high_seas | I wanna be a Cowboy, baby!

Entry tags:

I wanna be a Cowboy, baby!

Who: The Straw Hats
Where: Gun Frontier
When: 5/1- 5/9
What: General shenanigans
Warnings: None really
Status: Open to whoever is around; wants to drop by

Nothing but the usual of post dating. Figure we'll hit a couple towns or w/e but generally it's do whatever. If you want/need a sailing log part, feel free to put that in and label it as such. \o/

Some towns to play in...

Assford

Dead Man's Hill

Little Vezzno

Honest Marmaduke's Funland, Dinoracing, Pool and Spa

Carter's Roads

The Groves

If you have any other ideas for towns or anywhere you wanna go just lmk!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That sucks. [bluntly. He has no patience for people who jump to those kind of conclusions.] It's a good thing you're here with us, then.

[She laughs, she can't help it, she didn't expect it to be a big deal, but Zoro's way to express his opinion is quite amusing. And very true.]

Mmhmm, I'm glad I came with you too. I never thought that I could have this... That I could be who I truly am, without hiding, and at the same time not be alone.

I don't mind to be alone if it means that I can be free, but...

[It's just so much better to be able to be free and accompanied.]

Freedom is better with a crew to share it.

[he remembers being alone, too. And how hard he resisted changing that status. Now, he wouldn't trade the crew for anything in the world.]

[Elsa smiles widely and brightly, her agreement clear and obvious.]

Looking back, I can't help but wonder if that was really freedom anyway. I was alone and able to use my powers and be myself, but I was also still scared of what could happen if I was found.

I'm still worried, of course, of somehow hurting someone with my power or with something I make. But it feels as if it's starting to fade a bit somehow.

[The fear. The worry will probably always be there, but it's nothing compared with the fear she had.]

...true. You're not truly free until fear and other things leave you. Until you give yourself up and put your life on the line.

There are worse things than giving someone a little frostbite, really.

[She nods, though her expression falls at the comment regarding frostbite.]

It's not giving someone a little frostbite that worries me, though. I was told when I was a child, that a strike of my powers to someone could be fatal but was treatable... So long as it hadn't hit the heart. There's no magic or way in the world capable of healing a frozen heart.

[At least as far as she knows, the trolls didn't mention it and the way the old troll explained the damage Elsa's sure that a strike to a heart would be immediately lethal.]

[it's been a while since he got a limb frozen by Aokiji, so he can't remember exactly how that went, but it sounds familiar. Something Chopper said, about how Robin's heart hadn't been affected]

I dunno. I'd think you would have to put some effort into reaching someone's heart. Deliberately.

Logic says so... But the trolls made it clear that it was something that I could do even accidentally as my powers keep getting stronger. If I could hurt my sister even at such a young age, I don't want to think what I could do now if I lost control again.

[It's a trauma ingrained far too deeply in her. Even now, away from her world and Anna, she can still see it clearly when she closes her eyes. She almost killed her sister as a child and her powers are now nothing but stronger, how can she not think that she could kill someone right away?]

Trolls?

[true, he should know that getting past something like that takes time and experience, not words. So Zoro won't be offering empty platitudes, only his trust.]

[She simply nods.]

They are magic creatures from my world. Their bodies are made of rock and they mimic those around people normally, unless the people are looking for them. When the accident happened and I hurt my sister, our father took us there to beg for help, knowing that they could help with their magic.

It was the eldest troll who saved Anna and who told me about the dangers of my powers... He showed us a vision explaining that my power was very beautiful, but also very dangerous, that fear would be my enemy... And that I would be killed by people who feared me.

[That wasn't what the troll meant, but none Elsa nor her parents understood it at the time and she still doesn't realize that the fear that is her enemy isn't the fear of others but her own. After all it makes sense, the images showed her with people who turned against her and attacked her, an agonic death cry with her own voice resounding as they did.]

[he can't help but be a little disturbed by that. Visions...aren't common, where he comes from, not counting the use of Observation haki. And he never met Sharley...]

Does that mean it's something that'll happen for sure in the future? Or is it something that can be changed?

[Her pained expression says everything, especially as she recalls the images and her arms move to wrap around herself instinctively. As if that would protect her.]

I don't know. My father tried to avoid it, to change it. He was sure I could control my powers, and did everything he could to allow me time for that.

We locked ourselves away from everyone as much as possible, my father still had to go out due his job, but Anna and me stayed home. I was put in a room of my own so no one would discover my powers, not even Anna who had forgot them thanks to the troll's magic. But that served for nothing, at the celebration ball after I took over my father's job I had an argument with Anna and... My power spilled. And suddenly it was like in the vision, people pointing at me, fear, anger and hate in their eyes, chasing me even as I tried to run away and said that I didn't want to hurt them.

Maybe running away was useless, maybe they will still find me and kill me. Or maybe that's just what would have happened had I been a fool and tried to talk with them, if I hadn't been cautious about my powers showing.

[his expression doesn't change, but there's a certain grimness in Zoro's good eye, as he takes it all in and processes. It really does sound like what Chopper went through, he wishes for other reasons that the little reindeer was there with them.]

Sometimes, the what-ifs aren't worth it. Fate, or maybe luck, has a hand in it. But I'd say, seeing you here riding a horse made of ice, means your father was probably right.

[He's right, Elsa tries very hard to not dwell on what-ifs, whether they are positive or not. Because no matter what, at the end all they do is hurt her inside. That's why she maintained that she would be safe in the North Mountain, not because she's naive and doesn't think she will be found, but because it's easier that way. What else could she do? Keep running away? The world is big, but there are people everywhere, people who would fear and chase her to execute the witch before she hurts them no matter what.

The only difference would be how long it takes for them to kill her and where she dies. The North Mountain is deserted, not many people approach there, if there's a place where she could have any illusion of safety, it's there. Well, there and with the Straw Hats.

She smiles shyly at the last comment, a mixture of happiness, pride and sadness in her eyes at the mention of her father.]

I suppose so. Though I'm not sure this is what he meant with that. I always used my powers when I was small, I wasn't afraid of doing so and no one told me not to. I was scolded a few times, of course, for causing someone to slip and fall, or for freezing my tutor's tea... Sometimes I even froze our nanny's behind. But after the accident, I had to learn to not use them, to now show them.

This... As impressive as it is, it's the complete opposite of what my father thought I needed.

[If her father appeared here, if he saw her as she is now... He would be disappointed, wouldn't he? Because she failed him, because she wasn't okay, all the sacrifices they made, all their efforts... And Elsa ruined them all with a wave of her hand.]

[haha frozen butts...I mean no.

Zoro breathes a little sigh]

It's working out though. You're getting good at it, none of the crew's been frozen. Don't worry about it.

I'll try not to.

[Her smile grows a bit.]

I can't understand how you can do it, trust someone so much and so firmly. It's... Amazing, at least from where I stand.

[Or rather, what surprises her is that they trust her. When not even she can trust herself, Luffy and the rest do it without question.]

Don't get me wrong. Trust is earned. But I'd say you've already earned it.

Besides, you have to trust your crew. Out there, even the ocean itself can be against you, you gotta put your trust in someone.

Oh, I don't doubt that trust is earned. I can hardly see you as someone who would hand that easily.

But... I don't really see how I've earned it, besides by just being nakama.

[Is it okay for her to use that word with others besides Luffy? She hopes so, she wants to be nakama and not just someone who happens to be in the same ship. But she has no real idea of how to properly do it other than try to be there and support them all the best way she can.]

Deciding to join the crew is a good start. And I don't mean just agreeing to be aboard the same ship.

[he's heard and seen enough, so far, to know that she understands what it means. And wants to be there. That's certainly enough to be nakama.]

[The answer makes her sigh in relief and brings out a calmer and slightly bigger smile to her face.]

Thank you, Zoro.

[She still isn't sure she's there yet, or if she's doing enough to be anywhere actually. But she's going to keep trying and doing her best. After all, even if she messes up, she's sure that they will just tell her so she can fix it rather than chase her out or anything bad.]

Have you been anywhere interesting here?

Eh, not really. [looking around as they walk] The drink is pretty good but the idiots in the towns changing their minds about laws every day is kind of annoying.

Has anyone already gotten into trouble because of that?

[Because she doesn't doubt it's going to happen at least once. Not with Luffy around.]

To be honest, I almost expect to walk into a town and be told that today it's illegal to ride ice sculptures.

Uh. Mm. Yeah, maybe.

[totally him]

If anybody says so, I'll knock 'em over. They don't know what they're talking about.

... What law was it?

[She's curious, sorry. And she laughs at the next part.]

Thank you, Zoro. Though I can do that myself, you don't have to bother yourself with it.

[grumblemutter] ...one of the towns outlawed swords.

I wanna be a Cowboy, baby!

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