[Text]

[desert_queen]

I'm looking for one of my assistants, she's gone missing.

Robin, are you there? We've got work to do.

[You might, however, find yourself in a busy port town with a bustling shopping scene. And in that town, you might just run across a tiny woman with a miniature bananawani hatchling sticking out of a very expensive purse. She's got her cigarette in a beautiful holder, a hoard of shopping bags hanging on her other arm, and she's definitely a little on the irritated side.

She's got a damn king to marry, and an idiot princess to dispose of fast. Or that's what she had to do. Who knows how she's going to manage now? Or more, how this world of worlds is going to manage having her.]


(OOC: Lady Crocodile, no hook, but you might wanna be careful around that hand anyway.)

Comments

[desert_queen]

[Well, there she goes. She was hoping somehow that this Robin belonged with her, her partner is a crucial part of her schemes and organization. Not irreplaceable, of course, but entirely beneficial and hard to replace effectively. Unless this Robin is her's from the future somehow, and she'd hate to think that all of her work went downhill, this is someone else's partner.]

A pity. I read about how they failed. It's pathetic. Men like that can't control themselves.

[fleurista]

[Now that's an interesting response, with a lot to read between the lines.]

Nor can they control others nearly as well as they would like.

[Text]-Private, secure

[desert_queen]

[She's had this conversation before, with her Robin. About how the weak and impulsive can't control anyone, much less themselves. It's kind of a bittersweet moment, somehow. She misses her own Robin a bit. Things were easier with her there. And she almost acted as a friend of sorts.

How stupid and sentimental of her, to feel that way.

It's not that she's somehow less of a crime powerhouse as a woman, no she considers herself far above her male counterparts. But she's learned that keeping important people around benefits her. A little forgiveness once in a while, a little tolerance? It's kept her successful. Even if she only acts on these things for the sake of keeping powerful people under her thumb.

The problem is that some people have the damn audacity to push themselves above simply useful in her heart. Robin is one of them. And it pisses her off to no end.]

Seems like it. Those idiots couldn't even keep their organizations together. Much less stay out of the Marine's hands.

Did they really lose to that scrawny brat? I can't imagine it. [That Strawhat kid can't be her undoing. But the stupid princess was seen with them... This means they need to have an eye kept on them to a higher degree.]

Private/secure going forward

[fleurista]

[Robin's memories are much less kind -- but of course, there's the mutual murder attempts to remember. Helping Luffy at Marineford earns some forgiveness, but not total -- and of course, that doesn't apply to this version. She's soaking up as much as she can from this carefully and conspicuously non-specific conversation, enough to deeply intrigue her.]

It is the risk inherent in being a warlord. It seems as though there is no target as desirable to the Marines as someone who formerly claimed the immunity of that title.

He indeed lost to 'that scrawny brat.' As have several other holders of that title.

[And so you make the same mistake, she carefully doesn't say. No need to point out the ways in which Luffy's immaturity is both utterly honest and deeply deceptive.]

[desert_queen]

[At this point, she can't imagine trying to kill someone so damn valuable. It's like tossing out an older fur, simply because it doesn't go with a newer wardrobe. That said, she's a good deal more patient than her male counterparts. A woman's behavior, and what methods become most effective for them, vary strongly from a man's right to act however they please as long as they're strong enough to back it up. No, years of being patient and quiet, faking smiles and gentle coyness has actually managed to teach her to be more cunning and to see the value of things on another level.]

I have no plans on throwing away the benefits of that title. Civil War is nasty business. That much blood is a last resort, not a first. My plan is far more efficient. And profitable.

I'm sorry my idiot counterparts couldn't appreciate you like they should have. But I pay well, and wouldn't mind another brilliant mind to help me with my work. Having a woman around really makes things go smoothly. So if you need funding for your research, you can find it with me. [She really is curious about her counterparts now. But not per say, in a positive way.] Looks like he's someone to watch. The world keeps getting bigger and bigger. Underestimating people is a stupid tactic.

[fleurista]

[In another time, in another life, it would be a tempting offer. Of the wide variety of people Robin worked with over the years, most of the deeply unpleasant, Sir Crocodile was probably one of the more effective, certainly one of the most clever and subtle. Seeing what that same core person would become with the addition of the wiles needed to survive in an often brutal world as a woman... that would be an intriguing idea.

But here and now, with the first people she's been able to call family... ever, really, there's no contest.]

That's flattering. [At least that she can say genuinely.] But I'm afraid I'm rather committed at the moment.

[desert_queen]

Suit yourself. But I'll be here if those commitments fall through. [She's not particularly disappointed. She'll find her own Robin in time, she supposes. And that Salvador she met, who still makes her think of Doflamingo, is acceptable company for the time being.] Speaking of commitments, if I can't find my partner in time, would you like me to send you her dress? It's custom, and I'd hate for it to go to waste just because of my maid of honor is MIA.

[fleurista]

[Maid of honor? Now that's something Robin genuinely wouldn't have expected to hear.

Then again, this is still Crocodile. It's surely in furtherance of some plot or other.]

If anyone can manage to get clothing delivery to a ship in the middle of the New World, it would be you. I won't say no. As you say, it would be a shame for it to go to waste.

[desert_queen]

[Oh, it's absolutely a part of a plot. Robin might come across newspapers while she travels, proudly announcing Warlord Lady Crocodile to become the bride of his majesty Nefertari Cobra. She's so over massive acts of death and blood. That's for brutal men who don't know how to get ahead gently. Everything is a calculated act, even happily supposedly bringing Vivi into her organization to train her and teach her what she'll need to know to protect herself in these hard times of civil unrest. She and her Robin have been planning one hell of a wedding. And one hell of a murder to come.

Ugh, she hates all of it but the excess and the murder part of it. That will be fun. Then she'll be a queen, and she'll have her goal without the risk of failure that these stupid male counterparts have managed.

They're so useless. They make her remember what she was, and she hates them more for it.] I'll find a way. I always do. It's easier with my Robin with me, but you know how talented and useful you are. [She's actually starting to miss her. As much as she can miss anyone at all, but still.]

[fleurista]

[The papers are an absolute mess these days, overlapping timelines and duplicates of people who really should not be duplicated, but Robin's vocation has prepared her well for making sense of competing stories and general confusion. She's really not thrilled with any of it.]

False humility is not among my many sins, it's true.

[She'll accept compliments from those who might be foes; this Crocodile certainly isn't a friend, even if they are not currently in direct opposition.]

[desert_queen]

False humility is one of the greater assets a woman can have dealing with a world of idiotic pirate fools. They think I'm weak. That I'm only ruling through my connections.

It leaves them open. And even more useless than they'd already been. But that's my game. Not yours.

[fleurista]

It's a strategy.

[Not one Robin has generally chosen in the past, and now of course the need for that sort of subterfuge is generally over.]

Of course, there are those who aren't so foolish.

[desert_queen]

They're few and far between.

I'm sure you've met a few by now. But I'm lacking in that kind of company.

[fleurista]

But all the more dangerous for it.

Who is still with you?

[Or really, how far has Luffy gotten in pulling Baroque Works apart, for this alternate Crocodile? If Alabasta hasn't fallen apart yet...]

[desert_queen]

I won't pretend this isn't something to consider. But so few means it's less of an issue.

Avoiding a civil war has it's benefits. I'm safe, and the organization is intact.

[fleurista]

It sounds as though that isn't all you avoided.

[Which makes her wonder about the Luffy that corresponds to this Lady Crocodile, but there are things she feels it better not to ask.]

[desert_queen]

If you're talking about Straw Hat? He's not in the way. Yet.

[fleurista]

Yet.

Of course, with things as they are now, who knows how that will end up.

[desert_queen]

There's absolutely nothing he can do, without inciting war himself. I'm well protected, and careful. [And oh so slightly nervous.]

[fleurista]

[As well she should be. Since when does Luffy flinch back from inciting war? Not that she thinks she'll share that thought.]

I'm sure you are. If you're anything like the Crocodile I knew, you've planned for everything foreseeable.

[desert_queen]

[All she knows about Luffy is that he should be avoided. And kept busy. His notes bring up some basic facts, his bounty information, but that's not enough to really combat him.

It's time to get creative. She's good at that.] It's the unforeseeable that a woman has to worry about. So that has to be considered too.

[fleurista]

Just so. What can't be foreseen is difficult to reliably prepare for.

[And there is no foreseeing Luffy, not unless you know him well.]

[desert_queen]

Forseen, unforeseen, bah. It's all a gamble.

You're even more cryptic now than you used to be. It's good to know you're not going soft in your new life.

[fleurista]

And thoughtful gambles are what you're good at, aren't they?

[Is that sarcastic? Impossible to tell over text.]

In my position, I can hardly afford to go soft. If anything, the danger is quite a bit higher than it used to be. But -- speaking of gambles -- the risk and reward remain commensurate.

[desert_queen]

I do have my talents.

Either way, good luck out there. You'll need it. And remember, my offer stands.