The crew members that weren't working at night resided in the gallery, filling it from wall to wall not only with their bodies, but their laughter, hollering, and cheery attitudes as well. A fire roared in the pit and mugs of hot drink were passed around. When it was Silver's story night, no one wanted to waste a second on idle conversation, preferring to get right to the tale of epic proportions.
Vanessa sat on a low step by the entrance with a blanket loosely hanging around her shoulders. It was a cool night, a great night for cozying up by the fire. She could feel the heat of the flames across the room, but barely. She shivered and pulled the blanket closer, a frown plastered on her lips.
Jim appeared from the crowd, his fingers curled around the handles of two chipped mugs. He smirked at her expression, "What's the frown for?"
"I-I h-h-hate being c-cold," she said, her stuttering heightened. He handed her one of the mugs. The instant she felt the warm ceramic of the cup she felt better, and her whole body tingled as she took the first scorching sip. The liquid tasted like a sweet, sugary treat, and was so sweet she couldn't take more than little sips at a time. Despite how hot the drink was, it did not rid her of the chill. She shivered again.
"Here," Jim set his drink on the step beside him and opened the side of his jacket, gesturing her to come closer, "I'm frying actually, I think you'll cool me down,"
Vanessa bit her lip, her eyes grazing the space between his torso and the jacket with her honey brown irises. While she knew he wasn't going to hurt her, she was still afraid of anyone touching her.
Jim sighed, "You gotta get over it, Vanessa. Physical contact is a natural part of life, you can't live without it. Not everyone is going to hurt you,"
"I-I know," she murmured, denying his hands by taking up her mug, "I'm trying, I just . . ."
"Too soon?" he guessed, and she answered with a nod, "That's totally okay, just know that it's not something you can avoid,"
The sound of Silver's voice directed their attention inside the room, where the crew had gathered around a single table as he began his tale. Vanessa couldn't pay attention, however. Every now and then she'd glanced over at Jim's face, watched him cheer and laugh with the rest of them. A few things she hadn't noticed before in the earlier months of their voyage came into view, like how she could see flecks of green and gold in his eyes, and he had a small scar on his cheek. Jim was . . . kind of handsome. The bad boy look worked out in his favor.
She must have been staring for a while, because he turned to look at her, "What?" he asked.
"Um . . . n-noting," she stated quickly, feeling her face heat up.
"Warmer?"
"Yes . . . erm . . . I'm k-kind of tired, I think I'll g-go to b-bed," she rose from the step with one hand holding her blanket around her and the other balancing her mug.
Jim raised an inquisitive brown eyebrow, "You sure? Silver's going all out on this one, must be exciting," he pointed to the cyborg, who had begun telling his tale with the use of his mechanical arm. The shapes he made translated on the walls, creating convincing shadow puppets that anyone anywhere in the room could see.
"I'm s-s-sure," she muttered, trying desperately to will the flush away and not look at him, "I'll see y-you in the m-morning,"
The artificial air was laced with smells of a dinner Vanessa regrettably missed, but still had to help clean up. The sight of the kitchen, however, did not match the delicious scent. There were pots and pans supporting used water, and left over ingredients sat forgotten on the counters. Plates with left over crumbs and juices piled up on the long tables, which she was picking up and carrying over to Jim. With so many dishes to wash, one person had to sit and wash while the other cleaned the rest of the kitchen. Vanessa had wiped off the last of the surfaces when Jim stacked the final clean dish on a stack of them piled to the ceiling.
"Finally ," he huffed, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, "I've never washed that many dishes before, not even at the Inn,"
Just then loud clanking and a bit of grunting came their way. A mountain of dirty eating utensils was dropped in front of the teenage boy, who gaped up at Silver.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" he shouted, completely appalled, "This is a joke, right?!"
"No joke, Jimbo. Get to scrubbing," the cyborg ordered, "Nessie, captain wants ya in her office. You're dismissed."
Vanessa looked apologetically at Jim before dropping her dish rag on a table on her way out. It turned out that she wanted to go over her maps to see what else was outdated and to find another port. They spent hours in the quiet, private room drawing new maps from the old ones. When they were finished, Vanessa followed Captain Amelia to the deck, but made a quick detour to the galley. Jim had barely made a dent in his work load, and didn't seem to be complaining about it as he usually would.
"I thought the captain wanted to see you," Jim wondered aloud.
"We finished," she shrugged, "Need some help?"
He shook his head, picking up a bowl and placing it in his lap to scrub out its interior, "But I could see the company. No idea where Morph went,"
"He's p-probably more fun to b-be around than I am," Vanessa decided. She took a seat on a patch of floor a little ways away from him next to a wall. Jim shook his head, disagreeing with her words.
"You're just fine," he told her, "You're better than fine,"
She felt a blush rise up her neck.
They spent the night talking while Jim worked, and refused her help when she offered. He quizzed her on the meanings of any names he could come up with, and they swapped adventure stories they'd heard or told over the year, or stories from their pasts.
"O-okay, so your mother owns an Inn. What does your father do?"
Jim became silent, and the only sounds were his scrubbing. Vanessa stayed patient, knowing that he had been patient with her while trying to learn more about her. Eventually he spoke.
"I don't know. I assume he's traveling right now,"
"H-He's not at home with your m-mother?"
He shook his head, "He left . . . about two years ago. I remember before then he wasn't too involved in our family. Dad went on a lot of trips, so he'd be gone for weeks, sometimes months. The few times he was home, he was in his office, coming up with blueprints for ships and planning new trips, talking to his associates on his phone,"
"H-He didn't talk to you at all?"
"Hardly a word. One morning I woke up, and I saw him leaving out the window. This was normal, but something felt different about this time. I ran downstairs, and I saw my mom crying at the table. Then I ran outside to catch him, try and talk to him, and . . . that was the last time I saw him,"
Jim looked completely crestfallen, staring at his reflection in the leftover water of the pan he held. Against her thudding heart, Vanessa stood from her perch and came closer. She sat next to the teenage boy and rubbed his back in comfort.
When Silver came down to check on Jim, he found his kitchen to be spick and span, not a hint of grime anywhere but his grease pot, a boy who fell asleep against a large bowl, and a girl curled up on her side in the corner.
"W-We're not supposed to b-b-be down here without the c-captain!" Vanessa hissed, worry growing in the pit of her stomach.
"Chill Vanessa, we're fine. It's my map anyway, I've got the right to look at it without her around,"
Despite his carefree attitude, Jim glanced suspiciously around his environment before taking her down another level and through the narrow hall to where Captain Amelia and Vanessa resided for the night. The door was locked, he already knew that, but he had managed to sneak a key from Doc's back pocket. Removing this key and sticking it in the lock, Jim let the door swing open and he pulled Vanessa inside.
"J-Jim, we could get in s-serious trouble for this!" the timid girl informed him.
"It's not like we're going to steal anything," Jim winked at her before turning to the white and gold cabinet that contained what they were after. For a second Vanessa forgot about the rules they were breaking and tried to stop the blush from coming to her cheeks.
"Ah, now this is going to be a problem," Jim grabbed the handle to the cabinet and jerked it a little, finding it to be locked. He stood there for a moment with his hand stroking his chin in thought. Then he turned to Vanessa, "Got a bobby pin?
She nodded and removed one from the back of her hair. Jim used the pin to pick the lock, and once he had, he flung the doors wide open to reveal a golden metal globe. He picked it up carefully, like it was made of glass.
"W-What is that?" Vanessa asked softly.
"The map to Treasure Planet," he explained. Jim twiddled with the thing, pressing on its intricate circles and twisted its spheres. Then, suddenly, the sphere glowed bright green, blue, and gold. The bright light of the room dimmed considerably as the colors swirled and intertwined, creating entire galaxies and nebulas of stars, planets, and meteors. They surrounded her like magic, moving so fast she could barely keep up. When it finally settled, Vanessa was too giddy to stand still. She flitted around the room, naming everything she knew.
"Oh my God, oh my G-God!" she squealed, "T-There's the Uspilia Nebula! A-And that's the Skafuicarro M-Meteor Belt! And we're . . . we're . . ." she paused, spinning this way and that, "We're right here, coming up on the star Pelusa!"
Jim laughed at her extreme enthusiasm and drew near, "Go on, touch it," gently he took her hand in this. Vanessa only flinched a little, letting him lift her hand to touch the star. The shimmering map moved again, planets and stars flying back, and then it stopped as a green hologram of a large planet with rings spinning around it.
"And that," Jim announced, "Is Treasure Planet,"
"No way!" Vanessa said, "It – It's real?"
"Of course it's real! Just imagine – this entire planet is made of gold! Imagine what you can do with all of it! I-Imagine what you can do with j-just a small portion of that!" he began chuckling, "Look at me, I'm stuttering like you!"