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Entry tags:
Video, Action
[Video]
[Tashigi greets the world with a smile. She's had some time to get comfortable with the device, and an introduction just seems proper. Especially now that she has a better idea of what she'd like to say. From the looks of it, Sycamore Cycles is in the background.]
Hello! My name is Tashigi, and I'm a recent arrival here. First, I'd like to give a warm thanks to Miss Schnee and the others who've done their best to help me understand the situation we're all in. Thank you very much for the help!
I haven't decided just what I want to do here, but after some recent advice, I've decided I want to learn as much as I can about this place. So, if you're in need of temporary help in a position, please let me know! Until I make my decision, I'm willing to work my hardest on any job that may arise. If you need to reach me in person, I'll likely be staying with V- [Whoops, there's no reason to pull rank here, is there? And she doesn't want to invite trouble with the pirates.]
... with Smoker until I become more acclimated.
[Action]
[True to her word, Tashigi's exploring Genessia City to learn as much as she can. She can be found just about anywhere, smiling as she just tries to take it all in. She's not sure if it's considered rude to walk around with a weapon, but unless someone tells her so she's keeping her katana on her, just in case.]
[And if she can find a new store to supply her with her favored... colorful shirts? That's just a bonus.]
[Tashigi greets the world with a smile. She's had some time to get comfortable with the device, and an introduction just seems proper. Especially now that she has a better idea of what she'd like to say. From the looks of it, Sycamore Cycles is in the background.]
Hello! My name is Tashigi, and I'm a recent arrival here. First, I'd like to give a warm thanks to Miss Schnee and the others who've done their best to help me understand the situation we're all in. Thank you very much for the help!
I haven't decided just what I want to do here, but after some recent advice, I've decided I want to learn as much as I can about this place. So, if you're in need of temporary help in a position, please let me know! Until I make my decision, I'm willing to work my hardest on any job that may arise. If you need to reach me in person, I'll likely be staying with V- [Whoops, there's no reason to pull rank here, is there? And she doesn't want to invite trouble with the pirates.]
... with Smoker until I become more acclimated.
[Action]
[True to her word, Tashigi's exploring Genessia City to learn as much as she can. She can be found just about anywhere, smiling as she just tries to take it all in. She's not sure if it's considered rude to walk around with a weapon, but unless someone tells her so she's keeping her katana on her, just in case.]
[And if she can find a new store to supply her with her favored... colorful shirts? That's just a bonus.]
[Action] / [Later Evening] 5/6 one more, my bad :T
[The engine and gears metaphor stood out in his mind again, but he didn't want to confuse Tashigi with bringing it up.]
[Still, it was like a single gear who was so vital it somehow flipped all the others, changed everything like a giant wave, turned it all.]
Roger did. [Said quietly.]
[In a strange way it's a relief to finally confide that. He couldn't exactly let Kuzan know how taken he was with the legend of Gold Roger. And out of respect for the idea that choices matter most, and because Portgas had been so determined to make the era known as Whitebeard's, he couldn't draw the connection to anyone else. Coby maybe, but he wasn't that close to Coby to reveal something that personal to Smoker.]
I'm trying not to be changed, but... [His eyes harden again, thinking.]
[But he wanted to know.]
[He wanted to prove Akainu wrong.]
[It was like all those gears being flipped were dominoes being knocked down and Smoker wanted to prove he was too strong to be knocked over himself.]
He thinks I want to change him. Well he did think that. I think he got across that I'm not.
I'm not.
I just want to prove Akainu wrong.
[But he couldn't meet her eyes about that. What he suggested was basically treason.]
[That he admired FujiTora standing up to the man to tell the world the truth was one thing. Avenging him and Tashigi... but this was worse still. This was suggesting that not only did a pirate not deserve a death sentence, but the very action of it had made the world actively a worse place. God damn him.]
[But it was true, and he wasn't going to take it back.]
The world isn't safer without him. It's never been more dangerous. [It was a lot of ripples. It wasn't the single vacuous hole caused by the lost of Portgas' life, to be sure. Whitebeard, for better or worse, HAD created a stable balance of power in the world. And Blackbeard taking his devil fruit had caused more problems than anyone knew how to deal with, and Akainu becoming fleet admiral was nearly as destructive as the others and yet...]
[It was all those little things. Because no one could ever really assess them all with certainty. That was why Aokiji had been "lazy justice" wasn't it? Wait and see. "Prudence" -- again, according to Ted.]
If the Whitebeards here seek to avenge him over nothing, over something stupid that could have been prevented, I'll never forgive myself for not doing my best to avoid it. [100% solid on that. As Ted had claimed to foresee; his murky smokey cloudy justice was white and solid again soon enough. But it was easy on this one. Some things Smoker knew he knew. Others he only guessed he knew, and others still he had no idea if he knew. Not to mention all the ones he didn't know... but that was another story.]
[He tilts his head to the side again, thinking harder, even harder than up to now.]
If justice involves equal opportunity, then he didn't have it.
[Blood. Destiny. Fate.]
[Choice.]
[Strength was about being able to take the right choices and choose them.]
[But more than that...]
[Because it wasn't just that Portgas was weak.]
[Even without the same choices available to him he still...]
When Drake X left... [He never liked hearing that man's name brought up. It was one thing to be a traitor, it was quite another to leave the marines and join the enemy. He didn't even like talking about Kuzan after he'd been forced out. And Drake made his choice.]
He said it was to see how the other side lived. [An excuse. A poor one. But immaterial.]
If it wasn't for Roger's blood... [There was more than that. Not just the idea that genetics could determine the force and power of a man, but that all those gears had flipped because of the way they set themselves up. They orchestrated it to blame him and--]
[Smoker clenched his teeth tightly on the twin cigars.]
If it wasn't for the bullshit the government pulled in fear of his blood...
[Correcting himself, but he feels better already about it.]
I want to know what kind of a man he would have been. What choices he would have made. And I want to prove Akainu wrong. [The final part has a twinge of guilt to it still, but defiant as always. Whether it was morally questionable, troublesome, something that would get him tried for treason, outright murdered, or court-martialed for, at best, he wasn't taking it back. He stood by it, because it was true. He did. He didn't know if he could. Maybe Portgas would prove Akainu right, and maybe even then Smoker wouldn't rest easy. Probably wouldn't. But no matter how things went, he wanted to give it his best. Or worst. His all, at any rate.]