beta'd

[Do you want to meet around 8:30?]

	[Sure.]

	Taiho looked at her phone again.

	8:23 it said back to her.

	Putting it down she looked around the park, it was a nice day out and there were already several groups milling around. Stretching out she continued to wait for the persistent Inkling. Until now she'd been able to get out of anything more than making small talk with the excuse of working, but with Grizzco closed for the day that wasn't really an option for her now.

	'I could just lie...'

	"She'd probably know I was bullshitting anyway," She mumbled to herself.

	Ever since the two had a real discussion Coral had made a point to talk to her at least once a day, if not in person then it was over the phone subjecting Taiho to a crash course in Inkling slang and shorthand, and a lot of emojis, dear Cod the emojis. It was almost like she was learning a new language all over again.

	Coral was understanding at least.

	Still, it was not like she was gritting her teeth over the situation overall.

	Her phone vibrated,

	[Where are you?]

	Looking around she spotted the Inkling before she noticed her, [Look to your right.]

	Coral turned, the two waved at each other.

	'She seems excited today.' She noted, if the smile on her face was any indication anyway.

	"So what'd you want?" Taiho asked as the two came up to each other.

	"Well," Coral reached into her purse and pulled out two tickets, "I have two tickets to Shellendorf for the day and I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come with me."

	Taiho started to answer but Coral cut her off, "They have a lot of new human artifacts on display."

	As much as this did interest Taiho she still felt hesitant, "Well..."

	"It'll be fun!" Insisted Coral, "They even have an exhibit on old shipwrecks." She added.

	Looking at the Inkling stare at her with an expression she could only assume was hopeful, the bangs made it difficult sometimes, Taiho finally relented after a moment of silence.

	"Alright," She nodded, "Let's go."

	The happy noise from Coral made her wonder if this was not a huge mistake.

	The whole trip there was filled with bad thoughts again, Coral was trying to speak to her the whole way there but she only responded with short answers, non-answers for the most part really. She debated finally just breaking off all contact with the inkling then and there and telling her to never contact her again. But did she really want that?

	Was she just afraid?

	"Here we are!" Her train of thought was interrupted by Coral.

	Pulling herself together Taiho followed Coral inside.

=-=

	The two were huddled around a photo of an ancient shipwreck. Unfortunately while the crew were not able to safely dig it out from the seabed, photos were still able to be taken and the room was filled with small models of ships in what the museum assumed was their original condition. This one in particular looking very close to the kind of ships Grizzco deploys.

	"It's almost a little disturbing don't you think?" Taiho mused out loud.

	"What do you mean?" Coral asked.

	Realizing the thought had left her head Taiho clarified, "Well, think about it," She gestured to the room, "Isn't it odd how we have almost the exact same ships?"

	Pointing to a small warship she continued, "You can see something almost like that patrolling the docks," She shook her hand a little, "Give or take not as advanced."

	"I've never really thought about it." Coral answered, peering closer to the model in question "Grizz isn't exactly the most upstanding individual either, who knows where he got the designs from," Blinking a few times she realized what she said, "No offense to you or anything"

	"Well..." Taiho tried to find a comparison she would better understand, "Well alright," She gestured back to the room left of them, "You're familiar with fashion history right?"

	Coral nodded, "Of course."

	"Don't you think it's weird how human fashion looks so close to ours?" She asked.

	"It is," Coral agreed, struggling to come up with a better answer.

	"I guess there's only so many ways to make a ship...," She scrunched up her face trying to sound out a word in Inklish before reverting back into Octarian, "{Hydrodynamic}," Switching back to Inklish, "So many ways to make it move in the water."

	"Hydrodynamic?" Coral offered.

	Taiho nodded, "Yeah, thanks."

	"Are you alright?" Coral asked when she heard Taiho sigh.

	"It's just... annoying."

	"What do you mean?"

	"All of this," Taiho gestured to the room, "We have so much about them but we still don't know much of anything, we can't translate any of it, and so much of it is damaged... It just makes me sad," She looked at Coral directly, "Do you think this'll happen to us?"

	Coral, surprised at Taiho's reaction to the exhibit, hated that she could not think of an answer.

	The rest of the trip went by uneventfully however the mood had definitely taken a somber turn.

=-=

	"Hey," Taiho started as the two left the building, "I'm sorry about that."

	"It's fine," Coral responded, "I just didn't know you were so passionate about history."

	"It was a hobby of mine back home I guess," She shrugged.

	The pair made their way a bit further away before Coral spoke up again, "Are you going back to the hotel?"

	Taiho nodded, "Yeah."

	"It must be hard living in such a small space."

	Taiho shrugged again, "It's nothing really, I don't have much with me anyway."

	"Well," Coral stopped in front of her, "I have an extra room I'm not doing anyth-"

	"I'm fine," Taiho sated, stepping past her.

	Catching up to her Coral continued, "Well, are you doing anything else today?"

	Taiho stopped, thinking for a minute.

	"Because it's no-"

	"Yeah, I'm busy," Taiho cut her off again before walking away, leaving Coral behind.

=-=

	'Dammit.'

	Taiho chastised herself over what she just did.

	'What the fuck is wrong with you?'

	She made her way through the streets, her body on autopilot as her mind worked overtime trying to sort itself out. What was she doing treating Coral like that? The Inkling might have been annoying sure but she had not done anything to deserve a treatment like that.

	And to drop those kinds of thoughts on her during something supposed to be fun.

	But what about Coral? Could she not take a hint at this point? She keeps asking all of these questions that she should know the answer to by now.

	But was that not what Corvina did?

	She paused when she thought of him, taken away like that.

	Pushing forward she changed her course.

=-=

	Coral sighed as she turned over in her bed, staring at her phone she waited for Star to respond. He was always a willing shoulder when she was feeling down like this.

	But maybe it was time to just let Taiho go. Her interest was clearly one sided and it was starting to hurt.

	Her phone vibrated again, flicking open the messenger she saw Star had posted a news article.

	[You think this might have something to do with it?]

	She looked over the title, it was about the apartment fire that happened a while ago. Curious, she opened it up.

	Skimming through it she saw that it was just about the same as she had heard it then, five individuals were killed in a massive fire. And yet there was one detail she hadn't seen before.

	One Taiho Marginatus, hospitalized with heavy burns to her face.

	Reading over that part carefully she noticed another missed detail.

	An inkling, Corvina. Her roommate at the time who did not make it out.

	Putting the phone down for a moment to think, realizations started forming as to why the octoling was being so standoffish. It was all starting to make a lot of sense.

	"Well shit..."

=-=

	"What would you think of me now..."

	Taiho sat in front of a memorial to Corvina, it was something his parents had organized after the fact.

	She hated that she could not tell anyone what really happened.

	What would he want her to do in this situation?

	Move on with her life probably. That's what he tried to help her do once he learned about her escape to Inkopolis, and yet try as she might the past still haunted her. She shouldn't even be here right now, none of this should have even happened.

	It was just failure after failure after failure, even with Scarlet gone it didn't feel like a win, the cost of it was far too much.

	"Guess she got the last laugh in the end..."

	Was she right to push the inkling away?

	Maybe she was just afraid.

	'There's still time to apologize...'

	Putting her hand on the smooth stone she swore to try and be better, "It took too many for me to get here Corvina... I promise all of you that I won't waste it."

	She stood there a moment, wondering if this was really the best move.

	"Nothing to lose anymore I suppose."

	Pulling her phone out she sent another message to Coral.

	[Can you meet me where we met earlier? It's important.]