(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

[shiro2hero]

You always treat her like "furniture"?

[At least she's not getting angry. He's not actively trying to make Ange mad. Just get through to her. Get something of Ange out.]

[Focusing on someone she loves seems like the quickest way to do it.]

If I ever called my partner furniture, I'd be divorced. [To say the least. The man he loves is a petty human being.] She's acting like your door-woman.

[entreats]

It is just a title.

[ A title that, apparently, seems completely natural to Ange. Despite it not being the most flattering thing ever..

Hence why she seems to dismiss with a vague hand gesture. ]

Ruby and I are working together to make this world the best place it could be. But since I am too tired to use all of my powers right now to expand this place, she is taking care of things in the meantime. That is how we divide the work that has to be done here.

[shiro2hero]

What world is this? Where are we?

[That title really doesn't make sense. It's not the title of a partner. But that can come later. It's clearly not getting him anywhere.]

[Maybe asking about this place will help.]

[entreats]

[ A question that has an entirely simple answer.

So simple that Ange casually sips her tea before answering it. ]

My world, of course.

[ Not the world she comes from. Thank god it's not the world she comes from, since Ange certainly never wants to return there. Thankfully she does clarify that, adding: ]

I made this place. It's a different layer of reality than the one Trench is on. [ Sorry, Shiro, she just keeps saying these things so calmly and easily.. like reality bending is just a totally normal thing. Making pocket dimensions? Clearly an everyday occurence. ]

[shiro2hero]

'To keep yourself safe'? That's what Ruby said.

[And it's not even remotely reassuring. Not reassuring whatsoever. Especially with her casual attitude. Especially with how Ruby was acting. And... well.]

[Gold-Bird-Ange here.]

What happened? Did someone get hurt again?

[entreats]

To keep everyone safe.

[ It's a small correction, but Ange apparently feels like the difference is important enough to say it all the same. After all, it's not like all of this is just for her sake.

It's for everyone's sake. Everyone she cares about, anyway. ]

And.. of course. Has there been even a single month over the last half year where people haven't gotten hurt? [ And Ange has been there to watch it.

Every single time.

It's too much, even if she doesn't quite express it in her current form, just a little too inhuman, like she's above her usual emotions right now. ]

Ruby was dying. So I saved her.

[shiro2hero]

Ange...

[It makes sense. It makes a terrible, horrible sense. She'd been in Deerington, in Trench, for so long. Nearly as long as he has - in the first, always as long in the second. And he understands.]

[How many people has he lost? How many people of his have been hurt?]

[Ruby was dying - he swallows. A flash of a black sea, of a retreating back. Of a ghost screaming over a yawning black pit. The horrible, consuming loss that swirled around him every time. The monster that emerged afterward. He has to take a breath.]

Ange, I understand. I do - but... this. Is this what Ruby would want you to do?

[entreats]

[ Ange exhales.

There's not much emotion in it, but on the other hand - she isn't instantly answering either, without thought. Instead there's that tiny pause before she speaks up to Shiro again. Maybe it's due to the way he's talking to her, without accusation in this moment. ]

I asked her.

[ She speaks slowly, with little pauses between each statement. Not with a lot of emotion, but not exactly entirely unfeeling either, like she's thinking as she speaks, mostly about how to convey this to Shiro. ]

She said she wanted me to help her. She said she wanted to protect me.

[shiro2hero]

Do you really think... this kind of help is what she meant? That this is how she wanted to protect you?

[Shiro does his best to keep his voice even, steady. He's angry. He can't be - when he understands too much. He'd have done anything, too, to keep his own safe. To keep the people he loves safe.]

[The person he married, safe.]

[But he also knows how Adam would have reacted, if he'd pulled out a whole world in order to do it. Expended so much energy like this.]

I get what you're trying to do, Ange, I do... I would - I'd do a lot of things to keep people safe, to protect them.

This just doesn't feel right.

[entreats]

Why not?

[ Despite Ange's odd attitude right now, there's something almost innocent resting in those words. Like she genuinely doesn't know why Shiro would think or say any of this. Like she can't figure it out, no matter how much she thinks about it.

This plan is absolutely perfect from Ange's twisted point of view, after all. ]

What's so wrong about it? [ There's a pause, and then something finally dips in her voice, a faint hint of emotion, as she adds: ] I thought you would understand me, Shiro.

[shiro2hero]

I understand wanting this.

[He says it with all the sincerity he can possibly muster. Because he really, truly does. If he could make a world for his loved ones, keep them there and secure with no fear of anything... he could. But he knows them, too.]

[They would hate it, deep down.]

If Ruby wanted to leave - I'm not saying she does - would she be able to do that?

[entreats]

[ There's at least some hope inside of Ange when Shiro says that. That he understands it. Because Ange wants Shiro to understand. She'd like him to stay here, where she can help keep him safe. Protect him from the hurt he's already had to go through enough times.

.. except then he continues.

With a nonsense question. Ange's gaze snaps up at him. Not quite angry, but there is something vaguely emotional about it again, just like a moment ago. Less disappointed than then, and now more confused. ]

Why would she ever want to leave?

[shiro2hero]

She's like me, Ange.

[He's had that conversation with Ruby before. How the two of them have a lot in common - and how their partners do too. They're both outgoing, they're both energetic, prone to adventures.]

We both need to explore. We need to be around to help people. That's just who we are.

And that's not wrong.

[Provided, you know, you have sincere conversations with your partner about the reasons why. Open conversations. And don't close yourself off. Speaking from experience there, huh, Shiro?]

[entreats]

But she can do that here.

[ There's something defensive in her tone, sure, but it doesn't necessarily sound like an angry kind of defensive. Maybe there's a bit of offense in it, but there's something much larger that almost sounds like it's pleading with Shiro to see this.

That everything is fine here. That this is a good thing. Why would someone important to her question this so much? ]

She's happy here. I asked her. I'm giving her everything she wants.

[ Because why would Ange ever make a safe place if it wasn't first and foremost a good place for her wife? ]

There is no one I care more about than her.

[shiro2hero]

Can she leave? Temporarily?

[Maybe he's projecting too much here. Or maybe it just hits too close to home, in a lot of ways. He keeps his tone as mild, as gentle as he can. He doesn't want to accuse Ange. That won't help anything here. Just... maybe he can make her see.]

[Because he gets it.]

[He gets it, and he's been there. He's been there so many times. Almost on a monthly basis in Deerington and Trench. And before it. But... he's been on the other side. He's been the one someone was trying to protect, because they cared, because they loved him. Look how that turned out.]

[Don't expect me to be here when you come back.]

Is this a home to come back to, or something that keeps her held back?

[entreats]

[ Despite the fact that Shiro is trying so hard to approach this in a gentle way, it's still like something about Ange shifts. It's nothing too major, and she certainly doesn't look like she's about to attack him or anything of the sort - it's just that her body grows a little more alert, a little more rigid, her shoulders locking into place. ]

I don't understand. Why would Ruby want to leave?

[ There's something a little agitated around the edge of her tone - as if she really doesn't like the idea of it. Ruby leaving. Ruby being out there. Not safe. Not even alive without Ange's magic. ]

This is our home now. Not just mine. It's hers too.

[shiro2hero]

[He holds his hands up, in wordless placation. Maybe that will help. Maybe he needs to tread more carefully, but - he's not sure how. He thought using his own experience would help something here.]

Not forever, Ange. I don't think she'd ever want to leave you forever... [It wasn't what I wanted. Even if it seemed that way.]

Sometimes when people leave, take a trip, go on a mission, it makes them appreciate their home that much more.

Appreciate the people they love. That those people are there, waiting for them to come back.

[entreats]

You're making it sound like I am running a prison here.

[ Okay, maybe not entirely. But there's some implication in those words, and the corruption in Ange's brain is more than happy to run away with it. It's so easy for that little voice to escalate what Shiro is saying into this. ]

There's no part of this place that's like that. It's just-- an alternative place. A safe place. Why are you trying so hard to make it sound like a bad thing?

[shiro2hero]

That's... that's not what I'm trying to do.

[It's very hard to keep a neutral tone. Not because he's upset with her. He's worried about her. And Ruby both.]

It's not that. You've just never talked about this before. It's - really sudden. And I'm worried.

[entreats]

[ The frown doesn't disappear off Ange's face, but it at least sounds like she is still listening to him as he speaks - maybe since he starts off by saying that's not what he's trying to do, which is at least a good thing in Ange's books.

Even though she's completely incapable of understanding just why Shiro would be worried about her right now. ]

Then what could I do to show you there is no reason to worry?

[ That seems like a sound compromise, right? After all, it might also help her convince Shiro that this really is the right option. That this place is safe, and that she would love for him to be here too once she expands it to have enough space for everyone. ]

[shiro2hero]

[What could she do?]

[She could let this all go. Or let someone pulled here go. Not necessarily Ruby - but that's the ideal. He just knows, though, convincing Ange to agree to it most likely won't work.]

I don't know, Ange.

[He can't meet her eyes as he admits that. As he admits there's nothing he can think of to help. The floor is fantastically interesting.]

If I knew, I'd tell you.

[entreats]

[ ...

It's not a great answer.

Though not in the sense that it makes her angry. Even though Ange's expression shifts, that's not what seems to happen. Instead the girl looks more.. disappointed, maybe. Sad, almost. It's hard to tell with the way her eyes are, but it's there all the same. ]

Then.. if there is nothing I can do, and if you truly don't want to stay, then I suppose there's nothing to be done but to say goodbye.

[shiro2hero]

[That's - no. That isn't what he wanted either. It feels too final. It feels like giving up. On her, on Ruby - on everything.]

If I think of something - can I contact you?

[It's almost a desperate question. Had she felt this way, when faced with the version of him lost to corruption?]

[But he just can't say goodbye. Not like this.]

[entreats]

[ Ange nods.

Which seems like a positive answer. And it partially is, since Ange doesn't mind the idea, even in this form. But there's something else that might complicate it, which she points out when she speaks up again. ]

I'm not sure if that will work though. Once this world is closed off, communication might not reach anymore.

[ Not that Ange would purposefully cut it off, mind you. But she imagines the Pthumerians might somehow stop it on their end, petty at a girl cut off from them. ]

But if it does reach, you can talk to me whenever.

[shiro2hero]

Do you... really want it closed off?

[Because that's what it sounds like to him, from his perspective. The Pthumerians haven't really factored in. His attention, focus - it's all on Ange.]

Not to be able to talk to any of us?