[Elliot had nearly finished getting all the fur he could off the jackalope when Eren approached. It's a good thing that Eren managed to free himself, Elliot would check on his injuries later, but...it's also clear that Eren's misinterpreting what he's doing here.
He doesn't hand over the jackalope immediately, instead biting his lip as he hesitates.]
...Eren. Her babies looked really young, they still need her. If we kill her now, they probably won't make it either...
[it's not that he doesn't understand some animal needs to die for them to eat and get what they need. But leaving those kids motherless, when they were too young to fend for themselves, it felt ... cruel.
Sad green eyes looked at Eren, pleading for him to reconsider. ]
There's still a little daylight left, maybe we can find something else.
[ oh, how it is most definitely cruel. children without mothers, childhoods, liberty to be children. eren was one. one of many who were forcibly stripped of those mother included. he knows where elliot means to go now, on a personal level.
yet, his eyes don’t falter. not completely frigid, but the gaze was firm. If he couldn’t say no to this— how would he be able to say no to everything else to come? only now is he learning how dangerous it was to let emotion influence choice, after so many countless falls and holes blown into him.
he pauses, he inhales, the pauses again. ]
They were big enough to run, Elliot. [ it was less cruel as it was being . . . rational, was all. it took years to figure that out, and let it be known he thought he was rational, when he was fifteen.
now he knows what levi meant when he said “don’t let your feelings get in the way”. ] . . . You’d really trade certainty for doubt?
[Elliot knows he must seem soft to Eren. Naive, even. And maybe he was being so. It's not that he hasn't been exposed to the harsh lessons of the world. His father had insisted he learned the harsh realities of the world, to never shut his eyes from the truth.
But being coldhearted in the face of that reality...it wasn't who he was. And if he learned one thing, it wasn't who he had to be either]
I wouldn't. But that's not what I'm doing.
If we don't find anything else, I'm certain I can go a night without food. I've done it before. And you can have the emergency rations I did bring, so you won't go hungry because of me.
As for the hair...the client doesn't care where it comes from, so if I can't find another source? I'm certain my hair will grow back if I cut it.
[Either he's given this more thought than one would expect while Eren was getting himself freed, or he's good at thinking of tactics on the fly. It's hard to tell]
But if we killed her.... I know I'd doubt if I did the right thing, and I'd have doubts about if her family's okay.
[...]
I understand sometimes one has to make a hard decision, but I don't think this is one of those cases.
[ he would’ve understood better if it was kept at “i feel bad”. he would’ve relented. eren listens, but the later half of elliot’s words gets his brows to crease, his lips to pull into a tense frown and his scales— not bright like the sunset, but a deep plum hue.
what he’s telling him is: they wasted their time. he wasted his time if he could’ve just cut his hair. they didn’t have to risk themselves, as close to the wall as they were, to come out here. what was he here for, then? too much disney princess for his being. for someone with a bomb in their hands that was set to erupt, eren doesn’t take kindly to being told this. the thing most precious to him right now is time, and— oh, boy.
he has to inhale. he inhales, rubs at his mouth, before clicking his blade away and moving away, his breath in a huff. he wasn’t about to argue an opinion and warm-loving heart, for god’s sake, it’s a rabbit-thing. he’s not about to work up a storm about that. but. his time? brushing it off like— it was something as easy as cutting off locks when he pronounced himself to something else? no no no, he wouldn’t accept coming out here for nothing. “i’ll give you my emergency rations”. “i’ll go a day without eating, i’ve done it before”. from what he remembered— the client said animal or monster fur. no human hair, gods know how fucked up a spell can get if you try to dupe him. you’re trying too hard and it’s showing is at the tip of his tongue, but that would’ve been said with hotheaded snap rather than reasoning.
which is why he doesn’t say anything akin to such. ]
We didn’t have to come out here for you to cut your hair.
[ he’ll just. be bluntly honest instead. eren begins to shuffle, makes for the discarded net and balls it back in his arms, waving backwards as he moves ahead, as if to gesture to elliot to go on, do what he felt better doing. the jackalopes are gone by now. he’ll have to track down something else. and so, he begins: nearly licking the bark of a nearby tree and circling around it, the opposite way the jackalope family went. ]
[Sorry Eren, he's more used to harping on him for not thinking things through, for not taking responsibilities for his actions. In his eyes, explaining what steps he plans if his decision sets them back felt like the logical choice.
But clearly, something made Eren irked about his response. He's not entirely surprised by it, but at least he seems to be backing down.
He sighs, a little exasperated]
Not like I want to cut my hair. I'm just willing to take responsibility if we don't get anything else. You know, it'll be my fault?
[trying to be mature here!!! But Eren's letting him do his thing, so he'll go ahead and do that. He'll kneel down and put the jackalope back on the ground. With a snap of his fingers, the spell is broken and the creature snaps back awake. It wastes no time bolting back into the underbrush in the direction the other rabbits went.
Elliot will watch it go, feeling relief, before gathering what fur he pulled and putting it in the bag they were suppose to fill. After all the clumps are in, it's now about a third of the way full (rabbits shed a LOT man).
When that's all said and done, he'll stand back up and move to follow after Eren. doesn't take long to catch up, since he is busy...licking things.]
[ oh. wow, he’s. he wants to interrupt!! he wants to interrupt and now certainly say something snappy, because this. sounds like the opposite of what elliot wants to sound like. BREATHE IN breathe out, eren’s internal voices say, inner peace, ommmmm, buddha is with him, reiki bell chimes— god if he were fifteen.
but he’s not, and his boiling point simmers when he hears a gentle thanks. not enough to soften him up, but it does pull his breaks. a pause, an extra tongue flick to the bark closer to the ground one more time, before he’s pinching the bridge of his nose, flattens said hand out in gesture, and turns to elliot.
Just— stop, trying to explain it.
[ there’s edge to it, of one who may be prone to explosive reactions but has a handle on it for now. ]
You’re trying too hard as it is, you’ll dig your hole deeper.
[ shifting around the trees ahead, he continues to walk until he’s found a willow, tipping his head back and tasting the air. there’s a hole at the top . . . and the track goes from the ground to there. ]
[Well that makes Elliot go quiet with confusion. He...wasn't supposed to explain it? After years of always having to justify himself whenever he did something that didn't fit the expectations of a typical "Erebonian man"? How did that make sense? Why did this guy seem so irritable about it?
Not to mention the trying too hard bit.]
...Of course I'm trying really hard? [He's confounded and it shows in his voice. He's a scrawny musician alone in a strange and dangerous world. What else would he be doing but going overboard with trying?] I just didn't want you thinking I was... [oh right. He's "explaining" things again and somehow 'digging his hole deeper". He stops himself] ... Nevermind, sorry.
[The hunt, right. He can't taste the air like Eren, so he can only follow and watch what the other does. Eventually he'll follow where Eren's looking and spy the same hole.]
[ that’s better, enough that he doesn’t have to turn his head to show eyes that want silence. although eren’s not above talking about it later, when his own head has cooled off and he’s more. well, maybe less of a pissed off reptile.
so, tree. removing any more remnants of shoes, he flexes his arms and stretches the way his neck curves from side to side. ]
Tastes like it— I’m gonna check it out.
[ . . . he doesn’t know about climbing trees with your bare hands, but this should be enough. especially with the knife, which he flicks out again to use as a support.
[Elliot isn't sure about climbing trees either, but he's seen Fie do it a lot- so maybe he'll be fine? Doesn't feel like the right time to argue with him anyway. He'll reach out, touching him on the shoulder. The same silence spell gets cast again, with the same feeling washing over him.
Then Elliot will back up, readying himself in case something happens. ]
[ the toks of sound that could’ve been made by his knife embedding into bark is silenced by the bubble of noiseless air casted as he climbs. perhaps the only thing inherently off to their prey is the vibration it causes upon every impact. eren pushes a little sideways to stay clear from the hole’s line of vision, and it’s a rather good thing he does. a juvenile raccoon pokes out from a bed of leaves in its home, whiskers twitching and glancing outwards to what it wonders, disturbs its nap.
it’s ears perk up once its vision lands in elliot’s general direction, and that’s probably the last time he’d see it alive. eren invades the den head first from the side before it could pin a smell to soundless rumbling, knife in hand and eyes— wilder, pupils dilating from the rush. It’s in his hands now, not elliot’s. it dies on the spot, and for a moment, after eren has the lifeless fur in his hand, he rests his weight on his elbows, and hangs off the branch and hole.
he doesn’t feel pleasure, he’d be twisted if he did— but he is exhilarated, more than he expected. feeding a predatory ability would do that. ]
[ Unbeknownst to Eren, Elliot's actually killed a number of raccoons in his times. They were monsters in his world. Not particularly powerful, but tricky enough to be nuisances if you were caught off guard. So when he sees what it is? He feels no qualms about it being hunted.
So he just stands by, watching the situation go down, ready to jump in as needed but it looks he's got a handle of it. Eren is far from the most elegant fighters, but it looks like he can handle himself in his own way.
When it's all done, he approaches closer to the tree. If he notices Eren's exhilaration, he doesn't seem to think anything of it. He's pretty used to fighters and their rushes from fighting]
which is exactly what eren thinks at the moment, but whatever. he should know by now people are like this. he grunts as he begins his descent, half bloody, limp raccoon in one hand (by the tail to help bleed it out) and his blade in another. while the liquid drips into a puddle by their feet, eren holds it out and motions for the net. he’s going to need the rope, at the very least to make this easier.
he mouths the word “raccoon” first. not part of the island’s fauna. ]
[ COHERENCY, WHAT IS ELLIOT CRAIG. at least it’s clear he has a thing for moms and babies, but, still. incoherent. he takes the rope and pulls the knots off clean (the good thing about learning how to knot in the military, it’s like magic when you want to undo them), tying one end to the animal’s leg and tossing the heavier end over a branch. and there we go.
not because he doesn’t know how, but because he wanted to speed the other processes up (to talk, you see), he flips his bloody knife over and holds the handle out. he can use that one if he wanted. he promise he won’t take yours. ]
[Eren have you ever considered you just bad at talking. Elliot recognizes the skinning set up, but that doesn't stop him from being a little surprised that Eren actually agrees to let him skin. The dragon even offered one of his hoarded knives. That's impressive!]
Oh, okay!
[Well he's not about to turn it down. He'll take the knife and step forward towards the raccoon. He doesn't seemed thrilled or an expert at it, but it's clear he's done this before enough times to know what he's doing. Whenever Eren returns with wood, that coon will be nice and skinned, with Elliot cleaning up the pelts of any dirt and blood with a water spell. ]
[ eren: here use my knife lizard brain: you’re not crazy enough to take it anyway eren: what lizard brain: what
and that’s what happened in his head. it’s hard to find anything completely dry when their summer is mighty humid. they’ll think of something, though. as eren’s prickliness dips down to shallow heights, he returns with sticks of various sizes in his arms. there might be a few stray leaves in the middle that have fallen and dried out, but it’s rare when everything is green.
he spares elliot a passing glance, glossing over the stripped coon and approving of it. clean and quick. now they just need a fire. ]
I’m gonna need the knife, I think. [ pause. ] Good work. [ he kneels down to begin placing the bark strategically, taking the driest chip he’s found to start the embers off with that. there’s a stick he could use to rub at it— the knife, too. there’s a trick. but. he stops to pick up the wood chip and stare.
he inhales, cheeks puffing out to hold the breath, then blows it out until he has no more air to offer. round two, perhaps? maybe it’s a short breath he needs, and it has to come from somewhere in his chest. nothing the first time, neither the second or third.
the fourth, he breathes out so hard he chokes on himself. ]
[ He turns and looks at Eren when he returns, noting the bits of kindle he managed to retrieve. Even if there's still a few stray leaves, Elliot isn't bothered by it. Not like he would've done much better, in a humid forest like this.
Hearing Eren approve of his skinning work makes him relax a little. He didn't completely botch everything. So Eren will get a little smile out of him. ] Thanks. [He'll give him back his knife with ease. It doesn't matter if Eren needs the knife or not, he ain't dumb enough to keep a knife from a knife-hoarding dragon.
He continues cleaning the pelts and hanging them to dry out on a branch, eyeing Eren set up the fire. At first it seems normal to what Elliot knew about building a campfire. But then Eren starts...just blowing on it. Which um, okay. that's weird. He's pretty sure you don't blow until you actually start creating sparks. So if Eren glanced over, Elliot sure had a look of confusion on his face.
It takes a few more times before it finally clicks what he's trying to do. Dragons breath fire. He probably felt an impulse to do that. It's almost endearing when he realizes that, and---
Oh, now he's choking. Whoops.
Elliot will get up from his work station to kneel down next to Eren, hand patting his back to help soothe that choking.]
Your breaths are too shallow. You need to breathe out from your diaphragm.
[He slides his hand to the front of Eren, putting it over his diaphragm to indicate where he means. He may not be a dragon, but he was a musician. And if musicians are trained in one thing, it's proper breathing techniques]
[ wait until you hear him say that it was out of pure, unadulterated curiosity than actual impulse. the chokes are brief and is better soothed by clearing his throat from any scraping brought about by dryness, but. hands help, too.
eren’s eyes are wide with attention as he follows, with question at first, what elliot was doing, starting with a glance at the hand to his chest and traveling up.
without breaking eye contact, he gives it a go. no fire, but there’s significant strain to his diaphragm when he breathes in and out. sharp, like he’d do when he had to do something complicated with maneuvering gear. it’s been years since he’s even touched his. ]
[He'll keep his hand on Eren's diaphragm, watching and feeling the other's breathing technique. Funny, Eren doesn't seem to be a stranger to the breathing technique, just rusty. ]
A little slower...you don't want to pull a muscle you haven't used in awhile.
[He walks him through it a few more times, it becoming clear that there's no fire yet.]
Hmmm...maybe your fire breath hasn't shown up yet. Though I'd probably practice for when it does, few times a day.
[ eren mumble-grunts at first, before his voice speaks up clear. ]
Worth trying. [ he’ll just nod and— go for the knife again, fixing the chips up and using the blade to cut them into thinner pieces. they’ll just have to do it the usual way, unless there was a spell for that, but elliot was relatively new. he wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t. even though there’s still some sort of . .. tension, here.
eren tries to talk to him again, at least, voice considerably low with his attention to sparking a flame. ]
[Elliot will pull back a little, sitting far enough away that he won't get any sparks on him. He could try a fire spell, but there was no guarantee it would work. Water came easier to him, and he hadn't gotten fire down yet.]
I know dragons breath fire?
Other than that, not really. But I play flutes, so I know how to blow a lot without hurting yourself. Figure it's the same principal.
[ that made more sense than thinking “you train dragons or breath abilities”, but— whatever musicians do other than playing string instruments of sorts is lost on him. the more you learn . . . ]
It’s a good way to start.
[ he’ll admit that, and— he will probably be practicing daily now, when he does get his breath sac growing in. with attention more towards starting the fire now, a silence begins to coat them, only nature chirping or croaking to provide background noise beyond the rapid shifting of a blade against wood.
and when it’s too quiet, it begins to bother even eren. luckily, the sparks come and he scrambles to spread it among the leaves, blowing to keep the lights alive and catch against the wood. perfect. the coon’s bed is ready. ]
You said you didn’t want me thinking something about you earlier. What was it?
[Yeah alas, his only previous interact with dragons before Eren was dragons trying to kill him. But then again, flute players can be just as deadly -- may this world never have to deal with the calamity named Mint.
He gives a little nod and brief smile before he pulls away and gets back to treating the coon pelts. It's just a little more washing before he can finish hanging it all to dry on the branch. He doesn't talk, not really knowing what to say and instead letting the silence linger.
When then fire is ready he'll bring the skinned raccoon body over for the fire, offering it to Eren to cook. He'd cook it if Eren didn't know how, but his grilling skills were....well, less than stunning.
But oh...Eren brought that up. He pauses for a moment, thinking back on that moment and also hesitating as to what to say. He sits down by the fire. ]
...That I was being naive and weak.
I had instructors that'd rip into me for choices like that unless I made it clear I had thought every angle through. Guess it got me in the habit of defending my choices around soldier types.
. . . I'm not your instructor and I'm not a soldier here.
[ he's not going to chew him out, especially when it wasn't about killing animals, or lacking survival skills— he just didn't want to leave a few kids motherless, as incoherent as it could be at a philosophical standpoint, but he's just. not here to argue about that, there's no reason to.
he's observed elliot enough. after a pause, eren's voice cracks the silence together with the fire gaining life, and while he does that— prepares the coon, skewers it, and places it about the fire on his makeshift grill of sticks. easy. ]
Just someone who needs to get back home. Every second counts. [ eren's brows furrow, but not into slants of irritation as earlier— they're reminiscent of worry (although he's no longer worrying that this is the case, but, feelings). ] If you don't want to be responsible for orphans, that's enough of an answer. You know how to hold your own out here.
Hearing half of those things felt like I wasted my time. Time I gave my heart into.
[ or that it was just taken for granted, which, would probably irk just about anyone on the spot. it doesn't seem like a big deal, and perhaps it wasn't— but the anchor that brings down eren's words is heavy and trying to convey the sincerity of his feelings without bombarding the other with, well. detail bombs that would make any night end kind of heavy. ]
I'm just not the kind of person who could afford that.
[He listens to that answer, trying to envision it from Eren's point of view. He thought Elliot was telling him that he had wasted his time out here? Is that why he got so irritated? ]
...Sorry. I didn't mean to make it sound like you were wasting your time.
[That much was true, it was more about taking responsibility for his own actions, making sure his own soft choice didn't hurt the rest of the mission.
But unfortunately for Eren, Elliot isn't naive. There is something...off about his words. ]
But why...do you make it sound like you're on a tighter timetable than the rest of us? We all need to get back home too, you know.
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no subject
He doesn't hand over the jackalope immediately, instead biting his lip as he hesitates.]
...Eren. Her babies looked really young, they still need her. If we kill her now, they probably won't make it either...
[it's not that he doesn't understand some animal needs to die for them to eat and get what they need. But leaving those kids motherless, when they were too young to fend for themselves, it felt ... cruel.
Sad green eyes looked at Eren, pleading for him to reconsider. ]
There's still a little daylight left, maybe we can find something else.
no subject
yet, his eyes don’t falter. not completely frigid, but the gaze was firm. If he couldn’t say no to this— how would he be able to say no to everything else to come? only now is he learning how dangerous it was to let emotion influence choice, after so many countless falls and holes blown into him.
he pauses, he inhales, the pauses again. ]
They were big enough to run, Elliot. [ it was less cruel as it was being . . . rational, was all. it took years to figure that out, and let it be known he thought he was rational, when he was fifteen.
now he knows what levi meant when he said “don’t let your feelings get in the way”. ] . . . You’d really trade certainty for doubt?
no subject
But being coldhearted in the face of that reality...it wasn't who he was. And if he learned one thing, it wasn't who he had to be either]
I wouldn't. But that's not what I'm doing.
If we don't find anything else, I'm certain I can go a night without food. I've done it before. And you can have the emergency rations I did bring, so you won't go hungry because of me.
As for the hair...the client doesn't care where it comes from, so if I can't find another source? I'm certain my hair will grow back if I cut it.
[Either he's given this more thought than one would expect while Eren was getting himself freed, or he's good at thinking of tactics on the fly. It's hard to tell]
But if we killed her.... I know I'd doubt if I did the right thing, and I'd have doubts about if her family's okay.
[...]
I understand sometimes one has to make a hard decision, but I don't think this is one of those cases.
no subject
what he’s telling him is: they wasted their time. he wasted his time if he could’ve just cut his hair. they didn’t have to risk themselves, as close to the wall as they were, to come out here. what was he here for, then? too much disney princess for his being. for someone with a bomb in their hands that was set to erupt, eren doesn’t take kindly to being told this. the thing most precious to him right now is time, and— oh, boy.
he has to inhale. he inhales, rubs at his mouth, before clicking his blade away and moving away, his breath in a huff. he wasn’t about to argue an opinion and warm-loving heart, for god’s sake, it’s a rabbit-thing. he’s not about to work up a storm about that. but. his time? brushing it off like— it was something as easy as cutting off locks when he pronounced himself to something else? no no no, he wouldn’t accept coming out here for nothing. “i’ll give you my emergency rations”. “i’ll go a day without eating, i’ve done it before”. from what he remembered— the client said animal or monster fur. no human hair, gods know how fucked up a spell can get if you try to dupe him. you’re trying too hard and it’s showing is at the tip of his tongue, but that would’ve been said with hotheaded snap rather than reasoning.
which is why he doesn’t say anything akin to such. ]
We didn’t have to come out here for you to cut your hair.
[ he’ll just. be bluntly honest instead. eren begins to shuffle, makes for the discarded net and balls it back in his arms, waving backwards as he moves ahead, as if to gesture to elliot to go on, do what he felt better doing. the jackalopes are gone by now. he’ll have to track down something else. and so, he begins: nearly licking the bark of a nearby tree and circling around it, the opposite way the jackalope family went. ]
no subject
But clearly, something made Eren irked about his response. He's not entirely surprised by it, but at least he seems to be backing down.
He sighs, a little exasperated]
Not like I want to cut my hair. I'm just willing to take responsibility if we don't get anything else. You know, it'll be my fault?
[trying to be mature here!!! But Eren's letting him do his thing, so he'll go ahead and do that. He'll kneel down and put the jackalope back on the ground. With a snap of his fingers, the spell is broken and the creature snaps back awake. It wastes no time bolting back into the underbrush in the direction the other rabbits went.
Elliot will watch it go, feeling relief, before gathering what fur he pulled and putting it in the bag they were suppose to fill. After all the clumps are in, it's now about a third of the way full (rabbits shed a LOT man).
When that's all said and done, he'll stand back up and move to follow after Eren. doesn't take long to catch up, since he is busy...licking things.]
...Thank you.
no subject
but he’s not, and his boiling point simmers when he hears a gentle thanks. not enough to soften him up, but it does pull his breaks. a pause, an extra tongue flick to the bark closer to the ground one more time, before he’s pinching the bridge of his nose, flattens said hand out in gesture, and turns to elliot.
Just— stop, trying to explain it.
[ there’s edge to it, of one who may be prone to explosive reactions but has a handle on it for now. ]
You’re trying too hard as it is, you’ll dig your hole deeper.
[ shifting around the trees ahead, he continues to walk until he’s found a willow, tipping his head back and tasting the air. there’s a hole at the top . . . and the track goes from the ground to there. ]
no subject
Not to mention the trying too hard bit.]
...Of course I'm trying really hard? [He's confounded and it shows in his voice. He's a scrawny musician alone in a strange and dangerous world. What else would he be doing but going overboard with trying?] I just didn't want you thinking I was... [oh right. He's "explaining" things again and somehow 'digging his hole deeper". He stops himself] ... Nevermind, sorry.
[The hunt, right. He can't taste the air like Eren, so he can only follow and watch what the other does. Eventually he'll follow where Eren's looking and spy the same hole.]
Something in there?
no subject
so, tree. removing any more remnants of shoes, he flexes his arms and stretches the way his neck curves from side to side. ]
Tastes like it— I’m gonna check it out.
[ . . . he doesn’t know about climbing trees with your bare hands, but this should be enough. especially with the knife, which he flicks out again to use as a support.
at least until his lizard hands grow in. ]
Be ready to intercept if I miss.
no subject
[Elliot isn't sure about climbing trees either, but he's seen Fie do it a lot- so maybe he'll be fine? Doesn't feel like the right time to argue with him anyway. He'll reach out, touching him on the shoulder. The same silence spell gets cast again, with the same feeling washing over him.
Then Elliot will back up, readying himself in case something happens. ]
no subject
it’s ears perk up once its vision lands in elliot’s general direction, and that’s probably the last time he’d see it alive. eren invades the den head first from the side before it could pin a smell to soundless rumbling, knife in hand and eyes— wilder, pupils dilating from the rush. It’s in his hands now, not elliot’s. it dies on the spot, and for a moment, after eren has the lifeless fur in his hand, he rests his weight on his elbows, and hangs off the branch and hole.
he doesn’t feel pleasure, he’d be twisted if he did— but he is exhilarated, more than he expected. feeding a predatory ability would do that. ]
no subject
So he just stands by, watching the situation go down, ready to jump in as needed but it looks he's got a handle of it. Eren is far from the most elegant fighters, but it looks like he can handle himself in his own way.
When it's all done, he approaches closer to the tree. If he notices Eren's exhilaration, he doesn't seem to think anything of it. He's pretty used to fighters and their rushes from fighting]
Nice work, Eren!
[And eyeing that raccoon]
Wow...raccoons sure are smaller in this world.
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which is exactly what eren thinks at the moment, but whatever. he should know by now people are like this. he grunts as he begins his descent, half bloody, limp raccoon in one hand (by the tail to help bleed it out) and his blade in another. while the liquid drips into a puddle by their feet, eren holds it out and motions for the net. he’s going to need the rope, at the very least to make this easier.
he mouths the word “raccoon” first. not part of the island’s fauna. ]
How big are they?
no subject
About two, three times as big? They're not the toughest mo- er, creatures, but they can do some real harm if you aren't careful.
[He doesn't seem the least bit fazed by the bleeding dead animal.]
Do you know how to skin one? I can do it if you don't.
[Just please don't take his knife]
no subject
. . . Like giant boars.
[ COHERENCY, WHAT IS ELLIOT CRAIG. at least it’s clear he has a thing for moms and babies, but, still. incoherent. he takes the rope and pulls the knots off clean (the good thing about learning how to knot in the military, it’s like magic when you want to undo them), tying one end to the animal’s leg and tossing the heavier end over a branch. and there we go.
not because he doesn’t know how, but because he wanted to speed the other processes up (to talk, you see), he flips his bloody knife over and holds the handle out. he can use that one if he wanted. he promise he won’t take yours. ]
I’ll go get the wood.
no subject
[Eren have you ever considered you just bad at talking. Elliot recognizes the skinning set up, but that doesn't stop him from being a little surprised that Eren actually agrees to let him skin. The dragon even offered one of his hoarded knives. That's impressive!]
Oh, okay!
[Well he's not about to turn it down. He'll take the knife and step forward towards the raccoon. He doesn't seemed thrilled or an expert at it, but it's clear he's done this before enough times to know what he's doing. Whenever Eren returns with wood, that coon will be nice and skinned, with Elliot cleaning up the pelts of any dirt and blood with a water spell. ]
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lizard brain: you’re not crazy enough to take it anyway
eren: what
lizard brain: what
and that’s what happened in his head. it’s hard to find anything completely dry when their summer is mighty humid. they’ll think of something, though. as eren’s prickliness dips down to shallow heights, he returns with sticks of various sizes in his arms. there might be a few stray leaves in the middle that have fallen and dried out, but it’s rare when everything is green.
he spares elliot a passing glance, glossing over the stripped coon and approving of it. clean and quick. now they just need a fire. ]
I’m gonna need the knife, I think. [ pause. ] Good work. [ he kneels down to begin placing the bark strategically, taking the driest chip he’s found to start the embers off with that. there’s a stick he could use to rub at it— the knife, too. there’s a trick. but. he stops to pick up the wood chip and stare.
he inhales, cheeks puffing out to hold the breath, then blows it out until he has no more air to offer. round two, perhaps? maybe it’s a short breath he needs, and it has to come from somewhere in his chest. nothing the first time, neither the second or third.
the fourth, he breathes out so hard he chokes on himself. ]
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Hearing Eren approve of his skinning work makes him relax a little. He didn't completely botch everything. So Eren will get a little smile out of him. ] Thanks. [He'll give him back his knife with ease. It doesn't matter if Eren needs the knife or not, he ain't dumb enough to keep a knife from a knife-hoarding dragon.
He continues cleaning the pelts and hanging them to dry out on a branch, eyeing Eren set up the fire. At first it seems normal to what Elliot knew about building a campfire. But then Eren starts...just blowing on it. Which um, okay. that's weird. He's pretty sure you don't blow until you actually start creating sparks. So if Eren glanced over, Elliot sure had a look of confusion on his face.
It takes a few more times before it finally clicks what he's trying to do. Dragons breath fire. He probably felt an impulse to do that. It's almost endearing when he realizes that, and---
Oh, now he's choking. Whoops.
Elliot will get up from his work station to kneel down next to Eren, hand patting his back to help soothe that choking.]
Your breaths are too shallow. You need to breathe out from your diaphragm.
[He slides his hand to the front of Eren, putting it over his diaphragm to indicate where he means. He may not be a dragon, but he was a musician. And if musicians are trained in one thing, it's proper breathing techniques]
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eren’s eyes are wide with attention as he follows, with question at first, what elliot was doing, starting with a glance at the hand to his chest and traveling up.
without breaking eye contact, he gives it a go. no fire, but there’s significant strain to his diaphragm when he breathes in and out. sharp, like he’d do when he had to do something complicated with maneuvering gear. it’s been years since he’s even touched his. ]
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A little slower...you don't want to pull a muscle you haven't used in awhile.
[He walks him through it a few more times, it becoming clear that there's no fire yet.]
Hmmm...maybe your fire breath hasn't shown up yet. Though I'd probably practice for when it does, few times a day.
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Worth trying. [ he’ll just nod and— go for the knife again, fixing the chips up and using the blade to cut them into thinner pieces. they’ll just have to do it the usual way, unless there was a spell for that, but elliot was relatively new. he wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t. even though there’s still some sort of . .. tension, here.
eren tries to talk to him again, at least, voice considerably low with his attention to sparking a flame. ]
You know about breath powers?
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I know dragons breath fire?
Other than that, not really. But I play flutes, so I know how to blow a lot without hurting yourself. Figure it's the same principal.
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It’s a good way to start.
[ he’ll admit that, and— he will probably be practicing daily now, when he does get his breath sac growing in. with attention more towards starting the fire now, a silence begins to coat them, only nature chirping or croaking to provide background noise beyond the rapid shifting of a blade against wood.
and when it’s too quiet, it begins to bother even eren. luckily, the sparks come and he scrambles to spread it among the leaves, blowing to keep the lights alive and catch against the wood. perfect. the coon’s bed is ready. ]
You said you didn’t want me thinking something about you earlier. What was it?
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He gives a little nod and brief smile before he pulls away and gets back to treating the coon pelts. It's just a little more washing before he can finish hanging it all to dry on the branch. He doesn't talk, not really knowing what to say and instead letting the silence linger.
When then fire is ready he'll bring the skinned raccoon body over for the fire, offering it to Eren to cook. He'd cook it if Eren didn't know how, but his grilling skills were....well, less than stunning.
But oh...Eren brought that up. He pauses for a moment, thinking back on that moment and also hesitating as to what to say. He sits down by the fire. ]
...That I was being naive and weak.
I had instructors that'd rip into me for choices like that unless I made it clear I had thought every angle through. Guess it got me in the habit of defending my choices around soldier types.
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[ he's not going to chew him out, especially when it wasn't about killing animals, or lacking survival skills— he just didn't want to leave a few kids motherless, as incoherent as it could be at a philosophical standpoint, but he's just. not here to argue about that, there's no reason to.
he's observed elliot enough. after a pause, eren's voice cracks the silence together with the fire gaining life, and while he does that— prepares the coon, skewers it, and places it about the fire on his makeshift grill of sticks. easy. ]
Just someone who needs to get back home. Every second counts. [ eren's brows furrow, but not into slants of irritation as earlier— they're reminiscent of worry (although he's no longer worrying that this is the case, but, feelings). ] If you don't want to be responsible for orphans, that's enough of an answer. You know how to hold your own out here.
Hearing half of those things felt like I wasted my time. Time I gave my heart into.
[ or that it was just taken for granted, which, would probably irk just about anyone on the spot. it doesn't seem like a big deal, and perhaps it wasn't— but the anchor that brings down eren's words is heavy and trying to convey the sincerity of his feelings without bombarding the other with, well. detail bombs that would make any night end kind of heavy. ]
I'm just not the kind of person who could afford that.
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...Sorry. I didn't mean to make it sound like you were wasting your time.
[That much was true, it was more about taking responsibility for his own actions, making sure his own soft choice didn't hurt the rest of the mission.
But unfortunately for Eren, Elliot isn't naive. There is something...off about his words. ]
But why...do you make it sound like you're on a tighter timetable than the rest of us? We all need to get back home too, you know.
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