pusillanimous- Violet Baudelaire x fem! reader

Chapter Eleven

A/N: AAAAAHHH HI LOVELIES IT'S BEEN A WHILE I'm finally ready to start updating this again, it'll still be slow but I'm going to try to get some chapters done and keep them in the drafts so that I can update more. Also no I'm not sorry for the April fool's prank and yes I do think I'm very funny.

"What was your name?" Sir asked.

"Violet Baudelaire," Violet replied.

He got an odd look on his face, muttering the last name under his breath.

"Do you know that name?" I asked.

"'Course I do. Everyone in Paltryville knows the name Baudelaire all too well," Sir stated.

"Do you know our parents? They're in this photo!" Klaus showed him the picture from Aunt Josephine's safe.

Sir broke out in a coughing fit.

"Every time we're close to answers, seriously!?" Klaus exclaimed.

"It's these cigars. Hate 'em, but I can't quit smokin' 'em! Anywho, this town will never forget your parents. They're the ones that burnt it down! They're uh, not nearby, are they?"

"They died. In a fire," Violet explained.

"Good. What goes around comes around. Terrible thing, starting a fire." Sir spoke, throwing another log in the fireplace. "What are ya standin' there for? You got work to do in the mornin'!"
...

That night, in the worker's dorm, I comforted the Baudelaires as they thought back on what they'd been told. We heard some gossip from the table next to where we were sitting. They were talking about the Baudelaire's parents.

"You're ridiculous," I sat on the end of our table. "Did any of you even meet their parents?"

"I think Jimmy did," the man in the middle spoke.

"Norma Rae is here longer," the older man on his left said.

"Don't look at me, look at Cesar," the woman I assume to be Norma Rae countered.

"Do you know anything about what happened to this town?" I interrogated.

"We're not allowed to talk about that," spoke the older man.

"It's too terrible," the woman on the right agreed.

"Also we don't know," said the man in the middle.

"Then you shouldn't be spreading rumors," I spoke with malice.

A tall man with a beard walked in, saying "I never believed those rumors anyway." He sat beside Violet. "Where are your parents now?"

"We're orphans," said Klaus.

"Lucky you! The unsupervised life? No rules, nor curfews!"

Someone spoke over the intercom, saying the lights would be out now.

"But it's only six p.m.," Klaus complained.

"Oh boy! More time for dreaming!" the man said. "I'm Phil, and I am excited to work with you kids."

"Thank you, I'm Violet. These are my siblings, Klaus and Sunny, and our friend y/n," Violet introduced us.

"I know things seem dark. But, you need to look on the bright side! Your parents burned down towns, you don't need to be like your parents. My parents were Olympic athletes and look at me! I work in a lumbermill!" Phil laughed.

We could all tell Phil was an optimist, a word which means a person who thinks hopeful thoughts about even the bleakest situation. Optimist is a word not to be confused with optometrist, a word which means a healthcare professional who performs eye exams.

We decided to take a page out of Phil's book and be a bit optimistic ourselves. While looking through our welcome packets, we found a map.

"Look. The mill has a library," Violet spoke, pointing to the library on the map. "Maybe you can research what happened here and clear our parent's names."

"Look! The mill has machines. Maybe you can invent a way of making wooden planks out of trees faster," I pointed out to Violet.

Then, we found the eye building on the map. Sunny pointed it out.

"Optimist's office- I mean optometrist's office. Father always said he didn't trust either," said Klaus.

"What does an optometrist's office have to do with Count Olaf?" I questioned.

"Maybe Phil was right," Violet began. "We should look on the bright side. This mill may be miserable, but we haven't seen Count Olaf once since we got here. What if that eye really was a coincidence, and we've finally found a place where he won't find us?"
...

It had gotten late and the four of us had climbed into bed. Violet was with Sunny on a top bunk above Klaus and I was on the top bunk next to their bed.

"Is Sunny asleep?" asked Klaus.

"She's dreaming about biting something. Why?" Violet replied.

"What Sir said about our parents... You don't think it could be true?"

"Of course not."

"Then you agree what we have to do."

Both of them spoke at once.

"Clear their names," said Violet.

"Get out of here. Wait, what?" said Klaus.

"If we clear their names, maybe we can get some answers."

"Maybe they wouldn't want us here."

"Then they shouldn't have left us alone," Violet countered.

"You know that's not what they did," Klaus argued.

"I'm sorry. I know it isn't their fault and I know you're just trying to be cautious."

"I guess we're not seeing eye to eye. I wish they were here. Our parents."

"I don't like this place either, but staying is the best way to find out what they were hiding."

"The best way would be to ask them. But we can't."
...

How one wakes up in the morning can really affect their day. If you wake up like I did, in a lumbermill by the sound of metal pots banging together, you might have quite the rough day.

"What's that horrible noise?" Klaus asked, putting his glasses on.

"It sounds like someone banging metal pots together," I answered.

Phil walked behind us as we made our way out of the dorms and into the mill. "I believe everyone has a good side, but I have to admit our last foreman was a lot nicer," he said.

"Hurry up, it's log day!" the foreman's voice boomed from the intercom.

"I hate log days," someone behind us said.

As we walked in, we stared in awe and dread at all of the equipment. The foreman yelled at us to get a debarker and get to work. We headed to the machine that dispensed debarkers and each grabbed one. All four of us worked on the same tree until lunch.

"I hate log days," I said.