songerein | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Alphen and you
Which: open log
What: Alphen's taking dogs out for a walk.
Warnings: possible mentions of depression and death.

1. the streets of reverein

No, Wait! Come back! Black Fang! White Shadow! Gray Claw!

[Alphen's running for his life while chasing after three puppies. The dogs run away from him and hide behind the next bystander they see. ]

Sorry to bother you with this but have you seen a dog around here?

[He looks a little apologetic. It's been a crazy day. ]

1.b

That's weird. I could swear this thing was talking and walking before.

[He's holding up something that looks like a dog that's made out of plush. That used to belong to Law so Alphen decided to take care of it for the time being. ]

Now it's not really saying anything. Listen I know it's just a plush but it used to walk and talk before. Do you know about enchantment magic?

[Enchantment magic isn't something that he's particularly skilled at. ]

2. around the smithy

Maybe I should get back to work.

[Alphen might seem a little off somehow. He doesn't look like his usual self anymore. His eyes look different and his hand has a drastically changed in appearance as well. He looks more like a monster that way. Seems as if he's been trying to hide these changes under bandages.

Either way it does look suspicious. The nightmare influence is strong and affecting him to this extent. It's gotten to the point where it's noticeable.]

There's a lot of things I still have to check up on. The smithy should be open right about now too. It's been a while. I want to see how things are doing there.

3. [Wild card]

[feel free to wild card as always.]

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[Months?? What the hell. Sanji feels a little bad not noticing that things have been hard on Alphen for that long, but he shoves that emotion aside so that he can focus on him now.]

You know you can talk to me as well, yeah? Has something happened to cause these nightmares? [He gets nightmares, for sure, but he hasn't dealt with them to the point of having difficulty sleeping for days on end.]

Thanks, I appreciate it. It's been hard for me to talk about it because I don't even really understand what's going on. They started back when I lost Shionne. She's my lover. It can feel lonely when you're not with the people you care about.

Don't you miss your friends from home?

[He might not be the only one who misses someone deeply.]

Didn't know you had a lover.

[That actually explains a lot. He too would be largely upset if someone that close to him disappeared from this world. Even if you know that you'll see them again, it's still hard. There's not much he can do in that regard, other than offer his support. And food.

Sanji closes his eyes for a moment, before giving a nod to Alphen's question.]

Course I do. ...But it's not the first time I've been separated from them. One time, it took two years before I saw any of them again. [That island was Hell for him, this place is nice compared to that.]

Two years is a really long time. Even a day can seem like an eternity when nothing's going right.

Did I mention that you make really kick ass food? This is great! I'm going to eat more.

[ He's gotten his appetite back at least. It's the little things that matter. Alphen's showing some improvements. ]

Yeah, felt like an eternity then.

[As happy as Sanji is that Alphen's enjoying his food, he still can't shake off his concern for him. A smile briefly forms on the chef's face, motioning for his friend to take as much as he wants.]

Eat as much as you want. A good meal goes a long ways.

I'll do just that! Hey, do you feel like sharing your recipe with me? I don't really know what kind of spices you used to make this taste so good.

[He's really happy and he sounds a bit better too. Alphen needs more food. He takes a spoonful of his meal and drinks it down enthusiastically. ]

You're a great cook.

Sure, I'll write it down for you. It's not that hard to make, just has a few ingredients.

[The compliments does a lot to ease Sanji's posture, as he knows that Alphen really means them. Not to mention, he sees a little better compared to before, so it helps to assuage some of the concern he's had. It hasn't completely gone away, but it's progress.]

Spices wise, besides curry powder and ginger, I use serrano chili peppers. The more seeds kept in, the spicier it is. Figured I'd leave all the seeds in for you.

Awesome! I could always teach you how to make it extra spicy. When you mix in herbs it brings out the spice more and you can do that with normal peppers too.

[Sharing some of his cooking tips as a return for the gesture of kindness.]

There's something nice about seranno chili peppers too. That might just be your skill as a chef showing.

[He wonders just briefly if continuing to talk about food is the right move or if he should prod Alphen a little more about his earlier mood. But he seems to be in brighter spirits, so maybe it's just best to continue on with this. It's not like it's a chore for him to talk about these sort of things. It's his favorite, really.]

Heh, you're right. Mixing in herbs and spaces matter, along with the choice of the pepper itself. You can also temper the peppers and spices in oil and add to the dish to increase the heat more.

[Maybe he'll try and make the spiciest dish for Alphen if he really wants that.]

I don't think I ever told you why I enjoy spice so much. It's because I couldn't feel pain before.

[It might sound strange but Alphen really couldn't feel pain up until recently. He's being more honest now.]

I was just happy to feel anything at all really. At least my taste buds were still fine. How's your sense of taste? I think your blend of peppers is just fantastic.

[...Okay, go back a bit there. Because what?? Unable to feel pain? He feels like he missed something big here.]

Got a perfect sense of taste.

[He's not exaggerating or bragging really, mostly just stating that as a fact.]

...Didn't know about your whole pain thing.

It sounds strange, doesn't it?

Someone might think it's easier if you don't feel pain but I don't believe that.

We need fear to survive. [ It's an instinct so it's important to have no matter how difficult it may be. ]

[It's not that strange, really. Maybe he has Judge to thank for that, but he's honestly familiar with people who are nearly invulnerable, or people who just don't have basic human empathy or emotions. Yeah, his shitty brothers. It's not quite the same as the inability to feel pain, but he still understands to some extent.

Sanji lets out a small sigh, as he thoughts wander back to the Vinsmokes once more, but he nods at Alphen.]

...No, I fully agree with you. [...Although, despite Alphen not being able to feel pain, he's still a decent guy. He can see how that can affect someone in a bad sort of way.]

Would rather hurt every day than feel nothin' at all.

I'm glad you can see what I mean by that. My sense returned back to normal more recently and I was struggling with it.

There's a lot of things I've been worrying about. It's been adding up and turning into nightmare energy. Are you any good with dreamotion? Maybe you could help me out with that.

[Dreamotion seems to be the only thing that's effective against nightmares and noctaere. ]

[He can see why it would be such a struggle, especially if Alphen couldn't feel pain for all his life. Which, he doesn't know for sure, but it's still a large change even if it was just a couple of years or shit. The 'how' isn't totally important to Sanji, he's just glad for his friend, even if he's also struggling with it.

Better to struggle with emotions and shit than not.]

...Yeah, think I'm decent enough. Figured how to heat my legs with that dreamotion shit. My passion burns as hot here as it does back home.

[That's what he's going with, anyway. Not to mention, he can form giant cooking utensils with dreamotion, so that's fun.]

Wait, seriously? It took forever for me to learn the basics. You have a lot of potential because you've already experienced a lot of things back home.

[ He feels happy to have such a dependable friend. It's not something that's going unnoticed. Alphen looks less tense because he feels that he's not alone. ]

We can figure something out.

No matter where I'm at, cooking is always somethin' I work hard at. If I can use that dreamotion shit to help with it, then course I'm gonna keep practicing. Be a waste if I didn't.

[A cook is always trying to improve and learn new techniques and recipes. He cares more about that than getting stronger, even though he knows he has to be strong for Luffy and the others. They rely on him for his strength and it's something he takes seriously.]

Yeah? Well, let me know if things start gettin' bad for you. I'll come around and kick you as many times as needed. Won't hold back.

You have no idea how much that means to me. Hey, when we're out of this mess we should celebrate and have a big feast!

We can overcome this together.

[ He seems confident they can get past this obstacle. Isn't that why he started fighting so hard to begin with? He wanted freedom and a true sense of belonging. Doing this is just the first step. ]

I'll make a shitty awesome feast when this happens.

[Be something to look forward to. Food's also a great motivator for people, it definitely is for Luffy. Getting his rubber captain to do something can be easy when you dangle meat in front of his face. And sure, Alphen may not be as motivated when it comes to food, but Sanji is confident that they'll pull through.

Besides, he's certain that he's not the only person that's willing to help either.]

It will have all your favorites.

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