wildestlogs | Not a Moment Alone When You're Part of This Group

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Not a Moment Alone When You're Part of This Group

Who: Locked to Bunny, Dan, and Ange
What: Checking on the lonely girl over here
Where: Edge of the Camp
When: A week after the camp was established
Warnings/Notes: N/A

They're all probably going to move on from here soon, Ange is certain of that. She doesn't feel particularly ready to do that yet.

Despite that, she has tried hard to get used to life in this magical fantasy land. This is not her first time as a runaway, pursued by powerful people who absolutely would harm or kill you if given the chance. True, in her world those who did were just normal brutes and ruthless pursuers, not monsters with debilitating auras or women with straw hats, but the core of all was still intact: she was on the run.

...the part where she has to stay in abandoned troll markets, forage for food, and be in proximity to what amounts to a small community of the strangest people she has ever met is new, though. That so many can be considered supernatural, or some even are obviously not human, doesn't bother her as much as she thought it would, but it still is a change.

Still, Ange has been generally her usual loner self. She doesn't really seek anyone, most of her interactions being because she stumbled upon someone or because she was woken up early in the morning by some insomniac wanting to play two truths and one lie. Looking for sustenance and gathering supplies from the market is done alone more often than not. Cooking is a one-person activity, and meals are taken alone, although within sight of anyone in the camp. More often than not her face still has that neutral, unwelcoming expression. Anyone who has been paying attention to the whereabouts of other people would notice Ange Ushiromiya hasn't been mingling around much.

Today is no different. As usual, she's at the edge of the camp, with a pile of leather bags recovered from the market, trying to figure out which ones are good enough to be taken for the trip. It's easy enough work, really, allowing her mind to wander and interact with other people.

Prime target for any of the more sociable individuals of the group, really!

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"Ange!"

Getting to know more than fifty people would be a full-time job for Dan even if he weren't trying to do every useful task the camp has to offer, hunting, skinning, butchering, cooking, tailoring, healing, digging and covering the waste holes, so he hasn't had the opportunity to talk to Ange yet. He and Bunny have discussed her, briefly, but that was at the end of a long day and Dan's brain had mostly already shut down. Thus, talking to Ange has occupied a spot on Dan's to-do list, but it hasn't been one he's checked off.

He finds her at the edge of camp with a bunch of leather bags; he's brought a needle and thread, figuring he could go through the piles of goods and make sure any that could be brought up to snuff are. He isn't sure where Bunny is, but according to Bunny, Dan's got a distinct scent, and he's sure his husband will be finding them soon.

"I been meaning to properly introduce myself, you know, now that we ain't running for our lives."

"Ah. The cavalry has arrived once again"

Ange looks up, recognizing him. It's hard not to -- few people have this sort of...personality, she thinks. Something about him that at least makes him memorable, for better or worse. Ange leaves aside the bag she was checking, looking up at him with a mixture of both courteous acknowledgement and, somehow, confusion, as if the thought someone was meaning to come and introduce himself like that was not something she expected. Some of these individuals are truly social butterflies, she thinks. How overbearing, but not all that unwelcome.

"I guess now is a good time as any. Go ahead. What's the hero's name?"

"You were as instrumental to getting us out of that mess as I was."

Dan smiles at her; this is the part where he'd reach out to shake her hand, but his hands are all bandaged around the knuckles right now, so he just gives her a nod. Dan's good at just exuding warmth, as if every person he meets - Ange, now, included - has completely captivated his attention and goodwill.

"Dan Sagittarius. Hope it don't bother you that Bunny passed your name on to me. He said you left him some food and that it was quite nice."

"It's a pleasure. I hope you didn't expect an effusive greeting from me, though"

While she does have a higher opinion of Dan than she does of most people here, she sure doesn't let that show. A lot of people would think that she's trying to make any conversation be driven into a wall and make the other person go away -- her attitude is not the most welcoming ever. It's like talking to a wary cat!

Ange was about to introduce herself when Dan mentions Bunny. Ah...the rabbit has been talking about her to other people? Ange sighs.

"My name has a way of spreading around, but I didn't think it'd happen here as well" It does bother her that some around here have been talking about her. Still...it was quite nice, Bunny said? That's really good to hear. "If you're here to ask for salty mushrooms then I suppose I can make you some too later. Who would have thought that's what I'd be known for around here?"

As if the mushrooms was the central point of anything they talked about, and not the kind gesture of leaving it for Bunny in the first place. In a way, it's as if she's trying to distract from that. Is she embarrassed? Maybe a little, but it's mostly that she's not used to people having a generally positive opinion of her. That Bunny said that of something she did, and that Dan insists on giving her credit for their survival during the Nightrenders attack -- earnestly! -- is puzzling her to the point she's unsure how to react.

That's plain to see, really.

Edited 2021-12-12 00:26 (UTC)

"I'm effusive enough for the both of us."

And it's true; in spite of Dan's flat scrape of a voice, he's plenty expressive and sunny. Dan doesn't let Ange's restrained affect negatively affect his mood nor his feelings about their interaction; she doesn't, after all, owe him anything in this conversation and he's happy to just have the company as he starts looking through the leather bags. It's a far cry from how focused and determined he was on the battlefield.

"I didn't come with the intent of putting an obligation on you, but I wouldn't should say no to mushrooms, no." Dan checks the stitching on one of the bags, clumsily done, probably one of the first finished bags a troll child put together when they were learning to do something useful with their hands. He feels a sadness in his chest at the thought of the petrified dead and wonders if this bag's maker is among them. "I mostly came by to make sure you got everything you need while we're here."

"I haven't gotten mauled by a magic bear while nobody was looking, so I would say I'm not doing badly"

Well, she's not exactly comfortable. The thing about being from a rich family is that you get used to comfort, even when you're on the run. This all is as far as it gets from comfort! But despite that, Ange feels a little bit at ease in general, mostly because she's not alone. Others have offered guidance and been kind enough to aid when she's not used to stuff.

Despite that...Bunny and Dan are pretty much the only ones who have outright approached and directly offered help, without her asking for it. That's so kind of them...and also makes her raise her guard. Ange is the sort of girl who is told by a relatively trusted person there's a driver in the basement ready to help her escape and she doesn't go there just in case it was a trap. Getting offered help she didn't ask or pay for? What's that?

Which is why she asks: "So what's the reason you're here? Am I expected to believe you saw me sitting here and thought of checking on me?" Ulterior motives are a thing! Which, truthfully, she wouldn't hold against Dan if he had any, but she sure would like people to stop stringing her along in their plans and just be straightforward for once. "Just say it already. Think of it as a business transaction if that helps"

Seeing the worst in people really can lead to seeing ill will where there's actually none of that.

Edited 2021-12-15 21:01 (UTC)

"I got a reputation to uphold as a nice guy." Dan takes one of the bags and sits down on a rock, pulling the needle and thread from his pocket to start reinforcing some lining. He wonders how the best way to approach someone this suspicious is, how much of himself to show knowing that anything he says will be shadowed by whatever experiences Ange has had in the past.

"Me and Bunny are trying to keep an eye on all the young folks here. It's his calling, you know, as the Easter Bunny. His sacred duty, taking care of young people and providing them with tokens of hope. That's what the painted eggs are all about." He figures Bunny's on his way and will be able to run some interference if Dan's next statement opens some doors they don't necessarily want Ange going down. "And I was a parent once, too. That instinct dies hard, if it ever do."

He sits up as he hears Bunny's approach - Bunny's got better hearing than him, and likely has caught most of the last exchange.

"Hey, honey. You figure out how to get those oyster mushrooms yet?"

His hearing's good enough for Dan's bringing up Ellie to surprise him, but he doesn't show it as he rises up out of his four-legged gait to put his paw on Dan's shoulder in greeting.

"Would you believe we've collectively moved one whole yard farther away from 'em?" he says, dryly amused more than upset by it, because at this point, what can he do but stare and watch the deer eat them? It's been more productive to look elsewhere. "Found some late mulberries though. Ange, how are you today?"

There's so much to unpack from what Dan said, one fact piling up after another, like an avalanche. They're keeping an eye on the young folks. That rabbit is the Easter Bunny, apparently. Dan is a parent. For some reason, the last one is one she finds the most unbelievable of all! From looking at Dan, she wouldn't have guessed he was a parent!

She had been about to make a quip about that last one when Dan notices Bunny approaching, and not only that, he calls him honey. These two are together? Did she miss something? It's very likely she missed it, too busy worried about other things to pay attention to what sort of relationships people had around here. In the span of like eight seconds she got told so much stuff it actually takes her a moment to respond at Bunny's question -- question that backs up what Dan says.

"So what, am I some sort of charity case for you two?"

It's a pointed question, challenging them to answer. Doesn't even greet Bunny, bristling and upset. Dan's comment about having been a parent -- and therefore what it implies as one of the reasons to be looking out for the younger members of this party -- does hit a few chords she'd have preferred not to have touched.

The sort of words said by two-faced assholes trying to get on her good side for selfish reasons. The sort of parental words people she kind of trusted have used to try to get her to relax -- 'I think of you as my true grandchild' -- when she knows fully well they'd have no qualms stabbing her in the back, both literally and metaphorically.

...the sort of words she'd like to believe in, but can't because that sort of thing doesn't exist.

...

But she's being unfair, isn't she? They're not focused on her, they're focused on all the young ones. She's not some sort of special case they're after, she thinks. They know nothing about who she is, and even if they did, they have no way of gaining the fortune she has been saddled with. Well...that one of this pair is a big rabbit makes it impossible, at least. If it were two humans, she would be able to keep up the suspicion and successfully keep up the wall. With Bunny in the equation, she just can't consider this some sort of attempt to curry favor with her.

...meaning the odds this is truly well-intentioned are higher. Ange sighs.

"...sorry about that one. It's hard for me to take this sort of thing at face value" she admits, lowering her head in a bow of apology. "I'm fine today, thanks"

She's a perfect stranger to everyone here. They know she's Ange Ushiromiya, and that name means nothing to them. What she is at home matters nothing, what matters is what she is here, but trying to keep that in mind is so hard. Funny how something that feels so freeing -- that nobody knows the meaning of that name at all -- is hard to accept.

Edited 2021-12-18 23:41 (UTC)

Ange's outburst surprises Bunny, maybe not as much as it would have if he and Dan hadn't discussed the defensive note in her demeanor. "Did I walk in on something?" he asks, gently, looking from Ange to Dan. "Think I'm out of the loop on this one."

Charity case is a harsh direction for her to come from. It suggests a background severely lacking in the love and support a kid deserves, and she all but confirms it with her statement about taking these sorts of things at face value. He doubts it's that Dan overstepped himself, given Dan's social skill, given that Ange calms herself down.

"I'm glad you're fine. Have some mulberries. They're not going to keep more than a day." He holds the basket out, leaving an opening for Dan to add in.

"I'm broke. I don't got enough to give to charity," Dan says with a flippant laugh. "No apologies necessary, Ange. That ain't even been the most uncharitable thing said to me this week, much less in my life."

He pops up and takes a mulberry, acting like he's just grabbing one to eat but hoping it also demonstrates to Ange that they're all safe.

"You didn't walk in on nothing, honey. I was just getting to introducing myself to Ange, since the last circumstances of our acquaintance were so dire. Telling her about our whole operation around the camp, the two of us."

Bunny's assessment is depressingly accurate. 'Severely lacking in love and support' is pretty much dead-on, and for so many reasons. 'She trusted no one and didn't even try. She loved no one and didn't even try' is how she was described once. The sort of life that leads to that sort of words being used to describe you is pretty rough.

"Knight in training here was throwing one revelation after another" she says, taking just a couple mulberries. Maybe she should have seen coming that this one was the Easter Bunny. Wasn't his legend all about giving something to kids? Well, old habits must die hard, she supposes. "Thank you" she adds.

"You two must have your hands full. There's too many young ones here. It's going to be exhausting for only two to look out for all of them...for all of us, I guess."

Especially if others are like her and throw their kindness in their face. True, she apologized for it almost right away, but she's pretty sure such moments are never forgotten. She would hardly blame them if they chose to leave her alone after this day.

That they may just ignore her from there on bothers her a bit more than she thought it would. Probably has to do with how earnest they are turning out to be, she supposes.

"It's only exhausting because I have to sleep at all now," Bunny says, rolling his eyes. "Back home I don't get tired."

Also back home he looks after a world, but back home he doesn't sleep, he runs fast enough to cover the world in a day, he has access to so much more magic, on and on - all these things that would just be boastful to complain about now.

"I'd say there's too many young ones," he agrees. "I don't trust this Green's judgement much, dragging kids in to do its work for it when it could grab a few more adult professionals."

He's said as much to Dan before, but he wonders how Ange will feel about that, if he world is safer at all than this one, or if the stress she's already said she's used to is the same variety of stress as being a Chosen One.

"I like to keep busy." Dan perches on a rock ridge and digs through his pockets for a cloth bag of shelled walnuts, which he offers to the other two. "What's that saying, there ain't nothing harder on a man than a stretch of idle days?"

His tone gets more somber, though. He's certain that Ange can see through the lighter tone he's taken, see the way he's sizing up her response and trying to make sense of it.

"You got no reason to take us at our word, so don't think we're insulted that you don't." Ange is far from the most standoffish youngster they've run across. Dan and Bunny cut their teeth as a team on trying to support homeless meth users at a shelter, and even aside from that, Ange has got nothing on Eliora. That memory makes Dan's chest tighten. "But even if it ain't us, we think you should have at least someone else that has your back here. And correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like you been pretty alone."

Now Dan is giving stuff around too. Her immediate thought is that these two really belong together. Someday she has to ask how they ended up together, she decides while taking walnuts. That's bound to be a story.

"Nothing surprising about the Green bringing random people even if they're too young for this sort of thing. It wouldn't be the first time anybody like them would drag people around for their amusement. Even if there's no trick to the whole saving the world thing I don't doubt it's for their own benefit and nothing else" she says, sounding a little too certain for this to be just her usual negative opinions.

Ange doesn't have the slightest idea what sort of beings the Green are, but she's pretty sure she and everybody else in this camp are just pieces on their gameboard. Ange has plenty of experience being the plaything of magical beings, manipulated and used for their plans. The Green are one more for the list.

Nothing she can do about it -- all she can do is fulfill the so-called worldsaving plan and then return to doing what truly matters to her.

"Shadowing people around doesn't count as social interaction, does it? Cammie woke me up at a ridiculous hour to play games, and Need took the time to tell me a story about people she knows. I'd hardly say they're my friends, though. So yes, I have been keeping to myself..."

Her tone trails off, thinking. Hm. Dan isn't wrong. Having someone to rely on would be good, if only because this is a world unlike hers, and it likely is full of situations and problems she has never faced before. For the sake of trying to not be overwhelmed by the situation, perhaps she should...at least be sure there's someone to count on if anything gets too hard to handle by herself. The way to do that is to at least accept their attempts to reach out.

So she'd pretty much be using these two just for the sake of her survival if things go pear-shaped. Gross, Ange thinks, immediately feeling guilty for such a thought, hurrying to frame it differently: cooperating and accepting their concern would make Dan and Bunny have some peace of mind. She doesn't have to open up or anything, she just has to accept their good intentions. It's...mutual benefit. This pair keep an eye on her and see she's fine, making their plans of watching over the young ones a bit easier; she gains people to talk with for the inevitable time something goes horribly wrong around here. Yes, mutual benefit, indeed.

Even though her rationalization didn't help her feel less guilty about the thought she's callously using them one way or another, she says:

"...not for lack of others trying to get me involved, I suppose." Ange looks at Bunny. "That invitation, is it still open after we leave this place?"

No way Bunny would offer her to come along to their sunset fires if Dan wasn't okay with that sort of thing. If it's still an option once they have moved somewhere else other than this market, she should take it, Ange decides.

Edited 2021-12-23 20:47 (UTC)

"You sound like you have experience," Bunny says, with concerned sympathy. "Being used for someone else's gain." He's not glad to hear it, but it does confirm things he'd previously assumed.

Where Ange asks thinking of the next campsite, Bunny's mind jumps farther ahead to after they leave this entire world, to the world that Ange has to go back to which has predisposed her to be so closed off and certain that she'll be used for someone else's gain, and that it's pointless to argue against that. Yes, the invitation to be concerned for, aided, cared for does extend past this place, yes he's got Ange's world on his radar, same as Dan's, same as Stacia and Elle and Kevin's, same as every other kid that needs help he hasn't known to try and give until now.

"Wouldn't have invited you if you weren't welcome anytime," he says, dialing it back to that next campsite she means. "How else am I gonna make sure you're eating enough?"

"He loves to feed people. It's his love language." Dan raises an eyebrow and laughs, like acts of service isn't his preferred love language too. He loves to provide and care for others, to soften the edges of a world that can so easily be too sharp and jagged.

It's a calling, and in another life that calling may have led him to medicine or childcare or running a halfway house or tending a garden, but in this life, it's left him roaming the world looking for people in need of someone stubbornly in their corner. He doesn't know if Ange is one of those people, but he suspects she could be, and if the possibility is there he wants to leave her options open.

"We'd appreciate the company whenever you want to give it, Ange. This campsite, the next one, whenever."

Like Bunny, Dan's thinking of what this means for when their adventure as a whole here ends, if it ever does - that thought scares Dan more than it does Bunny. Bunny's been operating under a global and immortal context for a long time, where one can't get as attached to individuals because all individuals will eventually, at best, grow and die and leave; Dan's not as braced for the idea of just never seeing some of these people again, now that he's come to care for them. Once attached, Dan doesn't know how to weather letting go.

So he's scared of what happens when this journey ends.

"Good to know. I guess you two will be seeing me often, then"

Not a word of thanks because she's trying to keep it a bit impersonal, as if they had agreed to meet to talk about very important matters instead of, well, having a meal and generally having a calm moment.

Bunny's comment about she having experience coaxes a shrug, a little bit tense. "You could say that. It's a long story, and I don't feel like reenacting One Thousand and One Nights with you guys" she says, and adds: "No offense. There are sore topics involved"

Very sore topics. On the mundane side of everything, after almost twelve years of being treated like trash by everyone, now people are after her and using her because of her inherited fortune. On the magic side of everything, witches dangle the truths she obsessively wants and they use it to manipulate her for their own amusement.

Definitely the sort of thing she keeps close to the vest -- not for concern they won't believe her, or because they will treat her with pity, but because it's a lot of open wounds.

Ange extends a bag towards them.

"Have this as my thanks for today. You're going to need one, won't you?"

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Not a Moment Alone When You're Part of This Group

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