distressedude | 021 ~ [Voice]

[Even with the month of February coming to a close, the weather has still been rather cold. But that didn't stop spring from trying to make its way through, and even now, one could see the start of buds on trees around the forest. Appropriately bundled up for the weather, Ion rests at the foot of the largest tree in the cherry tree grove just north of the village. Taking in a long, steady breath, he absentmindedly opens his journal. When he speaks, it doesn't even seem like he's addressing the journal at first. His voice sounds distant; he's had a lot on his mind lately.]

I wonder what it would be like to live in Luceti longer than I lived back on Auldrant... so far. [Those last words are added rather hastily, like an after-thought. There's a wistful smile on his face.] Thinking about it used to make me feel sad... now I'm almost not sure what to think. It feels like the longer I'm here, the greater the chance is that I might start to forget things about home. The sound of the city bustling to life in the morning. The way the sun shines off the fonbelt in the sky at sunset. The faces of all the kind people I've met...

[He trails off before smiling a little more brightly.]

But I guess it really hasn't been all that long. [Two years in Luceti. Almost a year back on Auldrant. Nearly a quarter of the time he's been alive.] Besides, there are things here that I never want to forget as well...

[He trails off and looks off into the distance. The only sound for a few moments is that of birds chirping overhead. Aburptly, he looks back down at the journal.]

Ah. I think I lost track of where I was going with this. I'm sorry for rambling.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That would mean... you were less than three years old when you came to Luceti?

[You'd think he'd sound more shocked or something.]

Yeah. I was... I was only about six months old.

[It's so weird to be saying that, even if he knows it's true.]

[Six months. That was... so young! Naturally the thought occurs to him -- could they be the same? Ion's never really mentioned being a replica to Emil, has he? It didn't seem right to just ask something like that.]

[But if Emil's trusting him enough to tell him something like that, it didn't seem fair not to extend the same in return.]

I had no idea. Being so much younger than you look... that's something we have in common.

You too? Wow... I haven't met many other people like me at all.

Wait... you're from Luke's world, right? So does that mean you're a...?

[Luke - the Luke who had been here before, not the one who is here now - had told him about replicas. Emil still isn't quite sure he entirely understands, but he's pretty sure he's got the basic idea.]

...a replica. [That's about the only way that sentence can end, if he mentioned Luke. It wasn't something Ion would usually bring up to talk about unless the topic happened to turn that way... still, it felt strange to talk about it only now, having known Emil almost since he arrived in Luceti. Almost like when he told Anise and the others the first time...]

I'm a replica of... the original Fon Master Ion. [He almost, almost, said the "real" Fon Master Ion. He caught himself.] Before I came to Luceti, it hadn't even been three years since I was born.

So you really are like me, although... I'm not a replica. It's kind of complicated, but I look like someone else, so I guess I'm a little like a replica if you think about it that way. Well, it's more like I was made to look like someone else.

Made to look like someone else? So then... the way you look right now isn't how you originally were?

Yeah. Actually, I... I don't know what I originally looked like. I can't remember it at all.