(no subject)

[modernmouse.livejournal.com]

Title: A Pirate's Life
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 300
Pairing: ZoSan
Topic: For this week's YOUTH topic.

Notes: Well, this is my first entry in this community. I've been so impressed with the drabbles recently that I swore to myself that the next workable topic would be the one I finally buckled down to work with. I'm a bit rusty as far as fanfic goes. I haven't really written seriously since my stint in the Harry Potter fandom some time ago. Be gentle, you darling pirate-loving-pervs. A quick thank you to myrafur for the beta. And to the OPY fandom for rocking so hard.





When Sanji was young, he knew the sea. He knew boats and men and fish. He knew oysters, crabs, and squid. He knew flavors most children never dreamed of, but, most of all, he knew salt.

Salt like preserves saving the week's meat. Dry and sandy. Salt like the shakers on the tables he waited. Placed just so against flickering candles and glass vases. Salt like the water crashing in the distance. The kind you can't drink.

No matter what.

He would never let himself taste salt again. He knew it too well.




As he grew older, handing his youth over for a pirate's life, he knew friends. He knew adventure. He knew real danger for the first time.

He gained many things aboard the Going Merry. He found obsession in a wisp of red hair. Trust in wind whipping across straw. Humor in the smell of chemical explosions. Comfort in a hoof tugging his shirttails. The last thing he'd expected to find was love in a rival, in the razor's edge of a sword. Passion to rival his dreams of All Blue.

He'd gained so much, so quickly, and would lose it just as easily.




Sanji shook his head to clear it, but cannon fire crashed so closely that he could barely hear his thoughts.

NononononotyetPLEASEnothimnotHIM

He pressed a hand to the wound in Zoro's chest, fingers tightening against flesh, holding him together. Leaning forward, body shaking, he pressed his lips to Zoro's. Flushed skin against cool. Dreams fluttering through his chest and into the night air. Pressing harder, kissing desperately, he knew that he never wanted to taste anything but this again.

When he let go, hands full of fabric and covered in blood, he licked his lips.

They tasted like him. And salt.

Comments

[bl4ckm4lice.livejournal.com]

i knew the last salt would deals with zoro XD
love it

[modernmouse.livejournal.com]

Thank you! <3

[lacquerdragon.livejournal.com]

Mm, great beginning entry! :3 I like the second paragraph and each of the crew member's descriptions, and look forward to more of your writing.

Salt like love. Someone wrote a poem about it, Leroy something.

[modernmouse.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you liked it! Salt like love... well, in Sanji's case, it's more of a "salt like things you really ought to hate but love anyway" kind of thing. It's just so much fun to make things complicated for him. -_-

[chibi-trillian.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the community. If that's any indication, we're lucky to have you. The paragraph in the middle about the whole crew was just...so good. So Strawhatty (is that a word? It ought to be). *sneakymemories*

[modernmouse.livejournal.com]

Thank you! That's so flattering. Especially considering how much I adore your drabbles.

Also? "Strawhatty" for the win. I'm tempted to add it to UrbanDictionary now.

[sherrymarie.livejournal.com]

I love this! Its really well-written and the images are just perfectly drawn. Its all very poetic.

[modernmouse.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I really appreciate that. I don't know how poetic it really is, but I'm glad you think so! ^_^

[fieryredqueen.livejournal.com]

*sniffle* that was really lovely. you're very good at the whole 'show don't tell' thing writing critters are always on about. imagery in place of description, if that makes sense. works very well. one question though--do you mean to say, sanji became the greatest cook in the known universe without ever using salt? or that he just never allowed himself to taste salt by itself?

[modernmouse.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm pleased you enjoyed it.

Imagery has always been my strongest point as far as writing goes, which is why this community will probably get more than its fair share of angst from me and very little humor. Imagery + angst = ftw, at least in my book.

As for the salt thing, that's kind of up to the reader's imagination. Personally, I like to think that he found a way to season without using salt. It's entirely possible, however, that he DID use salt on occasion, but never tasted the items which it was in or which had a lot of it. Or perhaps, as you mentioned, he simply never let himself taste it by itself. All options work for me!

[fieryredqueen.livejournal.com]

i was wondering because if he didn't use salt, it would mean that he couldn't make a lot of dishes whose flavor depends on salt--there are a lot of dishes for which salt is the primary seasoning not just for flavor, but as part of the cooking process. also, a lot of baked goods and pastries need salt in order to cook properly. heh, in a culture where there are so many artificial preservatives and so many things come with too much salt already in them, i think we don't appreciate how important salt actually is to food. i can't stand stuff that's overly salty, and i always try to use other things to flavor my food, but at the same time i wouldn't want to do without it. so if it's up to my imagination, sanji is to me the kind of chef that wouldn't want to limit himself, and he would also never serve anything he hadn't tasted, so never letting himself taste the salt would be more of a psychological metaphor than literal.

[kotszok.livejournal.com]

Delicious, fantastic entry! Welcome aboard!