It was a week later, and Quinn had been growing consistently stronger. She couldn't fight as well as Ripley, but growing up on the street, plus her magic, which she used to boost herself, made her a fast learner, and could hold her own. Quinn also wasn't as fast as Kiache, but with the young Mer having room to swim again, and grow, Quinn doubted there were any Mer who could keep up with her.

Jack was definitely not 'strong' by any means, as he never had been, but he could actually swim and not tire for awhile. It was a relief to be completely honest, and he was very happy to be able to keep up with Kiache. Though he had a feeling that pretty soon he wouldn't be able to catch up with Kiache at all, as she grew faster and stronger by the day.

Ripley did have Jack on a strict training regimen and diet, and he had begun to put on the extra weight that he had needed for a long time. So in hopefully two month's time Jack would actually be healthy and maybe even would gain some muscle. Jack was very thankful that Ripley was helping him so much, and she even had gotten Jack's and Quinn's clothes fixed, and even added more clothes for them. They were a different texture, but he was happy to have them.
That day, Ripley had scheduled another set of laps for Kiache, Jack and Quinn, as per their normal routine. Ripley was there first, waiting patiently for the others to arrive.

Quinn arrived earlier than Kiache and Jack, for once. It wasn't as though she was always late, but Quinn normally took a bit more time. Today, though, Quinn decided to take some initiative and get to the meeting spot first, besides Ripley, who always seemed to be one step - or stroke, rather - ahead, "Hey," Quinn greeted, stopping a few feet away from Ripley, "I, uh, wanted to thank you for the clothes." Quinn hadn't had the chance to thank Ripley yet, and while she normally didn't thank anyone, for anything, Ripley hadn't gotten on her bad side yet. So, Quinn supposed she could suck up her pride and thank someone for a kind deed.

It wasn't even pride, Quinn figured, that she was swallowing. It was... part of the mentality that people only did kind things when they wanted something in return. Throughout all of this training, Quinn had been waiting for the catch - the reason why Ripley was so willing to help seemingly hopeless cases. Quinn was slowly beginning to realize that not all people were like that: Jack and Kiache certainly weren't... and maybe Ripley wasn't like that either.

It was an odd feeling - to have trust in someone. It had been weird with Jack and Kiache (and Quinn still wasn't totally sure about them), but it was even more weird with Ripley - Ripley hadn't even been along for a big old life-saving adventure.... and yet?....

Quinn pushed away those thoughts. Now wasn't the time to have an internal crisis about whether or not people were evil until proven not-evil, or if Quinn's entire life viewpoint has been a lie.

Now was not the time.

Ripley was staring at their armor, figuring out if they should clean it soon or not. After all, it hadn't gotten a good scrubbing in almost a month's time, granted, they hadn't had the time with everything going on. First Kiache's sudden appearance, then lessons with both Kiache's friends and Ripley's own mentor, not to mention the ongoing war with the octopus Mer that was not going well. They drew closer to the borders by the day and it was only a matter of time before the army broke through the borders and the war would be inside the Mer kingdom and not a distance away.

Ripley looked up as Quinn approached, nodding their head in a way of greeting, stopping their inspection of the armor sitting on their tail. "Oh, it wasn't really a problem, most of the tailors here are clamboring over each other to get their hands on human type clothing. The cloth humans make is much different than our own, for obvious reasons. They all find it fun to work with, so it truly wasn't a problem. I hardly had to pay them at all, they were so proud of how close they got to the original cloth, if you want more than the stuff I've given you, they'll be willing to make you more I'm sure. Us Mer down here don't really need clothing, but some people like it, it's preference really." Ripley shrugged, putting their armor back on with a wince as it scrape against a healing cut on their shoulder. Stupid octopus Mer, except Quinn, she was pretty okay.

Quinn nodded, silently absorbing the information. She would go back to the tailors sometime, and grab more clothes, but that didn't really contribute to any conversation. Her eyes tracked Ripley as the Mer moved and put back on the armor, taking in the way the other Mer winced, "The war," she said abruptly, "How close in proximity to the borders is it?" Quinn would assume that the other Mer were getting closer. More and more of the army were coming back wounded, without a triumphant aura. The war was taking a harsh turn into a horrible future of their kingdom being overrun.

The sudden question caught Ripley off guard, and their eyes widened for a moment, the pearls above their eyebrows scrunching up as they made a face. For a moment, they were completely silent, debating on telling Quinn what was really happening in the war. It was obvious that they were going to tell Quinn, as they released a soft sigh, bubble rising to the surface as they flicked their tail.

"Too close, they'll have breached the borders within the next two weeks. As it is, we are barely holding them off. Their fighting techniques are just so synched up, we could never hope to copy it, or try to figure out what they are doing. They move as one, I do not know how to describe it, you'd have to be there to see it, which I highly suggest not doing." Ripley frowned, their black-red hair drifting with the currents.

"Synced up?" Quinn repeated out loud, thinking hard, "Well... what if I was there? Just to watch. I'd stay hidden and out of the way." Quinn thought of the robotic forces on the surface, where one person was controlling the whole army. It was impossible during war against conscious people to be perfectly synced up. There would be a straggler, or people who backed down and were afraid.

Beside being worried for her newfound home, Quinn wanted to see what other octopus Mer were like, and figure out the techniques behind their movement, and how they used their body to fight.

Ripley's eyebrows immediately furrowed, the starfish on their forehead wiggling slightly. The reaction was instantaneous. Although they believed that Quinn was most likely stronger than she let on, there was no way they'd let Quinn go out on the warzone. Quinn was hardly a citizen, and if another soldier spotted her, they might attack her. "That's a horrible idea. Not only could you get hurt, badly, but you might be hurt by our own soldiers. Out there, you barely can distinguish friend from foe, it's all blood. You look like the other side, that's enough to get you killed, or worse." Ripley paled at the ending, but quickly recovered in that trained way of theirs.

"Anyways, maybe once you get strong enough and more people know you, I could take you out, but until then you should stay here. I don't want you to get hurt. You just got back." Ripley pointed this out because Quinn had just barely escaped human captivity, she shouldn't even be thinking about the war. She should just be happy to have returned to the amazing ocean and out of the human's hands.

Jack happily hummed as he approached the two Mer. Though he soon stopped when he saw the look on Ripley's face. They did not look very happy.

Quinn shrugged, not pushing the subject. She'd find another way to watch - in her free time, Quinn had been trying to recall any octopus facts she knew, and Quinn had a good idea of what to do.

Quinn bit back a wince. She was not, in fact, just now coming back. This was a strange land that she knew nothing about, and felt no connection with as a home. Quinn had never truly felt "at home" anywhere she had been. There were resting spaces, or spaces that were semi-safe, but never a home. "I understand what you a saying. I won't put myself in any danger," it isn't dangerous if no one knows I'm there. Quinn added on internally.

She looked up at the vibrations in the water to see Jack, and nodded at the other not-really-a-Mer. Kiache was right behind him, and Quinn could see her eyes assessing the situation.

"Alright!" The Princess said cheerfully, swimming over and placing herself strategically between Ripley and Quinn, although not enough to block views, or look like she was purposefully separating them, "Same exercise as normal, Ripley?"

Ripley didn't understand why Quinn seemed so adamant about seeing a war. They understood that Quinn had been through a lot, and wanted to understand how her kingdom was doing, but there was no reason to actually see it. Quinn was just a normal citizen, she wasn't required to be out there, and she shouldn't be out there at all. She was in good shape, but not good enough to fight in a war. Not good enough to be anywhere near a war. So why was she asking?

Ripley had been about to speak when Kiache asked what they were doing. Of course this immediately distracted them, as anything to do with helping people often did. "Well actually, I was thinking that maybe it's time for Jack to speed up a bit." She watched as the pale Mer snapped up, a seemingly shocked expression on his face. "W-wait, me?" Ripley chuckled softly at the look he gave her. "Well yes you, sea slug. You are getting more muscle in your tail by the day, so the slow pace isn't cutting it anymore. I want you to do one fast lap and one slow one, you think you can do that?" Ripley wouldn't make Jack do it, but she needed to push him so he wouldn't look like a sea anemone. "I-I guess so yea." Jack brightened up, and looked determined to do it right.