PC: ACE 💀

[resumed]

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[selfimmolation]

We were detectives. And we had to... solve... a murder.

[ he sounds so incredibly tired just saying it. it takes him a while to recover and he looks at nico with a frown ]

You were... an AIball. [ out loud it. just sounds like eyeball. which is fair. ]

[resumed]

[ he's nodding because yeah this tracks with what he knows about tama's world, and then he just.

pauses.

excuse? ]

--like Tama? [ shit does ace know tama's an aiball. ] Wait, wait, wait. Why was I an AIball? Whose eye was I? Did you have one, too?

[ WHAT. ]

Is that why you said I was a person?

[selfimmolation]

Yeah, like Tama. [ he knows!!! he knows. he nods ] You were Lillium's. We all had some. I guess we signed off on surgery to replace our left eyes, except... [ taps his own like. well. ] It was fun having peripheral vision again.

[ moving on; ]

You looked like yourselves sometimes. But different. Jolyne's was someone she knew, I guess. And mine was... [ he takes out the little tamagotchi because it beeps for attention right at the same time and ace just looks sad ] Sabo.

[resumed]

[ there's a tiny bit of relief when ace confirms he already knew. and then he's raising an eyebrow because why the fuck was he lillium's aiball. whatever. he will have to ask him. ]

Tama told me about this before. Like really recently. She's Ryuki's AIball and she told me about all of the protocol and the things that go into getting a partner like that for their agency. [ he frowns a little at the idea of ace no longer having his eye, but it's okay.

again, unsure why he was an aiball and everybody else was someone more familiar, but that's a lillium question. instead...his expression is a little softer as he peers at sabogotchi. ]

...did it help or hurt more to be with him again? [ he can guess the answer, but. ]

[selfimmolation]

Yeah. She told me a little.

[ as much as ace could understand considering how technology heavy everything was. he's staring at sabogotchi himself. ]

He looked and sounded the same. [ it's nostalgia, that colors it, but also just that deep ache that comes from missing someone long gone ] He looked so short.

[ they were the same height as kids, and of course ace only ever remembers him as being ten, but he'd never realized how much he'd grown until he was next to sabo and sabo was so tiny. he wasn't real, even in that world, but it's just a shock looking back. ]

[resumed]

[ ...this isn't about him, but he thinks maybe it might help. ]

...it was like that with Bianca, too. When we were gone. Everyone looked like animals, but she looked the same as I always knew her. So I get it. [ it's nice to see them, but also sad, because you know the truth. ]

Weird to think about, right?

[selfimmolation]

[ there's a quiet, huffed out laugh ]

... Yeah. It's weird. [ it's not the same, because nico can probably just ask her, and ace is left forever wondering "what would he think of me now?" but it's close enough. he puts the tamagotchi back in its spot ] He kept showing me encyclopedia articles. The asshole.

[resumed]

[ ace can live with that assumption because he's not going to be the one to say bianca's gone forever.

but he kind of laughs at that. ]

Hey, he was just trying to help. Can you blame him?

[selfimmolation]

Yes. He was making fun of me. [ the fun thing is nico has told ace bianca is gone forever, but ace is having memory lapses. woopsies. everything i forget is now his fault. ] ... It felt normal, having him around as a partner again.

[resumed]

I bet. You guys...used to do a lot together, right? When you started hunting together and stuff. Enhancing each other's strengths and fixing each other's weaknesses. How long did you get to work together in Tama's world...?

[selfimmolation]

Yeah. [ that's all he says to that, because he likes talking about sabo as a missing brother and not a missing limb, the way it felt at first. ] We were there for...a couple of days, I think.

[resumed]

And you were trying to solve a murder together in those few days? [ he will try to be factual and calm about this. ]

[selfimmolation]

Yeah, the mayor died. [ ... ] The one from this city, actually...?

[ in retrospect. kind of weird. ]

[resumed]

[ ...hm. ]

Hanako finally succeeded?

[selfimmolation]

... No. It was some... cult guy. He made us collect balloons to figure out where he was. [ his head tilts back a little as he hums ] Hung, Lillium's friend and Luffy worked with us. As detectives. But they were higher ranked than us. We ended up finding the cult place at the same time, but they didn't have to do balloons.

[ he makes a face. cop luffy. cop boss luffy. he hates it. ]

[resumed]

[ me knowing this plot and hating it again. ]

Iris. [ he says with certainty because he thinks lillium might only have one friend to begin with. ] It's...really hard to imagine Luffy as a detective but somehow Hung makes more sense.

Anyway. The cult. What'd you find...or where, I guess.

[selfimmolation]

Yeah. [ it was iris. but at the hung thing he just... ] He is one? Isn't he?

[ unsure if real or memories but he shakes his head ]

We went to it during the day and... then again at midnight... they asked us to show up. There was this weird... basement place. [ he's looking at the sabo tamagotchi like it holds the answers to all of the universe's problems ] ... Nimona, Hana and Sigrun had been missing earlier. They were there. Tied up. And there were a bunch of bugs.

[ a pause ]

No, it was-- bombs.

[ that's probably worse. ]

[resumed]

...in theory, yes. [ he doesn't quite get the furry cop thing and he's scared to ask because hung is hung and that's all that matters, but still. ]

...all of this sounds really, really bad, Ace. But you remember it isn't real. Right? None of it. [ just in case. ] Though bombs would explain the explosion, and Lillium's response.

[selfimmolation]

[ he pauses and scrubs at his face again ]

I know. I-- I know. It wasn't real. [ he mostly knows. ] ... The other three showed up. They came by a different way, because they were looking for the girls. And then the cult guy showed up. And he had the detonator. And he said either he blew everything up or we killed-- like I'd do that. He's my brother.

[ he sounds incensed, but then he repeats again: ]

It wasn't. Real.

[resumed]

[ ...he just frowns sympathetically because it's not easy to really know that even when you keep repeating it. ]

It wasn't real, but it's always hard to remind your brain that. It's like...when you have nightmares. You know it isn't really happening to you, usually, but the feelings and fears that come from them are. You can't so easily get rid of those.

[ ... ]

I assume everything blew up then. [ because he also can't imagine any of them killing the people who were there. ]

[selfimmolation]

... Yeah. I tackled the guy, so...

[ ace took the option not available in the game of Choose Violence...But Not Like That ]

[resumed]

And it set off the detonator. [ yikes. ] ...how'd you guys get back here?

[selfimmolation]

... After the place exploded... that wasn't the end of it. Everyone was injured, and Luffy and Iris were trapped under rubble. The place was going to collapse if we didn't get them out. But I...

[ well. he looks at his fucked up hands.

he said it: luffy was trapped. ]

I couldn't just leave him.

[resumed]

Of course not. [ easily said. ] I wouldn't have left Bianca or Hazel behind either. There's always time to try.

[ ...he's scared to ask, but. ]

Did you get him out...?

[selfimmolation]

...

[ he kind of stares at nothing for a long while ]

They gave me his hat.