[112] [voice]

[embracethewaves]

It's g...getting pretty cold, h-huh. How's-s-- ...is everyone okay? I don't-- [a pause; she takes a deep breath. it sounds shaky, probably from the cold] Even...b-blankets over the windows...maybe if I put an...nnother one up.

[...]

K...kinda...makes me miss Iroh. It's-s been a while... Or h...home. That too.

[There's a long pause; the same

Comments

1/2

[baratiesbest]

[hfskldfhshfls!!!]

[baratiesbest]

UMI!

What happened!?

[embracethewaves]

Th-the roof's gone. F...fell, I mean. Atoli--

[...] Hikaru's not answering me. I don't know where she is, Sanji...!

[baratiesbest]

Fucking hell--!

She'll be fine... you'll find her. Just-- [Yeah, he can't give any guarantees. Can't do much at all apart from clinging to the shounen hero optimism and even that is difficult] Are you alright?

[embracethewaves]

I'm-- ...I've b-been worse. I was just t...trying to-- [...] [Dig dead housemate out of the snow, fun times. What was that we were saying about gloves?]

...If I don't find her, I d-don't-- if she was up there...

[baratiesbest]

[oh ffffff don't lose any bodyparts.]

Don't say that. You'll find her.

[And you can tell that he's hating himself for not being there - again. That she has to go through this - all of this - without either of them there. That he's safe and relatively warm while she's-- ]

1/2

[embracethewaves]

[Yeah don't worry about that, I'd be a pretty lousy fencing champion/magic knight/domestic goddess/everything else in the universe I wanna be if I did.]

I d-don't-- I can't-- [...There's a very, very long pause, here]

[embracethewaves]

[...]

I should l...look again. Must've just-- missed her...the first t-time.

1/2

[baratiesbest]

[Okay, blizzard or no blizzard he's going over there because there's no way in hell he's letting her be alone in all this. Fuck the weather, he's a damn shounen hero and they don't stop for nothing--]

[baratiesbest]

[-- except he knows he'll most likely not make it down the street, let alone all the way across town in this weather. The only thing that would amount to is one more thing for her to worry about and, possibly, another frozen corpse in the street.

Nothing to do but wait and talk and support her from a distance. Some boyfriend, huh.]

...be careful.

[embracethewaves]

[Don't you start with that. It's not your fault and she's damn glad you're staying put, because the last thing you need is to freeze to death in the street trying to be a hero!

But she can at least try to be tougher. She's still shivering but at least she doesn't sound as panicked.]

I w-- ...I will.

[...] You guys...is everyth-thing okay over there? After th-- the other day...

[baratiesbest]

[Yes ma'am. Ace already proved how well that works, so he's not going anywhere. Doesn't mean he'll like it though. ]

Yeah... we're doing alright. He's okay.

[embracethewaves]

[Believe me, she's not liking it any better -- being stuck away from him and Zoro and everyone else is really getting to her.]

All right. [Although..."he"?] Y'know...you n-never told me wh-- what happened, anyway.

[baratiesbest]

...I didn't, did I.

[Yeah, the fatigue and starvation and isolation and the goddamn stress is definitely getting to him. He has no idea what he's been saying.]

Ace showed up on our doorstep. Wasn't doing too good but he's... better.

[embracethewaves]

Yeah, I think you might've sk...skipped on the details, there.

[...] Ace... J-jeez-- talk about an idiot. Is he b-better now, at least? [So what if you already answered that, the fact that she's functioning at all is probably a miracle.]

[baratiesbest]

[Oh, like that's not going to make him worry even more.]

...Yeah, he's alright. It was pretty damn close but he pulled through.