deercountry | (open) you're looking at me like you don't know who i am

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(open) you're looking at me like you don't know who i am

Who: Ange, Ruby, Break, and anyone who knows any of them.
What: Corruption turned Ange into a true Umineko witch who decided the best way to keep the people she loves safe from this town is to drag them into a pocket dimension.
When: For a while in March.
Where: Ange and Ruby's house-turned-small-pocket-dimension.

Content Warnings: Potential violence if anyone acts particularly antagonistic. Potential talk of violence or gore. Other warnings will be added when things pop up.

Perhaps you have seen Ruby's odd network post and decided to check things out. Or maybe you're just wandering around Trench and notice that Ange and Ruby's house suddenly looks.. different.

The house has been completely overgrown by way oversized roses, big thorns growing out of all the stems, completely obscuring the structure that's supposed to be underneath it. If you get close enough to the cluster of roses, you may feel your connection to any of the three people inside suddenly pull you in. (Please note: only people who know either Ange, Ruby or Break will be able to enter the pocket dimension because of this!)

If you give in to the sensation, everything around you might go black, and when the light returns, you seem to find yourself in.. a hedge maze. A rather odd one, though. As you stumble through it, you may suddenly find yourself in random rooms, and then back out of them into the hedge maze once more. The Moss King's wild plants seem to have even invaded corners of this place, so you might want to watch out you avoid having those snap at you. Retracing your steps through the labyrinth feels impossible, like the way is changing up behind you with every step. Some rooms make perfect sense - like a neat and elaborate kitchen, or a library - and others seem to consist of nonsense with stairs leading upside down or to nowhere, or gravity not working in a specific room at all.

Flying throughout the entire maze are golden butterflies. They seem to fly with direction, and if you follow them, you might find them leading you to one of the people you were looking for..

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[ She seems happy. That's... good. But there's something off that he can't put his finger on and he doesn't like it. For now, though, he's just going to try and approach her like he always does. Maybe something will shake loose. ]

Well, I couldn't exactly stay away when I heard about it from Ruby.

[ He shrugs. ]

Not every day you create your own private little dimension, right?

[ At least Ange does nod at that, seeming a little amused. It seems that she apparently does know that what she's doing here is special to some degree - though who knows how much more she really knows about what's going on here.

Especially when she speaks on with: ]

It was about time. I wish I did this much earlier.

[ But her powers had felt so limited. And it's only now that she feels-- she feels free. ]

I guess I should have realised that the only thing that can rival the Pthumerians here is a true witch.

Is that what you're trying to do? Challenge the Pthumerians?

[ That... sounds a bit like what he'd tried to do with the witches back in his own catbox. Although perhaps different in that she's not directly calling them out, which was probably good. ]

Or is that just a happy side effect?

[ She shakes her head. ]

I wouldn't call it challenge, but.. yes, something along those lines is my main goal here.

[ In fact, the difference lies very much in the distinction Battler is also making in her own mind, though Ange obviously doesn't realise it. It's not like she's directly challenging them, it's just-- ]

Trench is miserable, isn't it, onii-chan? It keeps hurting people. It has hurt so many people important to me. [ There's not as much emotion as there ought to be in her voice as she says it, but there's a tiny bit of something breaking through, like it's a sentiment even the regular Ange would have expressed, especially to her big brother, someone she trusts. ] So I thought.. why should we keep living in a place like that? Wouldn't it be much better to live in a place where the being influencing it wants the best for people, rather than the worst?

[ Battler takes a deep breath and then settles down in the Gazebo, giving Ange a long, long look. That voice is... well, it's true to Ange in a lot of ways, he thinks. But it's also not what Ange would do. Or at least he doesn't think she would. He leans forward slightly, hands clasped in front of him as he regards her. ]

I guess that's true. And I don't think it's wrong to want to protect the people you care about, but...

[ He smiles. Just a little. ]

...the world back home hurt us, too. Just in different ways. That's... well. That's life, isn't it? And we're just trying to navigate it and keep each other safe while we do it. I don't think that shutting everything out and living in a bubble really helps with that, though. We've got to experience the world. For better or worse.

[ Her facial expression slowly shifts as she listens to Battler - especially when he arrives at that last point. ]

You know what it's like to see people dying.

[ After all, he'd been trapped in a loop of it, right? Ange was only really there for one game, but Battler - he had seen it all himself. And Ange knows what his reaction to all of it was, even. It's not like he handled it very well, and she can't blame him. Ange may be better at hiding it, but she's got that same soft piece in her heart that Battler more openly does. ]

Would you be okay with that? Because that's what Trench is like. It's just like the catbox. People you care dying over and over, in the worst possible ways. [ If she was her regular self, her voice would shake with emotion.

As things are now, it sounds like she's almost describing it clinically. Perhaps with a hint of an emotion that's instead nudging closer to frustration. ]

Is that what you'd rather want?

I can't say I'm okay with it, of course. I don't want anyone to die, if I can help it. And I'll do whatever it is I can to prevent it. You know that.

[ But... this isn't the same, is it? It feels off. ]

You know I don't want anyone to suffer and die, Ange.

[ He frowns. ]

But... this doesn't feel like you. Building a personal castle to hide away from everything in... is that really what you want?

I'm not hiding.

[ Something tugs at her lips as she repeats it. It's a near pout - or rather, something that definitely would have been a kind of childish pout on Ange's regular face, but seems different in this form. Maybe it's since her eyes can't show emotions.

Still, she doesn't exactly seem pleased about that word. ]

You're right here with me now, aren't you? And anyone else who wants to come in here. This place will become better until it can just replace Trench.

Replace Trench?

[ That's... worrying. But this whole thing is worrying. ]

Ange... Trench isn't a nice place. It's... marginally better than the catbox, because at least the powers here aren't dedicated entirely to putting us through Hell over and over again because they personally think we deserve it. But... that's no way to exist.

[ He frowns. The question of where he is, who he is, whether he's even still alive or not - that's a mess. Something he knows, deep down, the answer to. ]

you came to Rokkenjima to find answers. To open a box. Because... even if I win the game, I can't stay in that box forever. We can build our golden place. We can try to find it. But... this isn't it.

Why?

[ Now she raises her voice, if not just a little at first.

But she's clearly starting to get agitated. ]

Why isn't this it? [ That's the part of it that gets to her, apparently. The other stuff are things they've already gone over before, after all. But that last part-- that's the part Ange absolutely can't comprehend right now. ] What's so bad about this place? People are safe here! This would be the first time some of us have been safe in years! I'm the only person who can keep everyone safe here, since I'm the only one powerful enough to stand up to the Pthumerians!

Is that a weight you really want to bear entirely on your shoulders?

[ He's serious now, voice not rising at all. He's regarding her instead, steady and unafraid of her anger. ]

What are you going to do if someone wants to leave? Or if people decide they'd rather take that risk? Controlling the board isn't all fun and games. It's deadly serious.

[ He thinks she knows that. But he feels like it bears repeating. ]

Wanting to protect people, wanting to do the impossible... sounds like something I'd run off and do, you know. So I won't question your determination. I just think that this isn't something you'd do.

Yeah. I'm serious. I can do it. I want to do it.

[ She sounds like she means that, judging by her tone - though there's still something aggravated in it, and now turning almost defiant in the face of the words she's hearing here.

Every single time someone talks to her about this place, it's like they don't believe her. Like no one has faith in it. There's something hurtful in it, especially with the corruption in her mind twisting it that way - look, Ange, even your own brother doesn't trust you. ]

Why are you doubting me so much? I thought you'd at least understand. [ It's not even like he's really being mean about it. Not at all, actually, but when Ange's mind is so far gone it's so easy for anything to get twisted, for perception to be bent. ] Do you hate me that much, onii-chan..?

Ange.

[ He reaches out to lay a hand against her arm. ]

I trust you more than anyone else in the world. But... this came out of nowhere. I'm just trying to understand why you feel like this all of a sudden. I wouldn't be a good big brother if I just agreed with everything you did, would I?

[ She shakes her head, though - for the moment - she doesn't seem to try and shake off his touch. ]

It's not out of nowhere at all! Isn't it obvious? Trench is a shithole!

[ .. well, that's a little more like the usual Ange at least, since the choice of words is just a little too human in comparison.. Not that it seems to change anything about her still odd appearance though, that stays the same. ]

It's constantly threatening people every single month. It keeps putting the people I love into danger! How is me no longer wanting to put up with that now a sudden thing?!

That's not the sudden part! The sudden part is that you've decided to just... build a little castle. You came to Rokkenjima to try and break one of those.

[ Sure, she's changed. They've all changed. But trying to hide from the world like this isn't something he thinks of as something she'd do. No, she'd go find the Pthumerians and punch them in the face herself. ]

You go to the root of the problem. You don't try to wall yourself off from it. Or... at least that's what I remember you doing.

[ He gives her a little squeeze with his hand. ]

...I'm just worried about you as much as you're worried about me.

You can't fight these Pthumerians.

[ There's a twitch, like Ange wants to pull away from his touch, though she doesn't end up doing so in the end. Instead she just remains standing there, staring at him. ]

If it was that easy, don't you think I would've done it already? [ God. She'd love to, honestly. Especially a certain few of them. It's even something she's discussed with someone she knew in this place, but she knows it's too risky for too little chance of a reward. Ange is too practical in that sense. ] Even if I'd now be powerful enough to take one on, it'd cause so many casualties.

[ There's no way she could believe the city would be unharmed in the process, one way or another. ]

This is the only way. It's the last chance we've got left. I don't just want to give up and do nothing.

[ Some emotion is in her voice as she says it, making her voice shake, but it disappears as she swallows and then continues. Like she's steeling herself, making her cold. ]

If you don't believe in me, you can just leave this place and abandon me again. [ It's definitely not the sort of thing Ange would ever say to him if she was in her right mind.

But she's not right now. That's the entire problem. ]

[ This conversation hurts. Partially because, yes, he can see Ange in this. Her desire to protect others, her desire to put things to right. It's all there - but then she goes and says something like that, something that hurts and digs into him like a knife, and... he's right back to thinking something is wrong.

His grip on her arm tightens, his face settling into an expression that's somewhere between worried and angry. It's hard not to feel hurt by that. Impossible, even. But he's trying to remind himself that Ange isn't... well. She's not herself right now, is she? ]

I told you once before - I'm not going to abandon you.

[ And he meant it. He won't leave her alone, not if he can help it. ]

But I also don't know if this is right. We've disagreed before, haven't we? Think smarter - there's got to be ways that aren't mass destruction of the whole city or just... walling yourself off into a castle in the sky!

Then what are those ways?

[ At least there's no fire or anger in her voice as she asks that now. She just doesn't get where he's trying to go with this, not in her current form. She can't see a flaw with her current plan, after all. And apparently Battler does - we've disagreed before, he says, and he's right, so at least she can blame him not seeming to understand the merit of what she's doing here on that - but..

Then what else is there?

Like Ange said just now, this is the only way. Or rather, it feels like the only way to her. ]

If you can think of a better plan, I'll follow your lead, onii-chan. [ Despite her corruption, she can at least agree to that. She just wants to keep everyone safe, after all.

The way in which she does it doesn't even particularly matter. ]

But you can't, right? I can't either. So I'm not leaving this place. I'm not going back to Trench.

[ Battler doesn't honestly have a good answer to that. But he knows what it feels like to be at the mercy of beings that seem completely beyond your own ability to do anything. What it feels like to desperately want to protect the people around you, even as it all falls apart. ]

...I don't know if I have a plan for that. Not yet.

[ He takes a deep breath. ]

...I'm not going to try and force you to do anything, you know. I just... want you to think about what's happening.

[ Ange doesn't reply to him directly this time around.

Instead she's just quiet, letting the dead air hang between them for a few moments after Battler is done saying that last part. It's hard to tell what she's thinking - or if she's thinking at all. Her expression doesn't seem to be giving away a whole lot here. Even less than usually with her pokerface, really.

It's only after a few quiet moments that she speaks up again. ]

And what are you going to do then?

[ Not in the same sense she asked a moment ago. This isn't about a plan, since he already answered that part. It's just.. ]

Are you going to stay here? Or are you going to leave? [ No guilt trip attached to it this time, apparently. The question is left completely open for him. ]

...I don't think I can stay.

[ He responds quietly. ]

I'll come back. But I don't know about stay. But I will always come back for you, Ange. That's a promise.

[ Ange exhales. Then nods.

It seems that she at least won't stop Battler from leaving if he wants to, even in this corrupted form. But-- ]

You won't be able to come back. I'll have to seal this place off sooner or later. While there's still an opening between this place and Trench, the Pthumerians are going to continue trying to get through. [ She's seen the plants too, after all. It's the Moss King trying to invade even this place.

And Ange can't see any other solution to stop it. ]

So this might be the last time we see each other.

[ Oh, that hurts. More than he thought it would. He sucks in a breath. ]

...if that's what you feel you have to do.

[ He feels choked up, all of a sudden. ]

It - I don't know. I guess it depends on what Beato wants, too. I... You both matter so much to me.

[ Something about her expression drops. It's impossible to see from her eyes, given her current state, but the way the corners of her mouth turn down makes it a little more obvious.

Even in this state, seeing Battler like this isn't something that leaves Ange cold or unfeeling. She cares for Battler, even now. She doesn't want him to be sad.

She reaches out, slowly putting a hand on his shoulder. ]

It's okay. You can stay with her.

[ A few years ago she may have said the exact opposite, especially in this corrupted state. But right now-- she can say this and mean it. ]

I'll miss you, but I.. understand. I just feel sorry that I won't be able to keep you safe. Make sure she does that in my place, alright..?

You never know. She might decide she wants to come along and see where you end up.

[ Battler smiles. It's sad and he's trying. He loves her dearly - but they've done this before, haven't they? Gone their separate ways? ]

Don't you worry. She'll burn the world down before she lets anything happen. You know that.

(open) you're looking at me like you don't know who i am

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