#i'm not letting any child near isaacs' hook however

[jihef03]

Gonna sound weird but I kind of see Peter and Hook being brothers rather than Hook being a parental figure to Peter.

I mean, Peter *was* inspired -in part- by Barrie’s own brother, who died at 13 and also happened to be their mother’s favourite. When came the time to give Peter a rival, Barrie made up a neurotic english-educated man, gave him *his* first name James, and set both characters in a competition to win the approval of their “mom” Wendy with Hook as the clear loser.

Not saying this was intentional of anything (probably a bit intentional, but no so much), but yeah this definitely influenced my view of Peter and Hook’s relationship. I’m not saying it negates the parent thing as well, it’s more about what i personally took from the works.

[distant-rose-archive-blog]

I'm not going to lie, I'm trash for the concept of Hook and Emma's daughter being with Gideon and I totally want to see some Beth and Gideon action but I am super intrigued by the mention of Jim Hawkins as Beth's SO and how that plays out. If you're not too busy and are up to it, would you mind giving us a taste of that relationship?

You and a lot of other people have made comments about Beth/Gideon interaction in the Little Pirates universe. Unfortunately (I guess), that will never be a serious romance in either Little Pirates or Ever After series. Though I did think about it and Beth/Gideon is something that happens very, very briefly and it’s something neither party had an invested interest in. The first romance I ever conceived for Beth was actually with Ariel and Eric’s son. However, this was nixed when I decided to fully commit to my pirate outline for Beth and I decided to really work on her having those types of adventures.

 Out of all the ships I’ve worked on for either series, Beth and Jim is probably the most fun and the most frustrating because it takes them FOREVER. They meet when Beth is 19 (Jim is 27. He’s 8 years older than her) and finds herself stranded in the Enchanted Forrest, looking for a way to get back home. It’s this adventure that really kicks off Beth as an individual and gives her an actual identity that she’s proud of. Jim and Beth are not an immediate ship by any means. It literally takes them five years to admit they have “chemistry.” However, the two lovely ladies who actually know all of my plans/ideas for the Ever After series will both tell you that Jim and Beth (or JimBeth as we’ve calling it) is one of their favorite ships for this universe. I have a lot written for these two already, which is why it’s jumping my queue. So with that being said, here is 2,300+ words written from Jim’s POV on the first meeting between 19 year old Beth Jones and 27 year old Jim Hawkins in the Enchanted Forest. Rated: T+ 

Jim Hawkins was twenty-seven and four years out of the navy when Elizabeth Snow Jones caught his eye for the first time. She was a willowy creature who looked like she just entered womanhood, with wild dark hair and cunning green eyes, sitting at Captain Isaac’s card table with an over confident smirk on her face. She was dressed like no woman or whore he had ever seen, but it didn’t necessarily bother him or any of the other patrons. They were in a ship port after all and people from all walks of life stopped and took temporary sanctuary here. She was just another exotic creature; a temporary fascination really. A dangerous one too, Jim noted almost right away as he watched her play cards with some of the nastiest bunch of cheats that Jim had the displeasure of knowing. Just by looking at her, he knew that she was more of a card shark than a pretty face; there was strategy in the way she held cards against her chest but low enough that the men at the table had an ample view of her exposed cleavage. Everything about her screamed trouble.

“That’s tragedy waiting to happen right there,” his boatswain Falken remarked, following Jim’s gaze. “She either naive or overly confident if she thinks Isaac is going to let her leave this tavern with both the gold and her virtue. Pity because she’s a young pretty thing.”

Jim made noise of agreement, but his brow troubled at the thought. He knew Falken was right. Captain Isaac had a horrible reputation of not only disemboweling anyone who “cheated” him of his winnings, but also one of being rough with women. Jim had found everything about him distasteful but knew better than to make it his business. He tried to play hero many times before when he was in the navy and when he started out again as a pirate. It always ended badly, especially for him. John Silver had always told him that his sense of justice, honor and duty would get him killed someday and it had taken Jim nearly four years to agree with his old mentor and foster father. Still, he watched the game anxiously with a knot in his stomach growing with every round she won.

“Well, it’s been fun, boys!” The young woman smirked as she drew all the gold into a leather pouch, which had been stored inside her strange leather jacket. “But it’s late and time for me to leave.”

Jim nearly groaned when she stood up from the table. He knew exactly what was coming and he had no desire to witness this. It was one of the things he really hated about this life. Jim had no stomach or tolerance for senseless and unwarranted violence. He had kicked many a talented crewman off of his ship for such unsavory behavior. She was half way through her escape when Isaac and his men stood up, one of them lunging forward and catching her by her long hair. She let out a surprised yelp as she was pulled backwards. The entire tavern turned to watch the ugly scene, but no one made a move to stop them. Jim’s hand tightened into a fist, his knuckles turning white.

“Oh, but the fun is only beginning, lass,” Isaac sneered, roughly grabbing her cheek and pushing his thumb into her flesh; hard enough that Jim knew it would leave a bruise. Her eyes went wide as she caught the implication in his words. “Did you really think I was going to let a cheating whore like you leave?”

A protective angry flare caught aflame inside of him. It was a curious thing to realize that there was still a sense of honor in him after all these years. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t sit by and watch Isaac roughen up this young woman. Jim was reaching for his saber before even giving conscious thought to it. Jim was a military trained swordsman as well as a large man whose strength was rarely matched by his peers. If anyone could handle Isaac and his men, it would be him.

“Jim, don’t,” Falken warned, placing an arm on Jim’s shoulder. He paid his boatswain no mind, allowing the righteous fury to fuel him as he brushed the hand away and pushed forward. He could hear the man muttering about navy men and misplaced honor, but Jim disagreed. There was no way he was going to let Isaac violate a woman who was barely more than a child.

Jim pushed his way forward, sword in hand and eyes blazing with anger. Isaac and his men stared at him in shock, not used to anyone interfering with their affairs. The girl in their custody also appeared to be taken aback as well. She obviously hadn’t expected anyone who to help her. Perhaps she wasn’t that much of a fool after all.

“Leave her be,” Jim commanded hotly.

“You really want to fight us, Hawkins?” Isaac laughed in astonishment. “Over some cheating and whoring doxy? I’m not sure if you remember, but you’re not a navy boy anymore, you self-righteous prick! You’re a bloody deserter and I will gut you like the scum you are and fuck her right on top of your corpse.”

At his words, Jim saw red and he moved forward to spear Isaac with his sword when the girl speared him instead. She had pulled a knife that appeared to have been stored beneath her leather jacket and stabbed Isaac in his soft part of his belly. It was obviously to Jim that she was comfort handling a knife, but he could tell by the expression she made as she pierced his flesh that this was her first time actually stabbing someone. Her face was reflection of horror, shock, hysteria and, more eerily, fascination. However, she didn’t let these emotions completely over take her as she kicked backwards to free herself from the crewman’s grip on her hair. Someone had taught this young woman to fight and they had taught her well.

Isaac fell onto his knees. His scream of agony made the hairs on the back of Jim’s neck stand on edge. Jim didn’t allow himself to ponder too much on Isaac. He knew from experience that the wound was a fatal one. He was more worried about the woman child getting out alive. He reached forward, bringing his saber down on a man’s arm as he tried to grab her. As the man clutched his now bloody stump with incredulous expression, Jim saw his own crew leap into action and join in on the fray. The girl whirled around, watching the action around her with a look of shock before she met Jim’s gaze with almost feral eyes.

“Come with me if you want to live,” Jim barked at her, gesturing towards the door with the nod of his head and making an impatient movement with his bloodied sword. He watched her eyes bounce between the blood covered sword to his face. Her expression on her face made her decision clear.

“If you say so, Arnold,” she replied faintly and Jim decided not to acknowledge her odd response with words, but rather took a firm grip of her arm and forced her towards the door as all hell broke loose. She trailed after him, masterfully dodging the bloody brawl that was happening around them, though Jim could feel her shaking a bit under his grasp. He hoped she didn’t go into shock.

Once they had safely left the tavern and were good way down the docks near his ship, Jim released his hold on the girl and glared at her in annoyance; pushing her away from him slightly. She was trouble, he knew it and he got something involved anyway. He had been stupid and impulsive, getting himself tangled with her mess and endangering his crew alongside himself. Silver was right. His misplaced sense of honor and justice was really going to get himself in trouble someday.

“What in blazes were you thinking playing cards against Isaac? If I hadn’t stepped in, his men would have raped and murdered you regardless of that little knife stunt back there,” he shouted out her, reaching forward to grasp her shoulders and give her a firm bodily shake.

She surprised him once more by slapping his hands away, straightening her back and glaring back at him. Her eyes narrowed into slits and flashing dangerously. Jim watched as her nostrils flaring like an angry bull’s. Instead of wilting under his frustration and looking at him in fear like he expected her too, she looked pissed off. She was a strong one, he had to give her that.

“Forgive me, but I didn’t know that. I was in dire need of cash and just in case you haven’t noticed, but I’m not exactly from around here!” She shouted back at him, gesturing to her clothing.

It was a strange ensemble of a short leather coat, scandalous skintight green shirt, a pair of odd blue trousers and the most bizarre pair of boots that Jim had ever seen. The most curious thing that caught his eye however was the necklace. Around her neck on a silver chain sat a dark steel fishing hook that was shaped in an odd way. He had absently noted her strange clothing before, but it had been pushed to the back of his mind in favor of focusing on the angry wasps nest she had created inside the tavern. Her clothing was fitted in ways that weren’t necessarily fashionable in the Enchanted Forrest and he had never seen such material used to make clothes before.

“What the hell has you so desperate that you’re playing cards with criminals?” He asked, studying her hard. She shifted under his gaze uncomfortably, the first sign of possible weakness that he had seen from her all night.

“I am in desperate need of finding something and I was hoping to raise enough money to get myself an expedition crew,” she responded vaguely.

“And what exactly are you looking for?” He asked, curiosity taking over anger for a moment as he regarded her with a raised eyebrow. She was a strange girl from a different land with a spine of steel, eyes for mischief and a penchant for trouble. He found her fascinating in all the ways that Silver would disapprove. He wouldn’t do anything about it however. She was far too young for him; at least nine or ten years his junior he was willing to bet.

She seemed troubled by the question and Jim could tell by her expression that she was debating whether or not it was worth it for her to tell him what she was looking for. He couldn’t possibly imagine what this girl would want that was so dire or valuable that she couldn’t tell him. There wasn’t much left to the Enchanted Forrest in the decades that had passed since the Dark Curse.

“A magic bean,” she replied in a hush tone. “Like I said, I’m not from around here. I didn’t necessarily come here willingly and I just need to get back home.”

Jim’s eyes went wide and he immediately thought of the secret treasure that went beyond just Florin gold back on Flint’s Treasure Island. He pushed back on his heels for a moment, contemplating his options while studying the look on her face. She still looked annoyed but in her eyes, he could see her sincerity alongside fear and determination. In the end, it wasn’t much of an option for Jim at all; misjudged sense of honor indeed.

“I know where to find a magic bean,” Jim started, pausing to lick his cracked lips. He could see by her expression that her proverbial ears had perked. “I could take you to one if you like…” He trailed off, firmly pausing the ball into her court.

“Really?”

“Aye,” Jim replied firmly. “And I will take all of that lovely gold there alongside something else as payment.”

The girl’s green eyes went even wider from a moment before she narrowed them at him, anger and wariness lurking behind the surface. He watched her fingers fidget and recognized it for it was, the movements of someone who was ready to fight tooth and nail in order to survive. She left her knife behind in Isaac’s stomach, but Jim wasn’t sure what else she had stored underneath the jacket. He didn’t know whether to be offended or amused at the obvious dark place that her mind had taken her to. However, he couldn’t necessarily blame her. She was in a tough spot and she didn’t know him. She couldn’t afford to trust him though he was being entirely genuine.

“Oh,” she said, almost sounding casual. “And what would that be?”

“Your name,” Jim replied with a small chuckle. She looked at him in disbelief.

“My name?” She repeated incredulously.

“Your name,” he affirmed, slightly amused.

“Elizabeth Swann,” she replied cooly, and she said it with such conviction that it didn’t register to him at that moment that she had lied to him. The wariness in her eyes and posture dissipated but the annoyance remained. It was obvious to him that this “Elizabeth Swann” had a backbone of complete steel.

“Pleased to meet you, Miss Swann. My name is James Hawkins. Most people call me Jim, but you can call me Captain of the Silver’s Spell.”