Propositions

Sal rose his brows, looking at Belial curiously. Sounded like whatever it was had been on his mind for awhile. As he started to explain, Sal tilted his head a little. Something about this whole thing sounded a little familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. Not until Belial mentioned the person being shot without splatting. Almost immediately, he can feel his face flushing. “Their parent came here,” he asked, hardly paying attention. Ugh, maybe he should’ve expected that after the way Aggie had seen him. He picks up the pace a little, wondering how far away the office was. He couldn’t just go, but now he really wanted to get in and then get out. “Yeesh, that sounds like a mess…”

“Oh it was, and now I have to apologize, over the air, during the next splat fest,” Belial stated a little annoyed “This person apparently, ‘looked like an Inkling, short, darker skin, dark tentacles that looked shiny, and sort of wet.” When he started quoting Chell, he used a tone of voice that was clearly mocking what she had told him.

Belial pointed around the corner. “My office is just around there, Judd is probably still asleep in the box near the door.” The lanky squid turned, and stopped to make eye contact with Sal while he was speaking. His eyes flicked up and down a moment “You know in this light, you kind of look like the person she described...”

@reptilejava

Belial stood up straight as he entered the little coffee shop. The afternoon was starting to cool down and the tall lanky squid needed an afternoon pick me up. It was just after the afternoon rush, and the line was nonexistent. The maroon tentacled squid walked right up to the counter, the whole while staring at the menu.

Javier was relaxing with a book, looking up from the pages with a smile as his newest customer entered. It was nice and quiet inside, with conversations mostly muted in favor of the currently playing jazz record.

“Hey there, amigo. What’ll it be?”

Belial looked at the reptile for a moment before flashing his eyes back at the menu. “I...” He looked like he was thinking pretty hard about what he wanted. “I can’t decide, but several of the people at the plaza stadium say that this place has the best coffee. “What do you suggest?” He was still looking around taking in the new surroundings and area.

Propositions

“I suppose so. I’m not sure they’d be able to find anyone else to do it either, so I guess that’s some sort of job security. Doesn’t make dealing with troublesome writers any more fun though,” he said, laughing. Still, it’s not like he hadn’t said that about his last job, and that was gone now. He raised a brow at Belial. “That’s a pretty specific complaint. Something happen?”

“Pff, writers, tell me about it.” He rolled his eyes and looked back at Sal as he spoke. Belial had slowed his walking down since he was distracted with conversation, but they were still moving toward their destination. 

“Did something happen? HAH!” He laughed a little before starting to explain the situation. “Well, one of those crazy parents came up complaining about her kid getting spooked by someone in the middle of the lobby. She didn’t say anything happened or even that the kid was harassed, just spooked. The kid supposedly shot the person in the chest, but they didn’t splat. I think she’s just one of those parents that likes to freak out if someone coughs near their kid.” Belial scoffed a little before continuing. “We got into a little bit of a tiff, and she ended up tackling me. Crazy woman.” He paused for a bit thinking about the situation.

Propositions

“Oh, that’s good,” Sal said, letting out a small sigh of relief. At least he wasn’t really keeping Belial. Sal craned his neck, looking up at Belial. “Hm? Oh, I’m a historical consultant of theirs. A friend of mine recommended me to them after some… fiascoes during some of the segments.” He still couldn’t believe some of the stuff the news station had been trying to pull when grabbing things to reference in the past without knowing what they were doing. “It’s a bit of a mess, but it can be fun.” Although, most ‘fun’ ended up being hanging out with Callie on their breaks.

“Historical Consultant huh? That sounds like a whole lot of really complicated stuff.” Just like most of the other squids, Belial didn’t think too hard about most of the historical stuff left behind by humans, and he certainly believed most of what the news said about them. “That sounds like it would be a pretty neat job.” He sounded impressed. “I bet you certainly don’t have to deal with a bunch of kids and their over-protective parents all day.”

Propositions

“Oh, uh. It’s going well enough,” Sal replied, following closely after the squid. “I work over at the news studio so things have been a little hectic lately, but it seems like they’re finally calming down.” He just had to wait till the next Splatfest and the midsummer projects for things to pick up again. Not to mention, how their full their hands would get once the gross rainy weather began. “What about yours–” He pauses for a brief moment. “Um, I’m not keeping you from your job, am I?”

“Heh, no. You’re not keeping me from anything, I had just gotten off work for the day.” Belial stretched up a bit and yawned a little making his already tall figure even bigger before settling back to its normal size. “So what do you do for the news station? Seems like it would be a blast to work there.”

Propositions

Sal narrows his eyes a moment, noticing Belial’s change in expression. He probably shouldn’t be taking it personally, but Judd meant a lot to him. He didn’t want to waste this chance to maybe get to the cat easily though, so best not get stuck on the thought. He smiles a little, hearing about Judd’s nap box. “Yeah, I’d appreciate that. Thanks.”

Belial cocked a little half smile, he didn’t dislike the cat, he was just tired of getting lectured by him. He turned back around the way he had come up to the man. “It’s just this way.” He motioned a little for Sal to follow him, and attempted to make some small talk. “So, how is your day going? Well I hope.” 

Propositions

Sal frowns a little as he looks around. Maybe he was wasting his time here. How likely was it that Judd would just be randomly hanging around in the lobby? The changes of that were lower than randomly finding him in your locked home. Maybe Mimi was around and she could help– He blinks at the sudden voice addressing him and looks up at the squid towering over him. Eugh, he really hadn’t been planning on talking to anyone. Here was hoping his disguise would hold up. “Oh, uh. I was just wondering where Judd might be.”

“Oh, Judd...” His expression dulled a bit from hearing about the cat. Belial didn’t dislike Judd, he just didn’t have the most amazing working relationship with his boss. “Uhh, last I saw him he was laying in a box near my office. Er, if you can call it an office.” 

He tilted his head a bit before continuing.”Would you like me to show you where he is?”

Chell lets out a trilling growl as he throws the stress ball at her. She feels she’s made her point, and climbs off as he starts to shove at her, standing and using her sleeve to wipe ink from her face.

“I’m going, I’m going,” she brushes off the exasperated-looking security guards, who were no doubt used to breaking up confrontations like these. Since they were here she’d just go to the security office and talk to them, because it was doubtful now that her message would be passed on. Some people were vindictive like that.

As the excitement died down a bit his tentacles stopped blinking and returned to their normal burgundy color. He sat up, propped up on one arm with his legs out in front of him. His other hand reached up and wiped a small amount of ink that had leaked out of his mouth, and then wipe it on his pants. 

His mouth arched into a mountainous frown below a scowl directed at Chell.  After a few moments he stood up,  accessing the damage that had been done.His little stand was tipped over, but the control box didn’t look damaged. He would definitely have to explain this to Judd. 

Propositions

Sal watches the entrance to the lobby in silence for several minutes before finally walking across the plaza toward the tower. He had been planning to head over from the studio during his break, hoping he could find Judd and get in a small talk with him, but now he’s not even so sure how much of a good idea it was to even go. He gives a nervous look around as he steps through the doors. He probably should have worn his hoodie or something to keep from being so easily recognizable by the lobby staff, but he couldn’t really do much about that now. He was mostly hoping to just find Judd quickly and get this done with.

Belial was on his way out of work for the day, heading from the stairs, and out the entrance of the plaza. He looked over to see Sal looking around cautiously. It had been a good day, most of the matches were run of the mill and boring and Belial was feeling more social than normal, so he approached Sal.

“You look lost.” He mistook the man’s caution for confusion.  As was his usual, the tall lanky squid wasn’t wearing his name-tag, or any sort of uniform. “Is there something I can help you with?” 

“Augh!” she cries in disgust, letting go of him so she can wipe the ink from her face. Tasted like she’d even gotten it in her mouth, ugh! 

Once she’s cleared it enough that she can see, she throws herself forward and rams her shoulder into his chest, knocking the two of them and the table over in one swift motion.

“Nnf.” Belial threw a hand out behind him to try and catch himself, but it was no good. It didn’t even cushion his fall. He landed hard on the concrete floor hand and elbow first. The woman’s shoulder had knocked the air out of him. His tentacles were still blinking.

People had been watching them since they had started yelling, and the security was no doubt on their way. He grabbed the closest thing near him and hit her with it. Bop. A spongy stress ball smacked her free shoulder as his other hand tried to push her off of him.

“Am I supposed to read the guy’s mind?!” She barks back at him. “How could I possibly know if he did this on purpose or not?! Don’t you get it, by the time someone’s kid gets hurt, it’s too late. Am I supposed to wait until somebody attacks my child before getting upset?”

Chell grabs one of his ears, yanking him down to her level. “You listen to me,” she hisses, her teeth clicking with every word. “I came here on my time off, I was very polite about what I wanted, and you decided to insult me and my family. You ought to be fired, you waste of ink.”

Belial panicked a little when he was grabbed and pulled down to Chell’s level. He could feel her breath as she talked. It just added to the amount of anxiety that was building up in his chest. He just wanted the situation to be over. 

He cowered a little as she spoke, feeling each and every syllable of her words puffed into his face. Things were going too quickly, and he hated it. His tentacles flashed bright red and white a few times, and he could feel liquid pooling into his mouth. She paused a moment in speaking, and before she could say anything else he spat one solid stream of reddish ink, from his mouth, directly at her face.

“You’re acting like I demanded you lock the place down! I don’t know what I was thinking, talking to some cheap radio DJ and not someone from security. You could’ve told me I was wasting my time.” What was he even on about? Aggie had shot the guy in self-defense, and ink guns weren’t dangerous, even those designed for adult use. You got splatted or you got a little bruised if you weren’t the splattable type.

She could cross her arms, but she wants to keep her hands free. They stay clenched at her sides. “You see someone suspicious, you report them. I was just doing what everybody is supposed to do. You, grown adult verbally attacking a child, need to learn what your civic responsibilities are.”

‘Cheap was not something he had been called before, nor did he know how to handle it, so he yelled...

“Whether you had talked to them yourself or not; you’re wasting  your time and theirs. If you told our actual security what you had told me, they would have asked you for details, they would ask you if your child was harmed. From the sound of it, the kid was fine, just spooked, not that you had any idea what happened because it didn’t sound like you bothered to get any details. You didn’t say the person went out of their way to scare your child, just that they existed and your child was frightened by that. I don’t see what the issue is, when the only issue seems to be that your kid was scared for no reason.”

Belial stopped for a moment to take a breath, he had been talking to her so fast and loud, that he needed to catch his breath. “Listen...” He looked down at the paper “Chell, I’m going to tell security to keep an eye out, I never wasn’t going to do that, no matter how stupid I think some of the overprotective parents here can be.” That definitely wasn’t the best choice of words he could have used, but he wasn’t sure what else to say to a grumpy parent who had already over reacted to someone looking at her kid crossways.

Chell is looking at him by now too. She slips her phone back into her pocket, takes a few long strides back over to the table, and in one sweep, knocks all of the promotional giveaway items off the table, sending a cascade of pens and foam stress toys to the ground. 

“Do you have anything else you want to call me while I’m here?!” she snaps, teeth bared. “You can say it to my face if you want to, instead of broadcasting it all over the city. I’m here because somebody wandered into your facility and scared my child into a panic, and somehow addressing that makes me overprotective? Were you actually going to tell anybody what I said? Do you even have kids?” He probably didn’t, or he would have understood.

Belial looked at her for a moment bewildered. The fact that she had heard anything meant that the damage was done already. What was a few more harsh words. “No, I think that uptight and overprotective fits rather well.” At this point they were on different sides of the table, but that didn’t mean that couldn’t change. 

The tower of a squid kept going “From what you’re saying, the kid got spooked by someone. NOT hurt, NOT harassed, just something that spooked them. Do you think people aren’t spooked by Crusty Sean once in a while? Maybe the problem is that your kid is a baby, and not that someone looked at them crossways.” At this point it wouldn’t matter if his mic was on or not, everyone in the plaza would hear them yelling. “After all, you said that they shot whoever it was, not the other way around, so as I see it, your precious angel, is the only one that had any ill intent.” 

“Thanks.” Her phone buzzes at her and she turns away to answer it. Aggie finally getting back to her. It was a bit late though, so she texts back that it was taken care of, and that this would hopefully be the end of it. Aggie had so little interest in turf wars already, it was a shame that something like this had given them a scare just when they were considering giving it a try, finally.

Belial took up his microphone when she turned away. “Belial here in Inkopolis plaza, broadcasting live on SPLT radio. It’s a great day for  splat games, everyone, head on down for some fun. That last song was ‘Ink me up’ from the squid sisters. Stay tuned for more, as well as more play by play news from the most exciting ranked games. Now more from the squid sisters.” He flipped another switch back up to start the next song playing, before leaning back a bit onto one of his speakers and closing his eyes. “Fuck, these parents are so up tight and overprotective.” He opened his eyes to see a few squids looking at him strangely, before looking down at his switch board. The red Microphone light indicated his personal mic was on. He flipped it off quickly and hoped the squid sisters music had drowned out most what he said.

He seems a little anxious. What did he have to worry about? She hadn’t gotten angry with him. 

Taking the pad, she writes Chell Westlake below the note, adding her phone number as well. “Just call me if you decide to actually do anything about it. I’d like to know that we’re all funding this place for a reason.”

A forced fake smile passed over Belial’s face. “I’ll make sure to tell them that when I relay your message to security.” He flipped a few more switches on his small portable sound board. “Be sure to let us know if there is anything else we can help you with.” 

Chell glances over the offerings and grabs a pen and a small foam stress toy shaped like a star. After a moment’s hesitation she takes a small handful of candy too. Normally they didn’t have sweets in the house, but Aggie would probably appreciate a small treat at a time like this. “I’ll leave my number so somebody can call if you find this guy. Thanks for your help.”

“Sure, sounds good to me.” Along with the pen he had previously used, he held out the note he had written. “Would you put you name as well please.” 

He was trying his best to be polite, since Judd was usually lurking around the plaza when he wasn’t judging. All he needed was another lecture about being nice to customers.