because it's a rule of the universe that men aren't meant to mistreat women. if you screw up that badly as a man, then you're just an asshole that deserves to be hated.
[ he would rather die than become someone that zeff despises — though if he knew what he's already done, the blood on his hands from the mothers, he would. he's broken zeff's rules, and maybe whatever love zeff had for him at the same time. ]
as soon as you want to give my knife back. are you hungry? i can cook this for you now.
don't lump me in with the rest of those shitbags. the north blue is a scary place. there's a big military there that can threaten people across all the seas. what are you a princess of?
it's more complicated than that. there are good and bad people everywhere, no matter if they're a pirate or a prince or in a big scary military. they don't teach you how to take a bath in buck?
is it someone good or is it that arseface mihawk? you can always come to me, too. or anyone on the crew i'm on.
That is not true. Sometimes all people are bad. I have never been to Buck, but I would imagine that they bathe. I bathed in Withywoods, but then my mother died, and then I was kidnapped.
( this is bee's attempt to guilt sanji about assuming things about her, just because she smells a little, and hates baths. )
I think Mr. Shanks is very good. He doesn't find me too strange. Your crew is here?
then it's your job to be someone who isn't. mine's dead, too, and then i got locked in a dungeon. i still know how to take a bath. nami has nice things to wash with that'll make you smell like vanilla and tangerines. i'll get you some.
[ he's gonna throw you into a lake himself. ]
shanks, huh? only some of them. nami and zoro and luffy. if you see the one with the green hair, he's a big idiot.
What did you get arrested for? No. They kidnapped me because I am the White Prophet. No one knows I am a princess, really. I did not know until I was eight.
You seem to have a very obvious favorite. I can meet them?
the dad that i was born with decided he didn’t like me very much, so he told the whole kingdom i was dead and hid me in the dungeon so no one would discover his lie. i’m not supposed to be telling you this. it’s the one thing i swore to him when i finally escaped. that i would never tell anyone where i’m really from or what happened to me. my real dad has a floating restaurant in the east blue. he taught me how to cook. he taught me everything. that’s where i’m really from. that’s why i’m gonna teach you how to gut a fish. what the hell’s a white prophet?
sure. do you want me to tell them that you’re a princess? it might get you some perks.
That’s ( very similar to her own father, really, who supposedly died as the traitorous bastard prince in the false king regal’s dungeons. obviously he didn’t though, because he eventually had to grow up and have bee who, despite everything, is very much real. ) awful. What a horrible person. Fathers should always love their children, more than anything else. I am glad you escaped, Mister Sanji, and lived long enough for me to befriend. I won’t tell a soul, I promise. I see that cooking is very important to you. I will be a good student, if your father’s honor.
The Whites can see futures in their dreams, the things that will come true. The White Prophet is someone who will use those dreams to set the world on a better path. At least, that is how it should be, or how it once was. Now the Whites are corrupted with greed, and only seek deepening their pockets with the prophecies of the world. They are the all bad people. Worse than all bad.
Maybe they should just believe I am a boy, for now. I don’t really know anything about being a princess. I was just trying it on when I said as much to you.
my father does love me. that other man isn't my dad. my other family... something happened to them. they're strong in a way that other humans aren't, but they lost their emotions. they don't feel anything when they hurt people. my mom made sure i didn't turn out like that, but it made me weaker than them. that's why they didn't want me. and that's why you can't say all people are bad. you don't know if something happened to them, too. my mom tried to save all my brothers, but she could only save me. it's not their fault.
do you know a lot of whites?
you can be whatever you want, princess. but just know that once you start a lie, you're committing to something. i've lived with mine for ten years now. so think a little harder about what you want to be first.
( they're strong in a way that other humans aren't. she thinks about vindeliar, choking himself on serpent bile and piss, making himself stronger than any other skill user. they don't feel anything when they hurt people. she can still feel his hate when she told him they weren’t brothers. )
I think it is their fault. You are not a difficult person to love. But because you do not blame them, you are probably the better person. I suppose I am vengeful.
I have met many of them. Dwalia and her group who stole me. I toured their keep in Clerres and met the ruling government there. I met, too, a man my father treasured who was tortured at their hands for information about me. He was the White Prophet before me.
Well … maybe I will just be Bee. I do not think anyone you call crew would hurt me.
[ you are not a difficult person to love will burrow in his brain and cause him copious amounts of emotional turmoil, thank u child. ]
i don't want to turn into a shitty asshole that my dad would hate. that's all. i owe him everything, and i want to be the kind of man he can be proud of. you're not vengeful. you're just an idiot kid like i was.
did he give you any advice? the man who was the prophet before you.
they wouldn't. i think they would like you. i know nami would. i'll introduce you to all of them as my assistant fish-gutter.
Your Da will love you no matter what. Even if you make a mistake, or lie.
( bee is only so sure of it because her opinions on the subject of fathers are etched in stone. her father loves her, although he rarely says it and does even less to prove it. she knows it. she knows it, because if he didn't, there would be no one in the world to love her at all — and therefore, he must. it's his burden, the only job she ever cares to give him. it seems a fair trade for being brought into the world — demanding unconditional love in return. )
Some. But we only talked for a few moments before my papa stabbed him. I have not seen either of them since.
Really? ( tentative hope — he might decide bee is too horrific looking to be around his friends, which is an old song she knows the words to. still. being anyone's anything is special, even if it is a fish-gutter. ) I will come now. I want to learn right away.
zeff's not really like that. he'll come slit my throat if i fuck up too badly.
[ is this a joke? unknown. ]
i don't know how much time you'll have to be a prophet anyway. learning how to properly prep a fish will take up most of your time. you can't serve shitty food to people.
fine. dinner will be ready for you soon, then we'll get to work.
( a disarming, disturbing thought. would fitzchivalry ever slit her throat for her many lies and betrayals? the thought makes her want to cower. )
I would not let anyone slit your throat.
( bee u are 4ft tall )
It's okay. I have not had a dream since being here, so I think my prophet days may have been cut short. Learning about fish is much more useful, anyway.
i can't let a woman be my bodyguard. it's my job to protect you.
[ zoro would hate him sm for saying this. ]
i'll see you soon.
[ he's already out by the lake, an array of pots and kitchen utensils set up neatly around him. his slate board has a half-gutted fish resting upon it, surrounded by a few gleaming knives, but none of them as good as the one bee had stolen. a fire burns a few feet away, several fish and roughly chopped vegetables grilling atop planks of smoking wood while sanji dips a spoon into a bowl of viscous red liquid, tasting his latest herb-infused batch of pig's blood. ]
( bee's wardrobe has had to make some considerable changes since her transformation. she's tried, through her connection with shanks, to make the number of eyes on her skin something reasonable — two, ideally, but even a couple more wouldn't be awful — but without them she's in so much excruciating pain it isn't even worth it. so. she arrives with an overlarge shirt on her shoulders ( most shirts are overlarge on bee ), holes cut jaggedly in the back to give her wings room to stretch out. underneath the stretched collar of her shirt are the visible corners of a few eyes, although most stay hidden under her clothes, unbothered by the loose material. on either side of her head, nestled in her unruly white curls there sits a small wing, blending into the alabaster white of her dandelion fluff head.
most notably, is her face — three eyes where once there were two, and the odd glow like a halo coming from behind her head. she is, very impressively, scrubbed pink and clean, the very tips of her feathered wings still dripping water from her quick head dunk in water.
it's easier to see the way bee avoids eye contact, considering how many eyes she's now in ownership of. she stares at sanji's knees instead of his face when she approaches, taking out a bundle from her back pocket. )
Hello, Mister Sanji.
( she holds it out, not looking at him — his special fish knife wrapped in a handkerchief she embroidered with a little antlered bunny pattern in the corner. it smells a little like honeysuckle. once she almost gave a gift like this to a man who was very nice to her, but he died before she could put it in his hands. )
[ it's just as jarring seeing her now as it was the first time, though for wholly different reasons. he can't count how many eyes she has to his one, but all of them steadfastly refuse to look at him. ]
Princess. [ he wipes his hands on his apron and looks down at the little patterned kerchief, feeling very much like a tree next to a dandelion weed. is this what zeff felt like? no wonder he'd been kicked in the head so many times. ] Are you gonna look at me? It's bad manners not to.
[ it also stings at his insecurities, makes him feel a little more like a toy with his button eye ripped out, even if bee can't possibly mean it like that. casually, he takes his knife back, unwrapping it from the fabric and slipping it into his apron pocket. then he looks at the handkerchief, fingering the little antlered rabbit. the corner of his mouth curves up into a smile. ]
You're wet. Go sit by the fire. [ he slips the handkerchief under his apron as he turns, tucking it safely into his pocket where fish guts can't reach it. ] I'm not taking care of a sick kid.
[ all things zeff parroted at him, before taking care of a sick kid (him). after a few moments sanji joins her by the fire, dropping a blanket over her shoulders where it sticks out because of her wings, but at least she's not exposed to the winter chill. he sits cross-legged beside her, setting out an empty plate. ]
Now watch.
[ he proceeds to plate her food for her, creating a little bed of vegetables, slicing her fish horizontally and leaning it upwards so it looks like a tiny tower, painting a colorful swirl of red blood along the side. when he's done, he inspects the plate from all angles before carefully placing it in front of her. ]
Serving someone their food is just as important as cooking it. You can't just throw something on the plate and give it to them. It's disrespectful to the food, and disrespectful to your customer. [ he pours a glass of blood and sets it beside the plate, then holds out a fork. ] Are you gonna steal this, too?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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if you screw up that badly as a man, then you're just an asshole that deserves to be hated.
[ he would rather die than become someone that zeff despises — though if he knew what he's already done, the blood on his hands from the mothers, he would. he's broken zeff's rules, and maybe whatever love zeff had for him at the same time. ]
as soon as you want to give my knife back.
are you hungry? i can cook this for you now.
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( bee ur nine )
I am always hungry. I will come meet you.
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don't bring women into this, you shitty kid.
i'll have this one ready for you. then you can watch me fillet the next one on a full stomach.
you can't learn anything when you're hungry.
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Okay.
I should warn you, I do look a bit different from the last time we met.
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sure. and i’m a prince of the north blue.
[ will this egregious truth come back to bite him in the ass? unknown. ]
did you change, too?
when?
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What is the north blue?
Yes, a few days ago now.
I do not look like you.
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the north blue is a scary place. there's a big military there that can threaten people across all the seas.
what are you a princess of?
did someone help you, like you helped me?
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Buck. The capital of the Six Duchies.
( a hesitant tap tap tap of her pencil's tip on the page ( she stuck with a blue one ). eventually she picks it back up. )
No.
But someone is helping me now.
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there are good and bad people everywhere, no matter if they're a pirate or a prince or in a big scary military.
they don't teach you how to take a bath in buck?
is it someone good or is it that arseface mihawk?
you can always come to me, too. or anyone on the crew i'm on.
no subject
I have never been to Buck, but I would imagine that they bathe. I bathed in Withywoods, but then my mother died, and then I was kidnapped.
( this is bee's attempt to guilt sanji about assuming things about her, just because she smells a little, and hates baths. )
I think Mr. Shanks is very good. He doesn't find me too strange.
Your crew is here?
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mine's dead, too, and then i got locked in a dungeon. i still know how to take a bath.
nami has nice things to wash with that'll make you smell like vanilla and tangerines. i'll get you some.
[ he's gonna throw you into a lake himself. ]
shanks, huh?
only some of them. nami and zoro and luffy.
if you see the one with the green hair, he's a big idiot.
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They gave you a bath in the dungeon?
( to the tone of: you guys are getting paid? )
Are they ( hmmm ) very scary pirates? Or are they nice like you?
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food. baths. books, now and then. they kept me alive.
did you get kidnapped because you're a princess?
nami's nice. she's the best and smartest person on our crew, and she's also the prettiest.
luffy's a good man too, but he's an acquired taste.
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No. They kidnapped me because I am the White Prophet. No one knows I am a princess, really. I did not know until I was eight.
You seem to have a very obvious favorite. I can meet them?
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my real dad has a floating restaurant in the east blue. he taught me how to cook. he taught me everything. that’s where i’m really from. that’s why i’m gonna teach you how to gut a fish.
what the hell’s a white prophet?
sure. do you want me to tell them that you’re a princess? it might get you some perks.
no subject
I see that cooking is very important to you. I will be a good student, if your father’s honor.
The Whites can see futures in their dreams, the things that will come true. The White Prophet is someone who will use those dreams to set the world on a better path. At least, that is how it should be, or how it once was. Now the Whites are corrupted with greed, and only seek deepening their pockets with the prophecies of the world. They are the all bad people. Worse than all bad.
Maybe they should just believe I am a boy, for now. I don’t really know anything about being a princess. I was just trying it on when I said as much to you.
no subject
my other family... something happened to them. they're strong in a way that other humans aren't, but they lost their emotions. they don't feel anything when they hurt people.
my mom made sure i didn't turn out like that, but it made me weaker than them. that's why they didn't want me.
and that's why you can't say all people are bad. you don't know if something happened to them, too. my mom tried to save all my brothers, but she could only save me.
it's not their fault.
do you know a lot of whites?
you can be whatever you want, princess. but just know that once you start a lie, you're committing to something. i've lived with mine for ten years now. so think a little harder about what you want to be first.
no subject
I think it is their fault. You are not a difficult person to love. But because you do not blame them, you are probably the better person. I suppose I am vengeful.
I have met many of them. Dwalia and her group who stole me. I toured their keep in Clerres and met the ruling government there. I met, too, a man my father treasured who was tortured at their hands for information about me. He was the White Prophet before me.
Well … maybe I will just be Bee. I do not think anyone you call crew would hurt me.
no subject
i don't want to turn into a shitty asshole that my dad would hate.
that's all. i owe him everything, and i want to be the kind of man he can be proud of.
you're not vengeful. you're just an idiot kid like i was.
did he give you any advice? the man who was the prophet before you.
they wouldn't. i think they would like you.
i know nami would.
i'll introduce you to all of them as my assistant fish-gutter.
no subject
( bee is only so sure of it because her opinions on the subject of fathers are etched in stone. her father loves her, although he rarely says it and does even less to prove it. she knows it. she knows it, because if he didn't, there would be no one in the world to love her at all — and therefore, he must. it's his burden, the only job she ever cares to give him. it seems a fair trade for being brought into the world — demanding unconditional love in return. )
Some. But we only talked for a few moments before my papa stabbed him. I have not seen either of them since.
Really? ( tentative hope — he might decide bee is too horrific looking to be around his friends, which is an old song she knows the words to. still. being anyone's anything is special, even if it is a fish-gutter. ) I will come now. I want to learn right away.
no subject
[ is this a joke? unknown. ]
i don't know how much time you'll have to be a prophet anyway. learning how to properly prep a fish will take up most of your time.
you can't serve shitty food to people.
fine. dinner will be ready for you soon, then we'll get to work.
no subject
I would not let anyone slit your throat.
( bee u are 4ft tall )
It's okay. I have not had a dream since being here, so I think my prophet days may have been cut short. Learning about fish is much more useful, anyway.
no subject
it's my job to protect you.
[ zoro would hate him sm for saying this. ]
i'll see you soon.
[ he's already out by the lake, an array of pots and kitchen utensils set up neatly around him. his slate board has a half-gutted fish resting upon it, surrounded by a few gleaming knives, but none of them as good as the one bee had stolen. a fire burns a few feet away, several fish and roughly chopped vegetables grilling atop planks of smoking wood while sanji dips a spoon into a bowl of viscous red liquid, tasting his latest herb-infused batch of pig's blood. ]
» action
most notably, is her face — three eyes where once there were two, and the odd glow like a halo coming from behind her head. she is, very impressively, scrubbed pink and clean, the very tips of her feathered wings still dripping water from her quick head dunk in water.
it's easier to see the way bee avoids eye contact, considering how many eyes she's now in ownership of. she stares at sanji's knees instead of his face when she approaches, taking out a bundle from her back pocket. )
Hello, Mister Sanji.
( she holds it out, not looking at him — his special fish knife wrapped in a handkerchief she embroidered with a little antlered bunny pattern in the corner. it smells a little like honeysuckle. once she almost gave a gift like this to a man who was very nice to her, but he died before she could put it in his hands. )
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Princess. [ he wipes his hands on his apron and looks down at the little patterned kerchief, feeling very much like a tree next to a dandelion weed. is this what zeff felt like? no wonder he'd been kicked in the head so many times. ] Are you gonna look at me? It's bad manners not to.
[ it also stings at his insecurities, makes him feel a little more like a toy with his button eye ripped out, even if bee can't possibly mean it like that. casually, he takes his knife back, unwrapping it from the fabric and slipping it into his apron pocket. then he looks at the handkerchief, fingering the little antlered rabbit. the corner of his mouth curves up into a smile. ]
You're wet. Go sit by the fire. [ he slips the handkerchief under his apron as he turns, tucking it safely into his pocket where fish guts can't reach it. ] I'm not taking care of a sick kid.
[ all things zeff parroted at him, before taking care of a sick kid (him). after a few moments sanji joins her by the fire, dropping a blanket over her shoulders where it sticks out because of her wings, but at least she's not exposed to the winter chill. he sits cross-legged beside her, setting out an empty plate. ]
Now watch.
[ he proceeds to plate her food for her, creating a little bed of vegetables, slicing her fish horizontally and leaning it upwards so it looks like a tiny tower, painting a colorful swirl of red blood along the side. when he's done, he inspects the plate from all angles before carefully placing it in front of her. ]
Serving someone their food is just as important as cooking it. You can't just throw something on the plate and give it to them. It's disrespectful to the food, and disrespectful to your customer. [ he pours a glass of blood and sets it beside the plate, then holds out a fork. ] Are you gonna steal this, too?
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