[voice]

[firefreckles]

[His body feels cold when he wakes. Cold and sluggish but warming, and breaths are easier than they were the last time he was conscious. Layers of filth coats his skin and clothes, thick, dried blood flaking off as he moves. He can feel it crusted at the corners of his mouth and taste it on his tongue, a strong copper flavor along with ash and

Comments

Voice

[firefreckles]

Vaguely's better than nothing.. [He pauses to study the other person's video.] I'm having a hard time remembering you, too, I'm afraid... This place is like recalling a dream.

Let's start again. I'm Portgas D. Ace, and you are...?

[firefreckles]

That might explain it.. My memories are still coming back to me. Anyway.. It's good to meet you again, or for the first time..

[voice]

[burningfowl]

[When he hears that voice over his device, Marco freezes. It takes a while before he can bring himself to reply, hands almost shaking as he works the buttons on his NV. From Ace's words, he has a pretty good idea of where the teenager has reappeared from. ...No, he's not a teenager any more, is he?]

Sounds like it's been longer for you than for the city. [He's keeping to voice mode for now; he's probably making a ridiculous face that doesn't need to be seen, anyways.] Still remember where our place is, yoi?

[voice]

[firefreckles]

[Here is one of the voices that Ace was hoping to hear but hadn't wanted to directly ask about. He thought it might be better to find out who was on the island more indirectly than to let himself hope someone important to him was still there and be disappointed. Hearing Marco's voice puts a complete halt to his mind to the point that his feet no longer receive signals to move and he ends up standing still. Marco is most likely right about it being longer for him, he agrees internally. Even though the years had felt like nothing, a lot had happened after he left this island. His quest for vengeance had ended worse than he could have ever imagined possible, a terrible nightmare he had gotten sucked into and was unable to pull himself out of. The Whitebeard pirates, his brother, they had all tried to help when he hadn't deserved it. Ace is unsure, his memories from Siren's Port still fuzzy, but he thinks Marco may have tried to warn him things would end in a bloodbath and yet it still happened out of his control

[voice]

[burningfowl]

[It's hard to get a sense for exactly what Ace's emotions are, given that he's using that tight voice and that Marco can't see the boy's face. He can't blame him, of course, given what the D had been going through. Hell, Marco isn't even using the video function yet either.]

Aa. It's still blindingly bright. Takes more than a week or so for paint to fade. [Or ten days, not that Marco'd been counting.] Though it might be hard to spot since the sun's going down, yoi. Need me to find you?

[voice]

[firefreckles]

[He hadn't been gone much over a week and yet his eyes haven't seen anything of this island in years. It makes returning even stranger, though nothing quite tops the fact that Ace woke up in the first place.]

Man, a lot can happen in a week. [His heart's not fully in the tease and then there is silence. No, he doesn't need Marco to find him, but he wants to see him all the same.]

Going home... isn't something I've forgotten. [But he won't say no to meeting him halfway.]

[video]

[axemeaquestion]

[Memories of Nick's second arrival to Siren's Port resurfaced when she heard Ace's voice again. Nick had remembered her, but not this place. Ace, though, sounded like he still did. But the thing they both shared was the time jump.]

Ace?

[At first she was on voice, then paused and switched to video. It was a habit she would need to take a little while to get back into, letting people see her face again. But if it had been such a long time, Rochelle had a feeling Ace wouldn't have even remembered her voice.]

That's where you went.

[voice]

[firefreckles]

[This voice is familiar, and she seems to know him, but he can't put a name with the voice--or the face. He can't remember seeing her before at all.]

I went home for a while. [Yes, that's where he went. It was several years for him.] You sound familiar.. but I'm sorry, I don't recognize you at all. [His voice contains the hint of an apologetic smile, but he's not switching to video.] When did you last see me?

[video forever]

[axemeaquestion]

[Okay, what would he possibly remember about her, uh...]

A week ago, actually. I was the baddest woman alive that you said you'd take on a boat ride.

[voice for...well.. maybe not forever, but for now]

[firefreckles]

So that is all? That's so weird. [He pauses, letting this information sink in and mingle with surfacing memories of the year he had spent on this island.]

......Ah--! I did! Of course, how could I forget a promise to you, R...Rah....Rosh.... Eheh. [Sheepish.] Tell me I'm on the right track, at least.

Video for now! :D

[flowerofthesand]

[Have a very distraught princess practically yelling over the NV. She's been just as frantic about him as she was when Nami disappeared.] Ace?! Ace! Is that really you?? Where have you been? I-we've been so worried!

[voice]

[firefreckles]

Ah--[Another video, and this one is more recognizable to him than the last person, but only because he had seen her more recently, and in his own world. The blue hair was also a little hard to mistake, seeing how not many were blessed with a color like the sky.

He gives a short, breathy laugh at the excitable girl on screen. She must have missed him.]

What's there to worry about? It's [not like you've seen a ghost] me. I'm here. I guess I went back for a couple years, that's all.

[video!]

[flowerofthesand]

Of course I worried about you! You vanished in a giant explosion and no one could find you and-! [Her tearful babble is cut off abruptly.]

Wait. A couple of years? [No...he couldn't have, could he? The island couldn't have been that cruel...] How long...exactly?

[voice]

[firefreckles]

At least the island knew how to give me an exit..

[He's about to tell her she should settle down when he has to pause, suspicious that she already knows the answer to what she's asking.]

I'd guess over two. [He wasn't sure how long he had been stuck in Impel Down.]

voice;

[payback]

I remember you -

I don't think you've been gone very long.

voice;

[firefreckles]

About a week is what I was told... It was long enough for me to have a challenge at remembering everyone here though. [That's his way of saying he can't remember her name at the moment.] Pretty weird.

[payback]

How long were you home? [Baw, it wouldn't offend her, Ace. They only talked the once.]

[firefreckles]

A few years is all. [A lot can happen in a few years.] Would you mind telling me your name again, miss?