Expectations When Expecting

Book 3, Chapter 11

Yuu held her breath as she watched Azul, not quite liking the smirk painted on the boy's face as he began to set the terms.

"I bid you pilfer a certain photograph from the Atlantica Memorial Museum in the Coral Sea before the sun sets on the third day from now."

"You want us to steal a piece of art?!" Jack exclaimed, shocked. Yuu noticed a strange look flash across Jade's face, making her suspicious.

"No! No, not a piece of art." Azul exclaimed, sighing. "It's a photo. One commemorating a visit to the museum from Prince Rielé, taken ten years ago."

"Gonna need more detail than that." Jack retorted, tensing slightly.

"Please." Azul rolled his eyes. "It's a photo panel placed right near the museum entrance. It has no historic value whatsoever. Additionally," Azul stated. "Borrowing it would not cause any particular fuss."

"Yeah? Mhmm, lil' sus, babe. And... What is this Majora's Mask deadline, dude?" Yuu snapped back, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

"It's only three days. Would you prefer I give you less time, Mister Yuu?"

"Nope, three days is fine. Granted, it would have been better if you'd given me a less cliche time scale. Say, a week?"

"Now, that's making it far too easy, and besides. I'm sure you'd like to return to your dorm as soon as possible?"

"... Dammit. I got smooth talked. Yeah."

"Why do ya want that picture anyway?" Grim chimed in, shaking the excess water from his adventures washing the dishes out of his fur, making Yuu sputter slightly, waving the water away.

"What's the point of a challenge if it's not challenging?" Azul shrugged. "If I were to concoct a trifling errand, I would simply be giving away my end of it, wouldn't I? I'm not running a charity here."

"The Atlantica Memorial Museum is a renowned tourist attraction that houses a good twenty different cultural artifacts." Jade added from behind Yuu, having slunk closer to Yuu with his brother. "That includes the Silver Hair Comb, a Coral Sea national treasure, and the Mermaid Princess's Prized Cork Openers, among others. We're not asking you to find a speck of gold dust on the seabed here."

Floyd chirped in amusement as he recognized the name of the museum, clearly having checked into the conversation. "Oh, hey, didn't we go there on an elementary school field trip once?"

The group proceeded to ignore Floyd's outburst, much to the tall brute's annoyance. Thankfully, it wasn't enough to make him want to enact revenge.

Jack huffed, his ears up and on full alert as he leaned toward Azul. "Hold on. The nation of the Coral Sea is at the bottom of the ocean, right? It's not exactly hospitable to land mammals like us with no fins or gills." The wolf reasoned, making a very clear attempt to protect Yuu from her own reckless stupidity.

"I think you're askin' too much here."

Yuu gave a nod. "He's right. I dunno about you, but breathing underwater without any gear would, to put it nicely, screw us all over."

"Yeah!" Grim trilled, hopping onto the table. "What he said!" Grim's eyes narrowed as his forked tail thrashed in agitation. "I can't breathe underwater, y'know!"

"Hmm. That sounds like a 'you' problem..." Azul said, seemingly uninterested before noticing how Yuu began to clench her fist. "... is what I would normally say, but fear not. I will provide you with our very own magic potions. They'll enable you to breathe underwater."

Yuu's hand relaxed as she glared at Azul. The boy took this as an invitation to pull out a glowing green seashell.

"Once upon a time, when a poor little mermaid princess fell in love with a human, the Sea Witch was kind enough to grant her legs to walk upon the earth." Azul detailed, his eyes gleaming in the slight green glow of the shell.