dear_mun | For the record, Ion punched him in the face.

...What?

Oh, Anise! [Of all the people to see this...!] It seems that my Mun has been telling people that in regards to a... disagreement I had with Sync.

That's not what I was asking, Ion! What did that jerk Sync do to you?

[Punched him in the face and then tried to choke him-- but that's not important, clearly!]

It's nothing you need to worry about, Anise. It was my fault, after all...

No, I'm sure it isn't! Tell me!

Ah, but... I was the one who punched him first, though.

[No, really.]

...You punched him first?

I may have... lost my temper for a moment, but... yes.

Ion that is so cool! Who taught you how to punch?

I don't think there's anything "cool" about it...

[...not that he regrets it because punching Sync actually felt pretty good, but that's besides the point!]

And I don't think anyone really taught me, it just sort of happened.

Well, if you punched him then he must have done something truuuuly horrible to you!

I'm not really the one he had been horrible to, although he certainly succeeded in making me angry. [Siiiigh. Keywords apply.] I only hope I haven't made things even worse now.

[WOW LOOK WHO'S SHOWING HIS FACE.]

Both of our muns are idiots. Did you really expect anything different?

["Showing his face" and using an icon without his mask, huh........]

[Heh.]

...even so, you shouldn't talk about your Mun that way.

[...It just happened like that.

Ion. ION. STOP TELLING HIM WHAT TO DO.]

Too bad. [I DO WHAT I WANT, ION.] It's true, and you know it.

Regardless of whether or not you think it's true, you still shouldn't say it.

[Because, you know.]

[They might want revenge or something.]

Are you in need of a guiding hand?

Because I was under the impression that the way of the Fon Master is the way of gentleness.

[O-Oh, it's his original! Well, now he feels kind of embarrassed.]

That's how I feel as well, though I suppose I may have lost myself to my own temper on that particular day...

I suppose it's only natural.

["You're a flawed replacement after all." He's leaning on his staff heavily despite his smirk, he shouldn't be out, but here he is anyway through sheer stubbornness.]

I think you should apologize and beg forgiveness then. You wouldn't want to make a habit out of losing your temper; it will set a bad example for Florian, Anise, Arietta, and Sync himself even.

[...he could believe Florian, and maybe Sync, but Anise and Arietta? The idea of Ion being a bad influence on either of them is a bit of a stretch. He frowns.]

To be quite honest, I don't believe it would be right to apologize for something I don't feel sorry for.

Although I regret that I acted out of anger, I don't regret what I did.

[...he did get punched back and strangled for it, after all.]

Because you never say things like that, right? [A beat.] Of course you don't. I don't even know why I asked.

[OH SCREAMING NO...]

Oh? This is quite the change from the little one that always steadfastly believed "Violence isn't the answer."

[He smiles in turn. This is certainly worth his time after all and he's glad for the amusement.]

Has the world changed you so? Aren't you worried about losing that gentleness that defines you?

That's... not exactly why, no...

[Hey, this is the world of 4th walling, right?]

[So Sync can totally see these links, right?]

While I do believe it's better to attempt negotiations before resorting to violence, I also understand there are times when such things can't be helped.

[Just like sacrifices made in the name of preventing a war, in which countless more innocents would be killed. Punching Sync may not have been anything quite so grand as preventing a war, but perhaps allowing him one concession, letting him see just how angry he had been able to make Ion, may have been enough to keep him from trying something more extreme to try and get to him.]

[Or at least, that's what he hopes.]

The world just isn't that simple.

Then why?

[..........]

And will you tell her to stop putting stupid things on here?!

...you're the one who called her an idiot.

[You dug your own grave, bird-boy.]

[Now go lie in it. 8D]

[His expression hardens, and the Original steps over to his Replica haggardly, and pauses a moment to lean on his staff again before circling him, studying the other boy made in his image.]

Curious. You seemed so intent on holding on to that perceived image the public so adored...

Yet, instead of Sync, I think it will be you that carries my malice out into the world if you survive.

Because she's acting like one!

[HAHA SARAH WHY.] Tell her to stop!

You're... what?

[Ion had met his original, briefly, in Luceti. They had seemed so similar... similar enough that it had been unsettling, really. Not just because he was his replica, but because he had lived as his replacement. Trying so hard to act just as he had, think just as he had, appear just as he had... he couldn't help but wonder how much of who he was now was really himself and how much was just the result of trying to be someone else.]

[...but if there was one thing Ion was sure he didn't have, it was malice for the world. He doesn't quite know what to say, taking a somewhat hesitant step back.]

Perhaps she will if you apologize...?

[CAN'T BE TAMED.]

"Oh, the Fon Master is such a gentle soul, always working for peace. I don't think he could harm a fly."

"Look at what a good soul the Fon Master is. He reads us the Score so faithfully. It's hard to imagine him raising a hand against someone even in anger."

[He pauses after two testimonials, as he picks that moment to suffer a coughing fit that sends him to his knees, doubling over and gasping for that vital air he needed so badly. Once it's over and his lungs aren't screaming as harshly at him, he rights himself, pulling himself up with his staff, the effort visible on his entire body.]

Sync has only seen suffering in his life, he lashes out akin to a child, wanting to belong.

Florian has been kept as a doll, and is now coddled by Anise. He'll never have an evil thought in his head.

You. You've seen it all. Seen what happens to the failed replacements, know what a lie the Score is. You know just how like a puppet you've been treated all that time while people mindlessly asked more and more of you.

And you finally gave into anger. If it happens once; it will happen again. You truly are my replacement.

I'm not going to apologize to her! She's the one acting childish!

['I'm sorry' doesn't exist in Sync's vocabulary.]

[The moment his original starts to go down, Ion goes down with him, kneeling in front on him and resting a hand on his shoulder to try and help keep him upright. What... what was he saying? Concern and confusion are fighting for prominence in his mind right now.]

[Ultimately, concern wins out. Regardless of what he's saying, of what he's trying to insinuate, Ion can't very well let someone so sick just stand there unattended.]

You should be sitting down. You don't look at all well right now...

I'm not going to disagree with you, but it might be enough to make her stop before it gets any worse...

[Heheheheheheheheh.]

--what. Mun, I... what did I do?

[YOU WERE BORN.]

[He sighs. He should be sitting, should be laying rather, in a soft bed in a dark room while the one before him is paraded around in Daath while they're celebrating the Fon Master in ignorance. Instead, he's here, suffering all the worse. He pushes Ion away, but not roughly.]

I hated the thought of being replaced by a fake while the world never noticed. Especially since they didn't bother trying to cure me, only keeping me from feeling my symptoms as severely so I could do what the public needed.

Seeing you here, now, having grown though. I think I can handle dying. I was worried what made me me was going to snuff out in an unmarked grave; but I think you can keep it going, Ion.

[Even as Ion is pushed away, he stays close, as though ready to catch him should he start to fall again. But as he speaks, his expression begins to fall... but not for the reasons Ion might think.]

...you're wrong.

[He looks up, his expression suddenly stronger. Yes... yes, he knew now. In all his years of living, on both Auldrant and in Luceti, he's struggled to come to terms with his own existence. He was born to become a replacement, a puppet, a stand in only meant to take the place of someone who wasn't there anymore. But he knows now that he's so much more than that.]

I'm not your replacement. I'm not a fake, because... I'm not you. I have my own thoughts and feelings different from yours. I may be your replica, but we're still different people. The time I've spent in this world has taught me that.

No one could ever replace you, Ion. I may have taken your place as Leader of the Order, but I could never take your place in the hearts of people who were important to you.

[Not for Arietta. Not even for Van. And especially not for Ion himself. Even though he never truly had the chance to get to know him in Luceti, when he left... Ion had cried. Cried for the missed opportunity of getting to know someone for whom he owed his very existence. Cried for the pain he knew would come to those left behind in Luceti.]

[Cried, knowing there would be no one else to cry for him when his time eventually came on Auldrant.]

[This was a debate that could last them another lifetime. Certainly a longer one than either them had already. But, he's tired and it's very obvious as he sighs with a soft wheeze.]

That's nice to hear.

[But he has one more question, partially out of bitterness, and also because he's curious just how this one's mind works.]

Do you think Anise pushed for a mutual grave for both of us, or just let me remain hidden in the shadows after she returned to try and rebuild the Order? And what of Sync's memorial?

[If Ion's intent was to hurt Ion with those questions, he'll find there to be little effect. Ion even manages a smile when he anwers, though there may be just a hint of sadness in his eyes.]

I'm afraid those aren't questions I can answer. I... didn't live long enough to see the reformation of the Order come to fruition, after all. And I have no way of knowing what Anise's intentions for the future may be.

After all, the future of our world is now one independant of the Score. Anything is possible.

[The sound of padding paws stops just behind Ion.]

[...?]

Ah, hello?

[Blinking up at him, she tilts her head.]

Hel...lo.

[A... talking dog? Or perhaps some kind of monster not native to Auldrant? It seems friendly enough.]

Hello there.

[Friendly? She would be if she weren't so fractured. But she sits down to stare at him.]

He...llo there.

[Hm, he not entirely sure if he's just being echoed or not... though it did say Hello first!]

My name is Ion. Can you tell me your name?

[At the question, her head lowers and she repeats the phrase "My name...." several times in a manner that suggests the question seems important.

She quiets before looking up at him again.]

Ni...na.

[He'll just wait patiently, kneeling beside her.]

Nina, is it? Well, it's nice to meet you, Nina. [Is it -- she? -- safe to pat on the head? Because he's going to do just that.]

[She accepts the petting, still watching him with unblinking white eyes.]

Nice to...meet you.

For the record, Ion punched him in the face.

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/HAS TO SLEEP because lol 3 am BUT I SHALL RETURN

My Ion is trying to imagine punching anyone. ^^

He's just gotta release his inner manly side!!

Manly side? He has one? XD

He totally does! ...somewhere!

Under that persistent docile nature~ Well we all know he's not a total sheep.

Ion: Secretly the manliest character in the game. Trufax.

Is that why he's the big gun?

BIGGEST GUN THERE IS.

\o/