A/N: Re-branded the story and fixed up some previous chapters. It's more in line with what I'm going for now.


Filia would have really liked to explore Little Innsmouth. The crowded, twisting boardwalks lit by jellyfish lanterns looked surreal, to say nothing of the fish-folk running the warmly lit restaurants and shops that came out of the water to meet the masses of tourists, but Nadia kept pulling her along.

"I get it, you think this place is cute, but we can go window shopping when the heat's died down." She smiled as she pulled Filia along by the hand. "Be a shame to save you from all that only for some schmuck in that crowd to shake you while we're in line for noodles. Give it a few days and you'll be safe." Filia stumbled along as best she could through dark back alleys and old, rotting walkways, but the delicious smells and glimpses of crowds having wonderful evenings made her wish she could put this whole, 'hiding out from the mob' thing on hold so she could have some fun that didn't involve her nearly dying.

"What makes you so sure the Medici will give up, fuzzball?" Samson asked.

"Remember the Neon Murders a few years back?"

"What? Yeah, it was all over the news. Some smugglers had their sorry hides pinned to some signs. What about it?"

"The reporting was a little sparse on the details. Turns out, a lot of them had personal ties to the Medici's, weird eh? And if that wasn't an interesting enough coincidence, they were all pinned to signs along the border of Little Innsmouth! Crazy, crazy coincidence."

Filia felt her hand in Fortune's grip becoming sweaty. "I don't fully know what you guys are talking about, but I don't think I like what you're implying, Nadia."

"It's war on these streets, kid." Samson said for her, "People don't always got the luxury of playing nice."

"You're hairpiece is right you know." Nadia said, "Back when I was with The Fishbone gang, robbing mobsters and ripping off jackasses, we always worked overtime to make sure people didn't get hurt, even if they deserved it, but all that did was make us easier to catch." Nadia's gaze became unfocused for a brief moment before returning to Filia's, "Anyways, since I've got some experience beating up weirdos, I'd be happy to show you some moves if you two stick around. I'm not always gonna be there to bail you two out, you know."

"Heh, thanks for the offer but we'll get by, kitty." Samson scoffed, but while Nadia shrugged and kept walking, Filia gave a sharp tug on her own hair.

"OW!" They both winced. Nadia looked back.

"We're fine." Filia said, but when Nadia turned back around she whispered angrily, "What are you doing Samson? We nearly died in that last fight! Take her up on her offer!"

"Wow, so much for your stint at pacifism!"

"It's not pacifism, its pragmatism! I don't plan on stringing people up, but we clearly need to be able to defend ourselves!"

"I already know how to defend us, and I don't need a refresher course from some random kid! You know how long I've been fighting, kid? Since before you- no! Your parents' parents' parents were born!"

"Yeah and you're old, crappy fighting nearly got us killed back there!"

"W-well, if you had just left when I told you back in Maplecrest-"

"Ladies! Ladies," Nadia said as she came to a stop, "I understand the urge to fight over me-ow," Her grin looked too wide for her face, "but we're already here, so maybe put this discussion on paws so you can make a good first in-purr-ession?"

"...That was actually painful." Samson said.

"Absolutely atrocious." Filia said.

Nadia shrugged and rolled her eyes, grin not leaving as she threw open the back door of a restaurant in front of the water and on the bottom floor of a thin three story. The restaurant was clearly in the middle of rush hour as pots boiled and meats simmered, but Filia could only see two dagonian employees in the entire room; one, a short azure skinned girl with a prominent yellow fin on her head wearing an apron, and the second was so, so much shorter, that all filia could see of them was the little white chef hat bobbing up and down on their head over the counter.

"Honey, I'm home!" Nadia called out to the room, "and check out what I dragged in this time!"

"Nadia! You huge jerk!" The dagonian girl dropped the platters of fresh cooked meals she was holding with a loud clang as she sprinted over and hugged Nadia, the large, yellow fin on her head tickling Nadia's nose as she nuzzled her taller friend's neck. "I was so worried! You ran off after saying something about gunshots and pop music, are you okay? You didn't-"

"Minnet! Again with the plates?! Do you think they grow on trees?"A deep voice boomed through the kitchen making Filia flinch as she expected a large, third person to enter the room, but instead the little hat bobbed its way around the counter to reveal a very broad, catfish-faced dagonian. Minnet quickly bowed and apologized. "And Fortune! What did I tell you about distracting her when she should be working!?" Despite his harsh tone, there was a large grin on his face as he waddled up to Nadia, at least Filia thought it was a grin. He was the most fishlike dagonian she'd seen yet and making out what was on his face wasn't easy, "How would you feel if me and Minnet showed up next time you were fighting and started making a racket? We could bring cameras and take pictures while yelling old memes and crappy jokes, huh!? Huh!?" He punctuated each 'huh?' with a poke into Nadia's side from the large fork he was holding.

"Honestly, that sounds great Yu-Wan. You guys could sell food to the crowd and my new find could throw on something skimpy and twirl a sign for you guys."

The two followed Nadia's thumb to see Filia standing uncomfortably in the door.

"Uh, hello everyone. I'm uh, pleased to meet you. I think my hair called ahead and said I was coming? Funny, uh this robot was dancing at me and shooting all these bullets and I got hit in the head, but I'm all better now because I can heal really fast like one of those video game guys and, so, uh..." Minnet shuffled behind Nadia as Filia rambled and at that point Filia just kind of shut down. She realized how stupid this all sounded and seeing the looks everyone was giving her made Filia kind of want to just curl up in a ball.

"...Your hair called ahead?" Yu-wan asked.

"Uh… Y-yeah, do you-"

"Ha! Ha! You're a friend of Fortune alright. That's about the shittiest pun I've heard all week, and she's given me some doozies." Filia still wasn't sure if that smile was real or that laugh was genuine, but as he waddled forward and held up a webbed hand for a handshake she felt a wave of relief, but before she could take it, Samson reached out and began working the dagonian's arm like a water spigot.

"Damn! What a relief it is to see you again ol pal! After all the bullshit that happened tonight its a relief to see a friendly face, Haha..! Why are you looking at me like that?"

Minnet let out a small "Eep!" ducking behind Nadia even more so while Yu-wan's eyes went wide. His grin finally faded and while he didn't pull back from the handshake, the caution in his voice was palpable.

"So, you're the one who called me, ranting about the Meridian War and favors before hanging up, correct?"

"Wh- What?" Samson was taken aback. "Yeah, how many other talking mullets saved your ass in the war Yu-Wan?"

"You were a mullet back then, Samson?" Nadia asked with a grin.

"Quiet." Samson said.

"Samson… That name I remember." Yu Wan stumbled back as if the name slapped him across the face. Minnet ran over and scooted a short stool under him before he collapsed, "Samson… Yes, now I remember. It's just… do you know how long it's been, Samson?"

"Eh, I lost track of time when I got that dog as a host. Dog years, you know? But what's it matter!? Your ol' pal's back! Here to bum off you for a few days just like good old times, right?!"

"Hehe… Right, old times." The massive smile came back to his fish face for a moment, but left again as he noticed some of the meat was burning, "Ah, crap! We can catch up later. Fortune, go show them the loft where they'll be sleeping." He called out as he stood up on the stool, and with frightening speed and precision, launched the burnt steaks across the room and into the trash while throwing new ones on with his free hand.

"Wait, do you mean the loft where I sleep?" Nadia asked.

"Nooo, the second loft under our second roof." He did a sideways jump onto another stool and began cutting and rolling sushi with a godlike speed, "Just get out of my workspace! When we close in a few hours you can have whatever you like on the house, but until then, out!"

"Well," Nadia said as she slipped her arms around both Minnet and Filia, "looks like us three-"

"Four." Samson said.

"four get to have ourselves a slumber party!"

"Uhh," Minnet stuttered looking at the spikey teeth on top of Filia's head, "I have to, uh-"

"She has to work!" Yu Wan called.

"I have to work…" Minnet slipped out of Nadia's arm with a quiet, "Sorry…" and hastily moved to start sweeping up the plates she broke earlier.

"Her loss." Nadia said, dragging Filia up to the loft.