Hi everyone! It has been a very long time since I last wrote fanfiction. I was very discouraged by comments on my previous fic (although they were perfectly valid), but I believe I finally figured it out. My first fic worked because I completely understood Rapunzel's character. My second didn't work, because I didn't understand Eugene's character. So this is me challenging myself, digging into Eugene's background. He has often been compared to Aladdin, but trying to figure him out I found many similarities with Jim Hawkins as well. This is the result. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of the characters or stories in either Treasure Planet or Tangled. I write for my own entertainment and that of my readers.
This was it. The moment of truth. The couple of canine humanoids had finished their lunch and were sorting out various coins to pay the bill. They were precise about it, they probably wouldn't leave the inn keeper any tip. This either meant they were too poor to spare a tip, or too rich to care about the troubles of those who were not as fortunate. Definitely passing through though. They had arrived on a cruise ship docked at the end of the harbor and the old Benbow inn was filled with guests from the same group. It was quite the varied collection, at least coming from as far as the Magellanic Cloud. Eugene saw species he had only heard about before, and his imagination had not done them justice. Close to his targets was a group of figures that could only be described as humanoid octopuses, each with only one eye. They seemed to form the most obnoxious group of clients, but with those tentacles Eugene knew he would be snatched if he tried anything. Not an option. He was getting too old to successfully pull off the puppy dog-look that had got him out of tricky situations before.
No, this couple was his best option. Canine people usually were very trusting, not suspecting anyone of mischief. He only hoped they were not poor. Then again, if they could afford both a cruise and a pub meal, they couldn't be too bad off. It didn't matter either way really. He had to make sure he got something he could trade with, because he needed to get some food for the kids. They hadn't had a proper meal in a few days, only bits and pieces. And they looked to him to bring in the food. He didn't know why. It wasn't like he was the oldest or even the strongest kid in the orphanage. Maybe it was his background. Most of the other kids knew something about their parents. Eugene had nothing. One day he was just left at the doorstep, swaddled in a blanket, only his face peeping out. It had been a specially cold night and apparently he had been bawling his head off. He didn't remember any of this of course, but his story had become something of an urban legend around the orphanage. When new kids came in, it usually didn't even take them a whole day to hear about it. Which is when the questions started.
He hated the questions. It wasn't like he knew anything. Not anything more than the others. Only his name. That was all that had been attached to that crying bundle: a paper that read Eugene Fitzherbert in elegant calligraphy. Just his name. Nothing more. No explanation why he was left there, where he came from. It was the law that an orphanage could not turn away children without parents, but usually the remaining family gave some money for their support. Eugene was not aware of any remaining family, if they were even out there. For all he knew he was the last in a long line of Fitzherberts. That name was all he had, and he soon figured out that it was not a local name. It might even be a fake name, ensuring that he could never track down his parents, alive or dead. Because nothing else had been left with him, other than his blanket and the rag that was his diaper, he was the only kid in the orphanage who did not know whether his parents still lived. They might.
Maybe that was why the others looked up to him. He could have a living past, he could have a future. He was a mystery and a legend. Maybe it was his name; it was a bit pompous. A mouthful. It was an impressive name and maybe the others projected an impressive personality on him. But he wasn't impressive. He was quick. He was agile. Had to be, in order to escape from the older boys. They didn't take too well to a legend stealing their thunder. And he never shared the food with them. They could find their own food. The younger ones couldn't, and the orphanage couldn't provide it. All the orphanage really provided was a bed, maybe with a blanket if you were lucky. Always with lice though. It wasn't that the staff didn't care, most of them did. It was just that there was no money. The staff was voluntary and sometimes they brought food with them, but you couldn't count on that. Eugene lived in an "eat or be eaten"-world, and he knew it.
Today he was going to eat. Which meant he had to pay attention. His targets were getting up, waving goodbye to the inn keeper (he knew her name was Sarah, but he preferred thinking of her as 'the inn keeper') and walking towards the door. Eugene had seen them hang their jackets on the coat stand, and he swiftly picked them out. The couple noticed and started moving a bit faster. He anticipated and held out the coat for the woman. They immediately relaxed, believing he wasn't planning on running away with their jackets. They were right. The woman murmured a modest "thank you" and shrugged into her coat, so obstructing the view of her partner. It was the moment he had been waiting for and Eugene didn't waste it: he quickly slipped his hands into both pockets, pretending to pat the folds out. Nobody noticed anything. Now the man had his coat on as well and they were both walking away, not even sparing the solemn boy a backward glance.
As soon as the door closed behind them Eugene ran through the kitchen (which earned him a few shouts), out the back door and used a drainpipe to climb up the outside. Once he got to the roof he stayed low so as not to lose his balance. Swiftly he moved back to the front of the inn. Only then did he check to see what he had managed to stuff into his deep pockets: a few loose coins, a small beat-up oval locket, and a lipstick. No wallet, maybe that was handled by the man. The locket was old but shiny, it was probably touched a lot. There was no ring for a chain, otherwise it might have been around the woman's neck. When Eugene opened it, two faces were looking up at him, a man and a woman, both canine humanoids. The woman's parents? If he took the photos out he could trade the locket quite easily. Any form of currency was always helpful, and Eugene was sure he could find someone who needed a new lipstick. Overall not the worst haul, but it wouldn't provide a full meal either.
Placing the items back in his trouser pockets, he prepared himself for a wait. He couldn't leave until the cruise ship had departed, he needed to be sure that he was safe. A good thing too, because he already noticed the couple coming back, furiously patting their pockets and turning the woman's jacket inside out. Once they went inside he couldn't hear what happened, but there was definitely an argument going on. This is why he had to think of Sarah as the inn keeper, because in the end it was always her who had to put up with the angry clients. Luckily most of the other clients were from the same ship, so the whole group would probably leave together.
Anyway, there were never any locals in the Benbow inn, there were never any returning customers. Montressor was a small planet and had no big space harbor on the planet itself. It was a dreary place, both the planet and the Benbow harbor. The latter was situated on the outskirts of a city. He had tried stealing in the city center before, but there were just too many people there. Either he was spotted by someone in the crowd, or the crowd prevented him from getting away quickly enough. He figured that the inn – the only building in the harbor – was perfect. Seeing as the clientele was ever-changing, no one ever knew who to look for when something went missing. If the harbor didn't bring in any trade, it was made up for by the amount of shady figures that landed here. If you wanted to interact with a more savory sort, you had to go to the 'moon,' the intergalactic Montressor Spaceport. You could see it every night, as it revolved around Montressor in an exact 24-hour loop. Sitting on the roof of the inn Eugene could already see it, almost blinding out the stars with the brightness and multitude of its lights. Once the ship had departed he would have to be quick about getting some food.
The kids looked at him hopefully as he entered the dormitory. The orphanage was an old building, with many rooms of varying size, divided over four floors. The top two floors had been added later, one at a time. There was really no relation in the location of the rooms of the floor, the whole place was almost like a labyrinth. There were stairs and corners and crannies and a few cracked windows. Every dormitory held as many bunk beds as it could fit. The building was co-ed of course (there was only one orphanage in the city, and they could hardly sent kids away) but the dormitories were not. Or at least, they were not during quiet hours. There were a few common rooms, but they were small and there was very little furniture. Any money coming in was usually spend on beds and bed linen, as Eugene believed it should be. He knew the orphanage was run as well as possible, but that did not mean he liked staying there. He just really didn't have anywhere else to go.
Whenever he came back from a day out – stealing or trading – he would first try to find the youngest kids. They usually huddled together in one of the dormitories. He had tried to make his loot go as far as possible. When he walked in the door all these faces were looking at him hopefully, but ready for disappointment as well. He hated that look. Not necessarily because of the responsibility they unwittingly burdened him with (although that was a part of it), but mainly because he believed that they shouldn't have that look. They were kids! They were supposed to have adults take care of them, regular meals, a warm bed. And he was still a kid too. He knew that. And he hated that. He should have someone taking care of him. Whenever he came back from a job, he was always struck with this loathing for his parents. Whereas most of the other kids didn't have any family left, Eugene might have. There might be someone out there who was supposed to take care of him and instead had simply chosen not to. But that would not do. He had to be cheery for the others, because all of them lived decidedly un-cheery lives. So he gave them his best grin and started handing out the bread and apples.
Hope you enjoyed! Please rate and review, even if you didn't like it. I'm taking a big leap here and would appreciate any and all feedback!
