deercountry | (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..

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Kainé sits up, fixing Ange with a cold glare. She won't give in either. ]

Maybe you can keep kick them out now, but will you be able to do it forever? What if more than one of them comes down to fuck with you? Fuck, Ange, I hate them too, but we gotta have a plan if we're gonna do something to them.

[ And this isn't just about protection. This is about hiding from the world so it won't hurt you again, like it's hurt you so many times before. She has a hard time denouncing it, because she's been there. But that's just why she can't let her do this to herself. If this were a coordinated plan... it would be tempting. But when they both look this corrupt, shit needs to be done. ]

Even if you do this, it doesn't mean saving Ruby, it means her having to fucking fight forever if the Pthumerians push in.

[ The first part would be one thing.

But then Kainé mentions Ruby - dares to mention Ruby, even though the girl was dying and Ange saved her, where were any of these other people supposedly concerned about her to do that? - and that fully seems to tick the witch off, her hands starting to glow with golden magic.

She even steps to move closer to Kainé, though she doesn't seem to fully be attacking the other, despite having her magic at the ready. ]

So what is your plan?

[ Her voice is filled with venom. ]

If you have such a great plan to do something about the Pthumerians, then tell me about it! Because from what I can see, I'm the only person here even trying to do anything at all!

[ There's really no way to do this delicately, and if there is, Kainé's not a subtle person anyway. She doesn't want this for them. No matter what could happen to them out there, the thought of her friends, defacto family even, languishing like this, corrupt. Even if they can keep out the Pthumerians it's an awful thought. ]

I don't fucking have one! But I can't just let you fucking run from living your own damn life, and that goes for Ruby too! This isn't a solution, just a new fucking hell for you! Sayo told me what this magic is!

.. Sayo?

[ Now that is a name that she apparently didn't expect to hear here. It's enough to throw Ange off even in the middle of her corruption - but not in the sort of way that makes her snap out of it. It's more like a moment of surprise, of leaving her speechless and baffled, but then Ange sucks in a breath and scoffs. ]

Ah, is that so? So what did she tell you then?

[ Not the best name to bring up, but it catches Ange's attention. More importantly, they both understand this magic very well. It's part of who they are. ]

Not everything. But she told me magic is a story.

To her.

[ There are times where Ange can feel slightly charitable towards Sayo.

This, apparently, is not one of those moments. Especially when she's so far into her corruption. Some of Ange's own good intentions remain, sure, but it also really cuts back on her patience or the extent of the goodwill she's willing to hand out. ]

I'm making it reality. This place is real. [ The benefit of Trench being an inherently more magical place than their own reality ever was. This isn't just some catbox. It's an entire new reality. ] If you think this place is somehow worse than Trench is, then there's something seriously wrong with you. You don't think a Pthumerian would have crushed you already for talking to them like this?

Yeah? And what was magic to you, before you came here?

[ Treading on dangerous grounds, she knows— she knows enough about Ange to know magic was a bandage on a wound that was bleeding her to death. Kainé had a kind of magic for that too. A black magic of hate and blood. ]

It's not. You're a damn sight better than any of them. But it's so small. You'll fucking suffocate in here, even if you can keep them all out.

[ At least Kainé's answer here makes Ange feel like she at least understands something here. Maybe not the main idea, maybe Kainé can't see why this is the only solution to their situation in Trench that works, but she's not dismissing every single part of what Ange just said.

It's what gets the girl to reply in the first place. And honestly, at that. ]

Magic was just a delusion to me. [ The words are harsh, but they're not aimed at anything other than herself. Even before this corruption she felt like such a different person that looking back on herself from a few years ago just feels strange now. ] It was just an illusion I used to pretend I wasn't absolutely miserable.

[ ... Ange exhales, and then shakes her head, something of the heavy emotion sliding off her shoulders into the more calm attitude she showed before as well. ]

But it's no longer like that anymore. Magic is real here. And this magic-- It's born from me and Ruby together. This is our world. [ That's why it feels so important to her. That's why Ange is defending it from everyone who'd insult it.

It's not about personal pride. It's about her and Ruby's love. ]

And it'll grow. I just.. need to rest for a while after its initial creation. But as soon as I am able to do so, I will expand this place. It won't be lacking in any way.

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

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