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It took Pearl months to teach Marina the Inkling language, but in the end, it was absolutely worth it.
She never really encountered such a situation before. When she met the girl on Mount Nantai almost a year ago, the two understood each other, but not verbally. The deserted area just outside of Inkopolis was Pearl’s happy place for months, even if it was considered dangerous by many.
One day, the strange inkling showed up, and she was unsure what to do about it - it was supposed to be her secret, after all. But the girl was cute, and despite not being able to communicate verbally, she kept coming back to Pearl’s hideout and they bonded for months. She even snuck Judd out with a few fish and got to show her the fluffy creature - which was one of her favourite experiences with Marina by far. She made sure to take plenty of pictures of her smile.
Marina was exceptionally smart as well. It didn’t take long for her to pick up on what Pearl was trying to say, and teaching her inklish was surprisingly easy once she had picked up on most reading. Now Marina was basically fluent, with only a few slip ups of her first language every once in a while. (Not that Pearl minded. Whatever language that was, she enjoyed hearing Marina talk in it).
“Pearl?” Marina said one evening on Nantai, breaking the pink inkling’s train of thought. Marina was building something strange in their hiding spot, while Pearl herself had been sitting at the edge of a small cliffside, her legs dangling down, thinking to herself.
“Huh? Yo, what’s up?”
“I want to teach you my language!” Marina was still working on...whatever it is she was working on, delicate fingers at work with her tools as she spoke.
Pearl stood up and walked to Marina’s position. “Your language? Well uh,” she plopped herself next to her friend, “I guess that’s fair. I taught ya mine.”
Marina dropped her tools and clasped her hands together. “Oh, really, Pearlie? We can start as soon as possible, then!”
Pearl felt her face heat up. Gosh, she loved seeing the girl excited. So as much as she hated learning things, this would be totally worth it. Marina got up and rushed over to her bag that she had hid behind a few rocks, pulling out a few books and placing them in a pile before sitting down and patting the seat next to her with a smile that could make Pearl’s heart explode.
When Marina left Octo valley, she tried to take as much of her culture with her as she could. Thanks to her high rank, she had access to plenty of history books and a few academic books. A lot of the language arts books she had brought with her were for small children, but she could work with it if needed. Thankfully, it seemed to work well for Pearl, and she didn’t even notice how basic it seemed to be.
“‘ Veemo ’ is kind of a childish word, it’s like saying ‘hooray!’ or ‘awesome!’ in teenage slang.” Marina pointed out when Pearl asked what the word meant, as it kept appearing in the book Marina was using to teach her.
“So...like ‘booyah’?” Pearl replied, her voice quiet and tired.
“Yes, I suppose that’s one way to put it!”
The octoling felt a weight on her shoulder, and a soft purr-like snore followed.
“O-oh?” She gasped. Pearl had fallen asleep, completely passed out and leaning on her shoulder. Marina giggled at the sight. She brushed a tentacle out of her face. It was late, so it was only reasonable the inkling would fall asleep at some point, especially since this is the longest she’s stayed on the Mountain with her.
Marina closed her book and carefully moved Pearl into a more comfortable position, with the Inkling girl resting on her lap. It was a good thing she was building a small home for herself (for them?) in their hiding spot, but for now, she’ll have to figure out what to do with the inkling until she wakes up.
Not that she minded at all, of course.