OOC Log

[needs_a_plan]

Who: Chel and Tulio
What: Plotting and excessive yet vaguely embarrassed sappiness
Where: The library of the Thousand Sunny
When: March 13th, the evening of the barbecue
Rating: ...PG-13 for possible implications?
Notes: References are made herein to a bet Chel and Tulio have going (Tulio has to convince Usopp he's actually a famous dread pirate and Chel has to convince Sanji she's secretly a man. Don't ask.) Also, your character did not read this.

Carefully, Chel navigated down the ladder into the library of the Thousand Sunny, lifting her feet and sliding the last ten or twelve inches. She was consistently impressed by this ship; sure, it was no city of gold, but it was more complex than anyone in El Dorado could have built. She whistled softly under her breath as she turned to study the shelves, walking over to one and - since she was alone - allowing herself to openly admire the rows and stacks of books. She had asked Tulio to meet her down there when the party on deck began waning, and she tipped a book from the shelf (some volume with colorful, vivid illustrations of sea monsters) and took a seat on the bench, flipping through it as she waited.

Tulio felt that he'd gotten pretty good at ladders over the time he'd been on the Sunny. He could take the rungs two or sometimes three at a time without falling off and killing himself, at any rate. So it didn't take him very long to get down into the library; he'd spent a good amount of time in here anyway, looking up all the insane things about this world half in fascination and half in an attempt to prepare himself for the worst. He straightened his vest a little, quickly spotting Chel and her book. "Hey. Find something good?"

Chel cut her eyes up to Tulio before lifting her head completely from the book, expression twisted into something that was part amazement and part shock. "I didn't know an octopus could get that big," she answered without any preamble, shutting the book and shaking her head. Crinkling her nose at the book, she stood up and slid it back on the shelf, looking glad to be rid of it. Some of those pictures were terrifying. "Is the party over, then?"

"Just about." Tulio crossed the room to get to her, giving a meaningful tilt of the head in the book's direction. "Have you seen the sea kings yet?"

"Sea kings?" she echoed with a shake of her head, looking vaguely perplexed and glancing back at the book. "No. What are they?" As Tulio neared, Chel briefly lifted her hand to touch his wrist.

"Hmm. They're probably in here..." He picked the book back out of the shelf and flipped through it briefly. "Ah, yeah, I've seen this one. There's a picture in the back, I think-- yeah. These." He opened the book to a two-page, full-color spread of several varieties of sea king, turning it around so Chel could see.

"…Huh." Chel leaned forward and lifted her hand, touching her fingertips to the glossy illustrations. "And these things actually exist." She sounded slightly incredulous, glancing up at Tulio.

"I've seen one with my own eyes. Well. It was dead, but still extremely real." He reached over to tap one of the eel-like creatures with one finger. "Looked a lot like that. They taste pretty good."

"And you ate it." The corner of Chel's lip twisted, as if she couldn't decide how, exactly, she felt about that. "…Well, just like eel, I guess." She leaned forward, trying to take the book and gently close it. "Don't think I want to look at those anymore."

Tulio let Chel take the book from him. "To be fair to me, I didn't know what it was until after I was done eating it." He rolled his eyes in the general direction of the galley.

She replaced the book on the shelf and then casually strolled over to the ladder, peering up as if to make for absolute certain that no one was spying in on their conversation. "You think it would have stopped you if you'd known what it was? I've seen you eat." She glances over at him, smirking a little crookedly.

"Hey," Tulio said, mock-offense painted all over his face, but it didn't last. He put his hands on his hips, glancing to the top of the ladder as if he could magically tell if anyone was coming. "So. You wanted to talk to me."

Chel waited for a moment at the base of the ladder, and, finally satisfied that no one was going to come clunking down, paced back over to Tulio. "You said we're going to scam Lupin. I need to know a little more about his crew, if that's gonna be the case. Not fair to let me go in blind."

"Hmm." Tulio rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I can tell you what I know, but it's not much. I've been doing the best I can, but some of these guys are pretty elusive, to say the least."

"Every little bit helps," Chel answered, biting her lip as she regarded Tulio. "Ah…hold that thought for a second."

"Uh--" Tulio looked mildly surprised. "I'm holding it..."

Chel grew quiet and glanced at the ladder again. She placed a hand on Tulio's shoulder, hoisting herself up onto her tiptoes and kissing him soundly, fingertips digging into his shoulder, before she relaxed and dropped back to the flats of her feet. "Alright."

"...Okay," said Tulio. It was always kind of distracting when she did that. He cleared his throat. "Uh, right. Well." He headed over to the bench, leading Chel with him. "I know the most about Lupin. He likes money a lot, and he likes women almost as much. The problem is that he has morals." Tulio sat down, steepling his fingers. "He told me he wouldn't go after another guy's girlfriend. Whether that's true is up for debate, but I'm inclined to believe him."

"Hm. Then the seduction thing probably won't work as well on him as it did on you," Chel mused, seating herself next to Tulio on the bench and contemplating what she had just been told. "And I don't want him to get suspicious…does he have a crew on his ship?"

"Yeah, he has, uh, Jigen, that's his partner, Goemon, who is...a samurai or...something, and Paprika, some girl who's either with Goemon or...he has a thing for her or...I don't know. Something to that effect." He paused. "What do you mean, it won't work as well as it did on me!?"

She ticked off the names on her fingers, committing them to memory. "One of them might be the key, then. I'll see if I can learn some more about then." She paused as well. "And it so worked on you."

"Wha-- I-- well yeah, but you didn't seduce me just to take my money! ...Did you?"

"Well, I mean, I liked you…I thought you were funny." Chel peered at him, looking a little flustered. "But I wasn't exactly looking for something serious at the time, you know."

"Well, I know that." He crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. "Just as long as you weren't doing it just to get out of El Dorado. Because then I might be offended. I mean. You at least thought I was cute, right?" He smirked a little.

"I would have done whatever it took to get out of that place," Chel answered evenly, before her lips twitched into a grin and she leaned forward, gently pinching both of Tulio's cheeks. "Why? Are you feeling a little insecure?"

"Ahh, hey, not the face." He grabbed both of Chel's hands, raising that eyebrow even higher. "Now why would I be feeling insecure. Not like I have any reason to..."

Chel released Tulio's cheeks, twisting her hands to clumsily grab Tulio's in return. "I dunno." She smiled a little adoringly at him, then seemed to realize, exactly, what she was doing, and darkened slightly, suddenly all-business. "If we get away with anything of Lupin's, how do you think he'll respond? Try to kill us?"

Tulio paused. He hadn't really thought about that. "...I don't think so. I don't think he kills people unless they've done something seriously wrong... But he will try to get back at us, I bet. So we'll have to watch out for that." He dropped his hands - and Chel's - down to the seat between them. "I think it'll be worth it if we pull it off, though."

"Stealing his things and making off with them aren't 'seriously wrong'?" she deadpanned, mimicking Tulio's raised eyebrow look. Finally, she conceded the point and merely shook her head. "As long as we can handle it, I'm fine with that."

"I think his definition of seriously wrong is more to the tune of killing people and enslaving children," Tulio said. "Which...we don't do. So we're good! Unless it turns out that he does want to kill us, in which case we're screwed. But I wouldn't worry. Well, I would, but you know me."

"If he does decide to kill us, then - we'll figure something out," she affirmed. "Or just run. I was looking at some maps. There's a lot of water to hide in." Chel clicked her tongue quietly and nodded. "That's all I wanted to talk about. Better alone than in the company of eavesdroppers."

"Absolutely. Good point." Tulio couldn't help smiling a little. "Money and an adventure, huh? Should be enough to keep everyone happy."

"Hm. Can't say I thought in a million years that things would turn out like this." She wasn't complaining, just observing.

"And you think I did? Trust me, this is waaay off the map." He paused. "Figuratively and literally."

She kissed the tip of his nose with a smirk. "You don't mind," she said, standing up and carefully releasing his hands.

Tulio crossed his eyes a little when Chel kissed his nose. "I don't? ...I guess not." He looked up. "What, are you leaving already?"

"You want me to stay?" She had been planning on hunting down more information about Lupin's crew, but she didn't look like she would be hard to convince.

Tulio could easily have brushed that off and acted nonchalant, maybe teased her a little because, well, that's the kind of thing he did, but...well, he really didn't want her to go. He'd missed her, damn it, pathetic as that sounded. He shrugged. "Well. Yeah."

Chel opened her mouth to tease him, but then clicked it shut and just smiled instead, sitting back on the bench next to Tulio and physically lifting his arm herself drop it across her shoulders. "Have you been on the Thousand Sunny since you got here?"

That was better. Tulio leaned back against the bench and propped one foot up on his knee. "Actually, I was stranded on an island for like five weeks before they got around to picking me up."

She crinkled her nose again, leaning into Tulio's side and resting one hand on his ankle. "Was it an island with people? Heard there're ones with dinosaurs."

"It was completely deserted," Tulio said flatly. "Me, a lot of sand, and a ton of banana trees. Did I tell you I'm never eating bananas again? I did learn how to kill fish with a stick, though."

Chel laughed, twisting around behind her and grabbing another book from the shelf, this one at random. "At least you can peel a banana. Can't do that with a pineapple." She dropped the book in her lap and glanced over to Tulio again. "Hey. Who are the Marines?"

"Law enforcement. They're like an army, but...on the ocean. I think they mostly hunt pirates."

"Huh." She flipped the book open, thumbing through illustrations of exotic fruit. "And the crew of the Thousand Sunny, are they pirates?"

"...Yes. They are." Tulio rubbed the back of his neck, glancing toward the hatch as though Marines might come climbing down after him at any second.

Chel's shoulders shook softly with laughter, but she didn't look up from the book. Instead, she simply mused: "So we're criminals."

"Well." Tulio ran one hand over his hair, staring at the ceiling. "That's one way of looking at it."

She looked up at him, lifting her hand and running her fingers through his hair as well. "Hm. Come to a new world, to start a new life…and you immediately end up in the company of pirates." She sounded almost fond. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Hey, can I help it if I'm naturally attracted to danger?" Tulio thought he was doing a pretty good job of sounding indignant, considering. "I walk on the wild side. It's in my nature."

"You calling me dangerous?" She seemed content to play with his hair. "What're we gonna do when we get our own boat? Can we have a crew?"

"Would you take offense if I did?" He thought. It was kind of hard to do with someone running their fingers through his hair, but he did it. "A crew, huh. We could. I don't know how much I want to work with a whole group of people. Why, what do you think?"

"Not at all," she said with a chuckle, scratching behind his ear almost like he were a dog. "Little hard to run a ship by yourself for more than just a little while, isn't it? Not that I know a whole lot about them." She paused, then. "And in case we run into slavers."

That last part put a halt on the slow tilt of Tulio's head toward Chel's hand. "...Right. Good point. Uh. Sooo...a crew is probably a good idea."

"…Unless you think we shouldn't worry about them. This world is weird." Her hand didn't still.

"Hey, I always think we should worry," Tulio pointed out, raising a finger for emphasis. "Besides, better safe than sorry. Even if I have no idea where the hell we're going to get a crew. Do you think we'd have to pay them?"

Chel laughed, trying to draw Tulio's head to rest against her shoulder. "Probably. Unless you want them to throw you overboard."

Tulio made a displeased noise that was dangerously close to a whine, letting his head fall against Chel's shoulder. "But we don't even have money. This is why I don't like people! They always want something!"

She scritched the top of his head, making a comfortable noise. "I didn't say you had to pay them much. Besides, I thought you liked ordering people around."

"...Well." He made a thoughtful face. "You've got me there."

"Hmm. Maybe Miguel lost his memory on purpose."

Tulio scoffed. "Oh, he likes it."

She turned her face to the side, absently nuzzling Tulio's forehead. "Is that what you tell yourself? That we like being ordered around?"

"I don't order you around. ...Much. Uh." He faltered. "Do I?"

"I think it's safe to say that I do most of the ordering around between the two of us. Quit worrying so much. If that's possible."

"...It's not," Tulio said, almost meekly. "I tried once when I was still young and impressionable. Didn't work."

"Yeah? And what do you have to worry about, at this very moment?"

"Are you kidding me? What don't I have to worry about!?" Tulio made an expansive gesture without taking his head off Chel's shoulder. He counted off on his fingers. "First there's the Marines issue, then figuring out how to get a ship, then a crew, then staying away from Lupin - oh, and before all that there's supplies to work out, maybe defenses..."

Chel rolled her eyes, curling her arm around and pressing her palm flat against Tulio's mouth to shush him. "Shh. No. Right at this moment, Tulio. Are you in danger? Unhappy?" She bent her neck and turned her head slightly to peer at him.

Tulio paused, considering that for a long moment. Unable to say much in his current position, he shook his head slightly.

She slid her hand from his mouth. "Enjoy yourself a little, would you?"

A long pause, and then Tulio smirked for a fraction of a second before putting on a plaintive expression. "Do I have to?"

Chel pulled a few inches back, before ducking her head down and biting his ear. "Yes. Because I said so."

"...Okay," Tulio croaked.

She couldn't help it - she laughed. "…You're like a little kid."

"I-- what is that supposed to mean!? I am not!" It's amazing how fast one can switch moods when properly offended.

Chel was still laughing as her hand returned to his hair. "You blush and stammer. It's adorable."

"I do no-- it is?"

"You do too. And it is."

Tulio made a suspicious face for several seconds before finally relenting. "Hm. If you say so."

"…Even if you do act like a little kid." Chel shifted, getting comfortable, and sounded almost like she could go to sleep there.

"Damn it, I am a grown man," Tulio grumbled. It was hard to be properly pissed off, though.

"Yeah? Prove it." It was a playful challenge, not a serious one.

"Oh, you want me to prove it?" He took on a vaguely superior expression.

"If you think you can." Chel smirked to herself, leaning her cheek against the top of Tulio's head.

Tulio made an almost noncommittal noise, drumming his fingers absently against his leg, and then, without warning, he reached up and took Chel's face in his hands and kissed her. Hard. And very, very thoroughly, with all the expertise he could muster. So there.

The hand that wasn't in his hair ended up grabbing Tulio's vest, and when the kiss ended, Chel leaned back and looked almost satisfied. "Mm. Good enough, I suppose." She was a little breathless.

"Good enough she says," Tulio grumbled, but he felt pretty satisfied with himself regardless.

Chel laughed aloud at that, leaning down and pressing another nuzzling kiss to Tulio's mouth. "Do you think anyone would mind if I slept in here tonight?"

"...I doubt it," Tulio said. He hadn't been expecting the question. "Why, do you not like the girls' room?"

Chel was normally a little better at the 'segue' thing, but she was still getting acclimated to this place. "It's fine. I just want to read."

"Oh. No, I'm pretty sure nobody'll mind." Tulio looked around the room at all the books. "Some crazy stuff in here," he mentioned.

Chel nodded, sliding down and stretching out on the bench. Without asking, she pillowed the back of her head on Tulio's thigh, still flipping through one of the books. "And I'll still be able to convince Sanji before you convince Usopp," she murmured.

"Will not," Tulio scoffed, running his fingers through Chel's hair.

Chel shut her eyes, resting the book against her stomach. "That's going to put me to sleep."

"You want me to stop?" He didn't yet.

"Didn't say that. Feels nice." She arched her back in a stretch, getting comfortable.

"Okay." He kept going, watching her stretch with idle interest.

Lazily, and more than a little drowsily, she opened her eyes to peer up at Tulio, lifting one hand to touch his cheek. "You really don't have to worry so much. I've got your back, yeah?"

Tulio couldn't help smiling at that. "I know."
F
She shut her eyes again, and may have been fighting sleep by the time she muttered "You smell good."

Tulio chuckled a little and picked up one of Chel's hands so he could kiss it. "Gracias, mi querida."

She wiggled her fingers, but didn't open her eyes. "S'at mean?"

He put her hand back down. "Gracias is 'thank you' and querida is a term of endearment."

Chel didn't let him let it go. "Ah. Then gracias, querida," she mimicked, the 'r' rolling a little haphazardly. "Like that?"

"Heh. Yeah, pretty much, but for a guy it's querido." Tulio wrapped his fingers around Chel's hand.

She seemed almost embarrassed, but wasn't willing to admit to it. "You can go, you know. I'm comfortable here."

"Oh, what, now you're kicking me out?" Tulio didn't move. He was tentatively committed to not moving until she actually kicked him.

"Don't be stupid." She wasn't chastising him seriously. "I'm just saying you probably don't want to sit up all night while I sleep on you."

Tulio thought that over. "Okay, you have a point there. Uh." He carefully shuffled his way out from under Chel's head.

Chel laughed out loud, lifting her head to let him up, but she did peer at him with a little smile as she settled back on the bench. "Hey, Tulio. Do you miss El Dorado?"

...Tulio had no idea what the right answer to that was. He busied himself stretching out on the other end of the bench, lying so his head was near Chel's, and stared at the ceiling for a moment before deciding to go with honesty for lack of a better option. "...Not really. It was...nice? While we were there. But we weren't really there for long. Er, Miguel and I weren't."

"Ah." Chel didn't seem particularly invested in his answer either way; it was curiosity more than anything actually significant, but she couldn't help but smirk slightly as Tulio settled himself on the other end of the bench. "Place might actually be tolerable with Tzekel-Kan gone."

"Yeesh, don't even remind me." Tulio shuddered theatrically. Then, after a long pause, he snickered. "I bet he and Cortés will make a lovely couple, though."

Chel hummed thoughtfully, scooting backwards just enough to lightly thump the top of her head against Tulio's. "Are you sure Cortes deserves that sort of punishment?"

"Yes," Tulio said emphatically. "Yes, I am. The man is a tyrant. And he kind of looks like someone shoved a bellows in his mouth and inflated him."

She laughed sharply before she could stop it, clapping one hand over her mouth. "You're the one who stowed away on his ship, aren't you?"

"That was an accident. No one would believe us when we tried to explain!"

"You accidentally stowed away, and then accidentally stole a boat and accidentally took a war horse with you?"

"...Well, the last parts were on purpose, but we wouldn't have had to if he'd just been reasonable and granted us passage!"

"Couldn't see that happening." Chel's eyes were falling shut again a little drowsily again. "Mm. How does it feel to sleep with another man, Tulio?" She had affected the sultry voice.

There was a moment of very grave silence while Tulio tried to work out what she could possibly mean by that that wasn't what it sounded like, because it obviously wasn't that. Obviously. After several seconds of this, he rolled over and got up on his hands and knees so he was looking down at Chel's face. "What?"

Chel stared up at Tulio, slightly confused by his reaction. She tilted her chin up, lifting both eyebrows quizzically, before she leaned up and kissed him lightly on the mouth. "No reason not to get into the part if I have to convince Sanji, hm?" She snorted into her hand, finally crossing her eyes up at him. "I was talking about me, Tulio. Being a man."

Tulio worked his jaw ineffectually for a second or two, and finished is up by making an accusatory face and an annoyed sound before turning over and flopping onto his back again, embarrassed. He was just starting to rethink this bet a little.

She pressed her hand to her mouth again, suppressing a snort of laughter, before looking over to the ladder. Finally, she replaced the book, standing up and lying down, instead, on top of Tulio. With a snicker of satisfaction, she tucked her head beneath his chin. "I've seen you make a lot of faces. Don't think I've seen that one before."

Okay, he definitely hadn't been expecting that. He gave a put-upon sigh even as he wrapped his arms around Chel and shifted a little to get more comfortable. "I have an endless repertoire."

"I've been working on replicating Miguel's puppy face." God, Tulio was warm. She was down for the count.

"Oh, god, you can't. I'll be doomed." He couldn't even deny that.

She laughed and didn't bother looking up. "You're already doomed."

"...Yeah, well." There wasn't really a defense against that either.

Chel struggled slightly, for something else to say, a way to continue the conversation, but instead mumbled a thick, "Goodnight, Tulio," instead.

Tulio yawned. "'Night, querida."