notnapoleon | RP post

[ another moment passed, and Rosinante slowly sits back up; he's still cautious, still ready to run at the slightest threatening move, but now he studies the man with curiosity, instead of fear.

it's been years since he's encountered anyone who wouldn't harm him imediately, so he's at a loss what to do. what is the man waiting for anyway? maybe he should take this chance and run away? should he thank the man first?

the voices outside decided for him. shouts of "Find the World Noble scum!!!", "Make him suffer as much as we did!", "BURN HIM, KILL HIM!" sounded so near and so loud, that the terror of being caught makes Rosinante scramble on his feet and starts running.

the only curious thing about this is that he doesn't run towards the other exit; no, he ran towards the stranger instead, clutching at the man's clothes with shaking hands. ]

[As if it was obvious that the boy will do this and he was just waiting for him to realize this as well, he immediately presses Cora against himself with one hand, while making shambles with the other.]

[And just like that, they're 'magically' half a kilometer away from the downtrodden house, behind a tree so that they're not immediately noticed.]

Can ya walk? 'n don't try to be a hero, if ya can't, can just carry you. 's not like ya weigh anything.

[he tries (and for the most part succeeds) to sound rough and as if he's not really used to something like children at all. There's so much going on in his mind right now that Law belives he could convincingly sound like anything.]

[ the world around him changed abruptly; from the run-down, crumbling house he's hiding in, Rosinante is now outdoors, blinking up to a huge tree trunk. he looks around, shocked, before gaping at the stranger.

did he do this? but how?

but the man is asking him a question, so Rosinante gets up to his feet and takes a step--

only to have his worn, cramped up legs fold beneath him yet again

and with a startled yelp, Rosinante collapses in a messy tangle of limbs. ]

Ya never change, do ya?!

[He didn't plan to say, but at least he managed not to say it with his own tone of voice. Small mercies. And maybe we can start talking with that.]

Can just carry ya, like I said. Now stay. still. Damn brat.

Speaking of Homing's brats, where's the other one? He had two. Where's that more annoying one, huh, kid? He dead or something?

[Scratches his head] Hopefully not, but... ya know where to find him or whatever?

[ Rosinante sits up, barely aware of the huge bump in his head from hitting a rock, staring at the stranger with a whole new wonder. why does this stranger talk like he knows him? Rosinante is sure he's never met the man before; if he did, he would've remembered him, especially since the man has such unusual features.

for the first time since meeting the man, he finally speaks in a hoarse whisper-- ]

You... you know Father? ...Us? [ them, his parents and him and Doffy, from that far off time when they're still a whole and happy family. but the mention of his brother made him tremble again, and he shakes his head vehemently ]

No-- no! Doffy, he-- [ he stares up at the man, desperately pleading ] He can't find me. He can't!

[nods] Knew him. Met him, mebbe I should say. 's not like I was ever a person who could ever up and visit such place whenever. 's not like ya coulda know me. 'sides, one only time I saw ya, ya was just a baby.

Not yer business how I knew Homing, but if ya stop making me life harder, might tell ya.

[as an afterthought] Toddler, I suppose. Babbies don't walk, do they? Whatever.

Why, what'd Doffy do?

But, firsta all, Roci - don't. panic. Won't make ya do anything ya don't wanna. 'm here to protect ya, believe me or not.

[seemingly half to himself] 'm gonna do it whether brat believes me or not, either way. Kids. Still not gonna have any, brats are too damn difficult.

[ Rosinante says nothing about the man knowing his father. there's no way he can prove the man's claim, but Rosinante would rather risk his luck trusting this man who promised his safety than facing the angry mob after his blood by himself.

the question about Doffy, however, makes another shiver run down his back, and he answers in a much, much quieter voice ]

He-- Doffy wants me to go back with him... back to the Holy Land... [ shudder ] w-with our father.......

With Homing? Where's Homing, anyway? I came to find him and you brats...

've heard you mother died, 'm sorry about that. Not that I coulda helped 'nyway, 'm no doctor.

[puts his hand on Rocinante's head when the kid shudders.]

[ squeezing his eyes shut and just shaking his head. he doesn't want to think about it, what Doffy did to their father and their father's corpse, though he can remember it with perfect and horrible clarity.

he shudders yet again, clutching at the ends of the man's clothes as he whispers ]

G-gone.

[Unfortunately, that should earn a reaction, one that he just doesn't have to the death of someone he never knew, dead long before he was ever born. That's why he wills himself to remember again, with perfect clarity - no, even more than that.

After all, in both reality and his darkest nightmares, all he can remember of it is sounds - sounds of Cora-san, of others, of Doflamingo (that's probably why whenever he thinks of Doflamingo, the man's voice is first thing that comes to mind, and his face, if it's there, is in the shadow - even though it's the face he knows perfectly well from spending a few years in Donqixote family). And all he sees is just darkness.

He's still afraid of the darkness (what a childish at pathetic fear, one that he's ashamed of) because of that, and doesn't - isn't able to - close his eyes for more than a few minutes if there isn't anyone he trusts close enough that he can feel them with his Observation Haki while falling asleep.

Though the truth is (and Bepo probably figured it out already, even without knowing the reason) that he sleeps very deeply only when touching someone. Indeed, that's why casual naps against crewmembers where the best rest, though he'd never say that aloud.

Still, he needed to remember more than darkness and gunshots to have a proper "fresh" reaction.]

[For the first time, he tries to push away that terrifying blanket of darkness from his memory, the one that always stayed there even in his imagination because he knows that the thing it covers is even more terrible.

And so, he pictures Doflamingo shooting (that's easy)

and then, later, Cora-san just laying there face down on the floor in the pool of his blood

no that's wrong that should be snow not floor

but then, he realizes with a start which floor he pictures and how his thoughts strayed to seeing his parents' dead bodies and he grits his teeth in order not to scream out.]

[He's shaking. And for a second or two, he can't stop. Maybe he's made a mistake in trying to walk down a memory lane. Maybe he should've just put on a proper face expression and hope that's enough. Fuck, as if young Cora-san could even notice suspicious stranger's face expression in his own distress. He might be Cora-san, but he was still a child, and it's not like children made hobby of observing others when consumed by their own pain.]

[He slowly manages to stop shaking.]

Fuck. I should---

[I should be more careful with my reactions, because instead of thinking I'm grieved... the kid will just think I'm dangerous and run away. Well, at least he's not gonna say that aloud.]

[There are tears in Law's eyes, but he hasn't even noticed that yet.]

[ the hand on his head trembles, and it distracts Rosinante from pushing the images of his father's corpse and his brother's bloody hands away from his mind, to blink at the stranger.

Rosinante has always been observant and has a good memory; it's something his beloved parents always praised him for back in the happier days, when Rosinante would easily complete puzzles and solve riddles by himself. an ability that proves to be a curse, when he and his family starts living on what seems like hell on earth, for Rosinante could remember every horrible curse people have called onto his family, and every pain and hurt he remembers as clearly as wounds scarred themselves in his body.

and so when he looks up, he sees the emotion in the man. and though Rosinante doesn't understand where the stranger's pain is coming from, he could recognize it all the same.

he's nervous and completely terrified of being rejected, but he takes the man's good hand in both of his in a silent gesture of companionship ]

[Shakes his head slightly to clear his mind and then he freezes for a second upon feeling thess tiny hands. Blinking his tears away, he tries to smile.] Good kid, huh? Y-ya have no reason to care 'bout me.

'nyway, let's get going. Homing was important to me, too, but we can talk later.

[You're the same even so long ago, huh? Trying to reassure an upset stranger, after being through hell yourself...

just like when you noticed a bratty boy's pain more than being stabbed.

People were inherently good, in the religion that Law believed in when he was very, very young. He no longer believed it ever since the day years ago when white spots appeared on the skins of people he cared about and then he learned why.

But, ever since really getting to know Cora-san, and years later, other amazing people, he decided that he can believe something else based on that. That once upon a time, that was true. In another, better world, that he was born much too late - millenias, perhaps - to see. And some tiny speck of that inherent kindness survived - and that's why some - few, but still some - truly kind people existed.

They were rare, as they were remnant of some time when higher powers made kind spirits or wills, which just weren't made any more and probably most of them got destroyed. But some managed to get passed on, apparently. And so, sometimes, a merciful hand would would reach out to someone in need. Sometimes - rarely, but not never - it truly would happen.

He considered such a faith a bit too optimistic, but he found himself almost believing that sometimes.]

Hey, kid. Don't know if anybody ever told ya, but yer something special. I mean it.

Now let's go, we don't have all day.

Edited 2014-12-28 15:31 (UTC)

[ just tilting his head, bird-like, completely confused.

he doesn't understand what the man means by him being "something special". was that a reference to his own World Noble lineage? but that can't be a good thing, right? it's never a good thing outside Mariejois, Rosinante now understands very well.

but the man promised not to hurt him, and he's been true to it so far, so Rosinante simply nods. it doesn't matter where the man is going at this point, all Rosinante wants is to be as far away from the people who wants to hurt him, and as far from his brother's reach as possible. ]

[Takes a thorough look at Cora-sa- no, Rosi or whatever he'd be called. The child's malnourished, that's for sure, but Law's left all the food on his boat, so that can't be helped till they get there.]

[Picks him up gently. Get ready for piggyback ride, tiny not-yet-Cora-san.]

[And if the kid's silent, there's no reason for him to talk, either. Jack's not a chatterbox, as whoever (not many people, just enough to get by and search) came into contact with, can confirm. And not somebody who talk to children for no reason.]

[After all, he wouldn't want Roci to like 'Jack' who's going to disappear from the boy's life as soon as he makes sure the boy's safe and far away from Doflamingo.

And maybe not a marine, as then he wouldn't have to meet Doflamingo again---]

[Though that came with complications, because well, if Law wasn't alive, he wouldn't be here. And if Cora-san wasn't with Joker's family, he wouldn't have an opportunity to save Law's life, so he would die. Unless...]

[Yes, that was it. 'Jack' could get Ope Ope fruit for his young self. The plan, depending on the details, could either be brilliant, or very, very stupid and suicidal. Law wasn't sure which, yet. Fortunately, there was a lot of time to think about it.]

[when they've walked some distance already] If yer hungry, there's lotta food on the boat. So let's just hurry there, 'kay, Rosi?

[ Rosinante keeps quiet as he clings on the man's back, partly out of habit, and partly in stunned wonder that someone is treating him with so much care. but this only makes Rosinante more curious.

the man claims to be a friend of his father, but what "friends" his father had before abandoned him, the moment their family left Mariejois. and ever since then, no one in the Donquixote family had any friends at all. except Doffy, that is, and that's only recently.

at the mention of food, however, his stomach decides to announce it's desperation by rumbling noisily.

Rosinante nods his head eagerly. not that the man will see it, with Rosinante hanging on his back like this.

whatever the man's purpose for lying couldn't be that bad, right? how could he be that bad when he's offering not only safety but food as well? ]

Edited 2015-01-01 09:20 (UTC)

[ooc: also, making up small-time pirates in the past is always a fair game in this world. It's not like there's shortage of pirates. XD]

[And so, slowly (because Law doesn't want to tire him, he can see how exhausted tiny Cora(-chan? no, he wouldn't get used to it) is) they make it to the boat.

It's just a rescue boat, because it's not like he would try and find pirates or even ordinary sailors to man the ship in the time that wasn't his. He was trying to stay unknown here, after all.

There was a tiny bounty, just seven million bellies, on some Ruckam Johny ten years after this time, and looking at "Jack" right now, the ages and appearances nearly matched... if one squinted. If the child ever got curious in the future about that stranger in the past, he might just find out about that guy, and that would be the end of the story, seeing as that guy landed himself in some small prison in North Blue fifteen years later than right now. So no risk of them meeting.]

'kay, tis my boat. Ya prefer vegetables, crackers, bread, or meat?

[It was a shame not to eat any onigiri this last few months, but Law decided that if he's not acting like himself, he might just as well go all the way.]

Ya can be my temporary cabin boy, unless yer just no good at that. Which I wonder what to call ya in that case. Passenger?

[ the boy falls asleep along the way, being too exhausted, hungry, and having too little sleep the last few days both from wariness and waking from terrible nightmares.

he jerks awake when the man's pace changes, and Rosinante blinks sleepily at the question ]

Crackers?

[ the next words make him more alert, and more than a bit nervous. after all, the man might not take him along if Rosinante proves to be a useless burden. ]

C-cabin boy... I-- I'll do it.

Hmm, fine. Got meself a cabin boy, fine.

A bit on the thin side, so be sure to eat up now that you can. [offers him food - yeah, everything he's mentioned. plus an apple, too.]

Just don't eat too fast, or ya'll vomit.

[Then Law sits down and in a mock-discreete way designated to get the boy's attention pulls a photograph out of his pocket and glances at it. A Donquixote family foto - Holming, his wife, and both boys - Rocinante might be three years old on this particular photo.]

[ the warning comes too late;

he's already stuffed his mouth with everything he could grab and is probably choking on the food.

~~help him pls? 8'D~~ ]

[sighs]

[And he's going to help in a minute if it's necessary, but for now he's watching to see if Cora can manage on his own.

It's unpleasant to watch but he doesn't want the boy to get overly reliant on 'Jack'.]

[Then again...

There are so many logical reasons, but I should be honest with myself. The less he cares, the better. He'll probably have some marine friends later, so...

If he cared for 'Jack', it'd have to leave as soon as possible so that he doesn't grow to care more.

Because I don't want to break your heart, Cora-san.]

[ it takes several long seconds

but with a mighty effort, he manages to swallow the huge chunk of bread lodged in his throat, and he ends up on all fours, coughing and wheezing for a few more seconds.

and then--

he goes right back on stuffing his face. ]

[That's not healthy.

Oh, well. Let Cora enjoy life for now, after all he's been through.]

[And if Doflamingo, according to that feathered bastard himself, has been through hell, then so has Cora- no, Roci for now.

And one look at a boy told Law that it was true.]

Set sail when ya're finished.

[After all, Rocinante was supposed to be his subordinate right now, wasn't he? Well, not exactly his, fortunately, as that would be too strange, but 'Jack's', and that was fine.]

RP post

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hey, sorry I'm late. Also I might be a bit slow - I'm reading new PH chapter, and then new OP chaptr

whoop sorry for the late myself!

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yeah Roci, go with a nice stranger.... pfff, this sounds so wrong, sorry XD

poor baby's trust issues are skewed depending on the situation X'D

awww. :( oh, ok, just a quick tag cause OP babies are my weakness XD

pffff sorry about your hopeless tiny dad, Law

Law should've expected that ;)

lmao I wonder how many times something like this will happen XD

mhm :D let's see