“Okay.” He approached the woman. “Um, excuse me, my name is Clarence Hynes and this is my cousin, Henry Von Tussle. We’ve heard rumors of pirates in this region and we want to be safe on our journey home to Ylksvana. Do you have any information that could help?”
“Pirates?” the woman asked, with a laugh. “Nonsense. There are no pirates in this area.”
"Are you sure, ma'am?" Cas asked, looking up at her. "We need to be sure… our boats may not be able to stand up to pirates."
The woman glared at Cas head on, her eyes betraying her even as she spoke. "There are no pirates in this area. I'd do well to not mention it again if I were you," she replied icily. Nick glanced at Cas, wondering if he had a plan.
Cas surveyed her expression, keeping his hood up and being careful to not let any wisps of ginger hair show. "You're lying."
The woman glared at Cas, stubbornly refusing to speak until Nick pulled a gold coin out of his pocket and held it up, quirking an eyebrow. "Alright, yes, there are pirates here," she admitted, eyes locked on the money.
"And?" Nick inquired slowly.
"And? I know a bit about them. There's a man who walks up and down the docks every day at twilight who has a scar on his nose. He is a pirate, but that's all I know, I swear."
"Thank you, ma'am. Come along, Clarence." Cas nodded a bit, walking away once Nick had given the coin to the woman.
Nick followed. "I think that information was useful. We just need to wait until twilight now and then we can look for the man."
Cas nodded again. "What do you want to do until then? We've got a pretty decent amount of time."
"I dunno. I feel like I've picked everything that we've done so far, and I don't know what would be helpful," he said, thinking. "Why don't you pick?"
"Um…" Cas thought for a bit. "I mean, we could just wander around the market? See what's in stock?"
"Okay, that could be interesting," Nick agreed, glancing around. "There's quite a few booths that look like they could be cool."
"Let's go, then." Cas walked into the crowd, staying near to Nick so he wouldn't get lost.
Nick admired all of the food, clothing, and trinkets on display. He liked exploring what there was, and he pointed out a few things excitedly to Cas, but he wasn't interested in any one thing more than the others.
Cas wasn't too intrigued by anything, but material things rarely piqued his interest anyways. The only thing that really caught his eye was a cat in the bracelet booth.
Nick followed Cas's gaze. "You really like cats, don't you?"
"Hmm?" Cas looked back over at Nick. "Oh… yeah. It's kinda my thing."
“Do you want to go pet it or something?” Nick asked, glancing back at the cat.
"…Yeah, kinda." He turned to the cat and clicked his tongue, the cat immediately hopping up onto the table to get to him. He smiled softly, scratching behind its ears.
Nick watched. Cas really had a way with cats. It was adorable. “Aww it’s so cute,” he gushed, glancing at the cat now.
"Mhmm…" Cas mumbled absently, still petting the cat. It was purring loudly and seemed quite happy.
“Is it a stray?” Nick asked, looking back at Cas as if he knew. Maybe he did. He seemed to be the authority on cats, after all.
"Yeah. I've seen this one before." The cat rubbed up against Cas's arm and he picked it up, setting it on his shoulders.
“Did you give it a name?” Nick asked.
Cas shook his head. "I can now, though. Wanna help?"
“Of course!” Nick replied as he studied the cat. “Hmmm…what about Fluffy?” He realized he had probably suggested the most generic cat name.