un: eudaimonikos; video | backdated to early November

[eudaimonikos]

Good morning, Trench! [Michael seems pleased with himself today!] I'm here to announce the grand opening of a brand-new boutique - the ~Garb Place~!

[He claps his hands together and then spreads them, creating a little shower of golden magic sparkles. The camera swings around briefly, showing a panoramic view of a small shop interior, before returning to Michael.]

That's right! I've decided to use my incredible reality-bending abilities to make clothes! All custom orders, so literally whatever you want. Within reason, I guess, but I've still got enough power here to make that a pretty broad category. Ah, and I've also got some jewelry I made when I was bored, and some drinks and small cakes.

[The camera turns briefly - oh, it looks like there's just a little area in the boutique to Chill. Including, yes, small cakes.]

Those are...I don't know, those are free if you want to just hang out. I'm a little bored here, and I feel like having a shop does mean being in the shop for large portions of the day. That's a little weird...

Anyway - I feel like this city really needs a little brightening up. I understand if people want practical clothing, but it doesn't need to all be black. And hey, it's fun! Check this out!

[Time to view some ads! These are all just pictures of Usagi in flashy, fancy dresses. Very couture. It's not actually very much like a traditional fashion shoot - Michael really doesn't have or understand that whole male-gaze-y affair - but it does look like they had a ton of fun taking the photos! She's probably stage-fighting with swords or something in some of them. It was a whole thing.]

Now - for this month, I'm offering a special discount on full-coverage outfits. They're very in right now, apparently due to all of the potentially deadly mushroom spores floating through the air. I've even made a few hats!

[The camera turns about to show off a few fancy veiled hats, except that the veils are clearly designed to cover the entire face, and are rather more like sheer fabric than netting.]

Honestly, if you don't have anything good to wear, just let me know and we'll work something out. Sounds like it's getting more dangerous out there. Cover up, stay safe. And drop by if you want to look at clothes and eat little cakes!

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[entreats]

[ Ange immediately gets why the feed is being shifted over when she sees how awkward Michael is about speaking on. She can't blame him, either. It seems in line with the way he acted about this before.

It's why Ange's tone is a little softer too, like she's trying to be less blunt than usually. She cares enough about Michael's feelings to not want to say anything too dumb or rude here about a sensitive topic. ]

Other than that.. it's the same? [ It is a little surprising, though. That much is audible in her voice. ] I wonder if that means that anyone can enter here as long as they're a squid of some kind.. or maybe that you were especially suited for this place already, somehow.

[ Though Ange isn't sure how the latter would work. After all, Michael isn't from this world. It isn't even connected to the afterlife he comes from, so why would he especially be able to enter here without changing as much as the rest of them? ]

.. your blood did change though, right?

[eudaimonikos]

Oh - yeah, I guess it did. Didn't really have any before. Barely have it now, unless I get cut.

[At least, Darkblood seems that way to him? It's a little weird, but overall he does prefer it to squirting out ink every goddamn time he gets hurt.]

I don't know. Maybe. Doubt we'll come across any other squids to check - I mean. Any other. [He's tripping over the phrase "natural squids", which he very much does not want to call himself.] You know.

[Granted, given the multiverse, it's about as possible as anything. But Michael doesn't look at it that way; he's never met another thing exactly like himself before.]

[entreats]

[ .. there's a moment of quiet thinking. ]

If I do find someone like that. [ Honestly, Ange thinks it's pretty likely. The sheer amount of witches from other worlds she has met at this point is staggering, especially given how rare witches are even just in her own world.

Why couldn't there be more squidpeople around then? Maybe there's already some among them without them knowing about it. ]

Do you want me to tell you about it? I figure that's less awkward than bringing you up to them first. I wouldn't just want to blab about it to everyone.

[ Ange has more respect for people's sensitive spots than that. ]

[eudaimonikos]

Oh. I've never really thought about that.

[He takes a second to do so! Michael's...not so sure how much he would want to talk to them about it? Everyone here is sort of squid people now, and it's not like he's really opened up to anyone just because of that. It might be different, though, if they'd always been...]

Yeah. I guess so. It'd be good to know, and...probably better not to be surprised. [Michael likes to think he wouldn't have a weird reaction to someone's face, but why not just avoid that possibility?]

[entreats]

Yeah. Then you can prepare. Decide for yourself whether or not you actually want to talk with them about it. [ You know, depending on whether they actually seem like a decent person or not..

After all, Michael might be a demon, but he ranks pretty high on the general friendliness scale when it comes to those things. For all they know, another squid-demon person might just be a total jackass. ]

.. either way, I'm.. well aware this is probably going to sound dumb. But-- I mean what I'm about to say, okay!

[ Yes, that's an official Social Awkwardness Disclaimer. Someone who's bad with compliments trying to deal out compliments. ]

I just.. think it's really good that you're actually talking about this stuff. Even if it's just to people who already know. Even if the thought might be pretty hard to internalize, I don't think anyone here is exactly 100% normal. Especially at this point. So maybe one day you can start to feel a little less weird about the whole deal.

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael blinks at the camera in surprise. That's...not anything he would have expected to hear.]

Oh. Um. That's...thank you, I guess.

[Is that the correct reaction, he doesn't even know??? But Ange is right, too. He's gotten...better at discussing that sort of thing. Not great, but better.]

I - well, you're right, I know that. It's just...difficult. Been a long time. [That he's been like this, you know.]

[entreats]

[ It's a fine enough reaction. Ange imagined that this would be kind of awkward for him as well, anyway, so she really didn't expect much more than that.. though she's definitely letting out a huge sigh here, trying to shrug off some of her own embarrassment about being so open just now. ]

Yeah. I get that.

[ Technically. It's not like Ange has lived all that long, after all.. But this must have been an eternity of being a squid-creature for Michael. ]

If anything, I guess it's kind of impressive that you're still even trying to be a little bit more okay with it after this long. [ The older you get, the easier it most likely is to stick to some status quo, Ange figures.

Even if said status quo is just someone being awkward and cagey about what they actually are. ]

[eudaimonikos]

...not like I've told anyone without being forced.

[Like, ever in his life? Michael feels like he's maybe been forced into trying to be more okay with it. Maybe that's an ungenerous way to put it - it's just, after several people finding out, and them all being okay with it...maybe you reassess a little. So maybe it's a little more on them than him.]

[entreats]

But it's always gone well in this place, right?

[ .. Ange has to assume so, anyway. If there's anything she could say about the people present in this place, it's that most of them are extremely chill with weird stuff.. ]

Even though it was forced, I can't imagine that you've got a bad reaction from anyone.

[eudaimonikos]

It has. I still don't think I could do it on purpose, though. It's...hard.

[He's never really tried, not when he wasn't under some sort of duress, but the idea of it...something just stops up his throat.]

But yeah, yeah. People here are...pretty chill.

[entreats]

[ There's a very brief pause, but then Ange shakes her head. ]

That's okay. It's not like you.. have to. If you don't want to. [ Even if this place might force him to reveal it sometimes, Ange doesn't necessarily think that societal pressure should have the same force.

If it's something he doesn't want to talk about so openly, then that isn't.. so bad. The most important thing is letting him feel even just the tiniest bit less ashamed of it, she thinks. ]

It's just good to know that there's apparently no one I will have to go beat up.

[ There's a pause after she says it.

Almost an awkward one.

Because that sure was an attempt at a joke, but Ange is just.. very bad at those sometimes, with her deadpan voice and all. ]

[eudaimonikos]

Heh. You aren't even the first one to say something like that.

[Michael doesn't say the name. He knows that Amara meant a lot to Ange, too.]

I guess at this point, anything anyone says to me would be a little bit of a self-own.

[entreats]

[ At first Ange seems to think for a moment, but then she does realise it.

Right. Even without him mentioning a name, the venn diagram of people who are willing to beat people up for others and people Michael is close to.. there's a clear overlap in one particular spot, isn't there. ]

.. well. [ Ange seems to get a little more quiet. The lack of Amara here is still a bit of a sore spot, a big sis-shaped spot in her heart - but she doubts she needs to mention that. Michael must miss her too. ] You're right about that. But.. you know, if you ever feel hurt all the same, just let me know.

[ Ange raises one arm, flexing her.. non-existent muscles.. look, we can't all be an Amara. ]

I'm kind of obligated to take over while she's gone. .. Sisterly duty and all.

[eudaimonikos]

[Ah. Yeah, he might have figured she could guess. Michael winces a little at himself for bringing it up...but then again, it seems worse to act like Amara was never there at all.]

Is that so? Guess I'd better, then.