Mmm. [Koby pauses a moment to top off his glass, turning the words around in his head for a moment so he can figure out how to say them calmly, evenly, without immediately crumbling into pieces. He doesn’t know if that exists, but he’s going to try his hardest. Settling onto the bed, stretched out, he looks across the room at the wall instead of at Tim when he speaks.]

Usopp and Luffy are gone. They – were sent home, or wherever it is we go after this. [His voice wavers, a touch more on Luffy’s name, remembering the sudden gutpunch of their presences leaving, snuffed out like candles in the landscape of his mind, there one instant and then: gone. Koby keeps his eyes fixed on the wallpaper, on the subtle line where one sheet touches the next, on the fall of light through the drawn curtains.]

So. The crew’s a little…bit of a mess, as I’m sure you can imagine. [The words tumble out too quick, too trembly, and Koby takes a too-big gulp of wine once they’re out, grimacing at the burn, at the heat it punches into his gut when he swallows.] It’s been – [devastating, heartwrenching, unfair, unjust] – chaotic.