With an affirming thud, Three lands in Inkopolis Square. She gives herself a second to make sure she's got her balance, a luxury she didn't have back in Octo Valley or Kamabo, and then makes her way closer to the Battle Lobby, mainly just to get away from the landing zone.

Once she's over by Shella Fresh, she whips out her phone to check the time. Somehow, some way, she's arrived early! About seven minutes early to be precise. Somehow she thought she'd have been late and would've had Eight waiting for her, which would've been highly embarrassing. But she got lucky, so she breathes a sigh of relief.

"Alright well maybe she's here early too, I'll just text her real quick." She navigates to her messages, not wanting to be standing alone in the Square for too long. Mainly because then people might stare and she didn't want that.


Agent 3: Yo uh, I arrived a little early so whenever you get here I'll be waiting by Shella Fresh, the shoe store nearest the battle lobby.

TheGr8Agent8: Oh! I'm almost there so I'll see you in a sec then!

Agent 3: Cool beans


"Cool beans? Really? Why did I just say that." Agent 3 slapped her palm into her forehead. "Oh well, at least she's almost here."

As if on cue, the slightly familiar face of the only Octoling she's ever actually talked to comes bounding up to her.

"Hey! Eight!" Three waves getting her attention, and flagging her down so she doesn't run past.

"Oh! Hi three!" She smiled. Oh gods her smile could splat an entire team twice it was so powerful. Eight was wearing an orange tee shirt with a symbol on the front that Three didn't quite recognize, she had a baseball hat on her head with her tentacles sticking out the back of it in a ponytail, and her legs were adorned in a similar pair of jeans to Three, only they seemed slightly newer, slightly cleaner, and a shade of navy blue instead of black. Finally her feet were wrapped in red lace up shoes with white laces that looked like they provided a comfortable fit but wouldn't be a hindrance should one need to start running for their life.

Agent 3 couldn't help but blush a little as she admired the girl in front of her

"S-so. Coffee? I know a good place just around the corner, best iced coffee you will EVER have." Three beams through her faint blush, she was genuinely excited about the coffee place, she'd been going there since she moved to Inkopolis.

"Iced Coffee? I thought coffee was hot." Eight's right eyebrow raises while her left one lowers, and her lips pursed just slightly as the look of moderate confusion on her face becomes as clear as freshly cleaned glass.

"Oh see that's the beauty of iced coffee. It disregards the way you usually think about coffee and makes it a completely new experience!" Agent 3 beamed and Agent 8 couldn't help but blush a little herself. Agent 3 was cute when something excited her.

"Alright, let's go then!" Eight shrugged aside her confusion, Three was happy about it and it was a remarkable improvement from the last time she'd seen her. The scar on her face seems to be faded as well. She happily followed behind Three as she lead the two to Three's chosen coffee shop.

The pair walk over and eight chanced a glance up to the sign as they walked in, it read "Squidbucks" Eight shook her head, Inkling culture was… so bizarre. She'd long since given up trying to understand all the nuances. Either it would just click one day, or it would be lost on her forever.

They walk inside and it's not super busy, but there are a few people waiting in line by the till. Eight and Three quickly join the line and after waiting for a few moments, it was finally their turn to order. Three pipes up first.

"Hi, yeah, uh, I'll just get a medium iced cap, with a shot of vanilla and an extra espresso shot." Three's order seemed… rehearsed. As though she'd said it a million times. Maybe she had. Eight had no idea. Then three turned to her, which caught her off guard slightly. "Yo Eight, what do you want?"

"Oh, uh… I-I guess I'll have the same as you, but without the extra espresso shot, please." Eight wasn't expecting Three to order for her.

Three nodded, turned to the cashier, and informed them of eight's decision. Eight was about to pull out some of the money Pearl had insisted she take with her, but before she even had it in her hand three pulled out some coins and paid for the pairs drinks.

"Alright, it'll take them a bit to make the drinks, iced coffee always takes a minute or so longer cuz they gotta blend up the ice. Let's find somewhere to sit, they'll call us when the drinks are ready." Three smiles and leads them to an empty booth near the window.

Agent 8 blushes a little, but nods. She hadn't expected three to pay for her, hell, she hadn't expected three to be so… nice to her. The last time she saw Three in person she had fallen over in anguish and then curled up in debilitating pain. She worried that given she came out of Kamabo that she might remind Three of whatever it was she went through. Something she feared would make Three apprehensive of her. But 3 didn't do any of those things.

Taking their seats in the booth, eight noticed something about 3 she hadn't noticed before. Just how beautiful she was. While her body was scarred and toned from her constant agent work, there was a subtle softness to her that almost made her glow. Sure the scar across her face wasn't a pleasant reminder, but even still, she loved the way Three looked. She was tough, but in just the right way.

"So, Eight. How are you adjusting to life on the surface?" Three asked plainly, clearly just making smalltalk to pass the time until their order is ready.

"OH!" eight perked up. "It's great up here! The sun is beautiful yet also terrifying. The food is nice, certainly more flavourful than anything we had down in the domes. I like the way the sunset looks a lot."

Three couldn't help but blush a little and smile at eight's enthusiasm. Something about her made Three appreciate everything she was saying, it was like her enthusiasm was rubbing off on her or something.

"So I take it things are going well? OH! Where are you living right now? I'd hope they didn't just toss you out onto the street!" Three chuckles, mentally preparing to stab someone if they had, in fact, left her on her own.

Eight let out a small chuckle, and waves her hands in front of her "No no, I'm staying with Pearl and Marina for now. They kinda helped get me through being underground, kept me motivated, kept me going. So it would only make sense that they want to be there for me now that I am here on the surface."

"Wait wait, you're staying with Off the Hook, in their house? Damn, well I guess you're like, the opposite of living on the street." Three laughed a little again "Well it's good to hear you have a safe place to go home to."

The then barista walks up to the pick up counter and calls out "Order for… Tree and Exit?"

"Oh my god, EVERY TIME!" Three rolls her eyes, then gets up and goes and gets their drinks, returning shortly after. "I swear you come here every day for six years, you'd think they'd learn to say your name right."

Eight giggled.

Three blushed.

Three cleared her throat and set a cup down in front of Eight.

"Here ya go, nice and frosty. Don't drink it too quick, it'll make your head hurt."

Eight thanks three, then takes a sip of her drink as three sits down and does the same.

"Mmmm, it's sweeter than I expected!" Eight calls out with a smile on her face. Three couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah the frozen coffee's are generally sweeter than the non-frozen ones, if only because they're not also burning your tongue off." Three chuckled to herself as she continued to drink. "So, how's the surface been treating you? Make any friends yet?"

Eight took a moment to swallow the drink she had in her mouth. "Oh a few, mainly the other agents, and Pearl and Marina of course."

Three nods in response. "That's good. What do you think of Callie and Marie?"

"They're cool, Callie seems to like me, but Marie was a little apprehensive at first. But once Cap'n explained everything she was nice."

Three laughed "Yeah that sounds like Marie alright. First to point a charger at you, but also the first to knit you a sweater if she likes you. At least I think she can knit."

Eight giggled as three rubbed her chin.

"What about you three?"

Three was pulled from her thought process abruptly by the question.

"Hm?"

"What, uh, what do you like to do, do you have any friends?"

"Huh, well aside from Callie and Marie I guess not really. I had a few friends back before I became an agent but we fell out of contact. I had a cousin I did almost everything with before I moved to Inkopolis, but they were too young to come with me at the time so I haven't seen them in ages. I guess that's partially why I was so excited to get to know you! You can handle yourself in battle, which I admire, and you seem like you'd be fun to hang out with."

Eight blushed a little at the compliments. "Aw, thank you three."

"But for hobbies? Eh, I usually just play turf wars. Brings in some extra dollars and also allows me to get rid of pent up frustrations. Ranked is fun but honestly I can't stand Clam Blitz so I usually just play turf war to avoid accidentally joining a Clam Blitz match."

Eight giggles again. "Agent Three, the almighty hero who saved the great zapfish and single handedly decimated more than half of DJ Octavio's army… sucks at Clam Blitz"

Now it was Three's turn to blush.

"Sh-shut up. I'm not BAD at it, I just don't LIKE it."

Eight giggled more.

Agent 3 was sinking into her shirt now. Why had she revealed that.

Just then, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see eight resting her hand on her shoulder and looking at her in the eyes.

"Relax, I'm just playing. I don't much care for Clam Blitz either. It's just… It's cute when you're flustered"

Agent 3 paused.

Had eight really just said that? Was she dreaming? Well one thing WAS for sure, she was blushing so hard her entire face was glowing the same orange colour as her ink.

She had to do something to break this uncomfortable silence.

She cleared her throat, gently took eights hand off her shoulder, and returned to her drink.
"Aha, don't want your iced coffee to melt, then it would just be lukewarm coffee and no one likes that!"

Eight giggled. Three was cute when she was trying to not be flustered, only because it made her MORE flustered.

Eventually though, they both calmed down, and were now talking about strategies for turf wars.

"-So the guy splatted me, but the gear I had on at the time saved almost all of my special charge, so I ink up some turf to get it fully charged up, then I find a teammate who's being attacked by the same clown. I superjump over to them, and about 20 feet in the air I activate my splashdown. What I didn't realize was their ENTIRE TEAM was hiding in the ink waiting to ambush me when I landed. They didn't see what hit them and they were all dizzy after the match. It was great!" Three laughed as she retold the story, Eight smiled seeing three beam with enthusiasm.

"So yeah, if you've got splashdown, try and superjump before activating it, you might catch some enemies off guard."

"I'll keep that in mind." Eight smiled.

"But I see you primarily use the OctoShot 'replica' when you battle" Eight could hear in the tone of three's voice that she knew it was a genuine octoshot, but Sheldon had modded it slightly so that it registered as a regular replica. "And that has the inkjet, honestly I could never really get the hang of that one personally. But it IS a tremendous distraction in ranked. It takes people's attention away from the objective. So you may get a few splats with it sure, but use it primarily to help your team get the upper hand by distracting the rest of the other team."

Eight nodded. She hadn't considered that. But now that she knew, it was going to change how she played.

The two talked for hours. Occasionally, three would offer to buy eight something so they could keep chatting. Eight initially refused, but three kept getting snacks and eight's stomach was starting to feel a little empty.

Eight chanced a look at the clock, my god she'd been here for four hours! The time just seemed to melt away and Three seemed more than happy to be around her. Three's scar acted up once, but it wasn't as bad as before. She had to lay her head on the table but she wasn't screaming in agony.

Three also checked the clock, my god had it really been that long? Well the coffee shop owners weren't upset, three had spent so much of her money there over the years she could probably ask it to be closed down just so her and her friend could keep chatting. But she decided on a different course of action.

"Hey, Eight. We've been here a while, what do you say we go find someplace to get a proper meal?"

Eight beamed, her stomach growled, and three smirked.

"I'll take that as a yes?"

Eight just rolled her eyes as her and three left to find some place to get dinner. Together.