[After that public fight with Jack, it seems like an opportune time to contact Angel again. But Manaka doesn't want to lead with that subject; it would make it seem too much like Jack had sent her, whether or not that's true.
So, rather than a more elaborate message, Angel receives a single still photo of another one of Manaka's cuter Pokémon. In Anko's little arms, she holds a piece of paper, a simple message written across it in Manaka's meticulous, bubbly handwriting.]
[The gesture was enough to cause every bit of emotion that had stricken her earlier to rise up to the surface. Before Angel had processed it, tears spilled from her eyes, staining her cheeks and clothes before she could even so much as lift a hand to attempt to wipe them away.]
[With the outpouring of emotion, there also came a sense of relief, as well. Manaka was listening. She was coming around, at least enough to, at least as far as Angel saw it, console her in her grief.]
[She was making progress, even if it didn't seem like it.]
[It was considerably difficult for Angel to type out the message she wanted to send Manaka. With each letter came more tears and the occasional sob. Eventually though, she managed a short message, one that she could only hope would be enough to summarize her gratitude. ]
Thank you, Manaka. This means more than you could know.
[Manaka had planned to skirt the issue a while longer, but Angel's reply makes it clear how her confrontation with Jack had affected her. There shouldn't be any harm in broaching the subject, then.]
I saw what happened. How are you feeling? Jack took what you said pretty hard, so I thought I should check on you too, even if I can't be there.
[Angel cleared her throat before clicking her device on once to respond. While she doubted Manaka expected Angel to be anything but emotional, she didn't want her state to be the focal point of their talk.]
It isn't something that hasn't happened before. [They'd been in worse fights, and it easy to move past things when Jack wasn't around to physically lord it over her.] I'll be fine, I promise.
[Admittedly, the fact that Manaka felt the need to tell her about Jack bothered Angel in the slightest, especially if she had witnessed the fight they'd just had, but she didn't mention it. Helios wasn't built in a day, after all. The girl on the other end of the line would come around soon enough.]
That's good of you. [Regardless of how she felt about Jack, she had to admit that she admired Manaka. To be so objective, to see the good in everything. It was the kind of person Angel wished she was.]
You're a good person, Manaka. I am happy to have met you.
Mm, I don't think it's very "good." It just makes sense, to want an ending that's good for the people you like.
But I feel that way, too, about a lot of the people I've met here. This place is really wonderful, isn't it? There are so many things here, and people, that I never would have been able to imagine before. So, I guess that's why... This world really feels like a fairytale land, with a happy ending waiting right around the corner.
[Once again, the longer she speaks to Angel, the more genuine the sentiment behind her words becomes—even if she omits a detail here and there.]
I've known many people who don't want good endings for those around them. Only for themselves. [Jack being one of them, but she didn't want to bring that up. So far, they were being amicable with one another, and Angel wasn't about the put that in danger.]
It is wonderful. [Heaven, Angel had once thought, back when she believed as much.] Of all the places I could have wound up after... what happened, I am glad it was here.
There's a difference between simply being near someone and loving them, or what we want and what reality will allow.
[It's probably for the best. After all, whatever Jack's faults, Manaka believes him when he says that he had done the best he could with Angel's circumstances. Her separation hurts him so much, so clearly he cares about her, and what he had told her of the alternatives rings true to her ears.]
Mm! Me, too. Did you know I never had many friends? I was different from other people, so not many could relate to me. But here, there are lots of interesting people, and some of them are even the same as me!
I suppose you're right. [Angel had her doubts, but still she kept quiet. With everything that had happened, Angel wasn't in the mood for another squabble today.]
I didn't either. [For both similar and vastly different reasons.] I'm glad you can meet those people now though. It's never too late to make friends, I've found.
[Despite everything, the differences in their mentalities and the way she cared for Jack, Angel couldn't help but hope that Manaka considered her to be a friend.]
Jack told me about you. About what you could do. We were both able to do things other people couldn't, even though we never asked for such a gift.
[Manaka's usual bubbliness had already faded from her voice, replaced by a gentler tone, but now, she speaks so quietly that it might be difficult to hear her over the 'Gear. It makes her words sound oddly intimate — but then, she is describing something very personal.]
It set us apart from other people. It scared them. I'm sure... Had I ever made a mistake, short-sighted, small-minded people would have wanted to cut me open for study, and store what was left of me in formaldehyde.
[Angel closed her eyes. This... was an unexpected turn. She'd always thought herself justified in her actions -- Maya had been in a similar situation after all, and she'd fought her way out. But if that wasn't the right idea, then what?]
[Suffering?]
If you were in my shoes, what would you do? And what did you do, when you had no one...?
Oh! I don't think you were wrong to do what you had to, or anything like that. [When she answers, she sounds remarkably casual.] But still, I sympathize with the position Jack was in. I doubt my father could have protected me, if I had made myself a threat.
[Whether or not she would need him to... That's another story, and one that isn't relevant to this conversation.]
My father wanted something from me, too. It was silly and pointless, though, so I chose my own goal instead.
Oh. [Her lips twisted into a grimace. More unsavory parallels, she noted. She tasted an apology on her tongue, but didn't yet utter it aloud. She doubted Manaka would take well to her pity.]
Why can't fathers just let their children be children?
[Manaka giggles, as though Angel had said something cute.]
That's one way we're different. But I guess things were different for you, weren't they?
I was never a child. I'm the daughter of magi, born to a bloodline of magic. From my first breath, I was a tool, meant to carry on the ambitions and lineage of my parents.
[There isn't a drop of resentment behind her words. She relates the information as what it is: a simple fact.]
[Angel frowned, unsure if she was supposed to be offended or not.]
Never a child? What do you mean? [For the life of her, she couldn't figure out if it was meant to be a literal or metaphorical statement. If it were the former, she had a handful of questions for the girl.]
It's... you don't ever long for what you could have had? Ever?
Those experiences only have the importance that you give them.
[And for Manaka, that's very little.
When Angel asks that question, though, she lets that thread of conversation drop in favor of pursuing the new one. Isn't that the whole point of this exercise, after all?]
Do you really want to leave things they way they are now? If this world has given you two a second chance, I think you should take it!
[Angel swallowed. On the one hand, she ached for a normal childhood, complete with a normal father on top of it all. But on the other, perhaps it really was her own doing. Had she ever really needed such things?]
[Besides, wrong as she might have been about Jack, Manaka didn't seem the type of person to lead her astray. And if they had been in similar situations, then the girl had to know what she was talking about.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brokencode) wrote2016-08-22 05:17 am
[photo]
So, rather than a more elaborate message, Angel receives a single still photo of another one of Manaka's cuter Pokémon. In Anko's little arms, she holds a piece of paper, a simple message written across it in Manaka's meticulous, bubbly handwriting.]
Hello Angel ♡
[Text]
[With the outpouring of emotion, there also came a sense of relief, as well. Manaka was listening. She was coming around, at least enough to, at least as far as Angel saw it, console her in her grief.]
[She was making progress, even if it didn't seem like it.]
[It was considerably difficult for Angel to type out the message she wanted to send Manaka. With each letter came more tears and the occasional sob. Eventually though, she managed a short message, one that she could only hope would be enough to summarize her gratitude. ]
Thank you, Manaka. This means more than you could know.[voice]
I saw what happened. How are you feeling? Jack took what you said pretty hard, so I thought I should check on you too, even if I can't be there.
no subject
It isn't something that hasn't happened before. [They'd been in worse fights, and it easy to move past things when Jack wasn't around to physically lord it over her.] I'll be fine, I promise.
[Admittedly, the fact that Manaka felt the need to tell her about Jack bothered Angel in the slightest, especially if she had witnessed the fight they'd just had, but she didn't mention it. Helios wasn't built in a day, after all. The girl on the other end of the line would come around soon enough.]
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...Oh, but if you don't want to talk to me about it, that's fine! I just wish everyone could be happy, that's all.
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You're a good person, Manaka. I am happy to have met you.
no subject
But I feel that way, too, about a lot of the people I've met here. This place is really wonderful, isn't it? There are so many things here, and people, that I never would have been able to imagine before. So, I guess that's why... This world really feels like a fairytale land, with a happy ending waiting right around the corner.
[Once again, the longer she speaks to Angel, the more genuine the sentiment behind her words becomes—even if she omits a detail here and there.]
no subject
It is wonderful. [Heaven, Angel had once thought, back when she believed as much.] Of all the places I could have wound up after... what happened, I am glad it was here.
no subject
[It's probably for the best. After all, whatever Jack's faults, Manaka believes him when he says that he had done the best he could with Angel's circumstances. Her separation hurts him so much, so clearly he cares about her, and what he had told her of the alternatives rings true to her ears.]
Mm! Me, too. Did you know I never had many friends? I was different from other people, so not many could relate to me. But here, there are lots of interesting people, and some of them are even the same as me!
no subject
I didn't either. [For both similar and vastly different reasons.] I'm glad you can meet those people now though. It's never too late to make friends, I've found.
[Despite everything, the differences in their mentalities and the way she cared for Jack, Angel couldn't help but hope that Manaka considered her to be a friend.]
no subject
I think you're like me too, you know.
[Even with all their differences, Manaka knows that they're similar. If things were just a little bit different, for either of them—]
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How do you figure?
no subject
[Manaka's usual bubbliness had already faded from her voice, replaced by a gentler tone, but now, she speaks so quietly that it might be difficult to hear her over the 'Gear. It makes her words sound oddly intimate — but then, she is describing something very personal.]
It set us apart from other people. It scared them. I'm sure... Had I ever made a mistake, short-sighted, small-minded people would have wanted to cut me open for study, and store what was left of me in formaldehyde.
no subject
[Suffering?]
If you were in my shoes, what would you do? And what did you do, when you had no one...?
no subject
[Whether or not she would need him to... That's another story, and one that isn't relevant to this conversation.]
My father wanted something from me, too. It was silly and pointless, though, so I chose my own goal instead.
no subject
Why can't fathers just let their children be children?
no subject
[Manaka giggles, as though Angel had said something cute.]
That's one way we're different. But I guess things were different for you, weren't they?
I was never a child. I'm the daughter of magi, born to a bloodline of magic. From my first breath, I was a tool, meant to carry on the ambitions and lineage of my parents.
[There isn't a drop of resentment behind her words. She relates the information as what it is: a simple fact.]
no subject
Never a child? What do you mean? [For the life of her, she couldn't figure out if it was meant to be a literal or metaphorical statement. If it were the former, she had a handful of questions for the girl.]
It's... you don't ever long for what you could have had? Ever?
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Why? Arguing against the truth of the world won't change it.
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[Angel paused, brows drawing tightly together as she tapered off.]
Let me ask this again, then. What do you believe I should do about Jack?
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[And for Manaka, that's very little.
When Angel asks that question, though, she lets that thread of conversation drop in favor of pursuing the new one. Isn't that the whole point of this exercise, after all?]
Do you really want to leave things they way they are now? If this world has given you two a second chance, I think you should take it!
no subject
[Besides, wrong as she might have been about Jack, Manaka didn't seem the type of person to lead her astray. And if they had been in similar situations, then the girl had to know what she was talking about.]
[On all fronts.]
I'll... I'll try talking to him, then.
Thank you, Manaka.