[Action/"Voice"]

[mikangirl]

[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.]

Comments

[mikanthief]

Nami is also mindful of the boat, and would rather not risk damage to such a beautiful craft in a fight that she can't win. It's this thought that brings her to lower the mop, though she doesn't release her deathgrip on it, instead retreating to the opposite rail to give him unobstructed access to the deck. The rules are different in Luceti, aren't they? Not like she was taking the boat to profit from it, even if he is a pirate.

"I just wanted to see the ocean here, that's all." She drops her gaze to the deck with a chagrin that's ... well, only half-feigned. "I was going to bring her back."

[all7seas]

"Then you should. Have. Asked, lassie."

Jack soon had the Joanna in hand, but instead of nosing her back to the dock, he pointed her at the open sea.

"Grab that line, there. Prepare to set sail."

[mikanthief]

For a moment, Nami just droops further, before what he actually said registers properly. Then her head snaps up and she looks at him in bewilderment. "But--"

Wait, wait. She won't look a gift pirate in the mouth! She breaks off and scurries to do his bidding, leaving the mop resting against the cabin door with a giddy smile. "Yes, sir!"

[all7seas]

"We're not having any weather today, it would seem. What's your name, lass?"

[mikanthief]

"It's Nami!" And she grins at him from across the boat. "I like mikans and money."

[all7seas]

Oh. Oh, bugger. Right. Of course. How many times had Nami been dropped in his lap in Luceti? And this was no different -- the Malnosso's doing.

"Nami. Think I've heard of your mikanmoneylovingness, actually. Rather famous in these parts.

I'm Jack. Captain Jack Sparrow. Pleasure."

[mikanthief]

That he's apparently heard of her doesn't surprise Nami; she's spent her week running into those that knew her by name. (The fact that she is so well known is one of curiosity, however.)

"You might know my mother, then. She runs the mikan orchard in town. Do you have a pirate crew, Captain Jack Sparrow?"

[all7seas]

"....No, actually. I haven't much of a crew here; just a cabin girl and some sort of admiral and Buffy. My first mate. Aaaand...I stay well away from the mikan orchard and the woman with deadly aim who runs the place."

[mikanthief]

"Pirates have admirals now? What, is he corrupt?" Her smile turns a shade contemptuous before she can help it, but she turns her attention back to the line. "And that's probably a good idea. She used to be a marine, you know."

[all7seas]

"He's not MY admiral, is he? Not even sure he IS an admiral anymore." It was an honorific title after one was dead, he is sure. He says nothing about used to be a marine. Just files it away, for now.

"Here -- pull it tighter, missy, or we won't catch the wind!" Jack leaps to help her, grabbing another line and hauling it along.

[mikanthief]

"I got it!" Though she's not particularly strong on the line, Nami still knows her stuff, hauling it tight and slipping into working in tandem with Jack with ease. "This is a really nice ship, too. Is she new?"

[all7seas]

That does it. The Joanna's sails billow out with the wind and the boat surges forward. "Aye. Only a year old, this boat!"

[mikanthief]

"She's beautiful." Nami sounds frankly envious, glancing up at the sails as they catch, and she ties the line off. "I'm going to have one of my own one day."

[all7seas]

"Long as she's not THIS one, my charming Nami. Here. Take the wheel. I need to see to the spinnaker."

[mikanthief]

"It'd be no fun if it was yours." But she takes the wheel without further comment, practically beaming all the way. Nami loves being out here.

[all7seas]

Jack gets busy setting that sail so they can truly fly across the water. He is happy enough to let her do what she likes on his boat, as long as she's not stealing it and he can keep an eye on her. And her happiness is sort of contagious. When he reaches her side once more: "Wish it were a real horizon out there, and not one blocked by a barrier."

[mikanthief]

That makes Nami blink. She's been told there is a barrier around Luceti, but... "It's around the ocean, too? How far out?"

[all7seas]

"About one hundred miles or so. You've......a very clever navigator has mapped it. Made charts and such. Very helpful, really.

[mikanthief]

"Is that all?" She makes a small disappointed sound, but then shrugs it off. "Well, I suppose it's better than nothing. Enough to sail around a bit, anyway."

She throws him a curious look, and wonders if all pirates in Luceti are kind of weird. They're too nice.

[all7seas]

Don't tell him he's nice, Nami. You will break his spirit.

"It's my hope, darling, that one day we can make a break for it through the barrier. It's been weakened in the past. Imagine -- winning the wind in our sails and never looking back at this place!"

[mikanthief]

Luckily, Nami has no intention of saying this; one doesn't say it much the same as one doesn't confess to the world at large that nothing can stop them now.

"That'd be nice. Just the open sea, and we have a whole new world to explore. I'd just make this place my home instead."

[all7seas]

"What? You don't want to go back to your odd home?" He's...surprised.

[mikanthief]

"Mmm. There isn't anything to go home to." Yet despite saying this, she glances guiltily down at her hands on the wheel. "A-and besides, Bellemere-san is here! I can't leave her alone."

[all7seas]

"Nothing in your entire world? Must be a very small place indeed."

But he understands the need to stay for someone else. Jack gets that, even if he's been unbelievably itchy for the open sea lately.

[mikanthief]

"Ah! Well, no... actually, I'm going to sail around the world!" She spins away from the wheel to tell him this, though she keeps one hand resting at the top to keep it steady. "I'm going to map every last part of it. I just have to deal with some other things first."

And the cold truth is she doesn't really want to. Not when near everything she really wants to hold on to is currently in Luceti. Not if time has stopped at home, as they say. She can afford to take time out here, right?