[That's rough, buddy. In the grand tradition of impeccable conversation that has been established—]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org why?
[He understands not liking to be idle. But they've just wrapped up a mission in a less than graceful way, vanished a planet and a people and lost comrades in the process, and he's not feeling too inclined to go above and beyond for their "employers" at the moment.]
[You'd think that. Warriorhead is the strangest superior Eren's ever worked under. (And considering that list includes sterling individuals like Hange and Levi, that's saying something.)
Curious, since that sort of attitude isn't always common, here—]
["Lord." Eren's never had a very flattering view of aristocracy. Maybe the name would ring a bell if he thought to consider it, but the CDC would seem to have little use for Lords, to him. (Little does he know.)]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org the CDC isn't your lord.
[Kidnapped or blackmailed or bribed. Any way you slice it, Luciola doesn't owe their new employers the same sort of loyalty he might hold to his old ones.]
[Ah, Luciola, he's gonna shounen you to death if you keep this up. He skips right on past the relative weirdness of the news in the first message to get to the second because it offends his every sensibility.
Yes, he understands the chain of command. Yes, he has had to learn to accept how powerless they currently are to make any moves against the CDC. No, that doesn't mean he's ready to accept that that's the way things are supposed to be.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org they're threatening people into doing what they want.
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org it's low. that doesn't make them superior, it's just blackmail. no one's got the right to take over other people's lives like that.
[Not that it's stopped them. But just because they're doing it doesn't mean it isn't wrong. He hates it so much. It cracks at the edges of his consciousness, gathers in his lungs like smoke.]
[for reasons unbeknownst to Luciola himself... He attracts the shonen righteousness. If only it made sense to him- but Guild fatalism is a tough weight to shake, let alone even how difficult it is to think you could in the first place.]
FROM: luciola@cdc.org
I was under the impression that we are all here because we have accepted a price.
FROM: luciola@cdc.org
They are powerful enough to do so.
[though "rights" was a different matter, some would argue]
[If this were a face to face conversation, Eren would be scoffing, seething. Some would argue. He would argue. He does not do it as loudly or as specifically, now, because the CDC has made good on their threats for insubordination in a very public and very deadly way. But he is far from perfect, and things slip through plenty.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org they lied to a lot of people.
[All they need to drag someone into this is a "yes." Adding a bribe onto it afterward doesn't make it any less a lie.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org if you tell them "no" they might put your plant back on the chopping block. that isn't a choice at all.
[It's a threat. One most people don't have the heart to risk, himself included. And.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org being powerful doesn't make it right
[It just means they're powerful. It just means it's harder to fix it, to make things right.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org whether or not they concern themselves with it doesn't have anything to do with you
[Just because it's been determined for you doesn't mean you have to settle for it. And it sure as hell doesn't mean it can't be changed if you find a way. The best way to keep that from happening is never to try. Through fear, or weakness, ignorance or inaction.
(He's as guilty of it here as anyone in the crew. He can't make a move without putting his home on the chopping block. That doesn't mean he's accepted that that's the way things have to be forever.)]
[It's a difficult question. Luciola cared... but he also had a fatalistic streak a mile wide, and care... it did little in the end to change the things that had happened in his own life, let alone others.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
did you piss him off
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I requested to be assigned a duty during downtime.
[... So maybe yes]
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FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
why?
[He understands not liking to be idle. But they've just wrapped up a mission in a less than graceful way, vanished a planet and a people and lost comrades in the process, and he's not feeling too inclined to go above and beyond for their "employers" at the moment.]
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It seemed wasteful not to make use of time.
[he doesn't "Rest" well]
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FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
so make use of it
you don't need someone telling you what you think is worth doing
[do...you...]
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It seemed prudent to consult a superior.
[... haha. independent action.]
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Curious, since that sort of attitude isn't always common, here—]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
are you a solider?
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I am an aide.
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FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
an aide to what
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To Lord Dio Eraclea.
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FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
the CDC isn't your lord.
[Kidnapped or blackmailed or bribed. Any way you slice it, Luciola doesn't owe their new employers the same sort of loyalty he might hold to his old ones.]
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No. Lord Dio is present.
FROM: luciola@cdc.org
However, the CDC is composed of our superiors.
[At least, it seems that way to someone quite used to servitude. In life he served, in death he serves.
Fitting.]
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Yes, he understands the chain of command. Yes, he has had to learn to accept how powerless they currently are to make any moves against the CDC. No, that doesn't mean he's ready to accept that that's the way things are supposed to be.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
they're threatening people into doing what they want.
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
it's low. that doesn't make them superior, it's just blackmail. no one's got the right to take over other people's lives like that.
[Not that it's stopped them. But just because they're doing it doesn't mean it isn't wrong. He hates it so much. It cracks at the edges of his consciousness, gathers in his lungs like smoke.]
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FROM: luciola@cdc.org
I was under the impression that we are all here because we have accepted a price.
FROM: luciola@cdc.org
They are powerful enough to do so.
[though "rights" was a different matter, some would argue]
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FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
they lied to a lot of people.
[All they need to drag someone into this is a "yes." Adding a bribe onto it afterward doesn't make it any less a lie.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
if you tell them "no" they might put your plant back on the chopping block. that isn't a choice at all.
[It's a threat. One most people don't have the heart to risk, himself included. And.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
being powerful doesn't make it right
[It just means they're powerful. It just means it's harder to fix it, to make things right.]
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Those who are powerful tend not to concern themselves with such thoughts.
[Right and wrong. Morals.
The powerful determined those themselves, in his experience. All those less powerful could do was work within it.]
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whether or not they concern themselves with it doesn't have anything to do with you
[Just because it's been determined for you doesn't mean you have to settle for it. And it sure as hell doesn't mean it can't be changed if you find a way. The best way to keep that from happening is never to try. Through fear, or weakness, ignorance or inaction.
(He's as guilty of it here as anyone in the crew. He can't make a move without putting his home on the chopping block. That doesn't mean he's accepted that that's the way things have to be forever.)]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
don't you care at all
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FROM: luciola@cdc.org
Unfortunately, my care does little.
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FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
keep thinking that way and that won't ever change
[The best way to make sure you fail is to convince yourself never to try at all.]
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That which I am powerless to change will not, no.
[its easy Eren there are just some things that are changeable and some are not...]
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FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
if you give up and accept things the way they are, then you're always going to be powerless
[Needless to say, he doesn't believe in that. No matter what the circumstances are—]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
it doesn't have to be that way forever
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Of course, factors and situations may change. In that case, so does the possibility of success.
[Quite logical, right?]
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FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
you're fine sitting on your hands and hoping it'll happen?