Rebel Girl, You Are The Queen Of My World

Mt. Nantai Meeting

About 6 years before the present, Marina was living in the woods at the base of Mt. Nantai after leaving Octarian society. She stayed in this small abandoned base from the Great Turf War near some trees and a river. It was livable, she was able to find food and water perfectly fine. Marina lived like this for months after fleeing Octo Valley, a constant cycle of gathering food and getting water from the river. It wasn't bad, but she yearned for more. One fateful day, when she came back to her base after gathering edible mushrooms and fruit, she came back to an odd, black and white rotund cat with an expression of seemingly endless boredom. Marina stared in awe at this creature she had never seen before. She then realized it had all the (admittedly small) fish that she caught earlier today, that she was drying out, in its mouth. The cat seemed to have noticed that she caught on to it and ran off.
"Get back here, those are mine!" Marina shouted at the cat, dropping all the mushrooms and fruit she had and running after the feline. The cat was pretty fast and was always ahead of Marina, but she was able to keep up enough to keep it in her sight. Bless her Octarian training. The cat led a long chase that ended up at a decently high wooded part of the mountain with a torii there regarding the area as sacred. Marina was just about to capture the feline, then someone shouted at her.
"Hey! Who do you think you are to mess with Judd like that?! Leave him alone!" The inkling by the torii shouted. She wasn't that tall, definitely shorter than Marina, she wore punk rock clothing, more specifically, a black tank-top, ripped black jeans with three belts, large black boots that almost went to her knees, Spiky bracelets on both wrists, a black crown with the points curved in a counter clockwise fashion tipped with a bright pink on her head. Her hair went to her chin and was mostly creamy white with pink tips and golden eyes. This inkling would be known to Marina as Pearl but at this moment, she is just a stranger. Marina looks up, letting Judd go scot-free. Marina cocked her head in confusion because this stranger just spoke an entirely different language than her or at least more of that language than she knew. 

̶(̶I̶ ̶s̶e̶r̶i̶o̶u̶s̶l̶y̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶w̶r̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶a̶n̶g̶u̶a̶g̶e̶ ̶b̶a̶r̶r̶i̶e̶r̶ ̶b̶e̶t̶w̶e̶e̶n̶ ̶I̶n̶k̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶O̶c̶t̶a̶r̶i̶a̶n̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶.̶)̶

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Pearl asked, cocking her head in the same manner as Marina. "Hey, you don't really look that much like an Inkling, your hair is weird and there really isn't a bridge between your eyes?" Pearl asked and then covered her mouth and looked away from Marina. "Oh my cod, I am so sorry, that was really rude, wasn't it?" Pearl apologized. This apology did not get through to Marina because, you know, language barrier. Marina is able to recognize another person's emotions, or at least enough to tell that Pearl is upset. She walks over to Pearl and puts her hand on Pearl's shoulder. Pearl looks towards Marina's face and Marina warmly smiles.
"Hey, I don't know why you are upset but it is alright, don't worry." Marina says in Octarian. Pearl then looks at Marina with a mix of confusion and like something clicked to her.
"Oohhhhhhhh, that is why you haven't been speaking. Language barrier." Pearl then stands up straight and backs up a bit to be a reasonable distance from Marina. "Shit, okay, okay, how will we communicate." Pearl said to herself. She then taps on her head and sits down. Marina sits down across from her, just looking at her.

Pearl then speaks after minutes of thinking. "Okay, let's try some simple Inkling. What is your name?" Pearl asks, to get an idea of what Marina knows of the Inkling language, if anything. Marina perks up, actually knowing what Pearl asked.
"Me name Marina Ida." Marina said in very broken but still understandable Inkling, she gave a warm smile.
"BOOYAH, that's good! Better than nothing." Pearl jumped up suddenly and pumped her fists in the air. Marina chuckled. "Oh, I should tell you my name. My name is Pearl Houzuki, nice to meet you Marina." Pearl said, reaching her hand out to help Marina up, even Marina could get up on her own, she was smiling just as warmly as Marina. Marina grabbed Pearl's outstretched hand and got up. They then talked for hours after that, mostly Pearl teaching Marina more Inkling and trying to discuss their lives. before they parted ways, they agreed to meet up at that spot every week. This one meeting with a random Inkling made Marina's life way more interesting. This meeting led to Marina exposing her musical talent and by extension starting both of their musical carriers together.

Marina snaps back to the present day. The movie is still going, it looks to be half way done and Pearl is passed out on Marina's shoulder. Marina smiles and kisses Pearl on the head. Marina then leaves the living room and goes to the basement. She opens the basement door and turns on the lights, the husk of Tartar still there on that workbench surrounded by blueprints and notes, leaking sanitized ink.
"Let's continue the tests." Marina says to herself, entering the basement and closing the door behind her.