Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.
Holly- Yay!
Chapter 4 - Trust in the simplest of forms
Who needs friends?
I for one have never been particularly sociable.
Bridges are easily burned, too many have already been completely obliterated. Far too many. The breaking of friendships, destroying of bonds, it hurts. Every single time I've been the one to lick wounds closed.
There comes a point in every person's life where you just give up. Give up on having friendships and relations with people, because more often than not it's easier, less painful, less demanding. You no longer have to be paranoid about a person's true feelings about who you are, and you won't have to deal with eventually getting stabbed in the back.
Everyone is two-face. Everyone has things that they simply despise. Everyone has skeletons in their closet.
But that's okay.
Realising these things sooner, opposed to much later, about a person makes the whole enlightening process a lot less difficult to swallow.
Not to say that all people are the same; every person is different. Unique.
This however, makes it much more difficult to see a person's true colours, especially when trivial emotions like 'love' and 'adoration' get in the way of enabling you to examine what's actually there.
It's better to be alone.
Alone?
I smile. I couldn't be alone even if I tried. But that doesn't mean to say that I don't get lonely at times.
In this very room I am one out of thirty, and I feel completely cut off from the world. I don't desire any companions to partake in this loneliness though, no way. Not real friendships at least.
I can't selfishly expect people to understand me. That ship set sail a long time ago. It isn't anyone's fault, not even my own. It's just how the world works. And it's easier, much more comfortable not to try than to incessantly explain myself.
I sigh and fidget slightly in my seat.
Today is dragging it's hind-legs sluggishly. I'm silently praying to some unknown Lord of Time that the day will end quickly. I believe that there's probably a God of Time in Shintoism, there are far too many belonging to that religion to keep track of.
I imagine Old Father Time, swooping down with the force of a tornado and shoving those pesky miniscule hands on the clock's face to the hour that we're meant to leave. I want to go home already.
Home.
Home is where a person feels naively safe from every danger that the outside world has to offer. However, the world doesn't always work so idealistically. For some, the threats can lurk within the house itself.
My home, that I've lived in now for the past 3 years, feels safer than any other place this earth has to offer.
Sturdy walls, alarm systems, multiples locks on the doors and windows. I sleep soundly every single night, and so do the other occupants of No.17 Luthor Street.
Sharing a house with three other people had been difficult at first, I had been used to retiring to my room whenever I wasn't out. Seeing and speaking to no one unless called for. Now, with other voices to be head, voices that more often than not rely on me, I find it difficult to ignore. I miss them too, even if most times during the day some of the voices are absent to beckon me with.
It's weird, being the one to leave the house for a change. Not waiting around those people who always return at the right time. Like clockwork.
A change in routine would usually scare me, because I rely on it, the little things. I live for things being in their proper place. I live for things rotating harmoniously. At one point in my life I'd get incredibly stressed just by the clocks going forwards an hour, or the milk expiring before I even had a chance to use it all.
I've changed.
The no-name kid is lost to the world.
Vacant hazel eyes seem almost eerie. The lights are on but nobody's home.
It's the third period of the day; Biology with Mr Rilluk. Tied as my favourite subject with Science. I love facts. They are easy to rely on, flawless. Both subjects are quick to grasp my attention.
I'm not against theories and estimations per say, but in my opinion the world is a far better place with viable evidence to go by.
I like order, proof, the details that make up everything and why. I like to be in control.
This is a lifestyle that I adopted after growing up in the dark. Not the cold, black endlessness that one could associate with the word, it's the darkness where everything can be seen yet not understood, where information is withheld.
It gives one the feeling of disorientating helplessness. Frustration. Yearning.
For Biology everyone has to get into pairs, we're labelling the Human Skeleton. So by default I make a beeline for Eustass.
From the edge of my peripheral I see the new kid partnering somewhat reluctantly with Basil Hawkins. Which makes me want to laugh and pity them at the same time - no one usually approaches the boy with the strange brow tattoos. The strange mannerisms and creepy aura is enough to keep even Monkey D. Luffy at bay.
After the lesson has finished and we have a 15 minute break, I notice that the pair is still sat together on the other side of the room.
Hawkins is reading the new kid's tarot cards (just one of his peculiar hobbies) and whatever is being said can't be very happy conversation because they both have grim and slightly horrified expressions.
I feel like scoffing at both of them for being so serious over a pack of cards. Crystal balls, tarot cards, reading tea leaves, all that has to do with divination is utterly ridiculous in my opinion. But I can't blame the new kid for taking Hawkins so seriously, the guy can make even the most strong-willed of men slightly deterred.
One of his gifts I suppose, the creepy bastard.
The kid makes their way over to sit beside me once again, and they're in a daze. A destination a million miles away in a concealed location. I take advantage of the absence and examine their face some more, trying to discover any more hints of a gender that could be there.
Ivory skin is spattered with golden freckles, they almost seem to glitter with their multitude. Their face is delicate, a soft jaw and high cheekbones with slightly puckered pink lips. They're beautiful, in a strange way.
"Thank you."
I blink twice. The words escape my mouth before I can even place them.
The words plunge into the kid's reverie like an especially sharpened harpoon, dragging them back to shore with a start. They give me an enlightened stare.
"Huh?" Eloquent.
I gawk right back, licking my lips.
"For… The pills?" I mentally slap myself so hard that I nearly outwardly cringe. I should really work on my people skills.
I feel myself get slightly nervous, because the kid continues to look at me for a long few seconds and I swear I can hear the clock on the wall ticking.
What's wrong with me?
The smile they give me takes me by complete surprise. It's wide and toothy, the effect astounding as the world seems to get brighter for the next couple of seconds before they speak.
"It was nothing, honest."
I marvel at them slightly.
I've never been one to show gratitude, not in the two-worded tasking way that always makes me feel awkward - it's why I usually avoid accepting things from other people - but whatever it is that's different this time, I feel a lot better for saying it. A million times better, even.
I hold out my right hand.
"Trafalgar Law."
Self-introduction isn't something that comes naturally to me. To a bystander this probably looks incredibly awkward. Even more awkward because of the awkward name, and not to mention my even more awkward tendencies.
I'm overthinking this.
The kid takes my hand in their own and shakes it, another warming smile in place.
"Dakota Seagrave."
Holly- The only time I've ever given a self-introduction in my life was this one time in Japanese to some exchange students. I sort of shouted and it was probably terrifying. Sumimasen! I have no people skills!
