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Since Marie could remember, Chaos loved to dance. Her favorite song to dance to was Bomb Rush Blush, asking almost daily if she could play it for her, despite her mothers embarrassment towards it. Marie liked driving Callie crazy, she also liked seeing Chaos happy. Naturally that song was played constantly for years.
It came as no surprise that Chaos developed a keen interest in ballet classes at the age of six. She had patiently waited years to join the ballet team, her tentacle muscles being too mushy to perform. Although on multiple occasions Callie would take her to watch them dance, anything to make her daughter happy.
Pearl, likewise, couldn’t contain her excitement about sharing a common interest with her daughter. She began teaching her breakdancing almost immediately. By the time Chaos was 7 she had mastered back spinning, Pearl had never been prouder.
This only added to the confusion for her mother, Callie, who struggled to comprehend the idea of Chaos just suddenly losing interest in ballet. Just, why?
Pearl was devastated, Callie was shocked, Marie made a small comment about footloose that Callie chose to ignore. It didn’t make any sense to her why Chaos felt the sudden urge to quit…
Initially, Callie pretended she was fine with it, trying to be that supportive mother. Maybe it was just a joke?
And then she found a familiar tutu lying comfortably in the trash can. Her heart sank at the sight.
“She doesn’t want to do ballet anymore Marie!.” Callie seethed “Don’t you realize how serious this is?!”
Marie nodded slowly, letting her cousin express herself “I’ll admit it’s strange but she’s growing up- okay well she’s um- kids don’t usually stick to things!” Marie backtracked at her cousin's glare.
Callie sighed, rubbing the side of her tentacle, a nervous habit she had “I-I just don’t know, I found this in the trash…” Slowly Callie pulled out Chaos’s ballet tutu—the one Callie spent restless nights sowing back together. Tears welled up in Callie’s eyes as if she was thinking the same thing as Marie.
The gray-haired idol grimaced as her cousin broke into sobs, sinking to the floor and continuing her wailing. I hope Chaos doesn’t inherit this trait…
Marie stared at her cousin, her grown up very mature cousin who was babbling on the floor. With a sigh Marie let go of her hopes that this issue would be resolved easily, instead sitting down next to the disheveled mother.
“Maybe you’re right, it doesn’t seem likely for Chaos to just randomly give something up.” Wasn’t the complete truth, considering how easily Chaos had dropped the flute but Callie didn’t need to hear that. “Have you tried talking to her?”
Callie grumbled, placing her head on Marie’s shoulder “I did but she just shrugged me off, h-how she wasn’t interested.” Callie sniffled, on the brink of another breakdown.
“Hmmm, you think she’s hiding something?”
Callie, still teary eyed, was quick to respond “No, she’s- excuse me? Chaos would never hide something from me.” Callie shuffled away from Marie, her expression stern.
Marie raised an eyebrow “She’s Pearl's kid, wanna reconsider?”
Callie sighed in frustration. “Cod damn it Pearl.”
She hated to admit it but Marie did have a point. Callie couldn’t help but feel a little helpless with the situation. She looked up at Marie, her eyes pleading for a solution. “Marie, I don’t know what to do.”
“I could talk to her.” Marie suggested, shrugging her shoulders.
“Really? Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’ll talk to her first thing after school.” Marie smiled.
Callie squealed in delight, wrapping her arms around her cousin. “Thank you!” She purred.
Marie rolled her eyes, her smile even wider than before. “Yeah yeah…”
True to her word, Marie picked up Chaos from school the next day. She eyed her niece down from the car, her posture was more slouched than before…and her attire consisted of black with hints of blue. Chaos was never into blue…much less black. Throughout her years of agency Marie considered herself a master at bribery. Making deals with the enemies? Easy. Getting someone to do what she wanted? Piece of cake.
Getting an eight year old who hung out far too much with Shiver to open up about her feelings? Not the easiest.
But Marie knew kids.
Which is how Marie found herself in a standoff with the little inkling at an ice cream parlor. Marie’s face remained stoic under Chaos’s curious stare. Chaos took another bite from her popsicle, not once breaking eye contact with her aunt. Marie squinted her eyes at the child, determined to find out what the cause of this sudden change was.
“Why are we here?”
There it was, the first ‘why’ question.
“Because, you’re my kid, I can’t take you out?” Marie shrugged, taking a bite out of her strawberry ice cream.
“I guess…”
Distant behavior, dry responses. Either Chaos had suddenly turned into an introvert or she was hiding something, Marie assumed the latter. Chaos looked down at her popsicle, not feeling very hungry. She grabbed a napkin and placed the frozen treat on top, sliding it away.
“What's wrong?” Marie asked, lowering her voice to a gentle, comforting tone. She knew this method was a surefire way of getting Chaos to open up; she had used the same approach with Callie in the past
“Can I tell you something?” Chaos looked up at her aunt, her eyes pleading.
“Of course.”
“But you can’t tell my moms.” Chaos blurted, her face turning serious.
Marie nodded slowly “Okay…”
Chaos extended her pinky, giving Marie a look. Marie rolled her eyes but interlocked their pinkies, sealing the pinky promise. Chaos nodded, removing her finger before letting out a small sigh.
“These two boys, they keep um…” Chaos paused, fiddling with the side of her tentacle “telling me stuff. It’s not good stuff I don’t think.”
Marie hummed in understanding “What type of stuff? Could you give me examples?”
The inkling shrunk in her seat “Well I um they- they told me I’m weird.”
“Weird?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because I um wear pink a lot.”
Marie furrowed her brows “What’s wrong with that?”
“I don’t know but they always tell me things, make fun of me because I dance…” Her ears drooped, a frown overtook her face.
“Is that why you quit ballet?”
“I just don’t want them making fun of me anymore…” She whispered.
Marie stood up from her chair, extending a hand to a confused Chaos. Reluctantly Chaos took her hand, leaving their frozen treats at the table. They both walked outside where Marie knew they’d get more privacy.
Letting go of her hand, Marie kneeled down to be at Chaos’s eye level “I’m really happy you told me this Chaos, next time something like this happens you can tell any of us so we can stop it. Even Three, Eight or Four.”
“I don’t like snitching…” Chaos sniffled
Marie gave her a sad smile “I know but then we can help you. I’ll always help you Chaos, you just have to tell me.”
Chaos nodded, her eyes welling up with tears, Marie was quick to wipe them. “I’ll tell you.”
“You know you could always tell your mom right?” Marie reminded her, gently rubbing a thumb across her cheek.
“I know but I just don’t wanna disappoint her.” She shrugged
Marie shook her head and placed a loving kiss on the kid’s forehead “You won’t she loves you too much for that to happen. I’ll kick her out of the apartment if she does.”
“You can’t do that!” Chaos giggled
Marie grinned “Yes I can, how about I take you to see Pearl? I’ve got some chores I need to do…” Marie smirked “Unless you’d like to do them for me-”
“NO- I mean no thank you I wanna go see mom.” Chaos blushed, accepting Marie’s hand to drag her towards the car.
“Then we’ll go see your mom.” Marie said, shooting a quick message to Callie on the whereabouts of her child.
Marie opened the door and carefully buckled Chaos in her seat before setting the GPS to navigate the mansion. Although she had made a pinky promise, she couldn’t withhold that information from her parents, it would be wrong to do so. Marie knew Callie would go berserk, same with Pearl. They didn’t take bullying lightly especially towards their kid…in hindsight maybe Marie should keep the information to herself.
Her mind lulled the idea over a couple of times before deciding on remaining silent for a day. As they pulled over to the side of Pearl's mansion Chaos’s excitement grew. Quickly the inkling bid her goodbye, thanking Marie for their time out before skipping eagerly towards her parents.
Marie watched fondly as she did so, but business needed to be taken care of.
She took out her phone as Chaos entered the Mansion being greeted by Marina, immediately she dialed her agent's number. Callie and Pearl would prove to be a liability, more reckless than her. She’d managed to find the kids address in an instant.
Her grin widened as the phone picked up.
“Four, bring your hero shot, and meet me at this address. You’re okay with interrogating kids right?”