PC: ACE 💀

[resumed]

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[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." ]

[selfimmolation]

[ he kind of shrugs, because he doesn't think he did anything that impressive as a kid, and more important: ]

... They just let you leave?

[ he's glad nico has it now, but. wasn't he like. ten. dadan let him leave but the bandits still had someone watching over them. and also dadan never wanted him in the first place. they'd brought them there on purpose, so why...

unfortunately he gets distracted because he laughs at nico's comment. there's nothing funny about it, but: ]

The people were just as much part of the trash for them, Nico. They'd let them in during the day to sell their wares, but no one ever tried to stay the night in the kingdom. They'd throw you right back out with the trash.

[resumed]

[ ...an echoing shrug. ]

...son of Hades, remember? And demigods disappear all the time. I think maybe for a while...[ ...he doesn't voice that he thinks maybe for a while they thought it wasn't worth finding him until they realized he could be used against them for kronos's army. ] I'm good at not being found when I don't want to be, and after a while I went somewhere nobody would find me.

[ but he frowns harder at that. ] So they were just giving them false hope the entire time until they decided it wasn't worth keeping up the farce. Just because they could.

[selfimmolation]

Nobles. You know.

[ he sort of shrugs like that explains anything, because he's over talking about that he is much more concerned with: ]

How long were you out here? On your own.

[resumed]

[ a noise of agreement because yeah? eat the rich. he says, as the son of the god of riches. he's more than aware that it's rude to tell ace these things when his worm brain might not remember, but he thinks it's ruder not to answer either. it's what you do when people are feeling unstable. you talk to them and treat them normally to try and guide them along. ]

...three years? Give or take. [ that sounds about right, but: ] After a while, I did return to my father's house in the Underworld to get him to agree to join the other Olympians in the war against Kronos. I didn't really go back to Camp until after that. And then I left again a couple of weeks later. I never liked staying very long knowing I didn't actually belong there.

[selfimmolation]

[ THREE YEARS HE'S GOING TO FIGHT THIS CAMP he is looking so mad about this ]

... Do you think you belong there now?

[resumed]

[ he seems to read the look but he just sort of frowns like "it's fine, don't be mad." ]

Yeah. I do. [ he at least sounds confident about that part. he doesn't think ace remembers this memory he shared a few days ago. ] Will sort of laid into me after the war against Gaea that I did actually belong there and I had people who were interested in actually having me around. He was obviously only talking about himself but...there were others. And things got better, and now...it's hard to think about being away from there for longer than I have to be.

[selfimmolation]

[ he does not remember the memory but he also barely remembers how they got on this subject it's fine his brain soup. he kind of tilts his head back and hums ]

Will's good. [ ... more words, ace. ] He was right. You deserve a home.

[ this is sort of related to being loved and accepted and missing home, sure ]

[resumed]

[ his soup brain is okay. ]

He's...[ he goes quiet because he's not really shy about how he feels about will, but at the same time it's still something that deserves some reflecting. ] ...it took time to accept it. But between him and Jason, it stuck.

[ it's fine, because ace and his soup brain can have panels that decide now is a nice time to show up. ]

[selfimmolation]

[ ace is terrible and his brain is soup but the memory ends and he's laughing softly. it's a little worrying, but he knows they wound up out and fine, so he can just laugh about-- ]

Sappy. You guys are really sappy. [ teasing. ]

[resumed]

[ bleeeeeh. he just makes a face at that even if he is also...fond. gross. disgusting. ]

Will's incredibly sappy, yes, and it's a fact I never let him live down. [ you are both sappy you fucking fool. ]

[selfimmolation]

[ ace sort of laughs ]

You're just as bad, though.

[resumed]

I am not! [ indignant immediately. ] Not even close.

[selfimmolation]

You're worse than he is. [ he has no proof of this except he thinks it's funny to say ]

[resumed]

[ indignant!!!

...but he does quiet again. ]

I'm not always great at showing affection. [ so. ] Overdoing it sometimes balances it out for him. That's all.

[selfimmolation]

You say that like it's bad. [ he pauses ] It's nice. That you can care about each other like that.

[resumed]

[ he looks at the ceiling a little. ]

...some people may feel like it's unnecessary, but given the amount of times I've almost lost him even recently I think perhaps we're both justified here. [ he does not need to explain this to ace.] Plus there are things about this place that...really make things more complicated.

[selfimmolation]

Anyone ever actually tell you that? [ a little surprised but also a little like he would fight them. ace, no. ]

[resumed]

Not in so many words but there have been people who've expressed frustrations with it before. [ he doesn't seem to want to elaborate either. ] Which I get. I don't really blame them.

[selfimmolation]

[ he makes a grumbling kind of noise ]

Tell me. I'll kick their ass.

[ he would not say it this bluntly and sulkily if it wasn't for the soup brain but here we are ]

[resumed]

[ raising an eyebrow teasingly. ]

You don't think I could kick their ass myself? [ ace your brain is soup. but he's flattered (?) ]

[selfimmolation]

They'll just think you're offended. It's different when someone else tells them to fuck off.

[resumed]

[ he shrugs briefly. ]

If you remember this conversation later, then I'll tell you. How about that?

[selfimmolation]

[ nods. pauses. ]

Hey.