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

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

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! )

Threaded | Flat

[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.

[ 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. ]

[ 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. ]

[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.]

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?

[ 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". ]

[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...

[ 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?

[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?

Edited 2024-08-13 03:50 (UTC)

[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.

Edited 2024-09-02 08:19 (UTC)

[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?

[ 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. ]

Edited (lol subject line) 2024-08-14 20:16 (UTC)

Threaded | Flat

B

a, as promised.

a.

wildcard;

a

sooooort of b but not quite

A - I am late with Starbucks

b!