[Video]

[burnt_offering]

[Ace is sitting and staring, brows furrowed a little. This whole situation has really gotten him frustrated. He went from either dying, or being damn close to it, to this. And while he's absolutely fine with not having his life ended, there's no amount of questions that are unanswered and he's worried for the people left behind. He really did screw up, there was so much he could have done differently, so much trouble he could have saved for those who had to suffer because of his choices and convictions. He's not even sure that his attempt to save his brother worked, and he's not certain he can handle not knowing if those left behind will be okay or not.

It's easier to live without regrets when death is actually the end and you don't have to experience any further consequences.

And now, he's got this second chance but it's overwhelming somehow. He's not going to take for granted a round two at life, but where to go from here when everything is so new and different is exhausting to think about. And somehow exciting too. He's got an idea of what he needs to do, but he's still a little in shock about the whole situation.

After about a minute, he realizes that he's been filming himself, and actually decides to speak.]

Okay, so I'm-[Ace stops mid-sentence, and his head rolls back at an awkward angle. And he starts to snore, while the camera just keeps recording. This goes on for quite a while, unfortunately. And then as suddenly as he passed out, he jerks upright again and blinks. It's a confusing day as is, and narcolepsy doesn't help with that.] Damn. Happened again. Anyway, I'm Ace. If you've got any good information that might help a guy out, I might make it worth your while. [He probably won't.]

Comments

[burnt_offering]

[Marco is amazing, and comforting. Ace always was the big brother to Sabo and Luffy, even if Sabo would have argued strongly that they were probably more like twins. But Marco is older and strong and safe, and Ace can just take in the protection of this brother figure that holds nothing against him and will help him through this mess of a restart.]

I mean, happy enough! He really got that far? Shit, he's amazing. I wish I could have seen him.

[Yeah, Ace looks a little sheepish then. He was raised by bandits, and was way focused on almost everything that had to do with getting stronger and not anything along the lines of education. Although he's not illiterate, it's not his strongest skill.] Yeah. Just the Bounties.

[fierybluebird]

[Wryly amused.]

Yeah, he's dopey like you. Acts all overly cheerful with strangers so he can stab them in the gut with a smile as needed. [Gently pokes Ace's cheek.] But none of the rage and "I'll murder you!!!" you had with Pops, but I don't know him when he's with the Revolution. He's got to be ambitious to take on the World Government, so maybe he just directs it at them instead.

Oh, I almost forgot, yoi. He picked up your devil fruit too. To carry on your legacy with it.

If he comes back, I wonder if you'd both still have it??? I don't know if that kind of thing's ever happened before in another world.

All right, Sparky. I'll keep an eye on the network and point you to text posts you might like. [Chuckles.] And the newspaper here. You might turn up in it. Never know.

[burnt_offering]

Hey, I'm not dopey. [Ace huffs at the cheek poking, but doesn't do anything about it. He'll tolerate teasing within reason. And some that's beyond what's reasonable because he owes his brothers and he loves them, so they can get away with a lot.] He sounds amazing, and I'm damn sure that he is. It's kinda hard to imagine him surviving what happened, but... [Ace sighs.] Anyway, I'm damn glad he did. And if he shows up, we'll both have it, and we'll torch anyone who gets in our way.

[He's not going to go on about mushy things, but he's so glad that if anyone got his fruit, that it was Sabo. There's something that screams out family and fated brotherhood in hearing that. And it's comforting in a way he didn't expect.] Yeah, thanks. I'll try to keep my eyes open for any good information. [Ace's stomach makes a very unflattering sound.] So about that food?

[fierybluebird]

You got it.

[DRAGS FOR FOOD and right into a seedy dive and when asked what they're ordering just deadpans, "Everything. Seriously, yoi. We'll stop when he passes out." Which actually might be a lie, depending on Ace's narcolepsy!]

Sounds like you've had a rough day. Need me to murder anyone?

[HE WILL MURDER ALL OF THEM FOR YOU!!!!!]

[NO ONE TOUCH HIS FIRE FRECKLE BRO.]

[burnt_offering]

[Ace is happy to allow himself to be dragged along, and even happier to get to stuff his face full of food. He's really hoping that he won't end up face down in a meal-pillow again, but in the end he can't really help it. As long as he gets some food down the hatch, he'll be okay anyway.]

Nah. I'm okay. [As long as he gets to eat, he'll be good.] So when do I get to meet Mrs. The Phoenix? [He's already forgotten Grell's last name, sorry.]

[fierybluebird]

Later. If she doesn't poke your comm herself. And depending on whether you prefer Nam-chan's place, or my mansion. [Yes. Okay, so it's actually the mansion of -- wait for it: -- Grell's demon-butler she fancies employer's -- Nah fuck it, Marco's a pirate, he stole it fair and square.]

She's met you before, eh. So I don't know how she'll be this time. She knows how important you are. [One or two of the Ace's hated sleeping alone because nightmares, so Marco and Grell kept him in their bed like a giant housecat.] Oh, and she's not human, yoi. So she doesn't sleep much. And she's a total workaholic. Even worse than me.

[DEBATABLY Worse than Marco. Maybe just his equal probably. But Marco had brothers to drag him away from a billion projects, and Grell mostly had Marco and then whoever else she let in, often via Marco. Except for:}

She's best friends with Namur's girlfriend, Rip. Rip's a lot easier to get ahold of.

[Because vampire not shinigami.]

[burnt_offering]

You have a mansion? Shit, you're living large. [Ace isn't prepared for complicated relationships, it's Marco's mansion and that's good enough for him.] Hey, if she's important to you she's important to me too. So it's all gonna work out, right? Especially if she met me before this. [Food food food, he's getting impatient but he can see the waitress with a plate so he's hoping it's heading right his way. The comment about her not being human has him shrugging his shoulders though. He's not surprised really.] Yeah, well, I kinda figured that at the teeth and enjoying blood. [His idea is more shaped towards what comes up in their home world, but his heart is in the right place, and he doesn't care about what Grell is as long as she makes Marco happy.] Yeah, Namur said he's got girls. You guys got busy, didn't you? Anything else I need to know?

[Because the fact that his bros are absolutely popular with women, but he's not surprised at that at all.]

[fierybluebird]

A little.

Aye.

Thatch's been here, but isn't. Sometimes I can grab him, but threads. Yours is the hardest to hold onto. No idea why I've got Namur's. I'd kind of expect Jozu. [Looks up. Let's see who else.]

[What else?]

[Oh right.] Changed mine, Namur's, Thatch, and Grell's tattoos in the world Grell and I met in. I didn't even find Thatch and Namur. They'd been hiding on the other side of the world from me for years, and I thought I'd scoured the whole planet looking for 'em. Time is like... cloth. It has pockets. We're in one now. So, that's how you can be here away from it all. And it can get scrunched up and folded together, letting space and time that wouldn't normally intersect, crossover like that.

If you didn't fall asleep, it just means, I've got this as best as I can, and you don't have to worry. Just enjoy yourself. Live. Be free. Be your wildfire-iest self, eh?

People might recognize you even if you don't recgonize them, but if you don't want to deal with them, they won't pressure you. [Thinks...]

[LAUGHS.] Unless Ikkun comes back. Then he'll punch you and profess he loves you even if you don't know who he is. He's another phoenix, like me, but not exactly. He's met you... at least two other worlds I know of. [Taps finger to chin. Threads.] Although an entirely other Ikki could show up who doesn't know either of us, and then we'd just kick him together to show him he's one of us again like it or not, eh?

And Kitten -- That's Grell, maybe Rip, know some of your past, and they've all got messed up history of their own, obviously. But otherwise here, no one cares what happens off-world, it's a pretty fresh start. Some exceptions if your first post is a declaration of war. Or -- [SLY SMIRK. HE MIGHT HAVE ALSO KIND OF THREATENED A CITY ONCE??? GRELL WAS KIDNAPPED AND HE WAS NOT A HAPPY PHOENIX.] Even if you've been here a few years and then do it.

The ocean is only in one city and it's limited but --

[... Fuck.]

I have a gate to Pops' island. You can come visit it. Hang out with the sphinxes. But don't go too far on that ocean, all right? And wear a shirt and keep your head down. Isolated or not, word reached everywhere. No point freaking people out, and... you probably wouldn't enjoy being treated like a ghost after it wore off the first dozen times.

[burnt_offering]

[Ace is honestly trying to listen and take in Marco's words. But there are days where it is painfully obvious even to Ace that he's not the highest on the mental skills list of Pops' boys, and it's all honestly really overwhelming to him right now to figure out all of this information so soon after coming back from the dead. While he's not stupid, things like folds and worlds and so forth are lost on him tonight.

He'll be able to sort this out better with a full stomach and a nap, anyway. And his first plate is here too, and he's shoveling in bite after bite while the information just goes in one ear and out the other, and he's trying to catch bits of it as his stressed out brain keeps cranking. He does note, after a moment, that he's usually not this slow and he should be picking up more than this. But he just keeps eating, and a second plate is handed over and this one isn't as amazing to him as the first but he's not slowing down in his efforts to cram his stomach full.

He does pause at the gate bit, and he's trying to process this better.] So just be subtle, right? [Ace isn't the best at subtle as a rule, but he knows how to lay low.] So I wanna know-[All of the sudden Ace is face first down onto his plate, snoring away against his potatoes and the remainder of his pork roast. Food and mental stress is a great trigger combination for his narcolepsy.]

[fierybluebird]

[Marco just chuckles in amusement. In all honesty, he assumed as much. Sometimes he knows this so well, he scares himself that it's not real, he's just dreaming.]

[But then he wakes up, and the dream is still better, so whatever, he'll take it.]

[He gently makes sure Ace won't suffocate.]

[As dumb as this would be to anyone else in any other universe; this is exactly why Marco loves him, and misses him, and is always happy to even have one more minute with the dumb brat. EVEN JUST DOING THIS.]

[burnt_offering]

[Marco is so good to Ace, and although he's not awake now to tell him, or realize it, he appreciates that he makes sure he's not going to suffocate in his potatoes. That would be a horrible way to die again, first by literally being fisted through the torso, that at least has some cred attached to it. Mashed potato suffocation? Not nearly as brag-worthy.

For a bit at least, he's going to snore away. It's a deep sleep that hits hard and doesn't really produce dreams for him. So it's probably a good thing in the scheme of things.]

[fierybluebird]

[That's good.]

[Marco will have to remember to teach Ace Pops' trick for dealing with nightmares, and also to tell him that Marco adopted a son running around the mansion and getting lost, or living very very happily on Sphinx island.]

[When Ace wakes up.]

[burnt_offering]

[It's gonna be a little longer, sorry.

After about 5 minutes, Ace jerks upwards suddenly, wide eyed and staring in confusion. He's also got a face covered in mashed potatoes.

Thankfully for the waitstaff, there's an abandoned apron on a chair near them. And that gets washrag duty instead of someone's shirt or the aprons they're wearing.] Eh? Again?

[fierybluebird]

Oh, did you? I hadn't noticed.

[Deadpan lying of course.]

[burnt_offering]

[Okay that throws him off a little, he's still groggy.] ...Did I? [Did he just imagine all of that?]

[fierybluebird]

Nope.

[MARCO IS EVIL. HE'S NOT EVEN SORRY.] More food?

[burnt_offering]

...What the hell, Marco?

[He looks down at what's left on the plate, and starts eating again.] Yeah keep it coming.

[fierybluebird]

What, is there something on my face?

[Mashed potatoes on Ace's.]

[burnt_offering]

No. [Still eating, but after another mouthful.] Did I get everything off of mine?

[fierybluebird]

Mostly. Still got something -- [Pokes him and wipes a finger to inspect it, CLEARLY TEASING HIM IN A SECOND:] Nope just freckles.

[WORST BIG BRO.]

[burnt_offering]

[That gets a seriously bratty sounding huff out of Ace, and he rolls his eyes before going back to scraping the last bits off of the plate. It's not great food, but it's food.] How do you keep your expressions so serious when you do stuff like that?

[fierybluebird]

It's a mystery. [DEADPAN, of course.]

[burnt_offering]

It's kinda creepy. [Ace is amazed, he's personally someone who just can't deadpan to save his life.]

[fierybluebird]

[ :| Ace you love him so much you just GIVE HIM GIFTS LIKE THIS!!! He is flattered!!!! And will not let it go to waste.]

Well, it's not like I kill people like this.

I smile then.

[ > : ) ]

[burnt_offering]

[Oh yeah, Ace is absolutely creeped out.] Is that so? [Oh hey, new plate, gonna just very much focus on that.]