Legolas had awoken early that morning. For once, he didn't try to drown his spirits in rum with his savvy yet slightly delusional companion Captain Jack the night before. Jack had, however, and lay sprawled out over the floor, mumbling in his sleep about the ocean and her beauties. Legolas had made bacon for himself and was listening to the calming sizzle combined with Jack's poetic subconscious being released. Jack seemed to roll and tilt in his dreams, probably dreaming he was on his ship, swaying with the roll of the waves. Dr. Gantus was not up yet, he lay on the couch, curled up. He seemed to twitch- his leg would give an involuntary jerk, which would kick a child-like sleeping Artemis, who would randomly say something like, "Butler," or, "hypochondriac." Sometimes, Artemis would say something like, "Garden gnome," or something that had to do with a magical creature, and Van Helsing, keeping one eye open when he was snoring, would jump up and shout, "Where?", and then fall down again. So, the whole performance went a bit like this:
Sizzzzzzzzzzzzzzle…
"Ah, the ocean…"
Sizzzzzzzzzzzzzzle…
Twitch… thunk…
"Brandy,"
Sizzzzzzzzzzzzzzle…"
"With all her wonderful entireties…"
Sizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzle…
Twitch… thunk…
"Faerie,"
"Where?" Thunk.
Sizzzzzzzzzzzzzle…
"Her depth… her rhythm…"
Sizzzzzzzzzzzzzle…
Twitch… thunk…
"Oompa-Loompa."
"Where?" Thunk.
Sizzzzzzzzzzzzzle…
"Her unpredictability… she can be a cool, serene sapphire, and suddenly change to a stormy gray…"
Sizzzzzzzzzzzzzzle…
Legolas thought it was like some sort of weird, annoying, yet addicting song you sing in rounds on very long car rides, like 'Row Your Boat.' Legolas smiled thinly. Would it work? He supposed he could try.
"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream-"
Twitch… thunk…
"Elf."
"Where?" Thunk.
Sizzzzzzzzzzzzzle…
"Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily-"
At this point Legolas found out that when he sang 'Row Your Boat,', Violet began to clutch her head and roll around the bed she was sleeping on, moaning, "No, please, no…" Another delightful round to add in the strange song.
Sizzzzzzzzzzzzle…
"To spend a peaceful, quiet day on my deck, listening to the song of the water and swaying with the wave's dance while sipping mint julep tea is paradise in my mind…"
Sizzzzzzzzzzzzle…
Twitch… thunk…
"Hobbit."
"Where?" Thunk.
Sizzzzzzzzzzzle…
"Life is but a dream-"
"No, please… stop…"
Sizzzzzzzzzzzle…
Legolas let it go on for a few minutes until the bacon was done, in which he took the sizzling rock of the fire and ate his toasted meat happily. He stopped singing 'Row Your Boat,' so Violet drifted off to sleep again. Jack, Artemis, Gantus, and Van Helsing continued rambling or twitching, but it wasn't as pretty as before. When Legolas was finished, he walked over to the bed Violet was sleeping on and continued singing in a soft voice, "Row, row, row your boat…" But after a while, Violet sat up, eyes still closed, grabbed a knife that was sitting by a crudely-made bed stand, and began stabbing the pillow next to her, laughing softly, but crazily. Legolas backed away. He had decided that their sleeping-in time was finished.
"RISE AND SHINE, MORTALS! IT'S TIME TO BUILD A BOAT!" he yelled.
All five of them snapped awake, sat up, and said simultaneously, "I had the strangest dream."
Dr. Gantus began to prepare some more bacon, asking Legolas if he might go and look for eggs. Jack asked if there was any mint julep tea around, but when asked what the bloody heck he was talking about by Artemis, denied that he had said anything. Van Helsing checked out side to see if any natives were around, while Violet wandered aimlessly around the hut, knife still in hand, with a blank look on her face. No one talked to her much that morning.
Dr. Gantus was right. Building a boat with six people went a lot quicker than expected. Van Helsing and Jack did most of the hard work. They took up the morning chopping down trees behind the hut, and then shaping them into boards. Artemis measured the wood, basing his work from the blueprints. Legolas would then finish the job by working out all the rough edges and cutting to the measurements. Violet worked on tearing apart and melting the mettle. She had melted a huge mass of it, turning and poking it in the fire. Its orangey light reflected off the curves of her face, dancing in her eyes and bouncing off the drops off sweat on her brow. Dr. Gantus rushed from place to place, helping some and ordering everyone about. Soon, they had enough boards for Legolas to measure (the nails derived from the Scaper, of course,) and then he and Jack switched places, Jack insisting that "he knew boats, and that blasted elf would probably break a fingernail trying to hammer or something and would be of no use." Legolas agreed, glancing at his nails. Once Jack had finished the frame, looking like some sort of giant rib cage, he began working on the bottom of the boat. Once Jack had finished the frame, looking like some sort of giant rib cage, he began working on the bottom of the boat. The boat was a fair size, probably around the size of a master bedroom. It was probably around 18 feet tall, with an cabin below for food, water, and other stuff you might need while sailing out into the big blue. This did not include the railings, which were boards about four feet tall. Van Helsing set out for a tree tall enough to serve as a mast. He needed two: one tall one, and one medium size. Dr. Gantus to gather any scrap of material he could find to sew together to make two sails. He found several blankets, the sheet from the couch, the sheets on his bed, some of his clothes, and the girl clothes Artemis and Legolas had worn. He began sewing madly away. Artemis wondered about how it was so convenient that Gantus had a sewing kit, and when he asked him Gantus stoutly replied, "Well, it's a hobby of mine. Do you know how boring it is, just sitting all day on an island with nothing to do? One needs a hobby." Artemis shrugged. Some liked to sew, some liked to hack into military systems and steal vital information about aliens.
Dear readers, I must say that this whole process was very tedious and monotonous altogether, and I am becoming very bored just writing about it. So, I will skip ahead a few days, since nothing really exciting happened except for when Legolas as Jack prophesized broke a nail and wept bitterly for three hours. Ah yes. Skipping ahead two days of hard work…
"I do believe we are nearly there," Dr. Gantus smiled. Violet was busy sticking on the cooling metal, and then nailing it to the boards. Van Helsing showed Legolas how to weld nails, and Legolas had made some more from the spare metal. Dr. Gantus had made a water-purification machine a few years before, and had taken the salt to salt the meat. Unfortunately, there was no freezing system, so the fruits they had gathered would have to be dried. Artemis wasn't certain it would nourish everyone the way it was supposed to.
"Well, if worse comes to worse, we can always get scurvy," Dr. Gantus said, sounding awfully excited.
"How long will it take to get to another island?" Violet asked, looking down.
"I don't know for sure. I remember I was close to a place called Falkland Island which belongs to the UK out around the coast of South America when I crashed. Perhaps we can navigate to there, and from there navigate to Argentina."
"And when we get there?"
"Well, obviously we will be on a continent that is civilized enough to contact means of transportation to get us all home." Artemis sniffed, regaining that posh snobbiness he had not yet lost.
"That's only if we make it to another island alive, and if the island is inhabited its inhabitants are friendly." Legolas said.
"If not, we can always sell Violet as a trade or peace thing," Jack grinned evilly, glancing up her admirable assets. Violet's hands suddenly had a spasm which caused her to drop her hammer, conveniently over Jack's head.
"Ow! I didn't deserve that-"
"Actually, you did." Van Helsing chuckled.
"Enough chattering. We have work to do." Gantus said, handing the hammer back to Violet, who resumed her work.
They went on, purifying lots of water, building, drying, sewing: preparing. Dr. Gantus, being a scientist, was used to believing the impossible. After all, he had discovered a cure for a fever that most preclaimed uncurable. But now he felt himself approaching a new chapter of his scientific escapade in life. He would have to trust his instincts to a bizarrely wild pirate, a foppy magical creature, a dashing but a little dull monster assassin, a creepy snobby genius, and a smart little mechanic with phsycopathic tendencies. He was taking a leap- and he had faith in his new friends to catch him. Dr. Gantus smiled, and kept working.
He was obviously quite mad.
