justicereigns | Appointment Post / Voicemail / All That Jazz

[He hnnned thoughtfully.]

It's not that important. I'll be over shortly.

If you want I'll stop by and grab something.

[For Lupin, not himself, it's close enough to night that he's not in the mood for coffee. But if Lupin doesn't respond, Smoker will just hang out waiting.]

I'm actually pretty close, Captain. It can wait.

Yeah, that's fine then.

[He'll just keep on chilling out. Being Smoker. His life in Luceti. So exciting.]

[Lupin arrived quickly--far too quickly to have come from the other side of town--and entered the barracks as if it were his old home. It was, in a way. There were few places in the village where he felt more comfortable or safer.

In the barracks, they were all equal. After a fashion.

He didn't attempt a facsimile of his usual smile for the Marine. Smoker would see right through it...and that was why Lupin held him in high esteem. A seat adjacent to Smoker was taken with ease, and Lupin kicked his feet up onto a nearby table.]

Thanks for this, Cap'. I was wondering if I could ask you a personal question.

Oh? [Smoker's ears just flick up at the request. Whatever it was had to be pretty big.]

[It was. And Smoker was one of the few men in the village that Lupin was sure would understand...and the only one who could give him a well rounded opinion.]

What's your definition of 'nakama'?

[Drags a palm down his face.]

I'm not a pirate Lupin. I don't have nakama. The closest I've got is Tashigi and she's my subordinate. [He doesn't usually treat her like that, they are more friends than not, but "nakama" the way the pirates are.]

In my world everyone needs each other to survive. A true loner is going to get himself killed and someone who loses his nakama is vulnerable. [His eyes narrow a little, thinking of pirates he's faced in the past and the history of the world itself.] Straw Hat stopped Crocodile just for the sake of his friend, someone here in Luceti now. [Though he won't name the Princess by name.] He saved a whole country for his friend. At the same time we were had a common enemy in Crocodile, but even though I warned Straw Hat about the Demon of Ohara, Nico Robin, he befriended her and declared war on the World Government in order to get her back.

That's what nakama mean to him. [And admittedly for all Smoker wants to arrest Luffy, that is something he respects in Straw Hat a little.]

...I see.

[He drew on his cigarette listlessly, not believing for a second that Smoker didn't have some kind of equivalent. He was too noble a man, for all of his gruffness. It was hard not to respect him.]

I have a similar definition, actually. In my world we don't divide ourselves in such an orderly fashion, but partnerships can be earned through bullets fired and jobs gone down the drains. That's how I met all of my friends...and, similarly, we support each other. It's different, a little. We don't always agree with the plan, or someone gets a better offer, but we have enough faith in each other that we know we'll always team up if we need aid.

If we don't agree, we don't force our views or our opinion. There's this unspoken agreement of non-interference between thieves. At the same time, there's always that support if it's desperately needed.

...but I don't have my nakama from home anymore. I thought that I could find someone among my friends that I made here who did have that kind of understanding...but it didn't work.

Non-interference doesn't really exist in my world. It can't. A lot of pirates strive for it, but they're the ones who die early.

Whether it's Hina yelling at me for yelling at the brass, or Straw Hat fighting the tenryuubito to save Keimi. If someone sees something that will get in their way they have to take steps to stop it or an entire island can get blown up because of it. [... Okay well Smoker doesn't know that islands in Lupin III world have been blown up for this reason, but his point still stands.]

If you want to be able to go your own way then you can't have nakama. [... Also why Smoker doesn't have nakama, and even Tashigi is still his subordinate. So he can take off alone and order her to watch over the men. He trusts her enough to deal with the men, and the frees him up to go at things alone.]

'Not my problem.' It's a common mentality in my home, and it doesn't help that most partnerships that I've seen are never clean or clear. There's always a mess of betrayal or violence...

I've seen lovers kill each other because of their love. I've seen a woman who mutilated herself so that she could be with her beloved. There is nothing that isn't a wreck for one reason or another in my world. Hence the non-interference until there is no other choice.

[He glanced at Smoker through the wispy tail of his cigarette.]

Does that count even if you were in a position where you had to make a promise that you knew you couldn't keep?

I see. [Small grunt as he reflects over it a little and relaxes back.]

What kind of promise?

I can't sit still. Ever. And my housemates made me promise to take it easy.

...I've been feeling pretty useless since July, Smoker. Were my nakama here? They would wonder if I was insane but join in the plan anyway. My girl is all ready signed up.

The worst they would do is take off and tell me not to come home dead.

Pirates feel beholden to trying to keep their friends from getting killed Lupin.

[What can he say? "You died so it's not like you can argue it's not a danger" is a little too harsh even for Smoker. Which is saying something.]

Were they willing to listen to compromise?

It wouldn't have gotten me killed. I knew exactly how it was going to go. All I would have had to do is lie, Smoker. I can do that as easily as I can breathe.

[He was serious--very serious. He was tired of feeling useless, of waiting patiently. He wanted to get back into his game.]

...but no, they wouldn't listen. Instead they got angry about not upholding a promise that I couldn't keep. Words were said, and I ended up throwing a verbal nuke.

We're all pissed now, and I left. I was gonna leave, but they want me gone for a while anyway.

So much for finding nakama like those from home, right?

People can't be replaced Lupin. Whatever you had at home, your world is different and the people are different.

Befriending people here can still happen, just probably not as similarly as you're used to.

After all, you and I don't have what you have with Zenigata either.

If you want their trust to keep yourself safe, you have to prove you can do it. And frankly, you've got a shitty record of it so far. But maybe you should have them talk to your girl so they can understand how things work in your world. If it's someone from my world I can only assume they're a doctor? Most people from the Grand Line have seen enough death to realize that wrapping someone in bubblewrap won't keep them safe.

[Although, Smoker privately thinks to himself that Lupin is about as rash as Ace and therefore as likely to get himself killed even just doing something simple like lying.]

I know what we have is different than what I have with Pops, but it's similar enough. Were Pops not the man sworn to arrest me, I'd probably talk to him like this too.

...I somehow doubt that Fujiko would explain things properly enough to be understood. She's as bad as I am about that sort of thing. Worse, even. We're the same breed, she and I. It does involve a doctor, actually--though, the last time there was a crisis [the chaos god.], the only one who didn't give me a lecture was Dr. Law. But he's too far on the inside to ask these questions to.

[Lupin puffed on his cigarette, wondering how the hell he was going to make everything work. As harsh as their fight was, he liked the people in House 46, and wanted to maintain the weird, shaky little thing that they had.

But Smoker was right. Wrapping anyone in bubble wrap didn't do any good. He laughed, bitterly.]

Say what you want, looks like our worlds are really similar. Plenty of people in my world, more than just the military types, have seen enough death and destruction that we can't help but become a little twisted. Bubblewrap saves no one from bullets.

Edited 2012-09-15 03:35 (UTC)

Correct. [A shrug.] Perhaps the idealists really can't see that then.

This is why I don't have many friends though Lupin. I don't like anyone telling me what to do.

I guess the best you can do is point out that you aren't going to take it easier just by being in your room. And even if you stayed there, there's no guarantee mischief wouldn't find you anyway at this rate.

Although it's probably too late now.

Might be...but I've invested too much time. I have to go back anyway, because all of my stuff is there.

...it's in regards to that new mission, if you're curious. It's more tempting than that challenge from Marco, and it is the exact thing I can do. Fujiko and I both have experience lying to guards, entering through the front door like that, stealing government secrets, tech sabotage...

It's perfect. It's the most perfect thing that I've seen during my whole stay here. It's a chance to use my skills to their fullest, steal something of incredible value, and not get in trouble for it.

And no fighting? How were you after that raid on the farm?

--wasn't injured, just tired. This mission...is described as being solely about infiltration and sabotage. No combat. It's in one of their facilities, and we'd be disguised like their own. It's very. Simple. Work.

...I left my meds back at the house, is the thing. They do help, but I can't do this job right if I skip doses. Which, normally, I don't.

Well, you definitely have to get back there even if you are intending to leave again. And if you meant to have me fetch it, that I'll refuse. They're still your friends, even if you're fighting. You'll have to face them sooner or later. It's not like this village is big enough to avoid them indefinitely.

...I know.

[He did. Truly. If his earth wasn't large enough for Goemon to hide in, then there was no way that he could stay isolated from 46 for forever.

Besides. He wanted his Walther ad his Bryar.]

Do you have any suggestions? I feel like there's a huge cultural difference here, once we take away the harsh words.

[Because he felt validated in his first decision, but was willing to admit that he was looking for a weapon with the second.]

[Gives him a blank stare.]

I'm not exactly great at talking to people, thief. [You know. Yelling at them to shut the fuck up, eat shit, and stop telling him what to do? SURE that he's great at. But he doesn't exactly try to make amends afterward. Either his friends put up with him, or don't. He doesn't change either way.] I'd stick to pointing out that you aren't really that much safer in Luceti than on a mission. You could still wind up facing droids here or getting kidnapped. Not so much while on the mission.

If they're so worried you're going to do something rash, then they should either go alongside to help or let it be. [Shrugs and rolls his shoulders.] Tch. Keep in mind, the only person here I'd even listen to if they tried to reign me in is Ikki, and it would take some pretty extreme circumstances. If they're your friends, they have to remember you're not a child. You'll do what you want one way or another, just as your friends from home understand.

[He smiled--a bitter, twisted little thing--at Smoker's commentary.]

You know? That's what I was kind of hoping they would be like in the first place. I don't know if they can understand this level of scoundreling, because it might be too much...

[He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and blew a ring of smoke out into the spacious room, thinking about everything he had experienced over the better part of the last year. Had it really been almost a year?]

...I just want to come to a reasonable compromise. The Malnosso have shoved us together through Shifts, and I want to think that all of this wasn't just a reaction to their lies. It would be a shame if it was...

[A sigh. Another plume of smoke.]

Good god, I feel like a regular, domestic person asking all of these questions! What next, am I going to go to the same bar with the same crowd of people every friday night for the next twenty years?

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