[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

[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.