Pack it up, pack it in,

[saltwaterlungs]

CHARACTERS: Darcy, and YOU?!
DATE: First half of September prior to the event
LOCATION: Sports deck
SITUATION: A pirate-sponsored fight club for the sake of beating the shit out of each other bettering each other
WARNINGS: It’s a fight club. Violence is to be expected.

I came to win

Fliers go up around the ship, as they so often do. This time put up with a reasonable amount of tape and written in a much less flowery hand than people would expect, the announcement ‘FIGHT CLUB TUESDAY EVENINGS SPORTS DECK: MAKE FRIENDS AND THEN HIT THEM’.
Anyone going to the sport’s deck after 7pm for the Tuesdays before the excursion will find tennis court set up for an impromptu fight club. There’s a notebook with a pen off to one side as a sign-in sheet, and a small list of rules written in the same handwriting as the fliers.
-No killing or dying
-Respect tapping out
-If you’re learning, respect your teacher/s
-If you’re teaching, respect your student/s
-Cause problems, get kicked out

Off to the sidelines, Darcy can be found supervising, keeping an eye out for any issues.

Battle me that's a sin

In one corner is supplies for fencing and swordplay. Three protective jackets, mesh masks, and blunt training sabers in a loose pile, plus whatever weaponry people themselves supply. There’s a circular arena drawn out on the ground, with a narrower fencing piste drawn through the middle of it.

I won't ever slack up

For those more inclined to hand-to-hand combat, a couple of the punching bags from the gym have been dragged out onto the court, along with focus-pads and a couple of long strips of bandages bandages to wrap one’s hands with. An arena has been drawn out, about the right dimensions for a boxing ring.

Punk you better back up

Over on the furthest side- deliberately angled to face off the ship- there’s a makeshift shooting range consisting of a bunch of water bottles and some mannequins from the Tommy Bahama laid out as targets to shoot at. A line has been drawn on the ground, presumably to stand behind when shooting.

Try and play the role and yo the whole crew'll act up

Right in the middle of everything is an arena marked out for no clear purpose, with no equipment nearby. It can probably be presumed that this is somewhere for people to spar, or more likely, show off in front of everyone.

Comments

[konpeito_aji]

Specialized, but not necessarily the only things. Of course it sparks Nobuanga's competitive bloodlust, but now's not the time. And he really doesn't trust himself to use his swords without being ready to kill someone. The lance thing reminds him of Shingen's second: Yukimura, but Nobunaga's arrangement with Masamune Date meant that Nobunaga had to be Demon King, and Masamune got to be free to be the one-eyed dragon fighting duels and testing others' strength, and then Nobunaga would take care of it. Full responsibility for any and all political or broader fall out. It's harder without him around, but that just means Oda needs to be that much more careful.

There's no comment on the magic. In the end, Nobunaga can't fight off his entire life history, the instincts built up, the reputation, his own world's politics. Over three decades trying to convince people to stop believing in magic, superstition, and maybe even gods and their interpreters. He can acknowledge it's not the same here, at least one god is very real! But that's about the extent of it for him.

"Demon King of the 6th Heaven: Nobuanga Oda, Year 1582, Japan Earth." A bow right back, but a stilted one, like he's perfectly aware of how and when it's done, and yet has never actually put it into practice. Normally he's been leaving off the Demon King title as it makes no sense to most people here, they'd have to be pretty immersed in Japanese history to get it, but sometimes it's hilarious and when it comes to royalty, soldiers, and people who believe in the supernatural, he just throws it out there like the challenge it is.

"What was your rank?" In nobility or army. Not everyone who trained in the sword would have one. In the future, anyway. Maybe. But Nobunaga can spot royalty faster than even guns (his first and main true love...) and you couldn't specialize in the sword without a master teacher, and for his own time period, that was true all over the world, not just Japan. It remained to be seen about the other worlds, but if so, Nobunaga would be the first to soak up that information like a sponge.

[prince_of_beasts]

Dimitri's eyebrows shoot up at the 'Demon King' title. "Forgive me if the question's rude, but I've learned never to assume -- is the 'demon' literal or figurative?" Fódlan loves its epithets; everyone and everything of any note acquires one. Mostly, what he gets -- and what Oda may sense in a subtle stilling of his posture, a shift in the set of his shoulders -- is oh, so we're pulling rank immediately.

He just about chokes when Oda asks for his flat-out. No one's been that blunt about it yet; maybe Dimitri just hasn't met anyone with the context or background to do so. As far as he knows, no one else has caught on to the implications of his swordsmanship, or his knowledge of history, or his fixation on the ethics of governance. It's been a blessing for him to be able to set that weight down, to have a normal Goddess-damned conversation, to actually connect with other people like a person without a barrier of deference and abstraction between them. As much as he's struggled to function outside of the role that has shaped and founded his identity since birth, he's finally been given a chance to have an identity beyond it.

Apparently Oda doesn't feel the same way.

Dimitri rallies quickly, snapping back into a cool, polite affect he hasn't worn since arriving here. It settles comfortably, easily, an old familiar set of shackles. "Our former ranks hardly matter here," he says levelly. "There's no one of my world here. I know nothing of a 'Sixth Heaven', or a 'Japan'. Please understand -- I don't mean to offend. Most of us know almost nothing of each other's worlds, even those from relatively similar Earths." His eye contact is unflinching, slit pupils narrowed. A cat may look at a king, and what is a lion but the king of cats?

[konpeito_aji]

Nobunaga shrugs when it comes whether he means literally Demons or not. It's a lot to get into, honestly. His whole Gods aren't real, adjusting for Okay Amaterasu is real, but she still basically let her so-called descendants mess everything up, and if it's up to either a Demon King, or some defiant blasphemous idiot willing to call himself one, the end result is the same.

At Dimitri's practiced pragmatic politician pleas, Nobunaga just holds up a hand and grins broadly. "Relax. Demon King isn't a rank demanding respect or platitudes. Demons are a rebellious lot." Whether metaphorical or not. "You're right, I shouldn't assume such mannerisms or training is exclusive to royal castes or military expertise outside of the world I wish to break free. I know you're not from Earth, there is no magic there." But he still knows royalty. He's just making a mental note that Dimitri is uncomfortable with it. Which is fair, that's why Nobunaga went with his self-made Demon King title of total absurd nonsense. He waves the hand and the grin settles on for more gentle than manic and demonic. "If you feel free from such responsibilities, enjoy it."

[prince_of_beasts]

Oh, now he's being patronized. Dimitri bristles, wishing he had his sword, and that he hadn't just embarrassed himself. Not that he plans to incite any violence, if only for Darcy's sake, but he feels more confident with a blade in hand. More himself.

Nothing for it, though. He squares his shoulders and straightens, hands loose by his sides. He's just slightly taller than Oda, which is some consolation. "You misunderstand me. Those from other worlds have no obligation nor reason to respect your title. And nor will your subordinates, should they join you here, unless they choose to do so."

(Have you earned their faith, Demon King? Or just their fear? How much do you trust them? Do you believe they trust you?)

Dimitri's eyes narrow. "Here, we are judged only by our abilities, and the quality of our character. You have no power or authority beyond that which you earn through trust, or take by force. And if you pursue the path of force, you will soon find yourself with many enemies, and without aid."

not here

[saltwaterlungs]

Darcy glances away from supervising some of the other people when she hears the tone of Dimitri's voice. Whatever samurai dude's deal is, Dimitri is very clearly not a fan. Obviously she should be stepping in in the interest of keeping the peace.

Instead over Oda's shoulder she gives him a 'this guy bothering you?' look and gestures to ask if she should conveniently be looking in another direction for a moment.

Rules she set don't apply to her friends, obviously.

[konpeito_aji]

Far from bristling... Nobunaga just starts laughing.

More and more and more.

He needs to stop, he really needs to stop, he knows it, but--

"Was I ever so gentlemanly at that age? I have a feeling I wasn't!"

The Demon King title isn't one of respect, didn't he just say that?

He shakes his head softly and holds up a hand again. "Relax. Not a command, a suggestion." He wonders what Dimitri's been through already.

"What I'm trying to say is, no one has any reason to respect the title of Demon King." He shakes his head in disbelief, how can he explain this?

"Are you feeling all right? I shouldn't have hit your brain with such things after the magic, I was taken off guard, and perhaps latching onto something familiar. And I already admitted, I shouldnt have." He says that, but he's about to do it again. "I don't know what your world is like, or whether non-nobility or soldiers can train so easily there." He still recognizes royalty. If anything, the brash defiance was a much younger Nobunaga himself, right after taking both Oda clan and Owari, hungry to move on from there, high from the wins. A long time away from the losses of Kitsuno and before he burned Mt. Hiei. Raging at the gods for not existing, the castes for existing, and ready to take on other nobility and everything else in his way.

Nobunaga doesn't realize Dimitri felt condescended to, or he wouldn't have asked the next one: "You want something to drink? I don't know what's required in magic at all. It doesn't exist where I'm from." It makes his skin crawl to come back to that. But Dimitri is so on edge, Nobunaga's worried and wants to give him something to put him at ease.

Well, if he thinks of it as his younger self...

"What's your ambition?" Yes, because the straightforward gut punches in the form of questions worked so well for him already.

"Mine is to break the castes. To make my homeland something everyone wishes to see, for what they can only get there. To show the world how to outdo even the worst of the demons by surpassing them, making life more valuable to experience and enjoy, rather than something to flee and shrink from in fear of getting worse!" It slowly escalates in intensity and volume with rising passion, the kind of thing he wanted the whole world to know and hear!

A smile, pure boyish youth and impetuousness, channeling his inner Kipposhi from before he even became Nobunaga and Oda clan leader. Before his brother's assassination attempts even. And this time for Dimitri's ears only, though he didn't encroach on personal space like with Clarke, "Now do yours." Declare your ambitions like a tiger's roar! And never falter from that direction!

COMPLETELY LOST TRACK OF THIS THREAD OTL

[prince_of_beasts]

It's not the first time Dimitri hasn't been taken seriously. It won't be the last. He watches Oda laugh with raised eyebrows, otherwise a diplomatically blank portrait of 'are you done?'

Oda can claim 'Demon King' doesn't require respect all he likes -- he sure acts like he's used to having it. It's nothing but an excuse to deny respect to anyone else. Dimitri saw him with Clarke and Darcy; the man can't even honor a basic 'don't touch me'. Dimitri knows Oda's type. He's not impressed.

He lets Oda rant about his ambitions with polite disinterest. His eyebrows rise a little higher when Oda demands Dimitri recite his own. Immediately after laughing so hard at him he nearly fell over -- does the man listen to himself? Or is he just obsessed with the sound of his own voice?

Dimitri inclines his head. Still polite, still neutral, he asks,

"Why?"

np np XD

[konpeito_aji]

Nobunaga would deny that. He's not taking himself seriously, not Dimitri. The joke is how Dimitri has the completely inverted impression of him, and Nobunaga hasn't figured out whether he even should try to fix it or not.

Of course Nobunaga is used to being respected, but it's not out of fear, but familiarity. It's still a heavy shock for him to deal with with people neither as enemies nor allies. Something he's never done at all before. Even his most hated enemies don't fear him at all, they pity him and think he's kind of insane. (Which he is, so fair play.)

"Why not?" Oh wait. That was way too childish.

Still. Why. Okay, it must not be obvious.

"You're the one who spoke of enemies and trust. As if my army, after I just clarified they don't follow me because of my birth; don't trust me. As if you didn't suggest if my goals don't align with those here, then they'll fight me. As if you didn't just speak on quality of character. Don't pretend now you just meant the opposite. That you meant pure brute strength after lecturing me about how no one should respect that--" Nobunaga shook his head, beaming ear to ear. "You just told me my dream came true, my lifelong ambition, everything I worked for, then decided for yourself that I should be upset about it."

Nobunaga shrugs. "Well, you're right, it seems I did gain some insight to your character after all." It's a dare, and he doesn't care what Dimitri does with it.