(open) i went through my list of friends and found i had no one to tell

[entreats]

Who: Ange Ushiromiya and YOU!
Where: All over Aldrip.
What: Ange is dealing with the aftermath of the Gnosia event-- and worse so than she's pretending to be.
Warnings: A chance of talk of mental illness (mostly depression, mixed in with some complex abandonment trauma) and death (in regards to the recent event).

[ It's not like Ange hasn't dealt with anything in this place, really. She's been here for over a year now, and there have been plenty of things before that really shook her to the core - especially that dumb maze from a long while ago now, and everything that had appeared in it. But the most recent event might have been the wildest thing yet. It was very reminiscent of the games back home, which sure didn't help. Even though her family might not have been on the line this time around, watching her friends be on the line was practically just as bad.

And now.. the town is normal again. And they're expected to go on like the usual.

So Ange tries to do just that - even if something threatens to fester below. ]

( a. come across ange - open to all! )

[ Maybe you're coming across one of the more quiet and empty parts of town, or maybe right outside town, where you may have found someone who set up a little shooting range - even if it's not much more than a single target standing there in an empty field or park.

The sight that might be more surprising - if you recognize the girl - is Ange standing there, holding a bow as she's staring at the target, looking rather focused. It's been a long, long time since she bothered to practice archery before giving up on it, so the sight of her doing it again is certainly new to most people. (And not inspired at all by a specific person being on her mind, what do you mean--) She pulls back the string before releasing the arrow. It flies at the target, and..

.. It only hits one of the outer rings.

The girl mutters something under her breath, her steps more like stomps as she heads over to the target to retrieve the arrow, pulling it out. As she turns around to go back to where she was standing a moment ago to perhaps go for a second attempt, she'll spot you right there. She frowns, speaking up with a: ]

What are you looking at?

[ Is she embarrassed? A little more touchy than the usual, considering she doesn't seem to be wearing her poker face or her usual emotionless tone when she spoke up like that? Who knows. ]

( b. ange comes across you - only for existing cr! )

[ For once, Ange doesn't totally isolate in the face of what happened during the event. It's almost as if she learned something, ssshh.

Which means that at some point during the days right after the town returns back to normal, you may find Ange reaching out to you if she knows you. She'll be at your door if she knows where you live, but if she doesn't, she may have sent you a text to come meet up with her at a cafe in town.

Either way, regardless of whether you're greeting her at your doorstep or in the cafe, the girl scowls and immediately starts with: ]

Everything that happens in this place is such bullshit.

[ Okay, hi, hello to you too, Ange-- ]

( ooc: feel free to hit me up with either brackets or prose, i will match! or if you'd like to wildcard this or ask for a custom starter, feel free to let me know too, i'm very flexible! )

Comments

B

[solitarysoul]

[Levi had wondered how Ange fair through that Gnosia bullshit but he hadn't reached out to her to ask. How did you even say 'hey did you die and/or kill people?' But when she contacted him he easily agreed to meeting at a cafe.

He sighs and rolls his eyes, taking a seat at their table or whatever.]

I know. Its nothing but bullshit after bullshit.

[entreats]

[ Honestly, Ange was a little curious how Levi was taking this. Considering he did seem to have a similar mindset to her own when it comes to some things - like dying, for one, which is pretty important when that thing they just went through sure involved a whole lot of death - she thought that he might be relatively fine, but it was difficult to pinpoint how he might feel beyond that.

Seeing this bit of annoyance from him is a little surprising. Not very surprising, since the girl feels anyone would agree with the sentiment of this being annoying, but..

.. still, it's more emotion than she can usually read off him. ]

Was it that bad for you? [ She asks. You know. Nonchalantly. She's nosy, but also doesn't want to openly dig that hard. Even if Ange isn't the most socially gifted person, she knows that doing that is a big no-no in social circles. ]

[solitarysoul]

[He sighs.]

Just annoying, mostly. I tried to hide in my apartment but they just dumped me in town square. Since I was at home I didn't have any weapons or anything on me.

[He's since changed that behavior.]

I got killed on the way back.

[The death was a shock and painful, and returning at all was as well, but he's still mostly upset about the being forced into that situation.]

a, as promised.

[ashaya]

[ For his part, Spock had been focused elsewhere.

Between teaching Jim how best to manage the nascent bond and the relative fall-out of the month's previous events, he'd been quite fine to spend time participating in leisure activities where he might have found opportunity. If it similarly coincided with bringing along with his Bones-the-dog (not the Human), then surely it was for the best interest of all parties involved. Soon enough and again, they'd be quite entangled in another set of explorations and experimentations. Best to take what breaks they could and when they could.

For morale and baseline levels of efficiency, of course. ]

Your arrow, [ he says, once Ange has turned about on her heel. For one who hadn't necessary expected to be queried, he gives it over without much prompting. Be it that he'd noted her state long before and minded his own? Well, it does not appear upon his face.

Instead, his words come smooth and unmodulated. ] Your aim has improved by approximately seven point three percent since your arrival.

[ How long has he been here? It's about as transparent as how he was able to calculate it, really. He's been playing himself in chess at the sidelines, listening to the whistle of new fletching. His dark eyes consider her for a moment, before returning to the board before him. His fingers hover briefly above one black pawn, before he decided upon a move.

He knows that a grand number of individuals have been impacted by what has occurred and he too is not entirely without change or consequence. His earlier conversations with most involved with his own... Dilemmas might have confirmed it. And who knows, really, who has mentioned what to who. Peter and Gwen were not the only to have faced what boiled beneath the surface, brought out by opportunistic infection. ]

[entreats]

[ It makes Ange pause as she had just grabbed the arrow, stopping mid-walk back to her original shooting spot. Rather than walking on, she just stares in his direction. The girl doesn't even say anything right away, doesn't reply, she's just-- staring.

All the things she knows about the other so far are a truly odd set of facts, after all. Some sort of code nerd. Weirdly fond of cats. And also apparently.. a robot, maybe? Ange is pretty sure that no normal person would be able to calculate such a thing by sight, after all. Unless he's just bullshitting her.

Usually the girl is pretty good at telling when people are doing the latter, but-- well, right now she isn't so sure.

Before even speaking up, she continues her walk back to her original spot, still holding the arrow. It's only when she seems to be getting ready to take another shot that she asks: ]

How do you know?

[ Let's start there. ]

a.

[opheliac]

[ for months now, jinx had been wondering what had become of the people in rumpitur since that little "incident", except each time she attempted to travel to the outskirts of aldrip, there's something that would prevent her from journeying there. could it be just her still, or is it like that for everyone? even if she wanted to ask the council or jerry, there's a low percent chance she will get an answer from them. being unsuccessful, the bluenette heads her way back until she sees a familiar someone with a bow, and a bullseye target.

now this is something she hadn't known about ange, although, there's a lot she doesn't know about the girl despite conversing with her for a little over a year now. so jinx comes into a complete halt, her arms folded over her chest to observe. when ange hits the outer ring, retrieves the arrow, then makes eye contact with her, the twin braided girl simply shakes her head and shrugs her shoulders at her outburst.

she isn't going to poke fun nor comment about her aim. it doesn't take a lot of brain power to know the redhead is extremely frustrated. and while normally jinx would crack jokes to soothe the tension, she won't here. probably not a good idea to do (especially with her being armed). so instead, the prodigy will remain silent with her arms crossed — curious if she'll go for a second shot or stop completely now that she's here. ]

[entreats]

[ At least the outburst isn't aimed at Jinx specifically - though it's hard to tell, given that the blue-haired girl sure hasn't seemed Ange react to pretty much anyone this way right now. It's what happens when she's just too frustrated about this place, and when she doesn't know where to point that frustration.

Other than at the target, maybe, but she keeps missing it. Which only makes her more frustrated. It's a vicious cycle, really.

It also seems that Jinx's presence doesn't stop Ange from continuing what she's doing. Holding the arrow she pulled out of the outer rings of the target, she moves back to her original spot, getting into her stance to shoot a second shot. It means she's quiet for a moment - focused - and though the second arrow is a little closer, it's still not quite in the middle of the target.

Ange lets out a sigh when she sees it, and then looks up from her archery practice, looking over towards where Jinx was a moment ago.

.. where Jinx is still standing now, she notices. Ange kind of figured the other girl would just continue walking, rather than standing there and staring at her.

Why would she be doing that, especially after that awkward last encounter? ]

.. did you want to talk to me?

wildcard;

[laserguy]

[Truly, honestly, he's been meaning to talk to Ange.

He was just... not doing well after everything with Ryoji, unable to really sleep or eat all that much because of those memories replaying in his mind over and over again. Maybe he would've been able to recover on his own after a couple of weeks, but with Kotone's revival, that sort of sped up his progress. Not that he's doing amazing or great still, honestly, Scott feels so far from normal that he's not sure when he'll be like his regular self again, but at the very least, he wants to talk to Ange.

See how she's doing.

It's easier to have this focus without guilt completely consuming him, now lowered to something that's sort of manageable (although he still doesn't know how to talk to Ryoji). So, whenever Ange is walking out of her room or maybe coming back from an outing, Scott will be sitting on the couch, clearly waiting for someone-- for her. He doesn't know if he can really force a smile right now, especially after everything they've been through, but Scott finally looks at her with some life once more.]

Hey Ange, do you... um, got a minute?

[A part of him feels stressed as well, that ball of anxiety returning as he looks over at his friend. He remembers their encounter, when he was someone-- something else, how close he was to hurting her, and it just... really sucks. More than that, but he doesn't know how else to really describe it. Part of him doesn't want to talk about it at all, hell, Ange probably doesn't, but it needs to be addressed at some point right? He owes her an explanation at least?

...He really just wants to express his gratitude for Ange being there for him. Not just stopping him, but afterward too.]

[entreats]

.. sure.

[ It's a little surprising to see Scott waiting for her like this. At first she doesn't even realize he's waiting for her, Ange just never the type to assume that, but-- when he speaks up and says that of all things, she knows that he was waiting for her. And it's not like she's going to ignore her friend.

Especially not when Scott hasn't quite seemed the same after that chaotic week. And who could blame him, really? The week itself was bad enough if you'd discount everything he specifically went through, and Ange knows that its impact on him was huge when she had to practically drag him home and take care of him after it. It's not the sort of thing anyone just bounces back from.

At least it does make it easy to assume what he wants to talk about as she joins him on the couch. ]

Is it about everything that happened last week?

a

[nuraridouman]

My. Hello to you too, young Miss.

[It's only a little mocking when Douman taps his mask like an English Gentleman lifting his hat in a casual greeting. Like always, he doesn't bother to apologize for appearing out of the blue like a wraith. It's simply what he is and does, after all.

He is silent for a moment longer, the tilt of his mask implying that he is studying her beneath it, silently assessing her mood and going through the possible things that might have caused it. Unfortunately there are way too many possibilities right now.]

I didn't know that you could practice shooting here. Do you think I could try as well?

[entreats]

I set this up myself. [ .. it's a short answer. Kind of business-like too, with how easily she's getting down to the matter, rather than actually greeting him too with the way he casually pointed out like this that she didn't properly greet him.

It's likely because of her mood, since she's still radiating that same annoyed energy. Yet it can't be aimed at him direction, since she's not telling Douman to get lost at all.

Instead she says-- ]

So you can do whatever with it. [ Like she doesn't really mind his presence, despite not being in the best mood ever in this moment. ] I'm not going to stop you. But I'm still going to need this target too if I ever want to get any better.

sooooort of b but not quite

[joyboys]

[ she is on his list of people to check up on, too — and maybe he should have gone mikey's route and simply hollered over the not-a-denden-mushi for those he knows, but, well, he feels better when he actually goes and sees everyone.

which is why he lets his observation haki hone in on her location, and so he wanders over to the cafe where she's, well, possibly either waiting for someone else or having just met with someone. the moment he sees her, he breaks into a grin, and, disregarding her scowl and the words, simply declares, ]

Hi, Psychic Girl!! I was worried about you, I'm glad you're okay! [ "okay" as in "now in one piece and here as opposed to dead", and not as in "actually okay". ]

[entreats]

[ Oh no.

Ange is never quite fully sure whether or not she'll survive a conversation with Luffy-- socially, that is. She's pretty sure she doesn't have to fear for her life the way she did over the past while, but there's no doubt that the guy is ewxceptionally good at making Ange feel like she can't keep up with what's in his mind.

Case in point: this. Him declaring he was worried. About her. And he does it so easily, like it comes as instinctively as breathing. ]

You were worried about me? [ She asks - for now making a pretty good effort at keeping any surprise or fluster out of her tone. Instead she raises an eyebrow, like she's trying really hard to make it look like a skeptical thing instead. ] Specifically? Surely you had better things to worry about while all of that was happening.

A - I am late with Starbucks

[thenicerone]

[How did Yukina manage to get through everything unharmed? She has no idea but she can tell the aftermath was terrible. After hearing what everyone went through, she found herself wanting to do a bit more. The problem was she didn't know what to do.

When she ends up looking at a mysterious girl, she found herself staring at what she was doing. It seemed that she was focused, she didn't what to bother her. Of course, just as Yukina was about to turn away, she heard her voice.]

I-I'm sorry, I was looking at what you were doing...

don't worry, you're always welcome! c:

[entreats]

Archery. [ Ange says - like it isn't obvious what she's doing here. Only so many things you can do when you shoot an arrow at a target using a bow, right..

The redhead continues moving over to the spot she was initially standing on, like she's getting ready to start on a second shot.

It almost seems like she might ignore Yukina entirely, but then she adds: ] I imagine a lot of people are probably thinking about self-defence after what happened.

b!

[fieldtrip]

[ Toph hadn't had anything majorly traumatic happen to her personally, but just about everyone she knows did, so she's in a good position to listen to Ange vent. Or whatever her equivalent of petulantly making metal sculptures all over Aldrip is.

She immediately throws her hands up in the air in open agreement, no further greeting necessary. ]

You're telling me! What happened to having giant sea monsters to fight? Can we quit it with all this mind control crap?

[entreats]

I'd actually prefer a lack of sea monsters too.

[ After all, if they'd be getting the choice, can they just have the choice to not have any bullshit at all? That's the one Ange would like to go for, thanks. Especially since she does believe that Toph - to some extent - could handle fighting a monster like that, but she's well aware that she herself stands no chance.

So no sea monster fighting for her. Especially since lives were on the line last time around. ]

At this point it seems like they're just throwing anything deadly at us for fun. Why else would this place be trying to kill us over and over? [ Despite the fact that she is complaining - and it definitely sounds like a complaint, Ange not bothering to hide her annoyance in the slightest - it's a serious question at the same time.

Why does this keep happening? Why are there so little answers for that part of it all? ]

B

[baldrshand]

[When Ethlyn sees Ange at the door of the Clinic, she's surprised, and a little concerned. Ange doesn't seem like the kind of person to visit the doctor unless there's no other alternative. She doesn't look hurt, or sick, but...

Oh.

Ethlyn can't help but laugh out of sheer relief.]

Yes. Yes it is. [she might not curse herself, but she can certainly appreciate a well-placed one.] Would you like some tea?

[entreats]

Yes, please.

[ Look at that, Ange is being relatively polite about this. Especially when you compare the way she's saying this to what she said when showing up a moment ago - like she's actually managing to fork out some respect when it comes to Ethlyn of all people.

And if she's let into the Clinic, she will obediently follow to where Ethlyn is going. Like a puppy trailing her. ]

.. I guess I should have asked how you're doing first. [ She slowly admits. ]

a.

[avitus]

[Listen, sometimes your friends are gremlins who hang out in the woods and you end up building your house around one of said gremlin's preferred napping trees to keep the group together.

So Yusuke just so happens to be trekking through Ange's practice field on his way home when she looses her ill-fated arrow, and he is unfazed by her grumpy reaction to his presence -- he has seen and heard (and deserved, honestly) much crankier from Keiko, after all.]

Nothing, really. Just passing through. The archery's pretty cool, though.

[And it's clearly sincere, despite her having missed the shot.]

Is it hard? Usually I just punch things or shoot 'em with my Spirit Gun, which seems a lot less complicated than all this.

[entreats]

It's harder than punching things.

[ It doesn't really sound condescending, though some may say she's pointing out something obvious - instead it just sounds almost like Ange is commiserating a little, because it would be so easier to punch things. She'd love to just punch things, but alas, she likely isn't ever going to end up with enough arm strength to punch the sort of things they deal with in this place.

She finishes walking back to her original spot, though she doesn't put the arrow on the bow yet for a second shot. Instead she glances at Yusuke for another moment, as if she's trying to place the boy.

When she can't, she does move to line herself and the bow up for a second attempt. ]

But this is just about the only weapon I can handle. [ It's what happens when you weren't really born for combat, but then you're thrown into these circumstances all the same.. ]

a

[conflictresolution]

[Silco had been walking as he usually did between his businesses for the day when he had used one of the normal short-cuts that he did and found himself coming across Ange in her own little shooting range. That wouldn't have been abnormal at all, but her stomping footsteps were out of character for her. She was the cool, calm, and collected sort of young woman after all.

He stopped to watch, corner of his lip twitching in amusement at her demand. Well, well, it seemed they had both recently endured some manner of embarrassment then? Or something else was upsetting her.

The little gold butterfly that she had gifted him with fluttered down as if to investigate the situation as he changed his intended direction and approached her instead. He kept his hands on his pockets as he looked at the hole in the target; archery was not particularly easy in the city of iron and glass with its cramped buildings and sharp corners.]

Perhaps I'm off base on this assessment, but you seem to be agitated. Would you like someone to discuss this matter with?

[entreats]

[ He's definitely not off base in the slightest with that assumption. It shows in Ange's body language more than in her face - like she's trying to still keep the latter in line aside from the grumpiness that she does allow to show, but can't quite control the former as much under the current circumstances. Something in the way her shoulders slump when he makes that offer seems to suggest there is indeed a little bit more to the girl in this moment than her just being angry.

And the slight pause - rather than some quick, snappy answer - implies that she's thinking about it, rather than dismissing it right away.

Then the girl lowers the bow, dropping it on the ground next to the few arrows she had been using, and wanders over until she's a little closer to where Silco is standing. She pulls herself up onto a small nearby fence to sit on top of it. ]

I don't know what there is to discuss. [ Except maybe she does. Or maybe there's something she wants to say, if she bothered to come over to talk to him at all, rather than just continuing what she was doing. ] It's just that this place is getting more and more annoying by the day.

b

[rebellions]

[ That makes one of them ─ unlike Ange, Ragna employed his tried and trusted method of coping with terrible events, which is to withdraw from any interactions with other people and hole up in his church for as long as possible. Let's be real here, he's not eager to talk to anyone on the best of his days, but after this whole mess... the less people see him, the better.

So imagine his surprise when Ange goes out of her way to show up at his doorstep unannounced. The way she greets him is not unusual for her, and he can't exactly disagree with the sentiment. ]

... Tell me about it.

[ The man moves out of the way to let her through, gesturing for her to go inside with his head. While he may not care much for company right now, the fact Ange has come all the way here tells him she could probably use some of that. ]

[entreats]

[ It's no surprise that Ragna also doesn't feel great about what happened last week. Granted, it's likely that no one feels great about it - aside from the resident sociopaths they've got in this place, anyway - but Ange knows that Ragna is particularly likely to get grumpy more easily than other people.

It's something that suits her pretty well right now, given that she is also feeling very grumpy, and deep down Ange knows that being grumpy is better when you're doing it together with someone else than simmering in it all by yourself. (Don't tell anyone that, though.)

She enters the building when he allows her in, and it's only after a few steps that a little bit of the anger seeps out of her shoulders - but it's just because a different emotion partially replaces it when she turns her head to look at Ragna, faint worry in her eyes. ]

Are you alright? Physically, I mean.

[ She doesn't know if he died back there or not, after all. Maybe dying fucked up something about the people it happened to. Ange didn't get the chance to ask that to the one person she knows for sure died, considering she was a little too busy crying all over him back there. ]