genessia | [video] / action for the daring

[Okay what the hell is up with that rock stacking nonsense? Is this a hobby for Marines with too few pirates to beat up on? Either way, Ace is there and he's got treats for the dogs and he's ready to get drinking.

He's also ready to figure out what the hell got him to want to actually sleep with this grumpy emotionally constipated Marine. Especially since there was a trend of it, apparently. But more than that, he wants some booze in him before he asks about what happened after his death, and who might or might not have made it out from that battle alive.] Told you I'd find you.

[Rosinante is absolutely paranoid still, so he's sticking to text responses so he can hide his expressions and reactions. But the post has his attention, and he doesn't think it's going to benefit him if he just hides out.]

Accessibility. Then strength.

[FACE PALM.]

[HE SHOULD HAVE KEPT GOING.]

[And all 3 dogs are gonna tackle Ace in a bundle of affection and licks, especially Sami and Ash because they know him, (at least his scent) but even Chaser gets in on it, because the others started it and he won't be left out.]

I should have driven farther.

[HE SAYS THAT... but there's booze pretty much waiting for Ace whenever he gets out from under the dogpile or figures out how to carry them over.]

Edited 2019-04-04 21:36 (UTC)

Good answer.

[He likes it, but...]

Some would say the best treasure is the hardest to reach.

[PIRATE OR MARINE?! -- Nah, Smoker's probably being paranoid. When 99% of the arrivals are neither, Portgas showing up probably already blew that quota for this month.]

I'm not picky when it comes to alcohol. As long as there's enough of it, I'm fine.

If alcohol becomes a treasure, then everyone's standards have dropped. [It's a survival method, not something to cherish. And he really needs a good amount lately to deal with what's been happening. What's happened. It's all the same, really.]

Fair enough.

[Could go either way with that answer.]

Some alcohols are rare.

[Which makes them too expensive for Smoker, either in money, taste, or just plain effort.]

[Ace did not expect this, he's got very little experience with excited dogs but he quickly decides that they're amazing. And for a bit he's just happily trying to push his way out from under a pile of very large canines, laughing shamelessly as they lick and fuss and sniff at his pockets.] Come on, get off! [He does not sound very convincing about it. And finally he yells out to Smoker.] Was this your great arrest plan? Worked better than any plan the other Marines tried.

Edited 2019-04-04 21:38 (UTC)

[He can't help it, it's another laugh, before Smoker whistles and barks orders enough to get them to fall in line and come to him standing in wait.]

Hardly.

Though if the marines knew that was your secret weakness, they'd stop using seastone. I should say other marines. Isn't your Grandfather fond of dogs? I'd've thought you'd grown up with a dozen or so.

[Headpats each dog or snout, tosses some of the balls, and gives Ace the last one.] Just throw it. They'll bring it back until you get bored or they tire out. Unless you're carrying sausages again, in which case, congratulations, you'll never get rid of them.

[He can finally get up, but he's not all that sure that he wanted to after all. Drowning in dog attention is one hell of a way to go.] Yeah, well it works. They're great. [Ace quiets down considerably at the mention of his 'grandfather', he's pretty sore about what happened on his side of things. Sure, they're enemies. And they were from the moment that Ace chose freedom over justice. But Ace would have betrayed anyone for Luffy, for Sabo, for the people he loved and cared about. No supposed ideal would be worth literally watching your family die for.]

Garp just came when he felt like it, he didn't have much of a hand in things. [And was absolutely fine with letting Ace die, and choosing his ideas of justice over his family. In Ace's mind, he's done nothing to deserve that title of grandfather.] Dadan raised me, and she had enough trouble keeping mouths fed. Pets were a luxury, she didn't even like feeding us. [He rolls his eyes, but his tone has warmed up a lot again. It's obvious which of the two he holds in higher esteem.

Ace takes the ball, and tosses it. He knows theoretically what to expect, but seeing the dogs so enthusiastic is amazing.] Yeah, well, I guess I'm in trouble. I brought treats for Ash, and the other's can go without too. Right? It's not fair to bring one kid a present and not the rest.

Edited 2019-04-05 00:43 (UTC)

I usually just drink a few bottles of wine, and leave it at that.

[He's not particularly comfortable, but he's lonely. And stressed. It's easy to just retreat into the back of his mind, but he needs information and this man seems reasonable enough.]

is there a way to find out what people have arrived here?

A few bottles? Nothing harder at that point? Or wine because it's easier?

There's a directory for who is here right now, but not who's been here in the past. You'd have to ask and hope someone met them.

[GDI PORTGAS. You're going to be the death of him.]

[Portgas doesn't smoke usually, except to brag about being able to nick Smoker's cigars right out from under him, but nevertheless, Smoker gets up, hands him one and a bottle of rum, before gruffly moving to sit next to him.]

[REALLY PORTGAS? THEY'RE GOING TO DO THIS NOW?]

[Smoker takes such a heavy swig of his own bottle of rum (Rhum brand from Loguetown, you can get stuff like that from home here, it's weird) and tries hard to think of the right words to say.]

[Right words to say.]

[GAH!]

[HE HATES PORTGAS SO MUCH!!!]

[He's making him use words!!! Okay. "Making." In all TECHNICALITY, Smoker could completely shut down and pretend this conversation isn't happening and just stubbornly refuse to have it, or be a typical asshole and change the subject.]

[And maybe if it was anyone else, and they hadn't just been through death and winding up in a new universe with people who knew them and a total emotional rollercoaster from hell with no sign of letting up, maybe Smoker would have done that.]

[But some stupid part of himself that he really fucking hates even more than Portgas wants to throw him over his shoulder, tuck him into a pile of blankets and have all three dogs guard him and let him just cry it out, because he gets the feeling Ace wants to pretend to be strong in front of Marco and Namur. And if Smoker was Ace, Smoker would give a flying fuck what Smoker thinks of him either.]

[SIGH.]

[He vaguely wonders how he escaped this conversation 4 times with Ace before, and even the first Portgas gave him a few months. But then, the first Portgas didn't know he was DEAD for a few months, so by the time he DID... maybe it was just inevitable.]

Don't be too harsh on the crazy old bastard.

[Wow. Is Smoker really going to defend GARP of all people? Is that what kind of night this is?]

[Apparently so.]

[MORE DRINKING AND HARD AND FAST.]

[Hoarsely:] He risked everything for you.

It shouldn't have been that way.

In a more just world, it wouldn't be. [Looks up at the sky.]

[Could there ever be such a thing as a just world? Certainly no one who shows up here comes from one.]

[Impossible dream?]

Ours is not a just world. If such a thing is even possible. Marines know it's not. We just try to make it better.

[More drinking hard. Wee.]

[He wonders if Ace talked to Rip yet. He wonders if drunk dialing Rip would scar his brain for eternity or not.]

He risked... everything.

Just to give you a fighting chance. Multiple times.

Blood shouldn't -- It doesn't matter that--

[Grinds teeth and finishes the bottle.] Whitebeard was right. The sins of the father don't pass down to the son. Marine, pirate, that kind of thing isn't decided by things like that. For anyone else.

[Gets up and heads over to his motorcycle. A few of the dogs come running back, thinking he intends to leave, but Smoker shooes them back to playing, and grabs a saddlebag instead to carry back to where Portgas is.]

[Going through an entire stash that was meant to last MONTHS in one night? JUST THAT KIND OF A DAY!]

[He throws a bottle at Ace's head without looking to see if it hits his face or groin, or what kind of alcohol it is, and sits back down next to him -- but further away. A good distance that to an outside observer it'd be clear that they're not friends, but just under the length he'd have to be away in order to raise his voice.]

[This doesn't remind him of yet another D with marine family, not at all.]

He tried to kill Sakazuki the second it happened.

He didn't know if sitting next to you on the Execution stand would get him executed too, Portgas. It nearly did. It would have if he didn't have so many friends in the marines covering for him to make sure it didn't.

I told you Sakazuki became the Fleet Admiral instead of Kuzan, but I didn't tell you what it cost him.

An arm, a leg, nearly his life, and all of his life's work and career.

Hate him, if it's easier. But he never betrayed you. He could have turned you in at any time, and not doing so continually risked his career and everything he thought he stood for.

[DRINKS MOAR.]

Akainu executes marines by the dozens. When he tried to turn Squardo against Whitebeard, he wasn't trying to make him stab him. He thought Squardo would just lose conviction and run away. He thought Whitebeard would execute him himself for deserting, and it would fracture the morale. Because executing deserters is what Akainu does. That's his way. Any means that he thinks are effective. Means over ideals.

The latest rookie to train under your grandfather was the one who stopped the war. He couldn't take all the killing on both sides. Pointless murders for what? Sakazuki tried to kill him too. His name's Coby. You - the first version of you here took a shining to him, I think because you just like to fuck with our heads. Nevertheless...

Garp risked everything for you. Not fighting harder had people calling for his head. Covering up your whole life was no small crime. I can't say I'd be that strong. I'd like to say it. But on the point? And day after day? For twenty years?

[Snorts.]

He still calls you his grandson.

He's a crazy old asshole who yells too much and refuses to use doors because he's fucking crazy, and I don't relish the idea of him showing up just to kick my ass, yell at me, and do property damage across all five cities...

But don't think he didn't care just because he didn't know how to fight for you better. He did more than most in his position would have. Even the good ones.

[UGH.]

[So much words.]

[He's used up all 3 months of NOT TALKING in one single day.]

[Nevertheless, laying back in the grass, he whistles for the dogs to come running, and gently whispers encouragement for them to go tackle Ace with gentle scruffs to get them in a wrestling mood. Either the dogs will cover for Ace to let him hide his tears, or maybe slow him down very slightly from trying to murder Smoker with a smashed liquor bottle and twenty years of pent up rage. One of those.]

[Ace doesn't want to hear this. He didn't even push for this kind of thing, he was going to keep his hurt bitterness to himself, he came out here for a reason and it wasn't to listen to Smoker talk about how his so-called grandfather felt about things. And he just drinks, he drinks whatever Smoker threw to him and he doesn't really even taste it. It doesn't matter, as long as it numbs some of what he's feeling, because it hurts, because he's angry and sad and he hates the old man so much right now. He hates a lot more than just his gramps honestly. And a part of him still doesn't care that the old man supposedly suffered, because Ace would have taken on the world and died anyway if it meant that someone else lived.

Smoker doesn't sound like he's lying about any of this though, and fuck. It's the world they came from, that's to blame for everything in the end. It's miserable and unjust and hateful and the people in power make things like this happen. He never had a chance, he would have died young regardless of what interventions would have been done to help him. Someone would have found out, and he would have been hunted down anyway. If not that date, another. And sometimes he wonders if it would have been better if his mother hadn't had succeeded in her goal to keep him alive.

Fuck. Ace doesn't want to cry. He's trying not to, anyway. He's so tired of tears. He's cried on Marco, he's cried alone, and he's laying down to cry quietly next to Smoker with a dog to cuddle. He feels pathetic about all of this, and he decides after a moment to push forward some of that snark and bravado to get some of his supposed dignity back.] You know, I came here to try to get an idea of what got me to want to, as Namur put it, dance on the end of your Marine Pole. [He laughs, that might have been the worst thing he ever heard come out of Namur's mouth. And there's a lot of bad sayings and blunt lines that came before it.]. Not to talk about how stupid things were back home. [He's not going to admit he's crying, but his voice is not keeping the secret well for him.]

My work situation was complicated. I couldn't risk intoxication. And a few bottles of wine here or there wouldn't get me drunk enough to put myself in any real danger.

Can you tell me how to check it? There's a child alone right now, at risk. And I need to find out if he's here as soon as possible. [Hell, he will actually come out and make an appearance if he needs to. If this person can help him figure out if Law's here he'll be grateful beyond measure.]

[CHOKES ON THAT METAPHOR AGAIN!]

[THANKS SHARK-BRO!]

[Smoker gets up and moves over to sit next to Ace to shove his hat down over his face hard.]

Beats the shit out of me.

[The hell is he supposed to say?]

["You trusted me and I hate you for it."]

You know yourself better than I do, Portgas. Why would you trust someone with all your darkness, and yet also everything you treasure as important?

I'm pretty sure Namur thought you should be dating Adela too. And I know she was friends with the Phoenix and other pirates, no matter what I said. Honestly, I really thought you just wanted her with me so that you knew I'd kick your ass if you hurt her, and you wouldn't date her any other way. That's the kind of man you seemed to be. Your justice. [For his part, Smoker judges people on their justice. Justice first, then actions, but justice guides the actions.]

Sometimes I worried you were with me to punish yourself. I definitely worried that's what Namur and Marco thought. Didn't stop me. [Snort. Because NO ONE can tell Smoker what to do. Even his brain. :| ] But it did concern me. I don't think so though.

[Looks up at the sky and sighs softly.]

[It wasn't love, for sure. But it was still something Smoker never had with any other person his whole life. Words didn't do it justice quite right.]

I know what Faye saw in me. I know what Augustine saw. I know what Rip sees. I've got two other friends left in the five cities; Aizawa and Gale. And I know how they both see me. [But all those five are different each. Smoker's always the same, it's the others who are different, but that changes how they see him. Rip might have the most idea though, because she and Smoker had enough background and philosophy and reasons for both enmity and comaraderie.] But you? I could never make heads or tails of.

Tashigi said I was two different people. One with you in private, and one with you in public. She liked the private one better.

[Sips his rum.]

[Tashigi knows Smoker better than he knows himself. So there's that.]

It made me stop pretending. And sometimes I think maybe that bored you. [Or scared him. Leave it to Smoker to stop being scared first for once.] You didn't just get under my skin. You set my whole world on fire, flooded it to the very edges, and wrote your name with all the ashes for everyone who followed to have to deal with. I don't know if I should thank you for that or punch your lights out, even though I know you don't remember, and it's possible it was even a different you.

[MORE RUM.]

I guess.... I probably don't see you the way anyone else does either. I'm not a pirate. I'm not someone you wanted to classify instantly as an enemy, and I don't want you dead. I'm not family, I'm not an ally, so where does that leave me?

[Truth honesty and trust.]

[Portgas is such a pain in the ass.]

[He gently pushes Ace's hat to show the teeny smirk Smoker's wearing.] If you figure it out though, will you let me know?

Edited 2019-04-05 04:40 (UTC)

Pity.

Directory's easy. Home tab, front page, list of names and numbers.

If you've just arrived from a different world, you should know situations rarely stay dire back where people came from. Time doesn't flow right beween here and there. People come from years, sometimes decades, or centuries apart, even from the same world. Sometimes they're even form alternate versions of the same world. It gets weird.

For some it's possible to go to the Memory Docks in Genessia and update their memories further. I haven't done it, so I couldn't tell you, but a few friends of mine did and it's rarely pleasant.

[It's a 1 in a MILLION shot Smoker has any idea who the person is, but he's been here a VERY VERY long time and watches a LOT of people come and go. And he's a stalker, as all marines are.]

I don't know everyone who's ever been here, a lot of the people who were here before me and would know better, are gone, but I have been here quite a few years. And I notice kids more than adults or teens. Do you have a name for them?

Edited 2019-04-05 04:32 (UTC)

Familiarity.

Alzo, you are a fucking ass und owe me drinks now.

[Because she said so. Don't argue Smoker.]

Edited 2019-04-05 05:01 (UTC)

You have no idea.

[There's quite a bit of wait while Rosinante scrolls and searches and finds nothing. No one with Law's name is here, and he checks and checks again just to make sure but he's not stupid. There's no use in just checking constantly in case something has changed in the last minute.

Law is still back home, stuck in that damn chest, and he's not sure if he's going to be okay or not. And under normal circumstances he wouldn't dare trust anyone with something so important, but he's without resources here. And if this man is willing to help...]

I hate asking for help. But this isn't something that I think I can do on my own. Do you think you can keep an eye out for him, if I give you his first name and a base description?

[DOES HE LOOK LIKE A LOST AND FOUND?]

[BRO. THERE ARE LIKE. INFINITE UNIVERSES WITH INFINITE WORLDS WITH INFINITE PEOPLE. THIS IS NOT A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK!]

Sure.

[Whatever. He should pay more attention to newbies anyway, not just skim for his own world, marines, and pirates.]

How are you at hunting?

[He's not even arguing. He doesn't know how derptastic the conversation with Portgas was, but given how Smoker wants to be so drunk he's blinded for a week, he bets it was pretty hellish.]

[Everything is quiet for a moment, save for the sound of Smoker's words and whatever ambient noise comes across outside of this wild little bubble of emotion they've made for themselves there. And holy shit, when Smoker describes how things were, how Ace set his world on fire, he struggles a little. It's how he is, sure, he doesn't even pretend when he's interested in someone. And he does everything with his full will, no matter how mundane or simple. So relationships would surely be a thousand times more intense.

Somehow though, hearing this admission feels special in a way that he's not really prepared for. And Ace shifts a little, just taking in this emotion and vulnerability and shit, he needs more booze. This isn't going to be enough for everything that's happened in the last few days. Maybe he'd be able to handle this easier if there was just sex involved, even if sex is a strong way of bonding for Ace and he's shitty at being casual about it anyway. But what Smoker describes is different than just sex, and he doesn't really have a way to process it right now.

Maybe that's okay, that he can't pull it all together in one moment. He's had one hell of a week, after all.

Ace is about to bitch about everyone messing with that hat, but he sees the smirk and melts. It is absolutely worth getting emotion out of him, he's a pain to get a good reaction from and it's worth the effort to wear him down a little. And despite himself, he gives a decently warm smile to Smoker while he wipes the remaining tears off of his face with the back of his hand.

He can see it, he thinks. And it kind of scares him. He's not sure if he sees it because supposedly he's done this already. That he's found a place with Smoker that at least was cathartic and sexual. But regardless of what might have pushed him towards seeing it, and he's not drunk yet and he can't blame alcohol for it, it's just now starting to hit him, he sees it.]

See, this at least fills me in on why I'd sleep with you. But for me, the idea of letting someone that close? It's kinda frightening. [Ace isn't sure what to think about anything, and he's struggling with such a raw and tender moment. So of course, he fucks it up on purpose so he can deal better.] And look at us, you act like a nervous girl and I'm the bad boy who snuck out to see you. [Have the brattiest smile to ever exist, he's an absolute certified little shit.] And I'm letting you closer than I let anyone but family, so there you go.

Thank you, this means the world to me and I'll do whatever I can to compensate you if you get any information or find him.

He's not a pleasant child, but he's very cute. He'll probably hide rather than make contact, that's why I'm so worried. His name is Law, he's dark haired and small. Wears a distinctive hat. And he's potentially violent. He's not a bad kid but he's been through hell. That's why I'm so worried, I might not realize it if he arrives.

[Cute brat.]

[...]

[Which goes out the WINDOW the second Ace calls him a girl.]

[Sorry, Ace, but you're getting punched, rough day or not.]

I shouldn't have mentioned the window.

[Wait. Did he? He's pretty sure he did. Whatever. IF THEY WERE BACK AT HIS PLACE HE'D HAVE THROWN YOU OUT THE WINDOW AGAIN.]

[video] / action for the daring

[Action] By popular request, this dumbass

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