Coral was pretty sure she should be resting at home right now, but she needed to get some more food in (you can never have enough food), so she'd decided to do a little grocery shopping. It couldn't hurt, right?
The shop was strangely quiet today. Seemed as if everyone had decided to stay home. Coral wished she'd done the same; her head was pounding from being hit with the gun and her shoulder wound hurt like a bitch.
Snatching several boxes of strong painkillers from a shelf, Coral made her way to the till. There was a short line, so the Inkling busied herself with looking out of the window while she waited. It was rather downcast, with iron grey clouds blocking out the blue sky, of which not a hint was to be seen.
Coral preferred it this way; it was staying-in weather, and staying-in weather meant warm blankets, books, a hot drink. Now, more than ever, Coral wished she was indoors. The attack last night had left her terrified, she only left the house because she'd starve to death otherwise.
The line slowly moved, and Coral shuffled up with it, still absentmindedly staring out the window. Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of movement, and her eyes flickered to where it came from. A figure was creeping along behind one of the other shops, clearly trying its best to not be seen. Coral watched as it turned its head and met her gaze. The Inkling couldn't see its eyes through its strange goggles, but she knew it, too, was staring in complete disbelief.
It was the Octoling.
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Alda couldn't believe it. That damn Inkling! How was it walking around as if Alda hadn't shot it at all?!
The Octoling tore her gaze away and dashed out of the Inkling's line of sight. All Alda wanted to do was steal some food and leave, but no, that DAMN INKLING had to appear AGAIN.
But then again, Alda thought, this creature could be useful to her. Maybe if she won it over, it would tell her all the Inkling's secrets! Then Alda could go home and report her findings to the generals - to her mother.
And besides, the Octoling had found herself in a bit of a predicament. Inkopolis was a lot more chaotic than home was, and Alda was unable to navigate as easily as she could at home. The twisy roads, labyrinth-like settlements and really terrible architecture had led Alda astray from her mission. She was... lost.
She gritted her teeth. No, she wasn't lost! She couldn't be lost! If she was lost, then that meant that her 'mission' would fail, she would be captured and killed by an Inkling, and she'd never find what she was looking for. Failure wasn't an option.
Alda made up her mind. Watching the Inkling leaving the shop with several grocery bags, she snuck around one of the building silently and followed her. The Inkling was unaware of her presence, so Alda allowed herself to creep closer.
This carried on for about ten minutes, with Alda darting behind houses and into alleyways to avoid being seen. But the Octoling had had enough. Once she was sure no-one was around, she reached out and seized the Inkling's arm, pulling it into a nearby alley. She then slammed a hand over its mouth, muffling its cries.
"Listen," Alda hissed. "If you scream, I'll knock you out. Understand?" She realised she should've probably given a death threat, but the Inkling nodded anyway. "Good. I'm going to take my hand off now. If you run, you'll be dead before you have even taken a step." That was better.
The Inkling trembled, but stayed where it was as Alda removed her hand. It eyed the grocery bags it'd dropped with remorse. Packets of food had been scattered across the pavement.
"Sorry about that," Alda muttered. No! What was she apologizing for? Just get on with it! "Listen up, Inkling. I, uh, need your assistance."
The Inkling spoke up for the first time. "Why would you need my help? Besides, didn't you try to murder me last night?" Its voice shook a little, and, despite it's confident words, Alda could tell it was scared.
The Octoling scowled beneath her mask. "So what? I spared your life, didn't I?"
"That dosen't really matter when I'm left with a hole in my shoulder," came the reply.
"Fine! So I tried to kill you! Can we just forget about that, for the moment?"
"My shoulder's having a hard time forgetting."
"You're insufferable! Can you help me or can't you?!"
"You just called me insufferable. I feel less inclined to help you now."
Alda was rather wishing she'd killed this Inkling last night. "Fine, I take it back. You're clearly a lovely, sweet, kind person. Now will you help me?"
"You're being sarcastic."
"I'm not!"
There was a pause. Then, "if I help you, you have to promise not to kill me. Oh, and you have to pick up my shopping." The Inkling pointed.
"Fine," Alda growled, and stomped over to pick up the dropped groceries. Inklings were, apparently, a lot worse than Alda had previously thought.
Once the items had been returned to the carrier bags, the Octoling picked them up and shoved them at the Inkling without looking.
"So," said the Inkling, "what exactly is it you need help with?"
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"Well, I..." the Octoling seemed to be struggling to find the right words. "I - this city is all over the place! I can't... I can't find my way around."
There was a pause, then Coral burst out laughing. "You mean," she wheezed, "you're lost?"
This was too good. Coral realised that the situation wasn't entirely safe (the Octoling looked ready to murder), but she couldn't help herself. An Octoling, a dangerous, murderous creature - lost.
"This isnt funny!"
Coral forced her laughter to die down, still giggling into her hand. "Right, right, I'm sorry."
"You better be," the Octoling muttered.
Coral ignored this, and continued speaking. "I can help you, of course, but I should probably introduce myself first! My name's Coral, what's yours?"
"Alda," came the one word reply.
Coral smiled. "It's nice to meet you! So, uh, I guess you don't have a place to stay, right?"
Alda shook her head.
"We, uh, we can go back to my place! I need to put all this away" - Coral gestured to the shopping bags - "so I was heading there, anyway. And it's out of the way, so no-one will see you."
"Sounds great. Can we go, already? I'm kinda tired."
"That's probably because you used up all your energy trying to murder me," Coral noted, and started walking in the direction she'd been heading. Alda followed.
"Can you stop talking about that already?!"
The pair bickered lightheartedly the entire way back, and Alda found herself at ease, for once in her entire life.
