high_seas | Penguin Spies

Entry tags:

Penguin Spies

Who: The Penguin Crew
Where: On Corsair Isle, Outside of Corsair Isle, at sea, etc.
When: 4/24 - 4/27
Warnings: Nothing anticipated!
Style: Action, prose, etc.
Status: Open to crew!

Catch-all for the Penguin crew! Open threads below.

Brief summary: The crew left Isla Empieza as of the beginning of the week and arrived at Corsair Isle later on in the week. Threads can be at sea traveling to Corsair, on the island itself or on the ship waiting outside of the island.

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[Reaching up to adjust his glasses, Coby let himself face Kai a bit, though he didn't exactly let his feet shift out of their current posture. The point of the exercise was to remain as grounded as possible, after all.]

Actually, I thought this would be relaxing to practice for now.

[Coby's idea of more intensive training was being physically assaulted by the guy who threw cannon balls.]

Relaxing? I guess it would be if you do it a lot! My sword practice is kinda relaxing. Basic drills, though...I usually went through those with the soldiers back home, so I had to worry about everyone else doing theirs right.

[Since it got to the point where she wasn't allowed to spar with them anymore because they needed them intact for actual battles. Helping with drills was the best way to stay involved.]

I guess that wouldn't be very relaxing, huh?

Hm? [Coby did look a little confused. He and Kai shared totally different sentiments. Coby was an oddity even among fellow marines, who dreaded the basics. Though the word 'basic' was misleading, it was more along the lines of torture. Even Helmeppo was unnerved that Coby found the whole act of doing needlessly repetitive physical labors to be good for his own moral.]

I suppose I'm a bit odd. The performance of your allies ensures you have men and women who will help protect you if you need them to, so I've always appreciated such exercises.

And, it's healthy living.

Oh, you're right, it is! I just meant that you can't really relax when you're training everyone else instead of yourself! There are so many people relying on you and looking up to you and I guess it's a good feeling knowing that they respect you, but it's a lot of pressure, too.

[One reason why she didn't command armies, just her own unit. And even then she's more of a solo fighter.]

[Kai had hit Coby on an unknown sore spot. He hadn't at all thought of the consequences of anything he did or said to train his men. He hadn't even really realized that he was the one doing the influence rather than the other way around.

His jaw sort of dropped and all of his concentration was lost.] Wh--Do you really think so...?

Yeah, I do! Especially if it's your own unit you're training. You know they don't want to let you down, so you have to make sure you don't let them down, either. And all of you together can't let your commander down, so it's pressure from above AND below! You have to love hard work to be a soldier, I think.

[She certainly doesn't shy away from it herself. Honestly, she feels like she's been slacking off since arriving in this world.]

[Meanwhile, Coby was breathing a little quicker, wondering if he was having a panic attack. Had he ruined his soldiers? Did he do something wrong to stunt their advancement? What did he do? How could he fix it?]

I--I hadn't considered that!

No? It looks like you're working pretty hard already, so if you carry that over you should be fine!

[Coby may be freaking out, but Kai is actually in her element here for once.]

If you get too worried about it, you can always take time to remind yourself that you've totally got it! Just repeat it to yourself a few times: "I'm strong!" or "I'm ready!" or "I've got this!" Whatever you need to hear. You're not always going to have someone to tell you, but you can always tell yourself.

[Kai had no idea who she was talking to: Mr. Panic. Coby's hands raised up, running through his hair as he looked a bit more apprehensive than one might have anticipated of a total stranger.]

H-how can I say that kind of thing? I haven't qualified for any accolade resembling that at all! It would be against my code to take pride in something I wasn't at all qualified for!

[Wow, this is a tough case...]

It's all about positive thinking! You don't have to qualify for anything. If you don't think you can use "I'm strong!" yet, start with "I'm getting stronger!" because of course you are if you keep trying that hard. Even if it's just a little every day, you're still progressing, right?

[Strength? That idea scared Coby. The last time he heard something like that, there was a man killing his own men and even ordering them to kill themselves because of the authority his strength derived. He knew Kai didn't mean that at all, but--]

No, I... I don't want to act like that at all. I'd rather... know I was abiding by the law in order to accomplish my duties as an officer, miss.

There's no law against believing in yourself.

[Kai's brow furrows. This is hurting her brain.]

You'd do even better at your job if you did, right?

[Coby shook his head.]

Maybe one way, but I won't assert myself if it's about strength. I met a man like that once, who thought his strength was important enough to justify his command.

He thought that sort of thing made him better than other people.

So, I don't want to believe to revere strength even if it's just a little bit--because of him.

[Kai planted her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side. His thinking was pretty alien to her. Why give up on something perfectly good because someone else misused it? The fat old tanuki valued pride, endurance, and patience and yeah, pride meaning "I deserve the country more than you," and "endurance and patience" meaning "so I'll wait you out until you're at your most vulnerable to try to take it from you" made him a huge sneaky jerk, it didn't mean those things wouldn't be virtues in the hands of a more virtuous man.]

It wasn't strength that was the problem, though, it was that he was a jerk who was misusing it. Strength is all about how you use it, you know? Where I'm from, the strongest man in the country, the strongest man the country will probably ever see, has never taken any sort of power for himself. He's a loyal vassal, probably the most loyal, too, and he's used that strength to protect his lord and his people, not to rule over them or keep them down. Even when his lord is a sneaky bastard, he's never anything but noble, honest, and fair. Even his enemies respect him and he's never taken advantage of that. If he beats you, you can at least be proud to know you tried and he'll probably feel the same if you gave it your all. I don't see anything wrong with trying to be a warrior like that.

[She may have had her issues with the Tokugawa, but there wasn't a single warrior alive who had anything but pure respect for Tadakatsu Honda.]

...It's nice that someone can think like that. Using strength in such a way... I can appreciate that it sounds valorous. However, among the Marines, valor isn't helpful. The pride of someone who fights for those reasons isn't something we can use.

We're supposed to serve only to save lives and preserve peace. Strength is something I can't revere, because I would rather it never be necessary ever again.

[This was making her brain hurt. She wasn't the deepest of thinkers on the best day, but this was a concept even she could grasp. Was her explanation not good enough or was there something else going on? Maybe there was.]

Sounds to me like you're trying to convince yourself you shouldn't have to be strong. How are you supposed to make a world where strength isn't necessary unless you lay the foundation for it? Like it or not, that's how the world is right now, so if you want to make it better for the people who come after you, you have to be the one to be strong so they don't have to be. You can't save lives or keep the peace without some sort of strength, either. Strength isn't just the ability to kick anyone's ass, you know. There's a lot more to it than that.

I do agree--Strength isn't just physical. It's still unnecessary. Incredible mental prowess is also terrifying and dangerous. I realize the contradiction of having to utilize evil to defeat it, but I still don't appreciate it, admittedly.

I wouldn't mind going back to being small and weak if the rest of the world were safe.

The more I talk to people from your world, the more confused I get.

[Seriously. About everything.]

I think that's fine. So long as I understand--I think that's a bit more important. I wouldn't want to drive you from your own ideals, really.

Right...

[At least someone understands.]

I'm not really sure about yours, but...well...as long as it works for you, I guess...

[It...doesn't really seem to be, but she's kind of at the end of her brainpower for dealing with it.]

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Penguin Spies

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