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[It's the middle of the night. While Eren's a lot of things, irresponsible isn't one of them. So if he's got a shift scheduled, he's up and preparing for it. What he doesn't expect is the wake up text.
So, after frowning down at it for a moment, (this might actually be the first time someone's :)'d at him in a whole year of CDC text bullshit, congrats, Amber)—]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
something up?
So, after frowning down at it for a moment, (this might actually be the first time someone's :)'d at him in a whole year of CDC text bullshit, congrats, Amber)—]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
something up?
[Alright, Mr. Serious, you have a point there but if Korra sounds like a kid to him, he sounds like an old man to her.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
Come on. Haven't you ever goofed around? Broken any rules?
[She realizes the world he comes from has some pretty dire circumstances and he especially wasn't allowed much of a normal childhood, but they were still kids. They had to have snuck out past curfew, or not made their bed right or something.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
Come on. Haven't you ever goofed around? Broken any rules?
[She realizes the world he comes from has some pretty dire circumstances and he especially wasn't allowed much of a normal childhood, but they were still kids. They had to have snuck out past curfew, or not made their bed right or something.]
[He doesn't often have :)-worthy conversations, lets be real.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
I can meet you outside
[He's not a little kid, Amber, you don't need to come fetch him.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
I can meet you outside
[He's not a little kid, Amber, you don't need to come fetch him.]
["Tiny and cute. . . . " Are you sure you have the right number.
After frowning at the screen again, he gives up on finding a way to actually respond to that (that isn't some form of ??!???) and instead pockets his blackglass to finish pulling his boots on and arming himself for their shift on the borders of camp. It's radio silence for a few short minutes before the hatch on the rover opens and he hops down out of it and to the ground.
If nothing else, she's pretty easy to find. Camp's mostly quiet at this time of night.]
Amber?
[They'd met during the elder god fight, he'd been aware of her peripherally after she'd been announced as one of Red's team leads. But they hadn't really been properly introduced until they'd been partnered up.]
After frowning at the screen again, he gives up on finding a way to actually respond to that (that isn't some form of ??!???) and instead pockets his blackglass to finish pulling his boots on and arming himself for their shift on the borders of camp. It's radio silence for a few short minutes before the hatch on the rover opens and he hops down out of it and to the ground.
If nothing else, she's pretty easy to find. Camp's mostly quiet at this time of night.]
Amber?
[They'd met during the elder god fight, he'd been aware of her peripherally after she'd been announced as one of Red's team leads. But they hadn't really been properly introduced until they'd been partnered up.]
[ She triplechecked the rover number okay, this is totally cute kouhai central.
Amber doesn't make herself difficult to find either, practically crouched by the door while seemingly talking to a white and peach furball the size of a rugby ball or so. It's buzzing back at her and she's poking at its nose in reprimand, stopping only when her name is called. At least her expression easily changes to a friendly smile when she turns to Eren, rising to her feet and linking her hands behind her as she does. He's familiar. She may or may not have been watching him.
Just for a few days or so. You know. ]
Eren. Did you sleep at all?
[ Meanwhile the furball starts scooping handfuls of soil and grass and depositing it in its mouth. ]
Amber doesn't make herself difficult to find either, practically crouched by the door while seemingly talking to a white and peach furball the size of a rugby ball or so. It's buzzing back at her and she's poking at its nose in reprimand, stopping only when her name is called. At least her expression easily changes to a friendly smile when she turns to Eren, rising to her feet and linking her hands behind her as she does. He's familiar. She may or may not have been watching him.
Just for a few days or so. You know. ]
Eren. Did you sleep at all?
[ Meanwhile the furball starts scooping handfuls of soil and grass and depositing it in its mouth. ]
[The furball gets a slightly baffled stare as it decides to start eating the dirt. (Literally.) But it's summarily disregarded after a few seconds when he recognizes the thing for what it is—Red team's been walking around with them for days, for one odd reason or another. He hadn't asked. Instead of paying it any more mind, he lifts his head back up to Amber with a frown and a stupid, reflexive squaring up of his posture when she asks if he's slept. (He's not a kid, he doesn't need checking up on.)]
I'll be fine.
[They've got a job to do. So time to go do it. He starts for the edge of camp without further preamble, though he does, at least, look back over his shoulder after a few paces to see if she's following. He's seen her around, over the past few months. The crew isn't that big. He hasn't forgotten the strange things she'd done during the fight with the harpies and the thing in the sky.]
I'll be fine.
[They've got a job to do. So time to go do it. He starts for the edge of camp without further preamble, though he does, at least, look back over his shoulder after a few paces to see if she's following. He's seen her around, over the past few months. The crew isn't that big. He hasn't forgotten the strange things she'd done during the fight with the harpies and the thing in the sky.]
[Sure he has. Eren's chronically serious, bad at relaxing, sort of a hardass about the things that matter. But he's also a teenaged boy with a questionable grip on his temper and his impulses and his mouth. Making mistakes and goofing off and cutting loose are things that happen.
(But less so, lately. Training seems a long time ago, now. He remembers heading off to the nearby town with Reiner and Armin and something bitter gathers behind his teeth.)]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
I wouldn't act surprised if someone called me out on it
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
Petra's not an asshole or anything
[If she was being scary, she probably had a reason to be.]
(But less so, lately. Training seems a long time ago, now. He remembers heading off to the nearby town with Reiner and Armin and something bitter gathers behind his teeth.)]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
I wouldn't act surprised if someone called me out on it
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
Petra's not an asshole or anything
[If she was being scary, she probably had a reason to be.]
[ Look, Eren, some days she can't even tell if your balls have dropped if not for your voice. But then she pretends to fuss over those much older than him too, though it's hard to say whether any of it is even genuine.
Amber watches him walk on for a while before bending over to scoop the furball in an arm and hurrying to follow, keeping pace just a few steps behind him. All business, are we? That doesn't stop her from chattering on at him while trying to clean the dirt off of the furball's face with nonchalance. ]
Nothing's keeping you awake, right? It wouldn't do to sleep too little. That could mean the difference between life and death here.
Amber watches him walk on for a while before bending over to scoop the furball in an arm and hurrying to follow, keeping pace just a few steps behind him. All business, are we? That doesn't stop her from chattering on at him while trying to clean the dirt off of the furball's face with nonchalance. ]
Nothing's keeping you awake, right? It wouldn't do to sleep too little. That could mean the difference between life and death here.
[You sound a little like Mikasa, Amber. Stupidly, it's less aggravating from another source (because it's less constant, less familiar, because there's less history,) but he brushes it off just as quickly. He's used to needing to prove himself, to keep moving forward, and he does it as a reflex. Back straighter, salutes stronger, head held high and teeth bared against the world.
His mouth presses into a thin line when she persists, shoulders a little tense, answer a little impatient. He doesn't sleep particularly easy in the first place—but that's not news. He never has, even before the wall fell, before he'd enlisted, before he'd seen his first battle or shifted the first time. He's had plenty of cause for nightmares, since, and he's mostly used to it. He slows down to look back at her over a shoulder.]
I'm not gonna hold you back, if that's what you're worried about.
[He'd signed up to help protect the edges of camp because he doesn't want to stand for a repeat of the Neraki ambush. He'd screwed up once. He's not letting it happen again.]
His mouth presses into a thin line when she persists, shoulders a little tense, answer a little impatient. He doesn't sleep particularly easy in the first place—but that's not news. He never has, even before the wall fell, before he'd enlisted, before he'd seen his first battle or shifted the first time. He's had plenty of cause for nightmares, since, and he's mostly used to it. He slows down to look back at her over a shoulder.]
I'm not gonna hold you back, if that's what you're worried about.
[He'd signed up to help protect the edges of camp because he doesn't want to stand for a repeat of the Neraki ambush. He'd screwed up once. He's not letting it happen again.]
[ Eventually she catches up to him, walking side by side with the furball cradled in her arms like a very small baby. She gives it little attention otherwise, eyes fixed on Eren as if staring at him longer might help her read him like a book. Nobody ever succeeded in telling her that staring is impolite. ]
I know you won't.
[ Her answer is immediate. Simple. She has seen how he fought before and he's nothing to scoff at. His file mentions a few useful notable skills, with his only weakness being his emotional volatility, in her opinion, but that's also what makes him so fascinating to her. Righteous, Annie said. The file says the same. That's something she has trouble grasping, the idea of righteousness and justice, and why one would fight so hard for either. ]
Can't I accept that you're strong but still want to protect you?
I know you won't.
[ Her answer is immediate. Simple. She has seen how he fought before and he's nothing to scoff at. His file mentions a few useful notable skills, with his only weakness being his emotional volatility, in her opinion, but that's also what makes him so fascinating to her. Righteous, Annie said. The file says the same. That's something she has trouble grasping, the idea of righteousness and justice, and why one would fight so hard for either. ]
Can't I accept that you're strong but still want to protect you?
FROM: korra@cdc.org
I know, I know
[Scary isn't always a bad thing. If Korra thought everyone who ever yelled at her was an asshole, there'd be a lot more assholes in the world. She'd save that sort of label for people who truly deserve it, like Tarrlok, or the CDC.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
You must like her a lot, huh?
[He was pretty defensive of her, right off of the bat, immediately assuming that Korra was in the wrong and all. (Or maybe he just knows Korra well enough by now.)]
I know, I know
[Scary isn't always a bad thing. If Korra thought everyone who ever yelled at her was an asshole, there'd be a lot more assholes in the world. She'd save that sort of label for people who truly deserve it, like Tarrlok, or the CDC.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
You must like her a lot, huh?
[He was pretty defensive of her, right off of the bat, immediately assuming that Korra was in the wrong and all. (Or maybe he just knows Korra well enough by now.)]
[A little of both, maybe. He probably knows Korra best of anyone in the CDC who didn't come from behind the Walls. He's already spoken pretty highly of Petra's sills. (And it's hard not to be defensive of someone when you're the reason they'd died.)
There's a pause before he texts her back. Maybe if there wasn't the extra filter of typing he'd say something a little more enlightening. But for now—]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
I trust her
[That's the crux of it. It got her killed. He knows, logically, that it was Annie's doing. But he still feels plenty of responsibility for the choices he'd made in the forest.]
There's a pause before he texts her back. Maybe if there wasn't the extra filter of typing he'd say something a little more enlightening. But for now—]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
I trust her
[That's the crux of it. It got her killed. He knows, logically, that it was Annie's doing. But he still feels plenty of responsibility for the choices he'd made in the forest.]
[Eren's not a hard read most of the time, anyway. The shifts in his mood happen in broad and earnest strokes, often clearly written in the set of his jaw, the angle of his shoulders, the furrow in his brow or the clench of his fists.
Case in point—his brow knits in a consternated way that isn't even entirely directed at her. (Now you really sound like Mikasa. More so, less so. It's complicated.) Rather than answer—]
You mean like the other day?
[During the battle, when she'd frozen everything around them.]
Case in point—his brow knits in a consternated way that isn't even entirely directed at her. (Now you really sound like Mikasa. More so, less so. It's complicated.) Rather than answer—]
You mean like the other day?
[During the battle, when she'd frozen everything around them.]
[ That's precisely why Amber really really likes Mikasa. She understands the need, absolute and unshakable, to protect another person at any and all cost. It doesn't matter how strong they are or how much they despise being protected or how many others would have to die in their stead. ]
The other day, I wasn't protecting you.
[ Now she is, when they are the ones walking toward the outskirts of camp until they reach the shoreline. It would probably work just as well to walk a few meters away from the water, but where's the fun in that? She gestures for Eren to follow when she walks on to where the waves lap at the sand, stopping just short of letting the water get over and into her boots, even as she feels herself slowly sinking into the damp sand. Her eyes are on the horizon that's near invisible in the dark, if not for the array of stars above and the pitch black of the sea below.
Amber sighs, content. ]
The other day, I wasn't protecting you.
[ Now she is, when they are the ones walking toward the outskirts of camp until they reach the shoreline. It would probably work just as well to walk a few meters away from the water, but where's the fun in that? She gestures for Eren to follow when she walks on to where the waves lap at the sand, stopping just short of letting the water get over and into her boots, even as she feels herself slowly sinking into the damp sand. Her eyes are on the horizon that's near invisible in the dark, if not for the array of stars above and the pitch black of the sea below.
Amber sighs, content. ]
[He follows, steadily. (And where Amber watches the horizon, the stars, Eren watches the water. The sort of impossible expanse he'd only dreamed of seeing for years and years. Finally get to see that sort of thing with his own eyes, and it's the wrong planet, the wrong reasons.)
He looks back over at her. People have never been his strong suit, but he's missing something in this conversation.]
What d'you mean?
[That she wasn't protecting him back then. If ever she'd wanted to do it (she'd insisted, just seconds ago) it would have been then. She'd stopped the harpies from moving at Mach-5 speeds, stilled the tentacles long enough for him to get a strike in. Right now, she's walking along the beach with him. It definitely feels far more the other way around.]
He looks back over at her. People have never been his strong suit, but he's missing something in this conversation.]
What d'you mean?
[That she wasn't protecting him back then. If ever she'd wanted to do it (she'd insisted, just seconds ago) it would have been then. She'd stopped the harpies from moving at Mach-5 speeds, stilled the tentacles long enough for him to get a strike in. Right now, she's walking along the beach with him. It definitely feels far more the other way around.]
Well--
[ It's just like her to start an answer and then stop to take a few steps back away from the shoreline so that she can try to rub the wet sand from sticking to the bottom of her boots, only it just results in getting sand everywhere. On her hands, around her ankles. She claps her palms together in a last attempt to be rid of it. ]
I gave you a chance. But I was protecting someone else.
[ She turns to him then, smiling with a secret behind her eyes that she expects him to share. You know. ]
[ It's just like her to start an answer and then stop to take a few steps back away from the shoreline so that she can try to rub the wet sand from sticking to the bottom of her boots, only it just results in getting sand everywhere. On her hands, around her ankles. She claps her palms together in a last attempt to be rid of it. ]
I gave you a chance. But I was protecting someone else.
[ She turns to him then, smiling with a secret behind her eyes that she expects him to share. You know. ]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
not right now.
[He's been sort of ill at ease, given Warriorhead's strange return, despite assurances from his instructor that camp is secure. But there's no denying that things have been quiet, since.]
why?
not right now.
[He's been sort of ill at ease, given Warriorhead's strange return, despite assurances from his instructor that camp is secure. But there's no denying that things have been quiet, since.]
why?
[There's a brief pause in which he frowns down at the message and then looks up and across camp in the direction of their rover. Then—]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
on my way.
[His gear isn't an option while they're waiting on some friends to work out a way to refuel them, but the rovers aren't really a hard climb, anyway. Plenty of odd mechanical handholds. It shouldn't take him more than a few minutes to cross camp and scale it.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
on my way.
[His gear isn't an option while they're waiting on some friends to work out a way to refuel them, but the rovers aren't really a hard climb, anyway. Plenty of odd mechanical handholds. It shouldn't take him more than a few minutes to cross camp and scale it.]
[ he'll be greeted with the sight of hei crouching in front of three small bags lined in a row, loosely tied. all three are rounded at the bottom, with the knots at the top flopped over in a flaccid sort of manner. at eren's arrival, hei brings himself to stand, taking a step back from the line of sacks while pocketing his hands into his coat. ]
Fast.
Fast.
[He stops a few steps shy of the edge of the rover. Well.]
You said we needed to talk.
[It had sounded sort of important. He hadn't come at a run, but he hadn't wasted time fucking around, either. He's not the type. He tips his head for a better look at the bags as Hei steps away from them, expression shifting quickly into something of a curious frown.]
What're those?
You said we needed to talk.
[It had sounded sort of important. He hadn't come at a run, but he hadn't wasted time fucking around, either. He's not the type. He tips his head for a better look at the bags as Hei steps away from them, expression shifting quickly into something of a curious frown.]
What're those?
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