Same Face, Wrong Name

Persephone had managed a great feat that day. She had successfully made it through the candy store without spending the rest of her savings on anything sweet she could get her hands on. What had kept her from doing so was the knowledge that if she wasted it all on yummies, she wouldn’t be able to buy herself a pet, which Walter had kindly agreed to letting her do.

’Something small,’ he had said. Beauxbaton wouldn’t allow her to bring anything too big to school with her and what would be the point of having a pet if she couldn’t bring it with her to school? Percy had found reason in this and agreed. She could settle with something small.

Though owls and kitties weren’t to her fancy, it didn’t take long for Persephone to fall head over heals for a creature. Tiny and slim, with dark eyes and whiskers, it was a ferret that was the perfect pet for her, Percy decided and carrying a panda-coloured ferret to cash out with, only one thing could distract her.

“Sawyer!” She called and ran over to the boy, her ferret safe in the cradle of her arms. “Sawyer! Look at my new ferret! Isn’t she the best? C’mon! Help me think of a name!” Persephone insisted.

Payton knew just the right pet for him but that required actually getting it, it wasn’t as if a ferret was going to just appear at his side and go with him places. No, he needed to actually find himself a suitable pet. He didn’t know if Sawyer wanted a pet of his own, but he had wandered off quite some time ago and so Payton decided that he was going to do this on his own. Sure he and Sawyer usually did things together, but it was okay for him to do things on his own every once in awhile. Getting this ferret was one of those times.

Payton pushed opened the door and glanced around, wondering where they would be kept. The owls were the first thing that he saw, and the boy moved over that way, wanting to get a good look at them before moving along and finding himself a friend to take with him to the school. It was then that he heard his brother’s name being called, and by instinct he looked up, glancing around to see where his brother was but instead a girl was walking his way. Immediately he knew what was going on, she had mistaken him for his brother. A smile spread across his face, this was absolutely brilliant!

He looked down to the ferret in her arms and he pouted, he wanted one! Where were they!? He pursed his lips and smirked, “You should name her after me, name her Payton.” He said, knowing that it would confuse the girl but he figured that it was going to be worth it. He wasn’t going to say that he was Sawyer, ew, why would he? But he wouldn’t tell her that he was actually someone else entirely. He was sure that once he told his brother about this that they could find a way to make a game out of this. “Payton is a much better name than Sawyer don’t you think?” He asked. He reached forward and pet the little ferret and glanced around, unable to refrain the question, “Where are the ferrets, I want one!” He held his green gaze on her and waited patiently.

The wide grin that Percy wore hardly faded when Sawyer made the suggestion, saying she should name her pet after him, though saying he preferred the spelling of P-a-y-t-o-n. She spent a few moments trying to figure out how those letters added up to Sawyer until she determined he was being silly. They were two entirely different names, weren’t they?

Meeting his eyes when he explained that he liked the name Payton better than Sawyer, Persephone felt like she finally understood. He probably tired of the name Sawyer and wanted a change. “Oh right! Yes, I think it’s an excellent switch!” Though she wasn’t going to name her ferret after him if he was just going to keep changing his name like that.

Percy let the boy pet her ferret and smiled when he asked where she had found her. Releasing one hand from the hold on the wily little weasel, Percy pointed to the back of the shop where a whole bunch of ferrets rested. “Over there. Are you going to get one, too?” Percy asked, then added more excitedly. “We could be ferret friends!”

Payton laughed lightly the girl. This girl was nice. He nodded, “I think so as well,” he agreed with her, crossing his arms over his chest. He realized that she probably wouldn’t name her ferret after him, but that didn’t mean he had to stop trying to help her decide on a name. “You could name her Chii Chii because she looks like a panda.” He glanced up and made a face and shrugged at her. He didn’t know what else she could name the ferret. What bothered him was that once he picked out his own ferret he would have to think of a name for it as well.

He smirked at her when she directed him to the ferrets and he made his way over in that direction. while she suggested that they could be ferret friends. He stopped in his tracks and turned to her, grabbing her shoulders lightly, “That. Is. Brilliant. You are to address me as this from now on okay?” He asked, making sure to hold her gaze with his green eyes for a long moment before releasing her and returning to his former mission. Sawyer was going to be so confused when she ran up to him and called him ‘ferret friend’ without warning. He almost laughed at the thought of his face and what it would looked like.

He came across the ferrets and froze. This was marvelous. This was absolutely fantastic. He rubbed his hands together and got to looking. He didn’t know what kind of ferret he wanted but as soon as he found one that he liked he would know. His green eyes fell on a good number of ferrets but he was happy when he found a light brown one above it was a label of ‘siamese’ he reached forward and picked up the ferret and smile. “You.” He announced, having made his decision. She was perfect. The little ferret squinted up at him, taking a moment before crawling up his arm and laying around his neck. “She’s perfect!” He announced again.

Though her ferret did indeed look like a little miniature panda bear, Persephone wasn't sure she liked the sounds of the name 'Chii Chii.' This was her very special ferret, after all, and she couldn't just randomly saddle the poor thing with any old name. She needed the perfect name. Begrudgingly she shook her head in response. "I like your thinking..." She praised, "But that isn't the name for my ferret."

Persephone was glad that the boy liked his nickname and had to admit she didn't mind having to call him 'ferret friend' instead of 'Payton' or 'Sawyer' or whoever he was on that day. It saved her mind the trouble of being confused. "Alright!" She replied, and stroked the fuzzy back of her ferret. "Now what should I call you?"

While the girl paced and pondered the name of her newest addition to her family, her ferret friend had found his way towards where the ferrets were. Percy had somewhat blocked the boy's existence from her mind as she ran through names in her mind. None of them sounded just right. "Poor thing," She cooed to her warm little ferret. "At this rate you'll never have a name!" Her attention was suddenly grabbed by an exclamation from her ferret friend, her head snapping over to face him as she giggled at the sight of the ferret nuzzled by the boy's neck. "She likes you already! I think she'll make a wonderful friend to...Marceline?" Persephone tried, looking down at her panda ferret. Marceline was a good ferret name, right?

Payton's suggestion had simply been the first thing that had come to mind, he didn't really expect her to like the name at all. It was her pet to name and she would come up with something eventually, something that really suit the little ferret. He flashed her a bright toothy smile and a small shrug. "You'll think of something, I'm sure of it. I'm also sure she won't mind waiting on you to find the best name, look at her, she doesn't want just any old name- she wanted the best one." He liked to be encouraging, he found, it was nice and different from his usual taunting and teasing that he liked to torture his little brothers with.

The nickname she had provided him with was perfect because Sawyer might not see it coming, and even if he could figure it out pretty quick that she would be calling him a nickname that she had actually given to Payton, it would definitely be hilarious to see him after and laugh about it. Of course, it was pretty mean to not tell this girl who he really was, that he wasn't who she thought, but he had told her that he was Payton and not Sawyer, she simply drew the wrong conclusion.

Payton loved his new ferret, she was perfect, she really was. When the girl spoke up again, he smiled, at her "Thats a lovely name actually," maybe not one that he would pick, but he wasn't a girl and girls had different taste in names. Payton scratched under the ferret's chin and sighed lightly. "Now I have to come up with a name as well." He pursed his lips in thought. "What's your name huh?" He asked and tried to get a good look of the ferret's face but it was hard to as she was right under his jaw. "Darcy?" She looked like a Darcy when he picked her up, but just as he had told the girl, he had more than enough time to pick a name, something could come to him. "Looks like I'm going to have the same problem as you" he laughed lightly.