high_seas | [07] north country winters keep a-gettin' me down

Who: Crew of Murderess/Howling Sabers
Where: West of Empieza
When: Month of March. Top post starts beginning of month; mark dates in new threads to maintain some semblance of continuity. :Db
What: Catch-all for March posts -- will include Captain fight at least.
Warnings: Violence as ever
Style: Anything that'll move!
Status: Open to anyone actually on board or nearby

They'd spent a month docked at Empieza, and finally they were on the move. Sasuke wouldn't deny that they had perhaps needed the time -- to get the ship back into shape, for one, and to pick up a medic-nin, even if that hadn't been in the plans. But an entire month of one small island and an even smaller ship had left Sasuke about as stir-crazy as he could get, and the presence of said medic-nin and her entourage only exacerbated it.

He'd told Naruto and Sakura that he hadn't been doing nothing since arrival, but in all honesty, in terms of real progress, he'd accomplished nothing. Nothing of use, nothing of real import, for all that they had a shard on board and no one had been possessed to kill everyone else recently.

So it was that Sasuke was in the rigging in a better mood than he'd been in all month as they sailed away from the island, heading for rendezvous with the crew of the sailboat that had gone to find fairies.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It would definitely look like that and in many ways it is, which is what is truly frustrating. Usually these endless variations would never be seen by anyone else and remain merely as calculations in his head, but with no clear end goal and no cooperation, there's nothing to unify them. He has his own greater goal, but there's no one clear path to it at the moment.]

So it seems. It's become a thought exercise and nothing more.

Well it wouldn't have to be. Are you sure there's nothing here you particularly favor and would want to work with the rest of us on?

[Tojiko's cooperation is a variable accounted for in several of the scenarios he's currently written out, so he stands and wordlessly takes down several sheets. More remain than he'd like, but the largest potential branch in outcomes lies with the endorsement or lack thereof of lethal tactics, something he's already debated with Sasuke at length to no avail.]

It's not a matter of what I favor, it's a matter of what is necessary.

[He points at a few of the remaining papers on the mast and describes them in turn.]

If the captain authorizes lethal force in engagements with the Navy. [This has several branches.] If Naruto refuses to follow orders and attend to training. [Only one sheet.] If there is continued insistence on using magic instead of conventional naval tactics. [This is the area he's had the most difficulty covering, as his understanding of the concept is rudimentary at best.]

There are too many vectors. A path needs to be chosen.

I don't disagree, but it seems more stress than it's worth. At some point, you just have to pick something and go with it, regardless of what variables may interfere.

Stress?

[He looks momentarily baffled before resuming his usual stonefaced expression.]

I'm frustrated at the lack of organization and strong central command, but my stress levels are normal.

For now. No man is a mountain unto themselves. We all weather. -AKA she was concerned. She didn't know him that well, but he was part of the crew, and someone to be looked after.-

If the situation gets to be beyond what I want to deal with, I'll leave. Aside from having access to a shard, there's no advantage to being on this crew rather than any other.

[He had been a member of the Dorssian military because there were no other options and he'd taken on his role in New JIOR because it would advance his plans dramatically. Here, he has no political ties and an entirely new scenario has been opened for his greater plan. He's more at loose ends than he's been in his entire life.]

I suppose that is always an option. I don't pretend to speak for everyone onboard, and I admit I don't know you well at all, but I know I'd rather you didn't leave. You have quite the talent for strategy for a man your age. Better than my own, I must admit. We could use someone like you for the coming trials.

So I'd rather foster a better environment for that mind of yours than risk losing your talents. But, of course, I'm not the captain. But I can do what I can.

Foster a better environment for my mind?

[It's surprising how much that throws him. In fact, it may well be the first time someone has offered to try to make any accommodations to suit him. For a second, he's not sure how to react at all.]

If you think it's necessary.

I suppose it must sound silly.

No, I can understand the sentiment, I'm just not used to that sort of accommodation.

[He shuffles through the papers he's taken down, just for something to look at. He's not sure whether to take it as kindness or flattery. He's received the latter before, but the former is not something he's used to dealing with.]

Well, the offer is there should it be needed.

Understood.

[He would probably never ask for such a thing even if he did know what to ask for.]

I think it would be more effective to try to impose some sort of order on the rest of the crew, though. I can tend to my own needs.

Well, that sort of thing is really up to the captain. I'm just the watchman.

It's something the captain has failed to do, so it may fall to the crew if we wish to have any sort of organization.

[There's no punishment for insubordination, as far as he knows, so there's no incentive to follow the chain of command.]

Hmm... Captain Marvelous is not conventional by any means, you are correct. For those that desire more order and less chaos, he is not ideal.

Still, he has earned my respect. In the absence of my Prince, I have no trouble giving him my loyalty, for now.

I don't transfer my loyalty so easily. I offer my services to whoever gives me the best advantage, that's all.

[There is, after all, only one person he is truly loyal to.]

Are you implying I did? -Tojiko gives him a rather direct look.-

I'm not implying anything.

[He feels he was quite straightforward.]

Good. I'd rather there not be a problem.

You've chosen to be loyal to the captain, so I don't see how there would be one.

[It's not an issue for him if she wants to be fickle unless she decides to betray the crew, but such a thing seems unlikely.]

[07] north country winters keep a-gettin' me down

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