Double D wasn't one to get motion sickness easily. He'd been in cars, buses, planes, and various rides in his youth to know that he was fairly lucky to not have gained that particular disadvantage.
However, while he was face down on the carpet, dazed with a hint of nausea, he heavily sympathized with people that did.
"Probably should done this near a mattress or something." Eddy mumbled, crouching over his friends' body. He ignored the panicked muttering of Raven and focused on poking his friend with a book. "You okay there, Sockhead? As graceful as that landing was, it still looked pretty painful."
"I'm currently dazed and confused, but largely unharmed." The hatted boy replied, face still located within the carpet. "In the future, I'd like a bit of warning."
"Sorry!" Raven said, finally moving out of her mumbles. "When he said he wanted something teleported over the phone, I thought he was trying to get a book. He didn't say anything about it being a person!"
"I never said it was going to be a book, you assumed that." Eddy pointed the book at her before continuing to poke at his friend. "I figured it was about time to head into town and see what they had with some new friends here. Figured that you spent enough time in New Salem and was about time you moved around here."
"Gee, thank you for the invitation." Double D said sarcastically, finally summoning the energy to swat away the offending book and moved onto his back. Moving up slowly, he was suddenly face to face with a teacup filled with something that smelled of peppermint.
"Tea can help with the nerves. First couple of teleportation's are always a bit rough, so I'd suggest taking some in the future." Maddie sagely said, swirling it under his nose to emphasize her point. She smiled as Double D took the cup and smiled back in thanks, moving beside Raven to help settle her nerves.
"Your friend really loves doing stupid stuff when no one's looking, huh?" Cerise raised an eyebrow as Double D laughed at the question.
"Quite often. Really does turn out to be a problem more often than not." He took a sip of the tea, refusing to meet her eyes. "Though, it's not like it's worked to our advantage in the first place."
"Hey, I'm right here!" Eddy gasped as both looked at him with a deadpan expression. He turned around and crossed his arms, grumbling to himself. earning a roll of the eyes from Double D.
"Excuse me, Eddy, but when do you expect your- oh, he's already here." Apple said, walking out with a bag filled with her books for today. "Good timing. How did you get here so quickly?"
"I had a little help." Double D sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry for coming at such short notice. Eddy didn't really give me much choice."
Apple didn't exactly know what was going on, especially since Raven looked like she was at the end of a panic attack, but she somehow felt like extending her line of questioning would only make her even more confused. "It's quite all right, we were planning on moving on soon. I'm assuming that your friend in New Salem is going to be fine working alone on his errands?"
"I," Double D looked confident for a second before sending a look to Eddy. The Ed boys looked mortified for a second before the smart Ed boy turned to Apple and smiled nervously. "If you wouldn't mind..."
Bringing out the iCoffin, he typed in the number and put it on speaker. The phone rang twice before the cheery voice of Ed came out.
"Double D, you lived!"
The Eds visibly relaxed at that. "Ed, I was just teleported to Ever After. You can thank Eddy for that." Said boy laughed as Double D sent him a small glare. "I just wanted to make sure that things were going well on your end. You know the objective, correct?"
"Get a garage so we can run business while we're here, scope the areas, make sure not to get distracted, and find a comic bookstore?"
Eddy facepalmed, groaning lightly at the boy's antics. "Failed step three." He grumbled before speaking into the phone. "Just try to get us into a good place that's near both of the towns borders. Something that might get us plenty of customers. No comic bookstores right now."
"Aw."
The two Ed boys could hear snickers around them as the girls listened in. "I'm serious, Ed. We gotta' get something good. It'd be nice to have some cash in reserve."
"Got it Eddy!" There was a brief pause as Ed seemed to chatter with somebody else before he came back. "Oh, Double D! Clawdeen wanted to make sure you got her number for that thing you were talking about. I'll text it to you soon."
Double refused to meet Eddy's curious gaze, a faint blush appearing on his face. "I appreciate it Ed. We'll check in later at Eddy's dorm, okay? Eddy and I have some business to conduct here."
Exchanging goodbyes, the boys sighed in relief. Looks like Ed was on the ball. They saw the curious glances of the girls and chuckled.
"Nothin' major. Looks like we can go ahead and check out the town." Eddy put his hands in his pocket and leaned back onto a shelf. He looked at Apple, still wary. "You got any idea where to start, Princess?"
"Oh, actually, I do." She adjusted the bag and moved towards the library's exit. "There's this nice little cafe that you three would absolutely adore, along with this other place that..."
Her voice trailed off as she went forward, leaving them behind. Raven followed close behind, rolling her eyes at the girls' antics, Cerise and Maddie coming after. The Eds were left behind, with Eddy turning to Double D.
He smirked and wiggled his eyebrows. "So, why's a girl giving you her number, Sockhead?"
Double D flicked his nose and ran up to catch up with the others.
[LINE BREAK HERE]
Ed, pushing the button to hang up on the phone, turned to the two ghouls next to him. "Where to next? I mean, we can meet Cleo anywhere, but since they're getting to know the Bookend..."
"Don't worry, big guy, we got plenty of time for exploring the town before school starts." Clawdeen waved off his concerns, looking to Ghoulia for answers. "Any idea where she'll be? Might as well get it over with."
"We'll be meeting her at the Maul. Nefera was able to get a modeling contract far away from here and apparently she's celebrating." Ghoulia clicked off the phone, putting it away for safe keeping. "Hopefully, that contract will keep her away."
"God, I certainly hope so." Clawdeen said it with more disgust then she even talked about Cleo. Ed couldn't help but feel like that was familiar somehow.
"Not a friend of yours?" An itch formed at the back of his mind as he saw the two girls' wince. Ed wasn't the smartest or the most observant person in the world, something he was kind of aware of when his grip on reality was tighter. Really, he only got this smart after Double D practically forced him into tutoring when their old school tried holding Ed back a grade.
But when he did know something, he would gladly pursue it and see how he could help. Couldn't rely on Double D and Eddy all the time, right?
Ghoulia rubbed at arm nervously, though was eventually coaxed into speaking at Ed's innocent smile. "It's a very complicated situation. Something that I'm sure Cleo would not appreciate me talking about while she isn't around."
"Still," The werewolf spoke, shaking her head. "Can't envy having her for a sister. I've heard some stories from Clawdia."
Ed couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah, I know how you feel. Eddy has a pretty bad older brother. Only really met him once and that was enough."
"Is he as much of a prima donna that vies for everyone's attention?" Ghoulia raised an eyebrow and thought back to the encounter yesterday with the supposed Legend. Similar personality types did either get along swimmingly or clash head to head, so an open confirmation of similar experiences was particularly interesting.
"I mean, not like that I guess." The boy looked into space as he walked, hands in pockets. "He was just more of..." He trailed off, thinking deeply about his next words, before blinking and straightening up. "Actually, that isn't a fun topic either. Eddy wouldn't want me talking about it."
The two ghouls frowned, but neither decided to pick back up on the topic. Though the zombie did figure it was strange that out of everything he openly talked about, he shied away from this. None of the boys were particularly shy, as far as she could tell, so this made her curious.
"Hey," Ed said suddenly, driving them out of the awkward silence he put them in. "While we're heading over, what do you guys do for fun around here? Other than the mall, of course."
At this, Clawdeen shrugged as she kicked at a pebble near her feet. "Lots of things, to be honest. Casketball games, fearleading practice, even host a party or two from time to time. Can't really do much outside of the walls, though, due to the whole 'hiding in plain sight' thing we do."
"She's got a point. While there are plenty of Monster and Legend societies out there, traveling is hard to do. Not much can be done other than try to enjoy ourselves in our private spaces." Ghoulia tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, frowning. "Clawdeen, of course, does fashion, while I focus more on pop culture pursuits."
"What kind?" The boy asked, slowing down to match the zombie's pace. He tilted his head curiously, giving a look in their direction.
"Comic books mostly." She almost muttered it, like she was embarrassed. "It's something to do and I generally like the art style. I keep up with monster comics usually, but the Marvel movies have caught my interest enough to consider giving human comics a try."
Clawdeen wasn't sure how to feel about Ed's eyes lighting up at that, and she wasn't able to figure out before he started talking a mile a minute.
"Ohhhh, I can actually recommend a few that you could start with! I mean, I don't know how many of the movies you've seen, but it'd be a good idea to start with Captain America. Or maybe Iron Man? I mean, the Hulk movies came out before, but I don't know if any of those are actually a part of the actual story-"
The werewolf would have laughed at the dumbstruck look on her friends face if she wasn't just as surprised at the sudden outburst. However, she did smile a bit as Ghoulia seemed to purposefully move a little closer to Ed, who seemed lost within his own ramblings. Least she had someone to talk to about it now.
"-not to mention how everyone doesn't seem to like Thor now. I mean, so what, some pretty big stuff happened to him, of course he's not going to be 100 percent okay! But anyway, I..." He trailed off and stared into space, blinking quickly. "I probably should have asked about monster comics first. Sorry about that."
"It's fine. It sounds like you at least know what you're talking about. Though, I have a few series you might like as well." She paused for a second before thinking of something. "Though, if you have all of that to say about the MCU, what about DCU?"
Ed smiled nervously, looking around carefully. "At the risk of being hounded by DC fans for the rest of this fic, I'll just say they're trying their best with what they have."
Ghoulia, despite her confusion, just decided to shrug. "I'll take your word for it."
"You sure that will amount to much?"
The trio jumped, realizing that they made it to the entrance of the Maul. Clawdeen growled instinctually, ears at attention, while Ghoulia rolled her eyes at the display. Looking forward, she gave a simple greeting. "It's good to see you, Cleo."
Ed's smile became a little strained as the Egyptian seemed to look him over before replying in a calm tone.
"Likewise."
[LINE BREAK HERE]
The four legends, despite coming from very different backgrounds and having very different experiences in life, could agree on one thing at the moment.
These guys were really weird.
"Come on, Sockhead, just put on the chicken hat! He said he'd do it half off if you do!"
"No! I at least have some decency!"
"That's a lie and you know it!"
None of the girls necessarily knew what they were trying to get a discount for, but it seemed like it wasn't going to work, judging the boy's argument. Eddy waved around the chicken hat angrily, while Double D refused to even look at it. They didn't even seem to notice the stares brought their way.
"God, you're impossible to work with sometimes." Eddy turned away from the boy and walked towards the girls. He stopped first and slowly held up the chicken hat to them, eyebrow raised.
"Not a chance in hell." Cerise responded.
"Fair enough." The short boy deflated and tossed the hat behind him carelessly, probably onto some poor pedestrian. "Guess I was kind of pushing it since we talked that guy into giving us a free map."
"Still not sure how you managed to do that." Raven thought it was pretty funny to watch, even though she thought that poor ogre would remain confused for hours. It was still a sight to behold. "Though, I'd probably avoid doing that too much. People do need to make money around here."
"She's got a point, Eddy." Double D said, coming up behind his friend. "Save the negotiations for later when we'll need it. We do need to gather some suppliers for our workplace if Ed happens to acquire one today."
"Fine. But I think we should probably split to cover more ground." Eddy looked around the marketplace, noting all the stalls. "Gives us more room to operate at the very least."
"Raven and I can help you with some of things." Apple grabbed her roommates' arm, unaware of the uncomfortable look she got from Raven. "I'm sure Cerise and Maddie would be glad to help Double D in his own pursuits."
Before Cerise could bring up her own grievances, Maddie grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the hatted boy. "Sounds like a hat-tastic idea! I've been dying for some screen time."
"Wait, shouldn't we try to figure out what we need to look for first?" Double D was ignored as Maddie grabbed his arm as well, pulling him away. She muttered something about the author needing to enforce more 'character interaction,' which only served to confuse him. "Eddy?!"
"Godspeed, Sockhead. I barely knew ye." Eddy saluted his panicking friend. Double D, alone with two girls, was probably going to be a disaster. At least he had him and Ed as a buffer, but now he was alone. He honestly couldn't wait for the story he'd hear after he got back.
For now, though, he was going to have to deal with Princess alone. At least he had Raven as a buffer.
Note to self; come up with a nickname for Raven.
"Alright!" Apple clapped at her hands. "Depending on what you're looking for, there are several places-"
"Hey, hey, hey, wait." He was getting tired of this trend. "You've been a great help and all, but you've been taking the lead the entire time and running off ahead. It's getting a little annoying."
"Oh," The princess paused for a second. "I didn't realize. I'm sorry. I guess I get a little carried away and expect people to always listen to me."
Eddy raised an eyebrow at that. "Yeah, that doesn't send out weird vibes at all." He looked to Raven. "Any idea where we should go? I personally want to learn about magical artifacts."
The girl in black shrugged, pointing away in ahead of them. "I usually get my stuff from this one girl. Has a family that deals in all types. Some of them are cursed though, if you're all right with that."
That was perfect, really, Eddy thought to himself. His friends needed to get used to enchanted stuff along with general magical items since it would be a big boon for their business. Not to mention some would be perfect for coming up with a disguise. How it would help would be hard to determine until they knew what this place had to offer, but it was worth.
Though, involuntarily, the short boy felt a chill as he remembered the ring of a telephone come to mind. "I'll manage." He turned to Apple. "That good with you, Princess?"
Apple didn't look too sure, but she simply shrugged. "It might be nice to go to a new place."
"Good." Eddy started to walk in the direction Raven pointed. Raven had to start up to get ahead of him, Apple deciding to fall in line behind the boy.
The silence was surprisingly pervasive as the three moved forward, which bothered Eddy if he was being honest. Awkward silences weren't exactly his forte. Ed was better at breaking those since he barely had to put any thought into it. Just say the insane thing, get some stares, then conversation picked up.
Wait, he had the perfect conversation starter!
"Either of you know who the 'Evil Queen' is?"
He instantly regretted it as he saw Raven instantly stiffen and Apple jump from the corner of his eye. God, if that was the thing that got him caught, Sockhead would kill him.
"Nobody." Raven said quickly. She didn't bother looking behind her, but Eddy noted the robotic movements her limbs as she attempted to move forward with faux nonchalance. And failing, he might add.
"Um," Apple seemed to move forward beside Eddy, raising an eyebrow at Ravens back. "I wouldn't exactly call the woman that almost took over all of Ever After a nobody."
And, he stepped on a conversational landmine. Fantastic.
"Look, can we not talk about her?" Raven sent quick look that conveyed pure annoyance. "She was imprisoned into the mirror dimension and now she can't harm anyone else. No reason to talk about her anymore."
"Hey," Eddy interrupted, stopping the incoming argument before it could truly begin. "I just wanted to know. Like I said, my parents kept some things private and I'm desperately trying to catch-up. I heard about it in the library and I figured at least one of you would know about it."
The two winced at that, causing them to stay silent, not exactly bothering to look at each other. The silence, having gone for nearly a minute, was ended by Raven sighing deeply. "Sorry. That's more than fair. Give him a history lesson, Apple."
"Ok." Said princess replied hesitantly but cleared her throat. She frowned slightly. "The Evil Queen was a very divisive figure within the community some years ago. While she played her role extremely well, with a natural ability no other evil queen had, she was also known for going a little above and beyond that role."
"You mean attempting to take over Ever After and Wonderland under an iron fist." Raven sounded downtrodden at this. "She practically made sure to take over any kingdom she came across. Kind of made it hard to make friends when they thought your mom would become their supreme overlord one day."
"Wait." Eddy narrowed his eyes and looked at her. "She was your mom?!"
The two didn't seem to know what to say to this, both staring at him like he'd grown a second head (which as far as he knew, was completely possible here). Until Raven started to laugh uproariously.
Eddy could feel his face going red, giving a glare to both of them after Apple started to giggle as well. "Come on, how was I supposed to know?! It's not like you're calling her by her name or anything!"
"We are!" Raven stifled her laughter enough to let that out. "Why do you think my last name is 'Queen,'?"
The boy blinked at her slowly, trying to wrap his head around one particular fact. "So, someone named a kid 'Evil?' Geez, a little heavy handed there, don'cha think?"
Apple giggles softened as she shook her head. "Maybe so, but she can't say she lived up to it." As her laughter died down, her smile turned to a contemplative frown. "I still don't understand why she was never satisfied with simply living up to her story. My mother said she worked perfectly as the evil queen and the story ended with her Happily Ever After."
Raven chuckles turned a little bitter. She sighed. "She was never really satisfied. With anything."
Eddy shrunk at the bitter tone that Raven took, frowning deeply. He shrugged, putting on a casual smile as he walked past the two. "Can't be that good if she got caught." This caused another fit of startled laughter to come from Raven, causing her smile to be just a tiny bit more genuine. "Look, let's just head to the items shop. Forget I asked anything. I'll look up everything else on the internet. I mean, it's there for a reason."
Raven seemed to relax at the change in topic and sent a grateful smile to Eddy. "Yeah. It's not far from here, so I'll be sure to get you some discounts if you buy anything there."
"Definitely appreciate it." He nodded and they started to move again. Though, he couldn't help but think over what Apple said one final time.
My mother said she worked perfectly as the evil queen.
He sent a quick look Apple's way, eyes narrowing a bit. She and Raven were roommates, right? And she was the daughter of Snow White, the Evil Queens nemesis? They didn't really act like they were life-long enemies or anything. They weren't friends either, but that was a given.
...Was White trying to make sure her story stuck to the letter by checking up on dear old Raven?
Eddy felt his eyes narrow as he felt just a little respect (and a ton of suspicion) slip in.
Clever girl. A very clever girl.
[LINE BREAK HERE]
Double D wasn't exactly sure what he had signed himself up for but debating the merits of considering a tomato a fruit or a vegetable was not it. It was keeping everyone occupied while they headed to the nearest technology/computer store, but he was a little surprised when they started to argue about it like typical teenagers.
Though, he couldn't say it wasn't a somewhat interesting debate considering he hadn't expected either girl's argument.
"I mean, it's accepted as a vegetable. You wouldn't put them in fruit salad, right?" Cerise said casually, sipping on her milkshake. She'd taken up the side of social acceptance and just simply sticking with the commonly accepted idea.
Maddie, surprisingly, went with facts and figures.
"But it starts out as a flower." Maddie responded. "It even has seeds in it, making it a fruit. Even in Wonderland it's considered a fruit, especially compared to inedible or murderous plants we call fruits." She wasn't stating it matter-of-factly, or even argumentatively, she was simply just participating in the conversation. It would have been easier to take her seriously if she wasn't shifting through her hat, pulling out whatever object she was looking for. "It has to be around here somewhere..."
It reminded Double D of bickering with Eddy or Ed, except it was a lot more polite.
"Hey, Double D, got any opinion on this?" Cerise asked, finishing off the rest of her shake and throwing it in the garbage. After it landed in the bin, she gave him a questioning look. "Usually we have Raven settle this, but she isn't here."
"Yes!" Maddie moved her arm around the back of Double D's neck and pulled him down to eye level. "Settle this for us, New Raven! Give your final verdict."
"Uh," The boy blinked at the hyper girl slowly, unsure how he was dragged into the conversation. He made a quick reply. "By all counts, Maddie is correct."
Cerise raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
"Yes." Double D untangled himself from the pink girls grasp and stood up straight. Analytical brain in overdrive, he thought it over. "Quite honestly, the tomato scientifically has all the criteria to be considered a fruit. Like Ms. Hatter, tomatoes are usually flowers grown above ground and have seeds. Vegetables are grown underground usually, pretty much considered the roots of most plants."
He could see Cerise nodding along, but her attention was beginning to wane. Double D felt and eyebrow twitch upwards. Couldn't have that now, could he?
"Of course," He smiled, but hid it before it could become a smirk. "Vegetables are technically not a real thing when it comes to botanical science."
Cerise seemed to stop and blink at him, along with earning a curious, amused glance from Maddie. "Excuse me?" The hooded girl asked, looking put out.
Double D shrugged and necessarily didn't meet her eye. "Vegetables is a term that usually deals in food and is primarily a culinary term. There's no real connection to botany, in all respects."
He couldn't help but smugly feel the confusion radiate from the hooded girl, though he saw Maddie light up a bit.
"Vegetable are a social construct! I knew it!" The girl laughed to herself as the other two looked at her in baffled amusement, watching her skip along. When she suddenly stopped and pulled off her hat and reached into it, they paused to hear the rattle of various items shifting about in there.
"I'm still not sure how you're able to do that." Double D watched as Maddie meticulously moved something within the confines of her hat. He felt an eye twitch. "Then again, magic is a very confusing topic overall."
Cerise snorted. "Yeah, trust me, it only gets more confusing from here. It powers everything around here, though, so it's something you might have to get used to."
"She's got a point." She pulled out what he believed to be a toy rabbit, something which she casually dropped back in. "Magic is a way of life. Who knows, maybe one of your friends will start messing with magic."
Double D felt his eye twitch once again, this time letting out a fearful squeak. He couldn't help but picture Eddy surrounded by blue flames, laughing manically. "Well, that's going to be in my nightmare tonight."
The two girls laughed, causing him to blush. Though, Cerise did give him a good-natured slug on the arm, still chuckling to herself. "Look," She started, giving him a once over. "I'm sure you'll get used to it pretty quickly. Your friend there got used to Apple fawning over all of us and Raven almost blowing up a science textbook, something tells me you'll get used to magic pretty quickly."
"It's true! Magic in Wonderland is quite different compared to Ever After magic. The same goes for certain types of magic Monsters use." Maddie picked out a trio of colorful balls, which she launched up into the air. She put her hat back up on her head before catching each one and started to juggle them.
"It was hard to figure out the difference between each one, but knowing them later helped balance things out perfectly" She kicked each ball up in the air before turning to look at the other two, pulling off her hat and catching them with it. "Until then, you'll have to adapt."
"Besides," Cerise added, elbowing the boy with smirk on her face. "If it gets too weird for you, think of it like this; magic is a social construct."
Double D felt some of his worries soothed. Though, he would certainly take his time studying the whole thing, he at least would plan to get used to it.
He had to if he wanted to survive.
"I'll try to think of it that way." He said, giving a nervous, but placated smile. God, this was a strange conversation.
Enjoyable though.
As the conversation dulled into a comfortable silence, ever reaching close to the local tech store, Maddie stopped suddenly, looking up into the air pensively.
"If tomato is considered a fruit, does that make ketchup a smoothie."
The other two groaned loudly.
[LINE BREAK HERE]
Ed knew he wasn't the brightest bulb and would never pretend to be.
However, living with a near genius like Double D and a scam artist like Eddy did teach him when something was an obvious con.
"I highly doubt that this is safe." He said, kicking at the wooden house in front of him. It was built high and narrow, even though it was pretty close to the border. "We kinda need something that won't burn. And doesn't look like it has bugs in it, even if they are cool looking." He noted the obvious bites within the wood. It looked way too big to be simple termites.
"There's not exactly a prime selection here." Cleo De Nile was typing away at her phone furiously, looking through any remaining properties. "Not a lot of people are willing to work near the border on either side, so not a lot of upkeep."
Cleo made a note that Ed maybe wasn't as dumb as she initially thought. He'd actually been pretty judicious when looking for a workshop, considering she'd thought that he'd be satisfied by anything. Ghoulia said he had some criteria that his friends set up, so maybe that was it.
"Yeah, well, there has be one place that isn't ready to fall apart." Ghoulia stated nonchalantly, looking over the structure herself. "I do have to say, it sounds like your friends would have plenty of work renovating the surrounding buildings."
"Or destroying them." Ed laughed as he walked away closer towards the border. "That's our specialty."
"Great, just what we need, a property risk." Cleo shook her head. She could hear some light snickering coming from Clawdeen, causing her to turn back roughly. "Any comment you'd like to make, Wolf."
"None." The werewolf moved past the mummy, clicking on here phone. "Just saw something on my iCoffin. Moving on."
The undead girl let out a frustrated growl before moving ahead, catching up with her. Ed and Ghoulia, a little way ahead of them, noticed the two about to start an upcoming argument. Ed raised an eyebrow and sent a look the zombie's way.
"Are they always like this?" He jerked his head at the two, though did his best not to look behind him. Ghoulia sighed, shoulders drooping.
"Not always." She signed, frown growing on her face. "They used to be pretty good friends up until a little while ago. Of course, you probably can't tell due to their childish behavior."
Ed quickly looked back to notice the werewolf and the mummy arguing in a quiet, but vicious fashion. "Kinda reminds me of my friends arguing to be honest." He whispered conspiratorially to the zombie. This earned him a snicker.
"I wouldn't necessarily say that to Cleo's face. She might assume you're comparing her to Eddy."
"She'd be the one saying it, not me."
Ghoulia felt her mood improve a little bit as Ed gave a goofy grin. Her face was still set in a frown, however.
"Any reason why they started fighting like this?"
The question caused her to jump- well, as much as she could- and quickly look behind her. When she noticed that neither ghoul had stirred, she gave him a sideways glance. "You sure you want to know?"
"Yeah." Ed said, not really getting the serious tone in her voice.
She sighed softly before mulling it over. The zombie looked over the boy carefully before asking a question. "You wouldn't happen to have a sibling, correct?"
There was a small dip in his smile, something she filed for later. However, his small came back, if only slightly strained. "Yeah. Little sister. Still living with Mom and Dad right now."
She nodded, deciding not to remark on the clipped language. "Clawdeen has several siblings. One of them is Clawd, her older brother. A nice monster, if I say so myself. You two would get along."
"That's good." Ed said, smile becoming genuine once again.
"Up until a couple of months ago, he and Cleo had been dating for a while. No one knew why they were together, but everyone agreed that they were a cute couple for a while."
"That's also good."
Ghoulia shook her head. "Then, for reasons nobody knew, they decided to break up."
Ed winced. "That's bad."*
"The break-up was honestly the least worrying thing about the situation to be completely honest." The zombie continued, not really hearing Ed. "It was honestly the most mature one you could expect out of a high school relationship. It probably would have fizzled out and everyone would've forgotten about it."
"And?" Ed's question wasn't impatient, though it was expectant.
"Cleo started to date someone else a week later."
Ed winced pretty hard at that, letting out a slight groan. "That really had to hurt. Poor Clawd."
"Actually, he took it pretty well. Supported their relationship instantly and without a problem. Deuce Gorgon (the guy) are actually good friends. It was almost like he knew." Ghoulia thought back to the moment, remembering someone else's reaction. "It was Clawdeen that was hurt by it. Werewolves hate disloyalty."
"Huh." He stared off into space for a few seconds, digesting it all. He eventually just shook his head. "I'd suggest waiting for now. Seen a couple of bad fights myself and they'll work things out eventually."
The zombie raised an eyebrow. "You sound pretty confident about that."
"Trust me." He let a frown cross his face slowly, looking up into the air with a pensive face. "Eddy and Double D have their own share of fights. One time, me and Eddy did a pretty bad prank that made Double D scared out of his mind and they got into an argument. Punched each other pretty hard too." The memory played out in his mind, word for word. "They made up not long after, but if it was any worse, we wouldn't still be friends. I'm sure something will happen with those two."
Ghoulia stayed silent, thinking carefully. She supposed he had some merit, but it had been months already. They would've gotten over things by now right. In the end, she just sighed and gave him a look. "You're certainly smarter than you pretend to be, aren't you?"
"Kinda. I suck at math and history though." Ed replied seriously. This caused him to earn a laugh, which he smiled at. Looks like he got her out of her funk.
Their conversation was interrupted as Cleo moved past them, still on her iCoffin. "Sorry to bother you two, but I think I may have found something. Just take a left here and we should be there."
Ed nodded along and moved ahead. Making the turn, he stopped and looked at something within the distance, tilting his head to the side. He looked thoughtful, adding something up in head. As the ghouls caught up to him, he looked to Cleo.
"You think I can get a look inside?"
[LINE BREAK HERE]
"You sure the place is good, Ed? I mean, it looks fine, but..." Eddy scrolled through the pictures on Ed's iCoffin, scrutinizing them carefully. The place didn't look half bad, but that didn't mean there wasn't anything under the surface.
"Of course, it's fine. I mean, doesn't it look cool!?" He pointed at some of the photos in it. "I mean, we'd normally have to buy this stuff separately, and it's all on the border. I got what you asked for!"
"That is true, Eddy." Double D flicked through the pictures on his own iCoffin. He was impressed at what their friend at found and would happily dive into within the next few days. "We'll make sure to check everything first, but I think we lucked out when it comes to some of the amenities it provides."
"Fine." Eddy clicked off the photo's section and gave the phone back to Ed. "Least we crossed some stuff off our list. Any idea on what you guys want for clothes?"
"Clawdeen said to send in designs whenever we can, that way she can get started as soon as possible." Double D put down his own phone and sighed. "A very productive, if somewhat eventful, day. We'll most likely have plenty of those in the near future."
"I think we did pretty good." Ed laid on his back, looking at the ceiling. "I mean, we made some awesome friends too! Never really thought we could do that."
"Yeah, that isn't sad at all." Edd groaned, joining Ed as he laid down on the bed. "I still don't trust that Apple girl. Who the heck is that nice without an ulterior motive, anyway? And not to mention Queenie."
"Well, you'll just have to get over it, old chum. They've helped us plenty so far, so the least we can do is be friendly at every opportunity." Double D laid down on the opposite bed as well. He felt a little tired at all of the walking around and making deals downtown. He'd have to do the same in New Salem too, something he didn't look forward to. "We've still got word to do as well. Remember, we now have to come up with a monster form for Ed at some point."
"We'll put it on the top of the list." The short Ed boy waved off the concern. He yawned, as if to exaggerate his next point. "I'd say that we did plenty tonight. I just want to go to sleep."
"Sounds good." Ed grabbed a pillow and headed straight for the couch. "Goodnight guys. See ya' tomorrow."
The other boys exchanged their own good nights, moving under the covers. After things were settled and the boys were comfortable, Eddy opened his eyes.
"Hey guys?"
"Yes, Eddy?" Double D said tiredly.
"How do you feel about me learning magic?"
Double D would fail to get any sleep that night.