concasse: (tch↠ let's lock and load)
Sanji "flaming bullshit" Vinsmoke ([personal profile] concasse) wrote2018-07-23 06:54 pm
Entry tags:

week 7 | Monday

[Wouldn't be right to visit one lady without the other, right? Though more than that -- Sanji has... business he wants to discuss with Tiger, that which is long overdue.

So when alone in the fire dorm, he calls to her with his mind]
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-23 10:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[Let's do something new, exciting, and interesting! Sanji has the whole dang fire dorm to himself, so instead of a doorway appearing for him to come through, she, herself, saunters in from somewhere unseen. She looks about as happy to see him as ever, though she takes a second to look around her as if the slight change of scenery (on her part) is novel.]

You rang?
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-23 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[And that...wipes the smile off her face! She frowns as she flops into one of the chairs.]

I don't know why she picked who she picked. We don't work together when we make our choices. I was only responsible for Beast.
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-23 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Odd, isn't it?

[She rests her chin in one hand.]

It wasn't that I thought she was exactly suited for Editor as much as I thought, at the time, wrongfully, that placing her into the position would be a good strategy.
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 12:04 am (UTC)(link)
I made a bad choice!

[She scowls, looking away.]

What's the point in judging me now?
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 12:18 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, I do--and that's why she picked you and I didn't.

[She only seems more annoyed by this revelation.]

How is it, I wonder, that I grew more attached to her champions than my own each time?
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 12:38 am (UTC)(link)
Why? It's not like you did anything wrong.

[She huffs, but in the awkward silence she calms down a little bit. She's just being a damn tsundere.]

I'm not complaining.
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
...I don't really like to think about what happened with Beauty.

[She tenses slightly, but her voice is soft and almost pained as she says it. Clearly, whatever happened between her and Beauty pretty complicated.]
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 01:12 am (UTC)(link)
[She's silent for a long time.]

What did he tell you?
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 01:27 am (UTC)(link)
[Her response is immediate and emotional as she snaps her full attention dead ahead toward Sanji.]

Betrayed?

[Tiger slams a fist down on the chair's arm, sitting up straighter.]

He made sure to find me when my guard was down and stabbed me in the heart! All I did was follow the rules--she would have done the same thing, had it been a trial she was overseeing!
Edited 2018-07-24 01:38 (UTC)
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 02:22 am (UTC)(link)
That's just my fate, isn't it?

[She laughs, mirthless and angry.]

No matter what I do, whatever my intentions are, I'm the one who stands for Evil, or for disorder, or for imbalance, so it's just so fitting! I punished Natsuo and I punished Stephanie, I revealed one of our Editors--I'm the monster!

[Her manic grin turns distant, lacking an object, and her hand comes up to clutch at the space over her heart.]
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
[Tiger hangs her head. Her shoulders shake, and she laughs.]

If I have, I probably deserve it.

[The hand over her chest squeezes harder, like she's trying to rip her heart out of her body.]

If I'm not a monster, perhaps I should be.

[...]

Everything good in me died a long time ago--and I'm so angry that I'm still fuming over what Beauty did to me, and he was just a child.
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 06:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[This whole conversation seems to be difficult for her to process. It's likely that she hasn't talked about it to anyone--either in a long time or at all, in any capacity. She's silent, again, before she finally admits:]

He reminded me of someone.
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 06:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[Tiger tenses, like even a question as simple as that one was another twist of the knife no longer lodged in her heart.]

My son.
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 06:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[She nods slightly from where she hangs her head.

What more can she even say?]
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[It startles her. She looks at his hand around hers, not stopping him, not pulling away--it's like she just doesn't know what to do with what's happening.]

I only wanted...

[...]

If I could change the story, I'd never have to worry about him feeling the same resentment or anger as I do. But he's gone, and he's never coming back.

[Does it actually look like she's going to cry? She shields her face with her other hand.]

I can't even remember his name anymore.
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 07:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't remember why--I don't remember all of it.

[Because she's not the person she was when she started it.]

This was never supposed to happen. The dragon I fight now is not the dragon I challenged to this war, and nothing's the same as it once was. I wanted freedom, that's all.

[But it wasn't only herself she fought for that freedom for.]
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)
From the Tiger and the Dragon.
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 07:34 pm (UTC)(link)
They're titles passed down through generations. My mother was the Tiger before me, and my grandmother before her...

[So, it only follows where it was to go next.]

One of us was eventually destined to end up in this position.
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 07:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Most likely.

[Her eyes close.]

We'll never know for sure, now.
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
No, not exactly.

[She frowns.]

I want to change what it means. I want the Tiger and the Dragon to become two separate stories, so these chains can be gone for good--so this story can never repeat itself again.
Edited 2018-07-24 19:49 (UTC)
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 07:57 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know what will happen to me or the castle.

[She hasn't thought that far ahead. Her goal has been single-minded from the start. She's never been the kind to consider what happens next.]

Dragon will die--that is her own wish. Whether it's by her own hand or by mine, it makes no difference to me.

[And then she frowns.]

I'll give you the rest of the ink that I have left over, there should be plenty to do with what you will.

[And for anyone else, she'd leave it at that, but...]

It might not be enough to do everything that you want, or bring everyone back--but there's a lot of it. A lot more than was ever necessary, and there may be even more still by the time this game ends.
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 08:17 pm (UTC)(link)
She'll kill us both, and leave the story to start again with new characters, yes.

[She thinks.]

I don't know that there'd be a war for certain--but I don't know that there wouldn't be, either.
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[She finally straightens, seeming a bit more like herself now that the topic has shifted a bit away from what she remembers of her own past.]

It's balance. It's a Happily Ever After.

[Tiger scoffs.]

But how she could call it that--we've all seen what Happily Ever After does to people.
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Trust me, I know. It's hard not to expect her to win at this point.

[She clicks her tongue.]

We're of two minds on everything. The way that she sees her own ending and the way that she sees mine is not the same as the way that I see them.

[That said.]

I'm not going to stop fighting, not even when I have no hope.
themodsgrimm: (♛*)

[personal profile] themodsgrimm 2018-07-24 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
As long as your choice is one you're making for yourself, I can't be upset with you.

[She crosses her arms, sighing.]

...and thank you for...being here.