seasonsmods: (Default)
Seasons Mods ([personal profile] seasonsmods) wrote in [community profile] seasonsgreetings2023-10-13 12:35 am
Entry tags:

Test Drive Meme #5


Test Drive Meme #5
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.

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?





Light a Candle For You




Part 1


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.

Part 2


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.







We All Become What We Pretend To Be




Part 1


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".

Part 2


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.




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 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.



code bases by tricklet
sunspotted: no, fuck it, i'm going to the strip club (well if they don't get here soon...)

it's just a jump to the left

[personal profile] sunspotted 2023-10-30 02:07 am (UTC)(link)
Marco lifts another lantern to the sky - this one for another fallen member of the Training Corps, another team mate who didn't make it through Trost - when he hears his own name. That makes him look up from where he's been keeping his head down, praying.

He realizes it's Eren a moment after, between the voice and the appearance of the teen - no, the man in front of him. He's taller, his hair longer, his shoulders seeming to bend under the weight of the world.

But all Marco can think is - Thank Rose. Eren had died, but then he wasn't dead and instead was inside a Titan. And then he had to get back inside that Titan again to save them all. Marco couldn't even begin to fathom what had been going on, instead playing his role to keep Eren safe.

He should, by all rights, be worried that Eren was one of them. The same people who had abandoned him to die in the hands of another Titan. But, there's a part of himself that is convinced that's not what Eren could ever be.

Marco smiles when Eren asks if he's really here.

"I - yeah. I'm really here, Eren. And you're here too."

He follows the surge of emotion, reaching out like he's going to grasp at Eren's shoulders, but instead wrapping his arms around him in a hug.

"Mikasa and Armin were so worried - I was worried. I'm glad you're still you."
dreamsofwings: (72)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-10-30 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Out of everyone Eren has encountered, he realises that Marco knows the least. He died long before they knew anything. Eren barely understood being a titan then.

But Marco…he died because he learned that Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie were traitors. Titans come from who the hell knew where to crash into the walls and…well, he has no idea what Marco knows or gleaned. Enough of the truth they killed him for it.

He wonders almost idly how fucked up this is going to be for Reiner. The consequences of your actions staring you in the face sure do suck! Eren would know.

"Yeah. I'm here too," he says, hollowly, still trying to set any of this right in his head. Sure, he knows about the death thing, that it doesn't matter here, but it's hard to see a boy who died so long ago standing here and —

And Marco hugs him. He's so shocked by it that he freezes entirely. He's not all that used to being hugged in general. But in the end he hugs Marco back. Weird, to be the taller one. Not much, but it's a difference.

"Holy shit, Marco. Don't worry. I'm fine." That is so far from being true, but he says it anyway.
sunspotted: she started crying because she thought she was an eagle (she's not allowed to do acid anymore)

i love that eren is the one who's like marco??? tf

[personal profile] sunspotted 2023-10-31 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
Eren was so short compared to Marco before - even if it's just barely, that he's this tall is definitely different. Marco gives him another squeeze in the hug. He can't even begin to conceive of how much Eren has gone through. What all of them have gone through.

What he learned was enough to kill him. Enough to make him stop and ask them what they'd said, because Eren turning into a Titan had opened up a whole new concept to consider for him.

"Well, I'm just making sure you're fine," he says after a moment, letting Eren go and giving him a sad smile. Because that's Marco in a nutshell - checking in on others even when he's not doing his best himself. "It's not every day - well. Seeing anyone turn into a Titan isn't something I thought I'd ever witness."
dreamsofwings: (65)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-10-31 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe Marco will get caught up in Eren's stupid ass plan to tell Reiner the future, and then he can imagine it better! This is probably good news for no one.

In the meantime, Eren just stands here and hugs him back as best he can. He knows he's weird and out of time, but he exists like that so often that he just sort of…keeps going. Other people around him know something is off, but only Levi so far has a real idea of how bad it is.

His eyes linger on that sad smile. He doesn't return it. Eren doesn't smile these days, sadly or otherwise. He's…getting there, maybe, but that's a step further than he can manage to get.

"Wait til you see what I can do with it," he says, because that's easier than directly addressing the years between them, Marco's death, Reiner's part in it — in all of it, or Eren's off the rails response to…everything.
sunspotted: no, fuck it, i'm going to the strip club (well if they don't get here soon...)

[personal profile] sunspotted 2023-11-01 09:32 am (UTC)(link)
Marco can tell something is off. It's immediately noticeable in the lack of (obvious) emotion on Eren's face. He remembers him as someone who was easy to read, even if you missed the nuances of why. Anger, joy at succeeding, sadness, those were easy to follow. While Marco's relieved Eren isn't crying on him, there's a part of him that also expected that kind of reaction, given some of the other encounters he's had.

So the statement is met with Marco looking over him again with just his eyes, before he answers it.

"Yeah? Bet it's pretty impressive." And terrifying - Marco remembers being terrified of that aberrant Titan. Sixteen years of drilled in fear doesn't go away so easily, but he tries. "Think you could catch me up on what's going on?"
dreamsofwings: (07)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-11-01 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)
When Eren lets go of Marco and takes a step back, he shoves his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He's had this habit for more than a year now, a way of drawing into himself without his posture (which is no longer as good as it was during training when they all stood at attention all the time) changing much.

He shrugs.

"Yeah. It is," he says without bragging. Whatever he feels about titans now is complicated. He screamed so often in the past that he would eradicate all titans. His viewpoint has changed, of course. He's not sure how he'd even exist without being a titan anymore, but it's not something he has to seriously think about either. The power he's acquired is impressive, though. He's never the fastest or the strongest, but he's dedicated. Having time to learn more about how the War Hammer works makes all of that stronger.

"I…what do you wanna know? This is Ellipsa? Magic exists? Death doesn't matter all that much?"
sunspotted: (this gyro tastes like loneliness)

[personal profile] sunspotted 2023-11-02 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
Marco's eyes widen a bit at that list of things - he's already been told that magic exists, but he hadn't bought it. Death not mattering, well, he was an example of that. He woke up intact, after all.

He shakes his head, however, pressing his lips together slightly.

"I mean - back home, Eren. You're obviously older than me now, so.. what happened?" Immediately after he says that, though, a sympathetic look crosses his face. "If you don't want to talk about it, I understand."
dreamsofwings: (50)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-11-02 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
Eren's eyes slide away from Marco at that question. Is Eren the best person to ask? No, Eren's a liar. He's also not always sure the order in which things happen/happened/will happen. When everything happens at one time in his head constantly, that sort of chronology simply doesn't matter.

"We found out we weren't the last of humanity," he finally answers after too long a pause. "They lied to us. Brainwashed us for a hundred fucking years."

There it is, his simmering rage, the one emotion he never managed to suppress. Even now he's so angry at the world and its disappointments, the world and its hatred that he now reflects back at it. Eren couldn't handle the hatred of the world and now the world will be forced to reckon with his.

Not now. Not this Eren as he is here. He doesn't want to do that.

But he still would. That's the worst part, the unspoken thing between him and Hange and Levi. He doesn't want to do it, and that's true. His own wants could never stop him though.

He reins that in slightly.

"Do you remember Armin talking about the ocean?"
sunspotted: but i assume nachos wouldn't be out of the question at one. (i've never been to an orgy)

[personal profile] sunspotted 2023-11-02 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
The quiet between them is yawning, cavernous in its silence. There's a gulf of experiences between them. Things Marco can't even begin to imagine, revelations that would (will) break his heart. He's never been quite as pragmatic as Jean or Armin.

Eren drops his bombshells and Marco feels them shatter at his feet. His breath feels like it stops for a moment, and he has to take a conscious effort to breathe. Not the last. They were lied to. Brainwashed?

"Oh." It's all he can say for the moment, his entire home world view reconfiguring as he thinks about that. But Eren speaks again, making him listen. He mentions the ocean.

"Yeah, I remember him talking about that." The lake-that-was-not-a-lake, as Marco rationalized it. Water as far as the eye could see, even as an adult.
dreamsofwings: (36)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-11-02 08:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Eren knows that it's a lot to take in, and he hasn't even started. The five years between them feel like an uncrossable gulf now. Who knew so much could happen in five years? Who knew the history of the world was so bleak?

Well, a lot of people did, apparently. But only a handful of people on Paradis knew, and they'd been willing to kill to protect that secret. They probably still would be if they held any power (or were still alive, whatever).

Marley and all of that, the world that Eren still despises, can wait.

"It's real," he says instead. "The ocean." Unfortunately he's still Eren, not fifteen and brimming with passion and (a twisted sense of) idealism, but twenty and haunted. His feelings about the ocean are complicated; when he says this to Marco, it doesn't really sound like a good thing. He can't help his lingering disdain for the idea that the ocean was only another cage.

"There's something like that here. It's not quite an ocean like it would have been at home, but…well, you've never seen anything like it. Wanna go there?"
sunspotted: like horse ugly. but he was built for power, not speed. (he was ugly)

[personal profile] sunspotted 2023-11-02 08:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Marco's upset just to learn about the burgeoning lies they were told. There's also a smaller part of him that's upset because it feels like - no, not feels like. Because everyone has grown past him, matured and experienced things he hasn't (and never will). He's upset by that too. Resents it.

But mostly - he can't break down again. Not in front of Eren, and not here. So any obvious sadness and resentment are shoved down deep to address later.

"Really?" Instead he focuses on that dream of Armin's. Eren doesn't sound excited, but he also follows up his statement by offering to show him the not-ocean here. Marco sniffs, and if he's clearing the barest of tears out of his eyes he's pretty sure Eren won't mention it.

"Yeah. It'd be nice, you can show me around. Oh -"

Marco looks around, remembering the lanterns. "I can wait for you to finish?"
dreamsofwings: (67)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-11-04 03:09 am (UTC)(link)
Eren would probably understand if Marco did break down, but he was never good at comfort back when he was still a person. Now, on the other side of the war (or in the middle of it, or just before it, depending on your perspective; Eren's perspective is all of the above), he would have no idea what to do. He's not a good person to explain. He's not a good person to cry on. He's just not a good person, really.

"Ah, yeah…" Eren says, unsure if he should do the last one or just come back later. No. That's not fair. He owes his mother so much more than that.

He owes her so much more than he could ever give back or make up for. She would be ashamed of him, but even that couldn't stop what came/would come next, whether he's deferred it to live here or not.

"Gimme a minute," he says, turning back to the water. He doesn't care if Marco sees. He doesn't care who sees. He's never been embarrassed about being a mama's boy.

He lights the last lantern and sets it into the water gently.

"Carla," he says, softly. This is definitely an emotion! Gold star, Eren.

After watching it float into the water for a moment, he stands up and looks back to Marco.

"Okay. Come on."

He leads Marco off to the teleporter that will take them to Solarpeak and the pseudo ocean. It still looks like an ocean to Eren, vast and impossible. But they could cross it easily and there wouldn't just be war and horror on the other side.

He stops quite a ways from the beach, waiting on Marco and his reaction to this. This is a lot to dump on a guy, he knows, especially a guy who experienced death. But this is much easier than revealing any of the future. The future is too grim for anyone to hold, so Eren just holds it all.
sunspotted: with a shirt on. (literally not a single pic of him)

[personal profile] sunspotted 2023-11-04 05:55 am (UTC)(link)
Marco stays quiet, watching Eren as he lights the last lantern and sets it afloat. As sad as it is, it's reassuring to know Eren hasn't been completely made blank by whatever he's gone through. Even if his unsmiling face is still giving Marco a large amount of concern.

He follows Eren through the teleporter, still not used to the technology but not suspicious like he'd been originally.

Marco, at least, has the exact reaction of someone who's never seen the ocean before, in all of his sixteen year old glory. His eyes get wide, staring out at the sand and the water lapping up on the beach.

"W-woah... This is...!"

Exactly as Armin described and nothing like it. It might be a lot, but at least Eren gets to witness something happy from Marco: him starting to laugh, and run down into the sand, almost tripping in it until he makes it into the water, shoes, socks and pants be damned.

"It's so cold! Why does it smell so weird here? Oh - cough - it really is salty..."
dreamsofwings: (17)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-11-06 03:30 am (UTC)(link)
Eren only wishes he had been made blank for real. All of the blankness he showed Levi and the others was cultivated, shoved into place like armour so that he could carry out his lunatic plan to end the world. Or to have them kill him and become heroes. It's the same plan, he's just not entirely sure of the ending.

Well. He is now, thanks to Levi more or less telling him. But he wasn't always sure.

He stands still there on the shore and watches Marco's reaction. This isn't even the real ocean, but it doesn't matter. Marco should have been there with them to see it, not murdered for knowing the truth. He doesn't have the same grudge Jean does about Marco's death, of course. People died around them all the time. A lot of those deaths were indirectly Reiner's fault, Bertholdt's fault, Annie's fault. Some of them were more direct, like Levi's squad. Like Marco. But he's glad Marco could see this now.

"Don’t drink it, it's all saltwater," he says, following after but stopping out of the reach of the waves. He had been weird and distant when everyone else saw it for the first time, too, back home. He'd wanted that ocean to mean freedom, but it never had.

This one…well, who knows what this one means. This whole place means freedom in a sense, he just hasn't figured out what to do with it.

"It's amazing, right?"
sunspotted: (what would it be like to be a firework)

[personal profile] sunspotted 2023-11-06 10:19 am (UTC)(link)
The truth is, Marco just wants to know why Reiner did what he did. The more he tries to muster up continued anger, the harder it is to keep going. Reiner was his friend - it's hard to imagine continuing to hate him.

He doesn't know if he can forgive him, but Marco's not the kind of person to keep up that level of hate directed at someone. Even one of the people who ended his life.

After getting his shoes wet, Marco's smart enough to pull off them and his socks, holding the wet items in one hand as he kicks around in the shallows. Thankfully he doesn't try to drink more salt water, and he looks up at Eren with a grin.

"Yeah, it is. I know you said it's not the same as the one back home but it's still... wow."

He looks out at the ocean here, the slight breeze ruffling his bangs.

"It's hard to believe there's something like this back home. It felt like the entire world was inside those walls."
Edited 2023-11-06 10:19 (UTC)
dreamsofwings: (39)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-11-06 02:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe if they get into it sometime, Eren can explain Reiner's motivations. He understands better than anyone. Though Marco specifically…maybe not. Eren's got a macro view, after all.

Eren doesn't bother joining Marco in the water. He lets Marco do his thing, enjoying the surf and the probably strange push and pull of it. Eren himself finds it disorienting, standing here watching a friend who didn't live to see it splashing around in the sea. He has enjoyed(?) being here before, like the day of the beach party. He comes here sometimes when it's quietest, at dusk or something, because of course he does.

"The one back home is way bigger," he says. "The walls were always meant only to cage us in."
sunspotted: with your imaginary friend last night, when he didn't catch you after a surprise trust fall. (you got in a fight)

[personal profile] sunspotted 2023-11-06 02:22 pm (UTC)(link)
When the water rushes back out to see, it leaves sand over Marco's toes - like he's sinking into it. He wiggles them, feeling himself settle in a little more.

"Who decided that - to cage us in?" he asks, and then glances at Eren. "If you want to talk about it." He wouldn't blame Eren for wanting to leave talk of what happened at home behind for a while longer.
dreamsofwings: (60)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-11-06 03:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Eren does take a step or two closer. The waves might just touch his boots, but he's not concerned about that. They're just boots. As long as he doesn't track water or sand into the apartment, it's fine.

He chews on his lip for a second, considering. All his nervous little habits are like this, almost self-destructive, channeling the energy he doesn't even realise he still has into something. It's just so rarely something good, even when he's trying.

"The first king, I guess," he answers. God, there's so much Marco doesn't even know.

"Karl Fritz, that first king, he brought a bunch of people like us — they call us Eldians, after the name of the kingdom we originated in 2,000 years ago — to the island. Uh. An island is like…land all surrounded by water. All the land we live on is Paradis Island. The ocean is on every side once you actually get out far beyond the walls."

There's that resentment in his voice again. The island is as much a cage as the walls are, but he won't get directly into it right now.

"Karl Fritz was someone who could do what I can," he says, which is and isn't exactly accurate, "I mean be a titan."

He's quiet again for a second.

"Marco," he says, quietly but not too quiet that he can't be heard. "Titans were all people once. Every single one of them. Most can't retain their regular memories and shit, or control it like I can. But they were all human beings."
sunspotted: sleeping with dudes who own peacocks apparently (what am i doing with my life?)

just does a handwave of timey wimey stuff so i can add more blurb

[personal profile] sunspotted 2023-11-06 04:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Marco drops his shoes in the ocean.

He's not really sure where they go when they slip from his stunned fingers, and at this point he doesn't care. His eyes are wide, and Eren may or may not recognize the expression on his face - the look of someone who realizes they've taken a life.

Jean had mentioned the King was a lie, that Historia was the real queen - and this must have been why. The first King was a shifter, a Titan, like Eren, and he brought them to that island. It's not a stretch to realize that he built those walls. The information barely sinks into his brain before Eren tells him that they were all human beings.

He doesn't say anything for a long time, he just looks through Eren. Finally he speaks again.

"I don't ... understand. How?"
dreamsofwings: (25)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-11-06 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Eren half-notes Marco's shoes falling into the water but he doesn't do anything about it. Maybe he could, what, try to grab them out of the water, lose them to the tide? They can get more shoes. Eren isn't in any sort of space to be helpful at the moment.

He stands there and lets Marco look at him (not quite at him; he should know that look well enough considering how often he looks through people these days). He doesn't really meet Marco's gaze though. He just looks down at the sand.

"How? Well, who knows," he says with a shrug. He doesn't mean to push that explanation off on someone else, but ultimately, it's weird and difficult.

"Ymir — not the one you know, but the founder, the first titan — passed on this ability to anyone descended from her. Any of us could theoretically become titans, but you've seen how titans are. Mindless. Eating other people. Don't ask me why it's like that. There are nine titan shifters. Well…there are nine titan shifter powers. But I have three of them, so there's only seven of us right now."

He knows he's just kind of rambling; he's not good at cohesion when it comes to thoughts, to history, to overcoming his fury at the world and their circumstances.

"Anyway, it's not spontaneous. You won't just become a titan or anything. It's just we have the potential to do it because we're descended from Ymir."
sunspotted: (where are my eyebrows?)

[personal profile] sunspotted 2023-11-06 07:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Marco really hates the 'who knows' explanation when Eren says that, giving a grimace at Eren even if the other isn't looking at him. He at least doesn't interrupt him, letting him explain. They're all descended from the First Titan - which means any of them could become one. Eren's powers are different, and that makes sense.

Reiner must be one of them - he'd said something about his Titan. Bertolt, too, if he was talking about 'the hole he made'. Did that make Annie one as well?

He relaxes a little when Eren says it isn't spontaneous. That's reassuring, but he still feels sick to his stomach.

"So... however people become a Titan... do the Titans just eventually die?" Wouldn't that mean there's theoretically a finite amount of Titans, even as his stomach lurches at the thought of killing (former?) humans.
Edited 2023-11-06 19:06 (UTC)
dreamsofwings: (45)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-11-06 07:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Eren doesn't answer right away, of course. He's not entirely sure how to answer it.

"…Not really. Regular titans, like the ones we've been fighting for a century, they never just die. They can just exist like that forever. But titans like me, we…"

There's still so much he hasn't said. Titans like him. Like Reiner. Like Armin, but he's not even sure he'll get to that.

"We have thirteen years to live from the time we become titans shifters."

He finally looks up.

"I don't want you to worry about that, though. I'm not going anywhere as long as I'm in this world. One of the leaders, Dawn, she said that the curse won't kill us. As long as we're here, we're…"

Free.

"…safe."
sunspotted: i like big butts and i cannot lie. (have you learned any life lessons?)

[personal profile] sunspotted 2023-11-07 08:13 am (UTC)(link)
The titans can be so many different people, then. It's horrifying in a way Marco chooses to grapple with privately. How can he weep for someone he's never met, when it's his own life on the line? He feels guilty for the thought immediately.

Yes, it's life or death against the Titans. Even if they're mindless monstrosities, they were still human once.

(Should he think of Reiner that way? Whatever he is, he was a child once.)

Thirteen years to live hits him in the chest next. He says Eren's name in shock, concern, stepping to the edge of the water where Eren is. Eren tells him not to worry - fat chance! - but follows it up by saying the leader of this place had said they were safe.

"Well - I guess I'd believe that. They got me, after all," He says, though the wry twist to his words isn't there, his face an expression of concern. Marco has the thought that they've just escaped one set of walls for another, and then immediately chides himself. He can think that, he's dead. But Eren isn't on a time limit here.

Marco's idealistic; he thinks there's some way to stop the Titans. But he's not so idealistic to think it'll come without a heavy cost.

He takes a deep breath, gaze flickering back to the ocean and returning to Eren. He could ask more questions but he decides he knows enough for now. He reaches down and takes Eren's hands in his own, giving them a squeeze.

"You know, you tell me not to worry but I'm still going to do it," he tells him with a small, sad smile. "But tell me something about here, something you like." A beat. "You can't use the ocean, you already showed me."
Edited (expansion) 2023-11-07 08:15 (UTC)
dreamsofwings: (12)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings 2023-11-11 03:38 am (UTC)(link)
It took Eren awhile to accept Reiner as anything other than a monster. It took Eren becoming one himself to realise the truth: they are all just people. They were all just children. Eren knows he's the worst of the bunch, the most unforgivable person imaginable. He doesn't forgive Reiner and Annie and Bertholdt for what they have done; he never will. He's not really capable of letting things go. He just has a better understanding of why they did what they did.

At least Marco doesn't actually ask Eren about that cost. Eren isn't likely to tell the whole truth; he rarely does, when talking about the future. It's not entirely about making himself look better. It's complicated, his reasoning. Part of it is that once you start lying, you just…keep doing it. He's more honest now than he was for awhile at home but the whole truth is contentious.

He looks down, surprised, but after a moment squeezes Marco's hands back. Right, Marco has no reason not to be the same as he always was. Casual touch is hard when you know your friend is a genocidal lunatic, but when you don't…apparently even with Eren acting weird, that's not a deterrent.

"I don't know if I really believe it, but…I want to. I'd like to have more than three years left."

At home it would be even less; he's already older here than he will ever be there. If only that ever stopped the weird time confusion in his head.

"Something I like…" he muses. Huh. What does he like? There are things, but put on the spot, he's not even sure what to say…oh.

"Well…I like flying," he says. He'll just wait for a reaction before he tries explaining.
sunspotted: hot mistakes that i want to make again. (mistakes were made)

[personal profile] sunspotted 2023-11-11 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
He gives Eren's hands another squeeze when Eren says he'd like to have more than three years left. He doesn't want to think of any of their team mates dying, after all, least of all Eren.

But Marco's had enough of the heavy stuff, of wondering why Eren hasn't smiled the entire time they've been talking. He waits for Eren's answer.

It's not what he expects.

"Flying?" He repeats with a confused expression. "Like with.. the ODM gear?"

(no subject)

[personal profile] dreamsofwings - 2023-11-12 00:05 (UTC) - Expand