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☠ 1st Haunt ☠ - [Voice | Action]
[Waking up in a forest is definitely not a common occurrence for Perona. She remembers being in Sabaody, moping bidding that green-haired imbecile goodbye once and for all. For a moment, Perona thinks she's been blindsided by auctioneers, and sits up straight, hands flying to her neck, thankfully finding nothing there. She heaves a huge sigh of relief, and actually begins to look around her.]
...This isn't-- [Fluttering, and an all too familiar aching on her back clue the young woman in, and her teeth grind together as she reaches back gingerly and feels feathers.] Mmhhrm...it would by my luck to be brought back, wouldn't it? Now where is that stupid boo--Bearsy! They didn't take you awa--eh? Oh, there it is! You were holding my journal for me like a good boy.
[And finally, after removing her journal from the back zipper pouch of her stuffed teddy, Perona's face comes into the journal camera's viewfinder, looking rather unimpressed.] Oi, I've come back. Can someone tell me the date, and who's still here that I may know? You Straw Hat people, too, check in as soon as possible if you're still here! And anyone else from the grand Line, for that matter.
[Though Perona's not going to be too talkative right away. She snaps her journal shut and sends out a hollow scout up into the air, to scour the area from above. Seeing through its eyes, she heads toward the direction of the plaza, grumbling as she goes. Why did she have to come back here?! She was finally home! So...s-so what if she was alone there now, at least she was on the sea, and she had a ship, and she was safe, and--]
I wonder if he's...mm.
[When she does finally get to the clothing shop and into her clothes (after a lot of searching and hissing at how her hat could have gotten crushed under a mountain of other clothes), Perona exits the store and snaps opens her parasol. That should help keep the sun off her now, not that it'd do much good now after all that walking and floating she did. Stupid Luceti.]
How annoying, being back here again... My room had better still be unoccupied.
...This isn't-- [Fluttering, and an all too familiar aching on her back clue the young woman in, and her teeth grind together as she reaches back gingerly and feels feathers.] Mmhhrm...it would by my luck to be brought back, wouldn't it? Now where is that stupid boo--Bearsy! They didn't take you awa--eh? Oh, there it is! You were holding my journal for me like a good boy.
[And finally, after removing her journal from the back zipper pouch of her stuffed teddy, Perona's face comes into the journal camera's viewfinder, looking rather unimpressed.] Oi, I've come back. Can someone tell me the date, and who's still here that I may know? You Straw Hat people, too, check in as soon as possible if you're still here! And anyone else from the grand Line, for that matter.
[Though Perona's not going to be too talkative right away. She snaps her journal shut and sends out a hollow scout up into the air, to scour the area from above. Seeing through its eyes, she heads toward the direction of the plaza, grumbling as she goes. Why did she have to come back here?! She was finally home! So...s-so what if she was alone there now, at least she was on the sea, and she had a ship, and she was safe, and--]
I wonder if he's...mm.
[When she does finally get to the clothing shop and into her clothes (after a lot of searching and hissing at how her hat could have gotten crushed under a mountain of other clothes), Perona exits the store and snaps opens her parasol. That should help keep the sun off her now, not that it'd do much good now after all that walking and floating she did. Stupid Luceti.]
How annoying, being back here again... My room had better still be unoccupied.
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[Oh sorry, are you mad at him? He doesn't care. Actually no, he seems to be enjoying it. Horrible man.]
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You and your nakama killed my former captain! If you think I would forgive you for such things, then you're a fool. [Ugh. Even if she isn't allied with Moria anymore, Perona still liked him. Those kinds of bonds are hard to really sever.] I don't care for how long, I won't easily forgive you.
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Is that what the papers say? Ask anyone else who was there, we didn't get a chance to kill a single ex-shichibukai that day. I don't know if you forgot everything else in there, but most of the losses were on our side. Our only goal was to get in and get out. Killing was going to take too much time. [His father's final orders, the only reason he didn't throw himself into the endless war trying to kill Akainu and Blackbeard to avenge his family. Che. Oh yes, this is not a place he wants to go. Silent reminder of Shanks there calming him down, and his voice is back to steady, if still just as angry and a little bit overly cold.]
Do you think I would try to be your friend and yet kill your captain? I'm not like Blackbeard, that isn't how my crew operates. And it never was.
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Perona's about ready to snap, to bite off his words and call him a filthy liar and just tell him off because fuck you, but she's silenced soon enough as he goes on. Her mouth shuts, and her lips form a thin, wavering line after a while. And while she wants to deny Marco's words that what she read is false - it's so much easier to place the blame on someone else, someone that's right here - something writhes in her chest.
Do you think I would try to be your friend and yet kill your captain?
Fuck... Bastard, what can she even say now? She never asked for his friendship! Why would he even--]
I'm aware. [A pause, as she takes a breath.] ...Of your losses as well, commander, but I can't believe your word alone.
[Can't, not won't.]
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I don't like your former captain, but I don't have any reason to hate him. He wasn't capable of killing Little Oars Jr. the way Doflamingo did. Jinbei took care of keeping Moria out of the way with salt-water and Atomos didn't kill Moria because he was only trying to get by him and then got caught up in Doflamingo's puppetry. If anything, Moria killed more marines than even my allies because he used their shadows, just as Boa Hancock hurt more marines than my nakama.
Rest assured Ghost Princess, I always try to get my vengeance, but killing outside of that would lessen the impact of why I kill in the first place. It'd be counterproductive.
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Did you happen to see who did kill him? If it wasn't you or your nakama?
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Newspaper was the first I heard of it.
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Sigh...whatever. Moria's gone. She shouldn't stress so much over it. If she finds out the truth, fine. If not, then that's fine too. It's not something of great importance. Leave it aside, and move on.]
I see... Well, what's happened here, then. In Luceti. Can you tell me about that? What did I miss while I was away? Who else is still here?
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[He's got suspicions who it could be. Half of the shichibukai gone, seems like they wanted to clean house. Another political gambit? Maybe they wanted someone who didn't have connections -- good or negative -- to pirate emperors. After all, Jinbei defected, Blackbeard betrayed them same as he did the Whitebeard crew, Crocodile they hoped would be blinded by his hate of Whitebeard -- which reminds Marco of yet another problem he'll have to deal with in the New World. So really of those with connections (good or bad) to pirate emperors left, that just left Moria and his hatred of Kaidou. For that matter, given the pacifista and the new robot army the marines are going for, it seemed like they might be trying to get Kaidou more on their side, which would definitely be a reason to get rid of Moria. Then again, maybe Moria just got burned out. He wasn't in tip-top shape during the fight, really just a distraction more than anything else.]
[Well, political worries aside, Marco doesn't bring any of this up right now. She's hurting and distracting her with could-bes won't solve anything.]
If I find anything in the future, I'll let you know. [Because if there's one thing Marco feels strongly about, it's that everyone should have the right to avenge their captain. Or die trying. Especially if they've got no one else to protect by staying alive.]
Were you here during the flood of refugees? Everyone's still here I think. All the Straw Hat crew, a few new faces. You didn't miss much.
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Refugees? ...No, I may have gone home before I really started to notice. [Or she just doesn't remember that yet.] Ah--all of the Straw Hats are still here? No...N-Nothing's changed about them?
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Not all of them, but most of the ones who were I think? No one's left since Chopper.
When Nami came back from the kidnapping the house got covered in thorns, but that's all fixed now, eh.
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[Wait, what.] Thorns?
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Horohorohorohoro! That's terrible! [It really is. She's laughing, but it...really does sound bad.] Eh--...was anyone hurt at all?
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You know, in case such an opportunity should ever arise for you. [Continuously deadpan yo.]
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I'll be sure to remember it. Are you all right now, phoenix-san?
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[His regeneration and absorption are nearly nil already though, but it's not something he's willing to explain to possible foes.]
You really have grown up quite a bit since you were last here. In a good way, I mean. [If sad, considering it's because her captain was killed. Hmm.]
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Eh...how so?
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[Less of a brat, more of a woman.] It's not something I generally get to see until someone's had the New World beat it into them, eh.
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Mmhm...I'm glad I appeal to you better now, then. Though I'll say I had necessity beaten into me, not the New World. If I didn't change my lifestyle, I'd have died. [Not an exaggeration, actually! She had no choice but to learn to cook, sew, etc. The boys surely weren't going to lavish her.]
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You've grown up, but without getting discouraged and forced to give up. If anything you're ... [Wiser, he wants to say. Stronger. Instead he says neither, leaving it to the imagination.] I liked you already, keep in mind. So to see this growth? Hardship might have shaped it, but you forged it.
People who can do that; really genuinely bring themselves to change things about themselves that aren't working for them, are rarer than people who use the King's Haki.
[It's where a lot of his disrespect to Gecko Moria or Crocodile, or yes, Rockstar, comes in. Watching rookies continually get crushed through their own naive "this is how the world should be, why is it kicking me down" and then watching them become like Moria or Crocodile; it gets wearisome. Almost no one is as stubborn as Ace, but Marco's biggest like of Ace wasn't that he was stubborn, it was that in spite of that, he still recognized when he needed to make a change for the better. For his dreams, for his happiness. And the one thing the New World proves time and and time again is that most people can't do that.]
Sometime when you're less mad at me, we should share drinks and you can tell me all about it, eh?
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...I'll consider it. Thank you, Marco-san. [There's a pause, as Perona looks away, chewing her lip and trying to hide the color that spreads on her face.] You're not nearly as horrible as I made you out to be.
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This is definitely going to take some getting used to, eh? You really are more mature though~ And more beautiful when you blush. [Punch him again Perona, clearly he doesn't learn.]
[And pssh, Marco only teases people he's interested in. Otherwise he'll just try to shut them down and shut them up. Thus why Shanks annoys the hell out of him.]
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Did a man possibly double her age just say she was gorgeous and very possibly come onto her? I'm sorry, phoenix-san, you're warming up to Perona, but no where near that level, sorry. Not to mention you are very awkward-looking and so not Perona's type at all and...yeah. You're kinda like, a million years old and gross.]
...Don't say that. It's disgusting when you say I'm beautiful. [DIRTY OLD MAN.]
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[As is clearly evidenced by how much he's laughing now. Which is a lot.]
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