9: Soft and Slimy
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"WE'RE SO GLAD THAT you two decided to stop by", Azul politely greeted, seeing that Juliet had met the end of their "friendship" request.
"Thanks! So, what drinks do you recommend?", Juliet questioned, as Azul had personally seated the girl and Vil at a booth that was next to the large aquarium filled with corals.
"I'd recommend the Sea Breeze, which is a refreshing sweet and tart drink composed of grapefruit and cranberry juice, garnished with a lime wedge", the House-warden of Octavinelle replied, as he handed the two menus for them to glance over.
"What do you desire, Potato? It's my treat", Vil stated.
"Oh, you don't have to!! I got my allowance from Mr. Crowley today", Juliet smiled.
"Actually, the drinks are on us, since you're doing a service by promoting our product. I'd say it's a pretty fair trade, isn't it?", Azul butted in.
"I suppose", Vil sighed, "I'll take the Blue Lagoon then".
"And I'll have the Sea Breeze please! Thanks Azul!!", the eighteen year-old cheerfully said.
"Of course. Please excuse me as I go prepare the drinks", Azul bowed.
Once the House-warden of Octavinelle left, Juliet and Vil were suddenly interrupted by the Leech twins, to which Vil wasn't necessarily fond of.
"Ehhh? You really brought him? Good job, Shrimpy!", Floyd grinned, flashing his sharp canines at the masked girl.
"Floyd, please. They're our customers", Jade reminded.
"Awww, I was just praising our little Shrimpy here! Say, I've actually been quite bored since you've been spending all your time with the House-wardens. Have you already forgotten that we were your first friends?", Floyd pouted, as he smoothly took a seat beside Juliet.
Jade flashed Vil an apologetic smile — even though he wasn't sorry in the slightest — as Juliet just laughed.
"Never!! You're the first ones to have invited me to sit with you guys during lunch. I'd never forget! If anything, I'm worried you've forgotten about me!", Juliet retorted, boldly pinching Floyd's cheeks, as Vil was somewhat worried that the girl would get punched.
After all, Floyd Leech was infamous for his bipolar mood swings, and was nearly as reckless as some of the Savanaclaw students when it came to hands-on fighting.
But then again, Pomefiore students were well-known for poisonings, so Vil supposed that he wasn't much better other than the fact that he didn't get his own hands dirty.
Floyd's playful expression immediately dropped, as Juliet just tilted her head to the side.
Jade silently observed, as he wondered if his twin was about to go berserk. Though surely he'd know better than to lash out in front of their promoter.
"Your hands are soft, Shrimpy".
"Haha, you think so? It's probably because of Vil's homemade hand cream", Juliet shrugged, as she had continued to pinch Floyd's cheeks like he was a cute puppy.
'Bold move', Jade mused.
"Potato, come closer", Vil ushered, to which Juliet had instantly left Floyd's side.
Displeased, Floyd was about to snatch the girl away from the Pomefiore House-warden before Jade had held his brother back.
"Floyd, we should leave our guests to converse amongst themselves. Let's help Azul with the drinks first".
"Hahhh?? But I want to stay with Shrimpy!!"
"Another time", Jade stated, as Floyd just sighed and stood up from the booth.
"See ya later, Shrimpy...and Betta Fish!"
As the Leech twins sauntered off, Vil had placed a hand upon Juliet's head.
"In my opinion, those two are the most unpredictable and sly students. I don't know if it's your luck that they like you enough to not swindle you into their deals, or if you're just unlucky that you met them on your first day here", the eighteen year-old male admitted with a concerned sigh.
"Hm? Ah, well...they might be a bit strange, but they're still my friends", Juliet smiled.
"I'd be careful, Romeo. Not everybody's as kind as you make them out to be", Vil lowly warned.
♛
After Vil had posted about Monstro Lounge with Juliet in the picture, many comments flooded the comment section, asking about the mysterious person.
And although Juliet wasn't sure why Vil had included her in the post, she supposed that it was fine since she had a mask on anyways.
"You're back!", Ghost A announced.
"We were getting bored without you and that cat", Ghost B frowned.
"Which by the way, he's already dead asleep. What a stick in the mud", Ghost C huffed.
"Leave him be. Anyways, I'm gonna go shower first. I'll play with you guys tomorrow", Juliet casually waved off, as the girl commenced in her nightly routine.
Upon reaching her bed, Juliet was met with a Grim that was sprawled out in the center, even though she had told him many times to only occupy one side.
Sighing, the girl had decided to head outside for a while — to take a late night stroll with her mask and chest bindings on of course.
"I wonder if the Dark Mirror would be able to show me mom...", Juliet muttered, her feet leading her towards the mirror chamber.
As soon as she stepped foot into the room that had held the orientation, the eighteen year-old reminisced on when she had first arrived here.
"Damn...how long has it been?? Two months? Almost three?"
Standing right before the Dark Mirror, Juliet had waved her hand back and forth in a childish manner.
"Ayo Dark Mirror! You awake??"
"State your name", the reflector suddenly responded, as the usual pale face instantly followed.
"Juliet. Now can you show me the other world?"
"I do not understand this other world that you speak of".
"Ugh, this is like talking to Siri! Just show me my mom. Can you at least do that??", Juliet huffed.
The magic mirror seemed to calibrate for a moment before the glass had rippled like water, changing into an odd point of view.
Rather than the house that Juliet knew of, her mother was seen dressed in a dark cloak in an unfamiliar place. In fact, the scenery around her resembled much of the scorching desert shown in Aladdin.
"Are you sure you're not just showing me some random woman that looks like my mom? Because why the hell would she be at some desolate desert??", Juliet doubted.
If the Dark Mirror could shatter itself, it would've.
"Anyways, I suppose you haven't been updated recently, because why else would you not be able to correctly pinpoint my mother's location. Can you just give me a nice view to help lighten my mood please?"
Once again, the Dark Mirror had complied, shuffling to the scene of the ocean.
Though the students of NRC could not walk through the mirror for a location outside of school property, they were able to at least summon a scenery to their liking.
"Wow! It's like I can smell the sea's saltiness and hear the ocean's roars...", the blonde girl sarcastically commented.
"Ehhh? I didn't know Shrimpy liked the ocean too!"
Juliet's soul must've flew out of her body, because Floyd had quickly stuffed the wandering soul back down the girl's throat to render her conscious.
"W-Why're you here?!"
"I could ask Shrimpy the same", the more outgoing Leech twin retorted.
"I...am just...reminiscing??", Juliet unsurely answered, as she didn't expect Floyd to just chuckle and plop onto the floor next to her feet.
"Sometimes I miss the sea too", he whispered.
A look of dubiety and shock flashed across the girl's face, not that Floyd could see. However, this was truly the first time Juliet's seen the teal-haired boy seriously admit to something without any hints of sarcasm.
Taking a seat on the floor as well, Juliet curled up into a ball by clutching her knees close to her body.
"Yeah...the sea's pretty neat...", she added on.
Floyd's heterochromia eyes narrowed at the sight of the girl comfortably beside him.
"Just kidding!! Ya know, the Octavinelle Dorm's actually underwater. You should drop by some time!!", the tweel (twin eel) grinned.
"Hm?? How does that even work?"
"Don't tell me you don't actually know!", Floyd obnoxiously gasped, "But then again, I suppose a normal little shrimp like you wouldn't anyways..."
"Hey!! What's that supposed to mean?!"
The eel-boy just smirked, as he teasingly shrugged.
"Oh nothing~ Just a pity that you've never seen me in my true form", Floyd mentioned.
"True form?? Like...you physically turning into a leech?", Juliet snorted, imagining the sea creatures that swam beside Ursula in the movie.
"I'm an EEL!", Floyd corrected, pulling the girl into an embrace, as he liked to threaten others by squeezing the life out of them.
"THEN WHY'S YOUR LAST NAME LEECH?!", the eighteen year-old choked out, desperately slapping Floyd's arm as a sign of her need for oxygen.
"Does it matter? So do ya wanna see my true form or not?", the teal-haired boy questioned.
Juliet hesitated a little, though her answer did not matter, as the seventeen year-old had already dragged the former through the Dark Mirror and into the natatorium.
"Are we allowed to—OH GREAT SEVENS!! CAN YOU AT LEAST WARN ME BEFORE STRIPPING?!", Juliet coughed, instantly facing the tiled walls, as Floyd had swiftly dived into the school pool.
"What're you all shy for? We're both of the same gender here", Floyd laughed.
"Well have you ever heard of being GAY?? Or just having human decency—"
"I'm not really human", the Leech twin interrupted.
"Oh...okay word!!"
Juliet had then scooted closer to the edge of the pool, un-shielding her eyes. Her jaw nearly dropped to the ground, as she saw the usual Floyd transfigured into his teal-ish eel form, which was perhaps another few feet taller than what he originally stands at.
Strangely enough, the male still had abs. The upper half of his body maintained a human figure, accompanied by ear fins and greenish markings contouring the sides of his face. Though of course, the lower half of his body was the eel representation.
"You're staring, Shrimpy~", Floyd cooed, laying his arms on the edge of the pool, as his head comfortably propped on top of his ombré-colored arms.
"I mean...who wouldn't?", Juliet honestly replied, to which Floyd wasn't sure whether that was a compliment or not.
"Can I...", the eighteen year-old had to mentally hold herself back, as she wiped the drool that had incidentally escaped the corner of her lips.
"Can you what?", he questioned, purposely lowering his voice, and (almost) giving off a siren-like allurement.
Juliet must've been out of her mind, because she had then harshly tugged the sea monster that was over six feet, out from the waters, causing Floyd to tumble on top of her.
With both hands planted on either side of the girl, Floyd's usual carefree grin was smothered into an unreadable expression. Beads of water trickled onto Juliet's mask that struggled to hide the redness that was starting to arise from the bottom of the girl's face.
Yet in that moment, she could only think of one thing to say.
"Y-Your hand was slimier than usual...heh..."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Y'all, something's wrong w/ me, because there's NO WAY that I simp for 2 fucking EELS—
Credits: @dodoss_dont || Danbooru
They also definitely have a screw loose somewhere,, YES, THE BOTH OF THEM‼️
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