It was hard to process the sheer scale of the Inkopolis Public Library. Over the past two days, Marina had gotten mostly used to the vertical scale of buildings on the surface. The Library was not as tall as many of those buildings, though it did reach six stories with its central section, but it was significantly larger, taking up four entire city blocks on its own. She didn't know the exact measurements of length, but just by eyeballing it, Marina was fairly sure it eked out even High Command back in the domes, if you didn't count the outer rings, at least.
The Library itself was an incredibly intricate construction. At its most basic, it was a massive rectangle, about three stories up, with a T-shaped section along the building's front and into the center being raised up to six stories, rather than three. An enormous glass dome topped the building's center, drawing the eye up along the edges, to the point directly at the top. The entire thing was built from carved stone, with ornate details both big and small chiseled into the entire structure. Delicate patterns were etched into the inset of every window, while large statue figures lined the edge of the roof. The front of the building felt by far the most intimidating. A row of doors twice as tall as she was were shielded by a massive overhang, propped up by pillars bigger than she had ever seen.
A staircase edged the entire structure, which Marina stood at the foot of. Well, I suppose there's nowhere else to go but forward. With a deep breath to steady her resolve, Marina marched up the steps one at a time, and through one of the oversized doors.
Immediately, her attention was dominated by the open space; specifically the millions, yes, millions of books that lined the walls. Bookshelves lined the entire center section, floor to ceiling, only broken by the floors that ringed the edge of the space to provide access to them all. On the ground, countless desks, tables, and chairs circled a central platform, most of which had an occupant hard at work on something or other. On that central platform stood a massive bronze statue of a wizened, older inkling. He stood tall in a billowy coat of some kind, holding an open book in the air and a hopeful look in his eyes. All around the warmth and light of the sun flooded the space, burning the sight into her mind for good.
There had to be several hundred people in the room alone. At the desks, walking into the many hallways that branched from the main room, or on all of the floors, browsing the shelves for books. The crowd wasn't limited to inklings either, there were just as many octolings among the inkfish crowds, and many dozens of non-inkfish species among them too.
Stars above... I don't even know where to begin with this... She stepped forward slowly, openly gawking at everything around her. There's more books here than the entirety of the domes. They have so much, what could I even find here?
"Amazing, isn't it?" A voice asked from beside her.
Marina could only nod dumbly.
"Nothing else like it in the world." The voice replied.
Her eyes lingered on the books a moment longer, before she finally turned to look at the speaker. An inkling woman stood next to her, only about as tall as Marina's shoulder. Despite the short stature, it was quickly apparent that she was several years Marina's elder, but it was hard to pinpoint by exactly how much. She wore a plain white shirt under a pair of lime green coveralls, with a small metal badge on one of the straps. Her bright yellow tentacles were tied back into a small bun, while a green bandana covered the rest of her head. In her eye, was the same sparkle Marina was sure had been in her own just a moment ago, as she was taking in the view.
"Not that I've seen..." Marina reverently agreed, her gaze shifting back to admire the space again.
The woman gave her a side look, and cocked an eyebrow. "Do you wanna, like, take a closer look?"
Marina gasped. "A— am I allowed to?"
The woman laughed, but it wasn't a mocking thing. "Like, of course! That's why we're here!"
Marina followed her forward like a lost pup, her head on a swivel as she tried to take in as much of the sights as she could. She and the woman didn't say anything, mostly on account of the woman slowing to exchange words with many people they passed in Inklish. The pair slowly made their way around the bottom floor, close enough to the book shelves that Marina could have touched them with her shoulder if she swayed any. She silently held her breath as best she could while keeping pace, worried that her mere presence was already enough to damage the books.
After several minutes of silent gawking, the woman finally led her to an elevator, which broke Marina's line of sight long enough to return her to rational thought. "...Wow..." Well, mostly return her rational thought.
"So, like, is this your first time in a library this big?" The woman asked as the elevator doors closed behind them.
"It's my first time in a library Marina breathlessly answered, still not used to the word.
"Oh wow, this must be like, suuuuper special for you then!" The inkling giggled. "Have you seen anything you want to grab?"
"G-grab!?"
The tone of her voice must have confused the inkling, because she looked up at Marina with questions in her eyes. "Like, yeah! Despite the fancy architecture, we are still, like, a public library you know."
Marina nodded, trying to placate her. She still didn't understand what the distinction of 'public' entailed, or even what specifically a 'library' was for that matter.
"Wait, ohmycod do you like, know what a library even is?"
What!? How did she see right through me like that? Marina hesitantly shook her head as the elevator dinged. They both stepped outside. Marina felt herself withering under the inkling's gaze.
"Oh, wow, ok, so, I don't mean to like, be rude or anything, buuut, are you new to the city?"
A quiet squeak of panic escaped Marina's mouth. "Eep! Ah, y-yes, sorry!" Her hands automatically flew together, wringing quickly as her shoulders hunched inwards.
"Oh sweetie, no, I didn't mean it like that!" The inkling rushed forward and grabbed Marina's hands in her own. "I only ask because my whole, like, thing here is helping people new to the library figure it out, and well, anyone new to the city isn't gonna like, know about the library either." She quickly let out a breath, before taking a step back. Notably, she didn't let go of Marina's hands. "Let's try this thing again, and like, I'll introduce myself properly this time. My name's Pam Amandure, but you can just call me Pam. I'm the library's junior outreach coordinator."
To underscore her point, Pam pointed towards the metal badge she wore, where many words Marina couldn't read were printed. What she did recognize, was the lettering for the Inkopolis Public Library along the bottom, since she spent so long studying Spyke's letter from the previous day.
"Mi—" Marina caught herself. She almost introduced herself as Miss Ida, Head Engineer, as she had become far too used to. Hearing Pam introduce herself with her title prompted her to use her own. But I'm not that anymore. Never again. "Marina. Just Marina."
"Well it's, like, nice to meet ya 'Just' Marina!" Pam gave her a playful chuckle before continuing. "The folk here at the library are glad to have you around! Let us know if we can do anythin to, like, help out k?"
Marina nodded slowly. "You said that I'd be allowed to 'grab' something?"
Pam's eyes narrowed mischievously. "You can grab, like, any book you want."
That seemed too good to be true. "Any book I want?"
"Well, mostly any book. There is a few restrictions. It's less, like, grabbing and more borrowing, you have to bring them back after two weeks. And there's some collections you have to like, get special permissions for, but you won't see them like, out here anyway, so don't worry about them for now."
This time it was Marina who narrowed her eyes, though she did it out of suspicion. "And I can just do this as many times as I want?"
"There is a limit of like, eight or nine books, but you can like, check out new books every time you bring the previous ones back. As for cost, yeah it's like completely free! As long as you have a library card, you've got like, total access! We have a lot more than just books too, movies, CDs, heck we have board games if you want!"
The information was piling up fast. Marina mentally pushed most of what Pam said to the side, and focused on the root of it. "How do I get one of these library cards?"
"Oh that's like, really easy! Trent can help you out down at the front desk. All you need is your ID and a piece of mail with your current address to like, prove you live in the city.
"Oh..." Of course there'd be a catch like that. I should have known.
Pam gasped, hands flying to her mouth. "Oh gosh, I'm like so sorry, I didn't think of—" She stopped, taking a second to lower her arms and clear her throat. "Are you emancipated?"
Another unfamiliar word. Hearing so many Octarian words she didn't know was starting to bother her. Just how much did she not know? "Am I what?"
"It's like, gosh I'm sorry, this is like, sooooo rude of me to just ask like this. Did you like, run away from home to move to the city?"
Marina felt the tensions in the air rise. She weighed her next words very carefully. "Essentially, yes..."
"Do you have, like, an ID you used previously from before you ran away?" Pam looked at her nervously, with an odd flush in her cheeks.
"No..."
"Ah... that's ok! That's ok, it just makes things a bit more complicated. You're not going to be able to get a job or a place to stay without one. Is today your first day in the city then?"
The weight on Marina's shoulders eased slightly as the topic shifted away from the past. "It's my third. A... friend got me a hotel room to stay in."
"Ok, so like—" Pam froze completely for a moment, whatever had her so flustered before completely forgotten as she looked up at Marina in disbelief. "Wait, so like, your 'friend' got you a hotel in the city, but didn't talk to you about getting an ID?"
"...Yes?"
Pam blinked, before a nasty scowl crossed her face. "Did this 'friend' tell you like, to go to City Hall? Or at least to come here?"
"...No?"
Pam's scowl turned dark. "Girl..." Pam fumed for a few moments longer, before she took a deep breath, before letting out a fast mumble of something in Inklish. "Girl, you need to cut that 'friend' of yours out, she set you up to fail! Thank the TIDES you ended up here anyway."
"H-hey! I don't think Pearl did it maliciously! She paid for my hotel room after all!"
With a wave of her hands, Pam dismissed the conversation. "It like, doesn't matter right now. We need to get you a Residential ID. Do you know what that means?"
Marina shook her head.
"Oookk, so like, basically, if you want to like, get an apartment, have a job, or basically live in Inkadia, you have to get one of these IDs. Usually it's pretty easy, since like, the people moving over have documents from their old country, but you don't and that's ok! They'll just have you do a few extra things when you go to do it."
"What exactly do they want me to do?" Marina asked, already feeling like things weren't going to be as simple as Pam was making it out to be.
"Weeelll, gosh, ok, so like, you're going to need to declare your identity, declare your intent to live here, prove you're over 14 AND 16, register with the National Ink Index, take physical and mental capability tests, an eyesight test, be screened for any conditions, and take an oath of commitment to Inkadia."
Marina nodded slowly, tallying the mental list. "Seems mostly like it's a few tests and a medical exam. That doesn't seem too hard."
"Oh no, like, it's really not!" Pam's smile dropped. "If I can be blunt though, it's like, what comes after that's difficult."
Oh, there's that sense of dread again. "...What comes after?"
"Weeeeeelllllll, once you have your ID, there's like, a lot of things you're going to want to get set up. Like, you're going to want to rent an apartment, find a good job that can like, pay for the apartment, open a bank account to hold all that money, and then like, take out a renters and a life insurance policy, work on an education and/or get proof that you have— I recommend getting like, a GED but there's other options if you wanted— and this one's just a suggestion but you should like, try and see a doctor for a full evaluation, just to like, get everything on record to make your life easier down the line. Once you're all like, settled in with stuff like that, you can do more extra things like get a drivers license, or a turf license, or even like a library card if you wanted, wink wink. Oh! And there's like a bunch of certifications out there you could try to get if you have some like, specialized skills or something, as well as a lot of like, general knowledge classes like Inklish language and civics courses to prepare for citizenship. Oh yeah I forgot to mention, if you like, remain a resident for 6 months and don't get into any big trouble, you can apply for citizenship, but it's like a LOT harder bar to clear so it's like, better to start studying early. There's a lot of things on the test like..."
Pam's voice faded into the background as Marina's head started to spin. Things had gone from fairly manageable to overwhelming in under a minute. Wasn't running away supposed to be the easy option? Through the rapidly cluttering list in her mind, everything pointed back to that Residential ID, that was something she could do.
"P-Pam?" She asked.
Pam had been talking nonstop that entire time, but she quieted down as soon as Marina spoke up. "Oh, like, sorry! I was just glad I remembered everything if I'm being honest. What's up?"
Marina steeled herself. "Can you help me get a Residential ID? It seems like the best place to start."
"Sure! Here, let's like, go to my office so I can write things down for you. That way you don't have to like, remember everything I just blabbed."
"That sounds fantastic, thank you!"
"Ouuhhhhhghhhh... Fuck."
Pearl could only mumble to herself as her consciousness forcefully returned. Try as she might, there wasn't a thing she could do to break the miserable habit that was waking up at 6:30 on the dot every single morning, and Tides had she tried. For one, it didn't matter how little she actually slept, every crash from 11:00 PM to 6:00 AM still saw her up before the birds. The closest she'd ever gotten was half a bottle of vodka and more melatonin than was probably safe, but all that had done was keep her from thinking before 2:00 in the afternoon, not actually stay asleep.
Last night's unsuccessful attempt was... oh it was something. Something she didn't remember, but fuck was she feeling it now. Pearl thrashed in her bed, desperately trying to untie herself from the sweat-soaked sheet that clung to her like a second skin. The first thing to really register in her brain was that she wasn't back in her comfortable, luxurious bed back home, but her ratty, nasty, piece of shit apartment. The second thing to register was that she was sore as all hell, and no matter what position she tried, she could not find any relief.
What the fuck did she even do last night? The only thing she could remember was the absolute disaster of her most recent attempt to make something of herself. There was no shot she could actually cobble something together from nothing like she was supposed to, two weeks of manic attempts put that 'dream' as deep into the grave as possible. There was even less of a chance she could execute a hostile takeover of an existing company, since she by far lacked both the clout and the cash that would take. That left precisely one option when it came to the corporate world. One that, while not inherently shameful, was definitely the least glamorous of her options.
It was a random fuckoff company, the details weren't important anymore. They sold tires or some shit that didn't matter, what did matter was the vacant seat on their executive board. That was her ticket to something. It would have given her a place to work from, to either carry that crappy company to the top, or springboard off of to get somewhere better. There weren't chances like this often, that weren't tech startup scams at least, so she needed to make it count, and Pearl went the full mile: Two full days sober, dry as the Splatlands, yet another notebook crammed with research into the company's history and notes on the current board, hell, she even dry-cleaned her suit to prepare for it.
Fuck, her head hurt. Pearl kicked her sheets to the floor, for once thankful for the paper-thin walls and the cold November air they let through. She couldn't be bothered to peel her head from her pillow yet.
Initially, the meeting went quite well. She put her airs up just fine, shook hands, laughed along with the hollow pleasantries, she did everything just as she'd been taught all her life. It was all fucking PERFECT, until she stepped into that board room and it all went to shit. Pearl couldn't remember the specifics of the conversation when her head hurt like this, nor did she want to, but the feelings persisted in that suffocating way only they could. The grating of her arm against the shitty plastic armrests, the artificial cold of the tabletop against her fingers. The pain in her jaw as she clenched her teeth. The suffocating suit collar around her neck. The walls and ceiling closing in around her, crushing her underneath their impossible weight.
Suffice to say, it was a fucking disaster. She embarrassed herself like nothing else she'd ever done, and completely shot her chances there, and probably everywhere else too. In a single day, she'd destroyed her last real chance at building herself into something better.
Oh, yeah, and the multi-hour raged-induced bender that followed.
With limbs of lead, Pearl finally threw herself out of her bed, clambering to her feet and begging the world to only spin as much as she was used to. The sudden throbbing pain and ringing in her ears from slamming her head into the wall was the unfortunate tell that the world did not heed her call.
Her mouth instinctively fell open, prepared for a string of obscenities that would make a sailor blush, but Pearl's brain could NOT orient itself well enough for that. All she managed to let out was a pathetic, whimpering groan as she tried to steady her feet. Both hands on the wall. Get some water. Both hands on the wall. Get some water. She chanted to herself as she stumbled her way around her room. It only took about a minute to get to the bathroom, and she'd only stabbed her foot on one beer can this time. Small victories, right?
Delicately, Pearl lowered herself onto the edge of the bathtub before her legs decided to fail her again. She aggressively snatched a massive jug of water she left on the bathroom counter for this exact purpose. What does that say about me, that it's a win when I work so well around the consequences of my actions, rather than solving the root problem? The water was frigid on account of the apartment's non-existent heating, and felt damn amazing on her throat. Fuck me, was I screaming last night? Unless I'm getting sick, there's no reason my throat would hurt like this. Fuck... there's no way right? I can't foot that bi— PFFFFFF—
"Oh fuck me." Pearl actually did a genuine spit take as she locked eyes with her reflection. Her head fell into her hands, water bottle briefly forgotten on the edge of the tub beside her, as Pearl realized she was still wearing her suit. The same one she'd had dry cleaned not even 24 hours ago, was now a disheveled, ripped, mess. Several of the buttons were missing entirely, and a massive rip darted down the left sleeve. A look back into her bedroom showed only one shoe on the ground, she could only hope the other was in a different room. It was a damn miracle her tie was still around her neck because it sure as hell wasn't tied. Fuck, it would be cheaper to buy a new suit that try and fix this mess.
It looked so comedically bad, it made her want to laugh. "Ahaha... fuck."
Worst of all had to be the entire front of her jacket, and the undershirt beneath it, which were both thoroughly soaked with a bright, angry red. A sniff revealed that it was rum, thankfully, and not blood, but when her memory managed to stumble its way into the price of a bottle, she wished the opposite were true. There was at least a full bottle down her suit, and tides knew she would not have been satisfied with only one bottle if it had gone to waste like that.
Shit. How much fucking money did she spend last night?
Pearl exhaustedly rubbed her eyes, trying to force her mind back 12 hours. There was rum, I can be sure of that. This fucking headache says there was probably vodka involved. Fuck man, I don't... through the haze, she could vaguely recall a face. Octoling... dark skin, cute face, a real nice pair of— Fuuuuuckkk noo, please don't tell me that was the mountain girl there. Fuckin... ugh... Marina. Tides please don't let it have been her.
She massaged her eyes more aggressively, trying to dig for more details. What else, fuck what else!? She could... the burn of alcohol against her throat, a hand in hers, thrash metal beating on the inside of her skull. Aw fuck I wound up at the fucking Pit again, didn't I? I better not have been screaming, if I broke something there again it's over. She shook her head. Nng, What else, what else? Lips against her own, the taste of iron piercings, Shit ok maybe it can be Marina if we...
With a growl of frustration, Pearl shook her head harder trying to keep things on track. Inklish. She was speaking Inklish last night, so it couldn't have been Marina. The octoling's tattoos and piercings came into her mind's focus soon after, dispelling that particular worry for good.
Well, that answered a few questions at least. What did she do last night? She got so fucking drunk, and got some action on the side. Not bad... not bad... Wait. Why the hell was she praising herself right now? This was horrible! On top of that, one question remained above all the others. HOW THE FUCK DID I AFFORD TO DO THAT?
Water be damned this was not a question that could be left sitting. The flooding sense of panic was enough to fractionally clear her head, and Pearl used that clarity to stumble down the hallway with only one hand on the wall. With a graceless flourish, she managed to catch herself on the chair at her desk, and flung open her laptop to boot while the world stopped spinning around her. When things slowed enough that she could read text again, she signed herself in and quickly dove into her finances.
Pearl had money, in fact, more money than she'd had yesterday. "Oh you dumb piece of shit." She scolded herself, voice completely dead. "You stupid motherfucker." No she didn't invent a new side hustle in her drunken stupor, she dumped one of her biggest stocks purely so she could even afford to go on the damn bender in the first place.
It was actually enough to bring tears of frustration to her eyes. Fucking damn it I can't even keep a fucking INVESTMENT account around. AN INVESTMENT ACCOUNT!
She let her head fall into her hands again, utterly in the throes of despair. It isn't supposed to be this hard. I've spent my entire life preparing for this, I should be able to do this. I don't— I don't—
Tides, I'm fucking useless.
Damn it. Here she went having another fucking breakdown. Her breath hitched in rhythm with the throbbing of her head, each desperate gasp of air a plea to keep it together that fell on deaf ears. Pearl sat like that, head in her hands, until she managed to compose herself enough she could function again.
Not a single tear fell from her eyes.
What was on her to-do list today? An aggressive drunken bender hadn't been in her plans, so she still had responsibilities to attend later in the day, no matter how shit she felt. Maybe that's the silver lining to waking up so early. She let out a hollow laugh.
Meeting 4:10
Fucking thanks, me. Really damn helpful there.
Pearl took a few minutes to get herself a few steps closer to presentable, before grabbing another can of Nac Light, and sitting herself down in front of her laptop. She still had responsibilities, and she wasn't fucking dead yet, so she got to work.
Several hours later, Pearl angrily stomped her way down the street. She went in, gave it her best effort, and yeah, no. Another fucking bust.
This one wasn't even for an executive position, and she still nearly stroked out in the board room. Tides, what the fuck was wrong with her? She couldn't even do a manager's work now? She was doing that shit at eight years old, and now she couldn't!?
It was frustrating, in an exhausting, existential way, but at this point she was too tired to react beyond a defeatist slump. She'd feel this pain in the morning, and for now it was her job to make sure she got there without decimating a fourth of her total savings again.
Pearl trudged to the edge of the business district, her eyes metaphorically glued to her apartment that was a 70 minute walk away. It'd be well and nark out by the time she made it home, but if she wanted any chance at recovering her investments, every coin she could spare counted. Cabs were not cheap in the city. So, she trudged forward, one foot after the other, in a single minded bid to ge—
"Hello!" A bright voice shouted from her left, stopping her dead. "Pearl!" She recognized that voice, even if it was speaking Inklish.
Slowly, Pearl turned to the side, where someone was eagerly waving at her. Someone she knew, but didn't know if she'd ever see again. The newcomer stood, practically vibrating in place as she was waving so frantically. It took Pearl a second to recognize her wearing normal clothes rather than the strange armor she'd worn before. The bright eyes, and excited smile were more than enough to clue her in though, and Pearl found herself blinking rapidly to make sure she wasn't seeing things.
"Marina? What the hell are you doing here?"