Hatter hides behind the pretense of getting the food out onto the table while he formulates a response for all of Ace’s questions. He can just tell the truth, but that seems too messy. Too intimate for something like a first dinner. Owner of his soul or not, Hatter isn’t rather thrilled to start off with laying his wounds out in the open. “Will either answer change your perception of me? Maybe an even better question is, what is your perception of me?” That seems like enough to distract Ace for now. He stares down at the plate in front of him and grins all smugly to himself. ”Thank you. I appreciate the compliments. Hopefully it’ll taste delicious as well so it’ll be a trifecta. It’s my favorite. The flavors are bold and leaves a lasting impression.”Â
"Obviously," Ace looks at Hatter for a long moment, like he can see through him if he just tries hard enough, "I'm only just forming my perception of you, so any answer you give for any question is bound to influence it. I'm your friend either way, so I don't see why it should matter much." Before he appeared, Ace had made a deal with himself that he would only be honest with Hatter. So, that's what he's doing. It's not as strange as one might think, for the ruler of Hell-- lying has never really been his thing. "As for what I think of you so far... Mostly it seems that you don't value yourself as highly as you should, and that's a shame. You're perhaps a bit desperate, may not think things all the way through to the end, and you may be somewhat pessimistic about the state of the world and your place in it, but those all remain to be confirmed. You seem to hide behind humor and wit, but it's largely good humor and quick enough wit, and you seem respectful and well-intentioned. It's another shame, because a soul like yours would almost definitely have made it into Heaven if you hadn't taken that deal." Ace takes a bite of his food and chews, chews, swallows, "This is as delicious as it smells. I apologize if that was more of an answer than you were looking for, by the way. I've never been very good at small talk." He wasn't made that way.Â

















