PC: ACE 💀

[resumed]

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[resumed]

Because I didn't. It was only when I looked in mirrors and only sometimes, so I figured it was just me.

[selfimmolation]

[ ... frowning a little. it is weeks too late to scold him, but. he squeezes his hand a bit. ]

... No way to know. I think all three of you are the kind to keep that to yourself, for different reasons.

[ :T ]

[resumed]

[ he just looks away a little at that. ]

...I don't...[ mm. this is about ace and his brain problems, not nico's brain problems. ] First of all, it felt weird to just bring up. And there was a lot happening after that.

[ for instance, reigen staged a furry torture porn murder. ]

[selfimmolation]

[ he frowns like he has to think about it ]

... Right... someone... was doing torture on Whisper. [ a beat and he massages his head ] No, wait. Reigen was-- Reigen did a weird thing. With a cage?

[resumed]

[ it's ok he is patient. ]

Yeah...Reigen cornered Yae Miko into a cage, because she was going to kill him first, and Reigen is full of bad ideas sometimes. [ woof. ] He did what he had to in order to survive, even if it wasn't exactly clean or smooth.

...Whisper was last week. That was Adlet. We caught him. Do you remember that?

[selfimmolation]

Right. He was stupid, and didn't tell any of us.

[ it's at least ringing a bell once nico is explaining it, although, for the next part... ]

Adlet... took a hostage. I--Rita? No. She would've bit him.

[resumed]

Right. We only confronted him in the penthouse after the trial was over, and he got mad that we were mad he didn't tell us so we could help him.

[ but... ]

Adlet took a hostage. Sigrun. [ which will age poorly in a few hours apparently. ] But Rita was selected to execute him, and she kicked his ass for a while.

[selfimmolation]

[ it's fine don't worry about that ]

... Right. Right, that happened. I saw it. [ it feels so far away now, though. ]

[resumed]

Yeah. [ he just kind of squeezes his hand to reground him. ] Don't worry too much about that right now. Those things already happened. We can only focus on the things going forward now.

[selfimmolation]

... Right. Which is...

[ he's staring down at their hands ]

It's Thursday, right.

[resumed]

[ a slow nod. ]

Yup. We're all gonna be locked in soon just like last week. So we need to be careful tonight. I know Nimona's going to come back to make sure you're together. And Will and I are grabbing Danny and some stuff at our dorm to come find you guys, too.

[selfimmolation]

... Right. That's fine, then. [ ... ] We all staying in a group...?

[resumed]

As long as we have any say in it, of course we are. [ cries. ] It's...important now more than ever that we stay together. Don't you think?

[selfimmolation]

... Yeah. That's why I'm asking.

[ he smiles a little ]

Be fun to have a stupid sleepover with you guys. Just don't ask me any hard questions.

[resumed]

Sure, sure. We'll just ask you all the easy questions we know the answers to, like who your favorite is among all of us. [ teasing. ] ...it sounds nice though. We'll make it work.

[selfimmolation]

Hung. He makes food.

[ the twitch of his lips betrays him in the lie, ]

[resumed]

And his food's pretty good. [ a sage nod, teasing. ] That alone would make him the best favorite.

[ he's pretty sure nimona's the favorite and he does not even mind that, but it's fine to play along. ]

[selfimmolation]

[ he would never actually pick a favorite that's exhausting to think about ]

Exactly! Plus he's a great pillow. The rest of you guys are so bony.

[resumed]

[ gestures to his gothic ass. ]

Sort of fits the aesthetic don't you think? [ he does not say this was not entirely by choice. ]

[selfimmolation]

[ there's a sort of slow blink and he kicks at nico lightly ]

Nah. You look like people from the Grey Terminal. [ i dont know that hes ever explained that. he doesnt know either he normally wouldn't ]

[resumed]

[ gentle kicky back, but he also tilts his head because no he has no idea. ]

What's the Grey Terminal?

[selfimmolation]

... It's where I met Sabo. [ a little blankly ] It's the slums outside the Goa Kingdom. It's where they throw out all their trash so the kingdom is "clean". The people who live there are considered just as much part of the trash. The bandits' house was hidden in the forest, but the Grey Terminal isn't too far from it.

[ there's a pause as he recognizes what he said earlier, and; ]

You've got the skinny look, not the... digging around through trash to sell stuff all day look. Promise.

[resumed]

[ ...he's just quietly thinking this over. it's not hard to figure out that sabo, maybe, was from the kingdom and met ace at the borderline of the forest and the kingdom in the grey terminal. ]

A terrible way to treat people. [ softly. but he tilts his head when ace continues. and then, because he thinks maybe ace won't really remember later, or maybe it doesn't matter, or maybe because he trusts ace: ] I haven't lived on the streets for a while, but I think I sort of messed up my growth anyway. Maybe it's reversible, maybe it's not. But thanks, I think. For thinking it's a little better.

[selfimmolation]

[ oh. he frowns, a little, because he doesn't like the idea of nico living on the streets, but he's far from the first person ace has met that was homeless once ]

... I was pretty lucky, I could take care of myself fine. And I thought Sabo some stuff. [ sabo was clever, and managed the grey terminal fine, despite being a child, but the forest was ace's. ] I'm glad you've got that camp, now.

[ i'm glad you've got someone to watch out for you. he pauses, looking down at his hands. ]

They burnt it down. Not long before he died. Hired some pirates to set it all on fire so some asshole wouldn't ever know about the trash. People included. [ ... ] Luffy and I got out of the fire, but the guy visiting killed Sabo. Shot him down for being in his path.

[ he would not be telling this story if he wasn't drifting in and out of things but yknow. its fine ]

[resumed]

You and Sabo kind of didn't have a choice but to take care of yourselves, I think. And that's impressive. [ the will to survive in a world that doesn't care takes a huge amount of strength. ] ...I started out at that camp after we were pulled out of Westover Hall because Grover had found us. I left after a few weeks, but I didn't have anywhere else to go. It took a while to make my way back home but...I'm glad I've got it, too.

[ he wouldn't change anything now. but he also hates this story, because of course he knew sabo had died. he just didn't know the how. ]

...it's a weird, conflicting feeling for someone to say "I'm glad you and Luffy escaped" knowing the other piece of you didn't. [ "i'm sorry. this wasn't fair." ] But why did it even matter if it was outside of the kingdom? If they really wanted to get rid of everything they could have at least let people leave first.

[ but the way he says it is like "but that's reasonable and wouldn't have been an option, huh." ]