Depend

I can't believe they're holding a concert!

Check out this line-up: Chirpy Chips, Hightide Era...
they've even got Off The Hook opening!

Betcha ten sea snails it gets cancelled.

You're kidding.
They've got advertisements everywhere,
it's at an indoor venue-

Yeah, and a performer who already broke under stress once.
When Li'l Crabs broke, he never got through another performance.
I doubt your sunshine queen will be different.

Well, she will be.
She's got Marie with her,
And Marie wouldn't have let the concert get this far
Unless Callie would make it, too.

Marina's moved twice, more or less, since the last time Marie checked: once, into Pearl's mansion with her, because Marina's place didn't have great security and after what happened to Callie... well. But just this week, she signed the lease on a new place in one of the better apartment complexes in Inkopolis, somewhere Marie's used as a comparison for how an apartment building should be set up and what reasonable rents that she should theoretically be charging to the Octarians she'll rent to.

If they're gonna go somewhere, it may as well be a place she controls. It'll make keeping an eye out for any spies loyal to Octavio much easier. Also, the old news building had sat empty for long enough that it was cheap. She is absolutely not soft, no matter what Callie says.

Marie gives her head a fast shake and parks the car. She's got her hood up but isn't wearing a face mask; she keeps her head down as she goes to the door and buzzes to be let in. The doorman's jaw drops when she pulls down her hood, and she winks. "I heard a friend of mine just moved in here," she says, turning on all her charm. "Let me surprise her?"

"You must mean Marina," he says, blushing slightly. "Just sign in. You know her apartment number?"

"I do, thank you." Marie signs their guest book, then, unprompted, turns to a clean page and does her best autograph for the doorman. He beams.

Marie forces herself to smile back, then pulls her hood back up. She checks the bulge in the hoodie's central pocket. The hypnoshades inside can't weigh as much as they seem to.

Eighth floor. Marie takes the stairs, not the elevator. The climb gives her time to compose herself. Marina has been in Inkopolis for almost three years, and she has done nothing wrong. Combat Engineer Ida may as well have been a different person. All it took was removing some goggles.

It's a risk, but Marie's here anyway. Revealing her true identity as a secret agent, giving up singing, shell, even eating pineapple pizza would be worth it to make Callie herself again.

Marina opens the door, her tentacles writhing in excitement, even as her face and voice only hold normal levels of happy. "This is a nice surprise. I haven't seen you away from Callie since her return. Come on in."

Marie forces a smile. She settles on the couch, pulling off her hood. The hypnoshades seem to burn her through the fabric, but she can't just jump into it.

Combat Engineer. She has to know how to take them apart.

"I was just about to have supper; would you care to join me?" Marina looks so eager to please that Marie's hearts lurch.

This is for Callie.

"Thank you, but no." She couldn't eat anything if she wanted to, with her stomach tied in knots like this. "You may as well eat. I'll join you at the table."

Marie focuses hard on keeping light conversation throughout the meal. Marina insists on getting her a glass of juice, and Marie makes a point of taking a sip of it every five minutes. She tells Marina how her parents are doing and asks what she and Pearl plan to do on their upcoming vacation. Only when Marina's finished eating does she say, "I'm sorry to say this, but I did have a specific reason for seeking you out today, and it's not going to make either of us comfortable."

Marina blinks at her without a trace of suspicion, and honestly, Marie hates herself. "I'm sorry?"

There's no good way to bring this up, no good way to tell her, so instead Marie reaches into her pocket, brings out the glasses case, and opens it.

She can see the exact moment Marina realizes what they are, her tentacles still, wide eyes full of tears and panic before Marina leaps to her feet, knocking over and tripping over her chair, making for the door.

Marie darts from her chair far easier and grabs Marina with reflexes honed from a lifetime of agent work. "Calm down."

Marina spins and smacks her. Marie lets her, moving with the blow so it glances off, then releases Marina when she pulls again so Marina tumbles to the floor. The poor girl's hyperventilating, one step away from a panic attack, so Marie pins her there. Marie was an idiot; she could've found a more delicate way to bring it up. Clearly, reactions to hypno devices are long lasting. "I said calm. Down," Marie orders, letting Marina wrench against her hands. "I know you know what those are. You're not in trouble."

"I'm not putting those on," Marina gasps, twisting, and her tentacles push at Marie's chest but since Marie's calm it takes only a moment to grab them and pin those to the floor, too. "And you're not putting them on me, I just got away, I—I'm not even sure I did get away but no, no, just—I swear if you try to put those on me I don't care if you're a Squid Sister I will—I don't know how they got to you but—"

Marie shifts her weight so she can free one hand while still keeping Marina's arm pinned to the floor with an elbow. She presses her hand to Marina's mouth. "Take a deep breath," she urges, as though this were Callie, pre-panic attack. "You're not putting those on." With those words Marina does take a deep breath, the wild struggle-flailing of her tentacles lessening just a drop. "Your name is Marina Ida , awol Combat Engineer, octoling and high-ranking member of Octarian Society, but here in Inkopolis you're just Marina, news host and up and coming musician." Marina gasps in a breath, then releases it, and Marie's hearts lurch. She hasn't seen this sort of fear since the day in the alley. "You have nothing to fear from me," she promises.

Marina keeps struggling. Marie doesn't roll her eyes; Callie's gotten like this a few times, since her return. Though her panic involves refusing to be touched and grabbing for photo albums, videos, anything to prove what's real. Not escaping through a window.

"I'll release you when you're calm," Marie says, and while Marina's struggles lessen, her breathing stays the same, ragged and desperate.

Well, after the hypnoshades, there's been one sure way to calm down Callie. Maybe it'll help Marina, too. Marie starts humming Calamari Inkantation.

The relaxation and relief isn't as immediate as it would be with Callie, but Marina's breathing better—in time with the song—before the end of the first chorus. Marie moves on to other, slower songs, and Marina breathes along with them. A trained singer, even if she's confident in what's real, unlike Callie.

Marie uncovers her mouth and half releases Marina so she can retrieve a handkerchief to wipe the girl's eyes. "Better? I apologize; there's really no good way to bring this sort of thing up."

"How do you know about it?" Marina blurts, then clamps her lips together and blushes.

So she hasn't figured it out yet. Time to rip off the bandage, "While I believe Agent Three was best known for being a menace before you left Octarian Society, I'm sure you were also aware of Agent Two." Marina's hears pound hard enough Marie can feel them, and she shifts slightly, making sure her grip is secure, and Marina can't jump out a window or something in panic. "I held you at charger point in an alley not long after the release of Ebb and Flow, before deciding you were harmless."

Marina shrieks, then starts babbling in Octarian, a desperate, breathless, panicked string of words Marie has no hope of making sense of. She catches 'splat me' and 'Callie' and 'Agent 1' in the babble before covering Marina's mouth again.

"I don't think that qualifies as calm," she says, trying to get her thoughts in order. Maybe if she just rattles it all off, like the most boring facts, it'll be easier. "Yes, I understand Octarian, though I have difficulty pronouncing it." No reaction. "No, I won't splat you, unless you're planning to tell people about this—and I have confidence you don't." Marina gasps for breath again, but she seems to be actively trying to calm down, at least.

Better.

"I am currently unarmed," Marie lies, "Callie is indeed Agent One; she went missing because she was kidnapped and made to work for Octarian Society via hypnoshades." Marina's eyes widen further; honestly, Marie didn't believe that was possible. Ignore it. Keep going with the facts. "We haven't done public performances, save for writing Fresh Start, because she's still highly unstable: unsure whether what she's seeing now is real or a further hallucination." Marina might know something about that. "I don't suppose you know how long that side effect lasts?"

Under Marie's hands, Marina draws in a few shaky breaths. She starts humming Color Pulse, a faster song than Marie would have chosen, but it seems to calm her down. Still, when Marie uncovers her mouth, the poor girl's so rattled she can only speak Octarian: "I—I'm still not sure. There are still times where I'm—I mean, it seems really unlikely they'd go this far, but I can't be sure. "

Marie draws in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "Lovely," she says, because Marina may flip worse if Marie uses the language she wants to right now. Marina's been on the surface for over two years, and she's still—she's not the confident, independent Octoling Marie thought she was. Under the surface, she's just as lost as Callie.

Two years.

That has to be the most shellish experience in the world.

Still, because it's worth asking, "Any way you can be sure?"

"I—I think so, at least for me. But I'm not ready to know this is fake. And if I say it out loud, they'll know what it is, and—and change it."

That 'at least for me' hurts something in Marie's hearts. Even if it works for Marina, it may not work for Callie. Callie could spend the rest of her life trying to figure out if she's got those

No.

Callie won't have to wonder.

Not as long as Marie's around.