Today was the day.
Waverly sat on her couch in pajamas, going through her mail, a green envelope sitting off to the side. It was a much simpler process than she'd expected–just a matter of sending a letter, no crazy amount of money needed to get it into the Squid Sisters' hands; they responded to all their fan mail personally, apparently. Who knew? After sorting bills and junk mail, she picks up the envelope and cuts it open, unfolding the paper to read.
"Your letter definitely caught us off guard! (For real)
But if you're serious, then listen to this; and then figure out the rest.
Stay Fresh!
-Callie and Marie"
A flat CD case is inside the envelope, and has "TIDAL TEMPO" Written on it in marker.
"Huh…weird. That a song of theirs, I wonder?"
She stands and walks across the room to her entertainment center, popping the disc in and making sure the volume was reasonable. It wasn't bad–not her usual cup of tea, but still. She glances at Pina resting in their bed. He didn't seem to mind it at least?
"I wonder what other songs they have…" She sits down on her couch again and pulls her phone out, typing the term into the search bar, and squints at the results. Images yielded some album covers, but also an image of them–the band Tidal Tempo– performing at a splatfest a while ago. She scrunches her nose a bit and chuckles.
"Ooooohh. That was a photoshoot weekend." She chuckles, shaking her head. "The one splatfest I miss. I guess…"
She flicks through some info about them, before finding some show dates, and a contact email for business inquiries. That would have to do. She moves to her computer in an adjacent room, not wanting to type on the phone, and gets a draft does someone even start a message like this?
She listens to the clock tick a bit before typing.
"Hello!
My name is Waverly–I'm a model with Barazushi, and I had a personal inquiry I wanted to make with you both."
She pauses to think, then continues.
Note, that I am not acting on behalf of my employer.
"Oh that sounds so weird." She groans, deleting that part.
I think that I know the two of you. Or knew. I have a lot of baggage from the past I need to let go of. Is there any chance we could meet somewhere and just…talk?
Sorry for the tone, and the suddenness of this.
Regards,
Waverly.
She reads over it and clicks send, exhaling.
"Hope I even get a reply."
Ding
That was fast.
It had only been about an hour or so since she'd sent it off. She opens it up and reads it…
"Sorry for the late reply."
It wasn't late though?
"We've discussed it, and there's a cafe we're willing to meet you at. Does tonight work?"
Tonight?! She quickly replies with just: "Yes"
"See you later then."
Attached is an address. She maps it on her phone and lets out a long sigh–it was about a 30 minute drive–and being blind and all, she hated driving.
Ah well.
Traffic was a massive drag–but she made it, sweaty palms and all. She finds a spot to park and sits, taking deep breaths to try and stay calm. Rehearsing what she'd say the entire drive over. A thousand scenarios raced through her head. What if they resented her? What if she snapped, and did something stupid? What if it was a trap, and they already knew? She slaps her cheeks and grimaces.
"Keep it together!" She says out loud, practically yelling. "This is a good thing! They won't hurt you! They can't! Right? Why would they?" She continues pepping herself up, losing track of time, until she's drawn out of her trance by a knock on her window.
"Waverly, I presume?" An inkling asks, grinning a bit. A tall octoling stands behind him.
She stares blankly at them, processing things, before nodding, and unlocking the door. Before she even gets a chance to open it herself, he's got it pulled open for her and she steps out.
"Not many models in the area, so…it was pretty obvious the lady sitting in her car talking to herself was you." Ray winks. Waverly finds herself blushing.
"Come on you two–let's get a seat inside." Mara says, holding the door open for them.
The three take a seat in a booth, Mara and Ray sitting across from Waverly. She looks them both up and down, internally wanting to convince herself she had the wrong cephalopods, but there was no way.
"It was definitely a little odd getting emailed out of the blue." Mara starts, breaking the ice, and resting her hands on the table. "The phrasing was a little off-putting too. You'd mentioned some baggage?"
"Yeah, I was wondering that too. You definitely don't look familiar–I never forget a pretty face~"
Mara rolls her eyes. "Can you not?"
"Maybe~" Ray crosses his arms and leans back smugly.
"I…where do I even begin?" Waverly asks, tapping her fingers nervously.
Ray leans on the table, smirking. "We don't bite, unless you ask me to."
"Okay, well…here goes, then." And so she begins, starting from her leaving the underground.
Mara and Ray listen, some sympathy on their expressions, until Ray chimes in, "I don't mean to sound insensitive. But where do we come into all of this?"
"I…served in the Octarian military." Waverly says, carefully.
Mara expression drops, her voice tense. "A lot of us did."
"...and I saw every single one of your fights. Every one." She says, staring at Ray directly. He freezes up a bit. "It was my job to find a weakness–something we could use to win against you." Their sympathetic looks are gone–replaced with skepticism. Gone was the charmer, and instead there was a bit of a cold stare. Suspicion. "I know that you're agent four. And I know what you're thinking–this isn't about revenge." She feels herself tear up "...I have these moments where I get stuck in the past. I space out, or I can't breathe, or…I just lose time. I…" She starts to breathe quickly.
"...take your time. Don't rush this." Mara says calmly, kind demeanor returning. Ray's still looking a bit cross.
She takes a moment to compose herself, "I'm sorry. I hurt both of you. I'm sorry." Waverly says, with a bit of a whine. They both look surprised. Ray looks like he's going to say something, but she can't stop herself now. "The battle against Octavio, I was there, I–"
"Keep it down!" Mara practically hisses, eyes a little squinted in annoyance. "We don't bring things like that up you know!"
"-My commander got hurt and I was the one that gave the order for your squad to get deployed, where they were sent, I–"
"Waverly." Ray says seriously, trying to get her to shush, and pinching his nose.
"I told Octavio to remix mid-fight and that's why your arm's so scarred up and I'm sorry…!"
She's raised her voice now, and at this point, a couple of the other patrons were staring at their booth. Waverly sobs full on into her own crossed arms on the table.
A waiter walks by and whistles awkwardly, setting their drinks down before going back to waiting the other tables. Mara and Ray look at each other, neither knowing how to proceed. It's clear that they have to say something though, right? Ray takes a breath and takes the lead.
"Well, I forgive you." He says tiredly, leaning back in his seat again, trying to help salvage the situation by staying chill. "You only were doing what you thought was right, yeah? Me and Octavio got some history. He's a friend." He leans forward now, unable to really get comfy, and gently pats Waverly's head. "You were fighting for your lives."
"You're just saying that to make me feel better…!" Waverly laments between sobs.
Ray pinches his nose again, and in an effort to prove her wrong, grabs his phone. "You know what? What's your number?" She looks befuddled, crying temporarily abated and gives it to him with a confused tone.
"...what are you doing?" Mara asks, side-eying him, and then returning her gaze to the crying Octoling across the table
Ding!
Waverly checks her own phone, and checks a message from an unknown number, blinking in surprise and wiping her nose on her napkin.
"Hey! Seela! You did your best! This kid's on the up and up! All good stuff! Get over it–the past is done! That's an order from the top–me! Gyah ha ha!"
There's a picture following it, of Octavio and Ray out and about doing…something. It was kind of blurry–but unmistakably the King and him somewhere sandy.
"You're not joking." She says, sounding shell shocked, not sure of how to process this info.
"I joke about a lot, but this is pretty serious, yeah? I can't have supermodels crying after me. Mara'd get jealous."
Mara rolls her eyes as he looks at her and flashes a big grin, glad to see they're making headway with Waverly.
"What happened that day wasn't your fault, alright? You see that now?" Mara sips her drink. "It sucked, putting it delicately. If anything, I should give you my thanks for at least hitting him. Probably gave him just a liiittle bit of humility there. Lord knows he needs it."
"Hey! I can be humble!" Ray retorts, "The absolute humblest! People wish I were less humble, so they could have more humility for themselves, even!"
"That's so stupid I could kiss you." Mara says with an exhausted shake of her head.
Waverly can't help but to let out a bit of a laugh. The stress of the day, the build up of it all was finally done. They didn't hate her. They didn't want her dead.
"I'm really sorry about making a fuss…" She sniffles some more. "You two seem like you bounced back from all that…I think I should probably follow suit."
The three made a strong effort for the conversation to take a different turn. Waverly was fascinated by the two–they'd lived entirely different lives, but still somehow ended up together. And she, in turn, talked more about her own–her time at GrizzCo, which neither seemed fond of, but both were sympathetic of her getting stuck working there. Ray even seemed to have an "Aha!" moment, recognizing Waverly from a shift they'd had together ages ago. Drinks flowed, at least for Waverly and Ray, and eventually the cafe was coming to a close, and Mara had to get Ray home. She initially offered to give Waverly a ride, but she just waved them off, and called one of her agents to pick her up (Not without making a joke about "See? I got'n agent too, his name's Brian! What a silly name. Heh.") and off they went. They'd exchanged numbers of course.
When Waverly got home, she crawled into her bed and giggled, giddy from the whole thing. She'd made friends, she thought. Actual friends! Not just more trauma! She giggles some more, Pina hopping onto her belly and giggling too, just happy to be involved. She pats their head and snuggles them, the small-fry closing its eyes to snuggle her back, and the two gently drift off to sleep…