Chapter Text
“Look, see? It’s perfectly safe!” Callie insisted, slowly sweeping the torch across the empty plaza.
“Callie, how the hell can you say that just from looking at the main square?”. Marie protested once again, pointing a finger through the darkness, vaguely in the direction of the back-alley under their old studio. “See, if I was an old sea-weed addicted perv with an unregistered firearm, I’d be camping out under there,”.
“Alright, fair point,” Callie swung the torch in the direction of the alley-way, and squealed as Marie immediately grabbed her wrist and jerked it in the opposite direction.
“Well don’t point the light at them, dummy!” Marie hissed. “Do you have a plan for once you’ve found the creeps and signalled them to come to us?” Callie shook her head. “If not then can we just get inside already?”.
Callie giggled, and loosened her grip on the torch. Marie took it from her, and let go of her wrist. At first she wanted to insist that it wasn’t funny, but she just ended up giggling as well. She knew full well just how ridiculous this whole adventure was, and it was the youngest she had felt in years. There had always been a certain ridiculous joy to superficial “sibling” bickering, one that only made sense to people who had been fortunate enough to grow up with it.
The pair continued towards the walkway, which went up over the street and towards the studio. This time with Marie in front, being the one with the torch.
“I still can’t believe you aren’t cold,” Marie remarked under her breath, briefly turning the torch towards Callie’s bare shoulders. She had been all made up in her old idol romper all afternoon, despite the frigid and breezy air of the spring night. Marie was currently buried under multiple layers, with her dress folded up in an old Mako-Mart bag-for-life, adorned with a cartoon whale talking about how “strong and sturdy” it is, which she carried at her side. She would’ve used her backpack, but she didn’t need reminding why that wasn’t an option, as the gig bag on her back weighed her down with every step. She watched Callie bounce lightly and carefreely around her, and wondered why she always did this to herself.
They made it to the window, and Marie shone the light through it, from one side to another.
It was hard to get a good look inside, with the glare from the torch in the window obscuring just about everything it illuminated, but it was still recognisable as the room they had once broadcasted from - after all, it’d take a lot more than 8 years of decay to bring down something so distinctly garish. Mercifully, the wallpaper was peeling off in some places. Marie wondered if she ought to try tearing it all off before showtime, but she knew she shouldn’t - this was meant to be a celebration of where they had started from…no matter how embarrassing and silly-looking that start was, it couldn’t be edited. Anyway, if she cringed at something she did in the past, it meant she had grown as a person, or something.
She also noticed how, as expected, none of the old equipment looked functional…
…and that this was just a window. There was no way in from this side.
She sighed. “...Ok…that’s my fault. I forgot.”
She shone the light on Callie, who shrugged. “I mean, I did just blindly follow you and assume that you knew better than me.”
Marie chuckled, as she leaned on the railing overlooking the plaza. “It’s a nice view, though.”.
Perhaps “nice” wasn’t the right word. It wasn’t beautiful in the conventional sense that one would associate with a city at nighttime, but it truly made her feel something powerful.
The only light still piercing the darkness was her own, which cast a harsh white spotlight on the markings in the centre of the crossroad. The streetlights here had stopped coming on years ago.
None of the lights were on in the buildings surrounding the plaza either, but the towers still cast the distinct pitch-black silhouette of a skyline against the sky, which, thanks to the light pollution from other neighbourhoods of Inkopolis, was devoid of stars, and lightened to a washed-out shade of ultramarine.
It was funny, the way things had worked out. As soon as Callie and herself felt they had outgrown Inkopolis Plaza, so did everyone else - and among the urban youth, the death of a trend was no joke. It had become a ghost town all but overnight - people hardly even took things with them.
The only parallel Marie could really think of, in the time she had spent combing through Alterna’s archives, and learning how the humans once lived, was something called an “Olympic Park”. Even then, though, they could hardly be compared. The lives those creatures had once lived was nothing like the streets Marie found herself on these days, always feeling a little lost.
She never understood it, the way city inklings lived. She supposed she enjoyed being in Inkopolis, but Calamari country lived in her blood forever, even long after everyone that connected her to that place had passed away. She still went there every summer, whether people were waiting for her when she got there or not. The pace of life back there always felt right. There was space for simple joys. There was space to reminisce, both on the way she used to live herself, and on the way her ancestors had lived.
There was space to breathe.
Of course, Callie had adapted to the city much better than she ever had, but Marie still knew that she felt it too. It made sense - after all, it was on her insistence that they were even here in the first place - both the fact that they had come here the first time all those years ago, and that they were coming here for the last time now.
Still though, Callie seemed to be growing restless. “Right then!” she said abruptly, standing upright once again, and slapping down on the railing conclusively as she did so. “...what are we doing?”.
“I dunno, I was just catching my breath,” Marie answered simply, glancing over her shoulder, to the ginormous bag on her back. “You didn’t have to join me.”
Callie scoffed, “Well, would you prefer it if I just ran off into the darkness while you weren’t looking?”
“No, no not really.” Marie mumbled dryly, standing up as well.
“Anyway, you’re not gonna like this, but I remember the door being in the back-alley.” said Callie, as she walked to the opposite side of the walkway. “I figured I must’ve misremembered, seeing as you were going a different way, but if not then…”
“Oh jeez. Well, let’s stick together and hopeful-” Marie cut herself off in frustration as she saw Callie nonchalantly vault over the railing, down into the alleyway. She ran to the other side to see if she had landed safely, which she had. “For fuck’s sake Callie, what was I just saying!?”, she called down to her irritably.
Callie looked up to meet her gaze, standing in the spotlight the torch cast. “Something about sticking together, heard you loud and clear! So, are you coming?”.
“Tch…I am not doing that.” she immediately deflected, against the part of her which thought it looked kinda fun. She already knew how this kind of conversation with Callie was going to end, and she was ok with it, she just needed a little time to prepare. It was almost a tradition, anyway.
“Come onnnnnn! It’ll be fiiinnneee! I managed, so can you!”.
“Callie, you use a roller, of course you can do shit like that no problem.”.
“C’mon Marie, when have I ever led you astray?”.
Marie sighed. “You’re lucky I can’t be bothered to tally up the score on that one right now. I guess your last idea worked out fine, seeing as we’re here now and nobody’s stabbed us yet…” she took a deep breath. “...What about my bags?”.
“I’ll take them first! Hell, I’ll even catch you if you want!”.
“...Deal.”. Marie took the gig bag off her shoulders, and cautiously held it down over the drop, clutching it by the very tip with all of her strength. It wasn’t enough, as Callie failed to reach for the bottom standing on her tiptoes. She darted to the side of the alleyway to find an old bottle crate, and started kicking it into place.
“Can you hurry up please?” Marie groaned, her one-handed grip on the headstock starting to falter.
Callie seemed to ignore her cousin’s unhelpful commentary, and hopped onto the crate, grabbing the bag firmly on both sides, and cautiously lowering it as Marie let go, leaving it to rest on a wall beside her.
“Not bad. Are you ready for this?” said Marie, holding out the torch over the drop.
Callie nodded and, on three, Marie tossed it down to her. She caught it, but lost control as she did so, seeming almost surprised she had caught it, fumbling around and juggling it until she managed to find a stable grip. Marie sighed.
“What?” Callie scoffed.
“Nothing. Just impressed you didn’t fall off the crate.” said Marie. “Don’t worry, the good news is that there’s nothing fragile in the last one, so I can just-”
She immediately dropped the bag-for-life down by Callie’s side.
“-do that.”
It was heavy enough to remain upright as it fell, but it was all just fabric, so it landed without any worrying noises.
“Right, are you ready?” Marie called down again, “Like, for eel this time?”.
“Absolutely!” Callie exclaimed, after having moved the bottle crate aside to stand on solid ground once more, with her arms spread open wide.
This wouldn’t be Marie’s first time doing a trust fall with Callie - they had done it once during the Fresh Start Tour, after their one year hiatus (which had a lot of media coverage) which had culminated in the Hypnoshades incident (which had no media coverage).
It was during the intermission of their Splatsville concert, Marie had suggested it as a fun little thing to do to keep the audience entertained while the live band were tuning their instruments down a step or two, in keeping with the theme of trust that the new album was centred around.
That being said though, something about the apprehension from both sides, before their respective turns to fall backward, had always stuck with her.
For herself, she remembered still just feeling a little …on edge. It was only their 5th public appearance after one of the most difficult times in all of the years they had known each other. What if Callie didn’t catch her? What if there was still some residual mind control from those stupid glasses, flashing off and saying “Now’s your chance! Hurt her while she’s vulnerable!”.
Of course, it turned out to be alright, but Callie’s hesitation on her own turn to fall really hurt, in a strange way. Marie wished she knew what had been going through her head at the time.
Did she still see Marie as an enemy of some kind? That couldn’t have been it, what if after all the times she had opened up to her, she still just thought Marie was some low-level prankster? Someone who would only bring up the idea of such activities if she was planning to embarrass Callie, and make her fall to the floor pathetically? Even then, had she still not believed that Marie loved her more than anything or anyone else, and would protect her with her life?
(Cod, please don’t let that be true…)
She knew deep down though that times had changed in those six years. Not wanting to keep Callie waiting, she confidently hopped over the railing.
…and of course, she was caught.
“...And after all that, it would’ve been quicker to just walk down the long way, wouldn’t it?” Marie mumbled as she got to her feet.
“Wouldn’t be as fun though, right?” Callie answered immediately.
Following Callie to a plain and discreet door on ground level, which Marie unlocked with a grimy old key in her pocket, she nodded.
“No, no it wouldn’t be as fun.”
Once they were in the studio, Marie had reclaimed her bag, and excused herself to the old broom cupboard to get changed. In the bag was, of course, none other than her old green dress, neatly folded up, and ready for its last few times being worn, before it presumably ended up in a cabinet at the hall of fame.
Her being here was a ridiculous idea, but, like all of Callie’s ridiculous ideas, there was no talking it out of her when it came to her, and Marie hardly even wanted to anyway. The best she could do was always to follow along and watch her back, and it was fun every time.
This particular scheme had started with something Marina said in passing a few weeks back. To Marie’s memory, the gist was that Inkopolis Plaza’s stage rotation system, which nobody had ever bothered to switch off, was still running, even if nobody was actually going into the tower. Tonight, however, would be the last list of stages it ever served up, before it finally crashed, with nobody coming to fix it - something about 8 bit systems, and memory limitations.
Of course, Callie and Marie used to be the ones who would present that list, back when people actually cared about it, and back when their careers were just starting to take off. The idea of her and Marie doing it one last time had caught on like wildfire between Callie and Marina, and Marie guessed she had warmed to it too, under the pretence of “viral marketing”.
She supposed there was something sweet about finally waving goodbye to the old system, after 7 years of trundling along with no acknowledgement from anyone, and something sweet about the Squid Sisters ending as they had begun. Not necessarily in a literal sense of them presenting the news one last time, but in the sense of Marie cautiously being by Callie’s side one last time, to make one more of her ridiculous dreams come true.
First she had wanted to find out what was on the other side of the river at the bottom of Marie’s garden, even if it meant crossing the most precarious stepping stones imaginable (it was the most beautiful thing the two kids had ever seen).
Then she wanted to duet in the folk singing contest, despite Marie’s insistence that 3 months wasn’t enough time for her to learn from zero (it turned out it was).
And it must’ve been at least 8 years since Marie had last seen her, and the lowest point of her life, when she suddenly reappeared. Stood in Marie’s childhood bedroom, giving her a ridiculously pompous spiel about her stupid dream of moving to the big city, and “finally making good on our musical prowess” (which ended in over sixty-million monthly listeners on Splatify, one-hundred-and-fifty-million album sales worldwide, and 5 Splatty awards).
And now, at the end of everything, she was sneaking into an abandoned building in a ghost town, for a broadcast of dubious legality - at Callie’s insistence.
And the worst part was that she was having fun. Even the bit where Callie had made her jump off a walkway - perhaps especially that bit.
She put her green headpiece on (Even after all this time, she had never figured out what it was meant to be. Her own Inkipedia page - it still felt weird having one of those - called it a calamari ring, but she didn’t see the resemblance herself), composed herself, and smiled as she left the broom cupboard, this time carrying her coat and her normal clothes in the bag.
Entering the studio proper, where water dripped from the ceiling, and Callie was looking around for something good to prop a phone up with, she wordlessly turned around and pointed to her back. Understanding the signal, Callie came over to sort out the laces on her corset.
“You still don’t know how to do this yourself?” she joked.
“No point learning now,” Marie shrugged.
“You figured the hair-bow out by yourself in due time, right?” Callie responded.
“Well, that’s because I still need to do my hair when you’re not around,” Marie explained, chuckling, “but the only time I’ve ever needed to look like a bloody sparkly leaf with cleavage and a fruit pastille on my head is to match with you ,”.
Callie frowned. “Aww what? You look wonderful in that dress!”, having finished the laces, she motioned Marie to turn around, and put her hands on her shoulders when she did so, beaming down with pride at her cousin, who despite being the same age as her, was always going to be a little shorter, and even after all this time, still a little feistier.
Marie smiled back warmly. “I guess I’ll keep my mouth shut about it, seeing as how everything negative I say probably applies to your outfit too, doesn’t it?”
Callie laughed. “Maybe,” she squeezed Marie’s shoulders reassuringly, like she always used to, “Anyway, ready to do this?”.
“I am,” said Marie, grinning, “Don’t know about you though. Now that I’m looking, you seem to have left your collar at home.”.
Callie immediately took her hands off Marie’s shoulders and felt around her neck, realising that Marie was right. “Oh.” she said simply. “Oh shit.”.
“Don’t worry,” said Marie, chuckling, “you used to do this all the time, remember? There should be some spares in a drawer in the other room.”.
“True.” said Callie simply, clapping her hands and pointing at Marie. “Be right back,” she added before racing out of the door.
A short while later, Marie heard a horrified squeal from the other room. “What’s wrong?” she called out.
“They’re absolutely rank!” was the muffled reply “Oh, cod, I think a bunch of rodents have been nibbling at them or something! I am not wearing that!”.
“Then don’t, I dunno,” said Marie calmly, still projecting her voice as necessary.
Callie came back into the room, looking the exact same. She was, however, carrying a mossy brick she must’ve quickly scraped up from outside - presumably there was nothing suitable in the room itself to prop up the phone in the end.
“Welp,” Marie sighed, “Guess it’ll just be me looking my best for the final broadcast,” she taunted, not believing a single word of it, seeing as she was in the so-called Sparkly-Cleavage-Leaf dress right now.
She noticed then, however, that Callie did seem genuinely a little distraught by it. “I really wanted to get this right, though…”.
After some consideration, Marie sighed, and took her collar off, offering it to Callie. “Fine, just take mine, ok?”.
“Oh my cod! Really!?”
Marie flashed her usual grin. “If you really wanna look even more like a flippin’ Playboy Bunny than we already do, then be my guest.”.
“Aww, that’s so kind of you!” Callie exclaimed immediately, taking it and putting on, seemingly ignoring Marie’s comment. Marie didn’t quite understand the compliment, but it still made her smile warmly. Everything had always meant so much when it came from Callie, she was definitely the kind of person you always wanted to make proud of you.
“Thanks,” she said quietly, before getting right back to business. “Ok, we’ve only got a few minutes to set this up, care to explain where that brick of yours fits into the picture?”
“Sure thing!” Callie exclaimed. “Can you gimmie your phone? Unlocked, obviously.”.
Marie fished her phone out of her bag, and, with the normal amount of apprehension, unlocked it, before handing it to Callie. “I had to jailbreak my phone for this, it better work.”
“I’m sure it will!” Callie responded, taking the phone and propping it against the brick, on top of the now-broken tripod-mounted camera they used to use. She swiped around on Marie’s home screen, and opened the app Marina had sent her earlier. The screen was filled with the low-quality front facing camera feed, showing Marie stood waiting on the right side of the broken TV.
The quality was far worse, the sky outside the window was pitch black, everything was broken and neglected, Marie was missing her collar, and it was barely visible with how dark it was, but despite everything, it was still unmistakably Inkopolis news.
“Wait, how are we doing the intro music?” Marie asked, realising she should’ve thought of this sooner.
“Uh-” Callie seemed genuinely stumped, though it wasn’t really her fault. She grabbed her own phone out of Marie’s bag (Marie gulped slightly as Callie did so, realising they had both forgotten it was in there when she threw the bag down. Thankfully it was completely fine.), and typed something into a search bar, before placing her phone next to Marie’s, positioning its speaker as close to the microphone on Marie’s as possible.
Marie chuckled when she realised what Callie’s plan was. “Oh god, if the quality wasn’t already bad enough…”.
“Hey, I did my best!”
“I know, I know,” Marie reassured her, “I should’ve been nicer to Larry back in the day, shouldn’t I? Turned out his job was harder than it looked,”.
Callie chuckled, still stood over by the camera. “Oh cod, that’s opened up a lot of memories!” She started walking over to the torch, which had been left on the table the two girls used to sit at in their downtime, just barely managing to illuminate the room with bounce lighting. “Get ready to apologise to Jim as well, for that matter, because this lighting is gonna be rough .” she continued, as she grabbed the torch and placed it on the phone setup, pointed towards Marie.
“That’s gonna be way too harsh,” said Marie immediately, “We’ll look awful”, walking to the table and retrieving an old, thin, slightly-damp piece of paper, adorned with some kind of financial report from years ago. She then draped it over the light, making it considerably softer, and nodded to herself contently. “Much better”. She looked at Callie, who was standing on the other side of the setup. “That’s everything, right?”.
Callie nodded.
Marie got back into position, and took a deep breath. She smiled at Callie one last time, and Callie smiled back, before tapping the record button on Marie’s phone
Marie glanced behind her, and was surprised to see the plaza faintly illuminated, seemingly by the massive screen overhead, which apparently still worked.
Marina’s program had successfully broadcast to the screen in the plaza, not bad. There was no way of knowing, however, if all of the other TVs in the nation were getting the signal.
Remembering that she was, in fact, on air, she immediately looked forward again. Callie tapped something on her own phone, and raced to her position on the other side of the screen. The intro song started blasting out of the tinny speakers, and into the crappy microphone. Presumably some old GooTube upload of the soundbyte.
That probably sounded awful, but she hardly cared. If it hadn’t already set in how ridiculous this was, then it had now, seeing as she was actually on air with this joke of a setup.
“Hold onto your tentacles…” Callie began.
“...It’s Inkopolis news time!” Marie finished, before realising neither of them had planned how this broadcast would actually go down, beyond the obvious things, and a few other bullet points.
This ought to be interesting.