[Well, there aren't a lot of them left here from the 104th. Eren and Armin and Mikasa, Jean and Connie, (Reiner and Annie...) so they keep pretty good tabs on each other when they can. Connie's been pretty fabulously ill in the medtent, lately. It's a conspicuous absence in their thinning ranks.
All this is news to him, though. And predictably, he reacts to this attempt on her life calmly.]
Poison?
[Okay, is it time to get more concerned over Connie...]
[Actually she sort of is, isn't she? Homestuck... But he doesn't know that. The point is that whoever it was, they fucked up. And now she can do something about it.]
02 if you're trying to imply that i should revenge poison whoever got me, you'd 8e the second person today! if not, then o8viously! i am trying to 8e careful.
You're being attacked. We've got enough bullshit to deal with here without turning on each other first. They deserve what they get.
[Yeah, he's pretty big on vengeance. CDC be damned, this is bullshit.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
If they really want to take you out, they're not going to stop just because they fucked up once. If you don't fight back, you'll end up dead. There's no other choice.
[ There's a pause of a solid five or so minutes before she responds. She seems a little more put together when she does, though her responses are somewhat slower. ]
01 Sometimes I just forget that humans can 8e vicious too! The reminder is sort of refreshing.
02 You're right, of course. 8ut I don't know how to fight someone I'm still not sure even exists!
03 I have no leads and nowhere to even 8egin. No evidence, no clues, no nothing! I 8n't got shit. I would need a lot of luck to find this asshole! More than I have on hand. ::::/
[You need to hit the right buttons to get the full force of it. But Eren is really not a good example of a well adjusted human. (He's not even exactly human in the first place, if you ask some people. And maybe they're even right about that.) This is probably actually really dumb and biased advice, but the basics are something he feels strongly about. You fight to survive. If someone tries to take that away and you don't do anything about it, you die. That's how the world is.
Unfortunately, detective work isn't really his style, either.]
To 8e honest? No! 8ut the chances that a ghost can randomly get sick like I did are pretty slim. So poison is extremely likely! And the only explanation that really makes sense. 8ut like I said, I have no evidence. I can't prove it!
[Poisoning people instead of facing them head on. And that's at least something to go on. (Maybe. Not really. Not when there are Red Team Types in the world. But Eren's straightforward by nature. Subterfuge isn't really something he understands very well.)
And maybe he would have kept going in that vein, but. Abruptly, (rather belatedly,) in a quick and separate message—]
She's ruminating on that thought, still, when his second text comes through. Wow. She forgets who knows and who doesn't that she's dead as a god damn doornail. ]
W8, have I seriously not told you I'm already dead?
[No??? You were definitely too busy making fun of Jean and summoning ghost weasels and getting thrown into mountains and shit to mention the being dead thing.
He doesn't disbelieve it as much as he could. Takes it seriously, because not too long ago, he'd seen the CDC produce the dead from midair in a sharp and gutting and very personal way. Still, it's something of a shock.]
you didn't
I wouldn't forget something like that
[He's sort of irrationally pissed off about it. (The being dead.)]
[ Hey, ghost weasels are extra important. Especially when they're fucking up your luck. Can't catch a 8r8k!!!!!!!! ]
01 Oh. Well. I have 8een dead for a very long time, Eren. Haven't you ever wondered why I have the weirdo void eyes thing going on? It's a ghost thing. A stupid spooky pointless ghost thing!
02 That said, it is possi8le for me to permanently die. Dou8le die! It can happen to any ghost. Were I to die again, I would 8e gone forever.
you said they were special. you already looked pretty weird.
[And considering they were busy on the crewship and had a lot of other shit to deal with, he didn't press. You're an alien! You have grey skin! And horns! And all sorts of weird shit going on. The dumb creepy eyes could have come with the territory, what does he know.
That said.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
you mean they brought you back. you can't be a ghost if you're still alive.
[Shingeki ideas of afterlife are sort of fuzzy and probably pretty bleak. Eren's not one to buy into the only real religion they have. And he's really not following the double death conversation, because as far as he's concerned, one is usually all people get. Sure, if she dies all over again that'll be it, but that doesn't make her a ghost.]
[Telling Eren Jaeger to just accept something he doesn't like and move on doesn't have a great track record of going over smoothly.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
still sounds like bullshit to me.
[Fuck your weird ghost bullshit, he doesn't want to hear it. He's stubborn. He kind of likes Vriska, in a weird way. And even if it's apparently long over (I was murdered. she can't see his expression sharpen, his teeth grit, his temper flare a bit in a frustratingly aimless and futile way,) he doesn't like to stand for the deaths of the people he likes. Even, apparently, if it happened before they'd ever even met. But she walks and talks (boy does she talk) and thinks and acts. How is it any different from the CDC bringing her back here alive?]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
You're here now. You're still talking to me. You make your own decisions, and you fight. And if you die you'll be gone. How's that any different from being alive?
01 That's 8ecause it is complete 8ullshit, Eren. 8ut that doesn't make it any less true!
[ But his second text completely holds her up. Enough to make her lower her communicator and stare at the ceiling of the medical tent for several minutes in contemplative silence. It's something she's wondered herself, from time to time. At least at home, the consequences of death were real and constant. Banishment to the Furthest Ring and a total inability to interact with the world of the living except obliquely, except by freak chance - those had been shackles she'd chafed against every second of every moment of the infinite span of eternity. The consequences for fucking up and letting Terezi kill her had been palpable then.
Now ... what difference did it make? From day one she's interacted with the living, moved and worked and fought alongside them, from the moment she'd told that recruiter yes. It was like the day she signed up with the CDC, all the consequences that came with dying had been voided. The punishments lifted. If it looks like it's alive, and talks like it's alive--
Is it alive?
All she's got to show for her ghosty state now is her stupid eyes and the fact that she doesn't technically need to breathe. Or eat. Or sleep. Or mundane shit like that. But she's no longer held back by being dead.
And even now she's not sure why, or what that really means. ]
02 That is a good question, though. And I have thought a8out it a lot. 8ack home, there were real consequences for dying. Mostly in that I was 8arred from ever interacting with the living, except in very special circumstances!
03 8ut that is not the case here. I am pretty certain I'm the only dead person around here. You know, like, actively dead or whatever. 8ut it's like it doesn't matter!
04 I don't know whether I feel relieved or unnerved.
05 I have always 8een one for 8r8king rules, but this was one I was never a8le to 8r8k on my own. What does it say that not only could the CDC completely circumvent it, 8ut do it so easily?
06 It feels sort of pedantic to insist on this stuff now, but there are other things that set me apart. I don't need to sleep, or eat, or even breathe. I do all of those things, 8ut really only 8ecause I want to, and it's familiar.
07 8ut for all other intents and purposes, you are right. I might as well 8e alive.
08 When you've 8een dead for as long as I have, that is kind of a 8ig fucking deal! I guess I don't really know how to handle it. I don't think a8out it a lot.
[Wow that's a whole lot of text. He'd started on a reply maybe three times before losing his patience with getting interrupted and tossing his blackglass out onto the surface of his bunk until it stopped pinging at him.
So, a handful of seconds slower than usual (already pretty slow) texing speed, and as if it's the simplest thing in the world:]
So don't die again. as long as you're still alive you can figure it out.
[And he says "alive" here, even if she's got her weird ghosty deal. The point is she's living, and that's enough for now. Dealing comes after surviving.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
Vriska?
[What???]
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listen! have you noticed anything suspicious happening l8ly? anyone getting sick for no reason or something weird and unexpected like that????
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After a requisite pause to frown at her emotes and her quirk ("l8ly"??)...]
Connie's been sick. I don't think it's bad.
[Been eating too much weird space food in Sasha's memory or something and then regretting it. It's gross, but not, y'know, serious.]
They sent the Commander away, though.
[Furlough. Nothing serious either, apparently, but...]
What's going on?
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i almost died 8ecause someone tried to poison me. at least, that's what we think happened! can't prove it, though.
which is why i am asking! i may not 8e the only one at risk.
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All this is news to him, though. And predictably, he reacts to this attempt on her life calmly.]
Poison?
[Okay, is it time to get more concerned over Connie...]
What the fuck? Who did you piss off?
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8ut i have 8een trying to warn everyone i can think of. just in case it's not just some chucklefuck with a personal vendetta.
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you don't know who it was?
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you're not dead.
[Actually she sort of is, isn't she? Homestuck... But he doesn't know that. The point is that whoever it was, they fucked up. And now she can do something about it.]
don't give them the chance to finish the job.
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wow. fine! ALMOST lethal. 8etter?
02
if you're trying to imply that i should revenge poison whoever got me, you'd 8e the second person today! if not, then o8viously! i am trying to 8e careful.
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You're being attacked. We've got enough bullshit to deal with here without turning on each other first. They deserve what they get.
[Yeah, he's pretty big on vengeance. CDC be damned, this is bullshit.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
If they really want to take you out, they're not going to stop just because they fucked up once. If you don't fight back, you'll end up dead. There's no other choice.
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01
Sometimes I just forget that humans can 8e vicious too! The reminder is sort of refreshing.
02
You're right, of course. 8ut I don't know how to fight someone I'm still not sure even exists!
03
I have no leads and nowhere to even 8egin. No evidence, no clues, no nothing! I 8n't got shit. I would need a lot of luck to find this asshole! More than I have on hand. ::::/
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Unfortunately, detective work isn't really his style, either.]
You know it was poison?
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[Poisoning people instead of facing them head on. And that's at least something to go on. (Maybe. Not really. Not when there are Red Team Types in the world. But Eren's straightforward by nature. Subterfuge isn't really something he understands very well.)
And maybe he would have kept going in that vein, but. Abruptly, (rather belatedly,) in a quick and separate message—]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
a ghost?
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She's ruminating on that thought, still, when his second text comes through. Wow. She forgets who knows and who doesn't that she's dead as a god damn doornail. ]
W8, have I seriously not told you I'm already dead?
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He doesn't disbelieve it as much as he could. Takes it seriously, because not too long ago, he'd seen the CDC produce the dead from midair in a sharp and gutting and very personal way. Still, it's something of a shock.]
you didn't
I wouldn't forget something like that
[He's sort of irrationally pissed off about it. (The being dead.)]
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01
Oh. Well. I have 8een dead for a very long time, Eren. Haven't you ever wondered why I have the weirdo void eyes thing going on? It's a ghost thing. A stupid spooky pointless ghost thing!
02
That said, it is possi8le for me to permanently die. Dou8le die! It can happen to any ghost. Were I to die again, I would 8e gone forever.
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[And considering they were busy on the crewship and had a lot of other shit to deal with, he didn't press. You're an alien! You have grey skin! And horns! And all sorts of weird shit going on. The dumb creepy eyes could have come with the territory, what does he know.
That said.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
you mean they brought you back. you can't be a ghost if you're still alive.
[Shingeki ideas of afterlife are sort of fuzzy and probably pretty bleak. Eren's not one to buy into the only real religion they have. And he's really not following the double death conversation, because as far as he's concerned, one is usually all people get. Sure, if she dies all over again that'll be it, but that doesn't make her a ghost.]
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I am not alive, Eren. I was murdered! And 8oy did I ever stay dead after that.
02
The CDC did not 8ring me 8ack. Death has weird rules where I come from. Just 8ecause you're dead doesn't mean you're out of the game.
03
Though I still haven't figured out how the recruiter found me. ::::\ It should have 8een impossi8le.
04
8ut the point stands! I am a ghost. You should just accept it and move on!
05
When I talk a8out almost dying, what I mean is permanent death, like I said. There 8n't no coming 8ack from that.
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FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
still sounds like bullshit to me.
[Fuck your weird ghost bullshit, he doesn't want to hear it. He's stubborn. He kind of likes Vriska, in a weird way. And even if it's apparently long over (I was murdered. she can't see his expression sharpen, his teeth grit, his temper flare a bit in a frustratingly aimless and futile way,) he doesn't like to stand for the deaths of the people he likes. Even, apparently, if it happened before they'd ever even met. But she walks and talks (boy does she talk) and thinks and acts. How is it any different from the CDC bringing her back here alive?]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
You're here now. You're still talking to me. You make your own decisions, and you fight. And if you die you'll be gone. How's that any different from being alive?
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That's 8ecause it is complete 8ullshit, Eren. 8ut that doesn't make it any less true!
[ But his second text completely holds her up. Enough to make her lower her communicator and stare at the ceiling of the medical tent for several minutes in contemplative silence. It's something she's wondered herself, from time to time. At least at home, the consequences of death were real and constant. Banishment to the Furthest Ring and a total inability to interact with the world of the living except obliquely, except by freak chance - those had been shackles she'd chafed against every second of every moment of the infinite span of eternity. The consequences for fucking up and letting Terezi kill her had been palpable then.
Now ... what difference did it make? From day one she's interacted with the living, moved and worked and fought alongside them, from the moment she'd told that recruiter yes. It was like the day she signed up with the CDC, all the consequences that came with dying had been voided. The punishments lifted. If it looks like it's alive, and talks like it's alive--
Is it alive?
All she's got to show for her ghosty state now is her stupid eyes and the fact that she doesn't technically need to breathe. Or eat. Or sleep. Or mundane shit like that. But she's no longer held back by being dead.
And even now she's not sure why, or what that really means. ]
02
That is a good question, though. And I have thought a8out it a lot. 8ack home, there were real consequences for dying. Mostly in that I was 8arred from ever interacting with the living, except in very special circumstances!
03
8ut that is not the case here. I am pretty certain I'm the only dead person around here. You know, like, actively dead or whatever. 8ut it's like it doesn't matter!
04
I don't know whether I feel relieved or unnerved.
05
I have always 8een one for 8r8king rules, but this was one I was never a8le to 8r8k on my own. What does it say that not only could the CDC completely circumvent it, 8ut do it so easily?
06
It feels sort of pedantic to insist on this stuff now, but there are other things that set me apart. I don't need to sleep, or eat, or even breathe. I do all of those things, 8ut really only 8ecause I want to, and it's familiar.
07
8ut for all other intents and purposes, you are right. I might as well 8e alive.
08
When you've 8een dead for as long as I have, that is kind of a 8ig fucking deal! I guess I don't really know how to handle it. I don't think a8out it a lot.
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So, a handful of seconds slower than usual (already pretty slow) texing speed, and as if it's the simplest thing in the world:]
So don't die again. as long as you're still alive you can figure it out.
[And he says "alive" here, even if she's got her weird ghosty deal. The point is she's living, and that's enough for now. Dealing comes after surviving.]
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After a moment's consideration, she decides it's one of his more endearing qualities. ]
01
Spoken like a true survivor!
I will do my 8est. 8esides, moping is for weaky lame little wigglers, which I'm definitely not! That shit's for the flap8easts.
02
8ut I am going to need you to hold up your end of the 8argain here, Eren!
[ What bargain? ]
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Okay he understood most of that but wigglers? Flap8easts....? Also—]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
bargain?
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