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

[entreats]

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..

Comments

[eudaimonikos]

Do you actually know that, though?

[If they haven't, then where's the proof?]

Honestly? I'm not really sure I know her well enough to tell what's up. Other than...you know, the weird vibes. Real cult thing going on in here.

[entreats]

.. Cult thing?

[ Okay, now that seems to offend the girl. Not enough to immediately slip into full on rage, at least, but Ange certainly doesn't look pleased either as she repeats those words.

Because, you know, no one in a cult ever gets mad about being called a cult. Clearly. Obviously. ]

I can't believe you'd compare this to Trench and call this the cult thing. There are no blood sacrifices happening here. [ Unlike in!! Some places!!

Looking at you, Tower. ]

[eudaimonikos]

Not all cults do those. Usually it's more of a weird sex thing. Not - that I'm saying that either, that's beside the point.

[Let's not go there!]

Ange, I'm saying this as your friend. This glowing golden eyes magic...goddess thing is a very creepy vibe, and I don't think this is going to end well. People really don't actually want to be perfectly happy in a perfect paradise all the time, it's against human nature.

[entreats]

[ She frowns as she looks over at Michael. ]

Then what do they want?

[ At least she is still listening to him, rather than attacking him in any way. Even if she still doesn't exactly look happy as she asks him that question. ]

[eudaimonikos]

Novelty? A challenge? A lot of people don't do well without work, or even some sort of conflict. You can keep it low-key, like games or something...

[...honestly? Michael doesn't like the real answer much either. But he grimaces a little, and goes on after a moment:]

Really, though, they always want a way out. A chance to change, or move on, something like that. I don't really get it myself, but - when I took over the Good Place, what the people there really wanted was a door. It goes out, even I don't know what happens when you go through it. Kinda freaks me out, to be honest, but...it was the first time I saw those sadsacks actually happy, and they'd been in Heaven for a thousand years by then.

[entreats]

.. but that doesn't exist in Trench either, does it?

[ That does sound like a genuine question - though it, at the same time, does make Ange sound like she's leaning a little towards the side of it not existing there. After all, she may not want to go home, but there's no way to do so for those who'd want to. ]

Even if they might not think this place is perfect, at least it should have a leg up compared to Trench.

[eudaimonikos]

Sure it does. That's all the ocean is - an end. No different than what you get on Earth.

[Most people don't really choose to go out there, which makes it much more like Earth than the Good Place - which, obviously, makes sense. Either way, though, there sure is an end.]

[entreats]

[ Ange's eyes grow a little wider. Despite the fact that they're still empty, it does make her look a little surprised.

Or at least caught off guard by his statement. ]

Is that how you view the ocean? [ .. a slight pause, and then she either adds or corrects, it's hard to tell which-- ] Is that how people view the ocean there?

[eudaimonikos]

...well, that's kinda what it is, right? A door that goes to something. I know people have different ideas about what happens out there.

[Michael hadn't considered it a belief, per se, just sort of what it was.]

[entreats]

So people prefer.. having something there that just takes people away from them willy-nilly.

[ She speaks slowly, like she can't really believe in that idea herself, yet is summarizing all the same.

.. and adding some of her own conclusions, let's be real, since it's not exactly what Michael is saying here. ]

Just since it also might give them a way out one day.

[eudaimonikos]

Okay, that's not exactly what I said.

[Though - well, it's not like he doesn't get the reaction. Michael kinda feels the same about it all.]

But yeah, I guess? It's something about...you know, life's finite nature giving it meaning or whatever. Lots of philosophy books about that, humans talk about it like all the time. I honestly understand the desire for challenges more than that part. That one makes total sense to me.

[entreats]

[ Ange seems to contemplate this for a moment, but then only seems able to arrive at the conclusion of: ]

People are strange.

[ .. granted, Ange is people. She's a human, technically speaking, but she's talking right now as if she isn't one.

She considers herself a full witch in this corrupted form, after all. ]

Maybe I should just make an ocean for them here then. [ That'd clearly solve it, right.

Even though it'd just be a fake ocean compared to the one in Trench. ]

[eudaimonikos]

Would it actually go anywhere, though?

[He kinda doubts it! For like, a number of reasons!]

Do you want to just sit in here forever? Like - I know Trench kinda sucks. But, really, forever?

[entreats]

.. why not?

[ Sorry, Michael.

It sure seems like the answer to that question is a resounding yes when Ange reacts like that - like the fact that he's asking that question is kind of weird in the first place. ]

I'm a witch. I don't concern myself with silly little things like.. the human desire to go into the ocean, or anything like that.

[eudaimonikos]

You're a person. We're all just people.

[He's never really understood what differentiates a witch from a human in her world - or any other ones - anyway?]

[entreats]

[ She tilts her head to the side - just slightly. ]

Do you consider yourself to be just a person?

[eudaimonikos]

Sure. I mean, no good comes of setting yourself up above everybody else. I was miserable when I did that, and I was also a huge asshole.

[entreats]

[ Ange lets out a small little 'huh' sound.

It's hard to tell whether this is something that conflicts with an idea of Michael that Ange already had as her regular self, or if it's just surprising to her because of what she is now in her corrupted form, but she sounds a little surprised all the same. ]

I didn't know you thought about it that way. I don't see it as necessarily being above anyone. [ .. well. There are more than a few people she'd say she's above.

But that has to do more with who those people are, okay. ]

It's about being different. There are some things regular humans couldn't understand by their very nature.

[eudaimonikos]

Well, sure, but everyone's different. There's plenty of stuff I don't really get about human things, even after all this time.

[entreats]

Well.. That just means I'll have to see which humans are capable of understanding that this place is the better alternative to Trench.

[ If, as Michael seems to think, most of them won't understand.

Then maybe all she can hope there's a few they do. ]

And otherwise I'll just stay here with only Ruby and Break. [ An idea that Ange honestly doesn't sound all that concerned about.. ]

[eudaimonikos]

...so what's with the eyes? You look like you're about to Beast out.

[also he's still extremely sure you are mind-controlling your wife or something but we've sort of been through that]

[entreats]

[ ... ]

What's wrong with my eyes?

[ Apparently.. Ange hasn't noticed? Though there doesn't seem to be any of the alarm there ought to be at being asked what's up with her eyes when she speaks up with this in return.

But judging by her tone, she genuinely hasn't noticed that there's anything off with the way she looks right now. Not a shocked tone, but.. a tad curious, perhaps. ]

[eudaimonikos]

[gestures vaguely]

You've got this creepy gold thing going on.

[entreats]

Oh.

[ Pause.

She's probably processing this, though she still seems a little bit too calm.. ]

I suppose that is just part of being a witch..? Now I'm a proper witch, my body probably realised I can't just keep looking like a regular human anymore. It must have tried to change something. [ Which is, you know, clearly a totally normal conclusion. ]

[eudaimonikos]

What do you mean, now that you're a proper witch? And what would that have to do with anything anyway?