(closed) february catchall

[miyagimagic]

Who: Ange (entreats), Chizuru (tealeafs), Daniel (miyagimagic) and various others.
What: February shenanigans.
When: During all of February.
Where: Locations vary.

Content Warnings: Nothing right now, specific warnings will be in headers when they come up.

( starters in the comments! if you want to plot anything with me, feel free to either pm the journal or contact me at queeningsquare, i'm always open to new ideas and threads! )

Comments

[onekindsoul]

[Ruby hears the footsteps approaching, feels the hand on her arm, and even hears the voice ask the question. There's even a faint brush of her hair against the side of her cheek from the wind and the whisper. But it all just feels distant to Ruby right now. Compared to the deep crushing loneliness weighing her down.

There's no response to Ange's call. Even her prosthetic eye which normally has very noticeable little tilts, turns, clicks and whirs is remains static and motionless.

A faint little mumble passes through their bond, but it's barely a whisper and hardly audible.]

[entreats]

Ruby, come on..!

[ Technically Ange knows the words she's speaking are useless. After all-- ]

This isn't funny!

[ --this isn't a prank on the other girl's part. Ange knows that. There's absolutely no way Ruby would sit here motionlessly right in front of her if Ruby had any say in the matter. No matter what's going on here, it must be involuntary. Something that forces Ruby to remain still like this, even when Ange is right in front of her.

Hell, she isn't even sure whether or not Ruby's mind is still in her body in the first place when she can't feel much across their bond at all. And their bond is usually never quiet. Ange has grown so used to the constant stream of thoughts that seems to radiate off Ruby, the way she can tell the other is feeling worse when they quiet down a little, when Ruby makes an attempt to hide some of it from her.

This isn't that. It's a near silence, and the only other time Ange recalls feeling this was during the house fire, when Ruby had been taken and unconscious. The only time it truly felt like they were separated. And while Ruby's body may be here now, unmoving like a statue, it almost feels like the other is gone. Or like something here is irreparably wrong.

It fans a fire in Ange's heart, but not the good kind. It's the same kind that ignited in her that last time she felt like she was losing Ruby. Panic and worry and sadness all melting into anger, seeping into her blood, making it feel so easy to just give in.

The girl's eyes shift from their usual clear blue to a golden yellow, everything else fading in it. Her pupils, her iris, even the whites of her eyes - it's all that same golden glow now, almost making her look inhuman. ]

No.. no, no! Whatever is going on, I'll make it stop..!

[onekindsoul]

[Ange's voice doesn't quite reach her. But... Some of the emotion and corruption leaks through their bond, amplifying the dark thoughts wrestling through her mind. He skins stares to pale and the silver in her good eye loses some of it's luster. It's hard to tell when main matter and hand is how statue still she is but it's certainly happening.

Eventually little bits of emotion do start to pour out the other side of their bond. A gnawing sense of loneliness and a faint mumble.]

I miss... I miss them so much...

[entreats]

[ See, this is the thing about corruption - Ange never feels it herself when it's happening to her. It's a small miracle she realised it in time during the fight with Chara to pull herself back, and that had so much more with Break's presence and him pointing it out to her than it had to do with her own mind.

But even though she can't feel her own corruption, she can feel Ruby's. It's right there over their bond, it's in the way she can see the girl's appearance shift. The latter is something she could have blamed on whatever is going on with Ruby to make the girl appear frozen like this in the first place, but the bond tells Ange it's corruption.

Like Ruby is slipping away right in front of her. And why? Why, just-- because of those thoughts? ]

Ruby, I'm here. I'm here!

[ Her voice raises into a yell. Even if Ruby can't hear it, she'll feel the same sentiment being echoed across their bond, Ange basically yelling straight into the other's mind, the sentiment that intense.

Ange's hands reach out, latching onto Ruby's wrists, even if the other girl is so frozen that Ange can't even move Ruby's hands or limbs. ]

What are you missing if I'm right here?!

[onekindsoul]

[Two words do pierce through the loneliness that Ruby's feeling. "I'm here. I'm Here." It's not enough to pull her out of her funk but it does bring her back to her senses briefly, makes her more of aware that something is wrong.

She doesn't quite realize it's Ange shouting out for her but she recognizes the question. A vague answer shoots through their bond.]

...Dad, Yang, Blake, Weiss.

[entreats]

What about them..?

[ Sure, Ruby misses them. She gets that. It's something that Ange has been aware of for a long time now - ever since some of them didn't come along with them over the sea, and Ruby has had to miss others for even longer than that.

And she cares. It's not like Ange doesn't care, but right now it feels a little more beyond her than it usually does. There's just something about the sight of Ruby frozen like this and the thought that it might be because she misses those people that her corruption greedily eats up, feeding it, letting it grow.

If these people are just hurting Ruby, do they matter? It whispers to her. ]

I'm right here, aren't I? [ She isn't sure if Ruby can even hear her, across the bond or otherwise.

But Ange speaks on without thinking, running off sheer emotion, sheer desperation. ]

Am I not enough? Is it not enough if we just have each other?!

[onekindsoul]

[Ange's words do pierce further through the loneliness. It was true... Ruby may not have her friends, her teammates, her family from home. But Ange was there for her, she had been there for her for years now.

...Was that all she needed? Was It enough or not? She wasn't so sure. That uncertainty feeds into her corruption more. Her skin slowly taking on a ghastly paleness to it.

There's a pause as that longing feeling starts to push further through the bond, reaching out for Ange and seeing warmth in something familiar.]

...You'll stay with me? You wont leave me alone?

[entreats]

[ Ange exhales. She moves forward, trying to wrap her arms around Ruby's form. It's kind of hard when the other can't move to accomodate the hold itself, so it's very much like trying to hug a statue, but Ange does it anyway.

Closing her eyes, she buries her face against Ruby's cold shoulder. ]

Of course.

[ It's an answer she doesn't have to think about.

Her voice is a little more muffled against Ruby now, but it's not inaudible with how close they are in the moment. ]

Isn't that why we came here together? Isn't that why we got married? Because we're going to stay together forever?

[onekindsoul]

[At first Ruby doesn't respond. She's still wading through the loneliness of missing those she had from back home. But Ange's words make it feel like less of a slog, like there's a guiding light out of it. She holds onto the warm feeling she feels on shoulder and it spreads out to her chest.

She feels her limbs start to move but just a touch.]

It is.

...But what if I lose you too?

What if I can't protect you and keep you here.

[entreats]

We've been together for so long now. [ Ange says, almost breathing the words out more than she's saying them. Like they exist more in the bond between them than necessarily as words said out loud.

Because she gets the sentiment. She was afraid too - for the longest time. Isn't that why she didn't allow herself to get close to Ruby in the first place until she just couldn't avoid it anymore? Getting close to people just means you'll lose them. And losing them just means you're hurting yourself.

But if she hasn't lost Ruby by now, then surely she never would. ]

There's no way we could be separated now, right..? I've known you longer than anyone here.

[ She's been longer together with Ruby than she has with anyone ever. At this rate she's almost been together with Ruby longer than she was with her family when she was young. Even as friends came and went, even as people slipped in and out of her life-- ]

You've always been here. And I'll always be here with you too. As long as we have that, then why would we need anyone else..?

[ Ange reaches out, a hand against Ruby's statue-like cheek. ]

So.. come back to me, Ruby. Snap out of those thoughts. I want-- I need you here.

[onekindsoul]

[Something about the words slowly drag Ruby back into reality. It still feels like there's an intense loneliness trying to drag her back into her thoughts- But she's lived with that feeling since she lost her mother. Since she lost Pyrrha, Penny, and her whole team briefly, and again when she wound up in the dream.

There is always a lingering sense that could end up alone. But Ange provided a steady warmth that she couldn't deny. Someone who would stick by her through thick and thin. ...And someone that Ruby had been drawn to since they first arrived, someone she could help, and hold, and tease, and laugh with when no one else was around.

Eventually she feels more movement return to her and she slowly leans into that touch against her cheek.]

...I'd never leave you alone. You know that, right?

Not if you need me here.

[entreats]

[ There's such a relief in feeling that sudden movement. It did almost seem like Ruby was going to be stuck as a statue for a while, if not a really long time - but Ange can feel the way the other moves closer to her hand. It's a subtle movement, but it's movement.

That means Ruby can move at least somewhat. ]

Of course I know that. [ Ange's words come a little hurried, almost as if she's now wondering whether those are doing the trick. If she should supply Ruby with more of them, just to defrost her wife even more. ]

You're the one I can rely on more than anyone else. And the same goes the other way around. [ Usually Ange would think a little more before adding that last part, but right now her mind truly can't imagine anyone else could be better for Ruby.

It has to be them, at all times. Even if it's them against the world. ]

I love you more than anything in the entire world.