return those voices echoing in the sea (closed)

[entreats]

Who: Ange and assorted CR.
What: A catchall for event threads.
When: During December
Where: Mostly in memoryscape, some other stuff all across Trench.

Content Warnings: Child abuse, bullying, suicidal ideation, violence, gore, blood, character death

( it's a catchall for closed event threads! if i didn't promise you a starter on this already, but you'd still like to play something out with ange during the event - especially when it comes to the winter mourning - please let me know by either pming this account or contacting me on plurk at queeningsquare! )

Comments

[entreats]

[ .. right. Just in the way he words it.. Ange remembers something that she doesn't always consciously think of. Mako and all those others from his world probably could just have gone home after Deerington. There at least would have been something there for them, right?

And they're not even the only ones.

Ange quietly contemplates it, slowly breathing out. ]

I.. guess it saved me.

[ Though it feels odd to put it that way. Especially given the crappy, crappy nature of Deerington. ]

I never had anything in life. Nobody cared about me. At first I thought that was weird, but then those witches let me know I had been raised that way on purpose. Just so I could be the perfect pawn in their little game. [ Maybe it's also said slightly in response to what Mako says first, about her never having been a toy.

She knows what he means, but at the same time it's so hard to believe it when that was the moment everything made sense to her. All the suffering. Why her life was so miserable. It had all been on purpose. ]

.. I was never meant to be a person. I was just meant to be something that would sacrifice itself right in this very moment. [ She gazes over at the Ange in the memory.

There's hardly anything left of her by now, and yet she still clings onto her brother, crying. It makes the actual Ange's gaze a bit hollow and heavy as she stares. ]

[arclightning]

[ Like Wu, Mako thinks despite himself, and finally turns away from the Ange in the memory, pulled apart for no reason, clinging to the only family she had.

Mako probably would have done the same, for Bolin. Let himself get torn to bits for a chance of getting out of this awful game.

He shifts toward his own Ange, the Ange he can actually do something for, and without thinking too hard about it, reaches out to offer her a hand. ]

Guess you're pretty good at defying expectations.

[entreats]

[ There's a faint moment of hesitation. Not that she fears physical contact with Mako necessarily, since he's someone who seems to understand her so easily - but it's more just that she's feeling particularly vulnerable in this moment.

And she's just a little afraid of emotionally breaking down.

But she tries anyway. After that moment of hesitation, she does take his offered hand, and even something in the way she holds it feels weirdly tender and emotional.

Ange swallows thickly. ]

.. you think so?

[arclightning]

Look at you.

[ Soft, rough-edged words full of a kind of strange, tender pride. Ange is falling apart in front of him, being torn to pieces, but she's here and whole and standing there, facing all of this. Mako knows how hard it is to get back up after being shoved down, and Ange has been shoved down more than he ever knew. ]

You're whole. You have a... whole life here, away from them. Looks to me like you're a lot more than any of them gave you credit for. You kept going.

[entreats]

That's.. not because of me though.

[ It's not like she doesn't hear his words, or their tone. No, it's exactly because of that tone that she can't help but say it.

It feels like he's giving her credit that she has never earned. ]

I felt miserable for the longest thing after I showed up in Deerington. [ It's so long ago by now, and yet she can recall it with weird clarity. ] It's only.. because I met kind people. Like you.

[ This is the one time she won't let Mako wrestle himself out of that definition. Because it's just true. Mako might not be one of the first she has met - but he's been so important. It has been so nice to have someone who understands her so instinctively, without her having to explain the intricacies of her thought processes. ]

.. that's the only way I felt like I could finally live.

[arclightning]

Yeah, well.

[ This is the one time he's not going to fight it, mostly because he's focused much more strongly on his own words, in Ange's hand in his, real and whole and not torn to pieces by some vicious witch with an obscure agenda. ]

I was awful before I met Korra. Sometimes it takes a nudge, but I don't know, Ange, I know plenty of people who've been given a lot more than that and still give up at the slightest hint that things are going wrong. I'm... really glad you're out of here, if this is what your world is like. I'm glad I get to support this version of you. The one deciding to live.

[entreats]

[ Is Ange sure she entirely trusts Mako's judgement of himself?

Not necessarily. That would have had to be a real huge improvement on the other's part, after all, to go from someone awful to what he is now.

But what she does trust is that hand that's currently in her own. She squeezes it. ]

.. thank you. [ She'll give in to that, at least. ] I'm just glad you're here.

[ She can sense the memory starting to fade around the edges. Glancing over at the other self, she can see that there's nothing left of the other girl. Nothing but chunks of meat.

Ange looks back over at Mako. It's better that way. ]

I'm still sorry I accidentally dragged you in here, but.. I am glad I didn't have to see it by myself.

[ That she didn't have to experience it alone, all over again. ]

[arclightning]

Always going to be here if you need me.

[ Mako can bear it, or he tells himself he can: possibly he will have nightmares about this, possibly he will keep an eye on the network for hints of Ange to make sure she's alright. More than possibly he will bring her food to make sure she's okay and fed, after this, but for now he squeezes her hand and lets the memory fade with only the impression of an incongruent deer stepping from a corner, watching them with liquid eyes.

Mako reaches up to touch it, looking down at Ange, and his fingers brush antler, and the world fades around them. ]