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One of the most tiring things an artist goes through is rehearsing, hours and hours of time spent practicing the same songs, getting stuck on a part and repeating it over and over trying to get it right, and when the rehearsal is “done”, everyone could fall to the floor and pass out and everyone knew that it wouldn’t be the last time and it was only the first step.
Off the Hook and crew were doing pretty well with the latest album being a smash-hit, people wanted to hear them play those smash hits which wasn’t new for them. The tour was planned for a bit of time, but they were thrown in a bit of a loop when the label suggested going global for the tour.
This wasn’t a bad thing of course, more people could get to see them, but if the idea of going around the country living in a few suitcases seemed daunting, it pales in comparison traveling across most of the world. She wouldn’t be doing it alone of course, Damp Socks seemed excited and well-prepared for their tour and…
Pearl yawned in exhaustion on their couch the rehearsal sessions were over. Marina was sitting on a stool in front of her so she saw Pearl’s face upside down.
“Hello, Pearlie.” Marina puts her hand and rubs her finger on Pearl’s cheek.
“We’re done with rehearsal,” Pearl yawned, “We’re off to tour for a long, long time…” She closed her eyes and softly smiled. Seeing an embarrassing photo opportunity, Marina took her phone and snapped a photo of Pearl’s face. The shutter noise gave her away.
“Oy!” Pearl scowled.
“That’s our picture in the memory album,” Marina shifted her phone for Pearl to see the new collection of pictures made for the upcoming months.
“I swear to cod, if you give me another +2,” Pearl grumbled,
While on the road, Damp Socks had a tradition of playing card games to pass the time, they had collected many card decks and researched games from many places, The one they were playing now being a recreation of an ancient card game, the humans called it “ONO”.
“The game is getting pretty close here,” Marina commented. She had 7 cards, Steve, the octopus drummer and Angi, the anglerfish bassist both held 6, Wedge, the guitarist held 5, and Pearl was getting close to winning with 3 cards.
“I pray to cod, she doesn’t have this color,” Steve played a Green 7, trying to force Marina to draw a card, however Marina had a Blue 7 which let Pearl get closer to Ono.
“Okay, gang, we can work here right?” She dropped a Blue 3.
“Nah,” Angi, the player, dropped a yellow reverse, “You can deal with that yourself.”
Pearl stammered for a second until throwing a green reverse on the table, “Don’t pull that!” She warned. Angi had nothing to counter the reverse, so they drew one, Wedge put down a Blue 2, Steve closed his eyes and put down a 5. Marina looked at Pearl and smiled while playing a Blue 5.
“Do it, Pearlie.” she encouraged. Pearl dropped her last two cards, stacking two Plus 4’s to spite Angi. Wedge and Steve let out soft aw’s for losing and Marina chuckled while Pearl cackled and rubbed her win on Angi.
“How!?” he pointed at Marina, “Did you know this?”
“I had a feeling that was going to happen,”
“Alright, I will not let myself get clowned on like that,” He took everyone’s cards and shuffled them into the deck, “This time I’ll win!”
He didn’t win.
Festival dates were always different from normal tour dates, there were plenty of artists to meet and a festival stage is unique because of the different size and the weird limitations and changes that would be made with it. But Pearl and Marina were away from the Splatlands SpringFest festival because a string of bad luck continued because something always went wrong on festival dates.
During sound check, they had found out that half of their instrument cables got split on the way to the festival, and since the tech team had their day off today, Pearl and Marina went to get the cables they needed themselves. The process of actually getting the cables would take some time, with fans recognizing them on the street every once in a while.
Once they walked out of the guitar shop, Marina noticed a big manta ray sitting on the bench looking out at them. Pearl noticed both of their faces light up.
“Big Man?”
“Marina! Pearl!” He pointed his fin and beamed, “Wait right here!” He waddled and swung open the door of a small restaurant.
“Wait, no way,” Marina’s eyes expanded.
A few seconds later, the door opened again with Frye and Shiver in casual wear. They were all here.
“No way!” Pearl went over to Frye and Shiver to high-five them. “We’ve not been able to see you guys since you took over the news!”
“It’s nice to see you two again as well, Are you touring right now?” Shiver softly greeted.
“Yeah, we’re about halfway done. How have you been holding up?” Marina asked.
“I don’t know how ya’ll did this for 3 years, the splatcast is work. ” Frye replied.
Marina and Pearl laughed, “You get used to it," Marina said. "You only have about a few hundred more broadcasts left!”
Big Man touches the tips of his fins together, “Would you mind if we got another picture?
“Of course!” Marina said.
“Hell yeah!” Pearl exclaimed.
They both said it at the same time.
It was one of the rare nights where Pearl and Marina could get to stay in their own hotel room. They appreciated the silent moments more, especially with the last show coming up soon. Marina softly hummed on the couch, not a song but just passing through notes to see what sounded good. Pearl, hearing the hums, put away her phone and joined Marina on the couch. She rested her head on their shoulder and calmly hummed along.
Their two voices created a harmony that only they shared, and all the stressing thoughts or aching pains could all go away being replaced by their voices. And before they realized it, their harmony had put them both to sleep. Touring was exhausting, with the constant movement and the jetlag, but with all the people and fans they could see, they always missed it when it was all over and done.
Except for the sprains. They never missed those.