#* ... devil of the blue sea.

[a11sunday]

when do you gaze at your soulmate?

iselda ...

when they're getting ready for the day: this is all you've ever wanted. you and them and the promise of a future. you should be getting ready too. but you lay in bed for a moment, still feeling the traces of their warmth on the sheets, their scent on your skin. you watch how carefully they choose their outfit for the day. you watch as they pair the colors. you memorize that face they make when they stand at the mirror checking every detail. you savor how routine it is. you savor it because you both earned it. there is something precious in the domesticity and you vow to never take it for granted.

sanji ...

when they don't see you: you love them and you're not sure they know. but that's okay. you're used to loving more than you are loved. you give more than is given. and maybe others don't understand but you don't expect more. you tell yourself the love in your heart is not meant to be savored by anyone other than you. it's more than enough to get to exist at the same time as them. you stand in their shadow and you thank the sun for casting it. they touch your arm but they do not feel the same warmth which lingers on your skin for days. you gaze at them and they might even be looking right back but they are not seeing into your soul the same way you have memorized theirs. it's enough you tell yourself. it's enough. it's enough. but what if it's not? and what if you're wrong. what if they see you and all this time you have been too scared to ask what they're looking at.

mihawk ...

when they're dancing: you're not sure if they know you're there or not. you're not sure if it matters. you watch them sway to the music, watch as they twirl around and smile for no one but themselves. they're free and laughing. they're alive and vibrant. they're everything you might never be except when you're with them. so full of life it makes something in your chest tighten. there are frown lines at the corners of your mouth but your lips are smiling right now. rare. and often, only for them. they have light in their hearts and some days you fear the darkness in you might swallow it whole. but they'd never let you walk away. so make sure the darkness inside you keeps all the other monsters away from their tender heart.

[a11sunday]

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗔𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗢𝗙 ?

viola and sanji ... patron saint of martyrs.

the patron saint of those who died to be like you. maybe you died to be like them too: but at the end of it, you weren't like them. patron saint of tragedy. saint of saints. it's you who holds the hands of the holy dead, and you who has to answer: what do they do if they regretted it?

iselda ... patron saint of bones.

patron saint of frameworks. of structures. of solidity. patron saint of things that break. patron saint of things that are left behind. the bones survive long after the body, the building: what is there left for them, when the rest has gone? what do bones do, with nothing to hold around them? who holds the bones?

ace .... patron saint of houses.

but not of homes. only the shells of what keeps us enclosed. houses can be decorated or well-built or crumbling or haunted but only a home can truly be warm; you are the patron saint of that lack.

[a11sunday]

what type of love do you attract?

sanji ... you attract: art: sitting perched on a stool, posing coyly for your secret lover; humming the melody of the notes you draw out from your paramour; watching as colour fills the canvas with every brushstroke to embody your dear's eyes. you attract art. whether it's because you create it or because you inspire it, you attract the very people who create it, too. the atmosphere changes when a person enters your space. time seems to move slower as beauty rises from within you and is translated into song, or poetry, or dance, or paints, or anything of the sort. elegance is the best way to describe the way you love. you move, and the world shifts in your favour. the things you make with the love you share is endless, something that people drink from, yearn for, wish upon. to you, beauty is created, and not inherited; you know this, whether you know it with familiarity or you know it beneath the depths of your mind, but you know this because you've created so much beauty in the world and its effects are everlasting. from the bottom of my heart, thank you for existing.

[a11sunday]

select muses … re. pda

sanji … okay. we know. WE KNOW. he wouldn’t care, he loves it. while sanji isn’t doing anything publicly indecent, he will give his romantic partner kisses in public, holding hands, arm around the waist, open and fond gazes, the whole nine yards. and he absolutely melts under the same treatment. besides the more obvious reasons, sanji does desire to be loved openly, for the world to see, for everyone to know he’s with that person and that person with him. if his partner isn’t okay with pda, he’s willing to tone it down, of course. but, he has no issue with it whatsoever and in fact, encourages it.

haru … someplace in between shoko and sanji. he’s very dominant in the sense that he has a hand at the small of his partner’s back, no qualms asking for a kiss before they part ways no matter who may be looking, intense eye contact, that sort of thing. he leaves no doubt in anyone’s mind who he’s in love with.

iselda … she’s surprisingly not very against it. she leans towards smaller displays, but isn’t entirely against more overt displays of affection. it differs slightly in her mainverse. she can’t be open with many of her affiliations much less her relationship with rosinante. so, she’s forced to show affection behind closed doors. when she is publicly affectionate, it isn’t like— gonna cause anyone discomfort but she’s much more open to it than one might think.

[a11sunday]

thinking about sanji, re. romantic relationships right now and of course, gonna preface by saying, we're not acknowledging the gross parts of canon. we're talking about sanji at his essence here --- but, it's easy to say that he's the Perfect Guy. he's doting, loving, respectful, would worship you, kill for you, die for you if that's your thing. he's a True Gentleman. but, the guy has some intense emotional hang-ups and is so marred by trauma that it runs intensely deep as it does with so many in the crew in general.

sanji will be in a relationship, would thrive beneath reciprocated love and affection. the man is on a high just thinking of it, legs trembling, sweat breaking, can't function.

but --- i also think about how there's the possibility of him conjuring up doubts in his mind over whether he's worthy of you at all at the end of the day. he's constantly giving and giving with no expectation of return because all he's concerned with is what can he do to keep you around, to keep you loving him, how does he make himself useful, reliable, etc. the man needs reassurance and validation in possibly excessive amounts because otherwise, he's privately worrying, going crazy thinking about whether he deserves love, deserves anyone's love.

i think that in order for sanji to also be his healthiest self in a relationship, at some point, discovering his self worth is paramount. and actively working on that, and having an understanding partner who isn't going to exploit that aspect about him.

[a11sunday]