(jurassic world theme) • OPEN

[usurpers]

WHO: there is a giant, and you
WHERE: recollé woods / outskirts??
WHEN: january 18th and another day, timelines are dumb!!
WHAT: something huge is v upset and wants to shake hands with the dome, except the dome doesn’t have hands and it’s offensive to refuse a handshake from a titan. grab a partner to investigate or dare to go alone, try and fight it, or talk to it, or take pictures. or figure out why the fuck there’s a giant roaming around. hit my plurk up at liberos if you’ve got any questions or would like to plot!
WARNINGS: mentions of death and violence, likely some gore because what is self preservation.

[ maybe you’ve decided to take a walk around the (now very defined) limits of recollé, maybe you’re with a friend— retrospectors hang around the woods a lot to practice their skills, even though the darkness doesn’t help much. maybe there’s something to search for, now that you’ve seen most of what’s in the tunnels. something in those areas seem to have gotten your attention somehow whether you’re close or far away: you could’ve sworn you heard a terrible crack that booms so loudly it can be heard from the farther parts of the city, like lightning striking the earth. it’s deafening for those close to it, is a storm rolling in?

you can’t even tell with this damn dome in the way.

the farther you are from civilization, though, the more you might notice that sound isn’t just the wind blowing against your ears. they’re horrible roars. if you’ve ever seen the movies, or maybe you’ve seen the real deal yourself: maybe a dragon? cool, dragons are cool. for some reason, you’ve chosen to follow the sounds. the deeper you walk— the earth trembles, and judging by the constant rhythm that only picks up . . . it’s not just aleatory tremors like last month. things are shaking. water ripples. ]



[ and that’s a fucking giant ]

Comments

[dejerate]

[He had seen something about something related to Retrospec being in the woods, from that book he'd found underground in those tunnels. So of course Yuu was keen to try explore and check it out. He just doesn't have an exact location.

But well. Obviously, the crack, the roaring, distracts him from that attempt to investigate. Changing tracks to finding out just what this is.

He may or may not come to regret this later. But for now, he goes to explore, pausing occasionally at the tremors. They seem to be getting bigger? That probably means he is getting closer, he guesses. ]

[usurpers]

[ only dumb shounens go toward the trouble, that or the person who’s destined to die in a horror movie. yuu, that is you. the impact against the ground grows more intense, louder even, until the trees shake and the ugly sound of bark snapping as easily as twigs do crack, with whatever it is breathing in agitated winds. you better have your flashlight ready in all this dark, because you’re going to need to move— another crack, another tree falls, and that one much closer than the last, in danger of falling right onto yuu if he doesn’t move.

and what just slugged that tree in half is a monster, its jaws dislocating into a terrible scream as it moves. it looks angry, lost, maybe a little human— if humans were that big. ]

[dejerate]

[Yuu yelps, somehow managing to dodge and scramble out of the way in time to avoid being trapped under the tree. Thankfully he doesn't entirely drop anything in the process. At least not that he doesn't quickly retrieve again back into his hand.]

Wh--whoa! Wha--who....?

[Because it is still kind of humanoid? Only. Well. Giant. Very giant, in comparison to how very tiny and vulnerable Yuu suddenly feels about now as he sees that tree crack in half. Hears that scream. He tenses, freezing and attempting to shine his flashlight up...and up. And up some more till he tries to make out the face. He can't recognize it as Eren, but it still seems human in spite of the size.]

[usurpers]

[ the light shines in the dark and right on the giant; the more it travels up, the more detail from the face can be seen— mangled black hair, sharp green eyes with slit-like pupils that narrow when light shines over it. it has no lips, teeth exposed, but defined features as any human would; just none that resemble anyone so closely here.

the flashlight catches his attention through mid step, and with a heavy breath that makes the foliage of the trees shiver, it turns just enough to see the source of the beam. it’s dark, even for the giant to truly make out anything other than something bright and annoying pointed at its face. turning its heel and taking a step backwards, the monster turns its whole body to check out the reason why its eyes are starting to sting, and it doesn’t like it, the grumble in its throat rolling like drums.

now it’s pretty apparent that it has noticed you there, yuu, and he’s honing in. slowly, but approaching. ]

[dejerate]

Note to self, don't shine the torch right at the....giant's....face? Crap!

[Now what? Run? Try find out what is going on? He's. Not sure. Instinct, of course, tells him to flee, but at the same time. He's also curious to find out what was going on here. Because this probably had to do with Retrospec somehow. He'd heard about monsters showing up in August. Was that happening again? What was happening here?]

Oi! Wait, can this thing even talk?

[It looks human enough? But all he's seen from it or heard from it is the roaring so he isn't sure. Maybe trying to talk to this creature is a Bad Idea....probably. Perhaps if he leads the thing away from heading to town at least? Yuu tries to keep it's attention, though walking backwards while doing so proves not the smartest, since he trips and falls over.]

clover > jasmine > jaeger rex ?

[servileness]

[ Time to INVESTIGATE.

The subways are suspicious, and so are the woods. Any region the dome touches should be searched. Clover and Jasmine are the more intellectual of the Geteilt sisters (sorry, Rose), and they're here to look into things.

Honestly, Clover doesn't know how to begin looking, but you have to start somewhere, and here in the woods is no better or worse than any other place.

A roar reverberates. No one can miss that boom. Clover immediately looks for her sister. ]

Jasmine?

[selfloving]

[The beam of Jasmine's flashlight appears before Jasmine does. It's bright enough to case a sweeping cone of light over the area, but even then, it takes Jasmine a while to reconnect with her sister.]

Clover? [She pauses, as if waiting for an answer. Her voice is a little closer the next time.] Clover, are you over there?

[Something's coming. But she doesn't think she has to say that. Stories of the monster invasion several months ago are fresh in her mind. Is this just the same thing?]

[usurpers]

[ it might as well be; the monstrous, unknown bellow erupts again— with it, a tumble of crashes and shatters of thick bark that only add to the tremors. it’s something of a trot at first, until that trot turns into a run. a very, very big run. said run is for the massive beast before them to tackle right into the trees in the way and pull it from its thick roots. the bark it clenches in its arm is shoved back into the ground in an angry thwack, and it screams, digging its heel into the ground blindly until it splinters the bark and earth further to make way for it. y’all are pretty close too, you might want to . . . step away.

there’s wood and green flying all over the place. ]

[servileness]

[ And step away, Clover does. Her shriek lasts a split second before she muffles it. As much as she craves attention, she's found attention she doesn't want.

She watches the way Jasmine's flashlight beam moves and sprints towards the direction of the source. She doesn't think this monster is after them (yet), but it's better to try to prepare for the worst.

Once she sees Jasmine, she reaches out for her hand and points in a direction she hopes is not where Titan Eren wants to go. ]

[selfloving]

[What in the world...? No, what the hell is that screaming and tearing in the distance?

The first few footfalls of the titan's run shake the ground so hard that Jasmine almost loses her balance, caught off guard and a huge network of roots is ripped from the ground with no effort at all.

She grabs Clover's hand, then pushes her in front of her with the flashlight. As long as the titan stays behind them, there's at least one thing, however small, between one sister and getting stomped on. Nothing above ground is going to help them, if the trees are that negligible. They need to get out of the forest and into a basement.

Guided by Clover's light in front of them, she instead tries shining her own into another direction, creating a decoy on the other side of the path.]

Fairweather Team Go

[fiddlestick]

[ It was worrying that Eren hadn't answered any of his messages, but he was going to give it another day before he started worrying. Instead, he ended up calling Natalia to ask her company while checking out the dome. Which man, it sure is dark and creepy when there's no light and you're away from the city. ]

W-Was that another tremor?

[Maybe the earthquakes from last month were back...]

[nachetanya]

I... possibly?

[ She's not sure if she can be much help here in terms of investigating the dome but she's not gone out to the edge personally before now either so she agreed to come in a heartbeat. She's got that sword in its scabbard sticking awkwardly out of her purse-bag hanging off her left hand, also holding the mag-light she's got. But when she feels the tremor she - for whatever reason - looks up? ]

[usurpers]

[ there’s an eerie sort of silence between each earth-shaking rumble— a rather small tremor, but each one constant. it doesn’t take long for them to get so close that tree leaves begin to shudder. the hushes from foliage become full shatters, and what smashes nearby enough to make someone lose their balance is . . . a foot. maybe it’s natalie’s sixth sense working, because when they do look up, what passed above is clear even in the dark.

the thing is huge. when it breathes, it sounds like a gust of wind brewing a storm. in its hand is something crushed, shining when light hits it to give off that metallic reflection (broken windows, headlights. a— black car? the poor owner). it doesn’t seem to notice them (so smol), only tilting its head to stare upwards, a crack spreading between lipless jowls to sound out a rumble like coming thunder, out coming a stream of steam. looks like its studying the fortress over them. ]

[fiddlestick]

[The tremors are worrying, to say the least. The more that happen, the less it seems like it could be normal earthquakes. It was too consistent, too small. The idea of footsteps come to mind, like the tremors he felt when that bone dragon showed up in the fog for him. But that's crazy right?

Not so much. He'll notice Natalia looking up, and does the same-maybe she sees something? But when he does, he sees what passes above them. And when he does? His mouth gapes open and his eyes go very wide as he stares.

That's a giant. A giant. ]

H-Holy-!!

[WHAT?????]

[nachetanya]

[ She was looking up on a strange instinct born of the fact that when she felt a tremor last month, she saw the sky change. Of course with the dome, there's no way that could be the case anymore but-

... A giant. A real giant?

It makes her shiver a little, and it alarms her a little that she can't tell if it's wonder or fear. Her red eyes wide she inhales deep and nods to confirm to Elliot- ]

Y-yeah?!

CLOSED

[usurpers]

[ at least the crazy giant is gone. retrospec might be doing a good job after all in protecting the city if the dome’s still standing. either that or the giant’s got nothing special on it. hopefully it works the same on the outside?

now that everything’s died down and the massive amount of steam had disappeared from where the monster used to be, it might be safer to do some exploring. who knows, maybe it left behind clues. maybe the things attacking the city are responsible. maybe the giant was just trying to make a gateway.

whatever james is there for, he’ll probably find two things: the first are the ugly remains of a black camaro completely flattened, like paper. the second, if he keeps snooping, is a little more alarming: it’s eren, his clothes all damp, freezing, and completely passed out.

cool eye scars on your face there, bro. ]

[frostythehitman]

[ When the monster showed up, he was walking around Fort McCoy, so he was in prime position to run home, grab his gun, and make a beeline for the monster, trying to get close enough that he could do some damage to it.

Which turned out to be a stupid idea anyway, because James pumped four bullets into the thing before he realized it seemed to not even notice it was getting shot at. Anything he could possibly do against this thing was useless.

But at least he spotted it vanishing into a plume of smoke, and was able to follow the smoke into the woods here. Except it's long gone and all he finds is Eren and a flattened car. James immediately runs over and checks his pulse, hoping that the giant didn't kill Eren and leave him for dead. Thankfully, he finds a pulse, so he shakes Eren gently, trying to rouse him. ]

Hey. Hey, Eren, you okay there?

[usurpers]

[ eren’s shivering into himself from the cold and his own unhelpful dampness, murmuring and chattering his teeth as he’s being shaken. i should’ve, before he trails off, fault and sky’s gone are all alternatively coherent before they jumble up again. it takes a few rougher shakes, but soon enough, his eyes are cracking open. ]

Where’d she . . .

[ his eyes are heavy, and waking up from such a heavy sleep was pretty hard. he blinks again, tries to open his eyes. ]

James?

[frostythehitman]

[ oh boy, this again. He has no idea what was wrong with Eren that time he was eating his own hands, but he seems to be in the same kind of mumbling trance now too. Which is a pain in the ass, because he has no idea how to handle Eren in this state.

But at least he's awake and alive. ]

Yeah, rise and shine, sleeping beauty. Mind explaining why the hell you're out here and what happened to you?

[ He was focused mostly on finding a pulse but uh, it looks like all the skin around his eyes is scarred up now too, which is its own level of concerning. ]

[usurpers]

I—

[ but when he stops to truly think about it, he comes up in blank. he doesn’t know why he’s all damp, he doesn’t even know how he got here, the more he looked at his surroundings. it was on a completely different part of recollé. he stirs up movement to attempt to sit on his own, finding his body the equivalent to a train cart— really damn heavy. ]

I was practicing before . . . [ gear seems to still be in check, strapped to his sides. did he fall and hit his head or something? he doesn’t even remember. ] Did you bring me out here?

01/21 ONWARD

[usurpers]

[ eren was here before the intended time. he needed days beforehand to think this through; all the memories that didn’t make sense, that were weird snapped into place all at once, and he couldn’t handle the sudden notion that he was what he had grown to hate through his past.

he wasn’t born this way though, he knew he was human. the power was given to him, and after hideously denying it, he remembers his father telling him: their memories will teach you how to use it. if you want to protect armin, mikasa, and everyone else— control this power.

he doesn’t need to reject this. he needs to take advantage of it. he needs to make those who matter most feel safe around him again. he needs to feel like he could still believe in himself again. that’s the only thing driving him forward with horns held low and ready to attack. he’ll make it count. he knows it’s possible to stay conscious, he has memories of it. he just needs to . . . figure out how, and figure it out fast. his past self didn’t have a lot of time to practice this either, he had it worse— so the eren nowpushes himself against the clock. the faster he knew how this worked, the better.

and the more he thinks about it, the more he gets a hunch. when dave and john arrive, eren will greet them and start walking them through, telling them what he knew. keep from swatting distance until he gives a 👍, else he might not be conscious. be careful with exposed flesh, it’s really hot. keep your distance again, as much as you can, and lastly— he started drawing a circle in the dirt with a stick, a few lines coming out of it. it’s supposed to be a head, okay. ]

If anything goes wrong, I’m in the nape. John can distract me while Dave slices me out, around here. [ he circles where his torso should be, and more importantly, his head. ] You don’t have to be gentle with limbs if you need to act quickly, I grow them back.

[ he literally just said that, and he’s not even sorry. ]

[windeity]

[On the one hand, John has way more than enough memories of fighting giant monsters and winning. On the other, this is Eren and this is a monster he's never faced before so naturally he's a little curious and a little nervous. He listens though as Eren explains everything to him and he keeps his expression neutral all the same. Once the game plan's written out though he pauses to give the diagram another look.]

So an overgrown bipedal lizard-like monster. Sounds easy enough. What do we do once you're freed from the titan itself?

[parodeity]

Uh, wait, so it's like a giant flesh mecha? I'm fine with cutting you out, but how the fuck does that work. You just like grow your own renewable mecha? Is that like being inside a womb or what??

[ dave doesn't seem nervous, exactly, but more kind of focused on the

wrong thing entirely............. ]

Are you pregnant with yourself when you go turbo????

[usurpers]

[ dave . . . when you say mecha that actually makes it sound sort of cool, and the giant robot nerd inside eren stirs and says holy shit i’m down, but! no!! he will refrain!! and sort of make a face because that’s not an mpreg he wants. ]

—Dude, that’s gross! Focus!

[ you get a whack! not an entirely gentle one but not completely brutal either. let him figure out where he was again, the imagery of pregnancy is the weirdest thing alive. he pinches the bridge of his nose to get himself thinking, before he snaps his thoughts into place. okay. ]

I think— If I have enough energy, I can do it more than once. It just appears, I dunno how. [ and to answer john: ] Try and wake me up if I’m not already. The body’s just going to evaporate.

[windeity]

[Eren says it all, but John carefully pushes his hand against Dave's mouth.]

Stop. That was really not a thing I needed to think about. [And yet his lips twitch in amusement before he focuses again.]

Giant flesh mecha and you're the unconscious pilot. We'll slice you out if you can't seem to control it and go from there. Not worry about the body, basically. You've seen how Dave and I can fight so I think we all know our strategies. I'm ready if you guys are. I think.