Already Breaking My Plans

The extremely short journey from the Beach House to the main area of Esperanza was pretty quiet. However, people would soon start staring as they watched a petite woman like Elestia carrying a giant submarine with one arm through the middle of town. Elestia herself paid no mind to the people. She was deep in thought about getting a ship. Even more, carrying Eve beneath her arm felt completely natural to her already.

"Wonder if Alma could help me get a ship too..." She thought, though shook it away when she realized that would probably involve asking the mother for money. She instead looked down at the little happy alien beneath her arm. "Hey kid, where are you from anyway? And what's your name?"

Evelyn played with the box her mother told her to hold the entire way of the trip home. She was so preoccupied, that she tried chewing on the thing. When she found that she couldn't chew through it, Eve giggled and took to gently shaking it. She remembered the value when taking in the minerals and material the telescope was made out of, so didn't shake it too hard. From time to time, she looked up at her mother and smiled at her. The little alien baby admired how concentrated and dedicated her mom was when it got to doing things.

Eventually, they arrived at their destination seeing as the journey to it was a short one. Her mother spoke to herself, but Eve had gotten used to Elestia doing so. Her mother then took the time to look down at her and ask about where she was from and her name. Eve looked up at Elestia and beamed happily at the question.

"I'm from the planet Alphonia, which is located in the Solari Galaxy, in another dimension and universe! My scientific name is Evelyn-35,840E. However, my creators granted me the name of Evelyn Ember, for short." She explained as if it was instinct and natural.

Ëlestia sweat dropped at the girl. She had just spoken more than she had before with none of the cutesy crap or the foul language.

And Elestia didn't understand jack shit.

"Yeah, I'm gonna pretend like I know what the fuck you're talking about. So you're name's Evelyn Ember and you're from another dimension." That's the gist that Elestia got from that.

"Well what are you doing here in this dimension kid? Get lost on the galactic highway or something?"

"Not at all! In fact, I am to learn about your culture, species, food, plant-life, etc. in order to send information back to my homeworld. We're a race of creatures whose thirst for knowledge is ever growing. Due to this, me, along with 100,000 other clones of Eve the Golden One, were scattered throughout the various universes." She explained happily. This definitely wasn't talk a four year-old girl could muster, let alone hold. Though, Evelyn's childish heart enjoyed it when Elestia didn't understand her first explanation. It made her giggle and she just stared with wide-eyes up at her mother.

Elestia paused in her step. "You aren't here to covertly take over or some shit are ya? Sending information back to your home planet for an invasion?" Elestia didn't really believe that but it was still a possibility. She knew about other people and clans that had thirst for knowledge too. Hell, there some clans that literally survived on knowledge. It wasn't so uncommon, Elestia mused.

"Why send you alone though? Don't they know how dangerous it is? You're pretty strong kid, I can tell, but there are people and things in this world that wouldn't hesitate to crush ya like a bug. Pretty fucking careless if you ask me." Elestia growled the last part, a little upset at whoever had sent Eve to the planet as just a baby. Iris was an extremely dangerous world that did not show mercy to anyone, be they newborns or not.

"Oh, no, no. Our people stopped on the galactic conquest scale. Interdimensional and universal conquest would have spread our people and resources too thin. We figured our galaxy was enough to be used as the hub for all of our interactions with other people!" She reassured Elestia... Though one could believe she hinted at just how lucky much of the other universes or galaxies were spared from the aggressiveness of Eve's people. Nonetheless, there was no intent to invade, just learn from afar.

Elestia expressed her annoyance at the fact Evelyn was sent to the planet Iris alone and as a child. She smiled at her mother and nuzzled her stomach from her held package position. The little alien baby merely giggled.

"I can handle most threats, Mama! A lot of people wouldn't expect a baby to fucking burn them alive or stab them in their sleep!" She said with a hint of mirth. Eve was only scratching the surface of what she could do, if she were really pushed to her limits. "But our species is careful. We always launch the pods to areas with the most positive population, but then again, it is information that can easily become dated due to how fickle time can be. However, I guess I got lucky and found a really caring mama to take care of me!" Evelyn said with joy and she started blowing little kisses towards Elestia.

Elestia wasn't reassured by Eve's words, mostly because she still found it odd that the child was speaking to her with an intellect that she hadn't before hand. So far, Elestia still didn't like the people of Eve's world simple for the fact that Eve didn't have a life of her own. She was simply sent out as a clone to gather information. She was born to work for her people and that seriously didn't sit right with Elestia. It was one of the reasons she had run away from home all those years ago herself.

"I'm not yer mama kid, and I probably can't take care of you either. I'm not the nice person you think I am." Elestia said to try and reassure herself that she had her goals all planned out. There was something that was different now, Elestia realized. She wasn't feeling as unwanting of Eve's companionship as she had before. "I'm a pirate. I rob people, sometimes even murder people. Innocent people if our information is wrong. My life right now is dedicated to one thing, and that's the death of Davey Jones and his entire undead crew. That alone might lead me to a watery grave, and I'm just fine with that."

Elestia sat the submarine down right in front of the large Wayward Hotel. She entered the building while still completely focused on Eve and wouldn't see that Alma was silently observing the two and their conversation.

"But..." Evelyn started, but she soon stopped. The reason for this was because she extremely close to crying. Eve didn't like the thought of being abandoned by the one person who she believed was her mother, but the thought of her dying on a streak of vengeance made her even more upset. Elestia would have been able to feel Evelyn's body temperature shoot up to an uncomfortable heat, as her eyes began to water. "Mama can't die... I want to be a pirate with mama too! Don't go and die! Dammit, mama!" She started crying and at the angle Elestia held Eve, the alien baby's tears started to burn patches on the ground path.

Even as they entered the Wayward Hotel, Evelyn continued to cry. She didn't want to be left all alone and wanted nothing more than to stay with her mother.

Elestia held Eve up as she began to cry, startled by the sudden change back into her pre-adolescent mindset. The girl was heating up and Elestia set her down in the lobby, cringing a bit. The tears burning away at the ground made her remember what Eve had said about burning people.

'She's like a microwave or something?' Elestia thought. The sobbing girl drew her attention though and Elestia sighed as she kneeled down in front of the child. "Look kid, this is something that I have to do regardless of yer tears or if I want to live or not. My crew was my family. If you think of me as your family then you'd never ask me to stop."

(Alma frowned at Elestia's words, folding her arms under her bosom.)

Elestia wasn't good with things like this and stopped her words prematurely. Instead, she finally noticed Alma watching and put a hand on her hip, looking away in shame. "Sorry about that. I'll pay for the front path and the floor here. But I have a request Mama Alma, and I'm sure you already know what it is."

Alma shook her head at Elestia. "Yes, I know what you're going to request, but no."

Elestia's head shot up and she looked at Alma in shock. "What? What do you mean no? Mama Alma, I can't take her with me! She's got nowhere to go and no one to look after her right now!" Elestia paused when she realized what she was saying. The knowing smile on Alma's face made her look down in shame again.

"You and I both know that you're not going to leave her here with me. The minute you set foot outside this hotel, you're going to be worrying about her. You're going to lose sleep over her and find yourself in an early grave." Alma packed some cigarettes before popping one into her mouth. "Mila already called me and filled me in on everything too. From what I heard just now, looks like you just found your first crew mate El-chan."

Elestia once again felt like someone had slapped her. She stumbled back several steps before dropping to a knee next to Eve. She looked at the little girl with tears in her own eyes.

'She considers me family. She wants to be part of my crew. She doesn't know anything about me but she loves me.' It was the bond that Elestia had not felt since the murder of her last crew. A single tear slid down her cheek. Alma had so effortlessly made her realize that she was already trying to push away what she was subconsciously searching for.

When Eve was sat down and given the small lecture about wanting to stop Elestia and how she shouldn't, it only made the small girl bawl her eyes out harder. She frowned at Elestia and shook her head violently.

"I don't care! I want mama safe, I don't want her to be safe! I don't care if you don't like me in the end, but I'll stop you from killing yourself!" She screamed, but realized that she was probably being too much of a brat. In the presence of Alma, something about the woman made Evelyn calm down slightly. Only slightly. The alien baby stuck to silent sobs.

She was far too engrossed in her own depressed thoughts about her being alone and her mother being hurt while out on her revenge hunt, to pay attention to the conversation between Elestia and Alma. The baby just lied down on her back and cried. It wasn't until she felt Elestia near her again, did she gaze back up and see her mother's tears roll down her cheek.

"Mama... Don't leave me..." Evelyn pleaded with her tiny baby voice.

"God...fucking dammit..." Elestia whispered before hugging Eve close. She gripped her tightly, holding back her own tears as the memories of her crew continued to flash through her mind. She could see them poking fun at her for having Eve as a daughter, but also saw them showing the girl how to raise a mast, bellow the sails, and even how to steer the ship. She fit in to her fantasy of a crew so well and she knew she wouldn't give that up for the world. Trust was the key part of being a pirate and Eve trusted Elestia. That's all she needed for now.

"I'm not gonna leave you...I promise." Elestia whispered to Eve. They would remain in that position for a few more minutes before Elestia stood while holding Eve with one arm, finally like a parent and not like a package. She faced Alma with an apologetic frown. "I'm sorry you almost saw my pig headed self Mama."

Alma just smiled and decided against smoking with a baby their. She put the cigarette back into its package before looking Eve in the eye. "It's alright. You're stubborn so it'll do you some good to have a kid just as hot headed as you."

Elestia blushed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Haha, you'll see eventually. So what are you planning on doing now, El-chan?"

"...I suppose I'm going to head to the harbor. I want to get a boat and hit the ocean. Hell, maybe I can try to become the Pirate Queen again." She chuckled.

"Is that how you plan on finding a crew?" Alma asked seriously.

Elestia looked down. "Honestly, I don't know what I'm gonna do now that I've got Eve." She kissed the little alien's head. "By the way, you have any clothes? I don't want to drag her around the world wearing nothing but my jacket."

"Sure. Don't want you running around with your lady bits hanging out either." Alma smirked. Elestia looked down at herself, wondering what Alma was talking about.

"What? I'm not naked! What's the big deal?"

"You don't have to be modest, but you have to be a good influence. Put your jacket back on. Go make yourself something to eat in the back while I get little Eve geared up."

Elestia handed Eve to Alma before placing a hand on her head. "You go get some clothes with Mama Alma, alright. And don't sass her or your ass is gonna be swollen before lunch."

"Damn straight." Alma called.

"And don't worry. I'm not going anywhere." Elestia shrugged her jacket back on before heading to fix the trio something to eat.

(Bump) this is really interesting.