[ no we're in the dorm fuck off. will's here and asleep and nico's protectively wrapped around him despite being bandaged himself. he's under a blanket, but he does have a bandage on his face covering those claw marks.
[ he smiles at nico even though he is, admittedly, a little worried about the whole staring intently at him still ]
I'd just started out, and there were rumors about a great treasure on this island no one had ever gotten. Turns out no one had ever gotten it because it's nearly impossible to make it past the rocks once you end up on the island itself. There's not really any food or water available, either, despite being pretty big-- not the kind of place you want to get shipwrecked. I was there for about... six days? A week? When I ran into someone. The guy was talking to a skeleton. Turns out he'd been there three days and he'd been really hopeful I was there to rescue him.
[ he's truly just. talking for the sake of talking. he wouldn't be sharing so many details normally. ]
but he's just...listening. it's obvious though that the more ace is talking and the more ace sounds just like himself and the more ace seems animated and calm like usual, he's relaxing. he's easing up slowly, taking deep breaths while he absorbs the information and giving a half-smile back. ]
I suppose that would deter people, yes. Sounds pretty rough to get past. It must have been a big island if you didn't see him before then, too. How did you survive?
[ nico relaxing is good. it means he'll keep at it, gesturing a little as he goes along ]
There was some stuff that was sort of edible, and I've survived in the forest for most of my life, so I managed. The other guy wasn't doing as well. He was wearing a mask, and he wouldn't tell me his name and talked about using mine as a pen name-- he wanted to write a book about great adventures-- so I called him Masked Deuce. Deu still goes by it. [ he sounds fond when he says it ] We got off the island through luck... my Devil Fruit washed up on shore. We shared it, but I got the powers since I took the first bite. Fire helped a lot with survival, and Deuce got the idea of making a boat that'd be propelled using my flames so we could get past the rocks.
[ dumb. he thinks it's dumb but in a slightly endearing way. ]
...sounds like he was actually pretty smart with the right people and right tools. And a good asset for your crew. Was he even looking for the treasure or did he just end up there by complete chance?
He was. Wanted to write all about his big discovery, but neither of us ended up finding it. I think I got a better deal than some treasure, though.
[ maybe the real treasure was the friends we made along the way, but like. legitimate. ]
I was kind of reckless and selfish, as a captain, [ as a person he is still that, he'd argue, but now is not the time ] but I managed to end up with a pretty good crew anyway.
[ he gently raises an eyebrow at that description because yeah, ace is reckless but in a good way, so he doesn't comment. instead, he seems kind of settled to hear that he managed to find a good crew. that he had good people around him.
that he wasn't alone. that he hadn't been left behind. that he hadn't...
somewhere along the way the relaxation in his face shuffles back into quiet and uncertain. ]
Must not have thought you were that selfish if they chose to come join your crew and stay. Sometimes you have to be a little reckless and selfish to push people forward. I'd say you got a better deal, too.
Yeah. [ he doesn't like the way nico goes back to being quiet and uncertain, this sucks. he guesses!! he'll keep talking!!!!! ] I don't know what they saw in a guy like me, but they stuck around even after I decided to join Whitebeard. I've been pretty lucky, when it comes to things like that.
I think you somehow don't realize how easy it is to trust you. [ which is probably more blunt than he usually is with ace, but. ] You kind of make people want to believe things will be okay. And to stay with you because of things like that.
Maybe not in words. [ this doesn't surprise him. ] But...you just told me your crew still followed you and believed in you even after you were taken under Whitebeard's wing. Deuce trusted you on that island and still said yes when you asked him to stay with you. We all followed your lead when we tried to help Mika, and we've all stuck together since.
[ like. he's trying to go for frustrated, but it's bordering on the edge of disbelief instead. ]
Literally none of that would have happened if it weren't you.
I think you're giving me a little too much credit, here. [ it's said a little awkwardly, with an almost laugh as he maybe uses the hat to shadow his face ] Datz helped, and Reigen came up with the plan.
[ i hate nico di angelo because he hears this, and he considers it for a moment before he thinks maybe he really is placing too much emphasis on things and his way of thinking is actually blowing things out of proportion and he's just seeing what he wants to see. so he goes quiet again, settling for a small nod.
yeah. group effort. that does make sense to him, even if he'd argue that he might not have said yes so immediately if ace hadn't told him about it before, hours before he got a text about what the plan was. even if he'd argue that he likes datz and reigen fine, but he hasn't always felt as comfortable around them as he does with ace. even if he'd argue that ace probably knows more than most people and it's why nico trusts him in the first place.
...we had to find answers to what was happening to the town. So we split up. Reigen went to the post office, and we went to the neighborhood to find Chiemi's house. But we ran into a lot of the neighbors...including you. All of them were going about their normal lives, minding their business, but you were chained to your house. We...wanted to help, but you wouldn't let us, at first. All we had at the time was a shovel, but we were trying to break the chains and...
[ here, he pauses. ]
In that town, people who rebelled or people who didn't meet the demands of the director were taken to the museum. Their mouths were sewn shut, and they were forced to be good neighbors and not cause trouble. It happened to the others, and it must have happened to you.
[ when nico looks closer, looking for anything that would stop them, he can get a little better of a look at the goat. what he sees is ace's mouth has been sewn shut. and then there's a wisp of smoke that creeps out of ace's mouth. and another. and another, and another, and there's a noise that comes from ace's throat that sounds like a scream that can't quite make it out of his mouth. ]
We kept trying, but...something happened, because the chain cracked and suddenly you were you. And you weren't. It was...half you and half a goat and we didn't know what to do and all it was doing was hurting you until we stopped trying to free you. And all you could do was smile and try to say it was fine because why wouldn't you reassure us when you're the one who was in trouble? We had to leave and you went back to your house and the chains kept you there. Everyone else had run away. There wasn't anything else we could do.
[ keep going. you can't save this one, not this time. doesn't that happen a lot? isn't it terrible how you can just never be in the right place at the right time? how you just lose people over and over? you learn to love them so much, and then they're gone. or worse.
"I didn't know him for that long, but it was still enough to know he would've done anything for me. And I couldn't even be there to help and try to save him in the end."
he had meant someone else, before, when he had said this to ace. but it really did just follow the pattern of life, didn't it? ]
[ he listens, quiet, even though it's a lot and even though it sounds really fucked up, and at the end of it he's nudging nico again. ]
Hey. That wasn't me. I'm okay. [ he knows nico knows that now, but just. repeating it. and the following probably won't help, not even a little bit, but it's something that struck ace; ] If it had been, with those kind of options, I'd have asked you to kill me.
[ fucked up thing to say, definitely, but he says it like it's a fact, which actually makes that more fucked up. ]
Well, I probably would've told you guys to go first, though. [ aGAIN UNHELPFUL but ] You don't have to feel guilty about that.
[ it's a fucked up thing to say, but at the same time he seems to rationalize that it makes sense for who ace is as a person. nevertheless... ]
You did tell us to go. Multiple times. [ he tries for a kicky but he winces because owie. ] Don't tell me what I should and shouldn't feel guilty about.
Don't hurt yourself, stupid. [ he says that but moves closer so nico can just hit him if he wants ] I can if you've got nothing to feel guilty about. Even if it had been real. It's not like you left because you wanted to.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
week 2, thursday
... Is your head okay? Reigen said it was some kind of psychic attack. [ and nico keeps staring so surely ]
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and it's ace, so he frowns softly. ]
...it was very, very different than last time.
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... No kidding. [ the wounds. the? hand? hello. ] You wanna talk about it?
[ he assumes no, which is fair and why he's leaving it as an option ]
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...can you talk for a little while instead first? [ it's a very weird request, but he seems nervous about something. ] About anything.
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Sure. Alright. Uh... [ trying to think of a random story to tell ] Did I ever tell you I found my first crewmember after I got shipwrecked?
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I don't think so. This is the first I've heard of you being shipwrecked at all.
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[ he smiles at nico even though he is, admittedly, a little worried about the whole staring intently at him still ]
I'd just started out, and there were rumors about a great treasure on this island no one had ever gotten. Turns out no one had ever gotten it because it's nearly impossible to make it past the rocks once you end up on the island itself. There's not really any food or water available, either, despite being pretty big-- not the kind of place you want to get shipwrecked. I was there for about... six days? A week? When I ran into someone. The guy was talking to a skeleton. Turns out he'd been there three days and he'd been really hopeful I was there to rescue him.
[ he's truly just. talking for the sake of talking. he wouldn't be sharing so many details normally. ]
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but he's just...listening. it's obvious though that the more ace is talking and the more ace sounds just like himself and the more ace seems animated and calm like usual, he's relaxing. he's easing up slowly, taking deep breaths while he absorbs the information and giving a half-smile back. ]
I suppose that would deter people, yes. Sounds pretty rough to get past. It must have been a big island if you didn't see him before then, too. How did you survive?
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There was some stuff that was sort of edible, and I've survived in the forest for most of my life, so I managed. The other guy wasn't doing as well. He was wearing a mask, and he wouldn't tell me his name and talked about using mine as a pen name-- he wanted to write a book about great adventures-- so I called him Masked Deuce. Deu still goes by it. [ he sounds fond when he says it ] We got off the island through luck... my Devil Fruit washed up on shore. We shared it, but I got the powers since I took the first bite. Fire helped a lot with survival, and Deuce got the idea of making a boat that'd be propelled using my flames so we could get past the rocks.
[ he grins a little ]
So I asked him to be my first mate.
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...sounds like he was actually pretty smart with the right people and right tools. And a good asset for your crew. Was he even looking for the treasure or did he just end up there by complete chance?
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[ maybe the real treasure was the friends we made along the way, but like. legitimate. ]
I was kind of reckless and selfish, as a captain, [ as a person he is still that, he'd argue, but now is not the time ] but I managed to end up with a pretty good crew anyway.
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that he wasn't alone.
that he hadn't been left behind.
that he hadn't...
somewhere along the way the relaxation in his face shuffles back into quiet and uncertain. ]
Must not have thought you were that selfish if they chose to come join your crew and stay. Sometimes you have to be a little reckless and selfish to push people forward. I'd say you got a better deal, too.
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... I... [ blinks. ] ... Thanks. [ a little quietly before he shakes his head ] Can't say I've heard that one before.
[ he's trying for wry to not make this more of a big deal than it is, ]
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[ like. he's trying to go for frustrated, but it's bordering on the edge of disbelief instead. ]
Literally none of that would have happened if it weren't you.
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[ he just. y'know. was very loud about things. ]
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yeah. group effort. that does make sense to him, even if he'd argue that he might not have said yes so immediately if ace hadn't told him about it before, hours before he got a text about what the plan was. even if he'd argue that he likes datz and reigen fine, but he hasn't always felt as comfortable around them as he does with ace. even if he'd argue that ace probably knows more than most people and it's why nico trusts him in the first place.
but you know. words. ]
Guess you can say everyone has their strengths.
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[ he stretches a bit to nudge nico a little with his foot ]
Including you, y'know. I would've gone no matter what, but I was glad having all of you at my side.
[ ace can say that kind of shit straight faced but cannot take a single compliment on himself as a person vs his skills. i am aware he's stupid. ]
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...felt dumb to let you do it on your own when we all felt the same way. [ ...and he pauses for a long, long time. ]
...I'm aware that most of what we just experienced wasn't real. But that doesn't change how much we didn't want to leave you behind.
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[ all he heard from reigen was that he was a goat he's like were you sad you had to abandon a goat ]
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...we had to find answers to what was happening to the town. So we split up. Reigen went to the post office, and we went to the neighborhood to find Chiemi's house. But we ran into a lot of the neighbors...including you. All of them were going about their normal lives, minding their business, but you were chained to your house. We...wanted to help, but you wouldn't let us, at first. All we had at the time was a shovel, but we were trying to break the chains and...
[ here, he pauses. ]
In that town, people who rebelled or people who didn't meet the demands of the director were taken to the museum. Their mouths were sewn shut, and they were forced to be good neighbors and not cause trouble. It happened to the others, and it must have happened to you.
[ when nico looks closer, looking for anything that would stop them, he can get a little better of a look at the goat. what he sees is ace's mouth has been sewn shut. and then there's a wisp of smoke that creeps out of ace's mouth. and another. and another, and another, and there's a noise that comes from ace's throat that sounds like a scream that can't quite make it out of his mouth. ]
We kept trying, but...something happened, because the chain cracked and suddenly you were you. And you weren't. It was...half you and half a goat and we didn't know what to do and all it was doing was hurting you until we stopped trying to free you. And all you could do was smile and try to say it was fine because why wouldn't you reassure us when you're the one who was in trouble? We had to leave and you went back to your house and the chains kept you there. Everyone else had run away. There wasn't anything else we could do.
[ keep going. you can't save this one, not this time. doesn't that happen a lot? isn't it terrible how you can just never be in the right place at the right time? how you just lose people over and over? you learn to love them so much, and then they're gone. or worse.
"I didn't know him for that long, but it was still enough to know he would've done anything for me. And I couldn't even be there to help and try to save him in the end."
he had meant someone else, before, when he had said this to ace. but it really did just follow the pattern of life, didn't it? ]
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Hey. That wasn't me. I'm okay. [ he knows nico knows that now, but just. repeating it. and the following probably won't help, not even a little bit, but it's something that struck ace; ] If it had been, with those kind of options, I'd have asked you to kill me.
[ fucked up thing to say, definitely, but he says it like it's a fact, which actually makes that more fucked up. ]
Well, I probably would've told you guys to go first, though. [ aGAIN UNHELPFUL but ] You don't have to feel guilty about that.
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You did tell us to go. Multiple times. [ he tries for a kicky but he winces because owie. ] Don't tell me what I should and shouldn't feel guilty about.
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