[☕] Fighting Grim a second time had been far easier than the first time around, even though the kid wouldn’t even know that, given the fact he couldn’t remember anything from his past. As far as he knew, he always worked for the Devil and that was that. The look on the green dragon’s face when he appeared before him had been priceless. The large creature was relieved to see him, yet worried at the same time. He had asked him where he had been since he hadn’t seen him in so long.
That had quickly changed when Cuphead had told him he had come to take him to his boss. The dragon had been horrified at the news, but the kid didn’t think much of it. Everyone normally was when he came for them. It didn’t take more than a few short hours before he came back to the casino with the dragon he’d recently defeated. The little cup was quite pleased as he gave a quick bow once he returned to the Devil’s office with the freshly caught dragon.
“One dragon as promised!” he chimed as he walked over and stood beside the ruler of Hell itself. He kept a watchful eye on Grim, however, just in case he decided to try something funny at the last minute. And if he just so happened to, then the kid would be ready to attack him again if he even so much as attempted to escape the office. He highly doubted he would, given how tired and beat up the mythical creature was. But it was better to be safe than sorry.
The kid stuck his tongue out at Grim as he gestured towards him when he mentioned that he didn’t want to end up like him. There was nothing wrong with working for the Devil! It was the greatest thing in the world as far as he was concerned. He wouldn’t change it for anything. Not like he had much of a choice anyway.
Cuphead titled his head to one side in a curious matter, almost like a cat or dog would do when a person talked to them. He was silent as he listened to Grim plead with him, trying to reach out to him for help. He didn’t know who this Mugman person was that the dragon was going on about, but a small part of him felt like he should know. Whoever that was, he seemed important. He also didn’t understand what he might by ‘he and Mugman didn’t fight for this’. He never fought for anyone but the Devil, and he sure as hell never fought alongside anyone named Mugman before.
Despite being curious and wanting to ask what it meant, he never got the chance. His boss was already sending the dragon down to Hell to spend the rest of his afterlife. He watched as Grim was tossed into the portal leading to his doom. He waved with a small smirk on his face as he heard Satan calling down to him as he fell. Another debtor down, another job done.
He looked up at the Devil once he turned his attention back onto him. The boy nodded, deciding that it was better not to listen to the words Grim had said. People said weird things when their lives were on the line. That didn’t stop him from pondering around it all the same. Regardless, the kid beamed, clearly pleased with the praise.
“No trouble at all!” Cuphead answered smugly. “He went down easy! He didn’t even put up all that great of a fight!”
It was true after all. Grim had been a cakewalk for the kid. Despite never fighting him before, as far as he knew anyway, he somehow was able to dodge and weave ever attack that came his way. It was like something in the far corners of his mind remembered what he was going to do and his body attacked upon them, almost as though he was on autopilot.
“I do have a question though… Who’s Mugman? That dragon–Grim right?–seemed pretty upset when he found out about me workin’ for ya. He even tried ta question me before we fought, but I didn’t give him the chance.” The kid shrugged his shoulders, leaning back on the heels of his shoes casually. “It seems really wierd ta me, that’s all. It’s like he knew me, but I’ve never seen 'em before in my life.”
The way Cuphead so confidently confirmed the easiness of the fight put the Devil more at ease. So maybe he hadn’t realized the seriousness of the situation. This was a slip up, still, but damn, he was luckier than he thought he was. Thank goodness for that. He was almost worried he’d have to kill Cuphead a second time there. He laughed assuredly “Good job, kid. I knew you could do it.”
The Devil’s expression shifted to a frown as Cuphead inquired about Mugman more. The tone of Cuphead’s voice showed his confusion, so at the very least, it hadn’t triggered any memory in him as far as the Devil could see. He was cutting it close here, though. Grim was a dead dragon once he had the chance to get down there. He’d make sure that Grim never forgot what he did for as long as he existed.
“Eh. Probably mixin’ you up with some other cup around. I know there’s a couple other ones, but I ain’t never seen them around here. He was obviously mistaken. Grim never dealt with nobody here ‘cept Dice and ME. Like I told you, it was a desperate attempt to save his hide. That Mugman, whoever he is? Must be a friend of Grim’s and assumed you knew ‘im too. Don’t worry about it. I certainly wouldn’t.”
The Devil gestured to the casino with his head. “C’mon, let’s celebrate the win. A fresh soul is always a good excuse to party. I’ll let you have a beer, how about that?”
Drinking to forget was always fun. The Devil wasn’t all too worried about the incident, now that Grim was gone, but he knew he needed to push Cuphead into focusing on their victory rather than what was said. If he thought too hard about it, well... that could lead to serious trouble, and the Devil had had enough trouble for a millennium.
The Devil then ushered Cuphead towards the casino through the bridge that connected his tower and the casino. He continued on towards the bar. As he’d expected, the Tipsy Troop was waiting there. They often were if they weren’t needed for minion duties. The Devil motioned for Cuphead to sit down at the bar. He slammed his hand down on the surface of the bar to catch their attention.
“Hey, you mooks listen up! Our pal Cuphead just brought me one of our missing debtors. Get him a beer for his troubles, huh? And get me one, too, while you’re at it. Make it snappy!”
The troop mumbled congratulations to Cuphead, though they were hard to understand through the slurring. The Devil sat down at the bar, too. He tapped his fingers on the bar as the Tipsy Troop stumbled about to prepare the drinks. Jesus, he could have just done this all himself. These three were so damn useless sometimes. Finally, they managed to scrounge up two glasses of beer.
“About time,” the Devil grumbled under his breath. “Well, kid, bottoms up.” He took a hearty swig of his drink. He wiped away some of the excess that dripped from his mouth. “Well? How do ya feel? Think you could round up some more debtors sometime soon?”
