves on, but she managed somehow, the black lines on the paper slowly taking shape into a sketched rendition of the park before her.

"Hey, Mei-Lin! Don't just sit there scribbling, play with us!"
The girl rolled her eyes. "Oh for the love of…" She muttered to herself.

Another female inkling was running down a pathway from the skating inklings, waving at her. Wearing a sporty bobble hat, a SQUID GIRL tunic, and a pair of cherry kicks shoes, she seemed completely unperturbed by the cold weather, her yellowish eyes shining with an ecstatic energy and her lavender tentacles flailed about in the air.

"Oh don't be such a cold fish, Mei-Lin!" the other inkling said, "C'mon, join us!"
"Katelyn, can't you see I'm a little busy right now?" the inkling now properly introduced as Mei-Lin replied, "I'm not good at physical activities, leave me out of whatever crazy antics you got this time."
The other inkling called Katelyn tapped her chin in thought. "Hmm…. Oh I know! If you agree to join us, I'll tell the gang to go do a spot of skiing later. You won't have to participate, just doodle under another shady bench or something!"

Mei-Lin raised an eyebrow. "How did you-"
"-know about the Splatfest Art Contest?" Katelyn finished, "I found the envelope amongst the junk mail in your mailbox the other day when I was looking out for you. Guess you're finally deciding to enter, huh?"

"That would explain the unusually crumpled batch of letters…" Mei-Lin grumbled, facepalming in the process. "Okay….fine. A few games won't hurt."

"ALRIGHT! HEY GUYS! Mei-Lin's going to play with us!" Katelyn exclaimed while waving at the group of ice-skating inklings and hopping excitedly, dragging Mei-Lin by the arm as she barely managed to grab the notebook and pencil with her.

"Phew, that was fun, wasn't it? You did surprisingly well this time, Mei-Lin!"
"When you said, 'a few games', I didn't think you meant 3 hours of pure aerobics…." A barely legible groan emitted.

Katelyn walked briskly along a snowy pathway, while behind her two of the ice-skating inklings carried a battered and barely conscious Mei-Lin on their shoulders, her feet making drag marks across the snow.

"Katie, I think you might have overworked her a bit this time." One of them said with a look of concern on his face, "She looks just about at the Gates of R'Lyeh right now."
"She's covered in slush marks too," the other one added, "I think she's fallen onto the snow so many times we've lost count. Should we stop for a while and let her recover first?"
"Oh, whine whine whine." Katelyn abruptly stopped and turned around, forcibly grabbing the limp Mei-Lin and carried her on her own shoulders. "You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up."

The two inklings wandered ahead, with one barely looking back before running ahead.

"I'm telling you, Mei-Lin." Katelyn said, adjusting the inkling's weight on her shoulders, "You gotta come out and play with me and the boys more often. Being cooped up in the house all day isn't healthy for your physique, you know."
"I'm not an outdoorsy person like you are, Katelyn." Mei-Lin grumbled, steadying herself and managing to walk on her own again, albeit with a slight stagger. "I can't keep up with you, you know that."
"All the more reason to do so! The occasional walk outside to sketch landscapes don't count, you gotta take the initiative and invite US to a few activities! If you're not going to do it for yourself, at least do it for me, okay?"

Mei-Lin looked at Katelyn's genuinely worried face, and then smirked.

"Oh, Very well then. After this sketch session, if I happen to win the Splatfest Art Contest with it, I'll join your team for this Splatfest's Turf Wars. How about-"

Katelyn's frown widened into a radiant smile. "TOTES FRESH! Oh, I can't wait to tell Mark and John about it, they'll be stoked! Jessie's buried in her part-time job so she can't join us, you'd do nicely as a replacement! And- wait, have you ever Turfed before?"

Mei-Lin shook her head. "I'll admit I haven't, but-"

"YOU GOTTA BE SQUIDDING ME!" Katelyn exclaimed, but she also seemed to be in a good mood nevertheless. "Well then, looks like we got a lot of work to do before Splatfest starts. Gotta sign you up for the activities, get you your level 1 gear, book a time for your first day tutorial, give you directions to Booyah Base, and…."

Mei-Lin chuckled quietly. Today is going to be a long day.

Author's Note: Seems like the way updates work on this website are a bit on the slow and buggy side, it didn't even register an update when I posted the second chapter, so it wasn't bumped up. I guess it gets a bit grumpy when I post multiple chapters on the same day.

Thanks for the reviews so far (all three of you, at least). It's reading those that keep me scribbling this vitriol for everyone to see.