voice;

[entreats]

So, can the witch in charge come out yet?

[ It's a simple statement, and for a moment it does sound like the message might just cut off there. Just that one flat statement, seemingly devoid of any emotion aside from a vague hint of annoyance.

But then there's a sound that's faintly like a step, then a grumble, and then the message continues anyway. Still mostly deadpan, but a little more annoyed this time. ]

Sure, I get it. The whole crime and punishment theming? Very cute. Maybe start using that talent to build an amusement park or something more productive next time, if this sort of thing is your hobby. Either way, it's really not done to let yourself be heard on the way in, and then just act like you're not there.

[ A slight pause-- and then a sigh. ]

Just tell me someone can point me to the witch. I really don't have time to be beating around the bush.

Comments

[individualized]

[Echo can respond very quickly this time. At least Ange hasn't shot back with even more complicated questions.]

There are significant improvements in many of the aspects here, yes.

[She had known more people there when she arrived than she did here, though. There was no Oz to just drag her into living arrangements, for one.]

No. My body seems to have returned to normal. ...Mostly.

[Echo had gotten used to having a body all to herself, but she couldn't forget that this was still unusual for her.]

[entreats]

.. how strange.

[ It's almost like the girl is muttering it to herself more than she's necessarily saying it directly to Echo. Because she's really thinking about this. It's easy to just file away the fact another world like this one exists out there away as fact, especially when she can't really investigate it more herself - hoping that the other Ange there is bothering to take care of that.

But this feels closer to a fact that's actually relevant to this place, and her investigation into it so far. Even if she doesn't have much to go off just yet, only just having shown up. ]

I wonder if that's because that other place's influence on you has disappeared now you're gone from there, or if it's instead this place forcing you back to normal. [ The latter would be more relevant to finding something out about this place, after all.

Maybe she should ask more people if their bodies have changed in some way, she thinks. Even if that requires.. ugh, talking to people.. ]

[individualized]

[Oh good job, now you've got her thinking about that.]

...I had not considered that. Under the circumstances of my arrival there, I would surmise it is the latter, but I could not say that for certain.

[Echo takes a moment to think. And maybe start jotting down a note about this in her journal.]

Unless there are others who have been to additional worlds or have undergone changes in coming here, it likely cannot be answered for the time being.

[entreats]

[ Ange releases a breath. ]

Yeah. Guess it's too early to say.

[ Especially when she has so little information about this place so far. Maybe it's something she should return to when she has experienced a bit more about this place - and maybe spoken to a few more people to see if they come from worlds similar to the one Echo comes from.

.. Or just ask Echo about it later. Maybe the other will talk to others more easily than Ange herself.. And it'd sure save her some socializing.. ]

Anyway, I hope you didn't stick that other me was super annoying, because it seems like we might be stuck here together for a while.

[ And while it's not completely impossible to avoid someone here, it's still.. not too easy either, given the relative size of the village. ]

[individualized]

I did not. You were very informative.

[Apparently this is praise from her. Because funnily enough, she was basically in your shoes minus the meeting another version of her before. Echo is still figuring out the social stuff herself, though.]

[entreats]

Sounds like me, I guess.

[ Hell, Ange will take that as praise, thanks. She doesn't know how to deal with being called nice, or getting any real positive compliment.. but something on this level? She can handle that, nodding slightly as she says it. It's close enough to an objective descriptor that it doesn't really feel flustering. ]

Well, I'll continue to be informative here. [ She's planning on doing so, anyway. ] The quickest way to get out of here is to find out information and share it.

[ And Ange is intending on getting out of here as soon as she can, thanks. The last thing she needs is getting trapped in yet another witch's game.

She's too busy for that. ]

[individualized]

Ah. Yes. Th-thank you.

[She sounds a bit unsure. Echo is well aware that Ange must be just as clueless as she is about this place, but still, information sharing was clearly the best path forward.

Wanting to "get out of here" also takes her back a bit, if only because she hadn't thought about it yet. At least in Trench, she knew what she was going back to (had she not ended up here). Where would she go from here? Back to the depths of the Abyss? Echo wasn't sure if she'd even been there yet, as she'd have no memory of it. Maybe she really had left Noise all alone.]