Skyline Ch 21 - The Real Deal

"Is it egotistical to say that I'm not as surprised this time?" Pearl frowned as she handed her phone over. She watched Marina's face closely, noting how her eyebrows arched and her head pulled back ever so slightly. She was surprised.

"No, not really." Marina passed the phone back. "I mean, it's just Color Pulse but recorded better. People were asking for it..."

"I guess." Pearl shrugged, turning her phone off and shoving it into her pocket. "Guess that means we've got it all figured out then, eh?" She gave a sly look and bumped her elbow into Marina's arm. Tides, Pearl wished she could savor that look on Marina's face. Trepidation and worry slowly being eclipsed by a bright, giddy excitement. Not a shred of hesitance to be found.

"The Shell Rockers are going to take over the world!" Pearl cheered, throwing her arms into the air.

That got a giggle out of Marina, who brought her hand up to stifle it. "You think so?"

"Psh, totally." Pearl shrugged as nonchalantly as she could. "We've already hit trending twice. With the same song, even!"

For a brief moment, Marina just looked at her. It was impossible to tell what was happening behind those big eyes, but the slow, happy smile that etched itself into her face eased the hesitance that lingered in Pearl's mind.

"Yeah... I— oh!" A quiet buzzing interrupted the thought. Marina quickly pulled her own phone out, frowning at the screen. "That's my work alarm, I gotta go!"

"Yeah, Mr. Heritis is closing in on some new deal and needs the figures asap." Marina was standing, patting her pockets to make sure she had everything. "The four of us in accounting split the weekend."

"Right, I forgot you mentioned something like that..." Pearl huffed, trying to ignore the pit in her stomach. "Take it easy, Marina. I'll see you around."

"You still coming over tonight? We can't go super late, but there's still a few hours of music we could get up to?" Marina looked ready to bolt, but she waited patiently for Pearl's answer.

"Sure. I'll give you like an hour after work to cool down before I crash your place. That work?"

"Yeah..." Pearl replied, but Marina was already too far away to hear. Tides that girl was fast. Pearl watched her vanish around a corner and let out a shuttering breath. All the trepidation came flooding back.

This wasn't a good idea. This wasn't what she was supposed to be doing. Pearl already had her path in life. Why was she deluding herself, or worse, Marina, like this? Her place was in a boardroom, neck deep in numbers. Not... here.

I let myself get carried away again... Pearl pulled her knees up to her chest, her eyes locked forlornly on the ground. She hadn't been back to her apartment since she walked out nearly two days ago. This was all happening so fast, and she was just letting it.

Marina was a numbing agent. All the stress Pearl had resting on her shoulder vanished in the face of those beautiful eyes. It was so terrifyingly easy to get lost indulging Marina. With her, everything was so bright, so nice, it made everything else feel miserable by comparison.

The dread Pearl felt was haunting her, just out of reach of her conscious mind. With Marina gone, there was nothing to stop it from washing through her. She was running. Trying desperately to pretend like each minute she spent out here wasn't actively detrimental to her future.

Pearl let herself get lost in the tide. The only reason she'd even managed to come up for air over the last three days was her little spat with Marina's librarian friend. She was perpetually moving, always checking something, looking here, waving there; she never really stopped to get a good look at Pearl until that doorway.

"Shove off." Pearl gave her a nasty look. "What I'm doing is none of your business."

"Except, like, it absolutely is. Who do you think helped the lost, paperless, disoriented IMMIGRANT who couldn't read or speak the language?" The boiling red of anger bled through Pam's tentacles as each word escaped in a hiss of barely controlled rage. "It certainly wasn't the vacuous SIREN who left her alone in a hotel room in the middle of the biggest city in the country."

"I said BACK OFF." Pearl raised her hand to keep the librarian back. "You don't know what happened that night."

"Why don't you tell me then, darling?" Pam utterly disregarded the warning, leaning right into her face. Her eyes burned with a deep, seething rage, but her voice was deathly calm. "Did you do something to her that night?"

"FUCK OFF!" Pearl shoved Pam back with a hiss of rage. She was barely keeping her voice down. "FUCK NO. I wouldn't EVER do that to her. What's your fucking problem?!

Pam barreled right back to Pearl, grabbing her shirt and pulling her close enough that their foreheads were practically touching. "Listen to me. WHEN you hurt her, WHEN you rip the facade down and leave Marina in the dirt, I don't care what it takes. I will make you hurt for it."

"I know enough, Houzuki." Her grip on Pearl's shirt surrendered, as Pam stood straight. She gave Pearl one final scathing look, before walking off.

There wasn't any way for Pam to actually hurt her of course. Even being a basic CEO would get her a security detail strong enough to handle an antsy librarian. That said nothing of the Houzuki protection detail waiting for her when she made it back. No, it was the sentiment, the certainty that Pearl would hurt Marina that struck her.

What the hell am I doing? A dead chuckle limped from her throat, as she buried her head in her knees. Another fucking band. I'm supposed to be smarter than this. I know better.

Yet, here she was, playing pretend again. Deluding herself into thinking there might be another way. She could still see that list with perfect clarity. Three options, one choice. Her future, inevitable. Each day she indulged these delusions only increased the uncertainty of each opportunity. Offers would close, position hunts would end, buyouts would pass without her spending a single coin, and she'd be left behind with nothing.

The word felt like poison. Why did she have to say band? It could have been anything else, but they just had to start another band. Maybe this one would be different. Yeah, right.

Again and again, Marina clicked through the inefficient little menus on her phone to listen to those soundbites. Each time the clip ended, she had to painstakingly force her way through the maze of options to play it again.

"I've got to get a laptop of my own... this thing's a load of scrap." She murmured to herself, thumbs clicking away at the little keys.

After re-recording Color Pulse, they'd still had a little under an hour left in the recording booth. Time which Marina did not let go to waste. The result was the veritable trove of little soundbites, stings, and melody snippets at her fingertips.

One particular melody was on her mind right now, a little three note descending scale, repeated three times, with the final repeat having two extra notes walking back up. It was deceptively simple, the kind of melody that you could build a song out of. Again and again she clicked through the cluster of menus. Files —> personal files —> downloads —> media —> music —> melody_hook_4.mp8. Listen to the five second soundbite. Repeat ad infinitum.

If she were at home, she could experiment with the melody to her hearts' content. Unfortunately, she wasn't, and her break was almost over.

Hmm. At least the Squid Sisters will be there for me while I look over these spreadsheets. With a sigh, she wandered from the breakroom couch back to her desk. She exchanged nods with Sven, since he was on call and she didn't want to interrupt, and sat at her desk. Her phone went in the drawer that her chair blocked from opening, because she wasn't sure she could keep herself from pulling it out otherwise. While her spreadsheets loaded, she pulled the CD player from the same drawer and set it beside her. Her claws combed over the small collection of albums she kept on hand. She'd need to pick the best to keep her mind off Pearl and her music.

Let's see... Freshest Hits, Calamari County Tour, Inkstorm, A Day in the Bay... From the City. That's the one. She pulled the case out, taking a moment to stare into the black and white silhouettes of the pair and the twinkling of stars that colored them in. Sure, From the City didn't have the Inkantation at the end (which would forever be a point against all other albums) but it had the best mix of songs for knuckling down and working. In her opinion at least.

She watched the disk spin up as she pulled the headphones over her ears. She rolled her chair forward, locking her phone away until she next stood up. Time to zone out and work so she could get home sooner.

With the help of Callie and Marie, Marina's music flew by. It went so well, she finished early, and started working on the newest figures just to keep the flow going. Eventually, Sven nudged her shoulder, breaking the trance, and freeing her for the evening.

Marina bounded through the city, letting her mind mull over her song fragments in the background while she focused on the much more important things. Things like, Should I get a meal for Pearl? and Do I have time to swing through Music Alley to check for another used CD?

(The answers were: A number two combo with extra mayo from Rabuka King and No, I'm trying to save for a laptop!)

She was practically beaming as she stepped into her apartment. Her hearts swelled with joy seeing her Squid Sisters shrine, but she didn't let the reverence she felt slow her down tonight. She got off work about 40 minutes ago, so Pearl would be here in about 20. Marina, however, was impatient.

"I was already in the area, soooo..." Pearl gave an easy shrug. "What'cha got planned for tonight? More music I presume?"

"Yes!" Marina nearly started jumping with excitement, but she contained herself. "Um! But first, I got you a meal!" She held up the Rabuka King bag with a proud smile. "Extra mayo, just like you said you liked!"

"Yeah! I mean, you only told me like, a few nights ago." Marina shrugged, bag still on offer.

Marina worked through her own salad as she watched Pearl inspect the burger like it was some mystical artifact. Slowly, she took a bite, and then another and another and another before the entire thing was gone in a matter of minutes. The fries did not last much longer.

Pearl's head whipped around, until she found a small stack of napkins. She quickly wiped at her mouth and hands. "Um, I guess I was."

It didn't take long for things to devolve into another chaotic mess of music and singing. They set to work trying to string the disjointed pieces together into their next song. Maybe this melody here, oh actually could that sting fit there? Play that again! Am I pronouncing this right? What do you think of this?

Marina was expecting the clock to bring an end to their session, since she had work in the morning. But no, it was actually Pearl getting drowsy that brought a slow end to their night. In a matter of minutes, Pearl went from her usual high-energy self, to fighting to keep her eyes open.

"Marina... I think I need to—" Pearl was interrupted by a huge yawn. "Need to go for the night..."

"Oh! Right, um..." Looking at her, Pearl did not look like she was ready to walk through the city. "Are you sure? You don't seem, eh, awake."

"Nonsense. Get comfortable." Marina grabbed the inkling's shoulders and steered her towards the couch. "You're clever, I'm sure you can figure out how to open the door and leave tomorrow morning if I'm already gone."

Marina stepped away just long enough to grab a spare blanket off her bed. "Here." She offered as she returned.

"M'thanks..." Pearl mumbled, already nearly asleep. She was barely able to drape it over herself before she surrendered to the exhaustion. In the commotion, Pearl's phone slipped from her pocket, falling to the ground with a dull thunk.

It took Marina a few moments to process the suddenness of the situation. Twenty minutes ago, Pearl was freestyling without issue, and now she was out cold. What did you do to wear yourself out so much? Marina could only speculate. Probably related to whatever it is she's been working on. I hope that's going well for her, she's quite caught up on it.

She picked up Pearl's phone, weighing the odd little rectangle in her hand. It was so fascinating to her, comparing it to her own phone, or even her old pager. All three devices served the same function, but this one was worlds ahead of both in capability. Smartphone. It is quite smart for being a single device, but it's not an AI system. Hm.

An unruly urge prickled in her brain. 483,838 views. Her phone couldn't run an internet browser. She knew Pearl's passcode just from incidentally watching over the inkling's shoulder.

No, no, that's... wrong. It's not my phone. I... I shouldn't. She set the phone next to Pearl and busied herself with tidying up the evening's mess. It was not enough to assuage the urge. It was so many people. So many people, more than the population of the domes had commented on the new version. That said nothing about the view count. She couldn't just ignore that. It wasn't... It didn't feel right, that so many people could see and hear her. It wasn't a bad feeling. Just a new one.

With a grace and subtlety that really wasn't necessary— seriously, it'd take a killer wail to wake Pearl at this point— Marina took the inkling's phone into her own hand. She tapped the passcode in, 6874, and was greeted by the home screen. Marina had seen enough over people's shoulders to know how to find something on Inktube.

On and on it went. Jokes, a few references she understood, many things she assumed were references she didn't, and a lot of compliments. One in particular stood out to her, but not for any of the reasons she'd been expecting.

This... no, it couldn't be. Stars above, sky-eyed, The Hollows. She had to follow up on this. Now. It took a bit of time to find her way into the Shell Rockers email and not Pearl's, but inside, she found a single email amidst a small flurry of automated messages.

From: HollowsCollective@conchconnection.com

Subject: Prospective Future Connections

To: ShellRockersDuo@reef.com

Hello! My name is Warabi, one of the members of the Hollows Music Collective. We recently heard your song Color Pulse, and it blew us all to to the stars! You two have some real underground talent we'd love to try and connect with. Pearl's voice brings something unique to the stage, and DJ_Hyperfresh must have had a Grand DJ in her past to produce beats like that.

If you're interested in getting in contact, please reply to this email, or come meet us at the corner of 21' and 41' in the warehouse district. We look forward to your response!