Splatoon: Love Between Species

Chapter 16: Just The Beginning

It was pretty early in the morning, about the time for many Inklings and Octolings to rise and shine for the day. Bella sighed while walking down the sidewalk all by herself, thinking while staring up at the clouds. The morning air felt a little dense, most likely because it rained the night before. Bella looked down at the grass and saw the rain droplets from last night, slowly sliding down and dripping off of the grass.

Inkling girl: come on, man! shoot the ball!

Bella looked up from the grass to see a caged in basketball court with Two Inklings and Two Octolings playing basketball together; She heard the dribbles of the ball and saw an Octoling boy shoot the ball at the net, making it in and scoring two points. The Octoling boy let out a sigh from exhaustion, and let out a tiny smile at the Inklings, who were also panting a little.

Inkling girl: *grabs the ball* I gotta admit--that was a good shot.

Inkling boy: you Octos aren't so bad.

Octoling boy: *smiles* thanks. wanna take a little break?

Inkling girl: sure.

The four cephalopods sat down next to each other, then the Octoling boy felt a cold object touch the side of his face. The Octoling looked over and saw the Octoling girl handing him a cold bottle of water while giving him a little smile. The Octoling boy took the bottle and chugged it down, then saw the girl slowly stretch her body and drink from a bottle of her own water.

Inkling girl: ya know....after this game is over, do you two Octos wanna head to Inkopolis? we can run a couple of turf war matches.

Inkling boy: yeah. even though we never really hung out with Octolings before, you two seem pretty fresh, ya know?

Octoling girl: *giggles* we'd love to.

Bella couldn't help but smile at the sight of the two species getting along. She let out a nice sigh and looked next to her to see an empty bench, which was covered in minor droplets from the rain.

Bella: I guess I'll just wait here until she arrives...

Bella wiped off the bench and sat down by herself, tapping her shoes gently on the concrete while watching the cars drive by. she tapped her fingers on her thighs while letting out a bored groan. just as Bella was about to pull out her phone, she heard someone sit down next to her and let out a nice, long sigh. Bella looked next to her to see the same coffee Octoling girl from before, wearing a tank top and shorts, while having a rag wrapped around her neck. The Octoling girl felt on the bench and let out an "oh shit" expression, then sighed.

Cynthia: wet benches....the bane of my existence.....hm....actually, this is cooling off my ass *shrugs* so this is fine.

Bella: Cynthia?

Cynthia: *looks at Bella* oh snap! wassup girl?! the hell are you doing here?

Bella: I could be asking you the same thing.

Cynthia: I'm just finding a way to pass time. The Café doesn't open for about another 15 minutes, but it's not like I'll have a lot of customers anyway.

Bella looked down and saw Cynthia holding a skateboard between her legs, then pointed at it while tilting her head.

Bella: you skate?

Cynthia: hell yeah. Skating is something I do when I have free time.

Bella: are you good?

Cynthia: *shrugs* I've busted my ass a couple of times, but I know how to grind.

Bella: ooooh!

Cynthia: well....kinda.

Bella: what do you mean?