YOU'RE A DRAMA QUEEN IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN

[frostythehitman]

WHO: James and YOU!
WHERE: Literally anywhere. School, the library, the laundromat, literally. anywhere.
WHEN: throughout the month
WHAT: FIGHT ME, MEET ME IN THE PIT. Or celebrate James's birthday, that too. AKA, November catch-all!
WARNINGS: uh. wanton violence?


fite me.
[ It doesn't matter where you are, or what you're doing, or what James himself is doing. Though he's returned to his more standard attire of band sweaters and pants with copious chains on them, he still has a nasty look in his eye for anyone who dares even look in his direction. He's fine, he'll claim to anyone who asks, but he's really just a powder keg waiting to blow.

So, interact with him at your own risk. Or don't, really--even the quickest of glances or pointing to something in his general vicinity will set him off or whispering something to a friend nearby is all it will take to set him off. ]

hap birf.
[ Come November 13th, James is officially turning 17. Of course, it's the furthest thing from his mind right now and he doesn't bother mentioning it at all, intending to be a grumpy gus on his lonesome all day. But your character, should they find out about his birthday from another source like his sister, perhaps, may want to ambush him and force him into a celebration of sorts...

It's up to you, though, because left to his own devices, he'll scowl his way through the school day and angrily walk his way home from school. ]

(alt) wildcard.
[ I'm setting up a bunch of private top-level stuff for other threads, but if I forgot to write up a prompt for something we talked about then, uh, my bad--please hit up this post with it anyway! ]

Comments

[frostythehitman]

I see how it is--no honor in combat, huh!

[ Not that James disagrees. If it's life and death, the first thing to go out the window is honor. It's all about survival.

But this hit Eren's coming at him with now, this he knows he can handle as he watches him prepare for the attack. He blocks the blow with his forearm and uses the opportunity, while he's close enough for it, to throw up a roundhouse kick with his left leg, also aiming for Eren's torso. ]

[usurpers]

Exactly—!

[ kicks— eren’s not too good with kicks, mostly with returning them, although he can get by with blocking if the speed had helped. it’s the closed in distance that doesn’t help him with evading much at all, so he has to take it either way. with his arms in a position to attack and return, he doesn’t quite find the time to swing it down to defend his torso. he tries, but he feels his ribs getting hit directly, wincing as his arm comes around outside the actual kick, and not inside to defend, his balance staggering to his right. he’s falling.

that’s where he tries to take a blow to get one in. the aforementioned arm attempts to hook around jame’s leg, and whether he falls with him or not into that attempted grapple depends on that success. ]

[frostythehitman]

[ As soon as Eren's arm wraps around his leg, he starts kicking, trying to get him off before Eren took him down with him. And it sort of works--as Eren goes down, James manages to yank his leg out just in time...but the force of him yanking his way free sends him stumbling back. In the end, James falls over onto the ground too, but from his own mistake.

He groans as he rolls onto his side and props himself up on his elbow. ]

Nice moves.

[usurpers]

[ eren gives an annoyed sort of gah when james kicks himself free. just a little more secure and he would’ve had him in a limb lock. alas, down he goes, hitting the ground with his backside and rolling onto his back. he’s huffing, but soon enough lifts himself into sitting, with a faint smile. ]

My sister’s, and another girl I knew. [ you bet his military booty he’ll admit that his cool ass sister taught him first. also, annie. ] You’ve still got it, too, man.

[frostythehitman]

[ He grins a little as he picks himself back up. ]

It's the one thing Retrospec gave me that isn't total garbage.

[ Because really, his approach to fighting before Retrospec was to just tackle people and wail on them--no dodging, nothing, just a good old-fashioned brawl until either he or his opponent went down. The finesse of dodging, careful footwork, and recovering from a hit is all fairly new to him. ]

[usurpers]

[ getting back up to his feet, eren pats down some of the dirt that could be on his clothes. he can agree with that, although— he hasn’t gotten anything that can be considered total garbage yet, miraculously enough. he’s ready for a round two if james is, but if he wants a breather . . .

he’s looking better in the face, at least. ]

How’d you start picking it back up?

[frostythehitman]

[ He takes the chance for a short break. Besides, now he's being distracted with conversation, instead of frustration he only knows how to punch his way out of. ]

Picking what up--fighting? I never really picked it up. Or down.

[usurpers]

[ eh— ]

The moves. You said you got it from Retrospec, right? [ eren, for a minute, almost looks a little exasperated. ] Don’t tell me it came back that easy.

[frostythehitman]

Well, not just now. It was months ago. But yeah, what else do you expect to happen when you suddenly get a ton of muscle memory back? I don't know how it works, it just does.

[usurpers]

[ why was he always the late bloomer. ]

You’re the third one I hear that from and I’m still flailing like some fish out of water. Weeks after memories.

[ he’s actually mad, omg ]

[frostythehitman]

[ He shrugs and makes a light grunting noise. ]

You're probably better off that way. Getting good at fighting overnight like that is usually just a sign that everything you remember is gonna be terrible and really messed up.

[ At least from what he understands, based on his own regains and what he knows of a few other people's too. ]

[usurpers]

What’s the point in that when you’re just gonna keep getting memories anyway?

[ he at least . . . knows his past world was far from a good time, but then again— most worlds weren’t good times at all at least at some point in time, somewhere. ]

If there’s something I can make use of, now— I’m not better off.

[ it could be of use! in exchange for a lifetime’s worth of trauma and war! ]

[frostythehitman]

[ James shakes his head. ]

You're not getting me. If you don't get skills or weapons like that from Retrospec, it probably means whatever your memories are gonna be won't be bad enough to need them in the first place. It's less of a nightmare to deal with.

[ Literally. He knows a lot more about war and death and dying than he wishes he did, and his brain won't even let him get a night's rest without reminding him about it. ]

[usurpers]

[ ah. he gets it, even if . . . ]

That’s not my case. [ vertical maneuvering just really did take some time to get used to, and he was impatient to start getting it right. eren goes quiet then, looking up at some of the trees and folding his arms over his chest— they never actually had a chance to exchange. ] How much of that is from personal experience?

[frostythehitman]

[ Ah. So Eren does remember things, and apparently remembers enough to know that whatever he's getting isn't going to be pleasant. Well then...in that case, James understands a little more.

He looks over at Eren. ]

How much of what is from personal experience?

[ James is pretty sure he already knows, but he wants to confirm--he doesn't exactly want to dive headfirst into talking about the details of what he remembers when there's a chance Eren might mean something else. ]

[usurpers]

“It’s less of a nightmare to deal with”.

[ you probably know how much of a nightmare it is then, right? he’s not going to be pushy for details, though— he doesn’t talk much about his either. ]

[frostythehitman]

[ Yeah, figures.

James doesn't mind saying it though--at least the broader concepts of it. So he nods. ]

Yeah. Everything I'm remembering and getting back is from some special ops soldier who fought in World War 2. Or some version of it with superpowers, anyway.

It's not pretty.

[usurpers]

World War 2 . . .

[ it’s more for eren himself to settle ir his head than for james to actually repeat that, he heard what he said and understood fully. another world, sort of like their’s now, but— different, unlike his. he also quietly takes note of how he refers to those memories. “some special ops soldier”.

that wasn’t the first time, though, and honestly? he hasn’t seen war, neither here nor there. he’s only felt its aftermaths, its chaos and one short battle that was nothing but a pretense to what was coming. ]

He doesn’t share your name?

[frostythehitman]

Nah, he does. Even uses it as his codename.

Or used. Whatever.

[usurpers]

You don’t feel like it’s you?

[frostythehitman]

[ WHAT is this line of questioning now even ]

Of course I feel like it's me! He's just like me, down to having the same exact family and everything. The only difference is that he was born like 80 years before I was.

[ And that he's so much more comfortable using guns and weaponry, which is definitely something that makes James squirm. ]

[usurpers]

[ bECAUSE ITS IMPORtaNT FOR HIS REPORTS and personal interests. no, seriously. for a minute, he goes quiet to put the pieces he has side by side, how every individual sees themself, including him. ]

You talk about him like you’re different people, though. You’re separating things. [ or, at least, he makes it look like that, or makes an effort to. ] . . . I can’t do that.

[ at least for him, it’s hard to separate. ]

[frostythehitman]

I don't know! I can't either! I mean-- [ He grunts and grasps at the air to try and figure out how to articulate it. This is so weird. ]

I know the difference between what happened to him and what happened to me, because his life was all old-timey and weird. But it's still me. Even if I wish it wasn't.

But I have to say something when I'm talking about those memories and not my normal ones. It's not exactly like there's a lot of words for me to use here--they didn't think about how to talk about this weird magic soul crap when they invented English!

[usurpers]

[ okay so we’re deeper than we thought. eren holds out a hand in a calming gesture— eren jaeger is telling you to calm down. ]

I know— I know, that’s the same thing with me. [ his hand soon goes to his mouth though, thinking. ] It’s because some people think they’re completely separate people, or don’t feel that. I was starting to think I was the only one that’s, [ he finally gestures into the air, as in, is getting completely confused with his own identity ] mixing things up.

[frostythehitman]

[ James opens his mouth to say "I'm not mixing things up!" but then he realizes--he is, isn't he? Obviously he never served in WW2 but he still gets all the nightmares about it, still remembers all the training and battles like he did. Still knows how to handle military issue guns like he did. ]

...no. I wish it was that easy.