Present Day

"Damn it!" Papers fluttered to the ground as Pearl slammed her fists on the table in frustration.

She was stuck. There wasn't a market she could actually break into, not from her current position. Everything either had a startup cost higher than she could cover, already had some form of active Houzuki influence, or needed knowledge so far beyond what she had that it was basically infeasible. There wouldn't be any cozying up to somebody with the smarts and just financing that either, since it wouldn't be "proving herself" the way her father wanted.

Across her laptop screen, a new slew of alerts flashed across the screen, giving her exactly zero helpful information. She clicked through them with barely any hope, and even that was diminishing rapidly.

With a pained and frustrated whine, she let her head fall to the table in a fit of frustration. Six mockingly familiar words stuck in her mind, the same ones that'd been tormenting her for the last week. What am I going to do?

"Uh, excuse me Miss? You dropped some of your papers." a far too chipper voice called from beside her.

Pearl despondently looked up to see one of the cafe's staff standing by her table, hand outstretched with the papers held loosely in them. Her orange tentacles were almost as bright as her smile.

She's pretty cute... If Pearl wasn't in a hellish, life-destroying, capitalist spiral, she might have tried to hit her up.

"Also, your sandwich is ready." With the other hand, the server held out a plate with the aforementioned snack, as well as a double fudge chocolate mocha with one shot of espresso.

"Thanks... Nora." Pearl read the girl's name tag and tried to give an encouraging smile as she took the items on offer. It wasn't convincing.

"Enjoy!" Nora said with a smile, before walking back towards the front counter.

A silent sigh of relief escaped Pearl as she was left on her own again. She took a few bites of the sandwich, before turning back towards her mess of a future. The next grueling hour was spent researching, thinking, planning, and then scratching out those plans as she quickly determined the impossibilities they held. Product after product, service after service, Pearl had to face down the reality that it just wasn't something she could do.

Despite nearly a week of constant, unending efforts, she had nothing to show for it. There hadn't hardly been a moment of reprieve, or even so much as a breather since she hit the streets. It took her three days to find and move into an apartment that wouldn't rend her pockets for every spare coin she had. Three nights sleeping in a hotel stressed her precarious financial situation far more than she wanted right at the onset of this nightmare. It wasn't even pleasant either. I slept like shit all three nights. Of course, that could partially be because of the wine offered in the rooms.

Essentially, she was stuck. Every G she burned was one she wasn't getting back for some time. She had tabs on a few stock options that she expected to grow with the Great Zapfish's return, but anything she made there, barring unpredicted fantastical growth, would only be enough to keep herself alive. Every bit she spent now was less she had to startup her future with.

When it finally became too much, she shoved the papers into a notebook that looked equal parts brand new and beat-to-shit. It, and the one in her bag just like it, had been new a week ago, but the hours upon hours upon hours of increasingly desperate research had seen their pages thoroughly lashed with pen strokes. A scattering of business cards landed on the keyboard of her laptop before she slammed the lid on it, and threw it into her bag, along with the rest of her collection.

The final bites of her sandwich were unceremoniously wrapped in the wax paper they arrived in and were shoved into her pocket. Pearl grabbed the cup with her mocha and made to leave; the server girl's "come again!" echoed behind her as Pearl shouldered the door.

Acting on autopilot, Pearl reached into her pocket for her phone to text Fergus, but stopped when it was halfway up. Right. I can't. Ah. Fuck, ok. Just... I'll just get a taxi. She somehow managed to hold off the thrashing breakdown long enough to make it off the pedestrian streets and flag down a cab. Despite the mental tangent about watching every G she spent, she paid the hefty fare to be driven all the way out to Mt. Nantai. Right now, she couldn't care less.

Unsurprisingly, stomping her way down the familiar mountain path forty minutes later didn't magically make her feel any better. Even as she breathed slowly and tried to calm her nerves, she couldn't help but disparage herself for coming back out here. Two trips in a week was absurd, she had work that needed done and frankly it was a little embarrassing. Tide knows she couldn't have stayed in the city though. If she so much as looked at one more spreadsheet or business card, she would have screamed, and there was no chance she could afford to cover the cost of the damage that'd cause right now.

By the time Pearl stumbled her way off the path and onto that familiar wooden stage, all the energy had sapped from her body. She wanted to scream and shout, punch, kick, hurt— something to give these overpowering emotions an outlet. In the end, all she could do was carry herself to the middle of the stage, drop her sorry ass to the ground, and look out over the landscape.

One whole week had passed. Seven days. One hundred and sixty eight hours. Ten thousand and eighty minutes. And she'd accomplished nothing. There wasn't anything to her name, save for a rapidly vanishing sum of seed money that could only take her so far.

I don't think I can do this.

"Ohysars itsou!" ("Oh my stars it's you!")

The sudden sound nearly knocked Pearl over, which was an impressive feat considering she was already sitting down. She quickly whipped her head side to side, until she found the source of the sounds. Near the edge of the stage, an octoling stood, staring up with stars in her eyes. Pearl recognized the girl almost immediately. It was hard to forget that weird armor thing she wore, or how cute her pouty little face was when she didn't think people were looking. They'd only talked for maybe three hours a week ago, but those were the best three hours in Pearl's recent memory.

Pearl nearly called out her name right then and there, but she remembered the concepts of 'restraint' and 'manners' at the last second and clamped her jaw shut. "Marina, yeah?"

Marina nodded eagerly. "Yes! And you're Pearl!"

That's an... odd way to confirm things, but alright. "I sure am!" She smugly called back, putting her confident front up again. They both hovered awkwardly for a few moments, neither one sure how to move the conversation forward.

Surprisingly, Marina was the one to break the silence this time. "You came back!" She seemed genuinely awestruck by Pearl's presence. Her words sped up significantly as her excitement grew, though it was obvious she was at least trying on some level to slow things down. "Iantedoseeusinceattay!" ("I've wanted to see you since that day!") Her hands jumped from her lap to the air just below her chin, where they hung awkwardly, bouncing with some kind of nervous energy.

It took her a few seconds to sort out the jumble of words. "Really?" Pearl couldn't stop the word from tumbling out of her mouth the moment she'd pieced them together.

"Mmhmm!" Marina watched her eagerly for a few more seconds, before she suddenly seemed to shrink in on herself, a nervous, almost fearful look on her face.

Pearl shook her head to try and get her thoughts in order. She... wanted to see me? What's up with that? When she finally looked back at Marina, her hearts nearly did a flip when she saw the look on the octoling's face.

"Wh-Wait!!" Pearl shook her head to try and dislodge a single coherent thought. Cod, I'm absolutely falling apart. Pearl shuffled closer, trying to come off as calm. "You— I mean- augh!" Pearl grabbed her head with her hands and threw it back in frustration.

They both sat like that for several seconds, completely put out by their own words. Then, Pearl chuckled under her breath. It quickly grew louder, until her entire upper body was shaking from strenuous bouts of laughter, the shockingly jubilant sound echoing through the trees. Marina jumped, startled by the sudden onslaught of sound, but started to relax as she watched Pearl laugh herself to tears.

Finally, she started to calm down. She took measured breaths, as if afraid she'd fall back into laughter again if she wasn't careful. "Ahhaha... Sorry, I'm sorry, It's just. I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing out here, but it's good to see you again, Marina. I honestly didn't think we'd get to meet again." Despite everything going on, Pearl found it strangely easy to smile right now.

Marina looked up and down, the apprehension slowly melting from her face, replaced with that excitement from earlier. "I'veenryino findouagin. In't knoenyou'd beackut—" ("I've been trying to find you again! I didn't know when you'd be back, but—") She suddenly cut off and patted her sides. A soft gasp escaped her lips as she realized something. "CanIowumting??" ("Can I show you something??")

Pearl had to stop and pick apart the mash of words that were just said to her. I see she's not gotten better about talking slowly over the past week. I'm.. pretty sure she's asking me to follow her? "Sure!"

She moved to stand, but Marina lurched forward and grabbed her hand before she could get her feet on the ground. "Com'thme!" ("Come with me!") She said as she started to run forward, dragging Pearl off the stage.

Naturally, Pearl shouted in surprise as she was pulled away, stumbling a moment while she got her feet underneath her, and she followed behind as best she could. Cod this girl is STRONG! I guess that makes sense, given she hauled herself up the side of a mountain, but DAMN. A part of her chafed against the thought of following... whatever this was going. She shouldn't be running off into the woods, not while her life was careening over the edge of a cliff.

Thoughts could go pound sand. "Where are we going!?" She shouted forward.

Marina yelled something back, but her already jumbled words were lost in the sea of sound they were making. Regardless, whatever they were going, Marina seemed particularly eager for her to see it.

Mentally, Pearl was cataloguing her past trips up to the mountain, trying to remember if there was a cave, or a cliffside, or really any other feature in this direction that would be worthy of attention. I don't think there is... I mean, I guess there's the weird rock, but like... I dunno, maybe Marina really likes rocks? Even still, I don't think that'd be a 'drag someone through the woods' kind of thing. It could be an animal or something, but I... What.

They came to a stop just in front of a sight that completely derailed her train of thought. "Have you been sleeping here?" She asked, her words coming out slowly.

Nested in-between a small triplet of trees was something that resembled a campsite, if everything that made it comfortable or habitable was removed. There were several things wrong with the image at a glance. First, there was no tent, just a tarp, strung between the trees with vines. Not string, not rope, honest, tide-blessed vines ripped from the tree itself. There was no sleeping bag, insulation, or anything to help her keep warm. Instead, there was a long, hollowed out log with marks on it nestled between two of the trees. Between another two of the trees, the same bags Marina pulled up the mountain with her acted as a pseudo-wall, making the opening they were standing in the only way into this 'camp' facade. In the center of everything was the most brutalist-industrial looking walkie talkie Pearl had ever seen. The thing was almost literally a grey brick with a speaker on the top, small slit for a microphone on the bottom, and an antenna on top.

Marina eagerly scampered over to the hollowed out log, where she took a seat and looked up at Pearl with stars in her eyes. "Mmhmm!" She dove into an excited ramble about something as she leaned over to dig through one of her bags. Any attempt at slowing down her speech was completely drowned out by the excited babble, but even ignoring that, Pearl couldn't focus on what she was saying.

She was too busy making connections. Marina had been trying to find her. Marina was still wearing the exact same weird armor thing she was when Pearl met her a week ago. And now this... Oh cod, she's been sleeping up here, hasn't she?

"You were really sleeping out here?" Pearl asked, her voice soft.

The stream of words from Marina's mouth cut off instantly, as she looked up at Pearl with wide eyes. "Yes?" She asked, hesitation laden through the single syllable. "I-Ianteteeou—" ("I wanted to see you—")

"That's so stupid! Why would you do that!?!"

Marina flinched at the words. "But I—"

"What if it rained!?" Pearl shouted. "What if it snowed! Hell, it's November, what if the temperature went down ten degrees? What would you do then!?" She sucked in a breath, but at that moment, she could see Marina flinching with her hands over her ears. Her voice died in her throat as she processed what she was seeing. Her face flushed red as shame quickly flooded her system.

She stared for only a moment longer before dropping to her knees, ignoring the rush of pain that came with part of her leg landing on a root. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get loud like that. I forget that my voice can be that powerful, and it's really hard not screaming sometimes when everything just seems to go fucking wrong all the time and—" She stopped herself, again, before she could get any more heated. Her head fell into her hands as her mind started to race.

Tides, I'm fucking worthless. Her career was doomed— hell her entire future was doomed. She couldn't even handle a conversation with the one miraculous person who didn't seem to hate her at first glance. How the hell was she supposed to pull an entire corporate empire together when she lost her shit yelling at the only person who'd been unquestionably nice to her in months? Tears of anger pooled under her eyes, as the breakdown she'd been fighting for so long finally had finally come.

Heartbeats echoed in her ears as the world seemed to shrink. Shaking arms were barely enough to keep her from toppling onto the ground completely. She couldn't do this. There was no corporate future like she was supposed to have, nor was there any hope of her punk rock dreams. Even fucking bartenders gave her weary eyes before serving her these days. Her reputation was trashed. Her prospects were absent. There was no future for her anymore since she blew that too.

Click
"Grhh, dumting..." ('Grhh, dumb thing...") Marina grumbled under her breath. There was a few more seconds of silence, only broken by Pearl's ragged breathing, before a quiet, triumphant "Yes!"

A plucky drumbeat started, and then Marina's voice joined in with some basic chords and an odd, almost bouncy extra synth that gave the whole thing a very unique sound Pearl had never heard before. As she sang, Marina traded the melody back and forth with a single synth line, and then joined it for the chorus.

Stream of the river
[Synth]
Change to deliver, it goes, it goes
Now and forever
[Synth]
Through every moment, tearful joys and woes
Stream of the river, Change to deliver
Alight with a shiver, it goes, it goes
Now and forever, for worse or better
All of it together, life it ebbs and floooOOOOOooows
[Synth]
Life it ebbs and flows!

It was a quaint little song, barely 40 seconds long, and with lyrics brimming with optimism Pearl hadn't felt in years. By all accounts, this song should have been something she disliked; it was cheap, short, cheery, and tides forbid hopeful. Instead, Pearl found herself speechless.

The silence of the forest quickly engulfed the pair once more, but it was different. Her hearts still hammered in her ears, and her breathing was still coming in half-desperate bursts, but it felt like she'd been thrown a lifeline. Something she could hold onto, amidst the all-consuming grief that was destroying her life.

A minute passed, and then another, as Pearl struggled to get a hold of herself. Marina spent the entire time swapping between watching Pearl with an anxious look, and staring out into the forest, most likely trying to hide her face.

"You... made that yourself?" Pearl finally managed, her voice still laden with tears and mucus.

Marina jumped at the sudden sound. "I... Your singing from before, I really liked it." She was talking slowly again, but Pearl couldn't tell if that was because Marina was trying to make herself more understandable, or deliberately weighing each word before she spoke. "It made me want to make something too."

Pearl stared back, her eyes wide. "I inspired you?"

"Yes! You were so good, so passionate about your songs, I wanted to know what it was like." Marina's voice slowly tapered off as she spoke, her confidence waning with each word she spoke. "But I'm stilleally newomusic aniowitoterygoodutIdin'tut—" ("But I'm still really new to music and I know it doesn't sound very good but—")

"It was really good! No, Marina, that was incredible!" Pearl jumped to her feet, stepping forward to grab Marina's hand before the octoling could worry herself into a panic attack. "The melody was really catchy, and your voice sounded great! If you did all of that with that clunky little machine, I can't imagine what you could do with a full studio!"

The sudden praise seemed to catch Marina off guard, but beyond an initial jolt at first contact, she didn't shy away from Pearl's touch. "R-really?"

"Oh Yeah! I bet you could do anything you wanted!"

From there, Pearl let go of Marina's hand, and took a seat on the bench next to her. She listened intently while Marina explained what she did and how she did it to make her song. Eventually, Pearl chimed in with some of her own experience with learning music, though she was careful with the details she shared.

Before either of them knew it, they spent hours huddled in that tiny clearing, talking about music. The only reason Pearl clued into the time was because the sun caught her eye through the trees as it made its slow descent towards the horizon. Cod, how long have we been talking for? She pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time. FIVE THIRTY?? We've been talking for over 6 hours!

Despite her shock at the time, Pearl waited until the conversation reached a comfortable lull, before finally standing up. "Be honest with me, Marina, are you going to sleep out here tonight?"

Marina looked up at her, and then turned away, trying to hide her face.

Pearl suppressed a sigh and grabbed her phone again, quickly pulling up the weather app. "Look," she said as she pushed her phone towards Marina. "There's storms coming in later this week, and they're bringing a cold front with them. You can't stay out here."

There was a reverence to the way Marina held her phone, like the device was completely foreign to her. Has she not seen a smart phone before? Pearl stood to the side, awkwardly waiting for Marina to do something with it, but her eyes seemed to glaze right over the information on the screen and stay focused on the device itself. When the screen dimmed as it was about to go to sleep, she carefully took it from Marina's hands, and explained what the app was showing.

Obvious hesitance played over Marina's face. It was clear that she wasn't keen on leaving the mountain, but Pearl was determined to keep this girl from splatting herself in the storms. "You should come back to Inkopolis with me. It'd be a good place to take stock of your situation, and restock on supplies."

"I can't— But what if they show up while I'm gone?" Marina asked, her voice lacking conviction.

Pearl frowned. "Are these the same people you've been waiting a week for already?"

Marina nodded.

"Are you sure they're coming?"

Marina nodded again, though this one was notably lacking confidence.

A sigh escaped Pearl. "Marina, you can't just stay up here until they show up. You could get hurt, or lost in the weather! Do you have a plan to deal with the storms? The snow?"

Marina's eyes lifted to the tarp, but it was obvious even she knew that wouldn't cut it. Things were tense as neither of them said another word. Conflict played out across Marina's face, cycling between an anxious, worried expression, and a more schooled, determined look.

Without warning, Marina reached forward and snatched the walkie talkie off the ground, held the button, spoke a rapid series of words into it, and waited.

...

Nearly five minutes passed with Marina sitting there, holding the silent walkie talkie. It never once buzzed, crackled, or made any indication whatsoever that there was even a second device out there to talk to. A gut wrenching well of desperation and fear built in Marina's eyes as her hope dwindled. It tore Pearl's hearts out to watch her struggle to come to terms with the silence.

Wordlessly, Marina stood and began untying the vines holding the tarp up. She slowly disassembled what little constituted her 'camp,' packing it away into the same two bags she'd hauled up the side of the mountain a week ago. Pearl almost stood to help at several points, but she chose not to, as Marina would pause seemingly at random and stare at the walkie talkie, practically begging it to say something.

When everything was finally put away, Marina robotically bent down and picked up the walkie talkie again, and pushed it into her bag. "Ok. I'll go."