damned_institute | Day 27: Sun Room (4th Shift)

Momo's mind was turning over all the possibilities surrounding this "field trip" to the surrounding town when she settled down in the corner of the Sun Room away from the Arts & Crafts room. She curled her legs underneath her as she waited for Shouko-san to find her. The shinigami had no idea what she looked like, so she kept an eye on all those entering the room.

It was still very cold, or at least she was cold, and the momentary thought of getting her coat from her own room passed through her mind amidst the field trip thoughts. She pushed it away and decided to deal with it being as cold as it was since she'd already been late to one meeting today and didn't want to start making it a habit.

As she waited, she pondered the next day's possibilities. Maybe, just maybe, once away from the institute the shinigami will have access to their full reiatsu. And if not, maybe they'll have a better idea of how they are being limited so much. Maybe Aizen would be able to find her then. He'd save her... right? Right?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The cook simply frowned, sitting silently for a moment. Then he reached over, slowly, and grabbed her hands in his own. "Stop thinking like that." His voice was hard, serious. "We're not going to dwell on this. We're simply going to find a way out. That's that."

He pulled away, slumping back into the sofa and crossing both arms over his chest. "You know that even if you did tell them they'd say the same thing. There is always a way. Don't speak like that again."

"But we're trapped on a world that probably isn't even our own, and further away from the Grand Line than the Going Merry could ever hope to go! You can't just tell me that 'there's a way' when we haven't thought about all of its ramifications! Even if we do get out, there's probably no way we could get home!" Nami was a hopeful person in general, but sometimes she could be a little bit of a pessimist when things looked like they were going to hell.

"I do have faith in all of you, though," the navigator said finally, somewhat resigned to Sanji's words. She'd been silly to think that way. Silly.. right?

Yet the prospect of not being able to go back hurt terribly. And honestly, Nami was a little jealous of the rest of them for knowing the future. So .. she'd have to change the subject, and think about all of this later. "Tell me about the island in the sky.. Sanji-kun. Was it fun?"

Sanji ignored any further comments about the futility of escape and instead offered Nami a bright and cheerful smile. He would tell her about Skypiea - leaving out the part about its "god" and their struggles with him.

"Skypiea is surrounded by a sea of its own," he began. "Except that sea is full of white clouds and no normal human can swim in them - Usopp tried..." He trailed off there with a grin, hoping she could mentally see the outcome of that. "The fish can, though - flat ones and ones that are like balloons and pop when you try to cut them.

"The island itself is full of winged people. They have an interesting technology that involves storing things inside shells to be released later - things like sound and even the force of an impact."

Nami tried to listen to Sanji's description with interest, but all the while that thought - no escape - hammered at the back of her mind. She didn't show it, instead watching Sanji's animated description of Skypiea with interest.

"Impacts inside shells, mmm? That sort of thing sounds like it'd sell for a few beli on the Grand Line. I hope you brought some back with you!" She'd be very disappointed if none of them had. Anything that would allow them the upper hand ~~or sell well~~ was always a good thing. "What about treasure - did we find any of that?"

How strange it was to ask about her own future! She wasn't sure how much more she wanted to know, but the entire Skypiea business had her interested. A white-cloud sea... to think that they had sailed upon it.

Sanji nodded. "We did bring some back. Usopp actually managed to work with some of them." To make her a better weapon. Should he tell her this? He didn't want to spoil too much. He would for certain leave out the part about Usopp's use of them in his fight with Luffy.

"And treasure - yes! Three hundred million beri worth of it!" And more to be unmentioned - what ended up happening with that money. The subject of the fate of the Going Merry could definitely be avoided. Only the happiest memories for his Nami.

"Three hundred million," Nami repeated.

One could almost see the typical symbol of the currency of the Blue Sea, that crossed B, flashing in the navigator's eyes. Ah, the things they could do with so much of it! Save some of it, of course, unless there was something they needed terribly badly..

She closed her eyes, grinning. So much money... Oh, sweet, sweet treasure. The thought of it was enough to make her mouth water, regardless of whether or not she would actually have access to it in her own foreseeable future.. But she couldn't help but be curious. She opened one eye, winking at him. "Is that more or less than our combined bounty when you're from, Sanji-kun?"

The thought of so much money seemed to have, at least temporarily, shoved aside Nami's feelings of gloom and doom. Sanji was very glad for this.

As she asked her second question, he leaned in with a conspiratory smirk and simply said "Less." How much less, and how many of them had bounties, he thought he should leave secret.

Nami was elated for a moment - that meant they were getting a name and giving people hell - but almost immediately her smile flattened to a knowing smirk. Having bounties meant that the World Government was on their tail, and that put them in quite a bit of danger.

Nami very much liked to keep her life intact, thank you very much.

She deadpanned. "Well, as long as I don't have one, I'll be quite fine, I think." She batted her eyelashes once, twice. She couldn't possibly. ... Of course she could, but Nami had always enjoyed not having a bounty and couldn't see what she could have done to get one. Unless business had become even more serious.

[plz don't worry about spoilers lololol]

In response to that, Sanji looked away and cleared his throat. "Well, you're a strong enough girl to handle it, you know." The poor chef couldn't lie to Nami. Not easily anyway.

And besides, she had an incredibly sexy wanted poster (he had a tendency to keep one by his bed - or on his person), and a decent price on her. Not nearly as much as some members of the crew, but still a fair amount for a first one.

"So I do have a bounty."

Nami raised her eyebrows, trying to think of what she could have done in order to have a bounty on her head. She usually worked behind the scenes, after all. More often it was Luffy and Zoro (and the back of Usopp's head) who had the public 'pirate' face, and Sanji who covered for them. Nami herself, though.. never really overtly did anything illegal besides theft, never fought much save for Miss Doublefinger..

Which meant that some pretty serious events had to have occurred for Sanji to react like this. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know what happened, but it shouldn't matter if they were never going to get out of here.

The navigator sighed. "Well, things are certainly getting serious."

But it was time to move on to other subjects, ones that didn't make Sanji overtly nervous to discuss. "Is there a plan for what's supposed to happen once the doors are said to unlock?"

"I've just seen many warnings about not going out alone," Sanji replied seriously. The serious face soon turned back into a grin, however, as he asked "I assume that means you should stay near me, then, my love!"

He was appreciative of the change in subject, really. Some things in the future should be left for her to experience on her own, if they could in fact return her to the correct time. There had to be a way to do that.

Day 27: Sun Room (4th Shift)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject