deercountry | April Catch-All

"Don't send me to the Luminarium. Albert's in a coma right now," she hissed, though she followed along with Ange willingly enough. She was going to be stubborn about that, given how little she trusted the Blood Ministers as a general rule. However, she trusted her friend. It was a situation not unlike what she'd seen Luz in not that terribly long ago.

As they walked, she breathed carefully. "It should be in the kitchen. Easy to find. Has to be in moonlight. Good thing she's out all the time right now..."

There sure is a lot in what Vira-Lorr is saying here, huh.

And it makes it harder that Ange isn't entirely sure what's rational talk coming out of her mouth and what isn't. Vira-Lorr is right there on the cusp of falling deeper into corruption, after all. Some things she's saying could be false thoughts that the corruption is feeding her, trying to prevent her from getting better.

But Ange supposes that the first step is clear for now. Go to Vira-Lorr's house, get that stuff, see if it helps. It sounds like it ought to, so hopefully there won't have to be a step two which she will have to think about more.

"Okay, I'm missing a lot of context here," she instead says as they walk, trying to keep her voice calm and steady the whole time. "Albert? In a coma?"

"Dr Wesker... Minister. I trust him. He's safe. In a cocoon," she said, the words coming out in little bursts. She was somewhere close to a stream of consciousness as the two of them walked. Thankfully this was the Cellar Door district. She wasn't roving far from home. She wanted her home turf safe, after all, so that meant that they wouldn't be walking extremely long distances.

"He's a friend. Don't trust most Ministers..." That was the problem, really. She didn't trust the Disciples or Ministers unless she knew them personally.

"Alright," Ange softly says, trying to make her voice sound gentle so she won't accidentally set Vira-Lorr off right now. Especially while she can't tell whether the other is having some sort of heightened paranoia in this moment or not. It's definitely a trait she has seen from other people who were dealing with corruption.

"Don't worry. I won't take you to anyone we don't know, alright?" If worst comes to worst and Vira-Lorr's suggestion method doesn't work, then maybe Ange can ask one of her friends. She isn't sure if Usagi's power works on corruption, but it could be worth a try..?

Who knows.

"But first we'll try it your way. You know you can trust me, right?"

Given the kind of 'cassandra complex' Vira-Lorr was suffering? Yeah, there was a very solid possibility that her corruption came with significant levels of paranoia. She did seem to relax a lot as she was promised that they would try other methods. It meant none of the Blood Ministers had to get involved. They did horrible things about the cases that couldn't be saved.

"I can trust you. Yes. And you're listening. It's good. You're smarter than most," she said as they were walking towards her place. She seemed to focus heavily on the fact that she was being heard, like that was important. "A dose... that should help. Might clear my head, so I can see better."

Honestly, she's not so sure how she feels about getting that compliment now of all times. It's hard to tell how much the other means it - though maybe part of it might be meant? It's not like Vira-Lorr ever has trouble complimenting people, after all.. Ange sure knows that much.

(Though she is smarter than most and likes to think so, thanks.)

"Well, we're right here," she says as they stop in front of Vira-Lorr's place. It's a good thing the other wasn't too far away from there, or Ange would have had to navigate them towards the most nearby lamp first..

"Let's go inside and get it so you can hopefully feel better."

Her hand was shaky on the keys, but once the door was open, she stumbled in and flexed her fingers, heading towards the kitchen. There was a fine layer of dust on everything and her candle flared to life, as if they'd been asleep for a while, waving frantically and giddily to get their attention. She hadn't been home in a while, it seemed...

Taking the litwick and letting it light the way into the kitchen, she opened one of teh cupboards, pulling out a mason jar full of pink fluid and setting it in the window to let the moon's rays bathe it. "I... don't understand why it seems like nobody is listening. Why are you the only one," she murmured to herself, her mental state definitely not reflecting one where the complements were the sort one could trust. As she waited, she was staring at the jar cautiously. "Just... need to clear my head. Need to have a drink. Hopefully that will help."

When she did open it and take a sip, the signs of the cracks began to ease, to close up slowly, her breathing evening gradually as her eyes sagged closed, like she'd been up for days.

Ange makes sure to follow Vira-Lorr inside. Maybe under different circumstances she would just have let the other go in and do all of this by herself, but she wants to make sure to keep watching over the other while Vira-Lorr is in this state - just in case.

She'd never forgive herself if she let anything bad happen to a friend just because she was careless for a moment, after all.

And she feels like she made the right decision when they enter the house. The girl looks around as they head further in, surprised at the state of everything inside of the house. Just for how long has this been going on with Vira-Lorr already..? Has she been wandering out there like that for days, or was there something else going on first that kept her out of the house?

Ange isn't sure, and asking the other while she's still in a heightened state of corruption doesn't feel like a good idea. So she stores the questions in the back of her mind, instead following the other all the way to the kitchen, leaning with her back against a wall.

.. watching Vira-Lorr as the other slowly seems to be returning to a more normal state, although the other looks tired.

"Are you starting to feel better..?" Ange asks. There's a frown of concern on her face, but she's not too fussed at the moment about how openly it's there when Vira-Lorr's eyes are closed.

She held up a finger in a forestalling motion. That, alone, was probably a good sign. It was the act of someone who was capable of thinking of something other than the danger of the butterflies, and was managing to ask for a moment to think. Vira-Lorr took another long draught of the mason jar, to about the half-way point, before setting it down and screwing the cap onto it with an exhalation of air.

She set it on the window, the color in her cheeks partially returning to its normal pallor as opposed to what it had been. Cracks and fissures were melting away and she looked much more worn, much more tired, when she set her hand down on the counter. "Better? Not exactly... but I am starting to feel like myself. I'll admit that right now, I feel a bit like a donkey kicked me in the gut right this moment. Everything aches and my head's blurry. I will probably want to finish the jar off. In a moment, though..."

"Yeah," Ange is quick to reassure. "Take it easy."

Even though Vira-Lorr hadn't outright turned into a beast, it did seem like the corruption had been hitting her pretty hard back there. Ange can't say she has any personal experience with getting that corrupted, but she can't imagine that it's something you can easily recover so quickly from.

So she's definitely willing to give the other some time. Ange has nowhere to go right now, so she's got a few more moments to watch over Vira-Lorr. Just to make sure the other doesn't pass out on the floor here, or something along those lines.

"Do you want me to grab you some water?"

Maybe it'll help wash down whatever specifically that concoction had been.

"I'll be ok, I think," she said as she finally took a moment to lean against the counter. She did take the recommendation of drinking some of the water, going to the fridge to pull out a bottle. She didn't say it, but all of the water in her house was boiled, thanks to her time in the nightmare. She just couldn't get past that habit, so she bottled it and stored it in the fridge.

"that's from the salt lake, outside of town. It's very powerful, but only if you drink it when it's under the light of the moon. Any other day, and it's rancid, horrible stuff." A shake of her head. "Thankfully she's out in force this month."

That explains more about what exactly it had been - and why it had the kind of effect that it had on Vira-Lorr just now. Ange slowly nods as she takes in the explanation, watching the other as she gets some of the water.

"No bad time to drink it this month," Ange adds.

She guesses that means there's at least one upside to the fact that none of them have seen the sun for weeks now.

"Is it because of the particular kind of moon we have here?" Even though she doesn't say it with as many words, it should be obvious what she means here, right? The moon in Trench isn't just a moon, due to their actions and decisions in that other place.

"Most likely the salt lake is tied to her powers and the waxing and waning of her influence," she said, opening the jar to begin working through the rest of it. she needed to finish it, and at this point she understood that. It didn't exactly taste great, but it was doing its job. "Iroh and I heard about rumors separately that it had healing properties, and it does. So I kept a sample back. It's more effective, I think, than the squid ink will be, but it's only good at specific times." And she didn't like that vulnerability.

"Ngh... still have a terrible headache. Do you know what those butterflies were doing to me?"

"I can't be fully sure," Ange says.

After all, this is the first time she's seen the effect these butterflies have on a person, so she can only infer things about this situation by looking at what happened to Vira-Lorr. She can make a few guesses at least, though.

"It seems that they speed up the process of corruption." That's what Vira-Lorr seemed like, after all, somewhere between her altered appearance and the rampant paranoia on the other's part. A combination of physical and mental changes is usually corruption, or so Ange has found.

It's.. worrisome though, that these creatures could have such an effect on people. It means there will be a lot to watch out for this month.

"I'll have to read up on them to make sure though. Or ask around about other people's experiences. But that is what it looked like to me."

"They... were taking something away from me, I think. It was hard to put into words, but I stopped being sure that everything was ok, and the paranoia was getting worse by the minute." A shake of her head, and then she frowned, putting one hand into the palm of the other. "Hope..."

"It was hope. It was like I couldn't see a way that things could end positively somehow." Because, deep down? Her sense of hope was always rooted in the idea of winning through horrible odds. 'There has to be a way to get through this.' But if that was taken away, and replaced only with the sense that nobody believed her. She shivered.

"I think I understood for a second what Mother Superior was thinking..."

Well, that'd make sense, Ange thinks as she's listening to Vira-Lorr's explanation. After all, corruption often seems to be born from intense negative emotions. And if someone were to take away any and all sense of hope - then of course the thing that'd be left behind would be a void that's quickly filled up with the negative equivalents of said hope.

As someone who has truly not seen hope for years and years of her life, Ange understands that feeling very well. On a personal level.

It makes her take a step closer to Vira-Lorr, almost as if she wants to reach out to make sure the other is really getting better now..

.. but then she feels a little awkward about it, blushing and looking away, her gaze a tad shy.

"Is that feeling returning now? Did the hope just.. come back?"

She watched her come closer and shy away before setting down the mason jar for herself and reaching over to offer her friend a hug. That little awkward moment was probably a good indication that, at least for now, she was back to her usual self.

"I think ... mostly yes. Not really come back, but I can see through the fog anyway. Hope never really dies. It just gets clouded sometimes very easily." Which was what they'd done. "I'm concerned about the nature of what they're taking away, though. It can do irreparable harm to some."

Ange doesn't protest or resist the hug at all. It had kind of been what she had wanted to do herself anyway before indeed shying away, so it's somehow all managed to work out. Instead she just moves to wrap her arms around Vira-Lorr as well, opting to hold the other for a moment. Just experiencing the relief of seeing the other be her usual self again.

"Well, I imagine people will be looking out for each other." So no one will have to suffer the effects of those things without having someone nearby to help.

Or so Ange hopes, anyway.

"It's one thing we've got going for us here."

After all, Ange figures, if even a not-too-great-with-social-stuff kind of girl like her can have an extended support network, then surely most people have got to have that here. Most people in Trench are kind, bothering to look out for others.

She nodded in the middle of the hug, holding onto Ange as long as her experience had shown was usually before someone started squirming. It was probably such a sign that she might have started timing her hugs just to be sure they didn't linger too long. breathing out and easing back, she closed her eyes. "You're right, of course. We have to be able to rely on each other. I'll just need to be careful when I'm helping people after I've recovered."

The problem was, and she hadn't realized it, that the nature of the situation with the butterflies was such that she was uniquely rather vulnerable to their depredations. She had way too much hope, and at the same time too much paranoia. Still, eventually she'd be back at her home, avoiding them entirely.

Usually Ange might have left the hug again rather quickly - but not this time around. She instead lingers a little longer in the hug, maybe because she needs the reassurance and comfort in this moment too after everything that happened. After worrying over Vira-Lorr, and now experiencing the relief of having been there in time to help her - thankfully.

Ange can only imagine how much worse that could have got.

(Sorry, Ange, that's also still happening at another point when you're not around..)

It's only after those long moments, spent in some silence after the last thing Vira-Lorr says, that Ange finally pulls back and looks at the other.

"Do I need to stay here with you a little longer?" To make sure she's okay. "I don't mind."

"I... would like it if you stayed for a while," she said cautiously, her eyes closed. She leaned back against the corner and placed her hands on the counter, starting to look gradually more like herself. "I want to be sure that I'm back to normal, and... it's good to have you around. But if you need to get somewhere, I understand." She didn't add that she was getting past those pesky desires to protect Ange right then, and this was a good way to do it.

She shakes her head, seeming to not even have to think about it.

"It's fine. I can stay." Especially since the nature of her bond with Ruby means that she doesn't even have to grab her Omen to be able to tell the other girl that she'll be out for a little bit longer - she can just think it hard enough for Ruby to receive the message. Not that Ange thinks the other would usually be worried about her staying out a little later, but after Ange spent weeks and weeks inside of the house.. well, maybe Ruby might be a tad more worried about her.

"I mean, you spent time with me as well last month when I was feeling bad. It's only fair to do this in return. We could just have some tea and talk."

Not that Ange realises the extra motive Vira-Lorr has for asking her to stay for a bit, but.. well, she doesn't mind either way. This is just what friends do, and she's worried enough about Vira-Lorr's state and recovery anyway.

It was a useful bond in that way. A chance for the two to keep in touch no matter what was going on. Either way, Vira-Lorr was grateful for the company, for someone helping her to come down to her normal state. She nodded and went to the pot to get the water heating as she smiled back at Ange.

"It was my pleasure to do that, you know. I don't always have a chance to be there for you quite so much, so... it's good to spend time with you. I just wish I was more myself today." She did manage one of her roguish smiles as she said it though. "I've been meaning to ask. How are you these days? Besides... all of this. Have things been ok for you and Ruby?"

"Oh.. yeah."

Besides a lot of things, that is. Besides her worry about Vira-Lorr in this moment. Besides.. everything that's been going around with Sayo and her confession.

Maybe that's a lot of things she has to shove aside to say that things are okay, but if she didn't do her best to ignore all of those things, she wouldn't even be able to have left the house and be here in the first place.

"Even with everything else going on.. things with Ruby have been okay for sure. She's been there for me the entire time. I think I would've been much worse off if she hadn't been there.."

For one, if she didn't have the bond with the other girl, Ange is fairly sure she would have succumbed to corruption. It's Ruby's influence on her mind that's kept her sane.

It's a fact that feels so objective to her that Ange doesn't mind bringing it up out loud, even though it gets really close to some dangerous sappy territory.

"She's been a good influence, I think. The two of you complete each other in your own ways. Very different energies, and one thing I've noticed about her? Ruby is nothing if not loyal." It would be hard not to have noticed that, given how she tended to get herself in over her head. Vira-Lorr almost made a cheesy comment about Yin and Yang, but opted against it. That would be a little too much.

She managed a wan smile, leaning back against the counter while the two talked. Perhaps 'chatted' wasn't the word for it, but it was good to talk. "Minako's been... very good for me too. I get so focused sometimes. For all that you'd think I'm free wheeling, I've gotten tired and old, and it feels like she gives me life and energy. I just try not to be draining in turn."

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