[CENTER][h1][color=B3ADAB][b]CATHERINE CORIANDER[/b][/color][/h1][/center][hr]Door cracking open, eye gazing out, Ryu Burnet came face to face with a resolute Catherine Coriander, the young nun standing with her back straight and eyes firm. “You look like you mean business.”

[color=B3ADAB]“May I come in?”[/color] Despite the politeness of her words, her tone carried a curt shortness with it. The door came closed, and after the rattling of a chain, the door came wide open again, Coriander stepping inside, letting her eyes adjust. It was the middle of the day, but there wasn’t a lot of light in the room, most of it coming from the windows, blinds only partly opened. There was a stuffiness, the scent of dust heavy in the air. As Coriander walked to the living room, she had to dodge around old newspapers among other refuse: the occasional beer bottle, food wrapping, messy dish left to mold. There was enough room to walk, paths carved in the floor by trudging feet, but she could feel her mother channeling through her, intuitively wanting to clean up the mess.

Taking a coat and resting it over the back of an armchair, she took a seat, cloud of dust coming from the cushion. Burnet opened the blinds of a window nearby, light shining on the specks of dust in the air before he took a seat with a low groan. Perhaps Coriander hadn’t been paying much attention, but he didn’t seem to have changed out of what he’d been wearing yesterday. Though Coriander wasn’t here to judge him for that.

[color=B3ADAB]“I want you to help Peppermint.”[/color]

Burnet didn’t even blink. “The strong girl, right? What about her?”

[color=B3ADAB]“I just think she needs help and guidance. She’s been living alone for a year and-”[/color]

“I ain’t adopting her.”

[color=B3ADAB]“I wasn’t gonna ask that! Let me finish.”[/color] Coriander caught the slight roll of his eyes, but put that aside. [color=B3ADAB]“She’s...a really good girl, okay? I want her to make mistakes so she can learn from them, but her mistakes can be...really bad. I know she doesn’t want to hurt anyone, but even that is getting to her. She’s kind of trapped, I think. She’s different, and she keeps being made aware of it. I don’t want her to feel like she’s alone, but if we just pretend she’s not different, we’re ignoring who she really is. I just...don’t really know how to make her feel accepted. We all love her, but…”[/color]

Burnet was silent as Coriander trailed off. With a grunt, he muttered, “She’s not my responsibility.”

Coriander glared, back straightening in her indignance. [color=B3ADAB]“I-, you...”[/color]

“Why do you even think I can help her? And if it’s the reason I’m thinking you’re thinking, then you can leave.”

Coriander was struck silent, mind racing as she tried to find another path through the conversation. [color=B3ADAB]“You’ve sailed a lot. Have you ever met or heard of anyone like Peppermint?”[/color]

Burnet pondered for a moment, before admitting, “Yeah, there was one guy. Treated like a monster by everyone except his mother from birth. After she died he went on a bit of a rampage and ended up in jail. There was a big gang war at some point, a bunch of the prisoners dying, even a bunch of the guards. That guy was the only one left standing at the end of it all, drenched in blood.”

Coriander swallowed. [color=B3ADAB]“What happened to him?”[/color]

Burnet was sullen. “He broke out of prison and started flying the pirate flag. He saw hell and claimed he was going to drag the rest of the world down to the same level. That crew was the Abyssal Call, and that man was Avalon Duskar.”

Coriander let out a sudden squeal at the invocation of the Devil himself, feet kicking at the ground before she jumped onto her seat like a cat, all fours on the cushion. [color=B3ADAB]“Huh? Buh?”[/color] Mind scrambling, she slipped back to a natural position, [color=B3ADAB]“Wait, that...that’s all the more reason to help Peppermint! Not that I think she would ever go that route, but...the future...she was born-”[/color]

“Still not my responsibility.”

Coriander felt her anger starting to bubble. [color=B3ADAB]“I bet you wouldn’t stop the Devil himself if you had the opportunity. He who lets the Devil walk freely is no better!”[/color] Burnet gave a shrug. [color=B3ADAB]“What is your responsibility then!?”[/color]

Burnet gave a slight sideways nod of his head, “If there’s trouble, I lead the milita until the Chowder Kingdom sends its men. Peppermint isn’t a part of that.”

[color=B3ADAB]“Yeah, she shouldn’t be fighting, but she’s going to become a Marine whether you like it or not, so the least you could do is help her use her strength in a better way.”[/color]

Burnet grimaced. “That’s a pretty big ‘least’.”

[color=B3ADAB]“It’s not like you’re doing anything here except making a mess of yourself.”[/color]

Burnet followed Coriander’s downward glance, seeing a food stain on his shirt. Brushing at it, his hand trembled and fell into a fist. “She’s better off throwing away that stupid dream! She’s better off without the Marines!”

[color=B3ADAB]“She’d be the best Marine!”[/color] Coriander retaliated.

Burnet shook his head. “Have you ever met a Marine in your life?”

Corinader’s mouth shot open, only to gape. [color=B3ADAB]“J-just you, but I read about them!”[/color]

Burnet closed his eyes for a moment, before beginning, “Yeah, exactly. You get the good version, the ideal, the story the World Government wants you to hear. Even when you hear about corruption it’s always in the context it it being quashed out. But that’s not the Marines I saw. Before the Devil, after, it didn’t change what authority and power can do to a man. At boot camp we were all always talking about protecting people, making the world a better place, all that. Some just wanted to money, sure, but there’s safer careers out there. But the reality isn’t so simple. I was a ‘good Marine’, I never did anything wrong. I never killed any innocents, I never pilfered goods for myself, I never stepped a toe out of line. I just did what I was told. And if you think that’s what makes a good Marine-”

[color=B3ADAB]“Good Marine? Isn’t that expected? That should be the baseline!”[/color] Coriander reeled herself in at Burnet’s firm gaze.

“Yeah, it should, but it’s not. We don’t talk about ‘lawless lands’ enough, not on the whole. Have you ever thought about it?”

Coriander’s brow furrowed. [color=B3ADAB]“They’re basically wastelands, right? No law, no rules, just anarchy and chaos...”[/color]

Burnet let out a laugh. There was no warmth to it, only cold condescension. “You literal child. If not for our tax to the Chowder Kingdom, Tune Town would be lawless land. People don’t live in caves or woods because they want to. They seek comfort and stability because it’s desirable. The East is full of lawless lands. If there’s no Marine base or Kingdom, the people there have less human rights than we do. I hear it’s particularly bad in the Devil’s Seas, but it’s not like it’s absent even here in the East. I’ve seen it. A lot of people take the peace of this ocean for granted, but there’s no rule or law stopping Marines from acting like pirates in some place has enough wealth or if the people there piss of the wrong guy. If there’s anarchy and chaos in a lawless land, it’s because it was brought there. Sometimes by pirates, sometimes by Marines acting no better than pirates. I saw it up close and personal, and I didn’t do a damn thing. I kept my fucking mouth shut. I let the Devil in the Marines walk freely.”

Coriander was stunned, struggling to believe it, but unable to deny Burnet, for his heart only spoke with truth. Managing to swallow, she stammered, [color=B3ADAB]“B-but couldn’t you have made a report? Isn’t there the Marine...Invest-”[/color]

“The Marine Inspectors? Yeah good luck getting a hold of those glue sniffers, there’s only a handful of them in each Blue and the one’s I met didn’t mind having their palms greased. Even if you do, the moment you’re outed as a snitch is the moment you put a target on your back. Corruption comes from the top down. It’s the authority figures who decide what rules and behaviors to enforce. That’s how it is as a soldier. You’re not trained to speak your mind, you’re trained to follow orders. Besides, it’s not like they were breaking any laws anyway. Is that the kind of ‘good girl’ you want Peppermint to be?” Coriander felt tears of frustration rimming her eyes, but she used all her power to keep them back. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. If she’s a good girl then she should neve-”

[color=B3ADAB]“You’re the worst!”[/color]

Burnet nearly bit his tongue. “What did you say?”

Coriander glared up at him. [color=B3ADAB]“You should step down from being militia captain immediately.”[/color]

Burnet was affronted. “Excuse me?” Hand on his arm rest, he sat up, leaning at her. “Damn religious types, all this crap about forgiving sin and-”

[color=B3ADAB]“It’s not that! It’s not what you’ve done, or didn’t do back then, it’s about what you’re not doing now! If the Marines are the problem then what about you!? You’re not a Marine anymore! Who’s stopping you!?”[/color]

Burnet scoffed. “What about me?”

[color=B3ADAB]“You haven’t changed at all! And this time there’s no excuse! You didn’t do anything before, and you’re not doing anything now! Who wants a militia captain like that? When trouble comes to down are you going to be sitting here and doing nothing too!?”[/color] Coriander stood, arms straight at her sides as she raged.

“Of course not! I live here! I’m going to protect my home!” Burnet growled back, standing himself.

[color=B3ADAB]“Protect!? What are you protecting!? You’ll help us when you get to fight, but you won’t help even one of us who needs you right now? Forget being a good Marine, what about being a good person? If someone’s in need, and we can help them, shouldn’t we help them?”[/color]

Burnet froze, eyes widening to the point that red bloodshot lines were visible at the edges. “Get out.” Coriander didn’t falter. In a huff, she turned off, maneuvering around the refuse and tearing out the door, which slammed shut from the wind. Moving to the kitchen, a number of dirty dishes scattered about, he grabbed a beer bottle, only to find it empty to the touch.

[i][color=2596be]“We’re Marines! If someone’s in need, and we can help them, shouldn’t we help them?”[/color][/i]

Leaning an arm on the countertop, he pressed his other hand against his forehead. “God dammit...”