Chapter Text
Ruggie POV:
“A bride?” I said with slight shock in my voice. I had been folding Leona’s laundry as he complained about a ball he was being forced to attend. Honestly, I had started tuning him out, but when he said the word ‘Bride’, I felt curious.
“Yeah, a bride. Damn, Farena wants me to meet someone at this stupid ball.” I could hear a low growl come from him as he spoke, but I wasn’t surprised; this is Leona we’re talking about.
“Shishishi, at least there’ll be good food to keep you occupied. Maybe you could bring me along with you to keep you company.” With a smirk on my face, I snickered at his situation, although I wasn’t lying to him about wanting to join him for the food.
“Nice try, Ruggie, don’t forget you’re banned from the palace after that incident.” Even though I couldn’t see his face due to him lying on his back, I could practically hear the smug smirk he was wearing on his face. Leona then promptly told me to shut up so he could sleep, so I just rolled my eyes and continued folding his laundry.
Later that day, I trudged my way over to Ramshakle dorm to complain to Karma about the ball. Without even knocking, I opened the door and saw them lying on the couch with their hair slung over the side, reading a magazine that most likely came from Pomefiore.
“Wassup, gremlin?” They addressed me without even looking up, which makes sense, seeing as I’m one of the few people they know who don’t knock before walking inside their decrepit dorm. I walked over and sat next to them on the couch, noticing how Grim wasn’t anywhere in the living room.
“Nothing much, same old, same old.” I chuckled as I leaned back, relaxing a bit. “Turns out Leona has a fancy ball to go to next week, but the bastard won’t smuggle me out any food.”
“Why doesn’t he just take you with him?” Karma must’ve found the situation interesting because they actually looked up from their magazine to look at me. “Seeing as he practically can’t live without you.” There they go again, making fun of Leona when he isn’t even here.
“Is it not because Monsieur Dandelion is banned from the palace?” I practically jumped out of my seat upon hearing the unforgettable voice of Rook. “Or is my info wrong, and you are once again permitted access?” How desperately I wanted to knock that shit eating grin off his face, but picking a fight with Rook wasn’t how I wanted to go out. However, before I could even begin explaining, I heard another familiar voice echo from the kitchen.
“Hehehe! Suckerfish is banned from the palace?” Of course, the damn tweels were also here. Why is Karma even friends with one of them, let alone both? “Come on, Suckerfish, I wanna hear the story!” All of them promptly made themselves comfy on the adjacent chairs and looked at me as if it were storytime or something.
“Ah, come on, it’s nothing interesting. It’s a damn palace; they ban anyone for any reason they want.” I snicker, hoping they would buy it. I wasn’t a fan of talking about my past, especially something of this extreme. “Besides, I came here to vent my problems, not be a storyteller… unless you lot cough up a few madol for it, shishishi.” Grim then finally manifested on Karma’s shoulder after they sat up and put their magazine on the table.
“Fine, fine, go on, rant about that lazy lion and this ball you mentioned.” With a smirk, Karma playfully punched my shoulder, basically to say, ‘Get on with it already’.
“Well, basically, Leona’s family is forcing him to attend this upcoming ball because they want him to get married.” I try my best to hold back my laughter as Karma snickers beside me. “For all I know, his father was the one to push the idea, but Farena, being the nice guy he is, is giving Leona some semblance of choice by hoisting a ball instead of just choosing someone for him.”
“Ah, the beauty of love, not something one should push, but Roi du Léon is a prince, so I can understand his plight,” Rook commented, and I couldn’t completely disagree with him. While Leona seemed to loathe the concept of dating anyone, considering it was his main issue with this ball in the first place, being a prince means it’s more or less expected of him. “Do you wish to save him from this fate, Monsieur Danelion?”
I couldn’t help but flinch at this question as it seemed to come from nowhere. “Huh? Why should I care about his stupid love life, or lack thereof?”
“Well, you two do exhibit a rather… unique relationship, do you not?” Jade finally decided to join the conversation after just sitting in silence for the past few minutes. “I find it amusing that you are not jumping at the opportunity to put Leona in your debt.” While he wasn’t entirely wrong, Leona didn’t need me playing knight and saving him from a boring party.
“Oh, please, Leona can handle himself, plus with his attitude, I’m sure any potential suitor would be scared off anyway.” I take a second to grab a cookie from a basket on the table, which I hadn’t noticed till now, somehow. “I’d only go to a party like that for the food. That shit is way too good to pass up.” I then turned to Karma with a smirk on my face. “Karma, you went to the Sunset Savanna for Tamashina-Mina, right? How would you describe the food?”
“Huh? Oh, I guess I’d say it was really good. Never thought I’d have mutton alongside a steamed banana.”
“Ok, ok, now take the taste of those, and triple it. That’s how good royal cuisine tastes.” I could feel a bit of drool poking out of the corner of my mouth as I thought back to the one time Leona brought me back some food from one of his parties. It was heavenly. “I’d do anything to get a taste of those delicacies again.”
“Then why not sneak in?” The room went silent when Floyd gave his insane suggestion, but I think what was even more insane was that I was actually considering it despite my ban. “I’m sure it wouldn’t be that hard; it’s a big palace, so there must be a weak spot.”
“Unfortunately, Monsieur Dandelion would get thrown in jail if he were caught, so his fate seems to be stuck on the sidelines.” Rook started being dramatic over the situation, and eventually, they all started chiming in with their own ideas of how to break into a palace. After a few more cookies and a bit of time to think about it, I finally stood up.
“You know what, this could work!” Everyone but Floyd ended up looking at me like I was crazy, even though they were the ones going on and on about it. “I neglected to mention that it’s a masquerade ball. Easier to hide who I am with a mask over half my face.” A smirk quickly manifested on my face as I saw all their faces change from confusion to excitement once I dropped that fact. “With a little prep work, I’m sure we could all sneak inside and enjoy the food they’re keeping from us.”
“Beauté! You being willing to share to spoils with us is most kind of you, Monsieur Dandelion.” While Rook wasn’t the first one I was expecting to agree with this, I sure as hell wasn’t gonna deny his help. I had a feeling the tweels and Karma would agree no problem since they’re all suckers for chaos, even if Floyd was the only one to outwardly show it.
“As much as I would love to assist you all on this endeavor, Azul needs me at the Monstro Lounge all of this week, so I must unfortunately skip out.” It wasn’t the best news, but losing Jade isn’t the end of the world in terms of planning a heist. Naturally, that left Floyd and Karma as the last ones to join this little endeavor, as Jade put it.
“So, we’re all in agreement. Sneak into the palace and dine on fancy food… and maybe laugh at Leona’s misery?” Karma was wearing a massive shit eating grin at this point, but I didn’t care; all I wanted was food. “We have about a week to plan this thing, so I say we’d better get started if we want to make any progress.”
Karma quickly ran upstairs, most likely to their room, and Jade made his way outside to head back to the Monstro Lounge. When Karma returned, they were carrying a few notebooks and pencils, handing us each one so we could write out our ideas. It took us a while to get a solid plan laid out, considering who I was working with here, but eventually, we figured something out.
“Ok, so we convince Kalim to net us some invitations, Floyd will get us some mermaid glamour charms so we’re not easily recognized by Leona, I’ll talk to Idia about getting a scent blocker for Ruggie, and Ruggie will have to make sure Leona doesn’t catch wind of this.” It was a bit of a crude plan, but honestly, better than I expected.
“May I make a quick suggestion?” Rook chimed in before standing up. “I would like to suggest that dear Monsieur Dandelion take a few dancing lessons from Roi du Poison. I could also ask for his assistance in acquiring some formal wear for us all.” My face fell into an annoyed frown upon hearing his suggestion.
“Why would I need to know how to dance if we’re just going for the food?”
“Well, if we are to be at a ball, who’s to say we wouldn't indulge in a dance or two while we’re there?” This guy is… something else. Usually, I would try to argue, but once again, he had a good point. Since this was a covert operation, having all bases covered was a must. Wait… that must mean…
“Hey, what about Karma and Floyd? Shouldn’t they get lessons too?” I could hear a small snicker from Grim, who was promptly shut up by Karma.
“For your information, after the crazy amount of things I’ve gone through this year, you think I don’t know how to dance?” Damnit, they had a good point, plus they were also the manager for the VDC, so it’d make sense they knew how to dance. “Plus, you’d be surprised how good Floyd is on his feet. I even caught him dancing one time at basketball practice when I had to talk to Ace.”
“Suck it, Suckerfish. Looks like you’re the odd one out this time.” Naturally, Floyd found the situation hilarious, who wouldn’t? With no more arguments to use, I silently accepted my fate, but I was not looking forward to Vil’s training.
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“No, no, no. Your footing is all wrong.” I was exhausted. Vil had me running the same dumb waltz over and over again, yet I wasn’t making any progress. “Honestly, take this seriously, this is a royal ball after all.” Please, just let this end. If only Vil had said no when Rook explained the situation, but for some reason, he agreed to teach me how to dance.
“Come on, what are the chances anyone’s even gonna wanna dance with me?” I slumped down to the floor, my feet aching all over. “I’ll mostly be eating food anyway, so nobody’s even gonna notice me.”
“The chances are higher than you think. Depending on the type of glamour you use, combined with the mystery of the mask you’ll be wearing, someone will eventually flock to you and ask for a dance.” I simply let out a groan of frustration before Vil forced me to my feet for more dancing. This went on for what felt like forever until Rook, Karma, and Grim arrived.
“I see you’re still hard at work, Ruggie. Lucky for you, I brought snacks.” Karma held up a plastic bag, most likely bought from Sam’s shop. “Don’t worry, I kept Grim out of it.” He then chucked the bag at me, and I opened it to find a few granola bars. Not what I was hoping for, but food is food.
“Roi du Poison, I must thank you again for your assistance.”
“Let it be known, I do not condone your actions. I am simply helping because I owed you a favor.” Despite his tone of voice, I could see the faint blush appear on Vil’s cheeks when talking to Rook. Thankfully, my dancing lesson was done for the day, so I followed Karma and Grim outside of Pomefiore.
“This better be worth it, my feet are ready to fall off.” Karma let out a chuckle as we walked. “Leona leaves tomorrow, so hopefully he won’t be too pissy about me disappearing all day.”
“Even if he is, is that anything new?” Karma then pulled out a granola bar of their own. Bastard was holding out on me. “That lazy lion doesn’t even know what the words ‘Thank you’ mean.” I snicker at his words, considering they’re rather lazy themselves.
“How did the chat with Idia go? Did he agree to help out?” I hadn’t mentioned it yet, but it’s a damn good thing Rook brought up the topic of scents while we were discussing. Even with a mermaid glamour charm changing my physical appearance, my scent would immediately alert guards, and worse, Leona.
“Surprisingly, he had no qualms about helping out. Ortho was definitely questioning our motives, but that’s to be expected.” Yeah, that checks out. Ortho was always the more responsible of those two. The two of us continued to chat, and we eventually split off to return to our respective dorms. I made my way back to Savannaclaw and walked into Leona’s room to find him where he always is, in bed.
“Where the hell have you been all day?” To my surprise, Leona was awake, even though his eyes were closed.
“Oh, you know, hanging out with your favorite herbivore, shishishi.” Karma and Leona had a weird balance of respect and hatred toward each other, so naturally, Leona hated it when I hung out with them instead of him. With a grunt of annoyance, Leona turned on his side to face away from me as I started cleaning his room. How does one guy cause such a mess in only a day? It took me a while, but I eventually got his room straightened up, and seeing as it was dark out, I headed back to my own room to catch some zzz’s. “God, my feet are killing me. This better be worth it.”
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It was not going to be worth it.