Curly peered past Tink and was surprised to see Hook in the far corner of the room.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you busy?"
"No!" Tink said quickly. "Captain Hook was just leaving."
The man turned and gave Tink a perturbed look, but slowly crossed the room. "Let me know if you change your mind," he said soberly as he stepped out the door.
"Oh sure," Tink spat, " if I just have enough willpower I can get past this, right?"
Curly slipped inside just as Tink slammed the door. She stomped over to her desk and sat down with her back towards him.
"I brought you some food," he said, hesitantly setting the tray down on a small table. Tink turned around and appraised the beef stew and fruit salad he had carried over from the beach. For a moment, her expression softened.
"Nobody's ever done that before. Usually I just eat something canned and call it good." She seemed to reflect for a moment, and then she turned her back to him again. "Well, thanks." She said abruptly. "You can leave now."
Curly began to open the door, but a moment of bravery seized him and he stopped. "Is everything okay?"
Tink exhaled in frustration. "Yeah, fantastic. I can't get Captain Hook off my back and now some pesky lost boy won't leave me alone."
Instead of backing off, which is what Curly usually would have done, he pressed her further.
"Maybe you should let somebody help you once in a while. Might help you relieve some of your stress."
Tink jumped out of her seat and faced Curly. "I'm not stressed!" She shouted. "I just have a lot on my plate and people nagging me all the time and I keep getting these annoying hiccups that take forever to go away!"
Curly stared down at Tink's flushed face. It had almost turned the color of her short red hair, and her hazel eyes were full of indignation, but Curly couldn't help thinking how beautiful she was. And then he did something completely uncharacteristic. Maybe it was because she was so close, maybe it was because he was nervous, but instead of running away, he laughed. Tink stepped forward and her eyes widened with anger. For a moment Curly thought she was going to slap him, but then her intensity dissolved and the corners of her mouth twitched up.
"You're right, I am stressed," she said, falling back into her chair. "I just feel like people are expecting so much from me, and everything's changing, and I just want it to stay the same."
Curly tentatively sat down next to her. "What does Captain Hook want?"
Tink sighed. "He wants me to go up to the Grey World and erase his criminal record."
"Yikes."
"Yeah." Tink grabbed a piece of her short hair and began twirling it nervously through her fingers. "I can understand why he's so adamant about it, but I'm afraid one of these days he's going to do something drastic to make me do it."
"Could somebody else do it?"
"No, it's way to complex. I'd have to be there."
Curly shifted uncomfortably. "What if I went up there and you guided me through everything with your avatar?"
Tink looked thoughtful. "That might work."
Curly was glad he had apparently given her some hope, but he regretted volunteering himself. As much as he wanted to help Tink, he was nervous about going into the Grey World. Since the Crocodile was gone they had taken turns going up there to replenish their supplies and food. He had only gone up once so far, but it had nearly given him a heart attack.
"I'll think about it," Tink said, interrupting his thoughts. "Thanks again for bringing me dinner."
Recognizing that his welcome was worn out, Curly stood to leave, but he had one more thing to say, and he didn't know if he'd ever catch Tink in such a pleasant mood again.
"Hey Tink," he began, "I just want to apologize for the other night ... "
"It's okay, I'm over it."
"Really?" He asked, not sure why her response bothered him.
"Yeah, I get it. You boys have raging hormones, you can't control yourselves, blah blah blah. Plus, if I was trying to kiss me, I'd kiss me back too."
"Uh, yeah, but..."
"I mean, that doesn't make it okay, it's not like I'm giving you permission to do it again, but I get it. You were overcome with the moment or something."
"No, Tink, I need to tell you something ..."
But Curly's confession was cut short by Peter bursting through the door.
"Hey Tink!" He exclaimed, I think I figured out a way to speed up checking the sky arch panels!"
Tink immediately brightened at the sight of Peter, which made Curly a little nauseous. "Oh sure," he said bitterly, unable to stop the words from coming out, "I guess you only visit Tink when Wendy's not around."
Tink looked at Curly in surprise. "Took the words right out of my mouth," she muttered.
"Oh, Curly, I didn't see you there," Peter said, completely unfazed by his abrasiveness. "What are you doing here?"
"He doesn't need a reason to visit me," Tink cut in. "People can come see me anytime they want."
"Yeah, but I thought you didn't really like people in your room."
"Don't act like you know everything about me! I can change! I can adapt!"
Peter laughed. "Come on, Tink, you haven't changed anything for the last four years. Except for maybe those creepy birds in the corner," he said, gesturing to a pair of animatronic parakeets.
"How dare you! I've switched out the greenery, rearranged the furniture, upgraded my avatar, and I've changed my hairstyle at least six times!
"Really? It's always looked the same to me."
Curly decided not to get into the middle of their bickering. He glanced at Tink one more time, then walked outside and quietly shut the door behind him.
*****
Tink might have said she was over it, but her behavior indicated otherwise. In the past two hours she had yelled at him for eating too loudly, stolen a pair of his pants because they were too dirty, and slapped him in the face with her metallic fairy wing for apparently no reason at all. Now she was shouting various insults at him as they prepared to play kidnapper's dilemma, a game where each side attempts to carry or lure someone from the other team into their base. They were all in the jungle arena, and he was crouching behind a rock with the twins while Nibs was plugging all of their shadows into the console to start the game. One of the twins wriggled uncomfortably.
"Hey Curly, can you scratch my bum? I can't reach it."
"No. Just rub it against the rock."
"But that'll tear my suit. I need your strong, wandering hands."
"What's that about my hands?"
"That's what Tink keeps muttering about," the twin replied with a poorly concealed snort.
Curly groaned, but just then the alarm sounded and the boys jumped into action. Several pirates were coming at them so they ran towards their base. The pirates almost chased them right into it but got wise and changed direction at the last moment. Alf Mason grabbed one of the twins, but Curly guided a mechanical snake down the pirate's pants and he dropped the boy and took off in an awkward run.
"Hey Curly! It looks like you scrambled eggs in your hair this morning!"
Curly frowned up at Tink and a second later a rope wrapped around his foot and started to pull him towards the pirates' base. He grabbed onto a tree but was only able to hold on for a few seconds before he was pulled off. He looked down at his feet and noticed the rope's loop was fairly loose, so he kicked off his shoe and the rope slipped off of his foot.
He hid behind a large tree and spotted a pirate lying on the ground behind some bushes. He supposed it was Smee, who often fell asleep during the games. He looked at the screen on his wrist and scrolled through the list of organisms he could manipulate. He picked a moose, which promptly came rumbling into the arena. He made the metal animal scoop the sleeping pirate up with its antlers and carry it towards their side. With almost no opposition, the moose galloped to their base and deposited its cargo on the ground. Curly ran towards the base.
"Hey you guys! I got... oh."
He saw that the pirate was just a mannequin, a decoy. He'd fallen for their trick. Curly turned around just in time to see a massive eagle coming at him. He started to run, but wasn't fast enough. The bird dug its claws into his suit and lifted him off the ground. Curly struggled against it, but the eagle's grip was too tight. The bird hovered over the base of the pirates for a few seconds, then released its claws and let Curly fall. But just before he hit the ground, somebody grabbed his arm and flew him away from the base.
"Thanks Peter," Curly grumbled, almost wishing he had just let him fall.
"Anytime!" Peter responded happily and dropped Curly onto a pad of trampoline moss. The moss enveloped him and then shot him back into the air, and Curly tried to find his balance and fly, although it was difficult with only one shoe. When he had finally steadied himself, he saw a group of four pirates dragging Nibs to their base. Curly sent his moose barreling through the group and they all scattered, but Bill Jukes and Whibbler grabbed Nibs again before he could get away. Nibs head butted Bill Jukes and was about to wriggle out of Whibbler's grasp when the ground beneath them split open and they both fell in.