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seasonsgreetings2023-10-13 12:35 am
seasonsmods) wrote in seasonsgreetings2023-10-13 12:35 am
Entry tags:
Test Drive Meme #5
Test Drive Meme #5
LOGS | NETWORK | OOC | MEMES | NAVIGATION
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.
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.
In the Arrival's hall there are also several stands with information pamphlets.
First type of stand is for the local Guilds and about the benefits or joining one.
Second type of stands is for the Welcome Center that aim to show otherworlders what the world is like and help guide people in the beginning of the journey and helps in getting settled into the new world. They even have people to help if you're unfamiliar with the new phones.
Third type of the stands is for The In Touch Support Group that is led by the Otherwordly Ambassador, Kamisato Ayato. The pamphlets have contact information for businesses looking to help Otherworlders. They also focus more on the lore of the World and what they have discovered so far, as well as a guide on what to think about when preparing to venture out to the Segments.
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?
In the Arrival's hall there are also several stands with information pamphlets.
First type of stand is for the local Guilds and about the benefits or joining one.
Second type of stands is for the Welcome Center that aim to show otherworlders what the world is like and help guide people in the beginning of the journey and helps in getting settled into the new world. They even have people to help if you're unfamiliar with the new phones.
Third type of the stands is for The In Touch Support Group that is led by the Otherwordly Ambassador, Kamisato Ayato. The pamphlets have contact information for businesses looking to help Otherworlders. They also focus more on the lore of the World and what they have discovered so far, as well as a guide on what to think about when preparing to venture out to the Segments.
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.
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?
All throughout the city, a festival is taking place. It's the festival to honor the dead. The areas are decorated with aesthetically appropriate lights and different flowers. Upon a closer look it becomes clear that all the flowers are bundles of flowers, based on the otherworlders' flower charms. Where a characters' flower is depends on their Season, but all of the appear in the Nightwake Center district.
The main part of the festivities is to light candles in various places. There are even floating lanterns, that can be either launched to the skies or put on surfaces of water. Those who have lost (= to death) someone at any point in their life will receive a message from them in their dreams and otherwise pleasant dreams about them if they light up a candle during the festivities.
Those who have died before (back in their world or on Ellipsa) will receive a protective light around them if they light up a candle. This light will also let the natives know to treat them with kindness and respect during the festivities. They will even receive special bonuses at some of the shops and restaurants, like discounts or extra items. The light itself will decrease any damage done to them for the rest of the month. The light will dim "when needed", but even as it's not easily noticeable, it will continue to protect.
Characters may receive both of these effects.
The second part of the festivities involves making small ghosts made out of paper or cloth. These crafts are for the local ghosts to possess so they can be seen by everyone. Once the ghosts have possessed the crafts they will hover around the place, experiencing the festivities better than in their ethereal form. Only ghosts that wish to move on to the afterlife will possess the crafts.
Some of the ghosts gather at the Blossomcrown Park where magical crests have been set on various tables there. These ghosts are those who have been waiting for this moment to pass onto afterlife. Everyone visiting the bonfire will be given a special flower wreath. The goal is to wait for one of the ghosts to move and take hold of the wreath (literally holding onto it with their craft ghost forms) before placing it on the crests together with another person. This will help the ghosts to cross the border into afterlife. The wreath disappears after the ghost has passed on. This ritual can only be done at this time of the year, as the air is filled with a mysterious essence that helps with passing on. The scientists have yet to properly determine what the essence truly is, but it seems to concentrate on the park and at least it's not dangerous for the living.
The park also has some places to just sit down and enjoy the atmosphere at the park. There are also some food and drink stalls.
The final part of the festivities is the multi-day Costume Party Masquerade happening in the largest airship of the city. The ship circles around the whole city of Nightwake, occasionally stopping at the dock and taking new passengers (or letting old ones out) before continuing on again. The airship is special, as it has a giant ballroom in the middle. There are also cabins, some more private and some more communal for those who just want a quick place to crash rather than a proper room.
Everyone who boards the airship must wear some sort of a mask, but they also have to be in a costume of some sort. Those who don't have either or both will be guided to a dressing room where the magic will pick them whatever they are missing at random (= of player's choosing) and dress them (their current clothes will be waiting for them at the airship station later). No one escapes the rule of a costume and a mask around here!
A magic is also applied to everyone's mask, making it harder for anyone to recognize the person wearing it (possibly even those who know them very well). This is said to add some level of mystery to the evening. Of course the spell will pause whenever someone takes off their mask and that may reveal a secret to someone. No one will just automatically forget if they saw someone take off their mask.
The music encourages people to dance and be brave in asking a stranger to dance with them. Thanks to the atmosphere of the masquerade, touch energy will feel even better than usual, even if you'd be "fully loaded".
Another sort of magic sneaks into the party, as people's costumes start to take over their personalities. Someone dressed up as a king might start acting all regal, while a vampire look-a-like might try to bite someone in their neck. Some might even lose the sight of who they really are and completely take on their new roles for the time they're in the airship and in the costume.
Fairies will start trying to bomb people gone weird with water balloons, as a splash of water on their faces will wake them up from the trance (even if the said person is wearing a mask). They're even teleporting water balloons for others to toss - especially if it looks like someone is acting a bit too dangerously.
Another way is to strip them out of their clothes, but that might be something reserved for the privacy of a cabin, rather than the ballroom.
Even once someone has been freed from the spell they can unfortunately be spellbound again later on - but it's just less likely.
- Ask your questions related to the TDM here.
- The TDM is available only to friends of the mods and their friends. If you 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.
- Test Drive is open for current characters to make a top level as well. New characters can add TDM on their subject line to indicate they're new!
- 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.
no subject
Erwin feels his heart shatter and reform a thousand times as he watches years of thoughts and emotions compound themselves in Levi all at once, and then again with each word that finally flows from him in a voice that seems to almost collapse under the weight of them. The release of that burden winds its way into Erwin's chest, burrowing like shards of glass into his heart. He knew all of these things, had witnessed them from a spectral distance, but it still feels like hearing them for the first time. With every passing moment, he realizes just how muted that existence had been compared to the full vibrancy and agony of life.
The weight of it all finally dawns on him, blossoming with heady heaviness. He had been so close - so very, very close, to that personal vindication. His father's vindication. Yet in the end, in the very face of it all, he had become paralyzed between his dream and his duty.
Levi, in all of his grace, had freed him.
Erwin has left scores upon scores of corpses in his wake, of his soldiers, of innocents caught in the consequences of his decisions. He's left these scars upon Levi, both upon his body and upon his mind, his heart. How cruel and selfish, to have needlessly left him behind. Him and Hange both, abandoned to a world apparently set against them from the very beginning. So many have sacrificed so much for him, and what had he done for them in return?
It would be understandable if they had turned from him, from his memory. Who could blame them, if years of separation had brought a clarity and bitterness instead of a devotion to a decaying devil?
Erwin feels his throat tighten, a pressure of emotion closing it off, choking his breath as Levi leans into him rather than away. Even if he had been watching over him and everyone else left behind, a one-sided, muted existence is no substitution for this.
"Levi..." His heart closes around the name, an endearment, voice heavy with sorrow and guilt and gratefulness and a longing that seems to open like a void beneath his feet.
Almost like gravity pulling him, Erwin sinks down to one knee in front of Levi. His hand slips slowly from his cheek, but gently catches the hand that had been pressed against his. Tenderly he rests his forehead against the back of Levi's injured hand, in tacit acknowledgment of his sacrifice, of everything.
"You have fought well," he murmurs softly, finally returning Levi's words to him.
After, Erwin raises his eyes, seeking his face once more, the candlelight illuminating around his form like a halo.
"Forgive me."
angry sobbing wow u murdered me right there
But maybe none of that matters now. In this place, away from time and conclusions of their own world, if they can all be together again, maybe it doesn't need to matter.
He watches Erwin take a knee in front of him, mirroring that day in Shiganshina, bathed in candle light, looking tired, broken... and free. More so than he thinks he's ever seen him, save perhaps for those few last moments when he smiled and thanked him and walked away to ride to his death. Let him stay, he finds himself practically praying to the ones running this world. He doesn't have to bear all that weight here. Some of it might never go away, all those broken wings they carry for their fallen comrades, but their duty is done.
The deceased can finally rest, and so can they.
You have fought well. Just like that, the last chain comes undone. It's finally over. His eyes sting. He blinks it away, trying to stay focused on the man before him, touching him with reverence and finally, finally setting him free in return.
He stays still for a moment, quiet, then shifts his hand a little to hold onto Erwin's with his remaining fingers so he can gently nudge it out of the way, allowing him to see his face properly, meet those blue eyes again, like it hasn't been both a lifetime and barely any time at all since he's done it last.
And then he sinks down to join him -- perhaps too sudden, considering the small wince flashing in his expression, but he's not concerned about it right now -- never breaking that eye contact, like he's afraid to look away lest all of this disappears.
"You have done nothing I need to forgive," he says, squeezing Erwin's hand a little to accentuate his words, just in case he gets some silly idea that Levi doesn't mean every word he's saying.
He lingers there for a moment.
Then he mutters "Shit", or maybe "Fuck this", and shifts one leg letting both his knees end up
in the mudon the ground so he can lean forward over Erwin's shoulder and hook one arm awkwardly around him, fist at his back. It's a stiff, uncomfortable half-hug at best, but it's certainly a step farther than anything they've shared in the past, too.If Erwin fades into the candle light a moment later, he doesn't want to spend years wondering whether he truly expressed himself clearly, whether he did well enough to convince Erwin he had no debts to pay to him, that he was allowed to finally be at peace. After all, the least possible amount of regrets has always been their way.
excuse?? me?? drowns in my tears
And then Levi absolves him. Just like that. So simple, as though all of his sins could be washed away. Erwin has no doubt that Levi means every word that he says. Levi has never lied to him, not truly. Never in something like this. Yet as deep as their bond runs, threaded and woven with trust that is perhaps truly unbreakable, it can't erase the years of self loathing and doubt, the endless nights listening to voices calling him a liar and a devil, with just a few words.
Levi's presence has always been like a warm, gentle wind amidst a whirling storm. A respite, where he can set aside some of the heaviness he carries even if just for a short while. Death had been a numbing reprieve, but returned once again to what seems to be the full existence of life, all of those things have come flooding back.
You have done nothing I need to forgive. It isn't true. It simply isn't. But Erwin can try to come to believe it, because Levi has said it, because he is here and they have time, now.
Erwin squeezes that hand back, his remaining one to Levi's, half missing, and takes in a shuddering breath as tears sting at the corner of his eyes. Yet before he can think or say anything more, an arm wraps around his shoulders and Levi becomes the entire world. They've never once shared an embrace like this, intentional. Comfort flowed between them in other ways, in words and looks and deference. Touch had been mostly fleeting, perhaps an unspoken line not to be crossed.
It's a line they no longer need.
At first, Erwin goes completely still with surprise, but after less than a heartbeat, he melts into it as long held threads of tension seem to snap all at once. Distantly, Erwin curses his missing arm. Its phantom impulse twitches through his whole body, and if it'd been there it would wrap around Levi in turn and hold to him like a lost man clings to hope of discovery. For a moment, he just breathes him in, sinks into his warmth and his strength - familiar, even if diminished.
But finally, Erwin gives in, and carefully releases Levi's hand to wrap his only arm around his waist to embrace him back, pressed heart to heart for the first time.
"Levi..." he says his name again, a shuddering, fragile whisper, the realization finally settling in that all this is real.
no subject
He's here, he's really here. Levi unclenches his hand just so that he can grip the back of Erwin's jacket in it as he closes it again, holding on. He might be crying, he's not sure, but he doesn't feel like letting go just yet. It would be too easy to stay there forever, especially when after a moment he feels the gesture returned. He thinks he can feel the man's heartbeat; comforting and terrifying at the same time, as he wonders if this is inappropriate, or unwanted, or just too fucking weird. But hearing his name like that breaks any remaining doubts that he may have done something wrong.
"Oi, don't go soft on me now," he grumbles somewhere past Erwin's shoulder, but stubbornly holds on, or perhaps he just wants to hide his face for a moment longer while he tries to breathe himself into steadiness. Then an addition, quieter; "...I missed you."
And with that, he finally lets go, backing off to sort of sit on his heels and just take in the view in front of him again, still unconvinced he's not dreaming.
"When did you--?"
He couldn't have been here for long. Levi's certain he would have noticed, or heard, or somehow sensed him back at the apartment building, but perhaps that's just his own misconception. Hange had been at his door pretty much immediately once they arrived somehow, so he would expect no less from Erwin, too.
no subject
"And I missed you," he returns just as quietly.
So he's reluctant to let go, but when Levi begins to pull away, Erwin relents, never wishing to keep him trapped or caged. He takes a breath, and there's something like moisture clinging at the corners of his eyes, but no tears actually fell. It'd been the first time in...he couldn't say. Many, many years, perhaps since actual adolescence, since he had cried. Maybe once or twice, in pain, but otherwise, Erwin had thought he had lost the ability to cry long ago.
His hand trails away, seeking out Levi's even as they just sit there on the ground. He's not ready to be fully parted just yet, if Levi will let him.
"Earlier today. Morning, I think, but later, when they finally turned everyone loose." Erwin glances around them finally for a moment, a wondrous look coming over him before his gaze returns to the man in front of him, eyes glittering with reflected candlelight. "This place is absolutely fascinating, Levi. A man I first met in the apartments had a small dragon that rode on his shoulder. And the technology, the devices they gave us, lights that come on instantly instead of candles, it's-- incredible."
no subject
And now, he has another one. He's got Erwin back, too -- and he'd actually had time to grieve him, to accept the world without him, not that said acceptance was any less forced than a square hollow 'accepting' a triangle peg, to learn to live with that hole in his heart because there was never going to be a miracle. Now there has, and it somehow feels less believable because of it. He wonders if this is how Hange would feel if Moblit showed up here. And then he wonders if Jean's plan might actually work, if perhaps they might be able to bring everyone they know from their world here so they could live their lives without the kind of suffering they felt to back home.
He doesn't pull away, allowing Erwin the comfort of continuing to hold onto him, in a little more subtle way now, and he finds himself comforted by it, too. His fingers curl loosely around the other man's as if to assure him.
"It is," Levi agrees, his voice still a little choked at first, still stuck somewhere between crying and laughing, but instead he just settles into himself again. "The technology and the medicine, and don't laugh, but they have fucking magic here too. Sometimes I can't tell which is which."
He's not entirely sure how much of a rundown of the place Erwin actually needs, since it seems he got the orientation... but he sure remembers being lost as hell after his, aside from being able to locate his place to live. The kids seemed to have an easier time, somehow, despite them all coming from the same world; Armin had been 'posting' on the 'network' days after he showed up and Levi still needed help figuring out how to use the damn 'phone' to pay for groceries sometimes. He wasn't even that old! Anyway--
"Have you seen the picture boxes?" He means TV, which is clearly a marvel of modern science. "Hange took mine apart the moment they got here." Because Erwin should know they're here, too. And while it might sound like a complaint, but there's a subtle fondness to his expression, like he's glad they found something to be excited about more than he's upset about the damages, which is true. Honestly, he was excited too, if about different appliances, as Erwin is about to find out in a moment. After all, just because he never had proper education or time to appreciate the intricacies of the natural sciences doesn't mean he hates technology.
"Hot water in the bathroom never runs out. There's machines that wash your clothes for you. And these little pancake looking things that clean the floors." His voice sounds just as flat as always for most people, but Erwin is one of the lucky few who can probably detect fascination in his tone.
(Guess who's been slowly getting roombas for everyone he knows whenever there was an occasion. Guess what Erwin is getting for his birthday once he realizes what day it is.)
"And-- we can stay here. We don't have to go back."
They don't have to go back to being dead that is, Erwin and Hange and Eren and anyone else who might (hopefully) show up next.
An important piece of information he was ready to torture out of the city leader had he not offered it for free, as soon as he realized people were showing up here even after death, and he imagines it's something that should put Erwin's mind a little at ease in that regard, assure him that he has all the time in the world to explore the wonders of this place.
no subject
Erwin feels like his soul itself is coming back to life, the longer they sit together like this - even on the ground.
Hange is here - of course they are. But it's still glad to hear that Levi isn't here on his own.
We don't have to go back. His hand tightens reflexively on Levi's, gazing at him intently now. That, more than anything, is an endorsement. Whatever unknowns there may be, they're nothing that's insurmountable, there's nothing that makes the devil of the world they know better than the knowns and the unknowns here. The multitudes of comforts would mean little if there was a heavier price than home to pay. Than what they've already paid.
"That is good to hear. You all deserve more than to be dragged back into hell."
He doesn't realize the irony of his own words.
"I've learned some things of this world, but it seems there is still so much more. I hope I can prevail upon you and the others to show me what all you've discovered." Because he wants to know everything.
"Come, let us find a more comfortable place to talk." Because he had noticed that wince, and as much as Erwin knows Levi will tolerate many things for him when needed, that's no reason to keep them both in the dirt unnecessarily. He shifts to his feet, still holding Levi's hand to guide them both upward.
"Who else is here? And tell me a little more about this magic."
1/2
"So do you," he says firmly. After all, that was also part of his decision to let Erwin go back then, regardless of the agony it had caused him.
He's had some time to reflect on the whole home issue, too. They would have to rebuild, but... hadn't his role really ended years ago, anyway? The brats had it all covered, from what Gabi had told him, and she would be fine going forward too, with how strong she was proving to be every day. What else would they need from him, alone and crippled? His duty was finally complete. The lives he carried with him vindicated, set to rest. The world didn't need him anymore.
And then he ended up here, and he'd gotten someone back. There was no question in his mind that Hange deserved another life here, even if he didn't extend the same courtesy to himself at first. They had given everything they had to the cause, including their very life. Surely nobody had the right to ask anything more of them.
And now Erwin was here too, and the same applied to him.
Would it really be so terrible to be selfish this one time, let himself stay with them?
It took him way too long to decide that no, no it wouldn't, but he did in the end. They'd even made a little promise by the lakeside, him, Hange and Eren, that they'd stay right the fuck here once they found out (via Levi threatening the guild leader, of course) that it was an option. And he always did good on his promises, didn't he?
Erwin starts rising to his feet, and Levi stays still for a moment, still in the dirt, staring stubbornly at the indent in the ground where his knee used to be. Then he glances up, somewhere between resigned, frustrated and amused.
"...I'm gonna need you to help me up," he says simply, mostly as a warning so Erwin can brace himself before Levi uses that hand as leverage to pull himself up with a small grunt, though he won't shuck off any additional aid either, at least this time, if the other man wishes to offer it.
Once he's actually on his feet, Erwin may notice that he's wearing something on his left leg that doesn't look like anything they may have had at home. It seems it's not quite enough to let him get up quickly on his own though, or maybe it would just be awkward and Levi just doesn't want to make a scene of it when there's a subtler option available to him.
2/2
"There's a bunch of us here," he starts as they walk. "Me, Hange, Eren, Jean, Mikasa and Historia. Armin just showed up last month. You haven't met Gabi, but she's a good kid. And Reiner. I don't know how much you know about what happens after --" his grip tightens a little, then he just continues, "well, lots of shit went and will go down, but we've got a truce of sorts right now."
He proceeds to explain, the best he can, that everyone seems to be from different moments in time, judging from their last memories of home. That some of them have apparently been to different worlds before this one. He'll also accent that Jean and Mikasa don't want to know anything about the end of the world, and that they should let them have that because they've got a good life here and the only thing telling them the truth would do is ruin their peace.
"...As for magic," he finally gets to the last part, as they enter a small bar, "it will be easier to show you."
He lets go of him, finally, to hold his hands in front of himself as if he's shielding a candle from a flame, but instead, a small clear ball of liquid seems to form between his palms, weaving and amorphous, and then with a quick flick of hand he sends it careening toward
Hijikatasome nearby asshole with a cigarette who's blatantly missing the ashtray, extinguishing it without them even noticing what happened.no subject
Levi's hand is warm in contrast to the air around them, the shape of it familiar and yet not (like so many things about him, and Erwin can't decide what to do with those feelings just now; to be miserable and guilt ridden because of the things that it had cost someone he cares for so deeply, to be just happy to see him again at all, nevermind being told that they can stay...all of them...it feels too much and impossible and too good to be true).
Erwin folds his fingers over the back of Levi's smaller palm as they walk, following his lead for a change. Perhaps for now it's enough just to be happy to marvel at the miracle of having this again: Levi, at his side.
He listens intently, not paying particular attention to where they're going, focused on the sound of Levi's voice, the soft edges on the cadence of his words. How stark the contrast is, between hearing him as a shadowless spirit and standing next to him in the flesh yet again. And when Levi grips his hand harder, Erwin grips back, thumb brushing softly over his skin. It happens without thinking.
Jean and Mikasa preferring to stay in ignorance is an interesting, although not unexpected, choice. Perhaps it would be better to hold onto the fact that he's already aware of much of what happened, even if the emotions that might have attached themselves to those events never fully developed. The awareness is still not as strong as his memories from the course of his life, but he still knows. Yet the others need not know that - not yet, anyway - especially as they all apparently come from disparate times (and other worlds? Erwin will have to pick their brains about those experiences, at some point).
As buzzing as his mind is, he just nods, still holding Levi's hand. "I understand."
The bar is cozy - small but not crowded, dimly lit (with electricity rather than candles, although some of those appear on tables too, possibly for ambiance). Erwin watches with utter fascination as a small bead of water forms between Levi's palms and then shoots away across the room, almost too fast to follow.
"Amazing," he breathes, eyes bright and curious. Perhaps he seems overly impressed by a simple action, even for someone who has seen people transform into Titans. But this is far different, as far as he's concerned. Erwin gently catches Levi's hand again with his own, thumb tracing over his palm with unvarnished curiosity, feeling for a hint of moisture. "How do you do it? And anyone can learn?"
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Blaming Erwin or his dreams for his current state had never even occurred to him. It's all Levi, after all, fucking up time after time, failing to fulfill his promise, failing to let the 229 souls of their friends and subordinates lost to that fucking monkey rest. And even before then, Erwin had been the one to finally lift him out of darkness; how could he possibly feel wronged rather than grateful?
At some point, he becomes aware that they're still holding onto each other. It's... a little awkward, maybe, now that he thinks about it, but there's also that whole touch energy thing that Levi hasn't delved into yet, and he certainly wouldn't want Erwin turning into a statue, so it's probably fine. And damn, he's missed him. It's been years. It's just nice to have that reassurance that he's actually there, solid, real. Surely if Erwin found it inappropriate, he would have let him know by now.
Unless he's suffering it because of some misplaced guilt again. Well, Levi will set him right soon enough if he has a say in it. For now, magic sounds like a nice, safe topic that they do need to cover anyway.
"Anyone from other places," he clarifies. "Anyone like us. But you get one element to start with." He pauses, looking Erwin over. "Do you remember where you woke up?"
"And I'm not sure how I do it. I just... feel it." Much like his hidden, feral power, it tended to sort of just happen when he needed it, at least at first. He's quite good at calling it forward when he wants to, now, but he still tended to use familiar moves, motions of limbs usually used in other kinds of combat. The first time he moved a large amount of water, he'd been doing his 3DMG spins mid-air, the splashes working as extensions of his blades. "You just need to let it click."
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Far from inappropriate, the touch is welcome - wonderfully so. Maybe it is the energy from this place, but the contact feels like a balm against the tumult of the sharp feelings of life and reality and all of the emotions that come with it, of the almost overwhelming, overstimulating experience of finding himself in someplace entirely, fascinatingly new. Levi's hand is a blessedly familiar anchor in a strange storm.
Even with the strength of their bond, touch had been a rare thing before. Yet after only a few minutes spent together here, Erwin is starting to think that they'd held back unnecessarily.
Miraculously, they have time now to correct that.
"I see." So it must be meant to be intuitive, whatever it is.
Erwin thinks back a moment, his touch relaxing though not falling away, almost reluctant to let Levi go even for a few moments. So much has happened in the space of only a few hours. "It was an endless forest, in autumn. All of the trees seemed to be at the height of their color." It had been beautiful, really, peaceful.
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"Huh," Levi says as he pictures it, except he's not thinking of the unknown seasonal location but back home, red and orange hues drowning the city, rustling under his boots and sinking into the cemetery soil. Absent-mindedly, he's drawing a little circle into Erwin's hand with his thumb. He's still there, still present. "I guess that fits."
"Like you said, it's autumn. It's connected to the earth element."
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"Does it? What makes you say that?" Erwin can't help but be curious about what Levi means there, noticing the almost distant look on his face.
"I see - so that informs the sort of magic I can learn." He remembers something about that from earlier that day, after their arrival.
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The scent of damp soil. We finally brought you home during fall.
"Just a feeling I have," Levi says, glancing down at the table. He's not sure how to say any of that with words, how to explain the hole Erwin had left in their lives. Maybe -- maybe they could ask for another test with those metal titans, let him just pour the entirety of his feelings into Erwin and let him figure out the rest.
They're finally noticed by the barkeep, and Levi quickly mumbles their order of tea before they retreat again. Then he's turning to watch Erwin again, his one good eye trailing carefully over his features.
"That's right," he says, and adds a little more brightly, "I might know someone who could show you the ropes. She's busy for a couple more weeks, but after that. If you'd like."
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After a beat, he carefully curls his fingers around Levi's hand once more and gentle cradles them together, quietly acknowledging. A warmth seems to flow between them, power flowing palm to palm, and in its own way, it's soothing.
Erwin doesn't ask him to explain further.
He still doesn't let go as the barkeep comes and takes their order, but as always is content to let Levi slip away whenever he needs. Erwin gazes back at him, his memory filling in the missing eye as he smiles a little.
"I would," he answers, voice low and warm. "I'll take all the help I can get."
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He's not sure how to take Erwin's gesture, that soothing hold on his fingers, but he'll do his best to return it, them both holding onto each other a little tighter.
It seems he understands. Levi would expect nothing less.
"Good. I think you'll get along," Levi says, clearly a little happier with the topic change. He almost starts talking up Gabi when he realizes Erwin still has no idea who she is, probably only remembers Reiner as an enemy agent too. "Right, I should... tell you what happened. It's a long story though, and I'd rather show you to Hange first."
Partly because he'll never hear the end of it otherwise, but he also knows that they had missed him, too. He would know; after all, it was the two of them for four long years after that.
There's a tea tray being placed on their table, and Levi pulls it closer, glancing inside the kettle for a moment to determine if it's steeped enough, and then pouring two small cups, pushing one toward Erwin.
"They talked about touch energy at the briefing, right?"
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Erwin is reluctant to let go - their prolonged touch is comforting in a way that is both new and familiar, but unfortunately whatever powers that exist here didn't see fit to return his right arm to him, and so he releases Levi's hand to reach for the tea once it's been poured. He raises the cup to his lips, inhaling the scent before taking a sip, and it smells better, tastes better than he remembers - every sense seems just a little bit sharper after so long a ghost.
"Mm," he returns the cup to its saucer with a gentle clink. "Yes, they did. Is that what we've been feeling?"
Surely not just that...but Erwin would rather know if that is the case.
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He seems to notice that reluctance and shifts a little closer, allowing their legs to touch casually under the table. It's not much, but it's contact, and he hopes Erwin finds some comfort in it.
"Some of it, at least," Levi tells his cup, but doesn't move his knee away. The magic may contribute to that rush of energy that follows the touches, but the relief, the happiness, that has to be all them, right? Because he never thought this would be possible, because he cleaned Erwin's bones and put them in the ground, and yet here he was, sitting next to him, alive and whole -- one arm here or there.
"The magic here, it runs on touch. So you want plenty of that if you wanna use it. But not just that. If you don't touch anyone, it takes about a week for you to turn to stone."
"In other words, no going off into the segments alone," he adds, because making it about missions somehow feels safer, closer to home.
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There's the faintest widening of his eyes as he feels Levi's knee come to rest companionably against him. Erwin hadn't expected that...at all, really. Of course they've touched each other at home on occasion; Erwin's hand on Levi's shoulder, a brief, fleeting touch to his back, a brush of fingers as they exchange stacks of paperwork. Carriage rides necessarily meant that their legs had touched, and Erwin distinctly remembers one where they'd traveled to Stohess ahead of their mission to capture the Female Titan, with Levi's injured ankle elevated carefully in his lap.
Which is to say: it's very comforting, to know that he seems to want to keep this fleeting connection together for as long as possible, too.
Erwin is about to ask in what sort of conditions one could be far enough from another person for so long for that to be worrisome, but Levi answers it easily enough.
"I see." He only just manages to resist the urge to brush his leg more intentionally against Levi's. "How do you know when you have enough touch to use your magic?"
Erwin looks closely at Levi, watching his expressions carefully. "Are they that dangerous?"
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Levi's actually not entirely correct in his explanation; the touch and the magic energy are technically separate, even if they feed off each other, and one could safely run out of the latter without becoming a statue, but he's going off his own limited experience.
"You just know, I guess. You feel tired when you're low. Some rest helps, too, in that case."
He's a little uncertain of the scrutiny, whether Erwin's merely trying to gauge the risks of this world, or if he's doing something pointless like worrying about Levi.
"It varies. It's not as dangerous as anything we did back home, that's for sure. Doesn't mean it's always a walk in the park. The mission requests usually asses the risk levels pretty well."
He'd tell Erwin to just not sign up for anything that says dangerous on the briefing, but that would probably be a lost cause, wouldn't it?
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As for the scrutiny: a little of column A, a little of column B; he wants to know the risks, and he wants to know what Levi thinks of them, what his experience with it all is. It's obvious, of course, that he can't move the way that he used to; that in and of itself has to be and adjustment, one that Erwin can well sympathize with. He hopes that Levi isn't pushing himself, even so. And while Erwin couldn't promise that he'll stay entirely away from briefs that indicate danger, it's unlikely that he's going to be jumping into them head first.
Erwin makes a little hum of acknowledgment, raising his cup to his lips again. They're in a quiet little bar, but he can almost imagine them sitting together in his quarters late at night like they used to, discussing the day or what's to come. They'd shared one last time such as this the night before Shiganshina, although there had been an unusual undercurrent of tension between them in the wake of him revealing is true goal and purpose to Levi hours earlier.
It's a wonderful relief, that it won't have been truly their last.
"Have you been on many of these missions so far?"
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His movement may be impaired, but he thinks it's actually less noticeable in the air. Sure, even with the brace, he tends to favor his right leg more to support his weight now, and it can sometimes slow him down when he's moving in the opposite direction, but not badly enough that he's not still an absolute menace with the 3DMG.
Unfortunately, he has been pushing himself especially when he had just arrived and had to get around with a crutch. He had been... in mourning, still, and a bit in denial, and perhaps just desperate to prove that he wasn't going to be a burden. Some verbal smackdowns from the kids, and later Hange, evened him out a bit. Now he takes it easier, though whether or not he already caused some more damage was a question left unanswered. He's managed to accept his new limitations and work around them, as always.
This, though? This almost feels like they're back to their old selves, even if both of them are missing some pieces.
"I have," he confirms. He'd also once embarked on over a week-long quest having only left a note for Eren and Hange, and ended up quite chewed out over it, but he'll leave that part out for now. Maybe one of them will snitch on him, though. That seems to be happening a lot lately. "It pays well, and it gives me something useful to do."
Something that helps the people here, more importantly. After all, that was why they were brought here, right? Levi wasn't going to give them any pretext to send any of them back for slacking if he had a say in it, not that he wouldn't do the same either way. He couldn't just leave anyone suffering if he had the means to change it.
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"Is that so? I'm glad." And he is - Erwin can't imagine Levi sitting around when there were opportunities to help, no matter how small. The word useful doesn't go unnoticed, either. He could never be useless, but Erwin well understands the need to do something, even if he doesn't have any desire to be a Commander any longer - sitting still was never something either of them would adapt to easily.
"I'd like to go with you on one sometime." A beat, the corner of his lips twitching, well remembering Levi's threat the night before they left. "If you'll allow it."
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It's probably very familiar to Erwin, Levi's innate need to be useful, so deep ingrained that he's not even aware of it most times. But perhaps, to some extent, it had been driving him for a long time, and perhaps, it still is. Do well so that you're not abandoned again. Do well so that you're not a disappointment. Do well so that you won't be sent back.
Levi looks Erwin over critically. There are certainly some tasks that he wouldn't take an injured soldier on (the irony, considering his own state), but there's plenty every month that are harmless or even entertaining. And, of course, if Erwin does end up going regardless, Levi would rather be there with him than not.
"Fine by me," he finally says.
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