Femslash February 2020 Day 19: At Work.
Perfection is What I See in You
Thunderous beats pounded against the walls. The heavy drums collided, an electronic sound mingling well with the bass. Warped voices rapped in a language Callie couldn't place as she stood, transfixed, watching Mizuta work her magic.
Her fingers glided along the turntables, tuning the pitch to a higher degree. Guitar riffs slinked into the song, their chords plucking in sync with the lyrics Callie wished she could have understood. Mizuta paid Callie no mind, however, twisting the knobs and bobbing her head to the darkly jaunty beat.
When the Squid Sisters offered Mizuta their recording studio to practice, Callie hadn't expected to hear such striking tempos. Not one song was alike. One song was upbeat and rhythmic, the next was slow and cathartic. While Callie's expertise was pop, Mizuta was a master of many crafts, generating hit after hit among the beings populating Inkopolis.
She raised her head as a jazzy tune rang out. Callie pressed her hands on the glass separating them, her mouth splitting upwards in a smile as the tempo raced, reminding Callie of a car chase. She bobbed her head from side to side, the beat infectious as she shimmied her hips, wiggling her fingers to the beat of the drums.
Marie smirked at her side, arms crossed underneath her chest. "You've been matching the music this whole time."
"Duh! 'Cause it's awesome! I've never heard someone seamlessly fit all of their songs together in one huge hit," Callie exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air.
The twanging guitar riffs and string section hushed. Callie brought her gaze back to Mizuta and tucked her arm down. Mizuta kept her attention on her turntables, sliding her fingers along the sleek knobs and records. Her face was settled in neutrality, giving Callie no indication that she was satisfied or displeased with her work.
Marie pressed the intercom button on the table behind them, saying, "That was excellent, Mizuta."
"'Excellent?' That was the splat bomb track of the year!" Callie gushed, jerking her head around and leaning closer to the button.
Rolling her eyes as Callie rambled, her words echoing in the next room, Marie looked back at Mizuta. Much to her curiosity, she was still silent. She didn't approve or reject Callie's accolades. She simply traced her turntables, her expression shadowed by her hat, tentacles, and sunglasses.
"We should collab! Or, oh, you can totally remix one of our songs! I bet everyone would love it!" Callie exclaimed, clapping her hands together
Mizuta shifted her head at that suggestion. She kept her mouth shut, leaving Marie to wonder about her intentions. She watched Mizuta step towards them, each footstep heavier than the last, and Marie tightened her grip on her elbows, warning herself to let it play out.
Mizuta dragged herself over to the glass, her tentacles trailing down her back. Callie continued enthusing about her work. How everything meshed together, how the drums were always on beat, how the verbal tics stood out against the bass, it was like Callie believed Mizuta had reached a musical nirvana.
But as she reached for the intercom button on the wall, locking eyes with Marie, Mizuta knew that wasn't true.
"-and-and-and in fact, I think, and hear me out, that you and I should team up! Let's get Callie and Mizzy trending! How do you like the sound of-?"
"Callie," Mizuta said, somber and devoid of feeling, "that wasn't breakbeat perfection. Not even close."
Callie straightened her back and looked over her shoulder. She locked eyes with the Octoling, her mouth dropping open. She shook her head and flapped her free hand, keeping her other fingers on the intercom button as she cried, "Wh-wh-what? It was so! At least to me it was!"
Marie dropped her arms and slapped her hands on her thighs. With a hapless shrug of her shoulders, she asked, "What can you do, Callie? That's how she feels as a musician."
"But-but sometimes-!" She clenched her fists, Marie quickly setting her finger on the button for Mizuta to hear. "-but sometimes perfection isn't heard by the musician! We're always criticizing our work, but out there, there's tons of fresh kids who love her music!" She grinned toothily and jabbed her finger at Mizuta. "In fact, I bet you're gonna be even hotter than me and Marie or Off the Hook at this rate! That's how funky fresh you are!"
Mizuta's expression hardly changed. Only the slight twitch of her jaw gave Callie any reason to believe she might have understood her. She shifted her attention to Marie, who merely smirked at her, weariness settling in her posture. Pulling her gaze back to Callie, who continued smiling and pointing at her, Mizuta let her refutation sink into her brain, rekindling the feeling of sanitization, her body and mind feeling oddly cleansed, but unlike the cold terror sinking into her skin, warmth blossomed in the center of her chest and spread, lapping over her like waves to the shore.
"So, whaddaya say? Wanna hook up with me?" Callie brought her fist to her chest. "'Cause I know with you and me and Marie, we can hit greater musical heights!"
"Oh, I'm being involved now? I thought you excluded me," Marie sneered, tapping her cheek.
Heat flushed her cheeks. "Huh? That was-! Oh, whatever!" Callie barked out a laugh and gripped her hips. "That was then, this is now!"
She hunched forward and let her arms dangle. "If then means a minute or two ago, I guess it does."
Mizuta's tentacles hung limply off her shoulders. Their bantering reminded her of friends she had long ago, whose names she couldn't recall. Everything about them made the heat in her chest slip into her bloodstream and envelope her in a warm embrace, sensations she had forgotten about when she had been sanitized.
But looking at Callie, she felt one of her hearts flutter. It skipped a beat, then another, until it resumed its natural rhythm. She pressed her hand to her side and felt it pulse against her palm, missing another beat when Callie held her gaze.
"Anyway, nevermind Marie! What do you say, Mizzy? Wanna team up?" Callie asked, pressing her hand on the glass.
Mizuta set her hand over Callie's and nodded. The little whisper in her head belonging to her old self wished she could have laced their fingers together.