Author's Note: Many thanks to captainameliagirl, Silverwolf407 and PcKtmouse for your kind reviews. Also, I am grateful for those who have kindly +fav or +alert this series. Thank you all so much!
This chapter is much better than the previous two, thanks to PcKtmouse who generously granted my request for her beta reading :-) If it wasn't for her practical and insightful advices I could never achieve this standard. And I am to be placed all the blame on for any flaws.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and no money was made from this.
Title: Silver Vine
Theme: 03. Lust
Rating: T for suggestive contents
Beta by: PcKtmouse
—
"Fifteen pieces o' dried Calyan figs,"
"Check."
"Two chunks of salt curin' bonzabeast meat,"
"Check."
"A pack o' Solaris seed f'r Doc's chowder,"
"Ugh, he can survive without extra seasoning, don't you think?"
Jim rolled his eyes with half-marked "things-to-get" list clutched in his hand, while struggling a little bit to follow Silver, who expertly maneuvered through the hustle-and-bustle of a busy spaceport. The cook had two burlap sacks full of supplies hoisted up on either side of his shoulders, but he was walking at ease with firm steps. On the other hand, the cabin boy had already lost count how many times he bumped a passerby's shoulder, even though the only thing he carried was a middle-sized canvas bag containing miscellaneous light-weight purchases.
They were in the downtown area of a spaceport, which was commonly referred to as the "Etherium's Kitchen" by seasoned spacers.
Captain Amelia had not exactly been in the best of moods lately due to her stock of favorite tea—a specialty of her homeplanet Mau—running out. Her annoyance had affected the entire Legacy crew in the form of relentless orders to further perfect her already impeccable ship. Luckily for them the ship happened to pass by a planet reputed for its capital, a spaceport, which had every edible item found in the Etherium. Hundreds of shops and restaurants lined the street which went on for dozens and dozens of blocks.
Their two-day shore leave had a lot to do with recommendations by Mr. Arrow and Doppler, the former out of worry for his felinid captain's exhaustion, the latter from his determination to not to miss this place filled with myriad research opportunities. As soon as the Legacy was docked at the port all crewmembers darted out from the ship and headed straight for their various destinations. In Jim's case, he did not have a say in his plan for this precious excursion. The cook caught him by the collar and told him to help with restocking supplies, which included the premium tea.
"Nah, Doc deserves his Top o' th' Mornin' breakfast, Alponian chowder with th' extra Solaris seed. Gotta look f'r th' shop t'at has one,"
The cabin boy's grumbling was nothing but a simple amusement to his half-cyborg mentor. In the midst of an overcrowded shopping street Jim had no idea how Silver managed to scan through a vast stretch of shops and stalls without stopping his walk for a mere second, as if two heavily-loaded bags on his shoulders were non-existent. Born and raised in the less populated former mining town, he was not used to walking through this much of a crowd. Almost failing to keep up with the cyborg's pace he unconsciously reached out and grasped Silver's coat. The older man chuckled at the naïve gesture and slowed down his walking pace ever so slightly.
As they made their way through the bustling main street a small stall manned by an elderly canid caught Jim's eye. Various plant seeds were piled up in several mountains there, and one of them was definitely what they were looking for.
"Hey, Sil—"
"Hey sexy, long time no see. How are you doing?"
The cabin boy's calling was abruptly interrupted by a syrupy sweet, flirtatious voice. For a moment Jim was rather perplexed than annoyed, but as soon as he saw two curvy figures clinging to Silver's burly body, his expression darkened with a twinge of unfamiliar emotions that he was unable to identify. On Silver's left was a slender redhead fluttering her long eyelashes, peering at the cyborg's half-amused expression with her half-lidded amber eyes. A slightly younger, coquettish felinid blonde was on his other side, deliberately pressing up her ample bosom to the cook's good arm.
"Mornin' lasses, it's grand ta see ye. Aye, it's been quite a while, t'ough ye two gems haven't changed one bit."
Silver's casual tone was similar to the one he used toward his cabin boy, but Jim did not fail to notice there was something extra underneath. In a way, Silver's voice toward the skimpily-clad hookers sounded a little patronizing. When he spoke with the spaceport floozies in such a tone, which was returned in an outrageously flirtatious manner, it created an atmosphere particularly awkward to Jim. For some reason, he could not help feeling alienated and he absolutely hated it.
"Hey Silver, shouldn't we looking for the seed and Captain's tea?"
Jim pulled at the cook's sleeve without even trying to hide his irritation. Two sets of mascara lashes turned to his direction, recognizing the boy's presence at last. The girls stared at the lean figure behind the robust spacer for what seemed like a full minute, and then suddenly burst into a somewhat deriding laughter.
"Oh, Silver darling, since when you became a babysitter?"
Jim's face turned crimson, both from shame and anger. He let go of Silver's coat at once and almost lashed out at them, but the older man restrained the infuriated teen.
"Don't judge a book by its cover, love. The boy here solarsurfs like nobody's business,"
Patting the boy's shoulder with his good hand, Silver flashed a cocky, toothy grin to the still-giggling duo. Despite his irritation at Silver's unfamiliar behavior, Jim felt his heart skip a beat at the rare compliment. Their laughter finished, the blonde sauntered forward and gazed the younger boy with much curiosity.
"Soooo, Silver sweetie, if he is like, a real spacer-man, we don't mind him joining you in our service…"
In contrast to her innocent smile, her words were shamelessly provocative. Jim's already blushing face turned redder if at all possible, but the girls allowed him no mercy. The redhead snatched Jim's chin and fixed her amber gaze directly at the boy's hazy blue, as if to dare something to him. Suddenly Jim remembered all the conversations he had eavesdropped on as he tended to the seasons spacers in the Benbow's late-night bar and how they had given the port other nicknames. The Entertainment Capital of the Etherium, or even worse, the Sin City. While the redhead still captured his chin in her teasing hold, the felinid leaned dangerously close to the boy and whispered into his delicate ear.
"Y'know, our service is, like, totally mind-blowing…"
Before Jim had a chance to react, he was pushed back to the safety of his mentor's back. The pair whined at the sudden loss of their new-found plaything, but soon grinned mischievously and simultaneously pecked either side of Silver's face.
"Please make sure to visit us during your stay here, baby. You know where to find us."
The redhead leisurely trailed her slim fingers on Silver's cheek, and then turned her six-inch stilettos. The blonde followed suit after she winked impishly and blew a kiss to the Legacy crew.
"Well, what was that—"
"Nah, nothin' ye should worry about, Jimbo. Now let's find Doc's favorite seed, shall we?"
Jim threw a skeptical glance at the cook, but there seemed to be no room for discussion or further explanation about what had just happened. For the rest of their procurement pursuit Jim noticed that his mentor avoided meeting his eyes in a subtle, but determined manner.
Silver called it a day as they finally secured the Solaris seed and the Mauan tealeaf. There were a few items yet to be marked on the list, but the cook decided they could wait for tomorrow, their last day in the city. After having dinner at a local diner the two checked into a small inn to reward themselves with a good night sleep on sensible bedding, not wanting to return to the scratchy perpetually-rocking hammock at their ship's sleeping quarters.
The room was sparsely furnished including two plain single beds covered with starched bed sheets. The simple setting reminded Jim of his days back at the Benbow, helping his mother with making beds and busing tables. He wanted to give asking Silver about the girls another shot before he went to sleep, but the clean-looking bed was so enticing that he could not help diving into headfirst, as several miles of walking took a toll on his body.
However, several hours later, the creaking sound of the cyborg's mechanics stirred him from a deep slumber at an ungodly hour. In his sleep-fogged vision, Silver was perching on the edge of the bed and slipped his good foot into his boot.
"Where are you going?"
Jim sat up in bed and asked the older man while rubbing his drowsy eyes. But soon enough he realized how silly the question was. Of course the spacer was heading to reconnect with the blasted spaceport floozies! He felt his face flush and stomach churn in a strange way as his mind was invaded by an image of the cyborg feeling up two curvy figures.
"Ah, sorry lad, I didn't mean t' wake ye. Got me just a li'l business out t'ere. Now ye go back t' sleep, Jimbo."
Silver pronounced Jim's pet name with extra sweetness, but his cabin boy was not the one to be shrugged off so easily. A sudden fit of rage – although he was clueless where it came from – got the better of him and he glared at the cook.
"Oh c'mon, that's not fair! You can't just ditch me here, Silver!"
The room was nearly pitch-black and the only light source available was the luminescent cyborg eye. His expression unreadable in a dim room, a bulky silhouette of Silver slowly stood up. There was a pregnant silence between the two, and just when Jim felt he couldn't stand the awkwardness anymore he saw the intricate mechanical eye blink. The eerie red laser traced the delicate line of the adolescent features.
"Believe me, Jim, ye want me t' do t'is f'r yer sake."
All day Jim had been introduced to too many of his mentor's new sides and at this point he didn't know anymore whether the man in front of him was really the same person he has been working with for the past few months at the Legacy. Jim cleared his throat and tried to find his voice. The acute, scarlet radiation was so hypnotizing…
"A fair one like ye doesn't want t' be stuck twenty four-seven wit' an unsatisfied pirate—"
And there he was, the self-proclaimed pirate was pinning the boy to the bed. The furniture squeaked as if to protest to the overload, but the sound did not reach Jim's entranced mind. Anyone else would be scared to death from being in such a helpless state—pinned down by a rugged, semi-mechanical longtime spacer—but it was not the case for the cabin boy. He was in fact mesmerized and absently thought this might be somehow his dream come true. Having the object of his secret admiration all over him felt too good to be real and then he was convinced, albeit reluctantly, he must be still sleeping. He felt a warm, gentle hand cup his face. As he leaned into the comforting touch something cool brushed the tip of his nose and everything went black, but not before he faintly sensed the exotic aroma of the Captain's tea—
—
"Actini… What?"
"Actinidia polygama,"
Doppler sipped his morning coffee in an elegant fashion, which was actually not so uncharacteristic of him. In front of him was the Alponian chowder Jim prepared by following his mother's recipe, with extra soralis seed, no less. At eight in the morning in his designated cabin the canid financier was more than happy to answer the cabin boy's question, which happened to be concerning one of his strong research areas—pharmaceutical botany.
"It has been used for its medicinal benefits for centuries in Traditional Medicine commonly practiced in the Far East. It serves as a good remedy to fatigue and hypertension, among many others, and it works as an especially effective stress-reliever when it is used to the felinid."
"Oh… well, by any chance, does it have any effects like…anesthesia?"
Clutching the tray he used to bring the astronomer's breakfast from the galley, Jim asked the canid in a suppressed tone, practically rushing out the last word. Doppler brought his index finger to his pointed chin and tilted his head, which he often did when he was thinking.
"Hmm, it depends on the type of Actinidia, but as far as I know the one contained in our Captain's tea is a quite strong kind—although non-toxic, of course. So there might be a possibility of it causing such effect when it is used in an excessive concentration, like in a form of green tea leaf before properly roasted."
Jim remembered that the cook had ordered him to buy them fresh, not the roasted black tea, due to Amelia's particularity about her caffeine fix. So last night had not been one of his wicked dreams, after all. Probably. Hopefully.
"Oh, and also, Jim"
Doppler's cheerful voice awoke the teen from his reverie.
"Actinidia polygama is also known as Silver Vine."
Fin.
Actinidia polygama (also known as Silver Vine and Cat Powder) is a non-toxic plant in the Actinidiaceae family. It grows in the mountainous areas of Japan and China at elevations between 500–1900 meters. Silver Vine has long been known to elicit euphoric response in cats. It is the most popular cat treat in Asia, particularly in Japan and China. The reaction to Silver Vine is similar to the catnip response, but appears to be more intense.
Reference: Actinidia polygama. (2011, July 22). In Wikipedia. Retrieved 04:07, August 19, 2011.
PS: The real Silver Vine is nothing as strong as anesthesia for humans, but I took advantage of its peculiar effect for my story development :-)