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The men and women aboard The Sly Whore waited on the deck of the ship, pacing back and forth, for the captain to emerge from his cabin. Ziggly had rounded everyone up, except for Laerchel, who was still inside the cabin as well. They were getting closer to Booty Bay, a sight that was much more comforting to half of the races onboard since they were not allowed to walk around Stormwind due to the guards attacking them on sight. The cabin door opened and Laerchel emerged, taking her place amongst the crew and Cris walked out behind her, staring down at the men and women. He paced back and forth silently, in a menacing way, his hand on his dagger, his boots marking each step.
Ziggly rolled his eyes and sighed loudly, shaking his head at Cris’ dramatics, but the rest of the crew, even Laerchel, who was also familiar with his act, remained silent, watching him closely.
Cris stopped and peered at every one of them. “Where’s Gus?” The crew looked at each other. Gus was a human they had picked up at Booty Bay and after they had loaded up a rather large and heavy crate onto the ship, the human was gone.
“He hasn’t been seen, sir,” replied an elf.
“What was the one thing I told you all when the crate was placed onboard?”
“Don’t go near it?” asked a dwarf.
“So, did Gus go near it?”
“Aye.” They chorus of voices followed through like a wave.
“And so where is Gus now?” The crew shrugged and once more looked at each other. Even Ziggly was curious as to where the human had gone. “Gus is dead.” Ziggly turned to look at Cris, his eyes widened in disbelief. For a moment, the goblin believed that Cris had indeed needed a crew member for his soul collecting, but Cris’ wink toward the goblin relaxed his tense appearance.
“The crate we have in the hold below isn’t cargo. It’s more than that and it’s fucking dangerous which is why I told you not to go near it!” Cris’ words were spat out and the crew flinched, as if dodging his attacks, except for Ziggly and Laerchel, who simply looked confused. “Now, may Gus rest in pieces and may his death remind you that you are not allowed near the crate without my presence!” He glared at them and turned around dramatically. “Dismissed” he said as he walked toward his cabin, however the crew didn’t move.
Ziggly walked up to Cris and cleared his throat, “Captain, the crew would like to know what you have in the crate.” Cris slowly turned around, glaring at the crew.
“We have a right ta kno, Cap’n,” the female dwarf asked.
Cris sighed and turned around. He had been avoiding the issue as much as possible, but he knew they were right. Besides, he didn’t want to lose another crew member, like poor Gus. “Men,” he said before looking at Laerchel, “Ladies,” and he looked at the female dwarf, “You. Yes, you’re right, I do owe you an explanation and you shall have it.” He hesitated a bit. “The crate contains…” He stopped, looking at Ziggly, who was curiously peering at Cris. “It contains… a devilsaur.”
The crew gasped at him with widened eyes. Even Ziggly, who usually was aware of Cris’ shenanigans, was stunned by his comment, but he blurted out in laughter toward the crew. “Good one, Wolf! You got us going there for a moment.” Soon, a chorus of laughter broke out, with a few pirates shouting out, “Yer kidding, eh Captain?” and “Good one, boss!” However, the captain wasn’t laughing as he stood before them, his crossed arms resting upon his chest and a look of solemn seriousness on his face. Ziggly turned to Cris and his jaw dropped. “No fucking way…”
The laughter turned into shouting, their complaints rising, as they raised fists up in the air. Cris lifted his arms out and called out for silence. “Shut yer traps, you cowardly assholes. I have it under control. Why do you think I told you not to go near it? Or why I left Misae with Tia? I got this, alright?”
Ziggly walked toward Cris and looked up at him, “Wait a minute, that’s why you left your wolf with Tia? So that she wouldn’t be eaten? If that thing can eat a wolf, can you imagine what it would do to me?” Ziggly grabbed at his ears in frustration, “How did we get that thing onboard without it making a sound? Granted, they are known to be like rogues out on the field. Hey! And what’s stopping it from breaking free and eating all of us?” The rest of the crew began to join the protest loudly.
“Shut up!” Cris screamed over the whiny pirates. “Look, Gus is only missing because the dumbass got too close to the crate and decided he wanted a closer look. I’m sure his remains are in the crate.” He nodded to reaffirm his statement, “At least his blood splatters are. I’m working on getting Davy trained enough so that he can safely be let out of the crate.” The pirates stared at him in disbelief. “What?”
“Booty Bay, dead ahead!” A night elf shouted from the crow’s nest and Cris sighed in relief.
“Men to your stations! Let’s bring the Whore in.” There was a roar of laughter, which alleviated the tension knowing that they were about to evacuate the ship and its man-eating beast below. Cris jumped up onto the quarter deck, grabbing on to the wheel. Ziggly and Laerchel stood to each of his sides as the men worked on slowing the ship down.
“And when were you going to tell me about this devilsaur?” Ziggly asked, looking up at Cris.
“Eventually. He’s going to help me with my task at hand.” Cris’ hand touched the shark tooth and without looking at anyone, he simply placed his hand back on the wheel. Ziggly glanced at Laerchel and she shrugged back at him. The ship came to a halt at the dock and the Cris jumped down to the main deck. “Do what you need, men. We must depart tomorrow. I’ll feed the beast so that you won’t worry while we head to Silvermoon. Be here tomorrow at noon or I will leave your pansy asses. Dismissed, men.” The sailors ran off the ship immediately and headed into town.
Ziggly lit up his mechano-pipe and leaned against a mast. “We should go to the Bay’s Booty and get ourselves some ass, eh Cris?”
Cris changed his shirt in front of them and shook his head. “Nope. Take one of the other guys.”
“Fine, I’ll take Gus. Oh wait…NEVERMIND.” He glared at Cris, who was smiling at him. “Dammit Cris, you’re going to go look for her now? Enjoy yourself first!” Cris shook his head, giving Laerchel a sly grin while he dusted his pants and boots off. “How do I look?”
“Good,” Laerchel said smirking.
“Like a pussy.”
“Good enough for me.” Cris headed toward the ramp. “I’ll be back in a while to take the beast out hunting. Watch the whore here, eh Zig?” He patted the ship and Ziggly waved him off as he puffed on his pipe
“I’m always watching the whores, fucker.”
A hand slipped into Cris’ just as he was about to go up the ramp toward the dock. Without looking back, Cris simply said, “Be nice to her, Laer.” He gave her hand a tight squeeze before releasing it, not noticing Laerchel’s eyes roll. He ran his hands through his hair, tied off the end and smiled.
“I’m home.” His eyes immediately sought out the comfort in his life, Rain.
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