driftfleet | Yadrolla System Mingle

Sounds like a lot of big organisations. Left hand and right hand don't talk to each other and the body goes rotten in between.

[Took children to fight their battles. Nami isn't sure if she wishes she could remember her time there, or is just grateful it's all a blank. It doesn't sit well at a distance as it is.

Nearby, Biri slowly gets the idea that we've stopped all racing like lunatics and comes down to alight in the water, bobbing gently.]

All of these places have a power in charge without a shred of empathy. I suppose I should be happy we're left alone here for the most part.

[ Katara is about to agree before she becomes aware of what they are talking about and where they are talking about it... and the impact it might have on Nami.

And while this may not be the Nami she knows, she's seen enough heartbreak on Nami's face to last her, thanks very much, so she'd rather not be responsible for leading this conversation further down the path of doom. ]

I'd agree and say it's seemed to be pretty peaceful so far... [ a quick grin ] but I know that's just asking for trouble. Let's just talk about something else. Or would you like to head in and grab a drink?

[Oh, she spots the sudden swerve. And after a moment and a speculative glance, she suspects the reason.

But look, nobody wants to be bogged down in stuff like this, and Katara deserves not to have to dwell on such stuff either. So she grins back.] A drink'd be nice. I know a place that does some great chilled slushies not too far from here.

Oh, that sounds great! [ A quick grin. ] I love a good slushie. I could go for something lemon-y or mango-y.

I can guarantee they can manage a good mango-y! Probably lemon-y, but I didn't check that one. [Hee. She starts the waver again, though this time much more sedately trundling into shore.]

I like the sound of that! [ And... as they drive... a question forms in Katara's mind. It seems... like a bad idea to ask. But it's persistent. She'll think it over while they make their way toward the shore. ]

[Drive, sail...? Well, it can't be sailing if there is no sail. Hrm. Whatever mode of travel, Nami scoots them in through the surf until they're knee deep, hopping over the side to push the waver in the rest of the way.]

You like slushies? It's bad for business for me to tell you, but Malum across from the Space Bar has a bona fide slushie machine. [She already picked you weren't much of a drinker.]

That's alright, I can still come to the Space Bar for the food and the company. [ A quick grin. No, drinking makes people see giant friendly mushrooms out of smoke clouds, she has yet to be so desperate to forget everything that she's willing to risk being completely incapacitated in the event of danger, when where she's been for the past four years has always been minutes away from horrors. ]

And I do like slushies! Well, I like fruit and ice and a little bit of honey. Shikamaru and Masomi had a slushie machine in Luceti that made slushies out of... neon sugar syrup and ice. [ She makes a face. ] It was way too sweet.

I don't think Malum's slushies are too sweet, but then they don't seem to be too much of anything. [Their two flavours are "red" and "blue", and they both taste the same. Which is to say: not bad, but...] They'll do in a pinch, though.

Hop on out-- gotta pull this up onto the sand. [And she's puny.]

[ Katara nods. ]

I'll get the left.

[ And she hops on out in order to help Nami pull the wave rider onto shore. ]

Thanks! [It's easily managed between two people and she lets out a sharp whistle when done.]

Biri!

[There's a flail of splashing from further out, and then Biri comes skittering into shore to casually plonk himself in the waver.

--did he just salute with a wing-- WELL, WEIRD DUCK.]

Let's go find our slushies.

[While the weird duck plays theft guard.]

[ He just saluted with a wing.

...okay. ]

[ Off to find slushies it is! As they walk a little way, the question that occurred to her in the waverider nagged in the back of her mind.

Maybe there was a way to ask it without asking it? ]

What have you been up to in this system?

So far? What you see is what you get.

[She glances at Katara, and smiles.] Every stop that has actual civilization, I do a few things-- restock the bar, restock myself, look for maps and charts. But in a place like this where nothing else serious seems to be going on, I just take advantage of being out in the sun as much as possible. You never know if the next place we visit will afford you the luxury, after all.

[ ...ah, that made sense. And answered her unasked question, and what came behind it, really. ]

So you are having fun here?

[ But not... 'here.' Unless maybe? A little? She's not sure. It'd be nice for Nami to be happy. ]

[It's the emphasis that has Nami pull up short and give Katara a surprised look. The considering silence that follows is probably a shade too long for her answer to be a yes.

Hmm. Perceptive. But she's thoughtful.]

I think... it's important to take what blessings you can, and remember the good things that can happen here along with the bad. I've met a lot of good people on the Fleet. I like running the bar. I guess it's like stubbornly having fun regardless of the facts that underlie this place. And maybe because of them. You'd go crazy otherwise.

[Facts being: trapped light years from home, no crew, at the whim of some godlike power that thinks nothing of torturing its own lackeys to death if they don't perform well. And they've met with some hairy situations. She's angry at them all.

But being angry all the time is letting them win.]

[ Katara listens intently. Then she nods, slightly, and gives Nami a small smile. ] I'm glad.

[ It was a complicated situation, and she heard some of the anger there, but Nami sounded so... good, in comparison to how things had been, Katara was happy for her.

A bit sad for herself, but she'd deal with that later. After all, despite how it felt... she was talking with a stranger. She missed her friends. She wanted to go home. And yet, as usual, Nami was quite right - you had to make the most of it, or else you'd go quite mad. ]

[Not getting tortured for weeks on end makes for a vast difference. Adstringendum was also worse than this place-- it's frustrating, but there are no old gods trying to eat her soul here.

Not entirely a stranger now, though, is she? We can always forge bonds anew. But here's a perceptive question.]

Did I not enjoy Luceti?

...mind you, I can guess at a few reasons why.

[ Ah.

Um.

Heh.

WELL.

Katara pauses, because this is the sort of thing that requires of all of her concentration to handle, she hopes, just right. She doesn't want to have to explain in any sort of detail what happened to Nami in Luceti. She's not going to lie, but she wants to make it clear without getting into too many details. ]

There were good people there, and you had good friends. Your crew was there, but... a lot of them kept leaving. And a lot of things happened that were out of your control -- out of all of our control. Things got really bad for you there, Nami. And you kept going, you never gave up, and I really admired that about you. But I'm not sorry that you don't remember it.

[ Even if that means you don't remember me too. ]

[Well, that sounds all sorts of fun. She has enough issue here with her crew's absence, and the two brief visits before leaving only stung all the more.

She mulls over what Katara has to say. Partly, she still wants to remember. But she's getting the impression she's vastly better off not knowing.]

It's a pity I can't remember select things, huh? Like people.

[ A quick smile, despite the twinge in her heart. ]

Honestly? I think the best thing about Luceti is getting to forget about it. It's bad enough that you were stuck in two places like this, it'd be horrible to have to remember three.

[ ...but she misses...

Katara glances down for a second before acknowledging: ] ...but it would be nice to be able to remember the people, even if it was in a dream.

[ So, thanks, Nami, she appreciates the thought. But if she never has to see you hurting in the same way she saw you hurting in Luceti, Katara will take that as a win. ]

[...dreams. That reminds her of Calibrations. Should she warn for those? Mention them? She hopes they don't return again, to be honest-- might be easier to let it go.]

Maybe it'll happen one day. The augment plays havoc with memory sometimes. Though I think it's unlikely; I've heard about other places I've supposedly been and I've never remembered a thing about them.

Did we have some good fun, too?

We trained? [ That was fun, right? ] And one time I made a couple of giant tracks for sledding, and you agreed to test them out to make sure they'd be safe for nonbenders, that was fun. And... you had a mikan orchard stay as a result of an experiment one time. We'd harvest them, that was fun.

Ahhh, a whole orchard! [She's momentarily distracted.] Even if I hated the place, I bet I would have spent a lot of time there. I miss our orchard from home.

You know, Luffy was here for a few weeks? Right back at the beginning. He brought me some mikan seeds. [Her smile turns wistful.] They're near fully grown now.

[She's been here too long. But mikan trees are always a form of therapy.]

[ Yes, that's true - Nami'd loved her orchard, even when Bellemere had disappeared and... yeah, the orchard had, without a doubt, been therapy. ]

Oh, really? Wow. [ She'd... definitely been here for a long time, then. ] Have they started bearing fruit?

Yadrolla System Mingle

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