(open)

[flatteries]

Who: Inigo, Tidus (aka the two shared braincells duo) and you!
Where: The standard coach
When: Horseshoe 17
What: Inigo and Tidus are handing out free stuff because Tidus is the train's official sugar daddy.
Warnings: Probably nothing, will edit if necessary.

---

Hey guys, forget about that public breakdown the other day. Today Inigo is on the ICP with a big smile, seeming as cheerful as ever. It's fine. It's cool.

"Good day, everyone! Tidus and I brought some things back with us from Irivar to share with everyone. So why not come over to the standard coach and see if there's anything you'd like to take with you, hm? We have quite the selection! Oh, and.. erm, Taiki, Roland, Bryn and Della.. If you could make sure to come see us, we'd appreciate it! Otherwise I might have to send Ti--"

Before Inigo can even finish the sentence, there's an offscreen obviously very Tidus-y voice calling out, "Inigo! Ask for Sakura too!"

Inigo huffs, turning his gaze to the off screen source. "I was getting to that!" (No he wasn't.) Apparently he accidentally pulled his ticket off the ICP as he starts moving away from it too, because the feed just cuts out. Just come get some sweet stuff.

---

Their set-up in the standard car is a simple, if messy, one. They have a few of their offered freebies on the same table they occupy, each guy facing the other, sat by the wall. From the immediate front, fragrant bags sit no bigger than a palm, a variety of scents better to tell when held to the nose. Whetstones sit stacked mostly on top of one another, and then a cluster of hair ribbons and circular hair ties behind them. Behind the bags are a few scent oils--basically, perfumes, if not very big. There's a few to choose from, but...

...not as many as there are the soaps, which take up a half of the table in their choice. It's like a lush shop here of choice, different colours and sizes.

And Inigo and Tidus? Sit there, either playing cards or fiddling through the paper craft book available from the art supplies where the old library used to be.

A chalkboard sits balanced, with the words 'FREE 2 TAKE' written in big letters. In case you missed the public announcement.

1:
Come up, and have a look. Ask about what they've got.

2:
Or while you're here, maybe you can help Tidus, who pipes up to ask-

"Hey, quick question. How long 'til you're comfortable hugging someone?"

(ooc: as a note, all threads on this will be threeways! please enjoy trying to handle both teens at once. you can't seperate them.)

Comments

[consider8]

"Ohh..." Had Tidus not said anything she would have restricted herself to only one, so that was more bounty than she was expecting!

She laughed softly at how much soap was on offer. "You're not suggesting something by offering us so much soap, are you, Tidus?"

[flatteries]

"Yeah Tidus," Inigo suddenly pipes up, looking up from his paper flower crafting as if he doesn't want to be completely ignored over here. Like a kid that feels bad about being left out of an Adult Conversation. "You're not suggesting anything, are you?"

Says the guy who literally hadn't ever even seen a bar of soap before ending up on this train.. So maybe it's actually Inigo who feels a little called out here. But Tidus seemed really invested in getting all this fancy stuff they didn't have where Inigo comes from for the people of the train.

It's only a light tease though, and apparently doesn't mean much, since a moment later Inigo is already glancing over at Eight.

"You like this kind of stuff?"

[blitzcheer]

"I am, actually," he answers smugly (or with the tone of such), lifting up his chin. "I'm sayin' everyone should have a nice treat than just the basic stuff the train gives you."

Pause. "And, it was a hundred bars for a piece of gold. And it smelled nice. I like a treat."

Yep, that was pretty much his thinking with all of this. But the soap was nice and completely inexpensive, so why not do his best to buy out a shop in its product?

But other than that, he'll give room for Eight and Inigo to chat.

[consider8]

"One hundred?? That is a great deal! Back home you'd get a bar of soap for a hundred coins." Either that, or it was a hell of an exchange rate. A bar of gold would be 10,000 coins? Wow.

She looks back at the soaps, bringing them up to her nose and breathing them in deeply, bliss sweeping across her face. "Oh, yes. We don't get such scents where... where I grew up. These smells are all lovely." She sets them aside for a moment and plays with the ribbons. "And these are just cute! There's so many here I think I could make them in a braid and wear them in my hair... OH! And these little pouches."

She was definitely having fun appreciating all of this.

[flatteries]

They sure didn't have those either where Inigo comes from. But at the same time he can't help but notice that Eight seems to take to the scents a lot more than he's done so far - maybe it's just a girl thing? (Then again, why would Tidus be so into it if it's a girl thing? He certainly isn't the type. Weird.)

Still, despite his own lack of understanding, it's good to see someone else so enthusiastic about all of this. Inigo smiles a little before turning his gaze back to Tidus.

"Looks like we've already got one satisfied customer." Or.. well.. Not really a customer since no one has to pay, but 'free-taker' doesn't quite sound as right.

[blitzcheer]

Bro appreciate personal hygiene.

"Hey, I'm glad too people are liking this! I was worried we didn't get anything anyone would want." Since they do get soap on the train - but is it the same as getting different fragrances? "Not everything was as low priced as the soap though - I guess they have everything they need for making soap?" Let's not question the ways of the soap.

"I looked at ink for the artsy folks, and that stuff is 5 gold for a tiny bottle - and that was the cheapest! But, it was easier to get than trying to buy anything off this train. You don't have to wait for it to show up."

[consider8]

Eight was most definitely a satisfied free-taker, and is starting to plait two of the ribbons down her longer tentacle. She had already picked up three bars of soap that she was going to have, and set aside one of the bags that reminded her of a sea breeze.

She was almost done with the plait when Tidus mentioned ink. "Ink is really that expensive...?" Huh. Well, she didn't really like getting anything for free, and if that would help... "Do you have any of those bottles?"

[flatteries]

The talk about ink from Tidus is no surprise for Inigo, considering that he's seen Tidus shove so much into that Arms Band to take it back with him to the train.. But it's a lot more surprising on Eight's part. Inigo shoots her a curious look, not entirely sure where this is going.

"Do you like making art?" What else would someone need those ink bottles for, right?

[blitzcheer]

"Uhhh... wasn't it like 5 or 8 gold?" Tidus looks at Inigo for confirmation, a narrow squint as he tries and thinks. A look back at Eight as he says, uselessly, "It'd be cheaper buying some from the train shop than back there."

Not that it helps now, but... it was a lot, okay!

[consider8]

Meep? Meeep? Eight's eyes bounced between Inigo and Tidus. Did she like making art? No... where did that come from? O-Oh! They were thinking that she was asking because she wanted to make art, huh?

"Oh! Um... not exactly." She hadn't worked with paints she was a very small octoling. "But if I had a bottle I could probably fill it with ink to use. I can even make it in a variety of colors."

As though to demonstrate, Eight eyed Tidus' bright blonde and shifted her tentacle color to match it.

[flatteries]

Inigo definitely is unable to surpress a 'wow' sound - more noise than an actual word - at the sight of her shifting tentacle colours. Sure, Inigo has seen a lot by now, both here on the train and back home, but he's never seen anyone change the colour of their hair (??) like that.

Then again, Eight did have the whole broken-yet-not-broken limb thing going on the last time they talked too, Inigo remembers. What can't she do? He's watching all this with wide eyes.

"That is amazing! So right now it's.. inside of your body?"

[blitzcheer]

"Inigo?" It comes out involuntarily, a hushed question that's turned on him in the tune of, dude should you really just be asking that? But maybe it's not such a bad question, or, well, rude. As rude as it sounds??

He does look back at Eight, pipes up, "Wish I could do that! Then I wouldn't need to dye it again!"

And he pats his hair for emphasis.

[consider8]

Eight is feeling a bit proud and doesn't feel too embarrassed to show off that, yes, even her insides are colored. She does this by opening her mouth, revealing that her tongue, gums, and inside of her mouth have taken on a distinctive Tidus-yellow hue.

Eight does ponder Tidus's words and considers... huh, that wasn't his actual fur color...? Interesting. "I didn't know that humans would dye their fur." Then again, it did make much sense. "Staying with the same color all the time must get boring, huh?" She asked in innocent rudeness.

[flatteries]

There's first a quick - Uh, don't you see she doesn't mind? - look thrown Tidus's way, but then Inigo's attention is quick to turn back to Eight. Rather than looking disgusted at her showing the inside of her mouth like that, he actually looks kind of amazed. Wow, she may even be more unique than Yarne or Nah!

Thankfully this whole hairdye discussion already happened earlier today though, or Inigo would be a lot more startled by this discovery. For now he can instead focus more on what Eight is saying.

".. Is that boring?" Inigo may be self-consciously tugging on a lock of his own hair just a bit. He's starting to feel a bit plain here between hair-dyeing Tidus and total-colour-changing Eight.

[blitzcheer]

Welllll excuse hiiiim for wanting to be sure!

But she doesn't seem to care at all, even happy to show off -- and dude, if she's going to show off her mouth being a psyduck-yellow, Tidus is going to gawk in wonder. He doesn't know what a psyduck is.

"It has to be boring to the person who can do it for fun on a whim," Tidus reasons easily. He's never given the subject much thought either to be offended, but thinking about it now- "Guess it depends! I changed my style to try something new -- and for the fans!" A grin. "What about you? Can you do anything about up here?"

He's motioning above his head, meaning her tentacles.

"You can't really reshape them... can you?"

He's not going to suggest she cuts them, anyway.

[consider8]

It's true, that despite how callous of a statement that was, there were many other species on her world that lacked that little trick. Perhaps she was being a little mean. "Hehe... well, it's nice to be able to have a new look every now and then, right? Otherwise you'd just wear the same thing day after day and that would be no fun..."

She sighed, giving her purple uniform a dreary glare. Thankfully Tidus was there to provide the next distraction. "Aha! Yes, I definitely can reshape them... a little."

Her hands reach for her now blonde tentacles and gives her two front ones a small tug. In one swift motion she pulls them back into a rather nice looking tenta-pony. Somehow in the transition the two smaller tentacles migrated to right over her ears.

"We don't really have too many design choices, but this sometimes helps when I'm working and I don't want my tentacles in my face." She was having fun. This was fun right? They weren't making fun of her, were they...?

[flatteries]

Although he makes sure to not mention it anywhere out loud, the thought can't help but shoot through Inigo's head all the same. Oh no. He's boring, isn't he. He's boring for having walked around for seventeen years with the exact same hairstyle and haircolour!

Thankfully Inigo manages to shove that mental freakout under the carpet enough for it to not show up on his face - it helps that he has practice, though he's been slacking on properly tucking these things away lately, huh - and instead looks at Eight's changing hair.

"That has got to be convenient." Although the whole 'won't break bones under circumstances regular humans would break bones' thing is even more convenient, isn't it. But he doesn't really want to bring up that last awkward encounter.

At least no part of his tone sounds like he's trying to make fun of her. Just observing!

"You'd never have to cut your hair."

[blitzcheer]

"Huh!" There's the noise of astonishment as the limb-like hair shifts itself into a new style, without much work--or seemingly--from Eight. Eyes widened, and it's an unmistakable image of awe.

"Just think!" He looks over at Inigo. "You could wake up and do whatever you wanted up there. More choice than our clothes." Which he'd caught her disappointment, or thought he did--kindred spirits who disliked the same boring outfit, day in day out. He had others, but no thanks to the train.

--but didn't the conversation lead this way because of another subject? Which hits him with a quick "Oh!", and he sits his hands flat on the table.

"Right- you said you can make ink, didn't you? Could you show us if I got jars?"

[consider8]

Eight shook her head at Inigo. "Eventually I'm going to have to. They do get longer. But I'm going to try not to or else we'll have Octotroopers everywhere." I mean, obviously. Who else didn't have hair that would become sentient when you cut it?

Oh, that's right! The whole point of changing her hair color was to change the color of ink. "Yes. I can make as much ink as I want, but it would take me some time. If you give me some jars I can make whatever color you ask for." Within reasonable limits.

[flatteries]

It's all a little baffling. Somewhere between Tidus's enthusiasm over changing up styles - you don't grow up in a place where all you do is fight to survive without the care for much other things just disappearing completely - and Eight's talk of Octotroopers, Inigo feels entirely lost. Confused.

He'll leave the jar grabbing to Tidus though. Instead he can't help but want to relieve at least a tiny bit of his curiosity by asking: "What are Octotroopers?"

[blitzcheer]

Uhh, you know, yeah - forget about the ink right now. Tidus was ready and prepared to get some of that, but he's going to point at Inigo, and-

"What he said?"

Umm, Octotroopers???

[consider8]

It's alright Inigo. Give her an indication that you would want to try new styles and she will be very supportive in making new stylistic choices!

She blinks a little at the mention of the Octotroopers. Oh, right. They wouldn't know that, would they... er...

"Octotroopers are the frontline soldiers of the Octarian army. They are made by cutting our hair, which will begin seeing, thinking, and acting on their own." Her tentacles wiggle a little to show how lively they are.

[flatteries]

...

That idea is so weird.

But Inigo feels like that'd be an impolite thing to voice out loud. Especially in front of someone he doesn't know well, and who he's already had a very awkward interaction with.. So thankfully - for once - he manages to swallow down any and all instinctive initial reactions, instead just staring for a moment before attempting to speak up.

"But it's still fine as long as it's still attached? I mean.. your hair isn't bothering you right now, is it?" At least that question seems to be born from genuine concern. Inigo would be pretty freaked out if he knew cutting his hair was going to cause soldiers to form! What even!

[blitzcheer]

...

Bro her hair is alive?

Which is the point that is going through Tidus's brain, once the explanation is given, the tentacles wiggle, and thereafter. He is trying to understand this rather simple piece of information. Mainly because now he can't stop imagining her hair as now her babies. And that's a lot of babies all just existing on her head right now...

(Are they going to start having octo-children wiggling around the train? Does Tidus want to see that??)

"Do they stay tiny?"

Please tell him all about this baby army.

[consider8]

Eight gives a lighthearted giggle at Inigo's inquiry. "I'm fine. This is completely normal for us Ocatrians." Fortunately she is well aware that this is a property unique to her species, as the Inklings appeared to freely change their hairstyle without any worries of causing a small army to spring up. She was a little envious, really.

Also, funny you should think that, Tidus...

"Well, no, they won't. My hair is too small right now, but as I get older they'll get bigger." Oh, but maybe he meant after...? "Well, it depends more on the trooper. Sometimes they start thinking and getting smarter on their own and will grow more tentacles. Some of the really smart ones might even become an Octoling, like me."