When asked what he thinks about Leona, Ruggie responds that “You can definitely tell he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth” and he is a demanding boss, but he makes it worth Ruggie’s while to put in the work.
Ruggie says that Leona will give things to him that he doesn’t want, “and that’s a GOLD MINE,” and there are education benefits as well. Ruggie explains, “In return for my labor, Leona tutors me on lessons I didn’t totally understand in class.”
Ruggie never attended a school before NRC, and he was “bottom of the ladder” before Leona started giving him reference books, old exams, tutoring and advice. When Epel asks Leona for tutoring, Leona refuses.
We see an example of Leona giving advice to Ruggie in a vignette where Ruggie has been assigned to catch escaped rats for Trein, which he struggles to do alone despite his animal linguistics skills.
Leona tells Ruggie,
“You’re pretty nimble all right, and a smooth talker. Plus you’re cautious, so you can handle just about anything by yourself…that’s your problem….you’re trying to do it all yourself. Ain’t no reason why you gotta act like you’re alone here. You’re practically programmed to think like an underdog lackey. Try seeing it from a pack leader’s perspective.”
This inspires Ruggie to employ Lucius, resulting in a successful mission. Ruggie observes, “Definitely couldn’t have pulled that off without Leona’s advice.”
Ruggie asks Leona to go along with him to the school store during New Year’s specifically so that Leona will buy him things that he cannot afford even on sale, and then resell them to others for profit.
Leona is not pleased by the expectation that he join in a koma battle, but Ruggie convinces him to join (“Oh, but if you win, I get your ticket, okay?”)
Ruggie says that the moral of his story is “stick close to the biggest fish in the pond, and figure out how to make it benefit ya personally,” but Leona seems wholly aware that he is being used in this way, saying that Ruggie knows his limitations and “So he sucks up to me and uses me. That’s not bad or something to be ashamed of. His shamelessness is his strength.”
Twisted Wonderland Reference Note 