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[She appears from the darkness almost as soon as he turns to look for her. There's a bright and shocking spread of blood on her shoulder, but it soon becomes clear that it isn't hers, so it falls rapidly down his list of Things to Worry About. And that, at least, is a relief.]
Mikasa.
[And he is relieved to see her alive, unhurt. But there's an urgent and impatient edge to it. She takes him by the shoulders. And reflexively, he reaches up to take her wrists. Holding on tight, but pulling away and digging in his heels and craning his neck for a glimpse of the enemy as she tries to back him up into the rover again. Back to relative safety.]
What the fuck—
[If it's those flying things again—]
Mikasa.
[And he is relieved to see her alive, unhurt. But there's an urgent and impatient edge to it. She takes him by the shoulders. And reflexively, he reaches up to take her wrists. Holding on tight, but pulling away and digging in his heels and craning his neck for a glimpse of the enemy as she tries to back him up into the rover again. Back to relative safety.]
What the fuck—
[If it's those flying things again—]
Eren! [ Don't be a mule about this because she left you outside last time and she sure as hell isn't doing it again this time. ] They're not attacking us.
[ And she's not actually sure if that's true, because she can't see well enough but she's fairly sure there would be a lot more screaming if people were being plucked right off the ground and torn to bits. They'd be able to get a glimpse of whatever it is that's doing this if the creatures were coming down to grab recruits as well. It might be a guess, but it's a pretty good one.
There's not enough light to fight, in any case. Regardless of whatever dumb intentions Eren had by coming out of the rover, she firmly shuts them down by nearly hurling him back inside, crowding in his space as she does so that he can't slip past her.
She stands in front of the door.
Then, because it's routine. ] Are you okay?
[ And she's not actually sure if that's true, because she can't see well enough but she's fairly sure there would be a lot more screaming if people were being plucked right off the ground and torn to bits. They'd be able to get a glimpse of whatever it is that's doing this if the creatures were coming down to grab recruits as well. It might be a guess, but it's a pretty good one.
There's not enough light to fight, in any case. Regardless of whatever dumb intentions Eren had by coming out of the rover, she firmly shuts them down by nearly hurling him back inside, crowding in his space as she does so that he can't slip past her.
She stands in front of the door.
Then, because it's routine. ] Are you okay?
01
Wow. So humanity is almost extinct where you come from? That is not too different from my situation 8ack home.
02
You make that sound personal, Eren! Killing them all.
[ This is fascinating. What sort of creatures can humans really be? ]
Wow. So humanity is almost extinct where you come from? That is not too different from my situation 8ack home.
02
You make that sound personal, Eren! Killing them all.
[ This is fascinating. What sort of creatures can humans really be? ]
[Ah, nostalgia. It's been a while since Mikasa has bodily thrown him anywhere. It's necessary, though, because he has trouble turning tail on his own account. He squawks a predictable protest as she shoves him through the hatchway and into the rover, and he stumbles to the floor in a hissing heap.
Because it's routine, (because he hardly spares a thought for himself in a situation like this one,) he ignores her question. Righting himself on the ground, he squares his shoulders and stares her down, though he's yet to gain his feet again. He'd finally been sleeping off the exhaustion from Sector R, the Lusania mission that had come directly after it, everything that had come after that. A few solid Ajna days of activity. He's tired, but he's unhurt. And he's not fooled. Mikasa, there's blood on your shoulder, entrails on the heels of your boots. There are pieces of people outside.]
You can't seriously think that.
[There are already casualties. What part of that doesn't look like an attack?]
Because it's routine, (because he hardly spares a thought for himself in a situation like this one,) he ignores her question. Righting himself on the ground, he squares his shoulders and stares her down, though he's yet to gain his feet again. He'd finally been sleeping off the exhaustion from Sector R, the Lusania mission that had come directly after it, everything that had come after that. A few solid Ajna days of activity. He's tired, but he's unhurt. And he's not fooled. Mikasa, there's blood on your shoulder, entrails on the heels of your boots. There are pieces of people outside.]
You can't seriously think that.
[There are already casualties. What part of that doesn't look like an attack?]
It's not an attack.
[ It doesn't look like she's about to budge from where she's stationed at the door, almost daring Eren to try and face her. But she's not lying to make him feel better, and going outside right now would only rile him up. He'll have plenty of time to look at the pieces later on - who's going to be picking them up anyway? ]
Eren... [ She doesn't even look irritated, because she's not. Because sort of a little bit there are people in this camp that she'd miss if they died, and it's not like she'd had a chance to see who it had been that was raining from the sky. Maybe it was Ino. Kagari. Shiemi. People that she wouldn't stop for, but no doubt would mourn (quietly, internally, and alone) if they'd died.
Her gaze drops. ] It's not an attack, it's a message or a warning. We can't see what's in the sky, but it's not coming down to pick people off the ground.
[ It doesn't look like she's about to budge from where she's stationed at the door, almost daring Eren to try and face her. But she's not lying to make him feel better, and going outside right now would only rile him up. He'll have plenty of time to look at the pieces later on - who's going to be picking them up anyway? ]
Eren... [ She doesn't even look irritated, because she's not. Because sort of a little bit there are people in this camp that she'd miss if they died, and it's not like she'd had a chance to see who it had been that was raining from the sky. Maybe it was Ino. Kagari. Shiemi. People that she wouldn't stop for, but no doubt would mourn (quietly, internally, and alone) if they'd died.
Her gaze drops. ] It's not an attack, it's a message or a warning. We can't see what's in the sky, but it's not coming down to pick people off the ground.
[Unfortunately one severed arm looks much like another, especially in the dark. So there's little knowing who is out there, right now. And the not knowing is maddening in its own way. He's pulling his feet under him as she talks. Rolling up onto his heels, into a crouch, standing up to cross the distance and face her down. They're the same height, more or less, they always have been. It makes it easy to get in her face about it, toeing the line of her challenging blockade. He's already riled.
And he's not sure he's convinced they're not under attack. But he is convinced that she believes it. And Mikasa isn't stupid. (And she will tell him things he does not like, but she will not lie to him.) Even if it's a message—]
Are we just gonna let them do this?
[He doesn't know everyone in the CDC. He doesn't like all of them. It doesn't matter. They're comrades, right now. Even if they're dead already, even if it's a warning, are they planning on bowing to it? Letting the things that killed them just get away with it?]
And he's not sure he's convinced they're not under attack. But he is convinced that she believes it. And Mikasa isn't stupid. (And she will tell him things he does not like, but she will not lie to him.) Even if it's a message—]
Are we just gonna let them do this?
[He doesn't know everyone in the CDC. He doesn't like all of them. It doesn't matter. They're comrades, right now. Even if they're dead already, even if it's a warning, are they planning on bowing to it? Letting the things that killed them just get away with it?]
Edited (I am the worst at dialogue) 2014-08-25 22:19 (UTC)
[ He's ready to go. Mikasa's own expression is firmly grim, dismayed as she looks at him because, as per the usual, Eren can't sit by and let something happen. A stubborn willfulness that refuses to accept this, whatever it is. But there are realities that sometimes you can't do anything with. ]
What do you plan to do? [ Her eyes are narrowed, like his righteous anger doesn't impress her, and really, it doesn't. ] There's not enough light out to see, and they're flying far out of our reach.
[ She doesn't move. ]
Are you going to waste your bullets, Eren? Trying to shoot them. Or transform and try to reach them? [ And destroy the camp in the process. It sounds like she's taunting him but, maybe she's a little frustrated too. Maybe she's a little stricken by how little control they have here and this isn't the first time fellow recruits had been snatched from them. What if next time it's Eren? ]
Eren. [ Her gaze his heavy, focused on him. ] What are we going to do to make sure we stay together? [ She doesn't mean in this rover, or for one mission. She means on the same crew, the same planet. ]
What do you plan to do? [ Her eyes are narrowed, like his righteous anger doesn't impress her, and really, it doesn't. ] There's not enough light out to see, and they're flying far out of our reach.
[ She doesn't move. ]
Are you going to waste your bullets, Eren? Trying to shoot them. Or transform and try to reach them? [ And destroy the camp in the process. It sounds like she's taunting him but, maybe she's a little frustrated too. Maybe she's a little stricken by how little control they have here and this isn't the first time fellow recruits had been snatched from them. What if next time it's Eren? ]
Eren. [ Her gaze his heavy, focused on him. ] What are we going to do to make sure we stay together? [ She doesn't mean in this rover, or for one mission. She means on the same crew, the same planet. ]
[Of course they're staying together. He'd been prepared to leave Mikasa and Armin behind if it meant keeping them safe. It isn't the same, here, there is no relative safety of the walls, no enemy as straightforward as a firing squad. All he can do is try to keep them close and keep them safe, himself. With his own hands, if he has to. (But even that is at the whim of their captors, in the end.)
He takes her by the shoulder, as if to push her out of the way, but he never actually gets around to doing anything of the sort.]
I won't—
[Won't what? Hide in here while those things get away? Let anything (anyone) take her from him? Those are easy claims to make. The how is much harder, sheer force of will only gets him so far. He doesn't have a good answer to any of that.
He hasn't backed off. He doesn't advance, either. Stuck in a useless and frustrated place between cowed and combative. Stiff and straight-backed and breathing sharply, teeth and fists clenched, spare inches away from her. Head bowed, eyes falling from staring her down to searching the darkness outside, visible over the hollow of her shoulder. Those harpy things had killed Sasha because he couldn't stop them. The CDC had taken Isabel away and reassigned her somewhere else before they even knew she was gone. There are people out there who are dead and they won't even know who they are or what had killed them until it's clear and light enough to count the bodies. There is little that he hates (and fears) more than feeling (being) helpless.
His jaw claps shut as something thuds against the hull of the rover again, one last time. His fingers on her shoulder draw tight. But already the uproar outside is tipping from attack to aftermath. It only takes so long to send a message like this one. The occasional sick slap of gore on the snow has slowed, the sound of something swooping by overhead is fading. They're too late and too little, and he hates it.]
He takes her by the shoulder, as if to push her out of the way, but he never actually gets around to doing anything of the sort.]
I won't—
[Won't what? Hide in here while those things get away? Let anything (anyone) take her from him? Those are easy claims to make. The how is much harder, sheer force of will only gets him so far. He doesn't have a good answer to any of that.
He hasn't backed off. He doesn't advance, either. Stuck in a useless and frustrated place between cowed and combative. Stiff and straight-backed and breathing sharply, teeth and fists clenched, spare inches away from her. Head bowed, eyes falling from staring her down to searching the darkness outside, visible over the hollow of her shoulder. Those harpy things had killed Sasha because he couldn't stop them. The CDC had taken Isabel away and reassigned her somewhere else before they even knew she was gone. There are people out there who are dead and they won't even know who they are or what had killed them until it's clear and light enough to count the bodies. There is little that he hates (and fears) more than feeling (being) helpless.
His jaw claps shut as something thuds against the hull of the rover again, one last time. His fingers on her shoulder draw tight. But already the uproar outside is tipping from attack to aftermath. It only takes so long to send a message like this one. The occasional sick slap of gore on the snow has slowed, the sound of something swooping by overhead is fading. They're too late and too little, and he hates it.]
[Everyone back home knows what it means to be a Shiganshina survivor. Anyone who knew Eren in training knew just how seriously he takes it. Explaining why it might be that way is strange. It's survival. Why wouldn't it be personal?
He can remember talking to her about titans briefly, way back at the rendezvous. But he'd never gotten into it much, back then. It's sort of frustrating, because he never really seems to be able to convey just how big a deal they are. How important it is that they fight back. People here don't understand what it's like. And that's not a bad thing. But there's no amount of text that can get across the right amount of burning hate for the subject at hand.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
They're vermin. They need to be exterminated from the world. I'll kill every last one of them for what they've done.
[To humanity. (To him.) Vriska, you have no idea how personal it is. Eren's always been incredibly determined to free humanity from the walls. But watching your mother get eaten alive and your hometown get overrun and your comrades get slaughtered has a way of turning a grudge into a vendetta.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
If we don't fight back we won't stand a chance. Humanity will be wiped out instead. I'm not letting that happen.
[They're under attack. They can't hide forever. You fight to survive. If you don't fight, you don't stand a chance. And if things are similar for her back home, she can understand that, can't she? Vriska doesn't strike him as the type to go belly up.]
He can remember talking to her about titans briefly, way back at the rendezvous. But he'd never gotten into it much, back then. It's sort of frustrating, because he never really seems to be able to convey just how big a deal they are. How important it is that they fight back. People here don't understand what it's like. And that's not a bad thing. But there's no amount of text that can get across the right amount of burning hate for the subject at hand.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
They're vermin. They need to be exterminated from the world. I'll kill every last one of them for what they've done.
[To humanity. (To him.) Vriska, you have no idea how personal it is. Eren's always been incredibly determined to free humanity from the walls. But watching your mother get eaten alive and your hometown get overrun and your comrades get slaughtered has a way of turning a grudge into a vendetta.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
If we don't fight back we won't stand a chance. Humanity will be wiped out instead. I'm not letting that happen.
[They're under attack. They can't hide forever. You fight to survive. If you don't fight, you don't stand a chance. And if things are similar for her back home, she can understand that, can't she? Vriska doesn't strike him as the type to go belly up.]
[You're not actually sorry at all.
It probably took him a while to get the hang of it tbh. Technology is hard!]
I'll tell you after I'm done kicking your ass
[how badly do you want to know]
It probably took him a while to get the hang of it tbh. Technology is hard!]
I'll tell you after I'm done kicking your ass
[how badly do you want to know]
[ He's calming, and it's moments like these that she's so grateful to him. Because he has all the right in the world to get angry, to yell because there are people out there, slaughtered and mutilated. People out there, alive and unused to watching their comrades die, much less be violated in such a way. Eren has the right to be angry, because it might be someone that they know out there, and it might not. He has that right, but he still listens to her. Even among that anger, and she's seen it at its fullest, he's listening to her.
She doesn't want to see him defeated. (She doesn't want to see their fellow recruits murdered, either. To see the people of this camps, victims most of them, traumatized like this for no purpose. Their instructors aren't trustworthy, but she believes slightly in the innocence of the recruits. They're all trapped here, at the mercy of a power bigger than anything most of them could've previously imagined.)
Reaching up, she takes his hand on her shoulder into her own, squeezing it for a moment before a moment before returning it to his side.
The rover is still around them, the atmosphere thick and tight, like a throat clenched with feeling, unable to express or ignore. She can feel the tremors of something like regrets or desperation, and as much as she lectures for Eren to stop and think, her own thoughts yield nothing. She can't think of anything to do but obey and hope to survive. Obey and live of the offered strength of the CDC. And she doesn't know how long that will last. ]
Eren, it's not selfish you prioritize yourself sometimes. [ Finally, with some delay. She thinks, so don't go out there and pick fights. ] You know you can't keep fighting otherwise.
[ That's what he'd taught her. To fight. To live. Don't extinguish that flame by burning up all the oxygen too fast; pick your battles, save your energy. She can't afford to expend herself, to expose herself now when he might need her later. So pick your battles, a successful mission revolved around avoiding the most titans back home. ]
She doesn't want to see him defeated. (She doesn't want to see their fellow recruits murdered, either. To see the people of this camps, victims most of them, traumatized like this for no purpose. Their instructors aren't trustworthy, but she believes slightly in the innocence of the recruits. They're all trapped here, at the mercy of a power bigger than anything most of them could've previously imagined.)
Reaching up, she takes his hand on her shoulder into her own, squeezing it for a moment before a moment before returning it to his side.
The rover is still around them, the atmosphere thick and tight, like a throat clenched with feeling, unable to express or ignore. She can feel the tremors of something like regrets or desperation, and as much as she lectures for Eren to stop and think, her own thoughts yield nothing. She can't think of anything to do but obey and hope to survive. Obey and live of the offered strength of the CDC. And she doesn't know how long that will last. ]
Eren, it's not selfish you prioritize yourself sometimes. [ Finally, with some delay. She thinks, so don't go out there and pick fights. ] You know you can't keep fighting otherwise.
[ That's what he'd taught her. To fight. To live. Don't extinguish that flame by burning up all the oxygen too fast; pick your battles, save your energy. She can't afford to expend herself, to expose herself now when he might need her later. So pick your battles, a successful mission revolved around avoiding the most titans back home. ]
[Back home, after Trost, after being freed from the prison beneath the courthouse, he'd been kept under the close observation of humanity's strongest soldiers. As insurance, in case he turns on them, loses control. In case he needs to be put down. But the flip side of it was that it would keep him safe, protected, because he is too valuable an asset to lose. Things are different here, he is not as unique to the CDC as he is to humanity. He is not as important, and he is not—as much as he'd probably like to be—nearly as much of a threat. He has, ironically, enjoyed more personal freedom after his conscription into the CDC than he'd had since Trost. But that doesn't mean he can forget what's going on back home. Or his place in it.
Being a priority. It is selfish, to do whatever you want when there are bigger things at stake. When humanity is at stake. Sometimes you need to do things you don't want to do. And sometimes that means fighting when you want to hide...or hiding when you want to fight. While he understands the need for it, it doesn't sit easy on him. It probably never will. But it goes hand in hand with responsibility, and that is something that he tries very hard to measure up to. (Like the elite Garrison team and all the others (Marco) in Trost. They gave their lives so he could stop the city from falling. He needs to be worth all those lives, or all of it will be a waste.) His hand is tense under her fingers as she pulls it away, eases it down to his side. Just shy of trembling, as it balls itself back into a fist, blunt nails biting deep (but not deep enough) into his palms. Quieting, but far and away from calm, watching the black out the hatch of the rover in a desperate and determined way.]
I'll kill them.
[It's not what she wants to hear, but he does stay. They're already gone, he's already too late, they don't need to sit around and wait for this to happen again. He cannot help but think of Armin and the Captain out in the med tent. The others out who knows where. He does not cry, but there is a fierce upswell of frustration, a strangled and wordless thing caught in his throat, caged behind his teeth.]
They can't keep doing this.
[And it's clear where he's going with that, what he thinks the enemy is. Those harpy things, the ones from the lockdown. Appearing without warning, picking people up and tearing them limb from limb. It's happened before, the first fatalities they'd had on the whole mission. What else could it be?]
Being a priority. It is selfish, to do whatever you want when there are bigger things at stake. When humanity is at stake. Sometimes you need to do things you don't want to do. And sometimes that means fighting when you want to hide...or hiding when you want to fight. While he understands the need for it, it doesn't sit easy on him. It probably never will. But it goes hand in hand with responsibility, and that is something that he tries very hard to measure up to. (Like the elite Garrison team and all the others (Marco) in Trost. They gave their lives so he could stop the city from falling. He needs to be worth all those lives, or all of it will be a waste.) His hand is tense under her fingers as she pulls it away, eases it down to his side. Just shy of trembling, as it balls itself back into a fist, blunt nails biting deep (but not deep enough) into his palms. Quieting, but far and away from calm, watching the black out the hatch of the rover in a desperate and determined way.]
I'll kill them.
[It's not what she wants to hear, but he does stay. They're already gone, he's already too late, they don't need to sit around and wait for this to happen again. He cannot help but think of Armin and the Captain out in the med tent. The others out who knows where. He does not cry, but there is a fierce upswell of frustration, a strangled and wordless thing caught in his throat, caged behind his teeth.]
They can't keep doing this.
[And it's clear where he's going with that, what he thinks the enemy is. Those harpy things, the ones from the lockdown. Appearing without warning, picking people up and tearing them limb from limb. It's happened before, the first fatalities they'd had on the whole mission. What else could it be?]
[In the time it takes him to place her name and move on to puzzling over the first message, she manages to send the second. Typos and autocorrect errors don't always make much sense through the translation software, so—]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
what?
[??? this conversation is going places.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
what?
[??? this conversation is going places.]
[Then prepare yourself because this conversation is about to get that much more interesting.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
ate you the sword guy
[Trust her, she spent a really long time puzzling over names and figuring out how to work this blasted thing in the first place. The "Jaeger" in his name threw her off but his was the only one with a name like "Erin".]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
this is korra
FROM: korra@cdc.org
ate you the sword guy
[Trust her, she spent a really long time puzzling over names and figuring out how to work this blasted thing in the first place. The "Jaeger" in his name threw her off but his was the only one with a name like "Erin".]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
this is korra
Edited 2014-09-01 14:23 (UTC)
[Sorry most of you Avatar people don't have surnames??? Too bad there wasn't an Erin for her to misstext that would have been an adventure.
That said, ate you the sword guy... Uh.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
What the hell are you talking about
[He makes it a point to try not to eat anyone, thank you very much. That's a pretty fucked up thing to say, Korra. But he does recognize her name, at least, so.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
From the Lusania mission right
That said, ate you the sword guy... Uh.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
What the hell are you talking about
[He makes it a point to try not to eat anyone, thank you very much. That's a pretty fucked up thing to say, Korra. But he does recognize her name, at least, so.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
From the Lusania mission right
FROM: korra@cdc.org
Nevermind
[It's a good thing they're not face to face right now because Korra's already getting frustrated with the device. On the other hand, if they were face to face, she could just talk to him like a normal human being.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
I want to say sorry
[Hey, that turned out fine. Maybe she's getting the hang of this thing after all.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
For flirt branding at you
FROM: korra@cdc.org
Fire banging
Nevermind
[It's a good thing they're not face to face right now because Korra's already getting frustrated with the device. On the other hand, if they were face to face, she could just talk to him like a normal human being.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
I want to say sorry
[Hey, that turned out fine. Maybe she's getting the hang of this thing after all.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
For flirt branding at you
FROM: korra@cdc.org
Fire banging
[There is an option to send audio messages instead. Talking to a machine feels even stranger than typing into one, though, so he never fell into the habit of using it. Don't worry, Korra, teenagers are adaptable, right? You'll catch on eventually, they did.
There's a slight puzzled pause after all that comes through. (Flirt banging, Korra you're lucky Eren is exactly Zero Fun and thus not the brand of asshole to make a big deal out of that one.) But he finally realizes what she's getting at. "Fire" being the key word here.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
You didn't hit me
[And she helped him kill the alien titan thing once she got her head out of her ass about him grabbing her off the ground. That probably more than makes up for any near misses and friendly fire.
That said, even if he could survive getting a fireball to the face, it's not something he's in a hurry to experience.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
Watch where you're aiming next time
There's a slight puzzled pause after all that comes through. (Flirt banging, Korra you're lucky Eren is exactly Zero Fun and thus not the brand of asshole to make a big deal out of that one.) But he finally realizes what she's getting at. "Fire" being the key word here.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
You didn't hit me
[And she helped him kill the alien titan thing once she got her head out of her ass about him grabbing her off the ground. That probably more than makes up for any near misses and friendly fire.
That said, even if he could survive getting a fireball to the face, it's not something he's in a hurry to experience.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
Watch where you're aiming next time
[It's a good thing that Eren isn't the type to point out her device's embarrassing replacement for firebending, or else the device would likely be thrown halfway across the room by now. He's already responded by the time she's finally wrote it out right.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
fire bending
[Teenagers are adaptable, but this is feeling a lot like the time she had no choice but to get behind the wheel and wound up with the car "parked" into a pole. The next messages take some time, as she's trying to keep embarrassing mistakes to a minimum.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
If I watched where I was aiming, I would have hit you
[Technically speaking, since it's not like he almost got hit in the crossfire. And in the history of Korra's apologies, this one might be high up on the list in terms of awkward.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
Thanks for not dropping me
FROM: korra@cdc.org
fire bending
[Teenagers are adaptable, but this is feeling a lot like the time she had no choice but to get behind the wheel and wound up with the car "parked" into a pole. The next messages take some time, as she's trying to keep embarrassing mistakes to a minimum.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
If I watched where I was aiming, I would have hit you
[Technically speaking, since it's not like he almost got hit in the crossfire. And in the history of Korra's apologies, this one might be high up on the list in terms of awkward.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
Thanks for not dropping me
[This might be the first time he's a faster texter than someone. Amazing what a few months of uphill fighting with technology can do.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
you didn't.
[Hit him. Which kind of proves his point??? Not hitting him in the face with a fireball would be nice, and he appreciates her continuing that in the future, but actually hitting what you're aiming for is also pretty important. Obviously she should do better on both fronts next time.
But awkward or not, getting an apology at all is more than he really expected. Getting thanks doubly so. And because talking to people is not a thing he particularly excels at, he doesn't help smooth that over much.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
I wasn't gonna leave you there
[Down in the line of fire, or on a crash course toward the ground. She'd be dead meat either way, and he's not that kind of guy.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
you didn't.
[Hit him. Which kind of proves his point??? Not hitting him in the face with a fireball would be nice, and he appreciates her continuing that in the future, but actually hitting what you're aiming for is also pretty important. Obviously she should do better on both fronts next time.
But awkward or not, getting an apology at all is more than he really expected. Getting thanks doubly so. And because talking to people is not a thing he particularly excels at, he doesn't help smooth that over much.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
I wasn't gonna leave you there
[Down in the line of fire, or on a crash course toward the ground. She'd be dead meat either way, and he's not that kind of guy.]
[ She accepts his convictions as he utters them, because she'd tried once to stop him after he'd determined something and it hadn't worked. He'd just pushed harder, swallowed his pride, and made it happen. And she admires that about him, because it's not something she has. She doesn't know what that kind of ambition feels like, puts all of her energy and passion into her dedication until its exhausted and she has nothing left for other pursuits.
Her hand finds his shoulder and squeezes, like she had to his hand before, and she finally relents her position, softening her posture and stepping away from the door into the rover. She heads toward his bunk, because hers is on the top and she can't settle into it comfortably. ]
We'll figure out a way. Ask Squad Leader Hange [ because she's a scientist, would love to find a way to trap one of those harpies ] and the instructors.
[ She's not giving up the fight, because it's theirs. It's their lives on the line, she's just not rushing into the battle, blind and ignorant. ]
Her hand finds his shoulder and squeezes, like she had to his hand before, and she finally relents her position, softening her posture and stepping away from the door into the rover. She heads toward his bunk, because hers is on the top and she can't settle into it comfortably. ]
We'll figure out a way. Ask Squad Leader Hange [ because she's a scientist, would love to find a way to trap one of those harpies ] and the instructors.
[ She's not giving up the fight, because it's theirs. It's their lives on the line, she's just not rushing into the battle, blind and ignorant. ]
[ it's true. never sorry. plus, eren's probably like, extra luddite-ish. jean's not saying anything unreasonable or anything. ]
You mean before Mikasa carts your ass off again
You mean before Mikasa carts your ass off again
[Is he really criticizing her for not having better aim when she was attacking him? If only he could see her roll her eyes at the screen.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
Ok i will try to hit you next time
FROM: korra@cdc.org
If you want
[She really does appreciate his help, though, and if she wasn't limited by this technology, she might actually do better at expressing her gratitude. Not just for what he did for her back with the titans, but it's comforting to meet someone who she can rely on in a fight. Especially given his strangely familiar (so she thinks) abilities.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
I owe you one though
FROM: korra@cdc.org
Ok i will try to hit you next time
FROM: korra@cdc.org
If you want
[She really does appreciate his help, though, and if she wasn't limited by this technology, she might actually do better at expressing her gratitude. Not just for what he did for her back with the titans, but it's comforting to meet someone who she can rely on in a fight. Especially given his strangely familiar (so she thinks) abilities.]
FROM: korra@cdc.org
I owe you one though
[He was friends with Annie, he's used to girls hitting him. That said that wasn't exactly what he meant, but he also failed completely at expressing it so it's not really her fault for missing it. She's not the only one who's not all that great at talking this way.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
I didn't do it so you'd owe me anything
[(In fact he's sort of full up on badass girls with ideas about debts.) "Next time," though—]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
they're transferring you guys down here, right?
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
I didn't do it so you'd owe me anything
[(In fact he's sort of full up on badass girls with ideas about debts.) "Next time," though—]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
they're transferring you guys down here, right?
[Don't worry, Eren. She feels indebted but she's not about to follow you to the ends of the earth or anything.]
FROM:korra@cdc.org
I guess so
FROM:korra@cdc.org
Sounds like its going to be a party
[Sarcasm doesn't carry well in text, does it? In any case, at this point, it might be preferable to clean up duty.]
FROM:korra@cdc.org
How long have you been there
FROM:korra@cdc.org
I guess so
FROM:korra@cdc.org
Sounds like its going to be a party
[Sarcasm doesn't carry well in text, does it? In any case, at this point, it might be preferable to clean up duty.]
FROM:korra@cdc.org
How long have you been there
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