there have been plenty of rumors about the ashen detective. both good and bad. he's always managed to solve his cases, but he's... a little odd, to put it lightly. koi originally came to planarcadia to find him after all. well, not ashveil specifically, but to see if the bloodhound can catch aventurine's scent.
koi is relieved to be able to just breathe and walk around as himself without a disguise. the astral express is taking the spotlight here, so all he needs to do is find the spot and hope the furbos don't scrape every last credit out of his account (or post a seedy tabloid about him).
"mr. ashveil?" koi calls out after carefully opening the door to his office. he's heard that he's been working with pearl, so hopefully that means he's easier to work with than the rumors give credit. pearl wouldn't waste her time with someone that wasn't right for the job after all.
"is he out for the day?" he turns back to one of the furbos, but for what feels like the 10 millionth time, they're hiding information behind thousands of credits. this time, koi is choosing to skimp out.
the monkey that surfaces, to put it lightly, scares the shit out of him. not that narrator isn't cordial, he even offers to get his money back. "eh, i could tell they're pretty broke. it's not worth the trouble." plus, there's no doubt he'll make that money back from royalties within the hour.
"erm... even without payment, just as a friendly tip from a local. maybe don't wear clothes that expensive when you're walking around dovebrook."
"thanks, it's just hard to resist spoiling myself if i don't have to wear a disguise."
ashveil's eyes perk up a little bit at that. clearly, they're a high profile figure. or a fugitive on the run... but a fugitive wouldn't wear something so headturning.
when the detective starts off on such a wrong foot, it's hard for koi's ego not to show at least a little bit. "don't you know who i am-" no, no... not again. not after what happened last time.
with a pause, the actor closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "actually, it's koi." and by instinct, he's always polite to the people he plans on hiring for pretty much anything. koi furrows his brows with his arms crossed, hoping that him teetering on the edge of a classic celebrity meltdown doesn't make things too rocky to start off with.
"y'know normally when a celebrity comes into the seedy side of town commissioning a detective with no credits to his name, it's in disguise trying to find a long lost lover." that much was more of a gut instinct, but judging by koi's reaction it's clear that ashveil isn't too far off the mark on that one.
"l-lover is pushing it! me and kakavasha are just friends!" sure, because cuddling up and sharing a bed so many nights was just trying to help with his nightmares. get over yourself. "but... yeah, i'm looking for him. tried going from detective to detective, but no one could ever find him."
to put it lightly, koi's tone is completely defeated. tired, even. he's spent so many amber eras making detours in whatever planet he's filming in to try and get back to kakavasha. he couldn't face the avgin until he became who he needed to be. properly on his feet, living his best life, not giving all of his energy to someone else. koi needs kakavasha to know that he's still as capable as ever, ready to help him just as much as he was before.
granted, if he knows anything about the ipc he's either dead or rolling in it at this point.
it still would have been too suspicious to go after him so soon after he became a stoneheart.
"the last time i saw him, he was boarding an ipc ship to escape a stellaron. about..." koi clicks his tongue, looking up like the number is printed on his forehead. "four or five amber eras ago. but you know how movies and tv works, right? you can't say that they're dead until you see the body. and even then..."
"the body has got to be real."
the two of them freeze up at their oddly synced thoughts. understanding events through cliches was supposed to be koi's specialty. hopefully, this is a good sign that ashveil is the right man for the job. koi relaxes into a chuckle, smiling for the first time since he got on the planet.
"well, i actually have a pretty packed schedule right now. pearl has me working my ass off for the phantasmoon games."
ashveil raises an eyebrow. he's supposed to be the old man trying to keep up with the times, not a little guy like koi. (at least he assumes he's pretty young.) "you're not here for the phantasmoon games?"
"nope, just here for a movie. they said the weather here's best around this time, but apparently there's a reason for that."
the two end up getting pretty far off track for a while. chatting about old detective flicks and getting filled in on the history of the games. while koi kind of wants to get the commission in and over with, it's nice to just sit back and breathe for a while. the case of the missing avgin can start later. for now he has some takoyaki to get as a down payment.
