"Hey, Marina! Got any plans for the holidays?"

"Hmm?" Marina looked up from the memo pad on her desk. Seeing her coworker standing by her desk, she quickly paused her Squid Sister's CD and pulled the headphones off her ears.

"Plans for the holidays?" Her coworker, Sven, asked again. He was a shorter, bookish octoling in his 50s. His desk was a behind hers, so they'd become rather friendly in the past few weeks. He handles warehouse shipment coordination or something along those lines.

Marina liked him, in no small part because he spoke fluent octarian, but also because he was a generally kind and helpful person. She'd never have figured out the extensively drawn out and bloated computer systems in place otherwise.

"Plans? Um... no? I didn't even know there was a holiday coming up."

"Y—pdtf— you didn't?" Sven sputtered, nearly dropping the papers from his hand.

"We didn't, really, um, celebrate things back where I was from." Marina averted her eyes, her interest suddenly on her own stack of papers on the desk beside her CD player.

Sven inhaled, like be was about to start a tirade, but he stopped himself. "Well... actually, I'll spare you the rant, you know how I can get." Indeed, if given the chance, he could easily self-sustain a conversation indefinitely. "I'll just say, it's what the whole city's been getting so excited about!"

"Wait," Marina's gaze snapped back up. "Is that what all the decorations in the city are about?"

"Yes, exactly! Everyone's getting in the Squidmas spirit!"

"Right, the Squidmas spirit." She paused for a few moments, letting the words hang in the air. "What exactly is the Squidmas spirit?"

"Oh, right!" Sven shook his head. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking about— anyway. Squidmas! It's based on an ancient human tradition of family and gifting! The start of winter is such a dreary time, it's no wonder the whole country latched onto the idea rather quickly. It was so popular that Octolis started observing it on only three or four years later."

"Ok... so you just give gifts?"

"If you boil it down like that, I guess so, but it's really all about the community and family! You've already seen the decorations all over, but that's just a part of it. 'Squidmas' is an entire genre of thing, you'll see it everywhere for the next while. Squidmas music, movies, plays, decorations like we've said, parties, and there's the city's Squidmas lights event too. And of course, the Squidmas splatfest as well.

It was a lot to take in. "Wow, that's a lot." Marina took a moment to weigh the onslaught she'd been given. "So it's a morale boosting community event then, that makes sense!"

Sven gave her an odd look. "You're a rather pragmatic girl, Marina, but that's not incorrect."

"Is its observation mandatory?"

His look intensified. "No, not at all... but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone in the city that doesn't give it at least a cursory effort. At the very least, most people give gifts."

"The gifts!" Marina spoke before she could catch herself. "I'm supposed to give gifts to the people important to me, right?"

"Yeah."

"What kind of gifts? It's a big societal event, so I need to get something quality, right?" She frantically flipped through her papers until she found a blank one, and quickly started scribbling ideas. Pearl likes... music, um... oh stars. What did Pearl even like? She'd been friends with the inkling for a month now, and she didn't even know!

"Artisan crafts!" She shouted. "Getting in contact with the artisans would be a good idea right, for something high quality?"

"I... suppose if the recipient enjoys that kind of thing." Sven watched her for a few seconds, before clearing his throat. "This might just be my opinion as a stilted old timer, but I think you're already overthinking it. A gift needs to mean something, to be something the other person likes. Anyone can shove an expensive piece of junk in front of someone else, but that's not special."

"It needs to be special..." Marina trailed off. That already killed the scant few ideas she had, but those weren't very good anyway. What could she get Pearl that was special?

"Come again!" Nora's voice followed her out the door of the Sea Leaf cafe. Pearl had been visiting the cafe several times a week now, since it was only a modest walk from Marina's apartment. Those stupid mochas had her hooked, line and sinker.

Pearl kicked her way down the street, the lingering taste of chocolate her only companion for the moment. She didn't really have anywhere to go, or anything to do at the moment, so she just wandered down the streets with her hands in her pockets.

Except, that wasn't entirely true. She had a lot she needed to be doing with this second chance Father gave her. However, coming off of multiple stressful days of being cooped up and fruitlessly stressing about potential corporate futures didn't exactly leave her eager to get back to her apartment. Unfortunately Marina was at work today, so Pearl couldn't kill time at her place for a while. There was no way she was showing her face at The Edge after her last bender for at least a few more weeks, and it was way to early in the day to hit a bar.

Shit, well, guess I'm out of luck then. There was always the old habit of aimlessly walking around the city. She'd done it plenty when she was younger, and it wouldn't fail her now. And so, with a shrug to herself, she started down the sidewalk with a new purpose in mind: having no purpose.

Only to immediately have to turn around, because the sidewalk she was walking towards was presently not there on account of being torn out. Right, how could I forget? Entire swaths of the city were under heavy construction, part of a plan to revitalize commerce and traffic into this side of downtown. Actually, is this area considered part of downtown? Or is it just residential? I guess it doesn't matter, it'll be downtown when it's finished. Regardless of what it would be in the future, right now in the present it meant she had to go another way.

Pearl plodded her way down the streets, trying her best to keep her mind out of the inescapable vortex of corporate doom she'd plunged into. She looked into store windows, watched kids run around, and listened in on conversations she walked past, just to try and keep herself distracted. What ended up working best was watching the various teams of inkfish working to put up Squidmas decorations everywhere. She couldn't turn a corner without seeing at least one pair stringing lights or hanging banners. By no means was it interesting, but it was something to keep her mind from focusing.

That mentality was how she found herself staring up at a TV screen in the middle of the Plaza. None of what she was staring at mattered in any way, but it was fast enough, bright enough, and utterly lacking enough substance that she was content to let it flicker on and eat her mind.

"Hold onto your tentacles..." Huh, wait, what?

"...It's Inkopolis News time!"

Fucking— right. The sudden appearance of the Squid Sisters jarred Pearl from her thoughts. They stood bright and chipper on the screen, with the words "RERUN' plastered in the the top center. The idol duo blabbed away on the screen, saying nothing of any consequence while Pearl rolled her eyes and looked away.

I'm not going to stand here and listen to this morning's news at 1 PM. I hear far too much of them as it is. She slowly pushed herself into motion, one slow footfall after another.

"Before we announce today's stages, it's that special time again!" Marie cheekily announced.

"Oh my cod, really? It's announcement time!?" Callie's voice was laced with fake enthusiasm

Holy fuck these two are so CORNY it's painful to listen to.

They continued, trading lines back and forth in what almost felt like a chant rather than a news announcement.

"It sure is! Everyone's favorite time of year..."

"Squidmas is almost here!"

"And it's time to find out which list you're on..."

"Have you been a naughty little nautilus? TEAM NAUGHTY!!" Callie struck a scheming pose, pulling her hands together and rubbing them mischievously.

"Or a pixel-perfect angelfish? TEAM NICE!" conversely, Marie put her hands flat together, closed her eyes, and piously raised her chin.

Both girls broke from their poses, instead taking more battle ready stances and glaring into each other's eyes. Dramatic music swelled in the background, echoing with Squidmas bells as they cheered in unison, "That's right! A new splatfest is scheduled for this weekend!"

Pearl stopped dead in her tracks. Tides, that was an obvious answer to a question she didn't even know she was asking. The Squid Sisters perform live right here in the Plaza every single splatfest, Marina would lose her Tide-bound mind if she got to be in that crowd.

That could be fun... yeah, a little Squidmas surprise for her.

On the screen, the Squid Sisters held the pose for a few more moments, before breaking away back into a more casual air.

"Wait... So why am I the one on the naughty list again?" Callie asked, incredulous.

"What are you trying to say, Callie?" Marie squinted her eyes as she settled back into a more conversational tone.

"It just seems like..."

"I'm PLENTY nice, you know! I care about-"

"Yourself? Winning? Insulting me on live TV?"

Pearl tuned out the rest of their bickering as she speedwalked from the Plaza. She had a plan to think through.

I wonder what she's got planned? Pearl mentioned Squidmas, so I assume it's something to do with that? Regardless, Marina had a deadline now. All of her own Squidmas preparations needed to be finished before Saturday. That just left... figuring out what her preparations were. It was only [Tuesday] so she still had time to think on it, but not much.

"Get some like, good news?"

The sudden voice made Marina jump. She quickly looked back to see an inkling scurrying across the library floor, her arms half full with a stack of papers and folders.. "Oh, Pam! I didn't know you were in today."

"Yup! Since school's like, letting out for the holidays soon, I'm doing some extra work to like, help set up the break programs and all that!" Briefly, Pam paused to flick through the folder on the top of the stack she had. "But that can like, wait a few minutes. How's my bestie doing? What're you up to girl?"

Marina hesitated a second, still not entirely used to sheer force of personality that was Pam. "N-nothing much, I'm just trying to figure out what to get Pearl for Squidmas..."

Pam gasped, and Marina could swear there were sparkles floating around her head. "Ohmycod yasss!! Like, what do you have in mind???"

"Not much is the problem." Marina relented with a sigh, pushing back from the table she was sat at. "I only learned about Squidmas yesterday from a coworker. I don't have any idea what I'm supposed to get..."

"Oohh, yeah, that can like, be a real problem. Tides know I've spent soooooo long like, losing my mind trying to figure out what people like."

"It's hard, and I don't really have much money to spend on anything big either..."

Pam stopped for a moment, regarding her. "Ok girl, lemme like, letcha in on a secret. You can't just like, buy a random anything and call it good. Well, you can if like, the person said they wanted it before and like, things like that but that's besides the point! The important part is like, it needs to be special! Something that'll make them squeal with joy when they get it!"

Marina groaned and leaned back in her chair. "That's what my coworker said too, but I don't know what that means! 'Special' is such a vague term— and it's subjective too! I think so many things up here are 'special' but everyone else thinks they're normal! How do I find something special when I don't know what it means?"

"Well, do you like, know what kinda things she likes?"

"Not really..." Marina tucked her shoulders inwards. I really SHOULD know by now, we've been friends for a month at this point!

"Hmm.." Pam tapped her chin in thought. "Ok but do you know like, the kind of things she has? Not like, what she likes necessarily, but the kind of stuff she already has a bunch of?"

"Um... She has a lot of stuff I think, since she mentioned my place being empty when I first got it, but I don't really know what any of it is..."

"You're like, not givin' me a lot to work with here girl." Pam gave her a frown. "What kinda clothes does she wear?"

"She usually wears pretty plain stuff, tank tops and jeans, and this cute little plastic crown that falls off her head a bunch. But a few times I've seen her in this really fancy looking suit that looks amazing on her!"

Pam nodded slowly, mulling over the words. "You should like, make her something, not buy it."

"I should?"

"Yeah! It sounds like she already has like, a lot of stuff, but she won't have anything from you, making it super special!"

"Is it really that easy to make something special?"

"Well, yeah. Cuz like, YOU made it, ya know?"

"I... guess." The idea that the things she made were special never really occurred to her. Maybe there was something to it... but what did she make? There wasn't anything she could think of, except maybe...

"Pam, do you know a place I can get some scrap metal at?"

"Huh? Scrap metal? Like, what for? Wait, don't tell me, it's like, your gift, isn't it?"

Marina nodded.

"Hmmm. I don't know, but I know someone who might know someone who might. Come with me!"

"I just don't know." Pearl looked glumly looking over the cafe table in front of her. "Squidmas is supposed to be a big deal, y'know?"

"Tell me about it. I have a big family back home, Squidmas was always a nightmare to try and sort out." Nora stood beside Pearl's table, her posture particularly unprofessional.

At this point Pearl came through the Sea Leaf Cafe enough to build a rapport with the staff. It was all fairly surface level, but there was something nice about being a regular at a place where she hadn't broken between 7 and 50 of their dishes while blackout drunk.

"Squidmas was always a formality at home." Pearl griped as she grabbed her usual double fudge chocolate mocha with one shot of expresso. "Wake up the day of, exchange our gifts, thank the others, and it was all over before 8:00 am. No fluff, no fanfare, nothing interesting about it."

"Wow, that SUCKS." Nora leaned back with a shrug. "That sounds more like a business transaction rather than a holiday."

"No kidding." Pearl flatly answered before taking a sip of her drink. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do for her. It's her FIRST Squidmas, I want it to be special for her, you know? Not like mine have been. I don't think I'm doing enough."

"First Squidmas? Is she foreign or something?"

"Or something. I dunno, I half think she escaped some kind of compound or something because she didn't recognize anything normal. She's adjusting well at least, which is why I want to give her something better to latch onto."

"Jeez Pearl, you're rather fond of this girl." Nora gave her a smug look.

"What's THAT supposed to mean?"

"I've been behind the counter plenty of times when you've muttered people's names under your breath. You never seemed like the type to go out of your way for someone like this."

Pearl froze, mentally tripping over herself. "Marina's— She's different. She doesn't care about my baggage, it's been nice for a change."

Nora put her hands up. "Hey man, I don't really care, I'm just bugging you. What are you already doing for her? You've said you don't think you're doing enough."

"I'm taking her to see the Squid Sisters in the Plaza this weekend, she found their music recently but she fell in love with it I guess. Hardly two weeks and she's already building them a damn shrine in her living room."

"Hmm. I mean, she'll probably love that," Nora tapped her finger on the tray she was holding. "But I see what you mean, it's not really a GIFT in the sense that anyone can walk up to a splatfest."

"It IS her first splatfest, so I'll get a few bonus points for that at least, but pretty much yeah." Pearl paused to suck down more chocolate. "I don't really know what else to do."

"I dunno, maybe a pair of headphones or something? You mentioned she likes their music, maybe that'd do some good?"

"That's, not a bad idea, actually. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks."

"No problem, I—" Nora was cut off by the sudden ring of a bell. "Oops, someone else is here. Back to the counter I go, cya!"

"Bye." Pearl gave a half-hearted wave as she turned back to staring at the table. Headphones, eh? Not a bad idea.

"Everything going alright?"

Marina kept her hands steady, even as the voice surprised her. One couldn't become the Head Engineer if a random noise could make her flinch and jerk her hands while she was focused. She made sure she finished her weld with before she looked up.

There was an inkling standing a few steps behind her. He was dressed casually, with an unbuttoned shirt and tousled tentacles on his head. She didn't remember his name, but he was one of the directors at the art center she was visiting.

"Oh, um, yes!" She answered as she pulled her welding mask up to show her face. Right, speaking Inklish. "Getting near done!"

"No rush, no rush." He shrugged and waved a hand. The man spoke fast, and with an accent she'd never heard, making it so she could only pick out some of the words. "Honest — wanted to see what you were doing... don't get — here doing — wanted to see for myself."

It took her a second to puzzle out his words, but she smiled and answered as best she could. "Ah, yes! I bring mine own tools!" To be fair, calling them her tools was a bit inaccurate, since they technically belonged to the Domes engineer who's bag she stole. "Why do you keep... Rust it, I forgot the word. "Euh... old metal around here?"

"That? Oh, we do sculpt — lessons every few months'er'so. Do a — down the — edges, and makes great —" In the lingering silence, his gaze slid over to her project. "What're working on there?"

A sudden smile appeared on Marina's lips. "It's gift for my friend! It's my first Squidmas, and I want her gift to be something special."

"Ha!" He clapped his hands together and gave her a bright smile. "Now that's how you do it! I bet she'll feel like royalty."

Heartfelt praise for her work felt... really nice to hear. It wasn't a compliment about it's efficiency or material cost, just an appreciation for what she was doing. A subtle warmth in her cheeks joined her smile as she soaked in the kind words. "I hope she does..."

"I won't keep ya, keep up the good work though! And thanks for coming to the Inkopolis Art Guild, I hope it's been a good —"

"It's been amazing so far!" Marina gave him a wave before pulling the mask back over her head. She just had a few more welds to make to make sure this thing wasn't going to fall apart. Now, she just had to figure out how to make it white...

I got them, now I just need— to get back—

"HEY, WATCH IT PRICK!" She shouted after an octoling who nearly flattened her. "Fuckin assholes...." She clutched the box to her chest as she shouldered her way through the stagnant crowd.

Each huff of breath fogged in the air around her, before subtly dissipating. It was like the world suddenly remembered it was supposed to be winter and was trying to make up for it. I was smart enough to snag some jackets from the Manor before I left the other day, I hope Marina was able to get something to keep warm. Shit, would that have been better than the headphones? It might not be too late, hold onto the idea maybe...

She muscled her way towards the ramp to the Dojo, where they'd agreed to meet. People were everywhere; the Plaza was full to gills, with everyone obsessed with the Squid Sisters. Only the thin cordoned off walkway along the edge had any space, but the line to get into the Battle Lobby was so long even that was closing up quickly.

Eventually, after nearly having her teeth knocked out by a particularly rowdy band of pre-teens, Pearl was suddenly next to her. "Marina!"

It took the taller octoling a moment to spot her, but as soon as Marina's eyes landed on her, she lit up with excitement. "Pearl! Where did you come from?"

"Um." Pearl suddenly found herself tripping over her words. "The crowd? Uh, you know how it can be when things get... c...crowded, you know?"

What the fuck just happened. Did she just have a stroke? Is she still having a stroke? That's the only thing that made that clusterfuck of a sentence make any sense.

Marina didn't seem to notice. "What's going on here?" She asked eagerly, maybe a bit too eagerly. "What's everyone here for?" There was a tension in Marina's posture, a silent play of winces and self-assurance. Pearl didn't know specifically, why it happened, but she had a good guess.

Despite her magnificent stumble, Pearl found herself smiling. "Just wait, it's a surprise! It should be starting any second now. But first..." She reached down into the shopping bag around her arm, and pulled out a box. Thankfully, the store was offering gift wrapping at checkout, so all Marina saw was a box wrapped in red paper with a bow on it.

"Oh!" Marina took it gingerly, before suddenly tucking it under her arm and reaching for her own tote bag. "I almost forgot!"

It was cute, watching the octoling's eager actions. There was an earnestness in each one that Pearl hadn't quite seen in anyone else. Several of the punks she was... familiar with had a burning anger driving their actions, but Marina had this... excitement for everything. It made Pearl want to care too.

Whatever she was expecting, she was not prepared for Marina to pull out a bright white crown, with pink colored tips. "Here! I remember you mentioning your current crown being damaged, so I made you a new one! It's metal, so it shouldn't break down so easy, and it matches your tentacles!"

"I..." Reverently, Pearl took the crown into her own hands. It was cold in her hands. The Squidmas lights in the plaza reflected off of the metallic surface, giving it an almost ethereal glow. There was a shadow in the reflection, an amorphous blob of undefined features, her own reflection, staring back at her.

Pearl was no stranger to gifts. Her place in the Houzuki family basically ensured each milestone saw her showered with things worth more than a dozen towns collectively would see in a decade. Investments & assets (she couldn't access due to their ties to the Houzuki Corp), technology, vacations, and art pieces. Hell, on paper she was technically still owner of the 2nd Manta Maria (not that really meant anything since that was for all intents and purposes an honorary title after she sold it off.)

But this wasn't... That. This wasn't anything like that. This was... it— she— if— Fuck. How could she even describe this emotion? The crown weighed a hundred thousand tons in her hand. Her hands latched around it, tight because it felt like it could float away if she wasn't careful.

It was— it was hers. The white of her mantle, and the pink of her ink.

"P-Pearl? Is everything ok!? I— ! Is something wrong?"

"Huh?" A shuddering breath escaped Pearl. "Blessed Tides..." She realized with a start that her eyes were burning with tears. "Oh, um..." She quickly wiped them from her eyes before finding Marina's eyes. "It's amazing, Marina. Sorry, I've... not gotten a gift like this before." She laughed, the sound so light and genuine it almost sounded wrong coming from her.

The relief and joy that flooded Marina's face made Pearl feel like she could fly.

With a tiny bit of reluctance, she removed one of her hands from the new crown, to grab the old one from her hand. The plastic felt cheap and brittle in her fingers, an insignificant imitation of the real thing clutched in her other hand. Pearl slowly lifted the new one to her head, flinching for a moment as the cool metal touched her tentacles.

The feel was completely different. Her old crown was a uniform nothing, sitting flat on her head and shifting if she moved her head too fast. Her new crown had a weight to it, a presence the mass produced plastic couldn't. It sunk into her tentacles just a bit, giving it a gravitas unmatched.

Marina was practically beaming, her hands clenched in eager fists as she watched with glee. That was finally enough to shock Pearl back to her senses.

With a quick clear of her throat, she adopted her best suave smile. "How does it look?"

All she got was a giggled in response, as Marina delighted beyond words.

Pearl shook her head while smiling, silently marveling at just how stable the crown felt. In the brief moment of silence, she noticed that Marina was still just holding her box. "Well, c'mon, are you gonna open my gift too?"

"Oh!" Marina jolted in place before throwing her attention towards the box in her hands.

"I mean it's not like it'll compare to this, but it's something at least." Pearl mumbled, suddenly feeling a bit insecure about her gift. I just bought her a pair of headphones, it's nothing like what she did...

Conversation stilled as Marina inspected the box. Then, Marina really start to inspect the box, staring far too closely at the plain wrapping paper. "Um...?"

It took Pearl a few moments to figure it out. "Ah, that's wrapping paper. It's meant to hide the exterior of the box so the gift is a surprise. You can just rip it off, it's not actually part of anything."

Marina's pulled away from the box, giving Pearl a confused look. "Why would you hide it though? If you're giving it as a gift, wouldn't you want the person to see it?"

"Ah..." Pearl stalled for a few moments as she tried to figure out how to explain this. "Squidmas is a specific day, a week from now on the 25th actually. So like, if you were with your family, you'd wrap the gift and put it under the tree, kinda teasing the person about it for a little bit. Like, 'haha look at your gift, you can't open it yet!' And they get to do the same thing to you."

"Hmm..." Marina looked crestfallen for some reason "I guess I did it wrong then? I'm sorry."

"N-no! No! Ah, fuck, that's like, the 'traditional' version of the holiday for families and stuff. This way is also ok!" Before Marina could doubt herself again, Pearl put on her most confident smile and pointed at the gift still in the octoling's hands. "Now, no more moping, open that gift up!"

"O-ok!" Marina quickly set her claw around the edge of the paper. Pearl watched closely, eager to see her tear into the paper. Instead, Marina carefully worked her way around the edge of the box, cutting the paper delicately. Three of the four edges were cut, causing the paper to drape away from the gift inside, and Marina to slide the out.

Marina gasped. "Headphones—?"

"Yeah! So you don't have to keep using the crappy ones that came with your CD player." Pearl watched for a few seconds as Marina inspected the box in awe. She turned her head away, looking towards the ground instead. "It's got wireless connection and noise cancelation, plus that sensor thing that can change their color to match your ink color."

Pearl sighed, mostly to herself. "I know it's not much, like, you MADE me a thing and all I did was buy you something, but I hope they're at least alright?"

"They're amazing!" There was far more excitement in Marina's voice than anticipated. "Now I can work on music in the evening, without upsetting my neighbors!"

"Heh, I knew you'd like it." Pearl pushed her smile into a confident grin. All part of the plan. "But that's—"

She was cut off by the lights in the Plaza suddenly shutting off. The crowd quickly whipped itself into an excited frenzy, hollering and cheering despite nothing happening yet.

"Gh! I-is everything alright?" Marina half shouted, a wild look of concern in her eyes.

Seeing the panic on her face, Pearl instantly grabbed Marina's free hand. "Hey, breathe. I wouldn't bring you to something dangerous."

Marina's breathing stumbled for a moment, but did start to slow down. "What's going on?"

"Just give it a second. You'll love it." The grin was audible in Pearl's voice. They waited, tense, until suddenly, an upbeat, if not downright jolly synth started to play.

Pearl could feel Marina's body tense the second the music started. She recognized that sound. As the the music built and built, Marina's fearful posture gave way to reverence, and then unabashed excitement. Pearl deftly maneuvered the headphone box into her own hands, while Marina was too laser focused on scanning the darkness to notice.

Suddenly, a pink spotlight cut through the darkness, revealing Callie standing atop one of their stupid stage-trucks. A moment later, a green one revealed Marie similarly. They held their poses for a moment, before the Plaza exploded with lights and cheers, as the Squid Sisters started their Squidmas Splatfest performance.

This wasn't Pearl's thing. The music was too cheery, the crowd too simultaneously loud and boring, and Tides if it didn't make a part of her twist inside seeing Marie up on that stage.

But looking over, and seeing Marina's unbridled excitement. The stars in her eyes, the huge grin, the gleeful, practically manic laughter as she jumped along to the song. Her arms excitedly shook in front of her, like she was full of so much excitement and joy she just had to move to get it out. That made it worth it. That made this all worth it.

It was at that moment, Pearl felt a chill, like a blade of ice down her spine. She liked seeing Marina so happy. Hearing her laugh. Helping her figure things out. Making music with her. Spending time with her. Being near her. Ah, fuck.

Pearl had a crush on Marina.