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Marie hated the park, the outdoors were never really her thing, she preferred staying inside but kids didn’t. Which is how she found herself in a small park, watching her niece go down the slide for what seemed like the hundredth time. A fond smile crept onto Marie’s face as she listened to the joyful laughter coming from her niece. The park was nice, the weather was nice, the outdoors weren’t the problem.
It was them.
She had never felt this strongly about parks before, she never cared how loud children could be, because they weren’t hers. Marie found herself in an unfamiliar place now, a place that would never hold any of her children. She’d never hold her own child either, but it didn’t bother her, nope, not one bit.
It was the outdoors.
Her ears perked up at the sound of crying, and her eyes darted to find Callie’s daughter. She looked just as concerned as Marie, her tiny head peering over to catch a glimpse of the noise from on top of the playground. Marie let out a sigh of relief, she was okay.
The crying child belonged to another, an exhausted mother cradling her small inkling, whispering reassurances into their ear. Crying babies were annoying, but how Marie longed to be the one comforting her own. Chaos never ran into her arms, she ran into Callie’s.
She had no one—no child of her own.
“Can we leave now?” Marie jumped slightly from her seat, immediately calming down once she recognized the blubbery voice. Chaos stood covered in dirt, her old overalls as muddy as ever. Presumably from playing next to the puddles that hadn’t dried up fully. Callie would throw a fit if she saw her daughter in this condition.
It’s best if I just give her a bath before Cal comes back…
Marie nodded, collecting her phone from the bench and placing it in her pocket. Before she could offer her hand Chaos had taken it. “Is the dirt bothering you?” Marie asked, beginning their walk to their apartment.
“Yes…” She grumbled “It’s all over my hair.”
Marie snickered at the childs pout, it was honestly adorable, and reminded Marie of Callie. Cod they really did share a lot of features. “Your mom gets that way too, she’s very fussy when it comes to her hair.”
The child gasped, staring up at Marie with wide eyes “She does?!”
“Cod, yes. She brushes it like a million times for conce-...special parties.” Marie corrected herself.
“Well if it bothers her why doesn’t she just cut it?”
“I- errr I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.”
—
“Are you almost done?” Marie knocked from outside the door.
“You can’t rush p-perfection!” She screeched back.
Marie winced at the volume. That’s definitely Pearl's kid…
It had taken a while to get Chaos into the tub, a rubber duck was all the convincing it took. Marie knew she had taken a liking to feathered creatures, so showing Chaos a photo of her moms old pet pigeon wasn’t a good idea. There would only be so little time before Pearl would show up with a bird for her daughter, she spoiled her rotten.
Marie couldn’t blame her for that, Marie did the same. She’d do it for any kid of hers even if it’s not directly hers.
“I’m all done!” The inkling grinned, flapping around the sleeves of Pearl's poofy hoodie. Marie shook her head, pretending to be annoyed but her smile betrayed her.
“That thing reeks, are you sure you don’t want to wear something else?” Marie smirked.
Chaos furrowed her eyebrows, crossing her arms.
I’ll take that as a no.
“Can you brush my tentacles? M-My hands suck.” She extended her hands to Marie showing her that they were in fact still under development. A normal thing for a 10 year old, but to Chaos it was like the end of the world. Marie remembered the days where her fears used to be not growing a limb, instead it wasn’t a limb she couldn’t grow.
Grabbing the brush from the nightstand Marie signaled for her niece to sit down on the chair. Quickly Chaos scrambled into the chair, accidentally dropping a few bottles in the process. She has the name for a reason…
Chaos sat quietly watching as her aunt combed her tentacles, she liked how Marie did it, very calm and slowly.
“I-I want them up please.” She requested, Marie hummed, placing the brush down to grab a tie. Marie grabbed her tentacles, carefully tying them together in traditional fashion just like she liked them. Chaos squealed in delight, no longer being able to contain herself from staying still.
“Thank you! Now I look just like you Marie!” Chaos beamed, examining her hair in the mirror.
Marie blinked at her words “What?”
“Now I look just like you! Don’t you see! We have the same eyes and now the same hair!” She shot her aunt a toothy grin. It was then that Marie took a second to admire her smile, Four was right…she did have a crooked smile.
Just like Marie…
“Isn’t this great!” Chaos exclaimed, unaware of the effect it had left on the former idol.
“Yeah…it is.”
—
Many times Marie had asked Callie how she had a child. It was the first question that popped into her mind after seeing a walking tentacle. At first she was shocked, she couldn’t believe that from cutting a strand of their tentacles a child could form from it. Yet again another potential solution to her problems. Maybe she could finally give her and Four the family they deserved. All she had to do was try.
The pair of scissors taunted her for years, part of her screaming to just get it over with but fear persuaded her not too. She didn’t want to give herself even the slightest bit of hope. But that’s all it was, hope. Till it became too strong and Marie couldn’t keep pretending not knowing the answer didn’t trouble her.
She stared at herself in the mirror, hand gripping tightly on the scissors, her hearts raced against her chest.
Was this it?
Maybe if I just…
“Are you really gonna do this? Are you that desperate, it’s stupid you know.” Her hand paused, her entire body freezing, taking a moment to just listen to her head
Would it hurt to find out? She argued
“It would.”
Why?
“Because we already know the answer to that.”
Marie’s eyes watered, painful memories of countless attempts coming back to haunt her. The same old stick looking at her dauntingly, negative, negative, negative. This time it surely had to be different…right? There was no stick telling her she couldn’t, no doctor standing in her way. There was nobody there to stop her, but her.
And she didn’t want to stop, lifting up the pair of scissors Marie chopped off a piece of her tentacle, more carelessly than she’d like to admit. Marie sucked in a breath, looking down at the piece laying there, motionless.
Did this happen to Callie?
Marie lowered herself to it’s level, leaning on the counter for support. Her arms hugged her figure tightly, as she stared at the tentacle with hope. Her eyes pierced into it, afraid it would disappear.
“That’s because it will, you know it will.”
And it did. Before Marie could reach out to it, it had disintegrated.
Marie lowered her head in shame, shame for thinking it would work. Of course it wouldn’t, it was no secret Marie couldn’t have children and despite knowing she kept trying. Even if it hurts to try.