Meanwhile…
Josie leaned against the railing, looking suspiciously at the guards. They held their gazes low from the menacing pirate, stealing glances now and then at him.
Then one stepped up.
"Josiah, isn't it? From Jade."
Josiah nearly fainted but tensed his muscles.
"I don't know that is. Why is he important to you?" He asked the guard, peering over his glasses at him.
"He was a traitor to the Jade army. I trained there before I came here. You look a lot like him."
"Well, I'm not."
"You look like his identical twin."
"I didn't know he had one. That's strange."
"Strange, indeed…" The guard's lip curled, and he took a step closer to the plank. So did Josiah, ready to pull it up.
"Then what's your name?" The guard asked, hoping to catch our Josie off guard.
"William Dennison. Yours?" Josie responded, 100% confident.
"Hunter March," Josie remembered that name - this man had shot him in the arm once, behind his back.
"Doesn't ring a bell. Anyways, you should go back on guard duty," He snapped, gesturing down. But the guard didn't seem to want to go back down.
"William. You sure look exactly like that Josiah…strange, isn't it, how names can deceive?" He took a step forward. "And so can names?"
"That's it, creep. Go back to duty." He ran to the plank and yanked it up, unanchoring the ship and turning it around. He was going to sail around Oynx to meet the rest of the crew there. This man knew who he was, and he didn't like that.
"AFTER HIM!" Shouted the guard, and suddenly tens, no, hundreds - were following him along the bank of Oynx.
Hopefully the rest of the crew would see this unfortunate predicament.
Brooke spotted a small, black cat in a cage with a larger ginger one. They were curled up together, close enough that there was still room in the cage around them.
"What about this black one?" she asked, pointing to the black one. "Though… It seems to like its friend…"
(No. That is not happening. I'm sorry, but no. The kingdom's aren't that integrated. And Jade keeps to themselves, including any army members, often raiding other kingdoms. The only safe people are merchants. So no.)
(I'm very sorry, I don't know the rules of your universe so please excuse me! So sorry again, pretend that never happened and Josie's still smoking a cigar on the ship's railing.)
Cicada looked at the two cats, "We can get two right? The more the better."
(It's fine! I'm figuring it out as I go, but what was written didn't feel very Jadish.)
Houston studied the cats. "I still want a lizard."
"Why don't we get a parrot though?" Zoe countered.
He opened his arms wide. "A giant iguana, actually. Say - how about we just take the whole store? I mean really, why not? It's kind of inhumane here, don't you think?"
Cicada looked to Zoe, "Why do you not want a cat? Parrots are too typical. Also if you want a lizard, get a lizard Houston."
"But the big giant ones that can fit in the cannons aren't sold here. And did you hear me about taking the whole store?"
"We can get them both? Seriously?"
Brooke had had a cat when she was little, but it had died when she was five. Another cat – or two! – would be awesome.
"Because I just don't want a cat, I'm not exactly on good terms with them either." Zoe replied as she looked around. "What about an Osprey though?"
"We're getting the two cats," Cicada said in finality, "If you want something else, pay for it yourself. As for your idea Houston, shut it I have a plan."
Zoe grumbled to herself before she went around, looking for a different pet.
Brooke grinned and looked at the pair of cats. Oh, how she wanted to pet them already!
Cicada paid for the two cats and gently lifted the ginger one for her place.
Brooke took the black one in her arms and held it up to look at it closer. The cat meowed and placed his paw on her face. She smiled and bopped his nose, then shifted to hold him normally.
"I think I'll call him Onyx," she declared. "If that's okay?"
Cicada laughed, "Of course. We can call this one Ruby."
"Purrfect," Brooke joked.
Zoe came back with an Osprey on her shoulder. "So…….."
Cicada looked to the Osprey, "Wonderful. So let's get these cuties back to the ship. What's the Osprey's name?"
"WAIT!" Houston cried, running from the other end of the shop with a beautiful ivory python wrapped around his arm and a blue-tongued-skink on his shoulder. "Okay, now we can go. This one's name is Ivory and this is Olivia," He explained, pointing to the snake and the skink respectively.
"Why, the Hell, would you buy a snake!?" Cicada said in a slight shout. They couldn't keep a snake on the ship! It wouldn't be safe!
"His name is Clawd." Zoe answered before looking at Houston. "WHAT THE HECK?!"
