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[finalbows]

choose

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[ Angel Devil. ]
[  chatcube, or action. ]
[ if you're visiting the rose barn,
look for the door with the creepy bat-and-angel-wing sigil on it. Knock first! Or get zapped. ]

CODE

Comments

Night 28

[electricflock]

[ring ring ring]

[peep peep peep]

1/3

[finalbows]

_{[ INHALES ]}

2/3

[finalbows]

_{[ exhales. ]}

3/3

[finalbows]

_{[ angie lays back on his mountain of gaudy cherub pillows on his stupid fancy bed, crosses his legs and folds his hands comfortably over his chest, and answers the cubecall. ]}

Peep peep, to you too, pretty bird~. <sub>[ hm. Well, wait. this... likely needs to feel like a conversation, doesn't it? Not just...
More veils and playing. There had been... what felt like, at least... to be substantially more to those conversations than veils and playing.

God. Being more than veils and playing is so hard.

He adds, ]</sub>
That is...
...hello, Muffin. Couldn't sleep yet after all, huh?

[electricflock]

[there's a little chirping laugh over the line. muffin caught that switch and as much as he genuinely enjoys how Angel Devil poses and plays, he's happy for the consideration.

there's soft sounds of outside coming through his cube too. crickets and other nighttime insects, distant sleepy baa, and claws scratching on wood. muffin went up to roof to call so he wouldn't disturb the birds resting under his bed.]

Hi, Angel Devil. I think Pistachio did all my sleeping for me today.

[finalbows]

_{[ The background sounds of Outside are interesting. He wonders if he could guess just where Muffin is in the pasture, by those alone. He resists the urge to look out his window. If he's just at home at Daffodil... Clover would probably be in the way, anyway. ]}

Indeed. If I recall correctly... I think he even ascertained as much for me, too.
...

<sub>[ Angelcube tilts to look downward, slightly, as the real Angel Devil contemplates his gloveless hands. Completely free of blemish, but for the ghost of a blue vein lurking beneath. The distinct feeling of Muffin's hair sliding past his fingers is one memory among so very many, from today.

Delicately, he says, ]</sub>

There are... of course, other things, that I wonder if I have correctly recalled. Perhaps we can help each other?

[electricflock]

Sure. What is it?

[finalbows]

_{[ opens mouth. closes mouth. angelcube gets a big ( . . . ) over its head, that squishes down its biggest feather, a little bit, before:]}

...

"No takebacks."

...what do you think? Is that--
Still...

[electricflock]

[a rustling noise as muffin reaches to straighten that feather out]

No takebacks means no takebacks. My feelings haven't changed.

[finalbows]

<sub>[ just like that. it was really that easy, just like his uninhibited self had made it seem. it wasn't merely a charming illusion cast by the fact that they were, the two of them.... speaking in an altered circumstance.

like roots running deep under the ground... or like the persisting personality of a person who often can't even remember everything, from one day, to the next... those words were apparently, reflective of the core beneath. ]</sub>

..Okay. I think... that was my main question.

<sub>[ breathe in, breathe out. he's done all sorts of things to and with all sorts of people, before, but in Angie's mind there is a clean delineation of when I was a remorseless monster and whatever other kind of monster I am now, and here in the now, there are new things like his appreciation of kind gryphons who preen his hair and watch over him while he sleeps and who don't mind, actually, that there's a wicked imp always in the back of his brain pointing out how pretty he is crying or yelping while he bleeds freely under Angie's very own--

...when did his tail curl around one of the four posters of his bed? The wood, supporting a canopy above, had made a light creak from being pulled on too hard. ]</sub>

...Mine haven't, either.
Do you, have any...? Questions. I mean.

[electricflock]

[there's no outward sign of relief or excitement from muffin's cube, but it's not hard to hear the smile in his voice]

Would be cheating if question was "What do you think I need to know?," wouldn't it?

Have um, one though. About earlier today.

1/2 angie you are SO dramatic,

[finalbows]

<sub>[ what do you think I need to know?

"That I'm a murderer of countless? That I've destroyed people's lives, just because, sometimes after worming into their confidence? That I'm already dead, and likely still dying, besides? That maybe, one day, the dark god that claimed me might break Blossom's binding and take me back? That I plan on killing that god, if I can, and whisper such thoughts to a scrap of Teleute I've taken to dwell in the hollow of my heart?"

are these things he wants him to know, or just things Angel Devil believes might shake the foundation of the words, "No takebacks"...?</sub>

2/2

[finalbows]

Maybe a little. But I don't mind playing against a loaded deck. I'll have to think about what I think.

...Please. Ask away.

[electricflock]

["i'm a failed death machine"
"i'm married"

we've all got secrets]

When were inside and um, outside? the bubble... Were you trying to keep you from recombining or were you trying to stop me?

[finalbows]

...

Both.
He--
_{[ be honest, angie. ]}

...I wanted to play more. I thought it would be fun, if I could get rid of him... my, fear... and just have both parts of you by my side. I was pretty sure I could convince you both to stay and play a while, too.

[electricflock]

[chirps, ohh]

That would have been fun to have two of me with you. But would not have worked... Not in that scenario. Would have been too worried about the fearful side of you. Was that, um, was that also you watching you sleep with Pistachio?

[finalbows]

Quite. ...You continue to make a good sentry. I... Ah...


...knew how it would bother the scared part of me, and wanted to watch what would happen. I ended up... surprising, myself. That fearless part didn't expect that I would...

_{[ ...outright go and ask muffin for help, in that state.]}

[electricflock]

That you would what?

[fall asleep??]

[finalbows]

...Sleeping beside you like that.

_{[ the sound of him shifting around, on his bed. Icon pose relevant.]}

I don't. Often. Do that, around anyone. Especially on purpose. It's no surprise, that my fearless half didn't mind, but for the rest...

...
Even yesterday I was thinking it was... nice. Drifting off, talking and listening to music like we were in the same room, without even having to think about all that. I wouldn't mind feeling like that more often.

[electricflock]

[chirps, oh]

I liked it too. And it's okay to keep the space that you're comfortable with. I won't take it personally, I'm already happy with what we got to do.

... Can I try something, though?

[finalbows]

_{[ angelcube's been predictably less expressive, as angie chose his words carefully to confess what he had. now it gets out the big ~? eyes. ]}

Mm?

[electricflock]

Mm. One minute.

[birbcube goes on mute!



and a few minutes later, say... about as long as it would take someone to fly from Daffodil to Rose? there's a whoosh of flapping wings and a scrabble of clawed feet landing on the roof above angie's window. the cube chirps back on volume.]

[finalbows]

_{[ the first thing he does is glance at that window, then.. consciously settle himself back down, into the same pose he'd arranged himself to when he'd answered the call. this. isn't all that different to before, he tells himself, as his gaze drifts around the ceiling at the spot he best guesses Muffin's at, right this moment. ]}

...Ah, my honored guest. Welcome to the barracks of the Rose Devil Army~. Do mind the sigil. _{[ their protective ward is probably pretty close to where he landed. ]}

[electricflock]

[little scratching sounds from the ceiling echoed by a rustle of feathers over the call as muffin puts some extra distance between him and the sigil.]

Thank you! You have a nice roof.

[finalbows]

It better be. We're up there enough. I don't like letting it get untidy. You'd be amazed at what you can do with just a few strong gales and water, well applied...

_{[ plus, it's something he can cheat at doing with magic instead of doing by hand. angie always jumps at the chance of that. really cuts down on the likelihood of pointed comments about chores to ignore. ]}