#I don't really like pirate stuff outside of one piece BUT I will do it for majima anything for majima babygirl mwahhhhh

[majimasleftasscheek]

THEY MADE MAJIMA A PIRATE

I'M GOONING

[soapsilly]

Bad Memories - Roronoa Zoro Imagine

Pairing: Roronoa Zoro x Reader

Spoilers for One Piece (?)

Summary: (Y/N), a black market dealer, begrudgingly joins the Straw Hats after having to admit to herself that a strong crew would help her reach her goal faster. However, being on a ship with the pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro brings back some old memories she'd rather not be reminded of.

Requests are closed

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"Oooooh, what is this?", Luffy reached out to the mysterious object that was displayed on one of the countless shelfs.

"If you touch it, you buy it", (Y/N) spoke up from where she was leaned over the counter, trying to figure out what it was the cyborg wanted from her.

Franky needed a very specific tool to modify parts of the Sunny. A tool he didn't have and didn't necessarily could get easily as it was classified as marine technology.

"That's a very unusualy request you got there", she furrowed her brows.

Nami knew what that meant - when vendors said something along those lines what they usually meant was 'that's gonna be price-y', but the red-head prided herself in being a pro in haggling down any price however high it may be.

"Listen, I know what that means. I also know that that's bullshit. So you better make us a good price because we're going to get that piece one way or another", the navigator tapped her finger against the counter top.

"Oh, that's not what I meant", the dealer shrugged, "I literally meant nobody ever asks me for those things. Most people don't even know they exist. I'm not trying to get rich here, however, I will get a reasonable price for it or you can go and find the tools you need somewhere else"

While the two were talking finance, Franky was already tinkering around with the newly attained pieces and Luffy was doing god knows what.

"Is that a Devil Fruit??", Luffy's voice reached them from somewhere out of the depths of the storage room.

"Yes, do you want it? I'll make you a good price", the dealer yelled back.

Within seconds the Rubberman was at their sides again.

"YES! Nami, please can we? Usopp would love that! Or Chopper!"

"Chopper already has a devil fruit power!", the red-head yelled back.

"Oh. Right. Then for Usopp!"

While the two of them startet arguing about whether or not they'd need another 'idiot' with devil fruit powers on the team a tall blonde guy almost kicked in the door to (Y/N)'s storage.

"We need to leave! The stupid marimo started a fight in the city and now a bunch of marines are here-", it seemed like the man wanted to say some more but stopped talking once he saw the woman behind the counter, "Oh, beautiful lady! Mon Amour! My name is Sanji and I'm-"

"Wait let me get this right... some dumbass from your crew starts a fight with the marines and the first thing you do IS RUN BACK TO MY WAREHOUSE?!", the dealer was furious, "You need to leave. Now!"

(Y/N) started to frantically pack together the most important things, so that once the marines should really try to barrel down her front door, she'd be set to make a swift exit out the back.

"Just come with us!", the Straw Hat exclaimed happily, "you have so much great stuff here! Having someone on the crew who can find all those things would be so cool"

"No", her voice was icy, "I've known you for thirty minutes and you already put my livelyhood at risk. I think I'll pass" - that there was a whole nother reason the dealer didn't want to join the notorious pirate crew, she decided to keep to herself.

From outside the voices and footsteps from what (Y/N) could only imagine were dozens and dozens of marines grew louder.

"We need to leave", Nami commanded, "Sanji take her stuff"

"Of course, Nami-swan~", the blonde did as he was told and grabbed the huge sack filled with all kinds of things from the dealers hands. Not a minute too late as there there was a loud knocking that disrupted the womans attempts of resistance.

The Straw Hat as well as the Cyborg already adopted their fighting stance when the navigator held them back yet again. (Y/N) asked herself, who it actually was that was in charge here, but she didn't mind as she wasn't particularly eager to have a battle with god knows how many marines in a confined space.

"Is there another way out?", she turned to (Y/N).

"Follow me"

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Once outside all they had to do was to leave the place without making a fuss - a task seemingly unmanagable for Monkey D. Luffy. They weren't even 30 feet away from the warehouse when Luffy's loud voice could be heard all over the place.

"Oi, those aren't even that many. We could've taken them!" - followed by the even louder 'clunk' that Nami's fist made when it made impact with his skull.

"Shut up and just run!", she yelled at him. And they did. Every now and then a low ranking marine officer would catch up with them but either Franky or Luffy or even sometimes (Y/N) herself would take care of that. It was when one of the captains came dangerously close to them that they had to worry.

When (Y/N) started to notice the blonde guy fall behind, struggling with carrying her belongings and fighting off the marines at the same time, she realized that those things needed to go.

"Hey! Drop the sack! It's slowing you down", she yelled over at him.

"No, no! It's fine!", he yelled back, "I only fight with my legs anyways! Your belongings are safe with me"

"Doesn't matter. Drop it. It's not worth the risk", she insisted.

"Are you sure?", Nami sounded shocked, "I saw what you had in the shop. That stuff is worth a fortune! Sanji, don't you dare!"

"I don't care!", the dealer yelled back, "I'll get new stuff. If it makes you happy, you can keep whatever you can carry. Drop. The. Sack!"

For a moment the tall man hesitated but then did as he was told. As soon as he dropped the added weight, he immediately spun into a roundhouse kick, hitting an approaching opponent directly in the head to give the group time to bring some space between them and their followers. When (Y/N) stopped abruptly and started running back to where her things were scattered around Nami was almost sure the other woman had come to her senses but (Y/N) went straight past the incredibly expensive looking jewelry, the intricate tools and even the devil fruit, that Luffy was begging Nami for. Instead she was frantically sorting through the depth of the now half-empty sack.

"What are you doing?", Nami screamed at her, "whatever you're looking for you better find it quick!"

The marines were quickly catching up but (Y/N) still hasn't found what she was looking for.

"Hah! Found it", she yelled but as she was getting up she came face to face with the vice-admiral. However, she didn't even have the time to react or make a game plan as a fist whizzed past her, sending the marine flying. As soon as the fist appeared, it disappeared again. (Y/N) had heard about the Straw Hat Luffy's rubber abilities but she never would've guessed that they'd save her ass one day. She didn't allowe herself the time to dwell on it as she was sure that this punch would merely slow the captain down.

When they finally reached the ship the rest of the crew was already waiting for their mates. As soon as everybody had boarded the Thousand Sunny, as (Y/N) had found out the ship was called, the cyborg used a maneuver called coup de burst, which catapulted them to safety.

Once everything settled down, it was time for the crew to introduce themselves.

"Oi, everybody! This is...", Luffy trailed off once he realized that he had no idea what the girl's name was.

"Oh um.. it's (Y/N)"

"Guys, this is (Y/N) and she's going to join our crew"

(Y/N) furrowed her brows, "I'm not! You saved me back there and I'm thankful but you're also the reason I was in that situation to begin with. So I think it evens out. Just drop me off on the next island or... just... anywhere is fine...", she grew quiet towards the end.

"What? No! Our crew is great I promise! We'll find the One Piece and I'll be pirate king!"

"I don't care", she really didn't want to be there.

But Luffy wasn't know for his ability to take no for an answer. And so he kept throwing new points and arguments at her to make her change her mind. She didn't know what it was that did the trick in the end. Was it his determination? Or the things she's read and heard about the crew? The things they already accomplished? She simply didn't know. What she did know, however, was that reaching her goal would become much easier with some powerful allies by her side.

"Great", Luffy sounded happy, "so let me introduce you to everybody. You already know Nami. She's our navigator. That cool cyborg is Franky. He's our shipwright. This", he pointed towards the tall guy, that Nami had called Sanji before, "is Sanji. He makes the best food you've ever eaten"

"What's your favourite meal (Y/N)-san? I'll cook it especially for you tonight - to celebrate you joining us. Another beautiful lady on the ship ~"

(Y/N) was a little unsure how to react to the cook's advances but sent him a polite smile regardless.

"Don't worry, he's always like this. You'll get used to it", Nami assured her, "and if you're smart, you'll even figure out how to use it to your advantage", she sent the other woman a wink.

The black market dealer didn't get to answer though as Luffy continued. (Y/N) largely drowned out the words - like the ship's doctor insulting their captain for calling him a good one or the sceleton man asking her for the colour of her panties. She'd get to know them soon enough anyways.

"So and that's - "

"The pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro", (Y/N) finished for the Straw Hat.

"Oh, you already know each other?", Nami raised an eyebrow.

"Your reputation precedes you", the woman answered almost... bitterly?

"Oooh looks like somebody has a fan", the long nosed guy - Usopp - started teasing the swordsman.

"I wouldn't say that", (Y/N) mumbled as she left the crew standing.

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"Hey, (Y/N)! Can I talk to you for a sec?", Nami walked up to (Y/N), who, at the moment, was sitting down near the railing watching the water.

The girl raised her brows to show the red-head she was listening, but remained silent for the time being.

"You know today, when you ran back for your stuff, I really thought you finally came back to your senses but you didn't go for all the valuables... why? All you saved was this... book?"

The other woman just shrugged, "I got what I wanted"

"At first I wasn't sure what it was, you were looking for but then I talked to Sanji and he told me he's seen that kind of book before. A devil fruit encyclopedia... Why is it so important to you that you couldn't leave it?"

"Listen, Nami. I'm sorry I put you all in danger but I needed that book"

And with that the black market dealer left the navigator standing.

"She's even worse than Robin", the red-head mumbled to herself.

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It's been a few weeks since (Y/N) joined the Straw Hats and for the most parts it's been uneventful. For the first week or so she preferred to keep to herself but it was Sanji especially that wouldn't accept no for an answer whenever he told her to come eat dinner with the crew. But even then she made sure to always sit at the far end of the table to bring the most distance between herself and him.

She hadn't spoken a single word to the swordsman since setting foot on the ship and she was thankful that he didn't seem to care about trying to either.

"Don't mind the stupid Marimo. He's a brute. He wouldn't even know how to talk to such a beautiful flower as yourself ~", Sanji would regularly tell her but she'd just send him a tight smile and change the topic.

At the moment, she was sitting on deck tinkering around with Franky. She wasn't the best at crafting but she knew the tools so playing his assistent wasn't the worst past-time.

"I'm glad we got that tool before the marines stormed your warehouse", the cyborg told her, "I'm gonna build us some suuuuper cool stuff with it"

(Y/N) was just about to hand him another wrench when Zoro passed them on his way to the crows nest. During her time there she noticed that the lookout kind of was his personal training space. Of course, everybody was welcome to use it but nobody spent as much time there as the pirate hunter so she made a mental note to always stay clear of it. Her eyes lingered on the taller man's back as he passed them.

"(Y/N)!", Franky's voice pulled her back to reality and she had to pull herself together to not drop the wrench she was holding. This couldn't keep going like that. If she got distracted during a fight things might end up ugly - she knew that much.

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"Come with me?", he held out his hand to her knowing exactly that his question was only a formality. There wasn't a chance in the world that (Y/N) would ever let him leave without her - or quite frankly the other way around.

"You're insanse", she laughed but grabbed his hand without hesitation. They've known each other since they were only children - it was never a question of if but rather of when they'd finally get together.

"But you know you love me", he grinned at her, pulling her into his chest for a playful kiss.

She woke up and for a moment she felt at peace with the world, wanting to turn around snuggling into her pillow again. The rhythmic sound of breathing in the room calming her into a state of betweent sleep and being awake. But then she remembered... These breathing sounds weren't his. In fact, it was all just a dream.

Confronted with the harshness of reality she didn't feel like sleeping anymore, afraid of yet another dream that would give her a false sense of familiarity. Instead she slipped into a cardigan and decided to get some fresh air.

Once outside on deck, she took a deep breath. She enjoyed how cold the air was in those morning hours. The sun was just starting to rise - not even enough to paint the sky in these pink and orange tones she found so pretty.

"Couldn't sleep again?", the gruff voice made her jump. It was the first time that Zoro had spoken to her since she joined the crew but that didn't mean she wasn't familiar with his voice. It was almost involuntarily that her ears almost instantly perked up and her heart started racing whenever he started speaking around her. He triggered her fight, flight, freeze instinct and to her demise it was always freeze.

"Had a bad night", her voice was coarse.

"Seems to happen often"

She furrowed her brows. What was his deal? As if he could read her mind, Zoro continued.

"Out of the last five weeks, I was on night watch twelve times. And you were awake for at least ten of those times. And those were only the times I noticed"

"I-", she swallowed, "Being on a ship again just brings back some memories I haven't thought about in a long time..."

She didn't know why she told Zoro of all people but she couldn't take it back now anymore anyways...

"You've been to sea before?"

She let out a dry, humorless laugh.

'I don't want to talk about it. At least not with you', she thought to herself.

What she said instead was, "My fiance was a captain - My captain to be specific"

Zoro raised his brows, "You were engaged?"

The memory was bittersweet. She smiled sadly. The swordfighter noticed how pretty she was eventhough her smile didn't reach her eyes.

"We were young", she shrugged.

"So it ended badly I take it?", there wasn't a hint of empathy in his voice. What did she expect? Getting involved with your captain rarely ends well.

"Let's talk about something else...", she knew Zoro's mind probably immediately went to heartbreak but if she had the chance, she'd do it all over again as long as he was with her.

"You've been avoiding me", he stated, "why?"

Zoro wasn't a fan of beating around the bush. Of course he had noticed that the girl went out of her way to never having to interact with him in any way. He didn't sweat it though. He wasn't desperate for a new friend. If there was a new team mate, so be it. Didn't mean they had to like each other. What he was curious about, however, was why she seemed to apprehensive about getting to know him.

"I guess I just didn't want to risk starting to like you", she shook her head knowing how ridiculous that sounded.

Zoro furrowed his brows. From all the possible answers he could've gotten, this wasn't one he'd have expected. He was almost a little offended now.

"You didn't seem to mind getting to know the others"

"That's different", she sighed. He noticed how exhausted she looked.

"You knew me when you first joined the crew", he continued.

"Doesn't the whole world know you by now? The Straw Hats are notorious"

He didn't take this for an answer.

"You know as good as me that this is something entirely different. What I don't know, however, is what I did to you"

"Of course, you don't", she laughed bitterly. She knew that she wasn't fair to him. She didn't expect him to remember but she couldn't help it. Zoro blinked a few times, trying to figure out what it was the girl was talking about.

She sighed, "Do you ever have any regrets about being a bounty hunter in the past?"

He had never thought about that but he slowly shook his head after thinking about her words for a few seconds. He still wasn't sure what she was on about but he wanted to understand.

"I don't believe in regret", he answered. There wasn't anything he could do about his past. Back then he never would've thought that he'd ever become a pirate himself after making a name for himself as the pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro but what happened happend. He tried not to rack his brains over it.

"Well, I do", she mused.

"(Y/N)", he wanted to tell her to just tell him what's going on but hesitated once he saw how she tensed up when her name left his lips. He almost felt bad for her, she looked so helpless. It wasn't like him to feel like that but something felt different about this situation.

"Nomi Malik", she sighed, "I don't suppose the name rings a bell..."

At first, Zoro wasn't sure who she was talking about. She could see his eyes moving trying to remember but then his brows creased just the tiniest bit. He did remember. Nomi Malik was one of the last pirates he caught before becoming one himself.

"Yes, I remember. Devil Fruit User... not very strong though. What about him?"

His words stung. They were true, of course they were. And then again they weren't. Malik wasn't weak. He had a hefty bounty on his head - otherwise Zoro wouldn't have wasted his time on him and his crew but the swordsman was extremely skilled - even before he became one of the Straw Hat Pirates. She didn't blame him stating the obvious though. When she visibly struggled to find the right words, he continued.

"Did you know him?"

'That's an understatement', she thought to herself.

Instead, she just nodded. He stayed quiet waiting for her to continue. He noticed the sun was starting to rise, casting a golden hue upon her features.

"We grew up together", she turned to look towards the horizon, "I can't remember a time when he wasn't there... well, except for now, of course..." - she got quiet upon the realization - "when he asked me to join him, it wasn't even a question"

Zoro raised his brows. He knew he didn't remember every single person he ever hunted down but he was sure that (Y/N) was never one of them.

"If you were part of his crew...", he tried to vocalize his thoughts.

"Then why didn't you catch me along with the rest of his crew?", she finished his question for him, "well, I hadn't had a bounty back then. I was completely irrelevant to you"

"So, where's he now? Impel Down? You know Luffy broke half of the inmates out a few years ago... He could be out there somewhere...", Zoro shrugged. What had happened to her was unfortunate but he just did what he had to do to survive. To say he felt bad would be a lie.

The girl opposite of him slowly shook her head though, "Wanted dead or alive...". She emphazised the word to show him that the marine truly didn't care. Either option was fine with them as long as there was a pirate less roaming the sea.

The swordsman was taken aback. What reason would the marines have to do this? They had imprisoned pirated way more powerful than Nomi's crew.

"No, that-"

"I was there", she cut him off, "I followed you when you handed them over. Right outside the marine base"

The smile returned on her face as she stared off somewhere into the distance.

"You were incredibly skilled even back then... of course there's no comparison to now... after your training with Mihawk, I mean"

Zoro knew he was good but the praise didn't feel as great as he was used to. At the moment, the only thing he felt was a weight upon his chest. He never felt remorse for his enemies but he was also never confronted with their surviving loved ones before. Most people thought of Zoro as cruel, heartless, a brute but that wasn't necessarily true. There were people he cared about - he just didn't show it. Besides, he knew how it felt like to lose someone.

"What happened?", he asked her, still not sure how thinks could've escalated.

"Malik was a lot like Luffy in a sense. Adventurous, fun-loving, great leader - stubborn though. There was no way he'd let himself and his crew get captured without a fight. He became a pirate for freedom. To see the world. He couldn't have that behind bars. I don't think he seriously thought he'd stand a chance. It was just his- I mean our crew against the whole base"

She made her way over the battlefield towards her lover. Slow. Too slow for her liking. For every yard she made she had to fight off two or three marines. Granted, most of them were only low ranking officers but there were too many for her liking. But for a moment things looked like they were turning in their favour - or at least favourable enough. Starting a fight was smart. If they played their chances right they could flee in the commotion.

From across the battlefield (Y/N)'s and Malik's eyes met. He sent her a darin wink looking as handsome as ever. She couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh. Only her daredevil of a boyfriend could make this high stress situation somewhat romantic. 'I love you', he mouthed over to her but she didn't get the chance to answer anymore as a new wave of marines stormed the plaza in front of the base.

As more and more marines flooded the place it became harder and harder for (Y/N) and her crew to hold out against their attacks. When the first one of their crewmate's bodies hit the ground (Y/N) knew there would be no fleeing. She loved how loyal her lover was. Loyal to her and to his crew. But this also meant that this fight would have to end - one way or another.

The blood was rushing in her ears as (Y/N) witnessed more and more of her crewmates being critcally hit. Her friends. People she grew up with. Good people. She stood still for a moment. She saw Malik's first mate lying on the ground a few feet ahead of her. She and him used to play cards together. It was him who taught her the rules of the game and it was her who showed him how to cheat people out of their money by bending even those rules. Next to her their navigator crashed to the floor. (Y/N) knew him since she was a little girl. He always knew the best routes and alleys to get away from the vendors that would chase after them when they yet again decided to steal candies and little toys from them. Nobody knew their little village as good as him. She felt helpless - lightheaded almost - but she didn't have the luxury of taking the time to mourn her friends as she had to focus on getting ahead. Closer towards were Malik was fighting against a vice-admiral at the moment.

Her captain was a devil fruit user but his powers didn't seem to have any effect on the vice-admiral. (Y/N) knew this could mean one thing only - this guy's Haki was way stronger than Malik's. She knew she needed to get to them. She was aware that she couldn't be of much help, even without his devil fruit powers Malik was much stronger than her but whatever they did, they did it together.

She was still busy fighting several marines when a loud slashing sound followed by a muffled scream cut through the air. (Y/N)'s head whipped around just in time to see Malik's body hit the floor as well now. After the vice-admiral made sure the other male wasn't in any shape to get up and continue the fight, he just left him there to bleed out and die.

The ringing sound in (Y/N)'s ears was back and everything seemed as if it were in slow motion. As fast as her legs would carry her she hurried towards were her lover was lying in the dirt - the fight forgotten. A patch of his own blood staining his clothes growing bigger and bigger by the minute.

"Malik!", she screamed his name, tears already forming in her eyes. As she finally reached him, she wasted no time immediately sliding on her knees pressing her hands on the deep wound on his torso.

"It's okay now. I'm here. It's going to be okay", she babbled probably more to soothe herself rather than the dying love of her life beneath her.

"Baby... Ba-baby, listen. You need to leave", eventhough she could see in how much pain he was, the man - her captain - still send her a reassuring smile. His teeth and lips were already coloured red from his own blood but he still looked so incredibly handsome to her. He was still her Malik.

"What? No! Why would I do that? I'm not leaving you", the tears were now streaming freely down her face.

"You don't have a bounty. They don't even know who you are yet. This is your only chance. Please, I'm begging you. Leave"

How come all of them had to die while (Y/N), who was less strong - less experienced - got to live? It didn't seem fair to her. She shook her head making the tears fall everywhere from the motion. She wouldn't leave. If her whole crew, her captain, the man she loved with all her heart had to die, she'd go with them.

"What are you saying there?", she smiled through the tears, "We're in this together. I'm not leaving. I'm not", she repated the last phrase over and over again. Malik tried to gently interrupt her ramble but she wouldn't have it. It was almost like she didn't even hear him. It was only when he finally raised his voice that she fell silent and really listened to what he was saying.

"I don't have much time left, so listen to me now. I'm still your captain so you gotta do what I tell you", he tried to sound serious but failed knowing that their relationship has always been grounds for teasing within the whole crew and even among themselves. Even now, whilst being in pain and bleeding out, he never lost his happy spirit she fell in love with. She was reminded of the reality of the situation when his happy laugh soon turned into a hurtful cough, "I love you. I've loved you forever. And I always will. I'm sorry I never got to make you my wife. I'm sorry for being too stubborn. I'm sorry for everything"

There's so much she wanted to tell him. That there was nothing to be sorry about. That she'd do it all again. That she loved him more than anything. But all she could do was sob and put pressure on his wound to try and slow down the bleeding.

"Please. You need to leave now. I'll be fine - it's like going to sleep. It's easy. But- but I need you to be fine as well", he nodded up at her as she felt his hands on top of hers moving them away, releasing the pressure she was putting on the lethal wound on his torso. As soon as her hands left their place the blood started gushing and spilling over his body, making the pool of blood he was lying in rapidly increase in size. She cupped his face with one of her hands, stroking through his hair with the other, staining both in the process. Still crying she leaned down and pressed one last kiss on his lips that were already starting to become cold from the blood loss. The kiss tasted like the blend of her tears and his blood - salty and like iron. For a moment only him and her mattered. She knew those were the last moments that she'd ever have with her lover and she cherished every second of it.

A loud crash pulled her back to reality. The fight was lost and she knew she needed to get away. She took one last look at the love of her life before standing up and leaving him there - along with a piece of herself.

"I really miss him...", her voice grew thick and she swallowed to pull herself together. She wasn't the same since that day. She struggled with those memories. In fact, she didn't know which ones were worse - the happy memories from her dream or rather those painful ones. (Y/N) avoided thinking about it too much - she was plagued by guilt ever since she got to live while others had to die, "I had to leave the bodies there... They - the marine I mean - they didn't even bury them properly. They were just all thrown in some kind of unmarked mass grave or something... like... like a bunch of dogs"

Zoro didn't know what to say. The way the girl sat before him, he could tell how painful this all was to her and he felt bad that he was the reason for it. Contrary to popular belief, Zoro wasn't as clueless as most people thought. Most of the time he simply didn't care to pay enough attention but right now he had listened to every single word that left her lips and yet had still no idea what to say. He was truly lost for words.

"I'm... sorry", as soon as Zoro spoke the words he realized how foolish they sounded. Almost as if to apologize for eating the last desert or borrowing something without asking beforehand - not for indirectly being responsible for the death of a loved one. He wanted to tell her that he too knows how it feels to lose someone. That he never meant for that to happen but instead he just remained silent.

She sighed and quickly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with the palms of her hands.

"I have no ill will towards you. You only did what you had to do to survive. It's a dog eat dog world out there. I know this as good as you", she sent him a shaky smile, "You didn't kill him. It was his decision to fight. It's just... seeing you here again. Everyday. It brings back memories. I see you and I think of him. I can't help it. I know it's not fair to you but that's the only way I know how to cope at the moment", she shrugged like it wasn't that big of a deal but her inability to hold his gaze for even a second showed how she truly felt.

The morning sun was now fully out and slowly the other Straw Hats started to fill the deck - starting with Sanji, who was usually the first to get up everyday to prepare breakfast for the whole crew. (Y/N) decided to join him like most days. She was awake anyways so preparing breakfast with Sanji became like her little morning ritual. She sent Zoro a small smile before she left him sitting there alone with his thoughts.

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Zoro didn't show up for breakfast that day. (Y/N) was thankful for it. That morning was emotionally draining for her but there was also something else... It was the first time she's ever spoken about what had happened back then and apart from the vulnerability it felt good to properly allow herself to think of her old friends and her former lover again. She did allow herself to mourn them right after it happened but the guilt was overwhelming and most of the time she wished for herself to be dead as well. To combat those feelings she abandoned the memories of her old crew altogether - the hurtful ones as well as the happy ones - until she didn't think about them at all anymore. Of course, she never forgot them. She still had a goal to reach, but she just didn't allow herself to indulge in those memories anymore in fear of the emptiness inside of her returning. Today, was different though. Talking to Zoro about everything, re-living the situation hurt, but now that she was sitting in the dining area sorrounded by her new crew - that familiar hopelessness never came.

"Oi, where's Zoro?", Luffy spoke through a mouth-full of food.

"It was his turn with night watch duty tonight. He's probably catching up on sleep", Dr. Chopper explained. He was right. It wasn't unusual for the night guards to be absent during breakfast in the morning - especially for Zoro, who took any opportunity he could to squeeze in a good nap whenever he got the chance - but Sanji would usually make sure that whoever's turn it was would eat first and then go to bed.

"Fine by me", the captain laughed happily as he grabbed another stack of food from across the table, "that mean I get to eat Zoro's portion then"

(Y/N) silently agreed with the Straw Hat, not minding the swordfighter's absence at all. It was Sanji that wasn't having any of it though.

"Who does he think he is? (Y/N)-san and I spent all this time preparing this food. Cooking, frying, baking... And this stupid marimo doesn't even show up? Doesn't he know wasting food is a cardinal sin in my kitchen?"

"Oi, Sanji calm down. I don't think any food is going to wast", (Y/N) motioned to Luffy, who grabbed yet another set of plates, shoving everything in his mouth at once, "besides, we've all skipped breakfast before..."

Her words had the desired effect and the cook did indeed shut up about Zoro, so that she could finally enjoy the rest of her food in peace without having to worry about the moss head.

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After breakfast (Y/N) decided to spend some time with the others, doing chores, training and generally enjoying the day. The sun was out and Nami decided this was the perfect weather to sunbathe a little. And so (Y/N) found herself along with Nami and Robin, who preffered to read under a parasol, on deck soaking up the sun whilst being served and taken care off by Sanji. (Y/N) could've done without the overbearing cook bringing them iced tea and little snacks every few minutes but Nami insisted that he enjoyed being of service so they should just lean back and enjoy - which she eventually did.

It was only when Zoro did not show up for dinner either that she realized that (Y/N) hadn't seen the swordsman at all that day after their talk in the wee hours of the morning. For a moment she pondered if she should fix him a plate and bring it up to the crows nest, so that he didn't have to go hungry but then quickly decided against it. If he didn't want to see her, she wouldn't want to make him uncomfortable by forcing herself on him. 'He'll surely wander into the kitchen after dinner is finished and fetch himself some leftovers', she thought to herself, 'And tomorrow everything will be back to normal'

But the next morning Zoro still didn't show up for breakfast. Or dinner. Or the breakfast the morning after.

"Hey, Usopp... who's turn was it to keep night watch ?", she furrowed her brows. Did the swordfighter switch with Nami again in exchange for some extra allowance so that he could buy more booze during their next errand run? It was a win-win situation for the both of them. Nami got to have her 'much needed beauty-sleep' whilst Zoro could earn some money on the side. He usually slept during guard duty anyways, relying on his instincts to kick in should something or rather someone try to start shit. She halted for a second, when did she get to know him that well?

"Uh? Franky's I think, why?", the long-nosed sniper answered her but was quickly dimissed by a hand gesture from the black market dealer. This was weird... Was he mad at her now?

Ever since that morning with Zoro, she slept well - great actually. Granted, it was a dreamless sleep but she preferred it like this at that moment in time. When she awoke in the morning, she realized that she had slept in. A little disgruntled about nobody waking her for breakfast she made her way into the dining area.

She didn't expect to find the swordsman sitting there. Their talk was now about a week ago and still he had somehow successfully managed to avoid her at all costs. She didn't see him during mealtime. She didn't see him roaming the ship. He didn't even nap at his usual spots, whenever (Y/N) was nearby. (Y/N) didn't know how to feel about it. There definitely was a feeling in her chest and she definitely knew that it wasn't a good feeling but she couldn't quite tell what it was... Was it guilt? Guilt for dumping all her trauma onto him? Annoyance that it was now him that somehow couldn't stand even being in the same space as her? No... it was something else entirely... Whatever it was, she didn't like it. Talking to him - speaking her feelings - she hadn't felt so at peace in ages and she was thankful for the opportunity and now it felt like she created herself another problem.

When she entered the dining area, several heads turned to her, greeting her, teasing her for sleeping in but (Y/N) only had eyes for a certain mosshead at the very head of the table. Her heart involuntarily skipped a beat. She was glad to see him - a thought for which she would've bitten her own tongue a week ago. Maybe she was simply over-thinking and everything could go back to normal now...

Zoro however had other plans as he slowly lowered the cup he was holding, placing it back on the table, getting up in the process.

"Where do you think you're going?", Sanji started but the pirate hunter didn't even stop walking.

" 'M full", he mumbled as he passed the girl that was still standing in the doorway.

"Zoro... you don't-", she tried to reason with him, still in disbelief about what she was seeing but he didn't acknowledge her.

Luffy was already all over Zoro's leftover whilst Sanji was still raging about there being leftovers at all when (Y/N), who hadn't moved an inch, too shocked by what just had happened, finally spoke up - although more to herself, "I'm not hungry"

With that she turned on her heel leaving the Straw Hats sitting there perplexed about what it was they had just witnessed.

"What was that?", Usopp asked no emotion on his face or in his voice.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say relationship troubles", Nami answered not enjoying the thought of not knowing about what was up with those two. Little did she know that neither (Y/N) nor Zoro had any idea themselves. However from then on, neither of them would show up where they expected the other to be present aswell, which - to be fair - on a ship could be anytime or anywhere, so they mostly stuck to themselves. Zoro in the crowsnest and (Y/N) in the aquarium.

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Yet another fight. Why did these damn Straw Hats always have to get themselves into some kind of trouble? (Y/N) had heard about the G-5 marines before. She heard horror stories about the marines of this branch being insane and needlessly cruel, torturing pirates for fun, killing them without reason but (Y/N) didn't dwell on it. She learned years ago to not fear death anymore but even if she did, there wouldn't be much reason for it. The Straw Hats really were as strong as the people in the bars were telling themselves behind their hands whenever they entered the establishment.

She had never seen anybody fight the way Luffy did, using Haki and his devil fruit power almost effortlessly. If she wasn't so preoccupied with the marines she was fighting off, she'd just stand there and watch her captain fight the vice-admiral that the people called Smoker the White Hunter. Neither of them holding back on their attacks.

But it wasn't only Luffy, who was extremely powerful. She quickly realized that every single one of the crew could hold their own in a fight, making her scramble to prover her worth as well. She'd be damned if someone had to rescue her during their first real brawl.

She had to admit seeing Zoro fight, triggered some uneasy feelings she quickly had to abandon to the back of her mind. He was the only one whom she had seen fight before but last time they unfortunately weren't on the same side. Of course, he greatly improved from back then to now - she was glad she didn't have to stand before him on the battlefield. Fighting almost seemed to be fun to him but not in a way that she had seen with Luffy or even Malik. It wasn't a carefree happiness. She heard people talk about the pirate hunter as if he wasn't fully human - part demon even - but she always dismissed these rumours as drunken tavern talk nothing more, nothing less but now (Y/N) knew what it was they were talking about. If it weren't for the semi-friendly competition between him and Sanji, she'd be more concerned but as the two of them were at each others throat whenever they had a free minute, she figured it was normal.

Zoro must've struck down close to double the amount of marines that the rest of the crew had managed to defeat in the same time when he suddenly stopped, his devilish demenour forgotten. (Y/N) forrowed her brows, trying to understand what was going on over there. Who was that woman facing Zoro and why was he not fighting her? She knew Sanji never kicked a lady but (Y/N) has seen Zoro fight women before. So why was he not moving?

As the two of them were in the middle of what seemed to be a heated discussion in which the female captain tried to attack the green-headed fighter to get him to fight her, (Y/N) noticed that Zoro was so busy deflecting her hits that he didn't even noticed two marines wildly starting an attack from behind.

With a few long strides, (Y/N) stood between the pirate hunter and his attackers, striking them down in the process.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? You should've seen that coming!", she yelled at him already finding herself in the next one on one fight. It was as if the pirate hunter was snapped out of his daze as he quickly made an exit, leaving the marine captain behind.

************************************************************************

"Hey", he walked up to her where she was sitting gazing at the surface of the water. The sun had already started to set and it was a bit chilly outside, so it was only the two of them on deck of the Sunny. (Y/N) couldn't help but to be reminded of the last time the both of them were alone out there, feeling at peace and strangely familiar with the mosshead.

"I saved your ass out there today", she told him, still not taking her eyes off of the water, "who was she? The marine captain with the glasses I mean"

Zoro hesitated for a moment. He didn't like talking about personal stuff. That was nobody's business anyways but she had opened up to him as well. She trusted him with her trauma, so maybe he should do so as well? Before he could make a decision, the dealer interrupted his thoughts.

"You could've easily taken her. I've watched her - she's good... but now that good", she was now looking at him, Zoro couldn't quite read the look on her face, "Listen, you do you but if we really are a crew I need to know that I can trust you..."

The fighter sighed but ultimately decided to tell (Y/N) all about Kuina, their goal and his promise to her. When he finished it was him that couldn't stand to hold her gaze anymore.

"That's very noble of you - holding on to your promise after all those years, I mean", she sent him a soft smile. Zoro noticed that she didn't seem to have any problems finding the right words. She didn't just stutter out an 'I'm sorry' for lack of a better idea.

The mosshead shrugged. Not even know he knew what to say to properly portray why becoming the strongest was so important to him.

"I understand, you know?", she continued, "I have a goal too. It's not as honourable as yours and it's entirely selfish to be honest but it's the reason I've become a black market dealer and just between the both of us? It's also the only reason I joined you guys", she lowered her voice for the last part eventhough she knew nobody could hear them.

Zoro was still hung up on her calling him honourable. That word was the last thing he would've described himself.

"What is your goal?", his voice was deep, no inflections, but he was genuinely interested.

She laughed to herself embarrassed about her ambitions but then decided to keep talking - albeit without looking at him, "I've never talked about this to anybody... When Malik died I swore to myself I'd find his devil fruit. I've been looking for years. Built up an underground trading network, buying and selling all kinds of useless junk so that I always have the funds to pay for should my vendors some day offer me the right one. No luck so far"

Zoro blinked a few times. He remembered Nomi's devil fruit. Whoever ate the fruit gained the ability to plant visions in their enemies heads gaining an advantage in combat situations but...

"Here in the New World many - if not all - people have Haki. You'd have to be very strong to overcome that", he tried to be gentle with his delivery, not wanting to insult her by implying that she'd be too weak to be a devil fruit user. She turned to fully face him now.

"Oh, I know...", she paused for a moment, seemingly searching for the right words, "it's just - I couldn't stand the thought of anybody else having his fruit. Being on the battlefield and having to fight against something that was such a core component of what made him him"

"So you just want to have it?"

She shrugged, "Don't tell Luffy I said that but I always thought a pirate that can't swim is a little foolish anyways. A recipe for disaster really"

For a moment the two just looked at each other but then the girl broke out in a huge grin. He hadn't seen her smile properly ever since she joined the crew. She was friendly to everybody - sans him of course - but she was never really happy. She tried to stop it by biting her lip but that made it only more charming to him.

"You saved me today", he dead-panned, looking down at her not knowing how to show his grattitude as he wasn't used to being saved. It was usually him that did the saving.

"I did"

"Why? I thought my presence brings back bad memories", his voice was low barely but a whisper.

"That doesn't mean I want you to die, you idiot", she sounded almost offended by his suggestion, "You've been avoiding me", she continued, now wanting some answers for herself.

"I didn't want you to be forced to eat at the same table with me. All those things that happened to you..."

She looked at him with a sad expression on her face placing a hand on his forearm. Usually the swordsman would've pulled his arm away but he just let her, "Zoro, I've told you before I don't blame you for what happened"

"Even if that were true, you said seeing me reminded you of what happened. So I stayed away"

She tried to find the right words to express her feelings. On one hand she felt incredibly guilty that he felt he needed to isolate himself from his crew - his nakama - just so that she would feel better and on the other hand she wanted to yell at him that he was being stupid. That he did too much. But there was also another feeling inside (Y/N)'s chest. Was it thankfulness? He had shown her that her feelings and comfort was in this moment more important to him than his own.

Zoro didn't know what to expect now. Did he do too much? Why was he so bad at interpreting people's emotions?? Much to his surprise the girl leapt into his arms, though, hugging him tightly. At first, he was a little overwhelmed but soon hugged her back.

"Thank you, Zoro", she mumbled into his shoulder, where her face was buried.

"I- Don't mention it...", he decided to tighten his grip around her waist a little, "You said- that you didn't want to risk starting to like me-"

He couldn't even finish what he was trying to say as the woman who was comfortably nestled in his arms wiggled and struggled to free herself from his grip. Why did he say that? He scolded himself. Why would he remind her of her resolution to keep her distance. There were a thousand thoughts rushing through his head - which would've been a lot for any person, but was even more especialy for Zoro, who usually didn't think much about things. But maybe that was the problem, he told himself. At least he had a good poker face...

"Zoro, look at me", she put both her hands on either side of his face to make sure he'd actually look at her, "it's a little late for that... I like you already"

"You- you do?", the mosshead couldn't help but to sound surprised.

"Yep", she popped the 'p', Zoro's eye flickered down to her lips for just the fraction of a second. He hoped that she didn't notice but no such luck.

"I think I've liked you since the first time we talked, I just didn't realize it until you started avoiding me", she leaned in closer, sliding her hands from the sides of his face to the back of his neck. He could feel her breath on his lips now as she voice was barely above a whisper, "Can I kiss you?"

He didn't even answer. Instead he leaned down and pressed his lips onto hers and it didn't take long for (Y/N) to return the kiss. It wasn't hungry or passionate. They didn't make out. It was sweet and it was full of emotions.

"So that's what you two have been doing during mealtime, huh?"

The two of them jumped apart as they heard Usopp's voice.

"And here I was starting to think the two of you disliked each other", Nami added.

(Y/N) and Zoro shared a look trying to gauge how the other wanted to handle this.

"If you only knew..."

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Epilogue

It's been a few weeks since Usopp and Nami caught the two of them on deck. They both decided to let them believe whatever they thought they deduced on the spot. (Y/N) was happy either way. Of course, she would never be able to forget what had happened in front of that marine base a few years back - she didn't even want to forget - but she decided it was time for her to move one. She knew Malik would want that for her. And whenever she wandered the deck in the wee hours of the morning now it was not because she was plaqued by the bad memories, but solely because she decided to keep the green-headed swordfighter company and sit by the water and talk, daydream and watch the sea.

[bluegalaxygirl]

Amnesia (KidKiller X Reader) P19

Plot: After an explosion reader wakes up in a hospital with no memory of the past few years, her parents want to take her home so she can recover and get back to a normal life while the Kid pirates want her back on the ship where she belongs.

Warning: Bad language, Family issues, domestic abuse, Medical stuff, Medication, Violence and Blood.

Reader is Female, Poly Relationship, established relationship, Kid X Reader X Killer, Reader is a member of the Kid pirates and is in charge of the money, Budgeting and negotiating the best price.

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The walk to the hospital felt longer than normal mainly because Killer's mind is racing with all the things you might say after you lashed out at Kid, he hopes he can at least smooth things over with you so you won't kick them out, he would hate to have to take you by force but as time goes on he feels more and more drawn to it. If you end up wanting to go with your parents he will happily join his captain in sinking this island and taking you by force, you may hate them for it but in his mind, he would rather you hate him than let you go back with those people. The masked man is snapped out of his thoughts by House who speaks up while trying to keep pace with the taller man "So, N/N really remembers me?" The crazy haired girl asks holding her notebook to her chest, a large hopeful smile on her face and big eyes which look bigger due to her strange glasses, it brings a small smile to his face seeing how happy their doctor is at just the thought you might remember her. "Yes, she remembers training with you but thats it" Despite your memory of her being very limited it causes House to jump a little in excitement starting to speed walk until they get to the elevator, once inside and the doors are closed Killer places his hand on Houses shoulder getting the girl to look up at him with a raised eyebrow "I want you to wait outside the room when we get there, i need to have a word with Y/n before we do anything else" The masked man states getting the girl to nod, her excitement starting to get under control, like the rest of the crew House doesn't know what happened for Kid and Killer to stay on the ship for a whole day and for their captain to flip out, only the commanders know, but she wasn't about to ask or ease drop if she can help it.

Killer lets out a breath trying to calm himself as the elevator opens showing him the same view he always gets, a clean white building with hardly any noise but the blowing wind, stepping out House is quick to follow mainly looking down hoping to not trip on a branch or go through a loose piece of wood. It isn't long until the two make it to your room, the door's closed, but he can't hear any talking, he hopes that your parents haven't shown up yet and with the nurse not at her desk he can't ask her if they've shown up. A knock on your door makes you flinch a gasp leaving your lips as you quickly take your glasses off in fear of it being your mother, your too tired and sore to deal with her yelling at you over something so small which is why you asked for the door to be closed. "Y-Yes" You call out placing the book you were reading and glasses on the side table, to your relief it's not your mother that walks in, but Killer making your body relax against the headboard, the masked man walks in closing the door behind him before clearing his throat "I'm sorry about Kid and… I know you don't trust us bu-" The smile that was once on your face drops at his words, you should be the one thats sorry not him and the thought that you don't trust him hurts, so before you can even think about it you call out to him "Killer, It's not Kid's fault, i shouldn't have said those things, i was mad but now thinking back on it… I'm sorry, i made a big mistake, is Kid mad at me?" You ask feeling tears well up in your eyes, it didn't click with you before but now it has, Kid isn't here, his coat isn't around you and those amber eyes aren't looking you over with a cocky smile on his red lips and you know he's not patient enough to wait outside so that means he isn't here.

The blonde sighs making his way over to you, placing his hand on your cheek he lifts your face up to look at him, his teeth clench in anger at seeing the new bruise on the corner of your cheek bone, it wasn't there the last time he saw you, he wonders if someone hurt you or if you fell, but he shoves that aside for now and instead focuses on reassuring you "He's not mad at you, he's mad at himself." Killers thumb lightly runs over the bruise on your cheek as you raise an eyebrow, Kid should be angry at you not himself, your the one that yelled and ran off while he tried not to yell back. "He shouldn't be, He's been trying so hard for my sake, and i insult him? I've seen the way you both hold back, you could just grab me and burn this place to the ground but you've given me a chose and you've stuck by that even when i'm being a bitch" You can't help but laugh a little at the end, calling yourself a bitch somehow didn't sound so insulting even though it should be, reaching up you take Killers hand off your cheek and hold it in yours, a small huff of a laugh leaves the masked man's lips as he squeezes your hand "I'm not going to lie, we've both thought about it a lot, just taking you but trust and loyalty is everything to us, we won't do anything to break your trust, and we will always be loyal to you" The blonde brings your hand up to his mask pressing your knuckles against the part where his lips would be, your heart swells at the gesture and yet all you can think about is his lips, does he wear lipstick like Kid? are they soft or chapped? Plump or thin? "Killer… Can i-" Your question is interrupted by the door opening causing the two of you to look over at the door and freeze in place.

Melody's raised eyebrows and confused eyes land on the two of you, although she doesn't seem confused about what's going on in the room but with a crazy haired girl wearing large strange glasses waving at you form next to her, you recognized her as the girl from your memories, but she looks a little different, her hair is more puffy and a lot longer and the glasses she's wearing seem bigger than you remember. "This is your doctor?" Melody asks pointing to House next to her, the girl slightly bouncing on her feet as a large smile forms on her face "House, right?" You ask before Killer can answer the question, the smile on House's face somehow gets wider as she sprints to you, dropping her notebook the girl wraps her arms around you as a giggle leaves her lips "Your remember me" Despite how it looks House is surprisingly gentle with her hug but it still made you gasp and jump slightly at fist, wrapping your arms around the girl you lightly pat her back. "Be careful" The nurse yells while walking into the room giving a hard glare at the pirate doctor, Killer lets out a sigh clearly unimpressed by the display of affection from your best friend "House, off" The masked man demands making House quickly let you go and stand back up scrambling to grab her notebook and a few loose pages that have fallen out. "Sorry about her, This is House our doctor and a good one at that" Killer states crossing his arms over his chest in almost a protective manner not wanting anyone to insult a member of his crew, Melody caught on quick to it and puts her hands up letting out a nervous laugh "I was just making sure since you and your captain weren't around to clarify, i didn't want to let a compete stranger in"

Killer gives a short nod letting his shoulders relax, "I'm glad you came House, there's a few things i was hoping to ask" You turn to the crazy haired girl who has picked up her notebook and finished putting the pieces of loose paper pack in their places, she turns to you with a nod but Melody quickly speaks up before you can ask anything "First we need to talk about last night, Y/n had another seizure the night nurse told me that she re-injured her legs but luckily her shoulder is ok" A sick feeling runs through your body at the thought of it alone, you really don't trust your doctor to be telling the truth, plus you've never met the night nurse so you have no idea if you should trust her or not. Killer tenses up again as he turns his attention to you mainly focusing on your covered legs, he hasn't seen how bad it is under the bandages, but he knows that reopening a healing wound will make the healing process a lot longer and sometimes more painful "Is that how you got this?" The masked man moves his hand to run his fingers over the bruise on your cheek, gulping you know better than to lie to the blonde, he seems to know when something is wrong so its only safe to say he knows when your lying too but Kid did say that if your parents hurt you he would kill them, Killer might think the same and as much as you hate your farther for what he did you don't want him to die over a slap "I don't remember how i got it, but at least my cheek bone is healed and my skull" You smile up at him hoping he will focus on the good stuff.

House pushes up her glasses before stepping closer already feeling the tension coming from the first mate and wanting to break it before something like yesterday happened "That's great news, your stitches are out and your not wearing a sling anymore so hopefully you'll be out of here soon. Can i look you over just to make sure?" Melody places a hand on House's shoulder getting the girl to take a step back thinking she's in the way which earning a sweet smile of the nurse "You can observe as i clean her wounds and re-bandages them" The nurse states pulling the covers off you, the once white bandages are slightly stained with red and brown blood spot in different places, you now see why your legs sting so much. "Their dirty" Killer's almost growls as his focus shifts from you, to your legs and then to the nurse who tenses up a little at his tone, the masked man's anger grows until you grab his hand pulling the blonde closer to you with as much strength as you can muster, you don't know why but something told you that he was going to chock her. "It's ok, i asked her to wait since you were bringing House this morning, so… I'd rather not be poked and prodded twice today" Killer quickly turns to you hating that you left it for so long, his anger subsides at hearing the reason why, it makes sense now and the thought of causing you more pain makes his chest tighten, squeezing your hand the blonde gives you a silent nod before pulling a nearby chair over to the bed, so he can sit down next to you and hold your hand which you have refused to let go of. His comfort helps a lot as the Nurse talks to House while pulling the bandages off your legs, it stings, itches and feels tight all at the same time but Melody is careful especially around the recently opened area's.

The process hurt more than you thought it would making you grit your teeth and take deep breaths through your nose, Killer's eyes shift from your legs to your face, he hates seeing you in pain, and he's now extremely glad that he made Kid stay back, not even he could stop the captain from shoving the nurse off you and berating her even though the woman is only doing her job. "Ok, thats your legs done" Melody sighs taking off her gloves and showing them in a small yellow bin along with some of the equipment she used, House nods having stayed over the nurses shoulder the whole time, asking questions and taking notes in her book "Other than the reopened area's the skin's healing nicely, you'll differently have darker spots of skin in some places and the ink on some of your tattoo's have come off but i don't see many issues once its fully healed" House smiles at you happy to see the hospital is doing something right, with a tired smile you give her a thumbs up unable to speak due to the throbbing in your legs and the tiredness overcoming your brain "You ok, babe?" Killer quickly leans forward placing his hand on your cheek to make you look at him, his eyes search yours for that glazed over look you get before those headaches's come on but to his relief it isn't there, just tired slightly teary eyes from trying to hold back groans of pain over the past half hour. A fluttering feeling appears in your stomach at the nickname making you feel more lightheaded although unlike the tiredness it's a almost heavenly feel, leaning into his touch you give the blonde a small smile and a nod.

Melody finishes cleaning up before making her way over to the end of your bed and grabbing your chart, flipping to the back she writes something down before flipping it back "Oh can i see that?" House asks suddenly at the nurses side making the woman jump and gasp in surprise, she didn't hear or see the girl move at all, staring at the crazy haired girl for a moment Melody slowly hands the chart over trying to figure out how the loud and seemingly clumsy girl from before snuck up on her. House gives the nurse a smile before grabbing the chart out of her hands and reading it over, her face turns to confusion and slight concern at seeing some of the stuff written down feeling like something is wrong. Your tired eyes pull away from Killer feeling the energy in the room change, when your eyes land on the pirate doctor your heart drops knowing your assumptions are true. "House what's wrong?" You ask but the girl doesn't move her eyes fixed on the page in front of her "Y/n takes all these in a day?" House asks finally looking up from the chart to look at the nurse while pointing to something on the paper, Melody leans in looking it over before nodding "Twice a day, one dose in the morning and one at night" your hand uncontinuously tightens its hold on Killer's hand starting to let your nerves show, the masked man squeezes your hand lightly trying to offer you reassurance despite his own growing anxiety. House shakes her head looking back to the chart one last time before hanging it back on the end of your bad "That seems excessive for seizure meds, do you mind if i have a look at the pill's?" Melody raises an eyebrow unsure of weather she should do it or not, she doesn't think the doctors here would do anything bad and since House is more of a field medic she might not know a lot about medication.

Her eyes glance to you seeing your tense and almost panicked state so nods offering you a small smile before heading out the door "I'll be right back" House smiles back waving at her before quickly grabbing her notebook and pen starting to write down stuff with amazing speed "You wanted to ask me about the pills right?" the crazy girl asks somehow reading your mind and making you relax your grip on Killer's hand, letting out a breath you nod finally feeling like your not crazy for thinking something is wrong. "Yes, they keep increasing my seizure meds and… I'm just a little anxious about it, i don't know why" Killer runs his thumb over your hand in slightly reassurance, he wished you would have said something sooner about this but then again a lot has been going on and too many people are involved "Trust your gut, if something feels wrong then it wrong " A smile forms on his face at seeing your eyes meet his through the mask a look of relief washing over your face and that slight sparkle of joy he loves to see light up your eyes. "It's excessive the amount their giving you but once i have a look at the tablets and its bottle then I'll know more" The crazy haired girl slams her book closed and paces her pen behind her ear, it disappearing in the mess of hair just as the nurse walks back in with a try full of medication, some in yellow bottles with labels and other in boxes "I thought you might want to have a look at all her meds" The gesture earns a big smile from House bouncing on her tip toes slightly in joy "Thank you so much" Lifting up the bottles the girl inspects the pulls inside and reads the labels all while the nurse watches her every move still not to sure about a pirate handling medication.

With the two women distracted Killer takes this chance to grab your attention, leaning back on his chair the masked man squeezes your hand in three short bursts earning a confused look from you, it takes him a second to realize you have no idea what the gesture means "It means we want privet time or a privet talk" Killer whispers already answering your question before you can ask it, with a small nod you lean back relaxing into the headboard and leaning into the blonde slightly "What's up?" You whisper still keeping your eyes on House and the nurse decreasing some medical stuff you can't understand "Where'd you get the bruise?" His question is so simple yet it sends a sense of dread down into your stomach, even though lying to him would be futile you can't help but do it anyway, you can't tell him the truth "I don't remember, it probably happened during my seizure" The small piece of hope you had that he would just give up and leave it alone is crushed when a growl leaves his lips, not loud enough for the two girls to hear but deep enough to send panic through you "I know your lying.. Farther or mother?" Killer asks turning his head slightly to gauge your reaction hoping to find the answer, he watches your eyes widen slightly at being caught in a lie before going back to normal trying to act like everything is ok, it makes his blood boil knowing he's right, one of your parents hit you, it must have happened yesterday. Did it happen before or after they attached your parents? Was it his fault that they took their anger out on you? are you hurt anywhere else?

The masked man is snapped out of his thoughts by your hand squeezing his in three short bursts "Please leave it alone, i'm not hurt anywhere else, i promise" You whisper turning to look at him, the blonde slowly turns to look you over his other hand moving up to run his fingers lightly over the bruise, he doesn't want to let this go, they should pay for even looking at you but he nods deciding at least for now to drop it. "We.. We need to talk later, we.. Me, Kid, Wire and Heat found out some stuff about your past and.." Killer sighs hating that he's having a hard time getting what he needed out, he knows he needs to tell you as soon as possible about what they did in hopes it will lessen your hate for them but at the same time he doesn't want you to know. "Are they dead? My parents" You knew it would happen eventually, one or both of them would lash out and hurt someone yet you strangely don't feel anything towards it, shouldn't you be upset or mad at the thought of their death? The masked man sucks in a breath of shock surprised that you caught on so quickly "No, their alive just… a broken nose and bruising" With a nod you squeeze his hand again knowing you need to talk later about all this and what they found out, at lot happened over the years and looking back on it makes you mad enough to want to lash out but you've never had the courage to do so, yesterday was proof that you still don't. The two of you state at each other for a moment, despite what you've both just learned it feels like a weight has been lifted leaving the two of you to just bask in each other prescience, enjoy the for once calm moment, uncontinuously the two of you move in closer only stopping when his mask meets your forehead allowing you to see those beautiful blue eyes that shine in the darkness.

House picks up a small yellow bottle with a few pills in them, their small round and thin but doe to the yellow tint of the bottle he can't see the color, so she uncaps the lid and shakes out all the pulls, the blue color makes her pause and look again at the label then back to the pill again her eyebrows raising even more. "Seizure meds shouldn't look like this, their supposed to be pink or white due to the chemical makeup" Her voice snaps You and Killer out of your trance both quickly looking over to the crazy haired girl worry starting to set in, Melody sighs turning around from where she was putting bottles back on the tray only to gasp and leap forward grabbing the bottle of lid "Don't touch the meds, i'm more than happy to show you the bottle but its health and safety that no one touches medication without gloves" Taken back by the nurse's sudden strictness and anger you tense up while Killer to growl slightly hating anyone going after a member of his crew, normally the masked man would step in but one look at house's posture makes him realize not only that she has it under control but that this was planned from the start. "Oh shoot, your right i'm so sorry. Now that I've touched it what do i do?" House gasps holding her hand out and away from herself and the nurse as if it's going to explode.

With a sigh Melody pinched her nose and shakes her head seeming to calm down. "I'll have to bin them all now.. Listen i'm sorry for snapping but next time if you want to see the pills up close just ask me" The nurse screws the cap back on and turns back to the try placing the bottle down before lifting the try up into on hand "I'll throw them away, I've got to get back to work, stay as long as you like but please don't mess with anything… at least without asking me first" Melody giggles holding out her hand for the pills. House lets a big smile show as she places the blue pills into the nurses hand giving her an enthusiastic nod, "I'll see you later" The nurse smiles your way while making her way out the door, for once the room is in complete silence both Killer and House seem to be waiting for something so you stay quiet too. After a minute House lets out a giggles running over to the door and quickly closing it "How many?" Killer asks there's a clear smirk on his face by the sound of his voice "Four i think" House giggles holding out her hand to show four small blue pills she managed to take, reaching into her white lab coat she takes out a small glass bottle and opens it placing the pill inside "S-so i was right? There is something wrong?" Its strange, you feel relief and validated in your worry but at the same time it just makes you more nervous maybe even paranoid, does this also mean that your dream last night was real? If so then when did that happen? Did it happen last night or a few days go?

Sensing your worry House quickly slips the bottle back into her coat while making her way over to you, sitting on the bed she takes your other hand in both of hers "I don't know what they are but I'll find out, for now lets just keep it a secret and try your best to take less of those pills, i still think you should take at least two just in case i'm wrong, either hide the rest of me or flush them" House explains helping your mind calm down a bit, Killer squeezes your hand feeling himself become angry that this place could be making you sicker, he knows this is your family's doing, he knows House will get to the bottom of this and with you willing to help hopefully it will be over quickly. "Thank you" without warning you reach out and pull House into a hug which she happily returns shoving her face into your neck "Thank you so much" You whisper into her thankful that someone has listened to her, she knows Kid and Killer believe her but having someone in the medical field validate what your feeling and saying means so much more, you no longer feel crazy and that your just dreaming things up. "I've always got your back" House whispers back before pulls away giving you a massive smile which is strange since you didn't think it could get any bigger. "Alight, I'll leave you to rest and catch up, get some sleep ok" The crazy haired girl stands then turns to Killer "I'll start working on this, you want me to tell the captain anything?" She asks lightly bouncing on her feet indicating she's raring to get moving, Killer turns to you asking a silent questions which you quickly nod too wanting more than anything to talk with Kid and apologise, giving you a nod back he turns to House "Tell the captain it's ok to come"

[deathclassic]

ART TAG

I just want to see more art and creatives

-

Have you always been interested in creating art? Yes! I've been drawing for as long as I can remember

What's your favourite medium to use? If digital, what programs do you like? I really enjoy drawing traditionally, a lot of the time i sketch and then take a photo to finish it digitally on photoshop (that i pirated)

Do you create outside of fandom? Yes, I draw for myself a lot but I don't really share them

Share something you haven't finished and/or never got around to posting mickey eating vegemite toast which i sent to nosho and never posted here haha

Favourite piece you've made?

ive always liked my beer bottle and carton design

Draw your icon in a minute or less

An underrated piece you've made in your opinion

any of my stranger things fanart bc i dont have any stranger things mutuals <3

Do you do art in a professional setting? kinda? im a qualified graphic designer and im working on a logo for a boxing trainer now

A piece you don't like but did really well on social media

100% this one, dan posted it on his ig story and tagged me in it and used it as his header on twitter for a while too

Post an old piece and compare it to your most recent, what are the similarites?

still doing outfit challenges, still adding a splash of colour in the bg, colour, details and adding waves to hair! also the shading is similar on the stomachs

Have you ever collaborated with another artist/s? yes!! ive done a dan and phil poster with other phan artists, a calendar that @pseudophan organised years ago (i still have it) and some cool one on one stuff with other artists in various fandoms <3

What piece has the most notes? Are you surprised?

this series, very surprised tbh currently at 12k+ notes

Who/What is your favourite subject matter?

People/characters i love, i just love drawing people i enjoy watching ya know

Show us something not from fandom you've made

a modernised take on shakespeares 'Taming of the Shrew', the badge is currently on my battle vest

Where do you like to create? in my bedroom at my desk, i feel inspired in my art corner

Do you have a tag that you use to group your creations? Tell us so people can follow it

'm does art' is my art tag!

Give yourself a shoutout, where can we commission/buy/follow you for more pieces?

commissions - unavailable but will open in a month or so instagram redbubble

tagging: @doshiart @gallapiech @spookygingerr @konaiiro

@michellemisfit @heymrspatel @vintagelacerosette @ghoulish-art-tendencies

@sgtmickeyslaughter @creepkinginc @kiennilove @burninface

@darlingian @suzy-queued

[statementlou]

Louis might not be chucking bricks at No. 10, but people are responding like he’s never displayed leftist politics or challenged a government position on anything. He supported demands to the government about a fix for UK touring musician post Brexit and Marcus Rashford’s petition about food insecurity. He fought the police about their social media use in 2018 and criticised the UK government position/support for factory workers in the pandemic. The things he speaks about are usually UK issues and meaningful to him or his family and friends. He’s also most likely to speak when he isn’t working. Also that specific anarchy has a punk anti authoritarian message as well. That statement fits Louis pretty well. He has been a poster boy for not sitting down and shutting up and doing what you’re told since 2012. If he was he probably wouldn’t have a solo career and he definitely wouldn’t have sold out the O2.

I like this point about him speaking out more when he's not working, I think that's a really great and useful observation and makes so much sense. I feel like it makes sense in two ways right now: like first, I don't blame him for not wanting to do things that would jeopardize how beautifully everything is going for him right now after the number of setbacks and troubles he's had to get here, it must feel so precarious. And knowing for a fact that any political statement you make will spawn a dozen tabloid stories and all kinds of outrage is bad enough, but add to that the fact that it's simply impossible to predict which thing will turn into a huge viral mess- it's a lot. And second, he's not just working, he's been on TOUR! I've been around musicians my whole life and one constant is that tour is time outside of normal time and life, it's a bubble, it's only paying attention to right where you are and what's in front of you and the people there with you and everything else is put off and neglected, is for when you get home (and have massive post tour letdown depression and fatigue). I'm not saying he can disconnect with the outside world entirely... but putting everything on pause? I would be surprised if it were any other way, and I would be surprised if he's been following the news and counter news and so forth closely enough to feel comfortable speaking out publicly about anything when it will be so scrutinized and picked apart. I would add to your list supporting the rail strike (something we wouldn't even know about if it hadn't been tossed in as an aside by an interviewer in the print only version of a piece, he didn't post about it or anything) and attending and posting about the BLM protests (not to mention telling people to pirate his stuff come on how punk is that), and I agree he is much more likely to speak out about UK issues which makes sense: most people are most moved by issues that are close to their lives in some way, and it's his brand. And I agree that even though as an anarchist I love talking about what anarchism as a political ideology actually is, the symbol does also have a common meaning in the world as just basically standing for anti-authoritarianism, and Louis as a guy who rejects authority and the status quo is nothing new at all and one of the reasons we love him, and in the last few years I feel like he's been going further in that direction both aesthetically and politically, and we love to see it! Plus he has pretty much always sported this slightly punky aesthetic to some degree, even when he was being dressed up like a little ken doll he snuck in skater looks and indie band tees and so forth (something something it's part of why his fanbase was so primed to love his new sound and it wasn't the risk he feared it was because people were always drawn to him who were already into that aesthetic even when his sound wasn't that yet) it's not like it's just a brand new out of nowhere side of him or something.

[elizaellwrites]

WIP Questionaire

Thank you @worldstogetlostin for tagging me here!

Rules: Answer as many (or as few) of the questions about your WIP as you can.

1. What was the first part of your wip that you created?

My ocs, but not all of them. They were part of a separate plotline that I abandoned quickly because it was terrible and cringy. Parts of them changed as they developed, but the core of their characters began here.

The originals are: Annamarie, Rachel, Jacob, Elaine, Jol (the daemon), and Natalie (Anna's mom)

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

I imagine it would be like the soundtracks I listen to while writing. These include songs from Narnia, HTTYD, Pirates of the Carribean, etc. I'm no composer, so I'd trust the judgment of the music expert on the case.

3. Who are your favourite characters you've made? Why?

My automatic instinct is to jump to "all of them," but I'll be reasonable here and keep it brief because I could write an essay about each of them. I won't because a) that's ridiculous to do here, and b) a lot of this has to do with spoilers/stuff on the down-low. My Top 3 (these may be surprising or not) in no particular order are:

Seniar- He's more than Anna's dad, he's lived many lives and seen too much. He's a prince who stepped up to protect his people, defied expectations, and fell in love with a human, earned his place as a war hero, and did his best to protect and raise his daughter after everything he had known and cared for was destroyed in front of him. He might not be perfect, but he's dedicated his life to other people and still provides for his daughter despite carrying the burden of his past.

Roselle- The living dead, her existence shakes the very foundation of my other characters. After being introduced to the universe, nothing was the same, and it was all for the better. She also has this strange charm about her, like she demands attention. Her life and her death are quite possibly the 2nd and 3rd most influential factors in my entire plotline- only outdone by the destruction of Ariya. She's also on a team of her own with a willingness to overlook the rulebook, which makes her extremely fun to write.

Jacob- He's caring but distant at the same time, his family is a disaster, and he's a rule follower and a rule breaker all at once. He's an enigma and has been from the start. You think you know him, but do you really? He's always running from something, facing challenges like he's trying to prove something to himself. Him and his siblings are the driving force of a lot of plot lines, and for good reason. You just can't help but wonder whether he is a good person or a bad person, and maybe he's just both.

4. What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?

I'm honestly not 100% sure. My inspiration to write this WIP truly started with Percy Jackson, so there could be some crossover there. Really anyone with an interest in fantasy and okay with dark subjects could find it interesting.

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

Writer's block. Whether it's because a character wasn't connecting with the action the way I wanted them to, or if I'm having a day that everything I write isn't something I'm proud of... I'm in college and work, so there's often a lot on my mind, and stress and creativity don't flow well together in my brain.

6. Are there animals in your story? Talk about them!

Anna(marie) has a cat named Isa(belle) who she picked up while moving around with her father. Isa is a beautiful and sweet black Turkish Angora whose personality is modeled after my childhood cat Belle. She's not a major focus, but she means a lot to Anna as one of the few beings she could connect with outside of her father.

All other animals are wildlife and have to do with worldbuilding, which could go crazy, so I'll stop it there.

7. How do your characters get around? (ex. trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

While on Earth and involved in traditionally human things, they travel in cars because their goal is to blend in and hide in plain sight.

In the list of natural (magic) Hecathian abilities, one of them is Teleportation. Characters with this ability, or in proximity to someone who is, travel this way. The challenge is it takes more energy the further you are traveling and needs quite a bit of practice and discipline to do it safely and correctly. A couple examples of characters with this power are Seniar, Annamarie (duh), and Jaleya (Cameron's sister).

8. What part of your wip are you working on rn?

Chapter 16- near the middle of book 1.

Not even close to where I want to end this.

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

I suppose the variety of aspects that appear. There is action, adventure, drama, complex characters and relationship dynamics, worldbuilding aspects, and the world and timeline just keeps expanding with different stories to tell. There's a lot to choose from, and it's all interconnected in the same universe.

10. What are your hopes for your wip?

I have a whole series planned, plus spin-offs and expanded stories to supplement it. I hope I have time to get through all of it because I want my main WIP and its world to someday be a complete set and no longer stuck only in my brain and scattered through thousands of notes.

Lightly tagging @my-cursed-prince, @willtheweaver, @jacqueswriteblrlibrary, @ashen-crest and anyone else who wants to tell me about their WIP!

[gildedcageif]

Is there... an option to be perfectly content as a servant of the harem, without any further ambitions? It seems like the majority of the routes you've described have the MC aiming higher than their current position. Is this the "life of peace" route? It almost feels like the game could just come to a very early end for an MC with no ambitions, though, and that's not really the route I'm looking for.

Hey, thank you for the ask!

An MC with no ambitions

The MC absolutely has the option to want to pursue a life of peace (completely understandable after the shit they have gone through).

There will be two different ways to express that desire:

I want a peaceful life in the harem.

I want a peaceful life outside the harem.

Both are difficult goals, but for different reasons.

If for example your MC simply wants to live a life of peace in the harem as a maid, their main struggle is being caught in a situation where they are not truly given the option of choosing for themselves what they want because they are being played like a piece of the chessboard.

In this route, your initial main rival per say is actually your only ally, Emil. Emil has decided he wants to get you involved into shit for his entertainment and so he will. You can struggle and resist, but he has more power than you and he also has his way of making stuff happen 'accidentally'. So your MC will still get involved in drama, just in a different way than they would have if they sought these situations out.

The MC may not have ambitions, but they probably have a survival instinct so if they are caught in an unwanted mess, they will still have to fight for survival.

If instead your MC dreams of a life of peace outside the harem, they are faced with a different hurdle. That being that well... they are a slave. And thus not allowed to do whatever they want. This leaves them with two options.

Run away. This is dangerous and you will be killed- or worse- if the plan goes wrong so it would be a long, very well-laid out plan with outside help that occurs near the end of the game.

The Sultan frees you. Something that has never happened in the history of the Zephyran Empire, but is achievable through certain romance routes. In that cause, you are man/woman/person and thus can do whatever the fuck you want. The only other way to be freed is to become the next Sultan's mother, which automatically frees you.

Keep in mind that ambitions are not necessary ones of greed or power. Wanting to be free is an ambition. Wanting to be safe is an ambition. Wanting to live in peace is an ambition. Your character can have any of those and strive towards them.

A 'Life of Peace' Ending

There are a few ways to achieve an ending like this. You can't really have a life of peace in the harem of the Jade Palace because it is very cutthroat in there, but here are some things you can do instead:

Transfer to another smaller palace where you can actually live a peaceful life cause smaller palace=less drama

Leave the Zephyran Empire as a whole. Especially if you are freed before you leave, life is fairly chill. You will have the option to become a farmer, a priest or pirate (long story). Keep in mind not all of these are achievable through some routes.

You can't really have a peaceful life in the harem since shit is kind of crazy there all the time so your best option if you just want to chill is to get the hell out of there.

Again, thanks for the ask! If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask me!

[onepiece-oc-archives]

what's something you would not recommend when writing one piece ocs?

Hi, thanks for your question!

At first I thought it was a duplicate of the question I answered here but then I looked a little closer. So: In this post, I'll be focusing on the actual writing of OCs, as in fanfic stuff. If you're still in the creating phase, go here for my tips on what to avoid for that.

Alright, writing! My favourite activity on the world earth - I could literally write for entire weeks straight if I wasn't bound by the limits of my human body and mind lol

This list is probably going to be even shorter than the one for OC creation because I'm not about to mess with other people's writing style. Do what feels right for you. You should always be writing for yourself first and foremost because writing should be fun! That being said, there's one One Piece-specific tip I have for you:

Don't translate everything you see in the anime and/or manga directly into your writing. It won't work. Animation/manga and written stories are two very different mediums. I think the best way to explain this would be to look at the changes made between the animanga and the live action:

Changes had to be made because certain things just don't translate well into a live-action format.

For example, most characters don't yell out their attacks in the live action, because it comes off as very silly outside of the animanga format. They're real people after all. The characters who still shout out their attacks are either very silly (i.e. Luffy and Buggy) or... well... Sanji. He's very serious about it. I saw someone theorize once that shouting your finisher attacks is probably a pirate thing and Zeff taught Sanji that - so of course he'd take it seriously because he respects Zeff and takes his word as truth because Zeff used to be a pirate and he should know. Anyways, other example:

Sanji's heart eyes. We're sticking with my boy Sanji, simply because he works really well for tackling changes made to the live action made for genre/format/medium reasons. Why? Because Sanji, in the animanga, is a character who's very reliant on physical comedy. Don't know what I mean, maybe because you're an OPLA only fan (in which case: Welcome, glad to have you here <3)? Here, I'll show you:

That's animanga Sanji. Full-on heart eyes goof and noodle arms. As you can probably guess, this wouldn't work in a live action format. So, we went from literal heart eyes...

... to figurative heart eyes. Still very much head over heels for the ladies, still a hopeless romantic, still an idiot, but not so much of an idiot that it comes across as over-the-top and wildly unnatural.

I would highly recommend that you do something similar for writing One Piece fics, including OC fics. If you want to keep the over-the-top, physical comedy, cartoon logic elements from the animanga for your fic, I won't stop you. I've just noticed that, in my opinion, it's hard to pull off, because describing the absolute tomfoolery of the animanga can be very difficult, and I'm personally not too much of a fan of it. It works in specific situations (caught-up animanga fans might know what I'm hinting at), but I personally prefer my fics to feel more natural - like OPLA. Still silly, but silly in a way that works for a live action and/or written format. That might also have to do with my writing style as a whole, so, like I said, keep the animanga elements if you want or tone them down if you like.

One thing I love to do though is to drop hints to animanga tropes and elements without implimenting them fully. Best example? Sanji's heart eyes. Because look at him! Figurative heart eyes are a thing. Use metaphors and figures of speech, figurative words that imply something cartoony but don't have to be. It's really fun! I really don't know how to explain it better, but I hope you know what I mean.

So, now that I've talked about general things and canon characters and whatnot: What does that mean for OCs specifically?

Maybe try to make a rough separation between their drawn form and their written form - or between their animanga and live action version. This works especially well if you can draw (even just a little bit) but it's also just plain fun to think about without drawing anything. Think about what gags and animanga tropes your OC could have in that format and think about how those things translate to a live action or written format. Do they translate seamlessly? Do they have to be cut because they don't work at all? Would they be changed? Experiment with what works for your own writing style. How does your OC interact with your interpretation of canon characters? Generally: Throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. The only way to start writing is to start writing and to try out what works for you and what doesn't.

And in case you don't know where you want to start with writing or want to try a few things out: Take a scene in canon that your OC would be participating in and write down your version of it. See what changes, try out the dynamics, get a feel for what works and what doesn't...

So yeah, I hope this helped! This feels pretty disorganized (I'm so sorry) but I hope I got my point across.

Hope you're having a lovely day!

[punks-never-die205]

"Imprissont " marine Anon here

This turned into way to long of an "ask" so please don't feel pressured to answer this.

Now I have this idear for a story in my head but I also have to mane Wips on my Computer to work on. (TW: Kidnapping, abuse, torture)

A really join marine girl (16~18) who was forced to join the marines (historically there used to be a lot of reasons how someone could be forced to join the marines, so I think someone having no other choice but to join isn't all to unlikely in the one piece world and makes for an interesting story)

She has to face the evil the marines do and struggles with her part in keeping this organisation going, while also faced with the fact that stuff like deserting might cause serious harm to the people she cares about and force her to life a life on the run.

But then her crew gets defeated by pirates who take her prisoner.

She has to life through literal hell, being enslaved and tortured for fun.

But then, while she is locked up in the captains quarters( so he as easy access the next time he feels like doing horrible things to her) she can hear a fight going on outside.

The thrill of the hope to be rescued, for this he'll to finally end

Only to realise that the attackers aren't marines.

They do not use the shouted orders she is used to, and there are way to little gunshots shots for it to be marines who mainly use rifles as weapons.

And then the early silence as the fight dies down, only for her to hear footsteps come closer that she doesn't recognise.

There is no place to really hide as the door is busted open, and she is face to face with Captain Kid. (who has both arms as this is pre-timeskip)

There is no way to hide, and most of her wounds and bruses on full display, as she cowers in a corner of the room.

But still, there is something to mark her as a marine. Maybe she was forced to wear the tattered remains of her unfirm. Maybe her captors tatood the marine symbol on her.

And so she has no hope of being rescued by these people.

And while the kidnpirates plunder the slowly tilting ship she realises that they'll very likely leave her to drown.

Just as she has accepted her fait while the last pirates exit the room, Killer drops the keys to her shackels in front of her.

She gets off the ship just in time and is later found and properly rescued by someone.

Years later, she is once again confronted by the Kid Pirates. Maybe she decided to live a quiet life somewhere, work as a shopkeeper, maybe she rejoined the marines but now secretly helps the revolutionary army.

And in that moment arises the opportunity to save Captain Kid, although it might have some consequences for her own safety, but she still does it. Because in her eyes she owers Killer something.

And so she tells him " Tell your first mate that now we are quid" before Kid leaves.

And only as she mutters those words does Kid realise why 6 seems so strangely familiar.

Because she is that marine girl from that very first pirate ship he and his crew beat. The one he argued with Killer about later on, for setting her free.

Urgh, the drama, the moral dilemma, the hurt, the pain...the twist of her turning from the saved to the saviour...I hope I'll someday find the time to write this story properly

xD I hope you do find the time to write it properly, because you've got a good and proper outline here and I love it =3

It could even go on to where Kid gets a chance to save 6 again, and that ends up being the start of her time on the crew. And from there, all the world's your oyster. But you could also effectively end it as is, and leave her to live her own life.

[sinelanguage]

4, 11, 23, 39 :0?

4. Do you have any OCs? Do you have a story for them?

I do not!! Well, I have 2-3 DnD characters for previous campaigns, but I don't have any OCs outside of that, really. very much a fanfic person over original stuff.

11. Three tropes that are fine but overrated.

ohhh my god hardest question. I'm not sure about overrated, so this is more 'tropes that are fine and popular but I personally seek out':

Soulmates: I don't care for pre-destination in fiction! sometimes I think it works well and I indulge in it, but it's not something I seek out

Fix It Fix: look, I'm engaging with flawed canons all the time; I don't mind people saying canon is flawed and adjusting and/or ignoring canon entirely, I do this all the time (you will not see me adding a brook pantie joke to a fic even if it is in character), but I don't care for it when it's the primary focus of a fic. I'm here for a good time, not to explore the aspects of canon I don't care about lmao.

Love At First Sight: idk I like mess, and love at first sight avoids my type of mess (conflicted feelings realization). I'm fairly aro, so anything that hinges on romance alone doesn't really do it for me, and love at first sight definitely hinges a lot on overwhelming initial feelings.

23. Dialogue or description? Why is the other one so hard?

it kind of depends, but generally I prefer writing dialogue and find it easier-- one decent way I unblock myself on writing is to just do very loose dialog snippets until I know what I'm doing again

description I like sometimes, but find my own vocabulary for emotional descriptions kind of lacking so I struggle with making that non-repetitive. my favorite prose/descriptions come from humor/action, which is not always what I'm going for lol

39. Wildest AU scenario you have written?

HAHA for what I've written: there's a singular scene in 'same as it ever was' where after zoro dies in that timeline, sanji's a foxy pirate. implications here are incredibly funny. there's a bad end in one piece where Foxy Kills Zoro, Actually. bad end where sanji's forced to wear the iconic fox ear mask until the end.

[ninhaoma-ya]

Chapter 1077 — Should have noticed sooner

I've read two different translations of the current chapter and it will be very interesting to see the official version on Sunday!

On with the show.

The cover story is still great. I wonder if Caesar and Judge will just shrug off their fight and go on their merry, war-criminal way?

Sentomaru is a great guy. I like him. But he's also a real asset; loyal, quick-thinking and strong. Still standing, even after facing both seraphims and CP0.

And if that isn't some heavy foreshadowing (especially when you remember all nearby marine ships are heading in this direction as well) I don't know what is. But this might also be the incident that breaks the marines? If Vegapunk is viewed as a person who wants to do good for the world and since he thus far also has been staunchly on the marines' side, attacking him and Egghead might be enough for people on the fence, like Smoker and Tashigi, to break off once and for all.

And we get confirmation that Kaido and King were kept on Punk Hazard! And that the seraphims are part lunarian. Nice little showcase of Shaka's logic, as well.

Yes, Zoro, you really should have noticed sooner. When even Luffy agrees… It’s a good thing that he’s pretty.

I do hope they get to share this information soon with the others who are having a bad, very horrible, incredibly dangerous day indeed.

Brook just reattaching his head is so on form. And shocked-face is always funny, even when it's a cloud.

But Sanji turns up — he left with Stussy and Jinbei, right? What’s happened to them?

Short recap of who's with who:

Brook, Nami, Edison – under attack

Robin, Chopper, Atlas – no info

Sanji, Jinbei, Stussy – separated

Usopp, Franky, York, Lilith – down

Pythagoras – down

Shaka – down

Stella – captured

It’s logical that Vegapunk would have worked on a weapon against Devil Fruit users (and, conveniently, against the seraphim). Hope the others get to use it as well, sooner rather than later…

Ooo, so when this is used against Luffy (as I suspect it will), does that mean he’ll be stronger against Blackbeard’s attacks since they sap people’s fruit powers?

But back to the fight at hand!

a) you idiots

b) will Franky turn to stone or not? The others are instant, he’s just part?

c) who will be able to fight her? Nami loves children, Robin would probably also hesitate, she’s still a little girl so Sanji’s probably out, somehow I don’t see Luffy hurting a child either…

…it’s Zoro, isn’t it? He doesn’t care about cutesy stuff or looks in general from what we’ve seen, just power levels.

However, she’s probably not enough of a fight for him, so he might just go "nah".

THE MYSTERY DEEPENS!

And that last page was shockingly brutal. I assume Shaka's not really dead, since no-one dies in One Piece, unless it's a flashback and none of the other satellites have gone down either.

But who is the mystery shooter-cum-shadow? I assume it's the same person who's been disabling all the security systems and attacking Pythagoras but is it:

a) One person who has been working for months, or

b) A couple of people, one who has been here for longer and one recently arrived?

The Stella doesn't appear to recognise the person behind Shaka, so probably not another Vegapunk. It's also not someone they've interacted with, since they share their consciousness and someone would have seen something. Moreover, Shaka sounds surprised at the CP-people being there, as was the Stella in the previous chapter so it probably isn't anyone of the Vegapunks (shared consciousness, once again).

Is it an Elder Star? They're the only ones above Vegapunk in the chain of command, after all. Or is it a Vegapunk working in collaboration with someone outside who's now arrived?

We haven't seen the other seraphims, but since S-Snake and S-Hawk were on Amazon Lily not too long ago, I assume S-Bird and S-Beard and S-Seal are on other missions, capturing other pirates.

The whodunnit is captivating! Good tension, a lot of possible suspects, misdirections galore.

And that title… it keeps mocking me and I'm sure we'll get back to it when we know who the saboteur is!

Great chapter. I give it a heart of stone and nerves of steel, to weather the coming suspense.

[naamahdarling]

Dude i love your whats the way to cheta burger (i hope i got the title right) but I was wondering what are your processes of taking pictures (or are they pictures) of your traditional art to post because man do i struggle

Thank you! I liked that one a lot, it has such vibes.

Yeah, they're pictures!

I either use my old (like 2015) digicam and edit the pictures with an ancient pirated version of Photoshop, or I just use my phone and edit it there. I'm certain there's good apps for it as well.

A huge part of this is how high res the camera is, because that's how you capture fine lines and grain. I bought an expensive-ass Pixel solely because of its camera. My digicam is a Nikon Coolpix L840 and is like 8 years old but still good for my purposes. I'd say they are about equal in terms of results with the Nikon being slightly better quality and the Pixel being much more convenient because it doesn't need a memory card and I can edit most stuff right there.

Lighting matters. I prefer photographing 2D art flat, with good overhead lighting, OR photographing it upright with light from both sides. Natural light is best for color of course but isn't always possible.

Rarely I will actually scan things with a friend's ancient scanner.

How reflective your paper or your medium is will affect lighting an absolutely bonkers amount, so you may have to move yourself and your art around to keep it from reflecting. Really shiny stuff may need a scanner.

You lose depth with shaded stuff when editing, scanners are best for that if you can access one, but they are not necessary unless you're aiming for prints or a fine art thing.

Here's a raw pic from the Pixel, then the edit:

Acceptable loss of some tone IMO for being done in my hand in about 30 seconds.

Crop first always, darks or lights outside the piece will fuck with your fine tuning real bad.

With black and white work, desaturate the image before you do anything more, to remove all color from whatever lighting you have.

For this image of Dried Pickle Man, I then went in and fine tuned it in the phone. In order: boosted Highlights, tinkered with White Point a bit, meddled with Contrast a bit. If your phone can't do that, the equivalents in my version of PS would probably be Levels, then Brightness/Contrast. Maybe Curves?

This barely needed to be touched since the blue came out accurate:

This is the original, what it looks like to adjust the skewed edges, then the end result after a tiny tweak to contrast and white point. On the lower right of the last image is where the ink was throwing back some light. This could be fixed in PS or probably avoided with scanning but since I am only documenting these for sale and for my own enjoyment they don't need to be incredible.

Again, a lot depends on having an okay camera, but Which Way to Cheetah Burger was taken 2 phones ago with a POS Samsung and looks fine at internet size and resolution. I edited it in PS I THINK.

I don't know how any of this would do if I wanted to do prints but just to document your stuff it's usually fine.

I hope this helps!

[made-nondescript]

Lore guy anon returns! With question answers! (I love answering questions so feel free to ask any)

The whole him traveling thing is. Complicated to explain due to a big giant piece of worldbuilding I did that is, basically, long story short: oopsie! The fae realm is all over the ocean now and it's messed up almost all sea travel! (The pirates (or at least their captains) are fae, don't worry about it its a whole thing)

But it basically means that when people leave the continent, they aren't really expected to return. Doing some worldbuilding on the spot (since your questions have revealed where this backstory idea conflicts with the family idea), maybe Scott's parents croaked (since I just haven't bothered with them so might as well shove them out of the picture) and that's what prompted scott to go on his travels, cuz ya know might as well see the world. I've also given him vague sisters (sisters to contrast qith the brother he had in xornoth in s1) that also left not long after him, siting better opportunities outside of chromia and the continent as a whole.

(((Oh wait I just remembered he's mentioned his parents (as his dad was where he got the hat from, and he was a traveler as well), so maybe that's also why he decided to leave. He also prolly saw most of the continent on family trips and such, so beyond was the only place to go that would be new)

But scott eventually did return (after being literally robbed blind), and became the talk of the town because of it! With the sisters being a useful writing thing to show that aspect of the culture more directly, because like. They haven't come back. Most don't.

And again on 'questions providing useful jumping off points for building', I haven't got much for the family fueds (I'll have to make the families and their fueds first. I've been on holiday so I haven't quite managed to), I imagine scott, now an adult rather than just a child hearing gossip, prolly doesn't see much of it. He'd be like, the last member of that branch of his family, so he can kinda do what he wants. But since he became Important by happenstance, the other families might even try to get in his good graces, get him to agree with them and get trades and allies that favor their laws. Weither or not he's aware of their attempts, who knows, not me! (yet).

Also on the topic of his family, the llamas are less a chromia thing and more a smajor family thing. I say this cuz i find the llamas being more a scott thing to be halarious, but like theres still a whole park dedicated to them. Although scotts definitely particular about the llamas, in a very rich animal kid kind of way. Like, say, when the bar needed a new barkeep, scott was all like "Oh! Owen could do it!" "Good! Who's Owen?... scott that's a llama..... eh ya know what, better than our last guy!"

Also I'm liking the idea that the whole no central leadership thing in chromia is a big source of pride. They don't need someone to order them around, they can simply come together to agree on things! They ignore how the Important Families are still a similar concept (although again on pride, those families also tend towards making sure that they care for their communities. If they aren't, they aren't being proper citizens! And if they become cruel, the people can always just. Stop listening to them, due to the structure of the laws and all that. (Obviously a bit more complicated than that but yeah))

This ask is even longer than the last :D! (Haven't even mentioned the ancient capital!!) But like feel free to answer more questions. For other empires I also have some slight stuff for Sanctuary (although it's more in how it relates to the other empires), I've got some concepts for Stratos (and how it contrasts the other empires, including its nearest neighbor, in both local and culture, chromia), as well as two seperate ideas for tumble town??? One of which, the more recent one, I believe was prompted from musing on your blog! (Like tumble town being a gold rush town who's mines have run empty)

FAE PIRATES OMG... that is very unique. I really dig that and the idea that like, leaving the continent is kind of expected to be the end of you. Scott's whole eye situation very nicely compliments that attitude towards venturing off continent too, because he may have come back but like, at a cost.

The llamas being a Scott thing IS so funny I love that. They just like their llamas okay!! the real question is whether the whole family treated animals like they're capable of human tasks or if Scott is just Weird. EITHER way, Owen would have to be very well trained to stay behind the bar for a suitable amount of time! so! Scott's affections are not misplaced.

Imagining in this society that the affluent families kind of apply pressure on one another to be good maintainers of their communities as well. Like it's a status symbol or something to have a particularly well cared for community.

Which, on the subjects of communities being clustered around the more affluent families, does that mean that Scott's family (or rather, Scott and his sisters?) was kind of negligent by leaving? Regardless of responsibility - if any - to their community, did they (temporarily or permanently) redistribute their resources before doing so? Was somebody else in charge? Maybe dynamics vary a lot between communities (which would no doubt be infuriating to foreigners). Did they simply not amass very much in the way of traditional resources? Ohh maybe their affluence comes from a non-traditional source, due to their travels.

Additionally, on no centralized leadership being a point of pride: I can imagine that getting very frustrating for Scott very fast. Not that he wants to be leader or anything, but he's basically being made to do the job of one without having the power to actually make decisions. So someone from another Empire asks him a question and he just sighs and says he'll get back to them after the 5 to 25 business days it takes for everyone to chime in on the issue.

These are so awesome thank you for sharing!!! All of those ideas sound wonderful frankly!!!! Specifically staring really hard at what you said about Stratos and Tumble Town omg ??

[yamatossideboob]

One Piece 1096 Spoilers!

... Things I liked this week!

GOOD cover page, love seeing Zoro in goofy predicaments again

This entire GV situation is horrific to a degree that feels asinine to describe... but calling the people being hunted "rabbits" genuinely makes my stomach turn

Who are the "children"... are they other Holy Knights, or CDs we'll meet in the future?

Oh hi Kong! you will never be able to wash the blood from your hands!

I love that Garp didn't give a shit until he heard Roger was going to be there. That's so yaoi!

I *entirely* forgot that this is where Kaido got his fruit.

oh Ginny, such a fateful endeavour...

I fucking love Kuma and Ivankov so much more with this flashback...

I'm probably off the mark but that flag of Rocks'... does he have the Mero Mero no Mi?? This feels stupid but that skull *looks* like its flaming... it could be the Yami Yami but then that'd surely be more obvious... idk!

THE

ROCKS

FUCKING

PIRATES

ARE IN THE HOUSE!!!!!!

god I got shivers when I beheld this page... the utter hype on display!

so aside from the usual suspects we can see Captain John and Shiki, as well as Gloriosa!! I had no idea she was in this crew but waow!! Bad bitchery all round!!

and two other shadowy figures who get closeup panels... who could they be...?

"Today's the final fight, I assume"... "That's the idea!!" ngl those "Rocks wasn't the villain" speculations are gaining ground...

Like it was be beautifully bleak if, when this concentrated effort to destroy the Celestial Dragons in one fell swoop failed and Rocks was defeated, THIS was what made Big Mom and Kaido into the monsters they'd become. I can't help but wonder how this influenced Whitebeard afterwards too...

as my OP Bestie said, Roger looks so much Shanks minus moustache and captain's hat that it's a little discombobulating lmao

the skull dude and baddie behind Figarland look really cool... we likely won't see them again but I like these little incidental character designs.

BOGART! the years have been kind to him I must say

jfc, Ivankov was THIS close to being a big blue dragon... lucky for him I guess. the fruit he did eventually get is way more his style hehe

how the hell did they escape if fucking SATURN and possibly other Gorosei were there?? not to mention the 3 way wam bam going on down below?? I don't know that we'll ever see all of what happened here (the important stuff anyway) but MAN I hope we do somehow

hell, Gloriosa is still alive last I heard, she can spill the beans! or Stussy! or Shiki even if he's in canon limbo!

man the sky above God Valley is gonna look like Swiss cheese with all of the haki splitting going on below

KUMA HAS BECOME CATHOLIC

This boy saved 500 people with a power he only just obtained... I need to see who's responsible for giving him the name 'Tyrant' bc i am going to redden his arse for besmirching my boy Kuma's name!!!!!!

so, is this church dedicated to the worship of Nika? we've not really seen religion outside of Skypeia... how intriguing...

I think it's safe to say Ginny will eventually be the mother of Bonney hehe... she and kid Kuma are really cute together... I guess next chapter, we see how she dies :'''D yippee....

goddddddddd what a tantalising chapter... as many new questions as answers... and more next week!! I'm going to be devastated and I can't wait!!

Until next week friends! 💪❌

[kingofdandelions]

The last thing you saw was a sharp light going towards you, before you got hit by a truck. Your last thought weren't the clearest, but you sligthly remeber thinking "oh shit a truck" before you got distracted by the kind of pain you only can get from a huge truck squishing your face like a bug. You were dead. The end.

Hah! Just kidding, unfortunatly for you, death didn't mean the end of your story.

You woke up to find yourself in a palace. A suprisingly pretty palace. The walls seemed to be made of have dried lava, with pieces of gold and shiny stuff on the cracks.

There were huge windows, just cloudy enough for you to slightly see the outside, but only faint colours and shapes. Curtains flowed down besides every window, and apparently some of them were drawn on?

You stepped closer to the curtain drawn on by an absolute amatour at drawing, serioulsy a 5 year old could have drawn better than that. Something about that sentence seemed familiar, like a deja vu.

The flashback hit you harder than the truck.

You had no idea where you were, but thats okay, you had brought your backpack! And yeah, your plan of finding pirate treasure didn't work, but you could still draw! Mama said that pirates always draw on the places they go.

A biiiiiig, white curtain was rigth there, it could be your pirate flagg! When you had drawn for, a while? Probly a while. When it felt like you had drawn for a while a tall man appeared out of nowhere. You got an idea, you could show him your pirate flag!

"Mr. Tall man?"

"Yes"

"What do you think of my pirate flag?" He looked at your pirate flag for a while. You thought it looked amasing, it had a pirate skull and a hat, just like the strechy dude from the thing Mama watched.

"It lookes terrible, seriously a baby could have drawn better than that." you looked up at the tall man who was in turn looking down at you for a reaction

"Like you could draw better!" Thats what Mama always used to say when you said something bad about her drawings. And the tall guy probably couldn't draw that good.

"Oh really, you are challenging me?" the man said and if you had been older or any smarter you would maybe notice the way he smiled a bit too smugly, but you were two and a half, and smart for your age, yes, but still not smart.

"Yeah I am! Unless you're scared!" You blew raspberry towards him, surely he couldn't be better than you, you were the best pirate-flag-drawer ever, and he could just try!

The man laughted. "I like your attitude, there's a long time since someone dared to talk to me in a tone like that, so how about we make a deal?"

"A deal?"

"Yeah! I give you powers that can make you as good at drawing as I am, and all you have to give is a promise to see me again."

"Are you good at drawing?" you asked, curious about how the deal would work.

"I can show you." He moved his arm in a circle, and suddenly one of the big white paper like things became filled with colours and patterns, you saw lot of people, realistic in an unreal way. As if they would disapear if you blinked.

You stared in awe at the painted thing, could you be able to do that if you made the deal?

"But I don't know the way to get here." you said disapointed.

The man only laughted and said "If you make the deal, then I will make sure get back here soon enough".

"Really, Im gonna draw that good!?" you wondered and pointed at the painting he had demontrated.

"Yes, all you have to do is say "yes""

"Yes!" You beamed with joy, you could make the best pirate flags ever!

"Alright then," the man said "I'll see you in a while, bye".

You don't remeber how you got out.

You had made a deal with the devil and was now in hell, that much was obvious, the problem was how to get out.

You smirked as the idea struck.

If you'd made a deal with the devil once, what was the problem with doing it twice.

After all, what could you lose? You were already in hell.

You die and discover hell exists. Worse yet, you find out that the only reason you’re here is because when you were 2 and a half years old, you accidentally made a deal with the devil.

[paintedbutton]

Writer Interview Tag

The dear @writernopal tagged me in this. Thank you!

When did you start writing?

I can't give an exact age, but probably somewhere around 10 years old? I still have the old "epic" stories I would write on the family pc on word 2003 (including word art for title pages and everything) on an external harddrive somewhere. They were epic tales that involved a lot of pirates because I was obsessed with Kai Meyer's Wellenläufer trilogy, and also a lot of horses. I should see if I can find them again ...

I switched from original stuff to mainly fanfic somewhere in my teens and only seriously picked up original writing again somewhere during my Masters degree. And I'm really happy that I did.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I'll admit I'm mainly a fantasy enjoyer, but I try to read stuff that's outside my preferred genres at least some of the time. The last book I really enjoyed in that vein was Murakami's Afterdark. I also like the occasional nonfiction. And I read a lot of children's books for work.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

I recently made a post where I said if I wanted to emulate anyone it'd be KJ Charles, and I stand by that. But really, I just want to write my own stuff. It's more about the way she writes than the themes she writes, I guess.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I'm a PC girlie, so I do have a pretty good rig (mainly for gaming although ironically I mostly play a 20-year-old game rn). I'm bad at working away from my desk, so I've tried to make that as good as possible.

My desk is currently fitted into a niche in my living room because my apartment is pretty small. It has coloured LED strings on the wall behind it as well as a pinboard just for aesthetic purposes. On the wall beside it is one of my great treasures, which is a woodcut piece of a windswept tree by an artist from the baltic sea. He's lovely and I own several of his pieces.

I have a Keychron K8 mechanical keyboard with some dupe botanical keycaps, which I wouldn't miss for the world. It is so nice to type on.

Colourwise, the setup is very dark green.

I'd love to have a standing desk, and I am currently looking into it, but it's a bit of a problem with how my desk is located, so we'll see. Maybe I'll wait until I'm finally able to move into the house, but that might be years yet.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Music mostly. There's just something about a good song that gets the creative juices flowing.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Home. Just home. Finding it and making it and the meaning of it as a place or the people surrounding you.

I'm not overly surprised by this, but it was a bit of an "Oh" moment, when I figured it out. I'm a very rooted person. I need to feel not just familiar but at home with the place I am in, and that very much colours my writing I think.

What is your reason for writing?

I've been telling myself stories my whole life. Sometimes getting them out into the "real" world feels like a necessity.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

Honestly, any. But I like when I feel like people actually engage with my writing. Like they mention a particular moment that happens or something.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

I'm just some guy. I would preferably always like to be just some guy to others. I personally don't think much about the authors when reading. I don't know if others do.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I honestly don't know. Tell me?

How do you feel about your own writing?

Warm and fuzzy. Writing is a hobby to me, and one I enjoy greatly. I like reading what I've written.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

Nope. Again, this is my hobby. I write for myself. If others like it, that makes me so happy. But it's not a necessary component for this, the same way it isn't with cooking or gardening.

Tagging: @anyablackwood , @malimaywrite , @charlesjosephwrites and leaving an open tag for anyone else. :)