I'm not sure why but this chapter seemed especially difficult for me to write, perhaps it's the overarching theme dripping into my real life. Anyway, for those who have been following this story and have not noticed yet, I have combined the first two chapters to one. I intended them to be one, but for some reason, I split them to two. If you're new here, you missed nothing.
I * I * I * I
Pat woke up in the apartment. This felt unusual to him, having felt like he had just lied down on the couch minutes ago. Light seeped in through the window, blinds blocking full entry. Dragging himself over he peaked through the blinds. Outside there was not much more to see than roofs and a stray Inkling walking the street. Looking at his he saw the time was nearly ten thirty.
Turning from the window he drew his attention to the room Loorea took. The door was wide open and there was an empty silence from the room. Out of respect he only peered into the room, trying to see where the Vinkling was. The room had been unchanged since the night before, except the bed was unmade. The room had no evidence of current occupation by anyone beyond that.
"Loorea?" He asked, turning to the rest of the apartment. He was answered only by the stomping of someone taking the stairs down.
Patton panicked, thinking he had been set up. He hurried around the apartment trying to find any way that the girl could have been hiding as a joke. He opened cabinets and drawers to see if she was anywhere. He made a pass by the couch when he tripped over his umbrella that was recently placed there. He picked himself up as he turned to, what he realized, was the same umbrella that he had until the Salmonids cornered him. Attached to the umbrella were two pieces of paper.
Looking over the papers he the terrible handwriting in several human languages. He scanned through the bad spelling, poorly made symbols, and separate languages until he found two he could understand: Error filled English and rubbish written Russian. He scanned the English, correcting the "Waz AmaKo" to "Was awake" and doing the same for the Russian translation. He soon had both versions that to the point that they both were understandable and agreed with one another.
The note read:
Hey Pat. Kathleen suggested we try to see how Loorea would do interacting with people, so we came by to take her to the plaza. You were out when we came, so we dropped off your umbrella and this note. (I hope you can understand some of this scratch. -Marie) We'll be back before lunch, so we can figure out what we can do next then.
~Callie~
Pat sighed, putting the papers down after reading them a second time. He sat down trying to figure out what would entertain him until the squids returned. Looking to the TV. He realized that he had a perfect opportunity to try something as he pulled some stuff out of one satchel of his.
I * I * I * I
Meanwhile, a block or so up the road the four girls made their way back to the apartment. Callie and Marie wore day clothes, plus their mask and shades they used. Kathleen wore simple clothes and shoes she saved for around her apartment. The Inklings and Vinkling were in the middle of a casual conversation about Loorea tentacles. A conversation could have been normal in Inkling society, but with the ones like hers, it was a unique circumstance.
"I don't know how that's even possible." Callie said as the four cephalopods made their way down the road. "Your tentacles shouldn't allow you to do that."
"Look who's talking." Marie chuckled. "You drag those around and yet you still function."
"I'm being honest, I don't feel a thing." Loorea said. "They're just there." The topic of the conversation was on Loorea's webbed spiky tentacles. The agents had doubts on if they could get any clothes onto the girl, but she went in and out of the changing room as fast as any other squid. No a single sign of scratching or pain was on her when she came out of Jelly Fresh's dressing room. She now had on a Squid Girl Tunic and Acerola Rain Boots to replace the older cloths she was previously wearing.
"It's still impressive, those things are SHARP." Kathleen observed. The spikes alone drew some attention from several Inklings passing by. Loorea was slowly warming up to interacting with others. They were relieved when the crowds parted from her, everyone going back to their normal day.
"I hope Pat can hasn't trashed the place." Callie shifted the subject to where they were heading to. "That is if he's awake."
"As long as the Textslice app is accurate he might understand what you put down." Marie said.
"My writing wasn't that bad for you to put a note about it in every language I put down." Callie sighed.
"I just put it to try to be nice, at least your normal writing is better than ancient." Marie smirked. "I think he'll be fine as long as he trusts us enough."
They turned the corner to the building that Pat and Loorea stayed (and hid) in. "He'll be fine." Loorea hoped aloud. They made their way into the building, the greeter behind the desk fast asleep. Callie pushed the elevator button. Having already been on the first floor it opened up to let them in. The filed into it before resuming any conversation.
"If we do get him out in the open, then we can't mention what happened with the Octarians and Salmonids." Marie said as the door closed.
"We can't pretend nothing is happening, DJ Wasabio was right about that." Kathleen put in. "I'm not sure if we should focus on one or the other. Heck, we can't be sure if he is or is not behind this. For all we know, he did approve of this."
Marie thought it over. "I don't like that he's conveniently open to tell what he knows about this. Though I can't recall him ever outright lying to us as much as he tries to be intimidating."
Loorea leaned against a corner, not knowing how to say a thing. She listened to the three trade ideas and possibilities of what they were to do and the agent stuff they spoke about.
They filed out of the elevator down the hall. One right turn and they arrived at the apartment.
"Time to tell what's up. I'm certain that he-.
She stopped mid sentence to see a Patton connecting and disconnecting several wires to the television and a little rectangle thing. He looked up to the group with an innocent face, like he did nothing.
"What are you doing?" Kathleen asked, seeing how the Human had the wires connected in the wrong places.
"Trying to connect my thingy to this TV. It's more or less frustrating as the ones we had." He responded without missing a beat.
"I was expecting worse." Marie muttered. "Put it up, we came to solidify what we are going to do next."
Pat sighed, pulling the wires out of the television and sitting at the table. He put the wires and device back into the satchel. "So what were you doing that didn't require me, The usual girl party and stuff?"
"No, we were actually getting Loorea here out with some people and to replace her old clothes, like what I wrote down." Callie chimed as she took a seat on the couch.
"Oh yeah, you're Russian and English need some major work." He said as he looked at the paper. "Though I suppose it was passable for your first time." He indicated the two translations he could understand to Marie. "So how did it go?"
"Grand, everyone appeared fine with her. We even took her to some shops to freshen up." Kathleen said with a dramatic presentation for Loorea, who spun around to show off her dress. Her blood red tentacles nearly spamming into both Pat and Kathleen.
"It fits you, but I'm no expert in fashion." Pat nodded. "I guess there won't be much for you to worry about."
"But what about you? Aren't you gonna do something?" Callie interrupted.
Pat paused, thinking of what to say. "I don't have a plan. Living in some zoo or talking about the old days in some museum isn't appealing to me. I can't see what else I can do."
"If you go around like that then nothing will happen, do you think we'd actually put you somewhere against your will." Marie, Loorea, and Kathleen too a seat at the small table with him. "I actually need someone other than Callie to bicker with." She finished.
Pat sighed, picking up the hat he had. "I guess I'll go out and observe from a distance at the least.
Loorea smiled, turning to the Human and others. Kathleen looked skeptical, still undecided on if they should be focusing on one dilemma or the other. She, however, nodded in agreement, knowing something about him would need to happen. The cousins both nodded in agreement.
I * I * I * I
It had been an hour since the group had parked themselves at a boardwalk that was in view of Saltspray Rig, making it a rather popular place for Inklings itching to watch a free match. Pat still hadn't worked the nerve to go up to interact or move from where he hid on the roof. The others sat a table that they could see his position, or more accurately the tip of his hat. The normal rush had died down, only due to the map rotating out of the lineup. The last straggler had just left moments ago.
Kathleen broke the silence with a "Perhaps we should've thought this out more."
"I hope he isn't asleep, I haven't seen that hat even shift for a while now." The singer observed.
"Should we go over and ask if he's fine?" Loorea asked, nervously twiddling her sharp tentacle spikes.
"Why don't you give it a shot?" Callie looked back to her. "We'll be right here if he calls quits."
"What, w-why me?" She stammered.
"Because he and Kathleen don't know each other well enough, and we already know how shaken the relationship is with Marie." Callie answered.
"Oh, then I guess I can try."
Before Kathleen or Marie could reply or point out that Callie was also a fine fit to do the job, Loorea already started her way to the roof Patton had situated himself on. They watched as climbed a makeshift ladder up to where he was, cutting a small branch of a nearby tree unintentionally with her spikes.
"What are you playing at?" Kathleen asked Callie.
"It's just something that I want to see how it will play out."
Loorea made her way to the spot Pat was at on the roof. The Bobble Hat was still awkwardly positioned on his head, having given up being comfortable with it on. He had a frustrated look on his face. He also spoke rapidly in some way she couldn't understand at all.
"Хорошо, что я делаю? Oh, I don't know. Это не может только быть то, что трудно, Просто пойдите в некоторое Подозрение и скажите привет. Тьфу... Oh come on..." He more or less repeated this program process and words to himself. Loorea silently sat down next to him, waiting for him to notice.
It took him a full minute to realize that Loorea had sat down next to him. He sprung up in surprise, totally forgetting that he was trying to keep a low profile.
"How-how much did you hear from that?" He asked.
"A bunch, but I have no idea what it was." She responded awkwardly.
"So uh, Russian isn't translated into your language." Loorea nodded her head. "I suppose that's a thing then." Pat concluded.
Boy and Vinkling sat on the roof for a bit, staying silent. The only thing that broke it up was a sick sounding sneeze, which Pat passed off as an allergy to something.
The silence truly ended when Pat called it quits. "I guess this was a lost cause after all." He began to stand up, but was stopped when Loorea began to talk.
"How is this difficult for you to talk to people? I didn't see you like this in that dome." She inquired.
Pat looked at her and sat back down. He thought of what his answer should be carefully before continuing. "I guess it's just some odd thing with what happened in the dome. I think I'm fine with this little group, but I'm still not sure with the society as a whole. I guess there are some who would be fine with me, but I still have that interrogation and ordeal stuck in my head. And then again, I am special just because I'm not dead. I have no idea what that could bring my way here." He looked to see her reaction. "I simply don't belong here."
Loorea didn't know how to answer. Pat got up to take a look over the ledge, just to be sure that no stray Inkling was coming down the dock. Unfortunately, the old branch of the withered tree he used for support gave out, causing him to go over the ledge. He kept falling, but never quite hit the ground. Opening an eye, he saw that there were two long yellow filaments were wrapped around him. The drop was a good twelve feet, his head was mere inches from the ground.
"Woah, are you ok!?" Kathleen and company hurried over to the two, instantly alerted by the fall.
"Um, yeah." He looked up after being sat down, still unsettled. "Thanks."
"Sure!" Loorea replied as she made her way down the same way she came up. The filaments slid back to their concealed position under her tentacles.
"What was that?" Pat shivered, rubbing his sleeves.
"Oh, those were my stretchy things." Loorea answered. "I usually use them to fish..."
The four of them just looked at her. The initial shock had slowly worn off on Pat. He was about to comment that should be impossible to fish with those when he turned and hid a sneeze.
"What was that?" Callie asked, concerned about him.
"Nothing to worry over." He reported. "It's some allergy."
"That doesn't seem too convincing." Marie helped him up. "You seem like a terrible liar."
"Oh, thanks for the vote in confidence."
"I'm just calling it as I see it."
"Guys, why don't we try over outside the Kelp Dome?" Callie interjected. The rounds between both Pat and her cousin was starting to wear thin on her. She was unaware that Patton decided to call it quits.
"No, this isn't going to work the way we're trying to do it. I just don't have it in me." The boy sighed. "It's awful convenient no one came up during that episode."
"Well, now you just jinxed it." Marie muttered. "We should head back if you aren't up to it."
"Deal." He abruptly answered, turning his heel around to make his way down the walk. The squids all watched him go. He kept going a good bit before he caught on that they were all watching his brisk pace. He turned, looking down the way he had came. "Wrong way?"
"Yeah."
I * I * I * I
Cuttlefish muttered something as he made his way back to his worn shack. He hadn't gotten any news back about the mysterious golden egg. Where this was not that big of a problem itself, he had never known neither his friend nor the Inkopolis delivery system to be downright useless.
"Ya still bummed over that egg or something?" Octavio snarked.
"Perhaps, I know this is out of the way, but the mail still comes." He snapped. The old soldier rested down on a bench. "I still don't know why, but it still feels weird."
"I know, I can't believe that a bunch of long tentacled suckers went out of their way to defy one of my fine orders!" The DJ nearly boomed. Cuttlefish sighed, leaning on his cane. He looked around the valley, avoiding looking at the globed octopus. He stopped at what he thought was a mirror of his own eyes looking back at him. He blinked, looking again at the object.
"Do you see that?" The old man asked. Pointing to the direction of the eyes.
"Uh, I see a bunch of zapfish dolls you left to sit." He replied with just giving a glance.
Cuttlefish squinted, looking back that direction again. He saw the dolls sitting there, left over from the training runs the agents did through the valley. None of them were looking back at him, just empty eyes looking about with no purpose other than to be hauled around the valley. He looked at a box of crabby cakes. "I should find a new brand, this stuff really getting to me."
I * I * I * I
Pat crashed the moment they returned to the apartment. After getting a late 3 o'clock lunch, a new experience for Patton, having never experienced Inkling cuisine. (Not including what he had at Cuttlefish's shack.) He sighed as he slumped into the apartment's couch. Loorea silently sat down next to him.
"Well, that was one day." Kathleen said as she made her way into the apartment.
"It's kinda a shame too, I didn't get to do what I was trying to do." He paused, noticing that the idols were now not present. "Aren't we light on a few party members?"
"They had a meeting to attend. Fame removes free time of those who earn it." She replied. "I kinda don't know what else to say."
"Then don't bother, I'm too tired to do anything." Pat groaned, wiping his nose.
"Well, we got you two something to wear when you sleep. We uh... we got the largest we could find for you." The agent turned to exit the room. She paused before she left, wanting to say something. She softly shut the door behind her.
The two continued to sit in their almost predestined silence. Pat shuffled in one of his bags, bringing out the same object he had earlier. The turned the small console over in his hand several times.
"Are you still trying to do whatever you are doing?" Loorea asked looking over at the device in his hand.
"Well, no. I guess I can try later, I just don't feel it now." He got up, placing the device down. "Tomorrow is another day."