piratejournal | [Voice & Written]

[He shimmers and switches back into a human form for now.]

[And pats Natsuno's head.]

Is it Riku you want, or to be with someone?

It was Riku, that I wanted.

[He rests his head against the wall behind him.]

I wasn't intending on pursuing anything with anyone. Ever. It wasn't part of the plans I had for my life and I loved Tohru. But he's gone and I don't know... I had feelings for Riku that only got stronger while we spent time together.

It doesn't matter. It wasn't really even a discussion to him. There's a chance for him to have exactly what he wants, he doesn't need me. I'm so mad at myself.

Don't be.

[Marco hops back up on the railing, but sits on it carefully balanced. Even this much out of the forest, his head clears a little, but not quite enough.]

If you're in it for the best, be ready for a lot of pain, but don't give up on yourself so easily. If you can't even hold your head up, he can't do it for you either.

Don't worry about chasing him, just focus on what you can do for him in return for what he's given you and already done for you, eh?

Between me and Thatch -- [He holds up a hand] Not that it's anything similar, but still, we have a lot of dysfunction between us, and a lot of things we have to do to make it work. At the end of the day we both drive each other nuts because we're probably too close, but separating that isn't going to solve anything. Point is though, that's one of the best advantages of having twenty years of fucked up experiences, eh?

If you could return the favor with the gratitude you've already expressed to me verbally, back to him, what would you do it with? How would you go about it?

[Gently pokes Natsuno's forehead.]

I'm mad because I liked him. I really did and I didn't see this coming at all. I was beginning to feel...I don't know, not so horrible. I didn't want him to hold me up, I just...it was something else to think about, something nice. I'm mad because it hurt. A lot. I'm mad because I can't get past it either.

[He sighs.]

I thought I helped him already too but...I don't know. He's good, he's just good. If he needed me, I'd be there. I owe him that. He never seems to need anything though. That's all I can offer him. I won't bring it up again either. He seems fine.

I don't think a happy ending is in my future. I'd forgotten that.

[Switches to flicking Natsuno's forehead.] Of course it hurts.

It means you're alive.

People take it for granted. Living without the pain or the feel like you're drowning just to keep breathing.

This island just accentuates it. It makes it easier for them. ["And harder for us" he seems to imply.]

If a happy ending isn't going to happen, don't bother worrying about it. Take the happiness wherever you can. That's what it means to be a pirate. You don't have to let someone else decide your path. Only you do.

If you want Riku around, then don't give up. Hold your head up and keep moving forward until you're walking step and step again.

[He spreads both hands with a shrug.] What that means will change with time, but for now it means figuring yourself out. Whatever Riku needs he may not even know yet. It'll only come to you with time and watching.

Don't focus on what you have or decide you can't have something you want. The world's too big for that kind of small thinking. It'll get you lost. Focus on what you want, find it, and don't lose it. Come at it from all angles. Protect it.

Mah. I told you Ace tried to kill Pops long before he ever agreed to join the crew, eh? [He folds his arms and tilts his head to the side.] Sometimes the thing we want is on the same path, but the obstacles we think are there are actually allies all along. And sometimes what we think we want is really what we want.

Don't give up. [Light shove to Natsuno's forehead again.]

I hate this island.

[He rubs his forehead.]

I don't know, I don't know what I want anymore. Nothing. Something...I just don't know.

Honestly...I gave up before I came here. I was days away from my end. I accepted that even.

[He can't even deny it, it's flat out true. He intended on dying, he pushed everything down and ignored it.]

I was beginning to feel happy with him...I feel guilty about that too. It isn't like it's been ages since everyone died.

Ugh, I'm a mess, rambling on about nothing.

Relax, yoi.

[Ruffles Natsuno's head carefully around the flower crown.] You're reaching out for a liferaft, but you don't see it.

You're already on a ship.

It's okay to be happy. Do you think those who've died would want you to be miserable just because they died?

I hate this island too, but it does have a point. What's alive has its own voice. I don't like how it's drowning out the undercurrent. It's nauseating for me because I teeter the brink I guess. All the same, you are here. You are now. What has happened can't be changed, can't be replaced. This ship doesn't go backwards. All you can do is charge through the storms, might as well enjoy the ride.

Don't beat yourself up for that. Like I said, kid. Hold your head high and keep going.

[Maybe that analogy is pretty apt. Natsuno feels like he's struggling and it's frustrating. He doesn't want to fight anymore.]

I don't know. Some people I knew might think that way.

[He takes a deep breath and sighs.]

I really don't know what to do. I don't know how to fix it or how to change how I feel or anything like that. I try and think about it, but there's...nothing. I'm on a ship but...

Then those aren't worth doing what they want, eh. [Waves a hand.]

Mah.... you're still looking too far ahead of yourself.

Start with the very basics.

You're here. Now. You don't want to be miserable.

Keep it simple.

You want to hold your own. You want to give something back to your nakama.

Here. [Hands over his wrist.] Drink and maybe it'll help at least with how much this island is crowding in on you, eh?

[It is entirely possible that the island is having more of an effect rather than just crippling fear, if he was honest about it. He was not freaking out about this before they were there. Not like this. Hadn't he resolved to get past things?]

I don't want to be a burden on the crew.

[It's so enticing. He wants to protest, but realistically, shouldn't he just do it? Isn't that what Riku is getting at?

He licks his teeth and takes Marco's wrist in his hands gingerly. There isn't any point in asking for permission when it's already been granted.]

Lean forward a bit...the wrist is actually pretty dangerous.

[Indeed, Marco had a full out panic attack about the idea of Thatch leaving him, even though he knows Thatch never would by choice. The island really does affect them, unfortunately.]

[Marco's eyes prickle with amusement.]

Phoenix, remember?

[But he bows his head, leaning the neck forward easily enough.] Just don't be surprised if you sparkle for a week. It'll probably boost your regeneration too, I'd expect.

[He's kind of doing it to spite the island too. His own form of rebelling against it, along with the intense manic moods.]

[Natsuno doesn't need to move up too far on his arm before it's safer to sink his teeth in. When the blood touches his tongue he can't help but let his reflexes kick in. It's one of the rare times he's not needing it, but he can actually enjoy it, as horrible as that seems.

Even if Marco is a Phoenix, it doesn't stop him from glancing up with his eyes. If Marco decides to faint on him, he'll have to move quickly like he did for Selphie.]

[No chance.]

[Marco isn't fazed, and if anything, his incredibly masochistic side tries to repress his own instinctive healing... a little.]

[He can't fully stop it though, and the blood probably tastes weird as hell since it's at least partially blue flames and sparkles.]

[Marco is sooooooo not normal.]

[It's strange, but not entirely unpleasant either. It only needs to last a moment or two more before he retracts his teeth, draws his tongue over the remaining blood and lean back.

Somehow he feels a little more clear headed. It isn't entirely gone, the panic and the horror brewing under the surface, but for the moment it's a little easier to take.

Sitting up in that confined space the entire time they're there is probably not helping. It's getting to him.]

[Marco is also a little clearer, or at least feeling less like a yin-yang that's been spinning so fast everything looks almost gray to the outside viewer, but to him just looks nauseating.]

[He keeps the sleeve rolled up though since it's the one with his Spade tattoo and quirks his eyebrows in amusement.]

Better?

Yeah, actually I feel a little better.

[That realization in itself is a little welcome, although unsettling.]

And I didn't even go on the island.

Oi.

Don't either.

There are a lot of rules about nakama I keep forgetting you're all new to even the concepts of, but letting your nakama do the shit that will fuck you up instead of you is one of the biggest rules, eh.

[Runs a hand through his hair. It's the only reason Marco's there and goes back. Because his brothers can't, and he needs to face it because it's hard. The more unpleasant it is the more he's got to deal with it. Even though he doesn't really want to.]

Come on chore boy. What do you say you get started on those things you've been neglecting? Before you know it, once you can start looking around you and saying "Aha, I did that," you'll be able to hold your head up a little more each and every time.

If you want, I'll even stick around a little longer, yoi.

[He shudders visibly.]

No, the deck is too close to the island. If I could get further away from it, I would. This was as far as I could get.

[It will have to wait until they put this place behind them.]

You don't have to. I'm...well I'll be relatively okay here.

I know I don't have to, but we're nakama.

If it'll help, I'll stay.

Yeah, okay.

[He nods a little bit.]

All right, Prince. Let's go.

[You've been crowned so now you're royalty.]

[Enjoy it, even though he's still gonna make you clean up.]

You can tell me stories about your world and I'll see if I can't find one from mine with happier days too.

Stories, huh.

[He thinks about it, musing a little.]

Let me see...

Tohru really believed some of the strangest things. My father would say it's because of small town superstitions. All the same, he did.

So the story he told me was there was this spring in town. The water would come through the forest and they built kind of like a well for the water to sit in.

The water is always cool and people believed it would make you smarter if you drank it. So kids would drink the water before tests or things like that.

I never believed in anything like that because to me it's just something that seems to be unproven. So one night we were walking by and he tells me this story. In the water is this spider and he says the spider is like a guardian, always living in the water and it had been there for generations.

I can't say I was listening in detail, because he's going on and on about this spider and the next thing I know cold water is being splash in my face and he grins at me and says.

'Well you want to get into university don't you?'

[Natsuno can't hide the fond smile. Tohru was something else.]

So did it make you smarter?

[Sticks his tongue out.]

[Small town superstitions or not, Marco comes from a world and place where such things almost always come true.]

Of course not! I don't think that's how these things work.

Hmm. Who else can I tell you about...

[Because Marco must be tired of hearing about Tohru's nonsense by now.]

I could tell you about Shimizu.

This girl was crazy. I'm not even talking about when she was a vampire, she was completely crazy before then.

So I move to town and Shimizu Megumi is in my class. So this girl had some kind of fixation on the city. She really wanted to go there, I guess. I tuned out half the things she said to me.

She would come up to me and say 'Yuuki-kun' and then just stare at me. At first it didn't seem more then just a crush but then, then this girl starts stalking me.

I don't mind she'd follow me to school, which she would, I mean she would come at night and sit outside my window, staring at me from the bushes. She wasn't exactly covert. It got to the point I couldn't even open the shades on my window. She was always there.

I wasn't sure what to do about her so I resorted to ignoring her altogether. This did not deter her in any way. Not even a little bit. I looked at her once and man did she read that the wrong way.

It was like she cast herself as this tragic heroine or something. I don't know, like I was in a love story I didn't ask to be in.

Honestly, when she died, I wasn't the least bit sorry about that.

That's.... pretty damn odd.

I mean I got some girls who put together the whole phoenix and Whitebeard thing so they were after the fame, but even then...

Was she trying to tell you something?

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