OVERFLOW

[usurpers]

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[usurpers]

[ he’s got a slight point. without setting arion down completely (but in the process), eren keeps his eyes on the boy. titan seems uneasy, hackles raised but having yet to make a sound. it’s when eren gets a better look at the boy’s face once he’s close enough that his hold around arion tightens drastically. with his legs on the ground by now, he quickly shuffles arion behind him and takes a few steps back.

the mystery boy might look normal, crying, lost and scared— but eren’s seen enough pictures of himself as a kid to feel ultimately alarmed. ]

How— [ never mind the questions. eren swallows, keeps his steps back and his body in front of arion’s, preferring to hold titan’s leash properly, ready at any moment to let him go if he had to. the only thing this fog has brought is trouble. ] Don’t listen to him, and if I tell you to run for it, run.

[ h-hey, hold on— can’t i stay here with you guys? the boy calls out, and staggers after them. ]

[cornets]

[Arion looks between them, alarmed that Eren seems so suspicious and hostile to this boy. He squints at the small figure in the fog who looks... sort of familiar? Wait...]

He looks like... You?

[There's no doubt about it. From the unkept hair to the hard eyes both of them are sporting, it's hard not to see the resemblence. No wonder he's on edge. Arion's own unease is growing. He feels something else in the fog, something just as sinister and angry. He unconsciously takes a step back when the mini-Eren takes a step forward. ]

[usurpers]

Screw this—

[ damn it, li-na!!!!

eren thought he was losing it, until the change in trajectory makes him turn his head and bolt faster than he ever could. run for it run for it run for it, god damn those robot microphones. at first, eren’s ready to yell back to tell her stop, that he’ll lead it somewhere else, until— his attention goes straight to the pole.

he gets it, and sees where she’s going as well; with every blast of power his muscles could give him, he holds his breath and exerts into a sprint, finally sliding into the supposed safe zone and yelling one more time behind him: ]

Over here!!

[invocate]

[Luckily, this robot isn't particularly bright. Not sensing it's falling into a rather simple trap, it plows headfirst into the utility pole. With a forlorn whine of gears and motors, it crumples to the ground.]

Did we get it?

[Li-Na's voice is barely above a whisper, as she peers at the broken robot from what is hopefully a safe distance.

As if in reply to her question, the robot starts breaking apart.]

[usurpers]

[ eren goes silent, a hand to his mouth and looking down. he keeps his eyes to the mirrors every so often and his voice hushed to a whisper. they had to do something, and sitting around, running away could only get them so far. ]

I have memories of disarming bigger things— like rifles.

[ if annie could help him here, too . . . she’d be more of a lifesaver. he’s never actually tried to disarm things so big, but if he remembers all the movements, it couldn’t be so impossible. he turns the car lights on again, and switches them to blinking. ]

If you can distract him, I’ll get behind him. As long as I can lock, I’ll get him.

[ maybe they’ll have to stab him again. ]

[windeity]

Rifles? [It's a questioning tone because of the way that Eren says it. Memories. An implication he remembers something from not here about the weapons but maybe now isn't the right time to ask. He nods though and sits up in the passenger seat, eyes narrowed as he focuses around the garage to ensure that the dog didn't follow.]

I can cause a distraction no problem. It's me he wants for some reason. Just be careful? If it looks like this is going to get worse, we retreat and come up with a new plan. Deal?

[They can stab him again, it's fine.]

[usurpers]

[ she was sick and passed away. if eren didn’t have enough red flags blaring in his head by now, this certainly took the flags and turned them into sirens. for now, the woman doesn’t hostile, but that doesn’t guarantee anything. with one hand close to his side and the other holding sakura, he stares grimly at the fog illusion. ]

She’s not real, Sakura.

[keystaff]

But...

[She's right there. And if Eren sees the figure too. How else to explain this? She's not sure. The figure of her mother approaches, a hand outstretched as if welcoming, or beckoning. Beckoning to Sakura as she steps forward more. Sakura still stopped from going to meet her with Eren holding her back, holding her to him. Still, the figure is silent, not saying a word but letting her actions try to speak for themselves.]

Then how....why....?

[usurpers]

[ prompto you get the world’s greatest leer. ]

You really think I’d be dumb enough to patrol unarmed? [ titan’s has his own powerful weapons on his command, not counting the concealed firearm and ammo he carries around on him at all times. a soldier needs to be prepared. ] If something happens, I was ready for it.

[usurpers]

[ and this time, he hears them. perhaps not in the same intensity as matt does, but the fog surrounds his car at this point. he can’t see anything beyond the windows, not even lights, and looks alarmed when the murmurs get to him. he turns to matt, eyes wide but grave, and when he sees the emotion deep through him— ]

Yeah, I do. [ the best way around the fog is destroying the actual illusion, but— how do you destroy something that has no body? nothing to actually destroy or fight back against? these were whispers, and sounds. ] Matt— stay with me, alright? [ he grips a hand over his shoulder, and looks again through the windows. think.

he can turn the car on, he can attempt to drive, but what else? ]

We need to drown them out.

[blessmefather]

[ Matt can feel himself teetering on the edge of panic and tears. His emotions are too strong, the voices seem to cut through him with every word despite not knowing exactly what they mean by their accusations. The darker, crueler voice, the one actually in his head suggests that this is just like his real limitations. Eren is talking! he reminds himself. "We need to drown them out." They're in a car aren't they? ]

Radio!

[usurpers]

[ there’s just so much strength he can put into one arm without needing the other to keep the dog from leaving his grasp. paws and limbs weren’t like hands, and as close to the edge they are, titan tries to claw his way back up. biting his lip, eren looks all around him, hooking a foot into one of the rooted vines, but the rest was just too far away. he’s slipping—

but when he sees a hand offered to him, he takes it, with a firm vice grip that wouldn’t let go if jaeger didn’t. he tries his best to pull along with him, to keep from unloading all that weight onto one person, and once he’s got his torso up, it’s much easier to anchor and pull in the rest of his companion. they’re both huffing, eren especially. with one last look down into the hole, then back at jaeger, he offers a curt nod. ]

Thanks.

[ looks like that wasn’t the right direction . . . ]

[scythegun]

No problem.

[Well, okay, it was a bit of a problem, but it's not like he's going to let someone die right in front of him. He might not like dogs, but it's not like he wants to see the dog die either.

So! This definitely wasn't the right way. Jaeger doesn't immediately backtrack though, instead he gets a good look at their surroundings to give both the dog and the boy some time to recover.]

Well, I suppose we'll have to try one of the other paths, ja? Are you two ready to move?

[usurpers]

i know i saw your bullshit excuse

[androidheart]

It is not bullshit!

Relying on my family is no different from telling my parents that they are right about me being useless and incompetent!

[usurpers]

i didn’t even answer much but ok
meet up with you?

[nachetanya]

[ She needs to not do this. Not tease him, not needle him no matter how foul her mood is now. ]

Obviously. He's a dear cousin of mine.

[usurpers]

even if they did, you still wouldn’t listen to them
because they’d still be vague and won’t answer us beyond making these announcements, tossing hints around
honestly, because that’s what i did.

[ and he knows you, alice. ]

most info we have now is thanks to people digging them up

[stulpe]

If they're not going to provide useful information why offer anything at all?
Is this entire city just some kind of collection of puppets or animals being led by the illusion of a carrot?
The promise of an explanation of something that might not even be real?

[ there's a break in replies ]

I'm sorry
I know if nothing else that you're not behind this or keeping anything from me
But you have to see where this is all very hard to believe, Eren

[usurpers]

[ there should be a . . . non-decorated bench around here, and once eren snaps his eyes on one, he gives her arm a nudge, and points. ]

I’ll make sure nothing bothers you.

[ they don’t need more pesky lights and plants trying to cause a scene, and she needs to put that back on. he couldn’t just leave it at that. ]

[nachetanya]

My hero...

[ She says with a fake-awed expression, but she does genuinely nod and smile for him! To the bench, then! She needs to roll up her sleeves a little more as she does and man, this bench is chilly on her tush.... ugh. This is what she gets for wearing a skirt with tights on under it.

Still.

Once it's clear that she's got the sleeve up enough, she brings the process of taking off her lower arm and then putting it back in properly. ]

[usurpers]

[ at least he closed the eye of the side he’s going for. he leans. pulls back. leans again. phew, alright. ]

Let’s make it quick.

[ so he cups zack’s face, turns it a tiny bit more sideways manually before . . . his palm connects to his cheek with a loud CLAP, sweaty hands leaving behind the scribbled ꓘISSƎᗡ 💋 . ]

Dumbass.

[activatingcombatmode]

AHHH-! EREN-!!

[He knew something shitty like that was gonna happen!! He grabs Eren roughly under his arm into a headlock now before he can get anywhere else.

He's going to russian suplex your ass!!!]

[usurpers]

[ it’s that relation that makes his shaming wholeheartedly necessary! ]

Never thought about trying something else?

[selfloving]

Obviously I have. But if you're doling out advice then I'd be happy to hear what you'd suggest.

[Jasmine doles out unsolicited advice all the time, herself, which she knows; she knows, equally, that it's hypocritical to get bristly at Eren for the same thing.

But she sure does.]

[usurpers]

[ look. you’re a good cousin. he loves you like he loves his sister, and mom. but that doesn’t stop him from going a little red around the ears. it looks like that one time when eren was little, and his mother ushered him into saying hello to his cousin. he was shy, red, and frowning, and tried to hide behind her leg. until she told him to act like a young man. ]

After . . . Some kind of. Kiss.

[stulpe]

[ Luckily for Eren, Alice doesn't take the reaction personally. She loves him too but this is suddenly not about him. If she'd been subjected to Retrospec for longer, she might feel differently about it, but for now she's frowning and glaring at the bat. ]

So the people who run this app have turned these things loose to force people to kiss?

[ Perverts. She's very unimpressed. ]

[usurpers]

you’ll be fine
this has to do with those boots?

[invocate]

yes, it does
they make for very unusual weapons

[usurpers]

a gun on safety in the hands of someone who’s never used a gun is useless
you need to worry about the people who hold them, just like any other weapon. it’s people that kill people, not guns.

[adoringpast]

i suppose you're right
i'll just have to be extra careful then and only bring one around me when unreality shit goes out of control
since lugging an actual sword around would garner me some staring and not just because im a model

[usurpers]

Used to. [ very matter of fact, with a now open bottle to his lips and tilting his head back for a gulp. he’ll offer her an unopened bottle himself. ] And there’s no one in there when it was around.

[ eren takes another gulp, and rather suddenly, something changes: the wall behind him starts to appear bit by bit. he’s transparent. you can actually see right through him. ]

[nachetanya]

[ Natalia nods at his words and she takes the water bottle herself, opening it right up until...

He turns... transparent? She barely hears the second part because she is so alarmed right now. She looks down at the water and then she's going to throw the opened bottle she has in hand at him. Because wow, you should purify ghosts and she doesn't want it in hand - ]

Stop drinking that!

[usurpers]

[ he’s a little jealous— it sounds easy the way yusuke says it, like you just needed to manually put one marble to the left and another to the right. eren understands the concept in theory, he’s heard it countless times. they are vastly different lives that connected the same base of a person, under different circumstances. if it were so easy . . . none of this would really be a problem in the first place. ]

Sounds like you can separate things pretty easily.

[fabrefactions]

[ That's a funny joke. ]

Hardly.

But taking all of this on our shoulders, as well as all of the other troubles of everyday life is too much. Trying is important.

[usurpers]

Because you were doing their job or spoiling their plans?

[ because honestly, the more he saw, the more he realized that the world, no matter where it was, was still going to have garbage. that and eren is pretty accepting of taking justice into your hands when it isn’t given since the beginning. ]

[usurpers]

[ neither did eren. ]

I won’t.

[ despite the pause, he’s firm with his answer. he’s not going to let any sort of situation get to that desperate point. he’s not going to break down that way. things are different and he has changed. hopefully, for the better. but after a beat, eren clears his throat, resting his elbows on his knees. ]

I have some power and back then— it wasn’t working. [ eren still feels the pull of guilt on him to not have been able to do anything. he knows now, he had been kidnapped and the whole military was trying to get him back. how many others had been eaten the same way when they tried to retreat? ] That wasn’t the first time someone died because of me.

[activatingcombatmode]

[The image of those monsters crunching down on people and attacking people is still fresh in his own mind. Those unsettling looks on their faces and those lanky gangly bodies... Things. Monsters?]

It looked like you were trying to help.

[Sigh. Still pacing.] What were those giant creatures?

[usurpers]

[ john, you are the one john in his life that makes him question his life choices. ]

You don’t know where it’s been.

[vitis]

[ john holds up another of the items; this time, it's some freshens brand canned, diced tomatoes. it looks like it's still sealed this time, at least. ]

In a can-? In its packaging?

[ said like see?? safe. ]