concoursec | Family Meeting for the gang / Semi-Closed

Entry tags:

Family Meeting for the gang / Semi-Closed

Characters: Marco, Grell Sutcliff, Thatch, Namur, Espio, and Tobias Hayes
Location: ~Around the Garden~
Rating: Hopefully PG-13. Let's keep violence/sex to a minimum okay?
Open/Closed/Finished: Semi-Closed (if another character wants to grab Marco for something it's available!)
Summary: Tattoo adjustments, family meeting, Marco stepping up as Captain

Sometime after the whole mission with Grell & Thatch, but before Namur also leaves on missions, Marco finally addresses the family cohesion "situation." Okay, so it's not exactly a situation anymore, but he's still concerned and there are things he needs to address with each and every member of the family, and with all of them together. And if there are going to be anymore miniature explosions, he'd rather they were now when he can handle them, then later at a very very bad time.

He hunts down everyone individually to make it clear that this meeting is not optional and if he has to pick them up and carry them there, he will. He also has needles and ink with him... so that might be a bit creepy. He gave himself plenty of time before all this though, since the meeting will be at dinnertime (which he has prepared) and throughout the whole day he goes around hunting everyone down.

Luckily, Namur is probably the easiest -- ironically? -- since Namur already was on the same page as Marco about it, and why Toby would normally be the easiest, Marco had a tendency to fall into a giddy Papabird mode that just wanted to play around with his favorite son whenever he was with the kid. As such, Toby is saved for last, since Marco can just ask him to come.

[ooc: there will be a big family thread everyone can go in any order on, because there are too many to go organized, and then separate threads for everyone.]

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Marco grinned amicably, belying his real thoughts about the whole situation, and he merely grabbed the fishman under the gills by the cheeks again. "I'm not giving you a tattoo until you've had far more time to think about it. Especially since that wasn't what I was asking for. I'm not your captain because of a symbol. I'm your captain because you trust me and I'm your brother. The add-in to the symbol isn't for me. It's for them."

He tugged on the cheeks even more and then messed with Namur's ears too to make a point of it all. "I don't know if you're really up to it anyway." It was taunting, of course. To make Namur want to prove he was absolutely up to it, and just to mess with his bro. "Oi, Grell, what kind of captain am I?"

He asked the question without looking back to his hot-tempered redheaded wife. Yet another question with the answer he was trusting laid in her hands. He didn't say it, but the "correct" answer was basically that he expected Grell had no idea yet. And that was Marco's point. He hadn't been a captain long, not really, not in actual practice of it, he'd just been himself for the last three and a half years he'd been in the garden, and that was okay. He still had a long way to go, and Marco didn't want to wake up and suddenly be the captain immediately. He'd do things his own way, just like his father meant had always meant him to, and whatever that would come to mean, Namur would find out along with the rest of them.

"How the Fates should I know?!" Grell huffed out, crossing her arms before speaking again. "Last I checked, you didn't even WANT to be captain!" She guessed Marco realized he couldn't escape what he was meant for. "I'm not sure what a captain should possess in terms of a skill set, but..." She looked to them, wondering how much of this would even get through. "I don't think I would follow anyone else. Perhaps I'm slightly biased."

After all, she was his wife.

"We all do idiotic things at any given time. Why not under a common banner?"

Marco burst out laughing, a sound of pure joy and delight, and amusement with it all.

"Exactly."

He let go of Namur's cheeks, but grinned up at him. "I didn't have any idea what kind of captain Pops would be when I agreed to follow him either. He was new to it, kind of beyond weird, and it was taking a big risk. I didn't know what he was going to do most of the time, and a lot of the time, the things he did do scared the hell out of me. The best I could promise was to trust him and me to find a way to survive, and barring that, just enjoy it."

Marco stepped back and helped Thatch to his feet. "We're family because we want to be. We'll fight. I'm going to do some pretty crazy things and sometimes I'm going to scare the hell out of all of you. Are you strong enough to tell me off for it?" That was the part that had frustrated Marco the most with Namur. Rather than take it to Marco's face, he'd run off. Well, no. Namur was just trying to find the right way to process it all at once and avoid the added rage from blood. Justifiable, but it still assumed that Marco was ignorant, oblivious, or unable to handle that side of Namur. And Marco could handle anything Namur threw at him because he was Marco. As Namur's captain it was just that much more of an aggravation.

"Can you trust me to protect the others while still trusting me to keep you all safe? I already told you to trust me with your all, eh." Everything. Bites, temper, honesty, craziness, everything. Wasn't that what they were trying to tell Ace they would accept of him? Everything. Crazy murderous assassin attempts, emo moods and wild rages, and all. And it was easier for Marco to accept all of that from Namur than most others. He already knew the shark fishman inside out. He'd see him through wars, he'd taken care of him more deeply than many married couples had been through. Because they were nakama, because they were brothers. "I don't know what you think I'm doing here Namur, but I'm still Marco. I always will be."

The first son of Whitebeard, a blue phoenix, ridiculous sometimes, violent other times, strong, capable, reliable, but also with faults. As a person, and even more as a commander. Somewhere beneath all the blue feathers and immortality, he was still human. He was still messed up, and he still depended on his brothers to keep him in check, and that included Namur. He needed them to trust him with their all, true, but he would never order them. Not as a commander, and not as a captain. If he was wrong, they needed to stand up and punch him, to do their best to kick his ass. If they didn't, Marco would never know he'd messed up. If they couldn't trust him to handle them doing that, the way they always had, the way Whitebeard had handled Ace, then what kind of captain could Marco be?

Marco whistled quietly to himself, pleased that Grell at least had responded to the cue the way he expected. Thatch too for that matter. Thatch he could trust to explain shit to Namur if Marco's words didn't sink in at least. Well, he probably could. Thatch was being...

Aw shit. Thatch was acting like him back when Marco was young and insanely over-defensive and overprotective of Whitebeard with the others. Well, perhaps that was only fair. To be expected even.

Marco rested both hands on the back of his neck and started his stroll back to the room to find his son and fix whatever damage had been dealt there. "Try not to let dinner get cold, yoi," he reminded the three adults.

Edited 2013-08-12 04:23 (UTC)

He shouldn't trust Thatch with that. Thatch wasn't even sure if he could do this right. Being first mate meant he needed to take care of others. Make sure they all knew what was going on. It was something he'd agreed to, even sort of decided it but-- it seemed like a lot all of a sudden. Old people and new people, trust and distrust. They'd eventually spin together but right now everything felt just a touch chaotic.

He wanted to move closer to Marco. But he shoved his hands in his pockets instead, ignoring the bruise on his side and absently tonguing the cut on his cheek. He was tired, but there was still more of this night left to go and he still hadn't gotten the tattoo yet. Man it was going to be a long night.

Namur had the distinct impression that apparently, he picked wrong. But Marco is confusing, too. He made it sound like he wanted everyone to step up and be part of this new family/crew hybrid thing- and that meant altering the tattoo on his flank- but then he said it was only for the others anyway? Namur had a hard time straightening out all of Marco's dizzy circles on a good day.

This was not shaping up to be a good day.

"Oi, shitty Featherhead!" Namur started after Marco. A few steps at first, but they quickly sped to a run. Marco did say earlier that he wanted Namur's bite, and that part at least was clear. "Y' ain't makin' any damn sense! Y' want me t' fight y', then y' got t' turn 'round an' fight me, not jus' laugh in my face! Y' want me t' bite y', jus' t' show y' I will?" He ducked his head and plowed into Marco's back, taking a chunk of flesh and muscle out of the side.

"There! Y' happy now?"

Ow.

That actually hurt you bastard!

Marco did his best to flip Namur and wrestle him into the floor even while rapidly regenerating everything he could. "Actually, aye! I am!" Marco grinned somewhat ferally and pinned his brother down, just to prove he was stronger than he looked. "Silly guppy, you think you can take me? You'll have to eat whole fleets of ships before you can dent this skin!" Wrestle wrestle!

"You're still a baby in my eyes and don't think you'll ever grow out of it!"

Simple words, but with the weight of decades behind them. Something Whitebeard had said once to Marco, something Marco had said to his other brothers.

"You think you're ready to move into the future? Ready to stop clinging to the past? Well I'm not! So you better make sure you give me that push when you know I need it!" A haphazard punch to the shark cheeks more for emphasis than to really land or do any damage. "Because I'm always going to keep counting on you, stupid!" Followed by a headbutt, that Marco almost instantly regretted. What the hell, was he Ace now? Ow. He stopped wrestling to rub his forehead a little. "I don't want to change your Whitebeard mark. Of all of us, you're the one with one gill anchoring us home. And I need that. I need you to be the one who represents all of that side." In between worlds. No one else could do it. Namur was a fishman surrounded by humans, and right in the middle of the pack. Age-wise he wasn't old compared to half of them, but he wasn't nearly as young as half of them either. The one who could bind everyone together by bridging all worlds. Old and new.

Marco ran a finger up the 8 on Namur's neck and mentally drew a pair of crossbones through it. "Here. Infinity, right? Infinity and family. We aren't 16 divisions anymore though. Even back home, I don't think we will be. But we're not broken either."

A head tilt and Marco tugged Namur into a tight hug. "Sound good?"

It took him by surprise, really. To not change the crew's mark, but the one for his Division? Namur hadn't seen that one coming.

"Uh."

But that time, Marco's explanation actually made sense. At least the last part of it did, because they had lost so many, sixteen Divisions wouldn't be necessary. It hit him harder than Thatch ever had, and he was glad Marco had already scooped him up into a hug because there were a lot of faces suddenly flashing through his mind. A lot of voices he remembered crying out then going still. It wasn't just Ace, and the Old Man, though they had stood for everyone else. Namur made a choked noise in the back of his throat, swallowed, then nodded.

"Yeah, sounds good, bro."

Shut up he wasn't crying.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when Namur charged and it was all he could do not to belt the Fishman in the face again. But then Marco was wrestling him and it was all find apparently and damn this was a long night. He felt a cold chill from his core and tried to shake it off. But now at least they were better even if Namur was crying. Being reminded of all that was lost. Aye... change came hard.

He let them have their moment and started back toward he room, rubbing his own tattoo absently. When he arrived he saw the window open and Toby and Espio gone and sat with a heavy sigh.

Fucking hell. What now?

Marco held on very tightly. He wasn't kidding about not fully being ready either. There were a lot of things he wasn't ready to let go of, and Marco had never been good at letting go of anything to begin with. "We'll get through it together," he said it calmly enough, but the way he held onto the shark-man's head spoke volumes more than his tone ever could.

Seeing Namur charge at Marco rose an eyebrow at first, but seeing him take a chunk out of her husband was...not expected. Seeing muscle and flesh being ripped off her husband was enough to make her draw out her DEATHSCYTHE and--

She managed to stop herself after a few steps, seeing that Marco didn't do much in retaliation. Her green eyes watched them carefully, really hoping to not have to slice up Namur for doing that. The hugging and play fighting cause her to relax, but didn't give her enough reason to hide her weapon. Seeing that Marco truly couldn't be harmed like that is a relief, but what if Time Compression decided to take that away?

With a huff, she turned to go back to where they were, following Thatch. The room was empty, but it wasn't before. Did they seriously just leave? She closed her eyes, concentrating on them.

"They're not outside of Garden," she said aloud, leaning her weapon on her shoulder. "But they aren't together." She opened her eyes, but they're confused. "Odd."

"I'd bet my money that Toby left and Espio followed." Because if they weren't together then he doubted Espio would have left first. Not if Toby cold stop him so easily when he wanted to go. So something had upset the kid. Maybe them fighting. Maybe the conflict. Who could tell? He didn't have that kind of haki anyway to sense them.

"Namur and Marco will be able to find them, unless you have a better idea of where Toby-boy might have gone."

"I know exactly where both of them are." But she wasn't really budging to go get them. Not yet. "Toby is rather good at hiding, so it will be some time before Espio finds him."

"Think it's a better idea to leave them to it?" A sincere question since he doesn't know the dynamics of that relationship well enough.

Marco cocked his head to the side as he wandered in. "Why is Toby hiding?" He glanced at the untouched food and frowned. "I stopped him from eating dinner for this so..." So he was going to go pick up his kid and make him eat no matter what. Mama bird mode!!!

Namur wasn't far behind Marco. He wasn't really looking forward to dealing with the other two but there wasn't any point in avoiding them either. He already felt like a dumbass for splitting everyone up in the first place.

"Shit, this is why I went t' get some air. So the damn brats wouldn't have t' feel threatened."

"A fight was bound to happen either way," Thatch said, waving a hand. With that much tension in the room? But what happened happened. "Nevermind. Let's forget about why." He glanced at Marco. "What now?"

Marco tugged on the shark's cheeks again. "Don't underestimate my son or Espio. If you think they're scared of you, you're an idiot. They probably left for the same reason you did!" Have a flick to the forehead.

God but Marco has trouble understanding all these attempts for self-sacrifice. It's like everyone feels responsible and doesn't want to be selfish so they try to protect the others from themselves. Worst pirates ever!

"For Fate's Sake..." Honestly, This Family™. She was really tired of everyone not staying in one place.

"Toby doesn't just run away for a flmsy reason!" She finally put away her weapon and going to a seat. "Let them handle it on their own! They'll have to do so, anyway!" Grell looked to the open window, really wondering why Toby was hiding. "They aren't DEAD, so we should wait until tomorrow for any news." She looked to everyone else still there. "If anyone leaves before the food is gone, I WILL KILL YOU. Now sit!"

"Bossy bastard, ain't y'?" Namur muttered. Oddly, there was a tiny hint of humor in his tone, though he was decidedly not sitting.

"Well if it ain't me that run 'em off then what did?" Namur looked back and forth between Marco and Grell. "Y' ain't got any rivals y' haven't told us 'bout, do y'?"

A frown. "Rivals?" Like someone who'd want to assassinate Toby to get to Marco or Grell? No, that was laughable. But Toby had a demon lurking underneath the surface, same as all of them except for Espio. Ironically.

"No, they're safe... but what about Toby? He hasn't eaten yet either!" Okay that was a bit more sulky and petulant than he meant it to be.

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Family Meeting for the gang / Semi-Closed

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