The Park, Late Sunday Morning

[soniaroadsqueen]

Crazy Apple was sitting on a park bench, her legs folded beneath her in silence. Her breathing started off slow and steady, almost like she was meditating or something.

The thing about Crazy Apple was that she knew she wasn't really some sort of other personality of Ringo's. Not in the way people usually meant when they talked about that sort of thing. It wasn't the same sort of thing as what Agito and Akito had back home. Neither of them really remembered much of what the other had done, leaving some odd fuzzy areas in both of their memories. But Crazy Apple knew everything Ringo had done, and Ringo, underneath it all, could see and hear what Crazy Apple did.

Crazy Apple was who Ringo became when she felt overwhelmed and couldn't deal with the things she was seeing or doing, but she kept seeing and doing whatever it was, which meant she'd either have to deal with it eventually or keep being Crazy Apple.

Still, Crazy Apple was independent enough to make decisions, and while she wasn't particularly interested in what Ringo ultimately decided to do, she still had little ways to influence that sort of thing. Like what she was doing now: sitting still, clearing her mind of distractions, leaving herself with few ways to avoid mulling over the thoughts swirling in her head.

Or maybe you can start dealing with your own shit like the rest of us do, Ringo, Dante had said. Fake split personality bullshit ain't cute.

Her breathing slowly sped up, becoming a little more ragged, as unformed thoughts of outrage and betrayal and an undercurrent of shame and worry slowly swirled beneath the surface of Crazy Apple's active thoughts. Ringo's emotions. The ones she didn't want to deal with. They weren't enough to push Crazy Apple aside. Not enough to pull Ringo to the surface where she could curl up and cry herself out from too many competing feelings. So Crazy Apple continued to sit there, trying to keep her breathing under control and let those emotions keep swirling.

Wondering if anything would come of it.

[ooc: Open.]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"Because this isn't 'make Ringo feel good about herself happy hour,'" Kathy said. "I'm talking to you, so I'm talking about you. She wants me to clap my hands and say 'I do believe in fairies!' she can comes out here and ask me her damn self."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Crazy Apple cocked her head slightly, eyes going distant for a moment.

"Don't think that's all that likely in the next little bit."

"As for what she wants--" Crazy Apple paused, then shrugged again. "I guess you're right. She can tell you herself whenever she's done with me."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Well great for her," Kathy snarled. "I'll be waiting. And remind her that I can't come into the dorms without an express goddamn invitation." Perils of being a vampire graduate. "So if she spends all her time locked in her room like a fucking fairy tale princess just waiting me to bounce to her rescue, she's going to be waiting a long fucking time. She needs to be proactive about what she wants, not passive-aggressively sigh and hope somebody notices."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Crazy Apple snorted, as if something Kathy said amused her.

"Being proactive about what you want implies the inverse, right?" If you're not proactive about it, you must not want it that much.

She shrugged. "Sure, though. I'll pass it on." Not that she really needed to. Ringo heard what she heard.

"Anything else you want her to know?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Is Ringo this bad at logic, too, or is this a special trait all your own?" Kathy asked, shaking her damn head. "All ducks are birds but not all birds are ducks. C'mon, just because something works in one direction doesn't mean it works in both. There are a hundred ways to want things or need them. I'm telling you the best way for her to get those things. "

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Got it," Crazy Apple nodded. "So any time Ringo is hurt or sad or lonely, she just has to remember that it's her fault for not doing enough to get what she wants."

Which was not exactly what Kathy had said there.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy borrowed one of Cassandra's disgusted noises. "You know what? Sure. Because either you're stupid enough to believe that and there's no point in talking to you, or you're deliberately trying to make everything worse, so there's no point in talking to you. But I know Ringo's there and when she's tired of your bullshit ways of making her feel worse so you can stick around, she'll remember she's strong and push you out."

And then Kathy spun on her heel and started walking away. Dammit, Crazy Apple, this was a pity party for one.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Crazy Apple just watched her go, no expression on her face.

It was actually pretty interesting. She'd never seen someone use the Thorn Road emotionally before. Wounding herself to keep herself shielded from anyone else from landing a hit. After all, who cared what someone said to you as long as you said worse things yourself?

She shrugged.

There was rarely any need to pursue an attack against someone who was so busy self-destructing. So Crazy Apple just let her shoulders relaxed and sought back, trying to find the trail her thoughts had been on when Kathy had first shown up.