Fic post: Footholds

[printfogey.livejournal.com]

Title: Footholds
Rating: G
Media: fic
Word Count: 300
Character: Sanji
Pairing: slightly Sanji->Nami; more gen than not, though
Prompt: Smooth
Flavour: Backstory angst

Author's Notes: Nitpicks and other constructive criticism highly encouraged, even if a re-writing would put this over the word limit - if so, I could always leave the fic unchanged here and post a rewrite on my journal.


Whenever the ship makes anchor near land, Sanji has a habit of loking at the nearby rocks. If they are sharp, craggly things that seem easy to climb, he feels relieved and reassured; if they're all smooth, he'll get just a little anxious, though he knows it's irrational and they'll be just fine.

It's no mystery to him. Back then, that one tiny rock of an island had sides that were all smooth, offering not the tiniest hint of a foothold. The waters had fish in them, but as the shitty old man had said, there was no use in jumping in when there was no way to climb up.

He'd stared down into those waters for such a long, long time, seeing tantalising glimpses of seaweed, of shoals of fish passing by. But the rock was even, smooth, implacable.

If you jump in, you will never get out. And somehow, despite the pain and terror of those far-too-many-days, despite all the hallucinations, he'd never quite gotten bad enough to forget that and dive in.

The Sunny is a strong, hardy ship, made of Adam's wood and sandpapered smooth to perfection. But Franky made sure to put in helpful decorations, window-frames, and other tiny bits of unevenness - enough for a good climber to use, particularly after he's just dived in after his idiot captain.

*

Sanji loves the perfect, soft smoothness of a pretty woman's skin; he strives to protect all the ladies of his heart from anything that could blemish them.

And yet... sometimes, when he watches the (barely visible) scars on Nami's left hand and shoulder, there's a part of him that feels almost grateful for them. As if they were tiny footholds.

He should probably feel ashamed over that. But somehow, he can't quite bring himself to.

Comments

[dandywonderous.livejournal.com]

I LOVE IT!!!

Poor traumatized Sanji! I never thought of him being tense around smooth things before. And yaaaaay SaNa. XD

For concrit, the only thing I have for you is this:

And somehow, despite the pain and terror of those far-too-many-days, despite the hallucinations that came eventually, he'd never quite gotten bad enough to forget that.

I had to reread this and then kind of read it backwards before I understood what that last clause meant (that he never jumped into the sea because he remembered the warning). I think it's really just the last clause that needs to be reworded, the rest of the sentence is fine.

But other than that, awesome!

[printfogey.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much, both for the kind words and the helpful nitpick!

I managed to re-write the line without going over the limit; I hope it works better now.

[penniless1.livejournal.com]

So good! It is endlessly heart-breaking and endearing that Sanji cannot really tolerate absolute smoothness - in life or women.

I seriously want to use this concept to deepen my characterization of Sanji sometime soon. May I? *puppy eyes*

[printfogey.livejournal.com]

Of course you can! And thank you.

[c-callosum.livejournal.com]

Very nice! I really liked the insight in first part, but the parallel you drew with Nami's skin/scars really made this fic (I would put this better but your drabble has apparently taken away my ability to write coherently). Lovely!

[printfogey.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[dethorats]

This was spectacular! A great insight into Sanji and one that struck true. And the bit about Nami's scars, and his own desire to climb deeper into her good graces, really carried over the theme.

[printfogey.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks! I was worried it might come across as OOC, because OTOH I think he really does seem the type to worship flawless female skin and be attracted to evenly beautiful, harmonious aesthetics in general. But that old image of the slippery rocks on that island has stayed with me... and then there's Nami's backstory and the fact that Sanji knows where those particular scars come from.

[mishagirl.livejournal.com]

Great Sanji introspection! I like how he feels he should feel guilty but can't bring himself too.

[printfogey.livejournal.com]

Thank you! This kinda came out of nowhere during Sunday, but I decided to run with it. ^_^

[odastillhatesme.livejournal.com]

I never considered Sanji feeling anxious around objects that struck him as "too smooth", but it is a bit of insight that works. Partly because it's an anxiety, not a phobia or deep-rooted fear - he knows where it came from, how to live with it, and it doesn't control him. So that it's not all-encompassing and just a passing understanding of himself is a nice touch. It would have been harder to swallow if he was secretly terrified of smooth rock formations.

And I really enjoy this comparison of what I view as perfection vs. personality? ... Okay, personality isn't the word I want to use, but the smoothness of a woman's skin, what he wants to protect, is being challenged by Nami's choices, which are marred into that "perfect" skin. And Sanji prefers the scars. There are limits to perfection, just as there were limits to the smooth rock he was stuck on.


... I probably took this farther than was necessary. >> EHEM. In any case, I really enjoyed it. Short, but powerful. |D

* mesmerised by icon*

[printfogey.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I doubt one could get away with making it a full-blown phobia. It's just a head-canon of mine that he feels better around rocks that are easy to climb up on... although nowadays he might not find it hard to kick his own holes to climb upon, perhaps.

Hmm, actually I think I'll buy that: perfection vs personality is a neat way to put it. And yeah, I'd like to believe he prefers the scars as an important part of Nami.

I'm really glad you liked it!