The Great Dollar Store Experience

"OK... Uhm... Sorry, sir," Looking defeated, Marina nodded and walked to the back of the line after Pearl, casting a brief, apologetic glance at the people who were once again standing in front of them.

"This is so dumb," Pearl grumbled, still pouting like a spoiled child. "If they had any idea who they were talkin' to, we'd have ALL the donuts."

The other customers shied away slightly as Marina and Pearl passed by them, then exchanged baffled looks with one another.
"What was THAT...?" one muttered loudly enough to hear, referring to the scene that had just taken place.
The other simply shrugged, then went to the counter to order.

Just as Marina was about to respond to Pearl, she heard one of the other customers mutter and noticed both of their baffled looks. As they were clearly referring to what had just happened, including her attempt to reason with the shopkeeper, a part of her couldn't help feeling rather insulted. "... What do they mean by "that"...??" she questioned quietly, a small pout creeping onto her face.

Also having heard the mutter, Pearl glared at the human directly in front of her and Marina. "Uh, rude much?" she grumbled.
The human in question then looked back over her shoulder briefly, wearing an expression that was clearly judgmental and contemptuous. First, she glanced down at Pearl, then up at Marina, before cringing and returning her attention forward.

Flint watched this scene unfold with the same silence he had mostly maintained sense stumbling upon this scene. But now he spoke “give up?” He inquired, an edge of a teasing taunt in his tone.

“What makes getting food so quickly so important, anyway?” His crossed his arms, still leaning in the entry way. He watched them with a calm almost amusement as they approached him to reach the end of the line.

When she heard Flint's snarky remark, Pearl instantly stared daggers at him. Being a particularly feisty and hotheaded Inkling, his attitude easily got under her skin. Just looking at his face alone was enough to make her temper boil. "What's it TO ya?" she spat. "We're hungry! Duh! Why else would we be here?!"

Flint narrowed his eyes uncertainly at her. But shrugged "You like doughnuts, Your challenging yourself to visit all the doughnut shops around, your food critics, there are plenty of other reasons you could be here." Flint tried to keep cool, but Pearl was unnerving him. and his slitted catish pupils showed it.

Marina felt even more self-conscious when she saw the judgemental look of the customer in front of them, but her attention was quickly brought elsewhere when she heard Flint's remarks. "Excuse me...?" she responded, raising one of her eyebrows slightly. Noticing that Pearl seemed to be getting especially worked-up, she took a step closer to her friend's side, keeping her gaze focused on the catlike creature. "Well, whatever the reason is, at least we're not just here to heckle random strangers."

Flint's gaze flashed between them. "I'm just making observations. No need to get mad." He glanced past them, judging the status of the other customers around. He knew their fight could only go on for so long before one of the humans stepped in. And he wasn't in the mood for trying to talk down an irritated human. It was likely much more difficult then talking down a scorned squid.

He gave a soft sigh, and subtly lifted a hand to his chest, took a deep breath in through his nose, and moved his hand down and away in a kind of slope away from him, and let his breath out through his nose. "Well, while I"m here I might as well buy something, for the store's troubles. He moved himself towards the line, careful, however, not to make it seem that he was cutting the squids off. Neither the squids nor humans would appreciate that. And he didn't feel, once again, like trying to calm down an irritated human.

Thankfully, the line was moving quickly, so things weren't likely to get much uglier than they already were. The second human just sighed before approaching the counter, herself.

When Marina stepped in to back her up, Pearl's temper calmed down slightly, though she was still clearly not amused. With narrowed eyes and a bit of a pout, she kept her gaze locked onto Flint the entire time, still staring over at him as he took a place at the end of the line. For a moment, she was silent, simply examining the stranger. "... What are you, anyway?" she finally questioned him in a blunt tone, twitching her head up slightly. "Some kind of flying cat?"

Flint pointed, face twisted in anger, and opened his mouth to object, when he froze, his eyes grew wide. He straightened, a totally stymied look on his face. An objection to this was very hard to come by. "Uhh... I-I.... N-nu....-" he shakes his head subtly, breaking out of his trance "-NO! No I'm not... I'm a Kattaca... Totally different then human cats.... They..We... They can't speak, ok? And my wings aren't typical for my species, anyway. It means I have royal blood."

(Funfact, sense I've been revamping Kattacus, and the Kattaca species lately, (as I made it up real quick on a whim cause Stealth had made a video game OC (not Torsolus) and wanted to RP with them, and it was when I was like, 9) I've been considering new names for the planet and the species :D)

(Neat. :D We definitely know what it's like to go through the process of revamping OC-related things, too.)

Her still-wary gaze continuing to focus on Flint, Marina listened as he and Pearl exchanged a few words. Hearing the explanation of his species, she began to look quite confused, having never heard of anything quite like it; and after their already-baffling encounters with humans, it was even harder to process it all. "Huh... I can't say I've ever heard of a "Kattaca" before..." she commented somewhat quietly, wondering if this was perhaps another species from the humans' time.

Flint glanced at her "I'm not surprised. There are only two of us in existence." He sighed. putting his hands in his pockets. An odd look came over his face. "Anyway, which flavor do you think your getting?" He asked, absently, averting his gaze to the menu above the counter.

Slowly, Pearl's attitude softened as she grew more curious. Also, after hearing Flint's explanation, she knew that they were definitely not in the world they called home right now, and such a thought was a wild one. Upon suddenly being asked about the donuts, however, she temporarily abandoned any ponderings for now. "If they've got 'em, I want one of those rainbow sprinkly ones!" she responded with a grin, looking up at Flint with a face brimming with energy. "They're da BOMB!"

As Flint's explanation continued, Marina, like Pearl, began to realize that somehow, they seemed to actually be in an entirely different world at the moment. However, she, too, was temporarily brought away from her thoughts on this matter when the conversation's topic suddenly changed. Hearing Pearl's enthusiasm over her choice of donut, an amused expression came to her face. "Hehe, I thought you might go for that one, Pearlie...!" she commented with a bit of a giggle. "... And... I think I'm gonna get a vanilla one, myself. Probably a chocolate one, too... And maybe one of those simple, glazed ones."

Flint was satisfied the topic was technically changed. He looked up at the menu. Hesitating as he read the menu. "Uuhh... The Red velvet one look pretty good to me." He murmured absently. He'd never had a doughnut before, and doubted he'd like it. The thought soured his expression. He took a deep breath, then internally agreed to get the red velvet.. Having made the decision, he felt in his pockets for change and gave a soft sigh realizing he had nothing. How did he get to the mall again?

He subtly moved away from the line, and stood by the entrance. He was happy to have the moment to recompose himself to his full extent after the earlier discussion about his species.

"Ehh??" Happening to glance back towards the counter again when she heard mention of a red velvet donut on the menu, she realized that there was nobody left in front of them. "Oh, hey! We're up!" Without hesitation, she marched up to the counter. "Alright! Gimme one of those SPRINKLY ones!" she told the shopkeeper enthusiastically, pointing to her donut of choice when she spotted one in the display case. In her distraction, she hadn't noticed Flint as he quietly left the line.

"The... red velvet? They have those??" Instantly, Marina turned back to the menu to get another look. "Ooh... They do!" she noted, perking up a little when she saw that it was their turn to order. She began to step up to the counter with Pearl, but paused for a moment and looked back when she realized that Flint had made his way back to the entrance. "Huh...? Why'd you move all the way back there?"

Flint glanced up from where he was waiting, "ignore me." He murmured "I don't have any money. But I didn't really want one anyway, so you go ahead." he waved them ahead, desperate to draw the attention off himself.

(smol posts are smol xD)

"Oh; OK, then..." Marina somewhat slowly turned her attention back to the counter ahead, but a vague look of doubt crossed her face, and she once again glanced over at Flint before moving forward. "... You sure? I mean, you picked out a flavor and everything..."

Flint glanced back up, irritation in his gaze "It's fine, alright?" Sure he had been somewhat curious, but at the moment ending the social iteration was more important then acquiring food. Of course at that moment hunger decided to rear it's head. He pointedly ignored it, and hoped his stomach didn't make too much noise.

Marina blinked in slight surprise at Flint's apparent irritation. "Alright; sorry... Never mind," she replied with a hint of awkwardness in her tone, giving a small shake of her head before turning to face the counter again. Though not quite able to hear the rumble of the Kattaca's stomach from where she stood, a part of her couldn't help wondering if what he insisted was entirely true.

He blinked at her "yeah." He looked away out the entrance to the people walking by outside. Internally wondering if he could find a way to get more change for later. He was distracted from trying to mull this over by his stomach though. Which, with the scent of the bakery around him, was not very pleased with not having anything in it. His tail swished gently at his mild discomfort, Flint was careful not to let the star on the end of his tail scrape against the floor, however. He didn't want to draw more attention to himself.

His gaze refocused, and he now began to actually give attention to the atmosphere of the place. In response to it's eerie cold feeling, he hunched his shoulders, and shoved his hands further into his pockets. He then looked around the bakery. It seemed darker then he had initially thought. And a bit worn down. Why did he come here again?

"Aw yeah, thanks!" By now, Pearl had received her donut, then realized that Marina was suspiciously not at the counter yet. "Huh?" She turned around, then called back to her friend. "Yo, Marina! What's up; didja space out?!" she asked, laughing at her a little. "It's our turn, y'know!"

"Ah! Heh, kinda... I was just talking to, er... that "Kattaca" there, for a minute," Marina responded, pausing for a moment as she tried to recall what Flint had said the name of his species was. "I'm gonna order now, though!" she assured Pearl, strolling the rest of the way to the counter and glancing at the menu one more time. "Hmm..."