Marie's POV:
"Ok Tess what's your question going to be then?"
Tess was overwhelmed, she had a happy face and as she stood there quietly it soon turned into a sinister grin.
"I've been thinking about it for a while now."
"Huh? " This surprised me. "What's it gonna be then, go on 'cause I haven't got all day."
"Ok... here it is," I looked back at Tess, she was silent for a few seconds and as she looked back up to me she quickly slammed her arm and pointed at my face. "Marie, through my careful research I have come to the conclusion that you are part of a band called the squid sisters."
"I might be, I might not be."
"Fine then, are you part of them?"
"Yes."
"Ok on to my questi-"
"Too late you already used your question Tess."
"Wait what!" Tess looked at me glumly and as I looked back, I realised her face was red with anger. She took off her headphones and threw them onto the ground.
"I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOU AND YET YOU AVOID IT!!!"
"What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean! I swear one day your attitude is going be the reason you will be in danger!!!"
"Funny, the same could be said for yours."
Now she was mad, she went on top of the sewer pipe and stormed off, she was gone. I sighed, this was quick. I looked back at the headphones she threw and peeked back at the sewer pipe that she entered. That was pointless, as I walked over to pick up the headphones a fizz came out of them.
"Nice going pop star!"
"ARGH!?" I dropped the headphones, it was sheldon speaking. "What do you want bobble head?"
"Well for starters, I would like for you to not call me that, the next thing I want is to let you realise that agent 4 wants to get to know you, What are you hiding from her?"
"Everything? Unlike everyone else, Tess doesn't ask me questions or even nag me for autographs... I like that..."
"She wants to know you so let her. You never know she may have seen a video of the interview you flopped."
"I DID NOT FLOP IT!!! AND HOW THE HECK DID YOU FIND THE VIDEO!!!"
"That's a discussion for another day, but for now you need to realise that there has to be a time for you to talk to her, maybe try opening up to her... like your... roommate would have!"
I picked up the headphones up again and whispered even though no one would be listening.
"my partner is the reason I'm not talking to her."
"I'm guessing this discussion is over isn't it?"
"It's a no wonder you have no friends goggle boy!"
"How did you come up with that name so quickly?"
I walked away from the spot I was standing on and whilst Sheldon was rambling I placed the headphones on the porch of the mini cabin and walked again to the sewer pipe. I dreaded this time of day, the interview station wanted to do another go with me today.
As I was about to turn into my squid form Sheldon spoke one else more, "If you see this as practice for your interviews, then your not doing a very good job." I ignored Sheldon and left...
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In an interview:
"Hello there Marie and how are you doing today?"
"Fine thank you..."
It was the beginning of yet another interview, I couldn't stay focused though as I kept on thinking on what Sheldon was saying, was it maybe possible that I could open up to Tess?
"Ok Marie, last time we had you I kept giving you challenging questions. Now I think we should start with an easy one, your fans are wondering why you keep hanging around inkopolis square, so why do you hang out there?"
"It's simple really, I'm just looking for the freshest times to stay on my rank for battles!" This was a cover story I made up when I was on the hunt for a new agent, I had been dying to try it out but no one ever thought of approaching me, that was surprising but I guess they were too shy to approach.
"That was a quick answer!"
"Was it?"
"I guess we all have a reason for everything, this reason is for you to be the freshest squid around. It's everyone's dream so do you have any tips on how to be fresh Marie?"
"Not really, I guess you just have to get out there quickly at the start for you to have an edge."
"An... edge?"
"Yes exactly... an edge!"
"Always the joker aren't you Marie?"
I looked at the man asking me questions, the first time I did an interview it went downhill but it mostly seemed like cakewalk today.
"I feel like I'm on a roll, give me a tricky question?"
"Oh, you want a challenging one do you?"
"Yeah actually..."
The interviewer looked back at the stagehands, because of this I stared at them too. They started whispering until finally they got a long piece of paper, they scribbled something on it with a pen and held it up to the interviewer, I couldn't see it clearly though.
"Ok here it is, it's the bomb we've all wanted to deploy on you, the game we've always wanted to try, the-"
"JUST ASK IT ALREADY!!!"
"Ok then, here we go, how do you feel without a partner in singing and acting?" I stopped, eyes wide open, it was the exact same as what happened last time. I wanted to come out victorious but I was ending up failing myself. "You wanted the question so I gave you the question. I'm gonna need the answer now Marie"
"Huh!? Oh, I think I'm doing..."
I stopped my answer halfway, this was the question I was asking everyday that passed, was I doing good without her or was I dozing off and falling behind? it's not like anyone has asked me for autographs anyway so maybe I was failing. I was embarrassing myself right at this very moment but I didn't want to, I didn't want to make myself a failure. I tried to speak but I kept stammering and choking up as I spoke, this was going to be another one of those days...
______________________________________________________________________
After the interview:
I was making a walk of shame back from another flopped interview, sooner or later people were going to say that I can't be useful in interviews. As I walked by I stopped by inkopolis square, this area was near to my apartment so I had to walk through it everyday.
I looked around the area I was walking by and noticed good old crusty Sean selling some of his fried mess that everyone apparently liked. As I walked over to have a try, I had to queue up, there was one inkling In front of me who ordered something and as she walked away I looked over to see her ordering what looked kind of like a prawn... I hope it was organic.
I walked forward to Sean, "Ah Marie, how is fame going on? What will you order?"
"Umm...what do you recommend?"
"Just about anything really, my food is known for giving you energy which is why inklings these days are crazy for this. Do you have a ticket?"
"A...ticket?"
"You need a ticket to order my food, you can get it by working part time in the new salmon run job...it's a collaboration..."
"I don't have time for this, can you just give me something and I'll pay you back later, ok?!"
"Sorry kid, I don't make the rules...actually I do but I just wanted to say that!"
I sighed, Sean gave me one more look and as I walked away the inkling who ordered previously looked at me and then back at Sean.
"I'll order for her, here is my ticket. Um... do you want a drink Marie?"
I looked back at her and realized I forgot to use my umbrella to hide myself. I guess it was too late to walk away.
"Uh... its ok, I'll just stick to food..."
Sean glanced at both of us and whipped out some food, when he pulled it out it smelled amazing. I took it and and I was about to make the first bite but I looked back at the girl standing there.
"Oh, you want an autograph?"
______________________________________________________________________
After the inklings offer:
"Hi, my names Rachel..."
"I'm Marie but I guess you already know that don't you?"
Rachel laughed and as I looked at her face I remembered she was one of Tess' friends from when we first met. I guess that she was the only one who didn't know that much on gossip, but Rachel seemed to be something else.
I whipped out a piece of paper and signed it with my name. I passed it to her and she gave out a scream of delight, she tried to stuff it in her pocket but she did it carefully to avoid scrunches.
"Thank you Marie!"
"Oh, I should thank you for the food, I hope you didn't go through trouble to get the tickets..."
"Oh not its nothing, I work salmon run shifts most of the time and my boss really likes how I help out!"
"That's nice!"
"Thank you so much for the autograph, by the way I always have wanted to tell you something..."
"Is it a question?, I don't want anymore of those for today..."
"No it's a message from me to you. I know things are hard right now but if you close your eyes then things will soon be back to normal. I believe that things will go back to normal and I believe you can ace those interviews if you try! I'm sorry if I'm reminding you of...nevermind..."
"Th- thanks..."
"Just some moral support, I'm sorry if that was cheesy..."
"Oh no, hey if you want we could one day to on a battle together. I need to get my mind off things...and maybe that could be the reward for buying me this"
"Yes, I'll do it. Give me your phone and I'll put down my number in it!"
As I passed it to her, she typed in a sequence of numbers and passed my phone back to me.
"Right I need to be off, thanks for the talk Marie!"
She ran off, I looked back at the way she just left. It was like how my former partner used to do things, she would be super happy and just leave at the weirdest times.
I smiled at the thought, it was a smile I hadn't done in a long time, maybe one day I'll tell Tess the truth. She will know soon enough, when she gets further on as an agent, then I'll tell her, I'll tell her my backstory... hopefully...
______________________________________________________________________
TO BE CONTINUED...
Meet the cast:
1. Tess as the main character
2. Rachel as her best friend
3. Joe as the air-headed one
4. Kai as the smart guy
5. Koy as the rival
6. Marie as the mystery
7. The interviewer as the questioner
8. Octo oven as the first boss encounter
9. Sheldon as the weapon supplier
10. (New) crusty Sean as the grub guy