Stan (Pearlina Story)

Showtime

It took a long time for Marina to finally come up with a username; she had thought about it for at least 20 minutes, trying to think of the perfect name - the name that will soon make Pearl do those adorable smiles and fall into heaps of cute giggling... she had pondered over lists of names in her head, until the greatest nickname of all time sprang onto her head.

QueenPearlie

She quickly smashed the letters onto her keyboard until the name was engraved like a signature onto the computer screen. She remembered how many Inklings would teasingly call her that whenever she wore that crown on her head; either in their concerts, or on the streets - and Marina definitely remembered how her eyes would gleam whenever she heard that silly name, and how she would hide her cute smile with her cute, oversized jumper.

The Octoling looked on proudly, now Pearl would definitely see this! The green tick next to the name was most probably secretly praising Marina on how great her imagination was... and she herself couldn't suppress a smile of fondness over the name.

But now was the hard part; the password.

It still bugged Marina over the edge, especially over how her first password sustained the "weak" status; she tried out a few more words: "pearliscool", "iloveyoupearl", "pearlissexy"... weak. She let out a defeated sigh (along with a very heavy blush) - but she wasn't going to stop anytime.

She must have written at least 50 weak passwords until a normal one came; she was slowly zoning out, and was almost writing anything she would remember until the green bar of light finally came onto the screen. She couldn't help but let out a victory screech, as she imagined helicopters with hundreds of cameras from all across Inkopolis - coming into view to watch the moment a normal password had finally unlocked itself.

...that's until she realised she didn't even know what the password actually was.

She grumbled frustratingly, as she clicked on the "show password", internally hoping it was something obvious.

Password: Pearl_is_my_world

A teal blush stained her already burning face, as the Octoling hid her flushed cheeks with her hands, yet in pure secrecy, her heart pained for the name. In the end, Pearl really was her world; she was the one who changed Marina's entire life, she taught her how to speak Inkling, and she was the first and only person to get past her shy nature... she was her first friend ever!

And without Pearl, she would've been some lost and forgotten girl - probably hanging out alone in the same street where she slept on the pavement, not being able to speak to anyone but herself. Thank cod she met the inkling. Pearl was her life; without her best friend there would be no Marina Ida... just "the octoling tramp who can't speak".

She snapped out of her moment, hesitatingly staring at all the details in front of her screen... she was really about to do this, secretly stanning her best friend on the Internet; and going head over heels for the Inkling. What a life-changing childish moment she is about to perform.

Before clicking the very enchanting "Join" button on the screen, worrying thoughts started spreading through her head like a typhoon in the ocean - what if Pearl is creeped out by this? What if Pearl doesn't like it? What if... Pearl finds out who owns this account?

Her skin shuddered at the realisation; Pearl would be creeped out completely if she finds this out. She would break Off the Hook and call Marina a weirdo... a stalker. She found herself moving the cursor to close the tab, as the demeaning thoughts rolled in...

She wouldn't be good at... stanning? She basically didn't know half the "slang" the internet loved to use, she didn't even know how to make a normal password for 20 minutes! She'd be better off not doing this at all... the cursor was hovering over the red button now.

"No" the voice boomed inside her head, as she remembered the concert; how upset Pearl was... how upset Pearl IS. What will Pearl do if she thinks she has nobody that loves her? What does Pearl even think when she sees all the people screaming for Marina herself. Cod she felt awful for her; but it was no good feeling awful - she had to do something.

She, without a flicker of doubt on her mind, flicked the cursor away from the red button, onto the green one down below.

It was showtime now.