This is gonna get out of hand [Ace/Nine]

[Ace (No. 1)]

Ace was not sitting in the library, as one could usually find him. Today he was sitting in the cafeteria, with a half-eaten hot dog to one side of him and a makeshift poker tournament in front. Once again he had managed to coerce a couple of friends into playing poker with him, partly because teaching Deuce the other day had put him in the mood to play, but mostly because he needed to buy new shoes for the upcoming school dance and the Bank of Nine was probably going to be filling that void. Actually Ace had been playing to mine the Bank of Machina as well, but the black-haired boy had seemed to be on somewhat of a hot-streak. In fact Ace had only succeeded in drawing a few Gil away from his newest friend in Class Zero. Fortunately Nine was as successful a player as ever. Maybe a game with Eight, Jack and Trey later and Ace would have his new shoes. Not King though... his poker face was too damn good. Of course if King did want to play then Ace would have no qualms about dealing him in. It wasn't as if King could not be beaten, he was just more challenging than the rest.

At that point Machina stood up, waving his hand as Ace went to deal him a fresh pair of cards, "Never mind, I'm going to buy out of this before I lose the money I need for Rem's corsage. Here's your six Gil Ace... I'm meeting her in ten minutes anyway." Ace nodded and collected his cash, pocketing it with a smile. Of course he wasn't usually so money-grabbing, especially from his friends, but betting was part of the game, wasn't it? All's fair in love and war... and poker. Turning to Nine, Ace flashed his older brother a grin, "What do you say Nine? Want a chance to win all your money back? I'll tell you what, if you bet in double this round, I'll cancel all your debt if I lose." Ace tried not to smile as he waited to see if Nine was going to take the bait. Of course the cards could always go in Nine's favour and Ace really could lose the pot, it was not as if he was cheating to ensure victory, but based on the track record of this afternoon's game... it seemed unlikely. Picking up his hot dog, he finished it in a couple of bites and drained his soda too. He didn't know what some of the others saw to complain about with the cafeteria food, he thought it was great, in fact he was seriously considering getting another one before they shut it up to prepare dinner. He was quite full, but he could always be fuller...

The jump was so instantaneous that it took a good few seconds for Ace to start to comprehend what had happened. He looked up from the table to notice he was looking at the physically impossible sight of his own face, without the benefit of a mirror. This information penetrated his brain very slowly, but when the truth of what he was seeing sunk in, he scrambled back up off his seat with a strangled yell. That roar he released was deeper than his own voice, his body bigger and stronger - the chair he had thrown back in panic was lying halfway across the room... Everyone was staring at him, although luckily few people remained in the hall so late after lunch had finished, and he was still staring in horror down at himself. But that meant- but that meant this was Nine's body. Holding out his hands in front of him, they were indeed the hands he knew all too well were attached to a ferocious spear-wielder. Grabbing a spoon from the table, Ace held it up and examined his own reflection;  distorted slightly by the curve of the metal, but unmistakably Nine. "Nine?" Ace asked quietly, a low groan emerging from his throat, keeping his voice quiet so that nobody else in here would hear that he was apparently talking to himself. Right now he wanted very badly to ask how this had happened, for two very good reasons. Firstly because Nine, if he was in fact in Ace's body, would not know, and secondly because that would then lead to a much scarier question that Ace didn't want to face right now... Was this permanent?

WORDS; 768
MUSE; Great!
LOCATION; Cafeteria
TAGGED; Nine
NOTES; Let the madness begin!
LISTENING TO?; Nobody

[Nine (No. 9)]

Nine was ready to give up. With a frustrated look on his face he sat at the cafeteria table, he stared at Ace and Machina, his head ducking behind his cards a bit. Now Nine, he didn’t have a poker face, it was hard to keep a straight face, whenever he got a good set of cards he’d have that sly grin on his face, and whenever he got a crappy set of cards, he’d frown and let his brows furrow in frustration. It was easy to tell if he would win or lose, and people would take advantage of that of course, especially when it included a few bits of gil. Frowning as he tried to hide behind the few cards, he stared at the numbers intensively, wondering whether it was best to fold or call a hand…but watching and listening to Machina get up and leave, Nine then moved his eyes to Ace, trying to keep a straight face like King always did was difficult! How could you not show expressions, especially when something was either really good or really bad?

Listening to Ace and raising an eyebrow, he pondered the thought. Double his bet, win it all back…but if he lost…everyone knew Ace was a good card player, but if Nine could just hold in his expressions for a few minutes, then maybe he could keep the gil he would’ve lost instead of becoming momentarily poor. Shaking his head and sighing, rubbing a hand to his chin, he eased back in his seat. “I don’ know Ace, yer not exactly easy t’ beat in these games. I betcha yer jus’ waitin’ for me to slip up again so ya can take my gil.” He said before looking down at the table and noting his total lack of winning today…it was best to end on a good note wasn’t it? Sighing and shaking his head once more, Nine leaned forward at the table, a rather confident and cocky look on his face while Ace was eating, he was ready to play another hand of poker and win, double or nothing. “Alright Ace you got yerself a d-“

Nine blinked for a second, staring at the form ahead of him. It took a few moments for his brain to register that he was looking at himself, as if there was a mirror placed right in front of him. Had Ace teleported away or something? But what would a mirror be doing in the cafeteria? Watching the form of himself freak out, Nine’s eyes widened as he rose to his feet slightly, not seeing things as he usually did. He was shorter now, lighter, and not quite as…tank-like as usual. Looking down at his attire and moving a hand to his hair, no longer a spiky mess, but it was lighter blond hair and he…was…shorter! There wasn’t enough understanding in his brain to freak out, he was just confused. Here came the complications that he never liked. Glancing down at ‘Nine’, he then took a quick look around the room, people staring in their direction. He wandered around the table, feeling too light than his usual heavy muscular self. “…the hell?” he said and instantly he shut his mouth, hearing a different tone, and it just sounded so odd to hear this voice cursing. Especially when it wasn’t a rough speech pattern that was like Nine’s usual…it was just…so awkward sounding! Looking at his own form, Nine felt the panic sink in, the complications, the…everything.

Looking at Ace with wide eyes, Nine shook his head before taking a few steps back, looking at his hands now and then towards the nearest exit. He moved past Ace and towards the exit, pushing the door open with as much force as this new body would allow him. As he had nearly tried to bust through the door with his shoulder, he mumbled out an “Ow,” since it hurt his shoulder, but once outside in the hallway, a vacant hallway at that, he whirled around, began to pace and tug at the roots of….Ace’s hair. “The hell!?!?” he nearly shouted in the hall, his voice carrying slightly with an echo before he pressed his hand against a wall, trying to understand things, yes, this was him freaking out. As soon as he wanted to be in a different place, he was gone…yeah…Ace could teleport couldn’t he? Appearing only feet away, Nine just dropped. He sat on the ground and stared wide eyed at the wall, his tone an angry and frustrated one…but…who could blame him? It was like a small child throwing a tantrum. “Son of a bitch. God damn it…what the hell is this?!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:[/color] 913
Muse:[/color] Fantastic!
Tagged:[/color] Ace
Wearing:[/color] I'm gonna assume a uniform of sorts.
Listening To:[/color] Nothing
Notes:[/color] Trolololol

[Ace (No. 1)]

Ace stood shell-shocked for a moment as he heard Nine's vocabulary come tumbling out of his mouth. Geez, did he really sound like that? Nine went to make a quick escape straight after that, so Ace banished the cards back to his room with a quick sweep of his hand, then chased Ace down. Maybe everyone will think you're having an argument over your poker game, he thought as people watched him leave. That's totally plausible. Everyone knows Nine has a temper. He doesn't usually take it out on me, but maybe if he had been losing... Running in Nine's body came surprisingly naturally to Ace, considering he was quite a bit shorter. Nine's muscle strength more than made up for the extra weight. Ace decided he needed to hit the gym when and if he got back to his own body. Deuce probably would like him better at least.

They were out in the hallway by then and Ace came to a halt as he clearly saw Nine teleport in his body. Not very far, but considering Nine had never shown the talent to move so much as one inch by magic before, it was somewhat interesting. "Curious," he murmured, lost in thought, "I always assumed teleportation was a feat of the mind, yet having taken up residence inside my body, you've discovered an aptitude for it without even trying. I wonder if there's some sort of muscle memory..." Ace willed himself to a spot just behind Nine - it worked, but it was as difficult as walking through treacle. Maybe that was the increase in mass or just because Nine's body had never moved like that before. Either way he was glad he could still do it, although the concept of Nine running around and causing havoc in his body and with the power to teleport? That was very unpleasant indeed...

Anyway, Nine was busy freaking out, so Ace shook the scientific hypothesis out of his head and spoke to him in that unusual Nine growl, "First off, stop talking like a sailor in my body. Now we need to find out why this happened. Someone must have done this to us." Ace wrote off the idea of this being Nine's fault immediately. If Ace didn't know how body-swapping magic worked (or, to be honest, that it had even existed up until now) then you could be sure as hell that Nine didn't know either. Most likely it wasn't anyone in Class Zero either, unless maybe Queen had found it. However, as much as Queen would probably be delighted to do this to Nine, Ace was one of her good friends. He doubted she would make him be the one to be stuck in this mess. No, if this had been Queen, Jack or Eight would probably have been the one swapping with Nine. Someone who might have annoyed her. So who else had a reason to have a grudge and the motivation to do such a thing? There was Quon, he hated Nine, but again had no reason to punish Ace. Ace often saw Quon in the library and he felt they got on fairly well with each other. The only other people he could think of who were capable of completing such magic were Kazusa and Arecia. Kazusa was likely, he would do something like this simply because he could, but yet again he was someone who Ace actually got along with rather well. But Kazusa certainly wasn't above pulling a prank and he was Ace's number one suspect in this matter. Then there was Arecia. She was more capable than anyone else, and would probably do something like this for fun, then insist to her children that it was all to teach them a life-lesson about respecting each other or something like that. That was the most comforting thought, because Arecia would be able to put them all back to their proper selves once she was done laughing.

Then there was the other, much more worrying possibility, that this was just an accident. In that case anybody could be to blame, and there was definitely no guarantee of ever being put right again. Arecia probably could fix everything eventually, but no doubt that would take a lot longer than if it was a deliberate spell that she could just reverse. Damn! Looking back down at himself again - and noticing with a deflated feeling just how short he really was - Ace tried to calm Nine down more successfully, "We need to find out who did this, okay? Then we can get them to change us back. The most important thing right now is to stay in character, as if we really were each other. Whoever did this probably wants to embarrass us, so we can stop him by staying cool." With a slight cough, Ace deliberately slipped his voice down into Nine's typical speaking tone, "Y' can do that, can't y'? Just pretend yer me for a bit."

WORDS; 866
MUSE; Great!
LOCATION; Hallway
TAGGED; Nine
NOTES; ^^
LISTENING TO?; Nobody

[Nine (No. 9)]

Nine loved complications.

Ha…haha…

It was amazing he hadn’t tried flipping the table yet, though it wouldn’t be nearly as easy, nor would people expect the form of Ace to start raging and flipping things over, that was definitely a trait of Nine. He simply stood there for a few moments, blinking and trying to understand what happened. There was no clear cut explanation, there was no reason that the two should’ve switched, how was this even possible? Nine was never the type to sit down and think about the pros, cons, the reasons behind things or how things worked…but right now, the gears in his brain certainly were working, and working hard. It brought a slight frown to his face before moving quickly across the room and out of the cafeteria, it all was sinking in. He was shorter, a paler blond color for hair, and he was pretty sure he’d be the worst magic card wielder on the face of the universe. This was not good, not good at all, and it was about time he exploded.

Once outside and teleporting a short distance away, Nine was just having a meltdown. He didn’t understand! This was impossible, or it was supposed to be. Maybe this was just a really bad nightmare and soon he’d wake up? It was only wishful thinking. This was very much reality, Nine knew that and that was the only thing he was absolutely certain about right now. Reality, and the impossible…it was odd, and already he’d started swearing like a sailor. It was odd to his ears to hear this tone sounding like a hooligan, a ‘drunken yakuza’ as some had said once before. Hearing his own usual voice talking to him though, it was even creepier. Especially without the rough and rugged words that Nine usually used. The speech pattern he held was very distinct, and the habit of speaking that way…well, it wasn’t an easy habit to break, especially since he’d been talking like that for most of his life, not to say he couldn’t speak like Ace if he wanted to, he just chose to stick with what was comfortable. Right now though…absolutely nothing was comfortable.

“I’ll say whatever I damn well please.” Nine growled, though in Ace’s tone it wasn’t quite as threatening, still, it was dark, and he was getting frustrated. A frustrated Nine meant a cranky Nine. Groaning angrily, Nine balled his hands into fists and just…closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath and exhaling his held breath slowly, he did his best to stay calm. If they were going to keep as much attention away from themselves as possible, then they needed to act like one another right? Nine was smart enough to figure that one out on his own, thankfully. With a calming breath, he gazed at the taller figure ahead of him – his own usual form – and just frowned slightly, but when Ace spoke up, Nine’s anger seemed to flare extremely bad. He’d heard the words ‘We need to find out who did this-‘ and he was off and spitting out words like it was nobody’s business. “Hell yeah we do! When I find ‘em…they’re gonna wish they hadn’t done whatever it was they did. I bet’cha it was Quon, that pompous asshole…” he growled, his mind racing, his anger boiling…and his role of Ace was not going so well, especially with his speech pattern and his use for words…this was not going to go well.

However, when Ace spoke up, sounding more like him than he’d ever heard before, Nine blinked for a second, seeing what he was doing and catching on. It was a hard habit to break, and it made Nine groan heavily, tugging at the light blond hair that was now on his head. “Yer serious?” He said with a tilt of his head as he placed his hands on his waist and just sighed heavily, having to think his words carefully. “Okay, ‘Nine’, let’s…go find whoever did this, and we’ll set ‘em- er….them straight.” Nine said almost slowly, really trying to watch himself on his words…hopefully they didn’t run into anyone…or they’d be doomed, forever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:[/color] 814
Muse:[/color] Great!
Tagged:[/color] Ace!Nine
Wearing:[/color] Uniform
Listening To:[/color] Nothing!
Notes:[/color] Nada!

[Ace (No. 1)]

"Yeah, yeah," Ace waved off Nine's complaint. Sometimes Nine seemed to take every little request as a personal affront. Although, in fairness, these times seemed to coincide with the times Ace managed to proffer every request as an imperial order. In any case, Ace really wasn't looking for a fight right now. He was trying to think about a hundred things: who had done this? Would anyone understand? Had anyone else been changed? And the main question, how would they get back in the correct bodies again? Try as he might though, Ace couldn't find the answer to any of these questions while he was standing on a staircase with no clues other than being in Nine's head. Somewhere he has no right to be and no desire to remain. Nine had, as usual, jumped to an immediate conclusion on the answer to two of those questions. The instigator? Quon. And the way to change back? To pound Quon's head in until he had a sudden attack of memory and remembered how to get them back in the right places. Ace shook his head, "I think we might need to be a little more careful about this rather than just charging in. I can't pretend there's any love lost between you and Quon, but why target me? There's no motivation. And had the target been solely you, there are far worse places he could have opted for. Several animals spring to mind." Ace thought a bit longer, "I won't say it wasn't him, I can't prove that. But until we're sure, we can't just go crashing into an unknown situation. And if it was him, you're going to have to get in line behind me to hit him." And he really would, thought Ace cheerfully, I'm the one with the big fists and long legs now. Maybe this stay in Nine's body wouldn't really be too bad. For just a while he'd have the brains and the brawn. Ace knew where the line was though. After all, Nine would get his body back soon enough and Ace didn't really want him to have revenge planned when he did.

Ace nodded, "Dead serious. And you never know, if we're convincing then whoever did this might try again and fail, putting us back in our right bodies again by accident. In any case, we're going to have to be smart." Ace didn't say anything, but being smart was clearly a lot more his area than Nine's, so he added hastily, "Or at least we'll have to try and not be actively stupid. Either of us." It seemed a little more diplomatic to add that at the end, to note that he didn't mean only Nine could be stupid. Ace wasn't so stubborn that he couldn't admit he was wrong from time to time. Actually, he freely admitted that sometimes he was very wrong. It just made him very unhappy when he was. Ace rarely made the same mistake twice. Glancing around, Ace noted there was still nobody else around, but he thought he may as well get into character now before he was put on the spot. It couldn't be so hard, could it? He had known Nine for over a decade, if that broken speech pattern hadn't settled in his head by now then it never would. "How're we goin' t' hunt this guy down then? We need t' catch 'im proper. Can't give 'im any chance t' get away." That was pretty reasonable, Ace thought, trying to hear his accent even as he spoke. If anything he might be overdoing it a bit, but probably nobody would notice. Nine didn't tend to say a lot anyway. What Ace would be better practicing was grunting at people.

With a sigh, Ace sat down on the stairs, which he found awkward in this body. Walking was fine, running was okay, but anything beyond that was difficult right now. He dreaded the thought of trying to use a spear. Ace places his faith in muscle memory. Don't think and the body will know what to do. Remember that. His weapon, however, was far more reliant on his mind alone. Looking up at - down at, actually - Nine, Ace shook his head, "An' we're goin' t' have t' teach ya how t' use the cards. Yer good with magic though, so I think yer goin' t' be ok. Just practice, yeah? Ya can teach me too." Damn, this speaking took concentration. It seemed a lot easier when it was tumbling out of Nine's mouth. Well, it was still tumbling out of Nine's mouth, but this time Nine's brain had left a vacancy behind the controls. Ace wasn't doing a great job of filling it so far. Getting back to his feet since sitting on the step was so awkward, Ace motioned Nine to follow him, "Come on, let's get back to my dorm and make a plan. I think Trey's out."

WORDS; 857
MUSE; Pretty good
LOCATION; The academy
TAGGED; Nine
NOTES; Nope
LISTENING TO?; Nothing