FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org The CDC didn't bring us here to screw around
[That is: with the rate of the missions in the past few days, the odds of it slowing down are low.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org I'm not going to sit back while everyone else is fighting
[Nevermind that that's exactly what he ends up doing. Breakneck determination to ignore your exhaustion only works so far. Shifting the other day hadn't helped.]
[the unfortunate thing is when Eren puts it that way ...]
[like hell Hinata'd disagree. if it changed anything, it made Hinata want to sign on even more than before (and, unlike Eren, he would-- you really should've saved that shifting energy, bro).]
[... still felt a little odd to say and mean, but it'd pass. --- and then the thought, a sudden curiousity - addressed after a pause, principally because he wasn't sure if he should include the last line. but, well. it'd seemed relevant to a number of others.]
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org Why did you join the CDC? Did they trick you?
[He isn't ashamed to admit it. It pisses him off, but it's hardly rare. It's a lot harder to find someone who'd agreed to this knowing full well what they were getting into.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org they asked me if I wanted to fight for humanity
[And there's really only one answer he can give to that. The worst part is, they weren't really lying to him, were they?]
[haaah. the worst part, alright. Ajna hadn't any sentient life - driving every living thing on the planet to extinction made that fact barely worth saying, but of course, a level of denial (and excuses, I have to, what else can we do) helped.]
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org But talk about a big reason to agree! That's [this is what takes so long -- as he types interesting, it gives him pause. in the end, without fully understanding why,] not something I'd thought they'd use
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org they just ask you whatever they want to get you to say yes
[And why not? All they need is a yes. It makes sense that they'd ask a no-brainer question like that one. (A no-brainer in Eren's case, anyway. Fighting to free humanity is all he's wanted his whole life. They'd asked Jean if he wanted to see a world without titans. Who in their right mind would say no to that?)
[... has anyone tried to go against them? is it possible?]
[in reality: nothing more. the message's sent partially through accident (deliberating too long and a thumb against the enter key caught the best of people off guard, never mind Hinata). he'd heard warnings made in varying levels of severity, but nothing precisely concrete.]
[too bad he wasn't typing any of that. maybe it was a good thing.]
It's not that Eren doesn't understand the sentiment. He does. Desperately. But he's got no illusions about the stakes. He's got responsibilities. And he's learned that sometimes that means making sacrifices. Bowing his head for a while and surviving long enough to fight back. He's trying. More recently, he's been on the other end of some very specific warnings from Warriorhead. So maybe he isn't trying hard enough.
Hinata's meta flies right over his head though. He's too tired to read too far into that "but." So.]
[If this were in person he'd be a lot less succinct about it and tip a bit more into a tirade. But text is hard on a good day, let alone when the screen is blurring a bit while he struggles to stay awake. So, to the point.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org they'll do whatever they want if they think they need to keep you in line. [Warriorhead's warning is still ringing in his ears. "If you're not meticulous in your caution..." Himself and everyone he cares about could wind up dead.] they'll threaten your comrades. decide to take out your home next. they're murderers.
[And they're not just talk, either.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org the CDC blew a whole crew sky high because they decided they were a liability. tied them up and slaughtered them like animals. we couldn't do anything but watch it happen
[a good thing Eren wrote even that much - Hinata had been seven words into a surprised and demanding reply, all of which froze on receiving the other's text. the cursor blinked at him in his own bunk's darkness, the implications hitting home hard and fast. he believed Eren completely and instantly - why wouldn't he?]
[watch it happen...?]
[after a minute or so,]
[very simply, very feebly,]
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org But they said part of the contract was that our homes were safe
[a business with its own personal army, able to toss away their employees in the blink of an eye because of course they could gather more anywhere and anytime.]
[he'd question why they needed them, the recruits, since they had so much power, but that was obvious. someone had to do the dirty work.]
[that was that.]
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org It seems like they're everywhere across in the universes
[He's not entirely sure what that really means. Universes are still a pretty new concept to him in general. But.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org they can't be everywhere it doesn't matter what they do. they can't keep everyone under their control forever.
[If there are this many worlds. (This many universes?) Then there are places where people are free. And if there aren't, then there will be. He won't believe anything less.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org
Ok but it was still nice
[some waffling further on whether or not to press the issue; it takes a bit, a second or three.]
[finally,]
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org
If you say so
Hope you can sleep the whole day or something!! [Eren deserved it, for sure.]
no subject
The CDC didn't bring us here to screw around
[That is: with the rate of the missions in the past few days, the odds of it slowing down are low.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
I'm not going to sit back while everyone else is fighting
[Nevermind that that's exactly what he ends up doing. Breakneck determination to ignore your exhaustion only works so far. Shifting the other day hadn't helped.]
no subject
[like hell Hinata'd disagree. if it changed anything, it made Hinata want to sign on even more than before (and, unlike Eren, he would-- you really should've saved that shifting energy, bro).]
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org
Then, watch yourself!! Fight well!!!
[... still felt a little odd to say and mean, but it'd pass. --- and then the thought, a sudden curiousity - addressed after a pause, principally because he wasn't sure if he should include the last line. but, well. it'd seemed relevant to a number of others.]
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org
Why did you join the CDC? Did they trick you?
no subject
yeah.
[He isn't ashamed to admit it. It pisses him off, but it's hardly rare. It's a lot harder to find someone who'd agreed to this knowing full well what they were getting into.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
they asked me if I wanted to fight for humanity
[And there's really only one answer he can give to that. The worst part is, they weren't really lying to him, were they?]
no subject
[also of course,]
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org
Technically that's true...
Technically
[a beat.]
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org
But talk about a big reason to agree! That's [this is what takes so long -- as he types interesting, it gives him pause. in the end, without fully understanding why,] not something I'd thought they'd use
no subject
they just ask you whatever they want to get you to say yes
[And why not? All they need is a yes. It makes sense that they'd ask a no-brainer question like that one. (A no-brainer in Eren's case, anyway. Fighting to free humanity is all he's wanted his whole life. They'd asked Jean if he wanted to see a world without titans. Who in their right mind would say no to that?)
Even if it isn't precisely lying—]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
it's low.
no subject
But
[... has anyone tried to go against them? is it possible?]
[in reality: nothing more. the message's sent partially through accident (deliberating too long and a thumb against the enter key caught the best of people off guard, never mind Hinata). he'd heard warnings made in varying levels of severity, but nothing precisely concrete.]
[too bad he wasn't typing any of that. maybe it was a good thing.]
no subject
It's not that Eren doesn't understand the sentiment. He does. Desperately. But he's got no illusions about the stakes. He's got responsibilities. And he's learned that sometimes that means making sacrifices. Bowing his head for a while and surviving long enough to fight back. He's trying. More recently, he's been on the other end of some very specific warnings from Warriorhead. So maybe he isn't trying hard enough.
Hinata's meta flies right over his head though. He's too tired to read too far into that "but." So.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
what
no subject
[succinctly, after a twenty second pause (long for this teenager),]
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org
What happens to people who disagree after they signed on?
no subject
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
they'll do whatever they want if they think they need to keep you in line. [Warriorhead's warning is still ringing in his ears. "If you're not meticulous in your caution..." Himself and everyone he cares about could wind up dead.] they'll threaten your comrades. decide to take out your home next. they're murderers.
[And they're not just talk, either.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
the CDC blew a whole crew sky high because they decided they were a liability. tied them up and slaughtered them like animals. we couldn't do anything but watch it happen
[And he hasn't forgotten.]
no subject
[watch it happen...?]
[after a minute or so,]
[very simply, very feebly,]
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org
But they said part of the contract was that our homes were safe
no subject
long as you hold up your end of it
[And that means doing what you're told.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
how else do you think they get people to play along with this shit
no subject
[he'd question why they needed them, the recruits, since they had so much power, but that was obvious. someone had to do the dirty work.]
[that was that.]
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org
It seems like they're everywhere across in the universes
no subject
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
they can't be everywhere
it doesn't matter what they do. they can't keep everyone under their control forever.
[If there are this many worlds. (This many universes?) Then there are places where people are free. And if there aren't, then there will be. He won't believe anything less.]
no subject
[but it isn't something he disagrees with in the slightest.]
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org
Hopefully that forever's less then 80 years
no subject
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
it won't be
[But he doesn't plan on waiting that long if he can help it.]