Rising Above Yourself (Varian x Pirate! Reader)

Ch.17

"You're not still mad, are you?"

The young alchemist ignored your teasing and finished making a tightly braided leaf bag. Certain plants were placed in the bag, mainly medical purposes and Varian was thankful Demitri taught him a few things.

"You know, you can be really stubborn." You step in front of him and flick his nose, then lightly laugh as he rolls his eyes with irritation. "Come on, Raccoon Boy. Talk, yell, do something instead of ignoring me. You're too quiet. I'm used to your insults and obnoxious sciencey side."

Varian scoffs, "Then you don't know anything about me. I'm not like that anymore."

This time you snort, "Oh, so you're some sort of runaway criminal now. Oooooh! Scary."

The teen boy glares and turns to you, "No." He says in a harsh tone. "I'm not."

"Well, who are you?" You ask and sense that his nerves were rising up again. He had to let it all out if he wanted to be someone better. Being stranded on an island wasn't the best place though it would have to do. Better than him locking himself in his room and avoiding you.

"What kind of question is that?"

You shrug, "Just a random and harmful one."

He tsked and pets Rudiger's fur. "I'm Varian....okay, this just sounds stupid."

"Of course, it sounds stupid. You're not very proud at saying your name. From my knowledge, I can tell you're not loving and seeing yourself as an individual. You're relying on what other people think about you." You climb up on a tree that held fruit upon its branches.

Varian watches and a quick thought comes to mind; she's a monkey. He masks his chortle with angry snort, "Fine, OH Wise One! How do you do that?"

With a single hop, you land gracefully.....a bit next to him and the old fishing net full of fruit. "You can't always run from the past. It's only your choice to accept all what you have done and who you were in the past and keep moving forward." You hand him a exotic looking fruit.

He didn't trust it.

You facepalm and take it from him, taking a huge bite from it and handing it back to him. "There. It's safe."

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The island trees cast enough shadows to keep the two teens cool in the heat of the sun. Nothing much happened, just only a few animals; mainly birds; moving above them or in the vegetation. Rudiger would bounce around through leaves and chase random bugs.

At one point, Varian began to slow down and wipe the sweat from his forehead. "Where are we going anyway?"

"A safe place which I found while being stranded on this island. There are many places I've been stranded on. Usually by myself, though one time, I got stuck with another pirate." You stop and roll your eyes, quoting the word with your fingers, "Excuse me, I mean, "CAPTAIN". Now he is what I would call a bloody idiot." You rub your chin, "But also clever yet dumb. I'll admit that."

A rope that you'd found along the beach is thrown up to wrap around a thick branch of a giant tree.

"I'm going to hoist you up, then you will do the same to me."

Varian stares up at the height in embarrassment, "Maybe it should be the other way around." There was no way he trusted himself with pulling you up and possibly accidentally killing his only survival expert.

You hum and smirk, leaning very close to his face, "Consider this part of your training, Raccoon Boy. Ya need to build up those muscles in these noodle arms." You shake his arms and laugh when he shoves you away.