We're not going to forget them. And we're not letting anyone else forget either. Hung started building the base for the memorial at the cafe, I was helping him earlier. We're going to make sure everyone's remembered.
[ she adjusts her hat and he sort of drapes over her, hooking his chin over her shoulder for a point of contact. ]
Even if it doesn't it's whatever. We know it'll wear off eventually and if it's too bad tomorrow still we'll fix it. [ i'm kind of glad you're annoyed. it means you can still feel things. ]
[ he has at least figured out she likes the weighted blanket effect, so he stays here. ]
...it's kind of annoying that you have to keep a promise when sometimes it's really tempting to just lay down and never get up, huh? [ idly. he doesn't entirely mean it except for the parts that he does. ]
[ ...well. he can't exactly judge her for that when he came incredibly close to texting tama that they should all just kill themselves and get it over with, so he tightens his hold just slightly when she leans back into him. ]
...while I understand exactly why, I'm glad you didn't. [ quietly said. ] I don't know if I could've gone through with that even knowing it's what you would've wanted. [ ...and more to the point. ] I'm not going anywhere.
I know. [she'd thought about it a lot, in the early hours of sunday morning, before the dawn broke. she'd thought about it down to the letter, what she'd do, how she'd do it, and then she'd opened her eyes and nico had been there, and the rest of them too, their little smashed together family of misfits in jail all night for a second time in a row, and thought - i can't do that to them.
it would've been just like ace. it would've been her not even hiding it a little, and everybody desperately trying to find another answer. and maybe failing, and watching someone shove a sword through her heart. she couldn't do it. as much as she hurts, she couldn't sit in a jail cell with them crying because she'd given up.
she knows that they love her enough that that's how it'd be. so she didn't. and nico probably knows that, because her thoughts give a sense of this, a phantom of her waking up and looking at her friends and thinking she couldn't hurt them.]
[ in a way this is exactly why he's so proud of her, for coming this far, for realizing how much they love her. it isn't easy after years and years of mistreatment and isolation and not having people try to understand. it's...something he'd sort of talked about with ace, too, and it's something nico understands in ways he kind of wishes nimona didn't understand.
but then again he has to always remember she's older than he is. she's lived through these things much longer than he has.
so he squeezes her shoulders gently in gratitude. maybe just to hold on, too. ]
The only place we're gonna go is home. Together. Wherever home might be for us at the end of everything. [ they still have friends to save and worlds to figure out. they can't quit just yet. ]
[it just feels nice. it feels nice in that way where you're not sure if you should be allowed to have this sort of nice thing. she's standing on a beach with someone she met just a couple of weeks ago, and he loves her and she loves him, and it's easy, and sometimes she thinks that it shouldn't be.
but maybe it's just that she's never had the right people.]
Yeah. [...] I don't know how I'm gonna pick. I mean, I'm not going to go back to my world, obviously.
[ace never invited her to his, but she knows that's because he knew he was dead, and he didn't want to break a promise. not that this matters because she also knows that both her and and nico aren't going to let him just be dead.]
[ it's a lesson they're still figuring out together, one step at a time. but he huffs gently to that. ]
I wouldn't let you go back to yours anyway. Not after what you've told me. You're still welcome to come back with us, but...if we fix other things, we know where you can go next. [ if they fix ace's death. if they make things right again. ] I, uh. Told Danny he could come back with us, too. Not sure he'd stay at camp or anything but even just a new world might be good for him.
[ but he doesn't elaborate because she mentions mob and he hums questioningly. ]
He's mentioned Mob a bunch, yeah. But was he supposed to say something in particular about him?
[a little nod at that first thing. she doesn't seem to mind if danny goes along too - she doesn't disagree that a new world would probably be a good idea for him, honestly.]
... I wanna go with you. [she says, because she does - she just also desperately wants to be a pirate. she wants both, is the thing, but she figures she can't afford to be that greedy.
anyway:] No, not really, nothing specific. I just wanna talk to him.
[there's a lot of stuff that she thinks she might be able to tell mob that would make his life easier.]
...then my offer hasn't changed at all. You'll come with us, and you can stay at Camp or you can go where you think might be most fun. I didn't always stay in one place either for a while. Sometimes you just have to explore a little.
[ and sometimes you have to figure out how to explore other worlds. ]
Makes sense though. [ about mob. and then: ] ...do you think it's presumptuous to think maybe we could be friends with him? [ mob could join their sad overpowered misfits club. ]
[i am thinking about nimona in nico's canon and the way she would be incapable of not bullying percy jackson back into the sea and picking fights with every child of ares she could find]
Eh. Maybe. But based on what Reigen told me about him, he could probably use some. [he could absolutely join their misfits club] And Reigen's an idiot so he could use the help.
[ this is exactly what they would all deserve is the thing, also nico would 100% unleash nimona on percy. get wreckt, jackson. ]
That's about what I figured, too. On both accounts. [ stupid idiot who really thought he wasn't good enough to help him sometimes... ] I'd like to find a way to visit them someday, too. Make sure things are okay out there.
[ he's watching the ocean, too. silent. keeping her close. ]
Yeah. Easy enough. [ maybe not, but details. ] We've done enough rescue missions before, this one should be more simple once we kick the moon's ass. And from there we'll figure out the rest before we leave Oceanside.
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[she's so old, and she's known so many people, but nobody has ever been as important as their little team of jailbreakers.]
We can figure out a good time to do it.
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What about tomorrow? Seems like a safe day.
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Tomorrow works, yeah. Sorry I got cursed. [ughhhh] Maybe this will have worn off.
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Even if it doesn't it's whatever. We know it'll wear off eventually and if it's too bad tomorrow still we'll fix it. [ i'm kind of glad you're annoyed. it means you can still feel things. ]
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she's quiet for a moment, staring out at the waves, and then, even though she knows she's not supposed to reply to thoughts:] ... I promised I'd try.
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...it's kind of annoying that you have to keep a promise when sometimes it's really tempting to just lay down and never get up, huh? [ idly. he doesn't entirely mean it except for the parts that he does. ]
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Ugh. [GRUMBLES.] ... Can I tell you something?
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I don't think I would've if you hadn't been there. [...] I think I would've killed someone and let you all vote for me.
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...while I understand exactly why, I'm glad you didn't. [ quietly said. ] I don't know if I could've gone through with that even knowing it's what you would've wanted. [ ...and more to the point. ] I'm not going anywhere.
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it would've been just like ace. it would've been her not even hiding it a little, and everybody desperately trying to find another answer. and maybe failing, and watching someone shove a sword through her heart. she couldn't do it. as much as she hurts, she couldn't sit in a jail cell with them crying because she'd given up.
she knows that they love her enough that that's how it'd be. so she didn't. and nico probably knows that, because her thoughts give a sense of this, a phantom of her waking up and looking at her friends and thinking she couldn't hurt them.]
I'm not going anywhere either. [she sighs out.]
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but then again he has to always remember she's older than he is. she's lived through these things much longer than he has.
so he squeezes her shoulders gently in gratitude. maybe just to hold on, too. ]
The only place we're gonna go is home. Together. Wherever home might be for us at the end of everything. [ they still have friends to save and worlds to figure out. they can't quit just yet. ]
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but maybe it's just that she's never had the right people.]
Yeah. [...] I don't know how I'm gonna pick. I mean, I'm not going to go back to my world, obviously.
[ace never invited her to his, but she knows that's because he knew he was dead, and he didn't want to break a promise. not that this matters because she also knows that both her and and nico aren't going to let him just be dead.]
Did Reigen tell you about Mob?
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I wouldn't let you go back to yours anyway. Not after what you've told me. You're still welcome to come back with us, but...if we fix other things, we know where you can go next. [ if they fix ace's death. if they make things right again. ] I, uh. Told Danny he could come back with us, too. Not sure he'd stay at camp or anything but even just a new world might be good for him.
[ but he doesn't elaborate because she mentions mob and he hums questioningly. ]
He's mentioned Mob a bunch, yeah. But was he supposed to say something in particular about him?
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... I wanna go with you. [she says, because she does - she just also desperately wants to be a pirate. she wants both, is the thing, but she figures she can't afford to be that greedy.
anyway:] No, not really, nothing specific. I just wanna talk to him.
[there's a lot of stuff that she thinks she might be able to tell mob that would make his life easier.]
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[ and sometimes you have to figure out how to explore other worlds. ]
Makes sense though. [ about mob. and then: ] ...do you think it's presumptuous to think maybe we could be friends with him? [ mob could join their sad overpowered misfits club. ]
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Eh. Maybe. But based on what Reigen told me about him, he could probably use some. [he could absolutely join their misfits club] And Reigen's an idiot so he could use the help.
[this is said fondly.]
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That's about what I figured, too. On both accounts. [ stupid idiot who really thought he wasn't good enough to help him sometimes... ] I'd like to find a way to visit them someday, too. Make sure things are okay out there.
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[she holds onto his arm, absently, staring out at the waves.] So then - we do that. We bring them back, and we figure out how to visit them.
[her world doesn't really have inter-world travel, but...]
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Yeah. Easy enough. [ maybe not, but details. ] We've done enough rescue missions before, this one should be more simple once we kick the moon's ass. And from there we'll figure out the rest before we leave Oceanside.