week 7 | Monday

[concasse]

[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]

Comments

[themodsgrimm]

From the Tiger and the Dragon.

[concasse]

[-- SHIT]

O-oi, wait a second--

You weren't the first Tiger?

Did you get locked into this role?

[He's having a fuckin mental crisis right now]

[themodsgrimm]

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.

[concasse]

[...]

Does this mean your son was destined to become the Tiger after you?

[themodsgrimm]

Most likely.

[Her eyes close.]

We'll never know for sure, now.

[concasse]

[No, he supposes they won't.

The very brief desire to reunite Tiger with her son isn't gone, but Sanji at least realizes it will need some... doctoring before he can push forward, if at all.

What a sad tale this is.]

So if you win the war, it's freedom from your title that you seek?

[themodsgrimm]

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.

[concasse]

[FUCKIN CLOSES HIS EYES.

That is not a cruel wish at all, jesus wept]

What would happen to everyone in your ending? I'm talking the castle, you, and Dragon-sama?

[he's sorry for all of these questions but he needs to know]

[themodsgrimm]

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.

[concasse]

[... Rocking back on his heels, Sanji folds his arms and dwells on this, silent for a while. His heart is beating a mile a minute]

With Dragon-sama's ending, she promised us ink to save everyone, enough to have our happy ending, and that she would likely take her own life, ending her story.

[He doesn't know if she was lying or not. However...]

But if we choose her ending, does that mean the story of the Tiger and the Dragon will continue? Are more people gonna be brought into a war?

[themodsgrimm]

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.

[concasse]

-- Your way guarantees that the story of the Tiger and Dragon officially ends, or at least doesn't involve anyone else. No more war.

Dragon-sama's way guarantees us ink, so we'll get whatever ending we want... but the story continues, and others might eventually suffer in our places.

[themodsgrimm]

[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.

[concasse]

... I won't lie to ya.

Everyone in the castle is set on Dragon-sama's ending, because it gets us what we want -- back to our stories, our families, our homes...


No one knew our Happily Ever After was gonna damn a new group of people to follow this pattern.

[themodsgrimm]

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.

[concasse]

[... if he'd learned this even a week ago, Sanji wonders what he would have done. Asked to kill the rest of the Villains? Apologized for letting Tiger down? It's not as if Sanji doesn't crave that Happy Ending either. Pirates are very selfish. And he wants so badly for everyone to get their dues.

... But he's gotten this far on the kindness of others, and... and there is something earnest about Tiger's wish, that Sanji recognizes as choices he might've made, too.

Her dream isn't ugly.]

No matter what happens, I think I would have picked your ending.

[Turning away, hand on his hip]

Thank you for telling me, by the way. I wouldn't have been happy with my choices if I'd never learned the whole truth.

[themodsgrimm]

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.