FROM: warriorhead@cdc.org TO: ORANGE TEAM SUBJECT: Assignment
You have a job. Yes all of you.
Identify the 6 weakest members of Orange Unit. Yes I expect you to state your reasoning. No I don't want to spend all night listening to an audio readout. Be concise. You guys are smart. Mostly. And while you're at it, give me the 2 biggest threats from Red, Blue, and Green. Same deal.
I expect your reports before 00:00 Day 30. Don't pull a Red Unit.
[ Reports may be filed here. As always, players and their characters are not required to participate. Yes these reports will be connected to plot events at a later date. Should you have any further questions or require an extension, please feel free to pm Warriorhead's account. ]
Ominously worded homework. It's been hard to miss the recent Red-Team drama. Eren's still sitting somewhere uncomfortable between angry distrust and grudging compliance where the CDC is concerned. He understands that some people just aren't cut out for a military operation, no matter what it is. But the CDC isn't exactly something you can wash out of without consequences. Picking out the weak feels too much like throwing his comrades under the bus not to grate on him. So, hope you weren't expecting him not to ask questions, WH.]
[You're not the boss of him, Warriorhead! Except for the part where you sort of are.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
we do what you say or you take out our homes.
[That's about as much choice as any one of them really has, in the end. It's about the only reason he hasn't kicked up more of a fuss than he has. Too much at stake, (too many cooler heads to reign him in.) Still.]
what does selling out our comrades have to do with it?
[Good thing he was recruited a few hours before the last team he was a part of died horrifically because of him, or he'd have angsty flashbacks over that. Instead, he's just a little confused.]
[God WH you're so vague it drives him nuts. His whole life has been a whole lot of pursuing truths held just out of his reach. He just wants to figure out how he feels about this. (The answer is "confused and sort of pissed off," but he feels that way about a lot of things, so something more specific would be nice.)
There's a pause as he works out how shounen he can be through text. Warriorhead said he asked them to make these choices because they're a team. He really doesn't get it.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
someone told me working on a team means relying on each other. even if some people are stronger than others, they can't do everything on their own either.
[You work together. It's the biggest lesson he's taken from Petra and the Special Operations Squad, so far. (Because it's yet to blow up in his face.)]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
picking people out as weak doesn't make you a team
[Well. Yeah, maybe a little. Not that he'd phrase it that way. The CDC has lied to people to get them here, in his opinion. It's hard to trust, after that.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
You should just say what you mean.
[If you don't want people to make assumptions. But maybe part of the reason he's sort of ok with Warriorhead is because the instructor seems pretty interested in keeping his recruits alive. So this is him being less belligerent, really. The thing about Eren is that the best way to get him to follow orders he doesn't agree with is to get him to understand them. This is sort of the opposite.]
[Honest and incredibly frustrating!!! He's too straightforward for this cryptic crap, WH.
There is, however, a chastened sort of pause after the second message goes through.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
is that why you're asking? to make them stronger.
[As opposed to weeding them out, or doing...whatever Dagger's even been doing to his team. Yes, Warriorhead has already said he's not planning on telling. No, that's not going to stop him from pursuing it anyway.
Ignoring reality doesn't make it go away. He knows that. He worked very hard to try and pull himself up and away from his own weakness. He used to be all for people bowing out of training if they couldn't deal. (It's better than seeing them die in action later.) But "consent" be damned, claiming that everyone here knew what they were getting into would be a lie. And they can't exactly pick up and leave if they're not cut out for this, either. Not if they give a damn about where they came from.
It makes it a little more dire than washing out of the military. They can't run away. The only real options left are to die or survive.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
I saw what can happen out there.
[He means the lockdown. A slaughter of uncomfortably familiar scale. A reminder that sometimes just being strong isn't enough. Sasha was a good soldier. Bertholt was one of the greatest threats humanity has ever faced. They still hadn't made it. It's been weeks, but it's still eating at him.]
None of us were strong enough to stop that.
[They'd tried, and they'd failed. And admitting that is frustrating, too.]
[ Because ultimately, that is what this mission comes down to. There will be those in Orange Unit who complete their assignment. Choosing to avoid it will change nothing and 'save' no one.
What Jaeger elects to do, what any of his unit elects to do, is up to them. Warriorhead is not troubled by this detail because he considers his team to be uniquely gifted.
Perhaps that would be called trust. Warriorhead calls it expectation. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
DAY 22
FROM: warriorhead@cdc.org
TO: ORANGE TEAM
SUBJECT: Assignment
You have a job. Yes all of you.
Identify the 6 weakest members of Orange Unit. Yes I expect you to state your reasoning. No I don't want to spend all night listening to an audio readout. Be concise. You guys are smart. Mostly. And while you're at it, give me the 2 biggest threats from Red, Blue, and Green. Same deal.
I expect your reports before 00:00 Day 30. Don't pull a Red Unit.
[ Reports may be filed here. As always, players and their characters are not required to participate. Yes these reports will be connected to plot events at a later date. Should you have any further questions or require an extension, please feel free to pm Warriorhead's account. ]
no subject
Ominously worded homework. It's been hard to miss the recent Red-Team drama. Eren's still sitting somewhere uncomfortable between angry distrust and grudging compliance where the CDC is concerned. He understands that some people just aren't cut out for a military operation, no matter what it is. But the CDC isn't exactly something you can wash out of without consequences. Picking out the weak feels too much like throwing his comrades under the bus not to grate on him. So, hope you weren't expecting him not to ask questions, WH.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
what's going to happen to them?
no subject
Dunno yet. That's up to them.
no subject
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
what do you mean?
no subject
FROM: warriorhead@cdc.org
I mean everyone in this organization has a choice.
no subject
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
we do what you say or you take out our homes.
[That's about as much choice as any one of them really has, in the end. It's about the only reason he hasn't kicked up more of a fuss than he has. Too much at stake, (too many cooler heads to reign him in.) Still.]
what does selling out our comrades have to do with it?
no subject
Who said anything about selling our comrades?
no subject
Okay, trying again without the figure of speech.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
You're asking us to tell you who we think is weak.
[Among other things. "Selling them out" not...actually...selling them...]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
you said what happens is up to them. what does the choice have to do with it?
no subject
Yes.
FROM: warriorhead@cdc.org
And yes.
FROM: warriorhead@cdc.org
And, they will be given a choice.
A few actually.
no subject
are you gonna tell me what it is?
[Might as well try.]
no subject
Sure.
FROM: warriorhead@cdc.org
If you're in the 6.
no subject
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
I'm not weak.
[He used to be. He worked really damn hard to change that. The degree of success is up for debate, maybe, but he refuses to let things stay the same.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
why ask us?
no subject
Because you're a team.
no subject
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
you want us to work together on this?
[On the surface it looks pretty dog-eat-dog.]
no subject
I want the reports. Everything else is up to you.
no subject
everything except what happens to them after.
[God WH you're so vague it drives him nuts. His whole life has been a whole lot of pursuing truths held just out of his reach. He just wants to figure out how he feels about this. (The answer is "confused and sort of pissed off," but he feels that way about a lot of things, so something more specific would be nice.)
There's a pause as he works out how shounen he can be through text. Warriorhead said he asked them to make these choices because they're a team. He really doesn't get it.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
someone told me working on a team means relying on each other. even if some people are stronger than others, they can't do everything on their own either.
[You work together. It's the biggest lesson he's taken from Petra and the Special Operations Squad, so far. (Because it's yet to blow up in his face.)]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
picking people out as weak doesn't make you a team
no subject
You're making a lot of interesting assumptions.
Are you afraid of my intentions?
no subject
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
You should just say what you mean.
[If you don't want people to make assumptions. But maybe part of the reason he's sort of ok with Warriorhead is because the instructor seems pretty interested in keeping his recruits alive. So this is him being less belligerent, really. The thing about Eren is that the best way to get him to follow orders he doesn't agree with is to get him to understand them. This is sort of the opposite.]
no subject
I don't like doing things that way.
[ Well, at least he's honest? ]
FROM: warriorhead@cdc.org
Pretending someone isn't weak, or ignoring their weakness, does not make them strong.
wow one day I'll write you shorter tags I'm so sorry
There is, however, a chastened sort of pause after the second message goes through.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
is that why you're asking? to make them stronger.
[As opposed to weeding them out, or doing...whatever Dagger's even been doing to his team. Yes, Warriorhead has already said he's not planning on telling. No, that's not going to stop him from pursuing it anyway.
Ignoring reality doesn't make it go away. He knows that. He worked very hard to try and pull himself up and away from his own weakness. He used to be all for people bowing out of training if they couldn't deal. (It's better than seeing them die in action later.) But "consent" be damned, claiming that everyone here knew what they were getting into would be a lie. And they can't exactly pick up and leave if they're not cut out for this, either. Not if they give a damn about where they came from.
It makes it a little more dire than washing out of the military. They can't run away. The only real options left are to die or survive.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
I saw what can happen out there.
[He means the lockdown. A slaughter of uncomfortably familiar scale. A reminder that sometimes just being strong isn't enough. Sasha was a good soldier. Bertholt was one of the greatest threats humanity has ever faced. They still hadn't made it. It's been weeks, but it's still eating at him.]
None of us were strong enough to stop that.
[They'd tried, and they'd failed. And admitting that is frustrating, too.]
no subject
You're going to have to trust my judgement.
[ Because ultimately, that is what this mission comes down to. There will be those in Orange Unit who complete their assignment. Choosing to avoid it will change nothing and 'save' no one.
What Jaeger elects to do, what any of his unit elects to do, is up to them. Warriorhead is not troubled by this detail because he considers his team to be uniquely gifted.
Perhaps that would be called trust.
Warriorhead calls it expectation. ]