Three days had passed after their arrival into Augusta and Trixie’s discovery of Edison’s demise ( http://www.furaffinity.net/view/922821/ ). During that time, the various members of the Pirate Vixen crew went off to collect work, information and supplies. Jack, Trixie, and Travus traveled all over town gathering information; hoping to stumble upon the identity of Edison’s murderer. Tito and Rena searched for fresh produce, meat, and spices for their meals. Volk went off to procure new materials and tools for his inventions. Angela and Kevin explored the outer edges of the city, in hopes of finding powerful medicinal herbs common to the region. Vixie and Tyler roamed the western part of Augusta in order to acquire work (hopefully something easy like cargo smuggling). And finally, Dixie and Rick stayed on the ship, guarding it together (much to Dixie’s chagrin).

After nightfall on the third day, Trixie and her entourage found themselves in front of the Black Buccaneer tavern, easily one of the largest pubs in the whole port-city of Augusta. Trixie was exhausted from scouring the town. Her eyes were red from weeping herself to sleep the past two nights and her feet were aching after the miles upon miles of walking. Black Jack was well aware of Trixie’s fatigue and he said to her “Trixie, darling, let’s rest for a bit.” Trixie glared at her husband, angered by his desire to stop. “No!” she exclaimed “I have to find Edison’s killer. He has to pay for what he did.” “And we’ll find him.” Jack affirmed “But we all need to rest and that’s especially true for you. You shouldn’t be pushing yourself so hard in your condition. You could hurt the babies.” Trixie continued to glare at him, but slowly her anger started to subside into sorrow. She looked down at the spherical protrusion that was her belly and she started to caress it. She had forgotten about her pregnancy, suddenly losing someone close tends to do that to you. Once again, her eyes started to swell up with tears. Jack moved up to her and held her in his arms. “Its okay.” said Jack “We’ll find his killer, but for now, let’s rest.” “Alright.” agreed Trixie. Jack then escorted her into the Black Buccaneer with Travus following after them.

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Once inside, Jack scanned the vast space of tables, barstools, and patrons; he only noticed the one vacant table. He guided his wife and comrade to the open table and helped Trixie lower herself into a chair (if it could be called that). It was really just a crate that was reinforced to be a bench, but that was probably the closest thing to a chair one could get in a pub like this.

Jack spoke to Trixie. “I’ll go get us some drinks. You can rest here for now.” He then looked at Travus “Travus, I want you to stay here with Trixie.” “Will do.” Travus replied. Jack looked at Trixie again. “Darling, I’ll be right back, okay?” “Okay.” she stated, forcing a smile. “I love you.” Trixie declared. “I love you, too.” Jack replied as he placed his hand on her back and kissed her luscious lips.

He walked up to the front counter where a stout bartender cleaned a tankard with a dirty washcloth. His eyes were lazily focused on the tankard; he must have been bored out of his mind. Without even looking up, he slothfully asked Black Jack “What’ll you have?” Jack gave the bartender his order “Yeah, I’ll have two pints of orange juice and a pot of tea, please.” The bartender’s lethargic eyes looked up at Black Jack and then one of them cocked an eyebrow. “What?” queried Black Jack angrily. “I’m here with a pregnant woman and a minor, what the hell do you want from me?” There was a pause between him and the bartender. The bartender looked down at the tankard and started to clean it again. “All I got is beer.” he finally replied. Jack glared at the bartender. “Do you have any water then?” asked Jack irritably. The bartender slothfully looked up at Black Jack once more. There was another pause and he said to Jack “I’ll go check in the back.” The bartender started to leave through a door behind the counter but before he did so, he called out to one of the bar wenches. “Rose, look after the bar for me.” A plump woman with a few tankards on a tray replied to him from the middle of the room. “Alright, boss.”

A few minutes passed, Jack stared at the back door waiting for the bartender to return. Jack then heard the front door open. He glanced behind himself and noticed that it wasn’t the bartender; just a very large man with unkempt hair. He began staring again at the back entrance; now slightly more aggravated than before. The large man that entered the tavern started walking toward the front counter. His heavy boots thumped against the wooden floor, emphasizing his size and muscle mass. Neither Black Jack nor anyone else seemed to notice him. The large man moved to the counter, right beside Jack, and placed his hand on Jack’s shoulder. He then said to Jack in a low, rumbling voice “Greetings, Black Jack. I’ve been looking for you.”

artwork and story copyright SatsumaLord
all characters copyright their respective owners

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