Stan (Pearlina Story)

New Stans

You are privately talking with @pearlsplatoon

[pearlsplatoon]: hey i saw ur comment, stans meeting up outside... im the inkling with red hair, red clothes.

Marina was already on her phone as she walked to the concert; she was getting some of her favourite songs on play, so it was a surprise when the notification popped up on the top of her screen. The Octoling, with bursts of excitement, opened it up - trying to lift the hoodie from her eyes with difficulty for a few seconds, before reading the message at least five times. It took a while of hesitation before jamming a response down.

[QueenPearlie]: Alright, I will be wearing a black and white hoodie. I'll see you there?

[pearlsplatoon]: okay!! there's like 2 here rn, i'll tell them what u look like

[pearlsplatoon]: also u new?? welcome to the pearl stan club! feel free to ask anything

Marina looked on in happiness; these stans are so nice!

[QueenPearlie]: No, I'm alright. Thank you for inviting me.

[pearlsplatoon]: haha its fine, you a pearl stan... so you one of us

Marina smiled warmly at the reply of the conversation before turning off her phone; the music blaring into her ears matching her joyful mood. Who knew this job was so easy? It should be no time before Pearl would be on HER knees, praising her number #1 stan like how Marina was preying on her best friend.

She didn't even realise how quickly she had reached the concert, so she only noticed she was there when she accidentally bumped into another Inkling, her hoodie lifting ever so slightly - resulting in her eyes that caught a peek at the swarm of Inklings and Octolings that infested the waiting area. She, after the shock realisation, looked around for her stan friend, trying to find any hint of red from an Inklings or Octolings clothing.

But not before long, she had felt a hand on her shoulder, resulting in the Octoling swinging herself frantically around; trying to find the perpetrator. The culprit also let out a large yelp at the sudden movement, quickly latching her hand off and putting them aside defensively - which successfully attracted a lot of the crowd's attention; taking their focus from the conversations onto the both girls... oh cod, have they already seen through Marina's façade? She hasn't even started yet!

"Hey chill! I just came to ask... are you QueenPearlie?"

That's when she had noticed the red on the girl's hair, and the red and pink clothing adorned on her; she hadn't even noticed what the girl looked like until she had said those words... she covered her hidden mouth with her black gloves. This girl staring up at her must have noticed this realisation, because she had lifted her own hand up as a gesture for a handshake.

"Yeah I thought so! Everyone was thinking I was really crazy but I had the feeling it was you becuase..."

Had she already failed? She had just made another stan scared of her, is she going to scare her friends even more then? She can't even listen to what this red girl is saying right now!

The Octoling really wished she could keep up with this conversation, yet being Marina Ida had its own negatives - she couldn't even keep still without shuffling nervously when talking to a stranger, much less keep an eye contact with a stan!

She was just... unable.

At least that's what the Octarians in her fraternity had explained to the Engineer; that Marina was just "unable" to speak more than 5 words without cutting herself off or looking down shamefully - yet the Octoling had already knew it was just another word synonymous to weak. The simple fact was that she couldn't talk to anyone for long without feeling like she's acting weird or boring...

...except Pearl.

All Marina could do was stare at the ground, the blush of embarrassment growing by the second, yet concealed from the hoodie that was overstretched over her entire face. The rather oblivious girl (who definitely didn't look like she'd stop talking) did not notice, and it showed as she talked and talked and talked.

"Sorry I'm rambling again... my name's Sherry!"

Oh cod, Marina hadn't even come up with her own pseudonym.

"M-My n-name's Mar-. M-Marcy" The Octoling could only splutter it out (from the surprise of the sudden question) in short stammers, which would be seen as undecipherable from any normal Octoling or Inkling... yet the Inkling in front of her would be one of the exceptions to give a reassuring nod - and to try her luck by placing a hand on the introverted Octoling for the second time.

"Hey don't be scared Marcy... come on, I'll introduce you to my friends." It was no use trying to show her dissaproval because the eyes of the two other cephalopods "stans" had caught sight of the entire scene unfolding - but it was worth a shot, and Marina tried her best to shake her head - and to try to get rid off Sherry's hand that wrangled upon the poor Octoling's wrist. Unsurprisingly, it was no use as she had now been led to another 2 more... wait was that an Octoling?

"Hey guys!" Sherry had put Marina in the spotlight now; she could tell from the feeling of three pairs of eyes burning into her, "This is QueenPearlie, or Marcy I suppose!"

The purple haired Octoling was the first to talk, "Hey... I'm Yuri! Or Pearlbestgirl... but I'm more of a Marina fan!...because of the hair... yeah..." All the worry had changed from herself to the Octoling in front of her. If the Yuri girl could see her eyes softening through the hoodie, then maybe she would have said something different... all Marina wanted to do is to tell this Octoling girl exactly who SHE was and to comfort her will all her hearts... why do people have to go to such measures to hide their identity?

"H-Hey, I'm Pearl_Is_Queen, or you can call me Stacy! It's nice to meet you for once... you totally owned that guy!" The sounds of agreement and laughter coming from all sides warmed her heart... she wanted to say something, but she then she cut herself off again in fear that they'd laugh at HER instead... oh cod, now she was overthinking everything again!

Luckily, someone... as in the speakers that overhauled the outside of the tills had said something, resulting in the flood of cheers and Inklings and Octolings running ahead. She looked at the other stans... as Marina had paid absolutely no attention onto whatever they had just said!

"So guys. You've got your tickets?"