“Ghaha! We hit the jackpot tonight Gary!” the eel man slobbered as he shouted jovially to his partner.

Gary, the eel man’s partner, shook his head and sighed internally as the other man hooted around.

“What a find! And to think that you were trying to get me to stop for the night,” he said rubbing his hands together.

“Yeah, yeah. My bad, you were right,” Gary replied immediately, knowing that his companion wouldn’t let it go otherwise. “I’m just a bit nervous being in the Queens’ territory…it feels like we’re just asking for trouble.” 

“Lord Shelkier crippled them a long time ago. They’re complete pushovers now.”

“I know but still…”

“You worry too much.” the man waved off Gary’s concern. ”I can’t even fathom how much she might go for on the market…I would love a taste of her if it wouldn’t cost me my life.”

“You’re a sick bastard, you know that Bob?” Gary said, a frown forming on his face.

Bob was scum among scum. He had a penchant for ‘tasting’, as he referred to it, the merchandise that the men picked up. He reveled in their anguish faces.

Gary thought of himself in a much more positive light, as he had no feeling, good nor bad, towards the people he brought in. He simply thought of it as a job and did what he had in order to receive his payment. He loved money, but not to the point where he’d actively put himself at risk for it.

“Ha! Guilt as charged…but don’t act like you’re all that different from me, Gary. We’re both cut from the same cloth after all. It’s the reason that we get along so swimmingly. Besides, as cute as she is…,” Bob pointed to the bag hoisted on Gary’s shoulder containing the girl. “I know for a fact that you at least considered it.”

Gary grimaced but held his tongue.

 The truth was he had. The girl was without a doubt the cutest person he had ever seen. The two had caught a glance of one of the queens earlier in the week, but this girl didn’t lose in attractiveness in the slightest. If he was forced to say, she was cuter while the queen was more of a mature beauty.

As a snail of more refined taste, at least according to himself, Gary would pick the queen if he had the choice, but he couldn’t deny that the girl would be quite the catch.

“Whatever,” he finally said, weakly. “I can’t deny that this girl will definitely recoup the money we  had to spend…as much as I hate that we put ourselves at risk coming out here.”

“Not that I really care, but it couldn’t be helped,” Bob shrugged. “Even clowns like him deserve funerals.”

Gary shook his head again, staring off into the moon glowing above the break of the water. 

The two’s former partner in crime had been publically executed a few months ago. The three had gotten along as well as three criminals could have. Though that was probably due to them growing up together. Much like Bob, the other guy had an…interesting inclination. He had the hots for Murua Amare…the Golden Hearted Archduchess. One of the strongest people in the kingdom and possibly the world.

From what Gary heard, their partner had gone searching for the archduchess during one of their breaks between ‘jobs’. He eventually found her at the town of the Guild headquarters. As usual, he was violently rejected, both physically and verbally. This time, he allegedly snapped, plotting to poison the golden dragonoid’s food and acquire her forcefully. 

As expected, the poison had no effect, and the man was apprehended and executed a little thereafter. He was disowned by his family and girlfriend prior to his death, leaving the proceedings to the two of them. While the funeral wasn’t cheap, it was manageable. What really caused Gary and Bob to go in the red was acquiring his body in the first place.

Casting aside those thoughts, Gary couldn’t help but frown at his partner.

“You just had to bring it up, didn’t you. My money….” he bickered grabbing at his chest dramatically. 

“Yeah, yeah whatever. Let’s get back to the spot, I have some…frustration I’d like to relieve. Ghahaha!” Bob declared as he started to walk in the direction of their temporary base of operations.

“Gross,” Gary muttered under his breath, quickly following behind.

—⁕🎕⁕—

“So sis,” I started, sitting back down on the sofa with a plate of food.

As Maua or Riot as her new form was named, went on a walk to digest all the new information that was dropped on her, I decided to catch up with my sister and my sister-in-law over some food. 

Bela was still grabbing her plate, giving me the perfect opportunity to interrogate my older sister.

 “I noticed how Bela masterfully tip-toed around claiming you as her wife throughout her entire narrative…what’s that about?”

Her eyes widened as she let out a groan.

“Uuugh… leave it to my little sister to notice something like that.”

“Of course I did. Honestly, I think Mau- I mean Ri noticed too? Or at least she felt something off? But what gives?” I titled my head as I asked.

“Y-you think she n-noticed?’ Mai sputtered.

“Are you scared or something?” I prodded. “I have no doubt that she wouldn’t look at either of you any differently. She was completely fine with me and Kna’Ve…and didn’t you preach the importance of being open and accepting of others to her from the time she was born?”

“Right…I did do that.… I’m very happy that she’s open and accepting of others…”

“Why do I feel like there’s a but a at the end of that sentence?”

“There is…do you mind if I blabber a little bit?”

“Of course not, feel free to talk my head off.” I said with a smile.

“Thank you,” she replied giving me a smile of her own.” Here’s the but. But, I still can’t but feel nervous and guilty. One of the main reasons I told her to be open, other than it’s just a good mindset to have, was for my own benefit.  As you already know, I’ve always had eyes for Bela…and I always dreamed of princess carrying her away from all her problems and into the sunset. So as far-fetched as it was, I was attempting to prepare my landing in case my wildest fantasies came true.”

“And they did?” I asked.

“And they did,” she confirmed.

“Well, that would do it.”

“Not quite,” Mai said. “I’m still nervous for an entirely different reason.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, it would be a piece of cake if all I wanted to was tell her I married her mom. What I truly desire is for Riot to accept me as her mom too. It honestly should be enough if she doesn’t disapprove of our relationship…but I can’t help but hope. She’s my little angel, it would mean the world to me if she would let me be there for her. Be honest with me, am I being too greedy?”

“From a realistic standpoint, maybe,” I replied, bluntly. “But with that girl, I think you have a fair shot. She already loves you to death, and it’s not like you have tough competition…Hell, now that I think about it, she might want this more than you do.” 

“T-thank you, Rua.” A tear made its way down her cheek.

I reached over and wiped away the tear.

“Anytime, sis.”

Suddenly her face warped into a devious smile. “I wasn’t the only one holding something back though was it?”

I froze up as her eyes seemed to penetrate my psyche.

“It’s only a matter of time before she asks…so when are you going to start cracking?” Myri asked me.

“A-ahem. Well…I’m pretty sure that she doesn’t even know about that. We never talked about it with her and I can’t imagine the foster system’s educational coverage to expand into that type of topic.” I blabbered. “It’s probably going to be a dense egg to crack.”

“Can’t be denser than a dragon egg.”

“Hey!” I protested before we both fell into a fit of laughter.

“Hahaha!”

“Ehehehe!”

“Well-heh. It looks like the both of us have something we need to do.” I said as the laughter died down.

“Ha! Yeah.” Myri agreed. “ I’ll take her on a date shopping and try to connect with her-”

BOOM!

The door burst open, with an aggrieved Asabela rushing in.

“You guys! Ri is gone!”

“HUH!?”

—⁕🎕⁕—

“Gah! Cry, scream, do something!” Bob shouted.

The two crooks had safely made it back to their base. 

Upon arrival, they set the girl down in a holding cell. They removed the body bag around her and replaced it with one that went over her head. They bound her arms behind her back and legs together tightly with rope. 

Bob, looking for some excitement, decided to play with the girl. He went into the cell with a menacing-looking sword, dripping with poison. He ripped off the sack covering the girl’s face, and Gary felt his heart skip a beat as he took a look at her.

Her face was simply angelic. Her lips were plump and luscious, her nose a cute button. Her golden hair shone in contrast to the crown of horns that looked like they were made of pure darkness. 

Instead of shouting and begging like the others that were unfortunate enough to catch Bob’s eye, the girl didn’t react at all. To Gary, her eyes clearly convey her feelings towards the two of them.  To her they were worthless. Less than garbage.

Bob seemed to read something similar, and promptly backhanded the girl.

POW!

The hit resonated throughout the otherwise empty room and left a red mark on the girl’s lovely face.

He wound back up to hit her again, only for Gary to stop him.

“Dude, she’s still merchandise.” 

“Fine,” the other man relented.

 “Stupid nudibranch¹A sea-kin term that's derogatory towards women.” he spat, his saliva hitting the girl on her reddened cheek. “Let’s go drink and play blackeel. My mood’s ruined.”

The two left the holding cell, moving to a table directly in front of it. Bob sat with his back facing the cell, not wanting to see the little beauty, while Gary said directly in front of Bob.

They cracked open a bottle of red wine and shuffled their cards.

They began to play and drink, and Bob’s mood gradually lightened.

Gary put down his cards, declaring his win as a red liquid splattered on them.

“Come on man,” he complained. “Every time you get drunk you spill something on the cards. Go get something to clean this up.”

“GAH!”

As Gary looked up he couldn’t stifle his scream as he saw a blade protruding from his partner’s mouth.

Lulla

Ugh, writing scummy guys is the worst. I couldn't even bear to write it in first person. I don't have too much to say today...but I'll ask a question instead. How was the third person POV switch in this chapter ? Did you enjoy it? Also, I put a chapter warning in this one, should I add them to my other chapters? Please let me know. Other than that, thank you for reading and have a good day!