deercountry | April Catch-All

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."

Ange exhales.

"I don't think you have to worry about that." Sure, Ange's own interactions with that Minako girl have been limited.. but that's exactly because she has found them to be very draining. Minako is just way too social and bubbly of a girl for Ange to bear, and that's saying a lot, considering who Ange is dating.

If anything, she thinks Vira-Lorr is way less draining than that girl, but spelling that out too explicitly might be rude, so..

"You two fit each other too. And besides.. what's most important in the end is just that you're happy with each other, right? As long as you make sure to communicate, that can't go wrong."

Oh, and how she knew that. Minako was sunshine, and she was a soft, warm sunset ready to engage in a playful night. It could be a lot even for Vira-Lorr, and they were dating. She chuckled a little and smiled to herself. "I imagine you're right, but I do worry now and again. She has a lot of energy to spare at least. I know that." Not that she knew what was going through Ange's head, but Minako was something else.

"Communication is the key. It's helped us a lot, at times when you might least expect it." If they hadn't communicated, they might never have actually braved dating, because of Minako's worries that she really 'couldn't' with her duties. Vira-Lorr had needed to embrace a lot of things that only happened with good communication. "And she makes me very happy."

That last thing is also something that's been pretty noticeable. Even if Ange hasn't been around the other two much while they were physically together in the same place, Ange can tell just by the way Vira-Lorr talks about Minako. Sometimes people are so in love that their sappy words already make it obvious just how much they care for one another.

This is definitely one of those cases.

"Well, I guess I'm glad then that I'm the one who ran into you, rather than her. You wouldn't want to worry your girlfriend too much."

(Thankfully Ange doesn't realise the sheer irony of that, considering what will happen.)

"Yes. I think if Minako were to see it, she would have been far too worried. I hope she's staying away from the butterflies. She's quite the brave one when it comes to it." Yeah, that irony was thick, unintentionally, wasn't it? Still, she managed to smile to herself at the thought of how much Minako could plunge into danger at times. It worried, but she did like her spirit.

She sighed and controlled herself a little, forcing the smile to stick, closing her eyes. "I trust her. I won't worry right now. That'll just make things worse won't it?" Yup.

Y... up....

Ange shrugs lightly.

"It probably can't hurt to talk with her about the general situation going on right now. It's not even like you have to mention what happened to you." Because it's all under control now. If there were still big after effects, then Ange might be less likely to encourage keeping it silent, but.. well, it's not like there's any use in Vira-Lorr worrying Minako when there no longer is a reason to do so.

"Even if she's the type to be brave and jump in to protect others, I'm sure she'd understand if you explained why you're concerned for her as well."

Look, Ange is dating Ruby.

She's got experience with this sort of thing.

"I... yes, I'll do that in a minute. That'll help me feel better about this, and maybe give her a warning. She'll definitely understand. She listens to me," she said, which was far more sensible than what she might have in the height of her paranoia. And the fact that a certain someone was dating these days wasn't entirely lost on her, because she managed a thin laugh.

"Tell me. How often do you have to warn Ruby to be careful?"

"In the past? All the time."

Especially before they started dating, Ange thinks. In their early days of Deerington, where the most Ange knew about the other girl was that Ruby was both entirely too social and entirely too reckless - though she's at least learned where all of that came from by now.

Something in the way she says it sounds so knowing too. Like she can entirely recall it, even now.

"But lately.. it's actually going a lot better. Ruby will be Ruby, but.. I think she understands that her own life is important as well now." If not just because they've sat down and discussed that stuff. Or just because Ange, too, had to reach a point where she had to decide that she had to be a little bit more careful with her own life in turn too - because she actually had people who would worry about her now if something happened.

She shakes her head. "We try to tackle those situations together now because of that. Sometimes I'm a little worried about dragging her down, since I feel like she's way more talented than I am, but.. in the end, it still feels better than letting her run off by herself and having to sit back and worry about her."

April Catch-All

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