Chapter Text
Marina had declared that the fateful day that she broke up with her girlfriend, Pearl, was quite literally the worst day of her life. Granted, she emphasized the word “fateful” because she had always known even throughout their brief but successful stint at a career as Off the Hook, that their relationship wouldn’t last. Marina was absolutely head over heels for the older inkling: her white locks transformed beautifully into her sunset pink ends, the glimmer in her eyes that could only draw Marina away into a new life promised to her as paradise. And oh, that sweet voice, no matter how admittedly destructive it was, was only the last thing Marina needed to hear before she desperately wanted the shorter squid for herself.
But times change, and love blinds us from the truth. And what Marina saw as a gateway to the other side, a world full of eternal love and dedication to her partner, soon devolved into a world of hurt, a life that some cephalopods would literally call hell.
It wasn’t that Marina was blameless in this situation. As much as she would have hated to admit it, Marina was a part of this parasitic relationship that was destined to doom their destiny from the beginning. Infidelity, miscommunication, and more importantly a rise of apathy in their connection was what ended up causing them to break up and end their relationship.
Marina and Pearl occasionally began sleeping around with other partners, leaving the other cephalopod to sleep away alone without her savior, the one woman that was supposed to draw stars around her scars and tell them everything would be okay. Parties were never fun when these two met, and when they ended up being invited to the same party, naturally they would try to keep their distance from each other. They literally could not care less about the other at this point.
And of course, all of this was being reported in the newspapers that informed the residents of Inkopolis and the Splatlands of the tumultuous timeline that Pearlina was going through. It was all over the news, and as much as they tried to ignore it, the topic always got brought up at Off the Hook concerts, especially during Splatfests. Dear carp, do not mention Pearlina with regards to Splatfests, it gets extremely ugly real fast.
“You really think this relationship is going to last?” one inkling asked her best friend, both of whom were absolute Off the Hook apologists.
“I really wish they could drop everything and just love each other, but it seems doomed, now,” her best friend octoling responded.
And so when Pearl put her first step in to declare herself as a single lady again after six chaotic months, to announce the end of her relationship with the octoling, first with Marina herself and then to the public, Marina had to admit, she felt a huge weight lift off her chest.
But Marina also felt another weight on her chest being placed upon her as soon as Pearl ran around to fall in love with other cephalopods, male and female alike. Guilt and mistrust. Surely there had been something that Marina had done right? Marina had tried everything to save the relationship. Pearl had given everything she had to keep the ship sailing. And yet, the mistrust and romantic scars it left on their hearts pushed them further and further away the longer they tried to keep things afloat. What had gone wrong?
Why had their romantic fling gone, for lack of a better term, “off the hook?”
Marina had had enough of these thoughts. She needed to lock in and focus, to distance herself away from Off the Hook and towards starting a new solo career, one that wouldn’t be carried by the absolute unhinged behavior that some Off the Hook shippers believed in. She wanted to collaborate with other artists, she wanted to explore what her identity was beyond playing DJ and the keytar.
And so she put herself to work, attending the studio to drop sick beats and demos 24/7. She would work late into the night, her pen jabbing deep imprints into the paper as she attempted to purge herself of the negative emotions and mentality she faced as she traversed the effects of her breakup.
And yet, there would be times where her management would catch her sitting in the corner of the room, hiding with headphones on as she would be listening to old Off the Hook tracks, staring at a picture of her lost love. It was heartbreaking and she knew she would regret even thinking about her, but what could Marina do?
“You know, if you keep looking at her, you’re going to want her more,” one of her managers said as they grabbed the photo away from her, thankfully placing it in one of her more hidden cabinets so she wouldn’t remember where she put it.
“B-but it’s so hard to just let her go,” Marina could only reply weakly as she sighed through her nose, pulling herself off the floor as she put away the headphones and the mixtape.
“Why do you miss her so much? You’ve talked about how horrible your relationship was,” said the manager inkling.
“You do not know the truth behind our relationship,” Marina replied suddenly with an angrily accusatory tone, before suddenly covering her mouth in surprise. “Carp, I sounded really angry there, didn’t I?”
“No worries, it’s fine. But tell me, what do I not know? Besides the tumult of your relationship and her… giant forehead.”
Marina only smiled, chuckling as she placed her hand on the inkling. “Well…it started when I escaped to the surface…”
“Wow…I just…” Marina’s manager was at a loss of words as they listened to Marina’s story about love and heartbreak. They stayed silent throughout the entire story, letting Marina describe the story her way without interruptions, only cracking in a few jokes if they truly believed it would help Marina relax and continue.
“It’s fine if you don’t know how to respond, but I really do appreciate you staying here to listen to my stories,” Marina replied, placing her hand on the back of her octoling tentacles to pull at them slightly but not with too much pressure. It was a really bad habit of hers, especially when she accidentally pulled a little too hard and a sentient octarian would start roaming around the building.
“No, I don’t mind at all, but it’s just…I couldn’t have imagined how much of an impact this had on you,” the inkling said, understandingly, before giving Marina a surprisingly tight hug out of nowhere.
“It’s really fine, and all. Honestly, talking with you makes me feel a little bit better about it.”
“That’s really a big compliment to me, we’re all about helping you feel good here, okay? It is getting pretty late though,” said her manager as they got up to get their stuff ready and leave.
“No worries, I will leave soon, I promise.”
“You better do good on that promise. Last week we saw you completely passed out on the floor with like five different songs written on your face.”