Reunion at Sea

Hook

Rapunzel walked up to Hookhand, holding something behind her back. "Recognize this?" She held up an iron hook, the one he wore when she first met him.

He looked over at her. "Ha! That old thing? Yeah. It's what I wore when I was a nobody."

"It's your old hook," she said firmly, "and you wore it when all you had was a dream." She tightened her grip on it. "Of all people, you should know what it feels like to have to hide your dream!" She walked towards him, lowering the hook to her side. "Why would you do that to somebody else?"

He awkwardly fidgeted with his golden, jewel-encrusted hook as she spoke, then glanced at her as she approached him. "'Cause dancing is dumb."

"Wrong answer." Rapunzel said firmly, gripping the front of his shirt.

"Especially since your patron is a world-class dancer." She looked over her shoulder to see Varian, still cloaked, standing in the doorway. Well, leaning against it. It was kind of cute how he did things that made him seem "cool". "I'm guessing you haven't told him about your view on dancing."

Hookhand cringed. "No, I haven't..."

"Just because you're bigger than--uhm, Pascal?" She nodded to a stool and Pascal hopped down and pushed it over so Rapunzel could step on it and look him in the eyes as she spoke. She tried not to react to Varian chuckling at her. "Just because you're bigger than someone, it doesn't mean that you can look down on them! You should support your brother! If it weren't for us supporting your dream, you'd still be wearing this." She held up the old hook.

She handed it to him, then walked over to the door, placing her hand on Varian's shoulder to prompt him to come with her. He stepped away from the doorway and walked out with her.

--

"It just occurred to me," Eugene commented as they ate lunch seperate from Hookhand and Trevor and their group, "if the kid is going to be joining us for this event, he's gonna need a fake name. Eventually, someone's gonna notice that we never call him by a name. How about Artemis?"

Varian raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because of the whole moon thing. It's a Greek goddess, but the name works for guys, too." Eugene nodded. "We can call you 'Arty' for short and people will assume it's short for 'Arthur'!"

"I like it." Lance smiled at him.

Varian shrugged. "Okay, whatever. It's just until we leave this event anyway, right?"

"Alternately," Hector suggested, "we could just not go. Just because the Princess is going--"

"And turn down free food?" Adira looked at him.

"...Fine." Hector glanced away.

Cassandra sighed. "Honestly though, Raps, maybe we should just leave. The longer we stay here, the more miserable Hookfoot is going to be, and--"

"Oh, don't worry!" Hookfoot assured her. "I'm perfectly fine! We talked it out and all, y'know?"

"Foot, I was there when you 'talked it out'." Eugene said flatly. "He mocked you and brushed you aside like you were garbage compared to him."

"Can't imagine how that feels." Varian muttered sarcastically. Eugene winced. "Even so, Hookfoot, maybe it is better for you to not go."

"Come on, the most important performance of my big brother's career? How could I miss it?" Hookfoot grinned. "After all, family is important, right?"