[Voice/Action]

[mikangirl]

[If you're looking for it, you'll see a few scrabbled attempts at a half-hearted filter before she just gives up, two seconds in. No patience. And her voice is strained far past any attempt at a casual question:]

Straw Hats. Where are you?

[In the last hour before fog rolls in for the night, there is a soda-splashed magical girl navigator,

Comments

[Voice] Half of my Brook tags are for you 8|

[skulljokelol]

[That's a very good question. He hums a little melody, watching the sky from a window before remembering that that question was an actual question. Right, right; the journal then.]

...Ah, home, I do believe! Are you all right?

[Voice] just as planned.

[mikangirl]

[Four. Only Sanji-kun and Chopper left, now.]

I'm fine. [She'll live. She feels better the more crew she accounts for.] I'll be home soon. You're staying home?

[Voice]

[skulljokelol]

Most certainly. There's nowhere to go today.

[Voice]

[mikangirl]

[...there's a bare flicker of recollection at that; the last serious conversation they had, and it's enough to tip her panic to something a lot closer to sadness. So she repeats herself.]

...I'll be home soon. [She's had a fucking horrible day, Brook, but she's willing to bet you have too, and the words are much softer now.]

[Voice]

[skulljokelol]

Splendid! [Oh so cheerful.] I'll put a pot of tea on. Mind your footing when you do return. It's easy to slip.

[Voice]

[mikangirl]

[...

...not replying to that. She'll just continue her sprint for home, and if he's not in the living room when she gets there, she'll go looking for him.]

[Action]

[skulljokelol]

[He'll be in the kitchen. He said he'd make tea, didn't he? Several kinds, actually. Right now he's sipping on a cup of chamomile, but there's two extra pots sitting on the cooling stove.]

[Action]

[mikangirl]

[And this is Nami surfacing behind him in the doorway. She's glad to see him. But ... voice cautious.]

...Brook?

[Action]

[skulljokelol]

Hello, Nami-san! I was wondering how much longer you would be. [He turns, lowering his cup.] Chamomile? Or lavendar. Ah, or lemon balm. I think that it was lemon balm...

[Action]

[mikangirl]

...uh.

[......]

Chamomile.

[Action]

[skulljokelol]

Excellent choice! It's a fine drink when you're having a rough time of things. [He gets out a cup, hums as he pours the tea into it before handing it to her.] How are you?

[Action]

[mikangirl]

I'm-- [Fine. Fine now. Not quite the truth. She knows she'll probably see it again, but her crew is here and all accounted for, so she's jittery but right now she's more worried about other people and---]

I've had better days. [She'll take the cup with a murmured thank you, before giving him a subdued look.] What about you?

[Action]

[skulljokelol]

I have had worse. [Still sounding oh so cheerful over here. He moves to sit down.] You should sit, Nami-san. You look as if you could use it.

[Action]

[mikangirl]

[And she sits, sliding into a chair quietly as she drinks her dinner. It's warm, in a way that nothing else has been since she walked into the bathroom at the bar.]

...thank you.

[Action]

[skulljokelol]

Any time, my dear. [He'll return to his humming now, pausing only to take a swallow of his tea. He's drinking slowly; there's a chill of two fogs settling in his bones, and the warmth of the tea cup against his fingers is nice.]

[Action]

[mikangirl]

[She's uncertain, because she's damn positive he's not fine, but she can't ...place her finger on what's wrong. Or how to go about helping. For now, she says nothing at all. The tea is soothing, and company is good, and soon she's going to suggest they all get drunk, so for now Nami comes down on the side of selfishness and puts distance between herself and the events at the bar, just reassuring herself that Brook is there.

But she's watching him.]