ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭* Angel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brokencode) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
victory_road2017-03-03 01:03 pm
brokencode) wrote in victory_road2017-03-03 01:03 pm
Video(ish)-- Ecruteak Inn, Birthday Bash!
[The moment the video clicked on, Angel let out a sigh. A small hand lifted, pinching the bridge of her nose, before lowering once more, settling onto the back of a new face-- a Glameow. Finally, she offered the device a thin smile.]
I had a plan to offer a sentimental message about growing older, but it seems I was preempted. [She laughed, but it came without humor.] What you heard was correct, today is my birthday.
[A pair of feelers announced the approach of 'Dora, the sylveon, who wrapped his appendages around her in a gesture of comfort.]
It also would appear that I've been here six months now. It's a lot to consider -- celebrating my first birthday on my own, six months after I broke free from my father. To be honest, it's the first time I've recognized it in almost a decade.
It's... a big deal.
[One final sigh, before a smile broke through. It was perhaps a little sad, but still genuine.]
My door will be open today, for anyone who might want to stop by. You can meet my new friend, Princess Smoosherella. [The cat mewled a greeting.] We can all get ice cream together!
[[Right here's the catch-all I've been promising! Feel free to put anything you need in here, in-person or otherwise! Angel's still at the Ecruteak in for a few days longer.]]
I had a plan to offer a sentimental message about growing older, but it seems I was preempted. [She laughed, but it came without humor.] What you heard was correct, today is my birthday.
[A pair of feelers announced the approach of 'Dora, the sylveon, who wrapped his appendages around her in a gesture of comfort.]
It also would appear that I've been here six months now. It's a lot to consider -- celebrating my first birthday on my own, six months after I broke free from my father. To be honest, it's the first time I've recognized it in almost a decade.
It's... a big deal.
[One final sigh, before a smile broke through. It was perhaps a little sad, but still genuine.]
My door will be open today, for anyone who might want to stop by. You can meet my new friend, Princess Smoosherella. [The cat mewled a greeting.] We can all get ice cream together!
[[Right here's the catch-all I've been promising! Feel free to put anything you need in here, in-person or otherwise! Angel's still at the Ecruteak in for a few days longer.]]
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[It wasn't as if Angel could judge. If asked at the beginning of her journey, she would have shaken the idea off. Family had never been a positive concept for the siren, either. Why associate obviously good people like Athena and Janey with something related to Jack.]
[But by now she'd realized that this little group nestled in the Inn was family by action, whereas Jack bore the title only by blood. It was the sort of thing that she'd gladly attribute to them.]
I don't know about specifics, what role we all might play with one another, but I do know that there is no one else that I trust more. And you all have been taking such good care of both myself and everyone else in this group. If not family, then what are we?
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[Athena's voice doesn't shake at that, but the hard edges seem to just fall away, giving Angel a hint as to just how... kind of vulnerable Athena feels right now. Because Angel is right, of course. Athena's been on all sorts of teams, worked with plenty of Vault Hunters. Those groups were just that. Groups. They looked out for each other and protected each other, but at the end of that day, it was just work. This... this hasn't been work in a long time.]
Didn't think I'd get a second chance at that sort of thing.
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[This time though, the siren didn't hesitate. She laid a hand against Athena's own, and met her gaze with a soft sort of smile.]
Neither did I. But I am glad I met you, and I am overjoyed that I did get a second chance in the end. You and Janey have been exceptionally kind to me.
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[There it is again. "I'm glad I met you". Not something Athena hears often, even in her new life. It makes something inside of her twist, but... not in a bad way.]
Janey has a big weakness to kids. I think she would've attached herself to you no problem, even if I wasn't here. [... And as for Athena herself...] And I... know what it's like, to have an unfortunate childhood. The idea of coming face-to-face with something like that was... unpleasant. I had to put a stop to it.
[Translation: I didn't want someone else to turn into the broken mess that I am so I did my best to save you from that.]
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[She squeezed the woman's hand at the mention of it, before shifting her hand away. Instead, she looked to her own Pokemon, hoping to tend to them. With her speech done, she found herself embarrassed, and eager to look anywhere else than the woman.]
I appreciate what you did and what you continue to do. I shudder to think of where I could be if not for you two. For all of you.
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As someone who's constantly plagued by what ifs of the past... [gee, that's sure one hell of an understatement] If those thoughts haven't already consumed you, try your best not to dwell on them. It's much easier said than done, I know, but...
[She just.. shakes her head.]
Some might say it's good to think of what might have been. So you can better appreciate what you have now, or some crap like that. [She scoffs.] That's bullshit. All that dwelling on the past and things that could have happened, is a lifetime of nightmares, and an inability to move on when you finally have the opportunity to.
[Yeah, it's... obvious that she's still speaking from personal experience. She knows how self-destructive trapping herself in the past is, but she can't help it. Not after being consumed like that for so long. But Angel can still avoid getting stuck like that.]
no subject
[It even half of what she had gathered was true, then Angel couldn't blame her for any of her hesitance when it came to family.]
Atlas, Hyperion... The name doesn't really matter, does it? Deep down, they're all the same things to people like us.
[A brief tremor rocked Angel's shoulders, a shudder overwhelming her thin frame. Who knew how many years separated the two of them, but no matter the years, no matter the perpetrator, deep down they were all the same.]
I'm sorry for what it took from you. [Whatever it truly was.] I am glad you were able to leave that place, that life. I'm glad that you and Janey can move on and be happy. At least, I hope you're moving on.
Don't let it hold you back either.
no subject
[Growing up with Atlas, and working briefly with Jack and Hyperion on the Elpis mission... the presentation might be a bit varied, but Athena still can't see much of a difference between them on the inside.]
I don't think I have any other choice in that matter. [She huffs; it was supposed to be a laugh, but there's no real humor behind it.] I've killed so many Atlas employees that there's only one left alive on Pandora, so I can't continue what I've wanted to do for the past several years even if I wanted to.
[And she... spared that one. Fiona talked her down, made her come face to face with the fact that she isn't even doing it for Jess anymore. She'd been doing it for herself, to try and ease her own pain. And now she knows that she has other ways to do that, other people to help her from falling into that darkness again.
... So why doesn't she sound entirely convinced that she can still move on?]
no subject
[Not that yellow was any better.]
But you don't want to, right? I think that's what matters, more than anything. [She clenched the woman's hand tighter, hoping that the gesture might bring some comfort to them both.] It... isn't as if we have many options though, is it? For better or worse.
[Like Athena, Angel's own laugh was just as humorless. Their lives, the decisions they might have made in them, they'd been forcefully ripped from their hands. At least in the siren's case, she could say it was for the better. But she didn't want to pin that sentiment on Athena was well.]
no subject
... I don't know.
[Part of her says she wants to. To make sure Atlas doesn't dare even think of trying to take root on Pandora again. One less corrupt corporation, one less danger to worry about. But she knows the toll her obsession with ending Atlas takes on the people around her, and she really wants to make an effort to be better for Janey...]
It's... difficult, avoiding the one thing I excel at. Even now, I can't say I've succeeded in doing that.
[Hence the lying to Janey. Taking bounties even though she could've found work elsewhere. Doing things she knows will get her in trouble...]
... Maybe not on Pandora, we don't. But this planet isn't Pandora.
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I think you excel at protecting people, too. And you've succeeded in that. I'm here, aren't I? Jack has yet to whisk me away in the night. I have no doubts that that's thanks to you.
[There was a reason Jack hadn't wanted the gladiator around. Maybe he didn't like her, or maybe he was actually afraid of her. It didn't matter the reason, for six months, Angel had been kept safe from any outsiders who might have done her harm.]
That's what I mean. We don't have any option to continue with our old lives, because this is a new place. I can't be a tool anymore, and you can't continue your old business. We are moving on from the people we used to be.
no subject
Running as a bodyguard is good work, yes. It was something Janey and I could compromise on, as it wasn't as high-risk as bounty hunting.... most of the time. Like the time Lilith's Vault Hunters ambushed me and dragged me off to Sanctuary. Where I was nearly executed.
[She's mostly gotten over it, because if there's anyone that can understand wanting to take down everyone ever associated with your enemy, it's Athena... but yeah, she's still a little salty about it!]
But finding a job is different from finding an entirely new purpose for what you do. I... don't know how to do that.
[It's only in the past couple of years that her life has ever really been hers to direct. First it was Atlas, then it was her own desire for revenge directing her, then it was the eternal hunt for work so that she could just survive...
They've been doing well just living here, these past few months, but there's still no purpose to it all.]
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You know that I think of you as more than a bodyguard, right? [A pause, then a tight furrowing of the brow.] Wait, did you say Lilith?
[Angel had always been... ambivalent about the fiery siren, who had all but basked in the attention of assumed godhood. She thought the woman arrogant, above the chain of command. She'd proven it time and time again, no less. Her appearance could have doomed the mission to the Control Core.]
[Imagine if Jack had gotten a hold of her.]
I'd think that family is purpose. If nothing more, Janey and making her happy is important, right? Keeping them safe, doing right by them, that has to mean something.
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[There's no real animosity in her voice, nah. Honestly, even putting aside how she completely understands that, it... kind of helped her?? If she hadn't been captured, Fiona wouldn't have had to confront Janey, she wouldn't have covered for her, and she and Janey might not have had their big discussion. So... thanks, Lilith???]
... I didn't mean to imply that was all I thought this was. ["Our girl" echoes in her head again...] I... haven't considered this just a job for a long time now.
[She mulls those words over in her head for a moment. She always thought this... family situation was supposed to be a sort of... side? Of course she'll protect Janey (and Angel, and Tim) with her life, but that's not... something she has to work for? In the sense of actually working, or literally fighting.
... Maybe that's one of the things that got her into trouble, now that she thinks about it. Well, shit.]
I could... try and see if staying close to home works out, I suppose.
[She took crappy "common" jobs anywhere she could before she came here. Maybe, once they're brought back to Pandora, she can try and narrow her searches down to Hollow Point for a while.