mikangirl | (no subject)

(no subject)

[Nami comes home without fanfare, released into the tunnels. She comes up straight into the fog and the sound of bats screeching and flapping somewhere and for a moment just stands there uncomprehending.

Oh. Right.

Well, whatever.

First she goes home. Show Luffy she's alive, do whatever he needs. Tell him why she's back early. Tell him why Sanji and Vivi are not. She leaves again when she can, and gets halfway to Good Spirits on automatic before she remembers that she's still on a leave of absence for sailing around with Law anyway; she doesn't need to tell them she won't be coming in for a while. They already know.

So she turns and heads out into the forest instead. It doesn't matter if the area is thick with fog. Her feet already know the way, and it's not like she's bothering to pay attention to much else. None of it's real, anyway.

When she gets to the cottage, she digs out the bottles of sake and blue ale from her icebox and drinks herself into oblivion. And somewhere in that process, she destroys the bedroom. And goes to sleep with her face blotched with tears and her fingers clutching a letter written in March as if her life depended on it.

And on the morning of the 30th, she gets up and takes a basket out of the shed and begins the harvest, one basket at a time.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[Flying overhead, Marco was vaguely checking up on the lavender garden he'd been growing nearby with Robin. It was purposely chosen to grow near the orchard so that they'd help protect each other. Truth told, he didn't really do enough with it, especially with Robin gone, but he still made sure to check in on it. No good letting Robin's efforts go to waste. That was when Marco spotted the navigator of the crew already early at work. Was it harvest already? Nearly the first week of November, wasn't it? He lands a good distance from her and quietly approaches without a word. He just takes one of the baskets from her, if she lets him, and starts helping out where he can, harvesting the higher ones where his flying and height help. Last year she had her Mom and the entire crew to help her, so it hardly seems right to let her do it alone. And he knows what it's like to need a friend by one's side when missing a parent.]

Edited 2012-10-30 01:26 (UTC)

[... it does matter, actually. There's a vampire in those woods. A rather insane one, to which the unwary and just plain out of it would make amusing prey.

Law watches her enter the woods, on errands, and decides to follow. She will not want to see him - he is a rival, and no pirate wants to let a rival see them in such a vulnerable state of weakness. He'll respect that. However he will see her safe to wherever she is going, and wait a while to make sure.

She will likely not register his presence nearby. It's fine and a blessing. He's not sure he wants to deal right now with her grief either. It bothers him on a level he does not wish to examine.

For now he'll be the silent guardian and not think on how it's come to this.]

[There's a figure lurking near the ground Nami. For once not eating your mikan as the extra rats have filled her stomach for now. She's just been enjoying the trees.

It's not like she's been here to kill the rats for you or anything. It's just it doesn't matter to her where the rats are for her to eat! That's it!

For now Xzana is content to lay on the ground among the mist and watch Nami as she works.]

[Aang had been detoxing his own angst since he returned through meditation and stuff. But he... possibly caught wind of what happened to Zoro? And so, before he goes on with the Halloween hijinks, he tries to make a stop by the mikan orchard early in the day to try to check up on Nami. If any of this paragraph makes sense.

He will start by quietly joining her to help fill the basket.]

[The orchard is small as orchards go, but when it comes to harvest just one person doing the job will take weeks, at a healthy pace. Nami doesn't much care. She'll work all day until she can't see any more, go to bed, do it again. It keeps her busy, because if she can focus on any one thing that has value, it's the fact that Bellemere-san loved these trees. That they're hers, as much as they are Nami's.

Marco's arrival is only really noticed when he reaches out to take the basket from her, and then she comes to a complete stop for a few moments.

Then she turns and gets a new one and starts over, her back to him. She really. Doesn't want to be seen right now. Not by another pirate.]

[It is foggy out. Very much so, and as low as she is, it is everywhere. But she can see better than ever and knows where she's going at any rate. Though it seems to take much longer.]

[Finally, though, she comes upon the grove and Nami-chan, quietly harvesting her mikan. Robin leaps gracefully onto a basket of freshly harvested mikan and waits to be spotted, unsure of whether to stay or go but at least wanting to let Nami know she's not alone]

[He still doesn't speak up. So far as he's concerned, he doesn't need to. Sometimes words will really just get in the way, and the only thing he truly wishes to convey is that he's there for her, whatever she wanted that to mean. He calmly goes through the morning air, collecting the riper milkan and mentally envisioning them as little jack'o'lanterns. Mah, but Nami probably wouldn't appreciate the joke, so he'll resist putting faces on any of them. He merely fills the basket, and lets her have her peace.]

[Nami glances at the cat as it jumps up onto the basket, then back to the mikan, cutting another piece of fruit away with her scissors.]

Hey, kitty.

[Robin wonders if she should reveal herself. Then thinks perhaps not. She's unsure. A human might be true intrusive. But perhaps the simple affection of an animal? She hops off the basket and brushes against Nami's leg, long enough to make herself known but brief enough not to get in her way to trip her up.

She smells faintly disgusting. As if she hasn't showered. As if she's been drinking. Poor Nami-chan. Robin wants to tell her that Zoro will be back. To hug her and say it will be all right. But as a cat, all she can do is tag along by her ankles and watch her work, purring softly.]

[Nami doesn't reach down to pet the cat. But neither does she try kicking the cat away. Instead, she continues her work, thoughts drifting tiredly back to those of her crew still on the draft.

...after a minute or two, she shifts up the avenue of trees a few steps. She's not really paying attention to Robin, but she absently corrects her step when she's about to run into the little cat, moving around her instead.]

[It doesn't seem to be working. Or perhaps Nami has no interest in cats? Even so, it seems off to Robin. Everything is very off. As nakama she should be able to do something about it. But what work? Short of reaching back and changing the past, Robin couldn't even begin to imagine.

Perhaps...

She charges ahead to a tree and climbs up it, right in Nami's field of vision and bats at a low hanging mikan, playing with it as a cat would. If only she had some ribbon or string. That would be cuter. And even though this wasn't enough perhaps it would be distracting?]

[It's distracting, all right. Though Nami's slow to notice the cat and its attempts to play with her mikan, and she watches it for a moment before blinking and reaching out to rescue the mikan and put it in her basket. Then she reaches out for the cat, voice soft.] No, kitty.

[Sorry, Xzana. Nami isn't going to exchange witty banter and sarcasm with you today. Instead, she seems like she barely notices Xzana's presence, quietly and methodically working to pull the fruit down off the trees.]

[It's not hard to hear of Zoro's eventual fate... if Aang misses Ace's broadcast, those he lives with didn't. Totally makes sense.

Aang gets slightly more reaction than Marco, because even with Nami's more self-centred grief, she remembers the trouble he had on the draft. There's a ghost of a smile, though it doesn't reach her eyes, and a barely audible thank you.

[Aang makes a quiet nod. He himself was grateful for Nami for looking out for him out there. He wishes had the words. That if they didn't exist he could make them. The words that could get people through pain like this, pain so raw. But it was hard. Especially in a place like Luceti.

Sometimes he found actions were more effective. That's why he slowly stepped towards Nami and tried to give her a hug. Sharing his body's warmth... that was something, wasn't it?]

[Robin leans out toward Nami's hand and nuzzles her fingertips, purring loudly and kneading the branch.]

[Xzana has no problems with this so long as that duck doesn't show up. Only with a full belly she's feeling a bit more playful than usual. When a mikan falls from the tree Nami is at Xzana goes ahead and pounces on it for her.]

[Nami picks up the cat gently, scratching it absently under the chin for a moment. There's no real warmth to it-- a move by rote, one she's used to doing with Pumpkin. After a few moments, she stoops to put the cat down in the grass.]

[Hugs are warm. She's even slower to respond than the last time, if only because her reflexes are so dulled right now. But eventually, she lifts an arm to return the hug, then the other, resting her chin gently on his shoulder.

It's not a particularly fierce hug, but it's...sort of comforting.]

'm okay.

[And Nami turns toward it, only to glance blankly at Xzana as she appears. Uh. Sorry. Tired mind not functioning well.

After a moment, she holds her hand out for the fruit.]

Thanks.

[He's just trying to be gentle and easy with it, especially as her delayed reaction shows how down she must be, as his shoulder supports her head. He knows she's been through a lot. And what comfort he has to offer may not be a little. But he can't let that stop him from offering what little he has.]

It's okay. You don't have to tell me anything. I'm just being here for you.

[That didn't seem entirely effective. It hurts. Though mostly because there is nothing she can do to fix this. Or nothing that she can think of. Stop letting it get to you, she wants to say, though she knows that's hard. Seeing nakama die. Seeing them suffer.

Though she is unsure what to do, she won't give up either and will simply remain at Nami's side, out of the way but always present, just in case it helps. Even a little]

[Cats are meant to be therapeutic. It's difficult to gauge whether it has much effect on Nami, but she's slow and sure-footed with her steps while Robin is around, making sure not to accidentally tread on her. It does occur to her to wonder, idly, why there is a cat so intent on staying with her at the moment. She's not exactly all that attractive to cats, with her high strung temper. But this is Luceti. Could be an experiment. Maybe it's someone from the village. Or maybe Nami's just hallucinating the cat for added comfort. Who knows?

Or maybe it's just hungry.

She works through the afternoon methodically, as if she has all the time in the world. And at dinner time she vanishes into the cottage to peel herself one of her harvested mikan and have a glass of water.

Then, if Robin is still here, she'll bring her a small plate with some sandwich tuna laid out. Not exactly real cat food, but she doesn't stock that up here.]

[Thank you.

She doesn't say anything, though.

But it might be a while before she pulls back and moves on.]

[Robin remains outside waiting. It's difficult to tell anything like this. The only thing she can really do is sit and hope. When Nami emerges her ears perk and she goes up to her right way. She is not particularly hungry but she eats it anyway because it was offered. When she is done she'll remain where she is, licking tuna from her whiskers]

[Oh, did you want it back? Well, she didn't really want it anyway. Xzana hands it over, looking up at Nami.] Are you going to put them in cans for the winter? [She's seen other humans do things like that before.]

[Enjoy your meal, kitty. Nami goes back out to the orchard still eating the last of her mikan and goes straight back to work.]

Cans...? [There's a vague confusion to her expression before it clears.] Oh. No, I'm just... pulling it down to protect it from the snows.

You can take some home if you like. [She thought you were giving that last one back to her.]

[Robin will follow her tirelessly until Nami chooses to retire for the night. It is not much but she hopes it helps, even if just a little]

[She was, but it's hard to ignore that inkling in the back of her mind that tells her to hoard away food the same time every year.]

Do the snows last long in this world?

They start around mid-November, usually. Clear up by the end of February. [If it occurred to her that Xzana was cold-blooded, she'd say something more than just the faint afterthought:] Make sure you've got somewhere that's warm.

November? [OH! Those month things humans think are important!] Is November soon?

...yeah. In a couple days.

[Days. Okay. She thinks she remembers those being the sun cycles.]

That is not far. You have many trees heavy with fruit.

...yeah. [Sounding a bit like a broken record.] It's okay. I'll be done before the snows.

That is good. Humans do not carry winter weight well.

[Nami isn't exactly sure what Xzana means by that, so she just goes back to work.]

[Xzana has no real clue that her ability to make her mind clear to humans has failed once again. If Nami is busy with her work Xzana decides to leave her to it. She said she didn't need help so she has no intention of offering.

She makes her way back to the lake.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

(no subject)

[Action] / 30th

no subject

no subject

[Action - 30th]

[Action]

no subject

[Action]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

[Action - 30th]

[Action - 30th]

no subject

no subject

no subject

[Action - 30th]

no subject

[Action - 30th]

no subject

no subject

[Action - 30th]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject