deernet | video; un: ushiromiya (cw: mentions of house fires, arson, murder)

video; un: ushiromiya (cw: mentions of house fires, arson, murder)

So for those not in the know, our house burned down last month.

[ What a way to open a post, right. And yet Ange manages to say it with something very close to a pokerface. Those who know her well may see something at its edges though. An annoyance that starts to bleed more and more into the girl's tone as she speaks on. ]

And not in the 'dumb accident' sense. No, it's because apparently it's socially acceptable in this place to come to someone's house and set it on fire, before bringing your friends inside to start murdering its inhabitants. [ Okay, yes. At this point it's not thiny veiled annoyance anymore. This is obvious annoyance that she doesn't bother to hide. ] And before anyone asks me if I'm alright— I'm fine. Totally fine. I mean, I half-turned into a beast back there, but it's clearly cool. It's fine.

[ It's clearly not fine. The sarcasm is thick.

Though Ange seems to realise that's not why she was supposed to make this message, and manages to snap herself out of passive-aggressive-ville for just long enough to sigh and sound a little bit more neutral as she speaks on. ]

Anyway, we want to rebuild the house, but that's obviously something we need help with. None of us are exactly architects.. I think. I've learned to not question weird Remnant hobbies. [ You never know what those Remnant people are capable of. ] Not to mention we'd need help with the actual physical rebuilding itself too.

We could use help from a lot of people, so if anyone would be willing to help, that'd be great.

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[ It's better this way anyway, in Ange's opinion. Having Baltus is such a help if it means that instead of being out there, Break can be in here - sitting at the table in a style of a total gremlin, but not one Ange seems to do even as much as bat an eye at. She's very used to it by now, judging by how Break's sitting posture doesn't even make her pause.

No, she's much more worried instead about what he could potentially do with the information she's got on her mind. It's funny how Ange always ends up telling the most serious and vulnerable things in her heart to the man, and yet this is what makes her hesitate out of fear he will turn his gremlin powers back on her.

It's definitely why she frowns, anyway. ]

You need to promise me first, Break. [ Be glad she isn't making you make a blood oath over this.

Though it's tempting. ]

You have to promise me you won't join in on it. I'd never forgive you.

[ Read: probably throw the nearest object at his head. But what else is new. ]

[Ah, yes. Ange is cunningly utilizing one of Break's fatal flaws: He never makes promises he knows he can't keep, all the way up to the big ones like "I'll definitely always be there," and when he does give his word, blood oath or not that's that. He's bound to it.

His face falls into an awful pout over his sandwich. He utilizes loopholes for exactly this sort of thing all the time, and if this were a serious matter, that he is making this promise and Baltus is not would be the very first one. But in this case, that just means Baltus gets to go do something fun and Break does not, and that's not faaaaaaaaaair.]

I really don't get to go play with Miss Ruby and the pumpkins at all...?

[Before we submit, we will try the pathetic route against Ange's cold, hardened heart.]

Absolutely not.

[ Apparently there is no mercy. Not today.

There are many things Ange will give Break. After all, no matter how many things she throws at his head, she does allow him to always keep teasing her all the same.. especially when there are much more effective methods Ange could employ to shut someone up if she would wish to do so.

But there is a line in the sand here. There's a pumpkin trauma that Ange will absolutely not allow Break to become part of as well. She won't survive fall that way. ]

If I see you anywhere near a pumpkin with Ruby, I'm going to dye my hair black, change my name, and never see you again! [ The worst of all possible threats. (~~See, Break is worried about the serial killer deal pushing Ange away, when this is clearly the real threat--~~)

Even though Ange still just sounds highly dramatic over here. ]

I swear it, Break! I'll do it..! I won't hesitate!

[Okay but Break changed his hair and also his name explicitly to put himself as far from his old life as possible once and so he takes this threat very seriously and looks genuinely alarmed??

One day someone may point out that they are both massive drama queens and when they are left unsupervised all they do is rile each other up, but today is not that day. See: currently unsupervised.]

He-hey, that's a little strict, isn't it? There will be pumpkins everywhere the whole month long. I don't want to get accused of misbehaving if all I'm doing is innocently enjoying her company next to a few of them!

[ Over here we have Break, genuinely alarmed.

Over here we have Ange, saying the probably most unfitting words in the light of the other's state as she continues with: ]

It's about butts, Break!

[ That was a little louder than intended.

A fun out of context bit for anyone over in another room, especially since her volume lowers a little bit again right after, leaving that first bit truly contextless to them.. ]

It's about me being entirely unable to enjoy a nice bit of pumpkin carving without Ruby carving a butt straight onto the pumpkin! [ Is this embarrassing to say? Yes.

But that's exactly why she's so riled up as she's speaking. Riled up about butt pumpkins.

They are the enemy. ]

[Break opens his mouth. He closes it again. Then his face takes on the amiably blank look he always gets when he is scrolling through his possible dialogue options. Any and all comments about butts as a concept are rejected immediately. When it crosses her mind to combine butts with lasers you are going to be really screwed is likewise cast aside as something that will only get him whacked, which he generally doesn't mind when it's from one of his chosen favorites, but just now he wants to eat his sandwich.

At length, he settles on something acceptably diplomatic in the sense that it neither acknowledges Ruby's butt habits as hilarious, nor does it dare touch on the subject of why exactly Ange might find them to be this big a problem.]

...it's pleasant that Miss Ruby is a girl. When I was your age I lived in a barracks with other men whose profession was hitting things with swords, and the graffiti about was all willies and tallywags.

[Ruby could be drawing dicks on everything. You can do a lot of stupid things with dick art.]

This is why I truly detest men!

[ .. well.

That particular dialogue option could have gone over worse, clearly, even though Ange still doesn't seem very pleased. It's most likely the embarrassment about the topic in general that's not fading when there are no longer only butts in question here, but also dicks.

There is absolutely nothing in the entire world Ange is less interested in. ]

They're so dumb. And so obsessed with-- [ Look how the blush is spreading on her face. Does Ange not even want to say the word? ] -- with.. bits!

[ Nailed it. ]

I can't believe you were able to endure being around them. [ The men, okay.

Not the dicks. ]

[It crosses Break's mind in this moment that Ange, perhaps, does not really view his own masculinity as anything remarkable enough to consider.]

Edited 2022-09-26 19:26 (UTC)

[He does not know how he feels about this. On the one hand, this is a long-standing problem for him on account of being slender and beautiful and having elegant hands and all that, and his knee-jerk reaction is still deep annoyance.

On the other, he did spend the bulk of last month going around in a skirt because it was too hot for trousers by far and he long ago lost his last give-a-damn in that regard on account of at any given time he can probably kill everyone in the room, and at that point no one need care about whatever his "gender identity" is, as they call it in Trench. He is not so self-unaware that he cannot see how things like that probably are not helping.

Also the one person in the place who seems to care the most about being seen as manly is Johnny Lawrence, and Break has taken to skipping that man's posts when he does his daily judgement of the network over tea because looking at them always makes him want to challenge that guy to a duel on behalf of the honor of womenkind at large, so if that's the idea Ange has of "men" as a concept there is no way in the hells of any world Break wants to be lumped in with that nonsense anyway.

Hng.]

Edited (post-nap fixer upper) 2022-09-26 22:08 (UTC)

[He decides this is a problem for later when he does not have a warm sandwich to eat, and for the moment he will make the conversation worse and therefore kill it.]

Really, I think the preoccupation with bits stems more from a preoccupation with smushing one's own bits up against someone else's bits, you know? Those things really have a mind of their own sometimes, with all their ill-timed flapping up and down. And they steal blood away from your brain to do it, which is why it makes a man really stupid whenever it happens.

[ Guess who's not going to be able to take even a single bite more of her food now, in a way that has nothing to do with Break's internal crisis that completely passes by her, and everything to do with what he instead opts to say out loud.

This girl over here, of course. ]

..

[ For a moment she can't even say anything. She's just stunned into silence. Break is taking her right out here.

It's only after said moment - or several moments, really - that Ange finally manages to force out: ]

Are you trying to give me a sexual education class here?!

[ Right in front of her literal sandwich?! ]

Ack, pfft -- I'm just telling you where the dumbness comes from! Given that you clearly aren't interested, you've no reason to know --

[Wait.]

...your world has classes for that? After arithmetic you settle in for lessons about smashing bits and bobs?

[Well, now Break is equally aghast. Just what the hell kind of Catholicism do you have in your boarding schools?!]

[ Ange frowns. Despite Break being so kind as to apply some censorship to his words here. ]

It's not some weekly thing!

[ Please. Maybe she should realise that he might be imagining the wildest things, given the sort of world he's from.. but Ange sure isn't interested in the very idea of sex ed class as a whole enough to really consider this. ]

It was once. And they mostly just told us to never have sex or we'd die. [ (Look, this is the extent you get when you're taught this stuff by nuns, clearly.)

Ange waves a hand dismissively. ]

I wasn't interested in the first place, so it's not like I cared.

[Break makes a disgusted scoff. Both at the notion of stuffy people who think telling frisky young people they'll die of sex is at all helpful in any way ever, and at this entire concept in general.]

Even just one! What a mortifying notion! Having to sit in with a group of my peers for such a lecture?! Such things don't embarrass me now, but at sixteen I'd have thrown myself into the river instead.

[With a visible full-body shudder, Break stuffs half his sandwich into his mouth in one go. Finally, we work our way back around to one of the core reasons Break and Ange have bonded so: Ugh, people.]

I mean, if I could've thrown myself into any river at that age, I would have regardless of any sex talk.

[ .. perhaps not the sort of thing Ange should say so casually, but.

You know.

It is what it is. Sometimes being extremely depressed helps when it comes to some other teenage woes, because a sex ed class taught by a bunch of nuns starts feeling like a non-issue when you're much more concerned with wanting to die. ]

They didn't even start on male bits anyway, and everyone knows those are objectively the worst part of the equation. [ D-DO THEY.. ANGE..??

Maybe it's Break's talk about them just now that only further convinced her of this. ]

So it wasn't so bad. Guess that's the benefit of having absolutely no men in a ten mile vicinity.

[This new information does not actually bother Break very much, on account of he has been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt, as it were. And for similar reasons, even, with a sprinkling of "and then I went and committed a lot of murder about it and had reality fucked up on my behalf" on top. Sometimes your motivations for being done as can be are sensible ones, and even now, if anyone who had never experienced the torment of half a lifetime of long, sleepless nights buried under that level of grief decided to get all scandalized and preachy at him about life being worth living, probably they'd come away from the experience having met the impulsive business end of his canesword.

But now he and Ange are both in Trench, each romantically involved with a Rose-Branwen-Xiao-long gremlin of their very own, with reasons to be looking toward the future. It's clearly no longer an issue worth worrying about, and if it was, the answer would be to sit up with her during those long nights as others have sat up for him. Not to make a fuss.

So, more importantly:]

None at all? If that's the case, they ought to have simply been grateful that anybody who was going at it wasn't going to wind up suspiciously shipped off abroad for six months and bring scandal to the school.

[This is how rich people work and Break can't imagine that's changed much. Many problems can be solved by having your out-of-wedlock scandal babies in foreign countries, and also by being conveniently attracted to your own sex.]

...

[ Ange blinks. Slowly. Seeming to think here.

Considering how little the girl thinks about sex as a concept, she's not even catching on to the schandal baby meaning, even though it's so obvious. Even though it's right there.

No, instead the girl's dumb mind instantly jumps to: ]

Is that an euphenism for killing people where you come from?

[ The mood. ]

[...alright, perhaps there's more of a difference between the Fake 1880's and the 1980's In This Specific Japan than he thought.]

Ah, n-no, rather...for a lady to have a baby out of wedlock was a shameful thing, the sort of disgrace that could impact a whole family. So, for those who could afford it, a young lady in trouble might be sent away for most of the pregnancy so that she could have the baby in relative secrecy and return with her reputation intact.

[On the plus side, Break's tone makes it clear that he thinks this is a little stupid. You really can't live at Rainsworth without turning into some sort of feminist.]

The child would be adopted out, or some such.

[ At least she does understand that. Maybe not fully, but the whole idea of familial disgrace is something Eva has thoroughly shoved into Ange's head, even though that never really worked to make Ange care about a family's honour or anything along those lines.

But considering this is the first time she's heard of this specific scenario, she only conclusion she draws is: ]

That's so dumb.

[ Very insightful. (On the other hand, she can already tell from Break's tone that he agrees.) ]

Rich people are so dumb. [ Says the rich person, to someone who lived with rich people..

But, look, it just means that they're experts through experience. The Rainsworths seemed fine, but Ange doesn't doubt he's seen other rich dumb families during his stay. And Ange will readily admit that her own family is very, very dumb. ]

[Break shrugs, in a "what're ya gonna do, am I right" gesture. As someone who essentially came up from downstairs and underwent finishing school in his mid twenties, he agrees that a lot of rich people customs and concerns are, indeed, extremely dumb.]

That does mean if you learn to play their games, you can often manipulate them at your leisure, at least. When you need to.

[...Rainsworth Finishing School was a little cutthroat.]

[ The remark on Break's end is nothing too surprising. If anyone had that kind of tool in their toolbox and was very much willing to use it, it's Break - which Ange doesn't even see as a negative sort of thing, really.

After all, it's not like he uses it with her. Other than to tease her, but really, you can't even call that 'manipulation' in the first place. It shows that he's responsible with it.

Usually, anyway. ]

I really don't like that sneaky stuff on a personal level. [ It's why she's adding that last part. Sure, if other people use it responsibly, that's up to them. But for Ange-- ] It just doesn't suit my style. I'd much rather just be direct with people, even if it makes things more of an uphill battle. Trying to act nice on purpose is such a pain.

Mm, I don't miss it even a little. Can you imagine being one of these poor idiots trying to manage the creepy bone fellow who had a go at the ocean? To say nothing of that Maul fellow. He vexes me every time he shows up on the omni network, and I'm quite happy not being acquainted with him at all.

[Sure, Break is ready and waiting to casually manipulate Beatrice on Ange's behalf if it comes to it, but it's not like he's all alone in that. At least some of that's going to be her brother's job.]

This "retirement" business where I can ignore all that and spend my time learning to make fancy sandwiches suits me far better than I expected.

Ugh.

[ Ugh!

Look at the dramatics over here, Break. Ange doesn't even have to say that she agrees with the fact that it's much better that Break gets to spend his time now with doing stuff he actually loves - she figures that goes without saying. It's an easily shared sentiment between them.

No, it's that what he's bringing up here is reminding Ange of something, and she slides her Omni across the table over at him to show him some recorded messages. ]

That guy actually tried talking to me about this. Just listen to the crap he's saying! [ Thankfully Ange doesn't seem Deeply Angry right now or something.

No, remembering this conversation is more just making her look like Agitated Teen at the table. Especially when she's sitting here with her emotional support parental figure. Validate her, Break. She needs it. She craves it. ]

Is this going to make me want to lose my lunch?

[But he pulls the little gadget over and lets it play, just because it's Ange -- which is not to say that Break is indulging in her teenaged indignation, here.

Rather, he has seen what Maul is like due to proximity last spring when he went after that Willow girl, and if Ange has now gotten herself onto Maul's shitlist too Break wants to know about it.]

[And, to his credit, he manages to rein it in and simply look incredibly unimpressed through the first bits, wherein Maul takes it upon himself to explain to Ange how innocent bystanders work and so on. But he isn't able to make it through the whole thing before Break can't contain himself any longer, and has to pause all this to rant.]

Alright, hang on, hang on, I can't do it. Let me make certain I've got this right. This guy is claiming he is striving to become something better, but somehow he simply cannot comprehend that he is going to have to stop killing people for petty reasons in order to do it, and he thinks he ought to be excused from working any harder because his horrific backstory is a little different from everyone else's horrific backstory. And in the same breath that he claims he doesn't expect praise but rather "basic respect", he evidently wants to be told he's doing an absolutely lovely job every time he decides perhaps he won't murder anybody that day because not committing murder is simply so difficult. Am I getting the long and short of it?

[He hasn't even gotten to the bits where Maul can't be arsed to keep Reaper on any sort of leash yet.]

video; un: ushiromiya (cw: mentions of house fires, arson, murder)

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3/3 cw: boners, I suppose

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cw: suicide joke

cw: suicide joke continues, references to past suicidal ideation

cw: continued past suicidal ideation

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