Pacifista

One Piece: The Devil's Due (Always Accepting!)

RICO

---

Eve descending on Phoenix Beach, Rico’s flame was far from blazing. His shoulders slumped, he meandered down the streets that bustled without him, folk buzzing too and fro attractions, hopping from one to the next. “Look fun…” Rico moped, hands clutching the small wad of money, thus far only spent on food. Glancing up at the sky slowly growing darker, then to all the signs on the street advertising places of rest, Rico gritted his teeth, disgust plain, before moving along, path aimless as he went through a few side streets and alleys. The once lively boy was more like the walking dead, shuffling to a stop at a slightly sheltered area, a fence partly broken on one side, an old crate on the other. Curling up between the two, Rico slouched over, eyes closing. As the dim came, the young man tossing and turning, whether he was asleep or awake was uncertain.

After the moon was high and Rico’s groans of discomfort a shade quieter, a pair of bare feet happened to patter down the cobblestone walkway. Nose sniffing at the air, a man in a baggy coat with red cargo shorts passed by. Scraggles of blonde and gray hair stuck from under his bucket hat, his face coated in a gray stubble. “Oya oya oya,” he murmured, stopping to see Rico curled up out of the way. Ears perked up, he looked back and forth down the road, then to some of the nearby windows. Leaning down, he whispered, “He, kid, you don’t got a better place to sleep?”

Rico let out a low whine. Without opening his eyes, he muttered in a scratchy voice, “This spot is mine...”

“Sure is. I can’t say I want it. But if you’re looking for a nice piece of turf to cozy up in you can do way better.”

Rico cracked an eye open, the viewfinder narrow. “I don’t buy what you’re sellin’ gentlesir.”

“What am I sellin’ exactly?”

“You’re just gonna trick me!” Rico pouted, rolling over so his back faced the older man.

The fellow watched for a moment before taking a seat, legs crossed. “You’re not some Sunstrider runaway, huh? Off island?” A nod. “Yeah, culture shock will do that. The one who fails to legally defend themselves is in the wrong.”

“It’s stupid!” the two chanted in unison. Rico rolled back over, eyeing the old man, who added, “So much book smarts and jargon to squeeze a few extra cents out of people. A lot of pain in the ass for just another ‘tool to live’.”

Rico tilted his head. “I like your funny words, magic man. Say more of them.”

The man let his teeth shine their pale yellow shine. “Name's Wicc Fiforo, nice to meetcha.”

“Sorry that was like three too many.” Wicc’s face fell. “Aw I’m just fucking with you.” Wicc smiled again.

One Piece: The Devil's Due (Always Accepting!)

Saturday (+1)

Or +8, as it might be. I'm finally back from my vacation! And (aside from Daxam's Luna) we're all a bit behind. I will do my best to catch up to my posts/collabs within the next week though! Apologies for not doing a great job of keeping in touch but here's to looking forward~

One Piece: The Devil's Due (Always Accepting!)

Weekly update bubs!

First and foremost, while I will try and get a Rico post up in the next week, by this time next Saturday I will be a ways away from home on vacation. I will have internet/a computer, so I will try to keep up with things, but we’ll have to see!

@Restalaan and I are still working on the collab. We’re expecting a Luna post around the 25th from @Daxam. And, uh, every other character (myself included with Rico) is a bit late, so I can’t say much! I can ping @Hillan, @Yankee, @LostDestiny, @pkken, and @BigOlLewbowski though yo keep in touch!

Keep it cool this summer, all.

One Piece: The Devil's Due (Always Accepting!)

<Snipped quote by Pacifista>

Awesome, do you have a link or did you mean the site discord

@Bacon is fluffy

I mean the RP discord, it's on the first post of the OOC (and also here!).

One Piece: The Devil's Due (Always Accepting!)

Soupeeeeeeeerrrrrr (is there rooom)

@Bacon is fluffy

Always! Feel free to join the discord for ease of communication as you work on your character

One Piece: The Devil's Due (Always Accepting!)

Whoops, running late this Saturday.

So, I’m currently doing a collab with @Restalaan, accounting for Coriander and Haku. I’ve been a bit too distracted to get to planning anything with Rico yet, unfortunately. @pkken and @Daxam finished their collab (and we got another Sol post on top of that!), though Valery's was technically due yesterday. Daxam is still due for a Luna post, and a Sol post would be cool to see around the 17th. @BigOlLewbowski got the first Imelda post up, and hopefully we’ll see the next one on the 17th! @Hillan and @LostDestiny have been keeping in touch about their delays regarding Anna, Morgan, and Maxwell.

Thanks again everybody!

One Piece: The Devil's Due (Always Accepting!)

CATHERINE CORIANDER

---

Blue eyes were wide open, though all that filled them was darkness. Catherine Coriander lay flat on her back, sandwiched in between Peppermint and Rue, the two breathing slowly in their sleep. Further out was her parents, Marjoram and Hyssop. She could tell her father wasn’t quite asleep, the man trying to find a better position in his tossing and turning. It was a wonder anyone could sleep in this mass of blankets and bodies, for the night was full of sound. A storm raged through, one Cicely claimed was stronger than any he remembered from the last few decades. Coriander had been hoping for rainfall lately, and her wish had been granted with a bit more force than hoped for or expected.

She couldn’t really ‘hear’ the shuffling and breathing of the whole town about her, everyone in the town hall. It was the largest and sturdiest building in Tune Town. All the chairs had been moved aside for a rare ‘mega-sleepover’ (as Sorrel dubbed it). It wasn’t improbable that a storm of this magnitude would rip a few local homes asunder. Rather than leave some of their own out and stranded, none able to hear calls for help in the worst case scenario, everyone had come here to wait out the weather. With food and card games, the lot were able to wait out the time until lights out, though that was in name only, the occasional lightning flickering through the windows. By this hour, windows still rattling, the occasional rumble of thunder distant, Coriander knew she wasn’t going to get much more sleep. And that was fine, she wasn’t tired at all. Honestly, she’d rarely felt more awake and lucid. This density of people wasn’t something she’d ever experienced before. Even if she couldn’t hear the rise and fall of dozens of breathes, the shuffling how blankets and limbs across the wood floor, the errant snore or someone managing the best sleep possible in the worst of conditions, she could feel it all. It was meditative, this feeling of calm and unity, this absolute togetherness.

Rue shivered a little, her blanket having slipped off. Coriander pulled in the young girl, doing the same with Peppermint just in case. For some reason, Verbena wanted tonight of all nights to be the boy’s time to hang out and play alone. Maybe they were trying to challenge the Raijin that might steal their uncovered bellybuttons in the thunder? Raijin knew Coriander has issued the same challenge in the past. Midriff baring was a little inappropriate for a mixed gender hangout, so the three of them now slept with their respective parents, while Rue and Peppermint (the latter an orphan, the former separated from seafaring parents as usual) had been dumped onto Cori. Taking in the warmth of the two sleeping girls, Coriander continued to take in the vibe for as long as she was conscious. She awoke to see light bashing against her eyelids, waking to a coat of red while her cheeks were being pushed together by a pair of small hands. “Cori, we’re gonna get breakfast,” Peppermint said.

“Did ar haus die?” Coriander wondered through squished cheeks.

Extracting herself, Coriander sat up, stretching her stiff muscles. The storm had cleared in the morning, most of the folk waking up themselves, complaining or laughing about their various states of sleep. As she stood, still dressed in her habit (a raincoat bundled up with everyone else’s a short step away), there was a pull of heads, everyone looking to Burnet’s arrival.

“There’s some broken windows, some vanished sheds, and water damage here and there, but all the houses are still standing!” Burnet called out. There was a chorus of cheers. “Yosh!” Dill grunted, he and his fellow loggers and woodworkers getting a few well earned claps on the back.

“Are you coming with us, Rue?” Cori wondered, looking around for Verbena and his family. Rue typically stayed with them, on account of her and Verbena’s parents being rather longtime friends (Rue allegedly cried for hours when she was told Verbena wasn’t actually her big brother, which she vehemently denies).

“No!” Rue cried out, bangs over her furrowed brow, her teddy held tightly as she pouted. Coriander imagined she’d be over Verbena pulling away from her last night by noon. In the meantime, Coriander had two little sisters today.

“What are you guys feeling like? Pancakes or waffles?” Marjoram offered the two guests with a smile.

“Pancakes!” Rue cried.

“Waffles!” Peppermint requested.

“Poppy told me to go easy on the sugar…” Hyssop admitted.

As they crossed the threshold of the doorway, stepping into the sunlight, Marjoram looked to Coriander, expecting a tiebreaker. Under Rue and Peppermint’s pleading glances, she frowned, “I wanna pick what I want.”

“If you pick waffles it means you don’t love me,” Rue growled.

Peppermint’s face fell. “I love you, Rue.”

Rue lit up. “You’ll change your pick to pancakes?”

“I don’t have a waffle iron at my house…”

Rue’s eyes widened. “Wait, you can make pancakes whenever you want?” Peppermint nodded. Rue’s gears turned underneath her pink bow.

“We’re having waffles then, but don’t think you can bug Peppermint for food whenever you feel like it,” Marjoram warned firmly. Rue whistled innocently (she couldn’t whistle, so it was more like she stuttered air through pursed lips).

Skimming the dockside, the group caught a murmur of anticipation and wonder. Fingers and gazes pointed to the ocean, their walk slowing to the stop as they caught notice of a sight not seen at Melody Island in Catherine’s lived history, and more. Bristling with cannons, the top of the mainmast blackened and scarred, the hull striped with black and navy: the Marines had landed.

A Stormy Day of Melody:

Thunderstruck Kirin

One Piece: The Devil's Due (Always Accepting!)

SATURDAY.

Some awesome posts this week! And a new player and character~

Since the Sunstrider group is currently separate, I’ll be hoping for weekly posts. @Hillan is due for one for Morgan and @LostDestiny is due for one with Anna, both on the 12th. I personally have not thought much about advancing with Rico, and would like to get a better scope of the timeline on Sunstrider before I move too far ahead, so I’ll be trying to figure out some interludes for him in the meantime. @Restalaan and I are still getting to starting our arc for Coriander and Haku on Melody Island, and I’m currently waiting on him as needed.

Outside of that, we got the collab between Sol and Valery (@Daxam and @pkken)! They’ve met and parted ways, so hopefully we can see more posts from their individual stories again around the 14th. Also this is the first time two PCs have canonically interacted in the game thus far! Happy almost 4 month anniversary?

Destiny is a shade overdue with Maxwell. @Yankee’s managing to keep in touch. Daxam should hopefully get a Luna post up around the 12th. And @BigOlLewbowski might have the first Imelda post up by the 13th!

Thanks all for the continued contact and activity. And I’m always looking forward to more~

One Piece: The Devil's Due (Always Accepting!)

Ram D. Imelda

@BigOlLewbowski

Accepted! (Can you believe this is our second pirate captain in the whole RP after 4 months?) Super straightforward character concept, which I mean in a good way, as it's also one that can potentially be involved in a bunch of cool stories! Go ahead and put her in the character tab.

One Piece: The Devil's Due (Always Accepting!)

Hey! Sorry I missed last week’s update, but I wasn’t feeling up to it. I was also anticipating the first newspaper post, which you can check out now! It summarizes some IC events as seen from the perspective of the World Government (embellished or dramatized as needed), and suggests at some other potentially important happenings on the seas, plus a little scene with some potential implications for later on in the story! I’ll be aiming to do more as everyone's stories continue~

So, as far as updates: we got a cool Maxwell post so hopefully @LostDestiny can keep it up with another one on the 3rd (especially after the latest development). @Daxam is a shade behind with Luna. I haven’t heard from @Yankee in a minute, unfortunately. And all the other characters (including but not limited to @Hillan, @Restalaan, and @pkken) are dealing with collab stuff, though I’m aware of who is expected to contribute/post next. Keep up the good work everyone!