Friday | Post-Investigation

[concasse]

[Sanji hangs out in the kitchen. And for once it's just to hide.

He's not cooking anything, dead silent all around. The knife in his hand is just a weight to focus on as he leans against the counter, staring into nothing.

Eventually he'll move to... fill a tea kettle with water -- not because he's thirsty, just for wont of something better to do -- but he moves like a ghost, expression worn and sad]

Comments

[fragileprophet]

I think so, too.

[Ion blinks as his eyes burn, and waits for the sensation to stop before he continues. He won't cry. Not here, not now. This isn't the time. What they need right now, above all else, is resolve.]

No matter how much I think about it, it's still just...hard to believe.

[He knows, logically, that he doesn't actually know many of the people here that well. There are several he's spoken to frequently, more still that he'd say he's gotten relatively close to, as much as strangers can in such a short period of time, but...it just doesn't seem possible. It doesn't seem like any of them could do this to the most open and welcoming person here.]

[concasse]

[Sanji hums, fast losing a reply when his own throat starts to lock. He needs the silence to recover, turning his head to stare into the kitchen, eyes falling on the stool Natsuo used to sit at while he watched Sanji work.]

... Makes it a little hard to trust people, suddenly.

[He'd laugh if he had the stomach for it.]

Not that it was ever gonna be easy here, but if someone was willing to take out Natsuo, I don't have much faith any of us would be considered "safe."

[That was his mistake. He dared to think their ragtag community would have boundaries, and he was wrong.]

[fragileprophet]

That’s understandable.

[And yet. He feels the urge to laugh at himself, that said. He clenches a fist around his necklace.]

Perhaps we’d all be safer that way. But even now...I’d rather keep believing in everyone.

[concasse]

[A few days ago, when Ion had shared that sentiment, Sanji had nodded along and pretty much given his blessing.

Now? There is no nodding, or smiling. He looks at the other with a somber expression]

... Even so, you've got to be careful with that.

[Believing in everyone is the dangerous route, the one that'll kill him quicker.]

[fragileprophet]

...I know.

[And despite his smile, it's possibly the saddest two words he's spoken so far.]

[concasse]

[..

Don't make him live through your death, Ion.

Please.


... God, he wishes he was selfish enough to ask for it

In the end, he can't say anything]

[fragileprophet]

[As the silence stretches onward, Ion feels less and less able to pretend that he's okay with any of it. He feels that he could snap the necklace right off of his neck, so he simply looks up again, not even sure what his expression is anymore. If it's soft, pained, mournful.]

Don't worry.