(no subject)

[explaining]

Who: Guy and Nami
What: Guy generally doesn't approve of theft, but he does when it's done by somebody hot. ...okay there are other deciding factors too, but she really is gorgeous.
Universe/CR: TotA-world, Luceti CR



Guy kind of wishes Emperor Peony hadn't made such a big deal out of things now. Not many people knew the entire truth behind what had happened at Eldrant, but enough of them knew and everyone trusted Peony and King Ingobert enough to believe them when they said exactly who is responsible for the current peace of their world. It helped that some of the most powerful people were the ones involved, the least of them being Princess Natalia and Jade the Necromancer, so with the royalty backing them up and insisting they claim credit where credit's due, well. The result is this.

Guy has apparently become Grand Chokmah's resident problem solver.

Granted, what he's doing as a result of that new title is a lot more interesting than just wasting away in a manor doing nothing. He can split his time pretty evenly between Sheridan and here, and he gets to help the people of his country without hurting anything or anyone else. He still has to attend meetings and he still has to help Peony out with his rappigs now and then, but being something of a detective is much nicer than being a glorified pet sitter.

It's still a pain though. And when it comes to working with the law, the guards don't always appreciate his input. Being young and suddenly rich doesn't always land you a lot of favor with the lesser nobles already vying for a position he just up and snatched by virtue of deciding that he'd go ahead and claim his family's riches and prestige, according to some rumors. Insisting on dressing like some commoner wasn't exactly doing him any favors either, but Guy go to hell in a handbasket before he'd throw on silks to go barreling through town all day.

Lately though, his job has gotten much worse. The capital guard have their hands full handling monsters, what with the decline of usable fonic artes and technology still not having caught up to bridge the gap in ability. It's monster breeding season and many are flocking back to the surrounding forests to start their families, and the damn things are ten times as aggressive to boot. That leaves the number of people to investigate the sudden rash of thefts very low, so it falls to Guy to do a lot of the footwork.

Not that he minds. The thief tends to stay in the richer parts of the neighborhood, but it was only a matter of time until they migrated elsewhere and Guy would like to keep this sort of thing to the people who can afford it, at the very least. If he makes a show of investigating, the culprit might just move quietly on without bothering anybody. Of course, the ideal outcome here would be apprehension, but whoever it is committing the thefts is very, very good. Never takes too much, never leaves any defining clues or hints. They didn't even figure out it was the same person until they realized that the windows had always been jimmied open more or less the same way.

Still, Guy has another hunch. This pattern isn't as publicized considering its sensitive nature, but after some investigation he found out that all of the places hit belong to nobles who are, more or less, conducting some borderline shady business on the side. Skimming off the tops of their nonprofits, dodging taxes, only just barely skirting on the side of the law to keep out of the cells but, still, are breaking the spirit of it. Guy almost doesn't even want to help, but has to begrudgingly admit that theft is still a crime, even if the people being robbed are disgraceful dredges of society.

So he's here camping one of the likely storehouses to be hit next, waiting in the dark with one of his more lightweight katana's draped over his lap. If this storehouse is hit he's pretty sure he'll be able to catch the thief. He knows this part of the city very well and he's quick, the fastest person in Grand Chokmah to be exact.

It takes a while, a few hours, but in the dark he hears the sound of something being wedged beneath a nearby window and jimmied open. He holds his breath, still, eases his sword silently into the crook of his elbow as he crouches behind the safe. He doesn't hear footsteps so much as feel them and he realizes, with more certainty this time, that whoever is doing this is good. Very, very good.

When he hears the clink of the safe being tampered with and realizes that whoever this thief is is going to crack the damn thing in the dark, he slots a fonstone into place on a nearby lamp and throws the room into glowing red relief to get a good look at the culprit, half-rising but keeping his sword sheathed just in case he can apprehend them without any violence.

And he stops.

"...well well," he murmurs, because Guy's brain has offlined and he can't honestly think of anything else to say. There's no way the person in front of him is who he thinks he sees, because that's impossible. It's been years. It's been years since that place and Guy, he'd resolved to push it away from his mind as a delusion, as- he didn't know, something cooked up by a fever or desperation to try and explain everything that happened to him, the loss of Luke and Asch, maybe. "Don't suppose your name is Nami, is it?" he asks, just because he doesn't know if he'll believe her even if she says yes.

Comments

HELLO HERE I AM

[mikangirl]

It's just a way to keep herself both entertained and in a modicum of decent living while she's stuck in this place, and in light of piracy not being anywhere near as widespread, Nami's found other marks that fit her criteria. She doesn't like this world, which isn't particularly fair; it's nice enough, but it's not home. But stay in it long enough, and you begin to notice the same kinds of patterns in society, so... here she is. Hair caught up in a loose bun and wearing fitted clothes of a more local fashion than the Grand Line, and expecting that this robbery will be just the same as the others-- in, out, no fuss raised.

Nobody's given her any real trouble until... well, potentially now.

The moment the light washes over the room, she turns sharply on her heel, still in a crouch by the safe, and her free hand goes straight for the staff at her waist-- and freezes. Guy cuts a familiar figure even in this light, and if she had any doubts at all as to his identity they're gone when he addresses her by name.

After a moment, she grins weakly, waggling her lockpicks at him. "Could be. Are you going to arrest me if it is?"

HELLO I LIKEWISE AM PRESENT FINALLY

[explaining]

It could just be wishful thinking that makes Guy spot the hesitation, the shock on her face. Probably just a hopeful heart that makes him think that was recognition he saw in her eyes. The odds of it actually being her, when nobody else remembers Luceti, when things were just as he left them and he hadn't aged at all, hadn't aged a day-

Score, it sounds just like her...!

"Depends on a few things. I'm supposed to apprehend you." Guy raises slowly from his crouch, circling around to put himself between her and the exit. If she's just a thief, then he'll have to bring her in regardless of how noble her intentions may or may not be. If it's her-

Guy's hand tightens around the hilt of his sword, though he doesn't draw it just yet. "But I like giving people the benefit of the doubt. Any reason why you've stolen from what seems like a very specific set of estates?"

[mikangirl]

"Yeah, sure." She waves a hand around with faint exasperation, the lockpicks vanishing back up her sleeve, though she can't help the lighter relief in her expression. "I'm a horrible person that doesn't know how to make an honest living, but luckily neither do the jerks I'm stealing from. Force of habit. Guy."

And Nami straightens, hands on hips, though her fingers are also resting on one staff piece. You know, just in case. To be honest, she finds it a mix of entertaining and frustrating and kind of giddy hopeful, but that he hasn't immediately jumped to the simple conclusion-- "It's me."

[explaining]

The grin on his face is really stupid, he knows, and he matches her posture with a laugh. The joy (the relief) of knowing she remembers the same as him bubbles up inside, almost overwhelming. It hasn't been hard exactly, he's lived through harder, but it's-

Well, it's been lonely. To say the least.

Guy puts aside the hows and whys that he has no hope of answering now and just concentrates on the woman in front of him, looking her over, re-committing her to a memory that never truly forgot. He remembers climbing in her window and sitting on the sill, exchanging stories. Trying to arrange an impromptu date only to throw up in her house. He remembers her sitting at the bar for hours while he worked and cleaned, copying maps meticulously, never once looking bored of it. She'd glowed then, was positively radiant and Guy loved it when she worked where he could see because he could see her doing something she loved, something she was so good at and being around someone so passionate filled the room with warmth and care.

"What, you weren't enjoying this?" Guy was and wasn't. More wasn't than was, now that he knows and he wants to throw his arms around her and hug her but his body just won't quite let him get that far just yet. "I really am supposed to apprehend you, though. Not that I care much for Marquis Helios, but he's more likely to take any financial losses of his servants' wages than his own pocket. Could I convince you to come to dinner with me instead?"

[mikangirl]

...oh. Her face falls a little; she'd never meant for servants to bear the brunt of her actions. But then again, admittedly, she hadn't really thought that far. Just been frustrated at being trapped in such an unfamiliar place with a whole new set of rules and no real place for her in it. She'd given thought to the idea that this was the home of at least one of Luceti's old residents, but there were a large number of those she never wanted to run into again, so she hadn't bothered looking too hard.

But this was Guy's home. One of the only bright spots of being stuck in that place for so long, haunting his bar and drinking and sassing and counter-sassing each other. Among other things. Her smile this time is slow and lazy and genuine, and she tilts her head at him.

"If that's your idea of apprehending a thief, I'm not sure Marquis Helios would approve. But alas, you've caught me. I suppose I've got no choice but to accept that offer."

[explaining]

"Excellent! And just between you and me, the Marquis can kiss my ass." Guy can say that because he's a higher rank. HAH.

Exiting through the window is a lot more exciting, as well as slipping past the guards so they don't stir up more trouble than they have to. Guy can issue a report in the morning about his lack of findings and keep things clean and simple. A nobleman shouldn't be doing that sort of work anyway. He's sure he can use that as an excuse, even if Jade will likely see right through it.

Once they hit the main street however, Guy's curiosity gets the best of him. "Nami, how did you even get here? It couldn't have been on purpose." Not if she's working alone, not if she's not with her crew. She'd never leave them if she could help it.

[mikangirl]

"It wasn't." Though she's still grinning as she follows him on his escape route, the smile fades at the question. "Not that long ago, I got dragged back into Luceti, but I was assured it was a mistake and that the whole place had closed down--" She rolls her eyes. Honestly, everyone else there was supposedly newly returned, but for all she knows or cares it was a shift. "Sit tight, have some complimentary food, we'll have you home soon.

"I was pretty surprised they were on the level with that one." She thinks. "Only I think they got crossed wires somewhere, because I got sent here instead. I've been stuck here nearly two months, now."

[explaining]

"Nami-" What's he going to say? If I'd known, I would have looked for you. She knows that already. Likely, she had no idea this was his world. He might have talked about things here and there, but most of it with her was about his past and that wasn't exactly common knowledge anymore.

It's just that the idea of them existing in the same world for two whole months without knowing about each other is...somehow incredibly lonely. Moreso for her than for him.

Guy puts a smile back on his face. What's done is done. The important thing now is to give Nami a place to rest for a minute and then they can get to work on figuring out how to return her back to her friends and family in her own world. "Sounds pretty part and parcel with how the Organization tended to operate. Flying by the seat of their pants and always producing the least desired results."

He holds the door open to his favorite restaurant and bar for her to walk into first, rubbing the back of his neck and handing his sword to the door staff for check-in. "I have a few ideas of where we can start to get you back home, but it's going to take a lot of explaining. Nobody here who was in Luceti remembers a thing about it. They'll believe me, but without any hard data it might take a while to find a solution."

[mikangirl]

Nami brightens nonetheless. Even if the chances are slim. She hadn't had any luck with her own searching, but then again she hadn't the first inkling where to start. She reaches up to tug the pins out of her hair, orange curls tumbling back down to her shoulders as she waits for him inside. Well, it's a nice restaurant and it's the best she can do.

"A while, I can live with." Sort of. At least she won't mind the company in the meantime. "You know, I spent the first couple of weeks assuming they'd notice their mistake and fix it? They were so worried about everything in its proper place." But then again, apparently the enclosure had closed down months before she re-arrived in it, so...maybe the rules changed.

Who knows. She's looking forward to a decent meal.

"You're the only one that remembers? That's rough."

[explaining]

"Yeah, a little." Guy nods at the server as they take a table themselves. "But it's more confusing than anything. I wasn't sure what happened was real, for a very long time." What makes his return different from the others'?

It's not until they're settled with drinks and food that Guy leans forward on his elbow. "Do you think it could still be going, then? Luceti, all the Shifting experiments they were running there. What if someone just picked up where everyone else had left off?"

[mikangirl]

She laughs softly and gives him an apologetic look. "If it weren't for the fact it's been so long, I'd think this was still a Shifting experiment. But months is kinda stretching it out a little.

"Supposedly the experiments are over. The place is closed, everyone went home safe... but the fact they "glitched" and got a whole bunch of people back for a few hours isn't really confidence inspiring. So someone could have picked it up and changed their MO. Or ... they could just be really incompetent."

Nami sighs. "Either way, this might not be home, but it's a damn sight better than being stuck in a place you wake up being someone else on a regular basis."

[explaining]

"Yeah, you've got that right." Guy grins a little crookedly, turning his drink tumbler on the table. "Things might be strange for you here but I promise, you'll never wake up one day teleported from the shower into someone else's bed." Unless she's somehow a seventh fonist and- okay not bringing that up.

Dinner is an easy and unhurried affair. Guy chose this bar specifically; the Emperor himself frequented it and Guy picked up a shift or two whenever he could, so the staff is familiar with him and he can just throw everything on his tab without having to answer any questions as to who Nami is. "So what we can do is see Jade tomorrow; he'll be the most likely to help, if he has the time. It might be just as easy as heading to our own planet's core and checking to see if there's...I have no idea, a gate or something. Not that getting to the core is easy, but we've done it before."

Guy sniffs and watches Nami carefully, tearing a roll slowly more to give his hands something to do than anything else. "Do you have somewhere you're staying already? You're more than welcome at my place if you're not attached to yours."

[mikangirl]

Ahaha, she remembers that incident with a little fondness and a lot of mortification. Especially the part where Asch charged in, oh god. Jade-- she vaguely remembers Jade. If he doesn't remember Luceti either, then... but Guy seems confident enough. "Worth a shot."

She's noticed the familiarity, and watches the serving staff as they come and go with increased curiosity and amusement, though she's always utterly polite. Guy's obviously a regular here at the least. And the food is a step up from her regular fare of late. It's delicious.

At Guy's question, she puts her fork down, giving him a thoughtful smile. She's relieved he offered, to be honest. "I do have a room, but it's pretty costly. If I'm giving up my current occupation, I think I'd like to take you up on that offer."

Her smile quirks up into something a little more mischievous. "I promise to always wear clothes."

[explaining]

"Prrrobably a good idea, yeah," Guy laughs, ducking his head. He doesn't care about the talk but maids are gossips and he doesn't want Nami to run into any more suspicion than she probably already will. "And look, if you need some time to...I don't know, take it easy? Let me know. We might want to go somewhere else and lay low for a while," because of all those robberies and all, "but I've got a place in St. Binah nearby that's nice. I don't want to overwhelm you."

[mikangirl]

Nami's familiar with the name, at least as a point on the map; she can't help certain inbuilt habits even now.

"I think my being overwhelmed days are over. If your world is a nice stable one, I'll manage. But you know better how things work, so... dealer's choice? I don't want to put you out."

More than she already has, anyway.

[explaining]

"Are you kidding me?" Guy kicks back in his chair, ankle on his knee. "You're rescuing me. My life is so boring and dull. Aren't you some hotshot pirate? I'd pay you to kidnap me across the world right now."

[mikangirl]

Her grin turns lazy, and she rests a finger against her chin.

"You should be careful what you wish for, you know. I'm not one for force, so I'll have to lure you across country with my guile and charm."

[explaining]

"Which I'm sure will be a trial for you," Guy answers with a grin. Granted, it won't be just as easy as being kidnapped by Nami for him to leave the city without consequence. He'll have to speak to the Emperor in the morning and get his absence approved. He'll have to make the arrangements with Pere to ensure his estate is properly looked after, reschedule any upcoming appointments, ensure that any couriers or visitors will know that he will be unreachable by visitation...

But this could be good. This could be really good. His feet have been itching for months now. While he doesn't want to make Nami's bad luck into his own good fortune, he'd really appreciate just packing up and going again. Helping Nami get back home might actually be the best thing for him, personally, as well as helping a friend he thought he'd never seen again.

...help her leave forever again. Which is less good, but she has her family and her home and it wouldn't be fair to keep her from it to stave off his own loneliness.

"Well, Miss Pirate? What would you first move be?" Plus nobody in the nobles district knows how to flirt worth a damn.

[mikangirl]

"Wine and dine you and make sure I gave the distinct impression of being a woman worth knowing a whole lot better. If you didn't already know me, that is." Which, to be fair, she knows a fair bit about Guy as well by now. Nowhere near half of what she could or wants to, but spending a lot of quality time with your favourite bartender over the years will net you enough to get by.

"Knowing me already makes this far more of a challenge. You're already wise enough to see through me. I may have to pretend sincerity and rely on words like friendship and c'mon, it'll be fun instead."

[explaining]

"You could also make me think it's all my idea. Just say something like oh, no, I couldn't possibly put you out so that I'll respond with nonsense! I'll absolutely help you, it's my duty, you're my friend!" Guy grins and takes a swig of his drink, throwing an arm over the back of his chair and leaning it onto two legs. "Now that would be some masterful manipulation. You wouldn't even have a country after you for kidnapping if I went of my own free will."

[mikangirl]

"There, see?" She raises her glass in a toast. "I already have you so far under my spell you're doing most of the work for me."

Not that she really cares if a country was after her. Wouldn't... be the first time. Kind of a taste of home.

[explaining]

You always did, [Guy says, maybe a little too softly but he can’t help it when she’s sitting there with her hair in waves and smiling at him like they’re back in Luceti. It’s not that he preferred being there. He just preferred all of the company.

Dinner is a nice affair but it’s getting late and the bar will start attracting the dock workers soon for their end of day drinks. While they’re fun they’re also rowdy, and they’re gossips to boot and Guy would rather keep the rumors down to a minimum before he can speak to Jade.]

Do you have anything you’ll need to pick up before we can head back to the manor?

[mikangirl]

What you see is what you get. [She gestures to herself with a mild flourish, then grins faintly.] Well... what I've left behind I doubt I'll need, anyway. Unless you really want to take a detour for some leftover stew and an extra blanket.

[She isn't sure how to raise one of the questions she has, and it feels really tactless to ask outright. So it's not until they're almost done she thinks to ask a different way.]

So I know Jade is here. Any other familiar faces we're likely to run into?