[Oddly, while Koby had stuck firmly to his own crew -- even as it splintered beneath him, as Luffy and Sanji altered their votes, as the tenuous ties, strained by the panic and fear, began to splinter -- he respects how Alicent had played the game. Because that's what it is, all this misery, all this pain: a horrible game, for some end that Koby can't quite pinpoint. He has an idea, of course, and he believes to his marrow that every horrible action committed after the masquerade is the fault of the house, the Balfours (maybe, maybe or maybe they're just as trapped as the rest of them?)
Still: she's been brave. A bravery Koby admires, letting out a soft, endlessly weary sigh, curling his mouth into a slight smile that presses his cheek closer into her hand.] That's clever. Everyone would be "of the Seas" where I'm from, but...here it feels like it could be mine. It reminds me of home. Of -- the village, too. [A beat, realizing how very, very much Alicent doesn't know about him, about what happened between his world and this one.] I was somewhere else, before. I hadn't had time to mention it, I don't think, but -- there, we were changed, our minds, our bodies. That's why I think there's nothing this place couldn't do to us. And I think...turning on one another is what it wants. How it's fed.
[At her last comment, Koby actually laughs, a watery sort of sound, reaching up to cover her hand with his, squeeze gently.] You want to know the strangest part? Before all this, I'd started to feel...almost happy here. I miss home, I miss people I left behind, but...but I've been away almost a year now. I was beginning to think this place could be home too. [A pause, a quiet, knowing look.] At home, the Straw Hats are my enemies. We're on opposite sides of a war. But here, they're my crew. They're my family.
...maybe that could happen for others here. If...that's what they wanted. [It feels absurd to even suggest it, but -- a deadly feud between family, set aside for the sake of this wretched game. Koby feels naive believing it could last in any way, but if Alicent is anything like him (and he thinks she may be, she may have something within her that aches for a sweeter, softer life, without war, without what's awaiting her at home), maybe she wants that for herself.]
no subject
Still: she's been brave. A bravery Koby admires, letting out a soft, endlessly weary sigh, curling his mouth into a slight smile that presses his cheek closer into her hand.] That's clever. Everyone would be "of the Seas" where I'm from, but...here it feels like it could be mine. It reminds me of home. Of -- the village, too. [A beat, realizing how very, very much Alicent doesn't know about him, about what happened between his world and this one.] I was somewhere else, before. I hadn't had time to mention it, I don't think, but -- there, we were changed, our minds, our bodies. That's why I think there's nothing this place couldn't do to us. And I think...turning on one another is what it wants. How it's fed.
[At her last comment, Koby actually laughs, a watery sort of sound, reaching up to cover her hand with his, squeeze gently.] You want to know the strangest part? Before all this, I'd started to feel...almost happy here. I miss home, I miss people I left behind, but...but I've been away almost a year now. I was beginning to think this place could be home too. [A pause, a quiet, knowing look.] At home, the Straw Hats are my enemies. We're on opposite sides of a war. But here, they're my crew. They're my family.
...maybe that could happen for others here. If...that's what they wanted. [It feels absurd to even suggest it, but -- a deadly feud between family, set aside for the sake of this wretched game. Koby feels naive believing it could last in any way, but if Alicent is anything like him (and he thinks she may be, she may have something within her that aches for a sweeter, softer life, without war, without what's awaiting her at home), maybe she wants that for herself.]