You'll be mine, Octavio!

(NC)Sidestory: Test of Courage (Splatoween Special)

   Craig and Octavio stood together at the massive and deteriorated shrine gate at the edge of an ancient forest. The tall prince felt completely dwarfed by the ominous red structure. Even worse, the statues at the foot of each post seemed to glare at him with their beady stone eyes, as if they were ready to put a deadly curse on him at any moment. The flames inside their open mouths that were meant to illuminate the entrance were long burnt out, leaving only permanent smoke trails angrily fuming out the sides of their mouths. Octavio desperately wished they had stayed back at the Splatoween festival in town. He turned to Craig in utter disbelief.

 "I can't believe I've let you drag me into this."

 Craig was completely unfazed, as always. "Oh c'mon Tavi it'll be fun! 'Tis the season o'spooks, after all. And what better way to celebrate than a good ol' fashioned test of courage? Plus, I have to keep you from eating all the spicy candy apples somehow." He added.

 "What can I say? I like eating them." "Enough to eat 5???"

 "Yeah, well you're also eating through all the spending money we brought. I wanted to get some roasted sweet potatoes and yakitori. Ya know, actual food?"

 "Ugh, whatever. You can get that stuff any other day, while you can only eat candy apples once a year. We still have plenty of cash left, too. And isn't there usually supposed to be some type of peer pressure at play for people to go on long spooky walks through haunted woods?"

 "I can supply plenty of that if you want. Is one inkling boy worth of peer pressure good enough for you?" He said jokingly.

 "No. It's entirely one inkling-boy's-worth too many. Why are you so bent on going into some creepy forest anyways? If you want a thrill, we should go play turf war or something." He sighed. "You're totally going to get yourself killed one day." Octavio was seriously questioning Craig's sense of self-preservation.

 Craig danced around the question. "Trust me Tavi. Been on many tests of courage in my life, and I haven't died once! It's fun." He gave an overly confident smile and thumbs up, though it only managed to annoy Octavio even more.

 "Obviously, dumbbass. I for one don't enjoy being in long-abandoned haunted shrine-forests in the dead of night, where I could be horribly disemboweled by vengeful spirits on a whim. But that's just me though."

 Craig leaned closer in mock surprise.

 "What? No, it can't be! Tavi, don't tell me...Don't tell me you're scared of ghosts or somethin'?" He teased with a smug grin.

 "What? No, of course not! I'm not 'fraid of no ghosts...". Yet there was a bit of hesitation in Octavio's tone. "Wipe that grin off your face!".

 Craig sighed. "Look, we don't hafta do it if ya really don't wanna. Just stop going back to the candy apple stand every 5 minutes. That lady was giving us a real nasty look... Save some for the kids."

 Octavio thought about this for a moment. On one hand, Octavio really didn't feel like snipping any strings of fate tonight. On the other hand, he didn't want Craig to think he was a complete coward. He already seemed kinda disappointed in him, and his ego wouldn't be able to stand a hit that big. And on the tentacle, if he were to eat any more sweets at the festival he would be sick. He was already on the verge of throwing up. So, he gulped and mustered all his spare courage in order to respond.

 "N-no, let's do it! I'm pumped up now!"

 "Ay, that's the spirit! Now, where did I put the..." Craig dug in his bag for a moment and came up with one of the flashlights they had received when signing up for the test of courage.