A/N: Aaaaaaaaaand, another one! WOo0t! Haha, okay, moving on!
Disclaimer: I don't own Treasure Planet, Disney, any of that stuff. I own Violet, that's it, nothing else in this story. Don't even try. -_-
Violet shielded her eyes from the sun, absent mindedly pushing her long red hair behind her shoulder. She squinted out over the deck, looking for Jim. She finally spotted him peering over the edge of the ship as they began to take off. She headed over to speak to him, but ended up jumping a mile in the air when Arrow started yelling orders to the crew. She heard laughter and glanced over to realize Jim had seen her. She grinned. "It's not funny!"
"Then why are you smiling?"
"…I have no idea!" she laughed. She opened her mouth to continue speaking, but whatever she said was cut off by an "oh!' of surprise when she suddenly started floating. She glanced over at Jim who was laughing at her, and just the fact that he was actually floating in midair. Shaking her head Violet kicked herself away from the edge of the ship, so she wouldn't accidentally fall off when gravity returned. Jim ended up doing the same at that same moment, and they ended up tangled in the air. And of course, that was the moment that the gravity had to come back, so they ended up in a heap on the deck. Violet blushed when she realized she was right on top of Jim, and quickly scrambled off, an apologetic mumble escaping her lips.
She'd barely had time to stand up when the ship suddenly rushed forward, making her fall backward and hit the edge of the ship. Grimacing, she looked up at Jim, who was laughing again. He'd held on to the opposite edge. She glared then got up and walked back over to him, lightly smacking his arm.
"You're kind of clumsy, aren't you?" he said. She frowned. She wasn't normally – she'd been raised as a stealthy pirate! What had just happened was indeed odd. She shrugged, neither confirming nor disproving the statement.
She glanced out over the edge of the ship, and her expression suddenly brightened. "Hey, look!" She guided Jim to where she was looking, and both of them climbed up over the ropes to get a better view. (A/N:I just made up this name from what Delbert said, mmkay?) There was a pod of Orcus flying around the ship!
"What are they?" Jim asked.
"Orcus. They're the only mammals with fins that actually lives in the air." She grinned and stretched her arm out to lightly brush her hand against the rubbery skin. "They're very friendly, if a bit gross sometimes."
"Why are they gross?"
"Because -" her answer was cut off by the Orcus blowing mucus up right on the doctor's face while he was attempting to take a picture. She laughed. "That's why."
Jim laughed as well as the Orcus slowly drifted off to the west. Violet leaned back against the ropes.
"So, I have a question."
"Shoot."
She kept her eyes away from him, making sure she looked casual. It was all instinct for her, having been taught the art of lying and persuasion. "Well, I know where we're headed of course – Treasure Planet. What I'm confused about is how. Isn't that just a fairy tale for kids? I love the story myself, but you know…" she trailed off, and glanced at him with an inquiring look. His expression was studiously casual as well, but she saw through his mask. He knew something.
"I don't know either. It's kinda weird huh?" She gave a mental sigh.
"Kind of. But exciting." Guess I shouldn't be surprised. It'll just take some time to get the information out of him.
"Yeah…"
"Jimbo!" the both turned sharply towards the sound of Silver's voice. "I've got two new friends I'd like ya to meet." Violet's eyebrows furrowed in confusion – there wasn't anyone around Silver at all – while Jim looked around silver excitedly. "Say hello, to Mr. Mop, and Mrs. Bucket! Hahaha…" As he said each name, he threw the mop and bucket to Jim. With a wry look towards Silver, Violet grabbed Jim's elbow to keep him form falling as the momentum from the bucket hit him. He had the same expression on his face.
"Yippee." Violet game him a sympathetic look.
"Vi!" She turned her head back towards Silver automatically. "Come down to the kitchen, ye'll be helpin' me cook fer now." She nodded and jumped towards the deck at the same time Jim did. She gave him a small wave and followed Silver.
Once they were safely below deck, he turned to her. "Anythin'?" Violet shook her head.
"I'm going to have to get him to trust me. He won't give up any information he has easily." She still left out the part about him having possession of the map. Just so I don't give him any useless information, she told herself. I don't actually have proof that he has the map after all. She snapped her attention back to Silver as he began to speak.
"Alrigh'. But don't go wastin' time now!" She nodded and started back up the steps, then paused.
"What shall I tell Jim? You said I was supposed to stay down here and cook…" Silver didn't like having help actually cooking – that was strictly his job. He gave everyone else the dirty work.
He stroked his chin in thought. "Just tell 'im I sent ya up there to help anybody with some kinda job, I didn't need yer help down 'ere." She nodded once, then continued up to the deck.
She walked over to where Jim was mopping, and glanced up at her in surprise.
"What are you doing up here?"
She gave her explanation to him, which he nodded his understanding at, then continued working with a sigh. She smiled.
"Sorry about that. He can be kinda mean sometimes." He looked up at her, an eyebrow raised. "…Alright, it was more then kinda mean, but still, he is a really nice guy once you give him a chance." He cocked his head a bit.
"You've known him for a while then?"
Violet nodded. "Almost all my life. He's sort of raised me since I was little." He gave her an odd look.
"What happened to your parents?" she looked away, feigning sadness.
"…They abandoned me when I was a baby. Silver found me in an alley in the middle of nowhere really." She closed her eyes on the real memories of her life…Her father coming home, smelling heavily of alcohol…Her mother, bleeding on the floor…Running in the streets, terrified that her father was getting closer…
"I'm sorry…" her eyes snapped open, the memories shattering like glass at Jim's words. She instantly recalled the fake story she'd told him, and she hardened her expression.
"Don't be. It's probably better that they did. What kind of parents could they have been, if they were just going to abandon me?" Jim blinked, looking surprised.
"Hm…I never thought about it that way…" Violet's brow furrowed slightly.
"What do you mean?" He glanced at her quickly, then looked away.
"My father…he abandoned me and my mom too…" Violet's expression turned sympathetic…It wasn't fake sympathy either she realized with surprise. She truly felt bad for him, and she knew how he felt, at least a little. She may have been separated from her parents for a completely different reason, but it had still hurt, not knowing the comfort of a mother or father.
She reached her hand out and put it on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. That must have been horrible." He shrugged, not looking at her, but he didn't make her move her hand either. "Do you remember him at all?" He nodded, but didn't say anything, and his expression made it clear he wasn't going to either. She backed up and leaned against the edge of the ship, changing the subject. "Have you ever traveled like this before? On a ship I mean?"
He raised his eyebrows a bit at the shift in mood, but shrugged and answered. "No, actually, I've never been anywhere but my home on Montressor." His eyes gleamed. "I've always wanted to do something like this though." Violet smiled, glad that he was going to continue speaking to her.
TTTTTTTTT
The talk between the two teenagers later turned back to Silver, which brought Jim's bitterness towards the man back to the surface. He slapped the mop to the deck after soaking it in the bucket. "Yeah, I got your 'Mr. Mop'…" he muttered, making Violet giggle. He cast a glare in her direction, distracting him so he didn't notice one of the rather large members of the crew walking past him. His arm knocked right into Jim, causing him to fall against the edge of the ship, next to where Violet had perched. She instinctively reached out to help him stand again, looking angrily towards the one who had hit him. He turned around, looking just as annoyed.
"Watch it twerp." He growled, showing his fist in a threatening manner. Jim straightened and glanced to a few other crew members who were whispering animatedly. Violet leaned back a little so that Jim couldn't see her and gave them hurried 'stop!' gestures. After a moment one of them saw her, glanced at Jim, and quickly nudged the others so that they would quit. Violet exhaled silently in relief, sure that they'd been talking about the secret plan that Silver had given them once they had been hired.
The one whose head was a different entity itself crossed his arms, glaring haughtily at Jim. "What are you lookin' at weirdo?" The head crawled off, leaving the 'stomach' to open it's eyes and speak.
"Yeah. 'Weirdo'." Violet raised an eyebrow. How eloquent. She and Jim glanced up as a hiss sounded. Scrupp climbed down from the ropes she and Jim had been climbing after the launch.
"Cabin boys should learn to mind their own businesssssss…" she resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the exaggerated hiss, placed herself in front of him.
"Scrupp, don't you dare…" she warned. He hissed at her, and just pushed her roughly out of the way, making her hit the floor. She winced as pain shot up her back, and glared at Scrupp. The crew began to murmur excitedly, eager for a fight. He turned back to Jim as he responded.
"Why, you got something to hide, bright eyes?" he had a cocky grin on his face, but he cast a concerned glance to Violet. She was about to nod, silently telling him she was fine, but Scrupp hissed again and grabbed Jim by the front of his jacket, lifting him up in the air.
"Maybe your ears don't work sssso well?" he hissed into Jim's face, who turned away, coughing a bit.
"Yeah. Too bad my nose works just fine!" Violet jumped up. This won't end well…
Scrupp began to hiss again. "Why you impudent little….!" He shoved him against the main mast, and the crew began to yell eagerly, all egging him on. Violet rushed towards him, but he just pushed her down again. She was grateful for the first time that she and Scrupp had never gotten along – no one would find it odd that she was trying to stop him.
"Any last wordssss, cabin boy?" he hissed, bringing his claw fatally close to Jim's throat.
Suddenly Silver appeared out of nowhere, and grabbed Scrupp's left claw with his mechanical arm, casually eating a purp.
"Mr. Scrupp," he greeted cheerfully, like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Violet glanced towards Jim, who was just hanging there against the mast nervously. Silver continued speaking, his mouth full of fruit. "You ever see what happens to a fresh purp…when ya squeeze, real HARD?!" At that moment he flexed his metal hand, holding Scrupp's claw in a death grip. Scrupp screeched and dropped Jim, his right claw going instantly to his injured one. Silver let go as Jim dropped to the ground, and Violet rushed over to help him up and away from Scrupp. They both froze however, when Arrow's voice rang out over the deck.
"What's all this then?" The large stone like man descended the steps to the deck, his stern expression carefully examining each of them. Violet's gaze dropped sadly, not wanting to be disliked by him. However, he passed her without any accusations, and she sighed in relief. He must have seen what had happened and knew she wasn't guilty of anything. Jim glanced at her when she sighed, but she just shook her head. She'd tell him later. Arrow began to lecture the rest of the crew.
"You know the rules. There'll be no brawling on this ship! Any further offenders will be confined to the brig, for the remainder of the voyage." He paused in front of Scrupp, disapproval clear on his face. "Am I clear, Mr. Scrupp?" Scrupp began to hiss, but Silver had cast his mechanical eye on him, giving him a look of warning once Scrupp glanced towards him. He grimaced unhappily, but turned back to Arrow.
"Transparently." Arrow stood back for a moment, then began walking back to his former post. The crew all scattered, seeing the show was over as Silver shooed them off, calling cheerfully to the man.
"Well done Mr. Arrow sir! A tight ship's a happy ship…sir!" Once everyone was out of hearing range, he grabbed the mop from the ground where Jim had dropped it and turned towards him accusingly. "Jimbo! I gave you a job!"
Jim began protesting "Hey, I was doing it, until that bug thing got - !"
"Belay that!" he shouted in his face, and shoved the mop back in his hands as Jim fell silent. "Now! I want this deck swabbed spotless! And heaven help ya if I come back and it's not done…!" he trailed off and glanced towards Morph. "Morph! Keep an eye on this pup. Let me know if there be any more distractions." He walked back towards the kitchen. Jim sighed, and began to mop again, as Morph made his own eyes huge, staring obediently at Jim, who just raised an eyebrow at him. Violet grimaced a bit, then glanced at Jim.
"I'll be right back. I'm gonna talk to Silver."
"You don't need to tell him any -" she was already jogging to the steps though. She caught him just before he began to descend, but they were still out of earshot from Jim.
"Silver!" she said, making him turn towards her. "Hey, Jim really didn't do anything, Scrupp just got all pissed off and -"
"I know, I know. I figured it was Scrupp's fault; I'll deal with that later. First I gotta take care o' the rest o' the crew. Can't believe they'd go and…" he continued muttering angrily, but intelligibly. Violet raised her eyebrows at him until he looked back at her. "Ah, yeah, follow me, ya probably oughta be down here. Don't want any o' them thinkin' I'm givin' you any special treatment, they'd start to harass ya again." Violet nodded, understanding. They had been incredibly rude and even violent towards her at first, though as she had grown and became stronger, they began to back off. A few of them even seemed to respect her for her strength, though they'd never say anything of the kind.
She led the way into the kitchen, perching on a barrel as Silver entered, a falsely cheerful smile on his face.
"So…We're all 'ere then." A very short, many-eyed creature scrambled in, sitting on the table next to Violet. "Fine." Silver began to walk forward, his mock serene voice echoing slightly in the damp room. "Now…If you'll pardon my way of speakin' gentlemen…Are ya all…" his mechanical hand switched out for a deadly sword. "Stark RAVIN', TOTALLY blinkin' DAFT?!" he swung the sword dangerously close to their heads, making everyone duck and cry out in terror.(A/N: Yes, I changed the line slightly here, I couldn't quite catch what he said.) "After all I went through getting us hired as an upstanding crew, you want to blow the whole mutiny before it's time?!" he ended his yelling right in Scrupp's face.
"The boy wasss sniffing about." He hissed.
"You just stick to the plan ya bug-brained twit! As for the boy…I'll run him so ragged he won' have time ta think…" Violet grimaced a bit, not sure why she found his statement insulting. He was talking about Jim, not herself after all. She sighed, and after getting approval from Silver, headed back out on deck.
TTTTTTTTT
Jim and Violet had been chatting most of the time, but by evening their talk had died off, both of them just lost in thought. At one point Morph decided to play and become a mop himself, cleaning off Jim's shoes and such. Violet giggled as he changed back and floated in the air next to Jim, hiccupping bubbles. Jim smiled, then sighed and started talking to the pink blob. "Well this has been a fun day, huh? Making new friends…Like that spider physco." Morph changed into a miniature Scrupp, holding up his claws in a mock threatening way.
"Spider physco, spider physco!"
Violet and Jim both laughed. "A little uglier." She recommended to Jim's amusement. Morph hid his Scrupp face for a moment, then came out, laughing maniacally, his head huge and crazed looking, causing Violet to erupt in a fit of giggles. Jim chuckled.
"Pretty close." Morph shrugged.
"Well!" came Silver's laughing voice. Morph changed back as he trudged up the stairs, and flew over to his master. "Thank heavens for little miracles." He was carrying a pot of rubbish which he went over to throw over the edge of the ship. "Up her for an hour, an' the deck's still in one piece." Jim turned his attention to his mop uncomfortably. Violet looked away politely, knowing that Jim was about to thank Silver for saving him earlier. He'd told her he would, but that he didn't often, and it would be awkward thanking him.
Her brow furrowed as she realized that she and Jim were actually getting along really well. They'd spent most of the day talking about one and other's lives, and Violet had found herself mostly telling the truth, only editing out the parts that would lead Jim to realize that the entire crew was a band of pirates. That was a first; she always told people complete and utter lies, never allowing anyone to follow her trail. On one planet she was a former dancer, rescued from the bad part of town from Silver, her adopted father. On another, she had been part of a royal family, but had run away with her uncle to learn about what life was really like. They were all outrageous stories that no one would ever be able to follow, because there was no such thing – her entire life had always been a lie to all but Silver, and in one day this boy had made her tell the truth to a complete stranger, and tell a lie to the only man she'd ever considered a father. What in the world is wrong with me?
Her gaze and attention shot back to Jim and Silver as he raised his voice in a haughty manner "Well, like it or not, the captain's put you in my charge so I'll be poundin' some skills into that thick head o' yours to keep ya outta trouble!" Jim began to protest as Violet laughed.
"Jeez Jim, what'd you do? You'd better be careful, he means it!" He shot a glare her way, an 'oh-shut-up-and-help-me-out-here!' expression on his face. Violet just continued laughing and Silver went on with his rant.
"From now on I'm not lettin' ya outta me sight!"
"You can't do-!"
"You won't so much as eat, sleep, or scratch your bum without my say-so!" Violet doubled over in laughter, as Jim responded angrily.
"Don't do me any favours!"
"Oh, you can be sure of that, lad!" he said, patting him on the back. "You can be sure of that!" With that, Jim was left to glare scornfully at the two laughing partners in crime.
