The Great Dollar Store Experience

"Hmm... Alright; I guess we're not very likely to underpay, right?" Callie noted, thinking of how painfully cheap the chairs seemed. "... I'm still gonna keep an eye out for staff along the way, though, juuust in case," she added. With that, she then proceeded to keep moving, with somewhat of a bounce in her step.

"I guess we could always ask the guy at the cash," Marie pointed out, calmly following beside Callie. "He works here; he could know."

Name: Flint
Origin: OC :3
Species: Kattaca
Gender: Male
Appearance: http://orig00.deviantart.net/8bb4/f/2017/116/6/c/flint_reference_sheet_by_tonadoesstorm-db79nfo.png
Personality: Grumy, and shouty, basically
Other: Nothing really

"Oh yeah; he probably does!" Callie agreed, her pace quickening when she saw the counter
coming into view. On the way there, she pulled out some money in preparation to pay for the chairs.

The cashier stared down at Callie as she approached. "Hello," he greeted kind of monotonously.

Eventually, Marie arrived at the counter as well. She had a feeling Callie would probably speak up instantly, so she said nothing, simply greeting the cashier with a shy smile and a small bow of her head.

"Hi!" Callie chirped in greeting, still sounding cheery despite the cashier's monotonous tone. Then, she quickly placed her handful of money on the counter. "OK, so, um... we kinda... broke... two of the chairs back there," she awkwardly started to explain, motioning her head towards the area they came from. "But it was an accident, of course, and we're really sorry!" she quickly went on to apologize. "So... Is this enough cash to cover it? ... I'm so, so sorry."

"You did whaaaat?" The cashier leaned forward, raising an eyebrow. Clearly, he was not happy about this news.

While Callie spoke with the cashier, Marie stared at him curiously, wondering what sort of creature he was. However, when he suddenly leaned forward, she shrunk back a little. "H-hey, relax; it was an accident...!" she explained, sounding startled, and perhaps a little offended.

Callie found herself feeling rather intimidated by the cashier when he leaned forward, clearly unhappy with the two Inklings. "Y-yeah! It totally was!" she added defensively, meeting her somewhat frightened gaze with his'. "I have no idea how it even happened or anything, but again, we're super sorry! We'll pay you back however much it costs; really!"

The cashier briefly looked down at the small pile of cash that Callie had placed on the counter. "... This'll do. Now go; get out," he told them quite bluntly.

"With pleasure," Marie muttered, crossing her arms and raising her nose as she turned to leave.

Before she turned to leave, Callie gave the cashier an awkward wave and forced a small grin despite the awkward situation, then quickly scurried off.
As she was approaching the exit, a thought suddenly crossed her mind. "Hey... Where do you think we are, anyway?" she asked, glancing over at Marie. "I don't remember ever seeing this store...!"

"I dunno... None of this looks familiar," Marie commented, walking with just enough speed to not trail behind, and no greater. "... Hey, speaking of weird, how about that rude cashier?" she spoke up again as she recalled the strange character. "He looked pretty strange; I don't think I've ever seen a... one of those before," she remarked. "... He... He looked a lot like a 'human', actually..."

"Oh, hey... Yeah...!" Callie's eyes grew wide, glancing back over her shoulder in the direction of the cashier. "D'you think... he really IS a human?!" she gasped, hardly able to believe such a possibility, herself.

"Nahhhhh, he CAN'T be," Marie responded, with a shake of her head. "The sea swallowed 'em all up like... millions of years ago, remember?" Little did she know that this was not the world they called home, and therefore, the history she knew meant nothing here. Then, just happening to glance forward once again, she noticed something. The store they were in was apparently just part of what appeared to be a mall. "Huh..." Stepping out of the store, and into this much-larger space, she paused and looked around. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something felt off about this place.

"Oh, yeah... I guess it would be kind of impossible," Callie agreed, also unaware that the world they were currently in was, in fact, not their own. Her thoughts on the subject were quickly interrupted, however, upon stepping out of the store alongside Marie. "Wha-... ?" she glanced around confusedly, "... This is kinda weird..." she commented after a moment of observation.

(Welp, Misty and I want to try something for a change. >w> Misty's form should be arriving soon after mine.)

Name: Pearl
Origin: Splatoon 2
Species: Inkling
Gender: Female
Appearance: https://cdn.wikimg.net/splatoonwiki/images/7/73/Pearl.png
Height-wise, she is 4'9" tall (which is apparently rather short for a full-grown Inkling; they're not as small as we previously thought xD).
Personality: Pearl is extremely energetic and enthusiastic, and has plenty of attitude to boot. She always goes big, loves showing off, and has a bit of a short temper. She has a quirky streak, too, however.
Other: She's part of Off The Hook; a relatively-new two-member band that's been making a big splash in Inkopolis lately. Though she doesn't play an instrument, she provides vocals, with rapping being her specialty. They also host their own TV/news show, much like the Squid Sisters did before.

(There's a 2-year timeskip between Splatoon and Splatoon 2, but even though we already brought the Squid Sisters in, it shouldn't be an issue. We should be able to safely say that they came from Splatoon 2's part of the timeline, since there's been no mention of anything that would specifically imply that they came from a previous time.)

(And here it is. :D)

Name: Marina
Origin: Splatoon 2
Species: Octoling
Gender: Female
Appearance: https://cdn.wikimg.net/splatoonwiki/images/9/9d/Marina.png
As for height, she stands at 5'10'' tall.
Personality: Marina can be somewhat timid, but is often excitable, as well. She also has a bit of a sassy streak, which mainly shows itself in a lighthearted, joking fashion. Occasionally, she can be prone to absentmindedness.
Other: The other half of Off the Hook; she provides vocals and serves as the group's DJ. She also frequently plays a keyboard/keytar.

(We even know exactly how to start this. xD)

Elsewhere in the mall, a short Inkling came bursting through a portal that resembled a pair of sliding glass doors (which sounded like they were badly in need of some oil). "YEEEAAAHH! Watch your back, snacks, 'cause we're on the attack!" she cheered in a spontaneous rap as she entered.

After the Inkling came through the portal, a tall Octoling strolled through after her, her eyes briefly closing as she giggled amusedly at her friend's rhyming. "Aah, I wonder what we're gonna buy, this time...!" she wondered aloud, opening her eyes to look around. However, when she saw that they had somehow ended up in a completely different-- and unfamiliar-- place, her blissful expression quickly faded into one of confusion. "Uhh, Pearl...? Did we... wander into the wrong store by mistake...?"

Pearl--who hadn't yet taken a moment to look around at their surroundings--laughed upon hearing her friend's remark. She just assumed she was having a ditzy moment; it certainly wasn't uncommon. "Whaddaya mean, Marina?? You think I don't know how to get to the corner store?!" she snickered, looking up at her with a laughter-filled grin. "They probably just went and moved the displays around again! They do that, remember? Gotta keep things fresh, yo!" Pearl was so busy talking to Marina that she still hadn't noticed that they actually had ended up somewhere different.

"Yeah, I know, but... I reeaaally don't think this is the same place...!" Marina insisted, almost sounding a bit unsettled; she felt sure that they had entered a very specific store, and this didn't look at all like it. "Everything looks kinda weird, here... Like it's all really poorly made or something!" she remarked, pointing to one of the many shelves lined with items of questionable quality.

"Huh?" Pearl looked in the direction Marina was pointing, finally seeing where they were. "Hey, you're right! What gives?!" She marched up to a nearby shelf, picked up a flimsy baseball cap--with an off-centered design reading "wussup" cheaply applied across the front--and stared at it with narrowed eyes for a moment before throwing it back as if it were a piece of garbage. "Ugh, this stuff's straight-up TRASH!" she commented, sounding and looking disgusted. "What HAPPENED? It's like... not even the same store!"

Marina slowly followed Pearl to the shelf, staring in shock at the amazingly cheap-looking hat her friend had picked up, then proceeded to throw right back. "How can anything even BE this cheap...??" she commented, sounding absolutely baffled. Randomly, she glanced at a t-shirt hanging on the wall beside them, which had a picture of an unevenly drawn cat printed on it. Practically cringing, she quickly turned her attention back to Pearl. "You don't think they replaced our usual store with... whatever this is... do you?!" she suggested somewhat worriedly. "Did you see a different sign hanging outside or anything?"

"They BETTER not have!" Pearl responded, clearly annoyed. "Nothing on the outside looked any different, either! I'm even gonna go outside and double-check!"
When Pearl turned around to go out the way she and Marina came in, she noticed something even more disturbing than the cringe-worthy fashion items. They were nowhere near a door, and instead were seemingly right in the middle of the store. In truth, while the two were distracted, the portal they entered through had closed.
"H-... Hey, WHAT?!" Frantically, Pearl looked around, only becoming more confused and irritated. "Where's the door at?!"

"Huh...??" Marina whirled around to see what Pearl was talking about, her expression instantly growing even more alarmed when she saw for herself that there wasn't a door in sight. "Whaaaaa?? We literally just came in through a door... It should be right there!" As she spoke, she slowly looked around, as well. "This is starting to get kinda creepy..."

"And totes ANNOYING!" Pearl added with a small huff. "C'mon; let's go find the exit. Maybe all the cheap junk lying around blinded us with its lameness, then we wandered around and got lost without knowing it or something." Determinedly, she marched down the isle, very much wanting to leave this enormous collection of disgustingly low-quality items behind.