[AU event] ninja lizard is ninja

[espio]

[ooc: Oh dear. Espio's been replaced. Specifically, by the calmer, more serious and slightly angsty ninja spy from Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics, who lacks his British counterpart's temper and turnip obsession.

As someone who is supposed to be an observer rather than an active participant (he broke the rules in canon and made friends with the people he was supposed to be spying on), he probably hasn't forged such strong bonds in Garden, though he will still know everyone - to the Shinobi Clan, information is everything. He's a spy and is actually good at it, so he may even know more than he should. While at Garden, he didn't become an Instructor - he's a SeeD specialising in projectile weapons and covert operations.]

[BBS]

Whoever messed up my room has an unhealthy fixation with turnips. I suggest getting help.

[ACTION]

[Espio in the Quad is not an unfamiliar sight - he does tend to go there to read or practice on the guitar, and has more than once been found idly talking to a root vegetable himself.

This, however, is new. Espio is sitting cross-legged by a tree, calm, quiet and apparently not doing much of anything - he's meditating. In part, to clear his head from the confusion - who the hell trashes someone's room and leaves so much random stuff? Cookbooks, a plush toy, a camping stove, a cowboy hat... he'd thought he'd gone into the wrong room for a moment.

While he looks like he might be dozing off, he's acutely aware of his surroundings, focusing on that - the wind, the temperature, the sounds, the conversations - instead of the confusion.]

Comments

[fierybluebird]

I think you've lost license to call other people on being obsessed with turnips as much as I'm not allowed to call most people obsessed with blue sparkles, eh?

- Marco

[espio]

[...huh?]

And why is that?

[fierybluebird]

Did you find the turnip shaped like a rocket yet?

[espio]

I can't say I paid any attention to the shape.

[fierybluebird]

Who are you and what have you done with Espio?

[Deadpan kidding but seriously man, what?]

[espio]

[Is this some kind of bizarre, elaborate joke? Espio never pegged Marco as the type to do this to someone he doesn't really know, though...]

I'm right here, and I still don't know what you're talking about. Turnips are just vegetables - why would I be interested in the shape?

[BBS]

[redcinemareel]

I've been telling you that for so long.

-Grell ♥

[espio]

[hmm.... Nope. Sentence doesn't make sense to Espio. Besides, he normally tries to steer well clear of this particular crazy lady, so he's sure she can't have spent much time telling him much of anything.]

Telling me what?

[redcinemareel]

That you need help. I thought my response was clear about that.

[espio]

Not really, given I wasn't talking about myself. I'm not the one who dumped a load of turnips in someone's room.

[redcinemareel]

It certainly wasn't your boyfriend, although I'm sure he'd do so if you asked.

[espio]

I think you have me confused for someone else.

[Action] Let's give Grell another reason to kill him!

[corruptedsouls]

[Tobias in the Quad is hardly a strange sight either. Of course, spotting the chameleon, he's going right over.]

Espio!

YAY!!

[espio]

[On hearing his name called by a voice that's only barely familiar, Espio glances up to see... Tobias Hayes? Um. Yeah. Espio just stares at him in confusion for a moment.

Oh, he knows Tobias. Just enough to know that he's kind of quiet and reclusive - it's weird hearing him call his name like that! Like they were the best of friends or something...]

...yes?

[corruptedsouls]

[Tobias doesn't seem to notice the difference much at first... though he's beaming in an excited way.]

I'm ready! Can we still go out today?

[espio]

[Okay, sorry Tobias, but what? Espio is bewildered. First of all, he's never seen this kid look particularly happy about anything, let alone approach those who were nearly strangers beaming like that. Second of all... he's sure he hadn't made any kind of arrangement to go anywhere. He stares blankly for a moment.]

...what for?

[corruptedsouls]

[Tobias blinks a little, some of the excitement fading into confusion. Did Espio forget or something?]

We were going to go out more together, remember? I'm free today and you said you weren't busy...

[espio]

I'm not busy, but...

[Confused frown]

Why would you want to go somewhere with me?

Later on / Action

[fierybluebird]

[After talking to Toby and then Espio again respectively, he goes to find the chameleon in person.]

[espio]

[Normally, Espio's favourite spot for thinking was the roof. The smooth and shiny surface wasn't easily accessible by the vast majority of Garden, so it was nice and private.

But today, he wasn't himself. The person he was favoured a tree in the Quad, and that's where he was right now, sitting up in a branch and still poking at the files on his laptop. He glances down to see Marco nearby.]

Hey.

[fierybluebird]

Hi.

I've never introduced myself to a possible amnesiac... but...

[He rubs his hand on the back of his neck.] When I started thinking harder, I remembered that when I first came here, my little brother Ace, was here. Only it wasn't him. It was a different version of him. Same freckled face, same irritating attitude, same fiery little brat I knew and lost.

You have to understand, eh? I loved him more than I think I could have ever realized until I wake up some nights just missing him as badly as Thatch. And Thatch I always assumed was the closest to me other than my Pops.

[Waves a hand, it's easy for him to get lost talking about his family.] Point is, it wasn't him the way I knew him. In his world, he'd never been a pirate, he never met our father, the very person he died defending the honor of, and in his world, Ace was a marine. His job was to professionally hate and hunt me. Here he was willing to give me space, but I couldn't stand that either.

[Marco grabs a seat at the base of the tree and leans his back on the trunk.]

So far as I'm concerned, I don't care that he's a marine, I don't care if there are a thousand Aces out there and there only one that ever met me and loved me like a brother, all the Aces are like a little brother to me. They're my nakama. It wasn't just my job to protect him, it was my privilege, my honor, something that makes me who I am.

But that didn't mean I thought it was easy on him. If a random marine I never met from another world swore up and down I was his younger sibling, I'd be a bit freaked out too, eh?

So, I'll try to give you space and time. If you've got questions, I'll do my best to answer them. But we won't try to force you remember anything. Maybe the memories won't come back. At first I thought Ace had been brainwashed. It took me a long time to accept that maybe it was just an alternate dimension, but even then... [He shrugs and whistles to a few of the birds up in the trees so one will join him.] As I said, it's part of who I am to protect my family. To do anything else is impossible for me. Because of your timing, and we don't know where the other Espio is, I'm sure Toby and Grell just assumed you were the same one, like I did. Especially since you seem to remember being in the Garden for a couple years, aye?

Time Compression just loves to make a nuisance of itself, eh?

editeditedit...

[espio]

[Stares for a moment, blinks, then laughs a little. Apparently, he's not quite as cranky?]

Did you rehearse all that on the way?

[And to serious again. He closes the laptop.]

The reason I wanted to talk, well... everything seems off. Your friend, was he an instructor? Because I'm not, and I'm definitely not a pilot, but the records and everything for my ID says otherwise. And it's my ID.

And... the date's right, too, but nobody remembers me. Not as me.

XDDD

[fierybluebird]

Yes. Yes I did.

[Arches an eyebrow and shrugs.]

At least you realize why the rest of us are having troubles seeing you as a different ah... you.

You're Espio, my little brother and one of my best friends here. Maybe just flat out my best friend really.

[espio]

Well, yeah, I guess. And I'm not exactly foreign to a friend becoming almost like a different person. A good friend of mine, Charmy, well...

[Trails off, and changes the subject.]

Sorry. I think I hurt a couple of people.

But I guess my memory's not all wrong. What you said about your friend Ace... it probably sounds weird, but I remember that.

BBS.

[thumbsize]

What happened to your room that it would involve turnips?
-- Thumbelina