mikangirl | [Action/"Voice"]

[Nami for her own part is content to either stay with her mother or go out exploring with Sanji for the first day or two she's home. It's bitterly cold out there and she doesn't like it much at all-- it's nothing like Cocoyashi-- and her feet are a little red from early barefoot adventures in the snow, but luckily she doesn't catch cold. She's more grounded and less restless than Sanji is, because Bellemere is here. And that means she can let Bellemere take care of things. Because after all, didn't mama say that they wouldn't be here for very long? She misses Nojiko, but if it's only for a little while, then maybe she'll just treat this as a holiday.

Then the second night passes, and Nami turns 10. And everything changes.]

[She's had nightmares before. And the last night was unsettling with the dreams she had, but they weren't bad dreams-- just ones that feel like she's lived a lifetime in one night. Or...one year, as the case may be.

The second night, she wakes up with a wail (muffled brutally by shoving the blanket up to her mouth, because nobody likes a crying human) and tears and her arm hurts but mostly all she can remember right now is Bellemere and the screams when they stepped on her arm and the blood and the way Arlong just shot her down--

die for your pathetic love--

--and everything that followed. And she knows why her arm hurts, but that doesn't make any sense, and Bellemere is right upstairs and Nami just spends the next ten minutes crying into the blanket and not daring to look at her arm. And when she can separate dream from reality just enough, she slides out of bed and doesn't even bother to dress properly, running for the stairs to the next floor in an oversized tshirt that hangs off her arms and going straight for her mama's bedroom.

She eventually falls asleep again and further returning memories distance her from the shock of that death, but none of them are good memories. And now she's confused to boot, because sometimes when she closes her eyes she expects to open them somewhere else entirely. And Nami grows to like the cold, because as long as there's snow outside, it means she's not at Arlong Park, and that means that maybe she can put it all aside as an especially bad nightmare and it didn't really happen. Because it didn't. Because Bellemere is here.

Anyway, distracting herself from darker thoughts is a damn good idea, really. Best to try and not think about it and just...stick with Bellemere a lot today.]

["Voice"]

[So in the afternoon, Luceti, there is a little girl staring back at you from the journals. And doing the most awesomely intelligent thing:

[Yeah. Because making faces at you all is really mature. She just wants to see how many people notice her, because damn this magical journal is fun.]

[Action]

[If people want to run into Nami at varying ages, she can be found:

-- At the library on Monday when she is 12, trying to reach that top shelf of navigation books;

-- At Good Spirits on Wednesday when she is 14, trying her luck at being served underage drinks (look, she can hold her liquor okay B|); and

-- Pretty much anywhere on the following Friday when she is 16, because she's smitten with a severe case of wanderlust; a rooftop, a shop, the forest, the battledome...anywhere. Chances are if you run into Nami today, she might attempt to pickpocket you just because she's got the suspicion she's damn good at it. And those ships out at sea hold her attention for a fair while, because...well, wouldn't it be nice to sail one away? These dreams, man.

For ages 17 and up, well... there'll be another post much later. Just to avoid confusion.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A few days now! Though I was smaller than you before, I think. [This is something she wants to check.] This might be a weird question, but have you grown up any older at all? Or is this your first day here?

Second day. [She has to contemplate what the other girl is asking.]

... I don't think I've gotten any older than that? But... I think I might have been here before then, too.

What do you mean, 'been here before then'? Like you've been here before?

It's really strange. I don't... recognize anything at all, but... I remembered the wings somehow.

Ahhh. This place sure is weird, huh? I don't remember the wings. But I was as young as you a few days ago.

What's your name?

Um, it's Raine. [But what she said gets a puzzled look.] A few... days ago?

Hey. I'm Nami.

Um...I'm growing up kinda fast. That's why I was asking about you.

... have you talked to anyone else about that? What if you don't stop?

Well, according to the people I live with, they remember me as a few years older than I am now, so I hope I'll just stop then. If not, I guess I'll have to see if I can stop it.

[I guess I die of old age didn't seem a very nice answer to give, but she's thinking it. But she's not too worried about this yet.]

Edited 2012-02-13 06:14 (UTC)

You really don't seem bothered by it...

...I guess I'm not. [She's keeping time, counting off the years she spends in Arlong's service. It doesn't matter to her if she's getting older faster, given that.]

I think I'd be more worried if I kept aging, but right now, I guess there's no point worrying too much. Not while I'm still young, and while people here remember me as being older.

So you think that... you're not really supposed to be young. That when you're older again, it will make sense...

Yeah. Well, I hope so. [She shrugs.] I mean, I feel fourteen now, but what I remember doesn't really match up with this place and everyone seems to think I'm older, usually.

I... guess. But it doesn't bother you? Or... does it not matter, because you know for certain that you'll catch up anyway...

[Kid, you feel way too mature for your age, and Nami gives her a measuring look before she gives that question proper consideration.]

...it does bug me. I don't know how it's possible, but you know...I come to terms with it one day and then suddenly the next I've grown another year and I'm confused all over again. So I guess it's easier if I just don't think about it too much.

But I do know it isn't natural, and this is someone else's fault. I just can't do anything about it.

It sounds a little scary. Having to... relearn everything until you're okay with it, only to know it's coming again. All of that information at once. You must be very strong.

[Heh. She smiles, a little wistfully.] That's me. The strongest of the lot.

...I kind of like getting older, though. Something happened that I didn't like when I was young, and I had to work to pay off some money. So every morning, I wake up and remember that I've saved a whole lot more. [Grin.] I bet in a few days I'll wake up and realise I'm totally free. That's something to look forward to, right?

That's a good way to look at it... finding a way to be happy about it.

That's right!

What about you? Are you happy?

I'm not unhappy... even with how strange this place is, it's a lot nicer than where I was... but I don't know how to get back.

Nobody does. [Her smile is sympathetic.] Bellemere-san says the people who brought us here are jerks, but we'll go home eventually. So I guess we're not stuck forever, right?

Yeah...

It's just very strange. I'll have to learn as much as I can about it.

Want me to help? I know some stuff by now.

You don't mind?

Nope!

Let's see...what do you know so far?

Edited 2012-02-16 06:41 (UTC)

[Wednesday!]

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