READY FOR THE SEQUEL | open, weekly prompt: locket ?

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//hi its 1am so i apologize in advance
tldr; junior goes out for a walk and finds a locket that looks just like one his mom used to wear and now he's Shook

Three weeks, Junior had lived in the Typhoon, and honestly, he was enjoying himself. He'd expected to get restless, to have to move on to somewhere else, but there was something about this place that just... clicked. He wasn't a huge fan of some of the things he'd seen, like torturing seemingly innocent people, but his crewmates had claimed to have reasoning for it, so he wouldn't bother to say anything- everyone seemed chill about it, anyway, so there wasn't really anything to be done, in the end.

Even though he'd been in the Typhoon for nearly a month, Junior still didn't know the area well- it all kind of looked the same, and he'd already gotten lost, like, four times, so he'd been working on that the last couple days. The issue was, he hadn't realized how horrible his sense of direction was, as it seemed like he'd always known his way around town back home, but here, everything was so different, and so weird.

Today, the young tabby had taken on the jungle, which was a bit of a daunting place to explore, as he'd been sticking mostly to Barracuda Bay. It was a whole lot darker and wetter, but it was pretty cool once he got in there. There were tons of cool plants and flowers, and stuff, and it was kind of refreshing to walk around the greenery, its only downfall being its humidity. But that was fine- he could handle it, at the very least. As the boy guided himself through the rainforest, crushing twigs beneath his paws, something caught his eye; it was a gold thing, it looked like, and it had managed to catch the sun in such a manner that it reflected back its way. Blinking baby blues, Junior took a step closer, easing himself to the ground as he dug the golden chain up with one paw, shaking it free of dust. He rubbed off a bit of mud to get a better look at it. "It" being a golden, heart-shaped locket.

Junior had brought nothing from his past with him when he came to the Typhoon; none of his comics, none of his mother's artwork, not even a can of the beer he'd kept stored behind his books back home. He'd wanted to rid himself entirely of that wretched town, to shed that history and to start anew. Physically, he had, but nothing he could do would ever erase the memories. Memories of pain and tragedy, of course, but his old home hadn't been all bad.

Though Junior had been only two months old when she died, he had nothing but fond memories of her. He could remember sitting with her as she showed him basic words, and falling asleep leaning on her shoulder every night. For the months after she died, the memory of her had been the only thing that had really kept him in that town, and likely the only thing he would miss.

He could still see her if he closed his eyes. He was just about her carbon copy, though her fur had been long, thick, and unbelievably soft, and her white socks had gone all the way up to her knee. She had been beautiful, a beautiful woman and a beautiful soul, and the one person Junior truly believed could ever love him. And then, of course, there had been the locket. It matched the one he held in his paw now almost exactly, bright gold and with a thin, elegant chain. The heart had been dainty, classy, but large enough to hold a nice picture, for sure.

Even six months later, he could remember looking at the locket, which on one side, held a picture of her and her sister, who Junior had never met, and on the other, was one of him and both of his parents. He knew this couldn't have been his mother's locket, of course, but something in him couldn't help but wonder, "what if?". Taking the heart up in his paw, he dug a claw into the side of it, popping it open with ease and opening it up to find-

Nothing. What a shocker. Even still, he couldn't help but shake the feeling that he had found this for a reason- that perhaps, somehow, this was her locket? How it would have gotten out here, he didn't know, but he sure as hell wasn't gonna leave it out here.

[color=#5B81AE]"speech"

BEATRICE

Much like Junior, Beatrice didn't have any trinkets from her former home. The most similar accessory she carried was the line of blue ribbon around her neck, but it wasn't the same shade of blue as her original one. Even so, it was still like a tether to her old life - of what was once good. In the recent days, she had found herself gently fumbling with the necklace-like piece of fabric whenever she was worried or stressed.

Today had been easy though. She had felt... good. It was odd. After months of always being worked up or entirely unfeeling, Beatrice was finally okay. There was stability here. The Beast couldn't tempt her here. Then again, perhaps she was kidding herself. Either way, she would wholeheartedly fall into this sense of security even if it was false.

Adjusting the bag that rested around her shoulder, the female trotted through the Typhoon's territory. Her paws took her to the jungle on her search for herbs as the selection this area held was wonderful. She had been enthralled with a patch of tansy (not yellow daises) when she heard the approaching paw steps of Junior. Dark eyes followed the young tabby in curiosity. She had seen him a few times, but she hadn't really gotten the chance to speak with him. She watched as he halted before pressing close to the ground in order to inspect something.

"What've you got?" the canine barked, moving from the group of yellow herbs. When she encroached upon Junior, she tilted her head. "A locket? Is that yours?" It was pretty. Her gaze lifted from the golden pendant to stare at the tom-cat.