seasonsmods: (Default)
Seasons Mods ([personal profile] seasonsmods) wrote in [community profile] seasonsgreetings2023-04-14 10:33 am
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Test Drive Meme #2


Test Drive Meme #2
LOGS | NETWORK | OOC | MEMES | NAVIGATION



Arrival



Part 1


You arrive in an unknown space, dressed in white clothes (player choice what kind of clothes, as long as they cover everything). Whatever was happening to you before no longer happens. It's like everything was put on a pause and you were transferred away from the situation without you realizing it happened.

The space that you find yourself in is one of these four options:

An empty landscape filled with snow and ice, almost like a blank canvas.
A field with cherry blossom trees and spring flowers.
A sunny beach near an ocean that seems never ending.
A quiet forest with falling autumn leaves.

All of the spaces seem to continue endlessly. No matter where or how far you walk it almost seems like you're not moving at all. There are no animals here - just those who happened to wake up there at the same time, in the same place. Everyone is wearing the same kind of plain, white clothes.

Despite the possible rollercoaster of emotions you might be feeling, the place somehow feels familiar. Like somehow you belong there.

And it looks like you're not alone.


Part 2


After half an hour has passed the surroundings change as everyone is teleported into a room with all the other new arrivals, no matter what space they woke up in. It's a large place with plenty of seats to sit in and beverages to enjoy. Medical attention is offered to those who need it and the doctors here are very prepared for any challenging situations.

Here, in this room, everyone gets an answer to where they are and why. A hologram of a man appears at the center of the room, waiting to be heard. He brings a message on behalf of the leaders of Ellipsa.


The Message [ Click to Expand ]

Hello, my name is Olwen. I'm one of the leaders of Ellipsa as it currently is. I'm also one of the four who summoned you here.

Our world is in trouble and we need your help. I apologize for tearing you away from your world and forcing you to come here but I hope you understand. The magic we used doesn't let us ask in advance, nor does it let us choose who we bring here.

This world is composed of four Seasonal Segments. All of them represent one of the seasons. They were the places we used to get our resources from, but now they're dangerous places no one should go into unless they have the power to fight back. All of them have their own sets of powerful monsters and natural catastrophes.

We used to have plenty of people here who could control the powers of the four Seasons. We called them Seasonal Power Holders. Unfortunately, due to a tragedy you can read about later, we lost almost all of them. Now only four of us remain and the world is in chaos. We have done our best to protect the world, but we need more power holders to do that.

That's where you come in.

All of you have been assigned to one of the seasons. Whatever space you were in just now is what season you represent. You will learn different skills based on the season and those skills are going to help you save this world.

These powers don't interfere with your own natural powers. They use a new energy that has formed inside of you. It's harmless to your health, but it's vital to your seasonal powers. Your own powers should still work, even if the dark energy outside the city might interfere with them.

Unfortunately bringing you here wasn't as simple as it sounds. We couldn't do anything about how to keep you anchored to this world other than making a simple spell that helps with it. That is, you need to touch someone else who is not from this world ideally at least once a day. It will help you stay in control of your powers and boost your magical energy. If you don't, the consequences aren't very good. But as long as you hold someone's hand or give someone a handshake, you should be fine.

That's all I have to say about the situation. The staff of the Research Center will give you more information about housing and other necessary things. I will, however, promise that you will be sent home once the situation becomes better. That's the least we can do.


The hologram can be viewed in private in a separate room later, should someone wish to look at it again. For now, the staff of the Research Center hands everyone their new smartphones with their small flower lucky charms (the flower is anything the player decides). They're also told that the building next door is where everyone can find a room assigned to them with some of their belongings there and possibly even any animal companions. Those concerned about their mount-sizes companions are welcomed to the stables downstairs to see if their friends are there. The mounts are allowed to stay there until you find a place more suitable for them.

Once you get your smartphone and necessary information, you're urged to go out and find your apartment. After that whatever you want to do is up to you.

Part 3


The building next door is where everyone can find their new apartments. As you enter, you're told by a friendly native that for the first two months you can live anywhere rent-free and five meals a day are paid for you. After that they get a monthly payment that helps with some of their living expenses, but otherwise they have to have a job to support themselves.

All of the apartments are comfortable, two bedroom apartments with all necessary utilities. They are also completely soundproof. Sometimes the magic system, however, does glitch and you might find yourself rooming with a stranger. This is not the intention and the staff will immediately prepare you your own room if you ask them. But maybe having a roommate isn't all that bad?





Little April Showers




Part 1


April is the time for a strange weather effect that affects all of the districts, save for the one in the middle and Frostreign. It's not weird that it rains, but it's what the rain does that has been dubbed as the Rain of Affection.

Anyone who stands in the rain will feel the need to get close to someone. It starts with a need to gently touch someone gently, but can escalate into needing to hug someone. The ultimate craving of the rain is kissing in the rain but that's the most it can make happen. It's a very Safe For Work Rain Effect.

After a successful kiss in the rain, the cravings slowly become less urgent, but the effect can start all over again at any given time.

Of course, there are individuals who don't get too affected by the rain (at all or not as badly) and it only works if it directly hits someone. So staying in a shelter or being in Nightwake Center or Frostreign is definitely a way to avoid this whole phenomenon. Even avoiding the worst of the effect is easy by just going under a shelter or purchasing a nice, maybe even a color changing, umbrella.

It's raining very often until the end of the month at different times in each districts.

Part 2


After the rain, a rainbow usually appears. Rainbows formed by the Rain of Affection are special, wish granting ones. The natives will explain that if you hold someone's hands and make a wish that wish will come true in some capacity.

Someone wishing for wealth may win a gift card for a shop while someone wishing to see a loved one they're missing may get pictures sent to their mobile devices (how? magic). Those wishing for world peace may find their very presence be calming to others. But the biggest prize is a free regain of a non-magical item or an animal companion. If someone asks for a magical item it will come as a non-magical item and the magical part of it would have to be purchased by a magical-regain, so it's cheaper to just not.

Be careful what you wish for, as each character only gets one wish, no matter how many rainbows they end up seeing during the rainy season.

Part 3

Solarpeak has a new way of battling against the hot summer days (you know, when it isn't raining). Many shops along the streets sell ice cream mochis of varying flavors. You have your very normal flavors like different berries, fruit and chocolate, but also some very excotic and weird ones.

There's even a flavor called random mystery that is literally that. A randomized flavor that is a mystery to all. It can even be a flavor that no one has thought of before or even something that definitely should not be in any kind of food. Anyone who buys a pack of two mochis will get a free mystery one if they want it (and sometimes even if they don't).

Other districts also have some treats out for different climates. There are various flavors of hot cocoa in places like Amberfall and Frostreign, and nice light treats like macarons in Blossomcrown. Of course various restaurants have their own menus that fit their own season, so you could definitely have a gourmet journey all over the city of Nightwake if you wished.







When Life Gives You Portals




Part 1

One morning, on all of the bridges leading outside into the segments, round gates appear. They're portals that bring in monsters. They look normal from the outside looking in, like portals to a lovely garden. But the gardens are the problem as they are infested with different monsters, waiting to attack the city. This isn't the first time natives have seen these portals and before they had people to deal with them, but now? They need otherworlders.

All of the monsters inside need to be defeated for the portal to disappear. No one knows exactly how many there are, but with the defeat of the last one, the portal will disappear from around anyone inside of it, leaving the characters on the bridge.

The portal can be entered from both the city and the segment side and it looks flat when looked from sideways. Like it's just a random 2D structure in the middle of the world.

Those who explore the portal further will notice that they will loop around. It's very similar to the place they started in, back when they arrived, as it doesn't seem to have an end, no matter how you explore the place.

For noncombatants, natives have set up stations to help with first aid and making food for the fighters so they can occasionally come back from the portals to take a much needed rest.

Anyone helping with the fight, either in the portals or outside, will receive a hefty 5000 Moon Coin reward for their hard work. A good way to earn some starting funds!

Monster List [ Click to Expand ]All of the Monsters listed here will be in all of the portals and there will be several of each to fight.

The danger level is indicated with Stars. The lowest level threat is 0 while the highest is 10. From 7 and above, the likelihood of a beast going for a kill increases significantly.

NameDescriptionStars
BubblefishBubblefish are lumbering, two-legged creatures, with fins for arms, a long, muscular, finned tail, and a big fish face. They are fast, dangerous predators while in water, but do not count them out while on land, as regardless of whether they are above water or below it, they can blow large bubbles which capture their targets. Once inside the stretchy bubble, victims begin to go numb, their body feeling like it's on pins and needles as the Dragonfish begins to cast various debuffs on them. The bubbles are tough to escape despite their appearance, but the debuffs are lesser when shared, and can be escaped with the propper application of mint or minty treats! Mint has the effect of weakening the bubble to allow it to pop, although you may then find yourself being charged as the Bubblefish goes wild trying to get that minty goodness.5-8
BugboarsThese are really more like rhinocerous beetles, but they are the size of wild boars, and they act similarly, roaming about in family groups together, rooting through the ground to unearth any edible material. They are highly territorial, and charge at anything or anyone who gets close. Their eyesight might be poor, but they make up for it with their antennae and the fact that these massive beetles do have wings, and they possess enough control over wind to lift themselves off of the ground at great speeds, or send powerful gales at those who come too close to their young.6
CrockodileCrocodiles with elemental powers of earth, leading to them being able to travel through dirt and stone as if they were water, these large reptiles often hide beneath the earth with only their eyes and nostrils peeking out, resembling the stone they hide within. They are ambush predators, popping out of the ground, large stony jaws open to crush their prey, but even once dragged out of hiding they are hardly easy to defeat. These crocks are stony in appearance and their hide is just as hard to pierce. In addition, they're a little closer to the size of a small car than your average crocodile.6-9
Flurry FlockWhite birds acting like a swarm that may deceive you into thinking they are harmless doves at first. Upon closer inspection, they more closely resemble a vengeful murder of crows with pure white feathers that they can use to reflect light so brilliantly that one can be blinded, leaving the flock's victim open to attack as they descend upon their prey like a group of voracious piranhas, claws and beaks as cold as ice as they try to tear their foes apart3-6
LavapotamusThese large hippo-creatures seem to be either made of or covered in molten rock that hardens over time when in the air. Usually they prefer to soak in lava and be left alone. Pulled through portals in an environment far too cool for their liking and with people so nearby has them aggressive and dangerous, charging down anyone who gets too near and leaving a red-hot trail of lava in their wake.3-8
MinosaurThis creature seems to be a horrific mash of other creatures, similar to a traditional chimera; it possesses the body and horns of a bull, a head like a Tyrannosaurus, the plates of a stegosaurus all the way down it's powerful back and becoming spikes as they trail down it's tail, which ends in a very angry snake head. There is no end of this creature's body which is not hard, sharp, and completely pissed off. If you manage not to get bitten or gored at it's head, you will still need to contend with the powerful hooved legs attempting to stomp down on you, and take care to dodge as the snake head on it's tail spits fire.8-10


Part 2


Even after the defeat of the Portals, there's still a lot of things to do! All of the Guilds are open. There's a good training space outside of them to test our powers and computers where you can learn all about what kind of powers you can unlock.

All guilds also have the same Questboard open! Why not take a look and see what adventures await?




OOC TIPS


- Ask your questions related to the TDM here.

- The TDM is available only to friends of the mods and their friends. If you're not a friend of the mods and want to play in the TDM, please leave a note here to inform us who invited you over. We will get to you as soon as possible!

- Feel free to visit the EMP/ATP - meme!

- New characters can add TDM on their subject line to indicate they're new! They can also comment HERE to promote their new top levels.

- Test Drive is open for current characters to make a top level as well.

- Current characters cannot access the starting area again to meet new arrivals. They can, however, be at the Research Center when the newbies are teleported in.

- The TDM is game canon so anything in the TDM can happen for your character(s) in the game as well.

- Smut is not allowed on the TDM. You can play situations leading to it, but if the thread is turning into smut, please move it to a private space such a post in your character's journal, or a locked post in the game's log community if you decide to app!

- Check Locations: City to find more areas to explore inside the city. Every place in the districts are open. Similarly, Locations: Segments is useful for outdoors adventures.

- You can find monsters to encounter on Beastiary.

- FAQ has information on characters' smartphones as well as general things about the world that might be handy.



code bases by tricklet
wingbound: (sideglance // neutral)

maybe next time :p

[personal profile] wingbound 2023-04-21 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Whatever it is, it's been torn down so that there's nothing left to salvage. But maybe, just maybe, it might still be possible to live with eventually, when time dulls the raw wounds some more. ]

[ Levi always prepares for the worst, but he can still hope that little flash of humanity he just saw wasn't the kid's last. ]

[ It's maybe a dozen steps, and Levi's still Levi, so it's not too challenging to him despite the state he's in, even if he moves slower than he'd like. A little faster than before, though; the crutch does seem to help, taking weight and therefore pain off his knee that he should be resting in bed according to the doctors. ]

[ He's going to absolutely love the shower and the washing machine -- so much potential to get everything clean faster! -- and he'll probably inquire about the noise soon enough, but for now he thinks it's just some sort of industrial mechanisms making sounds next door. ]

[ He was probably given the device, or the phone, or whatever it was called, and maybe even given some very basic instructions for use, but it just seemed like some kind of magic to him. It was... kind of like the radio, but so much smaller, and apparently you could reach anyone at any time -- which doesn't sound good to him at all. More often than not, he doesn't want to be reached, so he doesn't plan to use that thing much even if/when he figures it out. ]

[ The new square thing looks kind of similar but bigger. The little things just seemed to have text and sound, though. Pictures that were moving and talking? ]


You're kidding.

[ It's not accusatory, just conversational disbelief. He lowers himself into the couch, sinks in way deeper than he expects, and pauses. ]

[ Well. It actually does feel softer than the usual sofas and armchairs he's been familiar with. Those were soft compared to hard wooden chairs, but next to this, might as well have been made of rock. ]

[ It's like a chair made out of fancy mattresses. How much did something like that cost? But... apparently it was just given to them? ]


...huh. Not bad.

[ Now all he needs to do is lean back and -- ]

[ Nope, just kidding. He can't just enjoy the moment, of course. He's close enough to the floor that he can reach it with his fingertips if he leans forward, which he does, and then inspects them critically for dust. Hopefully it was "passable" by Levi's standards, too, so he doesn't need to say anything, though he still might look mildly disappointed as if he's expecting better. ]
dreamsofwings: (14)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-04-22 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
[ It really has been months, months away from horror and death and the end of the world, worlds away from the Paths that he's never walked in. He knows the ending but hasn't caused it, which makes him…not a different person. Not really. But a person with some different potential.

Sometimes he really does choke on it, but he's not stupid enough to do that in front of his friends today. At least he has compartmentalisation down to an art form, so that's how they're getting through today, and probably the next, and, and, and.
]

I'm not kidding.

[ Eren probably has zero sense of humour left, actually.

He picks up the remote and sets on the far end of the couch, as far away from Levi as he can, not because he cares but because he wants Levi to sit the hell down and he doesn't want to get too close and cause the captain to decide that's too much. There's a wall between them (ha). He knows. There's a whole cushion between them; Eren's tall, but he doesn't take up that much space when he doesn't need to.

He watches Levi inspect the floor. He didn't half ass anything he cleaned. He knows better, though what punishment could Levi possibly devise for him now that matters? He's only obedient because he chooses to be, a fact that Levi probably knows too. This weird pretence of normalcy continues as long as they both commit to it. But Eren is committed to it for now, so there's that.

Levi doesn't immediately tell him to clean it again, so before he can get too much scrutiny, he just clicks the television on.

Who knows what channel it's on. Eren doesn't really watch it very much. It's still incredible, though, just the entire existence of it, the bright colours, people talking as if they were standing there in the same room in miniature.
]

Just watch for a minute.
wingbound: (injured // determined)

i heard there were calls for more angst

[personal profile] wingbound 2023-04-22 03:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Too bad. It'd probably do wonders for him. ]

[ In the meantime, good on him for not half-assing. Levi says nothing and straightens to sit up again, letting himself lean against the backrest a little. He thinks if the brat is up to something, as he has no idea what a remote is, but all it seems to do is make the big square light up. He stares at it, probably for a few minutes as he takes it in. ]

[ He's almost tempted to go around and check behind it, but he'd seen it well enough on his way into the living room that the thing is flat. There's people on the screen, bright and vivid as if they're looking through some kind of a window -- ]

[ Maybe that's it. ]


Is this happening somewhere else right now?

[ Of course he would first think of the equivalent of a live-feed security camera. He's never been to proper theater, although hearing that comparison would probably clear some things up anyway. Eren hadn't exactly shared his time instability problems yet, so he wonders if this is how he knew what would happen. ]

[ He'd ask how it works, but even if he gets an explanation, he doubts he'd make much sense of it. Something like "photography", maybe. Or "electricity" or whatever, but it might as well all be magic. ]

[ Hange would probably figure out how it works, he thinks suddenly, and the normalcy crumbles inside him like a glass between rocks. ]

[ They'd totally love this. They'd probably drop the "Commander" schtick and be an excitable fucking weirdo, like when they first learned about airships. They'd probably come up with new ways to use this kind of tech. They didn't leave a body any of them could bury. Their wings of freedom is ash. ]

...

[ Does Eren know? Does Eren care? He seems to know more than he reasonably should, but not the details, if one can go by his reaction to Levi's injuries. Does he know his disgusting hairy brother got an entire squadron killed for no reason other than try to advance their plan? Does he care about that? He doesn't have the same "it hasn't happened yet" excuse for that, does he? (Not that Levi knows. He remembers the explosion, and when he came to, the Rumbling had already started.) ]
dreamsofwings: (52)

:'))))

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-04-22 04:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Eren has a harder time keeping his head here and now and sometime, if Levi really stays in this apartment for more than a day or two, he will have to try to explain that. (Will he?) He's been struggling with it for years. He had nothing but time to sort it out in that hospital in Marley where he taught himself to be numb, not an overly emotionless boy but a half-dead young man that was capable of unspeakable things.

There are pieces he hasn't collected yet, things he needed Zeke for. He never got there, which is really all the better for him in the end.

He's walked away from that, though part of him...well. He'd do anything — anything — to save the people he loves. That has never changed. He still can't see another way in their own world.

There's a sound on the tv and Eren hears bombs in his head and he proverbially slams back into the present. How weird does this look from the outside? He has no idea. It doesn't matter.

Levi asked him something. He catches up, shakes his head.
]

No. It's...recorded.

[ He says the word like he's not sure if it, because he's not. He's had movies and tv explained to him a few times but the specifics escape him. ]

It's fake. Stories they make up, like a play. But then you can watch it on this box somehow.

[ A+ explanation, Eren. He doesn't know about news programs either, which would be real time, but...luckily this isn't a news program so whatever.

Eren has thought before that Hange would love this shit. Does he know? He knows the ending, but not every single thing.

What would it change if he did? Nothing ever could have changed in his head. He's always been the least free of any of them in the end, until he chose to go to Folkmore. He's still mired in his shitty choices now, though, while he's still working to disentangle himself from some of the worst of them.
]



wingbound: (lineface // talking)

[personal profile] wingbound 2023-04-22 05:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It probably looks like PTSD, not that either of them would know what it means or acknowledge it in any way. We don't do that here. ]

[ Levi peels himself back from the grief he's pent up for the last few-- days? weeks? years? -- and tries to put the normalcy back together, like a puzzle of shards. ]

[ Like a play, he says. Like a fantasy book. But moving, and with sound. Humanity is really limitless, isn't it? ]


So this... [ he nods at the screen. ] Princess Annika of Nordanland isn't actually declaring war, right?

[ Just checking. ]

[ Also, that's totally one of the available costume drama soaps now. Princess Annika is a brave, yet benevolent ruler who must navigate the intricacies of the cutthroat court while trying to maintain balance between her duty and her heart! ]
dreamsofwings: (14)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-04-23 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
[ If only someone would teach shingekis about therapy. So they could all refuse to go. ]

No. It's pretend.

[ There's a little disdain in his voice, because why anyone would pretend at war of all things, he can't begin to guess. War is hell. But people who haven't lived it don’t know, so...well, plenty of things seem better than they are before you know the truth.

Despite that, he watches the screen, the people in their weird clothes (who wears that to fight in??) and their makeup and whatever.

Annika apparently has two love interests, Hans and Erik, though one of them is the rival kingdom leader...? He's trying to keep up. A lot of it is overacted but he's glued to it for a few minutes.

Someday, will the tiny shreds of humanity that survive in their world create this kind of thing? He doesn't know. Maybe. Hopefully. But the longterm picture was never really his thing. It was his friends that mattered most.

He'll have to ask Mikasa if they had movies in Avalon.
]

People in Folkmore told me about movies but I didn't really understand...this is amazing. Better than a play, probably.

[ Of course he's never seen a play. ]
wingbound: (frown // they're toying with us)

[personal profile] wingbound 2023-04-23 03:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Indeed. That would be great. Tune back in two months later to Levi insisting he "doesn't have shellshock" while the doctor tries to explain there's nothing physically wrong with his knee anymore. ]

I see.

[ So it's... entertainment. Retired people probably do this, among other things. It's so wild, though, like having an entire theater in your closet which plays on your whim. The closest thing he's seen before himself was a puppet play in a box on the street, and that had been an entire experience. ]

[ The world they gave up everything to protect, would it become like this one day? Evolve so much that technology would look like magic, that the concept of conflict is so far removed it feels safe, or thrilling, or chivalrous to pretend about it? ]

[ One can only hope, right? ]


Probably. You don't need to leave your house for it after all.

[ Or bump elbows with pretentious cityfolk and fat nobles, at least. ]

[ With a disinterested look, he stares at Hans congratulating Annika for her speech. The two share a charged moment. Meanwhile Erik appears apprehensive of the whole development and excuses himself from the gala. ]


This is stupid. Clearly he wants to put her in a position where she has to surrender. Probably vying after the kingdom.

[ Soapy romansu writers probably don't care too much about the validity of their military strategy scripts, Captain! You're picking at the wrong threads! ]
dreamsofwings: (Default)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-04-23 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ganbatte dealing with that and overly concerned teenagers, Captain. ]

[ Eren does whatever passes for relaxing, which isn't really much. He can't, of course, not with Levi there. Not at all, with his head a mess and too many sudden reminders of the future he can't escape, whether or not he actually caused it yet (it's murky, isn't it). But for a few minutes while he tries to decide if he likes Erik or Hans better, or if he thinks they both suck, it's...fine? ]

It's probably some kind of trap. Maybe she's not smart enough to see through it.

[ He says like he would be in her position; Eren is manipulative and he was playing 4D chess but only because he had the pieces and no one else did. In the end, he had time stretching out in all directions because of the Paths, but this Eren hasn't had that, not really. He's still largely a brash idiot when he's not just stuck in his own mountain of memory weirdness. He's not Armin, not a strategist, and certainly not Erwin. He can't even follow orders 90% of the time.

There's a commercial for some inane thing, a candy or something, breaking up the melodrama of the show.
It reminds him.
]

I learned ice cream comes in flavours.

[ B+ attempt at small talk. ]
wingbound: (lineface // never said you were wrong)

[personal profile] wingbound 2023-04-23 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[ thanks, he's going to need it. ]

[ They both suck, but at least Erik isn't putting the lives of hundreds innocent peasants on the line in order to score some, so honestly it's not even a competition. Maybe they can argue about this some day when things become a little less tense. ]


Or maybe she doesn't want to see through it.

[ After all, sometimes you wanted to believe the best in people even at a detriment to yourself. When you had all the evidence to the opposite but were still stuck at that precarious line of not quite accepting it until eventually reality slapped you in the face and shat in your mouth. Wasn't that right?.. ]

[ Totally still speaking about Annika, obviously. ]

[ But he's gradually losing the plot, and he's pretty much just staring at the screen emptily by the time the commercial comes in, lost in contemplating the state of this world and how it compared to theirs some more. He only snaps out of it when he hears Eren speak again. ]


...Good for you.

[ He has no idea what to say to that. He knows already, sort of, since he met Jean while inspecting some "tea-flavored mochis" at a shop window, though he hadn't bought any, so he didn't know if it was any good. Speaking of which, wasn't the ice cream flavor good enough? If people wanted to taste a potato, why not eat a potato instead? But maybe it was something more subtle, like those infusion teas that he hasn't tried yet. ]

[ Maybe he should. He really needs to think of something to do during his retirement slash recovery if he doesn't want to just twiddle his thumbs and watch Eren polish the floors. ]

[ There's the sound of the kettle whistle cutting through the jingle playing on the TV, and he's pushing himself to his feet again in order to go get it, because of course he is. ]
dreamsofwings: (44)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-04-24 01:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe.

[ Later, Eren will get invested in some side characters and their subplot because he's not as invested in these men and their bullshit, but…later.

For now, he considers the way people, even in fiction, blind themselves to the truth. It's the only way to get through some things, isn't it? You hide the truth from yourself, convince yourself the world is a certain way. Better to do that yourself than have someone else force a world view on you.

Is this about the show? Hm.
]

I'm just telling you because you should try the things in this world, as long as you're here.

[ Eren doesn't know how to do normal people things, but he likes trying food. It's not much of a hobby, and he doesn't go insane with it or whatever. He hasn't actually tried these flavours of ice cream. He just heard they exist, and some of them sound wild.

He's still not sure what a marshmallow actually is, so "rocky road" can't make sense to him.

He moves to stand. He could get the tea. He knows how Levi drinks his tea; they spent enough time together, a million years ago in the beginning. He retained more than how to scrub a floor.

He has to bite his lip to keep from trying to argue about it, tell Levi to sit down, he'll get it. If he was hurt, he wouldn't want help, either. Whether it's pride or routine or just not wanting to feel useless, it doesn't matter. He can't keep Levi from pushing himself any more than Levi can keep him from running off recklessly into a firefight when one inevitably comes. They are still who they are.

So he deals with it, stares back at the moving pictures without bothering to see them, listening more to the sounds of the captain moving into the kitchen, in case he has to go help anyway.
]
wingbound: (injured // determined)

[personal profile] wingbound 2023-04-24 07:01 pm (UTC)(link)
...I'll think about it.

[ Really, he will. It's just -- hard to shake habits. Not buying unnecessary stuff. Worrying about money. Barely eating. Thinking about the next day. ]

[ He'd definitely encourage Eren to keep doing that, though. Teenager excited about food, that sounds normal, he wants to scrounge up the shards of normalcy from the gutter and shape it into something passable again, but he probably shouldn't. ]

[ Eventually, a day might come when he comes back to the couch with two mugs. ]

[ It's not here yet. ]

[ Instead, he pulls one of the kitchen chairs a bit further out, so that he can still see the living room in his periphery, fixes himself a cup of tea and sits down. ]

[ He stares straight ahead at a kitchen wall, listening to the fake people and fake instruments and fake animals making sounds from the square of fake life. Thinks about the plane taking off, he wonders if this place has planes, he thinks he heard someone mention airships at the very least. He wonders if you need legs to control one. He wonders if an inscription in the military's graveyard is of any importance at all. ]

[ He lifts the cup to his lips, holding it by the rim as usual, blows off the steam and takes a small sip. ]


Hange died.

[ He announces to the kitchen shelves, quiet and monotonous as usual, but somehow he's sure Eren will hear him anyway. ]
dreamsofwings: (60)

i made it weird again soz

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-04-24 07:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Maybe Eren will just bring home whatever food he tries (that doesn't melt). As a nudge. He didn't grow up with scarcity like Levi did. And he's never in his life thought about money in any real way; while he's lived through starvation and all of that, everything was pretty much paid for. Calculating expenses is something he doesn't really do well (this might be a point of contention, but he earns enough and other than trying food sometimes, he doesn't really spend a lot).

He doesn't expect Levi to share his tea or anything. But you know, maybe someday.

Levi doesn't come back to the couch, which Eren is only bothered by because he's still worried. The spectre of death is always there, isn't it? He has no idea how bad those injuries really are. They look pretty fucking bad, and he knows Levi is pushing through more than he should. There's a lot he would do to keep the captain from dying, even if that means they get in a fight about it.

At least he sits back down in a chair. Eren turns enough to catch that. He doesn't get up. He's not a puppy dog following along on a leash, here. He's just…worried. Trying to exist in the same space without hiding in his room. If he starts doing that, he might not stop, and that kind of isolation could go bad for everyone.

He knows what isolation is like. He doesn't want to do that to himself. He won't hide from Levi. (He was here first, hello? Though he doesn't really think of this that way.)

The tv goes on, filling the silence that would otherwise stretch between them.

It goes on longer, after Levi speaks. His words are quiet, but Eren is listening, of course.

Hange died.

He can feel something hitch inside him the way he did when the door burst open on the airship. That was the last one that hit him in the face.

They think he didn't care. They thought he was a crazy person, a monster.

Well, they're mostly right, he was. He is.

But of course he cared. He just already knew. It was something confirmed, one step along a gruesome path, though he hadn't known exactly how it happened. He could never see everything. Marley hadn't gone right.

Screaming in the hallway. His friends crying while he sat there, far away, trying to steel himself up for what came next. Sift through his own memories. Lara Tybur's, Marley seen through privilege instead of oppression.

He hates those people. Their memories. Their hatred of his friends, his people. Let them hate him. Just him. He deserves it. He'll make sure he deserves it. He has to.

Hange died.

He didn't know. He's not sure. Did he know? Does he know? Somewhere in the mire of time, he must be aware, right? But it falls somewhere in the gap of things he can't get to without his fucking brother. Zeke, gatekeeping without knowing that's what he's doing, the key to unlocking the Founder and the Rumbling and the end of the world. Zeke, who wants to kill their own people, a sin Eren cannot forgive him for.

Eren, who wants to kill everyone else, a sin he expects no one can forgive him for either. If some of their own people get caught in the crossfire, that's how it has to be. He can't afford to be sorry.

Hange.
]

Goddamnit.

[ He doesn't even realise he said it out loud. He's not close to Hange, really, not the way he is with the others. Not even the way he is (was) with Levi. Hange was fascinated with his titan shit in the beginning, but he doesn't think they really understood him as a person. Not that most people ever have, in the end. The last time he saw Hange, he was pretty shitty to them. Threatening. They were scared of him, he knows. He wanted that. He caused that on purpose. He needed it to be that way.

Why? he thinks now, removed from it. That was…days? Hours? Before Folkmore. Before now. It's been half a year. More. Less.

When in time is he?

He clenches his fists tight enough to hurt so the pain will pull him back into his body.

He realises it's not an accusation. It's a statement. Not you killed them, though they both know he might as well have.

He doesn't apologise. What would that matter now. He'll choke if he tries. He might anyway.
]

Oh.

[ Good. Good job, Eren. What a great thing to say. Well done. ]
wingbound: (pained // not you too)

unforgivable tbh

[personal profile] wingbound 2023-04-24 11:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Levi is probably too good at it, so it might cancel out. The city literally gave him money for free and all he chose to buy was tea and discounted cleaning supplies. Just wait until he discovers coupons. ]

[ He finds the initial lack of words weirdly comforting. Like it's a minute of silence kind of deal. And the reaction implies that Eren doesn't know, and that makes him a little easier to hate less, because it leaves the possibility that it was another fuck up (in a line of fuck ups of unprecedented scale) rather than something like him deliberately choosing which ones of them should die for his new world. His "freedom". ]

[ But even then, just like his injuries, Levi can't find it in him to blame the brat for Hange. Because in truth, it was Levi who had killed them, wasn't it? The Wall Titans may have struck the finishing blow, but he'd set it in motion all the way back when he let Erwin die. The commander's mantle was way too heavy, the proof of it laying next to him right then and there, and he just pushed it onto the next victim with his choice. ]

[ They weren't the same after that, but he supposes none of them were. Certainly not him. He wouldn't regret it, but it still haunted him. Would have no matter which choice he made. It wasn't surprising he'd started buckling under his own role, too. Not with the weight of his own mantle increasing with every death until those wings on his back might as well have been made out of lead. ]

[ Your deaths meant something. I will prove it. ]

[ Which just lead to him fucking up again when he could have prevented the end of the world from happening with a single strike of his blade. ]

[ And when he finally managed to do it, it was way too late. ]


Four-eyed freak would've loved this.

[ He could be talking about the television, still playing in the background though momentarily forgotten, or he could be talking about this entire world. ]

[ The last one from the old guard, bar Levi, Levi who always survived when everyone around him died. It was isolating in its own way. He didn't watch. He usually made an effort to witness their ends if he could, but that time he didn't. He was too tired of losing people, or maybe he just didn't find it in him anymore. ]

[ He takes a longer drink from his cup, the liquid cooling off enough during their stilted silences with intermingling words that he doesn't risk burning his tongue anymore. ]
dreamsofwings: (63)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-04-25 04:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Whether anyone's death was a fuck up in the end or not is debatable; however, this one is not a calculated thing. Most of them weren't, not at an individual level. Sasha sure wasn't. Marco wasn't, though Eren wasn't really controlling what happened then either. Erwin's death wasn't exactly on purpose, though the overall orchestration will someday feel necessary in the overarching scheme.

There was always, always a chance Levi would have picked differently, though. A chance it wouldn't have been Armin when it needed to be. A chance he ran away with Mikasa and left the world to burn in their wake. Just like there would be a chance that Mikasa and Armin were in the Premiere's office when the bomb went off. A chance Jean and Connie drank the wine. A chance Gabi didn't get on the airship and Sasha lived. A chance Ymir won't do what he wants. Some of these things he doesn't know, won't live through, whatever, but they are still up to chance even when he says otherwise. Always a chance. A chance.

Never, in his own head, though, a chance for Eren. Never a chance for a different outcome for his rage and his disappointment and despair and the hatred he holds, the hatred of the hold world turned around on them. No chance for his precious fucking freedom.

He wouldn't have handpicked Hange for death. Or Erwin. Levi's squad. Sasha. Floch, well…hm. Maybe. Zeke, sure. Zeke was going to die anyway. Zeke is a liability in the worst way, willing to end the lives of any future Eldians. Besides, Eren knows Levi needed to kill Zeke. Whatever else he felt for his brother, will he mourn his death?

There wasn't time, and it doesn't occur to him now on this side of it.

Can he mourn Hange? Sasha? Those kids in Marley who he knows will die, have died? Does he remember how?

Not really. He has cried so many tears away from anyone that could have witnessed them, tears in dreams he didn't remember and couldn't understand. He used to cry all the time, but now he doesn't remember the last time he did. He should cry, probably. It would be good for him.

He just stares down at his hands again.
]

They probably would have broken something trying to figure out how it works.

[ A general something. There's a lot of somethings that are incredible. Unbelievable. Eren ends up taking them for granted because it's all nonsense magic to him, this whole world. This place is so much more solid than the dreamy world of Folkmore was much of the time. At least no one has been slam dunked into his memories full on yet, so Ellipsa has that going for it. There are a lot of weird ass monsters here, though, so pros and cons.

God, he never wants to go home.
]

I don't want to have to live the future that you did.

[ Not I don't want to kill everyone. It's not that simple, is it? He has never seen another way out, another way through. Levi doesn't know he can see the future, not really, none of them do. The true power of the Attack Titan is a secret he holds away from them like so many others. He might tell someone sometime, or it will spill out without him outright saying it.

Close enough for now.

He's aware it doesn't matter what he wants, and why should Levi give a shit about him and anything he wants or does? Levi's playing babysitter in case Eren is unstable, right? (He is. No one should have the power he has or the amount of other people's memories, certainly not a traumatised teenager with a thing for revenge and a martyr complex.) But he's trying to…be different. He just doesn't know how to say that.
]
wingbound: (neutral // talking)

[personal profile] wingbound 2023-04-25 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ah, Floch. Another piece of the puzzle that contributed to things playing out the way they did, funnily enough. If he weren't there as a staggering reminder of the sheer amount of hatred and contempt people even among their own ranks had for his old friend just because he had to become what they needed, perhaps Levi hadn't felt as strongly about sparing him from more of it. Just like if he hadn't overheard the brats talking about the sea, so similar to his own friends back in the day dreaming of seeing the open sky. Just like -- ]

[ It was never supposed to be someone else's decision whether somebody should live or die. But he was entrusted with it anyway. Forcing his hand, hardly the first time. He did what he thought was best at the time, but... ]

[ There was always a chance indeed. ]

[ He imagines Hange taking apart the TV and trying to put it back together again, ending up with extra parts. His frown evens out, just a little; it's not a smile, but something of a less tense look. Reminiscence, perhaps. ]


No doubt about it.

[ Talking about them feels weird. It's like a verbal gravestone in lieu of a stone one that they might never get. It seems right, though. It's better than nothing. ]

[ That still leaves the Eren issue at hand. Nothing to ease that one with. It's probably not possible. ]

[ His words aren't surprising, not really, and yet... It's entirely possible he felt the same way in the ending that Levi lived, and yet did it anyway. Was this the same thing? It's kind of rich, that sentiment coming from the guy who made that future happen. ]

[ And yet it sounds deeper than merely a brat not wanting his plan to blow up in his face. There's something more there, though, something Levi is not aware of, something he's missing. ]

[ There's really just one piece of advice he has. ]


Then make different choices this time.

[ Maybe he means here, in this new world. Maybe he means if he ever does go back. Who's to tell. ]

[ He wonders if he might get away with pushing a little more. "Have to"... Why did he phrase it that way? Did the guy obsessed with "freedom" actually felt cornered into his role the same way others did? Could it be the same thing that prevented the previous Kings Within Walls from acting in humanity's interest?.. ]


I thought doing whatever the hell you want was your whole thing.

[ At least when they first met. Yeah, he'd heard that conversation with Petra, when Eren was surprised to find out Levi followed rules. Well, some of them, anyway. ]

[ So what was this, then?.. ]
dreamsofwings: (74)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-04-26 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Eren thinks back to his mother (of course), to Grisha, to Marco. Only one of them had enough to bury. Grisha had nothing left to bury. Eren himself…he's only vaguely aware of how his life ends, though he know it does, it has to or there's no point. He can't live through what he's done, not because he's afraid of accountability or whatever, but because the handful of people he actually loves can't be heroes if he lives. Without that, they'll never be safe. That's how he sees it, that's the why.

Okay, that's not the only why, but it's the ultimate one.

There can't be graves for everyone. He doesn't know if it's better or worse to not have them. But some people probably deserve them; graves are for the living, after all, something to stand by and remember people who are gone.

This conversation, scant as it is, is for the living. Levi, who somehow lived through every terrible fucking thing. Eren, who hasn't yet, who ultimately won't, but who has said over and over he will keep moving forward despite being so intensely attached to the past.

He chews on his lip for a minute, worrying it against a tooth until he tastes blood. It's such a familiar taste that he barely notices it.

In his most self-aware state, he knows about the hypocrisy of what he says. He has and still will swear up and down until the literal end of the world that what he does, he does of his own free will. And sure, he has made choices, like everyone. But he saw the ending. From there…did he have a choice? When could he have changed it? Did he really try to? Did he try hard enough? Who could have changed it and how and, and, and.

He doesn't know.

He knows that wasn't freedom. He knows that, but he can't stomach it, so he lies to himself about it instead.
]

It's not as simple as what I want.

[ He answers, slowly, though he knows he can never defend himself and his choices to Levi or to anyone. There is no defence for him. But he didn't exactly enjoy murdering however many millions of people, or the idea of it, the visceral memory of it looming ahead of him. ]

But didn't I? Make different choices?

[ He turns to look at Levi over the back of the couch, whether Levi looks back at him or not. ]

I told you. I went to a different world, before this one. I chose to go there. To…

[ He swallows. How many times has he had to force words he doesn't want to say out of his mouth? At least these ones aren't designed to hurt. ]

To not have that future anymore.

[ I haven't done that yet.

Damnit, he's given too much of it away and he knows that. But what is he hiding it for now? It's over where Levi comes from. And Eren would do almost anything to keep from going back now. If he goes back now, it's just the same, something inevitable.

He has to do it or they'll all die, instead of just Sasha, just Hange. He doesn't want to think of them as just. Their deaths still matter. It's too heavy, but he'll never put it down.

Never tell this kid about the whole trolley problem.
]
wingbound: (neutral // talking)

[personal profile] wingbound 2023-04-27 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ That was often the case with those who didn't return from expeditions. They did still get their names carved into a large stone for those missing in action, most of the time, not that it gave much reprieve to their grieving relatives who wanted their children's or spouses' heartbeats, not etchings on a rock. ]

[ And, of course, before that... There wasn't really a cemetery in the Underground to begin with. Most people were just left on the street until patrols would roll by and pick them up. Some were burned. He's almost sure that during the harsh winters, in some corner of the cavern, someone might've eaten what was left, too. It didn't really matter anyway; those were only discarded shells, having lost everything that had made them people. ]

[ So while he's not pressed about his friends not having markers... he still likes remembering them, the way they were alive. It feels nice. Bittersweet. ]

[ "We die trusting the living who follow to find meaning in our lives." ]

[ He drinks some more tea. ]

[ Eventually, he lowers the cup slightly so he can finally give Eren a proper look. It's still somewhat dull, but there's beginnings of no-nonsense focus, too. Not as simple? How is it exactly, then? ]

[ Eren asks him a question and he almost wants to laugh because he certainly doesn't have an answer. But he maintains his usual neutral tone. ]


How would I know? I wasn't there to check.

[ You can fuck things up in the exact same way in a new place, too. ]

[ But fine, fine. He supposes the kid wins some fractions of a point for apparently making an entire effort to not kill everyone. ]

[ (When did the bar get this low?) ]


Will it be enough?

[ Again, there's no accusation. He's just interested in Eren's intentions, and whether he thinks he's diverged his path that far off from the one he had planned first. What if that was his exact same thought process back home and he would ultimately end up at the same spot? Did he plan for that? ]

dreamsofwings: (60)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-04-28 12:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ Eren just tries to focus, here, now, this, while Levi doesn't answer him right away. What can he say, how can he explain it, make it make sense to someone else?

He can't, not really, and he doesn't particularly want to. The gruesome particulars don't matter.

He shrugs a shoulder.
]

You'll just have to take me at my word that that's what I did. I can tell you about it. Folkmore. That was months ago. Half a year.

[ A beat. ]

I turned 20. A couple weeks ago. I wasn't going to live that long.

[ It's a weird thing to say, but so much of what he says now is weird. But it's also definitive. Levi knows he never lives to 20 in their world. Levi knows, too, that the clock is ticking down on his lifespan, borrowed time.

Will it be enough?
]

How should I know?

[ He throws Levi's words back at him. Is that a joke, a terrible attempt at humour? Even Eren isn't sure. But he doesn't know.

Levi doesn't really know what an enormous thing that actually is, Eren's lack of knowing.
]

People here don't hate us just for existing. They don't know anything about us. I don't have anything against them.

[ He probably doesn't need to tell Levi he would do anything, still, now, always, to keep Jean and Mikasa safe. He would fight for Levi, too, though the captain of all people wouldn't appreciate it. But especially them, their relative innocence, the way they get to live free of that horror.

He would burn the world for that, sure. But he doesn't have to, so he doesn't have to say it.
]

It can't go the same here anyway.

[ Too many missing pieces, the most notable of which is Zeke. Eren couldn't — wouldn't — use Historia the same way. Would it even work now? Actually, he doesn't know. He doesn't want to. ]

You can think whatever you want about me. But I'm not a threat to anyone here unless they're a direct threat to me.

[ Never say never, Eren! But at least he's not a threat to everyone here. ][ ]
wingbound: (sigh // you can't go back)

[personal profile] wingbound 2023-04-28 11:16 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ah, so "Folkmore" is a place. The place Eren was at before this. And got the weird weeping insect ghost from. Makes as much sense as everything else. ]

[ Hearing about it in more detail won't necessarily make him convinced more or less though. He doesn't think Eren is lying about that in particular, he just always remains open to the shittiest possibilities -- and if he was, it's not like he couldn't get away with it anyway. He might have taken that earlier beating in good faith but Levi doubts he'd just let him actually bludgeon him to death with a walking stick or whatever. Then his only choice is agreement to mutual trust at the moment, however shaky. ]


No need.

[ And then he's quiet again for a bit, because he understands the weight of that little admission Eren makes. I wasn't going to live that long. Except it wasn't just pessimistic expectations like in Levi's case; he indeed knows titan shifters literally had a time limit counting down. There's an inevitability to it. He wonders if knowing exactly how many weeks you have left to live makes it better or worse. ]

[ What do you even tell someone in that situation? ]


...Guess your expiration date expired. [ Eren doesn't have monopoly on terrible attempts at humor. Congratulations. ] Good for you.

[ The non-answer he gets is fair, honestly. Nobody knows the future, right? (Oh the irony.) So he just sort of nods in acceptance and stares at his tea for a few moments. Not a threat to anyone, huh? ]

[ We'll see about that, he thinks again. ]


Don't pat yourself on the back just yet, then. Keep at it.

[ Keep choosing differently, just in case, is what that probably means. Stay aware. Hold it together. ]

[ They can hope Eren gets to stay here indefinitely, but there's no guarantee. He understands that, right? That previous world may have given him a choice to come, but that doesn't seem to be the case here, so they could be as easily sent out as they were pulled in. ]

[ For what it's worth, he does hope Eren is right. ]
dreamsofwings: (25)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-04-28 07:17 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Eren would probably let Levi hit him a couple times, sure, but he wouldn't just lay down and die or anything. That's not in his nature. Even if he deserves it, it's not in his nature. So it's maybe an impasse, and he knows he fucked all their trust up after Liberio. He had to. It always had to be that way, even if it hurt him to do it, hurt them to do it. To ask Levi to trust him now is probably stupid, but what else can he do? Take the time to prove he's not going to wreck everything here? Fine. He can do that too.

A corner of his mouth twitches up at that joke.
]

One of them expired, anyway.

[ He's still pretty sure he'll die before he's 23 because of the titan countdown timer, but maybe he won't. Maybe being in another world gets rid of it. Obviously he's still somehow connected to Paths, the thing that makes titans titans, since he can still turn into one. He still has the War Hammer's power. He assumes he has the Founder's power and just can't use it. But here, it doesn't really matter. What could he do with it?

Nothing good, really, but he has no plans to try to use it for anything anyway.

He tilts his head and considers. He has no idea what Levi thinks of him, what they all must think, how it happened, what really drove him. He doesn't have any heart to tell the captain or anyone else, not now, not yet. Maybe one day. He's told a little to other people from other worlds, sometimes without meaning to.
]

I didn't just snap one day, Captain. I'm not going to just snap one day now, either. But you'll have to take my word on that too.

[ Maybe it's worse, actually. Maybe it's worse that it wasn't some psychotic break (or he doesn't consider it one; jury's out, Eren). But his words are more or less true, or true as he sees them. He doesn't see himself as crazy. There was one specific moment that changed him, sure. Touching Historia's hand, unlocking the terrible future. But that's not what made him do what he did. Arguments of inevitability aside, it was just…everything. The knowledge that they weren't alone, that the outside world hated them. The threat of Marley and the world coming for them. The rage and hate and disappointment he felt — feels — for everyone labelling them devils without ever knowing them or trying to know them, for the sins of their ancestors.

Eren hopes that whoever lives isn't still held responsible for his sins, but he's not given to know that and he sure as hell isn't going to ask Levi.

He finally looks away again, finds the remote, clicks the television off.
]
wingbound: (lineface // got no moral highground)

[personal profile] wingbound 2023-04-28 11:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Both. Both would be good. Even if he's forced to accept the impasse, some more proof would definitely leave him less on edge. ]

[ Well, and maybe, he wants to be able to believe it without feeling stupid about it. ]


So far.

[ The place is weird. It has magic. Levi may not have heard about the whole people who die get revived part yet, but it's not a bit stretch to think someone here might be able to do something about the titan curse death, too. ]

[ It's difficult. He's not entirely sure what he's thinking, either. ]

[ Eren had to be put down, simple as that. Does Levi actually hate him, beyond that sense of duty to millions of innocent people? In a way, perhaps, although some of the things he hated about the situation came from elsewhere. Like that idea of having someone eat him, after everything the scouts had done to protect him. But at the same time, it's not like Eren had created the titan threat from the start. ]

[ And Levi's not so hard-hearted that he could just separate him completely from that angry, spirited kid they'd shared a roof and food and losses and victories with for years. Sure, he'd always been brash and stubborn and violent, so he can't exactly say the end surprised him, and yet... he'd never expected it would go that far, in reality. ]

[ (Who doesn't point at the horizon and mutter something about killing all their enemies, right? It's gotta be some teenager phase thing, right? Surely that doesn't just cement that everyone is the enemy?) ]

[ Yeah, he supposes it had been building for a long time, hasn't it. They've all probably contributed to it too, accidentally or not. Still, he's gotta admit, Eren did a damn good job of making it look sudden. After all, neither him nor Hange nor Armin predicted him running off by himself to set the apocalypse in motion. ]


That's a lot of words you want me to take.

[ But he might just have to. Maybe it's fine. He's not going to close his eyes and call it a job well done just because he's hearing the kid out. He's still going to be on high alert. He's still going to watch his actions, something that always says more than words. Words are wind. Words are hope. But while he hasn't done anything, well. What would be the point of insisting otherwise? ]

[ The noise from the television disappears, and as they both are silent, too, he finally hears the strange noise from somewhere down the hall again. Time to discover the washing machine. ]


...what's that sound?
dreamsofwings: (45)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-04-29 10:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Eren encountered people coming back from the dead in Folkmore, so it won't shock him here when he learns, but he's also not aware of it yet. Still, he doesn't discount the possibility that his lifespan is limited. But that doesn't really matter. Three years is better than…however many weeks out it is from the final fight, the very end of it.

There are years spanning between that, years he can only sort of understand, time spent in the timeless landscape of Paths with Zeke, with Ymir, in between. How long does Eren just exist out of time? Who even knows.

He had been asking a question no one could actually answer, back then at the ocean.

If I kill all our enemies across the sea, will we finally be free?

Who could have guessed at the actual weight of it? It was too awful. They could barely guess how many people existed beyond their shores. Eren wanted that ocean itself to be freedom, but it was a cage, like everything else. Everything has always felt like a cage that he has to knock down.

Sometimes he still thinks he'll suffocate from it.

Is he really free? Maybe there's no such thing. He'll never say that aloud, or even really hold on to the thought. He can't bear it.
]

I know. That's all there is for now.

[ At least Levi hasn't either walked out or broken something else on his face, so, small victories. In the end, Eren is a much more violent person, isn't he? But he has less than zero desire to fight Levi, and not because he can't win. He just simply does not want to.

He listens for a moment.
]

Oh. That's the washing machine. I think you'll like it. It washes clothes for you. So you don't have to scrub them.
wingbound: (sigh // you can't go back)

[personal profile] wingbound 2023-04-30 01:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Maybe for someone like Eren, the world itself was a cage. Maybe he got too obsessed with his idea of freedom that could never exist in reality. But that way, the freedom became a kind of shackles too, didn't it? ]

[ He was probably more free here than he's ever been back home. ]

[ Not that Levi can talk, really. For a while, when he'd just started at the Corps, he'd think back to the Underground as simpler times, but he doubts there's a single person there who didn't feel trapped the entire time. Maybe... maybe now, with the titans gone, he'd finally be done, be unbound from his duty, have some semblance of freedom, but he hadn't exactly stuck around to find out. Oh well. ]


Can't pull anything more convincing out of your ass, you mean. [ Well, at least he's being honest. That's probably good. ]

[ But Levi is willing to let this be right now, because there's just... nothing else really to be said about it. There's no real threat he can hold over Eren's head anymore, and no matter what Eren says Levi isn't going to be okay with what he did. Neither of them can change the other's mind, that is if they can even understand their own feelings at the moment. ]

[ The only thing to do is wait, and react. ]

[ I'll be keeping my eye on you. He doesn't need to say it, does he? It's obvious enough from the fact that he's hanging around. ]

[ He finishes his tea, pausing with the cup still next to his face when he hears about the newest technological marvel, and side-eyes Eren sceptically. ]


A machine doing laundry? [ Whatever he's imagining is more on par with Hange's Executioner than anything that would fit inside an apartment. ] That doesn't sound efficient.

[ Just you wait, Levi, you're about to have your whole worldview shook. ]
Edited 2023-04-30 13:49 (UTC)
dreamsofwings: (18)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-05-01 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
[ Even in Folkmore, Eren struggled with actual freedom. It wasn't peace, not really. There was plenty to fight. There's plenty to fight here, though not so much enemies. Monsters are just monsters.

But he can do whatever he wants, really. What does he want, though? Who goddamn knows. He doesn't. He hasn't figured it out. He never got to be anything different, didn't entertain the idea of after. There wasn't an after. So now…he's just kind of lost.

It feels lonely, but the past several years have been lonely anyway. Whether he deserves that or not doesn't really matter. No one, not Eren and not anyone else, can exist as an island.
]

Nothing I can say could convince you of anything. And I'm not going to lie to you.

[ At least not outright. He's told enough lies to people he cares about. That doesn't mean he can just drop the entire truth on the floor, either. There's so much to what the truth even is. There are secrets he will die with in their own real timeline. Maybe there are secrets he'll die with here too.

But this is where they are now. Eren can live with it. It hasn't really occurred to him that he could leave if he wanted to, as well, find somewhere else. Of course he could! No one is regulating where they live, after all, as long as it's paid for. He's fine with this, though.

Enough of that, though. He stands up.
]

It's way more efficient, actually. I'll show you.

[ There's a closet in the hallway that hides the washer and dryer. They aren't big, but they're there, the washing machine whirring away as the clothes churn around in soapy water. ]

Someone had to explain what it was to me.

[ In Folkmore, not here, though the idea is the same. ]

The thing next to it dries them.

[ Cue one of them eventually dyeing all their clothes some weird colour because they have no idea about separating colours. ]
wingbound: (blank // disbelief)

[personal profile] wingbound 2023-05-02 11:30 am (UTC)(link)
[ Well, he's got the chance to figure it out now, which is more than any of them could have expected. Better get on it. And once again, Levi's not much different in that regard; he's been... maybe not lost, but sort of adrift for the last few years before shit kicked off enough to let him ignore that and focus on what needs to be done again. ]

[ He sets the empty cup down. ]

[ I appreciate that. ]


Good.

[ Time will tell whether Eren intends to follow through with the not lying part, but as far as Levi can tell there's nothing really for him to gain by doing so right now. It doesn't make things easy by any margin, but it's at least somewhat more manageable, he thinks. ]

[ There's a hint of curiosity in his expression as he slowly pushes himself up to follow Eren to the closet. He leans down a little to get a better look through the machine's window, watching it work. He frowns. ]


It's just stirring everything. [ He expected scrubbing! ] What about stains?

[ Oh no, he's actually talking about the thing a lot and even asking questions! He's totally interested! ]
Edited 2023-05-02 11:31 (UTC)

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yes ofc

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oh no,,,

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