PC: ACE 💀

[resumed]

Comments

[resumed]

You're gonna irritate it if you keep scratching. [ he chides lightly, but makes no move to stop it. ]

Like a key. Okay, sure. Does that mean a door opened to somewhere else or something?

[selfimmolation]

It's over too much of my face, it's annoying.

[ so was the gouge, ace. live with it. ]

Sort of? Once I put the thing in, we wound up separated in this kind of... void space, I guess? We still had the talking animals with us, but that was it. After a while of walking I came across... myself. Didn't have a mustache this time though.

[resumed]

Yeah that happens when you lose an entire eyeball, Ace. [ drier than the sahara. ] If it's still itchy I'll ask Will about a salve that we can apply that won't irritate the healing process but at least provide a little relief.

...I'm going to guess the other two experienced something similar elsewhere. [ god. ] What was the other you doing there?

[selfimmolation]

It's fine. Don't bother him with something like that.

[ just. so fast. ]

Temenos did for sure. I had to drag him away from arguing with himself for eternity. [ a little. deadpan. and he mostly seems annoyed and dismissive about the rest of it, too: ] ...I don't know. Remind me of stuff, I guess? Didn't exactly say anything new.

[resumed]

[ there's a blank stare for a second. ]

I understand you don't feel as though people need to help you and possibly that you might not deserve the help when it's something you consider minor. [ just. this call-out. ] But it's not bothering, he tends to get in his own head sometimes if he's not able to help.

[ anyway. ]

...sounds complicated. Or at least frustrating. [ he does not want to think of how his clone would really behave in a situation like this. ] Kind of sounds more like a subconscious than a double though. Could you defeat it?

[selfimmolation]

... It's not about deserving, or anything. [ a little awkwardly because this? call out? he doesn't know what to say? so. moving on to explaining; ]

I thought about punching it. [ like. genuinely. ] But like I said, it wasn't saying anything new. So I just walked away and that's when I found Temenos. The dragon popped up not long after that, and it was guarding the way back.

[ could they have gone around the dragon. probably. will he say that? no ]

[resumed]

[ he decides not to press him on that part, because he understands not having words. ]

So you had a dragon blockade and you could only get past it by defeating it. Yeah, okay, I can't say I blame you. I would've turned around and fought, too, just to get back out of there. Whether my clone was saying something new or not.

[selfimmolation]

The clone pretty much vanished after I walked away from it the second time. The first I just... ended up right in front of him?

[ he doesn't know. it was stupid. ]

Anyway, we fought a dragon, and when we beat it the world started to break apart and we jumped out of there. That's it.

[resumed]

[ he makes a face because he still hates that, actually. ]

...I'm starting to really get the picture that all of these adventures are not only confusing but really mentally taxing. [ how do these even happen. ]

[selfimmolation]

Yeah, that's about the gist of it. [ heh ] ... But that's all that happened. I'm fine, and our minds weren't really messed with, so it wasn't so bad.

[resumed]

[ pointedly staring at his face. ]

I don't know if I would actually say you're fine, but for argument's sake I'll let it go.

[selfimmolation]

I still have one eye. [ so it's fine. ]

[resumed]

...I'm not going to win this one, am I?

[selfimmolation]

Nope.

[ :3 ]

[resumed]

[ he just makes a face like :nyeh: ]

...I am glad it wasn't as bad as it could be. Let's just leave it at that.

[selfimmolation]

[ ah... ]

I'm alright. Really. Wouldn't even have this if I'd been better at dodging. [ gesturing at the eye ]

[resumed]

[ that's the thing. he had been continuously worried about what would happen to the people who went on these trips because so far the experiences have not been great. actually, last week really sucked! he still has bandages on his face and neck and under his clothes to contend with, and the idea of any of his friends going through anything similar doesn't...help.

ace says he's alright and nico knows that, but nevertheless he had worried about it. ]

I think that might not be entirely your fault, you know.

[selfimmolation]

... Maybe, maybe not. But it happened, so there's no point focusing on it. [ he's not stupid enough to outright say he's pretty sure Nico had it worse, is the thing, but his eyes linger on the bandages and he shrugs ] Besides, I'm strong enough one less eye isn't that big of a handicap. I'll get around.

[resumed]

[ it's probably a good idea not to say that nico had it worse, yeah, given he'd argue about it anyway. ]

Yeah, I'd believe that. [ he does actually mean that, but he just. frowns again. ] Can you just accept I was worried and we'll move on then?

[selfimmolation]

[ he grins a little, a bit sheepish and a bit pleased both ]

Yeah, alright. Sorry I worried you.

[resumed]

Apology sort of accepted. [ there's a grin right back though. ]

...we're coming with you guys tonight. Nimona told me we could this morning.

[selfimmolation]

Only sort of?

[ rude??? ]

Sure, that's fine. I... don't even know where we're going.

[ or that he... was... but he doesn't say that ]

[resumed]

[ he just smiles :) ]

Uh...internet cafe last I heard. Not exactly the best place for resting but I haven't actually been over there yet so I'm not gonna be the one to proest.

[ he would've assumed ace was invited anyway so. ]

[selfimmolation]

I've rested in worse places. [ we know, ace. ] Hana showed me how to play games on those things, but that's the only time I went.

[resumed]

Then I guess we're about to learn even more about it together. [ he says nothing about resting in worse places considering he's a hypocrite and has absolutely slept on the ground for days to recover. ]