sharks call me cold-blooded

It's not as if it was a surprise to see Frye at the big concert that had been planned to try and defend the city. Protect the place from the freaky aliens that had an attack lined up, all with the power of their own music? It was a course of action right up her alley, and Shiver knew it.

Even so, annoyance and a faint, dulled irritation were settled over the Octoling at their partner's presence at the concert. Their conflict over not having been told of Big Man's former presence in the city still felt fresh- they'd still rather not see the one responsible if they could help it. But they'd already decided they wanted to help out here, and anyone who knew Frye would know she wouldn't be the one to bow out.

So a solo contribution it would be. Her focus bore down entirely upon the song she sang, never once slipping besides to glance over at Frye while she did the same. Just to make sure she was at least pulling her weight too- this whole gathering was just asking for the aliens to pile up some bodies, after all. Every singer would have to give it their all to make sure those monsters were weak enough to deal with, which, of course, she herself was already doing.

In no crowd of well-behaved party attendees can there ever be an absence of troublemakers. At least that was how Shiver saw things, given she'd never been in a crowd with such an absence before. Though no active trickery was going on at the moment, it was always a safe bet that Deep Cut had something up their sleeves. And from the way their leader weaved between the other partygoers, palm turned outward to have fingers threaded through those of Frye- also darting around with them, naturally- that image was being well-upheld to any observing the pair of inkfish.

Shiver had never been the adrenaline junkie Frye was, at least not in the same way. Thrills got a positive reaction out of the both of them, but Shiver had always taken greater pleasure in doing something clearly dangerous and pulling it off absolutely perfectly, no-selling the threat to one's safety entirely. Frye, meanwhile, had always loved high stakes- the closer they come to things ending messily before pulling off an escape, the better. Something like a haunted house left them in an odd middle ground. There was no true danger, but with an immersive enough suspension of disbelief may triumph over rationality, at least for a time.

Were they asked about that happening in this moment, the octoling would of course deny it. They were doing just fine- they hadn't encountered anything REALLY scary or REALLY dangerous yet! Still, there was something to be said for the environment the Stars had managed to establish in here, and how the darkness coupled with how stingy their flashlights were with illumination made her really want to stay close to Frye. It was purely strategic, of course- and the tightness with which her fingers were threaded between Frye's was merely to keep a firm hold so no tricksters could try and separate them.

"Well, it took them long enough! I spent a lot of my time there anyway- might as well make it official. Between this, work, and our little side job, it's getting a little bit more like home every day, huh?"