floyd leech [ scary outfit ] r "you admire pirates or something?"

[mandytl]

 

Location: The Other Dimension - Sparkling Chamber

Floyd: Ahahah! Dancing’s great, huh?

All this legwork makes it super thrilling!

Jade: Fufu… As long as you’re having a good time, Floyd.

Floyd: On the next step, let’s turn together like—

Bam!

Jack & Floyd: Urgh?!

Floyd: … Aah?

Oh, it’s just you, Urchin-chan. What’d you have to bump into me for? I was having a good time here.

Jack: Look who’s talking. You’re the one dancing without a care for your surroundings!

Floyd: Come again? Like I need someone who sucks at it telling me what to do.

Jack: What was that?!

Floyd: Just the truth. I mean, your steps were all over the place and both your stance and shoulders were super stiff.

Jade: … I’ve got a feeling this little “talk” of theirs will be exciting. I’ll take this time to get us some drinks.

Floyd: Man. That costume you’ve got on looks cool and all, but it sucks that you aren’t ghost pirate-like, like, at all. 

Since they lived on deck, always dancing and singing, they were pretty good dancers.

If you were anywhere close to the real deal you would’ve just sidestepped our collision.

Jack: You make it sound like you’ve actually met them in person…

Hm? Oh, yeah. You’re a merman, right? Then you’ve really seen a pirate ghost before?!

Floyd: Now you’ve got this twinkle in your eye. What, you admire pirates or something, Urchin-chan?

Jack: I wouldn’t go that far, but… I read a lot of books with pirates in them as a kid, so I’m a little curious.

Floyd: Hm~m. That so…

Lemme tell you what a real ghost pirate is like, then.

Y’see, there was this one time in elementary school where I snuck onto a sunken ship all alone.

They tell you not to get close during Halloween, but… doesn’t that just make you want to go even more?

Jack: So you’ve always been that kind of guy, huh…

Floyd: But there wasn’t any treasure or anything left inside the ship. I swam through, thinking about how beat-up it was, when… 

BAM!!!!!

There was this loud sound. And while you usually hear doors slamming on land, that kind of noise doesn’t happen much in the water.

It totally caught me by surprise. What’s more, I was locked in some room in the sunken ship.

Jack: That’s what surprised you…? 

Floyd: The door wouldn’t budge whether I pushed or pulled, and on top of that, when I peeked through a hole in the sidewall…

There were about twenty ghost pirates in all, merrily singing and dancing together.

“We caught ourselves a little nipper of a merman, mates. What should we snatch from him first? The mismatched eye, or that splendidly swift tail of his?”

… Just like that.

Jack: Ganging up on a kid to scare them… are ghost pirates seriously that despicable?

Floyd: They suck big time. After shutting me in that room themselves, they were all, “Let’s yank him outta that room, lads.”

Jack: Weren't you afraid?

Floyd: Nope. Just pissed.

Jack: That’s, uh… super like you, Floyd-senpai… 

Floyd: I had plans to strangle them all after surprising them by busting through the door, but… 

My attacks went right through them! They just watched me struggle and cackled. 

All in all, I made it out of there by just thrashing like crazy until I broke down a wall.

As soon as I was outside that ship, though… the voices stopped.

Jack: Uh. What do you mean? Weren’t there something like twenty ghost pirates nearby?

Floyd: Every one of those ghosts who had been making such a terrible racket just moments before vanished without a trace.

—almost like no one was there in the first place.

Jack: ?!

Floyd: I swam all over the place thinking maybe they were just hiding, but nothing. Crazy, right?

Jack: They didn’t have a reason to run, what with your attacks not connecting, so… what was their objective, anyway? 

Floyd: Search me.

Jack: … —Wait! Did you just make up this whole thing to get back at me for bumping into you?

Floyd: If that’s how you wanna take this, then sure.

Jade: My. You two seem to be getting along all right.

Floyd: Ah, Jade. You’re back~.

Jade: I certainly am, and I brought you both something to drink. Here you are.

Floyd: Nice! Thanks, Jade.

Jack: … ‘Preciate it.

Jade: It’s my pleasure. Anyhow, what were you talking about just now?

Floyd: That time in elementary school where I visited a sunken ship during Halloween.

Jade: Oh, then. That was a rough time indeed.

You went out in the morning and never came home that night. Our whole family was in hysterics.

Floyd: Hey, I was just as shocked. I thought I was only on that ship for a couple of hours, but…

When I came home Halloween was already over, and everyone said they hadn’t seen me the whole day.

Jack: Wh—?

Jade: I was really, truly worried at the time.

After all, merfolk tend to go missing during the sea’s Halloween…

Floyd: Jade could’ve been an only child if I hadn’t gotten away from those ghosts back then.

Jack: Huh???

Come on, Floyd-senpai. That story you made up was just a bunch of crap to scare me… right?

Floyd: —I never said I made it up.

Jack: ?!?!

Floyd: Ahah. You better watch yourself, Urchin-chan.

You never know what’ll happen on Halloween…