Chapter Text
Grim coughed up some sea water with a groan. Those damn eels! He wanted to flambé ‘em! Who do they think they are, unconvincing the great Grim!
“You guys okay?” Deuce huffed out.
Ace groaned while raising a thumbs up. “I think so…”
“I wasn't expecting them to actually be mermen…” Jack panted out.
“I got a souvenir for Ed!” Ling happily showed a tooth that he probably got out of Jade.
Grim groaned. “It was almost a feedin' frenzy there—with us as the chum! Swimmin' that fast ain't fair! ”
“Well, yeah.” Ace sighed. “Merfolk are literally in their element underwater.”
Ling patted Grim on the head in consolation. “Hey, I think you did great for fighting in the water for the first time- Especially for fighting an eel that could deflect your spells.”
“But we gotta get that photo fast, or they're gonna confiscate Ramshackle Dorm…” Grim groaned. “What are we gonna do? ”
Deuce frowned. “We need to rework our plan here.”
Ace nodded. “Yeah. Cater likes to say he's got his finger on the pulse of the community, so why don't we get some input from him?”
Jack was ringing water out of his tail. “It'd also be a good idea to go back to Savanaclaw and see what Ruggie and the others have to share.”
“ Friends .” Ling announced. “We need to tell my wife.”
****
Ling found Ed sitting by the pool in Savannaclaw discussing a book with Leona. “-And the writer clearly doesn't understand what the hell their writing about, like- clearly they never looked at a single anatomy book .”
“That’s not how reproductive organs work.” Leona agreed, scowling at the offending book. “This asshole hasn’t seen a single vagina or even researched one and it shows. ”
Ruggie spotted them first. “Oh, you’re back!”
Leona turned to look at them. “Oh, they are. How’d it go?”
Ling shrugged. “About as well as you’d imagine. We were fighting a fish in water.”
“What? You guys actually went to the Coral Sea?” Ruggie gaped.
“Hah! How stupid can you get?” Leona barked.
As Grim bristled at Leona, Ling treaded over to his wife pulling her into a hug.
“Mrah?! But you're the guy who said to ‘get the ball rolling’ right now!” Grim yowled.
“ Hmph . I never said anything about diving headlong into the sea. Your time's limited. What I was suggestin' was that you use your head and find a worthwhile use of your time.” Leona smirked. “Challenging merfolk head-on in the water is a losing proposition no matter how you slice it. It's like walking into a carnivore's mouth.”
“I mean, I did okay.” Ling commented. “Also- I was winning.”
His wife hummed. “Oh?”
Ling handed her the tooth. “A gift.”
Ed ran it carefully between her hands, slowly flushing. “ Oh.” She abruptly made eye contact. “Ling, I want to make out now.”
Ling felt his grin stretch “ Absolutely-”
“-Not.” Leona scowled. “No mushy shit in front of me.”
****
Leona was not going to watch Ling and Ed suck face, no matter how amusing Ed was. (Seriously, he’d never met anyone that refuses to play chess because ‘why would I want to sacrifice people?’ before Ed. Funny as hell, that kid.)
“Wait. Did you guys know the twins were actually mermen this whole time?” Jack said, snapping Leona out of his thoughts.
Leona smirked. “ Maybe.”
“I saw Floyd in his natural form at a joint swimming class last summer, and boy, let me tell you…” Ruggie shuddered. “If that guy came after me in the water, I'd be done for. End of story.”
“Oh absolutely I knew.” Ed stated.
“It woulda been nice to know that beforehand!” Jack yelped at Ed.
Ed raised her brow. “I told Ling, did she not tell you?”
Ling whistled quietly, trying to ignore the accusatory stare of Jack and Grim.
“Last I checked, you guys were the ones who ran off half-cocked without bothering to gather any intel.” Leona smirked. “I would've been happy to share it all in detail if you'd asked.”
“Yeah! You gotta cover your bases before you start pickin' fights, y'know? Shyeheehee! ” Ruggie snickered. “Back at the Savanna, you gotta tread carefully if you don't wanna end up as someone's dinner.”
The furball growled. “Grrr... You're the same couple of scheming jerks as always!”
“Does this mean Azul was planning on interfering from the start when he made the offer?” Jack frowned.
Oh, the wolf pup does have a brain. “Uh, duh? Obviously? ” Leona sneered.
“The Leech brothers are Azul's top men. They're known for collecting all collateral and compensation from his contractors.” Ruggie shook his head. “And rumor has it they run interference to make sure the contract terms can't be met.”
“He’s a conman, of course he was going to fight dirty.” Ed added on. “In fact, that’s what I’m betting on.”
“What a bunch of low-down, dirty cheaters!” The furball yowled. “What are we gonna do?!”
“Don’t worry, Grim.” Ed soothed. “It’ll be fine.”
Leona twitched. Fine , he’ll help them out.
****
Ed listened as Leona explained Azul’s ‘signature spell’, digesting all the information given to her. So Azul has a bullshit contract, that you give power for, and then have to listen to the asshole if you breach said contract.
‘ So slavery?’
‘Essentially, yeah.’
To make matters worse , Azul then gets to keep your power for his own use.
‘ I’m REALLY starting to hate this guy. He’s an unequivalent capitalist asshole!’
‘I can’t WAIT to watch all that he’s worked for be torn away from him as he desperately tries to grab onto what little taters remain, as I laugh at his downfall. No one disrespects my laws and gets away with it. No one.’
‘Okay, how about we don’t do a whole villain monologue in my head? You should save it for, you know, Azul?’
‘Ah, fair point Eden. It’ll be so much sweeter then!’
‘I keep forgetting you are an actual horrifying entity and not just some guy in my head.’