Waiting For A Customer

[fatima]

"Dood!"
"Dood!"
"Catchit, Bra!"

The Stooge Squad played "catch the snowball" while Grotto leaned against a sign that says "For Prinnies". Thinking that the costume was previously pointless, "he" let "his" wings spread out and relax as "he" crossed his arms.

It was still hard to tell if the knight was male or female with the front plate, but now she hopped to use some of the cash she saved up in order to free a few Prinnies.

[Prinny Papius]

The sounds of something scraping through snow could be heard from quite a bit away from the group of four, as if some one or something was closing in on them. Then from around a tree came a grey Prinny trudging through the snow and started heading towards them.

“So…”

He moved up close to what looked like the leader of the group.

“Were you the one that put up that note in Laharl’s castle dood?”

[fatima]

The three Prinnies paused a moment from their snowball catching. The snowball landed on the biggest one's head as the angelic knight smiled.

"That's right! I'm Grotto! I'm here to help set the Prinnies free from their long work hours." Grotto replied.

"Dood... you sure it's okay to be outside your castle?" Mike asked. "Don't wanna get you in trouble if yer looking for a way out, dood!"

[Prinny Papius]

He chuckled lightly as he stuck his hands in his pouch and then pulled out his large machete’s and held them threateningly as most Prinnies did, he then threateningly stared down the angel, the obvious leader of the group.

“Oh I’m not looking for a way out, and if I hadn’t ripped up that note Master Etna would have given me to you for free just to get rid of me, maybe would have even paid you, so I am here to tell you to stay away from Laharl’s castle or else dood!”

He still had machete’s primed and ready to attack, not at all wavering in his stance.

[fatima]

"Huh?"

Grotto was taken aback. Why would this Prinny want to stick around this place? The Stooge Trio started sweating bullets themselves, backing away from the gray Prinny slowly, staying around their leader.

"D... D... dood? Why do ya wanna stay there?" Tike whined.

"I dunno, dood... I guess he doesn't wanna work at all. Why else would his master even think to give him up for free, dood?" Mike replied.

"H... He's serious about b...being lazy!" Tike stammered.

Grotto paused from being shocked and folded "his" arms.

"Well, I'm not going to let one bum Prinny get in the way of my mission. There might be others at that castle who might want to be free." Grotto said. "But why all the fuss? Isn't life lousy for you down here?"

[Prinny Papius]

He didn’t have to answer their questions, or at least he felt he didn’t have to answer to anything, but he did, since they seemed generally concerned for his well being as a Prinny.

“If you must know dood… Even the first second I was turned into a Prinny, it was already old news, cursed to wander the Netherworld you were placed in until you made up for your sins… Well as a human I willingly committed those sins which got me a one way ticket to the Home Every Loser Loathes as a cursed human, to live a life of unlimited tortures, never dying of age. But there was one way out of that after I lost everything I cared about there…I could still be physically killed and so I let myself be killed, and here I arrived. Dood.”

There was a true hint of despair and sadness when he talked about losing everything he cared about, all of which he tried to hide.

“Work to earn money to pay back what you did, I don’t want to pay back what I did, I don’t want to be reincarnated, I just want to live this cruddy life for eternity or until it all ends, so I don’t do my work, I don’t follow orders, I pretty much do nothing but relax, all to keep me away from starting all over again… Having that slight chance to get everything you needed to have, not what I wanted to have, just lose it all again. That’s why I don’t want to go to the Red Moon, and that’s why you’ll stay away from the Castle dood. I don't care how badly I am treated, because I deserve it all one thousand fold for what I did. ...Dood.”

[fatima]

Grotto listened intently to the story of the Prinny and sighed, bowing "his" head for a moment. It would be hard talking to someone who couldn't forgive himself.

"So you messed up... I believe in second chances and forgiveness, but life is you're party and you can fry if you want to. If you really don't want a second chance, there is nothing I can do to stop you... however, I can't let you forsake the others at the castle who might not feel the same way."

Grotto unsheathed his sword as the Stooge Squad slowly backed away from "him"

"D... Dood, you're not gonna-" Mike asked.

"Hey, he's standing up for what he believes in. Doing acts of good for free also brings him closer to redemption. I'm not gonna deny him that."

[Prinny Papius]

A sweat bead ran down the side of his head, and he not knowing what to do at this point. He had hoped that the person who put that sign up wasn’t an experienced fighter and it seemed his luck had run out.

“I’m not kidding; I will take you out…”

His flippers were shaking lightly and he took five steps running forward and slowing to a stop and drooping down.

“Who am I kidding, I can’t clean, I can’t cook, and I can’t fight…I always left that up to Rakai, he was always there to protect me and now I have nothing but a tyrant telling me what to do.”

He dropped his machetes and sat down.

“I guess there’s nothing stopping you now, and now I’m going to be forced to do my work under a watchful eye...”

[fatima]

"Hey... hey hey hey..." Grotto replied, sheathing "his" sword.

"Listen. I'll admit that I have no idea what kind of life you went through ... but if you keep talking crap like that, you'll never get a break from the hell you've been in. Maybe if you start taking some authority around you're job, your master will notice and you'll get some respect. Hey... if you want to stick around here, that's you're call. But honestly? How do you know that the next life is going to be as bad as you're last one? One way or another, the reaper is going to come for you... you might as well get some honest respect while you're here."

The leader of the Stooge Squad, Mike, approached the gray Prinny.

"Hey, dood. I'll admit that us Celestian Prinnies got it easier than you all, dood. But that doesn't mean yer worthless! I'm looking forward to getting out of this stupid penguin suit! In the meantime, I hang with my buddy who's trying to make a difference. The whole tyrant thing sucks, dood... and you probably had it well with yer old master."

"H... Hey, waitaminute, dood! Did he say the Home that Every Loser Loathes? Didn't that freaky guy with the rusted sword and mask mention something about that?" Tike asked.

[Prinny Papius]

His head popped up suddenly and he looked over to the Prinny that had said something about a big sword and masked man after mentioning H.E.L.L, but that couldn’t be, it was impossible…

“Are you saying you saw a guy with a big sword and a scary mask dood?”

He stood up and quickly rushed over to them.

“Was the mask all like…OOoOOOooO, with a creepy smile on it, not allowing you to see his eyes from the darkness of the mask. And his sword, was it bigger than he was? Are you saying you saw Rakai?”

If there was every a spark of excitement in the eyes of a Prinny it was definitely in this Prinny’s eyes.