songerein | (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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.