"So what's Bones' daughter look like anyway? What kinda creature is she?"
It was on the tip of his tongue to tell Jim off about how racist he was sounding, but he went a different route. "Trust me, lad, ye will know her when ye see her." He paused for a moment, watching Jim tap his finger against the wooden table. "And don't act so anxious." The boy raised an eyebrow, looking up but not moving his head. His finger did not cease. "The fun hasn't even started yet, and, honestly, I d'n't even know if she can help us."
"Silver I did not come all the way out here with you for nothing. I am not returning home empty-handed."
His attention spiked when he understood the boy's tone. "Careful, lad. Even wolves howl with their jaws half shut."
Jim jerked his head in the jackal's direction. "Oh you mean like him over there?"
"Joshua's no stranger to punks."
"Whatever. We'll see what happens."
Silver grabbed the lad's face, pulling it erect as he looked into his eyes. "Yer mother put me in charge of ye, and I be dammed if I return ye worse than I borrowed ya!" He let go, and Jim rubbed his jaw. "Ye'll not be stealing anything from anyone, lad."
Silence passed between the two of them, Jim back to tapping on the table and Silver looking at the door through the corner of his eye. He'd been suspicious every since they'd begun landing. Jim noticed it off the bat, and thought to ask Silver about it. Of course, the cyborg gave no detail and brushed off Jim's speculation. The boy continued to notice the watchful mechanical eye of the older man flicker this way and that, but didn't ask him about it after that. He couldn't conceive of any real danger they were in, besides the fact that Jim was a human. No, Silver's suspicion seemed to have a more purposeful intent; however, Jim was starting to think that it was nothing more than instinct he was giving in to. That it was something countless years of roaming space as a wanted fugitive had chiseled into his brain. And so, more silence. Then. . .
"Kiita!"
Jim jumped as the bartender suddenly shouted. Silver chuckled. "A bit jumpy there, lad?"
"No," he said defensively. "I just. . .felt something crawling on my ass." This in itself was enough to make the large man laugh heartily. Jim's cheeks flushed. Because of the "this is my daughter" spiel, he couldn't even shout at the cyborg to shut his fat face. It probably would've earned him a slap across the face anyway.
Between Silver laughing and Jim being embarrassed, neither noticed as the adopted daughter of Billy Bones leapt up from her perch, jumping down the stairs and passing right behind them. She went into the kitchen, coming out a second later with two full plates of food.
Between Silver laughing and Jim being embarrassed, neither noticed as the adopted daughter of Billy Bones leapt up from her perch, jumping down the stairs and passing right behind them. She went into the kitchen, coming out a second later with two full plates of food.
This girl was not unlike her father in many ways. She was an adventurous, sassy little thing, and on more than one occasion her mouth had gotten her into worse trouble than she could handle. However, this trouble was mostly involving the man Bones put in place to care for her. The girl hardly ever had the chance to leave the inn, for even though the townspeople had grown accustomed to having one of her here, she still disgusted many and couldn't bring herself to deal with the discriminating looks and calls. Her spirit had grown in a confined safe haven ever since she was four years old. Bones came to visit her when he could, but also brought the whole crew along. They sang songs and got drunk downstairs, and the daughter of the first mate was happy as could be to be their waitress. This was the only outside socialization she got, and even then it was hardly any.
But, when the crew did some barging in, she wouldn't waste a second of the time she had. They all knew her, they were all nice to her. Sometimes they'd come after her bedtime, but of course, that didn't stop her. She'd mark the dates they'd come (once every two months!) and she'd stay up and wait for them. She used to sit atop the stairs, out of sight, and listen to their tales of glorious adventures. She was swept into a world of pulsar-tossed excitement and embattled men. She'd often feel like she had lived the adventures with them; she got a sore arm from wielding a cutlass, pistol smoke in her eyes, and for the longest time wasn't content with small change after she'd filtered through a chestful of gold.
The daughter absolutely loved their visits. She'd count down the days, and they'd always barge in cheering about some accomplishment on the very same date. It happened for a couple of years, but then one day. . .they just stopped coming. The girl became worried, and stayed up all night waiting, but they didn't show up. They didn't show the next time either, or the time after that. She'd been alone here for all of those years - she was nearly eighteen now. Naturally, it'd struck her stiff when she heard the deep voiced line of never wanting to hear of spirits again. Her sassy attitude had gotten her grounded, again, and henceforth she wasn't allowed downstairs if not to serve customers. But when she heard the voice of Long John Silver, she couldn't help herself. The nostalgic feeling flowed as she stepped to the beginning of the stairs, peering down. Her first instinct was to run down and engulf him in a bear hug like she used to, but two things held her back.
One, half of the man wasn't there. Something had happened to Silver, something the daughter had never gotten wind of until now, seeing the cyborg for herself. She was shocked and, honestly, a little frightened. Secondly, there was someone else with him. A person dressed in a gay-looking black cloak was standing behind him. She was curious, but also a bit shy.
Then, he introduced the figure as his daughter.
The girl felt like she'd been stabbed in the heart. She didn't know why, but hearing Silver say he had a daughter. . . The whole crew had always felt like her family. They cared for her and she cared for them, and now someone new was intruding into this family. Even though his daughter looked about as old as she was, the girl had never heard anything about it. She started scolding herself for the irrational feeling of distrust that was growing inside of her chest, along with sadness and a little bit of anger. The whole crew had stopped visiting her, and this made her feel scared. She was feeling sad now that, after all this time, one of them had finally returned, but with his affections towards another in his care. She was feeling anger as well, because she'd always thought she'd be the baby. She'd always thought that one day they'd all come back for her and take her with them to live their adventurous lives and make her own stories. But, those things never happened. Had this newcomer gained those things? She knew what she was feeling towards the both of them was unjust, but she couldn't help her emotions.
She instead tried to tune them out, telling herself that she didn't care who it was down there. Her ear twitched and she'd tried to think of other things.
This efforts were fruitless, though, when Durst had shouted for her at the top of his lungs. Nikiita had ignored the cyborg's laughter and shut out his daughter, but found that it was difficult to do when Durst had told her to bring the food to their table.
Nikiita had no clue what to do, what with the swirling vortex inside of her, and just plopped the food on the table. She didn't look either in the eye, just set it down and started back towards the stairs.
"Steady on, there, lass!" Silver chuckled, waving his arm out to her. "Is that really you?"
She slowly turned back around. Silver's smile grew.
"Aye, it be! Nikiita, 'tis been too long!" He opened up his arms.
Nikiita did nothing, only stared at his metal half. The hand outstretched towards her made her freeze up. Silver's smile faltered some, but then his eyes glinted. He stood from his chair and wrapped her in his arms himself.
"I've just had a bit of an upgrade is all; no need to be scared."
She pushed herself out of his surprisingly warm embrace. Now the large man's face fell completely. He looked at her silently, waiting for her to speak next, and Jim could do nothing else but sit at the table and watch the awkward scene unfold. He poked at his food a couple of times, but the twitching beige blob had caused him to loose his appetite.
Nikiita's voice was dark, and she spoke through gritted teeth. "Why. . .are you here?"
A half-smile slowly appeared. "Why, to see-"
"And don't lie! I've heard enough space-faring tales to know when a pirate lies."
The cyborg blinked, then chuckled, sitting back down in his chair. "Aye, I knew'd you grew. It just didn't cross me mind how you'd grow into such a hostile woman."
She put her hand on her hip. "I'm sure you've seen it in your daughter. After all, she's got your genes."
"Oh, I wouldn't jump to that conclusion lass."
She took her hand off her hip now. "And you never answered my question."
He shrugged. "Aye, I tried." She just blinked at him. He continued. "We're here to see you, dear."
Nikiita laughed once. "Really? Where have you been for the past fourteen years?" She looked around sarcastically. "And where's everybody else?"
"It's a bit of a long story. But it's because of that story that we're here now." Nikiita rolled her eyes at this. Her anger was fueling her sass, and her sass was making her angry. "Kiita, it's about Will."
"Will my ass! I don't even know who that is!"
It suddenly occurred to Silver that, when in Nikiita's company, they'd almost never called Bones by his first name, let alone his actual name. "Sweeite, he's your pop."
"Why on Herritika wouldn't he just come here, then?"
Silver put his hand on his forehead for a brief moment. What he was telling her wasn't calming her down at all, just making her more angry. There's no way he could get through to her now. "There's something impor'nt we three need to talk about. We'll be stayin' a night here; swing by our room when ye're ready to talk, and we can discuss business down here."
Her jaw quivered. "Fine! It's not like I wanted to talk to you anyway." She turned around and stormed up the stairs.
"So," Jim started once she was gone. "That's Bones' daughter?" Silver sighed. Jim whistled. "Quite the handful."
The cyborg looked back at the stairs where Nikiita had just been. He stared wistfully, remembering some time long ago. "She wa'n't always like that, Jimbo. This be the first time I'm seein' her in such a long time. Granted, I'm not her dad, but still - I used to know her so well, and now she's like a stranger to me."
The boy's heart pounded in his chest. Those were the very same words he'd heard his mother use when she was talking about him. Back when he was angry and everything and everyone. It hurt. It hurt to know that was how his mother viewed him. Even he knew that wasn't the real him, but Jim just didn't know how to deal with his anger. He vented everywhere, but that only made him angrier. Jim had now realized that this girl, Nikiita, didn't know that her father was dead. She was angry. Was she angry at Bones from leaving her here? That he didn't know. But with as much as he could gather from experience, Jim held pity for her. He was regretting his insult he'd spilled a moment ago, staring into Silver's eyes, which were turning back to his food.
"Come on, lad," he said. "Let's eat."